Town Board - Regular Meeting

I'm calling a meeting to order. Attendance, please. Supervisor Holdridge here. Council member Becker here. Council member Casara here. Council member Courtney here. and council member Tiffley is absent this evening. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please stay standing for in a moment of silence for the victims of the latest uh mass killings in the United States. shootings. I'm Thank you.

Did everybody get a chance to read the March 26th and April 8th? Yes. Uh minutes? Yes. Are there any questions or debate points? No. No. Seeing none, will is there a motion to accept both minutes? I'll make the motion. Second. All those in favor? I uh summary bills. The town will be paying bills in the amount of 700 I'm sorry, $473,266.88. Uh we do have some things that we need to take care of in executive session. Uh is there a motion to move executive session to the front of the agenda so we can get that out of the way? I'll make that motion. Is there a second? I'll second.

All those in favor? I I we are now in executive session for personnel. You just moved it. Is there is there a motion to head into executive session for personnel? I'll make a motion. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Hi.

Let me know when you're good, Michelle. Okay. Is there a motion to come out of the executive session? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I we will head into public comment.

Does anybody sign up first? Uh, how you doing? My name is Bob Fugitz, FUG Ge T. And I'm here to present the Town Highway Department progress report. Um, you may know that on Monday I interviewed members of the town board and the highway department to see if this town was worth my effort. As it turns out, it very much is. So, pursuant to that, I self-declared myself town of Chester highway superintendent. that way. Then I published a query for all highway issues to be directed at me to allow Keith to continue doing his job, which is important. It would be very helpful if the town board voted to endorse my actions so that Keith could refer people to me instead of me just keeping people away from him. And my fourth point is this that maybe it's been missed, but really Donna Tom should run for the office. She is obviously already doing the job. She should get the credit and make it official. All right, that's it.

Good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Donna is not a town resident, so she can't run, unfortunately.

Make a move. All right. Uh, Brian Ross. Good evening everyone. Um, my name is Brian Ross. I'm a resident of Chester for the last eight years. I moved here from Staten Island with my my oldest son and his family. I'm not sure if this the appropriate place to bring this up, but I I will. Um, this has to do with um summones that I've been uh received from alarms that have gone off in my home. And the last one that went off was maybe about 10 days ago. And I did call the alarm company and cancel it and the police came anyway, which is fine, but they also gave me a summon. Now, I have paid a summon in the past. I'm not saying I don't have gotten summons in. I have. I'm a senior. Uh my wife's a senior. Uh we have some pets in the house that we just open up the door if they're running after some animal. But the fines for the summons in my feeling are very very high. $100 for the second offense. The third offense is $200. I know there's a time period in between and I understand that the police time needs to be taken without coming to homes if there's nothing going on there. But I cancelled the call. The police officer was very

nice recognized that I canceled the call, but I still got the summons. Unfortunately, it should have cost me another $100. It's not so much the money, but it's a principle of the thing. As a senior, things happen. Most of the people here are not seniors. Things change as you get older. They do. I don't have my phone attached to me every second of the day like some people do. As a result, I got to the phone a little late. I called the f the alarm company. They said they canceled the call and lo and behold, 5 minutes later, the police arrived and gave me a summon. So, as a result, the other summons I had was four and a half months ago. So, I didn't make the six months. I apologize for that. But another $100, why not $50? Why not $25? Why not some consideration for seniors? Why not just not come after a few calls? I'm not a chronic person regarding that. Far from it. I counted the summons I've got since I've been here. I've been here now eight years. I got six summones, but I'm 76 years old. I'm going to not be able to get to the phone that quickly all the time. And I understand the police. I understand all that. But I do think, and I don't know if it has anything to do with this body, but I do think you should consider making the fines less

and not trying to squeeze $100 or $200 or $300 or $400 out of the citizens of the town. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So, Mr. Ross, I just want to direct your attention to the false alarms are governed by section 34-4 of the code. I want to direct your attention to 34-4B um which says any owner or leie who has a false alarm on occur on his or her property may request the town clerk to reconsider the invoice or portion thereof within 30 days of the invoice date by filing a written request with the town clerk setting forth the basis of the request. The town clerk shall have 30 days from receipt of the request to render a decision with respect to the request for reconsideration. Such decision may include a reduction in the fine amount or dismissal of the charge provided such relief does not conflict with the terms of this chapter. If the town clerk fails to respond within the 30-day period, it shall be deemed denial of the request to reconsider. The property owner may appeal the any denial or decision of the town clerk on request to reconsider to the town board by filing a written request with the town clerk paying the applicable appeal fee. Um I don't know that off the top of my head that's on our fee schedule which may be refunded at the discretion of the town board and the town board would hold a hearing. So there is a written um process that if you submit a written request

I'm fully aware of that. I did it on the first time I got the fine. I did submit an explanation, a very good explanation I thought, but it was totally denied. The entire amount of the fine had to be paid. And I did something, and I'll fully admit it in front of all of you. Instead of paying a $100 check, I made four checks out for $25 as my own little protest of doing that. So, you still got your $100, but it might have taken you a little extra time in order to process that. So, I did do that. Now, once you're denied a request, that was even more realistic than the last one where my dog saw the rabbit and wanted to run outside to get it. And I'm downstairs and the dog is going crazy. I opened up the door. He didn't catch the rabbit. However, I did do that. So as a result, I don't think that this will be this the result will probably be the same because I understand you must get requests for denial all the time. So why do it for me and set a precedent where everybody can do it. I just don't think that the amount of the fine is the way that it should be. I do think there should be some consideration that this is not a fee collecting. This should not be part of a budget. This should not be something I have to do and to pay any that kind of money to do that. And again, it's not the money. I can't afford the money fortunately. However, I may, but there might be 100 other seniors that can't. So please, if that's possible, please consider at least rewriting that whole scenario there and either reducing the

fines or making some other provisions that will not disturb the police, but also give the uh the citizens, in particular seniors, a little bit of a break. But I do appreciate you reading that. But I was aware of that because I did try it. And if you'd like, I can I didn't bring that portion of what I wrote as a uh explanation, so I didn't think it was going to work. Again, good evening. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Chris Mau,

Chris Mau, Sugarloaf. Um, I sent this letter out to the council, but I want to read it to so that everybody can hear it and so that it would be placed on the record. Dear members of the Chester Town Council, I'm writing to formally object to the $20 per quarter optout fee for cellular endpoints on water meters that Councilman Becker has proposed. This fee is not a reasonable cost recovery measure. It is simply punishment directed at the small number of residents who have legitimate health and privacy objections to the installation of these devices. Councilman Becker has argued that the fee is necessary because the town would otherwise have to send employees to read the meters manually. That claim is not credible. The town has performed manual meter readings for decades without difficulty. Each reading takes only one or two minutes, even less. And because only a small fraction of households plan to opt out, the total additional workload is negligible. Moreover, each cellular endpoint costs the town approximately $200 plus the water company's labor to install it. Residents who choose to opt out are not imposing any of those expenses. On the contrary, they're saving the town both the upfront installation cost and the ongoing cellular service fees. If the council insists on treating this as a tit fortat financial arrangement, then residents who opt out should not be charged any fee for at least four years, the period during which the town has avoided paying for the cellular unit and its installation. In reality, those who opt out are providing a net financial benefit to the town and its taxpayers. I respectfully urge the council to reject Councilman Becker's proposed opt- out

fee. Residents should not be penalized for exercising their right to protect their health and privacy, especially when their choice actually reduces municipal expenditures. Thank you for your time and for your considering the interests of all Chester residents. Thank you. Thank you, Maril Miller. This is not easy. Take your time. Okay.

Good evening, Chester citizens and elected officials. As a taxpaying resident of the town of Chester for over 50 years, I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The safe water meters that take only a few seconds to read are working fine. Why do you find it's necessary to upgrade the technology with long-term unproven meters that have privacy and health issues and to punish us with quarterly fees if we choose to take the lawful opt out option available to us thanks to the new local law? Tom Becker originally wanted to charge us $75 quarterly because according to his words at a town board meeting I heard him say it. If we charge them a lot a lot of money they will have to install the meters. Then a few weeks ago he said we won't discuss the optout fees for two years when all the meters are installed and then we will see what we have to charge. Now he says the water department decided we need to charge an opt- out fee. So let's do $20 quarterly. You already doubled our per gallon charge of for water for 7575 to $10 per thousand gallons which is going to go up to a dollar a th000 each year for the next five years according to the supervisor. And you decided that to bill quarterly. So, my bill went from approximately $225 a year to $450 a year, plus the $250 Lakeill Farm water charge that's still on my yearly taxes. Totally approximately $700 for water. How can the water department need another $80 a year from me under the guise of an optout fee? Maybe the water department needs a forensic accounting to see where all the money is going. I understand that the water department is busy installing the new meters, so they don't want to have to physically read our meters. But in two years after

they are done with this project, what are they going to be doing? Sitting around and watching the data come in over the internet. And what happens when the lithium ion batteries need to be replaced? Do you really think that they are going to last for 30 years as the supervisor claims? Is there any long-term study showing this claim to be true? I recently got a postcard advertising a Life Alert necklace. It's right here. I brought it. It claims that the batteries never need charging. If you read closely though and follow the asterisk, it says batteries last up to 10 years. Do I have to be charged for getting an iPhone if I my flip phone is working fine? Who is going to be charged when you have to update the latest and greatest technology? What happens when there's a power outage? Do those meters still uh record usage? My analog meter has no problems. What is the actual reason for this fee other than because I said so? It's time to say no opt- out fees for Chester. A wise man once said to me, um, liars can figure, but figures don't lie.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, I'm sorry. I don't It's a little uh cursive for me. Uh Sheree. Oh, okay. And then Susanna,

everyone should always bring the sign board when they come to the board, right? Good evening. I'm Susanna Divine. I'm part of the Chester Conservation Advisory Council and I just want to give you the details of this Saturday's upcoming repair cafe. Between 10 and 2 o'clock at the senior center off the roof road, if you have something that is broken or busted and and something that you want to get fixed, you bring it to the repair cafe for free and someone will try to fix it for you. So, come on over. It's a great community um event. Uh it helps build community and again, it's free. Pretty good deal. That's it. Any questions? Thank you. All good. All right. Thank you for doing that.

Take my sign board and go put it outside. All right. Um, yes, gentlemen.

Hi. Randy Chisum, Palm Street. Um my concern is um West Avenue and the recent repair work that was done after the um pipes were live um placed down for the greens of Chester and that the way that the road look I just wonder are we going to have a resurfacing at sometime? Yes. And how long will that take? Uh I don't know what the schedule is but it's uh they are going to resurface the whole road. Okay. It's not it's not going to be years from now. It's that's what I want to know. I spoke to the engineer about this the other day and uh yeah, they're they're going to be resurfacing the road. Okay. So, hopefully within the next year. Oh, for sure. Okay. Probably a lot sooner than that.

Okay. My other concerns are um the speeding that goes down Hal Street. I'm thinking while you're resurfacing the road that may be put in some um what do you call those little bump stops and the road may work out to help slow down traffic a little bit. Speed bumps. That's village street buddy. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. That is uh most of the road is village. So um you will have to go to Brian and the rest of the board there uh for that. Um you were at the village the other day. They took care of you, buddy. They got they got the pa out there to fill in the holes anyway.

Well, yeah, they filled in the hole. We'll just see how long it lasts. But uh and that's one more concern. Uh there's light pollution that's coming from the greens. Right now along the road, they have accent lights that leads to their enclosure. So, and they're pretty bright at at night. And so they go from like dust to dawn and they're entitled to have access light, but can they put it on a timer? Maybe go off at 10:00. So I will I it the uh lighting ordinance would have to be checked. Um but I would suggest that you uh call and or uh submit a complaint form to the building department so then they can actually uh get back to you with that information. The building?

Yeah, the building department would be the one to take care of it. He's actually dealing with a very similar case over um near Bailville, I think, Bailville Road. So, uh he's well aware of the the lighting ordinance. So, uh call into the building department, leave a message. If they don't pick up, they'll get back to you. Okay, great. And just one last thing is that we can use one additional garbage cans right over there by Summerville Way where it goes on to West Avenue. It's not on anybody's um property. I think it's called Holy Street or Hollyy Lane. Yeah, we put a a can there for myself and the other people on West Avenue who pick up the garbage that we have a place to put it. And

yeah, I we did put garbage cans out there before. I don't know if we're going to do another one, but uh well, I'm just saying because the garbage hasn't stopped because of those two garbage cans. And unfortunately, people don't hold their garbage till they come to the entrance of their residence. So, if we had a camp with people walking up and down, fine. I know that people throw stuff out the the the cars and I don't have a problem picking it up, but at least give me some tools to work with is all I'm asking for. All right, we will consider it. Okay, thank you. That's it. Thank you. Good night, Randy.

Is there anybody else in the audience that would like to uh speak? Is there anything online? All right, we will move forward from uh public comment. We'll start with the uh town clerk first. Are there any announcements or is there any report from the town clerk? Uh there are some announcements and um Suzanne was so kind to come in with her big sign

repair cafe on Saturday. Um, if you have something that needs repair, please see them at the Chester Senior Center from 10:00 a.m. to 2 pm. Um, we're looking forward to the Town of Chester PBA Carnival, which is being held April 29th to May 2nd at Chester Commons Park. Um, there'll be rides, games, food, and uh, come out and support the PBA on that event. Um, a little bit ahead is um the Kuwanis 5K which is being held on Memorial Day weekend, Saturday the 23rd. Start time is 8:45 and there is online registration if you go to Chester Kowanas 5K. You could sign up. Also, the Chester Cemetery Association is doing their 13th annual Memorial Day weekend sponsor flag fundraiser, which um if you live locally, you will notice the 500 flags that are laid across the main streets of the village of Chester. It's a wonderful honor and there and for $5 uh you you support this amazing effort and if you would like to sponsor a flag you can get in touch with several people including our Tom Leanne Riley Fred um Muan and Michelle will accept Ben Mo. So, um, if you know any of those folks, we'll have this, uh, posted with their contact information if you need that. Um, it's still ahead of myself, but once again, I'm just going to keep reminding folks of the shred event,

which will be held here on June 12th from 10 to 12 noon. Um, Orange County is celebrating our 250th anniversary uh with a great um display of artifacts and information about the American Revolution and it's associated with the Mount Hope Historical Society on the 26 from noon to 4 and it'll be held at the Woodbury Senior center. Um I don't have a report on it, but today I just returned from uh the New York Town Clerks Association conference which is held annually and I was uh had the privilege to attend again this year along with my deputy Heidi Schmidt. So thank you to the board for supporting that education. Um, it is really very robust and I will have more details to to present to the board on it uh in the coming weeks.

Did you mention the PBA carnival? Yes, I did. I did. Um, all right. We'll start with uh Councilman Courtney.

Yeah. I just want to uh take the opportunity to thank the Kowanas for once again hosting the uh cleanup. Um, it was well attended. It was interesting talking with Ryan who's sitting in the audience. His daughter com was commenting about the garbage out there and you had shared that with me and and she actually wanted to come out and be part of clean it up and she she really uh she did a great job. So thank your daughter for me. Okay. I know I thanked her already. Uh the other thing was I was uh I was invited by SRS which is Shopright Supermarkets to help them kick off their Makea-Wish campaign in the Chester Shopright two weeks ago which was a great success. Um, Shopay does a lot of things for the community. People don't realize that they just sell groceries. They they do a lot. And we had a a resident who was a recipient of Make a Wish who wound up going to Disney World who's had her struggles with leukemia. And uh, so it was really it was it was it was a great thing to be able to go there. I did see Lily there. She was she was surprised to see me there. Um, and it was pretty nice to see some old friends and and really get that kicked off because they uh I know what it's like on the other side of that and it's not an easy task. So, and that's then Linda took the rest of my some of my thunder. So,

sorry about that. That's all right. But I participated in that cleanup along Lehi, which I know most people will think it's one of the worst spots, but I think we did a really good job picking up a lot of trash that day. I'm sorry I missed it this year. I had a family thing, but uh I heard it went very well. Uh Deputy Supervisor Becker.

Okay. I attended the uh village board meeting on April 13th. Uh they adopted their new budget with an increase of 2.67. Uh that is below their tax cap limit. So that's good thing for the village of Chester. I also attended a meeting with Mayor Bell, Brian Smith, and Jamie from Mudna Basin at the village hall with a representative of a company called Inpipe. Uh the village is considering a pilot test to inject a treatment uh into several manholes and a pump station to eliminate the buildup of grease in those locations. It's been a problem from them uh for years and they have to clean those locations quite often. So that may be something that's going to help them in the future. Also with this company, they do ini studies

and uh Jamie's going to furnish those in that company with the footages for our water districts along with the village to give us some uh pricing. I think they charge about $1,500 a mile and they have a process that they go through in order to go through the INI study to find out where you would have leaks in your system. So, something that's going to come to us uh we can possibly budget for in the future for sure.

Uh also at the sewer pump station 3A, that's the main pump station down by Camp Laguardia, the uh system that was in place for helping with the odor issues at Airplane Park in Monroe, has failed and is in the process of being replaced with budgeted equip budgeted equipment. uh they are installing a new larger air compressor and a device that's called an air seep. Not exactly sure what it is, but it injects air into the you know into the effluent su sewer before it leaves the plant to go towards Monroe and it's supposed to eliminate odor. And so with all of those upgrades uh the in and installation cost it could reach about $150 but it's all covered within within the mood and budget at this point. Uh I've also reached out to our water department engineer, attorney, building department, and our controller about the issue with installing meters at the Greens of Chester. Uh after the install is completed, they will be part of our billing system. Because of the way the uh the new meters work, there's only one system allowed per municipality. And being that the v the town has purchased that system, anytime we we install a meter and those end points get activated, they will be into our system. So we have to find a way to uh be able to build that for the greens of Chester and we're we're trying to work out uh Neil is reaching out to other municipalities and other areas to try to come up with an answer on how we can do this. It's complicated because of municipal law and how we can handle things. So hopefully we can get that straightened out because

our water. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's not our water. It's the system's not going to be turned over to us for a year and a half possibly. It's still that and the village is going to be billing the greens at Chester for the water that they use after with a master meter and that's agreement with the greens and the village. So has nothing to do with us at this point until we take over the system. then that may be something we'll have to deal with also. So I just wanted to make the board aware of that. That's something we're working on and something we have to try to figure out before you know they start activating meters which could be you know according to our engineer could be within a month.

Why don't we get folks from the village to town? So like me John and then I don't know if the village really has anything to do. The village is going to directly bill the greens of Chester as you know that's that's their order agreement. We should let's schedule so we can all get the same page. I guess the answer we really have to do is is you know we're going to add a we're going to try to determine a price per per meter. As they add meters we'll be able to build that price per meter to cover that. you know, we'll work with the Greens to make that happen. So, we'll coordinate. Okay. Just wanted to bring it to the board's attention. Uh that's it for me.

Thank you, Tom. Councilman Casara, uh I was also part of that Kuanas cleanup. Um it's great when the community comes together for these kind of events and makes the town better. I just want to thank all the participants and the highway department.

Thank you. Um, so for reports, uh, been working with the grant writers on a few things. Uh, we're going to be shooting for, uh, a h a hat-tick with the CDBG grant, um, from the Orange County. We received um close to $200,000 over the course of the last two years in grant awards for uh projects in Carpenter Community Park. Uh one of which we're actually releasing out to bid tonight, which will be nice. Uh ADA walkways, uh bathroom uh refurbishments, um and elsewise, uh we're going to shoot for a third year in a row um award. Uh we're going to look to resurface the parking lot. um some lighting upgrades, uh ADA stuff with the parking lot, reconfigure it a little bit more to maximize uh the space out there. Um it'll be good. So hopefully we can uh get that award uh as well. If not, we'll just apply again next year. And then another big thing uh we've been kind of chasing after, I can't remember what the name of the grant is, the other grant that we've been chasing after for Walt Lake Estates for a couple years now, over a million dollars. Yeah.

From Pat Ryan. Uh well, it was a different grant. Uh it was a different grant program that we've been for the same project. Yeah. We keep resubmitting it. We keep getting denied. I can't remember the name of it all of a sudden now, but we kept on getting denied.

Yes, we uh Yes. Thank you. Um, there's another program through the federal government uh that Pat Ry I, you know, Tom and I have been in talks with Pat Ryan's office about and our grant writers and I'm happy to announce that his office is going to be recommending our project our project to that program uh in Congress. So now if Congress can get it act together uh you know and pass this uh we will be we will be approved which is a huge step forward. So, I want to thank Congressman Ryan's office for uh formally recommending us uh for this grant for this grant program. It's $1.25 million for major infrastructure work uh to the water district over in Walt Lake Estates. So, uh it'll be huge and it'll be huge savings to the taxpayers over in that water district. Um besides those two things, I visited the Monro Woodbury uh government classes. I'm happy to say uh we are in good hands with the future of our civilization here with the kids. They're they're asking pretty good questions and they're very uh interested in the uh in the process, the government and local government and such. Uh we the town board up here held interviews along with some um representatives from the highway department for the highway superintendent. We're hopeful uh to have a decision uh in early May. Uh but we will uh keep the public appraised of that. You you'll you might see it on the on the future agenda. And the uh I also met with the parks advisory board um yesterday and we uh went over some uh improvements and suggestions and everything and uh we have a good group over there. So thank you to the volunteers who stepped up for that. Uh and then other reports

you want to discuss uh Kristen and the lighting at Carpenter Field also. You want to do that on new business? That should be new business.

Okay. the accounting department. Uh the accounting department uh we have the audit. The accounting department completed fieldwork in one day. Uh which is in my time as supervisor and councilman uh has not been done uh as far as I can remember. Uh the the the fieldwork for the whole audit ended all in one day. Uh, audit entries were received on Friday and will be rolled through uh the 2025 general ledger this week. Um, I received the draft audited financial statements that we'll be reviewing this week as well. The audited financials are currently headed to RBT quality control for final review. The certified financial report to the controllers's office. The county department has been working on the CFR and assuming we get final audited financials before April 30th, uh they should make the April 30th controllers deadline to file it. The GFOA training um so both the controller and the deputy controller attended this training. uh they received a certroller received a certificate of graduating uh the GFI which is the government financial institute uh foundation level for GFO foundations level for GFOA. The controller was appointed as vice chair of the downstate GFOA board serving the Hudson Valley and Westchester. Congratulations to Neil. Um, it was my recommendation that the board considers bringing in an expert consultant regarding strategies for improving the town's healthc care options. Uh, it is my recommendation. Um, so that's something that the board should uh uh

consider. We received training on the new law regarding no tax on overtime and although we now have a better understanding of its definitions, implementation is still very manual and labor intense in intensive. It is the recommendation of the accounting department that any employee that earns qualified overtime in a given pay period uh get paid out for said quality qualified overtime and not bank it. We will need to discuss the labor count uh with the C labor council as the white collar union contract for recreation we do not believe allows for this. So anou will be necessary. I will be putting together a memo this week regarding qualified overtime. uh state retirement. We were in informed that we will continue to see increases in retirement funding in the range of two to 8% annually as the workforce shifts from tier four to tier six. In addition, in a few years, there will be more people taking from the retirement than contributing, which represents a critical shift. Other classes taken by the accountant accounting team were GSB updates, ARPA closeout, cyber security, AI strategies to improve the uh the uh working environment uh grants and revenue forecasting. As a note, one of our one of the issues that came up in uh is the management of the board rules and policies are there for a reason. If there are any questions about the rules or policies, please ask. Uh both the deputy and myself would like to thank supervisor and board for allowing us the opportunity to attend a conference. It's a val it is a valuable learning experience which benefits the town and allows us to uh the ability to do our jobs more efficiently and effectively. Employee self-service which otherwise

known as ESS. Town is currently working through the process of setting up the new employee self-service program. The deputy controller will be working with Donna and setting it up for the highway first. If all goes out, if all goes well, we will roll it out to other departments. Payroll, this payroll period, the town will be moving the highway department back onto the town's standard payroll schedule of Thursday through Wednesday. The their current schedule is Monday through Sunday. Their standard work week does not change as a result of this. We are also continuing to do our standard maintenance of work of paying bills, payroll, bank wrecks, etc. Thank you to the county department. The police department March the police department reported 434 incidents and they drove uh near 17,000 miles. Uh during the month there were 14 arrests uh for criminal activity. 11 charged with operating a motor vehicle with a suspended driver's license. One charged with driving while intoxicated. Two taken into into custody for emergency emissions of the mentally ill. Noncriminal activity. Uh 29 medical calls. 11 residential and commercial burglar burglary alarms. 10 reports of suspicious persons vehicles or activities. seven domestic disputes, four motor vehicle crashes with injuries, eight without injuries. Officers issued 155 uniform traffic tickets during the month. Uh they did 164 business security checks in March. Sergeant Dugan, Officers Bird, Weinstein, Stack, and Lraine continue to complete child passenger safety seat checks and installations. Uh there were a few trainings

uh throughout the month. Um officer Bird Narrain uh Cantino attended the UAS part 107 prep course on March 17th and 18th. Officer Calderon assisted with firearm instructions uh at the Orange County uh police academy in on 10 days in March. In 10 days, there were some miscellaneous uh reports. Um, you can read them if you wish in the full uh minutes and such or on the um on the website. There was 327.75 hours of overtime paid in March. Part-time officers were used for 145 hours of patrol coverage, 144 regular hours, and one overtime hour. And there's some other information uh that you can find in the full report. Thank you to the police department as always for keeping us safe. Uh, animal control. There were three calls for loose, lost, or found dogs. Two calls for injured or deceased deer. One call for a barking dog. One call for an injured goose. One called for an injured skunk. One call for an unknown animal stuck in an overhead vent in a house and we never found out what the animal was referring to a specialist.

Okay. Little beyond our apparently. Yeah.

Um Yes. And then uh we have the annual tire recycling program. Uh the T town of Chester Highway Department will have a tire dumpster available from May 4th to May 15th. Uh Monday through Friday only. Uh and it's uh from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. All tires must be off rims. No industrialized tires can be accepted at this location. If you have any questions, please call the highway department at 845469, excuse me, uh 4101. We have one more. Yes. So, I just wanted uh the parks and recck department from um the department ahead, Michelle Dashler, wanted to provide a quick update on the congregate dining program. Uh for the month of March 2026, we served a total of 259 lunches over 10 days. That does not include the meals served on the Orange County Office of Aging Big Wheels event here at the at the center of March 25th, which I also attended. It was very lovely event. The county is giving the senior center a large double over for the kitchen uh oven, I'm sorry, the double oven uh for the kitchen so that we can more efficiently heat the meals, which is very nice. Uh the breakdown of the program for March 2026, reimbursement for personnel and fringe benefits. uh $1,74618 reimbursement for ONR and other program related expenses $359.88 town contribution to the program $7856 we will be getting reimbursed 20 $2,27.50 total so I would say that is a very good deal um between us and the uh Orange County. So thank you again to the parks and recck department for making that happen. Um, and then I would be remiss if I

didn't acknowledge that none that none of this would be even possible without the help of three dedicated volunteers, Caesar, uh, Cindy, and Jackie. Thank you to all who make that happen. That is it for reports for me. If there are none else, we will head into our regular business. We have cellular endpoints at the top of the agenda here. I know uh Tom had prepared some comments uh before uh any other debate takes place.

Okay. Uh to begin with, uh I was not in favor of an opt out from the beginning of the meter upgrade, but went along with it for the few people who may have concerns about the meters. as long as there was a fee for an opt out. That that was beginning stages of all of this and that's why it came about the way it did. At the $20 per quarter, that would be a it would uh it would take about 25 residents to opt out to really cover the opt out cost for the billing software each year. And that's not counting any uh fees for, you know, travel time, everything to read meters. Um the main concern residents seem to have in regards to the meter is the re radiation potential from meters even though it has been confirmed that these meters only send four texts per day to the town meter reading system. Uh this concern can be minimized by the fact that the meter endpoint is connected to the meter register by a cable allowing for the endpoint to be located anywhere in the basement of a residence or if desired it could be located outside the residence because they are waterproof. So that is an option for anybody that has concerns for safety and any concerns with radiation or anything else along with the meter. The benefits to a home owner far outweigh any risk associated with these meters. Uh a homeowner can can view their usage through a secure site called ion meter and keep track of their usage if they have concerns about overusage. Our water department will receive high usage alerts, allowing them to contact

homeowners of a potential issue. For a resident away from home, an alert is received at the water department about high usage, they can cut water service to a home, which could avoid costly damage to a residents if it's confirmed there is a problem. uh the villagen, you know, the towns and villages around us currently charge up to $75 for reading and I felt that was a you know much higher number than we needed. Some may be billing uh some bill by annually, some bill quarterly, but there there are fees associated with a lot of optouts. The village of Chester itself does not offer an opt out and they've installed over 900 meters and they've really done a great job doing it and they've actually helped residents out with leak issues in the past and I don't feel that you know the $20 is an exorbitant rate for for the future.

Thank you. And again, it comes down to, you know, this is new technology. Meter companies always bring new technology and they do away with old meters. They they kind of move you into these things. And this was one of the best technologies out there for reading for the benefits of what it gives you. All right. Is there any other uh debate or comments on this uh before I guess there's a motion?

I'm just going to say one thing. We initially talked about this and we said setting zero until two years down the line until all the cellular end points are installed and then we would talk about implementing a fee. And I think we should still stick to that. But hypothetically down the line, if you do have 20 houses that are opting out, the fee I mean 25, the fee would be $20. But if you get more houses, it could possibly be less. So why don't we wait for that two years so you know how many houses are opting out and then we could set an appropriate fee. But the $20 is just a minimum fee

for the cost of the billing software itself. even though it's being used elsewhere. It's just something for the future and it doesn't cover any of the other expenses associated with reading after that poor thing in everybody moves in new technology. Everybody has a laptop computer now. Everybody has a cell phone. Everybody was afraid that cell phones are going to give you brain cancer and all these other things. And you know those are concerns for people. But in this instance, for this particular item, I don't see four texts a day. and the fact that we can move this end point away from an area that is of a concern of people. Um I'm just going to say for myself uh my my own thoughts. I I I sympathize with uh those who wanted the opt out to begin with. Um, you know, we were kind of dead set on not doing an opt out in the beginning and, uh, we met those people in the middle and provided an opt out. Uh, and then we, you know, I, initially it was talked about making this a $75 per quarter opt out and then again, I believe this town board worked to try to meet them in the middle and significantly lower it uh, from that amount of which I know the village of Walden does. Uh, and the village of Cornwall and the Hudson um has that high of an opt out. Um, and I know the village of Haramman has a $30 uh per per quarter opt out. And I do know uh that Tom what Tom is talking about about some communities not having opt outs like the village of Chester, the village of Monroe, I'm sorry, no, the village of Woodbury, town of Walill, town of Monroe, and the town of Highlands. So, I would say uh you know uh the $20 opt out is pretty fairly in the lower end of the

middle here in terms of the the lowest type of cost for an opt out and also allowing the opt out in the first place as opposed to other communities who are not doing any opt out. Uh so, um I think it's fair um you know like like the councilman said, I'm sorry, like the deputy supervisor said, it is about recouping costs. It's also about uh trying to um get compliance. So I I think it's fair. Are there any other comments or debate points? No. Seeing none, is there a motion to uh what's it called? Uh

yeah, set the fee the opt out rate at uh $20 per quarter for the uh cellular end points. I would suggest start date. So, when does your water bill line up? The next water bill would be um actually our opt out was effective. Well, it should be effective for the next water bill. So, there's I think we made the opt out effective June. I think that's the next June. Oh, but yeah, subject to the billing period. It ends June 30th. Would that have anything to do with what we're talking about right now?

The bill would go out at the end of June. Yeah. But the period ends. Your new bill cycle starts. It's January. January. January. Three months. Every three months. Okay. So, okay. So, June. So, yeah. June 30th. So, that would start in Q Q3, right? Okay. Um, so is there a motion to establish the opt out rate at $20 per quarter starting in Q3 for the cellular end points? I'll make that motion. Is there a second? I'll second. All those in favor? I I. All those against? Sorry. No.

And none. The motion passes. Resolution to refund $2,125 to all Westside Story trip guests. Trip was cancelled due to the low registration. Uh is there any are there any questions or debate points? No. Everybody got the email? Yes. Yeah. Um is there a motion to accept the uh refund or authorize the refund? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I

resolution to advertise Carpenter Community Park ADA walkway project bid docs. Um, everybody should have received an email that I forwarded to them from uh John Quinnan. This is in regards to the CDBG grant, $95,000 that we were awarded uh two years ago. Now, um we are finally getting to the point where we can play with the money. Um, so are there any questions or debate points about releasing these releasing this so we can move forward with the project? No, let's get it done. Let's get it done. Very good. Is there a motion to I will actually uh put up the motion for uh to advertise the uh bid projects. I'll second it.

Uh all those in favor? I I All those Y resolution to approve the MS4 report. Everybody received this email as well. Um, this is a yearly thing that we do uh for the MS4. Um, are there any debate points or questions on this? Nope. No. All right. Is there a motion to accept the report from uh our engineer? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I. Resolution to refund $220 for two Statue of Liberty trip guests. Everybody received the email on this, correct? Yep. Yes. Are there any questions or debate points? Nope. Nope. Is there a motion to authorize the refund? I'll make the motion. Second. All those in favor? I. I.

Resolution to declare basement vending machine uh surplus and release for auction. So, this is just one of the two machines. The other machine is owned by the PBA who are going to try to work with uh the parks and rec department to move the vending machine to the police department. Yeah. Uh the other one is townowned and uh we do nothing with it. It's been sitting there collecting dust for as long as I may very well be have have been alive. Uh so it it might as well be. Um so let's uh let's get rid of it and let's try to make a couple bucks off of it, right? Yep. Is there any are there any motions or I'm sorry. Are there any debate points or comments on it? Nope. Is there a motion to declare the vending machine surplus and release for auction? I'll make the motion.

I'll second it. All those in favor? I I resol res resolution to declare 2021 Ford police interceptor surplus and release for auction onpropyroom.com. Uh, everybody received the memo from the chief. Are there any questions or debate points? No. Is there a motion to approve of the resolution? I make the motion. Second. All those in favor? I. I.

Chief, can we also use is propertyroom.com only for vehicles or could we also use it for the vending machine that we just approved? Very good. Thank you. Uh MOA with IBT, local union 445. Uh so this is a temporary uh MOA uh $250 per week stipen for the highway department um for somebody to assist the foreman uh in this transition time um for the time already. uh they they've been assisting, but uh we just want to compensate them for the next couple of weeks while we still search for a highway superintendent and then also to train that person. Um the highway superintendent coming in probably to get onboarded. Uh the foreman uh and others have expressed from the highway department a need for that role um for that help. So uh you know there one of them is going on vacation so there's going to be a need for leadership. Uh, are there any questions or debate points on this?

I'm good with it and I'll be happy to make that motion. And I'll second it. All those in favor? I I All right. Oh, I'm sorry. And that was for Steve's uh Steve. Steve Wrights. Yes. Sorry, should have said that. And that start on this next payroll. That that is uh effective tomorrow. Starting tomorrow. Okay. Very good. Sorry. We did that already. You did that already. Well, the big Oh, I had uh Yeah, I had I guess that's my fault. Yeah, we can skip 16. I had added something. I guess I didn't see that. I already had it on.

Well, one was you have as an advertisement. The other is to release it, but I think you combined it. Yes. Yes, I did. Yeah. 16. All right. resolution to authorize and release bid docks for the Suriri Meadows Culver replacement project. Um, we had talked about this. Um, this is the bond thing that we did like a month or so ago. Um, are there any questions or debate points on it? Do we have do we have a combination of different things with this bond or we're just doing it for that? It was the same bond for the other two things. It was the pond road and then the highway thing, but this is just for this project right now. Okay. This is for the singular project. Okay,

this is the most pressing thing. Um, the highway department has been in contact with me about some it's it's starting to become a real emergency over there. Uh, so they wanted to get this out as soon as possible uh because there's some sink holes developing and uh we need to make sure that we uh protect what we have there and uh try to repair as much as possible. Yep. So, are there any questions or debate points on this? No, I'm good. Is there a motion to uh authorize the release of the bid docks for Siri Meadows Culbert project? It is subject to completion of the documents by the engineer. I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I

All right. We already did executive session. We do have quite a bit of new business. Um a lot of things came in late. Um you know uh so we uh we just uh interviewed a part-time police officer. Uh are there you know this will be subject to a couple more things uh in the normal process of uh hiring somebody but are there any questions or debate points regarding the hiring of this officer? No. No. And now I'm I lost my email. Uh

sorry I just need a clarification. I know you've already voted on it but I don't know what the end point at $20 actually affects. I know you already voted and it is what it is. Yeah, I I can get to you during public comment. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I there will be public comment after new business. I promise. I made that a point. Um but uh yes. Uh so back to this. I'm I lost my email. What is the officer's name again? Michael Christristiano. Cristiano. Are there any uh debate points or uh comments regarding the hiring of that officer uh pending the uh the um required testing? Yeah. No, I'm good.

I'm sorry. What is it pending? Required testing and civil service evaluations and such. Yeah, they're just they're scheduled this week. It's just we don't have a meeting for three weeks and we don't have a start date. We did April 28th is what we're shooting for pending that we that complete. Yes. Yes. Michael Cristiano. All right. If there's none, is there a motion to hire the part-time officer? I'll make the motion. I'll second it. All those in favor? I I

um PBA Carnival I, you know, it's coming up. Um we're all happy to have it, but I the the question was raised today. Did we ever uh like wave the fee for it at the uh the commons? Just it's a formality. Of course, we're going to, but um I can't remember if we did. So, just uh belt and suspenders. Is there a motion to wave all fees and approve of the uh of the uh of the event? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second it. All those in favor? I I just in case you did not.

Good. All right. Holding. There we go. You can tell them that it's back on and that uh move forward. I know they were concerned. Um all right, local law 284. So, this came in um this morning. Everybody should have hopefully seen it. Yes.

Uh this is from the highway department. It's the uh the board the the highway department needs the authority to allow us to start uh our road maintenance program as the vendor would like to begin the week of May 11th. Um the we will be maintaining 11.79 miles of road with this process and although it's not a favorite it will protect the road and create an impervious layer uh to prevent the elements uh from breaking through the and creating potholes etc. It extends the lifespan of the roadway. The loose stones remain for approximately two weeks and then is swept off. Uh we would like to move forward with to do our work. The law 284 can be changed as many times as need be throughout the road work season. Are there any qu questions or debate points on this?

No, let's keep them let's keep them working. Yeah, I believe we all have Yes. Um, is there a motion to uh approve of the local law 284? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I we have each have to sign that I believe so. Okay. I'll get to that first.

Um All right. Uh some others. Uh, our controller, Neil Meyer, uh, would like to put in for a training request for both Tonnie McY, the deputy controller, and himself, uh, to attend the GFOA downstate seminar in Beacon on Tuesday, June 16th. The training is on international controls and best practices. Uh, the cost will be $200 for both of us to attend, $100 each. Are there any questions or debate points? No. Is everything okay? Internal controls.

Oh, internal controls. No, we're not taking over the rest of the world, I guess. Um, all right. Are there any questions or debate points on this? No. Uh, is there a motion to approve of the request? I'll make the motion. I'll second it. All those in favor? I I

All right. Uh we got a late request from the library uh director uh Moren uh for a trustee appointment. On April 21st, 2026, the meeting of the uh Chester Public Library board of trustees. A motion was made to appoint Katherine Rhodess to the vacant position left by Daniel Mahoney. Um upon your approval, her term would go into effect immediately and end December 31st, 2029. Are there any questions or debate points on this request? No. Is there a motion to approve of the request? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second it. All those in favor? I I

can be Can it go through without Stevens? I think so. It's a It's a majority. What do you mean? I'm affected.

Um, and then and one last one. Uh, there is a, uh, Kristen sent in a yearly agreement with the Chester Fire District during fireworks events. This allows the town uh, use of their strip property. Uh, can you please sign it? Uh, use of their strip of property. I think I'm going to want to have Liz look this over real quick. It doesn't need to be done tonight, right, Michelle? You don't think? Yeah. Well, if you can approve it subject to form.

That's true. Um, I I believe it's a boilerplate agreement that we do every year with them for insurance purposes and such. Uh if there are no if there's no um objection, we can approve it now subject to Liz uh you know reviewing it and giving her final approval. Is this with the fire? Yes. Are there any objections to doing that now? No. No. Is there a motion to approve subject to uh town attorney's uh review and approval? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second it. All those in favor? I

I Yes, she is. Uh I believe she is uh in contact with them. Um all right. Uh is there any other new business at this time from the town board members? Yep. You still have the issue with the lighting at Carpenter Field where Kristen requested us to uh discuss whether we want to get a price from Routolo to get the, you know, pricing on the repairs that may be needed at that site. They've tried to some new bulbs, but the lights, some of the lights come on, they're just flickering. Yeah.

So, this, you know, and they have at times they they use the lights five times per week. How much money do we have? Five days during the week. So, it's, you know, kind of a priority thing if we can come up with an answer on how to take care of it. Uh, I'm behind the times on this one. Let me see. That's why we It was just for us to basically let her get a price from hero, but there was a cost and I don't think she had a cost associated with that, but there's a cost to getting a price from her to a cost for them to come out and do an evaluation. Oh. Oh, an estimate. Yeah. Yeah. to evaluate what needs to be done.

Okay. Is there any are there any objections to doing that tonight? No, we got to get Neil's looking to see what we have in the parkland funds. I just asked him what is the cost of doing the estimate? Did Did she say she I don't think it was anything in the email in reference. I don't see anything. I think they got to come out and look and then they give you No, I'm saying they What's the cost for them coming out to look? Yeah, that's what they want. It's probably a service service. They've already light and So they would come out and see what needs to be done in 50 right now. We have we have 50,000 in parkland fees. So we have

Does the controller think 50,000 will cover the cost of them coming out to give us an estimate? I would hope so. We're not putting you on the spot. All right. I'm sure it'll be very good. I would I would give her a lower threshold like $2,000 and then if it's more than that they us all right. Uh just because we don't have a meeting for a while. Yeah. Is there a motion to approve of the request to get an estimate um with a maximum limit of $2,000 for the uh for the estimate meeting? Yeah, I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I

I wish we get that moving to hopefully get that get something in place. couple happen. She didn't have a number and it was just part of the email and I think it's was important that we get it moving is old. I mean just I read your email. All right. Um is there any other new business tonight? I just want to remind you about the request for the CAC representative from the village. Oh. I don't think I ever got a response from them on that. No, I believe we did.

Oh, we did. Yes, it was. It was a positive response.

Yes. Okay. Sorry, that this is my fault. Yeah. So, um what's it called? Uh the village would like us to appoint Aaron Lewitz uh to the conservation advisory council um to fill in the position left by EJ I believe. Um and uh you know he had the blessing of uh the deputy mayor Elizabeth Riley and um and the rest of the village. So are there any uh questions or debate points about this? Nope. No. No. Is there a motion to approve of uh Aaron to be on to the uh CAC? I'll make the motion. I'll second it. All those in favor? I

I I

Yes. All right. Are there any other uh new business tonight? Seeing none, we'll move on to public comment. uh to uh answer the one that already came up, the uh cellular endpoint. It's basically an upgrade uh to the existing water meters uh to allow the town to uh better read uh and have an understanding of the water usage. And it also comes with an app program that residents can use uh to track their own water usage. uh and it allows us to catch catch leaks sooner uh and gives us a real sense of what the proper maintenance of the water district should be and uh what the proper investment uh to the water district should be as well.

How many people does this affect? Anybody who lives in a water district. So if you do not live in a water district then if do you get a water bill? Do you get a water tax? Then you don't then it doesn't affect you. Okay. But the people that do Yes. How many people does that affect? Does it affect 100 300 500? Yeah. A couple of How much is it? 1200 total in all the water. 12200 meters. So there's,200 people with effects and each of those people have to pay a little over $100. No. No. Only if they don't get the meter. If you opt out of getting the meter, then you have to pay the fee just like in any other town that's establishing this sort of fee. Okay. So there there is an expense to opt out.

Yes. Is that expense there going to be totally for the year like $5,000? It depends on how many people. Well, my question being is that those people that opt out, is it possible that perhaps that at least for a year the town picks up that cost until you figure out exactly what this word so they're not penalized at all for doing? No, we just we just voted on those. Yeah. All right. Are there any other public comment tonight? Yeah, please. Oh yeah, you're you need a walker. I'm sorry. You can stay there. You said that 25 people out that'll cover

Well, if there was if I believe his point is uh if 25 people were to opt out, then we would be able to recover uh the cost of the program. Okay. Um if you have more than that, because it's,200 people, say this 10%. So if you have more than that, do we get money back? we get because you're not you don't need that money or what are you going to do with you would not automatically get that money back but I what are you going to do with that money where's it going to go if you have well it's well so the other point that Tom was making is that he he says that it it doesn't it just would recover the cost of the program it takes to read the meters it doesn't recover the cost of the time uh the labor hours and the the gas mileage and all that other stuff

oh that's ridiculous they've been doing it for years they used to do it twice a year now they doing it four times a year which was your choice so and now you're going to charge us for it. Well, I would be interested um in, you know, finding how many people do opt out and if that, you know, being the case. I personally would be uh interested in seeing if we can lower the fee.

I' I'd be I' I'd be interested in that personally, but I'm just one I'm I'm one vote on this board. Um you know, the the whole board would have to discuss it at that time, but uh yeah, we'll see how many people opt out and then we can have further discussions in the future. This this fee being set at $20 right now does not mean it will be set at that in perpetuity. Um, you know, we the the board has moved very fluidly on this. As I explained, we went from no opt- out fee to an opt out. I'm sorry, we went from no opt out to an opt out and we went from a $75 opt out to a $20 opt out. So, uh, this board is willing to hear the public on things and move with the public on things and try to make the the most amount of people happy. Um, I feel that we are trying to do that and uh still be fair at the end of the day and if it if if the situation changes in the future, I think this board would be open to listening. I know for myself that I'd be open to, you know, further listening and possibly reducing it in the future.

When is this building starting? I heard some dates around. It'll be starting for quarter the third quarter. So, your third yearly bill uh you will see if you opt out um this be attached with it. So, your third quarterly bill. What? It's the end. When When does the third bill come out? October. Yeah. Yeah. October. Just want to be aware. Okay. And if you haven't gotten to installing, if you haven't gotten to installing in that district, but you still have two districts to go. Yeah. Those folks probably do not pay those folks that where we haven't gotten to. It's only It's only when we get a written written notice that somebody wants an opt out.

Correct. We have to communicate with everybody before uh to give them the chance to either accept it or opt out before they are there any other public comment. Yes. Dylan Squirreloff, why would it cost $2,000 to run the software? That's that's the bill that we get from the company that gives us the software. It's the updates and the you for the use of that software. Just like any thing that you use on a computer, there's there's a cost associated with it. All right. Seems like a lot.

Everything is unfortunately. Are there any other Yes, you got something. Um, did I hear you say that there is someone handling the highway department's superintendent? No. What I said the the the MOA for the stipen uh right now the Sorry, what's an MOA? MOA is a uh memorandum of of agreement. Um or an MOU is a memorandum of understanding. The union.

Yes. So, we uh right now I'm serving effectively as uh highway superintendent for anything that needs to be signed off on. However, I don't run day-to-day operations over there because I don't I don't know how uh the highway foreman has been basically acting in that role. Um he's he's always the number two for the highway superintendent and the highway foreman can't do it alone. Uh so we decided that we want uh another employee uh to step up in an assistant role uh to the highway foreman. So, if the high informant is unavailable uh or on vacation like he was already, uh we compensate somebody for stepping up in a in a minor leadership role uh temporarily until we get uh a highway superintendent um voted on and then also onboarded properly. Um you know, so it might be a little bit it might still be in effect a little bit after the highway superintendent comes on whenever we do get around to voting one in.

Right. Have you received a lot of complaints about the highway department? Absolutely not. The highway department's one of the most uh beloved departments in the town. You know, they they do an excellent job. They keep our roads very well uh maintained and everything else that they have to do. That the guys over in the garage uh are top-notch and I'm I'm very happy to have them as an as employees in town. Good leadership. They're in Keith and Donna. And yeah, I' I've never heard anything bad about that ever. And I, you know, we published a an inflammatory uh comment to get people to talk to me about it and nothing.

So, so since it's not filled yet, I will be here every meeting giving my report. Okay. Very good. And if you have anything to add to that report, I'm glad to hear it. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, is there any other public comment in the room? Is there anything online? Yes. What is the status of the proposed new location? We are waiting for guys. I'm sorry. We just we have a meeting still going on.

Yeah, you can just talk right after. Uh we're waiting for approval from the health department on the chosen location for that well. So we have to get their approval before it could be drilled. Yeah, Tom and I have been in contact with the water department. Um it's it's definitely top priority. We want that well um you know done so we no longer have any uh floating issues over in Shir. It's been a long time and we're waiting on the that they had to basically do a survey and place it on a map, a plan through our engineer and it had to go to the health department for their approval. Uh, and what else?

Ed Mullins, the gentleman in the orange coat identified himself as town highway department superintendent during public comment. Later, the board mentioned you were interviewing for the position. Was there a temporary appointment to the position while interviewing? I can I can see. No, there is no formal uh uh appointment. I believe that's uh you know just a comment made by a member of the public who is enthusiastic about stepping up uh to to do the role. Uh but no, that there there is no appointment at this time.

Lucy M, can you get answers on the horrible job they did behind my house with the 12 telephone poles and just leaving it with orange mesh gates? It looks like hell. Who's going to make it look decent and when?

Yeah. So, Tom, uh the deputy supervisor and I have been in contact with the company over there for two years ongoing now. Um you know, we we we work uh pretty well with them. Maybe one of us can reach out and see if there's any maintenance to be done over there. As I've explained uh a couple other times to residents on Vivian Lane and in the Suriri Meadows neighborhood, uh we were left with an agreement that was signed by the previous supervisor that basically gave our rights away in terms of the planning process uh for that for that project to go. Um so, you know, I don't believe that we got the correct sort of representation on the planning of that project uh even though it had a direct effect on Chester residents. Uh but we've been trying to do our best to uh work with the company to make it the the least amount of um

impact impact on on the residents over there uh to to with some success, some failures. Uh but there's only so much we can do because we have no authority given the planning process. They have been responsive and they are responsible for the roadway for the future that goes up to the water tower. So if we have issues with that roadway and issues where that something affects the residents, we can reach out to them and they are required to take care of those issues. Tom, do you think maybe you can reach out to them um regarding some of that? Yeah. Thank you. Um is there anything else? That's all I have tonight.

All right. Is there any other public comment? Was that highway department? No, he was just asking why you why you had spoken about you being the highways. I know. Oh. Oh, the the last comment. No, that's not a highway department problem. That's a private developer issue um that the town board will try to uh try to try to remedy. Yeah. No. No. Um All right. Uh if there's nothing else, is there a motion to adjurnn? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I we are