Town Board - Regular Meeting

Okay, I'd like to welcome everybody to the September 3rd meeting of the town board at the town of Southeast if we could rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Thank you. If I can remind everybody of the exits, there's two exits in the back of the room and one exit up here to the left of us. And with that, if everybody could either turn off their cell phones or put them on vibrate, that would be great. And I ask the clerk for a roll call.

Yes. Councilman Cypress? Here. Councilman Larca?

Here.

Councilwoman Lewis? Here. Councilman Mazzotta?

Here.

Supervisor Castellano?

Present. Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll make a motion to come out of executive session. No action was taken. Second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Going on to our work session, we have a discussion tonight, agricultural districts. And I'm gonna turn it over to Councilman Morica.

Yeah, Cassandra, would you mind coming up or do you want me to just go through a few things? So thank you for coming. We've had this on the agenda a lot. There's been a lot of back and forth between us and the Ag Board and the county. The concerns all started, we get complaints about some of the properties in the Ag District and we were under the impression that we couldn't do anything with those complaints. And we really don't have a say in the approval and then we kind of found out that we could do that. Our ask was that neighboring properties be notified if a property owner made an application to the Ag District so at least they would be aware that that property may get some protections. And throughout the back and forth, it seemed like there really aren't any protections. However, they do have an escalation process as being part of the Ag Board where they can get the state to determine that one of our codes is unreasonable, which would help them. In terms of the public notice process, I still can't wrap my head around that answer. But it sounded like the county didn't want to do it. The Ag Board doesn't have to do it. But we sent notification to those neighboring properties just as a heads up a little bit later than I would have liked to have done that. So I'm really glad you came. There's a few questions. uh because there is some confusion that i'd like to ask um and so i'll just start with the first one so can you tell us a little bit about the ag district ag board soil water uh board and what you guys do and that is perfect so i was about to say well i'm done here you've answered everything for everybody

So it's really also, I have to say, I'm used to legislature meetings where executive session is never in the beginning and always forever and anything small water and ag is always last. So thank you. Not that that was done intentionally, but it is much appreciated. super thankful for that but yeah and so again to the concerns that you've had and I think that's the broader thing you know we discussed there's been lots of emails and I think the town board was copied on them so whether you read through all of them it was a lot And I think the base of it is there's always been a misconception, you know, from municipalities and from landowners that, like, once you're an ag district, you can do anything you want to. And that would be terrible because you guys have to deal with not only complaints about, you know, agricultural properties, but you got to deal with complaints about everything. Right. And so to hear, oh, we can't do anything about that, that obviously is not something that, you know, a town would want to hear, because how do you tell your residents? So. that is a good point to clear up that you do have the authority like the ag district program so i guess i'll start with that the ag district program is supposed to create a mediation in between so there's state agriculture protections for agricultural practices that doesn't mean if you're a farm you can do anything you want to it is a case-by-case review if you're in the ag district a municipality can reach out for a specific practice say somebody comes to you and complains and says i don't like this you or the landowner or both could reach out it's called 305a review for the exact practice on that exact farm for that exact instance and then the ag markets would guide you and say reasonable unreasonable and they give an idea like okay you want to do this does it impact public health and safety That is the big thing. If it impacts public health and safety, no farm wins. That is across the board. If it's in instances of certain fees, certain regulations, certain things like that, the state may say no. They may say work with them. They may say different things. But that's something that the state has statutory criteria of what is permissible for ag versus regular properties, keeping in mind there's a state constitutional right to farm. And they kept that in mind knowing there would be development pressures over the years, which there were. So it's not something that A lot of people think you get in and you can do anything you want to. You still, and I cannot say this enough, I've said it everywhere, they quoted in a paper, finally, it took years, all farms must follow all local laws all the time. Now the caveat to that is if you have overburdensome laws on your books that are in contravention to the state statute, That's where ag and markets would come in and say, hey, maybe you should re-look at this. Is there a way that you can come to an agreement?

And ag and markets is the state organization, not your board, right?

No. So the state ag and markets, right, they're the ones that are the decision makers, the mediators, if there are concerns. Anybody, whether they're in the ag district or not, like a town can solicit an opinion from ag and markets on anything. You can email them. You can call them. They'll ask you. They have counsel. They have a number of people in their staff. So they can answer any question. If you want a formal opinion, anybody can do that, any member of the public, any landowner, anybody. If you're in the Ag District, that's when you can solicit a 305A review, which is on a specific agricultural practice at a specific farm. And they go case by case. They talk to the town. They talk to the landowner. And they work with you through there. So that's only if you're in the Ag District. The Ag District technically is a state program, but it is administered locally by the counties. And the reason they did that was counties can opt in or choose not to opt in. Putnam County back in 1997 chose to, I'm sorry, 2003 chose to opt in. Now, since 2003, I think from 2003 to probably 2015, everything was cool. Everybody was fine. There wasn't any problems. And I think a part of it is we get to, so the county is who administers the ag district program, includes parcels, or removes parcels at the county level. That keeps the component of home rule without it being town by town, right? um but to that end you have a farmland protection board so that is the um it's the ag and farmland protection board that was established before the districts in 1997. that is an advisory board we can tell the legislature all we want to they don't have to listen So that is something where you saw the Farm Protection Plan, the last time that was done was 2004. Long time ago, hasn't been updated. Problem with that is as an advisory board to the legislature, we have no, the AG board has no authority. I buy my role in Soil and Water, which I'll get to in a second. I have an ex officio seat on the AG board. so there is soil and water there is the tax commissioner real property and tax there is the planning commissioner for the county a representative from cornell and then it is six uh practical farmers there's different breakdown of those that doesn't matter i won't bore you with that but it's to give you a basis of land use for planning for tax for you know different government seats there's also a legislative representative to that board as well and that depends the legislature appoints all of those people And that's what guides them in what do we do, how do we, you know, do educational programs. So there is in the Farmland Protection Plan from 2004, the Ag Board was tasked with doing that. What I will say is that tried to happen a few times in the last few years and people were removed from the board. And that's just the way it went. So a lot of people just stopped answering emails because why would you answer an email and you could get thrown off a volunteer board. Enter Soil and Water. Soil and Water Conservation District was established in 1966 in Putnam County. We were the second to last county to get in. But we are an independent municipality. Where that veered is in 1993, it ended up getting absorbed into county government, which meant that the Soil and Water District could no longer be independent for conservation and its own independent voice. Our only role is soil and water conservation. That's it. We're not any county policy. We do not speak on behalf of the county. We speak on behalf of the science and the conservation. That's why I'm here. I can't be thrown off the board. I can't be thrown off the board. It is very specific in soil and water law. I'm appointed by the legislature, as our other board members are. There is a Farm Bureau representative. There is a Grange representative, a standard landowner at large, and two legislators. And then we are supposed to take on conservation programs and education outreach. We do have a grant program that you guys are all going to get emailed, and I hope you talk about it. We'll probably send somebody else from our board next month to go over that because it's about $180,000 in grants for not only municipalities, but lakes, ag, and conservation education assistance. So that's a big chunk for the local community. We were never able to do that because we were part of the county. We couldn't educate anybody and alleviate any of the concerns because we were part of the county. So that is the role in it and the way the Ag district process for inclusion works is it is a set timeframe. The process is established by the state. So I know there was conversation back and forth of we don't have enough time and how do we notify people? It's the same time every year. April 1st to April 30th is the date where people can submit their applications to the Ag board. So at that point, you wouldn't really know what's happening. You don't know who's applying. In the month of May, if you ever wanted to watch the Ag Board meetings, you can certainly do that. You can come to the Ag Board meetings. You'll know who is being taken in. That is when the Ag Board goes out and does site visits. The Ag District can be an open, vacant parcel that just aids in the viability of agriculture and open space. Putnam County has chosen it must be a farm. I don't love that, but I don't fight it. If it's a farm, then obviously that fits in the ag district as narrowly as Putnam County wants to define it. So with that, you have April 1 to April 30. You have May 1 to the end of May. And then June, it typically goes to physical services, which is the legislative committee. Once it comes out of there, it goes to the full.

Sorry if I, can I interrupt you along the way because I have a bunch of questions. For the timeline, when does the town, I think we got it a little bit late this year.

Not really. And that's the other thing. So technically, under the state law, there's no requirement to do that besides the public hearing. The public hearing is supposed to, from the state's perspective, be the time where everybody finds out. It goes in the local paper. It goes on the legislative website. That is the mandate for the notification.

Now that public hearing is the same night they voted. Yes. Yeah.

I mean, well, you know, but that is the way the statutory process is laid out. So what Putnam County has done is reached out prior and said, Hey, This is an FYI of who's applying. Now, that has become a problem in the past because you have certain things where it's a little bit unfair, where if you say you're just going to do something at your house versus you're going to apply to the Ag District, somebody's now snooping through all of your stuff. Now, it's not to say you can't enforce those things all year round. But if in the month of April ag properties get a bunch of violations, that seems a little unfair. And that could put a town in jeopardy of, well, why did you do this to me versus somebody else? So there has been a concern on that. Now, they do notify the towns and just say, hey, this is what's going on at that point. You talk to Ag and Markets Council, they said, you're free to do whatever you wish. You can notify, you can choose not to notify, it's up to the county.

For the town notification, I thought, and maybe it's the county, I'm not sure what was required, but I thought we were supposed to get around the beginning of May, but we didn't get to the middle of May. Maybe that's not true, but when should we expect to get the notification?

That's not even required.

But it's not required, but it's part of the practice.

But Putnam County has chosen to do that. So traditionally, the reason why is because the applications can come in up until the last day of April. So I think this year, everybody got it May 8th. I don't send those notifications. That is commissioner planning.

Okay. So we as a town, and I hear what you're saying, that it's not required by law, but we as a town should expect to get a notification of applications sometime in the beginning of May.

I don't even want to confidently say that because I don't make county policy. They did that this year. I don't know. That's not anywhere written in stone that they have to. so that we can so i would say watch the ag board meeting in april or in may and then you will know who's applying unequivocally because right now it is not written anywhere that anybody has to and the state's never going to mandate it so if you want to be aware i've told this other towns it's april and it's may

So are you saying that next year the town may not get the notification that it got this year?

I'm not saying that. I'm saying I can't guarantee they will because it's nothing that's required in any statute.

And is it the, and you may not know the answer, and that's fine, but is it the county who determines if that's required or not?

So that's the thing. The AG board is the advisory board to the legislature. The county makes the policy. Now, from what I saw in the emails, and I'm not going to speak on behalf of the county, but based on the emails, it was the county is going to do their statutory obligation. Full stop. Not to say that the you know southeast or any town can't go and determine more and find out more but You know, I can't speak on behalf of the county. I can just tell you what is there I know what is guaranteed and I know you know, what has been a standard practice But I don't want to tell you to always expect that and then next year it doesn't happen and you're like What did this lady say?

And this isn't on you, but to the board real quick, it sounds like.

But she's the only one who is willing to engage with us.

Yeah, thanks for. This is me every time. But it sounds like the county is doing this almost like a courtesy notice. Yeah. And all we've asked for. Is more notice. Is just to tell the property neighbors, which we're told they can't do because it's not required. But what they're doing today is not required. Right. See, I.

I never took it as they can't. And that was my issue with all that back and forth. And I wish that our legislators could have just responded when we asked a year ago. But we spend more in legal fees writing emails on both sides. But no one argued that the county is not doing the minimum required by law. We just said, hey. You just wanted more. In transparency and participation, mail a letter for us. That was it.

I have a lot of things where if a lot of things went differently, I wouldn't be here tonight. I wouldn't be the chair of the Soil and Water District if things went the way they were supposed to go all the time. So that was our hope. I mean, I'll tell you, two years ago, I didn't know what a Soil and Water District was. I had no idea. Now we've actually taken it out of the county, went independent. We now have a $180,000 grant program in less than a year and a half. There is a void of education. And I think, again, I don't want to speak for the county, but my assumption with that is, you know, with any government, do you want to say you're going to do something you're not responsible to do and in case you mess it up, is that on you? You know, that's a liability thing. That's something to, again, you know, you spoke with Legislative Council, you spoke with Ag and Markets Council, they said you're welcome to do that. You know, another thing is the Ag Board has an email. you could, on May 1st, email the Ag Board and say, what are the Southeast applicants? And again, I'm not saying you're right, wrong, and different, but I'm saying standard practice is what it is, but prescribed practice is completely different. Right.

And this is helpful. I appreciate the conversation. But I just have a few more questions. I cut you off. Were you done? I cut you off to ask that question. Getting into the AG district is separate and has different parameters than, I don't know what it is, but to get the AG exemption on your taxes.

Yes, totally different program.

I understand that, but I want to make sure, a lot of people think that they apply for that to get tax benefit. And the question that I've asked myself during this whole back and forth was, What is the benefit? Why would somebody apply to the AG board if it doesn't, I'm sorry, to become part of the AG district if it doesn't provide any protections or financial benefit?

It provides you a mediator without having to spend legal fees. That really is what it is. And it's, again, not to say I can come in and do anything I want to, but a regular standard farmer traditionally is just busy farming. They don't know what things are allowed for ag and what aren't. They're just going to go do permitting stuff. And so the ag district was created to give kind of, I don't want to say a voice, but to give representation to legitimate agricultural practices, which just because someone's in the district, I need to be very clear about this, Putnam County chooses who gets in. Right? And they make that determination. Again, they could include vacant parcels of land. They don't. Bless you. They don't. But if it's a farm operation that is not a legitimate, robust farm operation, or their particular ag practice isn't something ag and market says is an ag practice, they'll tell the town. Go at it. Do what you want. So just getting in the ag district doesn't even mean that when they go up to ag markets and say, I need help, that they will get that help. They may say, you're not enough. So the benefit for a farmer, for a farm operation, is to get the support where there can be that intergovernment without having to pay a lawyer to then go, why are you guys doing this to me? Is this allowed? And to get pushed out economically from the area.

You know, I've asked that question so many times when I was on the legislature, and I think this is the first time I've actually got an answer on it. I know. This is why I'm here. I appreciate that. Because I asked that question over and over again.

Like, why would you want to?

Right. But now I understand.

And most farmers have no idea. Like, I'll tell you, the farm that I work with, they had no idea when they applied what the act of district was. They thought it was like a USDA stamp. I mean, look who we are now. I'm the chair of the district. But it was because nobody could answer the question of what is the benefit. There is eminent domain protections, so that's a big thing for farmers because they can get squeezed out pretty quickly. There are just standard things that, again, if it threatens public health or safety, game over.

what about well and this is more this is a discussion about ag district in total like don't think that all of these questions are aimed at you or you have to yeah i'm just the ag district person that says stuff so it's fine um i have zoning unless you're yeah if you're switching topics i want to ask her a question if you're not switching we're good um what topic were we talking

She was talking about the zoning protections. Go ahead. I've got it. At the end, I'm going to ask you a question that you might not be comfortable answering, but bear with me. At a recent county-led meeting, multiple legislators said multiple times, and you said something similar, that towns should just enforce all of their zoning codes. Some property owners feel like they have built-in protection. We've spoken to consultants and some have said, maybe you should back off on this, maybe you shouldn't. It feels like what you're saying is if we think our zoning codes are good, we should enforce them and let them follow the mediation procedure. Yeah.

Now, there's another bonus that I'll share with you is there is a grant program. I think it's about $25,000 that AgriMarkets offers to municipalities as a review of your local zoning. To see is it is it gonna pass muster you're gonna be doing mediations without your markets all the time You know, it's that's an option that you can do but it's something that's a grant everybody loves grants, right? And it gives you an ability to get a fresh set of eyes of like okay here is and they're not gonna tell you you can or can't do this you hire an independent consultant And it is you know, you can't go through with AG and markets and and they're familiar with that so they can say here's where you're gonna have problems down the road you can choose to keep whatever you want and When someone is in the district, that is the difference. Now, standardly, there's certain protections. I know there's certain towns that have right to farm code and laws and things like that, and that's great. It's your choice to enforce what you would like to. And if you say, OK, they're in the ag district, you have a little bit more backup when a landowner goes, well, why are you not doing it to them? Or like, OK, because they're a legitimate ag practice based on the Putnam County Agricultural District. That doesn't mean that you can't do that to a regular farm that's not in the ag district. There's a lot of farms that refuse to apply.

and i get it um you know i have i so the mediation process though and here's where my mind goes it really is up to their interpretation of what our code is so if they and on the practice itself yeah so that that could i think that may be where that shade of gray lies it really is So they feel like, well, all of these codes are unreasonable. Then it really is a free-for-all.

Well, welcome to courts and lawyers. Everybody reads the law a little bit differently.

If it's a noise violation, they can interpret that well.

Well, that depends, because, and again, I don't want to go down the wormhole there. Right, right. I don't want to go down the rabbit hole. But there's certain noise that is, you know, if you're operating your tractor after standard hours, things like that. There's certain things that you can look up for standard. Well, if you're having an event, you know, like. That is something that is a 305A review. That's something that is gray. And so, you know what? You should ask agri-markets, because they're going to be the ones, instead of the town making that decision.

Well, I think I see it as here's noise, odor, property maintenance standards. I'm of the opinion that we should not care, look, research, or even acknowledge whether a property is a farm or not. If they're not following our zoning codes, we treat them the same as we would my house or any other house in town. Let's say we write up a property for property maintenance. They're not doing the right thing. Let's say my house and the house next to me, property maintenance, they're in the ag district, I'm not. I think they, they were in the Ag District, should have to go to the Ag Board and mediate, right? That's their right.

Well, so they would have to go to Ag and Markets to mediate, right? And that's the thing, so that's your choice. You can choose to have them do that.

It would almost seem unequal enforcement if we looked at that property special. Right, that's what I said. And if that property is special, then the neighbors should be notified specifically, like they would a fence or shed, because those people are directly impacted by a zoning change or anything like that. And let me give an example. Again, this is discussion. Don't think it's directed at you. But Star Ridge, we've asked the county to have a public notice sent to neighbors as part of any other zoning application that we get. I know it's not a zoning change. we did that our on our own because we were getting complaints there was a farm on star ridge and i watched the public hearing and everything and that person i think they hired an attorney who came and they read all this stuff against it and i believe don't quote me on this but the owner of the property got up and said hey i want to work with you i wish we're having this discussion on our back porch instead of right here right now And if what we had asked for a year ago to send that letter in May happened, they could have had that discussion.

And we're back to not my role and talking about it.

Right, right. I'm venting and I think this is something we have to go to the county with. But that's a perfect example where those neighbors, you know, could have broken bread and not had an issue and had an understanding. And five minutes later, they're voted.

So they couldn't even have an opportunity to work through it.

And I think an ag education program, so we've gone back and forth and said our district, again, because we have that ability, we're going to bring it to the ag board and see if they want to sign on to it as well. Our district's doing it no matter what. Because what happens is nobody says anything, and then everybody's hair is on fire, and everybody's mad at everybody. So our district is going to put together an ag district program, which is for municipalities, which is for landowners as well. and you know hopefully we can get we give them food right people will show up hopefully to be able to kind of dispel a lot of you know when they see that notification they're not like oh my god you know like what's going to happen they're not changing what they're doing they're doing what they were doing yesterday and that's what we're going to be evaluating them on into getting into the act well i think it changes a bit there and like let me read something i'm not going to say who it was but this was on

This was out recently and it's a from a farm and it says the problem has been neighbors and town officials thinking our farm activities are against town code when in fact they are protected by the state AG law.

I am not going to weigh in on this in the least. I will go back to AG assessments and why taxes are different because again I again I do not that is not my role I know to stay in my lane.

right but my point is not only you know throughout this whole conversation i'm on the town board so a lot of that was directed at me and i was like it sounded very much like that that uh i don't understand it the towns don't understand it i don't think the farmers understand it and i think everybody has a different understanding because it's a it's a different way to read the law and i think the majority point here is you know you guys want the legislature to put out a notice that they're not required to do they're like hey you guys do whatever you would like to do

There's got to be compromise for everybody, right?

Yeah, there's two things. And now we have a better understanding, and I'm strongly of the opinion, I'll say this on the record if I get in trouble or whatever, but we have to do equal enforcement, whether it's in the district or not. And the properties in the district, they apply to the district so that they have mediation support so that they can escalate it and say, hey, this is preventing me from doing what I want to do. Is it or is it not unreasonable? If it's unreasonable, they would come back to us and say, hey, they're allowed to do this. And then we've done what we can do.

And I think that's fine. I think that's why you can choose to do the grant where you look over your zoning and say, how many 305A reviews do we want in Southeast? You can choose to see how much paperwork you want.

The complaints that we get, I think, are reasonable. If my neighbor came in, put a farm in, and then had roosters all night running their tractor in the middle of the morning. Creating a nuisance for me as a property owner, I'd be upset.

yeah that's that's my all i will say is again that is a question for ag and markets but those sound like events are one thing right but animals and agriculture if they have a legitimate farm practice that is the reason for the ag district to go okay what can we reasonably talk about so before going down that full i feel that this is one guy this is a different guy that emailed and all of the angst i do get that but that is i am not waiting on that i have learned this uh from day one knowing It's not my lane. I'm not doing it. I will gladly, what I will say is I'm not going to go earmuffs. I'm not talking about anything. If you have specific questions, you can reach out to the district. We can then find out and be the intermediary for you guys if you guys don't want to reach out to Ag and Markets. You don't have to wait until it gets to 305A review where it's a legitimate, specific thing. You can call Ag and Markets. You can call Ag and Markets Council. You can reach out to either the Ag Board or Soil and Water District, and then we can reach out for you.

Yeah, I think the burden of fighting it shouldn't be on the town. But anyway, that's not... But here we are, right? Yeah, you know, that's... I mean, we shouldn't have to do research to say, hmm, do we want to write up this violation or not based on its designation.

On ag assessment versus the other, because I will say some people think that people get into the ag district because they know of these protections. Half the people don't. Half the people don't. And when everyone makes such a big deal of it, they're like, oh my god, we got protections.

We had a property recently in town that got written up because they were farming, had all this. They weren't within the town codes, I'll say that.

We are doing a specific thing again, and I'm trying to get to taxes.

Oh, I'm sorry, what?

I'm trying to not do the specific items because I can't.

Well, I thought you said that people go get into it.

I said not all people go into the district even knowing what the district is. So I wanted to clarify that. There's a conception that everyone who applies to the district knows what the district is. Sometimes it's just, I'm USDA, I signed up with Cornell, Ag District seems like the bona fides for my farm.

Well, what I was saying is in this town, there have been people that got in trouble, and then they applied to the Ag District so they could

do what they want to do and not abide by our zoning and then they'll take up a 305a review with ag markets and everything will sort itself out um and that's again so just because you're in the ag district does not mean that ag markets will protect every activity every event every sound every noise every everything but there are going to be certain things for legitimate farming of you know hours of operation because you know farmers have to farm and do a lot more longer work hours than the rest of us. So ag assessments, because I'm going to get out of this wormhole you're putting me in, ag assessment versus the ag district, completely unrelated. You can be in the ag district and never get a tax benefit. You can get a tax benefit and never be in the ag district. And it happens a lot. There is a monetary threshold to get an ag assessment in the state. There's a monetary threshold. There's a minimum horse number that varies from breeding to boarding to everything else. I'm not going to go into that. I'll let your tax person do that. But that is ag assessment. There is a minimum threshold of commercial sales you have to have. Now, again, that doesn't mean you have to sell them all on site. You could be selling to another farm. You could, you know, breed livestock and you sell them to other farms. So that is a specific thing that it gets the soil districts. We want our conservation district create your soil group worksheet. which then is what your ag assessment which is actually an exemption it's a reduction on your taxes is based upon but again there's a monetary threshold to get into the ag district there's not a monetary threshold again we said it could be a vacant parcel land putnam county chooses not to do that putnam county wants to see that you are a you're moving to a farm even if you're in your beginning phases that you have a plan again not necessary but that's what putnam county does and it keeps it to it's very much just farms so Totally different programs and again half the people that even get into the AG district don't even know what an AG assessment is. So the AG district gives farmers also a resource where I can go pull up the AG district list and this is who we're going to reach out to for you know conservation, for technical assistance, for things like that. It's an easy grab as a data point. find every farm in the county i mean good luck you know so there are benefits to it in that different way and it also impacts funding from state so the more farms that you know we enroll in an agriculture environment management program again i pick ag district parcels first because i know that they're there then we go down the list. But that also impacts state funding for conservation, for environmental concerns. You know, everybody has concerns about, you know, agricultural practices and runoff and things like that. And that's why there's groups like the district. That's why there's groups like East of Hudson Watershed Ag Council funded by DEP. to make sure those things are mitigated and they're done in a way where it's not regulatory so owner district is not a regulatory body neither is whack it is because it is easier to incentivize cooperation than it is to penalize it that was the the purpose of our two bodies and then again the ag board is just advisory so when they don't answer you it's not because they don't want to um but there's you know they are volunteers appointed to just be advisory

Peter, did you? Thank you for coming and answering our questions. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you. Peter, did you have a?

Yeah. No. Oh, okay.

And if anyone else wants to make comment, there's the other three of you.

I'm Peter Bell, I'm the zoning enforcement officer. I write the tickets.

Good for you.

So here is my question. Is there a procedure or could we put together a procedure for the zoning officer in our town to email you, call you, show you something that's happening within an Ag district property and get your opinion as to whether or not that is an Ag district event

What I would say is I would never weigh in on, yes, you can email us and we will get you the answer from the appropriate authority and then provide it to you. We can do that so you're not having to send extra emails. We have no problem doing that.

The reason being is because if I go directly to a violation or a ticket, then it's between the town and the farmer. If I can get an opinion from you saying, okay, listen, I've already gone to the Ag board got in their opinion and this is what you're doing wrong and you can't do this.

Yeah, you could reach out to the Soil and Water District or you could reach out directly. I can provide the contact information for the person at Ag and Markets who will off the cuff on a phone call tell you, you know, a generalized opinion. I can't tell you the amount of times that I will call up and I go, hey, here's what's going on. What do you think? And they're like, needs to ripen. I hate that phrase. I hate that phrase because none of us know what we're doing until it ripens where everybody's mad. But it is something that I have learned how to navigate through, let it ripen to what will it ripen to. So we're happy to do it.

Okay, because I haven't even discussed this with the board or my boss. but it would make it a lot easier if I knew that I'm going in with strength rather than weakness.

It does make me nervous, and we could talk about that, but everything I've read, all the discussions that we've had, and I appreciate the candor and everything, has been... they have no protections. So I think we need to enforce. I didn't say that. What? That's black and white and everything.

Everything could potentially go to mediation.

Everything could go to mediation, 100%. But there's no automatic protections. And thus I'm wrong. So we need to enforce that. They get an NOV and they come and say, hey, we're allowed to do this because X, Y, Z. Then we assess it at that point. But I don't think that we can drive down the road and say, oh, is this property in here? Because we know there's unless i'm unless i've read this wrong it says um there's no automatic protections agricultural inclusion can limit municipalities to ability to enforce local laws and regulations but there's no automatic approvals i don't think we could take that into consideration if we're writing a violation what i'm trying to say is if somebody's putting up a fence yep they need to get a permit yeah right if somebody is putting up a barn on an ag district they do not need a permit

Am I correct?

Ooh, don't blow me this. What I tell everyone is you go to your building department and you find out. Now, there's certain allowances in fire and safety code if you're putting animals.

Let me finish. If you're putting up a shed on your property, we require a permit for it. Right. What I'm saying is if there's something that is going on in a farm that we consider not necessarily farm-based, That's what I need an opinion on.

Yeah. Again, my thought is people get scared of the word violation. All it is is a letter that says, hey, we think you're not in compliance with this code. You get 30 days, right?

But I think they get really mad, too. Well, hey, I get mad. So that's up to you guys. You govern your town as you see fit.

But it's like, hey, 30 days, and that person can call, and then there's a documentation of it and say, hey, I can do this because of X, Y, and Z, or call the Ag Board, or reach out to the Ag Board, and they give some communication. Soil and water.

Don't reach out to the Ag Board. They will never give you anything.

Soil and water. But then we have a paper trail, so when you're gone or I'm gone and the neighbor moves and they say, hey, what's going on here? You foil it and say, oh, this was already addressed and they're allowed to do it. But we could talk about the process, and I'm not trying to hurt farms at all, but we get complaints, how do we treat it? And what I've learned now is we treat it the way we would any other property, but that property owner gets the benefit of having resources to support them for free.

Entirely up to you guys as a town board as elected people that deal with all the complaints all the time in my experience is just Headed off with the past before you get to larger things. They're make more mad and everybody's cranky and everybody's fighting and writing Facebook posts Yeah, right like I'm just here to say if you would like a resource if you like a reason anybody wants resource and wants an informal phone call and says hey Is this legit? Is it not legit? I'm 100% going to say, let me make a call. I'm never going to give you an answer right off the bat unless it's something wild, right? And I know it's completely nothing to do with farming, which, you know, then he would know he wouldn't call. So the resources there, if you want it, you guys choose to do what you want. We've just found, again, speaking to farmers, they get violation. Regular landowner gets a violation. They're like, panic, I'm going to prison, you know, and they're worried about it. So if there's any way, again, if you reach out before it gets to a formal 305A, you can ask for an opinion in writing so you can put in your FOIL record. You could write an email, you could make a phone call, or if you want to do none of the above, you're happy to call us and we're okay with that. can i just ask a couple more questions i'm sorry sure i'm so sorry that guy in the back i never remember your name scott yeah he sits here for hours every time it's gonna be an hour so if you guys want to ask a question we're trying to do that more so

You can choose to leave if you want.

I'm fine now. This is short. A couple questions I did have. So the legislature, we have to reach out to them to ask for mailings. Similar fashion, we have a zoning board application where that applicant has to tell his neighbors, this is what I'm doing. We'd love to see the applicants into the ag district do that. But that's something that we could push on the legislature. It has nothing to do with you guys.

And that went back and forth with Legislative Council already and Agri-Markets Council, but God bless you. Do anything you'd like to do.

Yeah, I would love to see that happen. I don't know why it hasn't happened yet. And I was on the legislature for 12 years, but it never got to this point until just recently. I know. Just the last few years, it just got heated. But one of the things that used to always happen on the legislature, and I always assumed it was a rule because that's what I was told, but I don't think it was, is if a property has outstanding violations or an open permit, they couldn't go into the Ag district. But that was never a rule apparently.

Because it's not, there was a long standing, and from my understanding of what I've been told, it was a mechanism that was used to prohibit really bad actors back in the day. I mean kind of a silly thing to do because you could just you know use any of the other reasons of why that was a not great agricultural parcel but they chose that that is something that you know the state has even gone on to be like it's a little over burdensome where again if it's something completely unrelated so we kept in there where if it's environmental degradation if it is you know something that's a long-standing administrative thing say you didn't close out a permit on your your back stair or you know the building inspector hadn't come out and done something it can't be a prohibitor but it is taken into consideration um so it's not to say you can do anything you want do whatever but if the act district isn't a change of use it's literally giving a um you know supportive county and state program to a parcel so that's why you know to my understanding it was you're not changing your use you're not going for building permit because if you go for building permit you have open stuff you can't get one right there has been such a convolution on planning site plan approval variances things like that and that is not the ag district the ag district is just you get some extra help maybe sometimes um i always looked at it as you can't sell the property because you know you haven't that's a change of ownership that's a change of ownership but i kind of feel like this is well and that was the thing it was change of use change of ownership this was none of the above um but that and i get that that abrupt change would be like whoa now it said if there was something that was 30 days prior that was something that was environmental or things like that because that's why i think in the beginning they originally put it in there was lots of dumping and just crazy stuff back in the day because nobody knew what the act district was okay um and the last question very vague agro tourism ah that is very uh very big question it really depends um that's a very very nuanced thing um again ag and markets uh specifically and that's why they are your resource we could be a resource to go to them it is literally case by case basis like if you breed livestock and you're socializing animals and that is part of what you do in order to sell them. That is something that is protected. If you're just doing it for, you know, haha's and there's different things and it's not really your farm products, it's not necessary to your agricultural business, different.

I have one more question. I am so sorry.

No, you're good.

I'm going to give you a hypothetical.

Oh, good.

Yeah, I'm going to try not to be specific, but I'm more concerned about neighboring residents and their protection. I understand all, you know, there's a shade of gray here, right? You know, we're not going to give a violation to somebody who's farming at 5 a.m. because it violates, you know, a noise code or whatever. If I want to put a shed for my animal or my animals right on my neighbor's property line or right next to my neighbor's property line and that, say, hypothetical, Peter, fits the ag district rules or whatever, how much protection does that neighbor have, that resident? Do they get to speak in the 305A review or do they have any... protections for if something were to go to this, can we encourage them to be vocal? They will be involved.

So if there's a 305 review, let's say on sound. I'm just going to say sound. I'm not going to dedicate it to a specific thing.

I'm speaking pure hypotheticals.

So hypothetically on sound. What would happen is then they would talk to the landowner, they would talk to the town board, they would talk to any neighbors who had those complaints.

And they could express concerns.

and then they will take the full-fledged they will go out on site and say hey what's going on honestly with setbacks and things like that i think he knows it and there's certain things um but again i think 305a is there right it's there for advocacy properties you farms aren't in the ag district i'm sure you get complaints about those right so i think i mean the better practice that i try to you know go by every day to be a better neighbor Where, you know, to his point is if you say, hey, this is something that has come up. Is there a way we can kind of work together? Can you do something a little different? Maybe, you know, don't do this. Just because they... The ag districts with tractors, let's say, at certain hours in the morning. I guarantee you, if you kindly go talk to a farmer and send this nice man and say, hey, neighbors are coming out. Can you start a little bit later? They're probably not going to give you a hard time. You send them a violation in the mail, they're probably going to get a different attitude. So again, there are protections for everybody, but it's giving that balance. You can still survive in a county that's made of rock, frankly, right? So it's already hard for agriculture, but it gives them an ability to, you know, sustain when there is surrounding pressures and development, which, I mean, is us. We're right outside of Westchester. It's creeping in. So keeping that open space and open land, but not with a disregard for neighbors. So 305A would include neighbors. Okay.

I just want to make sure that they do have some protection and that they do have a say.

yeah because if it's somebody who's just like just flagrantly just being a rude person they're not gonna go oh yeah because you're a farm you get to do it right they're like all right can you be more reasonable and they're like okay and they go to the town can you be more reasonable they go to the neighbor and suddenly everybody's fine um there's only 11 times in all of ag district history that ag and markets issued an order because nobody would work together and that's yeah since the 90s so it's a good track record i think

okay thank you thank you so much she's never coming back is there any difference in ag and markets and in your organization if it's a residential if it's a farm in a residential area zoning or commercial zoning

On practice for us, we don't look at zoning.

You don't care which one it is? Because with the town, we have different zoning codes and different town codes for a residential district than we do for a commercial district.

In certain towns, there's like a residential R4 zoning that includes farming, right? And it includes small and large farms. So your zoning still applies? I mean, if somebody goes to buy a parcel and they want to start a farm, they're like, let me make sure I can do this here.

Well, it's more of a case of, I feel, in my opinion, that a farm in a commercial zone can do more things than a farm in a residential zone.

That's funny, too, though, because a commercial zone is generally somewhere where it isn't vast open swaths of open land, right? And that's where the zoning thing kind of gets confusing, where you do your zoning to have uniformity and to have where it's not just chaos and industrial building here and then tiny things there. it is a commercial, you know, operation, but it's not, you wouldn't want it in the middle of, you know, the city of White Plains, you know, in the middle of the downtown. You'd want it in a more residential, suburban, urban zoning, so your zoning is your zoning. And again, I think that grant will definitely send you guys the information. It's a grant, you can do it, and then you can say, well, I don't agree with it, throw it in the garbage.

Are you saying that, like, it would be in our best interest to get this grant, use it to adjust our code, put some provisions specific to farming that are reasonable?

I wouldn't say adjust your code, but make it so that you're not having a bunch of 305A reviews. You can kind of go through that now and go, what are you guys comfortable with? What are you not? And that way, he doesn't have to call me as much. No offense to him. But you're kind of heading off at the pass, and then you know right then when you go through a whole zoning code. This is where we're going to get pushback in an ag district parcel from the state, and this is why.

Yeah, I'm wondering if that's a good practice so we could say, hey, you can farm and do these things, but you can't do these things. So overall, it's less restrictive, and there's better... There's a better organic... Yeah. Yeah. No, I would love that information. Maybe it gives us more teeth in certain things. Yeah. But anyway, we could...

okay so i'll definitely i'll send you guys the information on that because that is something that no towns know about um i told putt valley last year uh their new town supervisor is going to be you know moving forward with that and the grant is a grand it's i think the match is in kind services so something that's super easy thank you

It's been two or three years. I remember bumping into her. I think it was Town of Patterson. She was there with the farm. You were representing them when this first came up. And that was the very first time I heard about ag districts. Long way to come, huh? Exactly. Your rise has been incredible, shall we say. And I've been to county meetings, I could just say, this is the best definition of ag disks I've ever heard anywhere. Thank you. So thank you for that. I mean, the clarification here, and I think that farm at the time, their main reason was going ag disk was, that's what Cornell told them to do. Literally.

Right.

They came up here, learned to farm, Cornell said, hey, this is how you farm, this is what you do, and this is what you do next. So they went to the Ag District, and next thing you know, they're standing in front of the town of Patterson fighting with the board on Ag District. So thank you for the information. It was nice.

Yeah, second that. This is lots of emails back and forth. It's very nice for you to come. No problem.

provide some more clarity Lynn Eckhart thank you for letting us ask I only have one and I think it'll be quick is next year no next year is the full review of all the districts can you explain how that works yes

I can explain how it is supposed to work. I can explain eight years ago was the last time it happened. And so, you know, we'll see. The way that ag and markets, we just had a training in March where we're going to do more. We're going to do some during the day and some in the evening so that residents and people can come if they want to. The eight-year review is really looking at, because it's the same thing. The two basic criteria is does it add to the viability of agriculture in the county and is it in the public interest of the county? Those are the two main things to get into the district. That's why it's so open and big. Putnam County has narrowed it to farms. It is review to see what parcels have turned into non farms, right? There's no reason to have let's say something that used to be a farm today is now You know five-story building in a you know commercial zoning area like then you wouldn't need that in So the way that the AG board has discussed it the way it has been done all years in the past for all of the time since 2003 was a mailing mailing or contact goes out to the ag district parcels saying if you would like to be removed please let us know and then the ag board along with planning and i think soil and water will be doing that as well this year looks at kind of aerials and goes is this still a farm is it not a farm and reaches out to landowners from there It is not how we go picking them all out. If you see any ag and markets training, they show you this like little slope that has a tractor and it's just driving downhill because the loss of farming and farmland in New York State is wild. I mean, it's more expensive to do everything here every day. Imagine you have to put diesel in all of your tractors and everything else. It's just it's abhorrent. So it's not a pulling out of properties, but it's looking at the properties. I think there's two years ago, there's 157. I want to say about 180 parcels in the district right now, roughly. Do not quote me on that exact number, but. that is specifically going through and saying you know Tilly Foster farm was in the AG district I always thought that was a little bit redundant but great you know the county doesn't need protection from itself but looking at the different parcels and again some of them were open space some of them are you know some religious institutions where it's it's open space and it protects it and I think that's fine they're never gonna have a farming practice to do a 305 a review on so it really doesn't matter but again it helps some state funding but It is a mailing. This is the way it's been done. So a mailing has gone out to all the parcels saying, if you'd like to be removed, let us know. And if there's anything that is egregiously not a farm or totally industrially developed, that would be an individual conversation.

But you're not asking them to go back and reapply? No. God, that would be- So it's just, if you want to be removed, send us a letter.

And there'll be a standard ag inclusion process next year, so people can apply next year, but it's when every year you just have to review and say, is this still doing what the program intended in aiding in agriculture?

And you guys could go in there if the person is non-compliant, doesn't respond to you, and is not operating the farm anymore, you can pull them out.

yeah and that again we write the recommendations to the legislature sometimes the legislature listens sometimes they don't I do this every meeting anyways so you know we will give them the opinion the board takes a vote we go through that so it is going to be a burdensome year next year we're going to have to start pretty soon on collecting all that data but it is really again because it's a voluntary program it's a supportive program it's not really anything that's changing any use or changing ownership so a lot of times if there's subdivisions it's just the maps some you know farms will subdivide a parcel but it's still entirely a farm they just do it for generational planning things like that and then it's just tax maps have to be updated so another question two questions i'm going to pretend they're not hypothetical oh god okay um if if a farm becomes a well one is

Do farms, if there's any ownership changes, does that impact the designation or whether it's in a district? No. No.

As long as they're in the district. So the ag district is based on parcel.

Okay.

So parcel number is what's in the district. And if the ownership changes, it still remains.

and if there's a parcel that's in for three years let's say um in the fourth year they stop doing something or they start doing things they shouldn't it's still tied to that eight year time period nobody gets kicked out nobody gets kicked out and again it's i would say it'd be very difficult to justify because again the county decides what it decides right and if it's like okay i want to rip this parcel out they're not farming enough

You don't have to be a farm to be in the district. The big change of use is where I would say there may be parcels that get pulled out. Again, if you're transitioning land to, same thing kind of with ag value assessments. If you have a farm and you do farming operation and all of a sudden you just build everything, there's concrete everywhere, you've literally ruined the agricultural land. So it has no value there anymore. That's an instance I would say that gets pulled out, but if it's less farming or whatever, Again, that's for the county legislature to decide, but there's 180 plus parcels. i do not see anyone doing fine-tooth comb um again because if they're problematic parcels maybe you know um that it you know the county's heard about for all time but i don't think it's anything um there was a question of like well can we pull people out it's like on theory you could but you have to justify that the county has to justify why they're ripping that parcel out and then that'll be a fight for the county if it's you know you're just you have less chickens today than you did five years ago um so That's how it worked in the past. We'll see.

Thank you for coming out.

He had one more or no? You had another hypothetical?

You can come back in two weeks.

You got them both. Kick out and ownership change.

Perfect. Thank you guys so much. Thank you.

Okay. I'll make a motion to go into our regular meeting. Do you have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Okay. Item number one on our regular meeting is a motion to set a public hearing for Thursday, September 17, 2026, to amend Town Code Chapter 126, taxation for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers, an exemption for unmarried surviving spouses. I'll make that motion. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Number two is a motion to set a public hearing for Thursday, October 1st, 2026 to consider a proposal of local law amending chapter 138 zoning article 19 floating zoning district section 138-104. It's multifamily workforce housing district. To implement provisions of the New York State Division of Human Rights pre-complaint settlement agreement. I'll make that motion. Do I have a second?

Second.

All in favor? Aye.

Thank you.

Good job. Way back. Okay, number three is a resolution authorizing the supervisor to sign a settlement agreement with New York State Division of Human Rights nullifying the multifamily workforce housing district. So with that, I'd like to make a motion to resolve that the town board of the town of Southeast is hereby accepts the provisions of the pre-complaint resolution agreement with New York State Division of Human Rights. The agreement and authorizes the town supervisor to execute, implement such agreement forthwith. I'll make that motion.

Second.

Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Item number four on our agenda is a motion to authorize the supervisor to sign a memorandum of understanding with Putnam County regarding the conveyance of certain in-rem property to the town adjacent to the highway department on Palmer Road. So I'll make this motion be resolved at the town board. of the town of Southeast is hereby authorized, authorizes the supervisor to execute a memorandum of understanding with County of Putnam regarding the proposed conveyance to the town of a portion of a certain property known generally as 61 Oldview Avenue and 63 Oldview Avenue identified by a tax map number 67.12-2-28 and 67.12-1 Respectfully, which properties was previously obtained by the county in REM and further resolved that the MOU is fully executed. The supervisor is authorized. to engage Terry Bergenhoff Collins licensed land surveyors for the purpose of preparing the necessary subdivision lot line adjustment maps necessary to affect the completion of conveyance. I'll make that motion.

Second for discussion. I'll be abstaining on this vote. I have a family member whose property abuts this property. So if you could do a roll call vote. Thank you.

Any other discussion on the matter? So I'll put it to a roll call vote.

Councilman Cypress?

Yes.

Councilman Larca?

Abstain.

Councilwoman Lewis? Yes. Councilman Mazzotta? Yes. Supervisor Castellano?

Yes.

Thank you. Item number five is a resolution to authorize the supervisor to sign a contract with staff locksmiths for installation of handicap accessible self-opening and closing doors and crash bars to certain doors in Town Hall and Lakeview Manor. I will make that motion, resolve that the town board of the town of Southeast accepts the proposal of Stat Locksmith of 144 South Parliament Road in LaGrange, New York. The zip code is 12540 to install a handicapped automated closure device, replacement doors, push bars, and associated hardware specific for the doors in Town Hall and Lakeview Manor. And hereby authorizes the supervisor to execute a contract with Stat Locksmith for such services in accordance with the proposals dated July 1st, 2026 and July 7th, 2026 for a total contract price not to exceed $19,645. Be it resolved that the resolution take effect immediately. I'll make that motion. Second. Second. Second. Thank you.

All in favor? Aye.

Aye. Great. No other new business.

Board member, any new business they want to?

Fireworks.

Good. Being that there is none, recognition of public for public comment. Please come forward.

Hi, thanks again. And thanks for opening up the ag districts to some questions. I think that was really helpful. So thank you. I have a question, though, on resolution number three. Was there a financial settlement for that?

When you say financial settlement, there's no expense to the town other than members of the planning board and the town board are going to have to take a course on the workings of the human rights law.

Okay. I'm annoyed because the entire way through this process I was on the planning board, or I still am, and I said repeatedly that workforce housing, in my opinion, was discriminatory. And it was repeatedly ignored by everyone. And I just want to say, I mean, of course I'll take the course gladly. And I know I'll learn a lot that I don't know in it. But it's frustrating to me. It's very frustrating to me because I couldn't see, having been a realtor years ago, how it wouldn't be considered discriminatory.

Well, as it was explained to me in the discussions, it wasn't de facto discriminatory. It was an application that was discriminatory because it specifically said it would prioritize persons that were in certain industries and the State Division and their analysts said that if it had been not limited to persons in the town of Southeast, it wouldn't have been discriminatory.

So you can, so for example, the new garden street or whatever does want to use workforce housing in there to a degree or anyone wants to in town as long as it's just just based what you're telling me is if someone's a firefighter or someone's a teacher that is all legal as long as you don't say you wouldn't have any this wouldn't have any arts our zoning not the villages zoning right but why would you bring up garden street Just so everyone knows. But it was, well, in the same developer. I'm just kidding. Of course. I know. But no, but I want to be clear on this then. So if something's in front of the planning board and they want workforce housing, and nothing is right now, but if it came in front of us, as long as they say we want, oh, maybe farmers. but we want teachers and the list goes on.

As I understand it, it's more broadly advertised and open for, not for, because of the regional disparities of wealth is really the way it was explained to me. Is that somebody who was considered a, somebody who was a part of a protected class from outside of this region could not have taken advantage of those priorities. And it's really the whole purpose of the human rights law and the housing protections is to protect those that are protected classes. And teachers aren't a protected class. none of the were any firefighters no not so none of those are protected classes and okay and the reason why i think the reason that the division of human rights uh took issue with this and they they were very i mean they were not about to file a uh a formal uh litigation complaint right they worked with the the barrett hill people and and one of the parties to this settlement is Barrett Hill's agency that they use to actually run the lotteries for the priority housing. Which is, you would think that agency would be more aware of how the application of these specific housing rights laws apply. But they are part of this as well because they were the ones running the lotteries.

Right. So will Barrett Hill now, I guess I'm still seeing it. For me, there's a disconnect, and I apologize. But for me now, at Barrett Hill, they still have the 10% that are more affordable. Correct. of any sort on that 10% other than income is my question.

I guess there's a discussion regarding we can still have 55 and older provided they get a waiver from the division. OK. And they do that all the time. So they've indicated that they will get that waiver.

OK. But that would be the only exception? No more veterans, firefighters?

You can't have a priority for them. Anybody else? Because it would be discriminating to those who are outside the region.

So anyone who comes back in front of us with workforce housing, no.

Well, actually, in the agenda that was circulated, there is a copy of the amendments to that section of the law. Right. That's what number two is. It's already been vetted by the division, and they're good. Okay.

Okay. I think I get it. Thank you all. Thank you. Thanks, Lynn.

I'm also here from the Brewster Board of Education. As you've probably seen, our yellow bus is on the road. The schools are now open, so be careful when you're driving. Day two down, hopefully good. We've had our minor disaster for the year, so hopefully we're predestined and we're good from now on. Most of the capital projects are resolved. There's some minor things that are still going on. The Cafetorium should be done, I believe, October. That's just some internal work. A lot of it is related to machinery, heavy aluminum pieces. I mean, it just is a backlog in construction. And the P-TECH STEM lounge, just getting equipment in. I saw it. It looks great. I got an early trip in there. Some of these machines are incredible.

I saw it completely by mistake the other day, but it's awesome.

Right. I think we're waiting on the air circulation or the withholding system so that it will take out any dust through the air. The zero pressure room, all that is the only pieces left. And of course, outside the sports, they're still working on that. I just wanted to point out that next week on the 8th, there is a law enforcement representatives, regional safety experts. We're having a safety forum as we do every year to point out what's going on in the district, things we've done to make the students and staff safe. And of course, we invite the general public to all come or to send any questions resolved around that. And as always, we thank the town for what you've done on behalf of our students. Anything we can do, please let us know.

Scott, this morning's delay for the school remained at two hours? Yes.

And I believe 9.30 last night, a night cleaner found water on the floor, traced it back into a room, went in there, then the pipes exploded, and then it was steadily downhill from there. But we have great staff in the system and a lot of great secondary help. They have contracts with certain providers in the area, and they swooped in, and we're working on it all night long, I think, up until we opened. Great.

great job scott i was waiting for my daughter to get off the bus yesterday and i got the mail and my tax bill was in the mail and i opened it and i was like ah and then my daughter got off the bus and i was like how was your day she goes 10 out of 10. i guess i'll pay this

I always have to get in Tony before the bus perfect time that's what we hope to see more of so point of these items and anything else please let us know I know I did um I speak to dr. gosh about the project 250 that you know we're trying to include and so we're trying to get involved on that and I don't know if for your fireworks I'm assuming you're gonna announce that or this weekend if the kids that were involved in it prior to the delays are involved that I don't know I haven't heard but I would hope that they weren't the timelines are tough on me I think we're gonna cancel them anyway okay if you would like to join us happy to have you thanks Scott all right I just can't we're not kids who knows the weather probably gonna rain no actually the weather looks good

Yeah, weather looks beautiful for the weekend.

We said that for Fourth of July, too.

I know.

Well, it really does now.

Recognition of the town board, town board comment.

One announcement. Sunday is we do an annual Zach Attack at the Volunteer Park honoring a former Brewster Little League player who died way too young of leukemia. And it's all day at volunteer, softball games, baseball games, food, drink. It really is a great event.

It's a great event.

So from a community perspective, anyone's invited. It's a great way for the community to come together for a truly worthy cause.

That's great. And just to piggyback off that, the varsity Zach Attack game is on September 18th, where they honor Zach as well. Thank you.

Fireworks. Fireworks.

Fireworks.

The fireworks are Sunday. They're going to go, it starts at 6 o'clock. I have to reply to that lady. We're going to shoot them off as soon as it gets dark, so it'll be earlier this year.

The DJ's are going to start at 5 o'clock.

Yeah, 5 o'clock.

5 o'clock DJ starts at 5 o'clock. Rain or shine. It's on.

We did have the fire commissioner give us the okay to The site is ready to go, barring any tragedies. We're going to be perfect. The weather looks great. And hopefully the fireworks are going to go off about 7.30 because it will be dark a little earlier, which will be great.

And we did double the amount this year.

Yeah. Big event, 250th anniversary of the country. 250 fireworks? No, it's 1,400. it was actually this aligns much better for my bedtime i have to say and in july so much better for me looking forward to it it's a great event a lot of a lot of discussion on social media about it so we're hoping for a big crowd anything else nope we've been handing flyers out to all anybody coming in to pay their taxes so

Oh, thank you.

That's awesome. All right. I'm going to make a motion to go into executive session to discuss contractual and legal matters. Thank you.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Thank you.