(1) Town Board - Regular Meeting

Very good everyone. Good evening. Welcome to the Red Hook Town Board meeting of Tuesday, February 10th. Would you kindly join me in the pledge of allegiance, please? I aliance 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.

Thank you everyone. And uh if you'd be kind enough to pan over to the big screen, I can show the folks who are watching from home uh what we'll be discussing tonight. Uh hopefully a brief meeting this evening as opposed to last couple we've had. Um we have uh as always first meeting of the month, supervisor's report, clerk's report. We have a continuation of a public hearing from I think October on a community preservation fund project um with our uh land trust partner in this project, Winnie Land Trust. And Bob Davis is here uh from uh Winni to uh once again be available to make presentations. And uh we have announcements uh maybe one or two, some public comments. We uh will be discussing the Winnicki project tonight. Um we have as the second item on the agenda something that we did uh previously which is uh approve a resolution um requesting a an extension to the community preservation fund. Um now that we have uh signed uh bills up in Albany then we are going to uh pass this and forward it along to them. Um, we have only really uh a first draft of the water agreement with Bard, a continuation um based upon uh perhaps a contribution level towards um some rehab of the tank. Um we're not going to take any action or even discuss I think tonight unless uh others feel differently because it's just a first draft. We're looking for input from the water board and uh obviously from all of you here. uh on on the board as well for reorg tonight.

We're hoping uh maybe we could uh finish uh reappointing all of the board and committee chairs um so that we can uh finally send out our um communication to the community about where the vacancies are and they can uh send in a letter of interest and we can connect them with the chairs and uh they can discuss um how the committees and boards uh work and whether or not it's a good fit. And then correspondence. We just have one piece of correspondence and it's related to um you heard me I think at the last meeting or the one before talk about um the Champlain uh Express. It's a power line that's running underneath the Hudson River, 339 miles, I believe it is, all the way from Quebec down to New York City. um because it's within our waterways um we do receive some tax revenues and we've been approached um by representatives of Champlain to see if we would be interested in a pilot agreement. Um we did receive um a tentative perhaps partial assessment trying to get more information um from New York State on uh what the assessment is on the books so that we can compare what's being offered to uh what we might otherwise expect. And those are the items that we'll be discussing tonight. So, with that being said, we're almost 7:35. Um, let's see. Why don't we quickly see if we can do um the supervisor's report and the clerk's

report. Um, I'll scan down. So, for the supervisor's report, as a reminder, it's a snapshot of the financial picture for the municipality at any given moment. This is for the period ending January 31st, 2026. We started with an opening balance of 10,828,000 and change receipts of 1.658 million, dispersements of 2.943 with an ending balance of 9,554,000. Um, you have in your packet as always um the uh variance report prepared by our bookkeeper and Conway. Um there are also uh budget adjustments council members and I will just direct your attention to most of the budgets um especially for those uh who are newer to the board. Every year um the bookkeeper has to repopulate any grant-f funded projects. So all of the ins and outs and most of the budgets that you see here are just the annual repopulation uh in the budgets the ins and outs of grant funded projects as well. Do

Robert do we have a grant award list that can be circulated?

Um we can develop a a list for you and circulate. Sure. Sure. Sure. Um let me take a note of that. We can then prepare that for you. And do any of these budget adjustments change our endofear fund balance projection? They do not. Um except for this one for $690 that she's got here. And that's for um a premium a discrepancy in the premium for retirey.

Okay. Any other questions? If not, I'd entertain a motion to accept the supervisor's report. I had I had one question. Sure. On the dispersement of the solar farm. Yes. the 97 976,000. That's right. Was that a grant that we received for that?

No. So, just as a reminder, Kenny, um we will receive uh the cost of the project um which was uh we uh discussed at previous meetings and we did the authorizations for the borrowing. So, the borrowing totaled uh I think it was $1.82 million for the project itself. And then uh niceerta gives us and you're going to test my memory here. Um the incentive is around $150,000. And then the direct pay that we received, you recall as part of the inflation reduction act, one of the uh differences was that you didn't have to be a private entity to take advantage of the tax credits. You can now be a municipality and get the direct rebate that the developers would also receive. and that amount is about $450,000 and that will happen the quarter after the system is live and we file a form with the IRS. So the balance of which um will ultimately be the long-term borrowing these proceeds came as a bond anticipation note at 3.7%.

Okay. Yeah. And all of that were in previous and what's the terms on it?

It's a 12 month uh bond anticipation note. And so we will go back in 12 months and likely do another bond anticipation and we'll have to decide that because then we'll know um what the final and you can borrow for 15 years on a project like this. So every every uh bond uh offering that is out there uh relates to the useful life of a project and for this it's 15 years. It obviously will last longer than 15 years, but what you can borrow against it has a defined period and then I can get you a schedule and show you, you know, what our payments will be like under those scenarios. Um, and then you can take a look at essentially how um after it's all paid off, how it's going to be very accretive to the town's uh finances.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Sure. And that is for the um almost last payment. There's a hold back until the system is live and and all checked. And by the way, um I believe that Central Hudson has just finished their work on on the system and it's uh we're just waiting on what they call a PTO or permission to operate. Any other question? If not, uh motion to accept the supervisor's report. So move. Thank you, Bill. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Jacob. All in favor? I I I.

Okay. Thank you very much. We also have a clerk's report. Tiana, if you'd be kind enough to read the clerk's report.

Town clerk's report for the period January 1st to January 31st. Total local shares remitted. Total local shares remitted $6,975.50. Amount paid to New York State agriculture and markets for the spayneuter program. $53. New amount paid to New York State Bo department of health for marriage licenses $22.50 total state, county, and local revenue $7,51. And I hereby certify that vouchers numbered 34387 to 3453 processed in the month of January 2026 are an accurate reporting of the abstracts approved for payment by the town board. Thank you, Fiona. Any questions about the circle? I noticed we had 36 death certificates last night. Wow.

Okay. Uh, is there a motion to accept the purpose? Second. Uh, that's an all in favor. Second by uh council person Ducharm. All in favor? I I

thank you very much. Thank you very much. Um very quickly on announcements and we'll do the public hearing. Um it's that time of year you will receive both digitally and in the mail um the annual uh spring events. Uh they're similar to last year. We're going to try and combine a couple on the same day so our volunteers aren't giving up every weekend, but we have everything from e-waste uh to another repair cafe. Cleanup day is now May 2nd scheduled. Um the fishing contest uh for the kids in Wreck Park, April 11th, shred day May 9th. Um Apple Blossom is the same as May 9th. May 9th as well. Arbor Day, April 25th, you get your free seedlings. All these events are free, by the way. And then another uh demonstration day here at Town Hall. Um it's not on the flyer, but just as a reminder for um Wreck Park summer camp. We're very proud that we still offer a free summer camp for families here. The signups are the first two Saturdays in June. So, we'll also put that up on our website. And that is all I have for announcements. Anybody else before we jump into our public hearing?

Okay. Uh if not, um Diana, can I trouble you to uh maybe uh summarize the public hearing notice?

Notice of continued public hearing regarding Winnicki Land Trust Incorporated Camp Rising Sun Project under the town's community preservation fund program, Town of Red Hook. Please take notice that a continued public hearing will be held by the town board of the town of Red Hook on February 10th, 2026 at 7:35 local time at the town hall 7340 South Broadway Red Hook pursuant to town to town's community preservation fund CPF program to hear all interested persons regarding the acquisition of an interest or right in real property to preserve open space pursuant to section 247 of the general municipal law, including the purchase of a contractual right necessary to achieve the purposes of such provisions. ments for the the project described below. Camp Rising Sun application submitted by Winnicki Land Trust Incorporated for acquisition by the town of Red Hook of a conservation easement and public access easement with respect to an approximately 142.62 acre parcel of property tax map ID number 134889-6372-00-313070 located at 110 Oral Mills Road, Town of Red Hook, Duchess County, New York. The total project cost of the property acquisition by Winnick Land Trust in Inc. including proposed pro program partner funding is estimated not to exceed $1,600,000 and the town cost of acquisition of the easement and related cost is estimated not to exceed $390,000. With respect to such project, the town's project partner, Winnicki Land Trust Incorporated Incorporated, a notfor-profit 501c3 Corporation organized for the conservation or preservation of real property, has entered into a department of environmental conservation water quality improvement program grant agreement for 75% funding for Winnick Land Trust Incorporated's costs of acquisition of the property. is proposed that the town will acquire a conservation easement and public access and public access easement

in the property. The town's cost to acquire such interest is estimated not to exceed 25% of the acquisition cost plus estimated additional project related costs and the town's cost is proposed to be financed from the CPF program. All interested persons will be given an opportunity to be heard in person or by directing comments in writing to the town board 7340 South Broadway Red Hook. All reasonable accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. In such a case, please notify the town clerk so that arrangements can be made. Please take further notice that copies of set application is available for review at the town at the office of the town clerk, 7340 South Broadway, Red Hook, New York, by order of the town board of the town of Red Hook, dated November 19th, 2025. Danna Cochran, town clerk, town of Red Hook.

Thank you, Diana. Um before we go ahead and open uh the public hearing, Bob, I hate to trouble you to do it again, but there will be people who were not here in October. Could we maybe ask you to give us like a fiveminut sort of quick run through again for the folks so that they know what the project um entails? I'd be happy to. Okay, I'll be your page turner for you. These these WQIP projects seem to take forever. Well, I even had to had the staff to get me up to speed this morning. Okay. All right. Good.

So, uh, if you for those of you who weren't here in October for the for the last presentation, um, Wy has an opportunity to acquire 142 143 acre property here in Red Hook on Oral Mills Road, uh, currently owned by the Jonas Foundation and known as Camp Rising Sun. And uh we've been working on this for what seems like 2 or 3 years now. Uh we can move on to the next slide. So this is a this is an outline of the property and its location and um as you can see it's located in a a portion of the of the town which does not have another facility such as the one is we're proposing here. Purpose is to really acquire the property. The primary purpose is water quality protection, groundwater recharge, and surface water protection. Um, but it affords us an opportunity to provide public access and some recreational facilities that are not really located in this part of the town. Um, I think I just said that.

So, it it is in the community uh preservation plan and identified as a priority for a and source water protection. Um, we do have about 40 acres of wetland on the property and there's about a little over a mile and a half of uh of stream and tributary to the to the sockill. Uh, it does identify uh along the sockill itself, it's very likely that there are uh in in fact habitat that's important to freshwater fish. Um there are potentially some other species of wildlife that may also be included in that area that we can't really talk about right now. Um haven't sampled for. Okay.

Um but it's very likely that there are some there. Okay.

And we do have a trail concept for for the property. Uh we intend to inc uh enhance the access to the pro the access road to the property uh to create a 12car parking area, a picnic area uh for for residents as well as a trail system throughout the property. And uh there is actually you can't see it very easily here, but if you zoomed in on that upper field um there you go. You can see a little bump right there in the center. and that is a large wildlife viewing platform and we're pro we're going to look into uh upgrading that and enhancing that make it available for the public as well.

I think we do have an image of that um somewhere further down down the line. Um but sorry to interrupt you. That's that's fine. So again, this is just a summary the couple of photos of the soft hill itself, the tribes and the uh the wetlands that surround it. Um here's a little project timeline. We've been updated updated. It had it was I think it was this morning it was updated.

Uh so we've been working on this for quite a while. We did get the announcement of our award in February of 2024. uh size signed the contract on February of 2025. Uh due diligence activities are scheduled to finish in April. All the relative contract all the appropriate contractors have already been retained and they're beginning their work. Um we hope to be able to to execute the final purchase agreement with the Jonas Foundation in May of this year. Uh at the same time we finalized the conservation easement. Uh it may July of 2026 might be a little bit aggressive, but we're going to do our best uh to get approved, final approval from DEC for purchase of the property. And uh and at the same time, we would do a simultaneous conservation easement. And then we would hope by fall of 2026 we would have the parking area and access uh open to the public and ready to go.

Okay. Um, here are more maps, resources. Oh, yeah. Here's the viewing platform that you were referencing. Yeah, we may have to make some improvements. Just a little bit. Okay. Uh, I think that's it. These are just more photos of the property. Photos of the property and just some characteristics of the property. A couple of picnic benches.

We'll enhance that. That would be And this is the meadow. That's where I find. Very good. And so uh just for the public's benefit, um just to uh go over it. The entrance is here on Oral Mills. Yeah.

You would enter here. There's a parking area that would be constructed here. And then these would be the trails here. The camp facilities are outside of the uh scope of this project and they remain here in this area. If you're familiar with this portion of Warl Mills, it's uh where it turns to dirt soon thereafter and is on a bit of a hairpin turn.

I'd add a portion of that trail may be upgraded to ADA standards to make it accessible. And um and again it'll be a multi-use trail so it'll be for hiking. We might have biking and certainly crosscountry skiing. So doing any kind of nonmotorized activity. Okay. Very good. Thank you very much. And um if you would hang out see if you get um some questions that be terrific. And we'll have some discussions too as well. Um, at this time I'd like to make a motion that we open the public hearing. Is there a second? A second. All in favor? Thank you very much.

Is there anybody who would like to speak on this project? Okay. I realize this is a continuation. Um, why don't we we're going to have some uh discussion. So, why don't we just leave it open until after the discussion and then we'll see see where we go from there. Okay. Um, let's go to the other agenda items. Why don't we take a few uh public comments if uh anyone would like to make some public comments and then we'll jump right into the agenda.

Are we going to go through the um the EF? Yeah, that's agenda item number one. We'll do public comments first and then we'll jump right into um the uh secret review and other issues related to the project. Yeah. Uh okay. Are these public comments about only about this project? Is that No, no, no. Regular public comments. Does anybody like to make some public comments? Roxan, would you like to would you be kind enough to just come to the mic and state your name, please?

Roxan Fischer, Barry Town, New York. Good evening. I'm here again to address the town's ongoing pursuit of the Red Hook Boat Club property through eminent domain and the clear pattern of mismanagement this has created. Using foil requests, I obtained detailed records of the legal planning and consulting expenses tied to this acquisition and the related zoning changes. I am submitting an attached spreadsheet and I respectfully request that it be entered into the official record of the meeting. Hundreds of line items are explicitly coded to Boat Cup acquisition, TR versus Boat Club, eminent domain, or the zoning amendments enacted to facilitate this taking. These records show that the town has now spent just under $300,000 on matters related directly or closely related to the boat club acquisition. Importantly, these figures only go through November 2025. With discovery and depositions now actively proceeding in the eminent domain litigation, these costs will continue to climb significantly higher in the months to come. I specifically call on Council Member Jacob Tester and Deputy Supervisor Bill Hamill. Wake up to the reality of what this is costing and the damage it is doing to our community. Rescend your votes and immediately end this waste. The residents of Red Hook deserve transparency, fiscal responsibility, and leadership.

not an ever escalating legal fight with no end in sight. I will provide printed copies of the spreadsheet to the town clerk. Thank you, Rosa. Would anybody else like to make some public comments? Okay, hearing none, let's jump right into uh agenda item number one.

Are we leaving the public hearing open? The public hearing is being left open um on this for now and we'll decide maybe later if we want to close it or if we'd like to keep it open. Um and we did want to do some secret work and uh in particular I wanted to ask you about I I just came to know that you have some interesting programs that you do related to glanding turtle. I was not aware of that. So we'll probably be talking about that, right? Because I think this there's it had been previously identified as a habitat, right? So there is there is suitable habitat there. Suitable. Okay. Okay.

Well, very good. We want to we want to also make sure that that is considered as well. Um Okay. Well, folks, where do we want to start? We did part one already. Um that was done back in the fall. Shall we jump over to uh first I would say that um the application was referred to the CPF uh advisory board as it's required uh to be um and we received a memo back in October recommending that the plan uh that the project be funded. Um and here's uh part one of the ED map. And why don't we uh there's some of the maps associated with that. Why don't we jump into part two? Would that make sense?

Well, I I do have questions about part one. I understand it's been adopted, but it was it reviewed was part one reviewed by a consultant? Uh, part one I believe was prepared by Winn. Um, the draft was prepared and we reviewed it if I recall. Barkley, I hope I got that correct. Yeah. Um, did you have questions about part one? Well, um, yeah, I mean, part the description in part one seems incomplete because it, um, it states that it's that it's the acquisition, but there's no activity. I'm sorry, there's no activity. There's no activity proposed.

Um, it does say the conservation easement will also grant public access to the rising sun uh, property, which is identified as tax parcel. So would you like a a more um more body in that description to talk about passive trail and I mean in the in the notes in the in the description you offered you mentioned um the primary purpose is groundwater water water protection water protection so I would ask what what's the what's the backup on that were there engineering studies or what water protection yes

yeah it was identified by department of environmental conservation as being a priority area for maintaining both surface water and groundwater protection for the town. And and where where is that where's that back on the source water protection that was just approved by the state? Um yeah, is there a study or like what what are we looking at? Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe maybe uh Christina, I apologize. I thought it was assumed but maybe we should just go back to a map here and understand um this is the salt. I understand that class

I understand that but this is not a this is not like a a study that was that was prepared by by a professional.

Um no there was not a study that was done. This is a conservation easement on a property that's been identified by both the state and by the local municipality as being important for protection of the water resources that exist there. Also identified in our community preservation plan and its ranking so on so forth. Um as you know we I think the the uh Sill Watershed Community Group which has been working um many volunteers now is going to celebrate their 10th anniversary next week. I thank you for having

I'm not I'm not disputing any of that. I just think as we go through this it's it will become clearer but there's the completeness of this EAF and the the backup in order to answer the questions that seeker requires is is what's leading my line of questioning not a questioning of the project it's a question of if we're if we're um taking a hard look at the at the AF so we can keep moving through it. But um

all right. So uh we can we can certainly add uh more in the description there and talk about passive trails and so on and so forth. We can do that. We can beef that up. So there are other enhancements ADA enhancements that were mentioned trails enhancements to viewing platforms. Yeah, I think it's important you know our action is the acquisition. Yes. But this is that's part of the our action is to to complete the environmental assessment and the pass and the passive. Yeah.

Okay. So we can put a little more in the description there. I think we have um the acreage. Any other part of that that you would like to see more on? I think they've got the soil characteristics. Anything else on the part one? We could beat that description. Let's see what we've got in part two. Maybe there's some language in there in part two and part three that's

we can um tap into. So um council members uh as you know we go through these uh various um impacts of potential impacts. Um the action the action is the acquisition of an easement and and public access impact on land. There is an impact on land because there will be passive uh uh trails as part of the land. So, we checked yes, but we didn't we didn't complete the rest of this of this. Um, yeah,

if you check yes, you have to answer questions A through Well, it says A through J, but it actually only goes to I don't I don't believe that's the case, Christina. Um, this was prepared by our planner um part two. It's because of the type of the action. Um but we can certainly uh have that reviewed again and we can get you that explanation for it. Yeah, I I disagree with how that how that's that's filled out.

Okay. Um and then that is the only yes impact um that has been prepared here. Geological features. This is not a a project that involves development um other than you know potentially new trails. The trails actually exist on the property. and impacts on surface water. Obviously, the impacts of the protection are um the kinds of impacts that we'd like to see. They're protected, groundwater,

flooding, impacts on air. I think I mean in in totality I think this document has been filled out in in regards to the acquisition but not the totality of the project. Okay. So um so let's um let's go through the various impacts um and you stop me where you think it should be beefed up and then we'll get to the narrative. Maybe the narrative would be a good place to to take a look at and see if we've got some some language in there. That's what What is our What is our goal tonight with this with this EF? The goal is to review it. To review it, but not approve it.

Well, it depends if the board feels comfortable approving it. I I feel like it's it's very lacking and it needs it needs a lot more information in order to be to be adequately completed. So, I mean, before we spend an enormous amount of time going through each section, um, I'm not prepared to do that because I don't feel like I have enough information to answer all of all of these questions. And I know that the the the actions are relatively minor and I I support the project, but the AF is I do not feel is is adequately completed as a design professional.

Do you have um specific recommendations of what you'd like included? Let's go to the narrative because as you know these forms don't always tell um the full story of a project and so you know let's let's see if we've got something there that maybe either helps address your concerns or not. Um well I mean if we're going to go through it then we should go through it line by line but it's

okay. May we may we just look at the the narrative please on uh part three. And with that in mind, I think we added something. Bob, did you want to just talk about uh very briefly, I know that our attorney was um on the phone with Jen from your office talking about um landing spurtles and you all have Do you want to just talk about that for a second? Some of the if you're familiar I don't know if that's

I can give you a little background. there there is a section of the property that's identified as having habitat characteristics that would be favorable to Blandings turtle um which is a species of greatest conservation need in New York and there's no confirmed presence or absence of that particular turtle on the property okay we're just making note of the fact that there is habitat there that would be suitable for it if it is indeed present in the area

and using that that site. Um, one of the things we would do initially upon acquiring the property is do that presence and absence survey. Um, one of our staff members does have uh permit or is permitted by the state to handle endangered species and has been doing extensive work with Blandings turtle in the area. We have them on many of our properties. Um, we've been doing everything from capture and and you know, estimating the demographics of the of the population. We've been tagging with radio transmitters and following their movements with radio telemetry devices um to identify where nesting sites are and where we need to enhance protection. Um, and we're actually engaging in a head starting program with some of them on another property where we'd be capturing them, raising them in captivity for a few years, and then returning them back into the uh into the wild. Um, what else can I add? Uh, we so we have a little bit of experience with Blandings turtle and a couple of other species that might be there. Um but again right at as of this moment nothing has been identified by either DEEC or Hudson or anyone else is actually present on the property.

Okay. We did we did think it might be good to add um some language in there. Um in the part three uh the verbiage of which you know uh the property contains habitat that could be ideal for certain life cycle activities of landings, turtles. I'm not going to pronounce the scientific name of that because I will get it wrong. including wetlands for foraging, breeding, broomation and estavation, forests and upland areas for migration, formation, restoration and meadows for nesting. The proposed project includes trail improvements and potential new trail creation to avoid impacts on blending turtles should there be blinding turtles. No trails or other actions could negatively affect the turtles will occur. Sorry. Um, trails or other actions that could negatively affect the turtles will occur in wetlands on the property. Oh, no turtles. That sense unlikely that reads no trails or other actions that could negatively affect the turtles will occur in wetlands on the property. Okay. Additionally, no actions including mowing, trail connection, trail creation, or improvement or ground disturbing trail maintenance will occur during turtle nesting season. So that's May, May, June,

April, May, possibly June.

Okay. Um the project will uh continue the use of existing trails on the site used by Camp Rising Suns Campers. Um the proposed action may result in the construction of maneuver trails. Such trails will be designed to have a minimal footprint on the land and their location and construction for public use. Therefore, the conservation public access season purchase project is not expected to result in any significant environmental impacts. that was added on to the part three. Can we just look at the rest of the language there? Um begins the conservation of public access easement purchase project will convert a site used for educational programming for primarily middle school age children from around the world. Established beginning in 1930. Uh while used at times for agriculture in the past, the project site is not within the Duchess County Agricultural District 21, but adjoins properties that are the site contains 41.6 acres of highly productive soils and 12 acres of cleared meadow. However, however, the land has not been used for agricultural purposes for many years. The conservation easement will prohibit future agriculture uses at the site, which will allow the site's cleared meadows to be turned into native habitats for species like the monarch butterfly, a species of greatest conservation need in New York State. Additionally, prohibiting agriculture will limit the amount of pesticide and fertilizer that could be used on the land, thereby preventing chemical runoff into the soft hill. A New York State protected class C stream. Is it class A? It's B.

It's B. It's I think she might have meant the tributary that was running into it. That's the only reason I can think. She might have put it down as CT.

The tribute. Yeah, let's make that change, please. It's a class B stream that flows through the site. It's a typo. Um although Yeah. Okay. Um, the sockel in the reach that flows through the site is classified for trout spawning. Maybe I think you're right. Maybe she's referring to or Ted's referring to the the small portion flows into Okay, my my apology. The salt kill in the reach that flows through the site is classified for trout spawning by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and is currently used by trout for spawning. Downstream from the project site, the sockill is also used as a source of drinking water for Red Hooks residents, businesses, and institutions.

This Robert, yeah, could I just suggest in that paragraph a slight clarification? Yeah. that it says the conservation needs or prohibit future agriculture uses of this um you know exception of forestry the exception of certain restricted forestry okay right because forestry is a type of use okay just include that I know it's going to get kind of a long sentence there okay with I'm sorry give me the verbiage again but that you're recommending

well I might I might have to you you might have to restructure the sentence But the conservation easement will prohibit future agro cultural uses at the site pin pen. Okay. With the exception of certain forestry with the exception Okay. Does that make sense? Of certain forestry. Okay. Does that mean you're going to make logging? Well, selective. There's a I think Robert circulated I don't know if you can hear me. Um yeah,

but okay. Um I think Robert circulated a draft of the conservation easement which is still under um review. Uh but the draft um is intended to allow limited forestry um that would not affect the wetlands and that would allow you know maintenance of the forestry there which is intended to be part of what's being preserved is the forest right so it's not intended to be clear-cut in other words and Bob may want to speak to that more specifically but there are restrictions included in the conservation easement that speak to that and and I believe that language came from uh what DEEC wanted to see on these um on these properties. Is that correct, Bob?

That is correct. There's no intent. There's no plans by Winnick to actually engage in any logging for you know purely commercial purposes. And when will that be circulated? The draft conservation ement. You have it. Where is it? It's a packet. Which page is it? Christina, you'll have to scroll through it. It's in the It's in this section. I don't have the page in front of me, but it's there as well. Um, so Bob, uh, typically what what do you do? You do just you try to manage the forest. That's best.

Yeah, this is this is not logging for the purpose of extracting value or product. The idea would be if if in our assessment of the property going forward in identification of any particular wildlife that might be present there, if it's necessary to alter the structure in order to enhance the habitat for that species, that would give us the ability to do that. Yeah. Um that's really all we're talking about. So selective cutting. Yeah. I I guess the term I guess the yes is the answer to that, but technically from a silicultural perspective that's kind of not a very good way to describe it. Okay.

You're getting rid of a lot of dead wood before it becomes an issue. Is that kind of No, the idea would be if you needed to if you needed to allow more light, if you needed to change the composition slightly or alter the age class structure, that's what it would be used for. But it would not be done, you know, for the purpose, you know, for the principal purpose of extracting metrics, right? There's no commercial logging, right? You're not cutting something to sell something. You couldn't do it out. There isn't there aren't that many trees there anyway. Yeah.

Um Okay. Yeah, I know we've done we've done work together with volunteers on on trying to manage the the soft hill property which is sort of the template for this project. This is really quite a similar project to that one. You know, obviously there are differences. Um any other environmental considerations that we haven't taken into account? Yeah, I think there's a lot of them.

I mean I mean where where is who is where is the backup? I found I I do have the the um draft conservation easement which is helpful but where is the backup for the EF? Well, when you say the back, what specifically are you looking for? Who who what professional prepared this and what is the information that this is based on? I think I think it's I think Ted F's name is on it. Ted F's name our planner on this sign. He prepared it.

Prepare. Okay. We we we asked him to to take a look at this. Um the information he reviewed which is also a part of what is a proposed magic was um the conservation public access the Hudson Valley na natural natural resource mapper the Duchess County parcel access.

Yeah. But that's not an engineering study of the of the property. So like what are the trails going to be made out of? What is the acreage of disturbance? What is the what are the details of the ADA platform or the viewing platform? And where is all that information? We yeah the information we've provided is the trails where they're expected to go, but that that's not enough information. The diagram of the trails is not enough information to answer the questions in the full EAF. It doesn't sound like to me you fully determined all the um

item four or stone dust or anything that you were going to be using. Probably not going to use any of that. It's probably it's all it's mostly pre-existing, right? Yeah. It's probably going to be just a mold trail from those kinds of field. So So if this is a draft, I mean, I'm I'm I'm in support of the project. I just think we're we're not there yet to to review the full EAF because we don't have we don't have the engineering. We don't have the the the information in order to adequately follow the secret process. I don't I don't know that there would be any engineering on this. What what would be engineered on this? This is again this isn't

there would be a design of a trail. there would be disturbance to construct a trail. So there would be I actually think that it's that's addressed that there's minimal disturbance if any. Right. You're talking about mowing. I have to go from memory. Yeah. Yeah. I used to fill out lots of these, but I haven't done it in quite a while. Um but unless the unless the amount of ground disturbance exceeds an acre, but that needs to be demonstrated.

We can't just have a map that shows a dotted line. We need to know what the disturbance is because if it does exceed an acre, which it it could because this is a large property, I I have no way of knowing that. So I there's there's backup that's needed in order to complete the the AF and that's you know that's not me saying that. That's that's New York State. So, we would need to have some language, I think, in the um easement. Perhaps if we want to get if we want to keep it under an acre,

we would need to design the trails and understand on a map what what they are, what they're constructed of, what the the dimensions are, what trees are going to be cleared.

A lot of questions. So, Robert, right now you have a conservation easement which like the sawill easement restricts the location of the trails to either the I mean there will be a list of trails that or excuse me a map of trails that have been previously uh pre-approved um by DEEC that are that we have a draft of right now. Right. Most of which are existing trails. And so I think Bob, it would be helpful to know what is the the length of trails that are being proposed to to provide some more specificity that are that are not pre-existing trails. And as I as the conservation easement again this is a draft but as the proposal is being considered um the the the restrictions include uh no paved surfaces. In other words, non impermeable surfaces would be what are permitted for the trails and the trail widths um are limited in the document. Um and they're limited in the same way that they are limited in the sawill uh uh example which um but as an example Chris so so permeable surfaces gravel a gravel parking lot is considered by an engineering standard to be impermeable even though it's it's not asphalt it's it's it's gravel and and some amount of water goes through it but in terms of in terms of of designing the site that's an impermeable surface. So, if we're creating a parking area for I think it was said 12 cars, what is the what does that look like? What is the what are the

dimensions of it? What is the drainage of that? Which is is especially relevant if we're if we're looking at groundwater protection. We want to make sure that that's considered. So, um I see a lot of you did a measurement see a lot of that area. Yeah. So, let's do a measurement of that. Let's do a design of the of what we intend to do in totality with all the things that were mentioned. Um, well, with all the things you referenced is really I just hear any new trail constructions. What are the length of the existing trails?

But seeker, Robert, Seeker requires that we that we consider everything that we intend to do to the property. Okay. I want to be very clear about we don't intend to do anything to the property. We it is not our property. Um we are looking at this as the acquisition of public access. This property will belong to Winnate. They are the ones who but we're signing off but we're involved in the in the in

Christina. I I would just ask that you would let me finish talking and then I'll I'll try to explain um some of the challenges with these projects. They have to go after this is all said and done. They have to go with whatever their sketch is, if you will, to DEEC and DEC will have to sign off on it. There will be no engineering from what I understand until DEEC gets to look at a rudimentary sketch and design plan. And that will only happen way down the line, way after this project has been acquired and funded, right? So, we're in that, you know, tricky situation. I'm sure um you you in in your profession and your role in the planning board know about that catch 22. We're in a position now where we don't really know where the trails are going to go. We just know what existing trails are there, where there's proposed some more mowing, where they'd like to um have a parking area or expand an existing parking area. Um so there's only so much that we can do. We can kind of take a look at the um the sketch kind of like DEEC will because they're not going to go out. I don't believe them. You correct me if I'm wrong, Bob. You're not going to have a a full-blown engineering done and and water tests and parking lot and permeability.

Um unless actually requires it. And again, they will be reviewing any plans we do have. And they have to approve that plan and issue any appropriate permits before we're able to do anything. Right. You're not planning on putting any fences on the trail, are you? Just checking. That I'm aware of. Some people like fences.

So if it I don't want to interrupt you, but I just I respectfully disagree completely with with the approach to this and I understand DEC permitting is is part of the process for any disturbance that's within uh the buffer to to any wetlands and those regulations just changed and got a lot more strict at the beginning of the year. So that's definitely part of this process. But in terms of us reviewing this full EAF, we do not have enough information to to complete this.

I'm trying to get I'm trying to get a you know an idea of the things that you're going to need because it's what while it may sound helpful to say we don't have enough information, that doesn't get us to the next step which is having the information. So, so right now it sounds like you want to have um some quantity related to uh the trails and to the parking area to look at disturbance and whether or not it uh it meets a certain threshold that I that I've got. Okay.

Um anything else that uh comes to mind because we'd like to, you know, get whatever information we think would be helpful to add to uh this. Um, and I will just say, um, while you reference the new wetlands regulations, I just want to point out this is a project that is being uh, funded with New York State Water Quality Improvement WQUIT program. There's a whole another set of restrictions when they acquire it. So, um, it goes beyond the new freshwater wetlands um, program. And you know, stepping back, this project is protective. The impact is almost entirely positive because it um protects those resources that have been identified by the state, by our own drinking water source protection plan, our own community preservation plan, and so on and so forth. So, um, trying to trying to move this forward, we've got length of trails, new trails, disturbance,

design of design of the trails, materials, um, um, area of disturbance. I mean, I think we'll have to do limitation on materials. I don't think you're ready to tell us, are you, just yet, like exactly what material is going to go in what spot. But maybe we can narrow our review to certain items you might use. The only thing I can think of right here and Jen Jen will be designing this. Okay. But the only thing I can think of in terms of actual surfacing wouldn't occur on the trails itself, but would recur on the access road and parking area. Okay.

Which would probably be limited to some, you know, um, you know, nothing more than gravel. Okay. And we would probably just level it. Um, put down some geoexile and and I would say that over overall I'm not going to be able to list every like every every bit and piece of this that would need to be included, but it's it should be reviewed by an engineer.

I I'm not sure what would need to be reviewed by an engineer on this. Um I think our planner is qualified to do an environment environmental impact of a project like that has done these types of projects. Well, then then maybe we should have a discussion offline with with Ted about it because there's there's a significant amount of missing information and backup to complete a a fully AF. I mean, there's never been a fully AF that TED has reviewed that's gone through the planning board that has been this light for this type of project with this scope. Well, that's I don't think preservation projects go through the

conservation development. I understand that, but we but we're required to look at the total impact of the project ement. Yes, it's a conservation easement. It's if we were doing nothing to the property, if we were going to acquire it and not touch it and the plan was that's what we're doing. Keep it. No, we're we're we're putting parking on it. No, this is the conservation. We're not doing that. Yes. But the the the seeker process requires us to look at all of that in order to fill out this to the CF.

All right. So, we've got two things, two questions we'd like to to have answered. And um if you all can think of more um that we could have uh added um I I don't uh feel the need to have any engineering study done. Um we've had the experts from department of health who did our grant funded drinking water source protection plan identified these efforts as being critical to the protection of the salt hill and obviously the salt don't sound into the Hudson where um but sure we should try and get more detail I guess you know for me um any other thoughts um Jacob

ner one thing there on the printed version there's a typo on the last paragraph uh for proposed action there's an e missing there needs an I noticed that. Okay. Um,

very good. Uh, Kenny, Bill, anything else to Okay. If not, uh, maybe I I would recommend I don't know what you all think we would keep the public hearing open till maybe the second meeting of March where we know we're in the first meeting of February. maybe the first meeting of March. Will that be okay? If we if we can get some more information, we keep the public hearing open and we could take uh you know potentially take action in March then try and get answers to some of the questions that have been posed tonight. Absolutely.

Okay. and he'll bring that back to Jen or whoever else at one meeting. Um, and then we'll be in touch with our planner and try to incorporate that and maybe we'll put you in touch with Ted who you know well um what what say works. Yes. Okay. Um we have the public hearing open. And I would like to uh make a motion that we continue the public hearing to Tuesday, March 10th. I do have that date right coming out. Mhm. Uh 7:35. Um is there a second on that? Second.

Thank you. All in favor? I. May I also uh make a motion to make those edits that were uh recommended by both Jacob and our attorney to this draft and there may be more edits based upon information that we request. Is there a motion to accept the edits at least temporarily on this second draft? So move. Okay. Any further discussion? All in favor? Second. Second. I missed that step. I might have missed that step. Second. All in favor? I moved and I second it. Thank you very much. Um,

very good. Before we go, is there anything else? I think that kind of is it. You're you're working on you all are working on the survey appraisals, all of that stuff. All that's moving forward. Perfect. So you have a mediation and have that stuff back at least some. Okay. Um Robert. Yes ma'am. Before you move on, would you want to at least review the text of the um approving resolution just to see if there are any questions or information that people would like to have provided for that. Okay. On the draft. Sure. That's a good suggestion.

Let's look at that if we would please. um uh granting approval for the use of monies in the CPF fund um for the acquisition of using rights in the Winnipeg land trust camping some property. Um let me scroll there for the folks at home. Here's the resolution draft resolution granting approval. So, we can take a look at this and maybe have this ready for March. Um, if we're in a position to make a decision in March, um, an application and certain supplemental information has been submitted. Camp Rising Sun, um, shows the acreage, parcel number, public hearing was held on the 10th day of February. We should probably add the previous, uh, public hearing to that, Chris. Sure.

Yeah. October whatever. And then we'll obviously have the public hearing again um March 10th, 2026. Discussion on the matter having been had and all persons desire to be heard. Uh pursuant to chapter 57 of the town code, we've established a CPF fund. We've adopted a plan. We issued a request for applications and the community preservation fund advisory board has reviewed the proposals received based upon the priority rankings set forth and has recommended that the town board allocate monies from the CPF for the parcels. And whereas it's proposed the town shall hold a perpetual conservation easement with public access easement. And whereas with respect to the parcel, the town's proposed project partner, Wick Land Trust, has obtained a commitment from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Water Quality Improvement Program for funding of 75% of the acquisition cost. This cost is estimated to be $1.6 million. Um, that's all costs rolled in there. I imagine the total project cost to be borne by the town is estimated not to exceed 390. got a contingency amount to bring it up to 390 based upon what we think but we don't know we don't know what we know until we know it which is until um we get those appraisals back and such cost is proposed to be financed from the CPF program downboard has determined that such action is an unlisted action and based upon the review of an EF and all other information available to the board that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the environment and whereas The town board has given due consideration of the recommendation of the board and further review the application documents. Determine the purchase of development rights in the

parcels as a high priority project on the basis of importance of the resources to be preserved. The anticipated availability of funding by others and the availability of funding under the town CPF. Whereas the purchase of development rights in the parcels as proposed is in the best interest of the town. Now therefore, be it resolved that the purchase of a conservation easement of public access is approved on the proposed term set forth uh herein with an estimated town share of 390 subject to the following conditions. Confirmation of final approval of all funding sources described herein, including a grant for from uh TEC. Well, we we we do have that confirmation, but sure. um submission and review of an appraisal addressed to the town includes the form of conservation easement supporting the purchase price. The terms of the easement to be approved by the town board and the foregoing conditions to be satisfied by the end of the year unless such date is extended by further resolution. Um any any comments about um that as a proposed draft so we could take that up next month um if if we're ready to do so. Okay. Um, I mean, we we could, if we're feeling like we wanted to, we could reference our drinking water source protection plan. Um,

if you do that, you should have the date that the state just sent us the letter, right? Finalizing that, right? Okay. Well, let's let's look at that for uh how we just include one of the where's any other uh thoughts on on this as a draft? No. Okay. Um very good. So, we'll see what we have for next month. We'll see you in March. Fill in fill in the questions.

Thank you, Bob. We appreciate it. Yeah, we'll see you or someone else. Um, I really want to hear more about the Blandings turtles. I saw one of your folks, by the way, on Sunday. Um, Laura Haiti, who has a vestuary, had her film actually at Bar, the nature of nature, um, which is all about these types of projects and protecting habitats and so very good. Thank you very much for all your work and you know to the extent you can help us answer some of these questions that'd be great. Happy to do it. Thank you very much. Thanks very much.

Okay, why don't we uh jump into the second item of business which is in essence a redo or another do. um the resolution uh requesting the homework request on the extension of the CPF to 201. Um now that we have bill numbers in the Senate and the assembly, anybody have any questions about this resolution? Um they are in session so they'll need this from us to move. This is um pretty much what other municipalities who may need extensions. Okay. Um hearing no questions about that, I would like to make a motion to approve resolution number

nine. What's that? Nine. Resolution number 39. Thank you very much. You're happy the second resolution. Very good. Let me read the resolution first. I've got a lot of I don't get dizzy people. 31. Was that 81?

Thank you very much, Jacob. Octopus. Resolution uh 81 where in in accordance with resolution nine

nine page 81 where in whereas in accordance with chapter 443 of the laws of 2006 codified as section 64H of the town law and article 3181. Article 31 is the tax law. Um pursuant to chapter 57 of the red town code. The town has previously established the uh town of Breville Community Preservation Fund that was established by public referendum back in 2007 funded by a 2% real estate transfer tax to implement a plan for preservation of community character. um to acquire uh interest or rights in real property for the preservation of community character within the town including villages in accordance with such plan in cooperation with willing sellers and to provide a management and stewardship program for such interests and rights. The town has established an advisory board and the town has adopted a community preservation plan as amended from time to time which is a requirement of the law. Uh whereas the town of Red Hook wishes to continue the authority to collect the real estate transfer tax for the community preservation fund. And whereas the town board wishes to request official action of the state legislature through section 40 of the MHRL um whereas Senator Hinchi and Assembly Member Shrek have drafted legislation and has been introduced in both the Senate and Assembly of Senate Bill S9041 and Assembly Bill uh 100052 copies of which are next year two and file with the town clerk. and therefore be resolved by the town board. The town board issues this home request for Senate Bill 9041, Assembly Bill 1052 entitled an act to amend chapter 4443 of the laws of 2006 amending the tax law relating to authorizing the town to

impose a real estate transfer tax with revenues therefore from to be deposited in said community preservation fund in relation to the effective effectiveness thereof. Town clerk is hereby authorized and directed to forward a certified copy of the resolution to the home removal request form and um other uh normal ending of resolutions here. And just for the folks at home, um if you drive on West Curly Corners and you look left and you look right, um you enjoy the spectacular working landscapes. Um, if you go uh past Kina Farm, if you drive past the Close Farm, um if you go to the Pots Farm, that beautiful farm that um has the word hope on it just north of Tivoli, all of that is permanently protected and it's permanently protected because of this fund, this funding source. Um and this is to continue the this funding source so that future projects that will also enhance um the quality of life here in our community which by the way is probably the biggest economic driver in our community. Um the quality of life. Um and so this will enable us to have funds at the ready should we need them um for recreational lands, historic properties, working landscapes, so on and so forth. And that is resolution number nine which I moved and you seconded.

Correct. Thank you. Is there any further discussion? If not, all in favor? Kenny Hi William. Hi myself. I Jacob. Hi Christina. Hi.

Hi. Thank you very much. Is resolution number nine. The uh third item is really uh as I mentioned earlier not not ready for discussion. It's just to put a draft on your desk for consideration. It's also going to go to the uh water board. Um as you know uh we made a request of Bart College to uh make a contribution towards the uh water tank repair, rehab, whatever the appropriate term is. Um many years ago when the tank was built in the late 80s, Bart College, which was using the water a lot more than they are now, um agreed to pay for half of the construction of the tank, um which back then was, I think, $400,000. Um we made a request of them. Uh they did consider it with their board. They came back with a contribution that they'd be willing to make, uh 200,000 level. They would be able to make a contribution in their next uh calendar, sorry, next fiscal year of 100,000 and $50,000 for two years thereafter for a total contribution of 200,000 which uh is approximately something like 12% of the total project cost. Just again, we don't know the total project cost until we go out to bid, but that's what we anticipated cost uh 1.67 67 million with contingencies built in there. Um we did an analysis of uh their usage over the last 10 years and it's less than 1% of the the water. Um they uh also compared what they would have

spent had they been just treated as an out of district which they are out of district but uh charged at twice the rate which is what the village does for example for us uh here at town hall they charge us double cuz it's their water but we're out of the district even if only by a few feet. Um, and then when we ran that, it looked like they would have paid $40,000 over the last 10 years as an example. Um, in talking with Hank, um, he suggested that, you know, uh, if we had a new agreement with BAR, that it only lasts 10 years, if that's the contribution that they're going to make, and then revisit it in 10 years. And obviously we'd have to have some language in the draft agreement about what what to do in the event of something else maybe to be um fixed in the meantime. And so um there's just a draft um and if you would be kind enough to take some time between now and next meeting and take a look at it and your thoughts and then we'll get some feedback from the water board um as to what their thoughts are.

Can you just explain how they arrived at the figure of 200? I don't I can't You don't know? I have no idea. I can't I can't uh speak for them. And so based on based on their usage, if they were to be charged 2x over 10 years, you're saying they would have paid 40,000ish, 42 40ish. So it's better to get the, you know, if you look at it that way, it's better to get the 200,000 versus the 42. Now keep in mind that the rates are creeping up a little bit. So the next 10 years might be 60,000 for example. We don't know what the those rates are. But just as a comparison um

well I think another aspect of it would be like what would be has Bart explored other alternatives if the tank wasn't going to be provided to them and what would the cost be if that was if that was the case? if they didn't have access. That's Bart's calculations. But yeah, they could just look at having a a smaller storage tank of their own that they could pump into instead of sharing with us. Sure. But in terms of in terms of negotiating and understanding what what the value is is to to Bard. I think that that'll be part of the equation.

Yeah. That's their their determination how they arrived at it. Yeah. Okay. Um that's all I have on that unless anybody else has that. Um so for reorg the goal tonight was if we could um continue to identify vacancies and to appoint any chairs that we haven't uh appointed for the various I'm going the wrong way. I'm going the wrong way. uh for the various committees and boards so that we can send a letter out to the community as we do um where our openings are and we can send um letters of interest and then we can uh connect those people with the chairs of the committees and boards and then those chairs can come back to us and uh you know communicate if they have recommendations for uh folks to join the various board. So, let's see if we can pick up at our last meeting. Whose memory is the best here? Uh, Kenny, we didn't have you at the last meeting. Did you get a chance to um check in with um the committee to see if uh there were any other vacancies? I see that there are two um and we should update those years by the way.

Not yet. Not yet. Okay. If we could do that by the next meeting. Um right now we can still go ahead and we can include the agriculture and open space committee as having openings so we can still make that communication to the community. Um but it would be good when we start getting um some some folks expressing interest if we then knew how many vacancies we had. So, if you could maybe in the next meeting or two, that'd be helpful. Um, and what about uh contact info for all these people? Yep, we have all that. We can provide you with that if you don't have that. Yeah, we have all that.

We have all that information. Um maybe to tonight though, may we reappoint Maryanne so that when we do get um if we so desire so that when we do get uh expressions of interest um we could forward them to her and she can meet with those individuals. Okay. Does that make sense? Did you want to make that motion, Kenny, or would you like somebody else do that? Oh, yeah. I'll make the motion. Okay. to reappoint Marian Johnson as the chair with a one-year term ending to a chair to a seat ending in 2027 as well. She was expiring this year, right?

Well, if people don't expire um the terms do um so and let's reappoint her to a term ending in 2027. So, the motion was modified by the council person tested and um will you also second that Jacob? I'll second it as modified. Okay. Um all in favor I I would we change the term of the vacancy that first one to be actually both of them. So the first they should both say 20. We don't have staggering here folks. We really need to get some staggering. 826, right?

Uh, can we make the first one, two, three, four, five, one, two. I think both of these should be 2026. So, we have some staggering. These are two year appointments. Oh, and we have to do chunks. So, uh, all right. So, I think we can address season or we have people that we're looking to appoint to update that, right? I don't think we update the sheet right now for those. Well, they should be all staggered and and they're not. They should be staggered.

They should be staggered. So, I think uh well, we can't put Chuck me yet because he hasn't been reappointed, but he'll be a 26 and then we should make the uh two vacancies. One, two, three, four. Well, the first one we can make uh ending at 27. You got Norman, John, and Sam at 25. Yeah, we're gonna All of those are going to change uh Kenny when we do the appointments, but it's the vacancies that are Yeah, they're all out of sync.

They're all out of sync. Let's Let's tackle the vacancies tonight just so we know the terms. Can we take those two vacancies and make them 20 27, please? Should they be 26 to stagger? To stagger more. One, two, three. You're right. We'll only have three. One, two, three, four, five. It' be five. Five. Um, okay. So, the first vacancy 2026. Can we You want to make that motion, Jacob? Sure. And then the second vacancy also make a six. No, I think we can make that a seven, right? Cuz Chuck's going to be a 2026 when he gets reappointed. Yeah. I mean, we'll have we'll have four of one and five of the other, which is fine.

Sure. Well, it says 11 members. Hello. It's not 11 me. No, it's not. There's only nine there. Why are these typos? Um, nine members, please. And it wasn't 11 members, right? No. When you are when you and I were back in the 1940s on this committee, was it 11? I don't remember but I don't think we have 11 farmers in the

well. Um okay. Uh let's look at how many members were were originally constituted for this and then the motion was to make the first vacancy 2027 and the second 2026 or vice versa. It was vice versa. Either way members well we're not going to do anything yet till we know what it's supposed to be. For some reason, we only have this listed and then we don't have vacancies. We We would need to vac

right now. It is nine. And I'm wondering if that's just a typo that says 11 numbers. Let's look how was constituted and make sure we're we're keeping with that. And then we come back at the next meeting and decide if we want it to be nine or 11. Ask Ask Maryanne what she thinks. I bet you I take a wild guess on that one. Um since Robert this is an advisory committee I think the board can u make a decision when it the boards you know you can you can you know when you you can move to you know this many members and that the this represents a you know nine member committee. Yeah. Sure. Sure.

Unlike so many things I don't think that there's a you know a code provision on this. No that's fine. I mean, we could make a motion to to say nine, but I I don't want to do that until I know I mean, this is just me. Until I know that it's supposed to be 11 right now and we discuss it with Maryanne, we may want to discuss it with the committee about how many members start. Yeah. Okay. Yep. All right. There was a motion to make the first vacancy 2026 and the second one 2027. I know there was correct. I made that motion. Second. All in favor? I.

Thank you. All right. Assessment review board. These are five members. These are fiveyear terms. Now, um we need to reappoint uh Pete Hubble as the chair. So, I'd like to make that motion. I'll second. Thank you very much, Christina. All in favor? I. We have vacancy. So, that vacancy, let's make sure we're on the right schedule here. Um, we only have one, two, three. There needs to be a second line there. It's a five member board. There needs to be an additional line. Deiana, if we could add that. What are you looking at? Am I looking? Oh, am I looking at the old one? Yeah.

Um, yeah, the assessment review. The new copy has the has the piece of paper is the most recent. This one here, that extra one. Okay. And the addendum is also on the up here. That's the agenda. Okay. That was Oh, right on the on the screen. Okay. So, I could I could pull that up. And those vacancies for the space committee were already in 2027 on that. So, oh, you've already That's why I was confused. I think we have to do that though in the board action. Um, I think they I don't know that was discussed with the attorney. So,

okay. Um, assessment review board. Okay. So, we we made a pizza chair. Um, and then don't forget we'll have to when we do the reappoints, we'll have to uh I will check in with Pete and ask him to check in with Jane. Jane wants to be reappointed. Yeah, great. Since October, I need that done. Perfect. If you guys could do that for me so I can get to the county. Yeah. Um, okay. Eight and nine. Well, that term should be 30.

You have two vacancies there. 28 and 29, Robert, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. 28 and 29. 30. She would be 2030. We have to 25. Well, we can appoint her in any one of those though. any one of those terms. You don't have to appoint to an additional five-year term. Maybe somebody should ask her which term she wants to um Yeah. I mean, I I'm hoping she's going to stay on.

She Yeah. I think I I just want to stick to our process, which is the chair comes back and says, "Yes, I recommend Otherwise, we're going to deviate from that and then so I'll check in with Pete who I'm sure will very much want. So, we're just we're contacting the chairs currently. That's it. Right. So, no, what we want Yeah, the chair can do do the leg work. Doug Kenny, what we want to know is where vacancies if there are any additional vacancies that we're not aware of of any of these individuals do not want to be reappointed.

Okay. Um that's really what we're trying to get at. What what I'm going to do is make a draft um after this but draft communications

solicitation to the community saying you know have you ever thought of joining volunteers uh are really the the engine of this community. Here's where we have openings on the various committees and um you know uh just the protocol for how to submit letters of interest and so on and so forth. Um, so I'll I'll go ahead and prepare that and it's just when we start getting those in, we need to we need to have that information finalized. We don't need it right now. We just need to know which committees have an opening at the very least and then we'll put the individuals in touch with the chairs. All right, coming back to and we'll find out from Pete and Jane which term uh she's interested in. So Diana, thanks for your patience and your continued patience on this one. We'll get there in time for for trans.

Let the county know then because they keep asking me. I know we need to get more than Jane. We need to get more members. There's five members now. Um climate smart communities task force. This is a task force. Um there's no liazison for this. It's not I don't know if we I'm looking to who I mean I I think I have the lease. I'm happy to do it if if it's vacant. It also does come up at CAC meetings because it's pretty overlapping. So either way if you want to do it that's fine or I can just check in with Jonathan and you know if any of those meetings

it come we we have some discussion about it but there's work happening in between between Okay. So, I mean, if it duct tails, it's fine. I'm just happy to do it. I feel like I'm I don't I'm not trying to Yeah. Either way is fine. Um and maybe it doesn't hurt to have Okay, then I'll I'll do the I'll be the lean for that. Yes. Okay. I will reach out to them by next time. May we think it's just the reappointing Jonathan as the coordinator for the chair because they don't have any vacancies. Yes. So I'd like by the end of this year I'd like to make a motion that we reappoint Jonathan Brady as the chair of the task force and Christina Ducharm as the liaison to the climate smart communities task force.

Second all in favor. I thank you very much. Uh community preservation fund PDR advisory committee same thing there Kenny if we can do reach out um to Maryanne and if she'll do the leg work great. Otherwise, if you would maybe reach out to some of those people. Um, I would like to make a motion that we reappoint u Maryanne Johnson, the chair of that as well.

This um committee meets uh only um occasionally when there's a project for consideration or if the plan needs update. Um so for term ending in 2026, I'd make that motion. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Jacob. All in favor? I thank you very much. And then we'll have to update when we know these people want to join. This is one of those um committees, by the way, that by statute needs to have a certain composition. So, let's just keep that in mind when we go to appoint people. Um and Robert, could I just note, are you intending to reappoint Maryanne because her appointment expired 2025? Oh, yeah.

Not just as chair, but as a member. Mhm. If you're reappointing as chair, do you want to do both at the same time? Yes. Kenny wants to do the reint. You'll contact her, but we need to reappoint her. Yes. Yes. So, let's make that motion now, too, for you to reappoint her as a member. Reimp. I'll second for 2028. For 2028. Period. As a member. Yes. Cuz she can't be the chair. She's not a member. All in favor? I.

Thank you very much. uh comprehensive plan steering committee. Uh again, could we um uh have a motion? Who's there? I'm the leazison on. So here um I want to note that Doug Sterwinsky has resigned from the committee. Okay. So that'll be a vacancy there in addition to the one that already exists. Um I would like to make a motion to reappoint Julia Solomon as the chair of the comprehensive plan steering committee for a term ending in 2026. Okay, I'll second. Um, any discussion? If not, all in favor? I I

um Jacob, would you be kind enough to reach out to Doug, who we do see here from time to time? Just ask him to uh send. Yes. Okay. I can see something like that. She might have a email about that, but I can I can check. Terrific. Uh CAC same thing um to keep our chair. Lori used it as a member would need to be extended as well to 2027 and Jacob you were also the leazison to that. Would you like to Yeah. So I was going to say we have another vacancy here as well.

Leah has resigned. Um I can forward the email announcing that she sent to the committee but I can forward that. That's a vacancy. Yes. So, there would be a vacancy on that committee. Okay. Um and then I would make a motion to reappoint Lori Hustead. Okay. Um for a term ending in 2027 and then as the chair for a terminating in 2026. Well done. I will second your motion. Um any discussion? All in favor? I just have something to say. Yeah. Uh, designer review Hamlet committee. Uh, I don't have an update from them. Okay.

Hope to by by next time. Uh, shall we reappoint uh Chris Gilbert as chair? So, we have a chair or you want to wait on that? You want to go ahead and do Let's let's go ahead and and uh his term is fine. Okay. So, we don't have to worry about that. Fiveyear staggered appointment 2030 would be his term expires. Um Christina, would you like to make that motion? I'd love to make that motion. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Um seconded by council person How? Uh further discussion? If not, all in favor? I I

thank you very much. Uh we have to recon wasn't there. We have to we have to uh get disaster preparedness committee up and running. Kenny, well let's let's talk about that. Um somebody somebody expressed interest to me recently. I have to look back at my notes on that. Um and there in in your code I'll just know that you're in a specific list of folks that are meant to be part of that committee.

Exactly. This is this is another one. Yes, I did reference that earlier, but thank you for reminding me. Both this um I think I spoke about the CPF and the design review Hamlet committee um also have uh requirements as to their composition. So, I think it would be good to have that listed here if they're for the specific composition for this one. We know there are vacancies, but it would be good to know which, you know, which ones are full and which ones are vacant. Yeah. But I think I think also which roles That's what I meant. That's what I meant. Yeah. Yeah. Which roles are vacant? Which ones are full?

Um energy committee. Uh same thing there. We just need to reappoint um Dennis as the chair, which I would like to uh do tonight. term ending 2026. Um would somebody like to second that motion? Second. All in favor? I. And so we have two vacancies there. All right. Three three vacancies there. We have some interest in that committee which is good. Uh ethics board.

We did that last time. We're good there. That one has modification for Barnes Greenway and trails. We have one of these folks needs to step up, right? Because our chair Yeah. is not reuping on this. Yeah. And I don't know that that's been identified yet. So I'll I'll circle back. You'll come back to us on that. Was interested. Yeah. Housing. Um chair not necessary for committee. Um I don't know where that came from, but

I don't know where that came from, but um you know, we need a chair. That's it's the only way we can communicate is to know who we're communicating with. And I I do understand that um David Soal of the law firm. Yeah. So he's been attending meetings for the past two years and trying to um recruit him to be officially a member and he's willing to do that. um those on the committee who've been attending alongside you know him attending have expressed interest in him stepping up to be the chair. Okay. Um so I would make a motion to appoint David Soal to a term a term first of all. Yeah. And I would I would make that a term ending in 2027 seven. Okay.

And then appoint him as the chair for a term ending in 2026. Um and I think we can remove um Patricia Stewart from the list. She hasn't been attending in quite some time. So, okay. Um, you know, that'll be the other change. So, there are some vacancies here. I have a few other people who have sub. I saw that there were some folks that were interested. That's great news. There'll be vacancies either way, but we have a few people. It's not as many vacancies as it looks like. Okay. Yeah. Good. So, you made a motion on uh David Soil term 2027, chair 2026. I'll second that motion. Thank you very much, Christina. Um further discussion if not all in favor.

I thank you. Um LW WRP. Um so Paula does not want to retain the chairship. The chair or stay on the committee. Oh really? Okay. She's retiring from and Brent is also retiring from the committee. Okay. So that's um Can can you have them send us something? Yes, we really need to have a just to communicate on that. Paul and Christine both said that they would continue on. Okay, good. Um, one thing I would point out about this particular committee Yeah.

is that when the plan was written and submitted to the state, theoretically their work was done. Yeah. and they didn't even need to be retained, but the state came back with some things that they want to deal with, some more maps. Yeah. And so, you know, it does beg the question, do we still need to have the committee, right? uh you know if it's if these are if the changes that are being requested are really sort of ministerial in nature

then you know would be my recommendation you know that until we need to have a new WL you know a new do another another one um you know we don't need them um but if we think we need them then you know and Amy um this one originally said yes then she said no and now according Paul is on the fence. So, um, but I haven't really pushed on this, um, too hard because I was waiting to find out what we were going to do with the state's comments. The state's comments, which we should address. Yeah. Yes.

Okay. Well, let's come back to that. Um, we have another task force. You know, Bill Allen gave us a list of names. Again, this is another one, but but this doesn't quite have the same overlap, does it Jacob, as the No, it has has a lot of overlap with the C Oh, some overlap with the CC. There's there's a few people who have attended those meetings and are appointed the committee. A few people who've attended meetings that are not on the committee. Um, we have a list of 10 people that Bill had shared before. I thought we'd done the work on appointing that, but I don't know. I thought so, too. Um, and Diana's shaking her head no. So, Well, we did at a meeting many many moons ago, but um

I know there's a notice of appointment to Bill, but maybe as the Yeah, we needed him as the chair because that was a requirement, right, to identify Well, that was climate smart where I think Well, can you come back to us at our next meeting with that list and we can appoint everybody? Yeah, I have a list email, but we can What's that? I have a list from his email. So, we could go over those names now if we'd like or just the people if we thought we done it for sure.

I mean, I'm okay with that if we thought we did it before. Um, these are the people who were already working on this NRI. I think we should, right? I mean, they many of them were there, by the way, Sunday at the they were tableabling, right? NRA NRI actually u Laura from DEC mentioned that we had received this grant we're doing NRI through estuary um what are those names Jacob and are we doing staggered with this um I don't think that we stated because this is this is a finite yeah it'll be done

this is a finite um by the end of this year though. I have no idea. I don't have an update on it. I I guess Bill was sort of slow rolling that as like a like it'll be done like in a one-year term, but I thought it was supposed to be 18 months, which would be about the end of this year. Okay. Um No. Oh, yeah. But you didn't you didn't get you haven't got the signed contract back yet. So, they really haven't pulled the trigger on the contract yet. So, so take more time. Yeah. No, you just signed it, but we don't have it back from from that counter sign. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um Okay. Um

so I could read through that list. Well, let's just do it through 2026 now. Let's read through the list. Let's get it because they're working. They're operating because they thought we appointed them and we thought we appointed them to this task force. It's not an ongoing committee. Yeah. Do you want to give us those names? Yeah. So I'll read the list and then I can I can forward you the list so you can just have spellings. Okay. Um so it's Bill Allen, Jen Kavanagh. Okay. Alex Wolf. Okay. Emily Major. Okay. Elizabeth Brower, Amy Shine, Sam Rose, Sam Failen, Steve Eandipe, and Zoe Evans.

Emily Major as she's the tip for a second. Yeah, it's a you know historian and mayor and then um you know there were Julia and Lori listed as adviserss Lori Houston and Julia Solomon but okay I don't know what sort of role they played okay to this point okay but the the list of 10 did you want to make a motion to yeah I'll make a motion to appoint them to a term ending in 2026 we said okay

and then we can extend that if necessary I think Chris is right I mean we're looking that even if it's an 18month project, although they have been working on it. Um, okay, I'll second that. Is there uh any further discussion? If not, all in favor? I I thank you all. Um, planning board. So, uh, has agreed to re for one year. Sam has agreed to RIA for one more year as the chair. He keeps saying he'll do it for one more year and he's been saying that for how many years? Yeah, but he made it clear that he well would like to uh thank at some point at some point retire.

Um and I will touch base with him. The alternate vacancy for the alternate was also Brent Kavalchuk. He had resigned from that from that and of course there's Christine's vacancy right Brent Brent will retire before Sam will retire. I I never would have thought that. Um so okay. So, are you making a motion to reappoint Sam as the chair? I'm making that motion. Okay. I'll second that. Thank you. Thank you, Christine. You have a question? Yeah. He's he's also down for 2031. Well, that's he he said he'd stay on the on the on the planning. He just wants to step down his chair. Yeah. Okay. He'd like to have a replacement. Let's put it that way. Okay.

But he he'll he'll stay on the on the pl. Okay. Uh so that's We all voted for that. Uh we haven't voted yet. No, we got a second from from Christina. All in favor? I thank you very much. All right. So, uh, recreation commission, they have vacancies and I would very much like to make a motion to reappoint Doug Struinski um, as the chair with the term ending in 2026. Would anybody like to second? Second. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor? I I

I

Sorry. Thank you. Uh, Red Church Cemetery, a chair is vacant. We got to figure out that. Do we really need a committee for that? Um, they meet so infrequently, but I think it would be good to uh I'll touch base with some of my folks. Jackie, who was so instrumental when I was a Cemetery Association, Harry I don't know if Ariel would want to stay on. Diana has to be on because she does so many administrative stuff in our town. Her story as I like to say. So we'll touch base with them and we'll see where that goes. But um somebody should be the chair. Maybe John chair. Okay. Uh tree preservation. This also uh town code 1282. So there are some requirements with that. Jacob, uh our chair would need to be uh reappointed as chair, but she's good on term.

Yes. So I would make a motion to reappoint Kathy Michael to the chair term ending in 2026. Tree preservation commission. She and Huff were also there on Sunday. the nature of nature. Um, I'll second that. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? Thank you very much. Um, water district.

We took care of that already. We're all done with that. Yeah. Uh, ZBA. All right. So, we had a mistake. either was a typo or we reappointed we didn't add correctly or something way back when in 2024 a reappoint for George John was supposedly made to 2030 did we go to the vide tape on that one um when it it's a 5year term so I don't know if it's legacy left over from when there were seven ZBA members or not but needless to say we need to make a correction on that. Um, and Kate, we're thinking Kate's not going to chair, right?

Yeah. Not going to re up on that. No, she'll stay for the remainder of this year for her term on the board, but um she does not want to continue as the chair. She wants to travel. Okay. Um, so that's still open. Bill, you want to come back to us and let's see what what we can do about we need to we need to have a chair for that. She's still hold over. She still is the chair, but she doesn't want to be real. She'll she'll do it until such time. All right. Um on George, can we make a motion, please? Bill, would you correct that term?

I'll make that motion to correct George's term ending 2029. Okay. We accidentally had a duplication of the 2030 term and Chris and Diana looked into that. Um, okay. I'll second that motion. Any further discussion? If not, all in favor? I.

And then the vacancy alternate should um also have a term of 2027. If it's a 2-year term, we'll see if we can get an alternate for the TVA as well. Um, that should just be a correction made on the sheet. Very good. So, folks, what I uh, as I mentioned, what I will do prepare for you to take a look at is I'll do a little solicitation to the public for volunteers. I will list all the committees and boards that we know have vacancies. I won't reference that many because we're still finalizing that number and uh explain to them how to submit letters of interest aka emails um and the process how we'll connect them with the chairs. Okay, very good. We are nearing the end. The last item of course is an item of correspondence and as I mentioned earlier to you in a previous meeting the champ CHP has been uh at least constructed through our portion of the river and is now showing up and I don't know if it's partial. It wasn't uh labeled. I did speak to the people up at Real Property Albany um on correction, but they did confirm with me that's what 189250 references. And this is um the power line that's

underneath the river. Our portion of the river, the tentative full value on the assessment role is $12.5 million. What I'm trying to get is information of what we should expect if this is not the full evaluation, what it might be for uh next year or you know finally after it's fully constructed out um so that we can uh have that information and also gather more information from um the representative who wants to uh ask us to consider a pilot until we have you that information. I don't think we can really make any kind of decisions on this, but I did want to bring it to your attention that um there'll be another $12 billion on our role for next year. Um a role, which by the way is air under $2 billion. Um and I think when I first started it was at $1 billion. So it's nice to see that increase. Um, that's all I have folks for tonight and I want to uh thank you all for coming this evening.

I'd like to bring up one thing. Sure. Uh, the first meeting in January, we discussed changing the meeting date. Okay. I don't know if you discussed that again at the last meeting. Um, I'm not sure if we discussed it again. We we identified that it was problematic. Kenny, uh, you're talking about the first meeting of the Yeah, it'd be nice to make it on a Wednesday. So, first uh second Wednesday, fourth fourth Wednesday cuz I was just I just got off a meeting that was continuing. Yeah.

Second Wednesday. We have two other committees and boards that meet on the second Wednesday and I'm I'm reluctant to ask them to change their schedule for what is already I I know I know you do. I know that's you know for um but how often does a ZBA meet? Not that often. Well, every every second Wednesday unless they cancel. So the problem is they have to requirement by laws. They have to and I think they haven't had a meeting since October. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, I don't mind asking. Uh what's the second committee? You said it was the conservation advisor. Conservation advisor committee usually meets in the conference room, but they're meeting here,

you know, at a similar time. Okay. And then I mean that would help me. I know I'm it's only me. Uh, but this this committee I'm on, it's it's an important committee and there's 28 other people on this committee. To try to change that committee, I wouldn't even uh approach that uh subject. That's the second Tuesday of every month. It's the second Tuesday. It starts at 6. So, I was on it till I walked in here. Oh, that's Yeah, but it go It's a 6:00 to 9. Oh, uh, meeting. So I know what about what about having earlier times?

So earlier on Tuesdays is harder for me. I have Well, we're going to switch to Wednesday. So that that'll work out, right? I tend to see AC meetings on Wednesdays, but I mean I I would support earlier and I would support having one singular day. I think it's easier for the for the public to follow.

Yeah. Again, I just not defending it, but I I think it was brought up as two separate days of the week so that there would be at least one opportunity for the public to come that is booked for that day of the week. Like whether it's your Tuesday and I know you have standing Tuesdays and Thursdays, um you know, obligations. I have uh other obligations of different boards I sit on that, you know, uh would conflict. But let's take a look at that. But at the very least what we can do is and maybe you know if you all would send me any other conflicts that you have normal conflicts in your schedule. What we can at least do is when we can reschedu something or we're not having a typical day we can at least keep that in mind that don't reschedu something for your you know for a Tuesday or I'm sorry a Tuesday or Thursday if that's a that's a weekly thing for you. Yours is just a once a month.

Yeah. Well, as far as the early time, if we if we're not going to switch to Wednesday, I rather keep the time at Well, he can't he can't do it. They can't do it. He can't get here until 7:30. So, there's the there's the So, the only conflict really is the ZBA. I mean, is anybody here and you have a conflict with the second? No, I don't. Okay. I sometimes have a conflict with the second. Well, he's coaching. Kenny, we're just going to give it all to you and you just second Wednesday. Um, well, we'll we'll we'll we'll see what we can do to try to accommodate when we can accommodate. I appreciate it.

Yeah. Okay. With that being said, I'd like to make a motion to close the uh town board meeting. Is there a second? I want to wish you all well. We got through it all. Second. We were not used to cold winters anymore. And as somebody who's out there with the livestock twice a day, I am ready for spring. And I wish you all uh a more affordable winter and a safer winter and a healthier winter. We have a second. All in favor? I Thank you. Good night, everyone.