Monday, June 8, 2026

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.

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.

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?

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?

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,

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?

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.

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

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,

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.

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.

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.

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.

We have no. I have nothing for executive session, and so I take a motion to adjourn.