Town Board - Regular Meeting

So, if we could all please stand up again. We're going to say the pledge of allegiance one more time. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. So, the exit stayed the same. There's two behind you. There's one to us. Please uh put all electronics on vibrate. Kathy, can we get a roll call? Yes. Councilman Cypress here. Councilman Larka here. Councilwoman Lewis here. Councilman Mazada here. Supervisor Duranti

here. Okay. So, we'll go right into our work session. And we brought the one and only Mr. Guarded Street, Eric Clark, [laughter] to uh to talk about uh Guarded Street and repurposing for uh the municipal and community use. Potential

potential potential. Uh, thanks for coming for Lou's um, swearing in ceremony. I assume that's why you're all here, not for this. Um, but I want to start by being very clear about what I'm going to talk about and what tonight is and what tonight is not. Uh, it's not a proposal for approval, funding, or decisions. It's a exploratory conversation, one that looks at a beloved, long-standing asset in our community and asks whether there is a responsible, forward-looking use that benefits the residents over the long term. Garden Tree has been uh vacant for over a decade and during that time it has represented both a challenge and an opportunity. Tonight I'd like to walk through some possible visions for that site uh converting it into a combined town and village hall and community center and to get feedback from this board on whether it's worth studying further. I think it's also important to disclose that I have a personal bias when it comes to this building. My mother taught there for 30 years and I [clears throat] did and I didn't attend Garden Street. I went to St. Lawrence, but I walked over there every day, grabbed my bike from my mom's car and played with my friends who lived in the village. Um, you probably all know this, but I am a bit obsessed and this is not the first time that I've brought this concept uh plan forward. Uh, also, if you know me, my passion can sometimes get ahead of my judgment. uh and I trust my fellow board members here to make sure that anything we consider is responsible, fiscally sound, and in the best interest of the town. So what I'm presenting tonight is not about nostalgia. It's about whether we can reverse some of the fragmentation by reentering both governments and the community in a building that was designed for public use uh to begin with. Every town faces a movement a moment whether it has to decide if it wants to

manage decline or invest in its future. So uh this is the agenda. I won't waste time on that. This is a history of the building. A brief history uh in case many of you uh or in case any of you don't know. Garden Street was closed in 2012 after um some deliberation and uh decision-making by the school boards at the time. Um it sat vacant for six years and uh then a company called Cedar House Capital came along and went into contract with the school district. They had 18 months of uh due diligence and uh before they could close. Uh and during that time they did not do that and the contract expired.

[clears throat]

In 2019, uh when the contract expired, the town board the at the time and majority of the town board at the time, including myself, um went to uh wrote a letter to the district seeing if we could um get access to the building and unfortunately at that time we were denied. Um the uh the uh buyers went back into contract uh towards the end of 2019 and then the building was sold to Cedar House in 2020, early 2020, right before COVID hit. Uh and it is sat vacant and unimproved and untouched um since that time. Um, there's a quote from a uh news article from the New York Times titled [clears throat] uh A Village and Town at Odds. And it's one that uh has stuck with me over the years. Excuse me. It says the electric company was the first to go, leaving Main Street in the 1980s. Not far uh not far behind was the post office in the '90s. Towards the end of the decade, the village's only bank moved. And in 2008, the town hall and town court left as well. each one that left took a significant part of the village in downtown with it. There's also um two quotes I don't know if anybody's ever read this terribly boring document um called the Brewster Plan. Uh and two that I think were important were um at the main street level it is recommended that the village create a civic center where the village and the town of Southeast can colllocate. Um, and is also recommended that the village connect its historic properties to create a cohesive group of structures that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors and also generate revenue for the village. And I believe that this proposal um checks both those boxes. So um I'll explain this concept at its most simplest form. Um the first is

collocation. Bringing together the town and village functions in one place. clerk's office, mayor and supervisor, facilities, museum, building department, special districts, village, police department, and so on. Um, some of you may not realize that two years ago, the town signed a letter of intent with the village to do exactly this in the village at a different location, but unfortunately uh that did not move forward with the passing of Joe Carter, the previous uh master developer for the village. And I want to be very clear uh this is not a takeover or a consolidation of governments. This idea is only colllocation intended to create operational efficiencies and cost savings that could help support this project financially. Next, um the second component is the community center and recreational piece. I'll show a map later in the presentation to help visualize this, but the idea is to connect Wells Park to Garden Street School Playground, which would more than double the amount of outdoor recreational space within the village today. Today, our parks are fragmented, irregularly shaped, and largely limited to baseball fields with it with little room for expansion. Additionally, many people may not know that the town does not own Markel Park that's in the village. In fact, [clears throat] roughly half of each ball field is owned uh privately and the other half is leased. We also expect to lose a portion of the property south of the existing parking lot. That makes the opportunity to consolidate and expand recreational space even more important. Also, inside the building, there would be space for museum recreational activities and gymnasium to support additional programming. Um, and last, we do not need the entire building. The building is 60,000 square feet. We had um done a needs assessment when we were in uh conversations with

the village developer to move down to the village and we need about 14,000 square ft for our operations. Um, so you know, with with shared space about a third of the building, this leaves a um substantial amount of space available for other users and tenants that could help offset the cost for this project. Um I've recently had some preliminary uh conversations with Putinham Northern Westchester Boseies regarding the need for adult education and programming space. And some of you probably don't know this but uh a year or two years ago uh Boseies signed a uh lease letter of intent to rent the entire uh Garden Street building. Um but with Joe's passing that deal also fell apart. Uh however, Boseis has expressed continued interest in having program uh programming and adult education within the village due to its centralized location and the second floor which I will show you uh could potentially accommodate that use. Um and beyond that there are uh additional um opportunities for rental that would we would need to explore. Um, one that comes to mind and I have had a brief conversation with someone who will remain nameless at this point, but the county has record storage um, facility and down on Main Street and that building is part of the revitalization zone um, and there could be opportunity to move some of those operations uh, to Garden Street um, if that building uh, gets redeveloped. Okay. Um, next are I want to talk about some similar projects. So, as part of my research, I found uh dozens of former school buildings that have been repurposed into municipal community space. Um, these few examples I uh personally have

visited over the past few months. Um, this one is in Amenia right up 22. I got a full tour of the facility from the town supervisor and their feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Uh, and they were able to create a recreational space while improving their municipal operations and everyone I spoke to there was um seemed uh pretty happy with it. Um, this is Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Same thing. This is a much much larger building, even larger than Garden Street. Um, but they were able to also convert it to uh municipal recreational space. Um, and because it was so large, they also had success leasing it to other tenants to help offset the cost. And this one is in Farmington, Connecticut, uh, which is also close. This one is actually happening right now. I think they're just about done. Uh, this building was built the same time as Garden Street, very similar, was vacant, and, uh, this one was actually slated for demolition, and it, um, has been taken over, uh, by the municipality um, to be brought back to life. Um so next are um some conceptual renderings that I put together. Uh the left side of each um slide will show the building in its current condition and the right sh the right side shows what it could look like. So this is current state. Um this the outside obviously every window in that building's broken and needs replacement. Uh [clears throat] this is the front door. This is the um uh the foyer. Uh when you first walk into the building, um you know, a concept could be to have this be security doors and have your town clerk window on one side, your village clerk window on the other. Um but have that be the the main um lobby. This is you can't really see that too well, but this is a a picture of one of the hallways. Um, and again, how it

could be repurposed with um, municipal offices for the public. Um, this is a picture of the gym in its current state. Those boxes on the left are blocking out some bad words. Um, but it's it's in pretty bad shape. Um, obviously would be [laughter] a great use for recreational purposes. Um, again, that's the gym. Um, and what it could look like. This is my mom's classroom. [laughter] Um [clears throat] and just a rendering of what it could look like uh as you know building department or some other municipal use. Um this is one of uh you know the many classrooms in there and a rendering of um what Lou's new office could look like and um it looks narrower than it is in these pictures that have some of the measurements and it and it could be used um for a courtroom. And then also um if we were so fortunate to move forward with this and could uh build a relationship with Boseies, it could easily be converted to some um adult educational space. Um this is just tragically another picture of a hallway in Garden Street. [clears throat] Uh I think this is on the ground level. Um and you know could be maybe the village police office or or obviously some other use. [snorts] Um this is the courtyard and um just you know what it could look like repurposed. Um and if you're familiar with Garden Street, there's a bridge behind the um courtyard where you can walk underneath. Uh, this is taken. Some brave person went up there and climbed on the roof and took this picture of the back lots. This is where the playground used to be, the basketball court, and there was a little league field back here. Um, and this is what it could look like. I I put

a pool cuz everyone seems to want a pool, but we can't can't afford it. That's not in the cost estimate I'm going to show you, but I figured someone someone would like that. This is a aerial view of the property. Garden Street is comprised of two lots. So, it's 20 Garden Street, which has the building, 22 Garden Street, which is the back field, and then this is Wells Park. Um the town of Southeast owns Wells Park, but the village has a 50-year lease on the um on the park, so they manage and maintain it. Um the concept would be to you know break this uh line down and just combine this make this one massive park. This is the bike path um that runs here. There is a there is a turnoff that ends about here. Um it could easily be brought down into the park. Uh there is a too issue between these two lots but again it could be uh combined. Six years ago uh when I first went embarked on this um journey uh a cousin my cousin who is a architect created this concept plan um showing some uh park expansion ideas and this includes uh it's just a rendering just a concept but it includes BMX and skate park multi-purpose field um hiking trails mountain biking trails um a dog park which seems to be another it's like a pool everyone wants one, we don't have them.

Um, and connection to the bike path. And this is just so you can kind of visualize the the big picture of the recreational um uh improvement that something like this could have. Um, next, these are the floor plans. I won't spend much time on this. These are two scale. If we wanted to go further, we can use these to um start to lay things out and what possible uses there could be. Uh, there's 9,500 square feet in the basement. Um there's 17,000 on the first floor, which doesn't include the hallway space, but this is what we would use for um town, municipal, village, and uh all the other offices. And then that would include the gymnasium. And then top floor, 17,000 ft, which um we would look in this, you know, uh and if this plan were to come to fruition, we would look to rent this space to help offset the costs. Um, next slide is cost. So, uh, a development company was nice enough to work with me to put together some cost estimates for this. Um, their total came out to $13.5 million, which I rounded up to 14 for this cost scenario. Um, and that includes white boxing uh the whole building, basically going in, gutting it, uh, getting it safe and then, um, but also building out the municipal space for the town on the, uh, on the first floor. Um, and doing all of the mechanical upgrades and and everything that needed to be done. So, walk through this real quick. Um, $14 million would be the cost of the project. Uh my recommend my proposal recommendation or this proforma whatever is to take $2 million out of reserves. Um that has deeper implications that we would have to worry about. There's some interest expense there, but we've we've saved money. Seems like a good um way to use

it. Um we sell all of our three buildings. I have that uh 67 Main Street, one Main Street, and 1360, which is this building. Um 1.3 million. I think that's very very conservative. Um, but I want this to be conservative. That means we'd have to bond out 10.7 million. And um, I had some discussions uh, with some people. I believe we could get a 25-year bond. And there's a bond just issued that was at 4%. So um, those numbers are I think realistic. The annual debt service on a $10.7 million bond is $685,000. And then I have offsets here. So, the town has two bonds that it's currently paying off. Um, one is for the cap at the um

landfill. Thank you. And the other one is for open space that the town purchased [clears throat] um way back. We pay $300,000 a year to service th that debt and those bonds. And those bonds are um uh expiring um in the next one's expiring in one or two years, the next in three or four years. So those monies and that expense will become available. And in this performer, I'm saying that we would take that and just roll it into paying the new bond is, you know, otherwise known as debt replacement. Um I have lease income here. So, I've taken about 30,000 square feet, um, which I think is a fair number of what's available if we could lease it. Um, I've used $14 a square foot for the lease income, which I think is very very conservative. Um, if you look around, um, that would not include a buildout, but again, I I don't I think that's a good number to use. With all that in mind, the net bond payment from the town would be zero. It would actually be less than zero. If these numbers were real, it would generate income. Um, but it would not cost taxpayer anything. Um, probably unrealistic project costs though. So, I did another proform at 17 million. All the same assumptions. That would um result in the town in having an increased expense of $221,000 per year. And on a $550,000 assessed home, that would equate to an $18 a year increase. Um, and then I added 40% uh to the 14 million as a worst case. And to be ultra conservative, same assumptions, that would um yield a $350,000 annual um bond payment and an increase of $40 per year

um for a $500,000 home. Um next is grants. Uh I didn't Oh, I well I didn't include the purchase price in that um those calculations, and there's a reason for that. There's um things that we would have to discuss in executive session. There's a few different ways that we could try to get the building. I don't even know if we could, but um I didn't want to include that here. Um these are all grants that are available. On the high end, if you total these up, it's $14 million. Uh and on, you know, low, I'm estimating that we could get anywhere between half a million and two million uh dollars in grants to offset this project. And I did not include that in the uh calculations either. Um so this is my last slide. So thank you for bearing with me and this is the most important slide in my opinion. Um the there's a lot of challenges with this. It may be an impossibility. Um the first one is obviously financial. Um we need to get more realistic costs and um that's one of the asks that I have of the board this evening. um public opinion. Um you know, I I think there's probably a lot of people in here that would like to see that happen, but um there's probably a lot that don't want to have to pay for it. Um the building condition, um you know, we I I didn't walk through some people walk through the building and saw what was there. Um but there could be a lot of uh unknowns there and that would need to be determined. Environmental issues. There's there's a something really important here that I want to clarify the narrative on. Um, anytime anybody brings up Garden Street, I always hear there it's filled with asbestous. There's millions and millions of dollars worth of specimen asbestous contamination in the building. And that is simply not true. Um, I have the

reports from when they closed the building. It's it's right here in black and white. the as the asbestous remediation was $681,000. Um, and that was a long time ago. Um, and that was keeping in mind that they had to m be maintained as a school done in the summer without disrupting uh the classrooms and what was there. So, is there a million dollars of asbestous rule? Maybe. And that's what's in that cost projection. Um, but there's not millions and millions of dollars of asbestous uh remediation needed, but there are environmental issues uh that would need to be figured out. Um, ownership status in the master developer. Um, it's still currently owned by a LLC. It's no longer um Cedar House. It's owned by a company called 20 Garden Street LLC. And there is a loan on the property. There's tax leans on the property. and ultimately uh in addition to the people that own it, the master developer um has first dibs on the building. So that's something that would need to be considered. Um landlord, does the town want to get into the landlord business? I've been critical about this uh recently and looking at other projects and uh that carries a lot of risk with it. Um, but I think if we could get a long-term lease with a um organization like Aboose, um I think it it may be worth that risk. Um parking and access uh it's an issue. Project complexity. There's if this were to happen, there's so many uh different entities involved, so many different people, so many different moving parts. Um it and most of us have full-time jobs and um so do some of the people in the village that it it it just may be too much um for us to take on. Um so we

would need to discuss that timeline utilities and carrying costs. I I can't imagine what it costs to heat garden street and uh we would need to figure that out. [clears throat] Tax ro impact. Right now the building is on tax rolls. It wasn't obviously until 2019. That doesn't have a very big impact on the town, especially if we sell these buildings, but it has a huge impact on the village. Um, so that would need to be considered. And then who knows what else. So, uh, next steps is to [cough] excuse [clears throat] me, gather feedback from the board. And uh the ask here is to um explore the idea of spending some money which could potentially be lighting it on fire uh to do professional services to do a um building condition assessment and get some truer costs.

Okay. Any comments? [applause]

[applause] Thank you. Excellent job. Yeah.

Very impressive. And you know I I don't know if everybody knows but we are in a conundrum where we are we are kind of busting out the seams in this building. So we are currently exploring some options. Um, and one of the main wants for us was a building that could provide um, something for the entire community. Um, and this fits the bill. We all have memories of Garden Street. I think my youngest daughter was in the final class at Garden Street. And I always say that school brings back so many memories. Always smelled like cookies to me. But so this is really smells like

I know. I don't want to know. But it is very sad to see the photos of what it looks like now. So it would be I mean the cost is staggering but um the concept itself is amazing and I would love to explore this see if we could keep this afloat and see what we can find out. How it buying the building how what what kind of a struggle is that you know with this uh it that's the executive session conversation. It's possible [clears throat] it's difficult and a lot of hurdles.

Yeah. I I think I have a uh enough knowledge to explain what the path could be and the cost but we can discuss. Yeah, we have to discuss it. Exactly. Okay. You know I love it. You did a great job. Thank you. Um, and yeah, you know, I love it too, Eric. You know, you touched on my only concern. I'm nervous about being a landlord. Um, so we would just need to lock in that part of the finances, but I would love to explore it. So, okay, cool.

Great job, Eric. I um have many fond memories as well as I attended Garden Street many years ago. I will leave my sentimentality aside when we, you know, review it. Um, but I think there's a lot to explore here. Um, and it's certainly worth consideration. Can't tell you whether where we would land on it, but um definitely worth um further exploration. So, great job. Thanks. [clears throat] And it fills the void for um recreation as well. You know, we can really grow that department with space like this.

This goes above and beyond all of our conversations about community benefit, right? Dog park. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Baseball field. It's really really love it. That wasn't in your budget. People [laughter] I'll just say pool. People like Hey, I went to JFK, so we used to come over there and beat you guys up. No, I'm just kidding. [laughter] I did, too. Didn't you go to kindergarten in Garden [clears throat] Street or No, I went to kindergarten Garden Street. I'm a little older than you. Yeah, just a touch. Uh, no, but I mean you answered any question that I might have been thinking of, you actually touched on. So, yeah, just keep talking.

Thank you. Uh, I don't know if you're all here for lose swearing in, but if anyone has um may wants to make a comment or anything, we have four things we have to read real quick, it'll be quick and then you can make a comment during public comment. I remember the last time you said that. [laughter] Yeah. Okay. So, um I'll just make a motion to open the regular meeting. Second. All in favor? I. Uh I'd like to make a motion to set a public hearing for Thursday, January 22nd, 2026, the proposed local law to amend chapter 54, building construction and fire prevention 54-7 permits and fees. Second. All in favor? I

I'd like to make another motion to set a public hearing for Thursday, February 20th, 2026 regarding water district rates. Second. All in favor? I'd like to make a motion to consent to Putnham County being lead agency for Putnham County solid waste management plan. Second. All in favor? I'll make a motion to consent to Putnham County being lead agency regarding Tilly Foster conference conservation easement amendment. Second. All in favor? I Okay, so uh anyone second? No, I just Alex. Okay, thank you.

Okay, so if uh anyone uh from the public would like to come up except for the woman that raised her hand, please come on up. Oh, this is her. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Hi everyone. Thank you for your time. Thanks for the presentation. I'm Jamie Kalan. Of course, I have a lot of comments about the Garden Street. um thing. I've actually met Eric when he was attending [clears throat] a board of ed meeting with his mommy and [laughter] um you know since then I've been actively involved with the district and whether it be advocating um for kids uh trolling the board or uh being a board member. I've uh I've done all of those things. Um, going back to the time, you know, uh, Eric was very professional to talk about his his passion, but took a lot of that out of it tonight. But one of the things that can make several people in this town explode is what has happened with Garden Street. You never kicked our butts. Garden Street was always a premium school. And I will tell you that having my child was the last was the last grade to go through it. She was kindergarten before it closed. And the thing about it is nobody talks about JFK like they talk about Garden Street. And yes, that's because it closed and the history and stuff, but there was a heart and soul in there. And what the town, and I get in trouble a lot, the town versus the village, just going to say Brewster, but what Brewster doesn't have right now, which is a problem for us, is a heart and soul. It does not have an anchor that pulls us all together that has that central location. When you talk about basketball games and you go to play those in CV Star, you have an inch from the wall to the edge of the tape where your kid is actually playing. Whereas when our kids played in Garden Street, there was areas. When our kids danced on the stage in Garden Street, there was areas. And all of those things are what bring a community together. We have all seen a lot of crime, including murders, shootings, and drugs in our town. That's

not what our town is about. And now we're seeing that. And we need to take the action now to actually change the trajectory of what is going on. And you do that with expense, taking a risk, and putting an investment in something that is an anchor and that can help the village turn around. Mind you, I haven't even gotten to my notes yet. So, going back to the board of ed, you know, and I know that there's a lot of elected officials here tonight and I want to be able to say even as one myself and thank God I've left that behind me. But for the three years, there's probably only one vote that I actually that noded at me and that really made me feel uncomfortable. But I remember that meeting. I remember the weeks leading up to that meeting where Eric Larker presented something in line with that. And we went as a community and said, "Do not sell to this developer that there is zero information on the internet about that developer." Nobody could find anything. And we had the out and our school board except for a member who's here tonight that stood up and said, "Nope, not me. Nope. I'm not going to do this." and he and he said it, "This is our out and we did not take that out. The school board did not take that out and it's been a crime. We have seen fires. We have seen vandalism. We have seen everything happen and now we don't have that that anchor." And I say all that because I think it's really important that we understand you don't have to always look back, but accountability to your votes is a critically important thing. And I say that because as you guys explore this and you look at other options and you're bursting at seams and you weigh the the the challenge and tribulations of potentially being a landlord, then this actually is is is is going to be a moment where we push forward. We've missed a couple of moments in our past of having of voting the community having that that community center in the past, but this one really is a critical factor in how we move forward. The other thing

is is that we look oftent times at Caramel as the seed of the county. There's more than enough opportunity for the county to be expanding that and helping us out here and going beyond the boundaries of Carmel. You know, um outside of Tilly Foster, we don't have a lot of great things that that are are are bringing us forward from a county perspective. You know, we do we had a proposal for um an an emergency mental health center uh a couple of years ago that the community came out and spoke out against, but that was something that would have been county driven. That would have been detrimental to our area because it was right near a uh a a child care facility. Whereas, if we had put that near Putham County Hospital, that would have been a place that was much better equipped for something like that. We have gotten and I I I know I have been outspoken about this as well. We have gotten the push to have the Pugsley uh nightmare that we have which has also been detrimental for our traffic for and once it starts to pick up but also we have seen a ton of accidents there. We constantly say cost cost. I get it. I pay a ton in taxes. I don't want to do that. But I'll give you a $100 if you're going to tell me it cost me $18 for my house. I'll give I'll I'll volunteer to do a $100. The other thing I just want to do is you know the asbestous thing that was the things that were told to the community at that time were blatant blatantly unfactual. That means that they were lies not by this

right by the school the school district by the school district about the costs associated with that and a foil prove that stuff different. When you look at towns like Ridgefield they have an anchor they have a community center. people move to Ridgefield. When I looked at my house, costs for Ridgefield and Brewster were the same. Costs for Ridgefield and Brewster are nowhere near the same now. So, what's the difference of that? And I think I'm almost done. Uh, promises, promises.

Yeah, I think that's it. Uh, I'll be back. Um, [clears throat] I do want to get the maple road back on. I could have you guys all tour uh this week because the roads are detrimental. They're dangerous. And one of the things I want to make certain that you guys know is that it's not seasonal. It's not just April. It's all that. So, please that will be in February. Jamie, we'll we'll we'll get a date out to you. Great. Thank you, Miss Callahan. Thank you.

[applause]

First, I'd like to say I remember Lou when he was in kindergarten. He had a good friend of mine, a good friend in my class, and they were always getting in trouble on the way to the bus. But besides that, um, my children went to Garden Street. I taught at Garden Street. And as Jamie said, um it holds a really important place in people's hearts who have been here a long time. And um also as was said, it was just a special place. You walked in that building and you felt heart and you felt family. And it has been an absolute shame to see what has gone on. I also feel a part of that because I was on the board of ed when we had to close the school and it wasn't because of asbestous that was a small part of it but it was because it would have cost at that point in time uh I believe it was $11 million just to bring it up to state regulations for education and that was not a higher standard. It was at the base. So, uh, with a heavy heart, I voted to close it, never thinking that this is what would happen. We had had some wonderful ideas for it and people coming in to look. They were going to build um, art studios on the first floor, lofts on the second floor. None of those things have worked out. That's his that's Garden Street. And I can't talk much more about it.

[snorts]

But the other thing is I've lived in the community I guess it's like going on 44 years now and in that period of time my children are in their 40s. Um, we have there has always been a push for a community center, for a recreation center for our children because there is no place, there is no central location for them to go and I've been through it many times over the years and this is a perfect spot for it, especially if we can add the park to it. I mean, this would be a wonderful facility. And then to combine the the village offices and the town offices would also make it much [clears throat] easier for the community. And if we could have a center such as Eric has uh described to us, it would bring so many people together. Um, we all know that technology and you can tell by the age. Uh, I did not grow up in an area of technology. Uh, there were kids playing out on the street. There were kids getting together and parents getting together with their kids. We don't have that anymore. But if we had a center like this where people from the whole community could get together and mingle with each other and get to know each other and and chat even differentiated political views but at least be together. If we had a center like this it would be a wonderful wonderful thing for our community. And that's it.

Thank you. [applause] Hi, I'm Monica Larka. I'm his mom. [laughter] And I'm a little biased, but um I remember going to Garden Street for dances when I was a teenager and Alan Freed came and they had all the teenagers there and parents dropped their kids off and you weren't allowed to leave until your parents came back to get you. It was a time when people could get together. I think this is a great idea and I think it would [laughter] just

have a wonderful impact on the whole community, the village and the town. So very Thank you, MRS. [applause]

She's such a nice woman. [laughter] You got you got to meet my dad. He's more like a Hello, sir. Scott Seaman, town of Southeast. Hey, Scott. Hey, Scott. Um, also a board of ed member. We have to be careful. We might have a quorum here and we're going to get in a lot of trouble. Um,

first I I don't want to go back and forth on who's to blame and what happened in the past. We are where we are today. And so that's what we have to deal with what we are. Um, and we as a community have to be more involved. We can't expect Mr. Locker to keep carrying everyone's water. So, first I must throw my apologies to his family and his daughter over here who he sacrificed for this item. So, thank you for letting him out of the house every now and then. [laughter] And um the time for this is of obviously now. This needs to be done. Uh the last thing the village or the town needs is more luxury houses stuck up on the hill which isn't going to bring any community. Most of the development we're doing in this area doesn't bring community either. We have warehouses. We have distribution centers and I know some people have an affection for them, but it doesn't bring community and that's what we're looking for. Now, this item here is what we need and we can't say enough about where this is going and what this will be done. Um, I can't speak for the board, but I know we have been in the communication with the town on this and anything we can provide, I can poke them as much as possible to get uh board. Obviously, we don't own it anymore, so we don't have a say, but we're all part of this. Not only the school, the community. And by the way, my kids went to JFK and it's a beautiful building and [laughter] there was lots of love there and we enjoyed it greatly. Um, just to put that out there. And um I'll just one more thing. I normally at this time, we normally don't have this big of audience, but from the school, I would just like to give some highlights on what's going on uh to explain where we are. Excuse me a second. You know, at this time of year, we're back into school, so I'd ask you to pay attention. The buses are back on the street, so we ask you all to be careful. Um, registration's going out now for kindergarten. I It's in March, but you have to make appointments. So, if

there's anybody lucky enough to have little kids, uh, my kids are on their 20s and they're gone and they're miserable adult people like myself. [laughter]

So, enjoy this time. Um this is also the time when we're starting to get a lot of our people coming out with the different um things are receiving scholarships. I would just like to, you know, go out with our our Bratzy group, the NJ toC, the only one in Putinham County. Uh over 20% of the students in this high school belong to this. So it's it's a it's a point of pride to us. Uh we just have one of our cadetses uh Katherine Chappelle has received a full Navy scholarship to attend Villanova on a very specialized nursing scholarship program where she will graduate top of the class. [applause] She will graduate as an officer. She will serve her town and her community and her country. These are the kind of things we do in the schools. These are the things we have and these are the things that will be supported by what Mr. L up here is asking us to do. So I would ask for your support. Love seeing my my people here. the guest breeze. By the way, the VFW breakfast is on Sunday, so we're going to ask everyone to come out and support. Good to see you. We'll make sure we have your rolls set aside for you. Um, thank you all. And this, please, this is something that we need to do. Thank you.

Thanks, SCOTT. [applause]

HI, I'm Drew Peterson. I'm new. I've only lived in Brewster for 5 years. Hey, Joe. Um, I have a lead for your investigation. In my hometown of New City, New York, where I grew up, uh, there's the Street Community Center on Zucker Road, and it used to be a school, and at some point the town of Clarkstown took it over. Um, I don't know how that happened, but there's a ton of stuff there. I've gone to a meeting for a RC plane club there and there's a bunch of other activities and recreation stuff. What's that called, Drew? Street Community Center on Zooker Road in New City.

Can I ask you what brought you to Brewster? Uh, could the rent was cheaper here? Yeah. [laughter] Thank you. Thank you. Hi. Um, I'm Debbie Oswald. I'm the director of the Southeast Museum. Me, too.

This would be the answer to a lot of prayers. Um, as we enter 2026, um, we are either um occupying space at the old town hall at 67 Main Street. Either the lease is about to expire or it has expired. Uh, I believe the town is under no obligation to rent to us. And, um, I'm entering I'm approaching my third year as director. As if you received the newsletter, we are now fully invested in the Brewster Central School District K through 12. I provide local history of Brewster, Carmel, Mayapac, um, to, um, students again, preK actually. Uh we have seniors who are um doing their senior success projects at the museum. I'm involved with uh the senior citizen community of Putnham County uh in into Westchester and I feel like we've made so many gains. Um we also have work study programs from students from Green Chimneys from the Brewster High School um vocational skills program and now we're starting with community foundation. So, we're serving so many people at this point, but we don't have a place to go. So, um, thank you, Eric. And, um, I hope that I'm your neighbor in that. [laughter]

Thanks, Deb. Lovely. I thought you said you were done. She had time to think.

I did. [laughter] And I forgot it. And I love that I could talk as much as I want. School board should be more fun like this. So one of the things that I do think is critically important that I I didn't bring up and and Eric did is the importance of Boseis. So uh as we all know there's a huge shift in the need for um folks that are going into the trades. Our current kids when they participate in participate in Boseies have to go for about 45 minutes on a bus in the school day and then 45 minutes back. They have to be back by the end of school. So, they're missing an hour and a half of any education because they're going over to Yorktown. What you probably don't know is that there is such limited room in those classes. So, the current electrician program has 25 spots. Brewster got one last year. They got maybe two to three this year, but we're not getting spots. And the reason why is because it's such now a highly regarded program. It's a very popular program and they don't have the space for it. So for to be able to bring something like that to Brewster, not only only are we bringing up our our market for being able to have electricians and plumbers and auto and cosmopoly cosmetology and all of those other elements, but we're also making certain that our kids are getting a better opportunity. You're going to have a 10-minute bus ride over. You're going to have more classroom time. You're going to have more opportunities. So really being able to focus on maybe the potential of Boseis having that LOI was amazing and then everything fell apart. But that would be you know in terms of fear on leasing and you know you bought a build this building you've bought other buildings so you'd be fine in that and you have to buy some building but being able to look at something like that as an opportunity because they're busting at the seams and definitely need another representation and having something this f far far to the east and

far north is going to be a crit critical component of that. So sorry that's it. That's That's actually my uh my Katie takes that bus and she's extremely exhausted when she comes home because she's on the bus for so long and you know so that would be something if Bosis was here.

Is anyone else from the public like to step up? Peter Bell, you have nothing to say. Wow. That's Come on. Come on. Good. How are you? [clears throat] Um hi um Katie Fav um Southeast. Um just a couple of things. Um Beacon High School has a similar um project that they've done um where they've I don't think they've completed it, but they have a couple of programs within the old high school building. So they have um an art museum and a performing arts center called St. readas that you might want to look at that they seem to be I don't know I don't know where they're at with it but I know that they've gotten it started. Um I've also you know uh there there's the Prospector Theater which is a different program but the Prospector has been able to take an old building that they renovated and make it into a really really um um successful uh program. Boseies is a great idea. I also like to suggest uh Mid Hudson Arc which used to be park is looking to expand their programs and it would be wonderful to bring services for people with disabilities um maybe even senior programs but certainly the um the Mid Hudson Arc into there as as one of your renters. You know, their their funding source is pretty stable because it's state and federal money. So that might be a help. Um, I will say I'll push the pool end because, you know, I do that swimming thing at Lake Tanetta and I do think that whether it's with or without the pool or the pool is the next step in a few years. It it it is it is a a piece of bringing that community together, which I think we're really uh, you know, was something that we're all really looking for. I have to say hello to Mrs. Larka. Um, and with that I'll say that my my [clears throat] kids that my two of my three had you and you are still their favorite teacher. Uh, Maryanne is

and Mrs. Cosmus here. Maryanne and Andre 30, 32 and 34. They all talk about and I think this is something to think about in terms of the project. They all talk about they'd love to come back to Brewster to bring their families and to grow up, but and the but is that there's nothing to come back to. And I think that this is the kind of project that it's not just about what we need now, but what our young adult children want to come back to to a thriving community. And and that's what Garden Street was. And you know, I've been here almost 30 years and and and and we I want my kids to come back to this town. They love it here, but but they need something to come back to. And I think a project like this can do that. So I don't think it's just about now. I think it's really about the future for our kids, you know.

I agree, Katie. It's every every community should have a community center. Mrs. Lurca, my Avery had you for looping and just to let you know, she got into an extremely competitive doctorate program and she's doing very well and she you still are her favorite teacher to this day. [laughter] I'm Truscuit with the China Southeast Cultural Arts Coalition. We have occupied the southeast old town hall which we've made our home on top and below the museum and um I would love to embark on a renovation project at the same time. [laughter] We could compare notes and contractors. Can you can you project manage this for us? Yeah,

I'll try [laughter] if you pay me this time. Thank you. [laughter] Do any little Gasperinis want to come up and say anything? No, [laughter] they want to go to bed. Me, too. We should have sugared you up before we started this. We did. [clears throat] We did. Uh, my name is Ellen Yas and uh I'm on South Southeast and I'm a newbie five years and when we saw Garden Street, what I thought at the time was Torpedo Factory,

the banana uh what was it? Banana Factory in Bethlehem and in Arlington, which were artists uh destinations, artists lofts. And I actually called up the uh the broker who had sold Garden Street and he told me they had looked into it and which obviously you all have and it had didn't happen. But $20 million is not a lot of money. Get over it. You know, spend money. You cross the border into Connecticut, they spend money. You cross into Westchester, they spend money. That's why they have town centers. That's why their real estate values have gone up. It's not a lot of money. I would gladly give a $100 a year extra taxes for this. Then now you have vacancies in Main Street. You're going to have the buildings department building. Isn't that a landmark building? Old Town Hall is a landmark building. Um what's going to what's the vision for those buildings? Is there any vision?

Yeah. So um we were in contract to sell uh both of those buildings to the developer. Right. Joe Cotter. Yeah. As you mentioned, both those buildings are historic. So they uh they're not untouchable. Alena could explain this much better, but it has to stay in a certain um state condition and state. Uh at our previous our last uh few meetings over the past few months, we're actually subdividing the land around 67 Main Street, which is the theater building for what purpose?

And so that we can sell it to um a like an arts entity there. There may be somebody interested in it now. Um there's the museum's there obviously and cultural arts coalition. For us to improve the building requires a bond which was done that was failed, right? Um and I think it's like for Oh, Len is correct. Include the um old [clears throat] town hall as part of as as part of the bond floating another bond. You should compare Dose of Alleta because she's a million miles an hour down the road and they have a plan and they have uh they have a lot of uh bond money they've been awarded. So, um not enough. Well,

it's not enough. It's it's there needs to be a whole vision. It's not a community center is great, but what brings people to a town are the arts, period. Um, and that has to be part of the vision. It has to be [cough and clears throat] um that's where you you people come for for the arts, they come for theater, they come to look at galleries, they come to restaurants, and that has to be part of the vision for this village. Great. Garden Street is beautiful. I love it. I I look at that building and I it what your plan is great but the arts has must be included in the vision. There has to be an overall vision and $20 million isn't 20 $30 million isn't even a lot. Um you have you have people here who would be at the end of the day people say I can't spend it but they do and then they're happy.

Thank you. I'm I'm sorry. Could you give me your name again? Ellen. Yas. Y A SS. Thank you. Would anybody else like to come on up? Does uh anyone from the board have any comments? No, I think we're good. Okay. Thank you. All right. I'll make a motion to close the meeting. Second. Second. All in favor? Motion to go into executive session? Yeah. Yeah. Motion to go into executive session. Okay. Uh I actually will make a motion to go into executive session with no action will be with no action will be taken. Second. All in favor? I thank you. Thank you everyone for coming.