[0:00] to order. Kathy, call the roll, please. Mr. Ripka, hi. Hi. Mr. Lewis, hi. Mr.

[0:06] Ziggler. Mr. Lori. Present. Mr. Fisher. Here.

[0:10] Would you all please stand for the pledge of

[0:15] allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[0:20] for it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:26] for all.

[0:32] Item two is a motion accept the minutes of March 12th and March 26, 2025.

[0:38] We have um Kathy and I discussed this. We have um one

[0:44] correction for the uh Peterville truck. Okay.

[0:49] There's the on the bid sheet it was very confusing in that the uh the new truck

[0:56] was approved in 2024 and it's budget item the vendor for the chassis is the

[1:02] Peterbuilt Lucky Truck trailer sales Henry added Peterville is requesting a

[1:08] payment for the chassis the cost of the chassis should

[1:14] be 236844 4 and he had it in at 149. I took the

[1:21] net off the other. Okay. So, yeah, it was confusing very. Yeah. Okay. You make

[1:27] that correction? Is there anything else? Yes. March 12th. I forgot to send you

[1:34] all correspondence or if you in your packet,

[1:39] you know, you did send the correspondence. So, I will resend that

[1:43] out to everyone. Okay. So with the corrections, can I have a motion to

[1:46] accept the minutes? So move.

[1:51] Mr. Ripco, Mr. Lewis. I Mr. Ziggler. Hi. Mr. Gory. Hi. Mr. Fiser. Hi. Item three

[1:59] is resolution authorizing the payment of claims.

[2:06] So move it. Mr. Ripco. Hi. Mr. Lewis. Hi. Mr. Ziggler. Hi. Mr. Lorie. Hi. Mr.

[2:14] Fischer. I item four, report of town officers.

[2:21] I move these reports be received and put on file. Second, Mr. Ripka. Hi, Mr.

[2:28] Lewis. Hi, Mr. Ziggler. Hi, Mr. Lorie. Hi, Mr. Fischer. Hi. Item five is a

[2:35] correspondence and item six is a motion to receive a correspondence.

[2:40] So move. Second. Mr. Ripco. Hi, Mr. Lewis. Hi,

[2:46] Mr. Ziggler. Hi, Mr. Lorie. Hi, Mr. Fischer. Hi. Item seven is audience

[2:52] participation. But before I ask the audience to help participate, I would

[2:57] like to call on Mayor of the Village of Horses, Mayor Adams for a buzz village

[3:01] buzz budget presentation to the board. Mayor Adams. Oh, I was I was not

[3:07] prepared for that. Um but

[3:12] watch me wa watch me rift here. Um

[3:18] well thank you. Um we are in the midst we have our budget almost all completed

[3:24] tomorrow at 400 pm we will be releasing our budget to the public. Um this would

[3:30] be the second presentation I've done for the community. Last Tuesday I did one

[3:35] for the Guanas and just noon today I did one at the uh Horsets

[3:42] Rotary. Uh some things that are worth mentioning. Uh we have starting out this

[3:50] budget season we are behind in some revenues. Uh

[3:58] $52,000 the village lost in fair market value. total assessed value of $7

[4:04] million due to pilots. Thank you and thank you guys for having a wonderful

[4:10] assessor. Teresa has been working diligently with Nate and uh Steg to try

[4:18] and figure out where each of the pilots are trying to figure out that the land

[4:23] is taxed but the buildings on it. Then we assumed that one of the buildings was

[4:27] Seammens, but obviously that pilot didn't kick in because that project's

[4:32] not done. So trying to get on first, second, and third so we can figure out

[4:36] where we are with our pilot revenue verse our tax revenue. The other thing

[4:42] that we have been told by the county and by the state is to project sales tax at

[4:48] the 2023 level. uh going backwards to that level is uh

[4:55] institutes or kind of equates to about $75,000 loss. So we started our budget

[5:03] season this year at a 4.6% tax increase just to break even from revenues we had

[5:12] as of last year. uh it wasn't where we wanted it to be

[5:18] and unfortunately that was just to cover what we had let alone any new

[5:23] initiatives. Uh as far as new initiatives go

[5:28] police we're looking for accreditation. We're almost all way the full way

[5:33] through accreditation. This is going to be a huge feather in the village's cap

[5:38] as we will it would just be for road patrols in the county of Jim deputies

[5:46] and the city of Ommyra are the only accredited police forces. Uh thankfully

[5:52] Chief Suie and Nate have done everything they can uh except spend the money,

[5:57] right? They did all the policy reviews and all that. Of course, it's a state

[6:02] certification, so it comes with a bunch of dumb things. Uh firstly, we are to be

[6:07] accredited, we must have our own impound lot for the village. So, there is

[6:13] probably about $25,000 to build a village impound lot. How big, how wide,

[6:19] how tall, that's all things we can negotiate to try and cost engineer it

[6:23] down to as le least as possible. And um we need a second locker within

[6:30] our locked evidence room uh to preserve evidence for long-term care and keep

[6:37] such as um number one is that has the longest

[6:42] statue of holding are like rape kits. So we're going to be building another room

[6:47] inside of that to achieve full accreditation. We're also going to be

[6:52] bringing back community policing. That was something I ran ran on a long time

[6:56] ago. Uh almost all the police uh New York State police have to be certified

[7:02] to be a policeman and ride a bike at the same time. So we have paid for that. Now

[7:08] the PBA is coming with $3,000 that we'll be matching for new bikes so that during

[7:14] the summer our police force is out in the village hand in hand. Um,

[7:21] uh, public works, we are replacing a 2007 six-wheeler,

[7:28] uh, that that needed to be replaced. Um, so that is about 20 years old. So is the

[7:36] person who operates it as far as his career. So we have kept our six-wheeler

[7:42] as long as we've kept one of our employees. So we figured it was time to

[7:46] get him a new car. But by no means do we hope that that means he leaves. We are

[7:51] also putting up two pickup trucks. This is going to be about a

[7:56] $425,000 expenditure alto together as one of the pickup trucks is a 2001 and

[8:02] the other pickup truck is a 2003. I felt that after this uh DPW

[8:09] employee has personally removed the bench out of the truck three times at

[8:15] pick aart. So he uh they could have a seat without springs coming through it.

[8:21] It might have been time to replace that. So we have that. We are going to be

[8:27] venturing into family movie nights in the park. We are going to be going full

[8:33] steam ahead on a digital sign board that we took out. The rotary sign at Teal

[8:40] Park collapsed. Uh so we will be replacing it with a digital sign board.

[8:45] And um last but certainly not least, our

[8:50] cemetery will have 50,000 in the budget for a calarium uh installation. I'm

[8:57] proud to say that I'm creating two task force, two committees for the village

[9:02] board. One chaired by Deputy Mayor Goodwin along with Mike Stemp to make

[9:09] sure the town barium gets put up along with benchmarking our practices and our

[9:14] fees. The other will be HVAC Force's village advisory committee of code. Uh

[9:22] so we will now have George Kawaski and Mark Turpali along with three other

[9:28] residents of appointment to go through the entire code book in village law to

[9:34] start seeing what makes sense and start pruning some of the old laws that um I

[9:40] have yet to realize or understand why they were ever created. So we're going

[9:46] to get that going. We have two committees. We have about $800,000 in

[9:50] new investment in the village and uh hopefully we get that all passed and we

[9:57] can start seeing some real change and progress in the village of Horsets. Any

[10:02] questions? Council,

[10:07] what are you asking from us? partnership as always. Uh, Councilman

[10:13] Larry, uh, it's, uh, you know, as far as where we're

[10:18] at, it's it's, you know, it it's kind of what I

[10:22] said last year. The village and town both saw about three quarters of a

[10:27] million dollars and new street sweeping equipment. Two street sweepers. Mind

[10:31] you, yes, we have a lot of streets between both of our municipalities, but

[10:36] the other statement is true nonetheless. This is something we, you know, uh,

[10:41] Supervisor Fischer has been kind enough to allow us to have first rights of

[10:45] refusal for any of your equipment that you're retiring. But I thought it was

[10:50] very important to let you know. Our trucks are averaging 20 to 25

[10:57] years. We kick a police cruiser down after about 7 to 8 and then we use that

[11:04] for another 10 to 12 years either in the parks or with code. So the the one thing

[11:11] that I think that we should be looking at is what we can do together, how we

[11:16] can do it together, and what what that might be. Albeit you guys don't have a

[11:22] cemetery or you don't have a police force. there's other things such as code

[11:26] that we could be working together on and administratively on. So, uh I'm always

[11:32] here. I will always attend this night meeting. So, I think after we get this

[11:37] budget done, like always, planning is and teamwork is the hardest type of

[11:43] work. So, it really needs that year of planning to make sure that we have a

[11:48] plan to work together so that when we're both when you're creating your budget at

[11:53] the beginning of next year and we're going to be creating our budget 3 months

[11:56] after that 26, we're not trying to guess or catch up with anybody. So, as of

[12:03] right now, nothing more than just being able to come to the table and discussing

[12:08] goals and objectives that can be done across all town forces.

[12:12] Okay. One comment. I want to thank you for the enlightening. And now when you

[12:18] get your budget done, let's get back to what we were going to do before we

[12:22] started working on your budget for the DPW. So call me. Yes. When you're done

[12:28] and we'll reschedule those meetings. Yep. We'll be uh end of April. We're

[12:31] looking at uh we'll be putting that on along with uh also the end of May. I'm

[12:38] very proud to say between the Horses Kuanas, Horseetss Rotary, the Masons,

[12:44] and the Sunshine Rotary that looks to be moving full steam ahead on a full

[12:50] bathroom concession stand going into Teal Park. One ADA compliant bathroom

[12:56] along with a full concession stand that will support gas and electric. Uh so now

[13:02] that we can properly serve and provide restroom facilities for Teal Park,

[13:07] hopefully expanding that as well. So we'll be doing that. I kept myself off

[13:11] the committees, off the two new committees so that all the other fun

[13:14] stuff can come my way. So thank you very much for your time. Oh yeah, Carl. So

[13:19] just throwing this out there after you guys have your meeting. What is the

[13:23] possibility of getting both boards together at an open open meeting? Yeah.

[13:28] Once we get like you guys all come, we come and the public can come and just

[13:36] you know just to try to keep moving forward. Yeah. Because we had the one we

[13:39] had the one brief meeting and the last two got cancelled because various

[13:44] things. So that was just between you guys. Us and the hot two highway guys.

[13:49] Okay. Okay. just to discuss again what do they you know what can we do

[13:55] right after you guys meet then I think if we all meet at a open meeting at um

[14:01] you know so like a Wednesday morning or Wednesday night or you know an off from

[14:07] you guys and us or whatever yeah that'd be wonderful one more question for you

[14:13] we're looking at uh doing something with installing wells

[14:17] um we currently get the water from you Correct. Correct. Correct. We will

[14:22] discuss that when we get to that item. It's on the agenda. It's on the agenda.

[14:25] Okay. I wanted We will discuss that when we get to He can He can pop in when we

[14:29] get to that. You're not leaving, right? No. Yeah. He doesn't leave. He's the

[14:33] last one to leave. Bill's my right. Oh, no. We're in trouble. Thank you. I took

[14:38] his cake. Peace. Thank you very much. Now, audience participation. Anyone that

[14:43] would like to address the board, please step to the podium. State your name and

[14:47] address. who are wishing to report it and it's on

[14:51] anything that is not on the agenda. Is there anyone that would like

[14:56] to address the

[15:00] work? Seems none, then we will move on. Item eight is discussion and possible

[15:06] action regarding speed limit reduction recommendation from New York State DOT

[15:12] from 45 to 40 miles an hour from the intersection of Watkins Road, State

[15:16] Route 14, and Wantat Road County Road to Colonial Ridge Apartments. We requested

[15:23] a 35. We Yeah, we the request went in from this board for to consider a 35.

[15:30] They came back with the letter you've seen that says they will not go below

[15:34] 40. Uh so it's back here that if you guys

[15:39] are happy with 40, we'll tell them yes we'll go forward with

[15:44] 40. Do that. Any comments? Yeah. Why why can't we go to 35? What's their

[15:50] reasoning? the the am the ambient speed is

[15:54] not they're not going to lower it down to where they're ticketing too many

[16:00] people because people won't be going. So they they give it to some sort of

[16:04] ambient speed or something. I forget what they how they said they don't have

[16:08] room to follow the road. So and they did their studies supposedly

[16:15] quotequote and uh that's what they came back with. I think 40 is better than

[16:20] nothing because it is up to Coney Ridge is what 55 or 45 I'm sorry 45.

[16:29] Yes. 45. We need a motion to accept it. Well, I say you know they passed the

[16:36] resolution to request it. So we should pass a resolution to the board accept

[16:41] accept the state go to the county. The county will hold. Don Ziggler made the

[16:46] motion. Do I have a second? Second it. Mr. Ripkco. Hi. Mr. Lewis. Hi.

[16:54] Mr. Ziggler. Hi. Mr. Lorie. Hi. Mr. Fischer. Hi. Item nine is a resolution

[17:01] to contract the town of Horsed designate auditor to audit the town financial

[17:07] savings reending 204 and the town of horse's justice

[17:11] funds for the same year 2024. Rick McNeely agreed last year to do it again

[17:19] but for one last time at the same price as last year

[17:24] which was like $9,000 if that high. I don't remember. So I would need a motion

[17:30] to I'll make the motion second. Mr. RCO I Mr. Lewis I Mr. Ziggler. Hi.

[17:38] Mr. Lorie. Hi. Mr. Tisher. Hi. Item 10 is a report by Billy Rapley from the

[17:44] parks and recreation department regarding the status of the parks

[17:48] location in the town and possible use. We're applying for MRP grant. Billy, are

[17:53] they come up here so it's a little easier? Yeah.

[17:58] Okay. So, the NPR grants, the one through the state, it's for up to a

[18:02] million dollars. It's a 90% 10%. Um, another one that we can also do like

[18:09] that comes out in May is the EPF. Um, through the Allison Herman from the

[18:13] county, we can do the same thing for both of them. So, the first one's going

[18:18] to be very competitive. So, the second one might be more likely to get because

[18:22] that's only a 5050 grant, like 50% 50%. So, you know, it's we're not going to

[18:28] get as much out of it, but we it'd still be help save a lot of money to do more.

[18:33] um some of my ideas that I've had and you know I've haven't had a whole lot of

[18:38] input from the public um but we were look I was looking at like a playground

[18:44] for each park so that way we can focus on each one of our four parks and you

[18:50] know like with Metobrook it's only like a little over a quarter of an acre so

[18:53] it's just going to be something small but if you have something more worth the

[18:57] kids going to you're more likely to have them actually use the park. Um, you

[19:02] know, obviously the biggest one that we would want to do would be the holding

[19:05] point because it has the most volume of kids and people. Um, especially when we

[19:11] have events or just during the week when there's practice, there's more kids over

[19:14] there. Um, for Hasllett and Mebrook, we were look I was looking at doing like

[19:21] maybe a small pavilion and like a table or benches.

[19:25] Um Allison um so she's like the she helps she's with the counties does like

[19:30] the grants and stuff from that like so she works with the different

[19:34] municipalities. Um she said the benches are a good thing. Um the

[19:40] um office of the aging they have a program called talking benches to fight

[19:46] elderly isolation. So that's something that we might be able to work with them.

[19:51] Um, and you know, that's going to look good for the grant because you're

[19:54] getting, you know, you're working with other organizations. They can help write

[19:58] a letter of, you know, of support. Um, we're going to also look at, um, like

[20:03] the youth, the Shan County Youth Bureau. And that was another suggestions she had

[20:08] was to reach out to programs like that to you know for recommendations as well

[20:13] as letter of you know support which would give us the points for public

[20:18] engagement and stuff like that. Um so couple other things they had as far as

[20:24] stuff to do would be fix up the courts at sport and haslit um for the tennis

[20:29] courts instead of put them back as a tennis court. maybe looking to doing

[20:33] pickle ball because that's much bigger now in the area than tennis. Um so that

[20:38] could potentially do they might be big enough to do two courts on each of them

[20:43] tennis previous tennis courts. Um I have heard from a friend that plays

[20:49] pickle ball that she lives up in Bridgeport and her neighbor actually

[20:52] takes a her portable net over and plays on one of them courts. Saw that. Yep.

[20:57] So, that is something that, you know, it's already been used even though it

[21:01] might not be the safest with the cracks. Um, so it's definitely something that we

[21:06] should definitely get addressed. Um, another idea I had would be um beach

[21:12] some beach volleyball courts over on behind fields five and six. Um, that

[21:17] would be something different in the area. Um, I know Amanda heard there's a

[21:22] lot of kids that play volleyball, but like in the summer there's really

[21:25] nowhere for them to play. What about So I over here in the holding point be

[21:29] behind our softball fields. Okay. Um then talking with uh the off office

[21:36] office of the aging because they reached out to me about using our horseshoe

[21:40] pitch for uh 5 for their senior games. Um because normally they used to do it

[21:45] at the um Italian American vet or whatever and they're selling it so they

[21:51] can't do it there. So, you know, that might be something else that we could

[21:56] look into. Uh, I'm gonna meet they're having a meeting tomorrow for the senior

[22:00] game. So, I'm going to go to that and try to get some input and see, you know,

[22:06] um I think the lady that works with Apple or whatever is supposed to be

[22:09] there, so we can, you know, maybe talk with her and see, you know, could we get

[22:13] a partnership with them to like bring, you know, people down here to walk or,

[22:19] you know, we got like a botchi pit, which, you know, would be simple to put

[22:22] in. Um, and then for the other thing I was thinking of for where our horseshoe

[22:28] pits are that don't get used. We could take them out and essentially it's about

[22:33] a 70 by 100 ft fenced in area um was to basically make that an area for another

[22:39] area for kids to play. So do like um Gaga ball which is like a basically a

[22:45] different type of like dodgeball where you have to hit the like you slap the

[22:49] ball and you have to hit them like below the knee. So that would be enclosed um

[22:54] just like a hoop game. Then have like on the one end have it for toddlers. So

[22:59] like you know interactive things for little kids to do and put some benches

[23:03] in there for parents. So that way it would kind of you know be for all ages

[23:08] of kids and not just you know older kids or younger kids. Um so that was another

[23:14] idea that I had.

[23:18] I got a question. Yep. How long do you think it would take you to do all that

[23:22] as far as writing it up or putting it in? All of them. Get it all done? Yeah.

[23:27] You talking years? Yes. So, the grant itself So, the grant itself needs to be

[23:32] in by like May 2nd. But, and then we would know by next year and then we'd

[23:37] have to do more to like get it officially started. And I want to say if

[23:42] I remember correctly, they you need to have the project done by within two or

[23:46] three years. So when you apply for the grant, yeah, do you have to put all of

[23:50] these things in that grant or whatever dollar amount? Whatever we want to do.

[23:54] And yes, so we would put what we want to do it for and essentially they would

[23:58] come back of hey that like you I'm assuming that they could essentially be

[24:03] like all right this is what we're willing to approve.

[24:06] Um something is big and complicated like that. How are you going you have a

[24:10] committee that's working with you and what's good to put here and there and so

[24:13] forth. Um, so the as far as well I'll be an example. How many people use the the

[24:20] park in Metbook Parkway? You don't really know. No. What about a trail cam

[24:24] on a 10-ft post up in the air that looking down would count the people to

[24:28] go in there in a week or two, right? Is that really cost effective to put a lot

[24:32] of money into? I'm just using it because it's there. Yes, you could do the same

[24:36] in Breeport. So, how much money are we looking at and what do we get out of it?

[24:43] who's using them. Yep. So, somebody's got to ask that. I might as well be the

[24:46] one. Yep. So, I mean, you could do a trail cam or something like that to try

[24:50] to figure it out. Um, but my other thought is the other side of looking at

[24:54] that is if you like if you have a bad

[24:58] restaurant, people aren't going to go. So, if there's nothing at these parks to

[25:01] go to, they're not going to go. So, if you improve it, Absolutely. your, you

[25:06] know, your traffic is going to improve. How would you say that? So you get a

[25:10] more accurate rating if you had a good product. Right. Yeah. So that's why like

[25:14] so Metobrook the playgrounds I was looking at for that for Mebrook that's a

[25:18] smaller area but it's a you know it's a there's you know the neighborhood

[25:23] there's a lot of houses in there. I asked it just so I could get an answer

[25:27] of uh prove to me we need it. Well as you said build it new and they'll come

[25:33] because when you do that they will show up. Yes. Yep. And so with Metalbrook, I

[25:38] think the playgrounds I was looking at that were like $6,000 and then like

[25:42] installation. Yeah. So, you know, it's compared compared to what we would want

[25:47] to do out here. But, you know, for that neighborhood, I mean, there's a lot of

[25:51] houses over there. So, I'm sure that if there was something worth going to to

[25:56] for the kids, they would go. Anybody got any questions for Bill?

[26:03] Um, I'd like to see you move forward. I mean, even if we can, you know, you

[26:08] mentioned three sport, even if we can, you know, put some money into those

[26:13] parks this year to get them up and running for their, you know, get the

[26:16] pract. Yep. And that's the other thing, too, is, you know, just because I have

[26:20] it in this like we could, you know, instead of doing it through the grant,

[26:23] we could look into doing something this year so we don't have to wait.

[26:29] Let's show you Brennan. He had money in an account one time for playground or

[26:37] for I don't know what he'd have to use it for, but I believe he always um I

[26:42] think each county legislator got like $3,000 like you know and then maybe he

[26:49] could use some of that money to ways he lives over there to Metal Brook if to

[26:54] get Yeah. So that's within his district. Get something going to just improve

[26:59] these parks until we get the grants. I think would be a great idea.

[27:04] In Mark Mes.

[27:12] Yeah. As far as the grants,

[27:16] do you have anybody assisting you with grants? So we've got Allison Herman's

[27:21] going to can help as well. And then I've also got um Carol Moore and C volunteers

[27:25] and helped me with the writing portion of it. She's written grants. Yep. So

[27:29] she's helped me with like some of the county grants that we've got because

[27:32] it's very you know grants are very specific. Yes. And if you just don't get

[27:36] the letter has perhaps you don't do your eye cross. That's right. So I've got

[27:42] I've got two people that will be helping with this. Okay. Yes. Yeah. Um I know

[27:47] our parks have we've only done necess minor stuff and we got to do some stuff

[27:52] this year to our parks just wood chips and stuff like that. What I'd like to do

[27:58] is uh and I've talked to Billy about it is is appoint a couple of you guys to

[28:03] work with him and maybe somebody from the public to bring back ideas so when

[28:08] we put the budget together we can budget this stuff for next spring. Okay. I do

[28:15] have Marty going out looking at the park here, the walking path for the cracks.

[28:22] He's going to go up to Breeport and Hlet Park where the basketball and tennis

[28:25] courts are and look at those to see if they're cracked though. But I'd like to

[28:29] point you, Art, and Carl to work with Billy and maybe get a couple citizens

[28:35] and come up with these ideas uh that we can bring. I have no problem

[28:39] doing that. In fact, they've already reached out to some of the people and

[28:42] see what their interests were in this parts, right? And so and that way we can

[28:48] get ideas and then when when we formulate the budget, if we don't get

[28:52] the grant or we get the grant, we can put this stuff that we decide we want to

[28:56] do into the 2026 budget and then we'll do some of the stuff this year once the

[29:03] last year Billy in regards to that. I say

[29:06] last year, would you be willing to help him? Absolutely. So what so you talk to

[29:13] some people so what have you heard because that could be something that

[29:16] right well you guys you guys figure out when you can get together and discuss

[29:19] all this because that could be something I could put in the put or mention that

[29:24] hey this we've got this information from the public. So could I make suggestion

[29:30] this is the perfect time to start thinking about what we've been talking

[29:32] about and that's the future. Did we run all this through the village too? So we

[29:38] don't I know you you you're working on your duplicate right now. Yep. Yep. So

[29:43] we have um investigated an RFP. I we had a couple talks with Bear Landscaping out

[29:50] of Rochester. They have a satellite office in Ithaca. Uh they do park

[29:57] architecture. Unfortunately, it was out of our price range uh for 120,000. was a

[30:03] soup to nuts type of deal as far as doing needs assessment focus groups.

[30:08] Then they look at every single park and they come back and they said here's your

[30:12] five-year strategic plan and they also give you you pick your top three

[30:16] projects within the strategic plan and they'll give you an actual project

[30:19] guide. Uh I'm thinking also this committee gets

[30:23] together and come up with ideas also getting once they get their ideas

[30:28] getting you guys together so that we can come up. So in

[30:34] other words, take a look at this park out here which teach some stuff for kids

[30:38] isn't duplicating right Thorn Street and you know they said when they did it for

[30:44] they've done their big plans for the town of Victor in the city of Udica they

[30:49] said oh we had about six meetings and we kind of just chuckled like you're not

[30:53] going to get enough people for six meetings I know but you know if that if

[30:59] they're saying okay you have 30 acres and six parks village for 120. Is that

[31:06] not exactly what we've been talking about here council as far as say is it

[31:11] 150 include all of your parks and now we go out to the community

[31:17] together 15 parks deep now 60 70 acres wide of and then we're not you know as I

[31:26] said on the campaign trail in in these budget meetings we have had the same

[31:31] park footprint since 1960 for 50 years I feel It's worth pausing and bringing in

[31:38] some e experts in the field so that for the next 50 years we're setting up a

[31:43] parks plan because we're not going to change it anytime soon after we start

[31:47] doing things to be able to work shouldertoshoulder and have a complete

[31:52] parks plan together headed by one group where we could split that cost that

[31:57] would make something more reasonable and would be a great it would be fine as

[32:01] long as the tax implications and we could even Gary talk to you guys too.

[32:08] We can get Omar Heights involved in it with

[32:13] Village Park. We also have the 11th Street Park, the old Mary Thirstson. Oh

[32:19] yeah, I forget about that one. So yeah, that are located solely within the town

[32:24] of Horses. So we could get all three municipalities to So if you three guys

[32:29] will get together, maybe get a couple citizens, talk to their parts guy. I

[32:33] know the Heights doesn't have a park, but we get some people from the Heights

[32:36] and come up with some ideas and then we can sit down and look at step two. And

[32:43] then I don't know, John, if it's possible, but I would it would be

[32:46] amazing if all three municipalities issued an RFP. Yeah. Together or I

[32:52] probably one has to take lead. I don't know. But I just saying that company

[32:57] that you talked to, you you've had some preliminary. They know what they charge

[33:02] you for that. You think you could get an offthe cuff? Yep. Based upon this. Yeah,

[33:08] absolutely. And and there again, I'm sure a lot of that's fixed cost of them

[33:13] just coming down and doing leg to throw an extra four parks, an extra two parks

[33:18] on top of that. To add an extra six parks, I wouldn't think would double the

[33:22] cost by any. Yeah, I can't believe it would. Now, Billy, if we're going to

[33:25] circle back and have that many parks included, what about the larger grant?

[33:32] So, I mean, we probably could, but I mean, at

[33:36] this point with for this one, it's so shortterm anyway, it's going to be hard

[33:39] to do the extra stuff and figure out for other parks. And I know I know the

[33:43] villages applied for park grants, too. Yeah. 5 million for New York Swims. One

[33:47] of the things I would suggest is, you know, here's the thing where Billy's

[33:53] going to be going and applying for the grant. Nate's already put it in his

[33:56] budget to apply for the grant. If a village of Ommyra Heights applies for a

[34:00] grant, here's three municipalities competing against each other. Yeah. You

[34:04] know, to be able to come back to this board, my board, Gary, you know, board

[34:10] and say, you know, we have a master parks plan for three municipalities. I

[34:16] can assure you that is very rare in New York State to be able to do that. And

[34:21] now do we apply for a $3 million grant 1 million each but in a strategic and

[34:28] comprehensive matter and that will that would be something

[34:32] for next year. Well I think we should apply for this grant that May second one

[34:36] because you're going to transfer pool isn't it one for Yeah. Yeah. and and

[34:41] then let's get together. Let's, you know, get something worked out. Uh, and

[34:46] that and you can kind They have a parks and recreation guy. Gary, you can give

[34:50] us some names of give Billy some names down in the Heights area and we'll get

[34:55] started. We'll get started on this. Anything else, Billy? I mean, that's

[35:01] all. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.

[35:06] Is there anyone else in the audience have any comments on this?

[35:12] Okay. Item 11 is authorizing the supervisor to contract an engineer to

[35:17] perform a study for the installation of possible two wells at the holding point

[35:23] recreational complex not to exceed $5,000. gentlemen

[35:30] uh most of the with the village now which I don't have an issue I understand

[35:35] charging us for water most of our use in the parks is watering our lawns and we

[35:41] don't know what it's going to cost us

[35:44] nothing's been budgeted and and we looked a few years ago to put an

[35:49] irrigation system in there and it was very expensive my theory is to look at

[35:55] if it's number one feasible to put a couple wells in there and All those

[35:58] wells would be is to water the fields. We would still have water over there.

[36:02] Yeah. You couldn't you couldn't use them. You couldn't use them for because

[36:05] there's available there's available public water. So I don't believe we

[36:10] could use we wouldn't be using those for toilets

[36:14] and so between that and and perhaps the car wash they could be it could be used.

[36:21] It's just what would the scope of an engineer

[36:24] do compared to a welder that comes in and say, "Yeah, we can do this." And

[36:30] well, they would tell us the locations. Well, chances are it'll go over

[36:34] $35,000. So, we will need to have some sort of method to do the bidding. It's

[36:39] legal. Okay. And uh yeah, it's and it might be something that doesn't come to

[36:43] fruition. I don't know. No, we're getting our water currently from the

[36:46] village, right? Yes. My my thought is, and this is just me thinking, is that if

[36:53] we already have a system in place and we're getting the water from there now,

[36:58] why wouldn't we try to say, okay, opposed to putting in a whole new system

[37:02] with wells and maintenance and all those things, why wouldn't we cut a deal and

[37:06] say, why don't we give some of your tax revenue that we're currently getting

[37:10] from you back to you to to offset your expenses? Well, we want to look at this.

[37:16] Yeah, that's that's a possibility. Possibility is perhaps we've never we've

[37:19] never had to pay for the water and I understand their situation charging it.

[37:23] I do. Okay. But, you know, we didn't we didn't plan on any of this because when

[37:28] I got the notifications was when we got the water bills. The other thing is is

[37:32] perhaps rather than have a a metered situation where maybe this year we're

[37:38] going to spend a lot because it'll be dry, next year we might not spend so

[37:42] much, maybe we can work out as a contract for a flat rate for for

[37:47] provision of water for their and then that would and it might save them money

[37:52] because they have to install a um a reader meter on there and that's going

[37:58] to cost them a why why would they want to waste that money. Well, when I when

[38:03] I'm looking at I'm saying it's still taxpayers money. So, if you're looking

[38:06] at the taxpayers money, whether it's coming from the town or the village,

[38:11] this is going to if if we do this, this will come out of the remaining ARPA

[38:14] fund, right? But it's still money from taxpayers. No, this isn't ARPA fund is

[38:18] not money from taxpayers, isn't it? Federal money. No, it's it's it's

[38:22] federal money. Federal money. That's what I'm saying. But it's not just our

[38:24] local tax. Pay federal taxes. But I'm just saying that's my make too much

[38:28] money. But the the the money the tax money that we charge

[38:34] them does not include the parks. So it doesn't matter though if we still it's

[38:39] just money. You know, it's what we've got and we could we I think I think

[38:43] talking about a a flat rate contract may be may be the best scenario at that

[38:49] point. But my thought in speaking about this is that if we're not using that

[38:53] money that we're talking about, government money, maybe we can use it on

[38:56] something else that's manageable proposed to duplicate services when we

[39:01] already have all I'm going to tell you is go out to

[39:06] that park in the summertime. Really go out and look village people have been

[39:10] there. I've been out there park village that park is utilized a lot and

[39:18] we bring in a lot of people in this community for tournaments. It's right

[39:22] near my house that are using softball fields that are using uh baseball fields

[39:27] and they're using our hotels and motel. Okay. It's not just BMX. It's the

[39:32] softball. Now we have the Falcons hard ball that wanted us to do some things

[39:37] because they want to expand their tournament. The girls softball asked us

[39:40] to put up a couple permanent fences because now they can expand their

[39:43] tournaments. People are coming from We had the girls softball last year. We had

[39:47] teams from Canada and Virginia and and South Carolina coming up. People don't

[39:52] know this until you go out and see what's Oh, we all think that's great.

[39:56] Oh, I do. It's perfect. But but in the exception of park, do we all envision

[40:00] that? No. Elvis. So you got to you got I think

[40:04] what our saying is, you know, do we run this, you

[40:10] know, Kevin, help me understand this meter. So as I think most of you have

[40:17] heard, uh, on the villages website, we have our infrastructure report. On that

[40:23] infrastructure report includes the Sesuana River Basin. So a little

[40:27] background, we know that 17 years ago, every 15 years, the village has to apply

[40:32] to the Susan River Basin to pull water that we do on a daily basis. 15 years

[40:38] ago, the village went to get their permit, and it was a 22% leakage rate.

[40:43] Uh New York State has a maximum leakage rate of 20%. Sesuana River Basin said,

[40:49] "Hey, we're going to give you a 15-year permit, but you're going to take care of

[40:52] that 2%, aren't you?" And at that time, the village said, "Yes.

[40:57] when they reapplied last year or the after 15 years the leakage rate went

[41:04] from 22% to 56%. Uh the village did not take care of

[41:09] anything and it got worse. Uh at that moment in time we were leaking over a

[41:13] quarter billion gallons of water. uh they didn't trust us, so they only

[41:19] gave us a 5-year temporary working permit, which will end September 15,

[41:26] 2027. To the credit of our water department, we have moved from 56% in

[41:33] 2023 to this year, we're up to we're down to 29%.

[41:39] But what leakage is is water utilized in the system that didn't go through a

[41:45] meter. So there's two components of leakage. There's one where it breaks and

[41:51] the water gets out of the system before it gets to the meter. The other place is

[41:55] sources that use water that aren't metered. The Holding Point Recreational

[42:01] Complex and the Town and Country Fire Department have no meters on them. So

[42:06] every gallon used there is going towards that

[42:11] 29%. So where we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in IH hydrant to

[42:17] start doing leak detection, where we have spent $5 million to replace 1% of

[42:23] the oldest pipes in the village. This is really the most common sensical place to

[42:29] go. This meters do not mean bills. meters mean that we can account for our

[42:36] water usage to try and get under that 20% before September 15,

[42:42] 2027. Yes, it will cost the village $40,000 to install the meter we already

[42:48] have on your 6-in main going into the holding point. That is backflow present

[42:55] uh preventers, a vault, and all that stuff. Regardless what you guys do, we

[43:01] will have to install the meter because that is one of the biggest unmetered

[43:06] sources out there regardless of where it comes. The bill is secondary. Uh the

[43:11] bill could come after the meter, but right now we have a year and a half to

[43:16] be focusing on unmetered usage. So that's why a meter will be going on this

[43:22] year at the holding point. Kevin, that meter only serve the holding point.

[43:27] Correct. you have metered. That's why you were able to get bills there. You

[43:32] will have meters on the other points in your system. Yeah. But that that 40,000

[43:37] is to to meter that only. You're correct. The rest of the the rest of the

[43:41] place out there is all me. And that's on us having the meter. So it would have

[43:45] been an extra 20,000 to buy the meter and then the associated cost. The rest

[43:50] of the holding point is is already metered. The buildings out there. This

[43:54] is just for that 6-in bay that's coming in. And Town of Country Fire Department

[43:58] only has 2 in going in. So, we can do that in house with exist. So, we could

[44:02] still probably maybe do a flat rate, right? Absolutely. I think you just need

[44:06] to account for the water. We just Yeah. every

[44:10] That's a good explanation because you know, and there again to Councilman

[44:15] Lor's part, is it is it one gallon or is it a million? until we get a meter on

[44:20] there and actually have data. We're just throwing, you know, darts at a wall and

[44:24] seeing what lands. So that's what Well, let's go Hannah River. Do they do a

[44:30] yearly measurement on how much water you're pumping and how much because we

[44:34] are so bad in our we do a monthly. We have to do a monthly because these

[44:40] fields are used four and a half months probably out of the year. The rest not I

[44:46] wonder what the meter reading. Yeah, it's a yearly for the le

[44:49] What's funny is they're in the Suscuana Basin, but we're not right. We're in the

[44:54] Yeah, we're in Lake. It splits right out there. I I I really would like to

[45:03] Well, now that it's been odd on this $5,000. Sure. I I have I have I have an

[45:09] idea. I think we delay this. Yes. We don't we don't need to we don't need

[45:13] to go there yet, but I I I have an idea, but I got to talk to with the board and

[45:18] you know, you guys want to talk tonight, we could go an executive session and

[45:21] talk, invite Kevin to stay, but uh and I have an idea. Maybe we can work out. But

[45:27] yeah, I would I would just say that we'll just No action. No action and and

[45:33] we'll remove it for now and then let's talk.

[45:37] Okay. The last item is conference attendance for the town clerk, deputy

[45:43] clown clerk Amanda Hillman for the New York Association of Tax Receivers and

[45:47] Collectors June 8th through June 11th in Lake George. It's budgeted item. They go

[45:53] every year. I need a motion to move. Second collectors. Yes. Who's going to

[45:59] be left to work out there? Uh Terry and Tina.

[46:04] Okay. You are you a notary? You can We'll talk.

[46:12] It's not I had a notorized. Stop it. Yeah. And no, I'm not helping you. Take

[46:18] the vote. Mr. Ripco. Hi. Mr. Lewis. Hi. Mr. Ziggler. Hi. Mr. Lorie. Hi. Mr.

[46:23] Fischer. Hi. That concludes our agenda. Uh Carl, you have anything? Um, I'm

[46:29] good. And unless we're going to make a motion. Oh, yeah. Let's go around and

[46:35] then Yeah. Gary, you got anything? No. Art. No. Donnie, what? You got anything

[46:41] you want to bring up? No. Okay. Okay. Now, I need a motion to go into a motion

[46:45] to go into executive session for contract negotiation with regard to the

[46:49] village water.

[46:54] Do we have to put in Mayor? Yes. Mayor Adam.

[47:00] Okay. was the first,

[47:10] Mr. Lewis. Hi, Mr. Ziggler. Hi, Mr. Lori. Hi, Mr. Fischer. Hi. Thank you

[47:15] all. Uh, and again, with this park stuff going on, if you got any ideas, please

[47:22] get it get it to us and we'll go from there so we can get the budgeted.

Town Board Meeting 4-9-2025

Transcript