Town Board - Regular Meeting

Great. We are streaming, so I would like to involve the Town of Rochester Town Board July business meeting to order. If you could all stand for the pledge to the flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The first item on our agenda is the acceptance of the agenda.

I have had a very busy week and there are many items I have not gotten to. So I'm proposing a modified shortened agenda tonight. So I'll make some motion that the Town of Rochester Town Board Accepts the agenda as prepared by the town supervisor with the following amendments. This is to the amendments to the published agenda. Striking interviews for the Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board. We are striking the budget modifications.

We will be striking...

We will be striking discussions of the pay scale and town infrastructure improvement planning and adding a conversation about Sunset Drive. And I believe that's it. I have a second. Second. Any discussion or any other amendments from the board? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstained? Motion carries. So welcome to our meeting. The June financial reports have not been published or sent to the board. I apologize. Everything is in order. I just have not had a chance to run the reports. I will get the documents uploaded and sent to the town clerk, the town board members and the public in the public folder by the end of the weekend. And I can give a review of the financials, um, At our next meeting, but you guys will all have those everything's all set I just needed to run those reports for the town reports tonight, I wanted to go ahead and share. Information about the recent storm recovery, the July 4 2026 storm. Following the storm of July 4th, our community in particular has faced significant challenges, including widespread power outages, blocked roadways, and property damage. We have the highest number of power outages for any municipality in Ulster County. I want to provide an update on our recovery efforts, extend our deepest gratitude to those who have worked tirelessly to restore normalcy, and to clarify some of the operational and financial decisions guiding our next steps. First and foremost, I want to express my profound thanks to the dedicated teams who stepped up immediately during and after the storm. To our first responders, thank you. To our fire districts and EMS personnel who responded to emergency calls, ensured resident safety, and managed hazards in real time. Our volunteer firefighters responded to 70 calls within 36 hours of the event. showing an immense dedication to public service and the safety of our town. I want to add that I actually called 911 for the first time during this storm because there was a tree on fire on poles down the road from my house and there were numerous calls throughout the entire county that EMS personnel were navigating their way through. To our highway department and crew, our highway crew was out immediately on July 4th, working diligently to fill down trees, open up blocked roadways so emergency vehicles and utility crews could pass and have been hard at work all week. Superintendent Fry reports they will be cleaning up debris on the remainder of the hardest hit roads tomorrow and will clean the downed tree at the town park and the rail trail tomorrow. So our Braille Trail is currently closed due to downed trees and blockages. We are asking anyone to turn around. You can walk as far as you can get, but please turn around when you hit any downed trees or trees that are leaning over the trail. To our emergency management coordinator, deepest thanks to Jerry Frenino who stayed in touch with me several times a day and was a vital communicator and advisor to me during this, my first natural disaster as the town supervisor that impacted the town in this way. He also stayed with the dry ice, ice and water distribution both times that it was in the town and worked hard to get those resources to community members that were not able to make it. So thank you to Jerry, his family, and those, I know Charlotte, you did the same thing, who went around looking to assist those that might not have been able to attend those events. I thank those Central Hudson staff who were responsive to our request for additional resources and worked around the clock to restore power. We also extend our gratitude to the staff who managed the dry ice distribution. They were incredible and brought a really nice energy and efficiency to that distribution. I also appreciate Ulster County leadership and emergency services for proactively offering assistance and standing ready to back up our local efforts. I have received a few questions regarding declaring a formal state of emergency, which I did not do in this storm. Specifically, whether it would have unlocked emergency funding to town residents, and I just want to address that. While this storm was the worst we've seen in our community for a long time, declaring a formal state of emergency would not have changed the response on the ground. A declaration is designed to grant a town supervisor the authority to issue extraordinary emergency orders, such as imposing curfews, restricting resident travel. One that I have issued is burn bans, so issuing a declaration that no one can have outdoor fires. Such... Those types of emergency orders were not anything that would have helped this situation. The highway superintendent has the authority to close roads. And I did not, it was clear that those orders would not have helped Central Hudson clear trees faster or assisted first responders. The second thing I want to address is the idea that declaring a local state of emergency automatically unlocks special state or federal disaster funds. In reality, a town level declaration does not trigger financial aid. Government disaster assistance is strictly threshold driven based on the aggregate dollar amount of physical and financial damage documented after the fact. And in fact, it's important that that be municipal expenditures in addition to the impact to the residents. So from a municipal standpoint, the town of Rochester government incurred no extraordinary expenses from this storm. As of this date, there have been no infrastructure that was damaged from this storm. We do have highway overtime that we will be paying for, though that cost is budgeted in our current budget, and those funds exist in the budget. So because our municipal finances remain entirely stable, a formal declaration would have amounted to paperwork and I made the decision to use my time and resources by doing other things in this storm that I do believe did benefit the town. So I wanted to share that because it has been a question that I've been getting. So for next steps, because the town's finances are stable, our primary focus is entirely on resident advocacy and personal recovery. While the town does not need financial relief, we know many of our residents do. I just wanted to share a couple of the following resources. One, Central Hudson, under the state law, I believe, Central Hudson does have to provide some relief in these instances. So for spoiled food, If you've experienced a prolonged outage over 72 hours that resulted in lost groceries or spoiled food, you may be eligible for financial relief. You do not have to submit a claim directly through Central Hudson's spoilage reimbursement application, which is on their website. It's also on our Facebook page. You do have to document your food spoilage. So we've been sharing with people that you should be taking pictures and collecting receipts or having credit card bills that might show your expenditures before the storm. I'm currently also looking into if there's going to be any SNAP benefit relief to those that might have used SNAP benefits to purchase groceries that spoiled because of the storm. So I know that's something that other states have done, but I have not tracked that down for New York State yet. I'm also working on a town impact tracking form that we'll be promoting tomorrow. We're hoping that residents will help us keep track of exactly what occurred during the storm. This right now does not have any other purpose except that we would be in a position to relay this information to the county and our state representatives to show the impact that the storm had on our residents. And it can also help us with future planning needs. Another thing that we'll be doing is a post-storm debrief to talk about what went well, what we could improve on. And as everyone has been pointing out to me lately, I've been talking a lot about emergency preparedness for these types of events, and I feel that this is though it is not something that I want to have in our community, it's definitely something we can learn from in the conversations that we will be having with in that community meeting. So I just wanna thank everyone for your patience. I wanna recognize the neighborly support that we've seen and the resilience of our community. And please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need anything. And again, document as much as you can. Keep copies of your receipts and file your insurance claims, because remember, even a rejected insurance claim is can be helpful data in these times. So for I have a couple.

Let me see.

I don't feel like I have any updates right now other than that. So I will turn it over to the town clerk.

For the month of June, town clerk, $73,541.74 was collected. On June 15th, I finalized taxes with the Department of Finance. And I have now settled with the town supervisor for the remaining balance of penalties, unpaid notices, bank interest and dollar fees in the amount of $38,820.45. We are continuing to work on records management for this summer. And I was hoping maybe next Tuesday or Wednesday, Erin, if it works in your schedule, if you, myself, Harry... Stacy can get together and get a game plan started for the trailer.

Yeah.

Wednesday would be good. Wednesday? Yeah. Okay. That's all I have to report. Great.

So for highway report, I feel like I covered the bulk of it, um, in my storm report, but the highway department has been out there. They've been, you've probably seen them hauling debris, um, from all of the downed trees, um, this week. Department reports, I have a report from the assessor's office. Grievance day, the Board of Assessment Review completed their review of grievance applications submitted this year and all the changes have been made. The final role has been completed for July 1st and is on file in the assessor's office for the public to review. Clerical error corrections will be made to the final assessment role as needed. The assessment staff And I, this is from Assessor Jeremy Baraka, will be taking some personal orientation days in the month of July, some well-deserved time off. Joanne and I will be attending the 2026 New York State Assessors Cornell Seminar on Professional Development the week of July 19th. The assessor's office will be closed July 20th through July 23rd. Jeremy is doing the property inspections as needed, requested. For office work, we will continue to work on processing sales, entering building permits, certificates of completion. We will be pulling plans at the building department, answering calls, assisting property owners with their questions and issues, daily assisting the public that may walk in looking for deeds, tax maps, and owner information, as well as numerous other unexpected items that pop up daily. SCAR preparation. I am preparing to start appraisal reports for SCAR hearings. So that's the small claims assessment review process that you do have to file a grievance. You do have to file an RP 524 form. And then if you're not happy with the Board of Assessment Review decision, then you can file for SCAR. I don't think I have a recreation department for today. But I will say the summer program started. It's really great to see all the kids at the park. And they're very, very busy right now. Let's see here. Yeah, I don't have a July report, but totally understandable. They've been very busy this week. And I did want to give last month, we did a town-wide staff training. And I wanted to give a big thanks to our recreation director, Ashley Sweeney, As a result of conversations at our monthly department meetings, she took the BAP project on and got it scheduled for staff. And we'll be having a recorded version of that for anyone that wasn't able to make it in person. So I just wanted to thank her, recognize her for that. Town Justice Court Report.

No updates as far as I'm aware.

Okay. Okay. Board and committee reports. Kate, our town historian.

Okay. The HPC last month, they worked on cleaning and painting and restoring Hamlet signs throughout the town. Unfortunately, due to the storm, Medica Hunts got busted and destroyed. This Sunday, July 12th at 930, there will be a pre-revolutionary Stonehouse tour. with the third militia commander, Bill DeGraw, as a guest speaker on the bus. It'll be a narrated tour to visit five houses that were built pre-revolutionary era. Pickup will be at the Minnesota Palat. Sign-ups will be required. You can call 917-375-4650. More information can be found on the town website, and you would speak with Phil Christopher, the chair of the HPC. Are they still stuck? Yes. Okay. They still had about 12 spots on Monday. Was it due? On Sunday. Yeah, the 12th. 930. How many spots was it? There were still 12 left as far as out of 40. Out of 44. Okay.

I was just going to ride behind since I'm doing a separate load of projects, but I'll call and sign up first.

Yeah, because they're going to narrate on the bus too.

So if you're not on the bus. Didn't you you doing on the radio last time you did the garden i did yeah yeah but i'm not gonna be honest yeah okay cool thank you okay charlotte yeah me okay so um for the housing committee So they are, um, we, unfortunately we were supposed to have a meeting yesterday, um, that the housing committee, um, did a lot of advocating, um, and squeaky wheeling for us for with the, uh, county executive's office. Um, but because of a scheduling issue post storm, um, we were not able to have that meeting. So it's rescheduled for next week. Um, so they're working, they've been working on preparing for that. Um, And also they are waiting, still very anxiously waiting for the grant contract to come in, which I have seen in the shared drive has, no, it hasn't, right? We got the email still right from the contract. So I'm happy that we finally got that in and that we're going to be hopefully approving that tonight or at the next meeting so we can get to work on it. Other than that, their meeting this month is they have annually, I just want to share, because I love when we have a communal event-esque thing happening, is they rotate each year. And in July, when all the members are here in person full time, they have like a potluck meeting at a different member's house each summer. So I'm very excited for that. I'm making dessert this year. But I just think it's a very nice thing that the committee does, like of an annual trend of a thing. Eldercare, I did receive a report on. There was a decent amount of calls during the storm. Anyone, all participants were okay, but they were directed to countywide resources for whatever they were calling in reference to. And then the Rotary Club, So number one, I'm just trying to pull it in. So the chairs, all of the blue chairs, well, the ones that were blue that were in here backing, the ones that you still have two of in your office that we'll be doing, are almost completed. They need just one more coat of sealant, and then they need to just get screwed back together. They've all been reupholstered for us already and completed mostly by myself. And then the other green ones that were the leather ones are almost completed. We were just waiting before we ran out of the waterproof... canvas material that we bought for the chairs and it got back ordered. So I'm just waiting for that to come in for that one, but they're, um, and they also need to be sealed. But other than that, those ones should be done probably the week after. Um, but I should be able to deliver, um, the five, five of the blue ones that are completed. Um, we're very excited about that. Um, the other, um, info is, um, just to share for the community, for anyone who doesn't know, um, starting, I believe in this month. Yes, this month, every year we sponsor a student for RILO, which is Rotary's Youth Leadership. Academy, which is at Mount St. Mary's College. We do a sponsorship of the tuition for as many students as we're able to get to apply and raise funds for for that year. And our student will be getting packed up and heading off to the academy soon. So very excited for that. But as soon as the school year starts, we start accepting applications for the following year. It's typically a sophomore and we have another another that's an international student exchange that we sponsor. And we do have three host families, which means we're eligible to now send a student to an exchange country to go learn for the year. So I will have more news on that coming for applications. And when they open from the Rotary Club, which is very exciting. And then the other thing from them is on August 16th, which is a Sunday, we have a our first annual golf tournament that's going to be at the Sri Lanka Golf Course. So if anyone wants to sponsor a team or be on a team or anything, reach out to the Rotary Club, me specifically, because I'm the golf tournament planner. You can find my info and all of our stuff on social media. And I was wondering if we could have it shared on the town's page for our flyer too. Yep. And I think that that is all for that. And I just wanted to... separately for myself say um that i to second everything that supervisor now inside about the storm and the response and everything but i also want to give a huge shout out and thank you to the supervisor herself and her office for the amount of phone calling advocating trying to leverage and you know she was a squeaky wheel for the storm for us at central hudson and so i so appreciate your work at the during the storm and so thank you also thanks thank you

Okay. Thank you, Charlotte. And so this was a typo. So the next one, I've taken over former town board member Alexis Alba's committees for now. So Climate Smart, they are working to assist us with the grants that are due on July 31st. So I've had a few meetings with our Climate Smart Coordinator, and that's immensely helpful. I'll give you guys an update in our discussion items. I met with a member of the Agricultural Advisory Committee. We discussed some goals for the year, mainly creating a more compact list and the potential of having a big gathering of the towns farmers and farm owners. So very exciting. The Environmental Conservation Commission, I attended their last meeting, which did not have a quorum. So we mostly just discussed issues from previous agendas, but they are doing lots of great work, but I don't have any more updates on that. So Michael, Councilman Coleman.

All right, planning board. So I met with Chair Jones last week. And that faith has continued to be busy and are moving things through the process. They did have a series of lot line improvements and subdivisions that they were discussing at the last meeting. They also are currently working on the scoping document for one of the positive secret declarations TAB, Mark McIntyre:" You can have some public public hearing on that, and that is still hoping for written comment, I believe, until July 13 people want to still submit anything for that. TAB, Mark McIntyre:" Continuing to discuss the conditional neck deck on the proposed for eyes and tower so that's those are the two big applications that are running before the board that are getting a lot of attention from the public and comment. Zoning Board of Appeals. So the last meeting was actually, it was interesting because typically Zoning Board of Appeals deals a lot with area variances. They also can discuss use variances. This was actually part of the discussion was related to use variances, which have different standards in terms of the criteria to be able to consider and approve something like a use variance. So I think that discussion was an interesting one for people who are trying to understand the role of the Zoning Board of Appeals. I think there's also some questions, some jurisdictional questions came up in terms of what the Zoning Board of Appeals can actually do with respect to determinations that are made by code enforcement. So essentially there were appeals on the agenda that were appeals of determination by the Code Enforcement Office. However, not everything is necessarily appealable to the zoning board of appeals. So I think there was a useful discussion and there will have to be subsequent discussions with council to determine if the requests are even something that's within the scope of what they can consider. So I encourage people who are interested in zoning board of appeals and what the different boards do to watch that discussion. And I think it's a useful illustration of the role that some of these different boards play in terms of helping to manage the town, manage development of town. Ambulance Improvement District. So we do have a meeting scheduled with KFAS next week. So we're going to sit down with the committee. I'll be attending and sit down with them and have a discussion about some ideas for working more closely together over the next several years. So we're looking forward to that. free exchange, recycling. I don't have anything specific to the exchange of the transfer station, but We are making progress on a close for free discussion. So we have the gravel pad set. We have the, almost the permits are in file complete. And so now we're just looking to schedule delivery of that. We have to submit the MOU last time. We're still waiting to get that finalized and signatures. But other than that, that should be moving forward. So hopefully we'll be able to get rid of the pod soon. So looking forward to that. And that is everything I have.

I think we have to do a month. Advance notice. Let me know when we just to maximize. Yeah.

Okay. I'll see. We're trying to schedule one. Okay.

So that brings us to the public comment portion of our meeting where members of the public may address the board. Are there any members of the public here who would like to address the board at this time?

Yes. Oh, what a great job. All I can say is the town did a wonderful job. The highway department did a wonderful job. I saw neighbors for the first time because they couldn't get cell service and talking to each other and we were all manning the roads. Helped people up for the 4th of July that had no idea, had a navigator around the town. And then my neighbor got pulled out for Central West and he couldn't get out. So he got his chainsaw. So all of us cleared the road to get out. So, yeah, people pitched in. The highway department was great. They were, yeah, it was like I saw community step up, you know, and that really made me feel good. you know, besides all the other things that they did. So yeah, they did a great job. And I'm sure, all I keep saying is like, Erin, her first time, it's like, I was going to bring down some herbal products. They'll be out there with the exciting baby. So, but no, I was so like, I really was. I was like, because I always try to see like the positive in things. So I saw so much positive, even though it's destruction and everything, but I kept telling neighbors it's things, nobody died, but he lost life that I didn't know of anyway. So no, it was a great turnout for the highway and everybody else that showed up to support everything.

Is there anyone else who would like to address the board at this time? With that, I'll close the public comment portion of the meeting. And before I go to the council member time, I need to amend my post-storm recovery. I need to thank those agencies that provided mutual aid to the town of Rochester, in particular the town of Marble Town, who spent a lot of their time clearing Boodle Hole. And the town of Marble Town Highway Superintendent was operating, doing a lot of the clearing too. So I just wanted to thank them and any other municipalities that we received mutual aid from. I think the town of Olive might have helped us as well, but I don't have confirmation.

That ran at seven o'clock in the morning. One of them, he had his badge on Marble Town. I was like, oh, we're sharing services. Yeah.

So I'll open it up for town board member time.

I just had one thing I forgot during reports and that was that I was going to offer since your office has been so inundated the past couple months with things. If you wanted me to take over any of alexis um there may be liaisons for the time being i'm happy to for you so that it's not another meeting that you have to get to and stuff for them okay thank you yes of course i forgot to say that earlier um oh um my other thing uh i forgot to do this beginning of the meeting but i would like to request that um We adjourned the meeting in memoriam of Chief David Gagnon from the Cotterkill Fire Department, who, not in our town, but in two towns down in the town of Rosendale, unfortunately lost his life in the line of duty during, well, doing clearing during the storm. Right before the storm, sorry, the previous night before the storm. Yes, it was a long weekend of storming, so I can't remember which night was which at this point, but if we could do that, I would just like to thank you. Yes.

Yeah, I actually wanted to acknowledge that loss as well, loss of Archie, I think it just is a reminder of all of the work that these volunteers do for us. And I think, you know, not in our town, but we all know that the fire community and emergency services community through mutual aid are very dedicated to working in other towns. And so just want to send condolences to friends, family, and the fellow community of first responders. And also acknowledge all of the work that PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Riser now and the highway crew marble town olive PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Cherry for me know PB, Harmon Zuckerman, All the emergency services personnel did during the storm. I know it was a huge communal effort, including neighbors and just thanks to everyone who did that supported supported one another.

I'd like to echo what Michael said, especially on the idea of getting the news in front and . So it's a very tragic loss in the end of your lifetime of service.

Yeah. So with that, we will move on to solutions. I can offer amendments. Unless you want to table it. So we can either, I didn't get back to Kate, so we can table it and the draft minutes become the minutes and then I can. Yeah, let's table it. Okay, so we'll table that. Acceptance of the donations. I'll make a motion that the Town of Rochester Town Board accepts the following donations with gratitude from St. Polly Textile, $199.95. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Motion carries. Acceptance of Abstract 7A. I'll make a motion that the Town of Rochester Town Board accepts the 7A-2026 abstract and approves payments in the following amounts. General fund $45,014.18. Highway fund $5,683.46. Capital fund $2,292.23. Street lighting fund $506.88. Second. Thank you to our auditors. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. We are skipping a bunch of questions. There's a piece of paper in front of the board. It has three resolutions. These are the county road traffic study requests. So what the board requested that we put the resolutions in for the county roads that we wanted to see these speed reductions on. And we would, we're going to follow a different process for the town roads, because we are going to be identifying the Hamlet areas and have a map for that, which Councilman Coleman and I spoke of, but we have not produced for you. So I wanted to share, I have these three resolutions. We can go through them quickly. The things that the board was most concerned of is the start and the stop of, we do have to say where exactly we want it to be. And I, in my notes for Kaiser, right. It was I, the Lucas intersection to the school.

I thought it was both from both ends. This is, I thought it was both ends. You want to do the full from the Lucas to two Oh nine.

Okay. Um, cause it's like opposite of the day. Okay, great. Thank you.

I kind of had a feeling I got that wrong.

So in that we saw record of two major accidents since 2018.

So I put that in the resolution. And I'm also specifically are requesting that they do the traffic study during the school year. So that They captured Yes, thank you. Okay. Um, the second is for county route six. So that's the intersection or the app from Lucas to the marble town line. And that we discussed that there's no speed limit sign there. So there's a default of it's 55 miles per hour, but every few feet, there's a sign on a turn saying that you should drive 25 miles per hour. So it's kind of dangerous for people to drive at those higher speed limits. Was there anything about that that I missed? Looks good. And then... Lucas Turnpike, I believe we wanted Route 209 to the Marble Town line. So that one, I counted the number of entry points, which was 42 from 209 to the Marble Town line, which I felt like was very important information. That does not count the intersection. It does count, there are some small subdivisions that have like four houses. I did count those. And there have been two major accidents. I believe there was a fatal accident, but that might have been before 2018. So I don't have that data. There was a cyclist.

Pretty familiar.

Yeah, that was prior. That might have been just in 2018. Or right, yeah. Because it was definitely.

So yeah, the data I had only went back to 2018.

I knew before that.

Okay. Yeah, we might want to put that in there. Well, also, sorry, Councilman Coleman helped me with this and was looking at the dashboard while I was.

Do you think it makes sense? Because one of the things that came up specific to Lucas was farm traffic. Do you think it makes sense? to mention that there's farm vehicle traffic.

And we say that we are a light farm community.

Peter says 2014.

2014.

I don't know that that's necessarily relevant for Kaiser Eicher Route 6, but I know there's a specific concern.

No, I think Town of Rochester is a right to farm, community, and there are active farms on Lucas who operate farm vehicles on this turnpike, which is currently farmer's ability to easily access So I'm adding, whereas the town of Rochester is a right to farm community and there are active farms on Lucas Turnpike who operate farm vehicles on Lucas Turnpike, which is currently unsafe for travel conditions, impairing their ability to easily access farm fields. Is that okay? Okay. So we'll add that in. And we are adding a fatal accident in 2014. A vehicle. Bicycle cyclist. Okay.

When the actual studies we're requesting, so the language is a little different. So I just want to make sure. Are these a normal? So first we say conduct a formal speed limit reduction study in the first one. But then down here we say a traffic study to evaluate a speed limit reduction. And then the intersection safety review. So should we match the language? Is it? TAB, Mark McIntyre:" Of these specific studies that we're requesting, but you can only request a study that's quest but there's no difference between like a formal speed limit reduction study, I guess, we could say.

TAB, Mark McIntyre:" And the traffic study to we could say something further resolved, it is the position of the town board that the. TAB, Mark McIntyre:" speed limit should be reduced, and therefore we request a traffic study. for the reduction. Yeah.

I guess what I'm asking is, we call it a formal speed limit reduction study. Is that a term of art that they use? Or are we just requesting a traffic study? So should we have the same language?

Are we requesting the same thing for both of those? Yes. So we'll just add the same. But I think it is. It's not like, a formal, but I think we'll just say that.

Yeah. Okay.

Okay.

So, so are we sticking with, we're requesting traffic studies or speed limit?

Oh, it needs to be speed limit reduction.

Okay. So in the last one, we should keep the stop sign thing because so you should say town board requests a speed limit reduction study to evaluate. And we can just, or we can just take out to evaluate speed limit reductions. What's the speed limit reduction study alongside an intersection safety review? And that's like the intersection safety review is another thing, separate study they do.

I don't, there's no template for this. So if you want it to be switched around like that, we can just switch it around. So the second one says currently that the town board requests the traffic state to evaluate speed limit reduction alongside an intersection safety review to address the nonstop site compliance. You just want to put speed limit direction before study in that so that it matches the one before.

Right. Right.

Okay.

Yeah.

But we want to keep this. I don't know. We're just asking them to do it. Yeah. There's no guidance on, um,

I guess I was asking, I'm like, are they going to be like, what's an intersection safety review? Like, I know what a speed limit study is, but we're saying the intersection safety review is something that you can request through public works.

We can't do anything. So we're requesting that they do it.

And then the comprehensive engineering and traffic safety study, is that more involved in the speed study?

I'm just taking templates of resolutions and plugging. They're all engineered studies. Which language do you prefer to be in every single resolution?

Well, I think if it's the speed limit reduction study, then we can just include that everywhere. Because that's what we're requesting for County Route 6 as well, right? Like study the roads.

So County Route 6 doesn't have any accident data and it doesn't have any posted speed limit signs. So we would, I think it's our position that it should not be 55 miles per hour. And along most of the road, it's advising people not to go faster than 25 or 35 miles per hour. So I think for that one, it's, you know, I think, We can say a speed limit reduction study, but it also seems like that road in particular needs something lower than 45, which is what they changed it to on the Marble Town side.

I was going to say, would that also help in the resolution that the neighboring town had a reduction in speed on the same road?

Yeah. Whereas the county has already... Right approved or agreed to. A reduction. On the same road portion of the same road.

And then we're going to strike comprehensive engineering and traffic study and insert normal. Speed Limit Reduction Study.

Do you think it would hold any teeth to ask the school to also write a letter of recommendation for the Kaiser Act growth one?

I was just thinking.

I think we talked about that in our last meeting. I'm remembering that now. Okay. Okay. So since we made all of those changes, I think it's probably a good idea to read these out loud. So I'll make motion. that whereas Pizerike Road from the intersection of Lucas Turnpike to the 209 intersection experiences heavy vehicular traffic functioning as a primary corridor incapacitating motor vehicle accidents since 2018 and local residents have expressed significant safety concerns regarding current travel speeds. Now therefore be it resolved that the town board requests Ulster County Department of Public Works and the New York State DOT conduct a formal speed limit reduction study for Kiesbright Road and be it further resolved that the town board strictly request this data collection and traffic study take place exclusively during the academic school year to accurately capture peak traffic volumes and school related congestion.

I'm sorry, could you read the first sentence again?

Whereas Kayseriak Road from the intersection of Lucas Turnpike to the Route 209 intersection experiences. The second from Councilman Coleman, any more discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. And I will send our resolution to the school.

Is Kayseriak Road in that section also?

Oh, like formally? I think all of Kaiser Act is county that sucks. Are you sure about that?

My address is Kaiser on County Road. Well, so Samsonville Road, but it's County Road.

And the reason I think that is we've done traffic studies before and I'm almost positive it's all Kaiser.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- I just know that I was a little tired of mailing. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Because I'm just six as the other side, we can. HAB-Masyn Moyer- In resolution to just print.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- In parentheses. HAB-Masyn Moyer- yeah so i'll make a motion to amend that resolution to include. HAB-Masyn Moyer- The does after it after price right road in parentheses county six. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Any discussion. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. Second resolution. This is County Route 6 Lucas to Marble Town Line. Whereas County Route 6 from Lucas Turnpike to the Marble Town Line features severe horizontal and vertical curves that restrict driver site distance. And whereas there are currently no posted speed limit signs on this stretch, meaning the roadway legally defaults to a 55 mile per hour limit, A speed highly unsuited for the geometry of the road and whereas the neighboring town of Marvel town received a speed limit reduction for this road. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the town board request a formal speed limit reduction study. from the Ulster County DPW and New York State DOT to establish a lower clearly posted regulatory speed limit that aligns with the road's advisory curve recommendations.

I made one amendment to that. It's where we're referencing the town of Marble Town received. I would say the town of Marble Town requested and received.

Okay.

I accept that.

Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. So the third is Lucas Turnpike Route 209 to the Marble Town Line. Whereas Lucas Turnpike from the intersection of State Route 209 to the Marble Town Line has a high density of conflict points encompassing 42 separate points of entry servicing residential subdivisions, private homes, active farms, and local businesses. exclusive of major intersections. And whereas the town of Rochester is a right to farm community and there are active farms on Lucas Turnpike who operate farm vehicles on Lucas Turnpike, which is currently unsafe travel conditions, impairing farmers' ability to safely access farm fields. And whereas this high frequency, oops, I should have put that. Okay, hold on. I'm going to start over. I'll make a motion. I read the first paragraph as it is. to exclusive of major intersection. And whereas this high frequency of driveways requires frequent turning movements, creating significant friction between local ingress, egress, and through traffic traveling at high speeds. And whereas the town of Rochester is a right to farm community, and there are active farms on Lucas Turnpike who operate farm vehicles on Lucas Turnpike, which is currently unsafe travel conditions, impairing farmers' ability to safely access farm fields. And whereas this segment has a history of severe accidents, including at least two major incidents accidents since 2018 and a fatal vehicle versus a cyclist accident in 2014, often exacerbated by motorists failing to obey traffic control devices and running through intersections. Now therefore be it resolved that the town board requests a formal speed limit reduction study alongside an intersection safety review to address stop sign noncompliance and protect the high volume of turning movements from local homes. I want to say businesses and farms. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. Okay. Amy Nunez, will need so as soon as we can have the certified institutions and most. Amy Nunez, that's all for resolutions. Amy Nunez, We do a second public comment portion of the meeting before discussion items is there anyone who'd like to address the board, yes.

Amy Nunez, I will ask a question, but it's also a concern. that several of me, quite a few meetings I've been attending now, I have not heard anything about the town justice court report from councilman Zali Nguyen. And yet when I speak to code enforcement, I hear he's very busy in court. So my question is, how do we find out what is happening in court with those cases? And I don't wanna have to go for six months and sit in court every Wednesday like I did and years ago because we never got information for what was happening in the courts. So I know you can answer me, but I wouldn't want to pursue that. I want to know why aren't we getting a court report because they're telling me they're very busy with the court.

One else would like to address the court? I think so. I'll close the second public comment portion of the meeting. Sure.

talking about capital improvements and things related to the administration of the court. Court cases are, I can't comment on court cases because they're full cases. And if it's something that falls under the purview of the code enforcement officer, Councilman Coleman would be reporting it with his- Or I would, I could as a department report.

So I can see if we can start including those things in the department reports.

I'm just concerned one doesn't know what the other one's doing. And that's why I went to court for those. Because obviously no one knew what the other one was doing. But I never saw a code enforcement officer ever show up in those six months. But I hear this one hits.

This one definitely is. And I do get updates on the court cases. So I'll see if there's a way that I can show that in a in a good streamlined version. Thank you. So discussion items for the emergency preparedness community meeting. It feels very important that we move forward with this project. It looks like this would be something we'd be scheduling at the end of August or early September, but I was not able to get good solid timeframes from all the agencies because of the recent storm. So hopefully we can schedule that at our next meeting. But I have heard from agencies. I think, Charlotte, you were going to do some outreach as well.

Yeah, I have the Rotaries one, and I'm waiting to hear back. I'm hearing that tomorrow from the VP.

Okay. But our time frame is going to be end of August or early September for that.

Yeah.

Grant application status report. After analyzing the grant applications, the award process, dates, the reason for doing it. We, for the consolidated funding application, let me back up. I shared with the board at our last meeting that there were three opportunities that I wanted to take advantage of in the short term. One that we would be applying for in October. I have looked at that plan a little closer with the timeframe of the grants and when they are awarded. And I believe we should only be applying for one of them. And my reasoning is the fleet EV efficiency report is not something that will advance us. And what we'd be doing is applying for funding to hire someone to put that report together for us. So I just feel like if we don't need to spend time on it, it's basically to get points in Climate Smart. It doesn't really, I mean, I do think of fleet, thinking about fleet efficiency and when we're going to achieve it can be helpful, but it doesn't feel like a super urgent project. The plan that I had to apply for the infrastructure competitive grant. The timing of that, I wanted to apply for that to do the planning and then apply for that same grant the next round of next year. The timing of it won't work out because of the award date. We won't have anything that we can use to put that application together in time for the next round. And it's a very involved application. So I am looking to see if there are other opportunities where we could apply for the engineering for a building and the um but that one just doesn't for the plan that I had um it wouldn't advance that specific goal um if the board wants me to try to apply for that anyway so that we would potentially have the plans we can but I thought there might be a faster way for us to try to try to achieve that

Is it one that's reimbursable? Yes. Where we can submit back if we've already expended?

Yeah, it's reimbursable, but only up to 75% or 65%. So we would be putting down 35%. So the one that we will be applying for is the planning opportunity, and that is for the updated comprehensive plan that will have sustainability and housing elements included um and then i do want to give the board a status update of the grant that we were awarded which is the homes and community tag um technical assistance to grow pro housing communities grant that we received I shared the grant agreement with the board, the board had concerns wanted attorney for the town to review it, she did. And based on her feedback, I set up a meeting with Homes and Community Renewals between myself and Mary Lou to put a lot of these. I just thought it was easier if we asked some of those bigger questions directly to them. So I am requesting that the board, particularly Councilman Coleman, you voice some concerns. Could you put those in an email to Mary Lou today? so that she has those ahead of the meeting. That meeting was Tuesday morning at 10. So if, what?

Get it done before Tuesday.

Yeah. Were you being sarcastic?

No.

Well, I could tell you what your concerns, I could put them in an email to her if you want. No, it's fine. Okay. Is that doable? Okay. Traffic study follow-up. I already gave that update. We are still working on the mapping of the local town roads as just a refresher. Our town speed limit is 35. If we want to go as low as 25, we have to set up specific speed zones. We can't just request a road for the town. speed limit be reduced to 25 miles per hour. So we, um, Charlotte had the idea that we create zones based on Hamlet district. So councilman Coleman and I will be putting that mapping together.

We can request a whole road though, right? Nope. Oh, see, I thought we just couldn't request a blanket one for the entire town.

You also can't just request a whole road. Yeah. Um, So the next two were just, these are projects that we need to do this year. Pay scale, employment practices, manual updates. We really need to do that before we're like thick into the budget process because these are going to inform our budget. So we don't want to like do this in October and then be like, oops, we're just increasing our budget a bunch. We should really have this stuff sketched out in September. But I had hoped to kind of put a little bit of a plan in place to present to the board and see who, if you guys liked that, but I didn't get to do that. So we're gonna table that to our workshop meeting. Just a reminder, the board wants to adopt a more dynamic pay scale that takes into consideration seniority and our annual reviews. which the town has not done, but I have a goal of implementing those this fall. So there would be potentially with the employment practices manual update and compensation and benefit manual, we are talking about a annual review that is tied to the amount of increase in pay that you get that following year. For 10-year financial planning, this is another goal that I personally have for the board. I do think it is vital that we do 10-year financial planning because it encompasses the town infrastructure improvement planning. I, again, wanted to table this as like a full discussion, but I would like to get to a point where we can have a very pointed discussion about what the narrative of our 10 year financial plan is going to be. I will be sharing, I reached out to our accountant and got the guidebooks that the office of the state controller puts out on this planning. So that'll help inform the structure and format. But I just haven't had a chance to put them in the drive yet for you guys. but it's important that we as a board establish what our 10 year vision of the town is. And that informs how we look at our year over year increases, our year over year revenue projections, where we think our taxes are going to be. And once we then plug numbers in, we can see where our vulnerabilities are. Councilman Coleman made a really fantastic spreadsheet that basically ties current budget and current year to date or actuals to like a formula for like our recurring expenditures. And so once we've done that work, we have the potential to use that tool to help us kind of plug in and see. So when we're having that discussion, we can take a look at that tool as well. So I think I would like, if I'm able to get us in a position to have a really productive conversation at our July workshop meeting, I do think that that would probably be like a 30 to 40 minute conversation. So just to prepare the board, we would want to really be talking about where our infrastructure goals are, our pay scale goals are, our staffing goals, our operational goals, like just kind of get some of that workshopped so that we can, that can help guide us. That's the process I've always followed is you take your actuals, you do your visioning, you put it on paper, then the numbers kind of tell you where you're at in terms of reality and we can make adjustments From the plan, seeing what is actually possible financially.

Well, I, I, I think too, the other, the other thing that helps with is you've been in a position, the boards have been in positions of being very reactive to certain market forces. Like for example, the cost of medical going up outside of our control over 10% cost of retirement, things like that. So having a tool and we also saw when we were doing. the the reval that people were associating reval numbers with the actual tax levy and not able to kind of reconcile those two things and so I think having that kind of data to show like the other thing that we keep talking about is buildings that are falling down and in need of maintenance and you having to kind of constantly move money around to be able to do these band-aid repairs So being able to say, look, these are the things we know are coming. We know we're gonna have to replace five trucks in 10 years. We know we're gonna have to replace buildings or roofs or this and that can hopefully help people understand. So it's not like a surprise to us and it's not surprise to them when a budget, if we say three years down the road, the budget is gonna have to change and there may be an increase because we have to do these things. And then maybe we can all collectively figure out, okay, how do we offset that with revenues? How do we offset that with taking out loans?

it's a great priority for you to push yourself yeah I think you're saying it maybe in a more direct way than what I was just trying to say but definitely it's we want to know where our money is supposed to be And that includes our fleet maintenance, our building maintenance, our big goals for infrastructure, town projects, parks, maintenance, you know, all of those things. So that's what I mean when I say like the visioning for that is going to include like we leave no stone unturned. But it also might spark some creativity because it, there are things that just might not be possible when we look at that. So it's, it can also spark some creativity. Like maybe we're going down the wrong path for something and we really need to go try a different course. And it also helps with grants. It really helps us identify grants. And yeah, knowing if you need something in three years, you gotta start working on it now, especially for state grants, then that's more helpful. So thank you for the thought work that you've put into it this week, Michael. There's one, I wanna leave your item for last because I'm recusing myself from that matter. I should have given the board a supervisor update. I knew there were some things I needed to share with you. The two main things being that we had the voicemail bridge bid opening was on... Yesterday. Was that yesterday? I don't know. It feels like it was three days ago. We had the voicemail bridge bid... opening yesterday. Thank you, Kate. It was very exciting. Is it like a ceremony?

It wasn't a ceremony. It's been a long time since we've had a lot of bidders to actually be there for the opening of the bid. They're all five stayed.

Yeah, they came starting at 9.15 and then they stayed and then Kate opened them up and read them out and I do want to report that I was very, very, very concerned about about where those numbers would come in based on our budget. This is tied to one of my other updates. I have been spending quite a bit of time working on getting our bonds issued. And the plan that we have for the amount of money we take out in bonds rests on where this bid comes in. So if it's really over, we're going to have to take out more than $1 million. And that triggers a different review process of the town. If it stays under a million dollars, then it's a little easier for us to have the... Yes. So just I wanted to report that those bids came in quite nicely in terms of what our budget is. So that is good. It's lowest responsive bidder. Our Consultant HBEA is responsible for doing the bid review. They will make a recommendation to the town board of which of the lowest bidders is the most responsive. I will then introduce a resolution that we select that bid contingent upon the approval of the New York State Department of Transportation. The New York State Department of Transportation has to approve the award. I also wanted to share that Project 32 Road got a new red flag from the Department of Transportation. We have six weeks to take a look at the bridge and see if there's anything we can do to keep it open. If not, it will need to be closed and the alternate road that was built this year will have to be utilized. So there is a six-week timeline. We have... are utilizing the budgeted engineering funds or the highway department to have that looked at and monitored. That task is just part of the highway budget and it's not related to the bridge replacement project, which is a capital improvement expenditure. So this just pertains to whether or not the road is, opening or closing.

Is the alternate road open to the public now? No. But it is ready to open? Yes.

Yep. So with that, I am recusing myself from the next discussion item, and I'm going to leave the table and pass the chair over to the constable.

Do I have to physically sit there?

Yeah. I don't know if you're going to sit. No big shoes.

Okay, so There was a request. For the town to clarify some of the details related to a local town road sunset drive which I don't know if you guys are familiar with sunset drives. Phil Kleisler- Over by sleeping dying. Phil Kleisler- Anyway it's it's a road that continues from to a nine and connects to a nine there's actually two rows there but sunset drive connects to one of the. Phil Kleisler- properties that's part of the arrowhead farm. Phil Kleisler- collective over there I don't think it's called there as i'm quite just but. The road continues through to Arrowhead Farm. There's been a dispute about whether or not that is a town road or the town has abandoned a section of road that was there.

And so... Could I, I'd like to disclose a potential conflict of interest. Okay. I don't think there is a conflict of interest, but just want to disclose it. I am involved with right out of surface land conservancy, which holds. And I'm aware of the road and have traveled that road as recently as last week.

We can confirm with Mary Lou, but I don't

I don't have an economic interest in the property.

So essentially, I think that the question in dispute is whether or not the town has abandoned the section of road. There's specific procedures for the town to abandon a road. We have not followed through any of those procedures. We haven't notified the clerk or taken any specific actions to abandon that section of road. And my understanding in talking to Mary Lou is that if the road is continuing to be used by the public, it's not even an option for the town to just say that they want to abandon the road. So the request is, can we provide and have Mary Lou provide a clarification to the property owners that are currently have this question, clarifying that this isn't It is open for public transit to access these parcels. So if the board agrees with that, Mary Lou just said we need to do a resolution authorizing her to draft a letter and send it to the property owners in question, clarifying that it continues to be a town road. And then we have to figure out what, if anything, needs to be done in terms of potentially maintaining the road, and or whether or not it should be something that we look at doing as a seasonal road or something related to that.

But it's also a matter of if it's not a town road, to whom does that land convey?

Right. Well, I think that would be a separate discussion between parcel owners. But the fact that it is a town road, I think, gives us the opportunity to weigh in and say, yes, this is...

Are you uncertain if the road has already been declared abandoned or can't find information?

No, it has not been declared.

That you do know.

Right. Okay. Yeah, I spoke to the highway superintendent. We haven't taken any action to abandon it.

And I also this would have been a recent abandonment.

Right. The Arrowhead Farm people.

I thought maybe you were talking.

Yeah. And Arrowhead Farm. There's my understanding is there's an address that's part of the farm. That's a Sunset Drive address that currently can't be accessed on Sunset Drive. So.

Well, the only reason I asked that is I do have a file of town road deeds, and I do believe Sunset Drive is one of the deeds I have in the office. I could try to look and pull it if that has anything on there that would help.

Deed showing that it is a town road.

I've never read it, so I don't know what's in it, but it could potentially have information.

I'll check with Mary as well and see if it's something that she wants to look at.

Okay.

But... I guess I can make a resolution if people are comfortable getting more discussion. But I'd like to make a resolution or make a motion authorizing. I'd like to make a resolution authorizing attorney to the town, Mary Lou Christiana, to draft and send a letter notifying parcel owners along Sunset Drive that it is that it continues to be a town road or a town of Rochester town road. Help me out, Kate. Does that make sense? Yes.

Do we need to authorize her to do research to verify that fact beforehand? Because I think we all, it's our understanding that it is a town road. Do we need to do any research to verify that it is not abandoned?

I don't think we need to authorize her to do that, but if we want to change the resolution saying to research the details of the Sunset Drive.

That's fine.

Okay. So can we amend it?

No one seconded it, so.

All right. So make a resolution authorizing attorney for the town, Mary Lee Christiana, to... HAB-Jacques Juilland, Verify that sunset drive continues to be a town of Rochester town road. HAB-Jacques Juilland, And on verification send a notice to neighboring parcels. HAB-Jacques Juilland, State confirming that fact. HAB-Jacques Juilland, And then.

HAB-Jacques Juilland, Sure thing. HAB-Jacques Juilland, It's done. Second, so we discussed discussion is this really something we are supposed to be doing. we're not in charge of the roadways.

I think so, the town still we still need to authorize. Now, if is it did isn't the town board, though, that.

We would be the one to abandon it. We would be the one. So that's, by that same virtue, we'd be the ones to confirm that it has not been abandoned.

Right. So when you talk to Superintendent Fraud, did he say that they still service that road and it's completed? Like, do they plow it? Do they make sure it's maintained? Are they maintaining it?

So my understanding is no, but that's not, so it may become necessary to confirm that we're continuing to maintain that road.

but maintaining the road is someone a letter but it's a road according to the town if we haven't made it like where I think we're in a gray area but that's not maintaining the road it's a difference different items all debris obstructions or hazards in the roadway but what I'm what I'm I guess the issue is maintaining the road is not a requirement for it to continue to be a public

And so the public is using it.

It is publicly accessible and it is drivable. Right.

And now... Oh, okay. That's what I meant. I thought you guys were saying it's un-drivable. And not, like, there's trees down across that.

No, no, no. No, people are using it. And that's the criteria that people are using. But I do, I think it's a valid point because it may become necessary to go and maintain it, which is why Mary Lou brought this up. We may want to consider in the future, making it a seasonal road. It's not something that we want to file, but it would be maintained, you know, graveled or whatever, whatever is necessary to get to that. So is that good? Yeah, I'm good.

I'm good. I thought this was like an overgrown, used to be a road that someone was trying to say was there's a town where we got it.

Yeah. All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Stay. All right. Thank you.

I make the motion that the town of Rochester.

I have one.

Oh, yeah, we do. I forgot.

Sorry, I thought we all I we did. I have a version of the agenda that had some additions in it, and I think I overrode them or something. Just in front of the town board, I have the draft for the food truck local law. I just, we will look at these at our next meeting. I have, there's a second local law that we need to put together. What I did is I took the town of Red Oaks food truck law And I just basically edited that for the town of Rochester and then made a few changes to it. Basically, what it does is it creates a separate chapter of the code that just creates a administrative permit process for the operation of permits. And then we'll have another local law that's just like, I did write it, but it didn't print when I hit print. It's like this long, but just adds food truck definition and adds food trucks in the schedule of district regulations. I can email that to the board tonight. What I want ahead of our next meeting is just think about, is it an accessory use? Is it a principal permitted use? which zoning districts, I kind of just plugged in whatever, but that is one thing that I think will be really important. And then whether or not there's anything too strict in this permit application or anything that we think needs to be included. And if you can take a look and get me comments, before the next meeting that I can make sure the version we have at the next meeting is something we could vote on to schedule a public hearing. A reminder, we're doing this because we have two now applicants that have come before us with what's called a use not considered. And the process for that is they come to the town board with a request to consider the use. We hold a public hearing and decide whether or not that use is allowed in the zoning district. And then it's processed as a site plan, as a special use permit before the planning board. We discussed that we thought a faster process would be for us to just make it allow, like define food trucks. I spoke with one of the applicants this week. They appreciated the process that I came up with and did not want to move forward with the use not considered option. Um, I found out about another applicant this week that I'll reach out to and let them know that this is what we're choosing to do moving forward. Um, so take a look at this. I'm also, I shared this, um, the other one that I shared was what the town board looked at in 2022 as a model. When we were doing our zoning code and we, uh, Charlotte and I were remembering that we decided not to touch food trucks back then. Um, So that was just a different local law and I will get the drive updated. So that was, I'm just presenting those versions and requesting that the board take a dive into that and give me comments by the July before the July workshop meeting. Anything else. Okay.

Take it away. Motion to enter into session at 8 o'clock p.m. for the matters... For the purpose of matters pertaining to the appointment of particular persons and matters relating to the litigation of the town, verse 5, Richview, and the town, verse Richard S. Miller. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries.