Town Board - workshop

Good evening. I'd like to call the town of Rochester Town Board September business meeting to order. It's Thursday, September 10th, 2026. 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. Councilman Coleman? Yes. Councilman Spaces? Yes. Councilman Lynch? Yes. Supervisor Inouye?

I'm here. Our first item on the agenda is the acceptance of the agenda as prepared by the town supervisor. So I'll make that motion with the following amendments. We're going to add the authorization of the Office of Children and Family Services 2027 program application. A resolution to amend abstract 5A of 2026. And then a discussion item of the town hall roof bid. The last one is already on the agenda.

Second.

Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. So tonight we have three public hearings on our agenda. One is a public hearing that is opening for the first time. We haven't held this public hearing yet. And the second two, this is the continuation of that public hearing where you have to hold that open for 30 days. So this is the continuation of that. And that is the first local law is local law Z of 2026. That local law makes a slight adjustment to our zoning code that is amending the kennel regulations chapter that would exclude home pet sitting as considered a kennel because currently There's no, it doesn't make any distinction between someone doing some small pet sitting at their house and an actual kennel, which has a lot more regulations. The second two are local laws X and Y, which are the food truck regulations. One includes food trucks in, local law X includes food trucks in the town of Rochester zoning code. And Local Law Y creates a permit process that allows food trucks to be authorized by the building department and a application process. So we'll do the public hearings one at a time. So first we'll open Local Law Z and we'll go through each of them one by one. And we also will double check to make sure there isn't anyone joining us virtually. So with that, I will open the public hearing for local law Z of 2026. This is a local law amending the code of the town of Rochester chapter 140 zoning to amend kettle regulations. Is there anyone who would like to speak about local law Z 2026? Is there anyone who has joined us?

virtually?

Okay, so I'll entertain a motion to hold the public hearing for Local Law Z of 2026 open until September 24th, 2026.

I'll make that motion.

September 24th. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. Our next is the continuation of Local Law X. This is the local law that includes food trucks as a defined use in our zoning code and identifies the districts that it's allowed in. Is there anyone who would like to speak on Local Law X of 2026? Is there anyone who's joined us? One second while we have a date that we had to hold that open until so I just want to make sure I have that. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Okay, so we do have to hold that open until September 24 so would anyone like to make that motion.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- I make a motion that we. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Until September 24 following the public hearing for local law.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- Any discussion on favor. HAB-Masyn Moyer- I post abstain motion carries. So next, the continuation of Local Law Y of 2026. This is the law that outlines the permit requirements. Is there anyone who would like to speak on Local Law Y of 2026? Okay. So I'll entertain a motion to hold local YY open until our workshop meeting, which is September 24th.

I like that motion.

Megan? Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. We did receive required modifications from the Ulster County Planning Board. which we will discuss and include in those laws tonight. And I will double check to see if that's a substantial change, because I think it's only going to be a couple words, but we'll discuss it. So we will, those hearings will be, we legally have to hold them open for 30 days, which ends at the end of the month. So the hearings will be open for one more meeting. Okay. So now we're done with the public hearing portion of our meeting and we are moving on to the report section of the meeting. So for all those present, we do have two meetings a month. One is the business meeting. One is the workshop meeting. We're legally required to have both of these meetings. The business meeting is quote unquote business. So that is where we hear all of the reports from the All of the departments, financial reports, town clerk, our liaisons who report on our boards and commissions. It's the meeting where we try to have most of our resolutions and try to keep the discussion as short as possible. So that's just a little context. Our workshop meeting, we do not do reports. So we usually just dive right in into the workshop meeting. So that's why there's so much talking that happens at the beginning of these meetings. After the report, we'll have the portion of the meeting where the public can address the board. And our financial reports for August have been submitted to the board. They are also available publicly. The full reports are available publicly. There's a link at the top of the agenda that you can also access digitally with the digital agenda. There are budget versus actual statements from January through the end of August for every single fund. So that shows you where we're at in terms of our budget. And then there's what's called the financial report. And that report just shows you what went on in the month. So I usually read out loud what our... expenditures and revenues were for our main funds that receive revenues and have expenditures. So for the month of August, our general fund, which is fund A took in, sorry, I keep this digital as well. We took in $101,153.66 and our expenditures were $273,050.89. And our highway fund had no revenue. The highway fund has very little revenue throughout the year. So that one is $2,751.57. And then the expenditures, because we did a bunch of paving, is $333,426.76. The other fund that had kind of a higher amount of expenditures that I just wanted to read out loud is Capital Fund. So a lot of our projects this year were budgeted in Capital Fund. Capital Fund... Oh no, that saved us the wrong thing. It looks like I don't have the capital fund version. Well, it was around $30,000 in expenditures. I'm sorry, I saved the wrong report and I don't have the capital fund. So I'll get that to the board. But that fund is where we're seeing all of the engineering for the three Bridge New York projects this year. So any questions about the financial reports from the board? Okay, moving on to town reports. I have one department report to read and then I can give an overview of our other departments. So our recreation director submitted the following report. So this is coming from Ashley Sweeney. The afterschool program begins Monday, September 14th. At this time, the program is full, so we've started a wait list and we'll do our very best to get as many kids in as possible. Line dancing is taking a break for the month of September. At the end of the month, we will speak to the instructor and decide when the class will resume. All other classes are currently ongoing. Heritage Day is October 3rd. There's plenty of time to register for the annual Jenny Bell event. pie contest, contact the recreation department. Volunteers are always appreciated at Heritage Day. Please contact the Friendship Store of Rochester if you're interested in being a part of this fun family event. We will be offering a fall-themed adult paint class at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23rd at the Community Center. Please call to sign up. Space is limited. Stay tuned for information regarding the Town of Rochester basketball program. Registration will begin on in the month of October. And then for the assessor's department. So one thing to report at the transfer station, we're going through, I might have shared this with the board at our last meeting, but we're going through a duties revision of what the expectations and day-to-day duties are for the employees. So I've been every week, we work a little bit on streamlining what it is that they're expected to do in more of a standard operating procedure format. Right now we have a kind of a long six page document that isn't very friendly to new employees. employees um so we're going through that and i'm doing that as a um you know inclusive with the employees process so it's taking time but it's been really really helpful um so at this time the assessor's office is working on um permits that have been completed so those are uh co's or um uh, certificates of compliance, um, or certificates of completion or certificates of occupancy. And they'll go through and update assessments on that. Um, they also are doing a training at the end of the month. So the office, the full staff is going to the office will be closed at the end of September for that. And, um, They are, you know, the final role was published. The period of time to contest the final role ended July 31st. So right now they're going through all the scars and tax refuries and scheduling hearing dates for those cases. So it's still pretty busy over there. I'm doing a similar project in the code enforcement office so that we can have a longer term plan to use for budgeting purposes. As you know, we have new leadership in that office and there have been a lot of requests to the board for things that hadn't been considered in previous budget years. So rather than continuing to make decisions one at a time. I've requested that we go through and actually make a plan, a multi-year plan that sort of thinks about these things and kind of sees where our revenue can match with the expenditures. So we've been working on that for the past few weeks. My correspondence report, I heard from Ulster County Planning Department. We've had two properties that were included into the Ag District. As you may know, the Agricultural District has an application window from March 1st to March 31st where property owners can apply to be included in the state certified district. So this year we had applicants and two, it's actually three parcels, but two property owners have their properties now included in the ag district, which means that they have specific carve outs in our zoning code and then state code for what they're allowed to do. So that's where they become a farm operation in our zoning code and farm operations receive special consideration under the code. So I wanted to share that. I wanted to give an update on our bridges, the Bridge New York projects. We have three projects going on concurrently. All are basically on schedule. We have revised schedules. So I'll go through them one at a time. We selected the contractor to do the construction of the voicemail bridge over the Fallsbrook. So that's our bridge that's been closed since 2024. Construction could start this fall. We've scheduled the kickoff meeting for October 1st. So after October 1st, I will have a timeline to present to the public on what to expect for that construction phase. And though construction feels like it's just starting This is actually the home stretch of this very long drawn out bridge replacement project. So this has been going on for since 2022. And I'm very eager for us to give the notice to proceed on that project. It is also, we did have to revise the budget for that, but so far we are on budget for the revised budget for that project. As you may know, project 32 bridge was closed, it was closed by the state, we have a detour route opening that bridge will remain closed until it is replaced, we are in the design phase of that project. they've been doing the environmental reviews and we'll have. A couple of design options for that bridge. It is a single lane bridge and it will most likely remain a single lane bridge. That is the most affordable option for replacing that bridge. It really would bring us out of budget to turn that bridge into a two lane bridge. And it serves eight parcels. now that the project 32 extension is open though there that bridge might see a little bit more traffic after it reopens we also have the sundown culvert replacement project the that project is also in the environmental review there has been a slight delay in the environmental review process however the preliminary design process with that is on schedule and after we get some preliminary design work done. There will be public meetings for both the Project 32 and Sundown Road. Another update I wanted to share is the, we had a slight hiccup with the bans. There are lots of things that need to happen with the bans and one is a notice of estoppel needs to be publicly noticed. And then you wait 21 days after that is 20 days after that's published. And we had a clerical error. It didn't end up getting published until the end of August. So as of September 21st, we will be able to put our ban out to bid. And that is when that it goes like, It's about two or three weeks after that before the money actually gets deposited into the account. So we go with the lowest bidder, and that means that's the lowest interest rate, lowest issuance cost for that. So that week is a very busy week. We have a meeting, and it's also our tentative budget is due the following Wednesday from that. Plus, I'll be doing... the sale of the van and executing that paperwork 10 days after. So the end of September is very busy. I also wanted to announce that there is a September 11th memorial service and event at the Accord Speedway tomorrow. the doors open at seven, the ceremony starts at, or the doors open at six, the ceremony will start at seven and there will be fireworks at dusk. It's, we are, we've in the past held a small recognition event with the Ackward Fire District, but we're both the Ackward Fire District and the town is very happy to attend that event in lieu of doing something. And we welcome the public. 25 years is a lifetime for an entire generation that we've had since that tragedy. And I think it's definitely something worth remembering. One last thing before I stop talking for a little bit is I wanted to share that Councilman Coleman did a really wonderful training on our new digital records policy and our Microsoft services that we have, our suite of apps and email. So I wanted to thank him for doing that. It was very fun and informative and I have a recording of it that I will be sharing with the board because I think you'll probably also get a lot out of that too. Now, the policy you adopted, so you probably understand that, but the overview of our Microsoft accounts is really helpful.

I think fun is a stretch, but it was informative.

There were lots of memes. There was a meme on every single slide. So in addition to lots of other things, if you need a meme, Councilman Coleman is your guy. So, you know, I'll just do the highway report so that I can just stop talking. The only, I don't have an official report from the highway. Two things. One, Ulster County is closing the Boodle Hole Bridge on September 15th for 8 to 10 weeks. I found out on Monday? Friday?

They have the signs ready to go.

Yeah, but they didn't notify us until like Monday. So I know that is a People take poodle holes, so that's going to have a bit of an impact, especially on the school run. So just give yourself extra time and give buses space. And then I also wanted to give the board a heads up that there was damage done to one of the truck bodies. It is an essential truck. that the Highway Department really needs. We'll have an RFQ. Well, we'll have a purchase for that on our next agenda because they'll be issuing an RFQ per our procurement policy, getting three quotes, and then we'll go with the lowest quote on that. It has been submitted to insurance. We're waiting on the adjuster also at the same time. So those two things will be happening at the same time. And with that, I'll turn it over to the town clerk and tax collector.

Hey. Okay. For a town clerk for the month of August, $53,495.88 was collected. We still are going through a large amount of foils at this time. A lot of them are for properties. Still are getting quite a few for the assessor's office as well. I think that is for some of the other cases they have coming up. We are continuing the records management project. I was in the trailer again this week. I think we almost have everything out of the trailer that needs to be destroyed. So what's left in there is permanent. And from there, we have to decide what we're going to do with those. As far as tax collector, I am not the school tax collector, but if anyone has not received a school tax bill, those are out. We have received a lot of phone calls. One thing a lot of people aren't aware of, but you can go online on info tax online and look up your school tax bill. You can see any of your exemptions. You can go back to previous years. You can pay your tax through that portal as well. That's a good thing for people to have. And that's it. What's that web address again? info tax online, and it takes you right to the school tax collectors portal. You can look up any tax bill. You can go back to last year, which was actually really good for people. With this tax bill that's out, you can see where your address is, what exemptions you have, and then there's a section where you can actually pay if you want to pay.

Dolly, do you have anything to report from the court?

Nothing to report.

Okay. Board and committee reports. Our town historian Kate wears many, many hats. Historic Preservation Commission.

So HPC is just finishing up their last few HPC awards that they give out at Heritage Day. Those will be at 2 p.m. at the museum on Heritage Day. They'll be giving out free awards for that. They are still working out the finishing touches for the Whitfield Hamlet Talk series that is tentatively scheduled for October 18th. And then they're kind of just talking about finishing up the Hamlet signs that they were working on and some of their goals for 2027. That's about it at this time. Great. Charlotte.

Yeah. I believe I got an elder care update this month. I am going to have to see if I was in committee. Okay, so last month on their agenda, they discussed the towns and committees meet and greet that we're having this month now on the 26th and planning their presentation for it. They also discussed and did some heritage day planning, scheduling, what focus contents, And the votes for the RETT continue conversation with what we're going to talk about later, what we talked about last meeting. The GIS class update that I spoke about last meeting with us, The some red line and suggestions for verbiage for the short term rental law for revision on some of the clarity in it, I believe, and then They also worked on a logo for their banner for heritage day which we have received i'm working with Stacy to finalize that order right now their canopy and pop up has arrived, it is at town hall that they requested from us and. That is what I've got for right now. The housing committee I'm going to talk about. I've got to gather more information and I just need to get some budget numbers with Erin. And before I'll send around for the GIS class, you guys, I'll send out like a specific bullet point of their request of what we're looking for and what's left in their budget. I just want to see after the banner and the Heritage Day items came out of it, what they have for the year.

Yeah, they'll have a little over a thousand.

That's what I thought. Okay, that's what I was estimating.

Thank you.

All right, so then I will work on that and get it over to you guys this weekend. And then as far as the Rotary Club goes, we're still working on our golf tournament. It is not this weekend, but the following weekend. So we've been working on that as a charity golf tournament and planning and doing a lot of service with that. We finished up our chair project. We only have the two left from your office from Town Hall, and I just have to deliver these other ones. I just came straight from today, so I didn't have time to pick them up. Um, but they are all finished and We are talking about, we will be doing, which I'm sure Kate and the HPC might like, but we're talking about doing some historic guided walks along the different rail trail sectors throughout the Rundown Valley with different topics. And we do offering them for free or like with a suggested donation. We're working on organizing one for the fall right now to talk about Rosendale cement on the Rosendale and Trestle portion of Rosendale. the uh rail trail so i will let you guys know once we get like full um dates on for those um and yes oh and um the other thing from rotary this isn't from the club this is just from my own research and within rotary um to do with our emergency management um meeting is that rotary international has a very specialized relationship with um A company called Shelter Box, where it will turn like a cargo box filled with supplies for X amount of people during a natural disaster that just lives here and it's ready for whatever we go and a Rotary Club can't spot a municipality getting those. So that was just exciting news to add to that conversation. We have that bank of a resource we could use that hopefully would not cost anyone.

Yeah.

So, and have some emergency supplies for us available. They do various ones. They do ones for flooding, ones for tornadoes, et cetera. So I'll get the options together so that I have that information for our emergency plan meeting. Great. All right. But yeah, I thought that that was great when I found that. um and they are we're also very excited at the idea of partnering with the town and exploring ideas of different water or sewage infrastructure that we could offer um and apply for a rotary sponsor international grant as a service project um to get something hopefully in the form of housing for town great yes um quickly um i have climate smart task force um they are currently

working to support our project planning for feasibility of improving town infrastructure. The Agricultural Advisory Committee took a break during the growing season, and we're right now trying to schedule a meeting where I would be able to come. And I have a contact list that I created when I was a town board member um, to do outreach to our agricultural, our property owners who also are involved with agriculture. So I've cleaned that list up and we'll be sharing it to the committee. Um, so they can, they'd like to have like a big, more events that bring all of our farmers and ag involved residents and property owners together. The Environmental Conservation Commission, I definitely, I have not been able to make it to any of their meetings, so I have nothing to report for them. Michael.

You got the most. All right. Planning board. The planning board continues to be busy, although I think there was actually one meeting assigned between meetings. because they have a holiday and some other things. So making progress on, they have a lot of major applications that are going through there. So they're continuing to work through the environmental impact statement for the Pine Grove project. I think letters should be going out about well testing to the neighbors so that people are aware that that's happening and so that they could find some test locations. There's a public hearing scheduled for September 14th. That's Monday for a project that's going to be right here on Towpath Road. They have a draft decision or they're working on a draft decision on the first student project, which is an EV bus project that there was a lot of public comment on recently. They're anticipating that being ready for Monday as well. They've been revising what should be the final version of the Verizon project for September 14th, and that's anticipated to be up for a vote at that meeting. And then I did, so a lot of the discussion around First Student Also, I had things that were adjacent to some of the battery energy storage system, the BESS technology and trying to figure out what types of things we might consider in the code related to that. So I asked them if there were any kind of lessons learned or things that they thought we should look at for possibly revising that code as we have the moratorium ongoing. So I did receive some initial feedback about things that they learned related to that.

Zoning Board of Appeals, so they had a busy meeting.

They have a lot of public hearings scheduled. So their meeting is on September 17th. They have one that's requesting a determined, their application is requesting them to weigh in on the determination of the code enforcement officer. There's another public hearing on the 17th about an area variant workshop related to setbacks from wetlands. There is a public hearing on another determination related to accessory dwelling unit, a question about accessory dwelling units when there are, when it's a two family home and there's an interpretation there that an applicant is asking for clarification on. And then there's a public hearing on a determination related to the first student project, specifically about accessory structures related to setbacks and what can be in the front yard. So that one's interesting because it's kind of like a dual path, depending on what the determination is about the actual structure in question, then it becomes a question of whether or not a variance is needed. So they're considering both of those things at the same time. So interesting stuff in front of both boards right now, continuing to work through it all. Amos Improvement District. So I did receive some documentation from Marble Town First Aid Unit, and there was one document that I needed clarification on. So I received that today. So I'll send that out to the committee to review as well as to the board members. And then still haven't gotten the additional documentation we were looking for from KFAS. I do want to kind of pulse the board in terms of the committee obviously wants to figure out how to resolve some of this, some of the unknowns here and find a path forward in light of the new leadership there and trying to get on a good footing. So they wanted me to check with the board to see if the board would consider meeting with the committee and with KFAS. So I wanted to see what people's thoughts are on that. I'm happy to continue meeting with KFAS and the committee as well. And our supervisor now has joined some of those meetings. But do either of you feel strongly that you would want to participate in that? Because obviously we needed more board members.

What are they asking for?

I think they want to have a conversation about the longer term picture of how the town is going to work with them, how the committee is going to work with KFAS and how we can get ourselves set up so that spirit of collaboration is better defined and we know where we're moving in the next few years. I told them I would ask You guys wanted to participate. Like I said, I'm happy to continue.

I'm happy to join for a negotiation again. That's pretty successful.

This is with KFAS or with the advisory? With both. So have a meeting with KFAS and the committee together.

I mean, unless there's a specific agenda, I feel comfortable scheduling something. Unless we know what you're talking about. Because otherwise, if it's just disputed and I don't want to I don't want the town board to get in the middle of those those issues okay all right let me see if I can get a better sense of what what an agenda would look like and then we can discuss I'm I'm here for the improv so okay um

And then pre-exchange recycling. I don't have anything in terms of the transfer station, but the clothes for free should be happening this Sunday. And I think I saw a notice went out about that. I can't remember the times. I think it's 11 to 2. And that's it for me.

Thanks. I had a couple of things that I realized I forgot with my report, which is we have a, if you enjoyed listening to all of these liaison reports and want to know what it's like to be on one of these boards or commissions, we have a boards and commissions day on Saturday, September 26th. So that is an open house that'll have tables, um, with our boards and commissions. And so you'll get to learn about what they do, talk to members, get inspired, put in an application if you want to join on the spot. I held one of these a couple of years ago. It was very successful. Our plan is that it will be at the pavilion, so it'll be at the park. And it's actually, I think, really wonderful. There'll probably be a couple of presentations, but really the idea is for anyone interested in getting involved to learn more specifics and have conversations about the boards and commissions. The second update that I forgot to give is on the homes and community renewal, pro-housing grant the technical assistance to grow pro-housing communities. We executed that contract. They had an info session for all of the municipalities that received funding on September 2nd. It turns out we're in like a little cohort, which is kind of interesting. They have not executed the contract on their end. So we're still waiting on the fact from them. And they gave me a list of things that they want provided. One thing that's kind of not really part of moving forward with the project, but something we have to provide is a plan for how we're going to solicit consultants that meet the criteria for the WMBE portion. All state funding has a requirement of a percentage of ownership of the business for that. So they have a template and a 20 page list of consultants and vendors. So I was going to send this correspondence I received to Charlotte and the members of the Housing Advisory Committee that reached out about assisting with the grant and come up with a time that we could just bang that out. It's not the, we actually don't have to do an RFP if we don't want to. So that was in the original, It made it seem in the original grant application that we did have to do that, but they were saying, no, we were just saying you have to follow state procurement law. And if you don't have to do it in state procurement law, you don't have to do it, but you have to meet this 10% requirement. So, or show that you did your best to meet it. So we have to come up with a plan for that. So it's a little, it's like a pre-selection type conversation, but I... thought it would be good for us to stop that together. So that's an update on that. So our time clock has not started yet, but as soon as they execute their end of the agreement, then we have one year for that. So sorry, I forgot those updates.

Rumi, would you like me to take the lead on this, schedule something with the members that are offered for you?

That'd be great. Thank you. So now we are at the public comment portion of our meeting. where we allow the public to address the board. We do not engage in a question and answer or back and forth, but we do address questions and concerns and anything else in the next agenda item, which is town board member time. We are doing a three minute limit per person. So that's total speaking time. If three minutes is not enough for you, You may submit more comments, written comments to the board if you feel that you weren't able to get your point across in three minutes, but I have a three minute timer. And when the timer goes up, your time is up. Is there anyone here who would like to address the board? Yes.

Quick question. I know you said you don't do question and answer, but I'm naive. How do I find out what highway revisions are currently in planning? Who would I speak with?

And that's, do you want to share your name?

Scott White, Sunset Drive.

Okay. Is there anyone else who would like to address the board tonight? Barbara?

I have two. One is the Boodle Hole Bridge being closed. Steve, try to contact Ulster County to try to find out why the bridge is being redone because it was done less than 10 years ago. And if it's a case of too much weight that's going over that, because I'm telling you, the truck and the truck weights that go over there, because if you have Manhattan's Road, you have Queens Highway, we are the only crossroad. So, Trapped a lot of truck traffic. So I spoke to you one time before, and you said to get to where the state says, the state would say, no, it's truck traffic, and you gave me the papers and everything. I never followed through, but we'll see what happens with this. I just feel bad for the two neighbors that are down by the bridge. They got hit the worst with a storm and chainsaws and been going for months, and now they're going to have this, so I feel bad for them. So the other thing is the event coming up at Arrowwood. That is going to be monitored for sound because in the past they have been way over their limit. And we know because Steve and I bought a sound meter and went over there and measured ourselves in the past years and they have been over the limit. So it has to be fair for everybody. You know, just like with Fresh to Ten, they have limitations with the amount of sound they can produce out of the neighborhoods. So I just want to make sure that the town is well aware that constables may need to default. Because I can hear them in my house when I'm going to go over. That's how loud they sound. Thank you.

Okay, is there anyone else who would like to address the board tonight? Jerry?

I've got a question that I can get an This which is yet to be spoken of the authorization purchasing tasers for the constables. And I'm just a little bit confused because it shows as it does above that the radios for a term of five years. So I'm a bit confused because if you're buying something, it shouldn't be a term. So there's a bit of a contradiction. So it's either one or the other, or maybe the radio's one or the other, because they see that's a rental thing. And if I could find out what is the actual... I believe the last meeting we had before the storms chased us out of here, that it was something that Councilman Pullman had sought to look into. And I would like to also owe that comment of I'd like to look into that as well. There was just a recent uh situation in new york city in which a a person would already kill somebody and attack somebody else i've been in fact tasered and the tasers had absolutely no effect and i sense found out through associates of my past experience as to how ineffective they can be. And it brought up more questions, I think, than answers. So if the board would consider, I would be thrilled to speak with, I gather it's Councilman Coleman who's looking into this thing. just as a concern of we don't need any more lawsuits. Thank you. Thank you. I checked the weather before name down. Well, good.

Is there anyone else who would like to address the word? Okay, I will close the public comment portion of the meeting. We have, um, A bunch of questions. I can answer some of them if that's okay. So number one, the board has a, we have access to the 284 agreement. So that is the agreement we have with the highway superintendent to do paving on town roads for that year. What the plans are in the future, we don't know. So the best source would be the highway department. So they could share the 284 agreement and then the highway superintendent could, you know, discuss any plans or any needs that might not be in the 284 agreement yet. They still have some paving funds that we were discussing today that they might be doing some things. Thank you. Boodle Hole was not replaced 10 years ago. The decking was replaced. They're doing a full superstructure replacement. So there was a repair done 10 years ago to keep it going. And now they're doing a full superstructure replacement. So hopefully that helps. And then on the TASER, that is a great note about purchasing because it is a lease on the TASERs and a lease on the radio. I will be more mindful of that language. And I have been the one who has been doing the research on them, the model, the training, all of that. I am not sure, Michael, you can speak more towards what you wanted to look into. I am going to be asking the board to move those resolutions till after executive session. We will not be discussing those purchases, but there is some personnel questions that pertain to the amount, the total amount that we would have under those contracts that I wanted to get the board's input on. So that's why those are blank is because it depends on how many units we're leasing for that. Okay. Would any other, would members of the board like to answer or speak to anything in town board member time?

Okay.

Um, I just, if the board would entertain me, I just wanted to see clarity from one of the public's comments. Um, Barbara said Arrow would the event this weekend. Did you know? October 1st. Ah, thank you. Okay. October 3rd. Ah, I thought you said this weekend. That's why I was confused. All good. That's all I needed clarity on. Thank you.

Um, Well, I do know there were other loud, large weekend events recently because I heard them and I know several people commented. I saw people commenting on Nextdoor and some people talked to me directly about it. And I know we have, I don't know if it's a public assembly law or an assembly law, but there is a law about if you're gonna have gatherings in excess of 1500 people, that there's a process where you're supposed to get a permit from the town board and go through and basically have some checks and know about those events. I think it's from like 1965. So it might be something that we want to look at in the future because I think it's time to update that and it would be useful. And maybe that's not the right number, but I do think if we have the law in the books, then we should make sure that it's current and something that we're enforcing. And then in terms of Cherry's comments about the tasers, I think my comment was also tied to the conversation having and are going to have about the possibility of an academy. And it was more generally, if we're looking at that department, we're thinking about budgets in the next, you know, over the next several months, understanding specifically what the role of that department is going to be. And I think it's also important to talk to the constituents and the residents in the community to kind of see what role they want the constabulary to play, because I think that determines what type of funds we, you know, allocate for that and how that department's going to work.

the next few years and i have more comments you know specific to the conversation about the academy but that was that was what was behind that comment all right ready to move on to resolutions then okay so thank you to everyone for your comments and questions we definitely appreciate the dialogue. Resolutions. The first item on the agenda is the acceptance of the minutes.

We accept the minutes of August and August 27th as prepared by the clerk.

Second. I requested one small amendment. Very tiny, but I thought it was kind of important um can we make it with that amendment yes but the august 27th yeah yes okay okay okay any discussion all in favor aye opposed abstain motion carries do we have any donations yes thank you uh so i'll make a motion that the town of rochester town board accepts the following donation in the following amounts with gratitude from St. Pauli Textile, $142.44. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. The next, I'll read this. We have it on the amended agenda, but it was not, the numbers were not in the posted agenda. So I'll make a motion that the Town of Rochester Town Board accepts the 9A-2026 abstract and approves the payments in the following amounts. General fund expenditures $32,114.12. Highway fund a whopping $6,842.17. We had no expenses out of the ambulance fund. Capital fund $22,078.31. Street lighting $192.62. And escrow $2,625. Second. Any discussion? Thanks to Charlotte and Michael for auditing the bills. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. The next item we are tabling, but I wanted to just say that this is we did receive bond number proposals from The applicant, so this is for the Verizon Wireless Type D facility on Granite Road. We need to approve the bond amount and the bond itself in order for them to move forward. But our attorney is actively working with the applicant's attorney to get us to a place where we'll be able to approve that. So it'll most likely be in the planning board decision as a condition of approval, which is usually how it's done. I had just gotten all of this information ahead and stuck it on the agenda in case.

Our attorney.

Our attorney and the applicant's attorney. So the next item is the adoption of a refund policy for department fees. I'll make that motion as presented, as long as we can have some discussion. I'll second. Okay. So the one, well, first, is there any discussion of the policy? This was what we talked about at our last meeting. The only thing is on I kind of snuck put this in. It's highlighted in gray. We talked about a 100 percent refund if it's our administrative error. And the other thing that happens frequently is in the recreation department, there will be someone who drops out. And they will receive a refund if that slot is filled. So they'll receive a refund for the amount that the slot is filled. We usually audit that. So, but there's no other approval process that happens.

Is there a fee for that?

No.

Okay.

So we should consider it like the 75% one? Yeah. Okay. I think so. So then we'll just strike it.

People are having to go and look for more expensive alternatives. For like the summer program or the after school, parents have to take way more expensive options if a spot's taken up and then it's dropped off. And the girls do a lot of work for that program.

Okay. So we'll strike that. So then... I will.

So that would fall into the 75%?

Yeah, it just automatically.

I don't mind the 100% refund of the nominal amount as long as there's like a $25 handling fee. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I mean, I don't know what the registration is, but if the registration fee is expensive, I don't want the 25% that we're keeping to be a hardship.

It's like $100. Six feet. Yeah.

Is the fee? So 25% wouldn't that be $40? But that's going to be true for every But I think a program fee is a little bit different. We're talking like summer registration.

An exception for children's programs would be deducted a $25 admin fee for any refund at the bot, like just as only kids programs. Does that make sense?

I think what I'd like to do then, since we're really getting into the weeds on this, is pass their policy and then we can clarify it with the Recreation Department. Because I don't have, I really wasn't thinking of them. We were really thinking of planning and zoning the building department.

But they are a department, it is a department fee. The family has three kids and we're taking 25% from each of the three kids. That adds up.

So maybe we should just say that this refund policy by the recreation department is exempt?

So this in particular thing, for instance, when summer program hits, Families don't know what week they're going to get in because it's really based on where you are in line. So what people do is they put in a deposit for any week they can get available. And they plan their summer schedules and they might have a week's vacation, but that was a week that they picked for here. There is such a long process. list of people to get on it so the point here is they've now made the deposit for that week but they're not going to utilize it but they know they could fill it with another week so the the thought here is if they fill that slot that person should get their full refund that's what they're trying to express they're paying them their hourly wage for doing all that work so i think i get it you should i just don't know if that's you know right right

Because they're doing it 20 and they're working on that schedule, which I'm sure takes at least an hour of both of their time. So that's like $50. So $25 is half of our admin.

What we could do is just say that for recreation fees for children's programs, they'll get 100% less than $25 handling fee.

I think we should just pass it as is because it doesn't say program fees. And then I'll clarify with the recreation department and if we feel like we need to. So pass it as is striking the ground. So I guess I need to make that, I'll amend my motion to make the, I'll make the motion as presented with the amendment that will be striking the section regarding the program registration fees. I can as amended. Any more discussions? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. Like I mentioned before, we won't be discussing these purchases in executive session, but there's something I wouldn't want to discuss with the board. So I'd like to table F and G until after the executive session.

Just for clarification, is F a lease or is it a purchase?

It is a lease.

Is it a capitalized lease or is it a straight return the equipment at the end of the lease?

By capitalized lease.

Capitalized would just be we would get the equipment at the end.

I can refer to the quote that I supplied to you guys. but it should be there. And then the next agenda item. Yes. Yeah, sorry about that. I copied and pasted that from like three agendas ago when I thought we were purchasing them and then it turned out it was a lease. So scheduling budget meetings. I wanted to go ahead and schedule some things. Number one is the public hearing on the preliminary budget has to be held on or before the Thursday immediately following the election. We don't have a meeting. I don't think we have a meeting scheduled for that unless we That is November 5th. And I'm, don't, let me pull up the, I forgot to double check this.

The election is November 3rd, right?

Yeah, so the Thursday immediately following the election is the 5th. We used to always have a meeting that day, but now we're the 2nd and the 4th. We don't have a meeting that day. So we have to have it on or before election.

So I want to... We did have one.

Um, okay. Let me just see if we actually scheduled a meeting for that as an exception.

Okay. We did.

So we do have a meeting on November 5th. So I guess my next question would be, do we want to have, we can't schedule the public hearing. I just wanted to make sure we have the meeting scheduled so we can announce when that will be so people can plan for it. So does the board want to have the public hearing for the budget at that meeting? Or do we want to schedule a special meeting where we would have the public hearing for the preliminary budget? And then that would determine when we finish the preliminary budget.

I'm comfortable with having a fifth unless you feel that a date's more appropriate.

It's tradition, but I'm fine deviating. Tradition. I'm here for it. Absolutely. Okay, so then that means, so we don't need to do that one since we already have a meeting scheduled. So then that means that the, my town hall manual, it's five days. We have to publish preliminary budget five days. So then that means that it's five business days. Can I count election next? One, two, three, four, five. If it's business days, it would be the 28th is when the preliminary budget has to be finalized. We don't have a meeting that week. And I think we're going to want a meeting that week. Like, otherwise we have to have the preliminary budget. If we're not scheduling any additional meetings, it has to be done on the 22nd. That's what we're doing right now. I'm just, I want to make sure that we're mindful of our deadlines. So we have, if we don't schedule any extra meetings, then we're stuck with the October 8th and 22nd. And that's a long amount of time between when our preliminary budget that's. So I wanted to look, I'm going backwards.

You're asking about 26 or 27 Octobers. Yeah.

I do like to have a little bit of time to, if we make any changes to the preliminary budget, I have to get a final copy of it to be. So if.

26th of planning board meeting. So I haven't found this plan. It's fourth, could be third.

Oh, they don't have to meet here.

I'll let you do it. We can meet at other meetings at least. Okay. I mean, we could do the 27th as long as I'm like super organized. But I just feel like, well, it just isn't very welcoming to the public, but if people are engaged and want to witness our... Whatever you want.

You could ask the fire district. They can use the cell phone.

That's true. But I wouldn't want to make, we wouldn't want to do a resolution with that. And then I think that he's meeting on that Tuesday. Or were you looking at the calendar?

They do have a, I mean, it's on the calendar.

Yeah. All right. So if we did it the Monday or Tuesday, we have to do it somewhere else anyway. So let me ask you this. I want to commit. Does the 26th or the 27th work better or worse for any of the board members?

Same thing. Are we talking normal time?

Yeah.

And we're, oh, this isn't to have the departments there. Yeah.

Well, the departments might be there.

Okay. Yeah. I just, it's after hours.

Okay. And then I think we should plan right now. So if you could put calendar holds on those two days, then I'll figure out a location. Yeah. 630. Yeah. And then in terms of scheduling a second additional special meeting, I think if we space it out, the week of the 13th, we don't have a meeting, though there are meetings on the Monday and the Thursday.

So. Yeah. So I think because Monday is the holiday. So I think the planning board is to that Tuesday.

Oh, they are.

Okay.

That's why it says that. So that Wednesday, the 14th, we could have it here. Does that work for you guys?

One times 630?

Yeah.

Yep.

OK. And do you want to keep it to just scheduling those two meetings? Or do you want to schedule the budget has to be presented You get it on the 30th and it has to be what presented to the town board. Yeah.

Totally by the fifth. And is that has to happen in a public meeting? I think it might essentially.

I thought it did.

And I think it's no later than the fifth.

Yeah. So we don't have a lot of options because the weekend, um, Yeah. Yep. At a regular or special meeting. So we basically have to schedule a meeting on October 5th.

What? November.

November. No, I have to present a budget. We're working on that later than the 5th of October.

At a meeting. And the budget is due to Kate on September 30th. I'm sorry, did you say October 6th or 5th? 5th. I mean, it could also be Friday, October 2nd, the day before Heritage Day. Doesn't that sound like something to do, Kate? The end of September is brutal. When are we even meeting? Oh, we're meeting on Heritage Day. That would be fun. Yeah, sure. Then you don't have no pie in our faces. I'm not waiting for anything to happen. Then we could do the pie in the face. HAB-Masyn Moyer- With the presentation or. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Just make beds on time we keep. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Any other budgets.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- Oh, don't show. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Okay, so. HAB-Masyn Moyer- 1426 and 27 yeah.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- Well, the 26 or the 27 yeah, but if you can hold that. HAB-Masyn Moyer- So. HAB-Masyn Moyer- I was escaping. HAB-Masyn Moyer- October 5 would be at 630. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Here. HAB-Masyn Moyer- yeah. HAB-Masyn Moyer- We just call mistake. HAB-Masyn Moyer- But 12. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Okay, so I want to i'm going to go ahead and schedule for the end of October, I'll see what space is available and base the meeting off of that. So I'll make a motion that the town board or the town of Rochester schedules special budget workshop meetings to be held at, not the town hall, at the Harold Lipton Community Center at 15 Tobacco Road at the following dates and times, October 5th, 2026 at 6.30 p.m. and October 14, 2026 at 6.30 p.m. and request the town clerk circulate notice.

Second.

Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain. Motion carries. So I'll be, I would like to put it out there into the public that the public hearing for the budget will be on November 5 so that. we're going to just state that so that people know and can plan, because this people might want to be engaged in the budget processes here. Next motion is a budget modification to add more funds to a. existing position so i'll make the motion that the town board authorizes. the budget officer to move funds from budget line 1410.472, town clerk education in the amount of $800 to budget line 1410.115, town clerk personal services, the deputy town clerk for position. Second. Any discussion? Thank you to Shirley for all the work she's doing for Kate on those. Yeah, shredding. It's a messy job. Yeah. Every time I walked in, she's in there. She is. Right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. This is an additional resolution. So I'll make a motion that the town of Rochester town board authorizes the town supervisor, to sign the New York State Office of Children and Family Services program application and be submitted by our recreation director, Ashley Sweeney, as presented. Any discussion? Yes, and I had put the backup in for you on Tuesday and let you guys know about that. And I have a print copy of it if you guys want it. There... The copy that I, there was like an issue. It was like that document was locked into review mode. So it was very weird the way it came out, but I fixed it. So the one that we're submitting is not the weird review. Is there any discussion? All in favor, aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. Next is I'll make a motion that the town board amends resolution 174 of 2026 acceptance of abstract 5A of 2026 in the following manner that the escrow expenditures should change, sorry, from $11,371.16 to $11,296.16 due to a clerical error of $75. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Staying? Motion carries. So at our business meetings, we have a second public comms portion of the meeting. You all heard the drill the first time. We don't have town board member time after this. Just to clarify, but is there anyone who would like to address the board at this point?

Barbara? As far as the little hole bridge close, that's the county. So I'm assuming the county is responsible for any signs of closed roads. So all I see right now is nothing until you almost get to the bridge. So having lived there and went through the Fourth of July, it's like, and that's the only crossroads. What's going to prevent somebody come up MediCon expecting to get out to Boodle Hole and find out even at the corner of Boodle Hole, I can't build that way. Or same thing with Queens Highway. So is there going to be any signs even on 209 saying Boodle Hole Road bridge closed to give people the ability to figure out how to navigate. So because I'm telling you, it's like I spent hours, especially the Fourth of July weekend with people here that don't even know where they are. And that was closers just from all the trees down. There were people like, the traffic was like crazy. People not, well, then where do I go? How do I go here? You know, so, and I've also experienced, you know, let's say closures before where you don't find out until too late that you can't go that way. I don't know if the town can do anything because it is a county issue, so.

Okay. Is there anyone else who would like to address the board?

Bill? You had mentioned the two items that you had tabled until after executive session. I wasn't quite clear on what you were telling the board in terms of what you were going to talk about in relationship to them during executive session. executive session. Neither of these seem to be covered, so I'd be interested in trying to get there. Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to address the board?

Jerry? The previous comment in regards to Buddha Hall, somebody, myself, who travels Buddha Hall, leaving some of the gravel banks going towards my way, that is an trying to back around with the equipment trailer and other heavy trucks that do cross through Louisville, it's absolute necessity that fair warning be given before you enter onto Louisville. So I second that observation by Bob.

Okay. Would anyone else like to address the board tonight? This is your final chance to address the board. No, you can always call us, email us. Okay, I'll close the public comment portion of the meeting and we are moving on to discussion items. For the financial plan, capital plan, I uploaded the building condition survey that was done in 2021. And Stacy and I took a look at it and I asked her to try to put the data in a form that might be easier for the town board with the escalations on construction. So we did that. I did a very conservative escalation. So I did a little bit of research and it seemed like the advice from municipal construction is 3%, which I know sounds really low. So keep that in mind. So we did a escalation from the time this was published through 2027. Those columns are hidden. This building condition survey comes with a $7 million price tag for improvements. So that is not building a new building. That is not building new buildings. space that is not having a meeting room that is just fix the things that are broken some of the stuff i don't think we would ever do um so i went through and i added up all the um building improvements and I subtracted the things that we have done. So there are things that we have done from this. And I came up with $1.3 million to do like things that I think make sense to do. Now there is a project of like replacing all of the asphalt at the transfer station, which was this huge, you know, 12 foot deep asphalt. I don't think we're going to do that for $800,000, right? So I did not include that. But in terms of the way we, the improvements that just get the buildings up to par, it's $1.3 million. So that is, you know, should be part of our discussion in terms of our long-term planning. This survey came with a scoring criteria of like one is you really need to fix this immediately some of those things have already been done some of them have not been done and it goes to five which is um like you know this is something that needs to be done but the level of urgency of it now were this to be done today five years later uh some of those fives might be ones now i don't know but um we're sort of going off of this. You know, one thing that I think the board can see, I did share the survey with the public. So it's in the share folder that's linked at the top of the agenda. But it's a huge, it's like hundreds of line items. So it's a lot to sort through. We repaired the roof of the highway garage. We replaced the roof of the pavilion. We took down the Kwanzaa Hut, we cleaned that out. We took down the old playground. So there are some things that came with big, you know, numbers that we have accomplished. So I also think that this is something we need to think about when we're talking about moving forward with an infrastructure plan, because I was on the board when we did the survey. And the first thing that CPL said is, you know, it probably makes a lot more sense for the town to build new infrastructure in many of these cases than it does for you to spend $100,000 repairing the kennel, which is like not even worth that, right? So that's definitely something that we consider, especially when we look at some of our buildings like the highway, garage, the courthouse. is like, what's the best use of those taxpayer dollars? So I wanted to see if the board had a chance to kind of re-familiarize yourself with this or if you had any questions or comments or ideas that you wanted to share while I build out that spreadsheet framework for the long-term plan.

Has... Have these repairs been looked at in the context of a sort of town space needs assessment of any sort?

Can you explain that question?

Like, have we looked to see, I mean, we're talking about repairing these buildings and their existing functions. Has the town ever conducted a study um there might be consolidation or the ability to reduce the average square foot for office or et cetera et cetera we have not i i mean definitely think we need to do things because i think that that before we consider new construction or repairing any of this i think we need to do what needs assessment for what space the town actually needs and could live with while also anticipating potential future use.

And I mean, I think part of the long-term financial planning is where are we going to be in 10 years too? So if we know that one department might have more staff in 10 years, that's an important consideration.

It also gives the opportunity to look at consolidation

I think this format is great to look at this, so thanks to you and Stacey for putting it together.

I am going to console it all into one sheet so we can. We both like database. Yeah, I think the.

The spreadsheet's super helpful. I haven't made it through all of it to digest completely. I also have some filming through the building condition survey from 2020. Yeah, it's from that. And looking at, like, specifics and, like, the different tiers of things that they have in there for us, their options. So, yes, I do think there's a lot of things you guys can do.

Yeah. And I will say, um, that the PowerPoint presentation is more user-friendly than the spreadsheet that was provided. That, that spreadsheet that was provided by the consultant is, it's like, there's lots of blank rows and, um, it's hard to see it in a snapshot. The PowerPoint presentation was more in like this. Um, but what we wanted to see is an escalation too. So that of course that, um, required to put it in a formula.

I think the other big thing from a financial plan is, I know we have a lot of data on the vehicles in our fleet, but if we did some kind of planning of when the replacement, when they're thinking these would need to be replaced, and we could see what those, because I know vehicle costs have gone crazy, as well as the lead times on that.

Yeah.

That would be the other major expenditure.

Right. But back to the infrastructure, I think one thing that's abundantly clear, though, regardless of consolidation of space, these are public buildings and our number one job as public officials is health, safety, and welfare. So we don't want to be inviting the public to to a space that doesn't guarantee that and i think it's to me abundantly clear that it we really need to be prioritizing over anything um getting our spaces up making sure all the number ones are taken care of. So that's what I would focus on if we're looking at a long-term plan is what does it look like to do all those number ones that we haven't done yet.

But I think that when you look at the number ones, you also have to look at how those things can consolidate so that number one might not need to be done at all if you don't mean the building.

Mm-hmm.

But I think that as long as those buildings are being operated and used, we have to take care of the number ones and make sure that the safety is at the top.

Okay. So I'd like to move on from that. Thanks for taking a look. And I'll ping you when I've got it all consolidated so you can do a sort and see. all the number ones by building all in one snapshot. That's kind of the goal there. But speaking of, speaking of, so the town hall roof was a number one, still hasn't been repaired and it still leaks. So where the town hall meets the highway garage, There are two separate buildings that are like built up against each other and water just goes down between them and there is a active mold leak situation in the assessor's office.

You already patched that once, didn't you? No. You didn't patch it three years ago? Nope.

The good news is the quote I got for that was half of what this building condition survey said it would be. However, it's high enough that we have to bid it. So it has to be a competitive bid process. It's a public works project. So we are required to go with the lowest responsible bidder on that. So it should be pretty cut and dry, one pager. I basically wanted to give the board the heads up because this, the group has deteriorated and that we really need to do it. Harry has really been saying, it would be great if this could happen before the winter. Cause if we have another winter, like last one, I don't know what's going to happen to that. So we can, we'll go ahead and I'll prepare that for our next meeting. And I'll just do the short, a short turnaround. Cause this is an easy one to advertise.

What kind of, is it APDM?

Yes. That's the one that's like, Before yeah question, yes, yes. We got an initial quote, so that I knew what the ballpark was. But it was above that the threshold so.

So, looking at the quote is that the two numbers together that these two together, or is it just the. That one. yeah.

But I think what I would do is we have to put in the specifications of exactly what we're looking for for that. As a reminder, though, I think one of the questions I had, we went with a Lower cost option for the highway garage roof and it's only guaranteed for three years. So we're on the second year of that. Do you want me to put that in with the bid.

Yeah.

To see what it would cost to do all at once. Yes.

I haven't got two separate Yes.

Okay.

All right. Our Toshiba contract is up for renewal. This is a five-year lease agreement that we have with the vendor. So it ends October 31st. Kate and I had a meeting with Toshiba, who we have a really great relationship with. However, you know, a contract coming up is an opportunity to relook at things. I wanted to ask the board your opinion on approaching this. We do have, I think we're all used to the Toshiba equipment, our sales rep, our, the, what would you call the other guy? He's like technical.

Yeah, he's tech.

He's more like a technical person. They're going to supply a quote for another five-year lease.

On the same piece of equipment?

No, on the new equipment that has the newer scanning technology that will convert documents. They have to be clean documents, but it'll convert them to Word and Excel files and readable documents. Readable documents. And then we are also getting a quote for the state contract for purchasing the machines with a service, you know, a monthly service contract. Yeah. Now, since both of those are on contract, we wouldn't have to do a big process. if we wanted to explore options, that would kind of go into the longer project territory.

In your experience, have you ever found vendors on various purchase things that have been cheaper than the state bid card?

For Toshiba? For just... Oh, uh-huh. Yeah. It's not necessarily less. But also, like, I didn't... We've kind of talked about when these contracts are up, we want to have the opportunity to review and decide like how we want to move forward. So I guess it was more like, should we stick with Toshiba or does the board want to see what other options are out there?

It doesn't cost us anything to look at other options, right?

I mean, you guys want to charge $25 for the record? Apartments type of.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- same.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- um it just takes time yeah. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Okay.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- So who else is out there cannon Epson my work. HAB-Masyn Moyer- yeah.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- The one we use the court.

HAB-Danny Teodoru, Co- You have any sense, maybe we'll see other supervisors as everyone.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- I will pulse. HAB-Masyn Moyer- A lot of people landscape or. Popular at least.

Marble Sound has a great deal of camera. But if it's within range, I don't think we can tell.

My suspicion is the cost isn't going to be much different.

The service we get from Toshiba is like, wouldn't you say it's like blows it out of the park for what we were using before? Yeah, absolutely.

This is unrelated to our docuware.

It is unrelated. I want you to know that we are scheduling a tech call to discuss some of the workflows, how things work with DocuWare, what's included in DocuWare, how we might have things work with OneDrive. And I requested that you be included because I know you're going to have lots of questions about DocuWare. So we're going to do that in the next two weeks before our next meeting.

I also think it's crazy that We pay like, we get like two color copies. Did I read that right? Okay. You get two color copies a month?

So here's what it is. You can do, you can structure your monthly lease so that you include a certain amount of copies or you can structure it so you pay as you go. There is no savings, except if you were to overshoot your number, you would be paying more, right? So the town opted to basically pay for color copies because they cost more. But it doesn't cost the town more or less to do one model or the other. The only benefit now, we do know what our baseline is. So we could do that. And then our monthly expenditures would be even. We wouldn't get hit with a quarterly increase. bill but right now we're budgeting our budget is covering that because we include it so but if you go over if you bid if you estimate over they don't give you money back nope

No. But if you overuse, do they charge you a penalty?

They do.

We don't get a penalty. We're just paying $0.05 for color. But that's how much it costs. So we either would pay $0.05 if we said include $1,000.

It's not like leasing a car where if you do 15,000 miles, they'll charge you a lot more for the color.

No. It's just about how and when you're paying for it. So we pay for the color. copies quarterly. So we get a quarterly usage bill. We pay a monthly lease fee and then we get a quarterly bill for like the only things that aren't included in our color copies and staples. So you guys signed a voucher for staples.

So why do we never get like the staples?

Well, you did tonight. I love the staple feature, but it's not included. But it's great. Okay. Can we move on from that? So I'll get some sense of what else is out there. I should have the Shiva quotes tomorrow. So I'll have that all lined up for our next meeting. All right. The Stonehenge library came back to me and said, asked if I could make a proposal. And I said, have not been worked on it. So what does, what do you guys want? How should we do this?

I mean, I think my general feeling is that we have to be fair to the Stone Ridge Library. and our usage, but I still am having an issue with those potential patrons who have both Stone Ridge and Ellenville library cards because they have access to substantial, I mean, a great portion of the materials from Ellenville, but they're taking up a...

Under the current agreement.

Under the current agreement. So it's sort of, I think it should be sort of an either or situation from definitely from patrons, but maybe it's something that we need to do on a more university basis.

Yeah. You mean that's an argument for going for the, anybody can get a card.

Well, if everybody can get a card and we're paying both library systems for every user, then we're paying for some users to have double benefit.

Well, only one library limits that.

Right. But the other one doesn't. So, I mean, we have a limited number of cards or memberships in the Stone Ridge system. um and i we don't have any way of determining who has both stone ridge and elmville so we don't know what that overlap in the that diagram is to see how those people who have two card systems or are members of two cards are crowding out the number of people that we want to have available or pay for within marbledown can i bring something to our next board meeting for us um with an idea

structure and way to do that without breaking confidentiality between the two libraries because i've worked in that world a lot where we could make it so that if they have an ellenville pass that they have to pay a fee or something to have a stonebridge one also to have two because i don't think we should be limiting people's access to information knowledge learning in any way especially and we don't even have our own libraries So the fact that we get two that are willing to contract us for our people to go to, to me, is an amazing situation. To have access, I've used both since I was a kid, depending on which area my parents had a job in, to drop me off on their way to work. So I think that there's a creative way that we can do it where it's fair to the people that where people who only have the Stonebridge one aren't getting charged and they're a part of that number we are paying for and then working out a fee for people who have an Allenville one obviously we can't confirm that with Allenville but I think that most people if they say oh do you have a library card to Allenville aren't gonna you know try to cover it if we make it a nominal fee so I just want to back up because this conversation kind of presupposes

That what we're saying is that we want to keep the old model and just pay an amount of money for a specific number of library cards. Is that true? Because that's what we're being asked to decide.

That's true on the first level. But on the second, when you look at it one level down, we're looking at how do you allocate that limited number of stone rich memberships? I mean, and the issue was first come first serve or based on financial need or what other structure, what other methods are there? Because if somebody who can afford to pay for a membership goes there and happens to be the first one to call you, that might not have the means to do that, you know, is number 251 out of 250 and is locked out. Is that the first way for the town to allocate those memberships?

Right. But prior to that, the proposal that was presented to us was a potential increase of $25,000 for unlimited accounts. I think I'm going to ask is, are we saying we don't think we can consider that and we don't want to propose any alternative?

Yeah, that's what I'm asking.

I mean, I'm willing to pay that, but my understanding was that the rest of the board thought that that could be done in the budget this year in any way. So I'm looking for alternatives. I'm fine with paying the $15,000 or however the amount, the increase more is to make sure that all of our residents have that fair access to both libraries. But if it's not able to happen in the budget, then we have to have another backup solution. to make that work, where we can try to make it the most equitable and fair that we can to all of our residents.

Not a lot of lead time to make a decision like that. I think in terms of supporting libraries, it's a critical resource. And I think we should do everything we can. And you divide $25,000 among all taxpayers, it may not be significant. But we have all of these things that are going up in the budget this year.

So didn't they say that for the first year they would do 25 total, which is a $10,000 increase or a $9,000 increase?

We had discussed that, but I think when they were putting their budget together, they said they assumed 40.

Okay, but we should go off of what we talked about at our last meeting and not what you guys have kind of... We talked about that number as a starting point for year one and seeing where it went. And I guess the question is like, are we comfortable committing to that so that we can tell the library that?

I mean, we haven't had any of our budget meetings. My initial reaction is yes, if we got unlimited users, I think that's a reasonable amount of money to pay for that. And we should make sure people utilize the service. But we may get to a point where we're like, where we can't afford all this stuff. I don't know what else is going to be hiding that we're not accounting for.

Stay your own way.

We need our own library. Well, yeah. The cost of that would be way more.

I mean, what would the cost be of adding ourselves to the Stoneman's Library District or the Illinois Library District?

If we set up a taxing district, per se.

Yeah. I mean, these are all long term. For the next 12 months, I'm comfortable with increasing to 25,000 for as was the basis of discussion. But I think that long term, we have to look at it more comprehensively.

So here's what I'm hearing is as a goalpost, the 25,000 is something that we would put into the tentative budget. And if we end up in a situation where we have to knock that back to more like what it would be under the current agreement, what we would want to say is we would like for there to be a different process for how those library memberships are granted. And so we would want, and if they want our administrative help with that, that's a cost that we're willing to. So doing a lottery, having a request that if you have an Ellenville library card, please pay your way and just hope, you know, we would, that would, there isn't a, I think the administration on forcing of like having a database on that would be really challenging, but we could have a,

um honor system for that like you were saying yeah okay so does that that synthesizes where we're at i think i think that addresses everything yes i have my question for the budget when we get to this we can budget for an identified grant for the following year and then if the grant does not come in we have just cut both sides of that from the budget correct yep So theoretically, if we identified a $15,000 grant for getting rural kids access to library services, we could potentially put the $40,000 in the budget.

But kids aren't paying, right? If they're

If they're students of Rwanda, but if they're students of the private schools in the area, they have to... Well, you're just saying it's...

I'm saying... We could say that, but we wouldn't want to promise that to the library.

No, but we could explain it with those conditions. But I'm saying potentially if I were able to find us one that we were eligible for with up to $15,000, we could try to bridge that gap.

Yes, you could do... That could be... But again, yeah, with the disclaimer. Okay. So I think we've... I will get back to them on our range. All right, next, I wanted to discuss amendments to our local laws. So we have X, Y, and Z. Can we pull those up and see if there are any changes that we wanna make before we adopt? We do have a required modification from the Ulster County Planning Board to make it clear that our food truck permit process does not impact farm operations. All right, so I'm gonna, let's start with X.

Okay.

Local law acts, puts, allows food trucks in the business district, the Hamlet district, and the agricultural business district by right. They are permitted as an accessory use when located on a parcel with a legally established commercial restaurant, brewery, cidery, distillery, or permanent commercial event venue. And then we're prohibited as a standalone use in a purely residential district unless they're operating under something that's listed as a gigant.

So if it's an accessory use, say you have a restaurant and the restaurant owners want to have a couple of food trucks there for variety for a special event or something. That's an accessory use, right? And what is the process for obtaining permits?

Well, in the next, in local law, why we exempt them from the permit process.

Well, but is what Zali is saying, is that considered an accessory use or would that be governed by the permit process if they're having multiple, like if you had a wedding and you wanted five food trucks, that would be like, get it, get the permit.

not adding a use to the parcel it used to be if you if you had like a permanent food truck that's in addition to your restaurant right i think it's just saying that it's accessory in that if you had a house there and not a restaurant it's not allowed whereas if you have a restaurant it's accessory to the restaurant okay it's not giving a camp a camper i don't know i'm just saying i think you're

But in the permitting law requirements, a permit is not required for a food truck on a restaurant property.

Correct. Any of these, any where it's considered accessory, you're exempt from the permit process. And I think we want to make sure when we read that part of the code that it's 100% clear. But I just want to pull up, the Ulster County Planning Board.

For this or for why?

Well, it was supposed to be for this because we referred zoning regulations to them. I think they commented. But I think... I mean, I think we have to kind of interpret what they're saying for both. The municipality should revise the proposed law to recognize the protections afforded to qualifying farm operations within New York State agricultural districts. The law should include language providing that its licensing location, dimensional operational and summer requirements shall not be applied to a farm operation in a matter inconsistent with with agricultural markets law 305A. This need not provide a blanket exemption for every food truck located on agricultural land. Rather, the applicability of the exemption or modified requirements should depend on whether the activity is part of a qualifying farm operation or protected agricultural direct marketing activity. The municipality should consult with ag and markets regarding the proposed regulations and consider including a specific agricultural district provision or exemption to avoid unregional restrictions on protected farm operations. Well, I think what I'd like to do is send these two laws with the required modification to ag and markets not refer it just let me contact them directly because i can probably get answers next week yeah and then use that as the basis for that amendment does that make sense um because i don't want to do something that then doesn't do what we want it to do um i'm going to go check on my babysitter uh i have to of staying for the lower on these laws anyway because my employer addresses but by catching game and a boot drop long um so i'm just checking my views okay so local law why is the permitting with any other do you guys want to change anything else about what districts it's allowed in you know the only thing

I mean, AR3, I could see it being an accessory use, but I think ag and markets is going to, you know, for an actual farm operation, not for a residential dwelling. So I think ag and markets would allow, would then potentially still allow it, right? If it's an operating farm and they want to have a food grub in the AR3 district.

So we should say in our accessory uses, which doesn't, is blanket across any district. So in the accessory, you could be an R2 and it be an accessory use, right? So it's allowed as long as it's a farm operation. So we should add farm operation into that list. So in local law X, we're definitely going to add farm operation to that list of uses.

Yeah. which aligns with what the planning board is kind of saying, right?

Yeah. Okay. But other than that, was there any, are there any other changes to local law X? Because we'll be present, ideally we're going to be presenting what we're voting on so that we are making the best use of our time. So the permit, have you guys gone through the permit requirements and seeing if there's anything that we think is the one thing that Ulster County Planning Board asked us to do in the last referral is the signage on 209 that we just need to require there be some kind of no parking, make it clear that people can't park. That was a required modification. HAB-Juliette Boone, So that would be. HAB-Juliette Boone, That would be in the operations section.

HAB-Juliette Boone, We never got anything from our planning board no. I know two things that are involved in their discussion, the exceptions, a cap of two events per year. Some people thought that was a little strict.

We got rid of that. This is a different version.

Which one are you talking about? And I'm wrong.

Let me double check. Um, okay. What would a fair, what would a fair thing be? This is for like, um, having a party. Yeah. We, the, the special permit for public and special events that also had a cap. That's what I deleted. So I didn't, I've missed this one.

I mean, we can also need it when it becomes a problem. It's in

Yeah, I mean, what's a fair amount? You wouldn't want someone to get away with having a food truck at their house through this. That's what the food's like.

We're saying you're not allowed. I would say, like, if we wanted to go up to, like, four. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Like once, but I also think to is fine i'm just relaying what was part of that discussion I don't necessarily think it is unreasonable.

HAB-Charlotte Pitts, What I would like to hear is what edits the board would like to make this law.

HAB-Jacques Juilland, Well, I don't feel like we need.

HAB-Charlotte Pitts, A the planning board did not submit anything to us so. What you're sharing is hearsay.

Listen, it's on YouTube. Out there.

Okay. So do you feel that we should increase the number of events per year or not?

No, I think we made it, and if it becomes a problem, we can always increase it.

And again, we're talking about a private residence. Yeah. Okay.

Okay.

I think it's good.

Yeah, we're not putting any limitations on food trucks in terms, it's an annual permit and they can just operate throughout the year. That was a change that I made in this draft. And then I got rid of like a lot of the requirements. Okay, so the only thing we'll add is farm operation, no parking signage, and otherwise I will get that draft together.

Okay.

Local law Z, Michael's law.

That's not what it's called.

So local law Z is the... How are you guys feeling about this law?

It's good to me. I think I gave you my comments. It's microphone, so I have no comments.

You have no comments. Okay. I have no comments. We are just waiting. We had to refer it. So, okay. Great. Moving on. We might be... HAB-Masyn Moyer- Ending at nine okay. HAB-Masyn Moyer- All right, the battery energy storage system next steps here's my update the moratorium expired November 14. HAB-Masyn Moyer- So does the board want me to prepare a extension. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Yes, i'll do a six month. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Extension. HAB-Masyn Moyer- For the next meeting. And then I just wanted to share with the board that there is a forum on this technology that is being held by the Office of Emergency Services in Westchester County about the risks of this type of technology, because that is the biggest concern. And you're all invited. I will circulate that. I'm not sure if I'll be able to go, but if I can go, I will. It's October 19. It's the full day. I'm also going to invite the fire districts. And I'll see if someone from the Code Enforcer office can go, potentially. But that's my update on that. So the peace officer had his follow-up. They kind of withdrew the request so that they had more time to pull together the information that the board wanted. And so it didn't feel like they could get every, get it together in the way that the board wanted by the time they were thinking. So yeah. My next, I've been getting kind of one-off requests for trainings. And so we did receive a request to allow one of our constables to go to a election law training that's coming up, which is about enforcing election law, like at the polls. And so when we do it, when we allow a training for someone, that means we pay for their time. basically um and there's also a request to have one of the staff members in the code enforcement office do the code enforcement officer of the code enforcement official training certification training which is um 160 hours one over the course of several months so it's like one week a month. And just like all of these other things that come up, two things came up is one, I kind of wanted to get a sense from the board when something is like very, very on point with a position. Like I have the ability to approve trainings as long as it's the budget. When it comes to time, And something like the constables, they kind of have a flexible amount of time. So budgetary wise, it's not an issue, but I just, the election law enforcement is. I mean, we know town is not. And we, right. And we haven't had constables at the polls before.

So, I mean, I'm also, I mean, it's great that. whoever requested that training is seeking to expand his knowledge and training. I think that's wonderful. But I don't see the relevancy for the constabulary as a municipal agency. Right. We'll skip Jane.

Yes.

Let's take it.

Let's cancel.

Yeah, I mean, I think

obviously any kind of continuing education but it would be helpful to have like a plan of yeah these are the courses that's how i feel yeah what's also there i mean i think there should be some job relevancy in terms of service to the town yeah yeah that's how i feel as opposed to burnishing crude criticizing the desire to burnish this redemption settlement. It's just a matter of we're with limited budgets and we're having to make sacrifices in other areas. It's fair for us to require that any continuing ed has direct job relevance.

Yep. That's kind of where I was at, but I felt like, you know, for the kind of the two things were this, the relevancy conversation. Also, I think job advancement. So like to me, if someone is in a department where there are other positions that they're subordinate to that require job, certain levels of training. I also think that that's very relevant to a job.

It is, but I think there should also be a cure period where there's a tenure in position period before we pay for training to advance to the next level.

Yeah, so that's kind of what I wanted to ask is like, what do we think of if everyone is in agreement in terms of like investment in training hours for staff. Like, I mean, I think we have a six month probationary period. I think it should definitely be after that.

But also another thing to do would be to limit the number of trainings any individual employee can have in a... Yeah, that's what I was thinking, doing an hour per year or something. So that we can allocate some of that the imputed cost of that to other departments that might want to do the same type of thing.

Yeah, I think there are some positions where you're required to do a training.

But when it's, yeah.

Okay. Well, this is exactly what I wanted to. I definitely feel similarly, but I felt like in terms of making decisions, these kind of bigger, having a more like a criteria I wanted to discuss with you guys.

What were you gonna say? I was gonna say, can we add to this discussion? Just I'm curious what we would think of the policy for, Our boards and committees do have that request for the GIS class for two of the housing committee members. It's within their budget. What they want to use it for is something that can be really helpful. They want to be able to overlay existing geographical data to create printable maps. that tell a story of what conditions, not like specific parcels in the town of Rochester are more housing friendly in different zonings that it's meant for and like do different overlays in that sense where like the water district where there's more water in an area and show those maps and like to try to sort out where the most right area is for us to allow that development as part of it. There's other ones that I wrote down when I was taking notes. So I'm wondering if We could do the same with committees. I know that planning and zoning have required training that they have to do. So that's like separate those. I'm talking more of our volunteer ones or like ad hoc or ECC or those types of things.

Right. No, I think this year this has come up. It's never come up like this before, but I was thinking about it even with the planning board. We had two people request to go to training that costs money, and I'm like, that just used half of the budget for two people. How do we... you know, that's, I mean, right now it's fine because nobody's requesting, we don't have any other requests for trainings that cost money, but, but it is something that we have to consider. I think we have kind of a lot of new people and we want to make sure that they have what they need. And that kind of brings up a question is like, oh, is there something foundational that we should be providing instead of going off of you know just ad hoc there should be some kind of plan yes yeah i agree of like this is what you need in order to do a good job in this this is what we want you to have this is the foundation we want you to have yeah sometimes like on board by the type of committee it is if like even if it's just like here are some examples of like a ted talk or like a lecture online of like what

were paying for but sometimes like info um so yeah opinions on committees and boards doing trainings ollie and michael committee members like if the committee is like voted to use part of their budget to allow someone to go take that training course to help the committee with a project or work and it's within their budget how do we

I mean, are they, I'm trying to remember when we budget for the committees for budgeting, not for sub components, right? Like training. It's just, this is the committee's budget to be used for.

Yeah. Would they be operating whenever they do, you know, printing their banner and things.

I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to say we should do it. And then it's. suddenly we're gonna have committee budgets going up because we're gonna be adding a bunch of trainings, or we're gonna have committees that don't have budgets that are then gonna want budgets. I still think it's better to have the board, planning board, I think, ZBA, their independent bodies, maybe they have a little bit more discretion, but I think for volunteer committees, it's better to have things like that approved by the board.

No, no, I agree. I guess I'm just asking, like, as an opinion for, in general, allowing training for our volunteers then, like, through the same process where, like, we would approve it, approve about it, like, it's within their budget, X, Y, and Z. I think it's helpful.

I think I would say the same thing about the conceptually, you know, let's have a good understanding of what the training is providing. Yeah. before we make that decision?

Yes, yeah, I can, like I said, I'll send you guys everything for a specific one. I will say, though, this is something that was offered and suggested to our housing committee members to take from the county's planning department, the housing staff are there, Kai, and there's several other towns' housing committees who have signed up for this specific course, just in general.

I also think, I mean, specific to that request, I'm curious if the Ulster County Office of GIS could also help with some of that stuff.

You know, doing my research on this class, I did see that the Ulster County GIS offers training.

Like through their office?

Through their office, on their website at least, whether that's easily scheduled or not. And we'll do some digging on for us as well. But yeah, so I'll bring that to the next meeting. It doesn't start filling on that person. Or that, but not a lot to that decision.

Okay. I'm sorry. Nothing? Okay. Under other matters, I wanted to, so we have two town board candidates that we want to interview. I'd like to do those interviews the week of the 21st. I would rather not schedule them at the September 24th meeting, and we can't really do them before. Now, the only day that really works is the 21st, unless... Yeah, that's not a planning board meeting. So... Just is the board available. That would be just to to town board interviews, it would be a public meeting. And if you're available. We can schedule it now.

It's young.

Oh, is that young. I was about to say isn't around for We could do it. The 22nd, but I need an alternate location. That's the first night of, that's, Yom Kippur ends or begins?

I don't know, just Yom Kippur.

No.

So early. I know it is Yom Kippur.

They can do the 21st.

Sundown on the 20th on Sunday and then as the night falls on the 21st, it's one day.

Okay, so break fast is going to be like, okay. So if we do the 22nd, I have to figure out a different location or ask the ECC to change their meeting so that we could use the space.

I want to do it that week. It can only work that week.

One of our candidates couldn't do it. Before then, basically. Okay. So I thought, well, to me, it felt after we, I felt like it's more fair to do both interviews together.

So the 22nd, you're asking?

Yeah.

And I mean, I think the ACG should be able to, when does the meeting usually start? Six? Six. Does it go longer than an hour? Is it possible? So I was going to say, if we could do it on a Tuesday, if we could do it at 7, that would be better.

At 7? Okay.

I mean, I'd probably make 6.30 work. You know what? Do it at 6.30 and then

All right, so I'm going to have to just schedule that as the supervisor as the supervisor, though, because I don't have, we can't, we have to put the location and I don't want to put it in since there's a meeting scheduled here.

So 27 to 630.

Yeah. Can you do that. So we'll have it that night. Does that work for you, Charlotte.

I might get scheduled at work. I have to put myself ahead of time, but I'll try to be there. I'll switch it up for something if I get scheduled.

Okay. All right. So that's when we're doing it. All right. That was my last thing before executive session. Does anyone have any other matters that we didn't talk about?

Oh, I just have one thing from back at liaison, but it's not really a liaison board for my cities. But I did meet and make contact with someone that I think would be a great contact for the ECC that they do monitoring of weather and wind and rainfall. And it's like volunteers all across America that like you just put up this one thing in your house and like the community could help people sign up and like register for it. And she does this like pro bono goes around and talks to committees and things like that. It's through... the NWS office in Albany at Cornell we learned about that in that hazard the weather class yeah so this is like being able to like our residents like help track that so that they have a better understanding of it and so she is a person who does the training and is local and would be happy to do it I totally did not get her email I just found it in my spam folder I think I also have the contact because we got it at that training yeah her name wasn't known I wasn't

I didn't, we just got a list of resources. It's good to be in touch with that group because they have, they can give really accurate on the ground reporting because they've been trained and they're relied on in some of these weather events to, like, report directly to the weather service. Yes, exactly.

So she can help our ECC train to be able to do reporting for our area since it's so, like, vast. Or also, like, how to, like, get people signed up to, like, put in their reports of, like, what they're seeing at their house for rainfall. So I will forward contact along. Cool. I'll set up that connection.

Great. All right, so I'll make a motion that the Town of Rochester Town Board enters into executive session at 8.59 p.m. for the purposes of discussion of matters pertaining to the employment history of particular persons and medical history of particular persons. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Motion carries. Oops.