Town Board - Regular Meeting

If we could all rise for the pledge, please. 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 hall meeting for Southeast for December 18th. Please take notice of the two exits behind you on each side. There's an exit to our our right behind us. Uh please put all electronic devices on vibrate. Kathy Can I get a roll call? Yes. Councilman Cypress absent. Councilman Larka

here. Councilwoman Lewis here. Councilman Mazada here. Supervisor Duranti

here. Okay. So, uh I think my nickname is going to end up being Proclamation Nick. Uh so we actually had a proclamation for uh Connor O'Reilly. He's an Eagle Scout out of uh the Smer's barracks, but he uh did a project for us here for for Eagle Scouts here in Southeast to identify a landmark. Um I'm not I'm I'm going to I'm going to shelf this uh till I can get him to come. Um but basically what the kid did was a a real lot of work. He he he raised money. He uh did a lot of research on the corner of Miltown Road in Old Miltown Road. He uh fundraised for a um uh what do we call it?

Marker.

A marker. Yes, that's it. A marker uh to show how we got involved in the reservoirs and the water for New York City. Um he did a lot of work. So, if you see it on the agenda another time and he's actually going to make it, uh it it'd be a good thing to pay attention uh to come by or or watch it. Um so, since he's not here today, we'll go to our first discussion and uh we we have uh under sheriff Jim Menton here with us. Uh Brian Hess, who is the sheriff, couldn't make it. And uh Jim came in like a good pinch hitter. [laughter] Hey guys. Um for those who don't know me, as Nick just said, I am the under sheriff here at Putnham County uh sheriff's office. U Brian has couldn't be here. Like he also said he's [clears throat] at a legislator's meeting that's being held tonight. Those county people. So yeah. So uh we just, you know, we haven't had you here. uh our our constituents haven't seen you here. So, we just wanted to bring you here and I don't know if the board has any questions for you, but we'd love to hear anything you feel uh we we should know or you know, like to talk about.

Yeah. Well, I think I think a lot of you guys may be a little curious on the uptick in uh crime, it seems, uh that you've been reading in the papers, seeing on the news. Um there has been a small spike in these last couple weeks, but it doesn't reflect overall on our crime numbers. They are still consistently low. Um there is not a rise in violent crimes in Southeast. There is a small rise in petty stuff um including summones, moving tickets, um things of that nature, but nothing violent [clears throat] and nothing serious. But again, we did have the three incidents um in the last month or two that I can see why they raised concerns. All three of those um incidents has resulted in an arrest. Um there is no outstanding people that we are looking for for each and every one of those arrests. So I don't think uh there should be any worry to any of your constituents whatsoever. And we're going to maintain status quo is what we've been doing and keep crime down here in Southeastern Rooster. It was uh you guys on all three turned real quick. That was that was great stuff. It was great stuff. Appreciate it. Our guys are great. The de our investigators are are topnotch. You know, I've worked with many of them throughout my career, 32 years, and

they are um definitely on par or better than a lot of them that I've worked with before. For sure.

You've [clears throat] been with Brian a while? Well, I've been with Brian Hess now obviously since the last few months since this whole thing started. But I met Brian Hess when I was in a task force with the FBI. So my my uh position there was a task force officer with a violent crime task force within the FBI. We worked hand inand I was a detective in New York City but I was I was lent out to the FBI to be uh an FBI task force officer along with a detective in New York City. you have the same special secret clearance and we just [clears throat] we work alongside FBI agents. But that's how I got to know Brian Hes because my office was specifically in Westchester County. Even though I was a New York City detective, I was stationed in Westchester County and the the violent crimes um that we investigated were the worst of the worst within Westchester County, which had nexuses to New York City. So Brian has uh with his real time crime center assisted us tremendously in um the investigations that we took place in and that's how we got to know each other uh in a professional capacity. Um and you know um it wasn't like Brian and I were were buddies that hung out you know on the weekends and we didn't even know each other's kids or wives names at the time. Um, so it was a blessing and an honor when he uh asked me if I'd want to be his under sheriff.

That's great. Do you guys have any questions or No, we're happy to have you. It seems like you've had your work cut out for you lately. Yes, we have. Although we are um we're happy to have you guys. Well, thank you.

I may bug you with some questions. I'm sorry. Uh I can't help myself. Um I had uh just three things and some of them may seem kind of trivial based on all the stuff that that's going on. the jerk fish that you're frying. Um, but a few things that we had been working with, uh, Sheriff McConville, um, before his passing, uh, that and these things are pretty important to the residents and there's there's some people here for a topic that we're going to discuss later and it kind of goes along with that. Um, but Southeast, as you can imagine, is a huge cut through for traffic because the 84 684 interchange and there's not, you know, we we're we're talking about some solutions there. there aren't many great solutions especially with ways and whatnot but um there are a lot of uh road specific roads like Miltown Cobb 121 all view that are used excessively and um if we can have some stepped up enforcement there you know especially around the rush hour times

um that would be fantastic uh and then um I can just talk on that point real quick before you go on the next one we have started that already so what we've uh within the last month, we uh designated a sole deputy to be a full-time traffic enforcement officer. And since December 1st, she's written almost 60 moving summones on Cobb Road, on I have another one here, uh Star Ridge Road, I think, is an issue with you guys. Dean's Corner Road and 22. So, she's already written 60 uh moving violation summones to try to, you know, combat with the issues that you're having with the traffic.

We appreciate that a lot. Um um another our courts will be busy. Uh another thing that um we've done a lot of research on and um I'm not I'm not sure how widely known this is but we have a huge because of the 84684 interchange. We have a huge um well we have a lot of semi tractor trailers full size. I think they're 50 foot or 55 foot whatever they are uh trucks that uh that travel on our roads. Um, and I had done a whole bunch of research on this and what I found, if this is correct, is that those trucks have to stay within um, state designated truck roads and that those are only 22 Route 6 um, part of 312, 84, 684. So any fulls size tractor trailer on any other road, Miltown, all view 121, Star Ridges is illegal. Yeah. Um, and you know, same thing if we can, you know, if there's some enforcement on that. I know, um, one of my neighbors lives at the top of Sherwood Hill. I'm sure you've heard the troopers are over there or you guys that there's a they make a left there, they wind up in Rich Harra's front yard. Um, and he goes out, he's like, "Make sure they get a ticket. This is illegal." Um, but they don't always get tickets. So,

um, if the, uh, person that's taking on that role could also give a ticket to every truck cuz I guess they're using residential GPS. I I'll make sure, uh, that is the first thing I talk to her about tomorrow. Awesome. Thank you. And, um, you know what, the other one is more internal conversation that we've been having about hotels and motel. Maybe we talk about that another time, but Okay. Um, thanks for answering those questions. I appreciate it. Anytime. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we'll even come down to you guys, talk about that second part. Okay, no problem. Who was the officer? Uh, you guys gave me his email. Uh, he was right on something for me. Traffic stuff. Was it Pete Vigilio?

Yes, Pete. So, um, he gave me an email to Officer Villio. Vigilio. He's a first sergeant. Yeah. And he Yeah. Within an hour or two. I haven't given his email to Eric yet. Don't. [laughter] We will at some point. No problem. Pete's great. He'll do whatever you want. Awesome. Thank Well, thanks for coming down. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Okay. Take care. Have a great night. Take care, Jim. Say say thank you to Brian, please. Thank you. All right.

Our next discussion is with our superintendent of highways, Mike Berdick. Mike Berdick has been a busy boy. [clears throat] Uh most of you all know that u we had a pretty successful paving season this year between the uh minor road, Brewster Hill, uh Prospect Hill Road, but to go along with that, there was 3,500 ft of pipe on Brewster Hill that was changed prior to paving. Uh same thing with Minor Road. We changed 1,800 ft of pipe on Minor Road. We have infrastructure that was put in back in the 50s and 60s. It's all bad. The pipes are all, you know, the steel pipes are all rotten. And it's [clears throat] very hard to justify spending that much money to pave a road if we don't fix the stuff that's underneath. Which leads me to Brewster Heights. Finally, I we've accomplished our goal in Brewster Heights. everything from Wilson Road to North Road, all the pipes have been changed up there, which has been a real challenge because they added gas and they added uh sewer up there after the fact and you know, it's been a challenge to get that work done up there. But we finally [clears throat] got to the point now where that work is done and we're going to be able to start our paving program up there uh in the spring. So hopefully by May we should be black topping those roads up there. You know how many feet you did up there? [clears throat]

Uh, over the five years it's been over 3,000. It was almost 4,000 ft of pipe. Wow, that's a lot. My quick question on that one. Um, I think VRI was changing a bunch of water valves up there. Are they Are they done with that or do they still have work to do? Well, we changed two. Uh, and right now Joe is working on [music] We changed two that were leaking. So, those were those were ones that had to be changed because they were leaking water. Um the other ones he's he's verifying the the operation of them and as long as they work and they're not leaking then he probably you know we probably won't be changing anymore. But we did the two worst ones that were that were leaking. Okay. So we at least we've eliminated that.

So that won't hold you up from paving then. No that you know and I'm you know I'm going to have conversations with him before we start. uh let them know where we're going to start so we can go verify that the valves are operational so we don't you know end up paving up there and then have to cut the road up after we you know 6 months after we pave it to to fix something. Okay. There aren't many of those, right? There only like eight. What valves? Yeah. No, there's at every house. Yeah, there's that's what they thought.

Yeah, but most of the valves for the houses are off the road. um the road the ones that are in the road are the ones that shut the main off to be able to isolate different areas of that up there. So, and what happens is the ones that are leaking are the ones that are bad when they have a problem in a certain area up there. If those valves aren't operational, then they have they end up having to shut down the whole system because they can't isolate uh the different areas. So, that uh Joe was working on that. I know that we had a couple of them that were, you know, that were problems. We went up there and we vacuumed all the dirt. a lot of the dirt gets down in there and then it affects the operation of the valve. So, we went we with our new vac truck that we that we got, we went up there and uh vacuumed out all the uh valves to make sure the operation of them was proper. So, that's working out pretty well.

Awesome. Uh the new guardrail was installed on Maple Road. Uh we're going to put a you know the other the south side of Maple Road. I have a uh going to have the uh guardrail company come in and give me an estimate on uh changing the guardrail on that end because you know I mean it's probably 40 years old and there's spots where it's really low and there's spots that it's got rust holes in it. So that's the next uh next year that second second phase of Maple Road, the guardrail will be replaced on that. How um how is that part of the road that you guys uh worked on?

It's fine now. We won't know until spring, you know, I mean, once we did, you know, we did 300 feet of, you know, we kind of did some different drainage options on that on that first 300 ft. So, we're going to see in the spring, uh, how that works. And if that works well, then we'll continue that process going down the rest of it. And you know, same thing, you know, it's uh the amount of work that it takes to do a project like that and then the amount of money it costs for that that we can't do it all at one time. So, we'll just, you know, we'll pick another [clears throat] if it works very well, we'll we'll end up doing more than 300 feet this time. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money and do

more than 300 feet if it wasn't going to work. But if it works, we'll we'll end up doing, you know, a bigger piece of it next year. I thought today was spring when I went outside. Yeah. Well, we were we had to trench across the the doing the solar panels at the highway garage and we had to trench across the black top for and there was there was about 12 ines of frost in the ground really where we had to trench. Yeah, it was it was a you know I told the guy, you know, you couldn't have told me this in July that you needed to, you know, put a trench over there. It would have been, you know, much easier for us. Thanks for doing that, though. That saves the problem.

So, next year's, you know, the big push is going to be Brewster Heights. Uh obviously that's a and we still have some ARPA money left and uh the plan is right now um to pave Gage Road. Uh that's another long uh heavily traveled road and um we don't quite have enough offer money to finish that road, but we'll we'll just take some of our some of the money from the fund balance and and um add that to what we need to to finish that road. So that'll be another long road with a lot of traffic. That's just we'll get complaints that it's paved. Yeah. Well, go faster.

You can't, you know, there's nothing you can do about that. It's it's either they drive fast fast on an unsafe road or they drive fast on a safe road. Either way, it's they're driving fast. It's not going to stop. So, any other questions? Mike, I'd like to maybe meet with you early in the year and we could go over contracts and um vendors and stuff. we had started that conversation and maybe uh maybe it could be good to Yeah, because we're uh I'm actually going to put my bid spec out uh earlier this year. [clears throat] I I did it last year in March. I'm I'm working on it now. I'm probably going to put it out in the end of January. Okay. The middle to the end of January. So, you know, after the holidays, you know, if you have time, we'll get together and Yeah. be happy to look over

go over a few things and um you know, make sure that we got everything the wording right on on all the stuff that we're going to do. Great. No, thank you, Mr. Burus. That's it. We appreciate it. Merry Christmas. All right. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Thank you. Keep the noise down in that trailer park. E.

Okay. So, we can go into our next discussion, which is the uh Putnham County Land Trust, Save Open Spaces, 223 Joe's Hill Road. We got a letter from um Judith and Patrick from uh Patricia, I'm sorry, from uh the land trust. They are going to um renovate 223 Joe's Hill Road. It's a it's um something in their land trust and basically they are looking for the town to wave the permit fee of $43. They're nonprofit. Uh they don't they don't make money off of what they do. I I will say that they are tough to deal with sometimes, but uh you know they [snorts] they do keep what they have uh pretty pretty nice. So Kathy's giving me So uh you know I'm not I I feel like you know it is something we can help them with. So, uh, later on we could vote on it if you guys are willing.

And I don't know if you had any questions or anything. Okay. Uh, all right. So, the next discussion is the uh changes to the 2026 fee schedule. We've uh talked about this a couple of times already. I think everybody had a real good look at some of the fees we're looking to change. Uh, did anybody have any more uh thoughts on other changes or happy with what we all kind of I did. Sorry, I did not get a chance to tell you today with everything going on. Yeah, the commercial alarm permit fee is currently $100. Okay.

I'd like to change that to 125 starting with any new ones that we do. You know where that is on here? I don't. Oh, fire safety commercial fire alarm. False alarm or just not the false alarm. The annual fee. The annual fee. So it's 100. You want to make it 125. The residential would remain the same. Uh right here. Yeah. Uh page three. Okay. Um, I looked through all the other changes that had her in here, so I'm good.

Yeah. And Mike Leavine looked through it also. You guys okay? Yep. Yep. I'm good with them. So, speaking of Mike and moving to our next discussion, it's the changes to the town code chapter 54, building construction and fire prevention 54-7 permits and fees. So, um, this is a little different than, uh, a fee schedule. So, what we're going to try to do is change the wording in the code to help us refer to these fees when necessary. Actually, it's just reversed.

Um, what we're going to do is change the code to say that the fees will be as established in the annual fee schedule. Okay. Um, so what you need to do, um, you know, I'll do the notice for the public, uh, the public notice for the local law. We're going to, you're going to set a public hearing tonight. Y, um, but you need to, uh, amend the the, uh, the fee schedule that you're going to adopt at the um, at the organizational meeting to have uh, under building department fees.

Okay. uh those specific items that are set forth in 24 in uh chapter 54. Okay. And all of these fees um in this 54-7 Mike uh Levine went through and he he he did raise every fee. I guess these fees haven't been raised in in some time now. Uh they're not things that happen every day, you know, like there's blasting on here. Uh well, we have a whole section in our code on blasting blasting. Yeah. So, um that might be duplicative, but um it's, you know, just as long as they're not inconsistent.

Yeah. Any questions? No. have to say I'm a little disappointed in Connor. I'm gonna have to uh change some of my narrative on that kid. No, I'm just kidding. Uh so we can go into our last discussion. It's the traffic study for Route 121 and Route 6. Um and Eric Larker has been bulldog.

Yeah. I I'll give a quick update. I know there's some people here for this and um the last two meetings I know we said we don't let people comment on these things and then I've had to make people sit here for an hour and then make comment at the end. So, I'll give a quick spiel and if you guys don't mind we if you guys want to ask any questions or anything you can. Um here's here's a long story trying to be short. Um we've been trying to address that intersection since before I got on the board. There's been requests for traffic studies etc. I think we uh since I've been on I remember Tony Haye sending one in 2019 then COVID hit um they punted they uh we asked in 2020 2021 2022 and then in 2024 they came back and said it did not meet the criteria um for a light at that intersection. And just so you guys know uh I well there was a lot of uh disagreement on when that traffic study was done. I was um flippantly told to foil it if I wanted to prove them wrong, which I did and I found it. Um and I reviewed that with our uh town consultant and she said that in fact it does not uh qualify for a traffic light. And the reason for that is there's not enough accidents in the past um 10 years. I think there's been five recorded accidents at the intersection. Um and this is, you know, this is not us saying there's not enough accidents. This is the state. Um, and the other thing which I found interesting, we've mentioned this a few times, is they don't count the sweeps in the traffic count. So, what that means is if you are heading on Route 6 uh east to go to 121 and you go from Route 6 to

121, that's a sweep. There's no stop there or anything. That does not count. Um, same thing if you're coming down 121 to go east, that doesn't count either. So, they're only looking if you go straight and you're making a left to right. Um, and then coming west if you're making a left. Those are the only ones that count in their traffic study. Um, regardless, uh, looked at that data from 2021. It it was the end of 2021, early 2022. It was impacted by COVID. Um, our consultant pointed me to a website that shows more recent traffic counts and they were up like 30% from what was showed in the traffic study. Uh, hopefully the DOT doesn't watch this, but even at 30% more, it still won't [music] trigger a traffic light. Um, uh, so, uh, went to other traffic safety meetings and, uh, I did send this to some of you. Um, so hopefully you read through it. It's lengthy, but all the details there. Um, and it turns out that they're doing a a a project on the ramp from going from um 84 west to 684 [clears throat] south. Uh, and they're going to be I don't know if they're closing it, but they're going to make it two lanes, and it's going to be one to two-year project. And during that time, there's going to be a detour at 121. Um, so, uh, we brought that up in a traffic safety meeting and the, um, the representative there didn't even know about the project even though, uh, he's not here anymore. Mike had brought it up. Um, at the next meeting, we brought it up and this is all documented and, uh, they they said, "Well, that that project's not for two years, so don't worry about it." Um, but the planning is now and [cough] they're they're potentially going to put a temporary traffic light there for the detour. So,

why not put a full traffic light there, right? There's an immense cost to have a tra temporary traffic light, whatever. Um, so, uh, at that last meeting, they agreed that they would do a traffic study. Supervisor was there, uh, one of the schoolboard members was there. U, it's in the minutes. And then the next meeting I was unable to attend, but then they said that they had never said that. Uh, and it's it's in writing here. Um, so I've written a letter to them that's um very direct and we have a resolution that we're going to hopefully pass tonight that is also direct and it has a lot of the history in there. Um, however, uh, a day or two ago, they did send us a communication that they are going to do a traffic study. Um, but they'll likely just be the same traffic say they did last time, which will show higher traffic, but it'll still not meet the criteria. We know that. Um what this resolution uh says and what the letter says is that we're asking them to look at the intersections of Cobb Road and Peach Lake Road, Cobb Road and Star Ridge, Star Ridge and Route 6, uh 121 and Route 6, um and St. James Place and 121. So it's all documented here in the request. Um, quite frankly, my experience with the DOT is that they I I don't have a lot of faith that they'll actually do that. Um, but I will and I'm sure Supervisor Duranti will is to uh uh as well be attending the next traffic uh safety meeting. Um, and we will have printed copies of these and we will make sure that um we get or try to get some sort of commitment that'll be in the meeting minutes um that are recorded and shared. So that's the update.

So after we do [clears throat] this tonight without with any objection and we get this into their hands. I think at that point I should probably start talking to Harkham and Lawler and tell them you got to Yes. So this the letter that I wrote is addressed to uh Harkham and Slater. Um it is I think an election year for both of them. So maybe they'll read it a bit more thoroughly. But um we should send that to them and and we should communicate with them and um I I think we should try and do that in writing as much as possible. I I know I think you

I think and I could be wrong, but I think you had a conversation with Peter Arkham and he said, "Well, you know, send us a resolution." And it turns out we sent him three in the last two years, right? So um we should uh document that. We can invite him to a meeting if we want to talk about I'll definitely mention my constituents uh come out to vote in November and you know it's uh just do the study, show us the results and if they then we have to accept them but they haven't even been able to do that. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Thank you for all the work man. So if if anyone wants to come up and say something or ask us something you are more than welcome.

Come on. just let us know who you are, where you where you live. Okay. Um I'm Alberta Cosma and I live on Friendly Road and um first of all, I was going to say, can we ask them to come on a Thursday or a Friday between 5 and 7? So, I will tell you that um when I research the traffic data that is on a website that is to the public, well, I should say take a step back. when they do traffic studies, they do them like I have it here somewhere. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, right? And they do cover the uh Yeah. Uh commuter hours, rush hour. Thank you.

Um the data that I found is that the most traffic on those roads is during the summer on the weekends. And I've put that in my letter and I've put it in the resolution. I don't know they're going to do it. um to do it on you know a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and and which is contrary to what we thought where we thought during school you know rush hour where the school bus and everything would be the busiest and it's the exact opposite. I think you I think I understood you to say they're going to do the work on the I 84 684 with 84 going west. Is that what you said before?

Towards Newberg. Towards Newberg. But the the issue that comes I said east. It is west. Yeah. The what comes into play here is the people getting off of 684 who want to go to 84 east. Yep. So they get off as you as you know, Eric, they get off and they go Cobb. In fact, I just said the other day, if you can believe this, if you know Cobb Road, there was an automobile tractor trailer going down Cobb Road. Close your mouth, Kathy. [laughter] Oh my god. Which is illegal, right? It's illegal. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. It's It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And I have seen an officer there once on the corner of Friendly and Cobly. But um I think that people don't realize how serious it is. those who want to make who are going west on six who want to make a left onto 121. Yeah. And if you're coming down 121 and you want to make a left going toward Brewster, you know, it's it's absolutely unreal what you have to go through and making a left on Star Ridge. Oh yeah, that's that's ridiculous. Many more accidents there. Yeah.

Yeah. That's a crazy intersection right there. And I don't know that this only has to do with that traffic light, but I've been wondering, is there a weight limit on our roads? Yes. And they're posted. Um we and we've we've spent thousands of dollars posting more roads. Like there's a no truck road on a bunch of roads going into Southeast. We just bought a bunch. Um we bought one specifically. I don't know Rich Hargrave come here and he's spoken. He lives at the end of uh Miltown Sherwood Hill cuz trucks can't make that turn. They go to his front yard, they get stuck. There's three every entrance to get to there and you know they're just

because what you what you see on Cobb is ridiculous. When I saw this real trail uh all view is posted with a weight limit, no trucks, 25 mph speed limit. All even though that's illegal. All our roads are 30. you we post 25. If they're really 30, you can't uh get a speeding ticket for going over 25. Um but it, you know, we we've done all that. It doesn't seem to help.

But but the the the light there, the caution and the uh red light, I mean, for people coming down 121 and even making the left turn, until somebody dies there, nobody's going to do anything. Birdie, here's the most messed up part, and I hope this my words don't get taken out of context here, right? But even, God forbid, if someone dies there, it still wouldn't be enough because they look at the the the volume of accidents. That's which is terrible. It's terrible. It's horrible. But that's how the de dot operates. Maybe we all have we all ought to plan in that area to have little fender benders there and [laughter] and then and then

that would be illegal. Turn the mic off, please. Turn the mic off. Sounds a collusion to me. Thank you. You know what I just thought of is uh maybe the reason why when there's no school, there's more cars, the teachers aren't working, and the kids aren't working who might be able to drive. Could be what from what I've been told is that you have a lot of traffic going like, you know, to Connecticut, Northeast. um whatever and it's just that 84 684 disaster

and it doesn't matter what time of day I feel like um that 84 eastbound 84 always traffic so it routes people off and onto that road my in-laws live there they live right by them and you go under that bridge and it's just stop car heading towards Route Six it's crazy and uh sorry ma'am uh don't call me me [laughter]

the um the 684 284 ramp. The reason they didn't make that two lanes is because of the bridge support is in the way. So I would hope that at one point they have to replace that bridge and then maybe they can move that pylon and make that too because that's a another huge just nightmare.

100% right. And there's I talked to the mayor of Danbury about this. actually the mayor of Danbury the current one and I used to work together at uh Cartis but I talked to him about this and I guess there's like this billion dollar $6 billion study that they did or there's a study they did that said it would be $6 billion to widen 84 and there's a few bottlenecks. There's one that Nick spoke about. There's where the mall is and it goes to two lanes and then back to three lanes and then the exit five area which they improved a bit. Um

I don't you know I've been told I won't see that in my lifetime. Um, and also they there's and it's all in this letter. They since co I think there's 300 3,000 new residential units in the past 5 years in Danbury and there's a thousand in planning right now and there's I want to say three or 400 of those are at exit one where they're looking to turn some commercial land into residential and that's being uh reviewed right now. So, you know, when we we approved um Brewster Subaru, which you know, they were allowed to do by right. We couldn't really have said no. Um you know, like everyone's like, "Well, what's the traffic? There's like three cars an hour and there's 10,000 cars an hour, you know, driving down that road." Uh because of the growth in Danbury. So, they get the benefit and we get the traffic. So, that's Sorry, went on.

It's okay. Good evening. Kathy Croft live in the town of Southeast. Um, and I will say a lot of cars get off of 684 at Hearts Gravel Road in North Salem and cut over because that's their shortcut. Um, two questions. Well, a couple of questions. How many accidents do they need to have? I I don't know, but I know it was I think dozens per year. I not It was double digits per year. Okay,

that's what my guess is. So my next question would be at the intersection of 312 and Pugsley where there's a traffic light. Um h what because obviously there weren't accidents there prior to putting the traffic light. So what was the criteria for having the light there was the amount of traffic private developer paying for the signaling?

Okay. Same thing with uh at Subaru. Um I think Senator Harkin got [clears throat] a quarter million dollar grant for them which is frustrating to me. um because he got that to where you have a Brewster Subaru restaurant depot and there's an empty site there. When that empty site gets developed, the developer has to install a traffic light there, but there was a quarter million dollar grant given to modify that road with the tuckins. I don't know what they're really called so that a traffic light could be put there. So, a developer is going to get traffic light to accommodate his sites for safety and traffic from grant money, but 684 or uh sorry, 121 Route 6,

they want to put in a traffic light, which I'm told cost $350,000. And who is your contact at the DOT? Is it is it like Nebulous? Does it keep on changing? Um, it was it was uh Lee I I forget. It's something Lee I don't have it in front of me. Okay. He was at the first meeting. Um, and this is what is this? Region six or what is what region are we in? I didn't know this was going to be a quiz. Oh, I'm sorry. [laughter] I don't know. We're studying. I don't know. Region seven. What is it? I think it's region seven. Yeah. Yeah. Um I I don't know. Uh I think it's something Lee He was at the first meeting. He's the one that said, "Hey, if you don't think we did the traffic study at this time, then foil it."

Okay. Well, this is money well I mean this is a no-brainer. This is money well spent having a light there because I I when I go to Brewster Veterinary and I would go in the summertimes and if I went on a Saturday, I can remember I couldn't make a left-hand turn and there was so much traffic. So I go, "Oh, I'll go right. I'll go up to 121 and then I'll cut across on Cobb which was closed. So I had to go down to North Salem." But it's not an easy intersection. It's not easy. That road has increased in traffic. You Everybody here knows that. And then you've got the school buses, you've got

the school buses won't [clears throat] go that way anymore. They're detouring traffic and they're going to write a letter to support this. Um, you know, it's it's not I agree that traffic light, they would be helpful to have a traffic light there, but they also have to um and hopefully, you know, we could pressure them into this into traffic, but the apron at the bottom of Star Ridge needs to be widened. In order to do that, you have to either take or be [clears throat] gifted some land from the gas station. Um, so that it's it's just this dump with no lane, no uh lines or anything. There should be a straight, a left, and a right. And you'd have to have more land to do that. Mike looked into it. That needs to be addressed. Um, you know, and and what we should talk about, and I know we've talked about it, and and I don't know if there's a solution, is deleting some of these roads from waste. Yes.

Like Cobb Road used to be a dirt road. Used to be I don't I think it only has a single line because of the width. Um we we we probably shouldn't have Well, we had to replace that cover, unfortunately. Um but I thought there was no way to do that. I thought we looked into that. We did, but we should just be annoying about it. You never know. Yeah, we couldn't do it because that would benefit us too, Kathy. You know, with Maple, we get a lot of that's a lot of cut through traffic that we get. Yeah. Will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Tony did that for a road and did it came back on at some point.

So, what I've talked to Ashley about this you you can um I guess you could delete it, but it uses it it just uses this ongoing technology. So, it notices, you know, a thousand cars drove down Cobb like people like you or me and it says, "Oh, this is a pastor." And then open it up. Um, I know people that have reported an accident there at rush hour, even though there not an accident there on wave to try and keep people off. Yeah, that's a good strategy. And is 121 a county road? 121 is a state road. They're both state. Oh, okay. And Star Ridge is a town road. It's a town road.

Maybe we could put a Brewster easy pass on that road. Yeah. Um, and we, you know, we we did local traffic only on Cobb Road and a ex cop constituent, uh, quickly brought it to our attention that that's not legal or whatever. I know we had to take the signs down as a result of that. Um, people have talked about making it a one-way road at certain hours and Yeah. or making it a deadend road.

Yeah. Yeah, we well we got you know we got an email today about you know I hope you aren't I think the I hope you aren't doing that ridiculous plan where you close Cobb Road and half the people wanted it half people didn't you know there's there's no real way to win somebody once mentioned closing Maple Road and I and I and I laughed because I thought at what point is it going to be after your driveway or before your driveway I'm hoping they closed you remember you remember when they closed my driveway yeah it was it used to close during certain months every year. But the uh guard rail on Maple's wonderful. It's amazing.

Yeah. And uh they they do the the highway department does a terrific job maintaining that road. I lived on a dirt road in North Salem for 20 years and it was nothing compared to the dirt roads up here. So, and I will say on that, uh, because we have a new engineer, they came forward with some much different, um, ideas and we we hope that new, uh, plan works and they have a lot more experience down in Westchester with dirt roads. So, uh, that was refreshing to hear their opinions, I think. Yeah. So, it was for us financially. I know that. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Kathy. Thanks, Kath.

Kathy, tomorrow Come on.

Hello. Hello. My name is Marena Wartell. Hi,

Penny. I live on Red Fox Lane off 121 and I know the traffic's bad. Um, just coming here tonight, I'm went down 121, tried to make a left. I was there for like five minutes waiting. looked at my watch and uh I couldn't get out until somebody let me somebody making the left onto 121 stopped and let me go by. Normally I um take Cobb Road and go up to Star Ridge and go up get the lights at Star [clears throat] Ridge and that's how I get to 121 when I need to go there like every day. So anyway, but I would like to know what can we do as constituents? I want to do a petition or something that comes from the people because I've got a lot of people that want this light and what can we do? I know you're doing your best, Eric. I know you are.

I'll just Yeah. No, I uh at at Cynthia had reached out to me and was like, "Hey, the the neighbors Yeah, she couldn't come. There was too much traffic." Yeah, she texted me. She's you know, we're going to burn down the town, you know, not like that. They were And um you know, she showed me some wording in the petition. It was like the town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town town and you know I just want to make it clear like we this is all we could do and this is pretty extensive what we're doing but it really needs to be directed at state senator Harkham um uh Slater you know those are the people we're we're doing all our official stuff but if you want to do a petition what can we do? Yeah. Okay. I I would just make sure it's going to the right place and calling out the right people. Good. I'll call you. [laughter] Thank you. You're welcome.

Have a good Thanks. You too. Happy holiday. Excuse me. So, you're saying we should write to Haram and Slater. Yeah. So, um just because no one can hear that, uh you asked who you should write to. I I would say yes. Um if you don't have the detail that we're approving tonight, it's in the minutes online. Penny, I Well, I one of you has a email copy of it, so you could share it. Um I would include that. uh and it has who to send it to in there and you know send that you know a petition along with that and we are reaching out to the school uh to help you know to ask them to send something uh also

you're welcome anything else guys thank you all right so uh I'll make a motion to open the regular meeting second all in favor I I'll make a motion to wave the reading of the correspondence. Second. All in favor? I I I'll make a motion to approve the voucher list for $1,394,829.33. Second. All in favor? I. I'd like to make a motion to wave the reading of the budget transfers and to accept such transfers as submitted. Second. All in favor?

I I

All right. supervisor report. So, I I was going to talk a little bit to uh to uh under sheriff uh Jim, but I felt uh he he kind of told us what we needed to hear. So, um so as far as our financials, right now, we have one month left and we are we're doing very well. Uh the building the building department was it looked like they weren't going to make it. Uh but we're going to be awfully close uh to what we budgeted for. They had a pretty decent month this month. Next month uh we're you know even though it's December uh hopefully things work out down there. And I was sitting I sat with Ron today and we were kind of just going through everything and uh you know this is the second time I've seen a budget uh here at the at the town and because of all the ARPA money and uh the projects that we had from the federal government and the and the county a lot of these numbers we're not going to see next year. are not going to be as uh you know as dynamic high, dynamic low. Uh because some of these numbers the the the paving side of it is is just a very large number and because of the ARPA money, you know, so uh to to move that money around and like uh the the the Everblue company that did the Tanetta Lake project,

uh you know, that that was our money. Yeah, that's a $190,000, but next year all it's going to be is $12,000 for their service on the on the items every year. [snorts] Uh so I think fingers crossed that next month is just this month is just as good and and we get to where we need to be. Uh as far as uh some of the other things, the grants, a lot of the grants are uh we we've been we've been um uh what's the word? Granted, not granted. Uh

yes, awarded. Thank you. Uh uh three of them have been awarded. We're waiting on two more. Uh you guys saw the other day the batten cages. Yeah. Uh they'll be tightened up a little. Jared said that's not what they're going to the final look. Uh so I said to him, "Wow, that looks great. You guys cleared out all those trees so well." And he goes, "That's Zimmer Road." I was like, "Oh, cuz Markeel, they had to cut some trees to get Yeah.

to get it in properly." Uh and we are at the finish line for the the grant for the heating and AC at Lake View. So, we're hoping uh to probably just go to bid next week, week after Christmas. Um cuz that takes a little bit and the I received the letter uh couple couple weeks ago that it's imminent. We're going to get it. So, now I'm just waiting for the final approval and then Jared's going to jump right on that. Uh cuz I went to the senior lunch, Christmas lunch last week and you know I know a lot of those women so they gave me a little beef about the heat and the AC and

I told them part of the reason we're going to get it fixed is cuz we're running out of the blue tape we keep putting on on the broken devices. Uh so yeah, so you know we're getting we're getting we're getting real close. Like Mike mentioned earlier the solar project is moving along. Uh nice egg is going to give us an appointment for the transformers that need to be replaced. So uh it'll be a nice January, I think. Um I'd like to uh move on sets uh sets some meeting dates and public hearings. All meetings will be held at 1360 Route 22 Brewster, New York at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Thursday, January 8th, 2026. Thursday, January 22nd, 20. It says 2926. Let's go with 2026.

Um, yeah. I uh So, our next item is uh I'd like to set a public hearing for Thursday, January 8th, 2026. the proposed local law to amend chapter 54 building construction and fire prevention 54-7 permits and fees. Second. All in favor? I I

We have a few resolutions. Our first resolution is uh highway equipment purchase. Now therefore, be it resolved that the highway superintendent be and hereby is authorized to execute and deliver a purchase agreement for the purchase of two new Western Star plow trucks for a price not to exceed $450,000. And be it further resolved that if the Southeast Superintendent of Highways requires any additional funds above the amount allotted, he will need further authorization by the town board to make such an expenditure and be further resolved that this resolution shall take effect immediately. So moved.

Second. All in favor?

I. Next resolution is supporting the TSO Cultural Arts Coalition proposed project to restore and rehabilitate the historic Souththeast Old Town Hall. Excuse me. Now therefore, be it resolved that the town board of the town of Southeast hereby formally supports the Cultural Arts Coalition's proposed project, Southeast's old town hall restoration, egress and building systems as submitted to the New York State Council of on the Arts in its 2024 capital projects grant application. And be it further resolved that the town board affirms that the proposed improvements are consistent with the town's public interest, contribute meaningful meaningfully to historic preservation efforts, strengthen the cultural and economic vitality of Brewster, and enhance public safety and accessibility for residents and visitors. And be it further resolved that the town board expresses its continued willingness to collaborate with with CAC and Okay. Apply applicable agencies on matters including permitting, coordination, compliance with the state and local codes and the facilitation of project implementation. And be it further resolved that the town clerk is authorized to provide certified copies of this resolution to the co cultural arts coalition and to any state agencies, funding partners or grant administrators administrators as needed to demonstrate municipal support for the project and be it further resolved that this resolution shall take effect immediately. So moved.

Second.

All in favor? Hi, Alina. Eric Larker really worked hard for you guys and will too. Uh, our next resolution is the uh, Hearts Gravel Club erosion and sediment control bond release. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the bound the bond amount is hereby revised for the projects of Fort Below, Hearts Gravel Tennis Club, $6,000 reduced to zero. And be it further resolved that the town clerk be and hereby is duly authorized to cancel and return the bond or other security instruments hereto for established in connection with this project. And be it further resolved that the certified copy of this resolution shall be transmitted by the town clerk to the applicant planning board secretary and building inspector forth with.

So moved. So yes, so moved. I'm sorry. Second. All in favor? Hi. [clears throat] Our next resolution is our traffic impact study for Route 6 and Route 121 Cobb Road, Star Ridge Road, Interstate 84, 684. Do you want to read this one? Mr. did everything. All you.

Okay. It's a little long. I tried tried brushing it off. Uh, all right. So now therefore, be it resolved that the town board of the town of Southeast hereby formally request that the New York State Department of Transportation conduct an updated and comprehensive traffic study reflecting current traffic conditions and projected impacts, including but not limited to traffic volume, safety, and level of service. And be it further resolved that such traffic study shall at a minimum evaluate the following intersections within the town of Southeast. Route 121, Route 6, Danbury Road, Cobb Road, St. James Place, and Route 121, Star Ridge Road and Cobb Road and Friendly Road, Star Ridge Road and Route Six, Danbury Road. And be it further resolved that the traffic study shall account for weekend traffic patterns planned on planned and ongoing residential development and the anticipated impacts of I 84 and I 684 ramp expansion project. ID number 881376, including any detour routing through the town of Southeast, and be it further resolved that the UN updated and comprehensive traffic study shall also include an evaluation of cutthrough traffic utilizing Cobb Road and related local roadways as alternative routes and shall specifically include the intersection of Star Ridge Road and Route 6 Road across from the Interstate 684 ramp and be further resolved. that in addition to the volume counts, an operational analyst

analy. Yeah, thank you. The traffic study shall include uh a review and analyze of reported crashes of safety conditions at the intersection of Star Ridge Road and Route 6, including crash history and contributing factors. And be it further resolved that the town board request that New York State DOT provide the town with a written response and proposed timeline for conducting the updated traffic study and be further resolved that the town clerk be and hereby is authorized and directed to forward a certified copy of this resolution to Senator Peter Harkin, Assembly Member Matt Slater, the town's New York State Legislative delegation, and to the regional director of the New York State Department of transportation regional traffic safety and mobility group fourth width.

So moved. Second. All in favor? I if you stay till the end I can give you a copy of the letter and all the resolutions. So thank you. Yep.

Our uh our next resolution is the Pman County pro real property tax services. Uh now therefore be it resolved that the supervisor is hereby authorized to execute and deliver to the Putnham County of Putnham County Real Property Tax Service contract dated as of the first day of January 2026 for the 2026 tax year in the form of and substance annexed hereto and be it further resolved that the town clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to the assessor forth with so moved. Second. All in favor? I

All right. I'd like to actually make a motion to wave the rules to add an item. Second. All in favor? I I would like to make a motion to uh have a roll call vote on the Putham County Land Trust uh permit fee. The request to wave I'm sorry. It's a request to wave the permit fee. Yes. I'm sorry. Well, we have to add that. We We wave the rules, then we have to add it, then vote on it, right? All right. So, this is to add it. So, yeah, I make a motion to add it to uh an item to wave the fee for the permit fee for the PMA County Land Trust.

Second. All in favor? I. So, now I'll make a motion to have a roll call vote. Section to wave the fee to uh make the motion to have a roll call vote to wave the fee for the permit. Second. All in favor? I You're going to do roll. I'm sorry. Um Councilman Larka, yes. Councilwoman Lewis, yes. Councilman Mazada, yes. Supervisor Duranti. Yes. Thank you. Councilman Cypress absent. Yes.

Thank you, Kathy. Thank you, everyone. Uh, okay. So, that pretty much sums it up for our meeting. Uh, if anyone from the public would like to come up and talk with us,

are we allowed to come up as a team? [laughter] Preferred. Ola Truskit with the town of Southeast Cultural Arts Coalition and Daniel Vasetti. Thank you. hopefully my successor. Thank you for um putting together the lease amendment and also the resolution for us to apply for this grant. Daniel and I talked to some NISCA people today who who um some what people Nisa people New York State Council on the Arts the people that would be giving the managers

the grant. Yeah. and they expressed some concerns with what we were saying. Um, well, one of them is that to apply for a grant, even a midsized one from 2 million to 4 million, which is what we need, we have to have ownership of at least 45 years because or site control for 45 years because it we have to we how did they put it? It's the the useful life of the project that you're doing, right? So, whatever that they consider to be the useful life of the work that you're doing to the building and anything kind of structural is considered to be 45 years as like a flat thing. So, we have to be able to provide them with

proof that we have sight control. So, that can be interpreted in a number of different ways. And like

I mean one question prove that you have sight control of anything for 45 years, right? a question. Um, you know that we've made application to the village. Uh, I haven't heard back from them yet. I briefly spoke to the mayor. He said the application looked good and then we need to go to the zoning board in the village to subdivide. Um, if there was a uh desire for you to purchase the building, could a, you know, going into contract or something like that suffice the control of the building? And what is the deadline that you have to show that you have control of the building?

Well, the the grant application is due on the 13th of January. So, it's very tight there. Yeah. Um, but we can go forward with this lease amendment. I actually submitted it to them to see what their issues would be with it because I tried to put language that I thought would satisfy their requirements. I I think at the end Yeah, there's an indication in lease amendment of

that if we get a grant and we're going to renovate the building, then we would have full control of the site. They were worried because we are only renting the first and the third floor that then we would be prevented from doing what we need to do for the building on the second level. And actually, if we're going to do this renovation project, we have to do the whole building. We can't just divvy it up. Um, so that that was somehow maybe we could have another a discussion to put together another document that would suffice for this grant period. We could wait and just wait for a whole another year, but then this might be our lucky year. [snorts]

Um the the the wording is also um slightly um you know, not ambiguous, but you know, there's room for interpretation in there, too. Like in the way that they talk about site control, they say or it'll be assessed on a case-by case basis. They mention things about short-term leases, but it has to be proven that the the lease would be autorenewed without the landlord's um involvement or approval and it has to show that it's for the duration of this usable life of the work. So, it's all kind of like slight like I say slightly ambiguous. I think I was saying as we were sitting here I was like even the resolution tonight is probably some sort of document that we can send to them to say look the town is supporting this and has said so so this should be suffice to say that like either way we're going to find a way to work work it so that we have access to the building with to do this construction right so but that's the thing and it's a tight now we just learning this today and it's like okay well it's coming up in a few weeks it's not you know I'm not sure we're not sure what to do that's why we're here

unfortunately Um, from a legal perspective, um, and you're up against a time clock. Yeah. Because of the fact that they require a, uh, a 45 year uh, control. We can't do that without permissive referendum, without putting it out. Yep. [snorts] To see if someone files a referendum. Right. permissive to to to give it some time to be talked about in the public and so on.

That's true. But it's it it would give the opportunity for someone to to stall the the project and make it go to a vote if they wanted to go to the uh effort to get a petition u circulated, [clears throat] signed, you know, an adequate petition filed with the town clerk in a timely fashion. It's not a mandatory referendum, but it is, I believe, a permissive referendum, meaning we'd have to adopt a resolution authorizing the lease subject to a U permissive referendum. And that per the referendum period is 30 days. So you're you're looking uh

well into February before we you know even if we were to start working on it today maybe maybe if maybe that would suffice just to put that information in a piece of paper but you but you you're not actually going to start the process though that's the thing unless you know that that's what you need to do. Could we give them if Sorry, keep going. I'll add my thoughts later. No, I mean that's it. We we basically we went back to Nisca, sent them the lease amendment and says, "Look, this is what we have now. Does this suffice?" Because we talked it over in the call. I haven't heard back from that. What we have there in the lease amendment, the current one [clears throat]

is is fiveyear renewals. Well, two 10 year 10ear renewals. I think originally was five 10 year renew. But then there is language there that says should the art, you know, should the cultural arts coalition secure funding to do some major project, you know, rehabilitation or remediation or whatever to the building, it's there's a language there about accessing renovation for old town hall, the tenant will have exclusive access to the space. So our question to Nisca is, hey, is that enough?

Right? And I think that also the like I said even the resolution I'm thinking, oh, if we just send that to them and say, hey, does this support the case even further? right? That we're not going to let this valuable funding go to waste. They don't want what they want to see is that you're you have the ability to to steward the project, right? Which is site control. And the other major thing is they want to see the economic improvement, right? And then and they want to see jobs created. So the other part of this large capital thing is they want to see at least five full-time jobs created. So we have to present them with like a business plan to show here's when the theater is up and running. this is what it's going to do and what it's going to add to the community, right? That's their whole goal is to create jobs and create like economic stimulation.

So, um we might actually bump down to the next level and carve out a smaller piece of the overall project so that we don't have to create a 5 job but but or a more complicated business proposal. Let me ask you another question. If if if we're talking the big ifs, if the coalition were to acquire that property, right, does it Is is it still eligible for this grant? Yes, that's actually the best case scenario, right? Because then you have control over the building. I I I just didn't know whether it had to be admissively owned structure. Uh no, no, it does not. It does not. No, it does not. Could

Could we knowing that it would be uh subject to permissive referendum and that can't be resolved before the due date, could we write something up that says they have control for 45 years or something unless the project's like uh subdivided? Unless the projectivity is subdivided. Yeah, I'm sorry. of the property. Can we put some clause in there that gives them what they need for now, but we subdivide and if somebody wants to purchase it, it it's a little bit different.

I I guess you could throw anything at the flag pole and see if they salute it. But I I that doesn't sound to me like what they're looking for. They they want some big level of certainty. Yes. They're not going to grand. They won't know that we're bucks. they won't know we're subdividing and by then things will be different. [laughter] I mean, and this is why we're coming. So, this is why we coming here tonight is to ask like what do you think like what should we do? What's the best way forward to with a limited amount of time? Obviously, that's available is a huge based on what will said. I don't know that we could do anything by the end of the month. Yeah.

Well, let's see what they come back with in the next week. Maybe tomorrow. you have and um it's Christmas and at that point maybe I could come and talk to you and come up with some creative language. What if we I'm just spitballing. We don't have any more meetings. You know, the town board doesn't have any more meetings, right?

I if we had to if the town board had to take some sort of an emergency action, we could do a um you know, a special meeting, but I don't know you know what vacation plans are or anything like that. So, It's all coming to us a little bit um um you know peacemail and and u it's hard to it's hard to react without thinking it through. Um

yeah and I didn't expect I I I don't think I expected an answer tonight. Right. It was just we we should mention it and talk about it and see what what what's the best solution for everybody. Right. That's it. What if you send a letter uh expressing interest to purchase the building to us and we respond in a way that says we're open to it without discussing price? Would that help? You think? Okay. Sure. If you were interested in purchasing the building, what about if like a lease to buy type of thing? Keep it simple. That would be permissive referendum, I think.

Yeah. Well, when we when we resolve to sell it or or enter into contract to sell it, we have to we have to adopt a resolution authorizing the transaction subject to permissible. Yeah. But if you express intent and we say we'll think about it, you know, with better legal ease, open the building for sale. What's that, sir? If What's that? Sorry, I just missed the end of what you're saying. If I don't know that, you know, throw something out there and we'll be creative. But maybe you express interest to purchase it. Maybe you say we're willing to, you know, we're open to selling it. Yeah. But we can't talk price cuz we have to get an appraisal. Got it. Before we talk price. Okay.

Okay. And so we could write a a draft of a letter and send it and that's something that you think would be able to something get a consensus on with the board to in a I think so. Okay. Relatively painless way. Okay. Um Yeah, we'll try that. Sorry. What were you trying to point out? Should I should I throw this to him to them? You have to now you mention Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. So, there was It's an open mic.

One one one thing that I thought might work in the lease amendment in that first paragraph where we're adjusting the original lease. Should tenant be awarded a New York State grant above $500,000 for capital improvements to the Southeast Town Hall, landlord will offer the building and land necessary for the capital improvements for sale to tenant or upon e execution of the grant, landlord hereby leases to and tenant hereby leases from the landlord all the building and surrounding land necessary for the capital improvements and may not terminate this lease unless tenant fails to comply with terms of the grant. That kind of jams us up for the subdivision though, wouldn't it?

But it it would it would it kind of does the thing about us offering to buy the building or but would that prohibit because the land is all part of the building right now. Wouldn't that Well, that's that's why because I'm thinking you're going to subdivide it anyway. And so only the land that's required for the capital improvement. How long do you does it take for you to get a response on a grant like this? Um, I think it was the last couple of years you submitted in January and it came back by May, maybe May or June.

Is if you win the grant, is it specific to CAC or so? I'm just wondering if that would impact an appraisal at all that it would impact the appraisal of the building. Not if the work's not complete, right? I know. It's a blank. Well, it's a I don't know. It's It's They're just planning to renovate. You know, it that provides value, though. Not Not I don't Lori, it's probably better to answer this, but I think the work to change the appraisal, the work has to be done. Okay. That that's always been my understanding. But

but this is an important these are important questions to go through because you can plan until the sun comes up. If it's not complete, it doesn't change the value. I I could tell you that whatever you guys come up with, if it would work, I think we wouldn't have an issue with it. Yeah. As long as it doesn't hinder any plans that the Yeah. Yeah. I think we can figure something out. This, you know, let's try the avenue of this letter. Sounds like the way that it would work. Um what we can do too is kind of we're trying to simultaneously like get Niska to uh say okay right that we accept this as like a proof of

because then all the rest of the all the rest of the grant is basically Elena has done it already like all of the background research the construction drawings and updating the cost estimates and all of that stuff is has happened right if you if you submit is there time to is there is there a period of where you can have dialogue with them if you were to purchase to say we've gone to contract. I think in the in their guidelines document, they actually say if they have questions, they're going to get back to you up through March. Okay. And so that that indicates that they're still going to have a dialogue open. Okay. Yeah. There may be time to amend, you know, right? So, as long as we're signaling at the application time that this is what's going to happen, right? You'll meet your deadline.

Yeah. And then they can say, "Okay, did you do it because you're still I don't know how it works, but like they come back and say, is it actually happening?" Say, "Yes, it is." Then it doesn't mean that we're gonna get the grant. Of course, right off this work, you got to try, right? That's that's the whole point. I mean, and the other thing, the other reason why we would want to go ahead and do it this year is because that other grant expires in 2027. I think what we need to do, we've been trying to shovel this along along, is uh get I'll I'll send a follow-up email today uh to the villa, say, where's this application? Mhm. Um and I think we should order the appraisal cuz I'm, you know, there's a lead time there for weeks. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah.

Mhm. Because the other grant could be subject to the same kind of uh site control scrutiny. Well, no, the other grant got away with it and it's a different agency, so maybe they weren't quite as strict about or different Yeah, different requirements. Okay, I I'll look through that. Yeah, I don't think they were. I mean, I used the memorandum of understanding and that apparently was superseded totally by the lease. Um, okay. I think that's it. Great. Thank you guys. Good luck. Come on up.

I'm gonna going to give you a task. You got to find out where Connor O'Reilly is. [laughter] This time of year, he's camping. [laughter] Last three weekends, the Boy Scouts have been out every weekend, so you can't find them. You're better off not knowing where they are. [laughter] Um Scott Seaman, town of Southeast here from the Brewster Board of Education. First, I did want to follow up and thank the board for the work on the project. Uh especially the light for 121, especially Councilman Larka. I'm sure he's lost a lot of sleep on this whole transaction. Um, you know, to to pony off some of the comments. I mean, Danbury just built a new high school. They've expansions on two of their other schools. I believe they have over 12,000 students.

It's a big school. So, it's it's definitely a mad house in that section. Uh, and anything this the board can do, we will of course do. Uh we have a meeting coming up next month where we will put together if we're allowed to some type of resolution to support what you're doing. I know the transportation supplying information. Uh the district can do some things, but if we can put a similar letter to what you're doing, of course we will do that, you know, with the board's authorization. I'm sure it'll be nicer. [laughter]

Well, there won't be venom dipping out of it. But, you know, we're pleasant people over there. But, um thank you for your work. I know last time we did discuss um the changes in the high school with the schedule. Uh another big item that's rigged up, we did just get the um feasibility study of the electrif electrification plan for the bus fleet. And I I don't want to mention numbers around Eric. So it's it's it's a scary document and scary numbers. Uh this month is the window when they open up for you can file for your first of two two-year extensions on doing the work. And so this what what is the number for? It's over $36 million for the buses

for buses infrastructure improvements. So and that's not taken into effect that Nicely can't do it. So that's $36 million for something that can't be done that's going to destroy our roads and we have to put in bigger guard rails and doesn't last as long. So yeah, this is why I didn't want to repave all the roads. Yeah. though that Mike did say he was upgrading his roads and and support structures, you know, knowing that these things are coming. But I I expect them that the first year extension that there'll be no problem, probably even the second. And I'm hoping somewhere in those four years

there's a come to Jesus moment for the state when they realize they don't have enough electricity uh to support this infrastructure. It's a wonderful idea and it is great for down the road, [laughter] but not at this time. And that's the stance we've always been taking and we will continue to take. You're allowed two two-year extensions. Two two-year extensions. And that was just added at the last budget. Before that, there was really no chance for extensions. The the mandate is 35. What was the mandate? Uh 27, you have to begin purchasing only electric fleet. And by 35, it has to be 100% electric fleet. Now, we have currently I think 93 buses. It's crazy. That would have to be replaced.

And if you want some of the money from them, you have to disable the buses. So, you can't like sell to trade. You actually have to cut like a 4x4 ft hole in the engine block. so that this thing can never be used. So, it's just crazy.

That's to get some of the fun. There is a lot of funds. I mean, that $36 million is with all the money we would get. So, the the actual number is far higher. And we're one district of 700 in New York State. And I think the last time I asked them, they they maybe produce 1,200 electric buses a year. New York State has, I want to say, over 20,000 uh buses. All right. uh throughout all the districts. So the the numbers don't drive up anywhere. One of the major electrification companies up in Canada just declared bankruptcy and we went through a restructuring. Uh the federal government withdrew a lot of uh the incentive money on the whole concept. So a lot of them are restructuring. So

don't know how the state can say spend 30% of your budget on something that's not going to help educate and it's not even a budget item. I mean, it's going to have to be something totally separate cuz I mean, you're a bankruptcy. You know, we like to keep things as as quiet [snorts] and clear and concise and, you know, and now with a 2% cap, I I can't, you know, it keeps me up nights as it is. So, I don't want to think about it, but just to keep it out there so we're all on the same page if people are talking about these things. Um, got one more day of school. We hope that one more day. What? Well, tomorrow tomorrow we're on school break for two weeks.

He was on the Wait, hold on. Keep Your son is lying to you. [laughter] So, we're off. I noticed your son. I'm sure he's telling you, "Yeah, I got to go to school Monday and Tuesday." Mom, [laughter] you can disappear for two days. Awesome. I'll leave the car. But, um, as always, you know, we thank you for your work for our students. Um, merry Christmas. Happy holidays. And if there's anything we can do, please let us know. Thanks, guys. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Does anyone else from the public like to come up?

You know, I just want to acknowledge something really quick. Um, you know, we've had a lot of bad news lately. Uh, this week we lost a young mom, a resident. She leaves behind a 5-year-old and a husband. But I want to acknowledge this community and how amazing they are. within eight hours um her GoFundMe raised $32,000. I just looked

48 hours later they're up to 79. Um I've been in this town. It's crazy. Yeah, it's really good. I've been in this town 54 years and unfortunately, you know, we've all seen our share of tragedy and you can bank on this every time the community comes together and this was uh no different. So, um, our condolences to the HL family. It was very sad. Definitely. Uh, so yeah, this is our last meeting of the year. Um, I do hope that, you know, they enjoy what they can. Uh, but I hope everybody has a safe holiday. Uh, Santa brings you some good gifts.

Yep. Be careful on the icy roads. Uh cuz it's going to be cold at night and warm during the day. Anybody else? Nope. Just enjoy the holidays. Happy holidays. Yep. I'll make a motion to close the meeting. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you, everyone.