Town Board - Regular Meeting

Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.

Everybody read the May 27 minutes. Yes, everybody. Does anybody have any questions or debate points? No, it's good. Is there a motion to accept the minutes?

I'll make the motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

All those in favor? Aye. The town will be paying bills in the amount of $454,591.68. Is there a motion to open the public hearing on introductory local law three of 2026 on the creation of our community preservation fund and advisory board? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Did anybody sign up to talk about this?

So this public hearing is just to set up the advisory board?

Yes. So as a quick reminder, everybody, last year we were able to convince Albany to finally pass our community preservation fund bill, which is going to allow us to start building up a fund like Warwick has, who's been using that fund to protect open space in their town for over 20 years now. If it passes the referendum this November, we will also be able to have this fund, but we need to pass a local law in order to set it up. We need to also statutorily set up an advisory board with it. Liz, do you have something to say?

so this is phase one of three um so the first phase is to actually create the fund um where the fund once the fund is created the town board can um designate through budget out appropriation should it so choose into the fund it can also accept donations it can't solicit donations but can accept donations into the fund um and then again as the supervisor says before the referendum that could correct you can you can create the fund without the referendum the part that is subject to the referendum is the transfer tax the second phase will be a local law on a proposed plan that plan is currently being drafted um and we'll make references to the comprehensive plan so we're going to finalize the comp plan first um so the plan has to be adopted and then once the plan is adopted you can then adopt um the tax uh the the transfer tax that that portion is subject to permit is subject to referendum

so all we're doing tonight is creating a line for the preservation fund um for neil and then as well as creation of the advisory board very good thank you for the explanation are there any questions or are there any questions or comments on this from the public anything online is there a motion to close the public hearing i'll make the motion is there a second all those in favor aye aye

Resolution to adopt introductory local law three of 2026, a local law to establish a community preservation fund pursuant to town law section 64-L. 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 the fund is a prerequisite to the enactment of a three quarter percent real estate transfer tax, which is also authorized by town law section 64L and article 31A4 of the New York tax law. 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. Whereas introductory local law three of 2026 entitled a local law to establish a community preservation fund pursuant to town law section 64L was introduced on May 13th, 2026. And a duly noticed public hearing was held on June 10th, 2026. And whereas the town board declared lead agency and further declared that this action is a type two action under the State Environmental Quality Review Act and no further environmental review is required on May 13th, 2026. And whereas the matter was referred to the Orange County Department of Planning pursuant to GML 239M and the department responded by letter dated June 5th, 2026, that the matter is one for local determination. and now therefore be it resolved having considered the public comment or lack thereof the comment of the orange county department of planning and the comment of the town's consultants introductory local law 3 of 2026 is hereby adopted as local law 5 of 2026 be it further resolved that the town clerk shall cause said local law to be filed in the office of the secretary of state are there any questions any points i just have a comment in regards to this uh

As much as this has passed through the government, something that's been favorable to this board and to residents in the past, I still have concerns with the fact that we're adding three quarters of a percent to all home sales that take place in Chester. I know it's supposedly supposed to be paid for by a buyer. that's not necessarily true everything that comes up for sale is going to be negotiated it could wind up being a seller that pays it also so it just increases the cost of homes that are already very high and that's a concern i have for the future and it's just something i need to i think the public needs to be aware of when this goes up for a referendum and what it means to them in the future

much as it may preserve property it's at a cost thank you all right are there any other questions or comments any debate points see none i'll uh entertain a motion to pass the local laws written i'll make the motion is there a second All those in favor? Aye. I'll abstain. Opposed? Abstentions? All right. It's factual that it definitely comes at a cost. But I think, like Tom said in the very end of his points, the cost is the sacrifice that we need to make for the open space. So there is going to be a referendum on the ballot in November. So like Tom said, please educate yourselves. We've been waiting a very long time for this. So hopefully everybody votes yes on the referendum. uh all right public comment um i see we have brian ross who signed up so you can step up first i will say i see that you have follow-up on here i just want to preempt you that we are working um with the police department and the fire department on some uh updated language and uh possibly um a change to the uh amount for the uh the first offense or the second offense, technically. So that is being worked on right now. But I don't have many more details other than that.

Okay, great. Good evening. I'm Brian Ross, a resident of down to Chester and Supervisor Holder just covered my first comment about the follow up on the penalties for false alarms, which unfortunately, I found myself in the middle of that. And I appreciate the fact that there doing some follow-up on that. Other follow-up issues, a number of weeks ago I did speak here and was very complimentary of, I believe, the Highway Department for cutting grass by Ashford Estates leading up to the actual housing. However, at this point in time, that's been the only time it's been cut. And right now the grass is getting higher and it's definitely a hazard, especially with bugs and fleas and ticks, et cetera. I'm just asking, how do you follow up on that? But you don't have to answer that now. I just want to throw that out. The highway department has a schedule where they go around.

So I'm sure they will get back to it when it's time.

Okay. So basically I can contact the highway department and they'll tell me when they're coming. Okay, great. I also mentioned last week about the safety of solar farms. And I did bring up that issue because it was very similar safety habits to the battery storage unit, which everybody was against. However, I haven't really, has anyone on the board actually done any follow-up on those safety habits? We have 19 homes that are within Well, if you start with the home most recent, they're like 10 yards away from the solar farm. And then you back away. So basically almost all 19 homes are within a few hundred yards of the solar farm. And they do have some severe consequences similar to the battery storage. So how do we follow up on that? What do we do? Is it nothing we can do? We just have to live with it. And that's that. I would like some follow up on that. I also need to ask, and hopefully I'm not off base on this, is that there, in my opinion and the opinion of business owners, as you're driving down Route 94 and going towards Academy Avenue, As you're driving down Route 94, you make a right on Academy Avenue. But there's no stop sign there. There's a stop sign coming up Academy Avenue. And cars are going at incredible speed through that intersection. It needs a stop sign. Where are you talking about? Academy, Route 94. State Road. State Road. As you're going towards, I guess, eventually to Brookside Avenue, and at Academy Avenue, cars can either go straight or they can make a right turn, but there's no stoppage. When you're coming up Academy Avenue, however, there is a stop sign, and you're basically taking a risk as you were driving and you're making a left turn from Academy onto State Road 94, the cars are going really fast. The business owners I spoke to today, basically, they actually wanted to sign a petition and bring it in that they would like to have a stop sign or some way of making that a little bit. Your best thing would be.

I can speak to that because years ago, the state came through and did a lot of drainage work and repaved the whole area through the village of Chester. they had planned to make a three-way stop and they were going to in order to put the stop signs where they needed to be they had to put some islands out like they just removed on king's highway intersection by the railroad they just removed them they had they were going to have to do the same thing there and because of parking issues none of the residents wanted to lose any parking for the businesses that were there so Again, it's a state issue, it's an issue for people parking, and it's also an issue, like as much as it is a safety issue, the state has already looked at that. It just didn't happen in the past.

Well, your best bet is to go to the, you know, a petition that was always helpful, and then to submit that to the village government, because that's in the village, and then they can contact the DOT.

Okay, so you're saying that I'd have to go to the village building department, not building department. No, no, no. Village board. Village board. Yeah, like the mayor and the board of trustees. Okay. Yeah. I'm a little bit perplexed because I do see, well, there's a number of signs regarding the upcoming primary. One sign in particular is right across the street from where I thought the stop sign might be.

So village residents are also town residents. They can vote in town elections.

So you're saying that the town of Chester cannot do anything to get a stop sign on that corner.

That's not I'm saying we can certainly advocate, but I'm I'm trying to guide the best course of action for you to take is for you to get the petition or a letter or something and bring it initially to the village board so then they can

because they're the governing body within the village yeah and you can also bring it to me and i can also advocate on your behalf but i just i was just trying to give you a better no that's exactly what i'm asking for how you go about doing this so you're saying that you start with the village town board the village board the village board yes and work your way from there and we would have the backing of hopefully the town board of chester uh advocating for this stop sign also yeah if you yeah submit a submit a letter petition and we can review it and then yeah okay yeah

That's it. Thank you. I just want to comment on the whole solar thing. That's an approved project from the town of Goshen. So I just want to be realistic with you. It's going to be very difficult to change at this point, you know, an approved project that's already being or already is finished being built and such. So I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done about your concern there.

Well, is the actual solar farm in the town of Goshen? Yes. So basically, that's very perplexing in the sense that where our property line ends for, as for the states, you basically can take 100 yards, not 10 yards, and you're in the town of Goshen? Yes. Wow. That I did not know. Yes. Okay. All right. So I'd have to deal with them regarding that. And you're saying that'd be very difficult to do.

Yeah. I mean, yes, but not because it's Goshen, just because it's already a finished project. So I'm not sure how willing the owner of the property would be willing to listen to you as to what your situation is. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to go to the building department in Goshen and say, hey, I have some concerns about this. And if you have trouble reaching out to them or getting through to them, please let me know. And I can try to make it easier for you. Okay. Thank you. Are there any other public comments tonight? Yes. Please state your name and address when you get it.

Good evening. My name is Robert Winter. I live at 128 Ridge Road with my wife, Suzanne. The reason why we're here tonight is we've been in our residence about 25 years now. And obviously over that 25 years, development has happened and the roadways have become a lot busier with a lot more cars and so on and so forth. So where we're located on Ridge Road We're just down past Neal Road and West Meadow Way. So on either side of the road, we have signs for pedestrian and cyclists on going toward Kings Highway and coming down, there's a pedestrian sign. Concern that we have now is there's been some excessive speed there. And from where our driveway is, there's about a one to two second period in time where you cannot see a vehicle coming toward our house going down. So it is a blind spot. So what happens is you look, you go, you back out as you turn to go uphill toward Michael LaPlace's property. And all of a sudden there is a car in your rear view mirror, which you didn't see. Going towards King's Highway? Going away from King's Highway. Away from King's Highway. So what happens is our neighbor, Irene Ehrman at 126, she's even closer to that. to that spot. So what I'm proposing is, is there any way that we could get a sign there that says limited sight distance for driveways blind?

Yeah.

Because, um, Saturday when Kings highway was closed due to that accident down at airport road, Our road was like the New York State Thruway and the speed was excessive. I was working on my driveway, I had it black topped and the cars were flying up and down that road. So I think just, I mean, I don't expect the town to re-engineer the road. They're not going to take that low spot out, but you physically cannot see the top of a car just, I guess that would be east of Neal Road there. And all of a sudden that car is there.

I can probably meet out there with you in the highway department to take a look at it. And you can explain it to us in person.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, like I said, over time as...

If it's in the sign manual, you can sign up.

Yeah, I just want to know.

It has to be in the sign, then you actually sign up.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like I said, there is one heading uphill toward Kings Highway that says cyclists and pedestrians coming out of the new development there. And then on the side, there's a sign, big pedestrian walking sign.

Yeah.

But it would be great to have something that was for limited distance, hidden driveways or something along those lines. At least maybe, you know, we get a lot of weekend traffic with the winery. know there's a lot of people running up and down that road you know so if that could if something could be done um especially now that the speed is getting it's gotten higher and higher do you have a number or an email i can get down uh yeah you want it you don't want to put that publicly oh yeah it's probably best yeah yeah why don't you just uh put it on the sheet here yeah sure yeah sure

uh yeah that's that's basically what what our insert is i'll reach out to you once i get the highway department involved yeah yeah i had conversations with the fire guys okay thank you no problem is there anybody else public comments yes please state your name and address for the record sure david turetsky 1301 kings highway

I wanted to ask if there was any way we could move the cameras that are right in front of Town Hall. It's a very unwelcoming spot to have those cameras. And it's not just unwelcoming, but it's unsettling that every time we go past it, whomever, because we don't know, is recording our movements.

I'd be in favor of it, personally. But that's something I think we have to discuss with the board and the police department, see how feasible that is. Okay. Thank you. No problem. Is there anything? Yes, Jeff.

Friendly question. As of today, the solar lights in Sugarloaf and Pine Hill are not active. It's been a couple of weeks since they put in. Can we have an update eventually?

I'm sorry?

The solar speeding lights in Sugarloaf and on Pine Hill going fast.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They've known about it for weeks. Any update on that?

That's being troubleshot with the engineer and the –

company the consortium yes uh we have no right to know but we have on sugarloaf mountain a reduced speed limit anyway that the signs were just delivered today and uh they are going to be installed the next time they have uh the time to do it yeah any day now and third thing is the town clerk is we want to um submit a public assembly permit for our 250th how do we do that we have the documentation to hand in today do that and hand it in right now

That's the Vivian Lane stuff.

It's in Goshen.

That's Solar. That's in Goshen. Vivian Lane is the connection. We don't have Solar on Vivian Lane. That's the project above Vivian Lane, but the connection comes down to our side. It's complicated, I know. Mm-hmm, we are. All right. Is there any other public comment tonight? Once, twice, three times. Okay, all right.

I'll be in touch.

All right, reports. We'll start with Councilman Cassara.

I have no report today.

Okay, Deputy Supervisor.

Okay, I just want to start out by thanking John Mardula. He helped the Villa de Chester out today. They had the top of their million gallon tank, it's a vent on top, blew off and he was able to get it back up on there for them. They had concerns with climbing the tank and John was not afraid to, so he got the job done for them. Normally Gary would go up, he just wasn't feeling well today. The other guys were not something they're in favor of, climbing tanks, so... Over at Sugarloaf, the well siting has been completed by the engineer, resubmitted to the county. So we're gonna wait till we see, get the approval from them. Chris does have three price quotes on that, but he's gonna possibly update those quotes as per the new site. So he's waiting to hand that into us for approval. Down at Walt Lake States with the water department, they have the new control panel in. They still need to do the switchover unit, but he said everything's working great down there, so that's good. Moving the basin, the air sap system should be operational by the end of the month if they get the rest of the parts in. Green to Chester, the water from the village into the pump station is activated. The bacteria samples came back good. They had the second sampling done today for some internal main. So I'm assuming within next week, they're probably going to be looking for some, you know, the health building department to get in there for some COs. So let's see what happens with that. I also attended the planning board last week. I'd just like to thank the planning board for the thorough review of the red line of the master plan that they reviewed. They did an excellent job of discussing the changes to that document. And we're going to submit some points to us. And I just want to thank them for the work that they did. They've really put a lot into it. And that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you for being on top of the water department and everything else done. No problem. Councilman Courtney.

I don't have anything to see me.

Councilman Diffley.

I don't know.

Yeah, that's something we can bring up during budget time, Steve, when we get into that, because moving up will be, you know, that'll be something that the town has to put together to, you know, if that's going to be part of the budget, we have to approve that because those funds will come from the town to get that done. I'm hoping that that's a project that they're going to get into, but we'll... We can take that up during some meetings with moving the base.

Our next meeting is in August, I think to start the budget, they start the budget in August.

Yeah. So thanks. I'm sure it'll be discussed that.

Anything else, Councilman? Thank you. Town Clerk.

just some announcements we received the mortgage tax receipt summary from the county of orange for the month of may our receipts were sixteen thousand four thirty one oh six um very important blood drive coming up at the sugarloaf engine company on thursday june 11th from 1 to 7 p.m And there's a Girl Scout cookie promo involved with that drive. So please, there's such a shortage. If you can donate, it is greatly appreciated. The Belleville community will be hosting Sayara Peter for an operatic song for all the nations, it is called. That will be at the Belleville Community on Gibson Hill Road. We did receive word earlier today that the Saturday brush disposal that was scheduled for this coming Saturday has been canceled due to staffing conflicts. I'm not certain if they've set a date for rescheduling. I do know that they will have another one in November.

They are not rescheduling at this time.

And last but not least, the Voices of Sugarloaf, which is an evening of storytelling, will be hosted at the Sugarloaf Methodist Church on Friday, June 19th at 7 p.m. with music by Margie DeRoso. And it is a free first-come, first-served ticketing event. Everyone is invited to enjoy a special evening and listen to the residents of the Hamlet share their personal, heartfelt, and inspiring stories that make our Hamlet so special. That's all I had.

All right, from me, Building Department, there are 48 new building permits, 22 closed building permits, 319 open building permits total, 43 inspections, seven quality of life violations, six complaints, eight municipal searches, zero summons. And that is the month of May for the Building Department. For EMS, we had 81 total responses, two no units available, 83 total dispatches, and 58 transports. The grand total for the dedicated Chester unit average response time was eight minutes and 13 seconds. The additional Empress units, the average response of which there were two, I'm sorry, three was 15 minutes and six seconds for a grand total of all the units at eight minutes and 40 seconds. Yeah, the additional units was three were a second call, one was a third call, and one was a second ALS needed. There were 33 ALS units and 38 BLS. And there's plenty more information on that report, so please feel free to view it online. Thank you to all the EMTs out there. For the water department. Is that opening? For the water department, there was just under seven million gallons of water processed and distributed in the month of May. Let's see. Distribution sampling by us as well as random sampling from Orange County Department of Health showed adequate disinfection levels and tested negative for any type of bacteria, which is nice to hear. Mandatory testing, lab results, chemical checks throughout. Sugarloaf was mostly quiet with routine operations. 10 right road. re-replaced a shutoff key and riser with the help of the highway digging. Surrey Meadows just continued installing endpoints throughout the district. Laco Farms did some hydrant maintenance in Windridge, set up new chlorine monitor system at the plant. Walton Lake Estates, TAM, came to install a new booster pump system in the plant. First, they build a temporary system in order to remove the old system. completed the install of the new Tigerflow booster system. Field crests, nothing to report. Thank you to the water department. Planning Board and Zoning Board. Planning Board, their next meeting is scheduled for July 1st. During this meeting, they're hoping to interview for their last remaining vacant seats, as well as the alternate seat. Collaboration between Munich Lab and the Town of Chester Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals is progressing well. All applications are fully implemented and we are making final refinements now ahead of our meeting, of our next meeting on June 16th, 1.30 p.m. which is the zoning board. I will ensure that all updates regarding the software progress will be communicated to the town board and other board members. I'm sorry, that wasn't the zoning board. That was the planning board, yeah. CBA, their next scheduled meeting is July 11th at 7 p.m. No, it said July. Oh, they must have typoed. All right. So it's tomorrow, June 11th. Planning board. I'm sorry. Police department. There were 18 arrests in the month of May. 413 48 incidents were reported, 15,681 miles were driven, non-criminal, 36 medical calls, 12 reports of suspicious persons, vehicles, or activity, 11 residential and commercial burglary and fire false alarms, 11 welfare checks, one fatal motorcycle crash, four motor vehicle crashes with injuries, nine motor vehicle crashes without injuries. uh officers completed seven house checks and 933 business security checks in may officer perez worked with sugar club chamber of commerce for the annual spring festival on may 23rd and 24th officers were assigned to foot patrol during the festival and assisted with barricades to close the roads sergeant dugan and officers bird weinstein stack and the rain continue to complete child passenger safety seat checks and installments uh installations when needed There were two seats installed in May. Departmental monthly training for May was held on May 12th. In our training room, the topic was our annual TASER recertification. Semi-annual firearms qualifications began in May. Chief, were you the test dummy for the TASER? No. All right. There's a bunch of other miscellaneous information and scheduling information on the report. Please go and view it. The chief puts a lot of work into making these reports. All right, animal control. There were three calls for loose, lost, or found dogs, two calls for injured or deceased deer, one call for possibly orphaned kittens, one call for a possibly abandoned fawn. All right.

I just had a question for Bob on reports. Sure. Did you want to discuss anything about Pulvert Field?

Or do you want to wait on that? Let's wait on that.

OK.

I want to kind of just have individual conversations. OK. Are you talking about the idea, or are you talking about when we met out there? We'll wait on that. OK.

Mysterious. mysterious i've been keeping suspense all right uh from me i had meetings with the community foundation on the planters with our parks and rec department thank you for making the time to go out there michelle and the rest meetings with the community, I'm sorry, the Chamber of Commerce on festivals, how we can work together more smoothly in the future. I met with the Highway Department about numerous issues today. We had a meeting that lasted over an hour. It was pretty productive. Union negotiations in the last month. I had a meeting with the grant writers and Senator Scoops's office and some others. We're making moves on some grants, more to come on that in the future. Good news. Meeting on a car show, a possible car show in Sugarloaf with some residents from Sugarloaf, which is exciting. and go next. That's it for me.

Oh, mood now?

Oh, yes. And the highway department. I'll start with Munda. We have received our air SEP system and air tank compressor has been set brand new wires from panel to pump pit at 1396 Kings Highway, Cancun Inn. Adjusted gates at town pump stations met with Keek. i'm sorry keith john queenan and andrew on site about five wood road connecting to sewer fixed a few floats that went bad replaced the header uh piping at 3a repaired a broken valve at 3a did a lot of work at 3a okay um Routine maintenance for the rest of town. Chester Surrey is cleaned every Friday. Floats and transducers are cleaned and checked once a week. Walton Lake pump station filters are changed and motors are greased once a month. On-site flow readings are taken the last Friday of every month. Mow pump stations, mowing pump stations clean up after snowstorms, wash trucks. King's Tract gets greased once a month. Generators are tested every Tuesday.

And then- When was the last snow?

Yeah, I think they just probably copy and paste that from an old one for their routine stuff. And then we had an updated report from Highway. All right. 11 miles of oil and chip were completed in May. Thank you to Chris Cox and Joe Janitz for helping with traffic control. The sweeping of the residual stone is in progress now. After the oil and chip sweeping is complete, the sweeper will continue with the rest of town. Johnson Road grant project is being prepped for resurfacing. The start date of resurfacing is unknown at the moment. That is $115,000, I believe, that we were awarded prior to 2024. I can't even remember at this point, but we finally finished the paperwork in 2024. So now we are finally getting the money all these years later, probably over four years later from when we were actually awarded this grant. So thank you to Senator Skoufis for awarding us this grant like a decade ago. Johnson Road grants project is being, I already said that, Cache Basin repair and maintenance is ongoing. Roadside mowing, weed whacking has begun, including the retaining ponds and special districts. The Hamlet was swept for the Spring Festival and Chester Academy was swept for the Mock DWI. We continue to be available to help other departments within the town. Mechanics continue with their yearly maintenance and inspection and work service town vehicles when necessary. There's more information on a update or report. I know Donna was sending it over today. Here it is. She wanted to clarify. Yeah. So the 11 miles of oil and chip that were completed in May cost the town $277,000. We did also mill and pave just three quarters of a mile on Pine Hill Road in July. That cost $190,000. So 11 miles of oil and chip, $277,000. Mill and pave, 3 quarters of a mile, $190,000. So she wanted to add that in, and I thought it was important to show I know a lot of members of the public Of course, we all enjoy the mill and pave a lot more. It's smoother, it's nicer, but it's extreme. Like a quarter of a mile is the 190,000, 11 miles of oil and chip is 277,000. So we try to do way more oil and chip than mill and pave in all areas because it's just so less costly. All right. That is it. Thank you. All right, resolution to approve a two, I'm going to say this, $2.0512 hour pay increase for the recreation coordinator, Michelle Deschler. The recreation coordinator has taken on additional responsibilities in leading the parks and rec department this year. The pay would be increased to $36 an hour total. Are there any questions or debate points on this?

No, no.

I think it's safe to say that we all agree that Michelle is deserving of this as the responsibility she took on are definitely significant and she's doing an excellent job. Is there a motion to approve the pay increase? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor?

Aye.

All right, Theater and Film Camps MOU with Orange County. Everybody received the email on this. This is a formality. We've already started advertising for this, but need to approve these MOUs in order to properly use the- Facility. Yeah, the facility. Are there any questions or debate points?

I'm good, no.

Nope.

Is there a motion to approve the MOUs? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board appointments. Everybody received the emails on this. We had a good amount of people who applied. The... in my opinion, my personal opinion, the most qualified for the positions are the ones that are listed here. Tracy Shue, who has been involved with preservation efforts in Chester through her preservation collective for many, many years. David Stevenson, who is a former comprehensive plan, so is Tracy, comprehensive planning comprehensive plan member, ZBA member in the village of Chester, very knowledgeable on these sorts of things. Michaela Hayes-Hodge is a farmer from the Black Dirt in Chester, which is good to have. We did need, by statute of the law, at least one farmer on this advisory board, and Michaela is a farmer. uh ivan bonet who is a a attorney who's specialized in municipal law and land use zoning municipal code litigation and administrative law so i think he was a pretty good addition to this sort of thing and then simon ziegler who also is a farmer so we have two farmers uh on this board which is i think a pretty good thing And he's also, isn't he on the planning board in Village? Yeah, Village planning board as well. Yes, so I think we have a pretty good Avengers level team here. Are there any questions or debate points?

Yeah, I do. I didn't have the opportunity to speak to any of these folks. The only person that I do know because of our community involvement is Tracy Shue. If I could speak with them and possibly we could table this to the next meeting. Otherwise, if you guys want to proceed with the vote, I'll have to abstain.

Is there any problem with tabling at this point? Giuseppe, did you see the emails and the resumes and the contact information?

I did see the resumes, but I would like to, you did the phone conversations, but I would like to have spoken to at least the other four individuals that I don't know to, you know, kind of, you know, where they're coming from and understand them a little bit better other than just their resume doesn't really tell me a whole bunch about preservation though and why they want to be a part of it. So if I could just have like five to 10 minutes with each one of them, I could tell you yes or no.

What are the other board members feel on this? I would like to get going. I think a lot of these people are pretty well equipped. What does everybody else think?

I have no issue with the folks that are on there overall. So I don't have an issue with it. And we're just putting the board together, if I'm right, if I'm correct, Liz, that we gotta have these things in place as we move forward to create, as we're creating this stuff, so we don't even know if this is even gonna pass.

So just for a timing perspective for the board, and this is in my email, I gave a pretty detailed timeline. if it's the board's intention to make this year's election cycle for the transfer tax, right? You can take your time on this, but if your desire is to make this year's election cycle for the transfer tax, we would need this plan in place to more than 60 days before the election. It has to go through a local law process. So the plan had us introducing that local law on no later than July 22nd for adoption in August to meet that threshold. We can go up until the first couple of days of September, right? But to meet that timing. Your appointment, our hope is your planner, Kristen O'Donnell has largely drafted it, but really, new board member should have a chance to look at it and opine on it um and so effectively the sooner you adopt them the sooner they can start their work so again i guess that if we if we appoint these members tonight let's say before

the the clock runs out if we there was decision Councilman Giuseppe uh Sarah wanted to interview them and maybe there was one that you know we needed to replace will we be able to do that or were we locked in to the names they do have terms so they have they have five-year terms so that's statutory when does the five-year term start when we do the appointment or once the preservation fund is no the fund is effective already you establish the fund tonight okay so their five-year term starts tonight tonight I'm good with them. But that's just me.

I thought everybody had ample time since I went through the other contact information.

Sorry, if I wasn't more with that, if you you can wait. Again, it gives them two weeks less time.

So you still have time. Minimal time you're pushing it.

You're giving your attorney gray hairs.

I don't have an issue with the people myself. I don't know Michaela, Ivan, but the resumes look good to me. I know the other three people personally.

All right, in that case, is there a motion to pass the to appoint the members here to the Preservation Fund Advisory Board Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board? I'll make the motion. I will second all those in favor.

I I abstain.

Revised Local Law 284. This is a formality agreements between the Highway Department and the Town Board for $1,330,848.18 outlining a road paving plan. Everybody received an email on this. Are there any questions or debate points?

No.

Is there a motion to pass the Revised Local Law 284? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Highway Department requests to approve repair expenditure up to $30,000 for tandem truck number seven. There is an exhaust leak in the system, which basically causes a breakdown in the rest of the system, and it's not a simple swap of the vehicle. of the part, you have to take the whole thing apart and unfortunately it costs a pretty penny. So this is up to 30,000. So hopefully it costs less than that. Everybody received the communications on this. Are there any questions or debate points?

yeah it's a shame that it wasn't under warranty but it's an older truck but it's still in good shape and they're hopefully they're going to get many more years of uh use out of it i mean a new truck's going to cost anywhere from three to four hundred thousand probably so we were discussing that with the comptroller today um possibly you know budgeting for a future so uh that'd be way in the future if we even if we put a little bit away each year yeah that's for the future that's what exactly what we were talking about no so i'm i'm good with this

Any other questions or debate points? No. Is there a motion to approve the repair expenditure up to $30,000 for Tandem Truck 7?

I'll make the motion. I'll second it.

All those in favor? Aye. Resolution to extend the building moratorium another three months. So we fully anticipate passing our comprehensive plan, our updated comprehensive plan and zoning amendments on hopefully July 8th. We're having that public hearing again on June 24th. So please come out if you're interested. But we hope to pass it all on July 8th. Unfortunately, the moratorium as it stands will end on June 22nd. So we don't want to leave any sort of Room between that date and July 8th for anybody to go to the planning board and submit a plan or something like that. So we are going, we need to extend the building moratorium just to cover our butts. Um, and yeah, this is our last 1 by statute that we are allowed to do via resolution. and it will be lifted on July 8th once we pass the comprehensive plan and zoning amendments automatically. Are there any questions or debate points?

No.

Seeing none, is there a motion to extend the moratorium another three months? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Executive session, is there a motion to head into executive session for personnel?

I'll make the motion. I'll second.

All those in favor? Aye. I'm not sure there will be new business. I don't think so, but there will be public comment as always. Is there a motion to come out of executive session? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Is there any new business tonight? Nope. Is there any public comment tonight? Is there anything online? Is there a motion to adjourn the meeting?

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

Aye. Aye.