Town Board - Regular Meeting

board members uh up here uh currently uh and that is Steven Diffley. Um Steven Diffley is a longtime community member uh you know he may not have been in the public eye uh in you know the previous years but I'm sure everybody out there will get to know him over time. I think and I I think I speak for a good amount of people up here uh that you know when I say he's going to be a very productive member of this board uh and a good public servant. So I I think um you know we're happy to have you Steve. Thank you for stepping up. Uh with that with that uh I will offer a motion to appoint Steven Diffley to the open town board seat. Is there a second to my motion?

I'll second it. And uh is there all those in favor? I abstain. Okay. 3 41 abstension. Uh with that, congratulations, Steve Dipley. You are now a council member of this town board. Actually, we're going to do the oath of office. Yes. Yes. Would you like to come up and take your rope? raise your right hand and repeat after me. I Steven Diffy I Steven Diffy do solemnly swear

do solemnly swear to support the Constitution of the United States to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York. And I will faithfully discharge the duties And I will faithfully discharge the duties of council member for the town of Chester. council member for the town of Chester. To the best of my ability. to the best of my ability. Congratulations.

Now you're a council member. Thank you. Thank you.

Did you want to take? You want to take a picture? Michelle, could you take a picture? Sure. Just here. This is the breakdown of water districts what's coming as I think it's going to be in this folder that's break down what's each water district is that's the tax part that's what the water sales are and that's what each district is

we will move forward were there any uh questions or debate points about the uh meeting minutes from uh 2:25. No. Is there a motion to accept the meeting minutes? I'll make the motion. Second. All those in favor? I I abstensions opposed. Okay. Uh summary of bills. The town will be paying bills in the amount of $320,730. $730.95. And then we have uh Mr. Flynn. Would you like to step up? Thank you.

I got your first invitation as an official counsel

public service. The Chester Club for a little over 35 years has run the Chester We do it with the town and the village and the town. That's okay. That's okay. That's fine. Can you hear me now?

Yes. Yes. Um so, uh I went to the village board and the only date that we have available, no rain is April 11th and it's going to be from 9 till 11:30. I do um have to get the certificates and insurance which I'll get to Linda and I'll get to Angela at the village boards so that you're all named. Linda always takes care of the dumpsters. I don't take care of them at all, but I'll take credit. And um it's going to start and end at the Chester Shopright. This year, we do think we're going to have a little better turnout just because we've gotten quite a few calls and emails from people stating how bad the community looks. So, what I've been doing is responding by email the cleanup date and time and saying, "Look, if you're not happy with it, come and if you can give us a half hour or you can give us an hour, we'll take whatever you can give us." And that's about how that I I think. Did I cover everything? So, specifically, it's going to be in the uh uh Wendy's parking lot usually. Is that where we go?

Oh, we used to call it Roy Rogers for years, but hopefully the weather's better this year. Yes. I I mentioned it years ago and Mr. Appropriate, but yes, it starts right there at uh Wendy's Shop, right? Got it. And it'll conclude there. We get the village in town, municipal trucks, and then the police departments to escort the children. And I don't mean that with any disrespect. They get preoccupied. You know, drivers are preoccupied. All right. Fair enough. Yeah.

I just a comment. Um Tommy, again, I thank you for all you do for us on this cleanup, but you know, it's very disheartening. I have I was out on Route 17 today, and you can see very clearly, I mean, I'm not a detective, but you can see very clearly where the garbage is coming from. It's out of these garbage trucks. and they go down 17 and when you get to New Hampton then all of a sudden you go further and the 17 is clear. I mean there's got to be something done with do I don't know who who the responsibility is.

Can I just bring this to your attention if you wanted to write a letter? The fellow that used to run there that I've dealt with for 25 years he retired Peter he was excellent. So anytime I had a problem like that, I would call him and he loved the Chester community because we bagged it and we picked it up and then Linda would always get the dumpsters so they didn't have to do anything. No trucks, no manpower, nothing. But I don't have a hook to call there now. And it looks it looks like 6 in deep. I I think it's something we got to bubble up super surprising because it's just and it's very evident. It's the garbage trucks coming up Route 17 and where the landfill is at New Hampton when they get off. Then all of a sudden it's like a whole different world going up the rest of the highway. So really I think we should try to

right from Great Court up. Yeah. It's just it's it's amazing. Yeah, it's amazing and frustrating. I have a contact at the DOT that I call regularly about the potholes. So I will uh I will ask him about the garbage cleanup. I' I've asked them before in the past and he's one year they let us do it then they got in big trouble. just as a point of edification and I know you have a business night. Yeah. But they won't allow us to go into the medium. We did that one year. I remember I was there. Yeah. Okay. We got it. It was very successful. It looked very nice for a little bit afterwards. Yeah. But that the insurance company didn't like it. Yeah. All right. So, uh

the underpinninging thing to that is they got to have some sort of enforcement. So when these trucks are rolling down 17 and the crap is flying out of it, they got to stop them and ticket them. They start costing these garbage companies some money. Guess what? I don't know. Can the Chester Police Department do that? I don't I don't think they control 17. Probably the state police or I don't even know what agency it would be, but it's it's the garbage coming out of the garbage trucks coming up is what it is. DN I don't like any police cars behind me. Village town, state of federal. I don't like them behind me. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. Thank you, Tom. Thank you.

All right. Uh, we have now public comment. Did anybody sign up?

Thank you, Veronica. Welcome.

And Bob, I absolutely agree with you. I ride that road every day and I'm like, what the heck is going on here? So, um I'm gonna be talking about something that um may not be as town related, but it certainly is Chester related. Um it's regarding the um detention center, which we've all heard is possibly not happening. Um, I did wasn't able to go to the village meeting on Monday, but I wrote an email and Brandon, I sent it to you as well,

asking that official confirmation that the IDC is a dead deal, which was stated by Kushman Pyramid Representative Bob Sherik when I talked to him on Sunday. But, you know, there are other brokers. So if we could get some kind of official official statement from I can um that would be something I think that would ease people's minds. Also to ask the village and you guys to write laws to keep any detention center out. Um I'm certainly hoping that given the uh possibility that Orange County was going to be faced with this that every single town do this. Um I do have a Maryland bill that was created. I mean, there's there's towns all over the country that are addressing this and trying to find ways of how they can um protect their communities economically and socially. The other thing I'd like to ask is to commit to and support reversing the sanctuary status of Orange County. Um it was changed last July. Um I saw no indication of why that was changed who that who changed that but um reversing that would also go very far to ease people's minds. Um also I would request to follow up enforce and update as needed the village of Chester Town and Chester comprehensive plans and zoning laws as written and adopted by their communities. you know, ours has not been adopted yet, and I'm hoping that's not leaving us in a vulnerable place. Um, we don't have anything written into law at this point. Um, I don't know if this is an opportunity or not, but, um, something to think about. So, demand that the Orange County Detention Center run in Orange County Jail is humanely operated. It's been in operation since 2008 as a detention center, and there are many reports that

it's not very wellrun. So hoping that as a community we can band together. I like what Brandon had done in terms of having different um community governments sign on to say this is not what we want in our community. I do know that in our business um community there are a lot of concerns um both for their businesses and for their employees. So, um, I have reached out to the Chester food pantry. She is definitely in great need of help to be able to support families that might be in need. Um, thinking that's it. Um, the other thing I think I would like you to think about, which kind of came up tonight, is um, Chester is kind of a little corridor 17M between Middletown and Monroe. um ice presence is very apparent in Monroe and obviously Middletown. Um and that's going to impact us as those numbers grow in Orange County. So, just to be aware of that.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh you are correct about the uh comprehensive plan. Um that is uh number one on uh our uh attorney's to-do list and we're quickly getting to a close on that. So yeah, detention center and uh data center uh is being can I give you the copy of the Maryland law? You know, a lot of communities are working on it. Um so it's not like we have to write it ourselves. Mhm. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh is there any other public comment here in the room?

Dylan Skriloff. I just was curious, how many candidates did you interview for the councilman position? I was going over it actually uh two days ago. I think it was about 10 in total. Okay. And Mr. Dipley, are you a Democrat or a Republican? Democrat. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other comments or questions? Anything online? I do. I have from Colleen Collins. She was going to send an email. Could something be put in the chronicle or letter be mailed out? Pick up after your dogs. The trail is terrible for

on the heritage trail. I believe that's Yeah, I saw a post about I've seen a couple post myself. Um, we can we can discuss that. Anything else? All right. Uh, moving forward reports. I will start off.

Yeah. I just wanted to um recognize uh the parks and wreck staff uh specifically but but not not exclusive to uh Kristen Palmer. Uh the um basketball pro program wrapped up uh two Saturdays ago and uh it was a su successful season for grades one through six with 51 players. Um so you know I believe everybody had a good time. I hope they did. And uh thank you to all the staff that made that happen and anybody else who uh helped to make it happen. All volunteers and families uh who participated. For the building department, we have 11 new permits, uh 15 closed permits, 290 open permits, 15 inspections, nine municipal searches, zero summons, zero complaints. Thank you to the building department for I failed to put the uh EMS on the agenda. For EMS in uh February, we had 82 total dispatches, 80 total responses, 55 transports, and two uh no unit available. We had eight uh a grand total for the dedicated Chester unit, eight minutes and 56 seconds in terms of average response time. Uh in total with the additional units necessary, uh an average response time of 14 minutes and 35 seconds for all units altogether, 9 minutes and 47 seconds. and we had uh 20 ALS and 43 BLS calls.

You can find the full report online along with all the other reports as usual. I also just want to add to that I had met with half a dozen other supervisors from around Orange County and we are working on something that has to do with uh ambulance services countywide uh to try to take the burdens off of the burden off of uh local communities like ours to have to foot the bill directly. There was there was this Councilman Casser and I were at a when we were down in Association of Towns, they talked about that where the I believe the counties were going to have to kind of come up with some sort of a plan and then present it back to the state and the health department. So,

so hopefully that's that's in the works. For animal service, we had uh seven complaints and two motor vehicle crashes involving deer. Uh, two calls for service uh where I'm sorry. Oh, for service where for found dogs. Uh, one was for a dog bite. One was for a cat bite. One was for a found cat. One was for a dog struck under stuck under a deck and one was for an unknown type of animal motionless on the side of the road. We never found out what an animal was. was there when I got there.

Got it.

Chupacabra. Um, Wendigo. All right. For parks and recreation, this is uh January through March. Trips planned out for seniors for 2026. One trip already full with waiting list. Family trips and children's activities outlined for 2026. Uh fitness classes continue to have a great attendance, seven classes per week. Average number of participants is about 19. Uh congregate dining every Tuesday and Thursday is going over fantastically. Average number of meals served monthly is 187. I have attended these one of these and uh it is quite nice. Um the whole situation uh town recreational basketball ended uh successful season all participants happy assisting town of Chester PBA with annual egg hunt on April 4th uh 2026 at the Chester Commons. mark your calendars and quote hop on down. Uh and published a save the dates for annual Town of Chester block party and fireworks which is going to be uh on January I'm sorry July 11th. I'm not getting married on that day this time. So I will be there.

I was just gonna ask you that. All right, police. We have six arrests in the last month. Three uh for operating a motor vehicle with suspended driver's license. One with an endangering the welfare of a minor and harassment in the second degree. One with criminal contempt first and second degree criminal trespass and aggravated harassment and one with criminal contempt in the second degree. noncriminal activity. 31 medical calls 16 residential and commercial burglary or fire alarms. Nine domestic disputes, disturbances, fights and other disputes. Seven reports of suspicious persons, vehicles or activity, four motor vehicle crashes with injuries, 19 crashes without injury in injuries, two involving deer. Uh there were seven house security checks and 920 business security checks. Officer Stack was getting along with the uh Chester Golden Age Club, Sergeant Dugan, and Officers Bird, Weinstein, Stack, and Nraine. Uh completed child passenger safety seat checks and installations. There was a few trainings um and then some miscellaneous uh activities which included the uh press conference with Senator Scufus for the accreditation situation with the uh the police department which again congratulations to the police department and a $50,000 uh grant from Senator Scufus. There were 304 hours of overtime paid in February. Part-time police officers were used 143 hours of patrol coverage. Thank you to the police department as always.

Water department just over 6.5 million gallons of water were was uh processed and distributed. There's a breakdown for each uh water district, regular testing and maintenance throughout uh the each district. Um DEEC communications. Sugarloaf was mostly quiet, shut off two street valves on Pine Hill and Creary Pond Road to isolate a leak and stop it from leaking. They're going to dig it up when the warm warmer weather continues. Siri Meadows was all quiet install installing endpoints continuing. Lake Hill Farms is all quiet. Quackenbush came and replaced well motor and well pipe at well F4. Walt Lake Walt Lake Estates was mostly quiet. um located a leak in Lake Region by listening listening to the shut offs and determining it was in it was at two Cambridge Circle fixed the saddle leak in March and Field Crest was all quiet. They replaced some locks on doors in the water plant. That is the water department. Thank you to the water department. Planning and zoning. Uh the next planning board meeting is April 1st. Uh there's still one C open on the planning board. Uh there is a new planning board member, Don Higgins. MUN collab for both planning and zoning boards waiting for town board approval which should be tonight hopefully. moratorum is still in place and we currently have six applicants waiting for the moratorum to be lifted. ZBA meeting is scheduled for tomorrow at 2 pm.

Uh two applicants all info is on the town website. ZBA board is fully staffed. We added a two a second alternate Paul Miller is 2 p.m. No. Yeah. 7 7 p.m. That's what I thought. Can you send that?

Yes. Right. Um my reports uh we had applied we had sent in we're working on some grants uh for the Molton Municipal Legislative Grant which is about $5,000 from Orange County. We're currently discussing options for that. It's usually some small projects here and there, parks and rec usually related. Uh we have the uh tourism grant which we're going to um seek to fund, help fund the field day like we did last year um you know to give that back to the community which was very nice. Uh we had submitted a grant we thought we would be able to submit a grant for curbs on Siri Meadows uh through the congressman's office but unfortunately it wasn't uh eligible. So we switched over to the infrastructure work at Walt Lake Estates uh that we've tried to uh target before um that Tom knows very much about. So that grant is application is in um and I believe that is it for grants. Uh wanted to say happy anniversary to Longot which I believe had just had its 8th anniversary. So happy birthday to them. Uh Tom and I uh attended a meeting with Route uh with the uh DOT about Route 17 into I86. Uh DOT is still continuing to recommend uh changes to uh all of the exits that basically affect us. they want to uh since uh extremely enhance exit 126 with uh more lanes uh and then also uh change the configuration. It's called a single

point uh exit. So look that up and it'll tell you. But I basically posted the whole presentation um online and it is also the town clerk also posted it on the town website uh if anybody's interested in looking at the full presentation. Uh they still want to close exit 127. Um and they still want to uh install a traffic circle of some type uh in the intersection of Lehi, Kings Highway, and 17M. Uh and then they are going to make improvements to exit 128 as well. They're going to have uh new uh roadway signs at all the exits to make sure people know to go for Chester, Sugarloaf, and Warwick. And they're also going to be in they're also going to be recommending to install uh historic district signs specifically for Sugarloaf at uh specific locations. Um

they also proposed new exit 129.

Yes, that's right. Uh so all of that is on the presentation I believe. Uh and then at the end of the presentation you'll see that there still needs to be another public hearing uh which is going to be November 2026. Uh and there still is another public comment period for 45 days between November and January. Uh so if anybody would like to make their voices heard regarding that plan, I know there's a lot of distaste for the closing of exit 127. Um, I certainly made my opinion clear on that. Uh, please be in be on the lookout for more information uh when it becomes available to us. Uh, I did reach out to DOT about the potholes on 17M and DP the county DPW about the uh stripping on Laroo Road going towards Monroe. Uh, so uh they are both on that. They will they're they have good crews, so I'm sure they will get to it sooner rather than later and fix all that. And uh thank you to everybody who came out to my recent uh bagels with Brandon. I had four residents come and talk to me about their issues. So I'm very appreciative that they came out. Besides that, I am done with my reports. We'll start with uh Councilman uh Casara.

You already covered it. I was going to bring up the 17M bridge potholes. So other than that, I have no report. Thank you, Deputy Supervisor Becker.

Okay. So, uh, over in Suriri Meadows, the new pumps are now installed. All new rails were in input in. So, uh, that's in good shape now for the future. You know, now we have the new control panel, new uh, pumps. So, that's that system should be good for quite a while. Now, we just got to look at infrastructure there as far as infiltration in Sona sewer main. So, something we got to look for correct in the future. Also, uh the Greens to Chester is moving forward with uh the water infrastructure to get that uh location uh in a situation where people can move in. So, I did reach out to Andrew to make sure that he's reviewing and and letting them know anything they might need in order to get their cos. I guess they have about eight units that are ready. So they'll they he'll have to make sure he has a list for them so that there's no holdups to uh move through that project. And that's it for me.

All right. Uh Councilman Courtney, no, I'm good tonight. I don't have any reports. Uh Councilman Dipley. Well, I'd just like to say uh thank you to the board for putting your trust in me and uh the town can rest assured that I will uh do what's best in this town. certainly to the best of my ability. Thank you. Thank you. Uh town clerk.

Thank you. Um so I was asked to provide a monthly report as well as other departments I which I do to the supervisor. However, I'm sharing it with the entire town board and for the public just um I would just like to express the fact that the town clerk's office pretty much is the hub of the town. I often get calls and people coming in and generally they don't know where to go. So, when you have a question and you don't know who to ask, please call me. Um my number is 4697000 extension4 and if you do know what you need you could always come to my office and in most cases we can assist. Everyone in my office is a notary public so at any time of the day Monday through Friday there is usually someone available to provide that service free of charge. Uh, one of the services that I've been offering each year for the past uh, this would be the 11th year is the shred event which is open to all residents of the town. Um, and this year it will be held on June 11th. Um, let me just double check that. I just confirmed that date. uh June 12th, I'm sorry, it's the Friday, June 12th from 10:00 a.m. to noon here at the parking lot of town hall. So, please come with all the paper that you don't want anymore and we will get rid of it um through our company that services the town and they'll have a truck here and they'll be shredding um right at right then and there. So, you can see it happening. Um, another thing I wanted to mention is,

um, you know, the town clerk is responsible for licensing all the dogs that reside in our town and I wouldn't be able to do that work without the assistance of Warick Valley Humane because they back us up um when there are uh any issues with with dogs. Unfortunately, it does happen from time to time and they um provide a mechanism for us to make sure that we get all the dogs licensed, that they have their proper rabies uh certificate when they license. And so they help us every month and so I couldn't I can't say enough about their service to the town. So I appreciate that. Um, other than that, um, we have some reports and some announcements upcoming. Orange County has submitted our mortgage tax receipts in the amount of $23,554 and that was for the month of February. Uh the Belleville community is hosting their hem sing which will be held on March 28th at 6:30 right at 359 Gibson Hill Road and all are welcome to attend. Information is on the town's website for that. Um, as was mentioned by the supervisor, the PBA is having their Easter egg a hunt this year on April 4th at 1000 a.m. sharp at the Chester Commons Park. And there'll be 5,000 eggs for all the bunnies that can go and find them. So, come on and come off to that.

Hop on down

and hop on down. The uh Sugarloaf Engine Company announces their uh affiliation with the New York Blood Center blood drive which will be happening Thursday, April 9th. It's almost all day from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. So, if you're available and able to donate blood, please consider doing so. There is a a tremendous shortage. I understand one of the um newest things that have been occurring here through um our Chester Advisory Council is the coolest recycling drive. And this year it will be happening on Saturday, April 11th here in the town hall parking lot from 10 to 2. Um that will coincide with the cleanup and I think that's a great thing. It's a good message. Uh instead of throwing your old appliances out, they will collect window air conditioners, dehumidifiers, water coolers, mini fridges, and other small appliances that carry refrigerants. The only other way to discard those, you would have to have the refrigerant removed before you can discard it at the landfill. Um, so it is a great way uh to get rid of that and they are actually looking for volunteers. So if you're interested uh please email them chesteradvisory@gmail.com. Um you uh students can receive community service credit for any time that they can offer to volunteer for that. And I believe that's everything. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm just going to suggest that we move one thing up. We have a visitor here. Um so before we bless you, God bless you. Uh we get to the end of your report from the controller. Uh can I I'm going to make a motion to move uh agenda item 11 to the top of the agenda. Is there a second to my motion? Second. All those in favor? I.

All right. Uh so this is the uh MUN collab. We've spoken about this a couple times here, mostly last year. Um it has the endorsement of both the planning and zoning boards. Um we everybody up here say for our newest member has been briefed on Munich Lab. Uh we have these prices locked in from last year. Uh they will go up if we do not accept it by the end of March. Uh so I would I I believe we are at a point where I you know there's a majority up here who would like to accept it. Are there any thoughts or opinions or debate points on this before somebody makes a motion? I think it's going to be a positive thing for the planning board to uh get their protocols in place.

We also have Abe who is the founder of this uh service here in case we had any questions. I guess I have a Neil question. This is all budgeted, right? Okay. I think uh you're going to be helping them set this up and then there's going to be training involved and also that you're you're working on new things to add to this in the future also. Yeah, if you don't mind. Yeah, just give us a quick breakdown of what you're going to be doing. Kind of I guess you've been involved with other municipalities and you kind of built this around what the needs are of municipalities.

Yes. So, we um built this platform specifically around planning and zoning. Um this has been in the market for a few years now. Um it's used throughout New York State and we actually uh are now starting in New Jersey as well. Um our customers range in size from a few thousand residents to um a few hundred thousand residents. So, we have a pretty wide range. Um the uh pricing is all tiered by municipality size. You guys do have uh 2025 pricing that has already changed. Um, so, um, that's obviously good for you guys. And, um, the actually since I was here in August, um, presenting and I I did a demo at one of your workshop meetings. Um, we've actually released a number of new features since then. Um, I could go through them, but, you know, I don't want to take everyone's time. Um, and I'm happy to meet with anyone individually if you want. Um, we're going to be doing a lot of training. Um, there's a series of workshops. Um, since my meeting here in August, I've been working with um, Melissa, who works with the planning board, and she's very excited about it. Um, and actually just called me earlier this week when she found out we were on the agenda. So, that was great. Um, we've been in communication with her. The process involves us really take, you know, leading the setup, doing it all kind of on our side, but in collaboration with the team, anyone from the town that you'd like involved. And there's training that's involved as part of the process, not just for the staff, but also for the boards, uh, the board members. Um, and you know, every municipality is different. So this process involves us basically taking your uh you know existing uh processes, your existing forms and putting them into our platform so that you can use this kind of digital workflow. Um we've got great response from the communities that we work with and um as well as the public and I'm happy to answer any additional questions.

You'll be letting Jackie the chairperson know of your new uh options also. Yeah, absolutely. So um you'll have access to all of the new um features. We have another one that's coming out soon that's going to help with escrow. Um, so there's a lot um, you know, that you're going to be getting with this. Uh, Jackie was actually the first person that I originally demoed this for. Um, so she's been involved in this conversation as well for sure. Yeah. Who's going to have full access to it? Is that Melissa only or the chairs as well?

Um, it's really up to up to the town. So, um, it really depends based on the municipality. Um, in most municipalities, only the staff and only a select few staff members have full admin access. Okay. There are some municipalities, particularly smaller municipalities that have that really rely on their board chairs to do a lot. And in those municipalities, in those municipalities, they will give full access to board chairs and things like that. Yeah. But there's no limit on the number of users. It's a good idea to have only the chairs and maybe the secretary have full access and everybody else in the boards have limited access just to navigate. Yeah.

Yeah. Typically the board access is going to be you could think of it as like a readonly access. Um but only select people would be able to actually like correct uh an error that the applicant made or add like sometimes you might give access to consultants you work with if they're going to upload a letter. They can do that themselves. um you know if they have access and it's the engineer or the attorney need access also I would recommend them having some level of access for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Because they also do a lot for the planning board especially the engineer so because he's reviewing all of the documents that are coming in and all those documents are going to be in the system.

Yeah. So we don't there's no limit on the number of users that you can have. So anyone that's involved in the project, that's involved in the process, I would recommend having just a look at the who we want to have involved in. I guess that that would be referenced from Jackie also, correct? On who she feels is most important to have that. Yeah, I mean generally the I think this is Yeah, we can we have no no limit. So I think we'll discuss in the future. Generally, I I you know take the direction from the supervisor or mayor on who should have access. Very good. Yeah. Thank you for coming. Absolutely. Happy to be here. Thank you, Abe. Thank you so much.

Um, all right. With that, is there a motion to accept the agreement with Munich Lab for the planning board and zoning board of appeals advanced services for the uh for the uh for the Munich Lab service? I'll make the motion second. All those in favor? I I very good. Thank you, Abe. Thank you. Appreciate it. Also, thank you to Abe and the rest of the Olser County legislature for signing on to the joint letter last month. Much appreciated.

All right. Um, we need a maintenance agreement with Gentech. We got to go back. Oh, I just wanted to skip over Neil. Uh Neil Controller Meyer uh 2025 year end financial report. Please step up.

Uh I want to thank the board for uh for having me uh again come up here and do this and for entrusting me with your town finances. I certainly appreciate it. Congratulations to Councilman Diffy on joining the board. So this is my third year um with the town and as I said it would take about three years for us to get to where we need to be. I think we are um right on schedule with doing that. So um basically what I've given you is a draft of the year-end financial information. These are unudited numbers. So these are not audited numbers. They have not been audited by our uh outside accountants yet. But I'm one of those people. I think that financial information is important. I think it needs to be timely. Um, and it needs to be accurate for the board to make informed decisions. Waiting till June when we get the audit is essentially too late as far as I'm concerned. So, um, what I did was is I put together uh your draft financials. Again, these are unudited. So, these are not meant for the public. Um, these are meant for you guys to make uh informed decisions. Our audit will be conducted at the end of March. Um we have the auditor scheduled for March 30th. We are in the process of actually getting information uploaded into their system. Um and they are doing some fieldwork now. So hopefully by the time they get out here, we will be most of the way done. Um is my goal. I've given you a table of contents of the information that uh has been provided to you. Um I want to go through each schedule. Um, basically I know that you just got this tonight. So any questions you have, you can obviously interrupt me, but if you want to, you can wait to um you can email me later. You can meet up at some point in time if you want to go over more detail. So the first

schedule up is schedule A, the uh revenues and expenditures. This is a summary of revenues and expenditures for the town. Um, as you can take a look at each of our funds, um, we were pretty much on target, uh, with where we wanted to be. Um, and for the most part, we were under budget with the exception of our part-time fund where we were, um, we were basically over budget, but I think we were pretty much on budget. A lot of the acrruels at year end payroll one which we tax on for the 2026 year actually gets acred back into uh 2025 because of the timing difference between payroll one and um when we pay it versus versus when um it's actually expensed. So uh that is where the overage came in in the part town fund. For the most part, um, we had a net decrease in Parktown fund of $453,000. Um, we had planned for $300,000 to utilize $300,000 in fund balance. The difference between the $300,000 and the $453 was the payroll acral for um the police department essentially is what that came down to. So we did tax on that in the following year in 2026 that revenue comes in. So we are made whole there. So, um, the way I look at it is we were about $300,000 there. Um, as you can see in the general fund, I did, one of the things I did was is I adjusted for the sale of the pack. Um, I wanted to make sure that I did that adjustment so that you guys can see the money that we received last year. Obviously, that was planned to be utilized in 2026. So, I kind of pulled that out to give you sort of a net increase or decrease um in the general fund. Uh which we had a net

increase of uh we came in under budget uh roughly about 200 uh $200,000. Um the other we still have to pay off the the loan and we can't do that till later this summer. Correct. No, the the loan is going to you guys authorized the loan to be paid next week. So on Monday we will be paying off was later in summer for some reason. We there was a mo there, right? We you guys had done that. So, we will be paying that off on Monday. Um that has already been we already set up with the bank. We just need to put in our wire transfer and we're good to go. Good.

All right. Um you could see as I said for the most part all our other funds we were pretty much on target. Um so we can move on to uh schedule B which is the year-end water analysis. Um, this is something I know that M, uh, Councilman Becker likes to see. Basically, it takes all our water funds. Um, we basically take the budgeted revenues and expenses, come to the same thing about, you know, where whether we increased or decreased fund balance for the most part. We increased fund balance as I mentioned to you because of what we did this year in changing to four quarters, right? Remember how we took out a loan in Lakeill? Yeah.

Right. um that was because of the timing difference. So the revenue gets generated in 2025 even though the cash doesn't get received until 2026. Okay. So that's reflected here. Um so you can kind of see those numbers. One of the things that um we like to do that I talked to Councilman Becker about was looking at the gallons build, right, versus the gallons used. Okay. So, um, generally speaking, you want to be around, from what I understand from Councilman Becker, around 10 to 15% is usually about standard. Um, it's what we call loss, right? Unaccounted for.

Unaccounted for, right? Maybe that's the way to put it. Um, we we consider to be unaccounted for. We do have a couple of uh our water districts that are a little bit above that. So that may be something that a little more closely because I don't I don't think that they're keeping track of the leaks and stuff because you can make that accounted for by determining that okay we lost this amount of water. So now you've accounted for that through you know to a certain extent they're doing that but they need to do more of that.

Correct. So that's just another analysis tool for you as a board to maintain uh and oversee your water department. Uh the next schedule, schedule C is schedule fund balance. The changes in fund balance. Basically what I did was is I basically you have your beginning of year fund balance and then you have your end ofear unrestricted fund balance. Unrestricted fund balance is essentially what you have left remaining. Um obviously in the general fund some of that money um you know we kind of have earmarked but for the most part we did pretty good. Um you can look at if you look at the appropriations I put 2026 appropriations on there um in terms of what we have budgeted. So you could see as a reflection of the appropriations what our fund balance is. So um basically our fund balance in the general fund is about four is about 15% of um our appropriations. Parktown fund is 8% highway townwide is 24%. We have uh a lot of fund balance you uh allocated to use this year to buy a truck and buy various things. So uh some of that will come down this year. Parktown fund highway part town is 8%. Um our water funds I'm going to skip that for now because there is a reason for that and we'll talk about that later. Um and you can go on and look at that. So

what is the percentage we're usually looking to have for fund balance at the end of the year? That's that's about Wait, that's kind of really up to you guys. The But is there a rule of thumb though? No, the state controller doesn't give a rule of thumb. What the supervisor has directed our department to do is somewhere around 10 to 15%. Is where he likes it. So we in some of the funds we're a little bit under, right? But we're still healthy. Yeah. It's it just because we're a little under doesn't mean we're not healthy, right? It's just where you kind of want to be, right? So I don't consider to be 8% to be you want to be you want to be ready for any any emergencies that might come up.

Correct. And generally as a general rule of thumb, you want to keep about three months. You want to have about three months of cash in case something happens, right? But we get all our cash at the beginning of the year, so it's not really a big deal. Um better flow now with the water because we're bailing quarterly where we didn't have that before. That actually helped a lot. Our water funds a lot. you're moving, you're continuously having money come in where you're able to pay the bills.

Correct. Um and then uh we have our cash position report which is schedule D. Um if you want to move to that, this basically details where your cash is um and what your work I I I like to distill it down to working capital because I think a working capital number is better than a cash number, right? So that takes into account your receivables, your payables, and those type of things. So basically if you look at your cash position um in your general fund right you're at $2.1 million you have 1.6 6 in nightclass at year end. Uh your parttown fund um you're at $85,000 at year end. We had talked about that, right? We were a little low because we were waiting for that fourth quarter sales tax to come in from the county, right? So that was at $85,000 and you could see the differences when you compare your cash schedule to your fund balance schedule, right? There are big differences because of timing differences that you have at your end. All right? and then you can go through each fund and you can see where you are and not only in cash but in working capital. Um, if there are any questions on that, you guys can let me know. Um, I'm going to go through these next schedules. I'm not even going to we're not even going to open them. Uh, schedule E is your basically your balance sheet for all your funds. You guys can go through that on your own. Um, schedule F is your income statement for all your funds. So, you have that and you could take a look at that. I gave a year-end budget to expenditure analysis which is schedule G. You guys can go through that if you'd like. Um these are some of the on schedule H. These are some of your schedules related that we give to um the auditors, right? So you have your schedule of cash reserves. These are all the reserves in each of the funds that we have currently um you know on the books. So you these tie into your balance sheet. You guys can take a look. If you want to boost those reserves based on our cash and

fund balance numbers, you can. If you guys want to utilize some of that stuff, you can as well. Um, I feel like this is a good scheduleuler for you guys to have. Okay. The next page, um, sort of what you would consider to be uh, HB, right? Like H number one or two. Um, this is your debt schedule. So, this is a debt schedule roll forward. Basically, you see what your outstanding debt is in each of your funds um for each of the uh basically what you have the debt for um outstanding at the end of 2025. And then we have a schedule of due to due from. Uh schedule of due to due from are essentially loans that are outstanding between different funds. Unfortunately, as much as I love to get those approved and not have those outstanding, sometimes at your end, it it just happens, right? So, um it's one of those things we don't have a significant amount. It's only about $3,500 um you know, between all the funds. So, um and that was really just timing differences that occur. Uh so, let me go to schedule I. Schedule I is sort of like the one I really wanted to go through with you guys. Um, this is basically your variance analysis that we that that is really going to give you the bulk of what you're looking for, right? In other words, what what things happened during the year that may have caused significant differences between what you were budgeted. So, basically, if you look up at the top on the columns, you have your adopted budget, you have your 2025 appropriated, and then your 2025 actual. So obviously we made budget amendments during the year. I did this by department to not overwhelm you. So uh it's not as many lines. Um so you could see whether we

were overbudget or underbudget based on a given department. Um the way I look at these things is and the way the controllers office look at these things is we say anything over 15% is something you might want to look at and ask why did this occur? Um if however if there are things that that you want to ask about that may stand out to you on other lines please feel free to ask because I only detailed uh anything over budget by 15%. So we had our attorney um which really related to the comprehensive plan which accounted for $25,000. Um we had our um our engineering which is also the comprehensive plan and sidewalks that they did. Uh

we be we should be seeing some money back on the sidewalks also for engineering. I was told that's a different line. Okay. That's a revenue line. The these are so expend these are just the expenditure like this doesn't take account like the ARPA funds and all the other stuff. Government accounting is really weird because government accounting your expenses are on one side, your revenues are on another. So a grant is considered revenue.

So that gets accounted for on the revenue side whereas the expense gets so you're going to see things here, right? And I'm going to I'm going to walk you through when we have those. So like if you look at the senior center, we had the senior center generator which caused the increase um in that building line, right? Well, we used ARPA for that. So, right, that that's the revenue, but I just wanted to highlight to you that that's why we went up, right? Going higher there because it's it wasn't budgeted for it. Correct. Right. Correct. Direction. Yes. Um and and that's part of what we're going to try to like figure out in the future. Yeah. Right. Is

we we go out and get grants, but then we don't budget for the grants. We don't budget the expense side and we don't budget for the the revenue side. We just wait for everything to come in and then we kind of do it after the fact. The goal is is to create a long-term plan from this. What we'll do is and I'll show you how we're going to do it on the next on the next section. You have to expend funds before you get the grant

and then and then get we're going to get to the point of doing this long-term budget, right? So, the next step out of this entire process will be doing the long-term budget and a long-term capital plan. So, we'll have the next three years budgeted out. That's the goal. Okay. Um so then we go to the next page, right? You have your part town fund, right? We had engineering which was um which we went over. Uh we had the police building which is obviously um you know uh was related to expenses that we use some ARPA funds for. Um street lighting, you know, again we had some miscalculations in budgeting. Um and uh you know and then obviously the retirement the retirement was a big piece um just so you know because you guys as a board voted on on uh the resolution to give one of our police officers the the right so that's where that came in that wasn't budgeted for and then you kind of go through the other funds and the other funds really were were pretty right were pretty solid you know you get to Walton Lake and you know we had we had a grant in there that was um that wasn't accounted for. Uh you had your retirement which we underbudgeted, right? And some of these things, you know, they just happen, right? Like

I said, we were we were online pretty much with the increase on our insurance rates also lucky on we we we really had done well in budgeting much much I mean I was really surprised, you know, much much to my surprise too.

Insurance is scary because you don't know the numbers until you've done your budget. And and and I'm gonna say like it's you know when you're when you're budgeting it's a guess right so the idea is to come up with the best educated guess and when we did this budget you have to remember we didn't have we had just changed the chart of accounts we had just changed like we had changed a lot of stuff so the idea being that to be this close to be this on target was really really good for for I want to give credit to the supervisor right obviously he did a really put together a really good budget here Um the comparative analysis uh this is so the comp schedule J if you go to SK schedule J um the comparative analysis that I did this is what we're going to build our long-term budget on okay so from this what we did was is I took three years of budgeting right and then compared it to our current budget so you could see right where the increases came in where decreases came in okay and And uh from there it'll be easier to build out, right? Because now we have sort of sort of a trend. We can build out budgets going for the next two to three years.

Piggyback, right? This will no longer be still recalculate for the next three years anyway. This will no longer be a best guess because of all the hard work that the accounting department is doing with this sort of analysis. So it won't be a guessing game. It won't be a hoping game. It will be a we're going to know more or less where we're going to end up every year at year end and every year with fund balance barring any emergencies. Yes. Well, and that's the thing is to ensure that we've accounted for everything,

right? The idea is to to minimize the amount of emergencies, minimize the amount of of last minute things, the idea that we don't plan, right? Everything becomes emergent. We don't want that. We want to make sure everything is planned out. So, this is what this comparative analysis will do. I would suggest taking a look at it. You have any questions for me? I'm not going to go through the whole thing with you. I just wanted you to see it, understand what we're going to be doing with it, what the next step is with it. If you have any questions on it, feel free to ask me. Um, schedule K is the same thing we did with the expenses. We basically looked at what our adopted budget was, what our 2025 actual was, and the variance. I didn't go through variance analysis on revenues because it's revenues. So you guys can take a look at that if you have any specific questions for me. Um I'm happy to go through that with you. Uh and then obviously schedule A is the revenue side of things where we're you know that's the comparative analysis where we're going to

what schedule L.

Schedule L. Yes. uh where we're going to basically build out our future revenues so that we can say all right this is what we're going to know right in advance what our cap numbers are going to be. That's really what the goal is is to say okay this is what our percentage increase is going to be. This is what we're looking at here. It'll give us an ability to be able to anticipate future loans that we may need bonding those type of things. So um that takes care of that. And then there are some more schedules in the back related to what we have in receivables, right? Because I'm sure if you look at the balance sheet, you'll see some receivables outstanding. So you can see what receivables we had outstanding at year end and what we prepaid, right? So and that's uh schedule M. So that gets us through that. And then there was one other thing that the supervisor and I went through that fast only because he told me that I only had 10 minutes. So I'm running through it really quick. Um and then uh so last year we had the auditors come in and they gave you a presentation about uh the board report. In other words, weaknesses or things that we needed to sort of correct on our end and we've been working really hard to correct those. So journal entries on acrruels, all your acrual journal entries have been made with the exception of a few that are still outstanding that we get those numbers from our auditors. um that relates to like leases and various other things that they do on their side. So um for the most part we are done with that. Um so we we can check that off the list. Time sheet approval. Okay. Um we are still working on this. This was approved by the board last year about the employee self-service system. One of the reasons why we are moving to implement the employee self-service system is to get our police department right here in town hall so that we are overseeing

their payroll right and it's not all being done down at the police department that was uh given to us by um our auditors. So we are now moving forward with that. Hopefully by the end of the year we'll have the employee self-service system implemented and we'll be good to go on that and then we can check that box off on our list. Budget monitoring. Um last year at your end right was sort of the first year we had all the the lines. We didn't have our controller law in place. Um so managing the lines became a little bit overwhelming. Um so we didn't do that. So that meant we were over on some of the lines. This year we did very much budget monitoring. You guys have did a lot of budget amendments towards year end. You did them throughout the year. You gave me the ability to move within the point4 line money around. So we've done that this year. We shouldn't have any problem. That's another thing we can check off the list. And then we had the compensated absences. Uh we are still working on that one.

Got a question for you. with the Greens of Chester coming on on board. That's going to create revenues as far as taxes to the town of Chester, but we're not going to have much outlay on that because the roads are not going to be turned over to us water districts. So, they're going to have to handle that kind of on their own. Is that something we plan on? Also, how we're going to incorporate that money into the budget and Yeah. I mean, well, that use it in the future. Yeah. Once once all that is set up. Yeah. We'll we'll have to have a discussion about that. Okay. Absolutely. Something we really got to think about because that's income that's going to come in. That's you know,

well, it depends on right if it's going to be dependent on how it gets set up. if there are specific uses for that money that we need to put aside and reserve or whether it's going to be, you know, money that is going to not be subject to anything because everything for the green to Chester is also in sewer district one which is a broader base district. Yeah, that that's we have to consider the upgrades to the plant by in front of Whispering Hills that we're going to have to deal with. So that's something we got to keep in mind also. Well, that that I've I've made with that. We can have it there. We're going to be stuck with it.

I've made my comments on on the sore district um to in privately. All I'm going to say is is that you guys have to figure that out. You guys are going to have to figure that out. I will whatever support you need on my end, I'm more than happy to give you the basin issue also with how we get through the budget. We're going to use the basin to get that sewer pump station up to where it needs to be. Right. We we've talked we've had that conversation and and Mudna right now doesn't have an accountant. So that also becomes a problem. So hopefully we can get that straightened out and hopefully the revenues you know those revenues are going to be able to take care of that correct issue.

So Neil just a couple things. So I'm just as I'm going through this I know we we got hit with and I think it was in January our medical insurance went up 8%. It looks like if I'm looking at this right we budgeted 18%. on um I'm on schedule J. Okay. on the back page where it says medical insurance. Okay. So, I'm just I guess my comment is I guess we we planned for the worst in that scenario if I'm if I'm reading this right. Maybe maybe not because I think that there were there are one or two new employees in there too. There's what there there may have been one or two new employees that we accounted for too. Okay.

Right. So you can't always look at a percent increase or decrease as being like it was just market driven. You have to look at the number of employees you have. If you added any new employees, if those employees take health care, if they're in the retirement system, those type of things. I guess in a perfect world, if we stayed the same and nothing changed, I could look at that. Yes. Retirement and you put a replacement person in, now you have an increase. I guess my comment is um I like the fact that I see 18% as an increase. So I know we're not gonna we won't Neil and I were having the discussion about how to Yeah. As I'm going as I'm going through some of these numbers I'm I'm going you know what it's better to over

I I'm you don't have to sell it to me. Yeah. I I will say if you go through if you go into if you take a look at that and you go into schedule B if you go to the B fund, right? You can you can see like I mean it's you know the retirement aspect right um state retirement you could see how how much it went up. Yeah. I mean that that was a killer just in of itself. I mean you're talking almost $200,000 right in one year

that that you guys increased in in your um retirement. I we did our best. the supervisor and I had many conversations about trying to write stay below the cap, ensure that ensure good growth factor um as well as make sure that we cover so we're not under that we don't end up overbudget. So we did our best. I I will say you know looking at some of the numbers and where we're starting to get actuals because now I'm working on cash flow moving forward to the end of the year. You know, there are some areas where it's like, okay, well, you know, well, I called you, I think, on one of the areas I had concern when the county reported that there were $900,000 under the sales tax revenue.

That's definitely and just for the board, I asked Neil when he could get the number figured out, you know, what's the impact going to be for us because it's going to it's going to be something. It's you know, we can't it's minuscule because every penny counts. So, when it comes to I don't think it's going to be that much and not and and to be honest, I accounted for that. So normally what we had been doing in the past and you can look through those revenue numbers. Um we had been accounting for right the old supervisor had been accounted for the the fact that there was been a bonus sales check tax check right um I accounted you know for that I would say probably I think it was in 2024 or 2025 I did not account for that in 2026.

I just I just want to make sure so it's not there. Now, I just want to make sure, like I said, you know, when something like that, you see something like that, you know, me knowing budgets, that's why I I, you know, pick up the phone and ask the question because I don't want to sit here and October, November, and now we're trying to justify why something might be going up. So,

the the idea is is to make sure we're doing as accurate budgets as possible. Okay, that that's the goal. The goal isn't to guess. The goal isn't to sit here and say blah blah blah, right? It's to find what the growth factors are in each line in in each area and then kind of meticulously say, "All right, this is what it realistically is going to be." And the town will either utilize or will add to fund balance based on a margin. So in other words, if something comes in better than expected, great for the town. If something comes in under what's expected, we might have a little bit of an issue. But the idea is that won't be a big issue if we overestimate.

But the uh economy contracting so heavily in the last couple years uh you know when I was discussing the bonus check with Neil, I we didn't want to we didn't want to account for it in terms of

I've been sitting up here six years and I've been talking about that every eventually that wave was going to crash and everyone looked at me like I was nuts and here we are. Right. So, one of the things that we did, right, um, and the supervisor was was intimately involved in this was the idea of making the correction, right? Two years ago, we made we made a correction in the budget. What we are seeing now, okay, and you could look at every other municipality in the state almost, okay, everybody is doing a correction now, right? If they didn't do it this past year, okay, then they're doing it this coming up year. We're hearing it from every municipality that they are struggling having issues that they they they overextended themselves on debt. They don't have they're not they're not generating the revenues that they have that their sales tax revenue is short. Their expenses are going up. So we we made that correction, right? And the goal is is to keep keep that moving forward. Now, now just one thing I want to bring up is the fact that we with current market situations, right? We don't know what the price of oil is going to be, right? And we may think we don't use a lot of it, right? But everything that you consume is really oil based or petroleumbased, right? I mean goods that you buy, services that you you contract with. I mean, people use energy and energy costs are going up. Okay, we don't know what the market's going to be like next budget season. And if if you know, we we just went from what 60 bar $60 a barrel of oil to over $100 a barrel in like a week. Okay. So we need to we need to make sure right like next year that may be part of our budget if if if

Yeah. No and listen I I'm just a guess and not a guess it is a compliment just looking back when you you're looking at 23 actual you're looking at 24 actual you're looking at 25 actual then you got a bunch of 26. So you can see if there's fluff in the numbers you're going to see it right away. Correct. That's all I'm asking is just you as the controller, the supervisor and and and that's on us too to make sure we just keep an eye on all this stuff because you know, you know, my prior life when the first thing when fuel went up, your milk went up, your rates went up. Okay. Cost of goods went up. Yep. And when it came down, they they didn't come down. So and say that now

and that's why that's why I felt that these numbers are important. I wanted to make sure that they were timely for you guys. I wanted to make sure that you had them. I I beg of you look over the information, ask me questions. I am like, you know, whatever. You guys may see something I didn't see. You guys may find something that that is more important than that I overlook. You guys may say, "Hey, we got this project out there. Where is this? I don't see it accounted for." I think right

what we got to look at too is this year the benefits that we put out there with just like I mentioned Siri Meadows we put control we put new control panels in most of our sewer pump stations most of our water plants are getting new control panels it's all being done this year along with new pumps those are alleviating potential emergencies that are going to cost us double what we're spending now in an emergency basis and we actually budgeted for these things they're in there and we're not have to worry about in the future, they're done. So,

and the idea of building a long-term financial and capital plan will then be able to plan those out. So, rather than, you know, if if you know that you're going to need something five years from now, right? Because now now we have all this information, you could say, well, these are our reserves. Let's put a little money in away every year. So that way we're not hitting hitting our taxpayers, right, in one year for this this thing, right? We're hitting, you know, we're getting it over five years, we're putting the money away. So that way when the fiveyear time comes and you want to buy that thing, you already have it, but you already have the money for it. You guys don't have to charge your

tax have our departments bring that information to us so that we can make plans for it. And we've been we've been putting together that information that's been in our budget binder every year as to what the asks are. So now we're going to start putting those asks into reality by saying, "Let's put some money aside." That's why I gave you the schedule of reserves. That's why I I gave you your fund balance numbers and your cash numbers. You guys can make decisions if you want to sock a little bit more money away or not. Thank you very much, Neil. All right. You're over you 10 minutes. I'm just saying. I know he's very upset by that. I got the evil eye when I started talking. I did not. It's a lie. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.

I just want to personally thank you, Neil, and the accounting department for putting all this together. Um, I know I ask a lot about a lot of you guys, but this is very important. This town has never seen I know everybody talks about this word and it usually means nothing, but this is literal financial transparency in the works. So, thank you for putting this together. I think this is very important for the board to understand and they will be able to make the public understand given this knowledge. So, thank you.

I I would like to to thank my uh my payroll clerk and my deputy um Tonnie McY and Julie uh Tiller. They do an amazing job uh for the town. They work really hard. Um they support all this information in here and you know they're dedicated to to getting timely and accurate information to you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Neil, before you question, quick question for you and a supervisor. Once these figures are audited and they're official figures, is this all going to be available to the public?

Yes. So, what we do is is once the financial statements um are have been audited and we receive our audited financial statements that gets handed over to the town clerk, right? And it'll get posted on the website. And then um also if the board wishes uh the auditors can come in and do another presentation for you guys if you guys would like to to hear from them again. Um at that point in time then we will complete the AFR and once the AFR is complete that also then gets handed over to the town clerk and gets posted on the website. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Moving forward, uh, generator maintenance agreement with Gentech for the, uh, senior center generator that we got two years ago. We want to make sure that we have that in place in case something happens with it. Are there any questions or debate points? No. No. Are there is there a motion to authorize me to sign it? I'll make the motion. Second. All those in favor? I I

resolution to authorize creation of a Chester Commons lighting upgrades cash reserve. So, we got I had communicated with Peekom uh a year ago and we were able to secure a $20,000 grant to pay for the upgrades to the lights and uh control panel there at the Chester Commons field. Um there's a there's a there's around $6 and a half thousand dollars left in that from that grant and we just want to set up a cash reserve. So we make sure that that money is used to pay off the rest of the uh of the uh cost which is going to happen this spring now that the weather is uh breaking. So are there any questions or debate points on this? No.

So this will cover the control panel. Yeah. The the finishing touches. They weren't able to get it all done by the end because of the weather. Yeah. So now they're trying to patch it. So they're going to finish it. I just want to make sure that this money doesn't go anywhere where it's not supposed to be going. It's supposed to be used for this. So we get this done. Uh is there a motion to uh I'll make the motion. Okay. Is there a second? All those in favor? I I

All right. Uh there were a couple residents that need uh more refunds for the uh bus trips. This is in addition to the other seven, I believe, from two weeks ago. Uh, everybody got the email from the parks department on this. Are there any questions or debate points on these uh refund requests? No. Is there an is there a motion to accept the refund requests? I'll make the motion. Second. All those in favor? I

I All right. resolution to authorize uh town engineer John Quinnan to create bid docks for the Suriri Colbert project, the Pond Road Dam uh head wall project, and the highway department roof project. Uh we've talked about two of these at a couple times now in town board uh meetings. The Pond Road, which is the connecting shortcut road between uh Kings Highway and Luru Road. There's a head wall uh that is holding up part of the side of a covert and that needs to be replaced. The highway department did a good job putting a band-aid on it last year, but it was only a band-aid. It was only supposed to last us so long. Uh we need a contract out for quite a uh hefty bond to replace it in full. So, uh, and then the culvert over, uh, in between on Suri Road, uh, right before you get on to Bridal and, um, in the back there and Vivian, uh, there's a culvert that needs to be replaced. That's an even heftier bond that we need to take out. Uh, and then the highway department roof needs to be repaired,relaced, which is

looking to put one bond together for all three projects. Yes, there it's going to be a combined bond. Um, that's further down in the uh in the agenda. Now that but uh sorry Brandon the roof is for the pole bar for the salt where the salt is right. It's not the roof of the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's the garage. The garage. I thought it was for the for the probably the areas over the I don't think he replaced the roofing over top of the offices. Correct. All the offices. Yeah. Okay. I was mistaken. I'm sorry. Thank you, Neil. Um, yeah. So, first we need to authorize the town engineer to create the bid docks for to get the projects out to the uh

to the contractors. So, are there any questions or debate points on this? Nope. Seeing none, is there a motion to authorize the town engineer to create the bid docs? I'll make a motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I All right. Resolution to authorize me to sign the fire and burglar alarm agreements with Harry Tollo and Sun. Uh, it's $45 per month for the fire and $29 per month for the burglar. Are there any questions or debate points on this? No. Seeing none, is there a motion to ex uh to authorize me to sign? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I

I Mr. Courtney. He abstains. He's abs. All right. Uh Connie Roach has resigned from the parks advisory board. Um thank you Connie for your um contributions to the board. Uh she had a lot to say every meeting and uh I appreciate her her um what's it called? Her uh contributions. I'm sorry my mind is going somewhere. Uh are there any Yeah. Is there a motion to accept the resignation? I'll make the motion. Second. All those in favor? I I thank you again, Connie.

Resolution to approve the Justice Court Education request to attend the 2026 impaired driving seminar during May 6 and 7. It's for Patty and Arlene. There is no uh seminar fee. Uh so it is a free seminar. Are there any questions or debate points? No, I'm good. No motion. There's a motion by Councilman Casara. I'll second. Seconded. All those in favor? I I All right. Here are the bond resolutions. So, there are separate resolutions, but it is combined in the same bond, but we have to do them separately uh with the resolutions. Liz will do the honors.

And um you're going to bear with me because that's a fair amount of reading facilities in the record. Um and just note that um even though you adopt the bond resolution, this is authorizing you to issue bonds. You do not necessarily need to issue bonds. So, it's giving you that freedom to do that. Giving the option. Correct. So, you do not necessarily have to borrow that money, but if you don't have this resolution, you can't borrow that money in the future. Go on. Can I ask a question? I'm sorry. Um, if the bid docks haven't been produced yet, how do we come up with these numbers? These are the estimates from the engineer. From the engineer. Okay. And is this like the not to exceed number? Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yes.

That's your max you and you would have to amend the resolution. There is a notice in publication. um and then potentially subject to tap challenge. So it has to go through that process. So okay, bear with me. The town board of the town of Chester and the county of Orange, New York, hereby resolved by favorable vote of not less than twothirds of all members of the said town board. So I need four of you as follows. Section one, the town of Chester and the county of Orange, New York, here called the town is hereby authorized to issue bonds in the principal amount not to exceed $150,000 pursuant to local finance law constituting chapter 33-a of the consolidated laws of the state of New York here and after called the law to finance the construction of improvements to the highway department group section two. The estimated maximum cost of the project described herein including preliminary costs and costs incidental thereto and financing thereof is 150,000 and set amount is hereby appropriated for such purpose. The plan of financing includes the issuance of bond and the principal amount not to exceed 150,000 to finance set appropriation the levy and collection of taxes on all of the taxable real property in the town to pay the principal sum of said bonds and the interest thereon as shall as the same shall become due and payable. Section three. The following additional matters are hereby determined and declared. A. The period of probable usefulness applicable to the object or purpose for which the set bonds are authorized to be issued within the limitations section 11.00 A12 A2 of the law is 15 years. B. The proceeds of the bonds are here and authorized and any bond anticipation notes issued in anticipation of said bonds may be applied to reimburse the town for expenditures made after the effective date of this resolution for the purpose for which said bonds are authorized. The foregoing statement of intent with respect to reimbursement is made in conformity with Treasury regulation section 1.150-2 of the United States Treasury Department. C. The proposed maturity of the bonds authorized that this

resolution will exceed 5 years. Section four. Each of the bonds authorized by this resolution and any bond anticipation notes issued in anticipation of the sale of said bond shall contain the recital validity as prescribed by section 52.00 of the law and said bonds and any notes issued in anticipation of said bonds shall be general obligations of the town payable as to both principal and interest by general tax upon all taxable real property within the town. The faith and credit of the town is hereby ir irrevocably pledged to the punctual payment of the principle of and interest on said bonds and any notes issued in anticipation of the sale of said bonds. And the provision shall be made annually in the budget of the town by appropriation for a the amortization and redemption of the bonds and any notes in anticipation thereof to mature in such year and b the payment of interest to be due and payable in such year. Again, section five, subject to the provisions of this resolution and of the law in pursuit to the provisions of section 21.00 of the law relative to the authorization of the issuance of bonds with substantially level or declining annual debt service section 3.00 relative to the authorization of the issuance of bond anticipation notes and section 50 sections 56 to through 60 and 168 of the law. the powers and duties of the town board as to the authorizing bond anticipation notes and prescribing the terms, form and contents, and as to the sale and issuance of the bond here and authorized and of any set any bond anticipation notes issued in anticipation of set bonds and the renewal of said bond anticipation notes and as to the executing contracts for credit enhancements and providing for substantially level or declining annual debt service are hereby delegated to the supervisor, the chief fiscal officer of the town. Section six, the validity of the bonds authorized by this resolution and any notes issued in anticipation of the sale of said bonds may be contested only if a such obligations are authorized for an object or purpose for

which the town is not authorized to expend money or b the provisions of the law which should be complied with at the date of the publication of such resolution or summary thereof are not substantially complied with and an action suit or proceeding to testing such validity is commenced within 20 days after the date of such publication. C. Such obligations are authorized in violation of the provisions of the constitution. Section seven. This bond resolution is subject to a permissive referendum and the town clerk is hereby authorized and directed within 10 days after adoption of this resolution to publish or cause to be published in full in the official newspaper of the town having a general circulation within said town and to post on the sign board of the town maintain pursuant to town law a notice substantially in the form appearing in exhibit 8. Here too, um, section 8, the town clerk is hereby authorized and directed after said bond resolution shall take effect to cause said bond resolutions be published in summary in the official newspaper of the town together with a notice in substantially the form provided by section 81 of the local finance law constituting chapter 33-a of the consolidated laws of the state of New York.

Thank you. Got all that? Yep. I got to do that. That's one. You got to watch one. I got to do two more to go. And I I do want to just mention um that by adopting the bond resolution, you're allowed to incorporate into any bond financing. For example, John Queen's costs um with respect to the bid package and going out to bid and that and and that um but you got to adopt the bond resolution first. So you can't bond after the fact, right? Okay. I didn't know that. Is there a motion to accept the bond resolution for the highway roof project? I'll make the motion. I'll second it. All those in favor? I I

pond road head wall.

Okay, I'm gonna shorten it a little, but it's pretty much the same resolution. The town board board hereby resolves as follows. Town of Chester uh is hereby authorized to issue funds in the principal amount not to thank you not to exceed $200,000 pursuant to local finance law um to finance the construction of improvements to the head wall on Pond Road as described in the report prepared by Lincoln Engineering and Surveying DPC dated October 7th, 2025. Section two, the maximum estimated cost of the project described herein, including preliminary costs and costs incidental to and the financing thereof, is $200,000, and set amount is hereby appropriated for such purpose. The plan of financing includes the issuance of bonds and the principal amount not to exceed $200,000 to finance that appropriation, the levy, and collection of taxes on all the taxable property in the town to pay the principle of said bonds and the interest there as the same shall become due and payable. Section three, the following additional matters are hereby determined and declared. A, the period of probable usefulness applicable to the object or purpose for which said bonds are authorized to be issued is 30 years. The proceeds of the bonds here and authorized in any bond anticipation notes issued may be implied to reimburse the town expenditures made after the effective date of this resolution for the purpose for which said bonds are authorized. The foregoing and statement of intent with respect to reimbursement is made in conformity with treasury regulation section 1.150-2. The proposed maturity of the bonds authorized by this resolution will exceed 5 years. Um each of the bonds authorized by this resolution and any bond anticipation notes um shall contain the recital of the validity as prescribed by section 52 of the law and said bonds and any notes issued in anticipation of said bonds shall be general obligations of the town payable as to go principal and interest by general tax upon all taxable real property within the town. the faith and

credit of the town are hereby irrevocably pledged to the punctual payment of the principal interest on said bonds and any notes issued in anticipation um and provision shall be made annually in the budget by the town for appropriation by a the amortization and redemption of the bonds and any notes in anticipation thereof to mature in such year b the payment of any interest uh to be due and payable in such year. Section five, subject to the provisions of this resolution and of the law pursuant to the provisions of section 21. Um the issuance of bond with substantially level or declining annual debt service section 30 relative to the authorization of the issuance of bond anticipation notes section 50 and sections 56 through 60. So once again 168 of the law powers and duties of the town board as to authorizing bond anticipation notes and prescribing the terms form consents and as to the sale and issuance of bonds here and authorized and any of bond anticipation notes issued in anticipation of said bonds and the renewal of said bond anticipation notes and to executing contracts for credit enhancements and providing for substantially level or declining annual debt service are hereby delegated to the supervisor the chief fiscal officer of the TA. the validity of the bonds authorized uh and any notes issued in anticipation may be contested only if such obligations are authorized um for an object or purpose for which the town is not authorized to expend money. The provision of the law which should be complied with at the date of publication of such resolution um are not substantially complied with and an action suit proceeding contesting validity is commenced within 20 days after the date of such publication. Such obligations are authorized in violation of the provisions of the constitution. Um, this bond resolution is subject to permissive referendum and the town clerk is hereby authorized within 10 days after adoption of this resolution to publish or cost be published in full in the official newspaper of the town uh and to post on the sign board of the town maintain pursuant to town law a notice substantially in the form

appearing in appendix exhibit A. A town clerk is hereby authorized and directed after said bond resolution shall take effect to cause said bond resolution to be published in summary in the official newspaper of the town together with the notice substantially in the form prescribed in section 81 of the local finance law. Is there a motion for the pond road head wall? I'll make the motion. I will second. All those in favor? I I I don't.

Okay, here we go again. Uh the town the town of Chester um is hereby authorized to issue bonds in the principal amount not to exceed $600,000 pursuant to local finance law to finance the replacement of the covert on Suri road as described in the report prepared by Lincoln engineering and surveying DPC dated October 7th 2025. The estimated maximum cost of the project described here in including preliminary cost incidental two and the financing thereof is $600,000 and that amount is hereby appropriated for that such purpose. The plan of financing includes the issuance of bonds and the principal amount not to exceed $600,000 to finance that appropriation, the levy and collection of taxes on all real taxable property in the town to pay the principle of set bonds and the interest thereon. That's the same shall become due and payable. The period of probable useful the following uh matters are hereby determined and declared the period of probable usefulness um for the purpose um is 40 years. The proceeds of the bonds herein uh authorized and any bond anticipation notes um may be applied to reimburse the town for expenditures made after the effective date of this resolution for the purpose for which said bonds are authorized. The foregoing statement of intent with respect to reimbursement is made in conformity with Treasury regulation section 1.15-2. The proposed maturity of the bonds uh will exceed 5 years. Um each of the bond anticipation uh each of the bonds authorized and any bond anticipation notes uh shall contain a recital. The validity is required by section 52 of the law. Um said bonds. Any notes issued in anticipation of said bonds uh shall be a general obligation of the town payable as to both principal and interest by general tax upon all taxable real property within the town. The faith and credit of the town are hereby irrevocably pledged to the punctual payment of the principal and interest on set bonds and any notes issued in

anticipation. The provision shall be made annually in the budget for for the town of the town by appropriation for a the amortization and redemption of the bonds and any notes bond anticipation notes. Um the payment of interest to be due and payable in such year subject to the provisions of this resolution and the law. Uh I'm sorry I'm trying to shorten this as best I can. the powers and duties of the town board as to authorizing bond anticipation notes and prescribing the terms form contents and as to the sale and issuance of bonds you're unauthorized in any bond anticipation notes and the renewals of said bond anticipation notes and as to executing contracts for credit enhancements and providing for substantially level or declining annual debt service are hereby delegated to the supervisor the chief fiscal officer of the town. the validity of the bonds authorized by this resolution may only be contested again if such obligations are authorized for a purpose for which the town is not authorized to expend money. The provisions of law which should be complied with at the date of publication of such resolution are not substantially complied with and an action suit or proceed contesting such validity is commenced within 20 days after the date of such publication. Such obligations authorized are in violation of the provisions of the constitution. Uh the bond resolution is subject to permissive referendum and the town clerk is hereby authorized and directed within 10 days after the adoption of this resolution to publish or cause to be published in full in the official newspaper uh and to post on the sign board of the town maintained pursuant to town law a notice in substantially the form appearing in exhibit A here too. Town clerk is hereby authorized and directed after set bond resolution to take effect to cause set bond resolution to be published in summary in the official newspaper of the town together with a notice substantially in the form as required by section 81 of the local finance law.

Is there a motion to uh accept the Siri road culver projects bond resolution? I'll make the motion. I will second. All those in favor? I I.

Mr. Supervisor, real quick. Um so thank you guys for for doing that. Um the things that I need you guys to keep in mind um with these resolutions is uh whether you want to ban or bond first, right? Go out to bond ban uh you know anticipation notes or whether you want to bond um these first and then the uh service life. So, in other words, how long do you anticipate wanting to pay these off? So, there are three bonds that you guys need to consider and um that'll be something to consider obviously down the road, but I want to keep you to keep it in the back of your head so that way when you are asked about this, we have an answer at the time that we do it.

What can we afford? Right. We're not there yet. Can you please uh email the full board with your personal recommendation as to what you think may be the best course for the town? So then the new board members can be, you know, read well read into it um and understand how the process works and uh then we can all make a a decision as a team uh in the in the next couple meetings. Okay. Separate bonds because of course they all have separate uh useful lives, right?

Correct. That that's one of the reasons. But at the end of the day, what my anticipation would be is that we do bond anticipation notes. We start off with bands and then you can combine all the bands together um in one and one one bond, right? Um as a way to sort of mitigate that in the future. Obviously, as it goes out, you're you're you're sort of they'll drop off over time depending on the length of time that you use for each because a covert is not going to have the same useful life as say a roof. You know, a covert is supposed to be 100 years supposedly. I've been told. Well, you can go out you could go out to about 40 years. Yeah.

The local finance law has a table of useful probable useful life and um this is labeled at 40 years, right? And I and you know for financing purposes that doesn't necessarily mean that's taxual but they for financing for for from an accounting standpoint we you we would say you want to go the longer you go out obviously the less money you're going to pay each year but the more interest you're going to pay over time right you know um the shorter the period the more you're going to be taxing on that information on that on those um on those notes. So, it really kind of is a balance and that's something that we need to projects are basically townwide projects also.

Correct. And that's one of the reasons why we decided to go out to bond on those as opposed to, you know, taxing on them in one year because they are very large projects and, you know, there's no point in doing it in one year and taxing everybody on that and we can spread it out if we can spread it out over time. Thank you. Thank you, Council Meer. resolutions in one night. All right.

Uh I believe that handles our regular business. Uh we will head into executive session. I don't believe there will be new business, but you never know surprises. Uh however, there will be public comment afterwards. So, is there a motion to head into executive session for litigation and personnel? I'll make the motion. Is there a second? I'll second it. All those in favor? I

giving these back. All right. Is there a motion to come out of executive session? I'll make the motion. I'll second. All those in favor? I I Is there any new business? No. No. Seeing none, uh, is there any public comment? Brian, please step up to the imaginary my imaginary call. I can talk loud or Yeah, you can talk loud. Just step up to the front. Was that was that was that a question or was that a comment? No, I can. Oh, okay.

Um, I support investing in infrastructure before it's an emergency. I support the fact that we were looking at the bonds for these three major uh needs. Um but I think like I don't quite understand what other infrastructure needs we are trading off to select these three. Um and I know I noticed that the board all we it was across the board voted in favor of seeking I guess not necessarily seeking bonds but approval to go over and look at them. I don't think it's a tradeoff so much as it the necessity to get these done because they're a safety hazard.

Right. So, I guess I I want to understand because it's just it's not it's not clear to me what else is on that list and like why are these three at the top and maybe it's not necessarily just for Brandon because everyone here said that these are the three we should go after. The covert pipe is something where they've already had a partial cave in on the road that they've had to repair and patch. So

yeah, we we would not be taking out these uh you know eventually we will not be taking out these bonds for stuff that is not this pressing. The the culvert is a is a huge risk for the road there. Um which connects to a very large residential area. Uh we can't we cannot um what's it called? Risk the road washing out or the culvert collapsing continue. That's on Suri. Same thing with the head wall. uh we cannot risk the uh what's it called the uh the head wall collapsing which will lead to the covert having added strain and then the road eventually washing out the same thing as Siri on pond road. Um we and like you said uh you you got to something I I think the sense is what are the priorities and why are these being prioritized? Uh we had tried to hold off with this. We we had the town board had directed the highway department to do their best uh last year and they did do their best. They they they did do a very good um job with the band-aid operation uh which has kept it up and in place uh you know so far. But if we do not do the needed work uh that is you know that's going to be necessary to keep it up for the next you know 50 100red years then it will eventually collapse and it will cause a huge issue for uh transportation around that area. So, and then finally, the the roof was something that has been in the in in line for a while, and we figured since we were taking out these bonds, we would uh you know, throw this one in so we would get a better rate on the uh on on the uh interest and everything. So, uh you know, that that was work that has been in line for a while. But we have definitely a lot of uh irons in the fire uh you know, so the saying goes and everything. Um, you know, Bob has been working very hard uh with the engineer to get kind of like a master list together of uh you know, infrastructure needs and Tom has been very in

instrumental with the uh the sewer and the water systems and you know and he he got us a grant uh with Senator Scoopus, $130,000 a couple years ago for uh Walton Lake Estates, but he's been on top of keeping us a breast of what the water and sewer systems need. So, um I think once we have some information from uh the engineer uh as to what around the area uh is in is in need, I think we can try to put that together in a more digestible uh package for the uh for for the public to see

be really helpful. I'm mostly coming from the place of for a resident who does not ever drive on Siri road. I guess the maybe the highway defined roof is the exception here, but um if you're someone who you don't see the direct impact of these projects and you know that there's an infrastructure project in your neighborhood that is not on this list, it's helpful to understand why. Yeah. And so that that's really Yeah. I think the the sort of like digestible summarized version of what is the short list and and what were the criteria to name these three, especially since you all all agreed like clearly there's a unanimous feeling.

I can speak to Siri Meadows. There is a lot that that development is over 57 years old. Um that cover I mean I just did some quick math when we were doing 50 57 years old. So um I can tell you this heavy duty sewer infiltration in Siri Meadows. Well they said they've replaced that cover before also. Have they? Yeah they I didn't know that. Um, and then also too, there's if you ever over that way, ride through the ride right through and take a look at some of the curbs when there's heavy rain. There's no more curbing and it just floods people's properties. There's that's about And the sad part is this town had a bond years ago to do all the curbs in there and they dragged their feet and the bond got pulled halfway through the project because grant

a grant, I'm sorry, a grant pulled because they didn't they didn't finish. They were they were in no hurry to finish it and then the money got taken away. To be clear, I don't doubt the importance of these projects. I just wanted to understand what else was on the table. There's a lot. Yeah, that's hard for us to know unless you all presented. It's all because it's all underground stuff, but it's Ryan, let me ask you a question. Do you have um an infrastructure issue or something you want to address in Sugarloaf or that you see needs attention? There are some infrastructure issues in Sugarloaf that I think have been neglected for a while. They uh should have come in and helped at this point or I don't have those been resolved. Which one is that? Talking about the firehouse supposed to be.

Yeah, it's pending. It's Yeah, it's in the works. Yeah, I know. It's been back and forth. Yeah. And again, like that's as an example. I live in there who lives in some other neighborhood of Chester where maybe these projects are not at the top of their personal list and help specifically that is the fire district's property. So, the town can't get involved with that one unfortunately. But we did I did get out us involved in a way. I had my uh grant writers uh I the town's grant writers uh work heavily with uh the fire district staff over there, Brad Ellens um and everything uh to help them try to get the uh you know the stuff for FEMA together uh because technically it's a grant funding. So um

again not criticizing the decision to understand. No, it's perfectly reasonable. Thank you. All right. Are there any other comments tonight? Seeing none, um, is there a motion to adjurnn? I'll make the motion. Second. We all want to get out of here. All those in favor? All right. All right.