[0:00] open with the Pledge of Allegiance.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[0:06] United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
[0:12] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
[0:18] » [clears throat]
>> Okay, we'll open with the roll call.
[0:22] Uh Teresa present. Uh Mark Curtain
>> Present.
[0:26] » Kristen Burr
>> Present.
[0:28] » Michael James
>> Present.
[0:30] » Cara McLaughlin
>> Present.
[0:32] » Okay, let's start with uh public
comment.
[0:37] Is there any
[0:41] » Do we use the mic?
>> I don't know.
[0:45] Do we need to be using the mic?
[0:48] » Yeah.
[0:53] » Sorry.
[0:58] Okay.
[1:02] Okay.
>> There you go, Brent.
[1:04] » Testing, 1 2 3.
>> Working.
[1:07] » Working.
>> Um
[1:10] a wide
a wide
[1:12] audience. Um I have a couple of things.
>> Could you put your name and address
[1:18] » Andrew Jody and I live in the local
capital in Chester Park, which is the
[1:25] garden part of
uh the village and the town.
[1:31] Um
I wanted to commend the supervisor and
[1:36] the council board for commissioning the
uh study of the
[1:44] uh facilities that the town owns. I
think it's very important. It's been
[1:49] overdue and I'm very pleased to see it.
I have a couple of questions about it,
[1:53] though.
Um
[1:55] for one, I didn't really see anything.
And maybe I didn't quite
[2:02] look at it the way I should. I didn't
see anything that addressed the the
[2:06] personal problems in this room.
Um
[2:10] and
there was [clears throat] a lot of
[2:12] attention paid to this room, but I
thought and I
[2:18] uh urged the council to consider a um
acoustical engineer.
[2:25] » The You're you're 100% right. We will be
bringing in an acoustical engineer, but
[2:30] I do want to note that the plan that we
will be coming up with will be putting
[2:34] acoustic boards in between the panels
that you won't see. And also to the
[2:39] extent that we do do the renovation, the
back wall will be an acoustical wall. So
[2:44] and and we're also looking at uh sound
sort of deafening uh flooring for for
[2:52] the floor. So it's something that is on
our radar. It is a priority to us. We
[2:55] understand the limitations of this room.
>> I just wanted to remind you again of
[3:00] that. And um
uh there's another public space that I
[3:05] um
have visited frequently that had a
[3:08] carpet, industrial carpet, and they
replaced it with uh
[3:12] vinyl wood.
And the echo is substantial.
[3:17] So um
um whatever you're considering for the
[3:21] flooring,
please take into account that this room
[3:25] is not a very
uh good uh
[3:28] acoustic room. The other question had to
do with the statement in the
[3:34] » [sighs]
>> uh
[3:36] whatever it's called.
The um
[3:40] » The evaluation.
>> Yeah.
[3:41] » It's a preliminary study.
>> Yeah, preliminary study. I didn't quite
[3:46] understand the rationale for no elevator
in that building.
[3:53] Does this mean that the if there is no
elevator, does it mean that nothing on
[3:59] the top floor will occur that the public
or that
[4:04] council members or staff who are
challenged mobility can't use.
[4:12] So, that's
>> So,
[4:16] the elevator
the elevator
[4:20] would
is not off the table.
[4:24] The question is where to put it.
Where it was originally thought to be
[4:29] put
on the side of the building
[4:32] would have incurred a
I think it I think the architect said
[4:37] over $600,000.
The question is whether that's the
[4:41] priority because what we're what our
plan would be and it's still a
[4:45] preliminary plan is to move all of the
services to the first floor. So, it
[4:51] would be accessible and and I'll make an
announcement later, but that's that's
[4:55] the goal. It's
>> Well, and and one of the things I want
[4:57] to remind you is that occasionally
the town of Pelham
[5:03] employs people
and these employees
[5:08] have to go up and down steps
which may be challenging for some people
[5:14] and
you know, it's going to be an increasing
[5:17] problem rather than something that
it's in the past and while none of you
[5:25] have any
because you're such athletes and
[5:30] able to leap tall buildings in a
single bound, you may not realize the
[5:35] challenges that climbing up those steep
stairs
[5:40] provide. So, I really think that you
know, you have to
[5:45] either declare you're never going to use
the second floor for anything
[5:49] uh
or figure out some way that people can
[5:53] get up there that have mobility
challenges.
[5:57] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[6:01] » Any other public comment?
[6:05] Okay.
All right, let's move on to reports.
[6:09] Uh we'll start with um town council
reports, Deputy Supervisor
[6:14] Ortiz.
>> Um thank you. Highlights for July for
[6:18] EMS stats.
Um Pelham EMS responded to 96 calls in
[6:23] July, 46 calls in the town in the
Village of Pelham, and 39 calls in the
[6:28] Village of Pelham Manor. Average
response time 5.4
[6:33] minutes.
Um on-scene time 16.7
[6:38] minutes, and average transport transport
time 12.9 minutes. Um
[6:44] we supported neighboring communities
with mutual aid, 11 mutual aid responses
[6:49] out, and we received nine mutual aid
responses in. Um
[6:54] ambulance operations are performing well
financially with revenues outpacing
[6:59] expenditures. So, ambulance revenue has
generated um 65% of the annual budget um
[7:06] ahead of
July.
[7:09] Um sorry, August.
Our fuel expenses are up 40% since March
[7:15] um and our new ambulance is expected to
be delivered at the end of the month.
[7:21] Um
I did want to highlight legislation that
[7:25] was recently updated. New York State
recently strengthened its EMS
[7:29] sustainability planning law, which took
effect in December of 2025,
[7:35] and was further refined through
implementing legislation in March of
[7:39] 2026.
The law recognizes EMS as an essential
[7:43] public service and requires every county
to develop a comprehensive long-term EMS
[7:48] sustainability plan in partnership with
municipalities, EMS providers,
[7:54] hospitals, and other stakeholders.
Um
[7:57] this is important for Westchester
County. It means leading that they will
[8:01] lead a countywide planning effort that
will help ensure reliable EMS service,
[8:05] strengthen regional coordination and
mutual aid, and position communities
[8:09] like Pelham for future state support.
And um this is a significant advance
[8:14] over what we've had, shifting it from a
municipality by municipality approach
[8:20] [clears throat] to a coordinated
countywide effort.
[8:23] So, I hope that results in more funding
for a program like ours, which is one of
[8:30] the models um in the county and the
state.
[8:34] Thank you.
Any questions?
[8:38] Comments? Concerns?
>> I don't have a question on that, but
[8:42] thank you for that report. Um any
updates on the website?
[8:47] » Yeah.
The website is in the process of being
[8:53] um overhauled, and it should be updated
within I'm I'm I'm not going to guess,
[8:59] but it's soon-ish.
>> Um just
[9:04] the recreation department fall sign-ups
start very soon, so I want to make sure
[9:09] there's no um
interruption
[9:12] » Yes.
>> for them, but also
[9:16] the link recreation department landing
page from the recre- from the Pelham
[9:22] town site is
>> Yes.
[9:26] » sort of law.
>> Yes.
[9:27] » And then it goes into the sign-up, so if
we could
[9:32] all work together to make sure that's
exciting.
[9:36] » Noted. Yes.
>> entertaining, and more information than
[9:39] just [clears throat] the list of
everything we've ever offered.
[9:43] » Okay.
>> Yes, thank you.
[9:49] » Thank you.
Um
[9:51] Councilwoman Burke?
[9:55] » You know what? I'll hold that.
I feel like it never works for me, but
[9:58] it's working now. Okay, great.
Um okay, so we have our new court clerk
[10:02] starting who started today.
>> Wow.
[10:05] » Um his name is Bruno Barbosa. Um and
he's going to be covering both the
[10:09] vehicle and traffic and the criminal
court dockets um
[10:14] along with Nick and Diana. So um
probably a good week to start. I think
[10:17] there's no court sessions this week, so
it's a good good week to sort of uh
[10:22] phase into it. So so welcome to Bruno. I
haven't met him yet, so I'm looking
[10:26] forward to meeting him.
Um that's it for the courts. Um
[10:31] just quickly
um
[10:34] a Glover update um another meeting was
convened with the um
[10:39] our local municipalities and the school.
Uh we're still trying to move that
[10:43] forward. We're waiting to have another
meeting with the commissioner from Mount
[10:47] Vernon.
Um and just the last thing in when
[10:51] discussing the facilities planning, um
the study also talked about the parking
[10:57] area and you know, there's going to be a
lot to be done with that. And just a
[11:02] reminder that we do have a $30,000 grant
for EV charger.
[11:06] Um and I
So if you know, there's sort of any
[11:09] discussion about a ter-
see if there's a way to potentially
[11:13] bring that in if we're adding spaces. I
know it's not a priority, but we do have
[11:17] it and um I know there was
issues with elec- electric and sort of
[11:22] the um
supporting all the electricity needed,
[11:26] but just something that I didn't want to
lose sight of completely. So that's it
[11:30] for me.
[11:34] » Councilman Jenks.
[11:37] » So, um
one of the
[11:41] emergency response calls from July was a
call to the library.
[11:46] And uh the library So, the library had a
patron who had a a medical emergency and
[11:51] and everything worked out uh well.
Uh but the library just um wanted to
[11:56] express its appreciation to Pelham Manor
Police Department, um to the Pelham EMS
[12:01] service,
um for
[12:04] uh
handling everything very professionally.
[12:09] » [clears throat]
>> Um
[12:12] during one of the heavier rains in July,
I think,
[12:18] um
there was a little bit of water uh
[12:21] coming into the basement that uh
was close to where the IT equipment is
[12:28] in the basement. Um no
uh no damage, but um
[12:35] uh a close call. Um and then
for
[12:41] uh
[12:45] the early July, when there was power
outages, the library was also one of the
[12:50] um
sites for
[12:53] uh cooling center in Pelham as well.
Um
[12:58] as far as uh
engagement with the library in July,
[13:02] there were 5,207
um
[13:06] door count.
Um there's a
[13:10] scavenger hunt uh at the library, which
um
[13:14] my daughter was happy to do and and
happy to find uh
[13:18] everything on the list.
Um
[13:21] 1,412 adults and children
in July attended across 69 programs.
[13:28] Um
I mentioned the summer reading program
[13:32] on last meeting
and happy to say that um
[13:37] first
whatever the um there was a technical
[13:40] issue with the ability to reset your
target goal in the app that um it is now
[13:46] easy to do. So, uh if you're if you set
your target at a cookie and you meet
[13:51] that goal and this is not just for kids,
this is for adults as well. If you meet
[13:55] that goal um and you get your cookie
certificate, you can
[13:59] uh if you want to challenge yourself um
change to the goal for ice cream in the
[14:04] app and your your calendar gets reset.
So,
[14:08] uh a lot easier to track your progress
against getting your pizza or your ice
[14:11] cream or your
cookies uh as well.
[14:15] Um so, thank you to the library for that
and and um just as far as participation
[14:21] um
[14:23] So, as of
today, well, I guess maybe not the end
[14:29] of today, but mostly through today, uh
268 children have signed up for the
[14:34] program.
Collectively, they've read 37,101
[14:38] minutes.
Um 35 children have earned certificates
[14:42] for ice cream.
Uh 41 children have earned gift
[14:45] certificates for pizza and 57 children
have earned a little bird cookie. So, my
[14:50] daughter has gotten a cookie and an ice
cream and I think her next target she's
[14:54] setting it to be a a slice of pizza.
Um
[14:59] The uh the library also, as as you might
recall from the last meeting, uh had the
[15:06] very first um puzzle race competition.
And uh I'm happy to say that it was
[15:14] fully subscribed
highly competitive.
[15:18] What I'm not happy to say is that um not
only did my team not win,
[15:23] not only did we
get beat by every other team,
[15:27] we didn't finish within the allotted
time.
[15:30] » [laughter]
>> So, it's it's really not that easy.
[15:34] Uh it's quite challenging, and I I
invite everybody to um
[15:38] sign up for the next one. I think the
plan is for it to be at least twice a
[15:42] year, maybe four times a year. So, it it
was a lot of fun. It was a really great
[15:45] way to spend I think it was
um a bit of a drizzly day uh in the
[15:50] library with some friendly competition
and a little bit of
[15:54] uh fun light trash talking.
Um and then every team got to take home
[15:59] the copy of their puzzle afterwards.
But, I wasn't the only one that had a
[16:03] great time. Um there was a note shared
from another uh participant um saying
[16:08] that they wanted to say thank you for
such a great event. It was well
[16:11] organized with clear instructions, and
overall it was just a lot of fun.
[16:15] Um
[16:18] Thank you so much for all the great
programs at the Pelham Library. As an
[16:20] introvert, I've always been a little shy
about doing any of the events, but this
[16:24] event showed me how inviting and
friendly these events are. I will
[16:27] definitely be doing more.
Uh and that's it from the library.
[16:31] » Thank you.
Um Councilwoman McLaughlin.
[16:35] » [clears throat]
[16:39] » Sadly, this is the last week of summer
camps, um
[16:44] which were
attended
[16:48] in record numbers, and uh they braved
90-plus degree days,
[16:56] thunderstorms, hailstorms, and
and really bad air quality, and the
[17:03] staff and the rec department and every
single camper
[17:08] crushed it. They were awesome.
Um there will still be soccer and tennis
[17:13] clinics available weeks of August 10th,
17th, 24th, and that very important
[17:20] week, August 31st.
Sign up is
[17:24] on the website. Registration for
cheerleading and football is open. After
[17:30] school registration falls
Registration is will be open at the end
[17:36] of August, and then email will be sent
out to everyone, and flyers will be put
[17:41] in the backpacks on the first week of
school.
[17:46] In about 10 minutes, we'll hear from 8th
Avenue live, which is the band playing
[17:53] at Gazebo Park.
The rest of the summer
[17:57] is August 10th, The Truth.
And they don't bend it.
[18:03] Um
>> [laughter]
[18:06] » Stop laughing.
It's clever.
[18:09] » August 17th, Bookends.
August 24th, Philip James Orchestra, and
[18:14] I have a feeling they might be the
longest playing band there.
[18:20] And August 31st, Jackie DiMaggio. We
want to thank our sponsors over the
[18:25] course of the summer, Rockwells,
Meridian,
[18:29] um
and I'm going to miss one.
[18:31] » Fred Gallo.
>> Fred Gallo, and then there was one
[18:35] » The Gallo family trust.
>> Gallo family trust, and
[18:39] so we really appreciate that. That helps
[clears throat]
[18:42] defer some of the costs.
Palling Together's internship program
[18:47] began last week, and that was their soft
skills and in-office training, and then
[18:55] it continues for the next 3 weeks with
the mentors at the companies, so with
[18:59] the companies.
Book your Pal-A-Zones party now. You can
[19:05] go to the website there.
[19:10] And our seniors, of course, have been
very, very busy because
[19:15] they never stop.
Uh right, Ed Doty? Uh
[19:21] we had exercise and movement Tuesdays
and Thursdays 10:00 to 11:00, yoga
[19:25] Fridays 10:00 to 11:00, Glorfield
walking um Wednesdays 10:00 to 11:00,
[19:32] and that's an outdoor event, so when
it's pouring rain, they do cancel that.
[19:37] Arts and crafts are the first Thursday
of the month 1:00 to 3:00, mahjong
[19:42] lessons Wednesdays 12:30 to 1:30, that's
free free for people who are 55 and
[19:48] above.
Um which I may be joining next week. Um
[19:53] card playing Mondays after the meeting
2:00 to 3:30,
[19:57] Wednesdays and Fridays 12:00 to 3:00,
and bingo after the meetings 2:00 to
[20:02] 3:00. So, on those days, you have to
choose between card playing and bingo.
[20:09] » [laughter]
>> Uh all the activities will continue for
[20:11] the month of August, and I'm sure there
will be a lunch and a field trip
[20:17] included.
>> They're going to a casino.
[20:20] » Yes, they're going to Atlantic City.
>> I thought they were going to Mohegan
[20:23] Sun.
What? I thought it was Mohegan Sun. It's
[20:27] okay.
>> Atlantic City was last month. Next month
[20:30] is Mohegan Sun.
>> Okay.
[20:31] » Thank you, Laura.
>> You're welcome.
[20:35] » I don't gamble, so
>> Neither do I.
[20:37] » If they need a chaperone, I'll be there.
>> [laughter]
[20:40] » I think they gamble. They might need a
bus driver.
[20:45] Thank you, everyone.
>> Thank you.
[20:48] Okay, let's move on to the
um
[20:52] to the first um
to the supervisor's report. First order
[20:57] of business, I'd like to welcome Kate
McGovern, who is our talented intern for
[21:02] the summer.
>> Thank you.
[21:05] » [applause]
>> We're I'm happy to have you. Thank you
[21:08] for uh
being with us.
[21:11] Um
The second is an announcement. Um
[21:15] as we've been talking since January
about creating make making our services
[21:21] more
accessible to the public. Um I'm very
[21:25] happy to report that our town's clerk's
office is now moved to the first floor
[21:30] of town hall.
Um and we've also installed a phone. So
[21:35] you can somebody who's coming into the
building can just pick up the phone and
[21:39] then somebody can come down and help
them. So they no longer have to walk up
[21:42] the two flights of stairs.
I I think this it
[21:46] it seems small, but when you had to walk
up two flights of stairs to get your
[21:51] handicap permit, it was it was
insurmountable in some cases and it was
[21:56] really it was not
it was very very sad. Uh so I'm very
[22:00] happy that we were able to do that.
And thank you
[22:04] our deputy town clerk, Laura Drummond,
for agreeing to move down to the first
[22:07] floor.
Um the second thing that I'd like to
[22:11] talk about is
we needed we need new lights for Draco
[22:16] the hallway out here.
Um we've been working with the
[22:19] architects on that. This is what I think
we're going to go with.
[22:27] Um we need eight of them. The total cost
including the light bulbs cost
[22:33] $1,800
and change. Um but I did want to bring
[22:36] it to your attention because we will be
we'll we'll be swapping them out.
[22:40] Apparently
uh
[22:43] Phillips can no longer change the light
bulbs.
[22:45] So [clears throat]
this is we'll have better lighting these
[22:48] lighting with these light lights and it
will go with whatever we do with the
[22:53] changes
uh in the future.
[22:56] » Those look lovely.
>> Thank you.
[22:58] Um
Okay. So
[23:02] that's all I have. Does anybody have any
questions with regard to the financial
[23:06] reports that our controller sent out?
The the general ledger and then the
[23:11] statements of revenues and expenditures.
>> Just one question. Remind me the Iron
[23:17] Mountain
that's for the storage of the records.
[23:21] » Yeah, we we are
>> Not shredding, just [clears throat]
[23:23] stor- just storing.
>> so, um
[23:26] both the our town clerk and deputy town
clerk have been working on understanding
[23:30] what's in Iron Mountain. They've
identified a number of boxes that can be
[23:34] destroyed.
>> Okay.
[23:35] » Um we're trying to figure out the most
cost-effective way to do that. Um and
[23:40] we're we're planning on trying to
That that's something that's that we're
[23:44] working towards.
>> Thank you.
[23:48] » Okay, there have been no
other questions.
[23:52] All right, let's move on to the first
resolution.
[23:55] Um
when we did the handbook back in April,
[23:59] um moving it from the
the prior handbook to the new handbook,
[24:03] there was we made some substantial
changes.
[24:07] Um one of those was an oversight. We
have a personal leave section in the new
[24:13] handbook, but we didn't identify the
days.
[24:15] And the old handbook gave two two
personal days. What I'd like to do is
[24:20] one of the resolutions is to update it
to to provide those two personal days.
[24:24] That was an oversight
um on my part.
[24:28] Um the second was we we introduced a new
sick leave policy. The sick leave policy
[24:34] um was not greeted with um an
that the the staff wanted to return to
[24:40] the
prior sick leave policy. There's no
[24:43] issue with that. It's We give them In
the In the past we gave them 12 days and
[24:48] it um it it does not carry over. The new
policy was eight days and it did carry
[24:54] over. Um so, I'm recommending that we go
back to the old policy since that's what
[24:59] our staff wants.
So, this resolution
[25:03] um in front of you is amending the town
um of Kala personnel handbook regarding
[25:08] personal leave and sick leave.
Are there any questions? Any discussion?
[25:16] May I have a motion?
>> So moved.
[25:19] » Second?
>> Second.
[25:20] » All in favor?
>> Aye.
[25:23] » Okay, the the
next resolution, which is
[25:27] the last resolution, is
as you know, we've been looking at
[25:33] improving our financial software. We
looked at a number of different vendors.
[25:39] Um
the cost to do that was exorbitant. Um,
[25:43] we loved the features, but but the it
was in the
[25:48] you know, basically $20 to $30,000 for
us to do that with an increase in the
[25:52] ongoing cost.
We We reached out to our current
[25:56] financial software provider, Harris, and
um and they actually have modules and
[26:02] also can host our our financial
software. Um, so we can access it. We
[26:09] can all access it
um without having to be in town hall.
[26:13] And it the new software modules will
allow us to do budgeting. It will allow
[26:18] us to do cash reconciliation and a
number of other things. The cost the the
[26:23] one-time cost this year will be in the I
think $4,000.
[26:30] It will increase our ongoing cost from
$3,000 to about $7,000 a year, but I
[26:35] think it's well worth it to add these
modules. I think it's going to really
[26:39] help. Right now, we do manual
reconciliation. This will allow us to do
[26:44] it in a much clearer way. Um, as well as
having budgeting online and a host of
[26:49] other things that we'll be able to
access.
[26:52] So, this is the formal resolution to
approve the upgrades to our financial
[26:57] software.
Um
[26:59] any discussion?
>> Well, what
[27:03] My recollection is the modules will
allow
[27:09] a little bit cleaner reporting as well.
So,
[27:13] um
[27:15] instead of
um having financial reporting of the
[27:20] general ledger and and the way that we
have the revenue and expenses now, we'll
[27:24] be able to make it a little more
organized so that it can be more
[27:29] insightful when reported.
>> Yes. Yes, and and the what I've started
[27:35] to look at now is um
our budget year-to-date cuz we're we're
[27:41] halfway through the year. Um it will
allow us to do that in a much cleaner
[27:44] way. And I think that will be very
helpful. Um
[27:49] some of the things we've started doing
is each department is getting their
[27:52] budget um
on a monthly basis so they're more aware
[27:57] of what their expenses are and what
their
[28:00] their budget is. So, that's another
change that we made that will hopefully
[28:04] also help.
Um but but yes.
[28:07] Thank you.
Any other questions? Any discussion? May
[28:12] I have a motion?
>> So moved.
[28:14] » Second.
>> All in favor?
[28:16] » Aye.
>> Okay.
[28:18] All right.
Um
[28:20] Now for the approval of the minutes of
July 13th, 2026 minutes.
[28:25] Any
any suggestions to the minutes?
[28:28] » I sent um just a very minor adjustment
to clarify from
[28:34] uh
there was
[28:37] I think some confusion about the date
for the sale of Oktoberfest tickets and
[28:43] then the date of Oktoberfest itself and
I just wanted to clarify. I mean the the
[28:47] tickets are on sale now, so changing the
minutes for the on sale date I don't
[28:51] think it makes sense, but I just wanted
to clarify in the minutes as well to put
[28:55] the actual date of Oktoberfest, which is
October 3rd, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
[28:58] » Thank you.
So, can I have a motion to approve the
[29:02] minutes as amended?
>> So moved.
[29:05] » Second.
>> Second.
[29:06] » All in favor?
>> Aye.
[29:07] » Aye.
>> Um
[29:09] before we go to executive session, I
would like to say that we would like to
[29:14] acknowledge the passing of William
Clements.
[29:18] Um he served at our as
assessment board of review
[29:23] uh on our assessment board of review for
over 20 years, and our condolences go
[29:28] out to his children uh David and Sarah
and his three grandchildren.
[29:32] Um we are
very sad for his passing and appreciate
[29:36] the service that he gave to the town of
Colrain.
[29:38] So, thank you.
Um okay.
[29:42] Now, can we adjourn to executive
session?
[29:45] » Yes.
>> So moved.
[29:46] » Second.
>> Second.
[29:47] » All in favor?
>> Aye.
[29:49] » For
purpose?
[29:51] » Oh, for personnel discussion of
personnel issues.
[29:54] » Thank you.
>> All right, in time for the meeting.
[29:58] » Um I I I tried so hard.