(1) Town Board - Regular Meeting

I think we're everybody's here. Let me know whenever you're ready. You're ready. Thank you, Sam. Okay. Very good. Uh, thank you everyone. I'd like to welcome you to the Red Hook Town Board meeting of Wednesday, March 25th, 2026. Would you be kind enough to join me in the pledge of allegiance, please? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Can I go?

Uh, okay. Thank you all very much. Sam, if if uh if I could ask you to pan over to the screen there and we can show the folks at home what we'll be discussing tonight. On our agenda, we'll be talking about uh the desire of the uh water board chairman to dispense with some surplus properties um in the water district. and thinking perhaps now is a good time to be discussing that since um there's some capital needs for uh rehabbing the tank. We have a resolution to approve amended task order for the TND water district uh map plan and report. Um there was a task order back in 2024 that we approved of um this effort which included the preliminary engineering report which we have already received and we've got an updated uh task order for the second portion of that which is to create the map planning report. Um we're going to have a discussion about uh the Champlain Hudson Power Express. If you've been following along the previous meetings, that is that uh power line that's underneath the Hudson River, comes all the way from Quebec and goes to Atoria, Queens. And because it lies within our underwater land, um it is eligible for taxation and the developers are interested in discussing the possibility of a pilot agreement. And so we'll have a discussion, a brief discussion about what the pros and cons uh of that might be. Um I don't necessarily think we'll be taking action tonight, but you never know. Um

the fourth uh item on the agenda is we are going to um entertain a resolution to apply for a grant. As we always do, we apply for as many grants as we can possibly put together. This one is for assisting us in records management. Um government is famous for paperwork and paperwork requires uh record storage and management of that. And so what we're trying to do is sort of weed through um what uh needs to be kept, what needs to be digitized and so on and so forth. And so we're going to apply for a grant um to help us uh continue to manage our records appropriately. We've got a couple updates I think we'll be doing for reorganization. Um as we've mentioned uh briefly um battery energy storage law. Um it's an emerging topic and so if we want to get something on the books uh regarding that um we should probably get started now and so we'll have a brief discussion about that as well. We have some correspondence. There's an application um that we have 30 days in order to chime in on related to the Roland Fields uh property. That's the former bowling alley. Um there's a request for for a liquor license there and so we'll have a discussion about that as well. Um the uh last item on the agenda is a discussion regarding Camp Rising Sun and it's not regarding uh the uh project the preservation project um that we're doing in partnership with Winnie. Um it's different than that. So,

I was approached by uh the executive director who mentioned that um the entity that was originally going to rent the campgrounds this year and have previously done so for several years is not going to uh rent the grounds. And so there's um some thought they would like to know if they would be interested in renting the pool. Um something that I think has been a goal of our community is provide public access um to uh our community for a pool. We we do have a private pool um located uh next to or adjacent to the grounds of the rec pool. And so uh we'll have a brief discussion about that and maybe get some more information going forward about uh that effort. We uh it's the second meeting of the month, so we always go through our department board and committee reports. So, we'll be reporting out on that. Um we had some correspondence from the Red Hook librarian about a program and whether or not we'd be interested in partnering with the library on a program uh to provide um books for uh young individuals in our community. And one of the things that I read as part of the request, which was a little disturbing to me, which was that only 55% of third graders in the community are reading at at uh proficient

at a proficient level. So, um something for us to uh discuss. Okay. So, that's uh what we have on the agenda for tonight. Um, as far as announcements, uh, the Red Hook Rod and Gun Club, um, and the community, the town, of course, we are a sponsor, co-sponsor of the Lnau Memorial Trout Fishing Contest. That's April 11th. Looks to me like we hand rubbed the 11th in there. Um, this is a Saturday morning. We always do it each year. It's a wonderful event for kids. If you remember last year was absolutely horrific weather. I was out there. Um these poor kids were fishing in sle and snow and so on and so forth. It really quite impressive. Um it's just for ages 5 to 15. Um and it's 8:00 a.m. 12 noon. It's uh along the creek at Whoops. at our wreck park. obviously is one of our events that we are very happy about. Um you'll be receiving the newsletter soon um in your mail and these are the events coming up for the spring sort of reorganized now in date order. Want to remind you that we have uh partnered with Duchess County and Helpsy for this program. I think my email was about as corny as could be. We're the government and we're here to help. Um this program is a wonderful program that uh recycles textiles. So any um any of your shirts, any of your pants, um it's ripped,

shoes, um there's a list of items that you can bring. We have two boxes along with the other boxes at our recycling center, but also what's unique about this program is you can schedule pickup at your house. And for those of us who are moving, uh I can assure you that um that can be very helpful. I think we probably 20 bags, I'm embarrassed to say, of clothing to either Ben and Gracies or uh to these uh boxes as well. Um but it's really been enormously helpful. They recycle the textiles. They uh uh there's even occasionally some money that goes back to uh the municipality based upon what um what they do with the goods. This has been um at ozone for for some time. um and uh something that's being launched for municipalities countywide.

Okay. And that's what I have for announcements, but it looks like you have one. I do. I want to remind the public um that we are in a burn ban. Started on the 16th and it goes to May 14th. There are many newer people in the community who are unaware of the burn ban and there are people who lived here a long time who are aware that we do have a burn ban. and they just didn't know it was in effect right now. Today, while I was walking my dog, I encountered two people burning brush who I had to tell them about the burn ban. One was new to the community and was totally unaware. The other thought it was going to be in April. So, um I just wanted to put that out there. We did announce it previously, but it's something we should but we should reinforce it.

Thank you. March 16th to May 14th statewide. Stateide. Okay. Uh, any other announcements? No. Okay. With that being said, we'll take some public comments for 15 minutes. Is there anybody who would like to Roxan, would you be kind enough to just come up and state your name. Thank you.

Roxan Fischer, Barry Town, New York. As I stated at the March 10th meeting, the ongoing Boat Club eminent domain litigation continues to drain significant taxpayer funds now over 300,000 and still climbing with discovery escalating in federal court, appellet proceedings, and mediation at an impass. Just last week, Duchess County Supreme Court Justice Maria Rosa issued an order publicly available through an online search in the latest article 78 proceedings. I have copies of the order for the board and press. The town missed the legally required March 18th deadline to answer the petition which was challenging the December 9, 2025 determinations and those local laws that had been given a deadline now of a final deadline of April 10th. This is the third such proceeding in state court and the pattern of prolonged litigation and mounting legal expenses is clear. There is still no resolution in sight. Costs and community division persist. As I've stated before, any board member who voted in favor of the July 25 eminent domain resolution can resend that vote at any time. Bill and Jacob, it is well past time for one of you to do the right thing and halt these exorbitant legal expenses. to reduce divisiveness and allow the town to pursue responsible good faith alternatives that better serve all residents. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anybody else like to make some comments?

Okay, hearing none, we'll move on with our agenda for the first item. I think I mentioned to uh let let you Council members know um for some time now Hank has been interested in disposing of these parcels that are not needed. He sent us what may be the briefest communication inter department communication. Um but uh to orient uh the folks at home, the water district owns some parcels in uh the London acres area here. I will These are circles. So maybe you just put the bigger circle.

Yeah. So I think what I'll do is I'll show you these if you wouldn't mind. Um you can see these wet wedish areas here. This is the u wetland um map parcel access. One, two, three, four, and then five. They have previously disposed of and sold to the town. This sixth parcel here, this is actually where the trail comes out. If you look on the aerial from where park west, not from the saw trails, which are further down, take you further out, but from park west. Much of this is not buildable. Um there is an easement uh a maintenance uh area here that has uh and afford it to an adjoining property uh for mowing. Um and so these five parcels here are the ones they're interested in disposing of as surplus parcels. They have no need for them. I think you seen that on the email from Hank. And so the next steps would be if we wanted to entertain them um you know the thought would be that we could take these parcels um that don't have a lot of development potential we can make a little pocket park when I think park I don't mean much more than a couple of benches say over here on Ali maybe a couple of benches or somebody can think of much more imaginative than I can, which probably isn't that hard. Um, a couple of benches here. It would make a good resting area. Let's say if you're coming in off of Lynden and you're doing an

exit over here and then going along Aspen Wall. Um, but as you know, good good planning. One of the things that we don't have here in this community is little pocket parks. We don't even have really in the village with the exception of Abraham's which I'm not sure you would consider that a wonder park something small um for really a rest bit but it' be a good place for people to stop if they're taking a longer journey over and I apologize here's first street over here but I just would like to orient you to over here to the top left of the map here is where you to the blue trail of the soft hill trails. So, it' be really a nice way to come out to park west if you need to sit down for a little bit. Um, and then if you wanted to continue way down Aspen Hall and then maybe go over to the blue trails here, the red trail exit is further down this way on Aspen. And um, we would, you know, probably at the community preservation fund since it had an emphasis in the last update uh for protecting water resources and obviously there's a wet line here. These parcels were not included. I'm not sure why. Maybe because they were small um but so that would have to be a part of the process. We'd need to get an appraisal. We need to refer to the CBF committee. All of which we'd want to sort of do pretty quickly um because we would like to get a sense of what the valuations are. And if we wanted to consummate um the disposal of the surplus properties and use those proceeds

towards or have them at least available when we get bids in. we could use it towards the project which will probably take most of the summer time provided that we reward on the tank. So So what if we were to do that? How would we how would we understand the maintenance cost moving forward? Uh well, we could take a look at it. When you say the maintenance costs of what mowing around there or I mean well I mean obviously it would have to be it would have to be designed and and quantified but um there's no maintenance in the wetlands. No one goes in the wetlands.

Well that's that's not actually true. the DEC wants certain invasive species removed and and there's there's there's always maintenance and and owning property, but I know later in our agenda, we're going to look at the the wreck part report and we have kind of for the first time an opportunity to look at the Cookingham Trails um needing maintenance and so every everything needs maintenance. Everything needs maintenance. needs. And so the question is as we're, you know, last meeting we we looked at um Camp Rising Sun

and acquiring that. And so how how are we, you know, as a new board member, explain to me how we're how we're looking at those ongoing costs and rolling them into the budget. Well, again, we would need to come up with an idea of what we'd want to do to the property, if anything. I mean, it's it's a wetland and obviously the area surrounding it. I'm I'm literally thinking of a couple of benches. Now, we you know, you all may have other ideas for it, but you know, some kind of mowing something. I don't think we're talking about a lot of maintenance here. Um, is it loaded now?

But we can take we can take a look at it. What does the property look like now? Again, we'll we'll take a look at what's on the property. We'll take a look at what maybe would be appropriate to to do. Yeah. I mean, it could be it could be a brush hog situation where, you know, uh, once once you get that done, you know, you can get on top of it. It's a little bit like the Cookingham Trails. The first time we did the weed whacking for the, you know, along the fence line, it was a bear because of the conditions were really unusual. Um, and it grew up to be a lot. But, you know, the staff has it and it's and it's working. It's working well.

I mean, I'll just say I I did reach out informally to a number of people that I know that live in that area and they were all very positive about the idea of of a park. I think in a certain sense like who wouldn't be? But it's on my mind because we're, you know, we're we have a we have a a a certain amount of money in in the CPF funds and those will fund acquisitions, but how are we looking towards

maintenance? Yeah. Well, don't forget one of the provisions of the CPF fund is you can use 10% towards maintenance. So, that's something I'm not Now we we should do a site visit and take a look at it. I'm not thinking this is going to be very expensive to maintain at least to allow for a couple of benches somewhere. But if we have ideas quantified first of all about like what what we're doing and then how much it how much it costs. But it's it's I think it's relevant to this discussion when we later on if when we go through the rec department

report and and knowing as a runner that there was like a comment in the report about like there's all these footprints and the stone dust paths and admittedly those are many of those are my own. um that it needs a certain amount of of of maintenance and um it just it just does

as we acquire more and more I'd like to understand how we're if our is that 10% covering our costs um when I look at the the wreck budget it's that's a large a large amount that covers an immense amount of things and some of which are are are are totally unrelated to maintenance right like summer camps, which are awesome. It's all kind of one lump sum. I think it's actually a very modest budget what we do for a wreck. I think it's

I'm not debating whether it's modest or not. I'm saying just explain to me how like the the delta between let's acquire all the parks in the world. Let's understand what what it takes to maintain them and make sure that we're we're balancing those things.

Yeah, I would say that I think before I don't want to put the cart before the horse, we would need valuation on these parcels to see if it's even something worth pursuing to help the water department. I, you know, the valuation of properties that are really basically not buildable. I don't know. I don't really understand that um how that works. And I think ultimately we'd have to see what an appraisal would say on these parcels in terms to see if it's even worth going that extra mile.

Yeah. And I know I but but bill to your point though in in terms of a lot of it is wetlands in um a certain sense maintaining wetlands actually requires more maintenance. Like for instance the DEEC recommends removing fragmite and certain invasives. Um so that's that's a commitment.

Well I just want to remind folks the water district owns it now. So it would just be a transfer from the water district to the town as a whole. The town would if we were interested in doing this would have the benefit and the benefit would acrew to primarily I would assume folks within that neighborhood and that's what we keep talking about. I'm sure you've heard me say adn noauseium to the people in Barry Town to the people in the in the village the people who generally use these parks these small parks are the people who live in those neighborhoods and so this would be a benefit that would acrue to people who both live in the neighborhood and people who are served in the water district. So, uh, Robert, it might also be helpful to inform the public why it is that the water department owns these parcels in the first place. They've had them for a very long time. Um, and now why they're basically obsolete.

Take it away since you're the Oh, okay.

Oh, no. I happy to say I mean there used to be some wells there um and there there no longer are wells and they don't believe that there will be the ability to place wells there again. Um, and so they have no use as as a buffer. However, so here's the thing. You know, you have this wetland. So, we're talking about protecting our water resources, right? We're talking drinking water sources, um, which, you know, will dovetail towards our creation of the water water district. We've got these preservation projects along the salt, so on and so forth. here's an opportunity to once again once they're designated wreck lands they cannot be developed and so if we decide that the these are going to be passive little wreck parcels um then that also has and the reason I would imagine if the CPF committee is favorable is not only for the wreck aspect but also for the preservation of the of the water resource aspect. So let's look at it that way that this is the water district who might be disposing of the lands in such a way that's protective of the lands because it's encumbered by the CPS. So but to your concern always we always think about like if we buy this trust me as somebody who had to buy horses for kids I used to remind them it's not the cost of acquiring them it's the cost of maintaining them and keeping them. Um, so we're mindful of that, but I don't I don't think we're talking about But you know, I I could be wrong. Let's do a site visit. I don't think we're talking about much here for maintenance.

I'm talking more globally. Like I mean, I think that it's wonderful that we have that we have CPF funds. And I mean other planners in other communities have have have mentioned that to me in my in my career that that Red Hook is is has done an awesome thing and having the CPF funds and yes it's we can we can acquire lands and we can we can grow public resources but uh we I think it would be helpful to look at really specifically things that we've acquired recently that we can really tie back the maintenance cost to and make sure that we're not that we're not spending more than we anticipated on um

I hear you on those parks. I I don't I don't sleep at night thinking about you know the future and the future costs but I I will just remind the public that you know last meeting the town of Red Hook's finances have never been stronger. We have completed or nearly completed 90 capital projects. They have never been stronger. When you look at our fund balances, we also have surplus property to dispose of probably this year in the Cookingham West farm. We will have more money than we've ever had despite all of the projects that we've acquired and had to maintain. And some of them have turned out to be more money than, you know, we had hoped that they would be.

Maybe we can break it out. Is that is that reasonable? Like we can look at our I mean, sure. Look at our our all those But I don't want us to get lost on what's in front of us. 100% agree.

So, um, what I what I do want to just reiterate is if we think we're interested in this, then we should take the next step, which is to um see if we can get uh either an appraisal or to get a a real estate professional to give us an idea. so that we can get some sense of what what the cost would be because Bill to to your point I mean the board of health tends to allow and Christina you would know this probably better than any of us because you're in the in the development business but they would say well we're not going to prohibit you from building a house you're just going to have to do a raise septic you're going to have to locate it here whatever right

well the other thing what's what's the what's the other thing is these maps are obsolete and they can no longer be used for jurisdictional purposes So if you really want to know how big this wetland is, it's going to have to be have to be flagged by DEC. So there may be, hey, listen, wetlands grow and they shrink. Um, it's just the nature of of how it is. And so while there are I've been there, there's wetlands there. We just don't know whether they're bigger or smaller than they were before. And I think that affects value as well. Yeah. Well, a jur a jurisdictional determination would be step one. and before anyone would be able to appraise it, I would think.

Um, I'm not so sure about that. I'm not so sure about that because if it's buildable, if board of health is going to say it's buildable, I think that, you know, no, I mean, board of health is 10 steps away from it. I'm talking about the TEC's a partial a parcel JD is the new 2026 um process of understanding where wetlands are. You can't we used to have the maps and now we have a jurisdictional determination process. Yes. No, I hear you. But this is this reminds me of a meeting we had a couple of meetings ago. I just because

you you know you're you're looking at things from a development p point of view and have been for years. So I I grant you that. But as somebody who spent 30 years looking at from preserv it's very different the review that you would do of a parcel like this to preserve it than the review that you would do uh to ask to have a not disagreeing with you. I'm actually I'm I'm building on on Bill's point of of that the maps aren't aren't valid and the process of DEC coming out Sure. is that's that's what that is. That's a jurisdictional determination by by DEEC which is fieldwork.

I'm not sure we would need that but that's a good question. I I think we should look into that. I'm not sure we would need that because we are acquiring it for reclands and for preservation. It may be good for us. It may be good for us to know exactly where and have it flagged again. For sure. Um other thoughts Jacob? I think it'd be great to do a site visit. Be great to get, you know, sense of the value. Okay. Yeah. It's close enough.

Okay. Well, let's plan on on doing a site visit and I'll try and get you as many documents as I can that might help with understanding the parcels. Um, and you know, good to good to walk. We can exit request and get some measurements too. Okay, thank you very much. Uh that is number one. So we had the amended task order from Thai and bond uh task order I think it's number nine in 2024 included the preliminary engineering review and a um development of uh an MPR. Um this is an amendment I think back then a couple years ago the estimate was for 11,500. It's now at 13,500 for this task order um for the map plan and report. You know, there's more information a little bit more complicated. Um the update on where uh Thai bond is is they've been gathering information um on the water lines. Um as you know, part of this district is already serviced by uh village water. So um in developing the map report. They're gathering all the existing plans and so on so forth within that DND proposed service district. And so, um, I think there'll be some more information coming to us in the next couple of weeks.

So, this is what we discussed at the February 10th meeting. February 10th meeting. Yes. We passed a resolution for ARPA funds for to cover um engineering and legal fees and so is that's correct. I haven't seen anything on on legal. No, we as we asked for estimation of legal fees and engineering fees. So this is the engineering fees for this is the engineering development of the map just a map plan and report that's required to submit to the controller's office for review and obviously to make available to Um the proposed the total amount of ARPA funds was

what we approved was $40,000 towards this effort knowing that we might have to adjust that and um have we heard from our attorney on the estimation of fees for the No. Uh our attorney did our I think our attorney conveyed it was hard to estimate fees. Chris, what did you say last time? She's there somewhere. I think you Yes, here we go. Um, so I would I would suggest that maybe we should look at the process for Uber, which is recent. Um, and the process is similar. Yeah. Um, so that might be a good way to estimate.

Yeah, if that would make sense. Okay, we can do that. But we asked for the estimation on February 10th. It's now March 25th. So that's Well, I think I was waiting to understand what the scope of the district was going to be. And what I'm now understanding is we're talking about the TD. Um, which, you know, there there were different ideas floating around in terms of including other areas that are currently served by the village, right? One of the things that I think but hold on. No, we we had said the conclusion of that of that discussion, I'm sure this is in the minutes, but we had said that we were going to prepare a map report for only

the correct the matching the water and the sewer. So, there are the sewer the sewer area is already established. We were going to match the water to it and that's what we asked Chris to estimate her legal fees for. Kristen, if if that's the case, then I apologize. I probably had a note and I will get that to you for the next discussion. Okay. Okay. Thanks, Chris. Um All right. Uh anything anything on this? I assume we want to approve this task order. Are there any comments on it before we entertain it? What? I don't have any comments on it. I didn't see a resolution in the packet.

Oh, yeah. Because we we'll do this by motion. and I put resolution. So, my bad. Okay. A motion to approve. Uh I think I I refer to it as amended task order. We'll call it the task order related to prep of the map plan and report. And if you are in that traditional neighborhood district, we are working as fast as we can to identify potential grants. As we've told you, uh with the sewer, um you know, we'd like to get uh some grant uh money towards this effort. One of the things Christina, I think you brought up at at that February 10th meeting is trying to um identify and then Brandy is working on it the nearby water districts and how uh yes, you know, how that would work. So, she's been in touch with the county and shape files. I noticed you you asked for an update a few minutes before this meeting started, so I

I was able to reach her right beforehand. Um, and so they're working on that, trying to get that ready. Does she have any progress on that though? Because she thought on that February um 10th meeting, and I know we canceled the second meeting in in February, but she thought she would have it for the first March meeting. That's what Brandy told us at on February 10th. I think she's waiting for some shape files from the county. Again, I you know, I'm just the messenger. I don't know uh how to better convey it, but I think she's waiting on files from from the county on that because there's there's a whole bunch of water districts, right? There's the one that's nearby. Um and then there's the other ones. I think

the request was for all the water districts that are in the township. So that would include say the one in Forest Park, for example. Right. Right. We'll we'll uh we'll touch base. I think a progress progress update would be good. Yeah. Okay. Um motion to approve the task order. This is task order number. No, it's amending number nine of 2024, but it's actually task order number three of 2026 to prepare the math plan and report for the proposed water district which is commensurate with the TND sewer district. I so move. Is there a second?

Second. Thank you, Christina. If no further discussion, all in favor, William, hi. Jacob, hi. Myself, I Christina,

I uh Okay. So, Champlain Hudson Power Express. So, just to go back and I don't know how much I put in this packet, so I'm going to just refresh your memories if I could. um proportional to the mileage that is within the underwater lands that is within the boundaries of the town of Red Hook as compared to all of the lands. There are two rates I'm told. I had a meeting with them along with some of my colleagues um other supervisors. Um there are two rates. There's the underwater rate and then there is where the cable goes above ground. Um this project was approximately a $6 billion project. Um, so there's the proportion that's been allocated. What came on the rolls, and this is all New York State makes the determination based upon the cost of the project. Came on the rolls in the town of Reto was approximately $12.5 million of valuation. Don't get excited there. So the town of Reto is not getting $12.5 million. That is the proportional value of the cable that's underneath 4 something miles. It's not the full extent of uh a waterfront. Um they challenged um but not yet a legal suit. They have challenged the state's um amount because it's not live. Yeah. The project. So there's no power being sent

out there. So uh there's a concept of obsolescence. So they are saying it's not too unlike when somebody builds a house and half of it's built. We we put something on the roll because value has been increased for the property but it's not at full value. So they are challenging it and saying that um seven that it should be 7 million something. All of that to say that um they would like to know if we're interested in a pilot agreement whereby we would have predictable amounts that they've given us a schedule for discussion purposes for the various municipalities here in the town of and also the school district. they had already met with the school district and the school district had expressed to them that they were open to applying. Um there's some flexibility in how those payments could be made. Right now they're ascending. They go up each year. Uh there's an escalator in the agreement. It's a 30-year agreement. Um not surprising to you. It's less in the than what we would probably get once it hits the books and stays at full valuation. The challenge is we don't set the valuation for the project unlike what happens here with the commercial business or with the residents. This is the state that places the valuation. My understanding is that they will take the value of the project and they will depreciate and so it will go on the rolls. This is all part of our special franchise. It's a separate list that we get each year. Um, and so we won't be in control of the

valuation to know that that valuation is appropriate. So a project like this could appreciate in value, but it also uh is likely to be subject to depreciation because it won't last um forever. Now the complicating factor That is when we, for example, all of you taxpayers have seen over the years as property values go up and we the board have adjusted all the rates down in in complete in most cases we've adjusted the rates down to completely wipe the increase that could happen because of the um appreciated assessment. in some cases almost the entire uh amount. Um you get a lower tax rate. So if this stays on the books to $12 million or 12.5 million and our tax rate continues to go down. So for example before I started the tax rate was 2.34 million. It's last in the last budget 1.41. So you see the decrease in the tax rate. So if this stays on the rolls for example the project depreciates because the value of electricity as we know keeps going up but then it is a capital project so it will be depreciable. Tell me if I'm getting too wonky for you Jacob. Let's say it just flat lines. It stays the same throughout this period. will be getting less money each and every year. Okay? Because the tax rate will go down. Now, if properties don't go up in the future, which is also a possibility given

what we don't know is coming our way. Um, then we don't have this fear of a declining tax rate affecting that valuation in such a way that we receive less money. they are open to having a different schedule for a pilot. So for example, we could have a higher amount in the beginning and do it in decent. Um they would be open to a pilot with a host community agreement or community better benefit agreement. What is that? So that's like a um it's a separate agreement that all the taxing entities would need to sign on to that says for example um we want you to in addition to uh paying for a pilot. We want you to buy us an ambulance. Our community desperately needs an ambulance. So that's part of the host community agreement. Don't don't Don't write down our community desperately needs an ambulance. That was an example. Um so there's ways that we can structure some type of an agreement

um that uh could work for the community as well. All of this is to say that there are different options that are pros and cons. One of the one of the cons and Chris is on the line of doing a pilot versus doing a full assessment. Chris, you want to take it away? You mean the issue that a pilot is a contract and is to contractual remedies as opposed to a tax which is a tax lean on the property. That's the one.

Yes, that one. I'm not quite sure how we would do a lean on it. KO4 something miles in the river. But yes, that's the one. So, there's different there's um different risk profiles to each option. Have I made your head spin yet, Bill? Okay. Just reading the small print. Yeah. Which which part of the small print? The very smallest part. Uh this part down there. Yeah. I mean, this has got to be like the fun side. What decision are we trying to make at that tonight? Excuse me.

What decision are we trying to make tonight? Um, I don't think we need Sorry. I don't think we need to make a decision tonight at all. I'm just raising the options to you and asking you to give it some thought. Um, right now, one way or the other, we're getting for this tax here because it's already on the books. So, that's not an issue. We're either going to get whatever the tax is at 12 and a half or they're saying it's really seven and a half or something in between. So, we don't need to decide that just yet.

I think it would be good to see sort of comparison if if we did not engage in an agreement with them, what if taxes remain flat over the 30 years, what that total would look like for comparison purposes. Obviously, it's subject to fluctuation, but it'd be good to know. Well, that's what this chart Well, that's what this chart is, right? Just so you know, the first year for the town, this is the pilot, right? I'm saying the tax amount. Yeah. Um, the tax amount I can do in my head.

So, yeah, that's kind of embarrassing. Um, so we'd be looking at not a lot of money basically because our our mill rate is 1.41. So you would and that's what it is existing and you would times 1.41 times 12 million and that's you know and reduce it by the thousands. Got it? No. Okay. What? $20,000 a year. Yeah, something like that. 19 and not even 18,

right? 17. It's not a lot. The big one is the big one is for the school. Yeah, the school is huge. You know, we're not talking about a lot of money. Um, and the school has already said that they're open to a pilot. So, Roxan, I'm sorry. Do does the town have any liabilities or any costs associated with this project? We're not involved in this project. We um we just benefit from the fact that it's underwater in our township. So, we don't have to do anything.

No, charge. You could argue this is found money. Um anyway, Food for thought. I'll run some numbers for you. I can show you what they look like flatline. I can show you if we wanted upfront money. But be careful if you get the up, you know, if you want it in descending order. Then when the pilot's all over and then, you know, as Chris points out, you do have to go after if they don't fulfill their pilot agreements.

Okay. Lots to think about. Um, not very sexy but very important is the paperwork reduction act. Never really did reduce any paper. And so we have lots of paper and actually we've been very good. The town of Red has really done a good job of it. Also helps having that annual shred day we'll say. Um so we each year look through what is no longer needed um and and a shred. Um but this grant is to get somebody to help us train. That's the idea is to get somebody would help us train folks here um in order to assist. here.

So, Diana, did you want to speak to it for a little bit, please?

Yeah. So, um this grant would um allow us to engage with a consultant that could um help us train record two record part-time record clerks to um inventory the inactive records that we have amongst our 11 departments and um create at some point more space. um by being able to follow the LGS New York State LGS1 um records retention schedule which is possible that most of many of these records could have been um destroyed many years ago. What we this inventory this consultant would help um uh help us inventory as well as train two record clerks record management they called I'm sorry I keep saying the wrong name for them record clerks um part-time to go through this and at that point also the um consultant will train um will allow our well train us but our office will then be able to provide to um the um other departments. Record management each department would have their own record management coordinator. Whoever's, you know, the head of that department would be trained as well to um a specialized LGS1 schedule based on their department and you know what so that can be followed. There's a lot of a lot of records that are um permanent. There are a lot of records that are six years and after that can be destroyed, but they also can't just be destroyed. They al they need to um they need to be documented. So this inventory is going to show us everything we have in our

inactives as well as you know what's active. We we'll have an inventory and then at that point anything inactive that can be destroyed we will go through um and document with the record clerks. They'll be coming out of of my office as the records management officer. Town clerk's office is responsible for all the records in the town. This does not include vital records. Those don't need to be

inventoried. So, um, yeah, there it's it's it's a large undertaking and and, um, I think that this would allow us to, um, create extra space. Right now, out of all the records we have, um, we only have 186 cubic feet left for any new records. Um, we are using 2,74 approximately cubic feet for records that we most likely are saving and just sitting there and don't need. So, this would be a really great help. And once we get on track, we wouldn't need to do this again. You know, with the last time this was done in 1993. Um and if we can continue this with these coordinators training, you know, coordinators in each do department, you know, we will actually be able to continue this and it'll be sustainable um this time. So I hope we get the grant. I hope we can go for the grant. That would be ideal if you guys if you guys approve it.

So the grant's due next week. Um anybody willing to work with old records gets my support. What do you what do you any thoughts about I think it's important

I I have personal experience both in the federal government and at the state level of dealing with records schedules and retentions and it's complicated and um if you can you still have to have a log of what you destroyed but once you clear out things it makes it a lot easier when there are needs to find records. Yes. Yes. We digitized a whole bunch years ago. Yes. sort of in the beginning when I started we did some uh close was very kind enough to work to get a grant to digitize things like minutes right and all that

like way way back stuff right yeah there's um there's microfich at the stair county um records hall there of our records dating back to even prior to the beginning of our town So yeah, but they've been microf. They're in a climate control safe area. From that grant, we don't have to pay for that storage for ever. And there's no match requirement here. No match here. But if we do a couple things, it's sort of like a demonstration of our desire to accomplish.

Okay. doesn't seem to What's the resolution number? 12. Resolution number 12

authorizing the application for New York State LGRM records management grant. Um the grant is for $75,000. Um it's due next week. I think I've mentioned um we have adopted the state's archives record and dispossession disposition schedule for uh New York local government records LGS1. Um I think we've included that in the application. And who would like to move the paperwork reduction? I'd like to move that second.

Okay. Uh all in favor Christina I myself I Jacob and thank you. Okay. Can I just say one thing? I want to thank um in the past obviously everyone who's done this in the past but right now and Ruben and um Alex is taking it on as a he's the project manager of all this and I just want to say thank you to them. It's a huge undertaking. Yeah. and they drafted a very well-ritten document that was very informative and helpful for us the board. Yes. Yes. Thank you.

Very good. Numero s uh reor. So, there were a couple of things we wanted to get done on Jacob. You brought up at the last meeting. Did you bring Just before the last meeting, I think. Just before the last meeting.

Yeah. So, we have a um email from Julia who's the chair of the comp plan steering committee um in support of Christine Kaine who previously was a liazison to that committee when she was on the board serving as a member filling one of the vacancies that currently exists for the committee. Um she someone she has someone who's been involved the process from the very beginning um has still expressed interest in participating and Julia has given a recommendation to appoint her to one of those seats. So, um, we have materials for her. Um, I think she's about as strong a candidate for committee as we could vote for with all the planning board experience over the years. Um, and and other planning. I mean, she was involved in LWRP, you know, all of that. Um,

okay. They are, by the way, next I think the next meeting coming in front of us to give us an update on I spoke to Julia and I guess she uh doing a great job of reaching out to all the various groups. So I guess they were just at the junior high. Yeah, they're getting all of the seventh and eighth graders. I think bingo. Yeah, all the social studies classes. So a lot of middle schoolers. I think that's awesome because you know as we keep talking about wreck, right?

This is what it's all about. If we don't find great things for young people to do in our community year round, this winter is a good example, year round, we've got to find places for them, you know. Um, and as things become incredibly expensive for everybody, as somebody who grew up in New York City playing handball, where that's all you needed was to own a handball, go to a park. I mean, I think It's important. Parks the great equalizer. So, it's great we're getting their input because they know what they want to do and

and the committee is planning the next workshop as well. There's not an update about that necessarily, but the next workshop will be in May is what we're looking for. It's going to be a big push to get participating in the next round. Okay. Great. Well, it sounds like you're getting a lot of input, which is super. Okay. Uh, who's making is somebody making that? Yeah, I would make a motion to appoint Christine Kaine to a seat on the comprehensive plan steering committee. What did what did we do with that? Did we make that two years? I think we did. That all expire this year at the end of this year. Yeah. So, for a term I think um Okay. Uh

I'll second. Thank you, Christina. Um 2026. Okay. So, they're all ending. Their terms are in vacancy made mess up. Um, and this is for the do we have a second vacancy? There's a second vacancy and Julia requested keeping that vacant for the time being in case there was a need for somebody with special skills or um, okay, you know, there's plenty of opportunity for people to participate, but she feels the committee has been working well at the current membership including. Okay. Okay. Um, we have a motion. We have a second from Christina. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor? William.

I, myself, I. Jacob. Hi. And Christina. Hi. Thank you. Okay. So, that's uh 10 members. 10. That's good. All right. What else do we have? Kenny, who is not here, did have a couple of Oh, let's do hous. Yeah. So, we already did I saw David's materials in here. We already appointed him a previous meeting. Um, we also have materials from man Scott who's been attending the committee meetings for

a number of months maybe over a year at this point. Um, he's been a very active participant. Um, comes with David's recommendation and yeah, I think he's been a great dad time he's been attending as a guest. So, um, yeah, be somebody that has a lot of experience in communication and, you know, I think the way he's thinking about the community work is really possible. So, I would make a motion to appoint Van Scott to a Yes. Yeah. It's in the material. It's just out of order. Yeah.

Um, There we go. And I think that we have vacancies ending in 2027. I would like to one of those ones. Um I think he's demonstrated, you know, commit to the work. Yeah. If you've ever watched ABC News, that's Scott. Okay. Uh You don't realize how many talented people you have in your community. They send you their resume. Nobody. Oh, I'm just Can I second?

Well, Christina wanted you first. You got there first. Jacob. Uh Christina was the second. Uh terrific. Um Any further discussion? This is for what did we do? 2027. We're on to your appointments now. Well, some of them staggered. All in favor? William. I. Okay. Okay. Uh, what else do we have?

All right. Now, I'm confused. I don't I want to confess I don't read the Daily Catch. Somebody sent me an article. They said I thought Jeff Carter lived and read the article in the Daily C from the other day. Jeff Carter appearing six senses. President Jeff Carter move. to my knowledge.

Yeah, I don't think Jeff He made the request to be appointed on January 6. He signed it as Red. Yeah. And Isn't Isn't that needs to be re He needs to be reappointed. Yeah. I think we just want to know if he's pretty sure he's

This is why you can't always believe what you read in these blogs or Okay. So, I don't know what to do about that. Let's just confirm his residency and can we appoint him at the next meeting then? Yeah, he's a hold over for now. Yeah, he's a hold over anyway. Exactly. Well, hold on. He did he did get in in touch with me on March 2nd. Yeah. Asking if he was reappointed to DRC. So, well, as Bill points out, he's a holder. So, he's still in his in his spot. Has not been reappointed yet. is not okay.

But still, we should just get confirmation. I'm I'm happy to do that. I mean, as far as I know, Jeff's still living there. I mean, this is still, right? Let's take it from the neighbor. Yeah. I mean I we can do the appointment and then if he's no longer I mean let's do the appointment. He he kind of confirmed it three weeks ago. I mean our second No, I know. Let's do the appointment. Okay. This is kind of silly. How long is it? Uh they're fiveyear. They're five year.

The day we start adjusting because of something that's in the daily catch is the day we get in trouble. Okay. Uh, I'd like to make a motion that we reappoint Jeff Carter to the design review committee, the Hamlet design review committee for a term ending. This is 2030. 2030 all the fingers correctly. I think so.

20 term ending 2030. Okay. So, I made the motion. Who uh who seconded? I'll second. Okay. Bill seconded. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor? Jacob. I. Christina. I. I. Bill. I. Okay. And the term was ending in 23 23. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Uh so Kenny who is not here with us again sent us some information. Let me pull that up. Um reappoint it was related to a open space. I apologize for taking more time, but I want to read it to you.

Okay. um Agon open space and the CPF committees are respons Robertson will continue to participate. So let's go there. There they are. So Norman needs to be read up through 2027. Likewise for Sam Rose and Michael Roberts does not need to be reappointed. So uh I would like to make a motion that we reappoint Sam Rose and Norman Greg for twoyear terms ending in 2027. Second.

Thank you. Uh any discussion? If not, all in favor? William. Hi. Myself. Hi. Jacob. Hi. Christina. Hi. Okay. Thank you all very much. Does that mean that he has not confirmed with John Chuck? Yeah. Okay. I assume. Okay. Well, I know. I know the comp plan committee met with the agon and open space committee last week I believe. Yeah. Um I don't know who was in attendance. We had a CC meeting happening at the same time. Okay. But um it shouldn't be too hard to figure out so

active. So I think we just want to check in. I think uh community preservation fund has Chris close will continue to participate but Chris isn't up his tour still and Emily Mayor same thing. Okay. Uh, Maryanne Johnson will continue chairing both committees, but did we any we appointed

Mary as chair to vote. Thanks. Okay. We still additional participant committee. So, the email will go out now tomorrow of where all the opportunities are. I think we've gotten enough feedback yet of the existing who want to stay and so on and so forth. All right. Um, anything else on RER before we move on? Um, I guess I see just looking at the plan committee again, the village of Kley, this is TBD. Um, Sarah and Bowden has been attending, so I think it might be good to note that here. But I think it would just be helpful.

Okay. Has she been anointed by her colleagues internally as that role? I don't I'll check with Emily. So, she hasn't attending the past that I've been at. So, okay. Okay, great. Well, that's good to know. And that's good that she's doing that.

Um Okay, let's move on to battery energy storage, shall we? So what I put in today's packet is um just nice service um model law and advice. We obviously would need to tweak it to our own needs. Um, this is a little bit like solar in that where these things end up going has a lot to do with the grid or the project, right? You can't just put these anywhere. But you may want to I don't know if you all have had a chance to take a look at this model wall understand that I can if you want there's a really terrific presentation that we had in my role um as the head of the county supervisors and mayors association a year ago had folks come in and do a presentation was down at I think actually um they did a great job. They actually came back and did it for the association of towns um just a couple months ago or a month ago or so.

They were from NERA.

Uh I think there was somebody from Naerta. There was somebody actually one of the professors from Basser who very much involved in this and importantly um a fire professional retired New York uh city fire professional um because you know that's the the first thing that comes up is you know what is the potential risk as it relates to these systems. So I mean we could have a presentation done on this if you if you feel that you need one in order to get up to speed. Um, any any initial thoughts? You want to just mold this for a little bit and see how you want to

I think it'd be great to have a presentation. You want Okay. I think it's great. I think it'd be a good idea. Yeah.

Can we couple that with because everybody is almost everybody's hurting from rising utility cost. Can we couple that with a presentation, a brief one about how you can use an individual battery or batteries in your household and how that may benefit people um as well as you know that's very different animal than you know um a large scale battery system. But one of the things and we had uh a presentation here, the energy committee had a presentation from Jeff Irish who we've known over the years. He started the first solar company here. He's been, you know, a consultant working with the town over the years. and he did a very interesting presentation about how, you know, just having one battery in your house can really uh do a lot to save you on utility cost.

Would that be solar? And here there's a section on tier one battery storage systems. Would that be a tier one or is that a different thing? you know, I almost believe it's below tier one, but let me let me refer to what what they use for um the uh the limitation threshold for two I mean it doesn't it doesn't it doesn't necessarily matter but it might be a good idea to have them like both come understand yeah talk about the pros and cons of okay yeah hear what exists and what recommendations. Okay.

So, I'll I'll try to I mean, I don't know that we can arrange that for the next meeting, but can we look at this and we can maybe uh I'll go pick some already adopted best laws that are out there. There aren't that many yet because it's this model's been out for a while though. The model's been out for

but we also probably want to take a look at because there are some specific things to each community that are relevant. Um maybe maybe by the end of April first meeting in May whatever is realistic to get schedule on board. These people know how to they've done these presentations so it's you know it's a plug and play for them but it's a matter of getting the schedules to align. Um okay anything anything else on this topic? Okay from how to energize to how to liate. Um, municipalities have 30 days for the folks at home. Uh, one of our roles is as your elected officials is to respond to um applications for our license in our community. And so there is an application um that has been processed by Roland Fields LLC that's in the former bowling alley space. Um here's what confuses me on this one and again I'm not saying for or against what confuses me is that this type of establishment full kitchen and full menu required. But that is not what they have a permit for. They don't have a permit for a restaurant

as an accessory use.

They don't have a permit for a restaurant. In fact, they have they received a permit for an amuse a recreation place, amusement or whatever brand. I apologize. I'll get the term correct tomorrow. which is not helpful. Um, but they do not have a restaurant at that site and they do do not have a permit for doesn't mean that they won't get one in the R3 that requires a special permit. So again, I'm not sure that the state agency's going to care about that, but it seems to me that we should at least include that in the response that they currently are not a restaurant. They don't have a permit to operate a restaurant,

right? I mean, that makes sense. It seems to me before we before we say go, I'd say that to the state that we should reach out to the to the applicant and the property owner and and see what that what that what that looks like. Um

they have pending things before the planning board anyway because I was at the last meeting and there were issues related to signage and a variety of other they're operating but they're waiting uh for some additional approvals on some additional things. So, um, the only question I have is, you know, listen, it's been a bowling alley. It was a bowling alley when I lived here in 1980 and they served out the UK by beer. The issue of them having alcohol is the longgoing thing. That doesn't really bother me. The only issue is if we approve this, does it grant some kind of um does it does it give them something to be able to get a restaurant in without going through that process?

But we don't know. Well, we don't know process. This is SLA, right? This is SLA, right? This is SLA. Well, you you must have done a lot of work with SLA. If we're not taking any action, then that would be that would be it's entirely separate process in terms of what local what the what the zoning allows and what their what their building is approved for. But we may want to comment if they're not per

I think it's inherent upon us to say at at the present time they do not have a permit to operate a restaurant there. Doesn't mean they won't get one because it is allowed in that zone. special again not commenting on and I'm not sure the state's going to necessarily care I think they you know they tend to look into right though they look into sort of the history of the people who are asking for the

as well as the premises itself and how it operate for a long time but you know even if we didn't take an action in 30 days it would be kind of like if we send things to the county in 30 days you don't hear back then you're then they're fine. Then it's up to SLA to decide. Well, I certainly don't want to send something back that says no, we don't

want them to be considered for this, but I think it's inherent upon us to respond to the fact that there is no restaurant there. There is no permit to operate a restaurant there and and type of establishment. It is indoor recreational. That's what they have a permit to operate. What would what would the response look like to this? Is this is this something that we would that would type of a of memo? You know, it'll come out it'll come out of come out of your office,

my office on behalf of the board. And that's all I would simply unless you can think of other things that we would want to comment on. I don't know these individuals. Uh well, why don't we scars? What I what I would suggest is we we find out and and we find out what the status is of their building and zoning and as liaison to building and zoning I'm happy to do that and then we could write the memo stating I'm sorry they have I didn't make I I didn't make that clear I already asked you did I already asked and he said no I've only given them a permit to continue as a recreation

pending with they don't have pending application for a restaurant. It doesn't it doesn't it doesn't necessarily matter. I mean I don't think that this form indicates the type of operation that they have. It lists only restaurant recorded music. It doesn't even say that there are athletic activities. I don't know if that should be on here but this doesn't feel like a full representation of what they're doing.

I think it's all I'm saying is that it's a type of establishment restaurant. doesn't have a per I mean how could we not respond to this? This is this is it's just a fact. There is no restaurant there. They don't have a permit to operate a restaurant. We would just simply say at the present time the establishment is permitted for blah blah blah recreation. I'm I'm supportive of that, but I think that somebody should reach out and again I'm happy to be the person to do this, but I think somebody should should reach out to them to give them a heads up that that's the response.

If it's there's there's a a We don't have to respond to this. We can CC until Well, I'm saying before we before we issue our our We have to respond by April. We don't have a meeting between now and then. Correct. So, we have to decide right now what we're doing. So, I'm I'm I'm I'm in support of what you're saying. I'm just saying that I think that somebody should personally reach out to them to clarify um what their what their intentions are. Yeah.

And if there's if there's some nuance to it that that should be included in our um in our response. I just think we should take a quick poll to make sure there's nobody on the board and unfortunately Kenny's not here that would object to them having a liquor license. I mean, I think this is what this form is, right? So, you know, if we're all in agreement that we don't object to that, then no idea what these people are. So we didn't have no basis no basis to object. Yeah. Yeah. So if we're not objecting to the to the the application for liquor license,

then I'm happy to proceed with something that says and by the way you still you don't are you waiting to get you know are you waiting to have a restaurant before you serve liquor? I mean you know if you go bowling across the river no no no. if if they want to come and apply to be a restaurant. I mean, that's none of our, you know, if it's allowed by code, it's allowed by code. Be it from us to say what are your intentions? That's that's really not if SLA gives them a license to serve liquor. I guess the only question is the way the way they wrote this application suggests

that that's in conjunction conjunction with serving of food. I think you're right. They need to know we're not going to object to bar they can't put bar tavern right if they just want to do alcohol because that's not allowed in our so it can only be in concert oh really with restaurants not allowed in

again this is just a fact thing that we would send as part of our response and yes we should give them a heads up and just say we received your form. The board discussed it. There did not seem to be objections to having a license there. But just note that we in our response will uh let the state know at at the current time. It is not there's not a permit to operate a restaurant there. Um it is permitted to do you know indoor recreation. That's all. No comment. I don't want to start crying into what are your plans? What do you want? You But but if if what you're saying if what you're saying is you can't serve alcohol in that district without serving food.

Yeah. Then the state the state may not know that our zoning prohibits the serving of alcohol without food. I mean but they're not saying that though. So like I think we're we're we're muddying our own waters with that. It's like they're saying they're saying their application says restaurant. They could have their own reasons for that. our zoning if our if they do not have a permit for a restaurant, they don't have a permit for a restaurant, we should let them know. No, my concern is they get the license from SLA and they start serving alcohol not understanding fully that that's not allowed without the restaurant.

I imagine they know that. But if you want in the conversation when I when I speak to them, I'd be happy to to make sure that is always better. Okay. For it doesn't seem like their said includes anything about a restaurant. Oh, you're up there. Yeah, Robert, this up. What does Chris Shell say about this? I mean, if he doesn't have a permit for a restaurant, he should not be making the application.

We're just going to point this out. We're We're not going to tell people what they should or shouldn't do. If people want to apply for something that they will or won't get, that's their right. We're not going to interfere with that. We're certainly not going to give advice. That's not what we do. um we try to be helpful but we don't you know try to to do those things as you know. So I think all we can simply do is to point out to SLA that current moment they don't have a license without comment without

and that we would we're and that we're in support of the liquor license. No, we're not going to say that either because how can we be in support of a liquor license for something that isn't permitted to have liquor? Well, I heard Bill say we don't object to. So, well, but unless you are familiar with this applicant, I'm not sure that you are in a position to do that. I think we can be silent on support.

And maybe that's the what we say to the applicants. We say like this isn't about the merits of, you know, supporting or not supporting getting a license, but at present day, you don't have a permit to operate a restaurant. And we're going to be letting the state know that in our comment.

They're going to be before the planning board again at the next meeting, I believe. I haven't seen the schedule, but what was discussed at the last meeting, a ramp or something, right? There's an There's an ADA. There's an ADA ramp, but there's other there's some other um construction things going on, but it's not a special use permit for a restaurant. No, it's not. Is that next week or is that in two weeks? It's the sixth. The first Monday. Yeah, the six. But should the planning board be aware of this? Do they get this? Do they see one? Do they see one of these? I don't remember seeing one.

No. No. I don't remember ever seeing one. They've been But it may be good for them to know that we received I agree. Share sharing information is helpful. There's there's definitely an overlap there. The right hand should be knowing what the Yeah. Okay. All right. I think I think we have consensus on how to simply respond and say at the present time, right? Is that what we're saying? And to make sure that the applicant is also aware that that response will be and we'll CC the applicant in our response. That seems only courteous to do, right? And and going to reach out to them before before you send that response. Yep. Yeah.

Absolutely. Or branding camp. No, because it's the boarding to this. That's not that's not building. That's true. Okay.

All right. Uh, next up. Okay. 40 by 80. The size of the pool. It's a decent pool. And again, just to refresh the public's memory, um this is uh Camp Rising Sun is the property on Orian Mills Road. Um we're doing a project with Winnie Land Trust where we hope to protect um basically all the open space or almost all the open space associated with the camp as part of a state wip project. 142 acres. Um They had been renting out the campgrounds for the last four summers to uh indicated they will not be using the camp for this year. Um the foundation that owns Camp Rising Sun wants to know if we would like to rent the pool to which we would then need to figure out what it would cost. at the pool. They they um just so you know, they have a a property grounds person who will be there. They test the water three times a day. Um they have all new newish systems, I think like three years old. I got a quick tour of it. I brought W guys uh there as well. Um as you know, this has been an objective to try to have We've talked about how the town of Reoke

uh for many years has not had things like a high school auditorium or access to the river or in this case a town property for swimming. Um most folks think when they drive by the Red Hook Rick Pool that it is a public pool. Um it's open to people in and out of the community, but it's it's you know a pool that um I hear from a lot of our residents uh can't afford to join um for the summertime. I think it's $600 and something dollars now for the summer season. So, uh, we would, if we were interested, and you all probably want to go see it, but if we were interested, we would need to pay a certain amount in rent to offset the cost that they would have of keeping the pool operable. They would do all the maintenance, which is great. There'd be no maintenance associated with a Christina. We just would need to write a check. And the second thing is we would need to get the lifeguards. So, uh, they don't provide So we would need to go ahead and do that. Maybe some of our camp counselors are capable. Who knows?

Um it for who might be who might be available. So I made I made that request as well. Um or just other life there requirements about how many hours you can work and you have to be on and off because it's a very dedicated

thing. Um, so they would like to know if we're interested, you know, how many hours, what days, what, you know, when's the start date, when's the end, and then they would calculate a a rent and then we would look at what would it cost to staff it with like books. That's the only staffing we need to do. Um, if we were interested in that and I think it's a wonderful opportunity for us to try it, right? And it would be in in a way introduced maybe we could talk to them about even though the trails will not be ready the project will I mean when I say the trails will not be ready the trails are basically there it's like cooking ham we're talking about oral mills road this is

we're talking about camping sun proper on oral mills road exactly so people could actually swim and then they could go walk if they would give us permission early permission before this project was completed because it's all grassy it's all grassy trails. Anyway, I mean, it's literally like the property's right over here, like on the other side of the bush. Uh maybe you could even see

Well, you can't quite see, but suffice it to say, it might be a nice combination. Um I'm excited about I can't tell you how many adults, forget about kids, how many I don't have wanted a place to swim. I can't afford to. And it's not, like I said earlier, it's not getting any any cheaper.

I just have a question on the insurance and the liability. Who carries that? Would the town carry that or is it co-insured with Camp Rising Sun? You know, we get this question a lot and I just want to say for the public, for those of you who are um engaged on the boat v boat club issue, the town carries a lot of liability coverage. That coverage goes wherever we go. So if we manage a program and that program can be street day cleanup where we expose people to the roadsides, that program could be um the stream fishing on April 11th. If there's a program that we are involved with that we are running and that we manage, our liability coverage, the many millions of dollars of coverage that we have um goes with us. So it doesn't increase because you're taking on the pool.

We would we always let our insurer know of any changes in our policy whether we acquire another property which as always will require another piece of equipment for example. It is this is not material. If if your question is will there be a material change in cost of our insurance? No, it will not. if that's where what you're driving at. But no, it's just a curiosity. Yeah, it's a good question. It's a good question. But yeah, coverage goes wherever we go.

Um, well, what do you think? Should I work with Camp Rising Sun to see and the wreck and all of that and give you guys a tour and see if maybe we can put something a proposal together. Maybe an A and a B proposal or like a a Okay. What's A? What's B? Well, I mean it's a couple of options. I guess I I you know I have no idea what what you know ROM costs we're talking about. So like is it it's free?

Could could it be like uh all summer long from um you know open every day or and from say whatever the rec park pool hours are and kind of mirroring that versus Yeah. you know, so you want some options. Yeah, some options for weekends or, you know, 4:00 to 9:00. I think that's good. We get a sense of what

should we talk to? I mean, maybe we talk to the um Rec Park um pool people and see what their what peak hours are to understand that. And that kind of could could be an option. Mhm. Yeah. Their hours tend to be I looked at that because I was curious as well. And they're I was surprised they open kind of late I thought. So the camp when the camp had it they opened at 10:00. I think Re Park Pool opens at I don't know 12ish. I mean I think a lot of times they're using for the swim teams, right? There are but there are people that swim in

they're in there early morning. Yes, they have lap they have lap swim that's dedic they have dedicated lap swim time which would also be an issue on the options is you know is this just open wreck or are we going to have some dedicated time maybe for adults who work during the day who want to come swim laps after work.

Yeah and then I mean I think it's all important that we explore those options. Well, yes, we we should. I I can only give you my opinion off the top of my head is I would hate for us to finally have an opportunity where the public can enjoy a pool in the summertime and then we start putting various restrictions on when you can and cannot come based upon what you want to do in the pool. That make sense? Well, I would take a look at the Rybeck pool

and how they're structured. Um, it's a public pool and most like where I lived in Montgomery County, Maryland, they had public pools. Um, and that's sort of how they did it. They had, you know, a large dedicated period for wreck, for kids, you know, for everybody. Uh, and then they did separate maybe three lanes and you would reserve, you know, you do a process because people like to swim laps. I'm I'm just saying that, you know, when you offer an opportunity like this, that's the question you're going to get. And can you do it? If you show up and there's an opportunity to swim laps, great. Well, it doesn't quite work like that in a pool like this because when it's wreck,

the whole the whole pool gets used. And then when somebody starts swimming laps, I mean, I'm familiar with this because my wife is a is a serious swimmer, you have to have dedicated lap time. Just do um and I I I'm in favor of this, but I do think that we should look at how others are structuring it in terms of the lap time. I I I I you know, I mean, and usually that's in the later later part of the day or early morning or early morning, right? Yeah. Yeah. word of the day is recreation.

I need convincing because the last thing I want is somebody to go to that pool and not be able to use it because somebody is doing laps. I mean, I think that the whole idea is that we're trying to fit a need to do laps and they can't do laps because it's not the park. The red park pool. That's right. You can't you can't take up the whole pool doing Okay. You want to split it up. You can set a few lanes. Can they do that at the park? Fair enough. Fair enough. If we can accommodate everybody. Yeah. Great. Okay. But I would hate to like people to show up and they're all being used.

Well, you just have to be you have to communicate when those things are. And listen, people who are serious lap swimmers, they know how to share a lane. You know, the two they do. I mean, you know, it's just like the pickle ball. The people that are serious about it, they will find a way to make it work for them. But I think if you're going to go this route and this is a really the right size of pool to have some lap availability and you're right um Jacob I mean like the rec park pool there are hours where like two laps are just two lanes and they put the the things in the water so the kids don't go over into the into the laps. I I mean I

and I think this is a little bit down the line as far as like I think it's something that would be a good no matter what like ultimately like in terms of format. Um, but I think that's something we can decide once we have a sense, you know, if we're able to visit and, you know, maybe do a little bit of research to see what other pools in the area are doing for the public. Okay. Okay. Great. Exciting.

Exciting. So, we need I need to get working uh quickly um because you know, summer will soon be upon us. Um and uh we will uh so what I'll first thing I'll do is I will get back to the foundation and say hey yeah we are kind of interested but we have to put the pieces together here and we uh would want to maybe posit a couple of options to you and you could price it out for us and then we'll need to do a budget for lifeguards and so on and so forth. Okay. All right. I got my marching order. Anything else before we go on swimmers? You know, I married a collegiate swimmer. I have VHS tapes of all that family going back. You can't even see any who's in the pool. All you see is just splashing.

Um, okay. All right, let's do uh let's do committee and board reports. We're going to go alphabetically, it seems. Assessor's office. All right. Uh just finishing with the 2026 exemption renewals deadline of March 1st. March 1st is exemption day. Okay. We are also currently completing the municipalities level of assessment for the 2026 role and preparing for the tentative assessment role that is on May 1st 2026 day fourth Tuesday. All of these things that you know here are the hours in the assessments uh office uh sales in both towns and villages continue to be strong. Uh most recent sale list is from February 10 single family sales the highest And I think she means a million4. Um there's a some kind of typo there. Um or maybe a million40 and the lowest at 394. A commercial sale in the village with a sale price of a million470. There were also two vacant land sales both in the town um and thanking others. So, uh, one of the things I wanted to just remind folks because I brought it up earlier this morning, we are a 100%, uh, equalization community. We signed on with the state, which means that we value our properties at 100%. You would think all all municipalities do that. They don't. Um, in order to maintain our 100% equalization rate, we trend, which basically says we get from the state, we get all this data. They do it in in in

buckets. Um they show us uh residential properties, how they have sales and other um they do it not necessarily just for reic but in the immediate vicinity. Um and so this year upcoming year it looks like the trend once again will show an increase. I think it's 8%. I think that's what uh the assessor and the state settled on with uh still keep us at 100% equalization. So you will get at some point your notice of assessment going up 8% and again if we can keep taxes the way they are you would see a declining uh value of 8% in your bill for example. So know that if you own residential commercial, I think even for vacant, you are going to get once again a higher um assessed valuation, it should come as no surprise to you. You were all smart in buying property here in the

um building and zoning. Who's doing building and zoning? Christina, that's you, right? Building and zoning report of March 2026. 17 permits issued, 65 inspections, 73 cos, two complaints, and a total revenue of $4,125. That's a partial, right? Partial month. Um, but are we seeing a little bit of a slowdown?

Probably. I mean, you know, Christina, you and I have talked offline about this thing just maybe a little bit change in the in the characteristic, maybe a little less new builds. And certainly here we've had um for those of you who uh have been around for a very long time and some of you uh here tonight have been around for a while. We've had some of the uh fastest growth uh we'd like to say smart growth but fastest growth in the community uh since probably the 80s. um if not earlier. Uh we over the last and I've shown you that bar chart um had uh single family home to well over 150 I think in the last four or five years uh in this community helping to drive up our our tax base. Our tax role will exceed$2 billion dollar um in this new role. Um you'll hear me talk about that and the unless you and the tax base that exists in the two villages um and how in the newsletter um and how their tax base makes it really challenging in order for them to meet the needs of their services that they provide. Um much smaller uh our two villages what their tax base is 300 and something million for the village of Red Hook and under 200 million maybe just about to go over um in uh in the village of Tiboli. By contrast, the single village of Reinbeck has uh a role that's over $800 million. So um makes it a challenge to provide the services um going into this

you know high inflation years that we've experienced healthcare or so on and so forth. So anyway that said um it is reasonable for us to expect that we will see less new single family new home construction. Let's get that workforce affordable housing thing going on Cookingham. That will help matters. But um we should see a decline. We're not seeing a decline yet in renovations and so on and so forth. But um just managing expectations because every single one of those 102 lots in tradition is sold. The whole project sold out. It's being built out. Um it's been a model that's being used um in a lot of communities and the developers, you know, getting lots of awards not just for that project but for the big east project down uh of 25 minutes south of us. So, okay, I am rambling so I think I should stop doing that. But just again to talk about building community. Okay. Highway department and Teresa, thank you for being here with us tonight. We have our highway superintendent with us. Um, and I must admit I have not had time to look at the requests for the purchases yet, but um, Jacob Teresa, who's here doing it? Yeah.

Would you like to speak about there's we have both the March report and then the end of year report. So, I think maybe we could start with March. There's a request for authorization for two pickup trucks. I don't know if you want to talk about

um we're due to replace two of our pickup trucks. Um due to emergency response use, the highway department has determined that these vehicles are not suitable for replacement with EV alternatives. Uh crew cab with utility body and liftgate. It will replace truck number three, a 2011 Chevy 2500. The estimated replacement cost is $75,550. Um, standard pickup, this truck will replace truck number one, uh, 2016 Chevy 3500. The estimated replacement cost is $58,000. Um, we do have a plow on the truck now, which we will transfer from the um to this new truck. It's used to plow smaller roads and culde-sacs. Um, we've had success with the New York State vehicle marketplace, uh, mini bid contract in pricing and purchasing these vehicles. Uh, you have to put the bids out to everybody in the state of New York who carries these vehicles on the vehicle marketplace. So, they're pretty competitive. Um, the first step in doing this is to get authorization from the board to uh, put in an application. So, um, we do have money left in the HT equipment fund and we also have dollars in the chips account that we did not use for the utility van. Um, but as Robert said, we have lots of reserves. The DB reserve fund is over $660,000 and the B reserve fund is over $1.5 million. In the past, we have had the board transfer from those reserve funds to make these smaller purchases. Um, if it were a plow truck, they'd usually go

out to bond over a number of years. But that's at the discretion of the board if they prefer that I do CHIPS money. Um, we do have it available from last year's rollover. We don't know what next year is going to be until um April 1st, but the feeling is it will stay the same or increase um according to what I saw advocacy day. Uh we've already obtained the approval for um the chips use. You have to put an application and ask them if it's okay. It wasn't with the van, but it is with these pickup trucks. So, I'm looking for the initial authorization to get the pricing to bring back um to you for the approval and what type of funding you want to use. I have a question. It's not an applesto apples comparison, but um perhaps because I don't know the market for these trucks, but from a emergency response perspective, I mean the ultimate emergency response vehicle is a police car and our village has a fully electric Tesla police departments across the country as well as state agencies. And even before I retired from the federal government, we bought a fleet of fully electric police cars. I'm just curious is is are the and that argument for me. I don't understand the the the kind because I don't I don't have a pickup truck and I don't drive that kind of car, but are there not pickup trucks that have caught up in the technology

for emergency response the way police cars have. No. Why? Why? I mean, why? What? What? So, in research that I've done, everything that you do with a pickup truck will reduce the range. So, if you're plowing, you're going to reduce the range. If you're carrying cargo, you're going to reduce the range. If you're trailing, you're going to reduce the range. Um, cold weather, well, that always reduces the range.

Reduces the range. Um, In my opinion, we're looking for equal to or better than what we already have. And in my opinion, an electric vehicle will not be equal to or better than.

Response time is important. Every minute counts. You have to plan when you're charging your EV vehicles. And if you're out there and you don't know what the range is going to be, then you might get stuck out there. So, I understand that the board intends to replace the entire fleet with electric vehicles, and if and when they're ready, that might be my opinion, too. But right now, I'm the one who's responsible for um getting the staff out there meeting emergencies. And I think that using an electric vehicle in place of a traditional vehicle at this point in time would not be the best thing for our department.

Yeah, I I just respectfully disagree. I mean, I've studied this as a You can disagree, Robert. We've disagreed before. I actually disagree with you, Robert. I think that I haven't disagreed yet. How could you disagree with me?

Well, I haven't I haven't stated my opinion yet, but I think that it's these are these are not commuter vehicles. These I think the the last purchase of an EV vehicle. We talked about that that you know that was a lighter use vehicle and I think that um we we made that decision when that when that made sense. But um in terms of uh you know heavy duty um equipment that's going to have to be relied on. I think we should we should take the recommendation of our of our highway superintendent.

Do we have a sense of how many miles would typically go into a day a day's use for one of these vehicles? Like how many You can tell me how long a snowstorm is. I could tell you that's That's one of the issues. We could be out there for hours. If if I have an electric vehicle, that's a plow truck and I'm out there for hours, right? Then I have to pull it off the road and bring it back and charge it. There's no redundancy in that case. We don't The police wasn't disagreeing. I I would like to I would like to finish. Go ahead. The police department has multiple vehicles.

That's right. These are specific vehicles. The utility truck carries the chainsaws, carries the crews, takes them out there, you know, you're you're you're clearing the roads, you don't know how long you're going to be out there. The plow truck, the same thing. If you had come in a plow truck during operations and see that you have to go back and forth 15 times to clear a culdeac and every single time you're pushing that No, you're reducing the range of that electric vehicle and you're not going to know when it stops working. What happens when the power goes out?

Does the fast charger work when the power goes out in town? Yes, because we have a generator. The fast charger. I was under the impression that the slow chargers are hooked to the generator. And and and again, I'm responsible for making sure that my department operates properly. Sure. You're responsible for saying we have the money to spend on the equipment that you need.

In this particular instance, I don't think that we need electric vehicles. I think we need traditional vehicles. I don't think the electric vehicles are equal to or beyond the traditional vehicles at this point in time. Okay. And I respect that opinion, but I disagree with that opinion. As somebody who studies this issue on a regular basis, weekly probably,

you know, and I would also say, hang on, I just want to say we have a policy now that we have adopted that says we must all look at green green procurement options and we must put out there why we aren't pursuing a green option. There are pickups. And by the way, this this is a myth. And and the reason why I think it's important to respond is because often times in emerging technologies, there are myths out there about, you know, the there was a time where people said, "Don't plug in your phone because it's going to start a fire, right? And you're never going to use a phone, a touchscreen phone." The range on a fossil fuel vehicle also goes down when you're plowing. Okay. A lot of these trucks don't get anywhere near I think it's a Chevy Silverado which now gets 440 miles now reduced in the cold. You're plowing even if it's 200 miles. Are you suggesting that you would have in a shift that truck going more than 200 miles without having the time to go to the fast charger to increase that the torque. The thing about electric vehicles and I think Bill's point is that if you're going too quickly wanting to get somewhere, whether you're a police or other emergency respondent, the torque of an electric vehicle is well beyond what a fossil fuel vehicle can do these days. Fossil fuel vehicles are poor performing vehicles relative to they're not as reliable. Now, I know people say, "Well, I heard that the school bus or whatever, but the technology with batteries is developing and has developed considerably

from the time when many of us got electric vehicles in 2017, but it's a whole decade later now." And they're much more reliable. They stay out of the shop, right? So, they had six recalls on the highway superintendent vehicle in Milan so far and he's had it for less than a year. Okay. Well, I don't know what they chose. I don't know what they chose. It's an electric Mustang SUV and he uses it for his personal vehicle and so far they've had six recalls.

You study the electric. I study the highway departments. Yeah. As vice president of the New York State Association of Highway Superintendent, I have information from all over the state on who is using these, who is not using these, and why. Your opinion and my opinion are different, right? But we have a procurement policy that we I understand the procurement says we must go through the process of comparing what the green options are. I have done that, Robert, but you haven't presented it to us. Well, I'm sorry that I am not going to apply for these trucks.

Okay, let's continue on with the report. Do you want to take the rest of this stuff? Um, sure. I mean, I I think I'm I'm sorry to see Theresa walk out, but I think that for me, this is this is not a rejection of of EV vehicles, but I I support what she's saying that they're not they're not appropriate for for this this use. And I mean study the topic if you study that's why I was asking if she had a sense of the range and she didn't. Yeah. We ran into this issue with the van and again our policy requires that we compare and contrast right and we have the information

and we have purchased you know fossil fuel vehicles in the past. What is the policy exactly that we're the green procurement policy? Yeah, I'll send it to you so you can read online. You should because I'm a data driven person. That's why I said it wasn't an apples to apples comparison between police vehicles and um and these kinds of trucks, but I would say this, there are other communities that have chosen to go EV. And if I was making the um justification, if I was writing the justification me to go with fossil fuel, I would at least have information from some other communities to compare

just to show that like they're not as efficient or they, you know, they're not really the right thing for right now. Um I have no problem supporting the purchase of conventional fuel uh combustion engines. It's just that we have a policy. We have to operate within the policy and all it really requires is a justification memo that we didn't get. And that's why we approved a fossil fuel fossil fuel vehicle last year, right? Last year last year or the year before or something. I mean recently pretty recently because um there weren't options as well as a chipper. It was like the I don't know if it's the forklift or

one of those something like that. But I mean there's electric. Anyway, the point is and and and for the folks at home, it's not just about being green. It's not just about saving on emissions. It's also about saving dollars. So the fossil fuel vehicle that she's advocating for, which maybe we would come to the conclusion is appropriate, it costs money to put fossil fuels in that vehicle. We have excess energy that is being produced on top of that hybrid garage right now. So we have the capability of having in essence free electric fueling that vehicle. So it's about dollars and cents

maintenance costs as well, you know, and the maintenance cost. I mean, as somebody who has had who's been driving electric vehicles now for nine years, you take it in for tires. I mean, yes, she brought up an example of, and I would never, no offense for, I would never advocate for uh, you know, a Mustang, although we know people right uh one on the water board by the way who has one of those right who drives one but you know that's whether it's fossil fuel or electric you know whether it's emerging technologies you have to look at who has the dependable models and reliable

so besides that what would be so what would be the process in in moving this forward what would we like like any other action would be we'll send we'll send we'll send Teresa the green procurement polic policy to make sure that we're complying with that and ask her to please compare justification memo

and and that's it and to try to I know it's extra work I know it's extra work it is but these are important issues saving the taxpayer money saving on emissions this is why we've set up a resilient and a sustainable municipality here with charging stations look We've had building and zoning has had that truck five years. Four years. Is it four or five? It feels like four or five years. It's been totally reliable. My question pickup truck totally reliable is like apart from whether it's EV or or not. Um

and she's saying she needs new vehicles. Would we not consider um appropriating those those funds and then reviewing it? Isn't that kind of what we what would be the next step in um No, we would we would look at the requests and then we would decide if we want to appropriate this one those funds for the purchase authorize the bidding

authorize to go out but it also we would need to know whether it's buying salt whether it's you know and and she's you know we've had some correspondence from the county on on piggybacking related to salt. we need to make sure that everything is done um in compliance with our procurement policy. So it seems to me like that the the compliance with the procurement policy I agree that that okay that can happen but does that that doesn't necessarily seem like that should stop the process if there's

well I don't think we want to stop the process then we want to accelerate I'm offering my time to send some and I did with the van by the way to say take a look at these models only because it just happens to be one of the few things I know something Would we need to take an action and tonight? I don't think we have an action. No, I No, I'm like I'm

No, I don't think we have an action to take tonight except to try and assist. I'd be happy to provide I'd be happy to take out the time to provide what I know to be the electric options for her to at least put in the comparison. So when she compares and contrasts and says I still want to go with whatever she would at least have the benefit of my little bit of knowledge. She has done that for us in the past.

We had to buy a new chipper. There have been a number of things where she just gave us the data and showed us why a conventional combustion uh engine was the appropriate choice and we approved it. I it's just we we did as a board approve the green policy and you need to be able to justify your actions. It's kind of like a sole source contract. I mean, you just have to say why it's the right way to go. Um

and we have set our we have done an enormous amount of work to set ourselves up so that we can have green energy and excess green energy that we can use for for these purposes. And so to then say, "Oh, you've got 10 charging stations and you want to convert your fleet and by the way, all these add up to points with state programs. All those points add up to grant funding. And guess what? We use the grant funding for more things to keep our footprint. I mean, you look at this. This building is nothing like the building that we inherited 10 or 11 years ago. Um, we've converted away We've insulated the building. It's got solar on it. Um, so yeah, I think it's and I'm very in touch with our community and how our community feels about all this stuff. And they not everybody agrees on everything, no matter what it is, but our community is very much in favor of trying to reduce emissions. Air pollution. Now, we had Eli Duper in here talking about air pollution.

Oh, yeah. Right.

From part last year. Um, and so what people don't realize is an exhaust is an exhaust that we all breathe in. And if you have the opportunity to remove exhaust from our community, especially the town of Red Hook where most people are just passing through. That's the reality. because we live at uh the concert of three state highways coming through our community. So there's a lot of uh car and truck traffic and emissions coming through. So whatever we can do um I think we at least need to put in the time and compare the options before we go ahead and move forward. And I know that's frustrating for people who you know are used to working with It's it's true of all the departments here. I mean, we didn't take credit cards before. We didn't do, you know, automatic banking. We didn't do any new technology always is met with some level of skepticism and concern. Um and and you know, I think it's a fair point that she makes is she's responsible for the drug. So, she needs to know that that drug's going to work.

Um so, that's that's where I think that the range is important to have some estimate, right? Like if we know that we're driving 500 miles in a typical storm, then that's the answer. If that if that's what it is, great. Like we know that we can't go with me. This winter would be a really great comparison because these were some doozy storms that they were out a lot. And so that's that. I mean, she's got the date. She has some of the core data already. Well, I wrote in I wrote in the truck in one of the last storms. It's very very interesting experience. I mean, yeah. I mean, it's amazing how many times you have to clear an intersection back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I mean, it's it's um I would have I would have gotten car sick if I had done like the Forest Park route.

That's a tough one actually down at the end, but um yeah, there's there's there seems to be a lot of knowledge there. All right. So I think it's incumbent upon us to you know now me since I know some of this information I'll try to put together in the next few days the options that I at least am aware of and then we can see what's available through the if the state has anything on on contract there. But when she says the first step in the process is authorization from the town board, are you saying that we need to make the decision whether it's Eevee or not prior to that authorization? We authorize for specific.

Yes, we we have to because we have a procurement policy and there is a green procurement um it's just like the state soul source policy which says that contracts over a certain amount of money must go out to bid but there are some provisions that allow for soul source awarding when they're the only one that makes the thing. It it's it's a similar type of thing. So, We're looking for comparable for the green procurement. It has to be we have to have So in other words, we have to have the specs on the thing that we're authorizing is what you're saying.

We have to have the specs, but we have h have we have to go through the process, Christina, of comparing the green procurement options that are available, whether it's a vehicle versus what she wants. We don't go through that comparison. We're not compliant with our policy. this is a way to put a structure in place so that all purchases right I I guess where I'm confused is just just in in terms of our like the structure of how we do things like for example with a water tower how we we authorize um it to go out to bid like we there's there's moments when we're authorizing more information to come back in and this isn't one of those. So if when we're authorizing it

because this is a right this is a procurement it has to comply. Okay. Y understood. Thank you. And she, you know, she told us the amounts of money and what's being replaced, but she hasn't told us what she actually wants to replace it with. And if she had that data, then there I didn't see a a brand in the Well, I thought so. I thought Chevrolet C. It's a Chevy. Oh, it is. Okay. Yeah. I saw what was being replaced, but utility. place. Okay. All right. Well, it shouldn't be that cumbersome.

Um, all right. So, there's also an end of year report there. Um, yeah. So, there's a summary of the work that the highway crew has done in the past year. Um, list of duties. Highlights for 2025 include major construction on Jefferson Road, Adams Road and Woods Road, distance of 1.35 miles. Um Capsell overlay on Grandmore Drive and Seymour Drive 85 miles. Um work on the Forest Park drainage project. Um 514 ft of drainage pipe, nine catch basins on Shady Lane. Um had a lot of conversation about Forest Park, so it's nice to have some of that project completed.

I'm sure it's going to be ongoing, but I appreciate the department's work and making improvements there. Um, maintenance. There were 27 winter storm events in the 2025 calendar year. 210 ft of culvert pipe was replaced on three roads. Dangerous trees removed in 47 locations. Um, clearing, maintaining, and replacing catch basins, mowing shoulders, the equivalent of 240 lane miles. Um, patch paved roads. um asphalt um training, shared services. Um they helped with the the e e-waste recycling event um and coordinating with the CAC. I know that Lori is always very appreciative of the work of Teresa and the crew for that. So um and then the purchase of a chipper truck. So there's some photos and logs here. Um you know, as always, we appreciate the work of the highway crew, especially given this past winter and how,

you know, heavy it was. That's the truck I was referring to. The trip chipper truck which was purchased for 167. These pieces of equipment you live with for many years as you can see. So these are decisions that are not just for particular. This is Forest Park. I'm very happy that we were able to fund this retrofit. This is the future in America is all those subdivisions that were outfitted with insufficient storm drainage systems.

Forest Park was also built on wetland. So, right. Hydric soils don't help. Uh to to the capital of hydro soils. Um more visuals. Okay, so that's

okay. Police. Okay, you got that in the right order. Do I?

Well, mine's goes backwards. Um so the police report um they gave us December's worth and in December of 2025 they had 133 incidents uh plus 12 in Tiboli who they are now contracted with. They issued 29 um summones and made two arrests. Then just go for January. Um they're a very busy police department. They had 111 uh calls that they went out on incense with 11 in additional 11 in they issued 24 uh summones u they've been trying very hard to reduce the speed of drivers um they issued one parking ticket they made three arrests and then in February they had 106 incidents but don't don't forget February is the shortest month of the year with in Italy. Um they wrote 27 tickets and made five arrests. Um I have asked uh Hildebrand the mayor made a reasonable uh request in the past. Our reports gave list of every type of incident and each location and for good reasons. because they didn't want to have the location.

But I did ask if they could

if it's not too much work to at least give us the c categories and how many because I think people don't understand the um the bre the breath and diversity of the things and calls they go on and I do generally try to um make sure the public understands that like wellness checks are a common thing and they've saved some people's lives in this town. So, um, you know, people call 911. When I said a police vehicle is the ultimate emergency response vehicle, that's the first call that that goes out. Um, and just for the record, as someone who has procured police cars, they are not commuter vehicles. They are not they are bu they may look like a car, but they are not built like a car. Um, and they also have a reduced battery range because of the nature of the way they're constructed and the amount of power that they have to use. Um, but you know, I I would like to I'm hoping P hasn't gotten back to me yet, but he will soon about Yeah, because I I I don't want to give them more work to do. Uh, in the past, they just printed a report. It gave everything

maybe a little extra for them because it had it broken down by category previously. So, previously, but but within each one when he printed out the report, it gave each location. Yeah. And I and I it's fair not to you know sure there's a way to easily do it because it does include things like like the schools right like that's maybe I don't know a dozen or so report was

yeah there you schools I mean and you know and there's some things that are some people might view as um not so serious but then there's some that are very serious and some that appear not so serious but when they arrive on the scene they are in fact very serious. So, it it's it's one of those things. Um, I've had to in my career work with small police departments who have assisted my agency on a variety of things, and I I can't say enough good things about the Village of Red Hooks Police Department. They for their size, um, they do a really, really good job. Um, and it's not an easy thing. It's not an easy job. And a lot of people don't like you. So, uh, you know, I I really want to compliment them and and having a report that had more of those things to be able to talk about helps the public understand just what their job is about. So that's those are the three months

and they're having a hard time keeping people. Yes. Have a very small tax base. Who is the rec department? Uh the rec department you want to do it, Jacob, do it. Truthfully is I thought you wanted you were saying you wanted saying you

Oh, okay. Sorry. Uh summer rec programs to add activities to the programs that are attractive to the participants. We purchased the following cornhole. Well, I'll be there then. Uh, not cocky. Oh my god, it's like everything though. Everything when we were young is coming back in both 12 pickle ball paddles and pickle balls. Tumble tower flag football. Giant soccer ball. Giant 28 inch soccer ball. Soft lacrosse uh grants workshop fishing contest. We talked about uh So, uh, you know, that's the thing that I was thinking about when you were reading off the reports of all the incidents, like how could we have so many incidents that you couldn't get around this winter was so damn bad. But, um, yeah, you talk about this when it was difficult for them to get access to some of the equipment at Nor Park um because of all the snow. Uh, tennis nets. So, the nets are up. You're playing You're playing pickle ball. They're all up there. I actually played last weekend at the pickle ball with my daughters. Um wind screens, so we've got some wind screens coming. Um the school has already they've already had a game on our field. Um snack bar, garbage and recycling containers. staff pickle ball program. So, yes, we want to once again um thank uh the managers of the property uh Eddie Parker

Center. Uh we completed our third year now uh utilizing that state facility. Another great example of a public private partnership. Um, we have had from November this year, I think, extended through the end of uh what will be next week, the 31st will be the last time to play indoors pickle ball. And as uh this winter demonstrated, we really need to have options for people of all ages in the winter time for activities that they can do. And we had over 200 people I think sign no about 160 170 people sign up yeah for uh indoor pickle ball there we hope that relationship continues u because we don't have another indoor place for pickle ball although I will note the Roland property there has indoor soccer it's a modified space I haven't I have not been inside um indoor soccer but they also apparently have two pickle ball courts now as well. So there's an option there's King places in Kingston. So pickle ball is taking over. Um walking tracks trails. Uh Christina, you referenced that we have to do some maintenance on the trails.

Yeah. I I if we could just pause on this one for a second because I think it relates to a bunch of things, but I read this report. It brings a question that I was asking last meeting when we were talking about Camp Rising Sun. You said, "Oh, we're just making trails and they're just trails." What is the detail of the trail? Oh, it's just a trail. No, it's just some stone dust. Well, was that reviewed? Was it designed like Cookingham? They're all washing out. What was the design of that of that of that path? Was that something that

the engineers were involved in that? Um, what's very different about Cookingham versus Camp Rising Sun is Camp Rising Sun is more like a pancake and Cookingham is much more like a bunny slope sometimes. So, was there a contractor that installed? Yes.

It was a project went out and it was reviewed by the engineers. We did know that we might have to do some followup drainage. Um, we wanted to see whether or not it could perform without a feature on this is on the north end um where we may need to put in another uh drainage uh improvement area but it's as it turns out the hill coming down from Abrahams has washed down on several occasions now so we're looking at some of the options and and actually Ryan has put together a couple things that we might consider doing so and it and it washes out during those heavy those heavy rain periods. We like often times

so we have an engineer the engineers are looking at the design of the pads again

again because we knew that putting stone dust on it. So we got the property the way it was. These were farm paths existing. We did not want to eat into any more of the agriculture. We did not want to create paths anywhere. And there's just a natural contour there. So they wanted to make it accessible for both biking and walking. Um what replaced uh so we do get wash out but what was there before was money out previously. So they did their best in engineering and designing to try to make it so that it was easier to maintain. But yes, our crew has had to come out there, I think three times last year and they come out with a rake or whatever and they try and put the material back and roll it and they they're learning how to do it better as well. So it hasn't been a lot of uh the the trail part hasn't been a lot of uh work but they are it's a learning curve for all of us on how to deal with that. So they did improve the existing farm paths and in certain locations no problem but as you as you know because you're involved in in the development arena um where you have that kind of slope it's it's a real challenge for

I think it would be good to look at as like what um what was the original design what are the engineers comments on how it's performing and what is the feedback on how it's it's being maintained and what the what those costs are because as we're looking at other other opportunities to expand parks and the um even John's pretty good about breaking that all out for us so we can take a look at that. That would be great as well as Brandy or Ryan's comments from engineering. Yes.

Yeah. I mean, it'd be good to get maybe Ryan to put something together about like, hey, I've walked it because he's been involved also in the engineering related to the solar and as they put the fence back up in the area where it's been taken down to create. Um, he's also getting out there on the trails and seeing the trails. They also had to dig up next to the trail because of a water line that came all the way from nine to the historic house in the back that was leaking from is not related to the to it's not connected to the other central wall. Anyway, I digress, but um yeah, we can get that breakdown and we can look at what we can do to make it easier to maintain.

All right. Uh park opening in the spring that's already happened. um counselor job offers. He's sending out job offers to the former counselors. We've had great counselors in the past. Hope that continues. Um there's a requirement that's in there just so folks know, you have to do a counselor for every 12 participants. We are board of health uh inspected and approved each year.

Um tree committee bench for the trail and wreck park west. So they want a bench over there. Um so that's something to consider. The bench would match three keystone rich designs.

Um so the request is made but he has not provided a map and I want to make sure before you all see this bench and where it's designed that it's consistent with the adopted plan for Recre Park West that the bench is not I love benches. I love trees, but you know when we go and we put and dedicate, you know, you're you're sort of it's almost like sacros. You know, you're stuck with it where it is pretty much. And so we want to make sure it's consistent with the adoptive plan there.

Parking lot striping paint. So like everything this winter, um the beginning of especially on the south side, you know, the north side, we redid the parking lot on the south side, the entrance there, some potholes. Um, so that needs a little attention. Uh, summer playground offerings signups are happening June 6th and 13th for the summer programs and they will have the I think it's pretty well along the list of what the programs will be for uh the summer time. Uh, picnic tables. We bought a couple more picnic tables, electric for the new baseball shed. So, we had another great project was that shed that was constructed last year. So, we need to get some electric in there. Um, restrooms. Um, received complaints about the lack of restrooms at Park West. Yes, we want to further develop out that property. We'll be for that. Um, we did have portable restrooms there. Um, so we might look at doing that again. We might need to increase that budget line. Field scheduling, that's not our issue. Benches trails. There was a request to have a bench there. That's a little trickier because don't forget some of those trails will actually belong to the farmer who purchases the farm. public access uh fence repair. One rail was broken. There's sections that have to be replaced now because of the solar was taken down. They'll be there this week.

During as a matter of fact, fishing contest, I feel like I've said all this already. This almost looks like it's repeated. Um I think that's good. That's a good Yes, that's enough. Tree preservation, right? So, we have um get going

two months worth of tree preservation commission works or meeting reports. Um one from February and one from March. Um they both cover some common topics. Um we have a reertification application for tree cert tree city certification um which we received back including two new signs, 20ear stickers, and a new flag. Um we're going to be getting more materials soon about the 25 million tree initiative as well. Um that's going to be a focus of um Arbor Day whenever that comes up next month. Um on April 25th um there's some notes here about the bench that we talked about. So um it might be helpful to connect with John and um maybe hop to see if we can just get a map to see where

where they're thinking. Um an overlay of a plan. Make sure it's not in the way. Yeah.

Yeah. Um Trees for the Arbor Day free giveaway have been ordered. Handouts for the Arbor Day Foundation from the Arbor Day foundation have been ordered. That'll be for Arbor Day as well. Um spring tree planting sites were finalized including Bus Corners Road, Pitcher Lane, Recre Park West. Um for the March minutes, um we had some progress on the tree inventory project. So there were some rubrics that were shared that'll be used to um you know, measure the trees and um evaluate you know how they're doing. Um the committee is going to be getting some diameter tapes to do some measurements and things like that. Pretty affordable. Um I think that's most mil school nature audience is being scheduled for the end of April. Those happen annually. Um and there'll be a few days that they'll go I think the fifth grade classes. Um so that's coming up. And that's about everything for tree preservation commission. Thanks again for all the work. They're doing a lot of maintenance for for trees.

Okay. the water department, Board of Water everywhere. Uh, unfortunately, I missed the last meeting because I had a conflict. I usually make them.

Uh, but I do read the reports and there's nothing that stands out uh as really much different than the last few months. I will point out that the uh well capacities for the pump volumes for pump for well one is at four was at 42 gallons per minute and well two at 96. I just signed a voucher for tie and bond. We are going out to bid for a well rehab on well number one. And um it both the wells were rehabbed three or four years ago and it's unclear why and they can generally pump over 150 gallons per minute if if we needed to. But it's unclear why the capacity for one has dropped. The only good news is it has been consistent. It hasn't gone all over the place. It's just it stayed steady and that's certainly more than enough water for the water uh for the areas that are served but um we're going to get that rehabbed and then based on the rehab there may be some additional things that have to be done. All the testings are done. We have great water. Our aquifers are exceptional and um there are a few homes that have had some experience some dirty water for one reason or another and they're on top of that. That's in the next page I think and that's those are supplies that they have to buy on regular basis. They have a position on Lyndon Avenue. There's a when they built that community, what was actually the sample house for that community sort of sits at the end of the uh where the water um it's sort of like a dead end. And because of that, things back up. And so we're trying initially we're going to

dig it out and put in what's called a flushing uh hydrant, which would allow residual sediment and other things to be flushed out. Um, this is and we have been trying for the last number of months to get the contractor to come and dig it out, but it's been cold. The the ground's been frozen solid. Um, and now that we're about to do it, they're they're looking at some potentially some other alternatives, but other than that, it's, you know, it's pretty steady and they're mostly what's not on this report because this is really the water department and the delivery of water to our current customers. What's not on here is you know what's taking up a lot of time is dealing with the tank.

Yeah.

Okay. Uh well and that reminds me I think we had some correspondence from a resident in Willow Park, right? You recall that presentation we had on potential establishment of other water districts the village had through We'll call it some sort of shake handshake agreement and servicing neighborhood Willow Park, right? You're familiar with where that is behind the car wash and the bagel shop. And so a resident there wanted to know about a hydrant that's no longer working. I guess it's going to be remote. It belongs to the villages system, but it's in the town. You know, we can't connect. We don't own any of we don't own and nor can we do anything with with that and you know the village has been charging those residents the two times rate presumably in order to accumulate funds so that when something does need to be replaced they have the finances again but I can't imagine that they've got reserves set aside for one those days come. But you know, again, it goes to that issue of the tax base in order to support these types of services. Um,

oh yeah. Uh, do we have any other reports though? Anybody?

Okay. So it would not be a Wednesday night unless we introduce Dolly Park. Um so our Red Hook librarian I think I mentioned wrote to us about a program that is grant supported. Although my understanding is we would not be in a position to get any grant money initially would not qualify. there's a threshold thing but uh for the folks at home um it relates to uh it's a book program essentially and again to go back to that stat which I found disturbing verified it so I want to be careful but he says only 55% of third graders tested proficient at reading u to better support students as they enter school or community needs an impactful and cost effective way to support early childhood literacy and ensure our children have the foundational skills to succeed academically, socially and emotionally. Um, so they they would like us to become us the community a local program partner of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. It's an initiative that delivers a free monthly book to children from birth to age five. This helps children and caregivers build an at home library which increases interactions with books, foster the love of reading, contributes to literacy and future academic success as a partner of Imagine Nation Library. We would if we did pursue this enroll eligible Red Hook children and two pay 50% of the cost of books and mailing at $220 per month per child. Our goal is to

enroll 195 children which is 65% of the eligible population the average enrollment for imagination library partners. With your support, we project a gradual build to our goal in the coming years. Uh Red Hook has around 300 kids who qualify. Our library would take care of all the paperwork and enrollment as well as manage any issues that registrants face. We can start whenever the program can only support registrance by zip code. If the zip code crosses town borders, the library could potentially eject those applications outside the town, blah blah blah. Um, happy to join a meeting. And I think this was his uh estimation of how uh it might roll out um and the costs associated with it. seems a little low. Um, here we are. It's a monthly number. So, it would uh his estimation would be for the first year less than a thousand close to two and three, four and five and a half thousand by the time it reached the fifth year. That seems like it also gets up to 100%. In the letter, it says he's shooting for 65%. Obviously, be somewhere between that 3,000 number.

I think it would be helpful if he told us where the 55% metric came from. Are we testing third graders universally across I mean I know the Red Hood schools I know I follow where they are in terms of against state standards but are we testing third graders again it would be it would be helpful to know because statistics are statistics and you know the metric came from somewhere um it's not a big ask but I still you like you when I saw 55% I was raised my eyebrows

I mean yeah we can get confirmation of 55 where that comes from but do you all have any initial thoughts on so he's asking us to approve like less than $1,000 for a year that seems like that seems fine Yeah. It's not a big ask. It's not a big ask to to help kids read. Yeah. No, it's not a big ask. You know, you know, I know Christine and I and you were parents of children. So, I you know, that's but I it it his justification raised a question that sort of I'd like to get more information about. That's not going to be the decision maker for me on the approval of the money. I just think the status. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm also curious whether they're making the same ask of other local organization, foundations, things like that. On the quick start guide, it lists some common supporters. I think the town would probably be able to contribute a meaningful amount towards this, but I don't know if they're asking if they sent this other people as well. I'd be curious to know what the actual dollar amount they're asking for. Seems like a great idea. Great program. Seems very cost effective. 220 per book delivered. Yeah. I'm just I'm curious. How are you doing that? Yeah.

No, I agree. I'm just so curious how this is going to dovetail with you know the governor's initiative, right? You all have been reading following along what's happening Duchess County's pilot for the state program. No. No. Okay. So, um what is it the two to four to um yeah, there's a pilot program for preschool. Oh, that's the PE. Yeah, the prek program. I read about that. Yeah.

Yeah. Uh Duchess County, I think all sters joining in Patna. If I have some of that wrong, I apologize. But basically, Governor came down and get to announce uh working with our county exec um to pilot this initiative here. I'm just curious if it materials are whatever, you know, if you're covering zero to five, there might be some overlap and it doesn't hurt if they have

No, no, no. Hey, stay at home dad here. Uh, for the first two girls, taugh taught them to read stick them. Um, I think it's great. I think it's great, you know. Okay. Uh, What do we want to say? A little bit more clarity on the ask. It'd be nice to have an idea about where the 55 number comes from. But I feel like I'm fine. I'm comfortable going forward. I feel very comfortable going forward. I think it's cover the whole thing. Yeah. And if his goal is 65%, it's 65% of 5,000 in the year five. I mean, that's still If we get if we get up to 100%, great.

Yeah. If we get every child enrolled, great. But that ain't going to happen. Who wants to make the motion? I'll make it. Thank you, William. Uh, a motion to approve request uh collaborating with the Red Hook Public Library to uh have our community partner with Imagination LAN initiative. delivering a free monthly book to children from birth to age. And what's that? Start whenever.

Start whenever you um well I mean come on people people talk to Well I would also just point out you know the the governor's plan the town of Red Hook has had a pilot and they've been expanding it for PK to to offer uh pre kindergarten and they didn't have enough space for teachers but but now I mean it was on a lottery. This is child care. This program, this is for childhood, pay for child care. I know, but for PK in our schools, which is essentially functions the same way to have a full day of pre kindergarten.

They, you know, they're they're getting there. And I think that, you know, so I think in some ways from age well PK starts what's age kindergarten starts at five, right? So they were having three the PK was at age three and four. So you know we're kind of a little bit ahead of the curve in some ways. We just didn't have the capacity in our school district to be able to offer it to everybody who's on a lottery basis. Now they're doing better. The chances are getting of getting in are much higher. But I have neighbors whose kids are in it.

Well, I would hope we have capacity fiscal capacity. We must not program capacity because the enrollment is 60% what it was. Yeah. No, I know three three out of four households don't have a child in in the school system and that's pretty pretty consistent statewide almost now at this point just demographics of households being what they are 2.7. Um so I think you made a motion to Bill made a motion I I'll second it. Any further discussion?

I'm glad he brought the thanks to Alex and the library for finding the initiative. I think he's going to flip his lid when he finds out approval. Uh you okay? Hi.

Four eyes. Four eyes. Okay. Thank you. Um and Bill has offered to read all the books to the kids so much. Um that is all we have for tonight. Um I want to thank all of you for coming here tonight. Um enjoy your holiday because there will be a holiday between now and when we see you. Uh whatever that holiday is that you celebrate.

April. Um there's uh rumor has it there's a little yellow ball that's in the sky there that occasionally wants to come out and play. I hope you enjoy that. And um at this time I'd like to make a motion that we go into executive session to discuss a matter of negotiation um the disclosure of which could materially affect the price. Second. Thank you. Uh, all in favor? I think that's at least three eyes. Christina, you want

Sorry. Um, again, thank you all. Stay healthy, please. We got through the winter. If we got through this winter, we can get through anything.