Town Board - Regular Meeting

Calm down. How's vacation? Never had a bad day. I'm calling meeting to order. Attendance, please. Supervisor Holder here. Council member Becker here. Council member here. Council member Courtney here. Council member Dipley here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge 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.

All right. Did everybody get a chance to read the April 22nd uh minutes? Yes, I think look good. Yes. Yep. Are there any uh motions to accept them? I'll make the I'll second. All those in favor? I I The town will be paying bills in the amount of $448,2342 in this latest abstract. 441 or 448? 448. That was a late edition. Okay. The comproller. We'll move into a public comment. Does anybody know who was first? Please step up if you know you're first.

No first on the list. Huh? Oh, yes. He's He's right after you.

Please take it away.

Good evening. We're here to speak in support of establishing sensible ordinance to regulate the sighting and permitting of battery energy storage systems known as BESS or BES rather than banning them outright. I'm a longtime Chester resident. I raised my children here, organized environmental groups here, and served on the Sugarloaf Performing Arts Center advisory board. As a longtime environmentalist, I want to share why Chester should institute smart rules governing where they are cited and how they are regulated. Let me start by stating the obvious about our energy system. It is in crisis. Power bills are on the rise across the country. Oil and gas prices are being driven up by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. New data centers are being proposed that consume as much power as cities. The federal administration is blocking the creation of new lowcost domestically produced energy right here in New York. Look no further than the attacks on or off offshore wind. These pressures have led to NYSO, which manages our state electricity system to warn of increasing brownout risks in the coming years. The last thing we should be doing is restricting the supply of a new energy, which is exactly what banning Bess would in Chester would do. Bests are typic are dispatchable resources. They charge when energy is plentiful, typically during the day when solar is generating and shift that energy to the evening and peak hours when demand is highest and power is most scarce. In doing so, they offset the most expensive and dirtiest power plants that would otherwise need to fire up. In New York, those are typically old oil plants relying on imported fuels and gas peaking plants, which are among the most expensive and least efficient generators

in our region. Best reduce our reliance on those plants, lower costs across the whole grid, and help deliver more affordable power at a time of rising rates. The state understands this value and has set a goal of six gigawatts of battery storage capacity by 2030. Some people don't question the value of best for our grid or our bills, but they do question their safety and they question why Chester should host one. I want to address those concerns directly. On safety, there's good reason to wonder. After all, a small best project right here in Orange County and Warwick has experienced two fires. It is important to understand what actually caused those fires and why they are unlikely to repeat themselves in Chester under a modern ordinance. The the Warwick fires were not a typical best story. Investigations found that both fires were caused by a manufacturing defect that allowed water to infiltrate the system and trigger an electrical fire. The company that built those units, Powen, has since gone bankrupt. On top of that, the Warwick project was not a NAERTA authorized project and at the time that it was installed in 2022, there were no statewide regulatory guidelines or oversight requirements in place for this type of facility. The operator was also found to have been running the unit without a certificate of compliance. In short, Warwick was a case of a defective product, not inadequate state oversight, an operator that was not in compliance, not a reflection of what a well-sighted, well-regulated best project looks like. I'm going to let Michael finish his half and then I'm going to stop back in for one second.

And I'm just given the amount of speakers and the length of the agenda, I'm just going to institute the three the usual three minute um limit to people. So just try to keep it to that if you can.

Beyond the specifics of Warwick, the broader safety record in this industry has improved dramatically. The Electric Power Research Institute maintains a global database of best failure incidents. Their analysis found that the failure rate of utility scale best dropped by 98% between 2018 and 24 even as deployment increased dramatically. And to put the current risk in everyday context, over the past two years, there have been roughly 10 reported best failures globally, an annual rate of about.3%, comparable to the rate of residential house fires across our country. It also matters what kinds of batteries are used. The Wick project used older lithium ion technology, the same as Amazon is proposing in way. Modern bre best approaches use lithium ion phosphate or LFP chemistry which is a meaningful upgrade in terms of safety. Older lithium ion batteries reach thermal runway that is they catch fire at a much lower threshold temperature compared to new best systems which are themselves much less likely to catch fire. Finally, New York State has established a standard BEST safety code that took effect in January 2026 and would apply to any project built in Chester. Why should Chester not cut itself off from hosting best in the future, which is exactly what a prohibition would do? Ending the moratorum and enacting an ordinance does not mean any project gets approval automatically. Any applicant would still need to meet rigorous environmental and safety conditions. The proposed ordinance establishes 400 foot setbacks from homes which exceeds the EPA's own recommended isolation distance of 330 ft. Ending the moratorum will continue the conversation. It does not end it. Second, Chester stands to benefit with millions of dollars in property tax and

community benefit agreement resources if a project is cited here. Our schools need the funding. First responders, including our newly municipalized paramedics, need the funding. Our board made the difficult decision to raise taxes last year. We believe a best project could help roll back increases by introducing a substantial new revenue stream, as well as provide 185 jobs to those in construction who are in fact going to build the project. Finally, and lastly, Chester is home to critical transmission infrastructure that serves as a conduit point between power produced upstate from nuclear wind solar and hydroelect electric plants and population centers in the lower Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island. We are part of the system. As members of the broader community, I believe we have a responsibility to think carefully about how we can contribute to a grid that is safe, affordable, clean, and reliable. Thank you.

Thank you. And I have one last sentence here which is in plain English which I just have added on because I don't want you and I want you guys to listen. I don't want people going and saying, "Oh, let's not do battery storage because we're scared of a battery fire that was way outdated, built differently, and managed poorly." What I want you to think about is that when the fact that when the time comes for them to build something to add into the grid that we have here in this in this whatever we call this this thing up the hill from my house. Um substation

substation that's what it is. um when the time comes for them to build that substation re and add into that substation and that time is going to come as sure as anything on God's good earth we're going to want more power I don't want to see you guys close off something which has the opportunity to be of lesser impact and by putting in a moratorum at this moment I think that's what you'll be doing is you'll be give cutting off a possibility that you may want to consider in the future. Thank you. Thank you,

Brian Ross. Good evening everyone. Uh that's certainly a tough act to follow after a presentation like that. Uh I was here u at the last meeting and I um my major not complaint but something to think about was the high amount of charges for of false alarms where the police come to the house and if you do it more than a certain amount of time within a certain period of time the fines increase uh substantially from $100, $200, $300, $400. I was told you can appeal those um fines, but uh the one time I did appeal it was unsuccessful. I just wanted to ask the board if there's anything that uh could be considered uh reducing that where not to eliminate it obviously, but make it a little bit more affordable in particular for seniors who do make uh a little slower getting to the phone. It's not attached to my hip every second of the day like some people do. And um I did do it. The last time I called, I cancelled it. Didn't matter. The police came. Uh they wrote cancel on the summons. Uh but they still gave me a summon. So I'm not sure how that works. Um uh secondly, I do want to compliment and I'm not sure who to compliment. I believe it's the highway department for where I live off of Richfield Drive in Chester. They did a great job on mowing uh going up the hill. Uh that's been a problem because of the fact it's overgrown and you get tremendous amount of bugs there. We live in a uh facility where there's a lot of young children and it's nice that they did a tremendous job uh today I believe again I'm not

sure if it was the highway department but they did a a fantastic job. uh very briefly at the last meeting there was uh something which I didn't get full uh clar clarity on is about a grant of $1.25 million um that could really help uh the town of Chester. Now, someone that I have written grants in the past in my previous life um before I moved to Chester and that when you're writing grants uh if you don't get it, they tell you why. They give you the reasons and then you can either resubmit or if you're not eligible, you're not eligible. I really wasn't clear on whether the grant was denied or whether it's now in the proposal stage. So, I'm really not certain where that's at. Um, but that's an important dollar amount. I mean, there should be tremendous amount of effort to try to get $1.25 million grant no matter what to help the community. It's not spec. It's very specific in the grant, but it's certainly something that hopefully would be a major effort to get and if people need help in getting it, they should get that help. If the town is eligible for the grant, it should get it. And uh finally, um regarding the budget, I did notice in the minutes that the certified financial reports uh were hopefully I guess they were due April the 30th of this year. I just not certain as to are those certified financial reports are they uh for the public domain or is it online are they I'm not okay so that answers that question when when are those available

to review as soon as they provided to me as soon okay thank you very much appreciate it thank you

yeah the town board can respond to me about the uh the fees if they uh feel that that should be revisited. Uh and the grant has been applied for and the the announcement at the last meeting was that in the past we've had trouble because it's a large amount of uh competition and that's why we haven't gotten it in the past because it's a federal grant and there's only so much money to go around. This year our congressman has uh basically sponsored it directly for us meaning that it has a much better chance of us getting selected. So, it has been already the the application's already in um and we're doing we've done everything we can to to seek out that money. Okay. Thank you,

Aean Riley. Okay. And Monica, uh Ryan Senning, how's it going, y'all? Um I have a few questions. I'm hoping some of which you might answer, but I'll ask them and then if there's silence, I can move on. Um mostly regard regarding the comprehensive plan and then as it relates to the battery storage and as it relates to a um zoning change around religious use. Um my first question is on what date did the comprehensive plan committee pass their uh recommendations off to the board?

So I can I can speak to that. The comprehensive plan committee um passed its recommendations back in December of 2024. Uh the board and the planner the planners and my my office worked to um not necessarily on the comprehensive plan but focusing on zoning revisions related to the recommendations in the comprehensive plan. Um we held one round of public hearings back in October. Um in light of those public hearings and public comment um we have um gone back with some revisions. We also sought special counsel on the uh religious uses. Uh I have advised the board that I anticipate will not guarantee but I anticipate having revised documents to the board within the next coming days. Um and then we anticipate introduction either end of May, beginning of June of the revisions. Um so u most of that time has been spent on the zoning revisions.

Zoning revisions. Okay. Um I ask because it is hard to understand what has taken so long unless someone shares what has taken so long. I mean so even that like level of detail sort of lets us know what is happening. Um but it is December 2024 feels like a really long time ago at this point. Yeah

it is. The matter was referred to special counsel. So that took um we had that took that added some time um to to get their to get their work because they came into it cold what I call cold. Um we did have a fairly extensive um session with the board and public presentation back in November. Um so that's effectively the source of the delay is that special counsel work. Um I had a conference call uh with Kristen O'Donnell this this week. Um and I essentially sent her a punch list Tuesday, yesterday, um with final, you know, final tweaks. So, we are hoping to have those punched out um in the next couple of days. Okay. Um before is it APA, the the power company? I don't know how you said it.

IPA. IPA. before um IPA presents tonight. My understanding is um that the the town board already has an opinion on allowing battery storage facilities in Chester and I'm wondering if you all would be willing to share that opinion each of you independently before um APA presents tonight. Um do you will do you support a ban on battery storage facilities in Chester as part of the comprehensive plan as the comprehensive plan committee recommended? I think the moratorum was put on to give us the opportunity to think about that in the time frame until it's over with.

Yeah, the the board had asked for a ban to be put in place in the comprehensive plan. Uh so that that has been put in there as of this moment. I'll give you my opinion and my opinion is that I don't have enough information to form an opinion. But you'll need to vote on the compre on adopting the comprehensive plan in days. No. Is that not when this happens? Months. Months. So we it's finalized in maybe days or weeks and then we So I just want to be clear for you as well as as the as the public.

That's why I'm asking this question. We're finalizing the draft um comprehensive plan zoning. We had made some sizable revisions in response to public comment. Um we had some work sessions with the board. Okay. And and those are all part of a comprehensive planning process is to make those types of revisions. Um given the number and scale of revisions, um I think the most conservative approach is to reintroduce those as amendments rather than simply saying these are response to public comments. And so there will be a reintroduction and a public hearing um and further discussion by the board. So the product that I pres that I present to the board as a as a what I what I call a draft may be subject to further change. Um I hope not I hope not any significant change other than correction of minor tweaks. Um but uh so just to be clear they're not vote this board is not voting on that within days. There will be a public comment period. Um we've had lots of discussions on various issues. things have changed since 2024. Um so and there's been desires to add add things subtract things as as these these um documents eb and flow. So again they're not they have not seen the revisions. Again I anticipate having them to them in the next couple of couple of days um for them to do an internal review of those documents get any last minute revisions to me to finalize and I hope to have an introduction at the end of May uh potentially beginning of June.

Okay. And I'll give you my position on it right now. I'm I'm against it against having against having against having a facility right now. Okay. And I'll give you my opinion as well. I'm against it as well, but I want to hear everything out first. Okay. Thank you. All right. Um shifting gears slightly and I It's two final questions.

Yeah, if you can just Yep. Can um can someone explain Brandon? You can because I've heard your version of your explanation. Um can you explain why it is necessary um legally necessary it sounds like to um remove the our prohibition on uh religious use in mixed residential agricultural zones in Chester. um given the the the audience and the size of the audience and um all of that is going to be in the response to public comments that's going to be submitted and that will all be made available as to and there'll be a written explanation so you can see it. Um I do encourage you Lind, I don't know if it's still on the website. Um I made a presentation back on my PowerPoint presentation from uh November 19th provides the um rationale that I relied on. Um we did solicit special counsel um and uh we're finalizing that but um you can see the rationale I relied on.

Okay. Okay. Many of us rely on our town board to translate legal boiler plate language into accessible terms. Pretty straightforward. It's a it's a pretty clear power like I I worked pretty hard on that. I'm not take a look at it. You can also the video is still on the town's YouTube channel. You can you can see that presentation. um and discussion with the board. And again, that's from the November 19th meeting. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Colleen Bailey. I'd like to put mine till later, please.

Okay. Um this is script and they stopped teaching script in third grade for me. It's on uh 1310 Milress Lane. There we go. showing my age here. Hey, you also showed ours.

I just gonna ask you guys a simple question. You know, Sugarloaf Mountain Road, okay? You got a substation on it. It's a very windy road. If those batteries do blow from overheating or distress on the grid, it's going to cause a fire on that mountain. Now, all I'm trying to say is think logically about how you going to get them up there, how you going to get the fire trucks in there, how you going to put it out. This is a dangerous situation. You're going down a very windy road in the winter. It stinks. So, you got to send those fire trucks down there or up it in the middle of winter because one of those batteries. Just takes one. Doesn't have to do the whole planet. Take one. The environmental hazard that Warwick did to us, no one's ever done anything. an eco evaluation of what the fire did both of what it did to the air. What do you think that smoke went? Just evaporated. You're you're dangering the econom the ecosystem of Chester, New York, which is already damaged severely by other things that the town of Chester chose to do, which in my opinion were highly speculative speculative. I I don't think it's right and I think that you the danger outweighs everything. That road is dangerous. that that mountain catches fire, you're going to have Green L Greenwood Lake on your hands. It only takes one battery.

Can you Can you just state your name clearly? Steven Smith. Steven Smith. Okay. Alex, I will be speaking. Okay. Um Steve Kowski. Kowalsski. Kowalski. Oh, Steph. No.

Um, I was going to save my comments to the end, but to the two people that stood up and were commenting on the battery fires in Warwick, there was a lot of things you said that I don't know if you didn't know or it was intentional, but we had three fires, not two. Um, the units were not outdated. They were brand new and they're experimental. Um, the cause of one of the fires wasn't determined. they were assuming it was the same cause having to do with water. To speak on what he just said, he's 100% accurate. Although there are EPA guidelines, the testing after fires and incidents is not adequate. They just test the air in certain samples. They didn't test the ground. They didn't test the water. The last fire happened in the winter, so the ground sample was heavily influenced by nature. So, you didn't get a proper reading. Um the site was also heavily guarded so you couldn't go on and get your own sample. We did ask the village several times to get a sample and they said they were advised not to to wait until the systems were removed completely. Um they were operating out of compliance but the issue with that is there's not enough guidelines to tell you what is and is not in compliance. So local towns, whether you say there's new laws about best or not, it's still experimental technology. It's really not going to offset cost that you think it will in the manner that you think it will. It's going to take years to even be able to measure if it's actually helping or not. It does it's supposed to. A lot of the promises that we're making about it and hoping about it are assumptions, but a lot of the things we know about it are not assumptions because negative things have happened. These contracts do come with money for the town, but it's really in their lease of the property, and they

usually negotiate two or three 10-year leases that you can't cancel until after the second one. And there's very strict guidelines on cancelling it. It's why it was so hard to get them off of school property and out of the village. So, I think this is something that you should really think long and hard. I think it was a really bad move to let the company come in and propose something without officially proposing it. It's always been known to me and Warwick Town and Village once something's proposed, you can't change zoning. So I understand you have a moratorum that you're thinking on lifting and a comprehensive plan that you're thinking on working on but you haven't changed anything yet. So I would think long and hard about it. I would keep your moratorum on it and I would still vote no. This is not only going to affect the town of Chester, this is going to affect Sugarloaf. It's going to affect Warwick. It's going to affect the village of Chester. And that's like a heavy weight for you guys. But there's a lot more information than just what if this happens. It's it's already happened. And it sounds minimal with the statistics that were previously given, but it's really not minimal. And it's drastic. And you don't know 5 years from now who in Warwick is going to have what permanent health issues from this battery fire that you can't put out and what lawsuits are going to come to the village from the fire and acting out of compliance. So, I would still vote no.

Thank you. Thank you,

Mel. I'm back again. I'm not done. Okay. Good evening, Chester citizens and elected officials. At the April 22nd board meeting, it was decided that that uh residents choosing to opt out of installing the Orion cellular endpoint water meters in their homes would be charged $20 quarterly or $80 a year supposedly to cover the cost of the software for the older uh meters. Before the meeting ended, Dylan Scuroff from the Chronicle asked the board, "How much is the software?" And Brendan replied, " $2,000," which everyone seemed said agreed it was expensive. The fact is that the town has to keep the software in place because they still have over 600 homes on the system as they are still installing the meters and the new meters over the next two years. And it seems unfair to be charging anyone until the job is complete. as originally suggested by Tom Becker. What are you doing with the opt- out fee over the next two years that you're collecting? On my way home that evening, I had another interesting thought. How much is the software going to cost the town for the new meters? So, I started doing some investigation in the original fact sheet about the cellular endpoints given to everyone at the um a meeting a while ago. And I have those papers right here that you had given us all the facts. Um there were facts I'm questioning now. I have found a lot of information questions now and

I've found a lot of information. I don't want to discuss it at this time. I hope everyone is on board and can answer some of these questions for me on the board. Number one, it's on your sheet. The cellular endpoints are installed on existing analog meters. So the original meters have to stay in place. You're not taking them out and replacing them with something else. You're putting this new thing on top of that. Two, each endpoint costs approximately $200 each plus $1 per month for each cell service when it was all and this was supposedly budgeted for. That sounds great. This is where the math came in and drove me crazy until you actually do this math. $1 a month times 12 months is $12 a year per house. Then multiply the 12 times the number of meters that you said you you know totally $1,49 meters. That's $12,588 a year. The endpoint that we use in the Beacon Orion cellular C model, the lifespan of the unit lasts as long as the encapsulated non-replaceable battery. Batteries last around 30 years. That's what you said. So, I made some calls to see if this is true and find out who was the self-service provider for the meters because that was I was curious. Also, I found out that our meters are supplied by Schmidz Wholesale in Florida, New York. That was after calling Orion and they told me it's right here. I called them up and spoke to them. The cell service provider is AT&T or Verizon, mostly AT&T around this area. The $1 a month charge um pays for line access, development, and service updates, which should be the software. So now you're talking $12,000 for software. The batteries last 10 years under warranty and maybe, but not 30. Maybe a

few more. So replacement transmitter and units cost $260 each. That's at this time if you had to replace them. Badger handles the self-service billing. Meters can restrict water flow into your home. So they can actually somewhere along the line slow the water down or stop it into your own house from their meters. I just have to ask you to what? I just have to ask you to finish your

Oh, I've just got a little bit left. All right. So, in the 10 years, the town will most likely have to replace all of the meters in another tremendous expense. My question to you is, how are you budgeting for this? Who is paying the $12,588 self-service software yearly expense? In light of this information, how can you charge opt-out fees to cover a $2,000 software fee in place of a $12,588 fee? I propose that at this time the board suspends the opt- out fees until further budgetary discussion and explanations for at least two years until all the meters are installed. And I did call some of the other towns to find out what they were paying and what they were charging for water and they were aware that it only lasts 10 years. I don't know why you didn't. Thank you.

Jeff's on task with you. This is public comment. You can talk about whatever you'd like.

Sugarloaf. Um, we need a little help. I'll be brief. Um, Sugarloaf is a commercial center of Chester. It's beautiful. We have restaurants. We have the Sugarloaf Performing Arts Center. We have a lot of walking people walking through it. An important component of making any hamlet is flowers, hanging baskets. It's really important. Um, the Sugarloaf Community Foundation, the chamber has a lot of skin in the game. We put up Christmas trees, we repair Margolus Park. We do a lot of things. We only have about 12 barrels and we'd like to put hanging baskets through the Hamlet. They're gorgeous, but we need a little help. Brandon went and discussed it and it seems like we're not going to be able to get help. Um, we need to be done twice a week. A lot of the shop owners are only there Saturday and Sunday. It is a problem. In the past, Gary Huner did it. He had a golf cart and did it. He's no longer in town. So, I went around and asked other towns, "What do you guys do? We can't do it. We're not interested in it." Warick, the big town, DPW buys the flowers, waters the flowers. Big town, forget it. Goan, big town. DPW buys the flowers, waters the flowers. Monroe loves hanging baskets on streets, buys the flowers, waters the flowers. DPW. Smaller towns, Florida. DPW buys the flowers. Chamber um sorry, the chamber buys the flowers. DPW waters it smallest town. I'll finish up. Greenwood Lake Parks and Wreck does it. They have hanging baskets and barrels like we want to have. The only one that doesn't is Chester Village in front of village hall. They have a couple baskets and the girls in the clerk's office water it. Um Brandon went to the um appropriate people and they said, "We don't have the resources. We don't have the time. We don't have the manpower, women power. can't do it. Living in Sugarloaf, the Sugarloaf Performing Arts Center has eight acres. We are not experts, but we know there had been some mowing, some upkeep. No longer the county does it. Um, is there any half hour a week that can help us with it? Um, the other comment I got that I couldn't believe. There are safety concerns, particularly

regarding the idea of staff standing on the back of a truck while watering. Additionally, logistical issues were mentioned, such as how to handle situations where vehicles are parked near the planters. I asked Gary, I asked um Greenwood Lake. They said, "All it is is a trigger finger. You get off and you shoot it. It's simple as can be. Everywhere has parked cars. It is no issue whatsoever. Every town prioritizes hanging baskets, flowers." So, all we're asking for is can we consider a compromise? We'll buy the flowers. We'll buy the tank. We'll do some watering. Can we consider if every other town prioritizes beautifification, can we just try to revisit that and work if we can? We think it's important and it's important component. If everyone's doing it, why can't we? Thank you.

Thank you,

Tom. Nap. Hello, I'm Tom Knap. I'm a lifelong resident of Orange County. I'm also a business rep of IBW Local 363 Electricians Union in Hudson Valley. Um we have dozens of uh members that I represent in Chester. Um we also have hundreds of members in Orange County. Um I'm here to talk about the battery storage project. Uh this means over 150 jobs in Chester. Um work that puts our members uh kids through college and keeps Hudson Valley families u in their homes. Um, a band doesn't pause the project. It sends the project to Texas, Arizona, and states that are happy to take New York's energy investment dollars. Um, I'm asking I'm asking you to keep the moratorum and work with us on standards you need and don't close the door on the next generation of Orange County infrastructure. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks. That's it for the people who wrote down their names. Is there anybody else? Yeah. Well, I was going to Is there anybody else in the room that would like to speak at this time? Is anybody online? No. All right, then we will move forward. Next is uh Aean and Monica from IPA.

Presentation materials. We have some extras for anybody else down. All right. If you can just give in the uh Sure. Yeah, I'll get started.

Yeah. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for making time for me. Uh my name is Aean Riley. I'm here from Cornwall, which makes me your neighbor on this exact same section of the Hudson Valley grid. My first job was down the road at Black Rockck Forest helping to facilitate ecological experiments and maintain trails and roads. Now combined with a jurist doctor and a master of urban planning and significant experience in land use, environmental protection and municipal planning, I developed renewable infrastructure through the lens of environmental stewardship and rigorous land use planning policy. I'm proud to bring this proposed battery storage and grid reliability project to the town of Chester. Iper Power was established in 2016, focused exclusively on bringing battery energy storage systems online to strengthen the grid and meet our climate action goals. Today, IPA is the leading energy storage independent power producer in the United States. We currently have over 42 operating projects and 22 gawatts more under development. We have the capital to execute this project under the absolute highest tier of safety technology and the balance sheet to guarantee our financial commitments to the town of Chester. First, I want to ground this discussion in the technical reality of a regional grid. Last month, our local energy system operator, NYISO, released its short-term reliability process report for forecasting a severe transmission security deficit in the lower Hudson Valley. This means the region is approaching a point where existing grid infrastructure may not be sufficient to reliably meet rising electricity demand, increasing the risk of congestion, reliability events, and higher energy costs for homes, schools, and businesses. By 2030, as aging fossil plants retire and we continue to compensate for the lost nuclear base load of Indian Point, the Pacific region is projected to face an electricity shortfall of 600 megawws, the equivalent of powering half a million homes. The state's bulk power system is starving for dispatchable resources to maintain voltage stability and avert emergency operating

procedures. Plainly, this means more blackouts, higher utility bills, and more exposure to polluting energy resources. The Sugarloaf substations are the primary electrical gateway between upstate generation and downstate load centers. The public and you can see uh from the map, it is quite clearly a crossroads uh of very important energy infrastructure unique. The public service commission has explicitly prioritized upgrades here like recently rebuilt Rock Tavern to Sugarloaf line and the New York Transco 115 to 138 KB tie line to relieve major transmission bottlenecks. For the residents of Chester, relieving these bottlenecks means actively preventing local brownouts, stopping the spike in utility bills caused by emergency power purchases, and retiring the aging polluting power plants in our region. The Hamiltonian energy storage project is the necessary evolution of this critical infrastructure. Interconnecting directly into the orange and rockland 138k beach switching station. This facility provides a significant 1200 megawatt hour buffer. It allows the system to absorb excess renewable generation flowing from the north during off- peak intervals and cleanly de discharging it downstate during peak demand windows. We are transforming a static transmission corridor into a dynamic dispatchable power hub unlocking the full potential of existing infrastructure. To meet this grid need, IPA is proposing the Hamiltonian energy storage project. This would bring a 300 megawatt 4-hour duration system, an important economic value to the town.

God bless. I love you.

We utilize top tier lithium ion phosphate chemistry, which is inherently stable and resistant to thermal runaway. And we engineer our sites strictly to the latest NFPA 855 fire codes passed just this year. I detail these safety standards because I want to address the convergent fire and war directly. That incident was not an indicator of modern battery storage is a textbook case of legacy defects, poor regulation, and mismanagement. The initial 2023 incident was linked to a known manufacturing defect in a specific product that allowed water to infiltrate the system. Following that, the village requested additional safety monitoring which seemingly was not implemented. and the system that caught fire last December was reportedly returned to service without a certificate of compliance. While mistakes were clearly made, the empirical data, however, from that exact in incident proves that modern containment protocols work. The data has previously been provided to this board in the form of public comment, but I'll repeat it here. The Orange County hazmat response team confirmed that there were no increased levels of toxic contaminants. Because modern emergency response dictates letting the units safely burn out rather than flooding it, there was zero firefighting runoff, meaning no soil or water sampling, produced measurable results or hazards. Furthermore, air monitoring by NAERTA, also provided to this board, the state energies regulator, confirmed no public health risk and zero off-site impacts. The operator failed, but the safety measures succeeded in ensuring public and environmental safety. That this brings me to Chester's draft best law. The law the town has been spent nearly two years crafting is exactly what pro protects this town from a war scenario from happening here. It mandates a 400 foot uh setback from occupied structures. And to put that in perspective, that distance significantly exceeds the EPA's 330 foot isolation zone as well as NFPA exposure limits which were detailed by fire risk alliance to this board. Importantly, it

incorporates New York's newly overhauled fire code just this year, making a repeat of that scenario legally and procedurally impossible. Under the updated code, a hazard mitigation analysis performed by a licensed fire protection engineer is now required. That specific peer review catches design vulnerabilities like water infiltration before a shovel ever hits the ground. Furthermore, the new code demands strict large-scale UL 954A fire testing by an improved lab specifically to verify a fire cannot physically propagate from one container to another to ensure no operator can just flitch flip a switch without approval. Building and operating permits are now tied to a strict pre-approved commissioning plan. The code also requires automatic notification to the local fire department if safety thresholds are even threatened and requires hazard support personnel to be dispatched within 15 minutes. The state regulations have caught up and your drafted zoning code enforces them. If this board feels that the current draft of the best law is not perfect, the responsible municipal action is to amend it, increase the scrutiny, add more peer review, make the technical hurdles higher. We welcome that rigor. Let this project stand on its own merits and be made better through a strict public process. But please do not close the door on the future of the grid and this critical infrastructure. Beyond generating energy stability for the grid, the project will generate important economic value for the town. Banning this technology just doesn't just halt necessary infrastructure, it eliminates millions in guaranteed municipal revenue. Between the 1,250 per megawatt pilot and the 750 per megawatt community host agreement, the project will deliver over 280,000 annually directly to the town of Chester. Over 20 25 year lifespan, you are looking at over 19 million in new revenue to support schools, roads, and infrastructure. Furthermore, we're open to contributing to the community

preservation fund, providing 14 and a half acres of land for permanent conservation or developing new recreational amenities for residents. A ban is a blunt instrument that forfeits the shared responsibility to address decarbonization, energy affordability, and the protection of our regional environment. Your drafted best law is comprehensive and rigorous, allows a project to be evaluated on its own merits, ensuring safety through strict requirements and public process. Pass the law, hold us to the highest standards possible, and let's build something safe, necessary, and economically transformative for Chester. Thank you. I'm happy to answer any questions at this time.

I got a question. Uh, what's the anticipated life or uh when these are if they were in place, how long would they last to supplement the the grid? Basically, about 25 to 30 years. I'm saying if if there's a blackout or whatever the these are batteries, how long will that battery keep the grid moving without other

So, right now the project is designed uh and mind you this has not been formally proposed. We have been waiting for the municipality to pass legislation so that we could actively conform to it. However, what we have currently designed is a 300 megawatt 4hour system. That means it's a system that's capable of delivering 300 megawatts of power for 4 hours. It could also be proposed as 150 megawatt 8 hour system. The state's needs um will kind of dictate which way that goes. Um, but it's a summary of about 220 units. And this project would also receive funding from the government to cover some of the cost. Is there a percentage on that?

Not a percentage, but it it's um it's based on a sliding scale based on location need um and things like that. So, NAERTA runs that program. What it actually does for the system. Exactly. NAERTA runs that program. um and it is completed in a yearly uh competitive RFP process. So even in that we would have to prove that our project is worth it to the grid and once this project is in place if it were to go in place it it would last theoretically for 30 years about that. Yes. And what's the recyclability of the units that are put in place?

So that is uh that's an industry that's actively coming online. Right. Um I I did want to note on the um lifespan, we will repower the system periodically and replace older units with newer ones. Um so there is some turnover in the units themselves during that lifespan, but that's the estimated uh you're planning on putting everything in online at one at one time. You're not going to add to it in time. So we So we actually So when we hand you the site plan, we have all of the batteries laid out. Not all of those locations will actually have a battery day one. So, um, you can add to it as you go,

right? So, like over the first 10 years, all the batteries degrade to 80% of their full capacity. Then we'll add in new batteries to bring the whole system back up to 100% and do that incrementally as a project. Start replacing the older with new. Exactly. And so, you didn't really answer the question on the recyclable. Are they recyclable? What what takes place with these when you take them out? So, they will be right is is my best answer today. you know the the industry does not yet exist because it is you know evolving. Uh but looking at it from like your wind turbine you got all these blades from wind turbines right do with them? What are we going to do with these batteries in the future?

I will point out that um you know we all have lithium ion batteries right in our pocket and we are getting we already are recycling those right? So the technology will catch up to the large scale but we it exists today. Um, but there's not a lot of batteries getting retired yet because they're it's new. I'm just curious because just something I read that they're not recyclable right now as of concern. Yes. But it's going to be a lucrative industry to do so I imagine.

Okay. Thank you. That was my questions. I I have a comment, David. Um not necessarily to you, but um you know, battery storage exists um everywhere you look. Not in the same way, in the same type of of um system. Um every building in New York City has a generator with battery backup in it. This isn't um it's you know the this type of technology might be new uh but battery storage in general has been around forever. Um I'm not I'm not trying to speak in favor or against this right now. Um as I've said I need I need some more information. I need technical information. um which you know I I think I I you know I'd be able to evaluate. Um but um it's it's not it's not this isn't the only use for battery storage and it's not a new thing is all I'm trying to say. Um and that that it's existed. I mean I' I've installed them myself along with you know many other things. So, um, that that was just my comment for, you know, public consumption, not necessarily for you.

All right. Thank you. Are there any other comments or questions? Tom asked my question. The second part of it, the when they decommissioned, but you answered that was to be to be determined. I guess it is. Yeah. All right. Thank you very much for I appreciate it.

All right. We are going to go into reports. I'm going to keep this very brief in the interest of time. Um we'll start with the uh we'll start with the councilman reports first and I'll I'll starts the last two weeks. Uh I just wanted to congratulate the Sugarloaf uh community foundation um and Faren uh specifically about the cleanup. It went very well uh and um I think the whole area is a little bit cleaner for it. I want to congratulate the PBA on a successful carnival. Uh it seems like it went very well. I visited um seemed like the kids had a good time. I wanted to thank and congratulate the accounting department in the town of Chester. Uh we completed our uh outside audit.

Um and we were first in the county to submit uh the results for that audit. So, um I think that really goes to show the quality of staff that we have in uh our accounting department. So, thank you to the controller who's here with us today. Um it's uh we've come a long way. I remember I know some people on the board here have been here a long uh long enough to know that usually that thing takes about 3 to 5 days for the outside auditors to come in and look over everything. The outside auditors were only here for one day, uh which was pretty insane to see. So, it was very efficient. Um, very clean. It's a good job. Um, I wanted to thank the Chester Academy uh seniors for coming and painting the windows at the Chester Senior Center. Um, it's very beautiful. Um, hopefully they're holding up with the weather, but uh they they they did a very good job. So, if anybody's interested, they can go drive over the senior center. Um, Munda meeting yesterday went great, but I'm sure the deputy supervisor will have more information on that in his report, uh, if any. And, uh, upcoming are the Sugarloaf, uh, festivals, the spring festival, uh, later the is it this weekend? This upcoming weekend,

next weekend. Next weekend. Memorial Day weekend. And then also the Kuanas 5K, which I believe is on the 23rd um, in the Village Chester. Uh we'll go to Councilman Casara. Uh I was part of that Sugarloaf Community Foundation cleanup and uh we cleaned up quite a bit. Everybody expected there not to be any garbage but there was and uh yeah I congratulate them as well too. So the job well done. Very good. Deputy supervisor.

Okay. I just want to bring to light to the board there's been some discussions recently on the wells at Naps View. I did meet up with with the water department and with Michelle. There is one well several hundred feet above the existing building there at Naps View. I think that's something we should consider keeping in place, not C, you know, not cutting off and uh losing that potential for the future if we ever wanted to bring water to to the building. So, that's something we can discuss or something we can decide tonight that we'd like to keep that well. We could fence around it. If there's a concern with somebody getting hurt on it, we could simply fence off the small area around that casing. As far as it goes with any other wells on site, I would propose that we think about it budgetary time because if we're going to do it, I assume we would do it correctly. and that is having a well driller come in and seal those wells, fill them with uh with a grout and cut them off from there. Then they're they've been sealed as per DEEC requirements. So I think that's what we should consider a budget time, but my thought process is to say that well I'm not sure anybody else has thought on that.

I I spoke to Michelle and um she said exactly the same that you just said. So, okay. I think uh that's something that we could definitely discuss during budget time to cap off that one and uh protect the other. I think that if if you think that there's Yeah, I just I think it may not source it may not be a a municipal well, but it could be a well like a homeowner's well that we could use at that location in the future if necessary. And why would we expend more money to cap it and then redrill it out in the future if we have some thought of using it? It seems sensible. Okay. Does that everybody else got it? No, I agree with that. Yeah, I agree.

So, I think we should just fence it off. We'll we get them to get some pricing on fencing that off, protect because I think the concern is somebody running into that well casing. Okay.

So, if we fence it off, we protect it. We put green fencing up so it kind of blends in. It doesn't stand out, but it does does the purpose of what we're trying to get through. Also with the mood to meeting as me uh supervisor mentioned uh at the pump station 3A uh they are installing the new system now for the uh air introduction to alleviate the uh smell down at the airplane park. So that's that's in uh in in the progress of taking place. Also, we had uh somebody from the county there to discuss some of the things going on with the new plant that's coming. I guess they have a submitt going in soon in regards to the proposed plant and that getting taking place. So, I think what do you say the end of 2027 they may be beginning?

Yeah. On that plant, three to five years construction time. But uh the downside for us may be the fact that you know kind of one of one of the things that were discussed it's like a first come first serve basis as to the amount of capacity each town may see. It's something to be discussed in the future but I think county is being squiggly on that. Uh we need we don't have a clear answer. Yeah, we need to kind of pin them down and figure out what the actual answer is because last night they were saying how they went they they had made a survey out to the municipalities back in 2022 and they're going to base the allocation of the sewer capacity on the answers to that survey how it was filled up.

Um yeah, and and for your future growth, right? We not sure what ours No, I I saw it last night. our engineer handed it to me and he said that the town at the time in 2022 asked for double the current aotment. Okay. Um and that that seemed to be the standard from most communities uh is to ask for double what they had at the time uh just to you know pad their numbers for the future growth. Uh so you know I think that'll also help the town of uh Monroe and Monroe because they're both over capacity right now. We're all over capacity. Yeah. We're we're over because we're still we still have about 130,000 gallons of capacity, but it's uh with the green, right?

Yeah. If they use all of it, we will be over. So, so that's all in the works. Uh we also have, you know, we also have issues. I'm not sure if that's part of this report. We have issues with the lighting at the Carpenter Field now again. So, that's something we uh need to consider. We, you know, we spent a lot of money on the uh fields by the senior center. Now we we're looking at possibly the same numbers at the new field. So we're looking into grants already for it and uh of course we have parkland funds which is exactly what that's supposed to be used for. So uh yeah, Kristen and Michelle are looking into options.

And also down at Walt Lake Estates, uh we had approved some work to be done down there and that has begun. the new pumpkid and the new control panel are in the process of being installed and that's it for me. Very good. Council Courtney,

um just uh first I want to chief I want to what do you call recognize you and the offices it's National Police Week. So just wanted to thank you personally, you and the men and women over there for all that you guys do. Um and just kind of was there's kind of a uh kind of an kind of I don't know what you would call it, but it's it's interesting. You had an auditor in here. usually they here four or five days and was only here one day. The chief when he got when he got his certification accreditation from the state that they were there what one day two days as opposed to a four-week process. So it kind of kind of speaks to the folks that work for this town. So I wanted to uh bring that up and then supervisor you and I have in that time of year again spending spent some time at the county and uh Zoom calls and tomorrow an inerson meeting for contract negotiations. So, I'll be able to update the board with the supervisor probably next meeting. Uh, and where we're at with that. That's all I have.

Very good, Councilman Diffy.

All right. I'm going to try to run through these department reports given the time. So, we got a late uh submission from the planning and zoning. Uh the next planning board is June 3rd. Uh Munich Lab, they have provided the planning board secretary with a mockup and requested other docs to be sent with them. Um they they'll keep us updated on the progress of installing that program. And then the next ZBA meeting will be June 11th. building department. Uh 32 new building permits, 45 closed building permits, uh 302 total open building permits, 41 total inspections, 10 complaints, two municipal searches in the month of April. Uh the historian uh went to some uh events and regional collaboration uh opportunities. There was Orange County's 20 250th exhibit which was April 26th. Chester Repair Cafe which was April 25th. Um and the repair cafe we spoke about at a a previous meeting. They did a wonderful job. They're our conservation advisory council. Um you know so if if you guys didn't know we have that please take advantage of it in the future. Uh they helped 82 residents uh who came in. Uh and then they then he did a normal archiving duties congregate dining from the parks and recck department. Uh 217 meals were served in the month of April. Uh $9446 was the town of Chester's contribution. $2,436.50

uh was due from Orange County. So, as always, very good job and a very good deal uh for Chester there. And thank you to all the volunteers who I visited uh at the last one. Uh they do a wonderful job. The water department reports are usually lengthy and technical, so I'm going to leave that for you guys to read on your own time if you so wish. Uh but there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. A lot of normal maintenance, some uh repairs and uh you know throughout the five districts that we have PD. Uh there were 10 arrests made in April. Uh there was a bunch of noncriminal activity, 44 medical calls, 15 uh false alarms, uh 12 suspicious persons, 11 domestic disputes, disturbances, and other disputes, three motor vehicle crashes with injuries, nine without injuries. Um, a lot of community policing as always, eight house checks, 900 b 96 business security checks, some trainings, and uh, some miscellaneous business that the police department attends to, but you can read the full report uh, afterwards if you wish. the uh EMS reports, we had 75 total dispatches, 74 total responses, 54 transports, and one uh one occurrence where no unit was available because they were already out on a first call. Uh the total average response time for all units was 8 minutes and 53 seconds, which is very nice to see.

They've stayed very consistent. Yes, around the nine minute mark. I would say nine 10 minutes. Uh the reasons for additional units that were necessary was for them uh they were already out on a first call and then one was they were already out on a second call. So uh they were very busy in those moments and there was 26 ALS and 41 BLS instances meaning advanced life support and basic life support for the uninitiated highway department. Uh all winter equipment has been removed from the trucks and construction equipment is being installed. Roadside paper pickup was done. SWPPPP mapping for the engineering office maintenance and repairs have been done to the roadside mowers. Uh they're going to be mowing roadside uh which became this week which I believe we had a resident speak about. So that's good to see that it's happening. Uh patching of roads have been done in preparation for oil and chip maintenance. Oil and chip will begin the week of uh this week. It should have begun this week. uh assist parks and wrecks with uh back filling electrical projects. Um drainage has been monitored as needed. Catch basins repairs have started. Road sweeping is in progress. Mechanics continue to do maintenance on the trucks and other equipment. Police vehicles. Thank you to the highway department. Animal control. There were six calls for loose lost found dogs. two calls for injured or deceased deer and one call for an injured hawk who I hope is doing all right. And that was that is the full animal control report. So very light.

Yeah, that's it. All right, let's move on to regular business. uh Sugarloaf Chamber of Commerce request for a $500 pedal permit blanket fee for the Sugarloaf Spring Festival. We did this last year uh to basically streamline it and make sure that there is some compliance to our code here uh for collecting the peddlers uh permit. Um is there any opposition to uh doing this again? No. I will uh see are there any motions? I'll make the motion. I'll second it. All those in favor? I I

Accounting Department training request GFOA webinar foundations accounting and financial reporting. That's a $170 class fee. Um is there a motion to accept the training request? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I refund request $115 for a resident uh who can't attend the upcoming 20 I'm sorry uh July 28th bingo cruise. Are there any questions at Vay Points? No. Is there a motion? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I in granting the request. That's the motion, right? Yes. Yes. Okay.

Um Marshall and Sterling cyber insurance policy renewal. Uh so this is the cyber insurance policy that we got signed up for in back in 2024. This is the renewal. Um $7,956.50. Uh is there are there any questions or debate points? No. I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second. All those in favor? I standard workday resolution for elected and appointed officials certifying the workday hours and schedule for the New York State local retirement system. Are any questions or debate points? No. See none. Is there a motion to accept uh the standard workday resolution? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second. All those in favor?

I. water department request to purchase a $1,225.97.97 uh generator parts for the Field Quest Water District. Have we received the email on this? Are there any questions or debate points? No. No. Is there a motion to accept the request? I'll make a motion. Second. All those in favor? I. Cabbage. Uh the movie production inc film application. Uh it's going to they're going to be paying a $1,750 permit fee to Chester to film at 3424 Route 94 Chester. Um everybody received the email on this. Are there any questions or debate points? No,

I think the fee might be somewhat reduced because they eliminated one day of filming. Okay. So I think it's 250 per day. So it should be 1,500. was part of that fee and I I I don't I can't forget I forget the email, but was there any police coverage gonna be part of that? No. No, they didn't. Yeah, they specifically said they didn't need them in the application. Are there any uh other questions or debate points or comments? No. Is there a motion to uh accept the application request? I'll make the motion. I second it. All those in favor? I I

resolution to authorize the supervisor to solicit bids through MNR Energy Resources Corp. for energy pricing and to sign an agreement for the lowest bid. This is an email we got from our comproller. Are there any questions or debate points? No. No. No. Seeing none, is there a motion to authorize me to do this? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I budget amendments. Um, everybody received the email on the budget amendments from the controller. Are there any debate points or uh questions? No. N comments. Seeing none, is there a motion to accept the budget amendments as uh stated? I'll make the motion. I'll second it.

All those in favor? I I

public hearing notice for the 2027 CDBG. Uh this is the grant that we have been awarded now twice in a row. Um in 2024 and 2025 uh for the obviously 2025 and 2026 uh grant applications. So this is we are now in 2026. So this will be for 2027. Um we need to set a public hearing uh notice for um we need to do at least seven days. So, this gives us enough time uh to hopefully send out a notice for the May 27th meeting um which we will have something to present at that time. uh the engineer I don't know how many of the councilmen have been on any of the emails or not but basically we are going to be seeking more funding uh to uh modernize the parts of the parking lot and make sure there is ADA compliant spaces and such handicap spaces and all that and hopefully get money to basically repave the whole thing. So that'd be nice. Um, but the details are going to be listed out in the report from the engineer once it's ready. But right now, we don't need to concern ourselves with the details at the moment. We just need to set a public hearing notice. So, um,

I'll make the motion. Yes. I'll second. All those in favor? I I town clerk will be able to do that for us. I'll do my best. Thank you. Cong uh congregate dining contract with Orange County. Everybody saw the email from uh our attorney and Michelle on this. Yep. Are there any questions or debate points? This is just formalizing the contract that we have with uh Orange County for the concrete dining that we have been doing. A renewing. Yes. Not formalizing renewing. Are there any questions or debate points? No. No. Is there a motion to accept the contract and authorize me to sign?

I'll make the motion. I'll second it. All all those in favor. I I

All right. Introduction of community preservation fund local law. Uh this is uh to set a public hearing for June 10th. So as uh discussed previously uh we had our bill signed in Albany finally uh last year uh the open space preservation bill. Uh that's going to allow us to uh move in the direction of um getting a referendum passed this later this year uh hopefully to uh you know establish the the tax- the transfer tax, but this local law needs to be set in place to actually establish the fund uh that we would receive that money for. So I believe our attorney has a write up on it in the next. So, the state legislation that um was signed into law um back in October requires three local laws. This is local law number one. This local law actually creates the fund. It enables you to receive um funds. So, if somebody made a donation to the town and you wish to put it in that fund, you could you could do so. Um it also creates um a statutory advisory committee. Um I set that at five members. uh that you've started advertising for this committee um so that you'd be ready to go uh when the committee was actually created. Uh but we do need to do this by local law. I circulated a resolution, but I'm going to read that into the record now. Uh resolution to introduce introductory local law 3 of 2026, a local law to establish a community preservation fund pursuant to town law section 64L. Whereas the town of Chester possesses a rich heritage of scenic, agricultural, and natural resources, the preservation of which is vital to the future economic success and quality of life of the community. To further the objective of preserving the natural, scenic, and historic treasures, the town board of the town of Chester finds it necessary to establish a dedicated fund for their conservation. Such fund has been authorized under section 64L of the New York town law. Under this statute, the creation of this fund is a prerequisite

to the enactment of a threequarter percent real estate transfer tax, threequarters of 1% to be clear, uh percent real estate transfer tax, which is also authorized by town law section 64L and article 34A4 of the New York tax law. Um the purpose of this local law is to meet the requirements of town law section 64L and thereby set the stage to continue the town's open space preservation plans. Now therefore be it resolved that introductory in local law 3 of 2026 entitled to local law to establish a community preservation fund pursuant to town uh town law 64L is hereby introduced. Uh be it further resolved that copies of the aforet introductory local law be laid upon the desk of each member of the board. And be it further resolved that the town board hereby declares lead agency and further declares that this is a action as a type two action under the state environmental quality review act and no further environmental review is required. Be it further resolved that a public hearing shall be held on June 10th, 2026 at 6:45 p.m. or soon thereafters may be heard in town hall located at 1786 Kings Highway, Chester, New York 10918. Be it further resolved that the town clerk shall cause to be published public notice in the official newspaper as is required by law.

All right. Are there any questions or debate points on this? No. Is there I would like to offer a motion to introduce the local law and set a public hearing for uh June 10th. I'll second it. All those in favor? I I Very good. That concludes our regular business. We had some new business um that Linda you emailed me about. Um yes, you had the chief had sent an agreement, an updated range agreement. And what is that exactly?

Uh that's for firearms training over the city of Port Jervis and I believe it was uh submitted to Attorney Cassidy for review. Yes. The is there a deadline to which you need to because I don't I don't know if the town board has seen this yet or the I don't know if the attorney has finished the review on this. I did see it. Is there a deadline in which you need this? We're hoping to start our spring training there on May 29th. So that does fall after the next meeting. Okay.

I chief I have it. I definitely have it. I don't think there's an issue with it, but I'll double check. Do we would we feel comfortable uh approving it subject to the attorney's review at this time or do we want to wait until the next meeting? I'd be okay with subject with us looking at it. I'm okay with subject to it it looking at it it's your date effectively. Yeah, it's a renewal. Yes. All right. Uh, is there a motion to approve the contract subject to uh and authorize me to sign it subject to the uh review from the attorney? I'll make a motion. I'll second. All those in favor?

I I And there was a second piece of new business. Um, well, the others have to do with agreements with both Orange County and the Chester Fire District for access along their property for the fireworks, which hopefully there is still time if you want to take that up at the next meeting. But I do believe these were circulated by Christian. I looked at the one the fire district one is fine. Okay. And then there was the county. I I think that one because this is a repeat agreement. Um you can renewal you can do it subject to form. Um but I'm I'm pretty sure the fire district is fine. Is this something that I have to sign?

You will have to sign it. Yes. All right. Is there a motion to uh authorize me to sign these agreements subject to uh final review from the attorney? I'll make the motion. I'll second it. All those in favor? I I Is there any other new business at this time? The only thing I'd like to do is mention that we are still uh have the flags available for sponsorship for the uh Memorial Day weekend for the Chester Cemetery Board if anybody'd like to uh sponsor a flag. I do. Okay. Thank you. You could contact myself. You I think the information is on our website and contact people.

And if uh I may just remind everyone that Saturday is the Chester Historical Society yard sale. Um, they usually have a big turnout and they have great stuff and it all goes to support the Erie Station Depot. So, please come out and support that. All right. Um, I got a little out of order here. Um, but since we're already here, is there is there any other new business at this time? No. No. All right. At this time then, I will entertain a motion to head into executive session for personnel. Um, after we are done with executive session, there will be another public comment period. Um, if you guys wish, but uh, we shouldn't hopefully take too long there.

I'll make a motion to go on executive session. Is there a second? All those in favor? All right.

You can have one.

All right. Um, is there a motion to come out of executive seven? Is there a second? I'll second. All those in favor? I I All right. Um, is there any other public comment tonight?

Is there anything online? Nothing. All right. Is there a motion to adjurnn? I made a motion you had to make. Oh, I'm sorry. I I if that was a question, I'm going to resend that question. Uh, there is one last bit piece of new business. Uh, is there a motion to uh authorize the comp patroller to begin conducting internal uh department audits to be done in conjunction with the town board? I'll make that motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I All right. That's just like an annual thing that towns municipal municipals are supposed to be doing. So, uh, we are going to do that um with the with the help of our controller. All right. Is there are there any other new business tonight? No. Yep. Nope.

All right. Is there a motion to adjurnn? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second. All those in favor?