Town Board - Regular Meeting

All right. Hi everyone. If you could stand for the pledge. 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. Welcome to the uh town board town southeast town board meeting Thursday, November 6th. Please note the exits behind you on both sides. Uh to our right there is also another exit. If you could please 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 can jump right into it. Uh our first order of business is a public hearing. I'd like to make a motion to open the public hearing for the 2026 budget. Second. All in favor? I uh so I don't you guys want to talk about it first or you want to just have the public come up and

Yeah, I'll just I'll give a quick recap. So um just to describe the process a little bit. So the supervisor prepares a tentative budget and then the town board reviews it, makes changes, and then it becomes the preliminary budget, which is what the hearing is on tonight. um we'll vote on it on November 20th and at that point it'll be the adopted budget. Um the supervisor uh presented a tentative budget with a 10.95% increase to the tax levy. Um the rest of the town board has been reviewing it the last few weeks. Um and tonight we're presenting a 3.59% increase well under the tax cap of 4.23 this year. Um just some of the highlights of the changes. We removed the raises for part-time elected officials. So that would be the town board and the uh town judges. Um no people were cut, no services were cut. Um most of the changes were made on the income side. We felt uh we had some room to move up our estimates on interest um and court fees. We included a portion of the new county sales tax sharing program in our budget. Um, Councilman Larka found a $35,000 expense that was counted twice in the original budget. Um, and we really just made modest adjustments to expenses and overtime. Um, a few meetings ago, the supervisor and included in the budget included a new assistant building inspector position. um we we cut it from that line, but we moved six months of it to the contingency line. So, if the technology improvements we're going to talk about and if the supervisor can still uh demonstrate there's a need, the town board can vote to move that back into the regular uh budget line. Um the

other thing we did slightly substantial is we moved some IT projects from their budget line also to contingency. Um we're hoping to get some grants to cover some of it and if we don't get the grants the town board can can vote to uh move it back. So that's a summary of the changes we made. But again uh we're proposing a 3.59% tax levy increase. if anyone else wants to chime in. Nope. I just uh would like to acknowledge the amount of work that went into this and I do Eric is Eric Cypress has done a tremendous amount of work on this and thank you. Thank you,

Eric. Uh the last thing you just talked about was that's not for the computers, correct? Hardware and stuff. Some some of the hardware we moved to this year based on Councilman Locker's recommendation um that we're going to try to get that in. So, those did come out of the budget because we're trying to do it this year, but the the biggest chunk was um I forget what you're calling the project, but uh was related to CB20 and you were applying for a grant on that. So, we didn't cut it, we just moved it. Yep. If the grant comes through, great. If the grant doesn't come through, we could review the project and just move it back. So, the the two big things you asked for are actually still in the budget. We just need to move it around if if the need is still there next year.

Yeah. So, excellent. Thank you. Uh so, um you have anything to say? Yeah. If the uh if anyone from the public would like to come up and uh talk about the budget, now is the time. If no one wants to come up, does anyone from the board have We did have We did have one email that came in. Um there was an email from Robert Cullen um who made um comments on the budget that will become part of the record and available for inspection upon request. It'll be entered into the record. It'll be entered into the record. Okay. Thank you,

Eric. Uh, I don't know if you look at this and you know I hate hate hate this metric because I think it's smoking mirrors but do you know what the I think I got it but the tax rate impact was there there's there's really four different tax rates you know townwide not in the village homestead non homestead um so it's hard to quote an exact one um I think in the most common uh tax, I don't know what to call it. Uh it's about a 10% cut in the tax rate. Okay. So, yeah. So, I just want to emphasize that. I mean, the county uh they constantly talk about the biggest tax rate cut, right? Right.

Yeah. I I don't tax rate cut of 10%. Uh comparatively, but like I don't think that's a valid metric. The tax levy increase is the increase, but Right. Right. I I I try to work towards saving residents real dollars and not use that rate metric, but to his point, it is a 10% cut in our tax rate roughly. So, no, thank you guys. Uh so, yeah. So, then next week we'll we'll vote uh next meeting we'll vote on that. Oh, yeah. Uh yes. So, I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. continue the five day uh with a five-day writing period. Second.

All in favor? I.

So, we can move uh to our work session. And today, our first work session is uh a discussion on 67 Main Street subdivision. Uh Councilman Mark has been all over this. Uh and I will um say and give props to him. Um he was influential in us getting a $50,989 check this week from the I park program that was coming in to uh purchase our building and they um defaulted on their contract. So they had to give us uh money for the building. So we got that this week. Thank you, Eric.

You're welcome. Um you Oh, okay. So, uh, this is about 67 Main Street. We've presented on this twice already, and I've gone to the village and presented on it. Uh, but as Nick said, we were in contract to sell 67 Main Street, which is the building that the museum is in, and the Cultural Arts Coalition uh, to the developers of the village. Um, they were going to purchase that building and one Main Street. That project, um, is on pause. I don't I don't know the status. I don't I don't know if it'll ever go through, but uh we own that building. It's uh it's a burden to the town and there's restrictions uh because we own it on how it can be used. So, we discussed why don't we uh subdivide the property and put the building on its own parcel and then we will uh remain owners of the remaining part of the parcel. And this way if somebody wanted to purchase it like Culture Arts Coalition or anyone else, they could uh make improvements and use it uh for for the public. So this is just a rendering from the developers. The yellow line is the property line for 67 Main Street as it currently is today. Um we ordered a survey a few months ago. We just got that this week. Uh this again, this is a real picture of 67 Main Street and the lot lines associated with it. And uh this is what we're proposing for a lot line adjustment. So I could zoom in here. Um so the green line here, these actually used to be two separate tax lots at some point. I I don't know when or the history. Um, the green line here is the old property line that was

dissolved to make it one lot and I don't know, 50 years ago or something. Um, so, uh, this is the first time the board's seeing it. I would s I would recommend that we keep that line. Um, it it keeps all of the this area, uh, under the town's control. Um, it still allows for parking. Um, but if you look at the uh development plan, you know, there was supposed to be some sort of road there. Um, so that could stay if if it ever gets uh developed. Um, this blue line is where I'm just kind of proposing that we cut the property. Um, originally the property was squared off here when it was one lot. Uh, I'm proposing or I think that we should consider moving it closer to the building. Um, but and we should discuss this. This is that double wide building where we have court records and and some documents there. Um, I've been out there, Kathy, you probably know better than me. I'm told it's in very rough shape. It's kind of rotting from the bottom up.

It is.

Um, so and then if you look here, this was the developer plan again. Um, this was a parking garage. This was supposed to be a walkway, although I don't think the topography supported that. But the distance here is uh significantly closer than from here to here. Um, and you can see that the there's a brick part of the original building right here, which is this bumpout. So, that would stay. Um, but I guess for now that building could stay or it would have to be removed. I'm I'm not sure how that would work. Um, so anyway,

so are the are the angled parking spaces then going to be to the right of the subdivision? This section. Yeah. So, this will remain in the town's uh control. Well, they'll both remain in town control. This this will be one lot where the building is. Yeah. And then the rest, including the parking spots, the the drive-thru, this parking uh will all be the second lot.

And you know, the developer wanted to purchase this property because they wanted the pass through from Main Street to Marvin and they wanted this area to incorporate their parking garage. I don't know, whatever they were going to do. That's what they that's what they really wanted. the building was uh White Elephant. They didn't they didn't need it and um they were going to improve it supposedly and uh make it open. Um this will allow uh somebody to purchase the building, but it'll also allow us in the future, if it makes sense, to either uh sell that property to a developer or just keep it and keep the parking um that we have on there for the train station currently or for whatever currently. So, if we were to sell that new part, we would just put meters in for the parking like town

parking spaces for the building. Uh, if if we were to sell this. No, no, no. The 67. I think he's worried about parking for let's say a few for whoever buys that building. I that's a good idea to put me in parking. Yeah, if it does. Yeah. I don't know if it needs to be metered. We can discuss that. But I would just like to think that while we still own the property, we would allow them to park there. So Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's all I'm asking. Yeah, that's a good point. Awesome.

Um, so there's there's actually two more things. So, one is um and you don't have to answer right now to think about it. And maybe we'll have just an unofficial public hearing where like we did last time. We don't post it because we're not supposed to, but we can listen to comments. And then also um if well and determine if we like where these lines are uh to subdivide the next step would be to go to the village since it's in the village make application um for a subdivision and that I guess they'll have public hearings as part of that approval right will generally it would be at at the village planning board level.

Okay. Okay. So, um, be I'll take care of applying to the village. Um, but just let me know about the property lines if you think you're okay. Not squaring that back end off, making it closer to the to the building. The benefit behind that is in the event that a developer comes in, right? Yeah. Is that okay? Yeah. And if they still want to pass through. Yeah. And I'm really throwing a dart here. You know, a developer may come in and say, "I need more." And then that would be a discussion with us if we still own it or with whomever owns it at the time. Okay. Um

Eric, did the did the assessor comments change your line at all? Like honestly, I didn't understand at all. So I didn't understand it either. I don't I don't think they changed the lines. That was more about addresses and other other stuff. I don't understand. Okay.

Um All right. So, last thing. Um and this is in case Cultural Arts Coalition or ONAO watched this. Um this is the steps in front of 67 Main Street. This is the old Eagle-Eye building, I think it was called, that the county um used to own. I don't know if they still do or not. And this is that alley that walks or that is in between them. and Alennena has asked us, I think for years, uh, to get an easement or to, um, for a for a fire escape stairway or something like that. So, at its narrowest point, the property line to the building is 3 foot 6 and 1/2 in. So, that would accommodate a 42 in staircase. I don't know what to code. Um, so in case you watch this, so Lena, there's the answer to that question.

Would that alley be on that lot or that? Okay. Yeah. So the lot line goes to the building, right? Yeah. So this is the building. This is the other building. This black line is the lot line. So it touches the building here. Actually, it's clear of 0.2 feet plus or minus 2 in. Uh, and then you can see it starts to separate down here. So, you mentioned an easement, so there really wasn't a need for an easement. The I I don't know. Um, I think Well, they weren't going to put a staircase here. Um, they I think they wanted to put a I don't have the whole document here. I cropped it. I think they wanted to put it down here more because this is the Cameo building.

Okay. And there's a really creepy hole back here. Have you guys ever seen that? Bizarre. Yeah, it's really weird. Um, uh, she wanted to put a staircase here, I believe. And if you needed like 48 inches, there's only 42 and a half, then she would need an easement. Um, but I don't know, but I do know there's 42 and 12 in. Okay. Thank you. Okay, that was it. Thank you. You mentioned in one of your emails um, to remove the trailer. I I talked to Mike. I think they can handle that because it's metal, most of it. the bottom I think is a wood base.

Yeah. Yeah. I think the only the only complicated thing would probably be pulling the electric out which probably isn't that complicated. Yeah. Um and since we got the monies from the sale to lease, we could tap into that. But yeah, it probably shouldn't be much. And I would prefer if we did that. Yeah. We don't want that to be a liability or anything. Yeah. All right. Excellent. Thank you very If anyone has questions about that, we don't um we have public comment at the end. You're more than welcome to comment at the end of the meeting. If you want questions now or

Well, typically just procedurally we we won't we don't take them during the work session, but if you go to if you wait till the end of the meeting, there's public comment and we can talk about it. Okay. Thanks.

Okay. So, our next uh discussion is uh we're trying to we're trying to look into digitizing our records in basically all our departments. Um and we met with um the the municip group that is already already has our software in our building department and our M6 uh platform that we use to uh keep in order our properties and what we're doing and permit permits and all things like that. So, I we actually had someone here um the other day also that was referred by Municity uh to digitize our records. I'll talk about that in a minute. But basically what we're trying to do is we're trying to make the building department interface more of a public um online situation rather than having to come and fill out paperwork um at the window. And we're also working on trying to incorporate credit cards. We don't actually offer that at the building department at this time. So, if we can put all this together down the road, everything should be digital. We don't really have to deal with paper. Um, but in a discussion with uh his name was Nick from EZ EB Ebiz Docs, he said if we'd go to digitalize all the records, it could take up to two years.

I'll give you those numbers in a minute. So I think that would be a a very ample time to help the public and our building department separate from paper. Uh you know we can't just say uh the day we implement this no more paper it's all digital because

obviously that would be impossible. So, this could be uh a little bit of a lengthy process, but as Eric and Eric know, it's already been a lengthy process, but at least we're going to try to to get this done. So, we got some numbers from Municity to to proceed. And what they're telling us is the total cost for the imple implementation would be $10,700, not including any particular optional items we want to use because apparently there's a there's a lot of stuff that we may not be using uh that you can use as an option. So the breakdown of that cost was for the first year the municip would would be 20 would be 2,000 a year but the implement imple I'm sorry implementation cost would be 2,800 because there is uh a maintenance fee in the first year and The 7900 is the actual service and training for this uh initial connection to the to the service. So right now our yearly cost is 10,95. So if we implement this the yearly cost would be 12,94 and each year it basically goes up a very slight percentage for the first three years. And then I guess we would renegotiate after the first three years. So Kathy was with me when we were down there. And uh if we if we get this service, they're so

it's going to be such an easier task for everyone involved. And in the two-year time for the records, everything can be digital. Uh foils. Yes. with laser fish can be um obtained from residents and we can actually control what information they can see. Correct.

Um obviously you know they can't they shouldn't be seeing everything. So uh the laser fish is a separate actually before I get down that road if we implement this we also have the op the opportunity to implement planning and zoning and right now Jackie Lester is already pretty much anything comes in is digital. It's not really paperwork anymore. She's uh she's right on top of it. And if we don't do the planning and zoning when we do the initial, uh, we're going to incur another cost when we go and do the planning and zoning. And, uh, I understand that cost would be $8,200 because it's like a a rework of putting the software in. Uh when if we do it up front, it would only be um where's that number? It's only it's a very very minimal cost because they're actually working with all the software. Thought I had that number. I don't have it. Um I'll find it for us. But basically, I I kind of also suggest that we do the planning and zoning at the same time so that we don't have to do it again down the road and everyone gets trained at the same time so that it's not a back and forth. Um, and you know, this is just something we're once we start we're we got to go forward, but it will definitely change the way the building department's efficiency is on that end of it. So um the laser fish before laser fish are you not suggesting we do the building application?

Oh yes no yes okay yes I'm sorry. So all three. Yes. So that would make it all digital. But you think that 82 will be less? Yes. Oh no it's considerably less. I don't know why I didn't write the number right there. He was telling me if we do it from the beginning. Yeah. So this well let's finish but this part of the project 100% on board with I mean Eric and I wanted to do this yeah last year or so

and you know to to to your guys credit when I got here you guys were kneede in this and you know it was it wasn't very smooth in the beginning. So, I think we're at the I'm at the point too where we can we could really implement this and stay on top of the building department. And, you know, like if I'm talking about hiring another enforcement officer, this is something we have to do uh to see what the need is basically. Yeah. My my uh Eric's point, I'm um excited. I I wish we did this sooner. I'm all in for making the investment. The biggest concern I have having lived through two implementations of M5 is,

you know, we we need to have a project manager. Someone needs to be assigned to this and uh it needs to be in my opinion one person that could really make this successful. So, um I'm in for the investment the but the implementation makes me nervous. Do you have um do you have a thought? I don't. Maybe we could talk about that offline, but um you know I I before we spend the money, which I I want to spend it, I say let's do it tomorrow. I need I need to feel comfortable that um because last time we had to stop and redo it and then we had to do it again. It wound up costing us a lot more money. Okay. So, um I think we need just a a plan on

who's going to be how how is it going to get rolled out? I could work with Dan Foster City to do this, but what updates are there going to be? What are the what are the deadlines? What are the goals? Um yeah, you could probably set that up for us, right? Like Yeah, because obviously they've done this before. Right. But usually you have someone on our side as well. Yeah. And then set up like the schedule and the deliverables so it's clear like a clear quick like here's

here's the expectations from them which I think is some of it's in here a little bit. Yeah. um and and from us because we we we both have to be aligned for us to be successful. This is we should be doing this. This is way more complicated than it sounds, especially when you get in the weeds. Um so that's that's my only

Yeah, I I hope I made it kind of clear because like you said, there's a lot. It's it is complicated. And then after I talk about all this, Kathy says laser feast and my mind goes. So um but just to uh before I actually talk about laser feast. So we had a company called EBZ docs that Dan Foster actually recommended. they are compatible with Municipity. And he basically came down uh and gave us and and looked at our records, measured out our records for to give us a price. But this is where we came up with an issue. He couldn't just give us a price because in 2018 and last year, we used a company called IMA, who is also uh on the New York State ID contract for procurement. So we basically can't say to two companies in this in this uh purview, hey, give us a price and go to the other guy and ask for a price. The reason they're in this program is that all the pricing is is generally the same. So in order to use this ebiz dot company and get a a number from them we have to basically drop the IMA company and we have to have a reason for that and our reason is they don't deal with munic ebiz docs does

so it doesn't interface yeah there'd be another couple of steps for them to get it into our system.

Um, so just some of the numbers he told us, he told me today that he estimates we'll have over a million documents to scan. That's how long it's been that these records are being saved. He says it's approximately 517 form boxes. So there's a lot of stuff there. That's why he imple he he was saying we should implement it over over 18 months to to to two years so that they don't take all the records at once. They take a portion. They scan them. They get them into our system and then uh they come back and get more and they do everything. So I don't I don't know any pricing at all. The only thing I do know is that we're I'm sorry.

No. We're eligible for for a grant next year. And what he was telling us, if if the town makes the effort and spends a little money up front to have them do one portion, it makes the grant um yes, the state would be more willing to give. We would be they would consider us invested. It's an archive grant. Um New York State archive grant. Um, as an individual town, you get 75,000 up to 75,000. If you were to be like the county did with multiple, you can get 150 in a year.

Do we have any idea? I mean, is it $10,000 or $200,000? So, let's give let me give you an let me give you an example. So, the the last year with the uh payroll records, we were estimating 60 boxes of payroll records. We were estimating three years of uh marriage and death records and three years of um uh minutes. That was about $30,000. That's about So this seems like 10 times as much. Correct. He did also He did also say that that the second year we might be able to go after that grant again. That is correct. You could do it every year. That is correct.

Yeah. So if we spread it out even, you know, for two years, then we could definitely tap the two grants. 300,000 is a lot. It's a lot of money. I I I think at that point we would need to prioritize what we want digital. Well, that's the other thing, too. When he gives us a number, he was going to break it down. Building department, planning department, zoning department. Uh was there anything for special districts? No, not for me. So

So okay, I have a bunch of questions actually. Um, so town clerk's been working with the county version of laserfish. This is a different version of laserfish. And a few weeks ago, CB20 was here presenting going digital with SharePoint. So it's like we have three digitization projects going on different platforms. So like where do we land?

Well, that was something. So it it's there's it's it's technically two laserfish or shareepoint for the the records. Um if you were to go with laserfish, you could do that um option with the public that they can actually just look at the public records as far as like um certificates of occupancy um permits, things like that that have been um given the the the common things. You wouldn't give them access to everything. if you put it into SharePoint, you don't have that same ability. Excellent.

So that was one of the reasons with laserfish. Um if you do it in um laser feast versus shareepoint um it's two different file types. Um TIFF versus um PDFA which is a archival quality PDF. That's a more universal people are able to see that a little better. Um so it really depends on on how you want to do it. So if we stuck just with the two laser fishes, which obviously sounds better, they're separate instances of laser fish still though, right? So like your project is totally separate than the building project even though it's the same software.

That is correct. You you create you create different series and you create and then you allow you make um you give access to who should have a be able to see that series. But would you would you still be piggybacking on the county or I I would move the everything to ours. So we'd end up with one laser feature that we own. Yes. Okay. Yeah. That's it. Um, moneywise, uh, we originally had $42,000 in ARPA money that we allocated towards digital the beginning. Yes, the digital which then when we pulled that project, we moved it to scanning and I believe we're in a contract for that. Yeah.

So, is that with the IMA company? Mhm. So if we leave IMA, do we lose that $42,000? He did say we we could use both of them in in the conversation I had. I believe that's both of what? We could use IMA to finish what they're doing and then we can use EB business. Yes, that that is very true. Yes, you can. I don't know that IMA doesn't know how it doesn't have a a knowledge of municip. I haven't asked them yet. Would you mind if I reached out to the county and asked if we change vendors if that would be a problem? Okay. The the the

the count the the county is the one who recommended IMA to us. He's talking about the harbor money, right? For the AR money. Yeah. I know they're called IMA, but we have an IMA with the county where we said where we're where we're spending the money. cell. Um, and then another thing is somewhat related. I think we're going to come under in the Cobb Road project of ARPA money. And I know we're technically past the deadline, but if we're going to ask the county for a favor, I think I'd ask them for both. So, like, do we have a final cobroad number yet? We could. We're not final yet, right? We just put out a big check this week. Cobro. Yeah.

Everything's spent. We have one more submission to the county. Just waiting for cancel checks, but I believe all the work is done. So, I I would know that number. Okay. Yeah. If if you could give me that number and then I'll ask them both questions and maybe we could save some of that money. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's why um Thank you, Kathy, because

once he starts talking about formats of records, I just I don't I don't get all of that. Um so to the laser fee side of this um that number is a little bit a little bit bigger than so if I am correct in my assumption uh I mean my um my research on this basically laser fish has a few different tiers I believe on the on your sheet That first tier is a 29,000 is to get the initial software I believe and get everything into it. Uh and then there are some services on the bottom like the crafted foil uh automation. That's what we're talking about where the public can actually foil items. Um, and I would assume if they can't foil everything they're looking for, then we would still have to

That is correct. Finish the foil for them. Uh, but that will save us some time for sure. I don't think they could actually change any records or anything. Everything's very protected. Uh so that that whole service module is $14,000 and I believe I I don't have the those look like implementation costs. Yes, the 14,000. I'm trying to see the yearly. It's a couple of pages there. Um the tier 25 to 49. Does that represent number of users? That feels hot. Be licenses.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, that does seem kind of high, right? Right. I mean, would 25 people, you know, would 25 people be using that? Maybe five, unless maybe that's Is that an annual amount for licenses? Uh, it's a couple of pages later than the ongoing

the I know it'll be something but basically to get that laser fish that's going to be our imple implementation cost but then it's ours. It's not we're not sharing with the county. We can get any record we want. Well, with the yearly fee. Yeah. Yeah. Page 13, it looks like I saw it somewhere.

Yeah, it's on page 13. numbers are higher. Yeah, that's the page right there. Yeah, the foil is actually 6,200. Oh, but no, that's that's still first year. Yeah, somewhere we need a year too. And I know it was somewhere in there. Well, I I could definitely find that number. I I'll give uh I'll give Dan a call. I I think where Alex is going is an annual recurring. Yeah, that's a lot of money. Is a lot of money. So yeah, I'll get that number.

So yeah, that's where we stand. So I guess All right, then. So I'm sorry. So check number of users and check the Y year two and forward. Just digitizing the records will help with the foils because I won't have to send them down to the building department. I can just go in and email to the people. So there would be less it would be less volume on that except for the more complicated ones. Yeah. Where people do need to go in. Yeah. $30,000 can translate into manpower. We just need to know the number. Yeah. And hopefully 25 is too high a user count and right, you know, I think it's 1100. That's a lot better. I

I don't know if you know, but when somebody foils and they have to go to the building department, they're sitting at Bonnie's desk. So, that's a whole another distraction for them because, you know, usually the resident asks for help, things like that. Well, if they if they only are looking for specific records, they can be emailed to them. They don't necessarily have to go into the building department. That's only if they actually want to view the file. if they're not if they don't if they just want specific stuff, the building department can just scan and email it to them. Okay, it's here 32. All right. So, I guess really finding out those things are I believe that's it first. But really then the the next step is to set the plan

with Dan. Indeed. Yeah. You know, just I know I'm harping on that a little bit too, but it you know what we ran into last time was just capacity, right? Um uh we've talked about building department being uh very busy and behind. This will provide relief. Um but an implementation like this is intensive work effort and um there's times of the year where they're slower. They had to shut the building department down for a few days for training and kind of rolling things over. So um that needs to just be part of

project plan I think is going to be extremely important and timeline. they they could prepare for it by having less starting with having people give them digital applications as well as a paper one. That's what um Victoria started with the planning department. That's what I started with clerk's office. I get paper and digital and that way it gets started. We can also start the credit cards in the office um right now too that so it get people used to I knew I saw that that digital and for those that are the layman you know help them to learn how to do it just scanning a file or that kind of thing

I think we have multiple do we have multiple uh payment providers for credit cards we have like one for wreck one for yeah wreck is online on their own setup online. I think it goes through the software. Uh does is the courts different than ours? The court they don't they don't take credit cards. They do now. Oh, well the user fees paid for by the person who uses the credit card. Yeah, we would definitely if Yeah, just together consolidate. Yeah, let's I mean I think the lesson is just keep everything simple and stop doing different things, you know.

Okay. One item that I would just like to add, especially I'm fully in favor of going forward with this is let's just take the opportunity to revisit our processes and not force our current processes into municip municip but rather allow us to reexamine them and and land where they should be. Right? because I've been through a lot of these before where we you don't change your process and you just introduce a software and you just kind of you force it, right? But to his point and Eric knows better than anybody when we did this the first time before any of us were on the board,

we made the software follow our processes versus just changing our processes to be more shame on the company and we've had this talk because they took our money they over accommodated. Yes. And uh yeah, I but I agree. Yeah. Okay. But yeah, that section is what it should cover. But but to Alex's point, we need to be committed to making those changes. So, okay. Uh anything else on that, guys? No, it sounds great.

So, we can go to our next discussion which is the 2026 water district rates. Uh, I have I have Bruce uh Bridges, our special district administrator here, Ron Hund, our accountant, and George Palmer from Han Engineering. I said it right right? Okay. Uh, who uh who has just been on board with us for a few months. But before you guys come up, I I have to read something. Um, something I wrote. Um, so just to kind of maybe explain a little bit about what happened last meeting and uh what's been going on in the town for the past few years. So um I do need to speak about last week's meeting first. I was not prepared. I did make the mistake of not having the proper people here who are here tonight. Uh, so if you were here last week or you're listening to the recording, I apologize for any inconvenience that I caused by having you come down here again tonight. Tonight we're we are 110% prepared. Right. Raise your hand. Yes. Um, so we're going to answer any questions and we're going to answer questions to the people that weren't here. Um, but uh I just need to address a comment I've heard more than once. Uh, and the comment is that we are kicking the can down the road. Uh, hearing this is rather disheartening because it couldn't be any further from the truth. The reason these issues are surfacing now is precisely why we as a board are here. We're here to stop the can from being kicked down the road further. As someone who's been a resident for of Southeast for 50 years, I wanted to be clear that I'm not here to raise taxes or raise district rates just to make the town money. This is Southeast. I live here, too. I pay all the bills that everybody else pays. Um, it it's we're not just

another municipality. We are Southeast. And since I've been here and I look at the neighboring towns, we are head and shoulders above these other towns, how we treat each other, and how respectful we all are to each other. And I'm not here to make that road bumpy. I'm here to make that road as smooth as I can make it. Uh so unfortunately years of neglect and deferred maintenance has brought us to this point where we are and where we sometimes have to make difficult decisions. Uh we were doing what we are doing now is responsible. We're addressing the problems that have been pushed aside for so long and we're trying to set the town up for a stronger, more sustainable future. For almost seven years, most of our water and sewer districts did not imp implement any rate increases. I'm not saying names. I'm not saying departments. All I'm saying is when I look at the records, this is what I see. In all my years of experience, I have not encountered any service that could substantially operate without periodic adjustments. Additionally, many of these districts fail to plan for scheduled maintenances, which is both essential and in most cases required to maintain reliable service for the people that are using the service. Operations of any and and this was a question that came up last week. Operations of any public district in New York State, be it sewer, be it lighting, be it water, whatever it is. Um there are mandates by the state that the providers have to abide by. Uh there's monthly tests. Water districts are daily monitoring. They there physically has to be someone that goes to the district

every day and look at things to make sure everything is running correctly. Um someone did mention last week uh that we're testing uh water every week and and that's not every day and that's not true. we don't do that. Uh when PIFA came online, the testing did increase and you know that's something we just we're working on. Um so some of these mandates do vary from from what type of plant there is. All in all though the state mandates uh are all on procedures and Bruce has uh information on what the state mandates. I think we put it up on the website so that everyone can go on the website and see what the state uh has us do to make sure these plants are running cor correctly. Um so I just needed to say some of those things because last week I definitely wasted a lot of people's times and I'm sorry about that. Uh so tonight we're going to have Bruce come up. Bruce is gonna start talking to us about the districts and we'll go from there. We have Ron and then we'll bring George up to tell us what our some of our future uh endeavors are going to be. So, come on up there, Bruce. You can tell everybody. Bruce lives in Blackberry Hill. I won't give you the number, but he pays sewer and he pays water bills.

Yes. Yes, we do. And drink the water. Well, I don't know. Do you want to start with whatever you want to do projects to to be done or with the rates? They kind of You can You can talk about the rates first. You got Ron with you. All right. When we do that, right? Yeah. Okay. I'm going to pull up the uh rates here. What district you going to start with, Ron? I'll start from the beginning. Blackberry Lighting. Okay.

Okay. uh Blackberry Lighting. The proposed rate for 26 is $120 per quarter. That's a $7 increase for a total of $28 for the year. Let me just preface every district we're going to talk about tonight. The main drive behind it the increase is inflation. Every product, every part, every pump, screws, everything is costing more. And as we all know as homeowners, we have spiked in electricity costs and all the plants have experienced that and and we we couldn't foresee this when we did the budget last year.

So of course there's budget shortfalls. So like I said with Blackberry Lighting, it's a $120 for the quarter, $7 increase, $28 for the year. Blackberry Park. Wait, Ron, before you move forward, can you just can you just tell us um the last line is the fund balance? Oh, sure. So, just so we know that, yeah, you know, this is all

part of the reason why I mean $7 doesn't seem like a lot. Uh we last year we we increased it by $3. this year increased it by more because the electricity electricity costs. Uh we're predicting at the end of this year to have a a deficit of about $18,900 and that's going to uh eat into the fund balance that the district has been carrying forward. So that that we're going to project at the end of this year there's actually going to be a negative fund balance of about $455. Doesn't sound like a lot, but districts are not supposed to run in the red. Uh we have to do whatever we can to get them back in into the black. So that's why it was a little bit more of an increase this year uh than last year.

Thank you. Next one. Blackberry Park. It's the same thing again with the inflation and spike in in electricity. Uh the rates for 26 are going to be 140. They were 130 last year. So that's $10 a quarter. It's just $40 for the year. Again, if you could see on the in the red, we're we're predicting a deficit for this year and that is mostly electricity and we also did have to re uh replace a pump in the pool this year. So, Ron, just to be clear, the Blackberry Park and Bruce, it's the pool. Nobody else outside of Blackberry or the condos can use that park.

No, they can. They all pay into it. No, no, no. Like I can't res Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you meant the Hill residents. The condos and the homes in Blackberry district. That's for them. That's why they have to support that park. Yes. And uh I'd like to add that it's not on here is that the town takes care of that park. We provide the lifeguards, but that that does come out of this. Yeah, that's a big part of that's a big part of a lot of lifeguards that and brought in the pool all summer. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Next district, Blackberry Sewer. Oh, I'll just touch on refues. Refuge is basically generated from the town puts out a bid for the garbage pickup. Uh I think the contract uh for next year I think they have a clause and it's for about a 3% increase. Uh this number is an estimate because what happens is whatever we need to raise to pay the contractual cost for the rescue district it goes to the county and they take the number of parcels the residential parcels and then that that uh that's calculated and that's how they come up with with the rate. Uh, so it it's not much of an increase. Okay. Blackberry sewer. The 2026 rate is $230 a quarter, which is a $10 increase for a quarter, $40 for the year. And we're in the same boat. We're in 2025. We're projecting a deficit which is sewer plants. We have two three sewer plants and they use the most electricity. A lot of electricity. And uh like I said, I think we're I think we're running 30% above budget for electricity.

Yeah. Cuz both of those sewer plants have items that run 24 hours a day. there. This district is in good shape as far as our fund balance. Uh but we thought it would be good. You know, we had a $10 increase last year, so we stuck with that this year. Hey, Ron, question about the fund balances. Yes. Obviously, part of it is because you budget and sometimes the expenses are coming in less and it just builds over time. Correct. Um, you're probably also building in a contingency every year for increased cost. We try. We try to. Yes.

Right. And and I'm imagining that's how you can amass a a surplus like this over time. Anything else that would lead to a large Here's the other thing, too. With the sewer districts, the D pays for some costs. And when we budget for that, we don't know what we really don't know what the costs are going to be and what they're going to reimburse. So, we have to be on the conservative side and kind of uh budget for that. And sometimes it comes through they they end up paying for for things that we uh may not expected. Mhm.

So, when they end up paying for that, we we already budgeted for it because we don't know we we don't know what we know for the most part what they're going to cover, but there's things that come up and we negotiate with them and say, and then they agree to pay for it. So, that could also lead to fund balance and is there any limit to or best practice as to how much balance you can acrue within a district? Is that discretionary or No, the the controllers's office they used to have and I forget what it was. They used to get on you if you had too much fund balance, but then they backed off that and said it's good to have about one year's worth of of a budget and contingency.

Okay. And right, excuse me. Right now, none of our districts. Well, some of them do. Some of them do. They are. Okay. The smaller ones. Right. Ron, do you have like your own target? Like like the park the fund balance is I don't know 60 or so% of their yearly expenditures, but like sewer is only maybe 20 something%. like,

you know, I realize there's things out of your control, but do you have like a target of of where you try to keep the fund balance in relation to the size of the district? What I try, what I'd like to do is ultimately keep it level. We don't necessarily have to crease. Uh and it also depends on if projects come up like we might uh plan ahead have a capital improvement plan say listen three down three years down the road we we can do this because we have fund balance or we don't want to touch fund balance let's go out and bond that. So I don't I don't think we really target a certain thing. I try to keep it level to to plan for unexpected things.

Okay. I mean, that's something that could be discussed with the board with Bruce. Do we want to have a certain target? Yeah, I know we're working towards the forward-looking plan of expenses, but you know, if we could ever like lock that down and have a good view of what's coming and then if we work with Ron on setting a target, like our fund balances won't just be all over the place, negative, you know, too big in one, too small in another. Well, I think too a little part of that is some some of these items at these uh bigger plants are a lot of money and you know you don't know when they're going to break kind of thing because I think right now Blackberry there was a something that broke that was 40,000 or so.

Yeah. Do you for for the budget I know there's got to be like an on andm line. Do you just use a run rate of like things that break and need repairs or how because you don't know things are going to break every year. How do you budget for that and maintain a fund balance? Well, I mean working with VRI we try to you know look out into the future 3 to 5 years and estimate what lifespans are left on some of these you know major products and stay ahead of it. But you know there's no guarantees,

right? But the budget isn't just so you have a portion of the budgets in there for when things break. If you have a good year goes to fund balance. If you have a bad year, you're drawing from it. But you you feel comfortable what you budgeted for that. We do budget for equipment replacement. Okay. Every year. And some years we get lucky and some years it's not enough. Right. Okay. Okay. Where were we? Rooster Heights Sewer.

Brewster Heights. Okay. Excuse me. Brewster Heights Sewer. Uh 2026 rate. It's going from 234 to 240. That's a $6 per quarter raise, $24 for the year. Uh same thing uh inflation and spike in in electricity costs. I will want to I do want to point out that if you see that there's a projected 541,000 uh fund balance and that may seem high and and some of that may go down because what happens is the D we make a budget for every year for expenses that we anticipate that D is going to reimburse us for and say we have a $100,000 budget they pay us quarterly $25,000 for that $100,000. Then what they do is at the following year they rec they reconcile all those costs. We have to submit our costs and what happens is year to year they may have paid us too much we have to give back or they didn't pay us enough and we get uh they they owe us money. So in 2024 there's a big project at Brewster Heights sewer. I forget what it was. I don't know if it was the membranes.

I think so. Yes.

Yeah. We had a we put $240,000 into the D's budget to reimburse us for that. What happened was the costs were a little bit less. Not a not a lot less, but maybe $90,000 less. So when they're they already reimbursed us for that. So what's going to happen? They're working on the reconciliation. I should probably have that any day now to know whether we're the district is going to have to pay back. So I I I suspect I don't know what that number is. So I just project. So that's why uh the fund mounts may seem high, but I I suspect this that when they do this reconciliation, we're going to have to get back some money.

And Ron, this also includes the uh Eagles Ridge sewer, Brewster Heights. Yes, Brewster Heights part of Eagles Ridge. That's why it's 384 units. Uh because that's condos and uh homes. Uh for that for Brewster Heights Sewward there there's a big capital project that needs to happen. I understand like the carousel. Yeah. Uh George is actually going to talk about that. Yeah. Okay. And that's not included in this budget anywhere. Correct. Okay. Thank you. We we just touch on that. Last year we raised the rates to start preparing for that.

Okay. I didn't mean to cut. Okay, next one. Peach Lake. Peach Lake has a very is a very uh I don't know what the word is but when it was started up we're in conjunction with uh North Salem town of Southeast and North Salem uh both own this plant and when the rates were devised they did it by bedrooms because if you have more bedrooms uh you have more uh sewage to break down and all that kind of stuff. So Warren Lucas, the supervisor of town for the town of North Salem, when this first came on board, this is how they structured the rates. So we have a onebedroom, a two-bedroom, a threebedroom, and a fourbedroom. And you can see the number of units for each one of these. So in 2026, each of each of the categories, the bedrooms went up by $13 per quarter with an increase of $52 uh for the year. Uh and this is another case. This was strictly raised for for inflation and and electricity. We still have to meet with Warren.

Apparently, um, in the district there were a couple of homes built. Yeah. So, they will they will uh inherit a little bit more of the plant than than right now. North Salem pays 74% of the cost and Southeast picks up 26%. And it it all gets reconciled at the end because the uh North Salem they pay a majority of the expenses from from their funds and we pay some this year we did pick up a lot of the sludge removal

which is a big expense big expense. Uh so at the end of the year we reconcile sometimes usually we owe them uh because they paid 74% of it. Uh this this year I think uh they're going to lost some money, but we'll see how that works out. Ron, is that total users or that's southeast users? The 120 what you're looking at? Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is just just southeast. Yeah. Some this came up in the past. Somebody who lives in North Salem said or somebody who lives in Peach Lake. How come their rates are different?

Yes. Well, the major reason is uh North Salem has 74% and they took out a much bigger bond than we did. Okay. Brewster Heights Water. This is the one district that had some uh had some lot of repairs and some expenses that were were unexpected and not budgeted for. So in 2026, uh I'll also point this out too. Last year, 2024, we all we went from a flat rate for everything. Uh one, yeah, a flat rate of everything. Brewster Heights used to have a $15,000 dollar uh

gallon.

Uh the first 15,000 you didn't pay extra and then it was a penny after that. Then we institute pretty much uh districtwide all the water districts. we went to eliminating that the allowance and we charge them a penny for every gallon. And last year we held off on Eagle's Ridge. There's only 24 units there and we wanted to make sure uh that we had the right What happened in the past is we had some uh meters put in and some of them were gallons and some were were cubic feet and that wasn't uh wasn't translated to the county department. So when we when we put the information into our system, our system automatically when you have a gallon meter adds two decimal two decimal places to it. So before we said let's get rid of the uh usage for Eagle's Ridge last year, we said let's just make sure all the meters are kosher. They're what we think they are. And we had VRI go out and that's all been confirmed. So what we decided this year is the Brewster Heights and Eagles Ridge that are metered but going to pay the same same rate

and to touch because you might not understand this but we are now in the second cycle of uh charging per gallon. So the first whole year we had to figure out what the numbers were going to be. So that's why this year we decided that they they need to be the same and the usage charges will be the same. And were you going to talk about the meters and why there aren't all in there? Well, you could talk when he's done. I just want to make sure we talk about that because that was a question. So what's going to happen is Eagles Ridge are going to pay the same flat rate, but now they're going to pay every gallon.

And I based on usage in there, I think their bills their bills are going to be they're going to go down. They're not going to go up because you're using so much. Yeah.

So, in 2026, Brewster Heights and the Eagles Ridge that are metered, uh, we moved we increased them to $300 from 260. So, that's a $40 per, uh, per quarter, 160 for the year. And I'll get to in one moment to why we did that. uh rates increased for inflation and spiked and also in 2024 I don't know if you could see that there was a $94,000 ser uh deficit and that deficit came because of unexpected water charges we had to bring in water from when Drewville the issue we had with Drewville and also uh the the district purchases water from New York city and their rates went up and there was also more usage. So there was about 77,000 of of water charges that we had to pay that weren't budgeted for

and there and there were some repairs done for 24,000. So that led to the ser to the deficit which took us even further in the red for uh fund balance in 24. So in in 25 we raised the rates to uh anticipate uh the Drew the Drewville Road uh pump station and improve improvements for the sand filters that have to be replaced there. And and you could see in 25 we raised the rates and we're we're we're projecting a surplus of 66,000 which will cut into that uh into that fund balance uh negative fund balance we had in 24. We were hoping uh that it would be a little bit more to to almost completely wipe that out. Uh but that wasn't the case. So that's why uh

Rona for when you said the city uh charges for use of the reservoir uh that we buy water or they buy water from them. Is that on a usage rate or is it a flat rate? It's gallons. Yeah. So how many gallons? I believe they have a meter right there that passes through all the water that goes through the district. So, um, has, and you may not know this, that's fine, but I know when we went to metered billing by usage, usage billing, uh, we hoped or anticipated there'd be a a decrease in consumption. I think we said we ballpark like 10%. Are we seeing a decrease? Well, I tried to come up with something that makes sense. I looked at every district.

Nothing. There's no rhyme or reason. Some went up, some went down. Obviously in the summer usage like this summer especially was very hot and we had okay there was a lot of usage I compared it to the previous summer and went up but there I can't say oh yeah throughout the districts that since we instituted that that the water usage dropped I would say it has not dropped as much as I would have expected. Okay. And um I think that's important to know cuz when we went to that I thought the only savings would be wear and tear, chemicals, you know, equipment, whatever. But I didn't realize we were paying per gallon for water as well. So

yeah, so everyone understands that from when the rain falls in the reservoir, for some reason New York City owns that, we got to pay for it. It makes no sense, but we got to pay for it. Repairs. That was a little sarcasm. I'm sorry. Next district. Oh, Ron, one question. Sure. Before we move on. So, can you walk us through how you estimate for these sand filters, right, that are coming five years from now, a million dollars? That's like where do you That's a best guess. Where do you start? And

well, we're not trying to, this is probably a little misconception, we're not trying to raise rates to eventually get to a million dollars cuz that you can't. No, I realize that you can't do that. But what is the thought behind it? Like the thought behind it is when when it does go to uh construction or whatever, there's going to be an increase in the debt and interest. It's going to be a big one. And so we're trying to plan for that so it's not a big jump when that happens. And do we have an idea when we expect the repairs to be made and what the cost for the job will be? I think uh George would speak more to that

but following on last year's 3 to 5 year plan rolling it forward you know it would be in the next 3 to four years the million plus uh estimate was from VRI subject I mean who knows what can happen with with pricing uh but it was a uh a best guess to start the process with and we've used it uh you know to put in for some of the grants but it is a work in progress. Mhm. So

but I think part of it is because you know this was a public document it was shared you know that language of replace sand filter you know it was been it was picked on picked up on by some of the residents. So it just, you know, introduced, well, how is the how is that being calculated and and they were trying to figure out the math and there's no way to figure out the math and we were here a couple weeks ago. We obviously we couldn't explain and as as you're mentioning now, you know, we don't know what it is yet either. It um

like Ron you said, you're not trying to get the whole million, but we don't know what you're trying to get to. I think we're trying to plan ahead because as supervisor mentioned before, there was really not much too much planning and then everything hit the fan and then we had to pay for it and uh there was big increases. We're trying to not get those big increases,

right? But but you had you must have had a number in your head like I want to get to $100,000. I want to get to, you know, and that's we're just trying to understand the process. The rates were definitely it was definitely on under 100,000 probably 50 to 75,000.

Ron uh this says that there's a bond expiring or maturing in 2032 which I guess would line up pretty well with um this filter project is there's there's two bonds. Um, G, I don't I don't know if you could answer this question, but what would that debt replacement of a new bond to pay for sand filters be uh partially covered by that bond expiring? I don't know if I'm the right way. You are. I I know you're trying to get at most likely not because you can see we have $52,000 worth of debt service that's outstanding. Yeah.

So that probably works out to $75,000 to $100,000 that that bond that bond. So I suspect if you if you're taking a million divided by 20. So what is that? Uh well it's probably 2 million after interest and everything. Yeah. Right. Right. So I would suspect that the bond interest payments are going to be more than what we currently have. But there is some there will be an offset. There's some debt replacement there. Okay. And is the can you only bond out for 20 years? Yes. Okay. Uh, one more question on the heights. It says um it says the district has loans of 3/4 million outstanding with the town,

right? That's to cover their deficit that they're running right now, which we're trying to recoup and the cost of Drewville and uh the water that we had to pay for. Is is that a crude amount? In other words, I know that there's still some money owed on that project and I think there's some um disagreement on what we owe at this time. Uh have you acrewed for that expense? No. No. Cuz I don't bill all the bills are paid though already, right? For that. Yes.

Yeah. I was wondering if you acrewed for the the balance which would have been a good you know not that you didn't acrew as bad. it was acred for it would be a good thing if we didn't have to pay that but that's not in that number if that came to fruition it would help so is the real fund balance then you know negative 3/4 million no I mean maybe not fund but the loan balance right isn't it loan balance 88 plus 762 or no well part of that 762 is loans it's also for the capital project so the district part of this is the district part of How do I explain? Does is the 512 debt service part of that 700?

No. No. Part of the 762 I think is about four 250,000 for the the operating uh district for the Bruce Heides water operating part of it. The other part expenses for the Jew road go into a capital project that's separate from this because if we so theoretically if they if they had a loans of 762,000 you would say they'd have a deficit of 762,000 at least. But this is the water district. There's only because it because in 2024 they had $154,000 in red. Uh that's part of the 762 but but 500 I believe 500 something thousand of that of that loan is for the capital projects.

So where would that 500 ever come back from bond that you still have to do? Yes. Okay. Oh yes. Which is going to be on top of this service that we're paying now. So the the Yeah. The debt will go down but Yeah. The expenses will go up.

Yeah. Because Right. We're still trying to figure out the whole drill what our actual costs are going to be once we I mean kind of know but there's some other issues that have to be resolved and then once then we can go to bond on that and maybe at that point we're we might have we might be able to uh look at we might be able to uh look at the the uh which one what is it the sand filters on the timing of that maybe we can put those bonds together. That Drewville project, I I don't know if you followed up on the PR thing. Um

trying to get him to pay for some of it. Oh yeah, he's kind of like not responding to me on that. Um maybe he'll respond next year when he's running. Yeah, I will. I'll hit him up again on that. I guess just so everyone knows that was that was a several hundred,000 because of an aqueduct project in the Catskills that that district had to pay to put a pump in the middle of the reservoir in case it went too low. They drained the reservoir, ran out of money, and then they didn't do the project. They filled it back up and now they're not doing the project for two or three years. Oh, no. Longer than that. More than that. Yep.

Yep. So tell us state screwed that district out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and Peter Harkham will our representatives want to step up and help pay. Let's see I just like oh city

just so you have a general idea of what happens from week to week, month to month. Mike Berdick from the highway department is setting up Brewster Heights to get paved next year. So, he's replacing all the piping, all the drainage. And one of the things that I would have never thought of until somebody said it, there's about 15 to 20 shut off valves in the in the roadway and they're usually about 3 ft deep. So, since they're going to be paved, they have to go in there and make sure all of those things are operating. And if they're not operating correctly, they have to replace

replace them. So that's like an expense that you wouldn't you you you can't kind of prepare for. Um so like it's things like that that just they keep adding up and adding up and you know I just Sorry, Ron. Go ahead. Uh you want to move on or are you you still talking about pierces? No, I'm I'm good. and and anyone from the public, you're going to be able to come up later and ask some questions. Don't we're not trying to dismiss you. We're just trying to get it all out there. Go ahead, Rob.

Okay. Uh Star Ridge 2026 rates are going from 145 to$150. $5 a quarter, $20 for the year. That's minimum. Last year they we went up $10 a quarter. Uh the district has has decent fund balance. And it's the same thing. The reason why we raise it, we didn't want to not raise any any districts. We have to raise them a little bit for the cost of everything, the electricity, things like that. And George is going to talk about PES. Okay.

If you come on up for that.

Okay. Fox Hill 2026 going from 440 to $453. It's a $13 per quarter increase. $52 for the year. Uh one of the reasons why we last year Foxill had a big in uh had a a big increase. It's one of the highest the districts had. And because you can see in 23 they were running a $45,000 deficit. uh in 24 uh it's went slightly up by 47,000 and so we raised rates in 25 and it looks like based on my projections that we're going to have a surplus of 32,000 so eliminated more than half of that by raising those rates. Uh so that was good. I mean, we would have liked to get it back to zero, but that's a big step for this district because they

it's a very small district and they've been running in the red for a few years. So, I think they're they're headed in a good direction there. Mountain Brook 2026 rate 30 338 from 325. That's a $13 per quarter increase. $52 for the year and it's the same logic with all most the other districts. They increase what everything costs and and the electricity peaceable peaceable hill went from 490 to 505. That's that's a $15 increase per quarter, $60 for the year. Uh and it's pretty much as I been saying all night cost of things and electricity. Uh it did project there is a sur uh deficit in 2025 and that happened because anybody here who lives in our district knows that we added two properties hooked up their lines from the main line into them. We did get money from sell the property uh but it didn't cover all of it. So that's why there there's there the projected deficit for for by the end of this year

and but the fund balance is in good shape. There's still a couple more properties coming online, right? I believe there is. Yeah. Yeah.

So that will help because once they get online then they start paying. Okay. Blackberry water 2020. We have homes and we have condos. The homes do not have uh No, they take that back. Uh the homes went from 31 to 32. It's a dollar increase, $4 for the year. The condos uh went from$125 to 129. It's a $4 uh per quarter, $16 for the year. Uh just somebody might have a question why the homes and the condos are different rate. uh the homes are metered and the condos are not. And that's that's the reason why.

And another crazy fact, I don't know if you guys are aware, but the condos, we run a meter to the entrance at the condos. Anything past that meter, the development takes care of. So like in all of the other districts, we take care of all the water main feeds, but in this particular district for the condos, they take care of it all maintenance.

So yeah. So it's because I I didn't explain earlier that for the public a lot all of these districts except for Peaceful Hill Road were basically handed to the town in disarray. So the town had to make sure they were operable. And you know, like I said earlier, years of no maintenance, it it it caught up and and we're trying to fix this. Keep going around. Sorry. Hillrest 2026 rates are 106 up $3 from 25. That's $12 for the year. minimal increase as I said before pay for increase in costs and electricities electricity and uh this district the fund balance is in is in good shape. Springhouse 2026 rate is $711. It's an increase of $21 per quarter, $84 for the year. Uh same thing rates for in inflation and and electricity cost they're in a

they're fund balances in good cost and some people might say how come their rates are so high. Well there's only 54 units there and I forget the year but five six years ago they built a whole new plant and they're still paying the bond which doesn't mature until 40 2044. Ron, there's a bond on here maturing. Uh, yeah, there's a small bond that matures next year, so that won't have a big impact. Yeah, the big one is the one that's out to 2044. That was for the when they built the new plant there. Oh, it's further down the road, right? What's that? From the old one.

From the old one. That's right. It's a different location outside the swamp. There is there was there was lots that were subdivided out of that village um that district and sold I believe right. Did they are they paying into this or no? I don't think there's homes built. They haven't been developed yet. Do they pay they don't pay while they own the land? I do not believe they play uh they don't pay pay a base capital charge. The ones the undeveloped land uh land that came from where they built the water plant. They should, right? Yeah. If you're if you're in the district and you're not connected, we do charge them a capital charge. Okay.

It's very minimal. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Last district, Bird Hill. It's another small district. Uh 2026, uh rates are $475, up from $450. It's $25 a quarter, $100 for the year. Uh same thing, inflation and spike in electricity costs. And unfortunately, this I believe this is the smallest district. There's only 24 people sharing in these costs. And they're also last year we increased the rates uh because we had to prepare for the P the PAS treatment. And you could see they have a very small fund balance based on the number number of residents. So we'd like to keep that the same.

Thank you, Ron. Don't go far. I can't go. Um I see some of the um water test results uh that come through and I've noticed there's been a few other districts that have creeping up creeping up on FIFA or what's the criteria? Does does it have to be a certain number of quarters in a row to be flagged as a official FIFA? And what's the what communications need to go out? Uh four is the number that we have to uh right part four parts per trillion

per trillion. Correct. Um in terms of the moving averages of those or the frequency uh I'm going to yield to George and VRI on that. That gets very complicated very quickly. Okay. And it's kind of a moving target.

Okay. Uh, a lot of what I was going to talk about was already discussed with Nick's comments, but I just wanted to uh give you the to-do list of items uh that are going to need to be done again in the 3 to 5 year time frame here. Not really putting numbers on it, but uh stuff we know is coming. Uh a Brewster uh Brewster Hill waste water. Uh, they're going to need some electronic equipment, an EQ panel replacement, Blackberry, you mean? No, Brewster uh Heights.

Oh, okay. You said Hill

Brewster Heights. Um, a uh CMF backwash panel. Uh, the O the I don't have numbers for those. Those are not huge hits. Uh, the next one, the oxidation ditch. That's going to be a lot of money. Uh I think George is going to give us a better guesstimate there. Uh other items there include uh a mud well mud well panel replacement and there too they're going to need a sand filter replacement uh or if not just a repair to extend uh the current life. Brewster Heights Water. The big one there, we've been talking about it, are the three sand filters that are going to need replacement uh in the next three to five years. We have put in for some grant funding on that. We have not gotten a response. Uh but when we put in for those grants in the spring, we were using a $1.5 million estimate uh for replacement. Bruce,

those were the stainless ones, right? What we're hoping to replace it with is a stainless apparent the ones there now are steel. Steel, right? George brought up after a while it can't fix steel anymore. It keeps on getting thinner and thinner and then there's nothing there to replace. And those things are 40 years old. So the stainless apparently will almost double the life of a steel. So that's why we kind of Is that a partial funding grant or partial? Do does it have the percentage in there? I believe it's 80 80%. Okay.

Um Bruce. Okay. So moving over to Blackberry uh wastewater. Uh some of these projects have been completed, but they needed new lighting inside of the buildings there. Uh we did a smoke test on all the sewers there to look for leaks. They've just completed that. Fortunately, nothing out of the ordinary showed up there, so we're good with that. Um there is a EQ discharge pipe that I think George might mention too, uh between some of the tanks that goes underground. This is one of the original uh pieces of plumbing there and it was put in in a very ciruitous route. We're redoing it so it eliminates some of the 90° turns there so we can get a better flow. The pumps will operate better. Everything will be easier. Uh we're just waiting for the health department.

Uh now it's the DC. Now it's the DEC to give us approval to bury that and put it to bed. Um what else? Uh and then uh in Blackberry water uh there is a pressure tank uh that is 40 going on 40 years old that is starting to show its life and that's going to have to be replaced at some point. Um, and then the other two districts with big projects uh for the PIFA are Hillrest or excuse me, Hillrest is going to need uh new pipes at some point in the future. Those are galvanized pipes that are 40 plus years old and they're brittle and going to need to be replaced. Uh Star Ridge and Birch Hill, uh those are the two big ones with PAS. Uh we're working with George and WRT to use some of the uh technology that they are using down in North Salem right down the road from Star Ridge. Uh that's um uh this is the ion exchange way of doing it instead of the GEK. It's much easier. It's better for the scale projects that these have. and we're just getting going through the approval process. Uh, and for those two projects, uh, you had already previously secured, I believe it was 840,000 to be split between the two.

No. Uh, 1.2 for Star Ridge, over eight for Birch Hill. Oh, yeah. Better still. So, that that's an 80% or two. So, correct. Depending on But the cost of these constructions come down that that number is going to it's going to scale down, right? But it's significantly less billing cost. A 70% match if I recall. Um, so just to touch, we met with Wendy the other day and one of the big things we were talking about was notification of some some things uh like the water tests and things like that. Um what what are we putting on the website so that people can

Well, we have and we we will continue to do the annual uh AQRS uh that comes out every spring. Uh um but we talked about quarterly stuff. Oh, we were going to do a just a Bruce is going to do a quarterly meeting here just like this, like an update, quick update, okay, on all the districts in case anything changes. It's a little challenging to get all the test results out because not everything is tested for every month. So, it's gappy, right? And so, we'll we'll work around

and the bottom line is as you said, I mean, if something tests above a limit, we're required by the health department to reach out immediately so nothing's being hidden. Right. So if no news is good news basically for the district when it comes to the water testing numbers. We did help a lady with the smoke test. Right. A couple pulling up. Bruce and I went out to to look to see what it was. And basically they put a a big fan on a manhole and they blow smoke in the follow the sewer and it comes out the other manhole. And some woman was talking to the guys doing the job. Apparently her kitchen filled with smoke.

Oh gosh. Um her the pipe underneath her sink must have been disconnected or something. Yeah. So, uh we kind of helped somebody. It's pretty funny. Yeah, sure. Um All right. Let me yield to George. And you guys got questions for Bruce for those quarter the No, it's all right. For the quarterly meetings, I I would like to push alerts out to the districts. Uh just let them know. Yeah, I don't think one out one went out for tonight.

No. And you know, Bruce and I were kind of loosely talking about what those meetings should contain. Um I think we can put some framework in, some structure for those meetings. You know, just meant to be a quick update. You know, here's what's going on. Districts in good shape just to kind of keep the conversation moving throughout the year. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. Somebody tap George. Looks like he's had a long day. George, thanks for coming.

No problem. This is this is great. It was great to hear all the information. Um I I gained a lot. Um but good evening uh council members, supervisor. Um if you want to start with the uh the slides. Yeah, we uh just a couple things to note. We I know Ron mentioned u electrical charges going up. Uh lab costs go up too. uh when you send these tests out to the labs, the labs have to charge more because the tests get more expensive and they get harder to do. The chemicals that they need to run the tests, those go up. And as you'd mentioned, uh supervisor, that um the DO regulates the amount, the frequency, and whatnot. There's no way around it. You can't say I I want to test less. It's it's mandated. Um we are going to work with with VRI um regarding equipment. And I I I sense tonight the you don't want the needle to move on your costs. You want it to move very little. Um Ron mentioned that he's he's trying to keep a nice steady uh fund balance. And we're going to work with VRI to uh look at their list of equipment, look at life cycles, see what kind of time is left on on equipment. We usually do a fiveyear projection. So five years out, you know how long something's going to last. If it's going to last a year, it's going to last two years. and BRRI has a nice list of uh what's a high priority, medium priority, low priority, and they've kind of mapped a little bit of that out already. So, we're just going to help them fine-tune that and then put some cost to that. So, I know uh uh Tyler has been working with one of the electrical companies to get some numbers for some panels because you share a number and you say it's 100,000 and a week later it's 150, everyone gets upset. So that's got to get some real hard hard numbers for people so that uh it doesn't uh balloon out of you budget

for one thing and then it it turns into something else. So um do you have my presentation or you sent it to me? I think so. It's in it was in an email, right? Yeah. That email came a couple days ago. You know, I don't know if Bruce wants Keep talking, George. Okay. Yeah. George, you want to do a quick summary? I think the role of VRI, a lot of people don't understand why we have a company like VRI. So, just a quick summary as to why they are in place.

Sure. You need a water operator for all your all your um all your systems. Uh they need certain levels of certification. I am a water operator and in addition to being a licensed engineer, uh the grades go from A, B, C, and D. uh the more complicated your system, the higher the level of of grade you need. Um and they have to go out there daily. They have to check call forms. They have, again, this goes back to the the Department of Health. They have to do uh regular testing. And then there's special testing. You have POS, you have VOCC's, you have all sorts of things that need to be tested on a 5-year basis, three-year basis. Aladdin copper is a three-year basis. um five-year basis is um sanitary code part five which has a wide array of testing. Um so you you need an operator and they they're an on call company. Something goes wrong, they show up in the middle of the night, they fix whatever needs to be fixed. They address uh uh whatever comes up. It was mentioned earlier about uh if if there's an exceedence of a level. So there's levels of of notifications. There's tier one, tier two, tier three. Each one uh requires a certain type of notification. One's a 24-hour notification. One is uh it's kind that ends up in an annual water quality report um where you might have not reported something on time. So, that ends up in a in a water quality report. Uh, and then there's the the the more immediate ones, the tier uh tier ones, I believe, are the ones where you need to boil water or do something because something's seriously arai

and essentially a company like that is we're regulated to have them in place. You're regulated to have them in place. You need a licensed operator for each system. Okay. Thank you. And and they do have to record their information daily. And there's an annual sanitary survey where the health department comes out and they check all your records. They make sure you've done everything properly. So there's a lot of recording, recordkeeping and recording these. So if something goes wrong, you have those records and you have that information handy and you can say I was doing the right thing at the time when this went wrong. So yep. Thank you. What was that?

Um we did mention grants. uh D usually pays 80% for certain items. And then we did have a good meeting with um the um uh DEEC and EFC which represent the WQIP and the WEIA grants. And those are 7030 and 7020 MA uh 7 I'm sorry 7030 and 8020 matches on uh for for funding. And as as as Ron mentioned earlier um the million dollars uh for for the filters uh that's a place marker. You got to start somewhere. And uh and when you have these grants and these matches, you're not going to get to that million dollars. But what you'd hope to do is get to the 20 or maybe the 30% of the match. That's the important part. So a million dollars, you might have to come up with $300,000 and then hopefully um uh somewhere along the line like a Harkham grant or some other grant comes along where you can put money into it. Um, but that's or you have to go to a ban and you usually have a ban where you you you fund the balance of it for a year and then you change the band into a long-term loan. Correct. So, so your your one-year loan for construction now turns into a 20-year and you spread that out over time.

Is is there a page on here, Nick? Is there something here explaining those? Is there something we should be looking at? Oh, great. Thank you. Um so that's an overview of the districts that we looked at uh specifically because they have um higher higher need higher needs. They have the PAS

so we have Birch Hill, Brewster, Star Ridge, Blackberry, Brewster Heights and and uh Bruce and Ron have gone through them in detail tonight but I'm if you could advance them. So water districts. So, Birch Hill, as mentioned, it's a 24 uh service connections. It's just not very big. And uh uh very low usage, 25 2900 gallons a day. It's very small. And there's some some facts on there. You can share that on the website if people want to look at it to see, you know, what what their system is made of. Storage tank pump house. So, we're talking about POS and treatment. This is um the treatment that's down the road in North Salem. It's the alternative to Gak. Um it's ion exchange. It's actually an absorptive media ion exchange. Um where POS comes in, the resin that's in the these containers absorbs the POS. It's very selective and then it goes out into the system. It goes out treated. And these work in pairs where the first one is the primary treatment and the second one is the uh polishing and that's the way the health department uh wants it to be.

You guys were involved with Docella, right?

Correct. We we actually have uh one system we're putting out to bid which is Sunset uh Ridge putting it out to bid uh uh in the next few weeks. We just need a parts list uh for the contractor. And we try to put these What's nice about these, you had you said you had 800,000 and 1.2 million. Uh these are a lot lower in cost. The just the cost of the equipment was $180,000. So, um that gives you a lot of room to do other things like buildings and and in in Birch. So, you have a waiver of disinfection and the health department is going to want you to drop that waiver and you're now you're going to have to put in chlorine into the system. So, that's got to be included in this process. And then we also have to look at your storage tanks and your other equipment in there. Um, and we could possibly use that money to replace something in there using that grant uh above and beyond what you what we've planned for just the treatment. So, in other words, let's say your tank is aging out and you want to replace that, that extra money could go to replacing the tank because you need now contact time. So, the chlorine can't just go out to the system. You got to put it in. It's got to go through the tank in 30 minutes and then it's got to go out to the system. So, it's kind of an opportunity to make that that uh investment as well. And next slide. So, that's that's the Brewster Heights Water District. You mentioned several times tonight that the red line is is an outline of the system. Uh the yellow line is the the line coming up from the reservoir. Um, yeah, that's another picture of the the yellow lines coming from the reservoir which has a pump house that

you mentioned at the last meeting. I've looked at that meeting and it's it's uh in litigation or could be in litigation. So, I won't say too much about it. These are the filters that we keep talking about that are going to be stainless steel and um they're called Trident systems we've mentioned tonight. These are usually proprietary pieces of equipment. Not too many people make them. Um there's a handful of of companies that make them. So it's very um and and not make just Trident, but make their own brand of Trident. So Trident's a company that makes these steel containers that have uh sand anthraite and uh select gravel in them to filter water. And George, one of the questions was last week, um, why do we have to use these, right?

So, um, the health department, uh, requires you to have a certain level of treatment and no, actually what I meant by that is the plant is set up for these filters. If we replace these filters with a different type of filter, the plant then would have to be adjusted somehow. Correct. So that's that's where I was going. So Okay. Sorry. No problem.

Um, so you need a certain amount of of filtering for that the health department requires. If you wanted to change that to another type of technology or another type of treatment, that would have to go back to the health department. They would have to approve it. And that gets a little more complicated because then you have to prove that technology out. You can't just say, "Okay, this this is going to work here because these these filters, they have chemicals added to them. They flock, which means they create larger particles so that the sand catches them and they they can be u skimmed off or backwashed out and it's a process. So when you change technologies, then you have to do pilot systems and testing. just repairing what you have in place is more friendly to um the health department and everyone else to and more economical for them to to uh change out. So changing technology is not not easy and then uh Brewster Heights Water District uh Star Ridge. Star Ridge we talked about the 1.2 2 million. This is similar to Birch where um they had a uh Delaware had a proposed system that had granular activated carbon also known as Gak. Um and we're going to try to use the same uh WRT is makes the ion exchange process uh or the ion exchange equipment with the resins and the filters. Um the the good thing and and why we used it in in North Salem is not only is it lower in cost, it's lower in maintenance. Gak has a backwash requirement and it creates a waist stream. That waist stream has to be collected, hauled off site and then uh it's a continuous process. Absorptive media does not have a waist stream. So

it goes in, it it's absorbed onto the media and it goes out. And we're talking about parts per trillion. So that's very very small. These units last uh depending on the water quality, three to five years. Um and it depends uh um on on other constituents that you have in the water. So if you have something like sulfur or uh any other chemical that might use up the resin as we say instead of the uh instead of the POS or what you're trying to treat um that reduces the life as well. So but they they try to make the resin as selective as possible but you can't control the water that's coming in. So, and those that's a a sample of to the left is a bag filter. To the top is a manifold with valves and those are the tanks that are used to uh to treat the water. So, um, the only difference between the two and even if we have to start looking at spring h spring house is the star ridge is going to be have a couple more canisters. Basically,

they will have more. Um, and we we touched on this a minute ago about uh when you have multiple canisters, the problem with that is sometimes the health department wants more testing. So, um, in talking to WRT, they're trying to make the canisters larger so that if the health department says, "Oh, you got to test each canister or each what we call treatment train." Um, then that reduces that cost. So, instead of having six smaller ones, you may have three larger ones. So, okay.

George, when you speak of the uh health department approvals, are you talking about the state health department or are you talking about local? So, in in Westchester County, the they have pushed this on to the state um and have the state reviewing them. Um and Putnham County will probably do the same thing. They have the state and since you have a grant, they also have the state looking at it.

Yeah, they know what's going on. We've already made contact with them and we've worked with them in the past. So, it's uh it should be smooth process. You're welcome. Uh Blackberry Hill sewer district. Um uh so that's that's a description of the uh process which mentions settling. You have an equal uh EQ tank, equalization tank, rotating biological uh reactor, chemical, uh secondary clar uh clarifier and UV disinfection.

That plant was built in 71. I thought it was later, but it but it was upgraded rebuilt. Oh, that's it. Okay. In the 80s, right? Yeah. 90s. Wasn't it rebuilt after uh after the watershed agreement? I'm not sure of the date. So that would have been in the 90s because that's when the city of New York got involved in picking up the cost of the tertiary treatment.

Correct. So that's when they switched that. You used to have a chlorination system and now you have a UV system. You have other processes. That's where that's why I provided this uh list. So you have a a Speedy's permit that goes along with the sewer system. So these are some of the things that you have to meet certain levels biological oxygen demand suspended solids to uh fecal cifform ammonia dissolved oxy etc. I don't mean to cut you off but I know there's it kind of getting late and I know people wanted to talk sorry probably so we probably don't need to get too much in the weeds here unless they have questions.

Sure. Um, and then this one was what Bruce had mentioned before about a sewer line, a force man is the picture on the bottom. And so it's good to have a picture of what these panels look like. So that's a 8ft tall electrical panel that's 4 foot wide with all the electronics to run the pumps and the systems to make sure that everything's moving in the right direction at the right flows and the right speeds. I think that's close to being it. And that's just the layout of the Oh, it's the oxidation ditch 82. Um, that's the oxidation ditch and the filter. So, those are the two larger projects and that's it. Hey,

at the end.

So, um, what I'm going to do is if if anyone from the public wants to come up now to ask questions on what we just come on up, we'll just take care of it now so that it's fresh in everybody's mind. Hi, my name is Michelle Hamburg. I live in Eagles Ridge. I have a lot of questions. Um, so there's 138 units in Eagles Ridge and from what you mentioned, only 24 of them are metered. How do I get mine metered? Because the price difference between the metered and the nonmeter is almost $200. So, it's kind of ridiculous.

So, here's here's the answer to that. We we discussed this thoroughly this week. Apparently, when the when the condos were built, the the 24 units that have meters, the meters were put in each each condo has a separate pipe from outside that goes into the home and then the meter hit the me hits the meter and it goes through the house. There must have been a second phase for those condos. And when they did that, they piped into the building, through the building, and out the building. So each condo is working off the same exact pipe coming into the building. It's not separated at all. So to put a meter in, basically would have to run piping to each condo separately from that feed to be able to put a meter on it. And I think Joe said six grand or so per unit. And if you do one unit, you have to do the whole building, which I think there's multiple units in each building.

And I thought we had heard you had to do interior work, which we do. Yes. Yeah. So that's why they never it's it it probably most likely will never be addressed because that would have to be on the district or the actual individual, right? Yeah. But everybody would have to agree to do it. Yes. It couldn't just be one person. And I don't think we could do the work in the interior of the condo. Contracts. Yeah. Miss Amber, before before you go on, I just have a question for Ron. And Nick, can you I don't know if you could pull up the uh Brewster Heights water, but

that number. Yeah. Um the the the Eagles Ridge metered units went up to $300. Is that or No, no, no. It went down. It went down to $300, right? Uh and then the non-metered are 425.

Um the metered pays for usage from gallon one is that that that's a question. Uh and you know are those averaging close to the 425 with with the metered usage in there? And you know, is that something that we should look at? Because I just think that the the difference is outrageous between $300 by somebody who has a meter and 425, but they're I guess my my

I understand. I I don't I I sincerely doubt that I use 15,000 gallons in a quarter. You'd be surprised. But again, this is we we kind of have to go through a cycle to see if the numbers are close. I I understand the fact is that even then, you know, between a single family house I I just think that the the difference shouldn't be $125. I think it could be a little bit more equitable

where, you know, somebody's paying $300 and then because of the way my unit was built, I'm paying $425 is kind of insane. Yeah, I I don't disagree. I just did some quick math and and Rob, we should look at this um because we could look at um the usage rates for the metered ones. If if you use 10,000 gallons a quarter, which I think is on the low end, it would they would be paying 400 versus the 425. So it's that would be an extra $100 for the quarter because they're paying us a penny for every gallon as well.

I mean, if nothing else, we could take the total that goes into the non-metered and divided by the 114 and you know, well, like you saying, right, but it averages 12,500 gallons. She'd break even at 125, right? If the whole thing averages 10 or if the whole thing averages 15, at least we could explain it. So, okay. And maybe the whole thing averages 125 and it's the right number. Yeah. We could probably even look at those those gallon usages from last year to see. Well, you get quarterly reads, right? Correct.

Yeah. So, so maybe we could look at that. But I I I don't disagree with you. I I just think it's kind of insane, you know, that even even within Eagle's re Eagle's Ridge that some units are going their their water is going down $55 and mine is going up 40 because they have a meter and I don't. But but it's going down and then they're going to pay for water. Like their bill is not going down. They're they're going from 355 to 300, but then they have to pay for water now. Yeah, yours is a flat rate no matter how much water you use.

So like the 125 that you're using, let's say you only use 10,000 instead of 12,500. That would be another $100 that they have to pay. No, but you would only be saving $25. Like we're not we're not wrong the whole 125 is what I'm saying because you you use some water. Yeah. You could call my office this week or next week and after we look at the numbers, we'll we'll let you know what we found and we'll see if we can if there's something we can do. Take the total, divide it by4 and that's our number. See what it is. Yep.

Okay, I understand. And then something I wasn't like completely cleared clear with what um with what you were saying with the money that we're getting that now we may have to pay back. Is that something that is being I think you said it was like $90,000 an estimation from you're talking about the sewer. Yes. Yeah. Ron, you I think you had said that there's a settle up with the de DE with the D that now you we may have to pay back or you may have to pay back the money's already in the district. So I was going to say like that's not something that that that was my question. It's not something that you factored in there because it's already been paid for.

Yeah, the fund balance was was good there. Yeah, planned for that. Okay. So is that something that kind of goes into escrow or it's just kind of No, it stays in the district and then when reconciles What happens is typically Ron can you can you come to the mic? Sorry. So it's on the record.

Yeah. What happens with the DPS uh we we put they pay us quarterly based on the yearly budget. So what will happen is they usually reconcile around this time of the year. So when we put in our first quarter payment, it gets reduced by any amount that we owe. So the the billings going forward, they'll get reduced. Sometimes it takes two billings depending on what has to be given back. Sometimes they owe us money so we we collect more in those quarters. And there's a healthy fund balance in there, right? Half a million balance. Yeah, that's why I mentioned it because it was a big fund balance, but I I suspect that some of that is going to get lowered because we got to reconcile with them and pay back.

Thanks, Ron. Does anyone else want to come and ask us?

Good evening everyone. Hi. Um my name is Alan Levy. I live in Staridge Manor.

I've been before you guys um a couple of times now. Um the first time was uh a year and a half ago in June of 24. And uh what what prompted my um coming to the meeting and um a number of other people from Staridge Manor on that night was the fact that um the the change in parts per million went from 10 down to four and that triggered the fact or we started hearing that we were going to have to do something about that or that the town was going to have to do something about that for um for Starbridgeidge Manor. Um, so I know a number of things have gone on since we were here um, back then. Among them, Delaware engineering is no longer part of this process and the idea of um, of doing um, some sort of uh, osmosis has been sort of tabled as too expensive and that's why we're landing on the um, the ion exchange.

It was it was gak. Yeah, gak. Okay. Um, we learned way too much about water. So there's um so there's three things really I I want to try to be as brief as possible that I'm interested in. Uh one is implementation uh two is uh cost and three is health. So as far as implementation is concerned a year and a half has gone by from our perspective. We have POS nothing has happened yet. Um, I'm curious as to whether there is a timeline yet um for implementation. Well, we're digging in. So, I don't know. George, would you have an idea? Sure. Um,

George, can you come to mic for the recording?

So, a as mentioned, um, the district has $1.2 2 million and they do have a plan for the GA system and we are now working with the iron exchange company to um submit to the health department a new plan close to the same concept u when I say concept I mean same building piping same kind of treatment um that's going to take probably u I say two months to do so probably by um January, February, we'll have a submission to the health department um scope of work. We have to explain to them why we're changing, how it's not going to impact um health and that the treatment will work. We have to prove that to them. We have to mention to them, you know, here's all the constituents in the water. Here's how um the system removes it. And they have to approve that. And that takes some time as well. And then uh once the health department approves it, then we can move forward with putting it out to bid and construction and and moving that process forward. So

Gak is much less expensive. I'm sorry. Gak is more expensive that solution than what we're and this is the same system that the new system is the same one that you already have running in Westchester. Correct.

Correct. In North right down the road and actually there'll be three of them in North Salem. one's going out to bid and they actually they've been using it inadvertently because they were treating for uranium and as they were treating for uranium they were testing for POS and they found out oh we have no POS why don't we have any POS POS is coming in there's no none going out it was it was they were actually piloting it without knowing they were piloting the removal of POS so it worked out well for them so what's your best guess for start on this project timeline

so as I mentioned going through the the health department process. I want to say getting to something to them in in January. Then they have to review it. Um hopefully getting a a spec together in March and then implementing something in in the in the summertime and then build having something built maybe by the end of the year. Okay. I got to believe the construction is going to be the shortest part of everything. Yeah. I I would assume I would assume the Department of Health is probably your variable there.

It is. It is. Getting through them is difficult. And if if they don't um like the comparison that you make to another system. So that system in Croin Falls, we're using that to compare uh constituents in there to what you have. If they say, "Oh, your your your pH is a lot different, your total suspended solids are different, or something is really out of whack," they're going to say, "Well, now you have to do like an in place pilot test where you put this equipment in, test it while it's in, and then if it doesn't prove out, then you have to go to do something else, which you don't really want to do." So, on a quarterly basis, Bruce, like this would be a good update for

Yeah. the first, you know, the next quarter meeting, where we are in that process. Something like this would be what we'd want to hear about. And we also want to hone in on the numbers because that's what the budget season's about is the numbers to see make sure that that 1.2 is still a real number because that's what you want to know. So, where we're at in the process and the number. Okay. He mentioned he had two questions. Just step back a little bit. Let him ask just in case we need

Yeah. The next the next actually pertain to the 1.2 million. Um, so if I think I heard in conversation earlier tonight that the 1.2 million is an 80 is representative of 80% of the cost and is that the maximum amount that can be that we could receive or that the town can receive? 30 I think it was 70 70%. So that GA system cost that much more than this WRT system. Well, the GA system I think came out to over $2 million,

right? So I guess the logical question is will we be able to use the 1.2 million in its entirety and how much of that how much of the ion exchange system will be covered by this grant or a version of this grant. It's still 7030. Yeah. But the only good thing is if the WRT system cost 200,000 70 30% of that is way less than two 2 million of course. So that's what we're kind of hoping is going to make the difference that the number is not crazy, right?

So if I don't I don't know the answer to this. If you received a grant for up to $1.2 million, 70% match, right? 7030 is that 70% of 1.2 or is can the 70% be that that number was based upon the original original cost uh expected cost of the of the project, right? Is 1.2 the total or is 1.2 to the 70%. 70%. That's the 70%. Okay. So, as a general statement, we know that the IN exchange is going to be less money, but we just don't know how much less, right? Yeah. Okay. It definitely considerably. I can say that without a doubt. But, right.

And then less money to maintain. And so I know that I I believe there was some conversation when we were first here about a bond being floated to cover the the other 30% that Staridge Mana residents would be required to pay. Um if the number is significantly less with IN exchange, would you still float a bond or how would that be managed? We'd have to see what that number is and make a decision right when it when we get there. Okay. But I I kind of believe it. We might not have to the number should not be nearly as big, but I you know, like I said, we don't know until it's there.

Okay. All right. So, that covers implementation and cost. And the last question I have is health. And um it does sound like it's going to finally start moving forward quickly. I want to remind the board that I do have a dog in this hunt. Um I am the guy who had renal cancer three years ago. dated October 19th. Um, and we know, I don't know where it came from, but we know that renal cancer, um, that POS is a cause of renal cancer. And so, I've been there for 31 years. I don't want to see any of the young families that are moving in be in a position to be exposed to anything like that. And so, I'm I'm I'm I'm not going to be around that long, but um, some of those young kids are. And so, I'm I'm concerned about that. And I want just want to make sure that that's not forgotten as we look at systems and costs. There's the there's the human factor, too.

Um I think Brad wanted to ask some specific question. Actually, I can speak to that too. Okay. Yeah. Um so the system is intended to take POS down to non-detect which means the best um uh testing can get down to so they set the limit at four. They would set it to zero if they could but the the best testing can bring it down to about 1.8 milligram um poc um parts

parts per trillion uh down to parts per trillion. So that's when they say non-detect, you see that in test results and whatnot, doesn't mean zero. It means actually as good as the test can detect. So that's really 1.82. So um something to keep in mind. So and POS the there's 15 or 20 POS elements, but only certain ones are regulated and certain ones are taken out. So, so you got to keep that in mind too because there's uh what's called longchain POS and there's short chain POS. So, the long chains come out easy. The short chains do not come out easy. So, you shouldn't drink your water. I don't drink my water. I don't drink water. I don't want to drink your water.

I probably shouldn't drink mine. I have a well, too. What? No water. No, you should get you I don't know. I don't drink bottled water either. It's in plastic. So, I I know myself. if I have a carbon filter under my sink and I have a special tap for that and that's what I use to cook and all that kind of stuff. So, you're welcome.

Uh, good good evening. I'm Bradley Schwarz. I also live in Storage Manor. I have uh a few technical questions about the filtration uh system. Has the GAC or what I'll call the carbon system. Has one of those actually been approved for storage manner or were plans submitted to the health department? I believe they were. Yeah, I believe he just said yes. Yeah, they were they were submitted. And were did the health department approve that system? So it was at uh George, sorry. Come to the mic. I'm sorry.

We'll get a wireless one soon for you. So it was at the point where they haven't reviewed it because the town uh got to the point where uh an alternate uh technology which is the the media came came about where they they reached out to the person we we might have another technology to use. So they have a set of plans but they're not reviewing them right now until we give them the ones for the ion exchange. Right. The next question is is let let there going to be multiple ion exchange units in series. Correct.

And so I assume like the lead unit will be expired first. Correct. And then that's going to be detected by some sampling. Correct. And what what happens to that expired unit? That gets hauled away. So the import why don't you explain that?

Okay. So um in the smaller units they take the canister away. They haul it away. They bring a new one in. The lead canister which is the the primary one um that's the one that gets hauled away. The secondary canister which is the polishing one becomes the um becomes the lead canister and then the new one becomes the polishing. So that way if we have what's called breakthrough, if the first canister has a a detect of above that four 1.82 or or four or whatever, soon as it it breaks through, it comes through it hits the second canister and it's still coming out with clean water. So you never have bad water. You'll find out that there's a problem before it gets into the system. But but but the answer to my question is that the the tank gets physically taken away and a new tank with new media gets installed. Correct. And I assume these things are piped so that at any time any one of the three if you have three it could be the delete one. Uh so uh the the last question is um you mentioned possibility of other I'll call them contaminants in the water or or substances in the water that could uh use up the lifetime of the filter.

Correct. So, how is that being addressed? Is are water samples going to be sent to WC WC to evaluate that in like a plant pilot system? So, um they're uh they have a handful of the health department looks at certain substances in the water and the treatment company looks at certain substances. their treatment level for what's called total suspended solids is around 450. If the system has less than that, they don't have a concern with the media being used up too quickly. Um, and sulfates and there's one other one that I can't think of right now that um, which I don't think you the the threshold is not up to the the level that they're concerned about. So right now from the information that we ga gave them based on the testing that's been done already um they think it's going to run for three to five years. So and all that all those comparisons are given to the health department and to the uh treatment company to review and evaluate few times actually.

Okay. So, so they think think it's going to last three to five years, but obviously, you know, you have a a a list of substances that are tested for in the water, but you you don't test for every conceivable thing that could be in there, right? Wouldn't it be more prudent to actually get a larger sample and have that put through this media and evaluate that to to see that there's no mystery contaminant in there that's affecting the filtration process? So, I I I think so. But George, don't we already know what those wells are producing?

We do. and and they've all been tested and we've given those samples to the um to the um WRT. Um they have given us the list of their contaminants or or their substances that they're concerned with. So, and they didn't see any red flags in those substances. You could take a larger list, but what happens is those other contaminants or those other things are probably not going to be I shouldn't say probably, they they won't be because they've piloted and they've run the system in other parts of the country, other states. They've done a lot of testing on on it already. So, they know how their systems going to react based on what we've given them. Like for instance, let's say magnesium was in there and they said, "Well, you could have 10 parts per uh 10 10 parts per million of that and it still won't affect our system." So they they're very confident because they've done a lot of systems. So

Okay, that's it. Thank you. Thanks, Bradley. Thanks. Hi. Good evening. Matt D. Rose, Star Ridge as well. Um I just have two questions. Uh the first question is about the uh the ion exchange. So there is waste water with that? No, there is no waste water. Okay. Um, do we have a projection with the uh I guess what I'm trying to ask is is is do you have a projection like let's say a 5year projection of how the rates will increase uh due to the the cost of the new system? I have no because we don't know the cost. Yeah.

Okay. So we we we we don't have like a projected or even a like a like a like a educated guess on what it would cost a district um to run a machine run a system like that. There's a lot of moving parts for I think the only thing we know at this point Matt and you guys correct me if I'm wrong is that it was going to be like I think it was 2.4 or 2.3 million um and this is going to be less. I don't know if we have anything. Okay. So, so how about this then? Uh when we do have concrete numbers, would we be able to then project it and then in our quarterly meetings, maybe we can,

you know, we're we're the we're the liaison to to our community. So, you know, from from you guys to to the town to us, you know, it'd be a lot easier for us to disseminate that information to people that they ask us the questions. Hey, why is my bill going up $5? and you know I try to tell them you know go to a meeting and they just say no. So I can't imagine why especially if they're this it's good though.

So I would just I just want to put on record. So like you know when we get when we get concrete numbers you know let's pass that down so that we have that information so that we could say okay 5 years down the road this ion exchange system is going to is going to you know and I understand the the the concept behind you know creating a fund balance and you know I don't know why we haven't done anything in this town for in the past but you know we have to start somewhere so

yeah I think um that was kind of my vision for the quarterly meetings you know, we don't know what's going to happen in a certain district also. You could have something that comes up that needs to be repaired that would kind of be reported out. So, I think progress on a project like this would be an important and the starridge project is still uh projected to be in that same uh footprint. Correct. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks, Matt.

Uh I I'll pick up on Matt's question. It seems to seems that if you know that one of these tanks canisters will last 3 to 5 years, you could probably get a ballpark figure for what the cost of one of those units is, irrespective of the construction for the building, the piping and all that stuff. Ballpark figure for the cost of one of these units and say we're going to have to replace one of these things every 3 to 5 years. And that would give people some idea of what it will be costing to do that. Sure. Okay. That's at the next meeting. We will have more information. Thank you. You're welcome.

One more question. Um just in regard to the funding. Um let's say it turns out that we don't need a bond, but we are going to have an increase cost in the water. Um the project is once they get the um the estimates, we're going to have a number and they'll be able to do a projection. Is it possible that um we can begin the process um and make the pain less um by by increasing the water charges right away so that it's not as dramatic once the the project is complete um and the money has to be spent. Is that a is that a possibility?

Yeah, I I mean once we get the estimates, we could really then dig in to figure out how we have to fund it. I guess I I'm trying to think of ways to mitigate the pain factor of uh anything that's dramatic. Right, Ron? In 2000 20125, part of their increases were to anticipate for this project, correct? So, it's been in the works. You've been paying towards it. Great. Yeah. All right. Thank you.

So, Allan just reminded me of one more question. So, last meeting, uh, you guys mentioned the class action lawsuit, the 3M Dupant. is that um let's say that uh it settles and the town of Southeast is able to uh I guess you know retain some of that class action money. Does that can that get um you know posted to the districts or how does that work? It goes to the district it's not the town that gets it actually and on the district's application right and can that can that be applied

post projects and and that's what it's for your Will I Did I misunderstood? Didn't the district get awarded money from the class action law to like 50 or 60,000 just Birch Hill storage? I thought it was the other way around problem because of the the initial testing was not done for each well. It was done as an I thought it was the other way around. N right. So it was reapply. So I'm trying to appeal that. Yeah, you're appealing. So So that can Right. So that can be applied after the fact. If we're fortunate enough to get some money, some of that settlement money, uh it would go to offset the cost of this project of of your your remediation, right? Thanks.

Come on, George. Just wanted to add one other comment. So um there's a in storage there is an existing building and at this time we don't think that that equipment can fit in that building. So we are going to need some type of building. So we've been mentioning the the $200,000. We have to figure in for a building. So we're into the at least a $500,000 box. You know these box you know 20 by 20 building it's crazy but they but it's prevailing wage. It's municipal and but um just wanted to mention that for the record. Thanks, George. Thanks for the good news.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Gets better and better. Did you have a question? Yeah. I hope it's not about 67 Main Street. You really should. I'm sorry. He was asking. You've been very patient. I'm Simon. I live on Drewville Road. Hey, my only question is regard segmentation of 67 and correct me if I'm wrong. I didn't see any parking set aside for the library for handicap parking or potentially for events that may happen at Old Town Hall.

Yes. So, um well, uh we were selling the whole thing which included the parking lots and everything. Um, so we're we're subdividing, but we're not selling anything yet. Um, but I think to answer your question, none of the parking space will go with the building. Um, if we decide to sell that lot, then I guess at that point we can um uh make requirements. Okay. the when we were selling the whole piece of land, it didn't matter because there was a 500 spot parking garage and it was going to understood.

So, um, but, uh, you are correct and that's something that we'll definitely have to consider. Yeah, I think our intention would be if we sold the lot with the building and we still own the parking, we would still just let them use the parking, right? Um, and if if it ever got to the point that there was a big village development and we did sell the lot with the parking, I don't know what the future holds, but we would hope that that development would also include parking, right? You know, because otherwise you Right. Right. You you you mitigate the usability of any of the other buildings. Yep. Yeah. And I've actually had conversations with the director from the library

and we've talked about changing some of the signs because I think there are some library signs and they only say an hour and usually the events are an hour. So you may get there 15 minutes early, you leave 15 minutes late. So we we were going to probably change some signs, but since all of this is going on, you know, we're just we haven't given out tickets there for a while. So because it's it's just a function of can anybody use it if there's no place to park and and we know there are people that are taking advantage of the place in open but that doesn't address the future issue. Yeah. Excuse me. I'm impressed you waited all this time.

I'm impressed you waited all this time just to ask that one nice question. Oh, sorry. I was told I had to do it. I apologize. Thank you. Look how much you learned about water. More than I ever wanted. Uh, okay. So, uh, uh, actually we I got to make a motion to open the regular meeting. Oh, god. Uh, all in favor? I. And the only thing in there is do we have any new business? No. No. I'll make a I did want to ask you about something, but go ahead. Um, we've been trying to work on the new employee handbook for like a year and there's some things in that that impact our budget.

So, there's there's five versions in teams. None of them look like the final version. Like, I really need you to put it on the agenda to vote and I really need you to get a clean version for us to look at it. Yeah, I think we we are down to the wire. Um, so I'll get it I'll try to get it on for next meeting. Okay. All right. Um, does anybody from the public have a comment? All right. Um, with the Scott Oh, hey. Sorry, too. It's my turn. Sorry. I mean, what else are you going to do on a Thursday? This is my day. My wife's away. She's in Atlantic City. Oh, how nice.

Spending your money.

This is what I did. It's very sad. Um Scott Seaman, town of Southeast, also here from the board of education. Uh just an update on the capital project. Um the uh cafeterium is well underway. We're hoping to have the building sealed before winter so the interior work can continue as you all saw and some intended. The track is open now and the ground is broken on the fieldhouse. It's just slugging along as chain supply chain other items are getting. We're just hoping to get as much done, but we'll be working through the uh the winter on that as well. Um supervisor came to a meeting a while ago where we spoke about Route 121 and the traffic light and I think we all agree that something needs to be done and the school was willing to help. Uh we're just waiting for something from the town on what you might be looking for. So if something could come to us um then we could get to work on it. if it's um traffic studies from the transportation department uh numbers on things just something official from you guys will trigger a response

I think uh and I don't know when the next meeting is uh the last meeting I went to it was the 19th is the next okay traffic safety board you were there right they said they did a traffic study I showed them they didn't then they said there was no project and then we restrained you from attacking the lady yeah then uh then they said they're going to do a traffic study. So, we should I don't I'm not going to be able to go to that, but maybe you could follow me and and don't just ask if they're doing it because they were like, "Yeah, yeah, we'll do one." uh ask when it is,

right? And like I said, that'll trigger us. Now, I'm going to try to go I'm going to ask uh Miss Vulp to put me on the schedule so I can ask a question, but I will push that as well on what they're doing and when and how it's going to reflect on us. And the biggest issue there from what I've learned is they do not count the sweeps. Yeah. And the traffic count, right? And uh the traffic counts are low. Maybe we should put some cones on the sweep so everybody's got to go straight. Maybe we should So they'll find they have an accident and there's no accidents. Five accidents in like 10 years. Yeah.

But once they close, like you said, the access ramps and they do the 684 construction, it's going to be a whole another item. Um, and then just one item as a uh resident of Southeast, I know you guys have been proactive on vape shops and the battery storage and stuff. I might ask you just based upon uh today's all this information with water and electricity if we can look into data centers. It might not come to our region, but if they do, they use giant amounts of water and giant amounts of electricity. And if New York State continues with their electrification program and the schools are forced into electric buses, electric demand's going to shoot through the roof. Rates are going to shoot through the roof. And then if something like data centers show up in the region, um it'd be be hard. It' be much worse than vape shops, much worse than everything else. if it's just something I don't even know like I don't believe this region is really a prime spot for it but I've been surprised on

the industry and how the state operates you know us being right on the border of Connecticut right above Westchester right all next to m all the major transportation routes you know that might attract somebody not of the type that we want but something of this type so if we could maybe be proactive in in looking at these items to see whether or not we do want something in this region That might be helpful. It's a good idea. Thanks, Scott. Thanks, Scott. Scott, does the schools test for PAS? Yes. We just upgraded the um whole water system with charcoal, I think last year, the year before. Yeah. So far, so good. But PEOP's in everything as we all know. So, it's just a matter of what number they want to use to find it.

You know, if they say seven, they're all good. I think it's a moving target. All right, with that, anybody from the board have a comment? No. No. Good night. Uh, with that, I'll make a motion to close the meeting. Second. All in favor? Thanks for coming, everybody. Thanks for weeding.