Karen Smythe 0:00 The letter from the district attorney that I'm not reporting, by the way, should I be? Melkorka Kjarval 0:05 Yeah, Karen Smythe 0:06 that if he is trying criminal cases in Dutchess County, that he cannot be our traffic special, our special prosecutor for traffic, and so as a result, because that's more of his business than ours, he sent in his resignation. And as a reminder, we have, we have 10 months left. The end of 10 months, the village village court will be transferred over to the town court. Carrie Yamashita has substituted for us before, and she came recommended both from our village justice and mr. Montalto, and so there's a simple scope of work document and her bio that I sent out for you, and so I am asking for a motion to authorize me to side to sign this engagement letter, and again, for those, if you haven't been to court date, we have vehicle in traffic is the first Wednesday of the month, and criminal court is the third Wednesday of the month. Criminal courts at 3o'clock vehicle in traffic is at 6o'clock It's very interesting. It's public. It's interesting to watch the process, but what the special prosecutor does is review the cases, determine as to whether or not there can be a plea offered, or what have you, and so that work is done before the person comes before the judge, and so it is, and they are ultimately authorized by the district attorney to operate on our behalf, so standard. standard position that we would have any questions, comments, thoughts. Then I'll take a motion to authorize a fluid Perry Allen 2:13 person for it. Karen Smythe 2:15 Authorize me to sign her the letter of engagement. Perry Allen 2:20 So moved. Craig Rothstein 2:20 Thank you, Terri. Second, second. Thank you, Craig. All in favor, aye. Karen Smythe 2:27 Okay. Next item is Panda Board appointment. We have Alex Galler, which we spoke about at our last board meeting, and in the meantime, I have spoken with Faith Far, who currently and has worked for WKZE. She has lived in the village, but she has moved out to the to the town, though not that far, and she said to me she's on Village Water, and in the process of talking, after speaking with Faith, I also looked at the bylaws for Panda, and saw that there was the opportunity for an alternate director, and that alternate is able to go to all the meetings, they just only one can vote, so the primary would be the one to vote. If the primary is not there, the alternate would vote, and, and so I thought, what a perfect opportunity to have to have an alternate. Faith has is has good connections with the school, and obviously media, um connections and background, and I think it would be great to have her in the mix, and so I think having, and also having the yes, Alex, as the library director, is connected with the village, but it's, it's different to be with an organization, but not live here. I think living here is also an important part. So, to me, I see that. So, I guess what I'm proposing, I think having us propose Alex or appoint Alex as the primary, I'm fine with that. And I would like to propose Faith, faith bar as the alternate, so any thoughts, questions, comments. Melkorka Kjarval 4:27 So we had a conversation about the idea a local person that pays the taxes. Does it make sense to have faith as a primary analysis the alternate? Frances Uku 4:39 Did you not just say she no longer lives in the village, Karen Smythe 4:42 but she does. On the other hand, she does pay taxes in Red Hook, so that does contribute to Panda. Speaker 1 4:50 Okay, Melkorka Kjarval 4:51 I'm just.. we have a discussion. I'm just raising the idea of demanding it. Frances Uku 4:58 What I said, discussion, so I thought that was discussing. I wasn't Perry Allen 5:03 what I like about what I like about this plan that was first put forth, having Alex as the primary director in Faith as the alternate, is that Panda expressed a need and desire for Alex's specific skill set that I think he brings, and that faith doesn't necessarily, but has an amazing other skill set that would be perfect for this alternate role that perhaps then gives an opportunity for learning this other world as well. I guess I Karen Smythe 5:40 might state that a little differently. I mean, I think you know the notion of the Panda talks about education, art, civic engagement. I think they covers all of those. On the other hand, faith does not have any specific board experience, and Melkorka Kjarval 5:54 I didn't either. Yes, well, I'm Karen Smythe 5:57 not - I'm not saying that's a - that's a negative. Yeah, it's just that that piece is reality, and Alex has had, you know, this obviously the executive director of that is run by a by a of an organization that's run by a board. It's a little different when it's public library, but, but yeah, no, I think they, I think they both bring positive, important things to the, and I think it would just add, and actually, when I spoke to Eric, he said that's how he got, that's how he started at Panda, was as an alternate, so you never know, you can end up as president when you start out as an alternate, the Perry Allen 6:35 American dream Karen Smythe 6:37 thoughts, I Craig Rothstein 6:38 mean, I, in a lot of ways, I agree with the way Perry introduced his thoughts on them, kind of on the same paper. It carries weight to me that Panda proposed Alex, that would suggest that they consider him and took the time to consider him comfortable with his appointment, and they're the ones who have to work with him, and they've clearly brings weather at the table, and it's just extra gravy, so icing on the cake. Yeah, I don't think there's a way to lose here, but I'm comfortable nominating out to the permanent position as the Karen Smythe 7:16 alternate. Craig Rothstein 7:16 Alternate, thank you. Perry Allen 7:18 I would like to clarify as well, I'm not in any way trying to demean Faith's credentials, but just to the earlier point of Panda's recommendation, as it were. Karen Smythe 7:28 So I'm going to, I'm going to ask for a motion for the for the village to nominate to appoint Alex Geller as primary director to Panda and Faith Bar as alternate director to Panda for a two year term, and I'm just thinking about, do you have, you don't have any, like, when does your year start? Eric Riback PANDA 8:05 I mean, calendar year, in terms of when we elect officers among the board, but I don't think that is a concern. Karen Smythe 8:15 So, if we.. so it's June, I'm just thinking it's june 8. If it's a two-year term, let's make it go till June, the June board meeting of 2028 that's two years from now. To that, would anyone like to make that motion? Frances Uku 8:34 I would. So moved. Second. Karen Smythe 8:37 Thank you, Perry. Any further discussion? All in favor, Frances Uku 8:42 aye, aye. Karen Smythe 8:43 Great, so you didn't just get one, you got two. Christmas, Eric Riback PANDA 8:51 it's Hanukkah, like a party. And the truth is, the reason we haven't had alternates is we struggle to get one person in most cases, so this isn't positive. Great, good. Karen Smythe 9:04 Thank you. Appreciate it. It's like we're farming them up. Melkorka Kjarval 9:20 Thank you. Karen Smythe 9:22 All right, so the next item on the agenda is the village hall exterior, and I'm going to share my screen. Can Speaker 1 9:34 you present it any other way? Oh, it is great, perfect. Perfect. Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 9:46 Bid match your faces. Karen Smythe 9:49 Oh, yes. Melkorka Kjarval 9:55 Okay, okay. So, basically, this is a project that's been in the works for a while, and there's two aspects to it. One is that we've been talking a lot about communication as a village, and how we can improve it, and we did a communication survey where we got like a lot of information back. Part of that was that the signage outside wasn't so great, so people couldn't find, we don't have like a public notice board that says we're going to have a public hearing this week. We also, we have like a sign that the phone core boarding costs of 140 hours every time you want to do it, or 80, that's gone up. One of the things that's interesting is, like, we had that Panda appointment, and because it fell outside of the newsletter and the seasonal service update, we couldn't reach people that way. We don't didn't want to put out a print a whole board for 180 for that short window, but if we had a marquee sign, we can reach a lot more people, so that's part of this, and then the other thing is that there's some repairs that are needed, the tree up front is messing up the sidewalk and needs to be repaired, so we're going to take that tree down and then not re look like that, actually plant another tree to the side, so the challenges of the both entrances are being considered the challenges of both both sides have challenges, the Broadway entrance? There's narrow walkways, and the tree is raising up the sidewalk. It's circled in red, and it's also when you are waiting for the bus to get onto the bus, there's a cable that cuts across. There's the tree with its tree well, and then there is a bus stop sign. So, there's actually to get on the bus, it's actually quite hard, and then also the plantings that are in the, in the planters, 50% of them are actually invasive species, and we don't have any signage for special events. It's easy to update, easy and cost-effective, and the directory that we have next to the door is by this entrance, and it's not by the back entrance, which is an accessibility issue. Ready for the next Speaker 1 12:29 one. Melkorka Kjarval 12:29 Yes. Sorry, so these are the two maps of the current and the proposed. The current agency has a quarter, the quarter planters, and we'd be removing those and these things. Yes, and then putting in a sign, a marquee sign, similar to what the library has, where one of them used to be, and then relocating that tree well to the side in the bump out. The other Karen Smythe 13:02 thing to note is this little red thing is fire hydrant, and so this would be an opportunity to move it over here, so it's there, and it's actually more accessible to fire a fire truck than it is than it is in its current location Melkorka Kjarval 13:20 easier to see the proposed plan, so yeah, we're moving, like removing that tree, taking down the tree, but putting in a new tree. We'd also be putting, moving around the benches. There's a stone bench up there that Karen did a lot of research on. It was gifted to the village in honor someone's retirement, so that one is actually going to go back behind by the back door, and this, the one that's by the back door, will go up front, and what's neat about that, it's actually the judge's bench that they donated, so go in front of the courtroom just in time for him to stop being the judge, and then we'll have more access to the bus stop, and we'll move that planter just a little bit back, so that it's actually a little more accessible, because it's very narrow, that um pass through, Karen Smythe 14:09 yeah, just from here it comes right up to the sidewalk right now, and so the proposal is just to move it back a bit, so there's there's more more space in here, Melkorka Kjarval 14:19 there's a, there's a huge light post, there's cables, there's so it's, it's a little tricky if you're ever trying to get by, and someone sitting on, and lots of people sit on those planters or wait for the bus. The other thing is that we have a language access grant, which will allow us to purchase the signs, so it will, as long as we include interpretation next one, unless I just wanted Karen Smythe 14:46 to note the it gives us an opportunity to focus on the plantings that are there, and that's that's an exciting opportunity. Melkorka Kjarval 14:58 So then the challenges of the Prince Street entrance, they just put the picnic table back, which is great. We tested that out last year, and we got a lot of really great feedback from it, but the problem is having it on the lawn means it's hard to mow the lawn, and then that gets it's not a great wear pattern. So basically, that planter, it had it's very nice in bloom now, but it blooms for about three weeks, and then it's gone. The signing needs to be updated, because we now have a police phone, which increases accessibility to reaching police officer at any time, and we need to move the directory to that door, so people know what floor they're going to, and we're also going to one of the other things that we heard was like public notices are hard for people, so we want to move an exterior bulletin board to the back to make it more useful. So this is it in plan view, you can see like that grass area is very underutilized. So the idea is to do make it into like a little garden sitting area, where you can have, you can sit, you can even have a committee meeting there, and then there's also a bench where you can also sit, but we won't obscure the path to the back, because they still use that shed behind the village hall, Karen Smythe 16:17 and I think you have another, yes, so this Melkorka Kjarval 16:20 is the, the other my modeling program does not have a bulletin board, so that is like anyway you can get the idea. So basically, we will have an exterior bulletin board facing Prince Street when people walk by or they park, so you can, yeah, they'll be able to see any public notices. And then we will be doing a felt board directory where there's the plaque, move the plaque over so that you can find all the electives, and also like what floor you're going to for the police, which floor you're going to for those, and then also we're hoping to have a pollinator garden in that area, pollinators across too, but then we can get an educational time, so the work that the public spaces group has been doing can be highlighted Karen Smythe 17:09 instead of being like from the door, it's actually there. Oh, Melkorka Kjarval 17:17 and then there's another tree too. Sorry, sorry, a tree to a second tree that would block some of the south sun, so you can sit in the shade here at the table. Next thing, also, next year is going to be the actual anniversary of when slavery was abolished, the other 200th anniversary, because I don't know if anyone knows the history, but it was like, is a gradual and gradual abolition, so basically not everyone was granted free at the same time. So, July 4, 2027 will be the 200th anniversary, Karen Smythe 17:56 and Prince, in the state of New York, Melkorka Kjarval 17:58 and yes, in New York, specifically local, and Prince Street was actually named after a black resident, and Bill Jacque did a great black history trail of Red Hook, and I'd like to maybe mark that and celebrate that next year, possibly forward Karen Smythe 18:18 as possibly the other side of the of the board community board facing into and because it's on Prince Street and the house that Prince Ellsworth, I keep wanting it to be elsewhere, Prince, but it's Prince Ellsworth is his house, which is on the corner of Church Street and Prince, so it's very close, so it seems like a logical way to add a little history and celebration, but that will be for next year, Melkorka Kjarval 18:51 and then the big question is, How are we going to pay for it? So the accessible signage we have a remaining balance, which I will go through really quickly, just have that project went along in the next big day. And then we're doing, we have streets and sidewalk budgets to do repairs, like we have to do legally with the sidewalk with two street trees. I'm going to be requesting them from North Green for a fall planting day, and then plantings. I'm hoping that we can work into a frank spaces committee, and even private smart committee, and the Red and Garden Club. If anyone has been pressed in sourcing native plantings and facilitating a planting day, then the bench is very high, because I like history, and these are just pictures of what - how the village building has changed over the years. Karen Smythe 19:47 Yeah, this one's interesting with the trees on the front, because the newer ones, there's no tree, yeah, there's this portal seven that's over here, it doesn't system, and then that's Melkorka Kjarval 19:58 where different, and then we're in planning, but it was a bank for a severe, okay? Karen Smythe 20:02 And is it this one, if you look, the overhang is very small. And then in the next one is where you see the rounded overhang, right there in its newer version. Melkorka Kjarval 20:14 Anyway, so that is both just letting people know what's happening, and then also an invitation to elaborate, because I think great, and already Perry has helped me get a list of salt tolerant plants that are pollinators, which is great. Yeah, it's a wonderful culmination of a lot of different projects, and it will make for more of a welcoming open space in the front. It'll be a nice, you know, village hall that you'll see as you pass, despite the fact it says village hall everywhere. I think this will just add to Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 20:50 the actually does it. It says village building. Karen Smythe 20:52 Oh, that's true. Actually, it says building. Yes, it does say village is.. Perry Allen 20:56 I think it's really fantastic. It was a really fantastic proposal, or just project, it looks fantastic. Did you design Speaker 2 21:04 it? Perry Allen 21:04 Yeah, yeah, looks really great. It's been really engaging. I love everything about it, you know. Public Spaces wants to collaborate in any way. I think we'll confirm that at the next meeting, but obviously we're trying to. I'm sure that we can also source a lot of native plants just through the committee, which may even just dictate some of the plantings on some level, just what we can get access to for free, but I love, I love everything about it. I love the. Karen Smythe 21:35 I did talk to Teresa, yeah, Townsend Burke. Thank you very much. Sorry, and she basically said it'd be best to have a list, and then, as opposed to what, because she said the garden club has access to a lot of plants, lots of cuttings, or dividing, and all that, so if, if it's more directed to say this is the list we want, I think we should start with that, and then if we can't find those, then we can fill in with what's available. Perry Allen 22:08 Sounds great. Karen Smythe 22:09 I think that would be very cool. Okay. All right. Any other comments? Craig Rothstein 22:18 I like it. Perry Allen 22:22 Yeah. I'll Melkorka Kjarval 22:27 make is just the language access grant, basically this is me just explaining what, where we got that money, so I'm going to go through really quickly, just getting everyone up to date, Speaker 3 22:40 check the other and see, and try that focus. The linked it twice, Smith. Let's see, Melkorka Kjarval 22:53 my reports. Speaker 3 22:55 the Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 23:06 name go down, Melkorka Kjarval 23:19 so basically we got a mid grant in 2022 I'm not going to read this all, you guys can, you have it printed on that, but I'm just going to say that we got the grant in 2022 basically the implementation of a language access plan to provide translation services and on demand implementation services for non English speaking individuals to complete various village departments, including a 24 hour education service and web applications to provide accessibility. I only read that specifically because that's the right language we got. Recite me for us and the library, because it was a, it was a joint. We also applied with the library. So, recite me is basically an accessibility tool that's on our website, and you can have it read to you, you can have it in different languages. It will also read out loud PDFs. We also got, we've been having paid for the Language Line on demand interpretation for all of our village offices and the RFPD, which is great. The court, the court obviously uses your own in-person interpretator, but all of the, all of the clerks have like a sign available that allows people, they can hand it to people, they don't speak English, and then they can call online and have online information. Then we also used it throughout the years on different information printings, so for the sewer we did a couple things in English and Spanish, we did the brochures, and we've done event interpretation at like kids gravel, hard cards, we got equipment for the booth, we did wayfinding signage, so there's like new signage in the building that has English and Spanish, and then these Chromebooks are also part of what the grant paid for. The initial budget included having a consultant do a language access plan, but we had a couple meetings with them, and it just turned out that that the scope was too much for them to kind of figure out, so we decided to request to have it switched over more towards equipment. We met with a lot of different organizers and got feedback, and we have got it out. 606,094 cents left for signage, and the most rewarding part of this project was the way that this has become a systemic and sustainable improvement, and so that's really great that all the clerks have language line, the village clerk knows how to, if she needs something translated, we have an account, so she can just log in through that and get it translated, as in, like, written text, and it's just become part of our the way that we operate, which is really great. And then this is a budget remaining, just that you guys can see what's been spent, and then mark up stuff the signs. Then, is that? Does anyone have any questions? Frances Uku 26:31 No, it looks great. Perry Allen 26:33 Agreed. The Melkorka Kjarval 26:34 next thing is the communication theory. It since Perry Allen 26:50 we're moving on, just right away, just this is really fantastic. I think having this language access is really good work. It's awesome. It looks really good. Trying to find it. It also, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 27:03 I know these links are right. Frances Uku 27:10 May just be a browser refresh shoe. Yeah, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 27:16 see, this is something prominent. Frances Uku 27:22 Try a new window, and then put the link in I Melkorka Kjarval 27:43 Okay, great. So I'm just going to go through the different questions and sort of what we got back and sort of like, Speaker 1 27:55 so Melkorka Kjarval 27:55 basically the question, how do you get information Speaker 1 27:58 from the village? Melkorka Kjarval 27:59 The largest answers were the water bill inserts. The second was a website. The third was made, and the fourth was a large sign on the sidewalk. So it was kind of interesting. All these things where we've been making efforts are actually, you know, are working, but we can improve when these fit with the focus improvements we made, but I think that if we did do the marquee sign, I think it would meet a lot of the needs and the confusion people have about when big events are happening, or Karen Smythe 28:34 it also goes back to the discussion we had about public hearing, for example, we can then have, you know, already made up public hearing today, so that people can see that she'll probably make sure we have the website, maybe at the bottom of the summer, because we're not necessarily going to have the time. Well, anyway, we'll have to work out the details, but again, it's a way to give an alert to elections today, or public hearing today. If you Perry Allen 29:00 just said public hearing tonight, I think that would be fantastic. Melkorka Kjarval 29:06 So then the other, the next question was, when you have something to contribute, bringing something from the village, most people actually just walk to Village Hall, which I just love, and then the next thing is people call, and then people email, which is, you know, to be expected, but I think the idea that people come in person mostly means that the outdoor signage actually really is integral to making sure that their experience goes well. If you're communicating, were you satisfied? 3038 people said yes, 13 people said no, and it's not surprising that people might be not happy, because usually they would feel the need to give feedback if they weren't happy, but we can improve, that's always there's always room for improvement. So I asked them, if possible, please explain. There were six compliments of staff, which I think people should take credit for, that they, you know, they didn't compliment the elected officials, they compliment the staff, eight were negative, not about staff, 10 were positive, and five had specific suggestions or neutral feedback, and most of the negative responses were around unanswered emails, which of the following should be a budget priority to improve, and this was the idea of any kind of improvement will cost money, it will, you know, takes resources. What do people want to put that money towards? And the biggest thing feedback was topic specific email newsletters, which is an interesting feedback, because that means that people really like to hear about a specific topic, which is interesting. The second highest was for neighbors 19 public interact with officials in a less formal city. 22 was an outdoor sign, and 20 was for an outdoor bulletin board, which is part of how to design. If you should select a short and response time as a budget priority, please specify the method of communication. 16 of the 70 survey respondents answer the question, and most of them said email, which makes sense, because if you're calling on the phone, you most likely are reaching someone or calling back. How do you find out about local news and events? 90% of respondents find their mother catch, followed by 40 word of mouth, 25 Facebook groups, and 18 people get respondents get their information from our paper record that meme, which is the daily framing. Yes, I think that may be Perry Allen 31:54 interesting. Melkorka Kjarval 31:55 Yeah, it's interesting, and it also makes us think about what happens when there is an inadversity. How do we deal with that? Like, does it make sense for us to have a communications officer the same way the school does? They have a bigger budget. If this is the way that people are getting their news, they're not coming to the website, they're not, you know, coming to.. we have to make sure what they're getting is accurate. And then what was your relationship to the village of Red House? Most of the respondents were homeowners, career renters, and then all the other categories. So, basically, we can prove the sign. There is a possibility of discussing the Facebook, you know, social media, but that wasn't the main thing that people, Perry Allen 32:41 no, that I agree. In addition to adding to the sign, I think we should also lean into the things that are working really well that people like, like the water bill inserts. Can we do more things like that? I know, obviously, cost is related to everything, but just people like that. So, can we expand that sort of program in any way? And then also these topic-specific email newsletters, that's interesting, because I think people just like to know what's going on, is what that tells me. But then again, I know that's another.. I know the monthly newsletter is its own amount of work, so yeah, but I think we should, in addition to this, I lean into what's going well and expand it as much as we can. Yeah, Melkorka Kjarval 33:20 one of the things to that point, Perry, I agree with you. One of the things that we talked, I talked about a little bit, and this was this past year we did info sessions, and it was actually an idea that we got from Tivoli, because Tivoli, as I forget what they call them, do you remember what they call them? Karen Smythe 33:33 We're cautious of, like, community conversations Speaker 3 33:35 or something. It's not that Melkorka Kjarval 33:37 cheesy, but something like, yeah, but the idea is that you, they just, if there's like a bubbling conversation of disagreement going on in the community, they'll have on the top of the session, they'll talk about it, you know. Yeah, great. So we were like, we need to do that, which is why we tried to do that with the Karen Smythe 33:57 sewer, Melkorka Kjarval 33:58 the sewer, but also with the land use study and the zone law, and we did get it, was really great, because those were more conversational, people were able to talk about things, they came with, you know, concerns, and then towards the end they did feel listened to, they did feel like they had made a connection. So I agree with you, I think building on the things that work well. Also, a lot of people like neighbor snakes. Yeah, Perry Allen 34:26 are there any on the books? Karen Smythe 34:28 There are not, though. We have, we have some funds left in our compost grant, and one of the things that I've been thinking about, I can't remember, it was you I mentioned this to, was to possibly do an education event, maybe invite our composter from Laughing Fox Farm to come and talk about the process, and maybe we could do that at Abraham's Park, because it's more expensive to do at the park, because you have to get porta potties, and so potentially it could be around education around compost, which could be connected to growing things and pollinators and native plants, and sort of maybe combine them all together, and maybe do that in some time, probably June, really, maybe September time frame, as Perry Allen 35:20 the theme for the neighbors night, Karen Smythe 35:22 yes, the idea is it would cover, would cover the topic, would be food waste and compost. Melkorka Kjarval 35:31 I read this book called The Art of the Gathering, and basically they said that the way to get people to want to come to these is to be really specific about what they're coming to, and the idea that, like, so we've been talking about this, can we have more themed neighborhood sites, where it's sort of like when people come, they know what to expect, and they, and that kind of loosens up that feeling of a barrier, you know. Perry Allen 35:53 Anyway, that I think we can inspire more fields and conference program things is great. Yeah, Karen Smythe 35:58 that was sort of the idea. We can also add in a little thing about recycling and what's not recyclable and what is, don't contaminate every cycling, but yeah, so that was that was that would be one way to create it effectively a neighbor's night using with the topic primarily being composed food waste, but again part of it is you bring people together to the park. It would have to be Perry Allen 36:28 fantastic, you know. I'd like to follow up with you about that. That sounds like a fun event to try to conception. Doing a Karen Smythe 36:35 neighbor's night in the parking lot is not.. it's not that hard. It's not what we did do, though, was we mailed postcards to people, and that's not a, that's not a cheap thing to do. So, if we could get enough buzz through an email, that would be ideal to do it that way. Perry Allen 36:54 Okay, Melkorka Kjarval 36:55 yeah, if we could get all the committees on, that would be great too. Perry Allen 37:00 Oh, interesting. Yeah, so I'm going Karen Smythe 37:03 to stop sharing. Frances Uku 37:06 Oh, just.. oh, we have it in front. No, no, no. I just.. since you.. you have on the.. in the takeaway that people are reading the daily catch, and you had, you know, mentioned previously that most people get their.. oh, was it mostly.. I don't want to speak out of turn, but you had 90% yes about finding out about local news and events. I just wondered if there was room for some credit and appreciation of the Daily Catch, given that we had published this survey, and I believe in the April workshop, Nokoka, you had said you had 24 responses, and then there were signs, but there was also the article in the Daily Catch, after which the number of respondents almost tripled. So I just throwing it out there that I think that's worth Karen Smythe 37:51 logical, that a lot of people said we get our local news there, because that's obviously where they saw them, you know, many of them saw the survey, and so there's a connection there as well. No, Melkorka Kjarval 38:02 it was great. It was great that they covered that. A good thing to mention. Frances Uku 38:07 Thank you, mr. Janice. Karen Smythe 38:09 Okay. Oops, nope. We have one more thing. I'm sharing my screen. Melkorka Kjarval 38:18 Oh, so the last thing was actually not something I was going to share. I just wanted to share it digitally with everybody, because I talked about the workshop, but I didn't give everyone a digital version, so gotcha. Speaker 3 38:30 So, you don't, you don't leave that up on the.. I mean, we Melkorka Kjarval 38:32 went over it. Does anyone have any questions? Yeah, Melkorka Kjarval 38:35 we went over Melkorka Kjarval 38:35 it in the workshop. Does anyone have any questions? Craig Rothstein 38:39 Oh, no. Apologies. What are we referring Frances Uku 38:42 to? Oh, yes, we did talk about it. Yeah, I just Melkorka Kjarval 38:45 wanted it to be online for anybody. Perry Allen 38:48 Amazing. Yeah, thank you. I'm going to reference back to that. I don't have questions, but Karen Smythe 38:53 okay. On to Wetland Wetland Committee, Perry Allen 39:01 fantastic. May I Karen Smythe 39:04 take your way? Perry Allen 39:05 Oh, I'm so excited about this. I am really excited to be bringing this resolution forward, and I am very appreciative to have collaborated with the Mayor on this initiative, as we've talked a lot as a board as to ways in which to improve conditions, recent conditions at the wastewater treatment plant, but then also protecting our wetlands at large. This is here is a resolution to create a standing committee for our four hour board, which will serve to protect and rehabilitate wetlands throughout the village. So, without taking too much time, I don't do.. I need to read this verbatim out for Karen Smythe 40:02 the record, I have, I have done that with many in the past. I just, I just want to point out a couple things. We've talked about Mazzino and Mazinos Pond, so that we didn't call it the sewer wetland, yes, or the wastewater treatment plant wetland, and I just, I did a little bit of a little bit of research on the Mazzinos, and I didn't realize how important they were to the history of Red Hook. I put in the resolution, or I had that as a thing to add, because Robert Mazzano - there were five of them, so this is one of them - was actually president of the National Bank of Red Hook, which is this building, was originally this building, but the Masano family actually came from France, and they're the ones who established the tobacco industry here in this area, and they built the tobacco factory. Perry Allen 40:52 Tobacco factory, yes. Karen Smythe 40:53 Now, whether or not it's that tobacco factory or a different one than that one, I didn't go that far, but I just thought that was that was there was more to the family than I realized, and that was they came over in the early 1800s Wow, Perry Allen 41:09 amazing. Karen Smythe 41:10 And I believe it was also a, it was an orchard, so I'm not sure if I'm not sure if the orchard was the Mazanosa. I didn't come across that, you've done a lot of looking, but it has always been referred to as Mason, nose pond by a variety of people, just giving a little more historical context as we create this committee and calling it Mason O's wetland, which I think is fun, and the other just that this is modeled on the other committees that we have established over the last couple of years with the same concept of what's membership, what are the meeting guidelines, powers, and powers and duties, and on the page that you have, just note there's a last bullet that says future wetland projects may be presented and approached by the board. I thought it was important to have this committee start with a focus on the Mason and wetland and sort of get its feet wet, so to speak, and get organized, et cetera, and sort of go with that, and then once that's going, if there's another opportunity, then to come back and say we want to do this too, but I think this focusing on Masonous pond, I think is a good way to start. I completely agree. Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 42:22 Resolution, I think I do. Was it in your, in your pocket? There's a second version. Yeah, this was one of the later additions Perry Allen 42:34 to get it in accordance with how we did our other standard. Karen Smythe 42:37 Yeah, I was looking at the old one. Sorry, yeah, no, it's been through a couple of iterations. Perry Allen 42:46 I'm really excited that we are moving forward with, or that we may, we are discussing the possibility of moving forward with what I believe to be a very important issue, both just for this particular parcel for its recent history, but then also just as environmental protections at large for our very important ecosystem here, Karen Smythe 43:09 and I will say I am also excited that you brought this forward, because a year ago when we were beginning to pull ourselves out of poor all things that were not going well at the wastewater treatment plant. I kept thinking to myself, somehow there's got to be a way to turn this into a positive. There has to be, and I think the focus on the wetland is the positive, and the opportunity to say, gee, we've got this wetland, it's it's had a rough history, it goes, there's there's actually test results from the 70s, because the, they call it a pie factory, and it always makes me want to think of apples and cherry pie, but it was a meat, meat pies, and they, they did some pretty significant damage to the whole area, which is what led to the brown field, which is what led to the cleanup, and so I just think it's a wonderful opportunity to shine a spotlight on that wetland and turn it into a positive thing, so and Perry Allen 44:14 heard that at some point, that's why I Karen Smythe 44:19 think it was the meat packing part that created, created the reason why there's testing from back then is there was a concern about the quality of the water going through there, because they were dumping everything into it, so it's, and that's in learning that it, you know, yes, the wastewater treatment plant was discharging untreated or semi-treated, partially treated wastewater that naturally does filter through, and so there are other things that have been affecting it. So I see this as ultimately a positive outcome, you know, silver lining kind of thing from that activity. So I'm, I'm very excited that you brought this forward, and I think, and I look forward to, so what I'd like to do is to discuss this resolution. Had come to resolution on the resolution, and then if we're all in agreement to form this committee, then there's some next steps that come after that. With that, I'd just Perry Allen 45:23 getting it onto the books. Well, for example, if, if the Karen Smythe 45:25 board is in agreement with forming the committee, I would appoint you as the as the liaison, and then after that you would need to start assembling the list of members, the list of people that you know, and again, Perry Allen 45:37 fantastic. Yes, good Karen Smythe 45:39 sort of doing the getting our ducks in a row, Speaker 1 45:42 and then Karen Smythe 45:42 the other, the only thing I just want to point out is the way we've got the committee made up is a majority of village residents, but we don't have any other criteria, must Perry Allen 45:52 be made up of the majority of village residents, Karen Smythe 45:54 and I think the opportunity, as you've talked about, Perry, is to have local people who bring expertise, Perry Allen 46:00 yes, Karen Smythe 46:01 and they'll, there'll be some village residents, and there'll be some town residents, but I, unless you felt it was important, I think leaving it just that it's a majority village residents feels, feels like we don't want to be too tight. Perry Allen 46:15 I agree, yeah, I think we have some experts in our community that we should tap into who are eager about the project that we, yeah, that sounds good by me. Karen Smythe 46:24 Great. And again, these are things that we can, we can adjust them if, because it's a minimum of three and a maximum of 10 members. If that needs to be adjusted, we can do that by resolution down the road. Perry Allen 46:38 Sounds like a plan by me. Frances Uku 46:40 I had a question, just about membership, and to clarify, so this is what we're proposing, and it is very exciting, and right from even before you first brought it, I've been very, very pleased you're out of the gate, and this is it's a wonderful idea, and I very much supported. Now I just had a question about appointments, and as we saw with Panda, I think with board decisions it is more healthy for the village if everyone on the board has the power to propose people to a board we don't all know the same people, so I just, from my standpoint, I don't see a particular reason for the to delegate appointment to one member when you know different people, you know it's just there's five of us, and that gives us access to more people who would be appropriate for this, who might be appropriate pending everyone else's agreement. Do you see what does that mix? I see what Perry Allen 47:48 you Karen Smythe 47:48 mean. On the other hand, this is the way that we have set up all of our other committees, and I don't think I can certainly ask, but I don't think anyone has found that anyone has not been able to bring forward a suggestion, I think it provides us a framework for how the process works, so it's not that no one is able to bring forth suggested members, or etc, but it provides us with a framework for the process, so if Frances Uku 48:15 everyone can bring, then why do we have appointment appointed by the mayor as a Karen Smythe 48:20 because it follows other processes and it's a simple way to and it is consistent with the other committees that we have formed, Melkorka Kjarval 48:28 I think it makes sense in the idea of like how do you go about the process, talk to the mayor, the mayor is, you know, has talked to liaison knows the dynamics of the of the group, I wouldn't want it to ever be that we are proposing warring committee members, Frances Uku 48:47 warring, Melkorka Kjarval 48:48 well, I mean, if you can't trust that you could talk to the mayor about committee suggestion, right? Frances Uku 48:54 Oh, so we're introducing trust, why, why, why would it be a why would it be a trust thing? Karen Smythe 49:01 Well, I guess the notion is that I don't.. I don't.. there's no.. there's no barrier to anyone suggesting someone for a committee, and this just provides a process through which it goes, i.e. it gets appointed by the mayor, which is the way the other committees are, and the other boards that we have. It's very.. I mean, it's very standard practice for municipalities. Frances Uku 49:22 I have a question. Then this, so this is a new, this is a new committee. This is a committee of the board. Would we agree that both communications and events are committees of the board, because those don't have these. We're Melkorka Kjarval 49:38 communication, yeah, not Karen Smythe 49:40 that we have not. We don't have a formal communications committee. We did form an events committee. We have, we had a formal, Melkorka Kjarval 49:46 we did used to have a communications committee, because Lauren used to be Hausman used to be on the committee. So, yes, we had meetings, and but then her schedule availability is no longer, it's just part of the, or I would say, when we were going about formally, formally forming our committees, which was not to form a communication, yeah, but we referenced it as that, because she would come and talk, because she wanted, yes, before we place a formally forming our committees, and, yeah, but there is a, there is an events committee. We did form it. There's a resolution that formed that committee, Frances Uku 50:24 but they.. it doesn't, because it's on the website. On the website does not include any of the membership meeting guidelines, powers, and duties, as this one does. The template, as discussed, it doesn't.. it doesn't have those things. And to mr. Freeman's point about public business being public business, if we are forming a new committee, just because, yeah, anyway, it's fine. I would like only because, and again, it's no, it's no fault of yours, or rather, it's, it's, we get things, you know, we have different time schedules, and so it's not a problem, but for me personally, I would love to be able to sit with it and pass just like we did with Panda, just pass it right out of the gate at the workshop, if you know, I would move to table, it can get a second or not, but that's that's what I would like, just because I haven't had a chance to look at it, and that's it. I want to give it for less attention, and that's just me personally. Karen Smythe 51:26 So, you have formally moved to table this resolution to Frances Uku 51:29 the workshop. Specifically, Karen Smythe 51:30 is there a second? Hearing none, I would ask for a motion to approve this resolution. I so Perry Allen 51:44 move Melkorka Kjarval 51:45 second, Craig Rothstein 51:46 second. Karen Smythe 51:47 Thank you. I guess I'll take a roll call vote. Then Craig, aye. Mel Cork, Harry, Perry Allen 51:57 aye. Karen Smythe 51:58 Fran, Frances Uku 51:59 aye. Karen Smythe 52:00 Great, and that's resolution number Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 52:04 26 All right, great, John. Thank you. Karen Smythe 52:09 I just double check how I did this. Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 52:19 There's the liaison, Karen Smythe 52:25 so I'm formally appointing Perry Allen as the liaison to the board from the study. I formally Perry Allen 52:36 accept, Karen Smythe 52:39 well, no, that's what I was just looking for. The for that, that's that doesn't require in the purple. I see, I see. Perry Allen 52:46 Okay. Well, by the workshop, I will have a list of people. If anybody knows of anybody, please let me know, and we'll keep the conversation rolling. Thank you. Karen Smythe 52:57 All right. The next item in the agenda was an opportunity for Craig to talk about the climate smart community. Craig Rothstein 53:05 Yeah, so I have a report in my section I can read, which will remind me of that conversation, but this feels.. it feels like an easy win for the village, so on Friday, may 29 on Nancy Adrian, Michelle Gluck of the Ulster County Department of the Italian and Scott Frenberg of the Cornell Cooperative Extension to discuss our ability plan to participate once again in the CTE Climate Resilience Partnership following last year's completion of the climate planning tool. Thanks for so much. The main project for 2026 is to complete the climate buildings assessment for the village, which will aid in an overall goal to gain certifications from the vaccine program. Karen Smythe 53:56 And Craig, I apologize. Just also to say that Michelle Block is also the village resident. Craig Rothstein 54:02 Okay, good to know. Thanks to Michelle Redlich has already completed the climate storm resilience planning tool, and the assessment will move us further towards the goal certification. The overarching goal of the project is to ensure that the village is prepared for changes related to climate, heat waves, severe cold, flooding, storms, other climate-related events. Materials in development include evacuation plans, access to preparedness, clear rules of authority in emergencies, and other contingencies for climate-related events. So those are not limitations, those are just starters. There are plenty of things related to climate. This year's project, as mentioned, is the vulnerability assessment, which will identify risks and mitigation for the village. The assessment will look at waste management, infrastructure, energy use, water use, green initiatives, and community action, together with the planning field. The assessment delayed in the development of an area-specific climate adaptation plan. Michelle Gruck has been the village's point person for the planning tool. She will resume her lead role in tasks related to the assessment, which will directly ask local residents via a survey about climate and related issues. My role will be to function as the board liaison, and I'll be basically at Michelle's disposal, or yes, Michelle's disposal as and when needed, and Scott Kleinberg will continue to work with us from the CCE side. Now, the lovely portion of this is of the project is already funded externally. There is no cost to the village subsequent to the may 29 meeting between myself, Michelle Scott. Our mayor confirmed that Red Hook would be an enthusiastic partner with the CCE in this endeavor. They, I'm a big fan of this kind of work. My own history, you know, dealing with this combination of nascent technology, you know, what we're dealing with in terms of climate. I had been earlier in my residency in Red Hook, I was happy to see that there was, I think it was 2012 the town had a climate action plan. This is just a great thing to have. Cornell is a wonderful institution. I'm a big fan. I think this is a good organization. They're really doing some good work, and they have one spot left, which is why I sent an email during the meeting to Mayor Smyth to ensure that I had, you know, your approval to say we'll take that spot. So that's where we're at with that. So Michelle is going to, you know, she's does lots of kind of work like this. She is going to work with the assessment. I will help disseminate it. We will get as much feedback as we can from village residents, and they will then use that feedback combined with the planning tool, and in 2027 we should see, you know, at least some real results in terms of some proposed policy and ways we can prepare for, you know, terrible freezes and heat waves, and we know that our infrastructure has suffered greatly from climate-related issues, so this will be another notch of health in terms of working towards mitigating what we all experience during the extremes that I both can go through. Karen Smythe 57:38 One of the reasons why I wanted to pull it forward again was to highlight, first of all, I'm thrilled that you're excited about it, because that it needs, it needs that focus and excitement, but also to give you a chance, even just everything that you've read, there are a lot of committees that are working on things that are also related, and even the Sauk Hill watershed community is working on things, and the Fisk Pond, and pollinator gardens, and planting trees, all of all of that is it's all sort of under that, so I think there's a lot of overlap and connection, and so I wanted to make sure that people really were aware that we're looking to continue to pursue a climate action plan, because I think it, you know, it's you, we're behind the eight ball, we know COVID obviously didn't help, because we had just gotten started, I think, in 2019 so there were a couple of people who were on the committee for a little while, so I'll make sure you know who they are, and Michelle is a little bit newer to the to the team. Former trustee Kim Bradley Ricard actually had gotten a nice robust team, they were really making some, making some headway, so when she left it took a little while to get things, get things rolling again, so, but that was really more my point, is just to say we, we got the thumbs up from Cornell Cooperative Extension, and, and that's a great resource to help us actually move Craig Rothstein 59:12 forward. Well, we're, you know, we're intimately tied to an agricultural area, and we are living in very, we have a, a mimosa tree or yard, which is five buildings down from this building. Mimosa trees are not supposed to be able to grow north of, you know, Maryland, and yet this is 10 years old, and it's enormous, and it's a tropical, and it shouldn't be able to grow here, but our our zone is actually different when they have climate zones, and that really determines, you know, an economic focus on crops. You know, if you think about the larger scale of the economy of farming, and you know that's a big deal, that the climate zone of what we're supposed to be able to grow in, you know, technically upstate or the Hudson Valley of New York, you know, that's that's important, and so we might be, you know, a few 100 feet above, quote unquote, sea level if we think about the Hudson as sea level, so we're not worried, you know, we're not, we're not in that zone of like people in Fort Lauderdale, where I have relatives who kind of stay a blind eye to driving to the homes, although their homes might be water pumps soon, but but we do, there's a lot going on here that is related to changing climate, and it, you know, is a real concern, and Cornell is a massive institution with a tremendous reach and tremendous resources, and so that they're able to wrap us in and help our small municipality, you know, even within the broader town, which may have its own plans. To me, this is incredibly significant, because in the foreseeable future, you know, we're going to have our farmers are going to have issues, we're going to have issues, and it's not just the sewer, it's not just flooding, it's a lot of different things, and so I'm delighted to have them, and I'm sure that this will pave the way for even plans further in the future. So it's good to be a willing participant, give them all we can. So we'll get those assessments, and we'll try to contact as many as possible to really get a robust amount of the feedback, Melkorka Kjarval 1:01:21 great. Can I add one last place? Because the other thing is very exciting about this is that the points that you get through doing these steps makes us more eligible for funding to do all the other things that take action items for it. Great, yeah, this is really Perry Allen 1:01:37 exciting. That's fantastic. Karen Smythe 1:01:38 Okay, next item is video conferencing. Fran, you want to take that? Frances Uku 1:01:44 Sure. Yes, I have had this. This will not be new to anyone. I, as with Perry, I have just let me come to myself here. Yes, it's just as is. I took great pains to include the everyone's feedback from previous times. It is now very simple, the simple five operative, four operative, really including five. This resolution shall take effect immediately, but it's just the principle is just public meetings should be publicly accessible. Open meetings law requires open meetings. Public officers law 103 a authorizes video conferencing to expand that access. The board in resolution 720 23 already committed to allowing the public to observe and participate in our meetings by video conference, so the resolution is just implementing what that promised, Karen Smythe 1:02:42 just to clarify, and actually you have in your packets a copy of that resolution. What it does is according as per section 102 dash a 2h members of the public are required to be permitted to attend and participate if authorized, and participate if authorized in any meeting by video conference. When a member attends by video conference, the resolution that we passed was required in order for a member of the board to participate in a meeting via video conference, should there be extraordinary circumstances, and so I just want to make it clear that the intent of that resolution was to allow for members of the board to participate by video conference, and when you do that, you are required to provide that access to the public. This was not a resolution to say that we, the board, feel that the public should have video conferencing access at all meetings. It didn't intend to say that. Frances Uku 1:03:46 No, that's not what it intended to say. It's what Public Officers Law 103 A says. All my resolution is citing from that resolution is that members of the public should be able to observe and participate in board meetings by video conference, that includes what it specifically says in the case of a member attending video via video conference. This resolution has passed, does not preclude Karen Smythe 1:04:10 correct, but the resolution seven from 2023 does not indicate that members of the public should be able to, Frances Uku 1:04:20 but you just read Karen Smythe 1:04:21 it. Yes, because it's only only when a member is attending by video conference, and that member is only attending by video conference in an extraordinary circumstance Frances Uku 1:04:31 requires that members of the public are permit, be permitted to attend and participate if authorized in any meeting by video conference when a member attends by video conference. This is just stating this is a subset of right. Karen Smythe 1:04:43 So this evening, there's no member that's attending our video conference, Frances Uku 1:04:47 but this applies Karen Smythe 1:04:49 to I'm just.. I just want to clarify that in 2023 we didn't.. we were not as a board saying that we want to make it. We do, we did for years, and we just got very, very limited participation by a video, Frances Uku 1:05:07 right? But that was 2023 That board, this board can establish that public access for public meetings is important. So we're not bound, make sure Karen Smythe 1:05:17 that it's not based on a resolution. No, Frances Uku 1:05:19 no, no. This is just a whereas that's citing it. I'm not saying that Melkorka Kjarval 1:05:23 it's inferring something the way that you, you wrote this citing. Does that make sense? Frances Uku 1:05:29 No. Melkorka Kjarval 1:05:30 Okay, because you don't have the specifics of why someone should be able to observe. You're inferring that we say that everyone should be able to to observe and participate in the board meetings without that, like, I don't know, legal as a clause without that recital, when a member attempts by meeting, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:05:53 so you're there were qualifications Karen Smythe 1:05:56 to it that were put in place for the resolution, Frances Uku 1:06:01 is there a language change that any would like to make to the draft? Craig Rothstein 1:06:05 Is that whereas necessary, Frances Uku 1:06:07 we could strike it if you feel not Craig Rothstein 1:06:09 well. I just, you know, I would say I think that this would, I feel like the resolution would accomplish its goal, whether or not that's Frances Uku 1:06:17 excellent. Is that a move to strike? I will do so. Karen Smythe 1:06:22 I don't, I don't know that we need a motion, but the Perry Allen 1:06:26 second I'm happy Frances Uku 1:06:28 to strike it if yes, the second, whereas where I cite the resolution as passed, it's probably easier. I agree with Craig, so it's up to you. I Karen Smythe 1:06:39 well, and I apologize, I did. I believe I interrupted you at the end of that warehouse, so I meant I just wanted to clarify what Resolution 720 23 said. Yeah, so I think you, I jumped in at the end of that Frances Uku 1:06:59 one. Oh no, it's okay, so where I had it's in front of you, it's been in front of you in various guises, and I carved out, I'll read it, and then you know if there's further discussion, but like I say, I have worked very hard, you, we have all worked hard, because this is all synthesized from feedback that everyone has provided at a certain point about this access for the public to public business that we conduct over here, both in all meetings. I'm very glad mr. Campbell said public business the public should be able to observe it is my feeling, and that's why this this resolution is in front of you, and I'm moving it. Karen Smythe 1:07:49 So, just to clarify a couple things, the in point number one, you say every board meeting in the Frances Uku 1:08:00 operative, you mean in the, therefore be it resolved. Speaker 2 1:08:03 Yes. Frances Uku 1:08:04 Okay. Standing, Karen Smythe 1:08:06 that would be defined as the second Tuesday, the second Monday of the month board meeting, correct? Frances Uku 1:08:13 Every every board meeting, so Melkorka Kjarval 1:08:18 workshop, workshops meeting of the board is yes. Where a Frances Uku 1:08:21 quorum is present. Yes, Karen Smythe 1:08:34 we have discussed, and obviously the one of the reasons why this came up is because we were zoom bombed, I can't go back in time, but I can tell you that every prior Zoom that I've had, in order to share screen, you had to be a host or allowed by the host, so those who Zoom bond actually took over or did had some sort of way of taking over our screen, so there's a level of sophistication that is is higher than just settings and settings on the Zoom, and I, I am certainly very supportive of making meetings open and available to the public, given that we all through Covid, it was obviously that the meetings were on Zoom in the middle of 2021 is when we went back to in-person meetings, that was actually the first meeting that I was mayor, because they had us come out, but we kept the zoom option, we've kept that zoom option available until we had on the on the on the meeting agenda on the website, since then until we had our Zoom bomb situation. I have not gone back to actually count, but I can tell you that the vast majority of our meetings, nobody comes, and that was when the Zoom was fully available. I don't happen to think we're asking a lot of someone to reach out, either by phone or email, to say, "Hey, can you send me the link? I don't happen to think that's asking a lot. If we don't have that, even if we have, you know, set up a new link for those who were here earlier, they saw the activity that takes place in order to make this happen, and it still would require someone to monitor. Jen cannot monitor because she's, she's got a lot of roles. It's probably not best for me to monitor, because I'm not always paying attention, so I don't think we've resolved the how are we going to monitor the Zoom in a situation, and again we went for years without a problem, and we, we were lucky, there are other other meetings that were attacked earlier, so I guess I, I appreciate the, the idea, and the goal of making sure our meetings are widely available to anyone who might be interested. I also just, there's a practical side to it that I, I am a little concerned that this resolution may create requirements that add add work to a meeting that may not be actually adding and much significant value to the to the community, Frances Uku 1:11:36 which is why in the April workshop I brought a comprehensive Zoom security guide that would implement all of the changes. The Zoom, it's actually not very sophisticated. What happened in the, in the March report, we just didn't have Melkorka Kjarval 1:11:49 that's not true. The setting that were set. Okay, Frances Uku 1:11:51 regardless, maybe let me Melkorka Kjarval 1:11:53 discuss that in the meeting. I said that was incorrect and inaccurate, and we discussed that in the meeting. So that was also Karen Smythe 1:12:00 what I was trying to say, in that, as every time I had used our Zoom, which is the settings are set every single time, if someone else was going to present on screen, I had to give them permission, so the people who Zoom bombed had all the technology of taking over the screen, so it, I mean, yeah, and I just think they have a level of sophistication that's perhaps above the simple settings that Zoom has, and obviously part of it is to be monitoring, monitoring the Zoom, and I'm not looking at my screen the entire time, I'm looking at the board in the security guide Frances Uku 1:12:37 I provided, that's all outlined in there, and I Craig Rothstein 1:12:41 are we, so is this meeting? Is this being teleconference? Karen Smythe 1:12:49 It is. We're on Zoom, right? We're on Zoom. If you have obtained the name, Craig Rothstein 1:12:53 and so the resolution would say that this should happen every time we have any sort of Speaker 2 1:12:57 any, but the what Karen Smythe 1:13:00 is when there's a quorum of the board present. Craig Rothstein 1:13:02 Okay, so, so it occurs to a couple of things. First is that when I, when I did work in communications at Bard, the one of the organizations, which I won't name that I worked for, was very much a target, because not only was it a political thought organization, but it was also the person with whom it was associated in spirit, was Jewish, and the director was Jewish, and so when we were Zumba on my watch, it was very specifically anti-Semitic, among other things, and now I will say that the security measures we implemented, which are consistent with what Fran provided in her document, did work, even though there were further attempts. So I suspect, and I wasn't part of the meeting here, I was not on the board at the time, I suspect that there was some kind of gap in the security we had set out just based on my experience there, because I did see how we were able to defend. I do think that the idea of any time is a quorum, so it technically our tour of the wastewater treatment plan would have been a core right, because there were more than two, was there. So, I think there's.. it wasn't formally Karen Smythe 1:14:27 a meeting, because we were not discussing literally just people. I think Craig Rothstein 1:14:32 we would have to kind of articulate the criteria. I mean, to me, I don't know that the workshops make sense, because I think that almost having the computers in front of almost interferes with the more collegial setting of sitting around a table and working, I think, for this meeting I would be very comfortable ensuring through a resolution that we always have a teleconference for the board meetings, because I like the idea of a policy on in writing that says, you know, every single board meeting, not meeting of the board, but board meeting, every second of the month, either second Tuesday, Monday, Monday, Monday. Yeah, not reliable with very simple facts, but that, you know, I like the idea of having that guarantee that this will be available online. Zoom bombing is obviously a concern. I don't like the idea of not doing something because we're afraid of that. I would also say that given Frin's security document does align with what we did at Bard, because Bard had a lot of online things during Covid, but also there's a repeat weekly session that goes on that is very highly publicized. I would, I would, I would maybe suggest that the agenda, I'm assuming, is publicly available by navigating to it on the website. Is that, would that be accurate? So, I would be, I would, Karen Smythe 1:16:01 there's also an alert that goes out when the, when the agenda goes on. Craig Rothstein 1:16:04 So, I would suggest my suggestion, as somebody with practical experience in this area, would be to limit the appearance of the link to the agenda, not to publish it anywhere else. Karen Smythe 1:16:17 That's what was, that's where that's what we were doing. Craig Rothstein 1:16:19 Okay, so it was Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:16:21 on the website as well, so it Craig Rothstein 1:16:23 wasn't, but it was, but it Karen Smythe 1:16:24 was on the website through the agenda. Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:16:26 It was both places because I needed to have it there because of emergency meetings, because of that timing issue. And Craig Rothstein 1:16:32 what form is the agenda? Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:16:34 It's a PDF. It's Craig Rothstein 1:16:35 a PDF. Okay, so the PDF, I believe, would not be as easily searchable through Google, as would it be if it was on the actual web page, so that's also in terms of accessibility to anybody who might be arranging the wilds of the internet, you know. I feel more comfortable as somebody again with practical experience in the security agenda, is that if it was limited to the agenda PDF, that's a slightly favorable instance, but you know that's anyways, but it also, Karen Smythe 1:17:09 it also goes to the question of what's the goal, what is it that we're trying to achieve, because if it's to make sure that the meeting is public and the only time that someone can engage with us as a board is during public comment or public hearing, and Panda is recording our board meetings, and actually of late they've been putting it online within a day, so the meetings are available publicly. The issue is whether or not, people can access the meeting live, and again, most of the meeting is not public comment, so all you're doing is Frances Uku 1:17:51 technically, I would think this is Craig Rothstein 1:17:53 mostly to me, I'm sorry, Fran, I'm not gonna, no, Frances Uku 1:17:55 no, no, no, but I do Craig Rothstein 1:17:56 feel like this, it, this is mostly optics with, but to me that optics end up mattering, but I do think it's optics. It's literally the bragging rights are saying we are in the digital age, we make ourselves digitally available. Now I'm looking at this and I see five people, and I see the same five people, so there was Karen Smythe 1:18:22 there was someone, there was somebody who had the Craig Rothstein 1:18:24 same name of somebody out with journalism school, so that was interesting, but I don't think was him, but but yeah, I just think optically, you know, during Perry and I's election cycle, there was a lot of talk about transparency and communication, and I think it's, you know, I think there's some value in optics, but I also understand practical concerns, but Karen Smythe 1:18:47 and it's more, it's more required, it's we've actually been available by Zoom since the pandemic started, and that was never stopped, and the only reason that I, this is become a question is, is really a question of whether or not we put the Zoom link in the agenda, or if we require someone to, to just say, 'Hey, I'd like the Zoom link. Melkorka Kjarval 1:19:14 Can I say one thing about the security document you and Fran work together on that? Right? Craig Rothstein 1:19:20 No, she did ask for my opinion. I did a quick review, and photo was pretty good. Melkorka Kjarval 1:19:26 I would, I ran a lot of Zoom things, I knew how it was set up, it made assumptions in that document, how our settings work. I do not agree that it would be.. I don't think there was substantial changes from what it was before, so that status to say that I think the risk is high. Zoom bombing is an issue with the hacking they do. There is the ability to hack these meetings, and I, the insistence that this, that guide, I just, I don't, I don't believe it to be true from the settings that I encountered running meetings. Karen Smythe 1:20:01 So, Craig, I have a question for you. Part of what, part of what in your other role afforded the attacks with someone was monitoring the Zoom? Yeah, so that's, I mean, again, we right now we're doing it. I mean, I had a, I had a high school intern for three years, right, who was facilitating the Zoom, and again it was great. It was great to have them. It was an.. I think it was a good learning experience for them, but again, for most of the meetings, there was no one who came in, and so it just seemed easier. Well, we'll just bring it in to us, and then when it was Zoom bombed, it's okay. So, what.. it's not that it's not available, it's just that we need to be a little more guarded, and if we don't have a solution for who's going to monitor, I think it's a little premature to be saying we're going to have zooms at every meeting without having understood what was the rest of it is, Craig Rothstein 1:20:57 so then where the rubber meets the road with the issues here seems to be the link, and how that gets provided, and that there's a lot more comfort when the link is specifically requested by an individual. Now, okay, so that makes me think that there could be some ways to do that, that are well, there could be a way I can think on this and articulate more, and really start from our friend, but it feels like there's really better work. Melkorka Kjarval 1:21:32 The reason why you have someone email or call is that hackers don't want to be traced, right? It's verified, right? They're verified, so it's basically this simple way of making sure that some, like, you're just putting a bit of barrier that a hacker doesn't, doesn't want to. The other thing I just want to add to, in during my experience as a board member, there were two trustees that did not have their own computers. We are lucky that we have language access, you know, Chromebooks now, but they were not always available. They might break, you know. So, another thing about is, like, are we committing to having the technology available for everybody, because some people don't have their own computers or don't feel comfortable using their computers. Frances Uku 1:22:17 Sorry, did you say that we do have access to these machines? Okay, so we have access to these. So, just coming back to what you had said about, Melkorka Kjarval 1:22:28 wait, wait, sorry, just.. just to.. are you saying that we do have access? As in, my point doesn't Frances Uku 1:22:35 know you were saying that some people might not have before. They Melkorka Kjarval 1:22:40 didn't have their own computers. Frances Uku 1:22:42 Oh, but we're talking about now. No. Melkorka Kjarval 1:22:43 Yes. And I'm saying that these were paid for by a grant. Are we? It might be trustees in the future that don't have computers, Frances Uku 1:22:52 but then they can, they can pass their own resolution, or they can amend this one, or this Speaker 1 1:23:00 is Melkorka Kjarval 1:23:01 us now. No, you know, I just think there are technological things to think through, Frances Uku 1:23:09 but going back to the, so for me the issue is not actually whether people can log on, or for me it is this fourth operative, the public access to the recording, and I bring this up specifically for workshops, so yes, I agree, we do have Panda. We're lucky to have Panda, and we link to the Panda videos. They prompt, they post very promptly, and I'm very grateful that they exist, because we discuss a lot of things, and they can't all make it into the minutes, because the minutes are for recording votes. I think Jen, the clerk, I have to give it up to Jen, because she goes above and beyond what most municipal clerks do in terms of taking record of things that we discuss, but the fact is that there is no current way, other than relying on the press, all due respect to the press, to capture the things that go on here that are not in the minutes in workshops. In February, March, and April, we have taken three board actions of substance. In February, we had the interfund advance from the general fund to sewer. In March, we had the adoption of the Gateway North land use and zoning study as an amendment to the comp plan. In April, we had the entire sewer fund budget for 2627 adopted. None of these things were are visible to the public in terms of a video, in terms of a transcript, none of it. And so this is this is why I feel that this is the simplest solution based on the fact that we do have Zoom. We do, we're lucky to have this grant, and we have the laptops, they don't even have to be, we don't have to reference them, they can be off on the side, they can, you know, it's just in my view, this is just down to access, and I know you called it optics, Craig, but for me it's a simple transparency question, do we want to allow the public to see, be able to observe after the fact, not necessarily live on the Zoom link, but the recording. The recording would be available Zoom cloud, you can download that and just upload to YouTube for free. It's not anything that would cost the clerk any additional work, other than a download and an upload, and that's it. And anyone would be able to go and see there's a lot of context for things that we discuss, and I don't think it's appropriate to rely on the press who have editors and agendas of their own, which, as I say, I love the press, but we should be authority, the authority on things that are discussed here, that decisions that are made here, and so Karen Smythe 1:25:48 what I'm hearing is that you're trying to solve a problem that is different than what I thought you were trying to do with this. Frances Uku 1:25:56 Okay, in what sense? Karen Smythe 1:25:57 Resolution, it sounds to me like what you're saying is, is that you want a video record of every meeting that we have, that's different than ensuring that we have Zoom access to anyone for a meeting, that's two different things. So I think where I'm hung up is I want to make sure that if we are going to make Zoom accessible, that we have all the details in place, so that we don't, so that we protect ourselves, they're Frances Uku 1:26:30 bundled, they are bundled only because Zoom gives you the recording, Karen Smythe 1:26:34 understood, but again, that that wasn't the context that I understood, I, my, my understanding of the context was allowing people who might be at home, might want to watch the meeting. What you have said is that there are meetings that are not recorded. It's basically our workshops that you would like those to be recorded, so that people can see those. That's a, that's a different problem than making sure that people can have easy access to, is it seeing, or is it having a written record, Fraan? What is it that people can go and see what people actually said during deliberation? Frances Uku 1:27:10 I mean, Zoom would give you a transcript if you wanted to, like if you upload to YouTube, what you get. I mean, you get transcripts at any point. The video, I think, is people like that? If they could be bothered, I mean, lots of people watch Panda. Our marathon, five and a half hour meeting, that's one of the highest viewed. If you can ask Sam or ask any anyone at Panda, highest viewed. Yes, there's 200 views on that video. It was.. I didn't say anything about pride, I didn't say anything about pride. Melkorka Kjarval 1:27:42 The reason why I asked was that because Jen takes a recording right on a tape. Yes, is there any technology where you can get a transcript off Frances Uku 1:27:56 that? I can give you my transcripts. I have transcripts. Melkorka Kjarval 1:27:59 I'm just wondering if that's the, if that's the worry, people should be able to read what everyone says, you know, verbatim. Yes, we are talking about the workshops, it being a technical difficulty to set it up. We talked about this before. We all sit around the table, putting it, you know, Perry Allen 1:28:18 the does it have to be in this sort of setup, or can it be in a different technology? Karen Smythe 1:28:22 If all you want to do is record it to have the recording available, so you could, we could invest in a broader camera where you could put it at the end of the table, and you could record it that way. So, or we can ask what it would take to come to our workshop meetings. I mean, I don't even think Frances Uku 1:28:37 that, but we've had, we've had it before. We've had, we just have a laptop, we don't have to be on our, on our, I you know, on our five Perry Allen 1:28:44 individual screens. Jen Frances Uku 1:28:46 was going to say Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:28:47 no, no, because we've had Frances Uku 1:28:49 them and there's never a requirement for Karen Smythe 1:28:51 if we're sitting at the table as we do. Yes, top is not going to cover all, but Frances Uku 1:28:55 we, we had Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:28:57 one in the I know what she's saying, she's saying that when we, when we put it on the corner, I just to clarify, because I'm going to have to, if this is past, figure this out, but are you, are we proposing like real time zooming or just my two questions, few questions, real time zooming or just recording two, and these are not all related. I'm having problems in this resolution finding your reference to the POL 103 dash A dash seven. I can't find the existence of that set number, and then I wanted to make everybody aware that the 103 dash A, that video conferencing by public bodies, one, it expires and deemed to be repealed july 1 of this year, and Frances Uku 1:29:48 it is, and will open up, will remove the extraordinary circumstances requirement entirely, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:29:55 is that that's what it's doing, but I just wanted, I just, I'm trying to research it to figure out what it means for requirements for me, so just to want to make sure everybody Speaker 1 1:30:03 was aware of that, Frances Uku 1:30:04 and to be clear, if it does, I am, as always, perfectly happy to assist with any tech support and any setup, because that's fine. Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:30:12 But more, the big question is, is this real time or is this just recording, because real time, what I have is just Frances Uku 1:30:20 what we have currently, and for Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:30:23 you to discuss whether it's real time or just recording, because the real time is where we have, but this is being recorded. This is Frances Uku 1:30:29 being recorded right now, right? I can't, because no, no, no, in the Zoom, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:30:33 no, no, it's not, because Fan is here, Frances Uku 1:30:36 I see. So we don't record for, for monthly, for the monthly board meeting. I see that Japan, I see. Okay, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:30:47 so that, that just for you to discuss whether it's real time or because if it's not real time, the bombing doesn't happen. Craig Rothstein 1:30:53 Yeah, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:30:53 right. That Craig Rothstein 1:30:54 completely obvious. But how would you, Karen Smythe 1:30:58 what's what is it? What is it that we're trying to accomplish? What's right? So, if Craig Rothstein 1:31:02 it's just to have a recording available after the meeting, then that seems very when compared to the task of having a safe live interactive meeting, where we would have, but Frances Uku 1:31:16 Craig, in terms of access, and again, this is public business. Public access was to mirror the experience of coming, so people don't come, but they might come if they were at home, and all they had to do was link and attend during public comment, and they would just be removed from mute in just in that section, just the way we do it in real life, and then, and then it's back off, and then we, you know, and then there's no more Zoom, like the it's all locked down, so a participant cannot take over, cannot screen share, cannot all of the things in the, in the guide. So Karen Smythe 1:31:53 I just made the question, given given that it has been an option that's been available for certainly for the last five years, I have not had anyone reach out to me and say I, I have not been able to access the meeting. Has anyone else had anyone ask them or say that they don't find that the meetings are available? I'm so Frances Uku 1:32:17 sorry again. This is, I brought this to be respected. We've, I brought this previously, including once when it was on the agenda, when I didn't put it there. And I think that this is important. I think that we can affirm a yes vote on this would affirm that the public has the right to observe our discussions and deliver deliberations and actions that happen in this room, no vote will be, you know, you can express that you do not agree that the public is welcome to observe discussions and deliberations that happen in this room, and if there's not a second, you know, I, that's, I mean, to me that sounds Melkorka Kjarval 1:32:56 always welcome in this room, just for the record, okay, good, always allowed to come and sit and watch us. Yes, and not.. Frances Uku 1:33:02 and that's the third recital that not everyone Melkorka Kjarval 1:33:06 can.. whereas many village residents.. no, it's not that we are anti the public watching us do this, Frances Uku 1:33:11 of course we're not. That's okay. Sorry, so I'm moving the resolution. This is two seconds, so that we can move on, and then it's put to bed, because it's a decision that the board, yes, Craig Rothstein 1:33:22 I don't want to be conquered, but I just want to say one thing. If it's a hypothetical, sure, we hit record at the beginning of every board. Let's just, for the sake, let's just say it was just this kind of board meeting, hit record it. I know it works. It creates a cloud recording, that recording can then be downloaded and deployed anywhere on our website. Deployed, Craig Rothstein 1:33:48 it can be put into action. A link could be available to the video Melkorka Kjarval 1:33:54 center. Sorry, Craig Rothstein 1:33:58 and if we can record through Zoom, and then we download that recording, and we put it on the website, and make it available. Does that satisfy 100% Does that satisfy the goal? Frances Uku 1:34:11 Yeah, Karen Smythe 1:34:12 so not the specific real time, but the specifics do are each of us on a screen. Is it one big room, is it live, or is it just four microphones there hooking into the system. Craig Rothstein 1:34:23 Well, if we do what we're doing right now in the Karen Smythe 1:34:27 workshop, we're sitting.. well, let's.. I don't Craig Rothstein 1:34:29 want to.. let's not think about the workshop for the moment.. let's.. I'm just thinking about this, and the way we're set up here. Karen Smythe 1:34:36 What you just said, we do that with Panda. Yes, we do that with Panda. So, this is workshop, it's literally the Melkorka Kjarval 1:34:41 icon is a little TV, and you can go and read, watch all the links. Craig Rothstein 1:34:49 Okay, so you're saying this would be redundant. Yes, Speaker 1 1:34:52 yes, Frances Uku 1:34:54 which is why it's it's mainly about workshops. So it's about Craig Rothstein 1:34:58 workshops. Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:35:00 Well, it's also about if I'm hearing it right, whether it's live in this moment with others watching in this moment. Frances Uku 1:35:08 I would be happy if we could affirm as a board the principle, just that, as you know, Mel Cluck had just said, of course, that we want public access, the public to be able to view, not, not necessarily in real time, maybe they don't zoom in from their, their home or travel, or wherever it is they are, but they should be able to see, they should be able to see what we discuss here. There are so many topics, we would, I mean, not to single out the daily catch, but last meeting, workshop meeting, the only, the only thing covered was the our flag vote, and there were so many other consequential things that were discussed in that workshop, and there is no record other than the minutes, and but Karen Smythe 1:35:49 anytime we take a vote, it is recorded. I mean, that's really, yes, that's but Frances Uku 1:35:56 we have so many substantive discussions and things that come back, and that we, I mean, we had a discussion about your, your resolution, as for you, and Karen worked on it, and it's amazing, and it's passed, so that's that's not sufficient in my view. I think people would appreciate being able to see how we come to decisions and why we take the actions that we do. It's so, you know, I, the specifics are all things that we can work out in a workshop. This is just a very simple synthesis of all the things we have discussed. I didn't put on the guide, I didn't put on the.. this is just, if you will, I will move the resolution establishing public video conference access at board meetings, whereas the Open Meetings Law, OML, requires public meetings, and Public Officers Law 103 A authorizes video conferencing to expand access, and whereas Resolution 720 23 further established that members of the public should be able to observe and participate in board meetings by video conference, and whereas many village residents face care giving work or mobility constraints that make in-person attendance difficult, and whereas recordings of meetings can be posted or linked publicly at no additional cost to the village. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Red Hook as follows: one, standing access every board meeting where a quorum of the board is present shall provide a video public video conference attendance option, except for emergency meetings. Two, public link: the link shall appear in the agenda and on the village website. Three, new link per meeting: the clerk shall generate a new link for each meeting. Four, public access to recording links to recordings and availability shall be in accordance with POL 103 dash A seven five. This resolution shall take effect immediately. I would also at this point invite any further. Craig, I forgive me if I misunderstood. Do you, do you feel that for public link would it make you more comfortable if the and on the village website were removed? Craig Rothstein 1:38:08 That wouldn't change. I have issues with logistics here, and they matter enough to prevent me from voting. I like the principle. Frances Uku 1:38:23 Okay, Craig Rothstein 1:38:23 and I completely agree with the principle of it. I think that it, there are clearly specifics that need to be worked out, and it's a tricky issue. It's, it's, it's difficult. When I was at Bard, I could do things because I was in charge, and there was no board, and it was like, here's what we're going to do, and we're going to make it work, but I think this is a very different venue, so I have logistical issues. The principle is absolutely sound that in a digital age the public should have complete access to the workings of government through multiple media, but I do hear the concerns of my fellow board members, including yours, and I think it needs work, Frances Uku 1:39:12 and you said multiple media. Craig Rothstein 1:39:14 Well, if you consider Panda a, Frances Uku 1:39:17 but Panda is not at workshops, Craig Rothstein 1:39:19 you consider Zoom a media channel, it's our Frances Uku 1:39:24 channel, it's the tool, it's not just streaming all the time, it's not a, it's not a channel, it's our, okay, Craig Rothstein 1:39:31 well, I mean, channel, I'm sorry, I worked in advertising for a while, just as a, yeah, so, like I said, I, there are mechanics here that I'm not comfortable with, while the principal I'm 100% aligned with. Is Frances Uku 1:39:46 there a way that I could receive, because this has come before the board before? Is there a way I could receive in writing, or like I mean, I guess I could watch the panda later. Like, I have tried my very best to address all of the things that have come up with previous present Melkorka Kjarval 1:40:06 conversation, where we were not going to include the second, whereas, and you read. Okay, I'm just saying that we have discussed. Oh, I, we talk about it, we come to an understanding, and then the same thing comes back to us, as if, because Frances Uku 1:40:19 I never moved it at the time, and I was working on it, and this is what I have moved, and just the cancelation of this second, we just did it, so, so, no, yeah, but, like, so I will strike that motion with the line struck. Well, I don't know that it changes anyone's view. Yes, I have made the motion. With Karen Smythe 1:40:44 made the motion as you read it. Frances Uku 1:40:45 No, I will make it now with that line struck, Speaker 3 1:40:49 and that line being whereas the Frances Uku 1:40:52 resolution 720 23 further established that members of the public should be able to observe and participate in board meetings. Karen Smythe 1:40:59 You have made that motion. Is there a second? With no second, we will move on. Okay, the last item on the agenda is Craig School item. Sorry. Oh, general business, not the last item. Craig Rothstein 1:41:19 Okay, so this is based on my recollection, but I got a call from a constituent while I was working at my shop in Hudson, so it was a little tricky to navigate, but it was somebody I know from the village who had mentioned that they were frustrated by the there was supposed to be the planning board meeting regarding the lights at the school. They end up not having that submission. They took it back. We had a conversation. She was concerned about the lights and concerned about not being heard by the village about the light situation, and then you know, I suggest that are based on my experience and conversations here, you can reach out to the district. They have apparently been very responsive, other people have gone, they've been very skeptical, very critical. They have come away satisfied. It seems to me that in the district does have its own purview, but it did occur to me in the conversation, and I never like opening cans of worms. There are plenty of worms already, but it did occur to me that you have a district-wide vote, which is a alley of people's opinions on the lighting from across the town and across the district, which probably does not really neatly align with the town. I know people in Columbia County, maybe they're not in the district, but they go to Redbud, Karen Smythe 1:42:52 they are Craig Rothstein 1:42:53 okay. So they are. So you've got people going well outside of the village who voted for the lights. The problem that I see in the frustration that I heard from this particular person was that, as a village resident, her voice was going unheard, because regardless of her voting in the district, and regarding of the district vote, that district vote reflects a district, it does not reflect the village, and the school is within the confines of the village, and it is, and I thought back to all of the swim meets that I would drive my son to, I thought back to my good old GW Hewlett High School in wonderful Hewlett, Long Island, say that a little bit of something, but I thought of all of the schools that I've been to, and while the elementary schools were nestled in small areas with houses right around the high schools, where a lot of the action happens, all had a ton of property, and we're not really close to residential in terms of literally right there. Our high school is, and it occurred to me, the question, are the village residents being appropriately represented in the conversation about the lights, and I have been in favor of the village, and not getting involved, and not even uttering opinions, because the moment you utter, the moment you say, then all of a sudden you're involved, and that muddies the waters, and it maybe creates confusion in terms of a hierarchy of who's making a decision here, but I do see validity in her point that the village residents specifically are not being entirely represented as to the effect of the lights on village residents, so I don't know where to go from there, but I thought it was she made the effort to call me. I did suggest I asked her to write me an email, she did not. I think she is been on this earth a bit longer than I, and maybe not as comfortable digital channels, but it, but the concept came to mind that because the field in question is close to residents of the village, and the school is in the village. Do we have an obligation to stand up for village residents specifically? Because in a district-wide issue, who's looking out for the village residents who are also. Karen Smythe 1:45:20 yeah, I guess, I guess the two things that I would just say to that, and I, at our workshop meeting, I had said I would reach out to the school and maybe facilitate a meeting, I will tell you that they are otherwise engaged, so that kind of threw that whole idea off, but, but I think for people, I think it's important for people to understand that the school really has been very responsive to all of the village residents who have reached out. They have had meetings with the superintendent, the assistant superintendent, the lighting company, the architect, and they have made adjustments, and so it, I'm sorry that people feel they haven't been heard. Talking to the village isn't the place where they're going to get what they, what they need. What they need is to understand the project and make their specific request of this is an issue that I am concerned about affecting me and the school is the one who has the information to share about how it's going to work, how you know the it's it's actually rather fascinating and so and there are representatives on the board, and so they do have access, and as we know, we don't get, we don't get emails and phone calls from 2000 people, we get them from a handful, and so you can make your voice heard by reaching out to your representative, and I guarantee you that they have the same perspective we do. Of wow, I really want to think about that. How can I represent that person? So, I think it's really important to reiterate that there are, there is representation in the vote. It is correct, it's the whole district-wide vote, but when it comes to a specific issue that's affecting you there in the village, and there are also laws associated with how a school can operate, and some of, and many of them don't give us as a village the authority to regulate certain things. I don't know the details of that, and I'd be happy to find out what what those details are, but there's certain things that even if we all sit down, that's the worst thing ever. We don't have the authority to make a difference, other than our voices as village residents and school district residents. So I think it's important for, you know, this person to reach out to the school. I will say that for the older generation that may not like digital things, I have received several handwritten letters over the last several years, so that is always ineffective, and sometimes you get more emotion out of the letter when it's handwritten, having just received one, and so I, yes, I think it's our role to represent the village, but I also think that we have there's certain things that that we are certain roles that we're reviewed with and others that are not, and so in this particular situation I think it was it was made more confusing by the planning board taking it on, and then not, and that, that I think is what led to a lot of the confusion, because had the planning board from the beginning, or had the school attorney from the beginning said no, actually we don't have to go this route, that would have eliminated some of the, but wait, I wanted to speak here, and so I, that, that's that's an unfortunate path that went down, and it took the school a little bit to realize that they had an option to go a different way, Perry Allen 1:49:12 and chose to. I may just jump in. I've heard a decent amount of concern about this as well, and it crosses my mind as well, for a lot of different reasons, as something to consider. So, to that point, I personally had reached out to a member of the school board, who I have a personal relationship with, and brought it up. Saw wanted to see how it landed with them. They articulated what you just said, Mayor, that they are pretty busy at the moment, and, but she did communicate that I should go back to the Panda recording of the recent school board hearing and see that this point, I guess, somewhere in there is brought up, and Erin Hayes makes a statement about an intention to have some sort of conversation with village residents. This person couldn't remember exactly what it was. She's going to try to find the link for me. I'll try to find the link. I'm also putting that out there for us all, that maybe we can find that link and find that moment because I think there could, in theory, once they're through this debacle that they're in, could perhaps stomach a conversation around this, in which then the village residents are heard, et cetera, and then I'm also just throwing this out there, it came across my mind that perhaps something that we could do, if we want to is look at noise or lightning ordinances to protect certain times of day or times of or etc, or create zones around that, just to put that, that could be something we do to help if we're concerned, Craig Rothstein 1:51:00 you know, I feel like part of this was that someone reaches out personally, and I feel like it's important to bring their voice here. She's.. I had met her once before in regards to this position, and you know, she made the effort to call me when I want them to bring the attention, but I also find these responses very satisfactory, and I think you know she also should endeavor to get in touch with the school board. I mean, the resources are there, and sometimes you have to do that, but I think it's good that at least she is hard for a representative. Please put Melkorka Kjarval 1:51:38 it just to say that one of the things that's so wonderful about the village is we live so close together, so like neighbor things can be really wonderful, but it can also be really hard, you know. So it's like it's a neighbor issue, really, that's happening. Yeah, and it's like Craig Rothstein 1:51:54 that's how she introduced herself, she's like, it's your neighbor, and I'm like, oh fine, you know, I'm like, of course, I'll say something, yeah. So it's important if Melkorka Kjarval 1:52:01 there is a way that a conversation happens that people feel neighborly together, that would be great. Yeah, Karen Smythe 1:52:08 and I was just going to add that part of our role, I see, is helping people understand where, where they can go and help them go there to have the voice or the concern that they have be in the right spot, so they may not know you know someone on the school board, so for you it was easy, but someone else may not know anyone, they might not even know how to find who's on the school board, and so in that situation it could be an opportunity to say, well, let me help you find a way to connect with a school board member, so that you can get your earbuds heard, because it part, it's an education. I mean, it's not, it's not simple the way all the different things work. I mean, it's a little like our silly road system, you know? Someone says, "Well, there's a pothole, and I have to say, "Well, is it Route Nine, is it Linden Avenue or is it Tarden Street, because who you talk to is different depending on which street that is. So, and why would you know that you only know that when you have to deal with the problem. So, so I think that's part of our role as well, is to educate people as to how how the different systems work. Great, thank you. Okay, just because it's on the agenda, our next workshop meeting is June 22 at 630 and our board meeting, our next board meeting is July 13, also at 630 and that leads us to department and committee reports, and that has a start with our treasurer, and we didn't set up Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 1:53:45 there with one of you stand over there and see if you can talk real loud. Perry Allen 1:53:52 Sorry, please go. No, no, please. Marybeth DeFilippis 1:53:57 In the interest of time, I'd like to submit my treasurer's report, dated june 8, 2026 reflecting the village's financial position as of may 31 You've all received it in your binder. It's uploaded to the website. Frances Uku 1:54:22 Thank you. Marybeth DeFilippis 1:54:23 Items to report the zero fund requests monthly expenses for the trade fund carry out every month, but this month traveling expenses is looked at disbursements, so zero fund had $234,620.34 and expenses or disbursements that include $205,000 that the sera fund repaid into the general fund, and the general fund is listed as $369,112.78 and again that reflects sending $200,000 that sewer funds repaid the general fund back to NY class, so the monthly expenses are in mind what they took us a bother fund varies submitted. Perry Allen 1:55:35 Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much. Motion to accept the treasurer's report. Frances Uku 1:55:42 So moved. Karen Smythe 1:55:43 Thank you, Fran. Second. Craig Rothstein 1:55:44 Second. Thank you, Craig. All in favor, aye. Great. Okay, Perry Allen 1:55:57 I'm just noticing the time, and I just would be remiss not to say, let's go next. All right, scheme three Karen Smythe 1:56:06 doesn't matter till the last two minutes anyway. Sewer expansion project, this includes the short-term upgrades, and Perry, I did not concur. I did not look at yours, so I don't think I'm saying anything. No, this Perry Allen 1:56:21 is great. Karen Smythe 1:56:23 Applications are coming up. Our intended use plan, IUP, was updated. We are on the intended use plan. If you want more information about that, we can talk about it another moment. And then there's the Water Quality Improvement Project, WQ IP, which is part of the consolidated funding application, that that is due in July. It's usually mid to late July, and then the WIA grant water infrastructure improvement is either July or September. They haven't announced that yet. The short-term upgrade design plans are due to the state DC in July, and we will receive the sewer team will receive a copy for review shortly. The updated engineering report for the expansion project will be made available to the board shortly. It is 684 pages long, so I need to figure out with Jen how we make that available to you. Not really keen on printing out multiple copies of that, so it's not easy to email, so we'll figure it out. And then the other is the, and just to go with that, the engineers have been working on this, and they have submitted invoices. Those invoices will be paid for by the county grant, but the county grant is a reimbursement grant, so we have to pay them first and have the cat checks cash are clear, and then we can apply for reimbursement. The reimbursement is done on a quarterly basis, so the next wave for that will be September. So, at, and we, we can talk a little more about it, just the concept of it at our workshop, but just to give you a heads up, what I'm likely to propose is that we borrow the cash from the general fund to pay the invoices to then ask for reimbursement, and then with a reimbursement request in September, we will have the money back by the end of the calendar year, and then repay the general fund back. The other way to do that would be to do a cash flow loan from from a bank, but that also has fees associated with it. So, in any case, that's likely the way that one basically having money to pay the bills, so that we can then get paid for them. Okay, and then last bit on that is we will be meeting soon to discuss the income survey. We have made it a grand effort a year ago to do the income survey. All of those surveys are still valid, however, we didn't collect enough to qualify in for the grant funding, and we do still have time to complete enough surveys. The benefit to doing this, it's not a go, no go on the project. What it is, is if, if the income surveys come back where the average income is below a certain level, certain threshold, we would then qualify for hardship funding, which basically means we would get zero interest funding, which we don't currently qualify for, and that's a big difference in terms of cost down for the people on the expanded project. The other is WIA grants if you are not income qualified or hardship funding, they can fund up to 25% If you are, they can fund up to 50. So it's two important pieces of potentially reducing the costs that's related to that income survey. Perry Allen 1:59:55 And if I may say, the engineer discussed that we were on track to qualify. We just didn't receive enough, but in theory, if we had received more, we would have qualified. We just didn't have enough numbers. Karen Smythe 2:00:10 The timeframe is basically before they start to really review, so we have a couple months. Melkorka Kjarval 2:00:16 Okay, but the reason why we had the issue last time was students weren't in their apartments and we're in that season again. Perry Allen 2:00:22 Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Karen Smythe 2:00:24 It doesn't, it doesn't mean that it will work, but yeah, yeah, just it starts with looking at it. But there were also some buildings that were just empty. I mean, there was, there were buildings that were vacant, not, not even just students had moved out, there were just, there was nobody there. There was a building I knocked on, and they were still constructing the apartments, so, but that's why we're going to have a meeting, is to sort of regroup and see whether, and it really has to be knocking on doors, you know, nails something out isn't going to do the trick, and I may Perry Allen 2:00:51 be wrong about this, I think this was in the meeting that I had with Robert weeks ago, I think he had said that even after it's submitted you can continue to submit these, the income survey reports, so even if we've gotten the grant in, once the students are back, I think we could do another round in theory in October, if I'm remembering the correct, they Karen Smythe 2:01:16 all come back in August, so Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 2:01:18 yeah, I think, if I remember correctly, that we have to have a baseline first. Perry Allen 2:01:21 Need a baseline, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 2:01:23 I think. We might, because we were our first income survey. Correct me if I'm wrong, was like tossed back at us, like nice try. You don't have enough. We just didn't have enough, right? I think so. I don't think it wasn't meant until we have enough. We need to have enough first, and then we can add more. Karen Smythe 2:01:36 But we, I think what Robert was saying was that we don't have to submit now. We can submit, Perry Allen 2:01:41 we can just submit that part of it later, when Karen Smythe 2:01:44 we, when we, when we get there, but that's why we need to have a meeting to work out all those details, figure out how many we need, where they are, what the timing really is, etc. Frances Uku 2:01:54 I also wanted to point out the, the IMG pathway, the inter-municipal grant pathway, and in May, I did speak to Paul Kucher at EFC. Karen and I had met with EFC in February about both the WEA grant that we unsuccessfully applied for last year and the possible IMG funding opportunity. So, just keeping that on everyone's radar, the amazing thing about the IMG path is that we would qualify for 40 up 40% with no no income survey, no qualifications required. It's 40% guaranteed versus a likely 2550 if you do qualify, but also you are competing with a larger pool of people who are, if you're, if you're going based on income, you're, you're competing with the larger, it's more competitive, whereas the ing, sorry, go ahead, no, please Perry Allen 2:02:53 continue, Frances Uku 2:02:54 so as an update from them, their engineers, their team is still very much working on how it's a very weird situation we're in, where we applied for, we are the town applied for an IMG. We have an inter-municipal agreement with the town, but we are, we were on different grant applications, so it's, it's, it's something that we are talking to EFC about, because it's a, it's a very unusual, it's a very unusual situation, and it's there is potentially that funding open to us, but they have to sort things out on their end. Perry Allen 2:03:30 See, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 2:03:32 great, Perry Allen 2:03:32 I see interesting that that's coming, that would be through the town. Frances Uku 2:03:36 No, no, no, no, that's us, it's for them to decide how they will be restrictable grants, so it means that Karen Smythe 2:03:41 they're to mean two or more municipalities going together, so yeah, something to follow up on to see what the status of that. Melkorka Kjarval 2:03:50 Okay, okay. Just wanted Karen Smythe 2:03:52 to mention, with from the events committee, the Youth Pride celebration took place on June Sunday, June 7, which was yesterday, and shout out to the Daily Cash, they did a lovely video that I don't know if it's posted yet, but it's, it's nice, and, and honestly, there, I don't know if anyone counted, but there were a lot of people there, I mean, I think there were, there had to be over 100 people Perry Allen 2:04:14 when we got to the lot, it was, it was packed, yeah, I looked at the Karen Smythe 2:04:18 pictures, I thought, wow, that was more than I thought from the beginning, so anyway, and there was there was good attention, especially from the younger generation. And I do want to give a special shout out to Amy Smith, who from the beginning said, "I really want to help these young people make it happen, and she did a lot of work in the background to facilitate their hard work. Melkorka Kjarval 2:04:41 Amy, you guys said all Yes, Karen Smythe 2:04:44 the DPW is definitely came through Sawkill Watershed. They always do advisory council. We did not meet in May, but we did receive - they did receive word that they will be receiving two grants, and before I announce specifics, they need formal confirmation, but that's really exciting, because this is a new, it's really a new chapter for the Salki watershed community of thinking about and actively applying for grants, in the past they've always relied on BART, and and there were years where that was great, and there were years that was more difficult, and now I think it's really an active look of how can we as a, as an organization, function. Bard is there, but it's not - we don't depend entirely on them. So, I think that's terrific. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 24 at 630 in Village Hall. We did have Dutch County Soil and Water, Brian Skorlick, and two others came up, but that happened last week, which was June. So, I'll report on that next. And then the last piece that I have here is Dutchess County Transportation Council. We met virtually on may 27 There is a call for grant applications for projects associated with the safety action plan that has been released, and the applications are due july 22 The county has 2.5 million in federal funding available. I will underline the word federal. I definitely, Mel Cork, and I are starting to look at that to see if there's something that makes sense for us to apply for, but because it's federal funding, there are a lot of hoops you have to jump through, so it has to be worth it, has to be worth doing all of the administrative that goes with it, but it could be potentially interesting avenues for some funding, and then just as a highlight, traffic counts are taking place this month, and some of the traffic counts will be done by a camera, and just to make it clear, there's no personal information recorded with these video cameras. I was trying to look for a picture of them on the Dutch County Transportation Council. If anyone is concerned or wants to know what the cameras look like, just shoot me an email, and I'll ask the transportation council if they can send me, send me a photo. Literally, all they're doing is counting cars that go by where people expect Perry Allen 2:07:08 to see these. Do you think, well, what they used Karen Smythe 2:07:10 to be, or what they, if they're not cameras, they're their tapes, they're like black rubber lines across the road. Perry Allen 2:07:17 Oh, sure, Karen Smythe 2:07:17 but those get screwed in the screws, sometimes ruin the, you know, taking them up as hard, etc. etc. So, and they have found that these video.. so I think I'm not, to be honest, I don't.. I don't know, but they're not, you know, the flock cameras are bigger, they're sort of more substantive, so these.. these probably are little things, but I can now that I'm saying all of that, I will reach out tomorrow and get a photo. Sounds Craig Rothstein 2:07:44 good. Yeah, if they Karen Smythe 2:07:45 have one sketch and I'll set that round. Perry Allen 2:07:48 Beautiful. Karen Smythe 2:07:49 And that I do want to acknowledge that I have, I have the May fire incidents, and but I just got them, and haven't had a chance to look at them, and so I'm going to let you know that there was a total of 74 incidents, that's a combination of village and town, in the month of May, and so I will, I will do a deeper dive and share that at our next, at our next meeting, and as I mentioned earlier, from a compost food waste program, looking at ways to the remaining funds that we have, turning it more into education focus, and possibly an event at the park, and the great thing about food waste and compost is it connects with so many other things, including climate smart, and so I think that would be a really fun collaborative project that will sort of have compost at its center, but a lot of things grow out of compost, Perry Allen 2:08:52 there's a lot of possible potential there. I like that Speaker 2 2:08:56 exactly, Karen Smythe 2:08:57 you may, and you know, I, we have two quotes for those speed bumps, and I did not pull those together because there were some remaining questions, so we have gotten a couple of quotes, two of them are in the neighborhood of $4,000 because not only is it the speed bump, which are very substantive, it's also there's substantive bolts that are needed, and also signs, and so all those things have to have to go together. So I will have something, hopefully I'll have something at the workshop, but if not, certainly at the July meeting, and again, as I think we've talked about, the idea was to start as a trial on Fisk Street, for several reasons, there's no sidewalk, it's a narrow road, it's a crawl, it's a path, it's a cut through, people definitely walk on that road, and we also had an accident that destroyed a fire hydrant on the section of the road right off Route Nine, so it just seemed like a logical place to start and see how it works. The other is it's going to work, the people who are cutting through won't be so happy, because I think the residents will be thrilled. Jake is not thrilled, but he understands. But we're not going to put speed humps everywhere. We need to think about, you know, now you may as well start now thinking about different areas in the village that might benefit from a speed hump, but don't go crazy to one, it costs, and two, I don't think we want speed humps everywhere, because they go with signs, and so it's, it's kind of a visual, and they'll be adding some extra paint on the road to say, here, here it is, slow down, so think, think about, so even just for example, we talked a fair bit about Grave Street, because Trustee Macarini lived on Grave Street, and he said people are going so fast. I, we are 30 miles an hour. I don't know if you've tried to go fast on Grave Street, you, you don't. It may feel like people are going fast if you're standing there, you just can't get there. There's just not enough room. The physics don't work, so I'm not sure that a speed hump is the thing for Grave Street. There may be other things that might keep, make people more mindful, or maybe a line that gives people sort of a not a sidewalk but a place to walk kind of thing. I don't know, but think about it, but just sort of putting out there that we're not looking to do 100 speed humps throughout the village, but there's a great opportunity with them. Thank you for asking. Melkorka Kjarval 2:11:48 Yeah, it's exciting that from there, going to ask for anyone and see how it works. Okay, I Perry Allen 2:11:55 agree. I have many. I agree, very excited about that. Melkorka Kjarval 2:11:59 I like how agreeable you are. I'm feeling very agreeable tonight. Red Hook Together, they launched their art boxes, so those aren't art boxes around town. So those were launched on june 4 with an event. So I'm gonna look out for that with a comprehensive plan. They didn't meet during the month of May, because it's constructed with out of town previous day. The EPF balance is 3,829,000 no, $3,829,118 for 12 pounds, and then I already read the report, you have the link to the initiative, and that now to the village and zoning review. The month of May, there were eight building permits issues, there were six certificates of compliance, there were zero certificates of occupancy, temporary strictness of occupancy, municipal searches, orders for remedy, stop work orders, do not occupy notices, and or court appearances. There is one complaint, if it's important with the street, it was unfounded and closed. There were fire inspections at the Bay Wright properties, North and South Broadway, East and West Market Street, all right. Karen Smythe 2:13:24 I just want to know that sounds really short and easy. That was an enormous lift of to do fire inspections for all the playwright properties. Perry Allen 2:13:34 Sure, just want Karen Smythe 2:13:36 to give a shout out to Tom, as our fire inspector, that was a lot of work, Melkorka Kjarval 2:13:44 and also super important for our safety of renters and our safety, if that we do that, and that things are checked in on the inshore, but if you know of an apartment that you don't think is legal, report it, because it's really dangerous. Planning Board actions, may 14, 2026 meeting. Site plan application for 31 East Market Street was tabled in June 11, 2026 Site plan application for signage for property located on 7508 North Broadway is tabled in June 11, 2026 Site plan signage approval granted to the property located at 7562 North Broadway, which is the freestanding sign for WKZ Zoning Board of Appeals. At the may 28 meeting, there's an area variance granted for the year plans going from East eight to 10 feet of property located at 25 Fisk Street, that should be six feet to eight feet, present. Perry Allen 2:14:43 I thought so, based off of my understanding, but I wasn't sure if I remembered correctly. Speed Karen Smythe 2:14:48 is allowed, yeah. And then, yeah, no, it should be six to what was approved was eight feet for the eight feet high for the fence. So we will amend my report, Melkorka Kjarval 2:15:00 and then for the month of may 26 the total income to the building department was $2,743.80 and moving on to the police, for the month of May, there was 445 Perry Allen 2:15:18 seems like a lot, yeah, comparatively the Speaker 2 2:15:21 village arrivals are in 2704 61 Melkorka Kjarval 2:15:30 uniform tracking tickets, one parking station. I'm not going to break down all those different for my report. Frances Uku 2:15:54 Am I good? Karen Smythe 2:15:56 Okay. Yes. Sorry, Frances Uku 2:15:57 that's okay. Karen Smythe 2:15:58 Yes, I was just looking at the trying to figure out why it was so high, yeah. Did not want to seize the mic, Frances Uku 2:16:06 please. Do, okay. So, thank you. I wanted to share a few personal greetings and thoughts for your reflection. To clarify, this is Uku speech, not board speech. I did enjoy seeing photos of you all at the Pride Red Hook Youth Pride Parade yesterday, and as the village has kicked off the celebrations in Grand Sile, I'm sure we can agree Pride is something to celebrate, not just in June, but every month, every year. So it was really nice seeing you all. I would also like to wish everyone a good Juneteenth. June 19 marks the day in 1865 when news of emancipation finally reached the last enslaved people in Texas, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It feels particularly timely in the lead up to our marking of the 250 f anniversary of our nation's founding next month. Those two dates worth holding together. Onto my reports, so highway department, I have in the month of May contaminated recycling charges hit $24.20 in May, which is up from March and April, with the bulk being from one pickup on the 26th Total materials management expenses for May are $1,751.27 Revenue for May, including tax sales, and the Tivoli garbage contract was 6604 The garbage tag price increase took effect June one. Scrap metal, we had $460.70 in May, and since for the fiscal, the entire fiscal, we had $5,906.75 and 61 $423.99 is the income in scrap metal since the program's inception in 2007 got scrap call the village brush pickup is back and the first full month for first full week of each month through October is when that happens some lessons from street sweeping. Okay, the alerts did go out by web on the website, text, and email, but I understand they didn't reach everyone. So I suggest that in the next May monthly meeting, or earlier if the highway department advises that we announce then. Jake and the highway crew have been busy, as always. A cool action photo of recent water treatment plant repairs is attached, so please check out that report. And any of my reports are online on the agenda, so just ask around. We are the envy of all neighboring villages and towns. Village Green Committee in May 2026 the Village Green meets quarterly, and did not formally meet in May. Committee were continued by email with two major items in motion: postcards, the 200 200 unit VGC postcard order is secured through the Dutchess County Print Shop. Delivery will be any day now. Thank you to Karen Mel Crook and Jen for pointing me towards the most cost-effective option for printing the DC Urban Forestry Grant. As I shared in the May workshop, the VGC is exploring a joint application with the Town Tree Commission. There is no match required for this grant. It's very special, and there's a $50,000 minimum award. Funding could support a comprehensive tree inventory and management plan for both village and town. I attended the DEC informational webinar on June 2 and asked specifically about Red Hook, about an application, an inter municipal application with village and town, and the DEC rep was very positive about it, and said it could very score very well, particularly when tied to a broader work plan and shared objectives, and this is very thrilling. So, credit to Village Green member Brenda Cagle for proposing the joint approach, and Town Tree Commission Chair Kathy Michael for being open to partnering. More on that to come, once the postcards arrive, the committee will also be out canvassing for Fall Planting Day. You might meet them at your door, let them plant you a tree. Next Village Green meeting will be Thursday, july 16 at 6pm at Village Hall, Red Hook Public Library for May 2026 The library met on may 21 with Martha presiding in the absence of President Anna Gregg. Greg, the library ran 55 programs in April with 799 attendees, including me and my tiny human sidekick, teen programming and foot traffic are both growing, a patron chair that her son had never finished a book before attending the library's bad guys book party, he won Book One Escape room finished it that evening, and is now on book 12. A new resident also stopped by the day after moving to share that she and her wife chose Red Hook because of the library. So that's pretty awesome. Frances Uku 2:20:50 Dolly Parton's Imagination Library officially launched in Red Hook on may 22 As a reminder, this is a program that delivers free books monthly to children from birth through age five. Thanks to a collaboration between the Red Hook Public Library, Tivoli Library, the Town, and United Way. As Dolly would say, bravo, y'all. Next, there is ADA audit. Please again refer to the reports online. I won't take up too much time by covering them, but a reminder that the library will be recording, recruiting two new board members this summer. Might one be you? Maybe library finances are on track. The share of the monthly mortgage payment applied to principal now exceeds the share applied to interest, and the end of the mortgage is nigh. Next library board meeting, Thursday, June 18, at 6pm on the uppermost floor, respectfully submitted. And also a question, since we did appoint two directors to the well, a primary director and an alternate, I would be very interested in hearing from them, given that we do fund Panda, and I'm volunteering to serve as Panda liaison, unless someone else is happy to take that on, but I would love to, I would like to keep, keep abreast of what they are. Karen Smythe 2:22:16 Let me look at, because it's a little different, because their meetings are not open to the public. I don't believe Frances Uku 2:22:23 I'm, but I don't mean about going to their meetings, just reporting like they can send, like I don't physically have to be at the meetings, just kind of a line Perry Allen 2:22:34 of connection, like with the official point person. Let me Karen Smythe 2:22:41 just double check what, because there may be something already in the bylaws or something, so Frances Uku 2:22:47 not for a liaison to our board, though. This is, this would be us, they, it's it's not to do with them, this is us wanting to not keep tabs, but I mean essentially just keep an eye on what they're doing, not like we would be imposing a liaison on them, although Eric has said previously there has been a Panda liaison. It's just, yeah, it's.. it's something I'm offering. I'll bring it back at the workshop if that makes me more comfortable. Melkorka Kjarval 2:23:12 Last month, I asked you, who was stepping down from Library Ward? Did you get that information? Frances Uku 2:23:17 No, I mean, Karen Smythe 2:23:19 I did. I Frances Uku 2:23:20 did, but I went public, like on the record, like it's not something that they may be wanting to share, like if Karen Smythe 2:23:26 well, I think it's it's public, I mean it's the two people whose terms are our ending, and I do have that information, and I honestly, I just forgot, so I'm happy to share. I'm happy to share, because I got confirmation from Melkorka Kjarval 2:23:47 Alex. Okay, great. Because we have, we have a record. We have been keeping a record for the last few years of whose term is when, so that we know. So, so just to clarify, you're not going to meetings, you're having the director send you a report. Frances Uku 2:24:02 No, I go to, I meet with Alex in the, in the event that I am unable to attend, and I couldn't attend this most recent, the first one I couldn't attend because it conflicted with Village Green. This last one I was out of the country. Melkorka Kjarval 2:24:16 Okay, but okay, Karen Smythe 2:24:20 okay, moving on. Trustee Allen, here Perry Allen 2:24:23 we go. Okay, sewer report. Since our last meeting, only one sewer alarm has gone. I won't read this verbatim, so that we can save on time, but it is linked for anybody to read. I will just say that only one sewer alarm has gone off since our last meeting. It was located at the village restaurant due to excessive sludge buildup in the tank. This was not an emergency, but it does demonstrate, as a public call, the importance for anyone to call when an alarm is going off. Unfortunately, the system does not notify us. We need to be notified via the phone, so please just make sure that happens. Karen Smythe 2:25:09 Just to sort of add to that, the DPW staff does go around and check the check the tanks, etc. So the alarm goes off when there's an exceptional something happened that's not supposed to happen, Perry Allen 2:25:20 exactly. Something was happening this past Friday. I personally took an in-depth tour of the wastewater treatment plant with Les Kuhn of Ho Innovations and Jake Smith of our Public Works Department. It was illuminating and quite fun, actually, just for me personally, I am happy to share anything from that experience, but I can just say broadly that I was shown nuts and bolts from the beginning to the end. How it goes, they showed me every single test they run. We were there for two and a half hours. It was quite interesting things. The two main things that I really took from it were seeing how much the operations team have worked so diligently to have a cleanly operating system, especially for some of the amazing MacGyvering engineering they've had to do, and in addition, and I advocated for this this morning. I believe that there were some safety measures in this necessary to ensure everyone's well-being as they're operating on the plant, and that was communicated as well from Ho, and we're working on getting those things taken care of, just in terms of Frances Uku 2:26:35 like PPE, Perry Allen 2:26:36 in terms of some railings along some of the open areas of the tanks, nothing, nothing in which I want to insinuate that it is a hazardous environment, but things that less requested to ensure that everyone can work most fluidly, quickly, and safely as possible to just avoid tripping hazards and other things that at the moment they have to take a little more care for, and it could streamline their operations if they didn't have to. There was one point where I was watching him have to do a particular maneuver to do something, and I thought that's not my job. So it's very impressive what they're doing, but it seems as though that's all moving forward, which is fantastic. We did have a meeting this morning as well. In attendance were Les Kuhn, Jake Smith, Robert Flores of Delaware Engineering, the mayor, myself, and Clerk Kavanagh. Some of the topics that we discussed during this meeting, which the mayor also elaborated on, in terms of grant funding. How the team will generate a quote for safety measures, which Les is trying out an amazing new bacterial supplement, which should help with filament growth and the use of chlorine. I won't bore you with the details of it, but it's a really fantastic process. If you would like to hear the details of it, I'm happy to Karen Smythe 2:28:06 refer to it as a bag of bugs. It's a bag Perry Allen 2:28:07 of bugs. Okay, so if you'd like to hear, yeah, Karen Smythe 2:28:10 it's.. it's just.. it's what is it? Protein powder for the bugs. It's, yeah, I like Perry Allen 2:28:13 how we talked about it. You could get it at their GNC, or whatever. So it's a.. yeah, it's basically it's protein powder for the bug. Do you add it in instead of trying to use chlorine toward the end of the process to eradicate what are called filaments, which is a certain growth that happens, which we don't want, rather than having to use a chemical at the end to burn it out. Essentially, these bugs, or this this bag of supplement helps the healthy bugs that are there grow faster, better, and healthier, so as to essentially push out the capacity for those filaments. If that makes sense, so we're kind of nipping in the bud, almost like for me as a gardener, I like to think of it as that we're like we're planting enough to avoid the invasive species rather than having to get out our weed killer sort of thing. Did I see I'm getting it? I knew it would take me a couple months, but now I think I understand the sewer. We're also discussing the possibility of swapping out mixers for diffusers in the end in the anoxic tank, because it needs mixing going on there. There was an engineering discussion as to how using air is preferable than doing kind of a manual mixing process. There is a concern that there is higher energy consumption there, but can this be mitigated primarily by negotiating energy contracts, which we said we're going to follow up on. So that's something as a board that I think we just keep on everyone's awareness, something we should do. And I offered during the meeting to help try to facilitate some of that. We're brainstorming some plans to avoid pipe freezing come this winter, as that was an issue. We discussed the importance of the income survey, and Jen had props to Jen. She has been incredibly busy trying to figure out the complexities of how we can do our billing. I there's because of the different mechanisms between how many meters per certain parcels, where there's one tank, et cetera. It's not as simple as we would like it to be, and Jen's working very hard on it. And thank you so much for that. This is just for me. The final question, I'm still just curious as we move forward. This doesn't have to be answered now. It's almost a rhetorical question. If we could keep developing financial projections for the expansion with and without various associated developments. Melkorka Kjarval 2:30:51 Can I ask a question? Perry Allen 2:30:52 Yes. Melkorka Kjarval 2:30:53 Have you ever considered doing what you just explaining the sewer step on a video? Perry Allen 2:30:58 Wow, we just talked about videos today. Yes, we, I would like to do that. Melkorka Kjarval 2:31:04 I think, like, if there's just getting out more information in different media channels would be really amazing. I Perry Allen 2:31:12 definitely agree. Yeah, Karen Smythe 2:31:13 like to share a little bit about your background as to why you were so excited. I Perry Allen 2:31:16 was, yeah, I loved being there because part of my film work out in Phoenix was doing public works films, so I think that, so being at the wastewater treatment plant was also just artistically interesting. So I'm passionate about that idea. I know I like every dance, Melkorka Kjarval 2:31:38 so I'm a nerd. Fantastic, Perry Allen 2:31:40 you know. So you get it for sure. I would, yes, I would like to brainstorm some of that, see how we can do it. Yes, very much. And I think maybe we can even expand that out to other things, not just the sewer, could be a cool thing. All right, so that's that for the sewer, unless there are any other questions. I just, just this one, where you have the follow-up questions about, are there.. I was unclear as to who is that directed to. I suppose it's directed to the board at large. It's more of a rhetorical question of what of me feeling that that's important. I think in terms of just the public conversation around the sewer and public understanding around the sewer, do we have those? If not, can we create those in a way that's digestible for the public? So, Karen Smythe 2:32:28 I would say, because I, when I read that question, I wasn't quite sure it led to more questions. I think it's an opportunity to understand a little bit more about what you're talking about, and understanding what information we have today that we can work something out, because yes, financial production projections are part of, and there are, I believe, there are some in the engineering report, but yes, that's obviously an important part of the ongoing project, for sure, and Perry Allen 2:32:58 I think that'd be a great, if we can share that more. I think that will help steer the public conversation to what it should be, or it needs to, and a Karen Smythe 2:33:07 lot of, a lot of it hinges on the grant funding. If we have no grant funding, it's, it's something that we would, we would not, we just couldn't do the project because it would be too costly per parcel, if you will, and so it just looks better, depending on how much rent that you get in terms of what it's going to cost an individual user being added to the sewer. Sure, Melkorka Kjarval 2:33:31 that makes sense. Karen Smythe 2:33:33 And as we discussed this morning, the goal is to have it be the same as what people are paying now. I don't think there's a grand notion that it's going to be less, but, but yes, we can certainly. There are at say the other is, you don't know how much it's going to cost until you actually put the project out for bid, that's the other piece. Sure, does that make sense until until it happens, but yeah, so there's some initial financial projections, and certainly more can be done, and money done, if Frances Uku 2:34:02 it's useful to you as well. Mary Beth has been helpful in assisting me with data. I've been attempting to build some of these financial projections based only on records we have available. She just gave me the sewer dump, and we all have things we're geeky about, and my geeking is data related, and so I have some of these already based on last year's budget, based on the upcoming budget, it's all publicly, it's just sort of publicly available stuff, I built it with someone who likes me very much, who happens to be a data person, and it's all up already, like it's online, Red Hook dot watch, if you're, if you're interested, but it's all from publicly available, the budget, our minutes, all of that Perry Allen 2:34:53 watch, Frances Uku 2:34:55 yeah, Karen Smythe 2:34:56 and I just caution you in looking at that, if you use a year's worth of information, you will be including a portion of time when the plant was not operating optimally, and so, in terms of projecting forward, the past isn't necessarily certainly, if you go too far back, it's not a good projection of forward, it's really more of the last few months, arguably would be a better projection, Frances Uku 2:35:23 just historical, Karen Smythe 2:35:25 and what you're talking about, I think, is the expansion project, which is different than the existing project that we have. Speaker 1 2:35:34 I see Perry Allen 2:35:37 results. Thank you. Should I we're ready for public spaces, or is there more? Melkorka Kjarval 2:35:45 Please. Perry Allen 2:35:46 All right. Sorry, let me turn here. I say that, but I was not prepared. Okay. At our last public spaces meeting, we reconfirmed all of the participant participating members for the reorg. The current things we're working on with the amazing work that the Deputy Mayor just presented, in terms of the village hall reconceptualization and the planning, we provided just an initial list of native plant recommendations that are salt tolerant, just to kind of get some of the conversation rolling, and we'll just keep following up with that in any ways that we can be of service. There's movement with the Abrahams Park revitalization. Unfortunately, I was sick for this meeting, but if we need to share any details from it, but the mayor with members of the committee were at Abraham's park to discuss having mode paths and letting the other grasses grow in to start engaging people with the space and showing them what it could be. We've also brainstormed signage that our fearless Abrahams Park leader, Betsy Brower, is moving forward in getting clever questions and other thought prompts strewn about the park, and having, I think, local high school students paint them, so we'll have those going on soon. Move Karen Smythe 2:37:12 to middle school and Girl Scouts, Perry Allen 2:37:15 middle school and Girl Scouts. Oh yeah, they're they've got other things, that's a solid point. We'll also just be continuing with our natural resource cataloging. Our next meeting is upcoming on june 15. We'll confirm any new projects that we would like to propose to the board in terms of moving forward this year, and most importantly, we'll formally begin with our design intern from Bard, who will be helping us an immense amount over the summer. So our next meeting will be our first formal conversation with her, and I'm very excited about Melkorka Kjarval 2:37:53 it. Can I ask a question about the mode pads? Craig Rothstein 2:37:56 Yes, Melkorka Kjarval 2:37:57 from what I understand, is there going to be modes where you're planning on putting it back, sort of see whether or not that Perry Allen 2:38:04 I wasn't at the meeting, so I don't know exactly how was it determined, but it's less of here's the exact plan and exact mapping, but more of here's here's something it could be, what do you think could be here, here's kind of just our first draft, not even an official draft, but just a step. Karen Smythe 2:38:25 I think I can give a little bit. The first part was to do a path around the perimeter of the park, because a lot of people will take the paved path and not realize that there's more to the park, and those paths are, I believe, 10 feet wide. It's basically two mode, two, you know, up and back. I think up at the top on the right, as you're going north, I think the idea was to do sort of a rectangle, and I think there's a path cut between the front from Park Avenue, that first section is all mowed, and then from where the basically where the benches are, and the neighbors' property ends, that's where the path goes around the perimeter, and then the two paths cut through the middle, and then the signs will be a little bit of a what do you think, just to start, but start the process of what might it, what it might look like, Melkorka Kjarval 2:39:24 and are people discouraged from walking on a longer grass, Karen Smythe 2:39:27 not in any formal way. And also, just to clarify, once the once the grass gets to eight or 10 inches, they're going to keep it. The intention is not to grow a meadow, but it's to have a differential between between the one that's more mowed, but not to let it grow completely, Melkorka Kjarval 2:39:48 my point. But in planning, often you may tell where the pathway wants to be by seeing where people end up walking, and you might actually get very interesting markings on the tall grass. Perry Allen 2:39:57 I agree, I agree, Ken, I okay, Marybeth DeFilippis 2:40:05 so you were done. Sorry, just coming back to, Frances Uku 2:40:08 yeah, no, sorry, just coming back to your, since I was looking for a second, and just coming back to sewer. So, so prior to your joining the board, so this may not just be a question for you, but also for possibly what other other members of the board who may have information about it, so we used to have any have reports, also I believe provided by Les Kuhn of any DC violations, like event violations, and I haven't seen them, Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 2:40:40 they haven't happened. Yeah, we haven't had any. The last one was Speaker 1 2:40:44 great. Yeah, great. Melkorka Kjarval 2:40:46 You all have copies of great Frances Uku 2:40:48 design. I've, yeah, I have it. I just wanted to make sure Perry Allen 2:40:54 it's a good point to bring up, actually. Frances Uku 2:40:56 Yes, it's worth it's worth noting. Karen Smythe 2:41:00 I see Rostein. I stole your big thunder. I'm sorry by putting him climbing. Craig Rothstein 2:41:11 I just have the utility billing report. I think Karen Smythe 2:41:14 I would just highlight in the water report the total amount for the month, which is at the bottom there, the 7,000,005 92 Craig Rothstein 2:41:33 terrible eyesight. This is really negative. Karen Smythe 2:41:37 So I, my glasses are all right, so it's 7,592,061 gallons for the month of May, and I should, I, we have a chart that tracks that, it's actually down from a year ago, mixing a lot of, a lot of leaks, and the picture that Fran had was actually of the installing the check valve. I realized I didn't. There were a couple of things, several things that were done water wise, but the check valve was installed in the water treatment plant, so that now water doesn't go back into the wells, and the only reason why it would do that is that there's a leak in one of the pipes from the well, and we discovered one of those, and that seemed to realize there was a check valve, was approved by the Department of Health, now installed, and it's been painted their specific paint colors that are required, Frances Uku 2:42:42 so cool, Karen Smythe 2:42:43 so that's why it's green, bright green. But anyway, so that's the only other thing that's that's key is we do water testing every month, and those, and we test for coliform and E coli, and those were all negative. Yes, that's the other key thing, but yes, and then utility report, Craig Rothstein 2:43:07 so utility bills issued $1,420.78 penalties and finance strategies were $1,626.02 utility payments received 38,600 6057 cents. The relevy unpaid on a property taxes was not accounts receivable outstanding to the village as of may 1, $26,822 No bill adjustments. Thank you, Jen. Karen Smythe 2:43:43 So, you all should have your extras there. Budget adjustment, two sides, two sides of the page. Most of these are actuals. There are some items still outstanding, so for example, the tax on adult use cannabis, we got our January, February, March payment, which is why I upped the number, because we still have April, May to come, and also the sales tax we got, we got our January, February, March, and we still have April and May that will will be added, so the net for the general fund, which is the first two pages, is zero, so all the the revenue and the expenses balance out on the water fund, same thing for the sewer fund, it doesn't balance out. I believe that's because we had approved the inter fund advance and ultimately the borrowing of the money, which isn't included here. So I did do my latest version of the sewer budget that I expect for this year. Do apologize for not doing this sooner, but the whole thing took a while to get all the details. I think there's one for your degrees, so that's why that's just explaining that the sewer fund doesn't, doesn't balance out in the budget adjustment resolution. One of the, we still have April and May utility billing receipts to come in, and that won't, we don't do that billing until July, so we have a little bit more time before that's going to come in, so I, I know it's a lot. I will tell you, I spent a lot of time upon this, just going through each one, trying to, trying to make sure that I was understanding where the money was coming from or not coming from, and where it's going to end up, because we're not all completely done yet with everything in. I will say that it looks like the general fund will end up better than better than budgeted, i.e. I think we may not need to use the fund balance as much as we have budgeted, so that before I say anything definitive, it's a little more information I need to get, but that is certainly positive, positive. So, as I say, I would love it if you all would approve this today, but I also recognize that you just, you just got assessment, so I'm happy to go either way. Frances Uku 2:47:07 I would love to tell the workshop to be able to look at it, that it is a lot in acknowledging and recognizing the work that has got into it. I just, I haven't had a chance to look at it at all. Melkorka Kjarval 2:47:20 Is there any doubt to not approving it today? Well, the, Karen Smythe 2:47:28 I mean, not, not in the grand scheme of things. We, as the village board, when I first became mayor, what had been the practice was basically not making any adjustments until the end of the fiscal year, that is actually not appropriate. You are supposed to, we are not supposed to approve a voucher that goes over the the authorized budget amount. So technically, there are some budget line items where we've gone over, and so we do need to rectify that, and one of the goals that I have, certainly in congruent with Mary Beth for this coming year, is to be more on top of making those changes. The hard part is there's so many moving parts that every budget adjustment requires work on Mary Beth's part, so waiting another two weeks. Long way to answer your question, but I just want to put it in context that it's there. Should it's important to do, we need to do it, and so what I, I may, we may have more information in two weeks, so if we do, if I do another one, I will highlight any differences that I'm proposing. Frances Uku 2:48:45 Thank you. Karen Smythe 2:48:46 But even from when I was doing this last week, got some information this morning on sales tax, for example, I can amend it for what's what's actual, but yeah, so I'm happy to, and any questions in the meantime, don't hesitate, okay? And then we have voucher approval, so what I'm looking for is a voucher to approve. We, there were motion, sorry, motion to approve vouchers. We do not have any pre-paid invoices, so so I'm looking for a motion to approve the audited vouchers as presented by the treasurer and detailed in the treasurer's june 8, 2026 I'm giving this to you. Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 2:49:30 Report to be paid in the amounts: Karen Smythe 2:49:34 general fund, $59,978.30 water fund, $14,853.34 $1,853.34 and sewer fund $9,166.49 May I have a motion? I'll second it. Carries a second. All in favor. Oh, I did want to just make a note. There's there's a note that Mary Beth put there to invoices from Red Hook CSA that I pulled from the from the list. The reason why I pulled that is because Red Hook CSA is related to the community solar that is behind the old Highway Garage running a water treatment plant, the way it has been working since that was first put in place is Red Hook CSA would be billing us for electric related to, and you're going to correct me when I get this wrong, related to that, as of March, it's either March or April, that billing is now consolidated within Central Hudsonville, and Central Hudson has added a, it's CGS, it's community solar something, community generated something, CG Jen Cavanaugh, Clerk 2:51:00 distributed CDG Karen Smythe 2:51:03 community distributed what stuff, yeah, and that's that's that is supposed to replace the billing from Reserve CSA. It's just Central Hudson said this is when it started and CSA is still billing us, and so I reached out to Reds and CSA once I figured out how to get hold of them, and they are looking into it, so that's why I pulled those two bills, because it's probable that one of them we do have to pay, the other one I don't think we should, so I just wanted to pull those to figure that out, but we did, anyway, long answer, but that's that was the one thing that was in that list, otherwise things are pretty straightforward. Okay, so we had a, we had a motion. Did everybody vote? Did I do? Yeah, yes. Okay. We have no. I have nothing for executive session, and so I take a motion to adjourn. Craig Rothstein 2:51:54 So moved. Karen Smythe 2:51:55 Thank you. Second. Perry Allen 2:51:58 Second. Karen Smythe 2:51:59 All in favor, Unknown Speaker 2:52:00 aye. not to hold back on the road to just adjourn for you guys. Transcribed by https://otter.ai