[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.

Town Council Meeting - August 3, 2026

Transcript