[0:08] Good evening everybody.
[0:13] » You're on.
[0:18] » Good evening everybody.
[0:22] if we can start
start our meeting.
[0:27] And we're going to start off uh today's
town board meeting September 3rd, 2026
[0:33] um with a the first public hearing on
the proposed building department fee
[0:38] amendments.
Has anybody signed up? Does anyone have
[0:42] any comments?
Signed up to speak. Interested in
[0:45] speaking?
Okay, we'll close the public hearing.
[0:50] The second public hearing, uh, proposed
amendments to chapter 29,
[0:55] article 26, uh, on signs.
>> 29.
[1:02] » Oh, no. 26. Sorry. Chapter 29. My fault.
>> Latin was a long time ago for me.
[1:10] » Um,
is there anybody who's interested in
[1:14] speaking on the
the sign and amendment. Okay, go ahead,
[1:20] John.
>> John McAfflin Road. I just want to
[1:24] disagree with it. That's all you were my
responses before in the past, but uh
[1:28] that's all. Thanks. Thanks.
>> Okay. Anybody else?
[1:32] » I'd like to speak on that.
>> Okay.
[1:34] » Michael Bryce Lou,
I've been looking into these sign
[1:39] things. I understand what you're looking
for, but you guys have a million more
[1:45] important things to worry about in this
town than signs. Signs have been going
[1:50] up for 30 years, 40 years probably.
Construction signs, selling eggs, uh,
[1:57] garage sales. Now all of a sudden, it's
coming election time and now there's a
[2:01] little sign issue and we all, everybody
in Wilton knows really what it's about.
[2:05] But why put so much effort into things
when maybe you can learn different
[2:10] things what you need to know such as
emergency response reverse 911 scenarios
[2:17] not signs give it a break already for
God's sake
[2:21] » okay thank you Mike
anybody else want to speak all right
[2:28] we'll close the public hearing
and we'll call to order our regular town
[2:34] board meeting and we'll start with the
pledge of allegiance
[2:42] to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for it
[2:48] stands one nation under God indivisible
and justice for all.
[2:58] Uh, roll call. Sue.
>> Supervisor Stern present.
[3:02] » Deputy Supervisor Rowan
>> present.
[3:05] » Councilman
>> here.
[3:07] » Councilwoman Culligan
>> here. Councilman Okconor
[3:09] » here.
>> And uh, public comment section. Has
[3:14] anyone signed up to speak?
>> Kristen Allen.
[3:22] » Good evening. Kristen Allen. 714 Wilford
Road. The history of this case is
[3:27] available through foil, but the public
record doesn't capture its cost. I began
[3:32] smelling sewage in February 2024.
February became spring, summer, fall,
[3:37] winter again, and spring again. I
shoveled snow while my nose was freezing
[3:41] from the cold and burning from sewage
odors. I tended my gardens on hot summer
[3:45] days, unable to escape the smell. I
stopped using my windows, and I even
[3:49] bought a hydrogen sulfide gas detector.
Have you ever been drinking your morning
[3:54] coffee when suddenly you smell sewage
coming in through the sliding door?
[3:58] Or have you ever been jolted awake in
the dark because the smell of sewage has
[4:01] filled your bedroom? Because I have.
Work is performed outside the town's
[4:06] instruction and the town expects it to
fail. Over a year of sewage exposure,
[4:11] another year in counting with no risk of
it happening again.
[4:15] The town tells me this is the priority
that it will take stay on top of. After
[4:18] years of the town's nonchalance, I no
longer trust that. So, I supervise it
[4:22] myself. I've tracked deadlines, caught
delays, followed up, and attended court.
[4:27] I do not work for the town, but the
town's own attorneys have now caused
[4:30] three preventable delays. Eight more
weeks lost. My third entire summer gone.
[4:38] The town has expressed frustration to me
about the town's own performance. The
[4:42] town has shown patience and financial
concern for people who refuse to comply,
[4:46] cooperate, or even communicate.
Meanwhile, as my hardships pile up, the
[4:50] town reminds me of their rights and
tells me repeatedly that this case is
[4:53] unusual because, quote, "Most people
comply. Again and again, I pay the price
[4:58] for the town's cavalier words and
actions. Town government is responsible
[5:02] for the safety and wellbeing of its
residents. I came to my government
[5:06] because an unimaginable harm is being
imposed on me.
[5:10] I needed help and I didn't get it. For
you, this is paperwork, but for me, it's
[5:13] my life. Even when the town acts, a lack
of follow-through and oversight allows
[5:18] preventable failures to continue. From
the start and over and over since, the
[5:23] town has treated something severe in my
life like it can wait.
[5:27] In a case involving sewage, the only
unyielding supervision has been mine,
[5:30] and that is appalling. I need relief,
but I can't count on my town has hurt
[5:35] me.
Please consider how much of this you
[5:39] would tolerate before you felt violated
in your own home and abandoned by your
[5:42] town. How many summers would you give up
while having to make sure your own
[5:46] government holds itself accountable?
The next Supreme Court date is September
[5:51] 9th. I expect my elected leaders to one,
make sure the town's paid legal
[5:55] representatives are prepared for
possible outcomes and next steps, and
[5:59] two, regardless of how the court rules,
treat this with urgency until there is
[6:03] compliance or consequences. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[6:13] Thank you. Thank you,
John McCack.
[6:26] Again, John McCack.
[6:32] Good evening, everyone. I want to take a
few moments to thank the people who
[6:35] stepped up when the tornado hit our
neighborhood and left so many families
[6:39] facing a difficult and frightening
situation. First, I want to recognize
[6:43] our town highway department. Mike, uh
you were there when the roads were
[6:48] blocked, trees were down, and our
community needed help. Your hard work,
[6:51] long hours, and dedication helped begin
the process of getting our neighborhoods
[6:55] back on its feet. We are grateful for
everything you did. I also want to thank
[7:00] our first responders and all emergency
services. The men and women who answered
[7:04] the call, assessed the damage, helped
keep people safe, and responded to the
[7:08] needs of our residents deserve our
deepest appreciation. In a crisis, we
[7:13] count on you and showed up for our
community. But most importantly, I want
[7:18] to thank the citizens of Wilton who came
out to help their neighbors. You didn't
[7:22] wait to be asked. You saw someone who
needed help, and you stepped forward.
[7:26] You cleared branches, checked on
families, helped clean up, and offered a
[7:29] helping hand wherever it was needed.
That is what makes a community strong. A
[7:34] tornado can damage homes, knock down
trees, and disrupt our lives. But it
[7:38] cannot destroy the spirit of a community
that cares about one another. And that
[7:42] spirit was on full display right here in
our neighborhood. To every person who
[7:46] picked up a chainsaw, moved a branch,
checked on a elderly neighbor, helped a
[7:50] family, or simply showed up to lend a
hand, thank you. Your kindness and
[7:54] generosity made a big difference. We
often talk about what makes a town a
[7:59] great place to live. It's not just our
roads, our parks, and our buildings.
[8:02] It's the people who live here. It's its
willingness to stand together when times
[8:07] are tough. And after this storm, I could
not be prouder of our community. Thank
[8:11] you to our highway department, our first
responders, all emergency services, and
[8:16] especially our neighbors. You reminded
us when one of us is hurting, we all
[8:20] come together. That's what kind of
community we are and that's the kind of
[8:23] community we will continue to be. Thank
you and God bless Wilton Strong.
[8:29] » Thank you.
>> Thank you, John.
[8:33] » Mike Bryce,
[8:41] » I'd like to ask you guys something here
because it's been going around on social
[8:44] media. Why? When you Google the town of
Wilton, it comes up. The town of Wilton
[8:52] consists of town supervisor Tony Stern,
deputy supervisor Conor Ruin, and Joe
[8:59] Conneal.
Okay. The board holds regular meetings
[9:03] on the first Thursday of every month,
700 p.m. Then states, key town
[9:08] officials. Tony Stern, town supervisor.
Conor Ruin, deputy town supervisor. Joe
[9:14] Canaly, town board member. Sue Baldwin,
town clerk, Mike Monroe, highway
[9:20] superintendent. David Town, and Chad
Gerro.
[9:25] Why the two longest standing members on
this board are not on it. Okay. It's
[9:31] very deceiving for people who have voted
for them, who might want to get in
[9:36] contact with them, or know more of
what's going on, and they're eliminated
[9:40] from the website. Why is that? And just
so you know, I already showed it to them
[9:44] if you'd like to see it.
>> Could we see it?
[9:46] » When did they come up?
>> 8 weeks. It's been this way so far that
[9:50] I know of.
>> Mike, is that the website or just
[9:52] Google?
>> It's a Google AI summary.
[9:54] » It's just a Google we can't control.
>> I Googled Maro, Boston, numerous ones.
[10:01] They show everybody. So, somebody put
your names on there, but they eliminated
[10:07] those names. Mike curious why that is.
>> The people who control the algorithm of
[10:13] Google are the people who own Google.
>> Okay. So they that's your answer. I'm
[10:18] just asking is that's your answer?
>> We don't control Google cuz on the
[10:22] website people are listed. So it's
peculiar and it's puzzling but
[10:28] » it's very deceiving. I find that they
were on it when you did this two years
[10:33] ago. They were on it. Every board member
was on it. Now it's not on there.
[10:38] » So we do some googling here.
>> Yeah.
[10:41] » And I have it right here now. Uh maybe
it's on there now, but this was been
[10:45] going on social media for a while now
why they've been eliminated. So that's
[10:50] the question to you.
>> But that's a Google issue. It's not.
[10:53] » But even so, as the town supervisor, you
should now that you're aware of it, you
[10:57] should try to check into it. I correct
it.
[11:00] » Do you have Do you have a bio on the
website?
[11:04] » I think I do.
>> Do you have a bio on the website? Yeah,
[11:06] I think so. Do you have a bio on the
website?
[11:07] » So, I just I just entered into Google a
question. Who are the Town of Wilton,
[11:12] New York board members? Tony Sturm,
Connor Rowan, Joe Connealy, Aaron
[11:16] Culligan, Rainbow Conor.
>> Well, here it is. I mean, I I did it
[11:19] only because it's been on social media.
And that's what's coming up.
[11:26] » Okay.
>> What? You can't believe everything you
[11:28] see on the internet?
>> Uhoh.
[11:32] » All right. Is there anybody else?
>> Yes. Lee Townson,
[11:40] come on up, Lee.
>> Yeah, you you have to speak in the
[11:43] microphone or else it doesn't go into
the recording.
[11:50] Please,
[11:54] Mount McGregor Road. I just have a
question as to political signs and what
[11:58] is the point that they should be out
within the town. I was under the
[12:03] understanding that it was September 19th
before they should be displayed.
[12:07] » I haven't seen any.
>> I think what's left over is from the
[12:11] primaries.
>> There's all I know is going up the
[12:16] Corinth Mountain Road
there are signs
[12:21] that have been posted.
>> I think those are there's a couple two
[12:26] Constantinos and one Blake Jendabine
that those are left over from the
[12:30] primaries.
cuz the Yeah, the new code is 45 days
[12:35] before the event or before the
>> Okay, I'm just getting a clarification.
[12:41] So, should they be reending?
>> So, I can I can speak to this. I saw the
[12:45] gend park signs and I knew that they
didn't comply. I emailed Steve and I
[12:50] said, Steve, cuz he's the chair of the
Dems and I said, can you please reach
[12:53] out to the Gend campaign and have them
these removed because they're not
[12:57] compliant with the town. And I I he did
he loo me in and I I think I think
[13:02] they're gone. Are they not gone?
>> I didn't personally remove them, but I
[13:06] reach out to the John Dean campaign and
advise them that that's that's the
[13:12] regulation within this town.
>> Yeah. So I think if if there is a sign
[13:17] that isn't compliant that it it should
because they shouldn't be there and if
[13:21] they're maybe left over from the from
the campaign, maybe they're not. Uh
[13:25] reaching out to
>> remove all of them. It would not I
[13:27] wouldn't get arrested or saw these
>> I don't think you'd be arrested but I
[13:31] think the cleanest way
I
[13:36] » agree I think the cleanest way to do it
would be to reach out to John Hurley he
[13:40] can reach out to both of the uh the
chairs of the parties and they can
[13:43] coordinate it with the campaigns
>> and since it's so far out of cycle I
[13:49] think our code enforcement people can
just pick them up and
[13:57] so we'll we can do that.
>> Steve,
[14:01] » I didn't sign up. Would I be allowed to
say something for me?
[14:06] » We have one more person. Oh, so we'll do
one more signed up and then you could go
[14:11] » Franklin me
[14:15] 24.
[14:23] Good evening. First, I'd like to thank
Sandy, Sue, Josh. I've been requesting
[14:27] documents under the project, and they've
been very helpful. This is my third
[14:32] month speaking on the Car Jones project,
trying to show the board how this
[14:35] project misses the intent of traffic
plumbing that we were promised in our
[14:38] comp plan. This appears to be a
traditional roundabout design to satisfy
[14:43] peak hour traffic that will be right for
misuse at any other time. The
[14:48] traditional designs of yesterday led to
the traffic problems of today and the
[14:52] traditional designs of today are going
to lead to to traffic problems of
[14:55] tomorrow.
What are the issues this project is
[14:58] addressing? First, we're trying to fix
intersections with delays and crash
[15:02] rates above the state average. A
roundabout makes sense for those issues.
[15:06] Second, our residents are constantly
asking for help with speeding vehicles
[15:10] in the area. And third, this is a
Keystone project meant to finally bring
[15:14] pedestrian access into the corridor.
But vehicle speed is the number one risk
[15:19] to pedestrians. How does it make sense
to introduce pedestrians into an area
[15:23] where speeding vehicles is an existing
problem that's not also directly
[15:27] addressed? Requests for speed limit
reductions have repeatedly found been
[15:31] found unwarranted. What can we do? We
can engineer traffic calming into our
[15:36] projects to reduce vehicle speed as
identified in our comp plan. Last month
[15:41] we discussed the idea that single lane
roundabouts are traffic calming. Like we
[15:46] learned in elementary school, a square
is always a rhombus, but a rhombus isn't
[15:51] necessarily a square. In the same way, a
single lane roundabout can have traffic
[15:55] calming applied to it. But simply being
a single lane roundabout does not
[15:59] necessarily make traffic control traffic
cal.
[16:03] Would a thousand ft roundabout be
considered traffic calming? No, because
[16:07] traffic calming is inherent to
roundabouts.
[16:10] because it's not to roundabouts. Is the
deliberate application of deflections
[16:14] that quantify it as traffic?
Please see the design plans and ask if
[16:19] these roundabouts have sufficient
deflection to slow traffic. What other
[16:22] elements of traffic calming are
incorporated in this traffic caling
[16:25] project? Why are some of the most
obvious traffic calming measures absent
[16:29] like pedestrian bunk house and compound
curves in the approaches? It's likely
[16:33] because traffic calming was never
requested. Our RFQ did not solicit
[16:38] traffic calling for design. The
engineer's proposal does not call for
[16:41] traffic caling in the design. I haven't
yet reviewed the contract to see the
[16:46] scope services. I don't know if traffic
calming was identified there. How can
[16:50] this be called a traffic calming project
if traffic calming design was never
[16:54] requested? Last month, we learned that
the project is increasing by 1.6 million
[17:00] for cost overruns and landscaping. I
asked the town to consider a better use
[17:04] of those funds would be to include
actual traffic calming measures to
[17:08] address vehicle speed as the residents
are constantly requesting. Thank you.
[17:12] » Thank you. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[17:14] » Could I ask the question? What am I
looking at here?
[17:17] » Those are my markups from the design
plans. Um I hope they give a little bit
[17:22] more maybe a visual understanding to my
words. So the reds are your
[17:26] recommendations or
>> Well, I tried to if I point
[17:32] you can see where this vehicle path is
deflected. They have to go around the
[17:38] roundabout. This path, they have a
slight deflection that they have to that
[17:43] would be like a change lane kind of
movement,
[17:46] but this appears like it's just a wide
open curve and I don't see any
[17:51] deflection in it. Same thing for the
other intersection. And this is just a
[17:55] general idea. The black arrow is the
designed path.
[18:01] A deflection or an appropriate
deflection would be to make them zigzag
[18:04] before they come to the circle so they
can't just blow past it.
[18:07] » Thank you.
[18:15] » Um, anybody else who wants to please
speak? Steve,
[18:27] » Steve Jurian, uh, 8 Woodland Drive. Uh,
just a a quick um comment in regard to
[18:35] the criticism of the lack of attribution
for our board members. Uh the town
[18:41] website very clearly lists elected
officials and they have the most senior
[18:45] at the top, Aaron and Ray. Uh you were
there and uh and then the rest of the
[18:50] board is is mentioned in total. So no
one was slated or left out. There was a
[18:55] picture missing of of Supervisor Stern.
However, so perhaps we will donate a
[19:01] picture to that. That would be
[19:06] » Thank you.
[19:10] The next item, uh, request a motion to
approve the pending minutes
[19:15] with the corrections as have been
submitted.
[19:18] » I'll make a motion to approve the
minutes with the so noted corrections
[19:22] » or amendments.
>> We have a second.
[19:24] » Okay. All in favor? I.
>> Any opposed or abstensions? Okay. Motion
[19:29] passes unanimously.
Next item, uh, follow up on the tornado
[19:36] event. Um,
you know, some of you here have lived
[19:40] through the reality of having trees fall
down, holes in your homes, um, losing
[19:47] electricity for many days. And what John
McCackan said was really, really
[19:54] beautiful that it really evidenced the
town people coming together, the
[19:59] incredible hard work of our highway
department, um, and all the first
[20:03] responders who were out and about. Um it
was a very trying time and they really
[20:11] put themselves out and the highway
department continues to be working every
[20:15] single day clearing brush. The the roads
are completely open now. A lot of the
[20:20] brush piles have been cleared, you know,
at least two times. Um and we're going
[20:25] to continue picking that up
periodically. Um, we engaged a tree
[20:31] company with largecale equipment to help
us and they were able to do a lot of the
[20:37] big clearing along some of the major
roads much quicker. Um, and I know
[20:42] people were very frustrated that it
seemed to take a long time to get into
[20:47] the smaller neighborhoods, especially
the one around Glenn Bernie and that
[20:51] whole neighborhood that was especially
hard hit. But the town's priority always
[20:55] has to be the major roads first to be
able to get first responders to
[21:01] different parts of town. Um, and I think
it's wonderful that the residents in
[21:06] those heavily hit neighborhoods, they
banded together and they cleared. They
[21:10] did a lot of the road clearing
themselves. Um, but I I think the
[21:15] community just shown in terms of their
response and our highway department did
[21:20] as well. Um, so I and there's was no
reported injuries at all, which is truly
[21:27] remarkable
if you see, you know, when you go online
[21:31] and you see the swaths of of trees down.
So I I think as a community we can be
[21:37] proud of ourselves. Um, there was
frustrations with town hall's
[21:42] communication to the residents and
that's something that I've been looking
[21:46] into. Somebody at our emergency town
hall meeting Monday morning mentioned,
[21:50] "Well, what about the reverse 911
system?" It doesn't exist anymore. Um,
[21:55] what there is instead is a system that's
been rolled out um by the county goes by
[22:02] the acronym Wens WS, wireless emergency
notification system. And I had posted it
[22:10] on our website maybe 6 weeks ago
encouraging people to sign up for it.
[22:15] And now I'm really encouraging people to
sign up for it. There's a the bright
[22:20] orange paper on the side there. It's got
a QR code. It was it will be posted
[22:26] again prominently on our website. Um I
think there's even handouts, paper
[22:32] copies.
>> Um that is for Homeland Security
[22:36] emergency service. Okay. So that's to u
submit a claim if
[22:42] » so there's that's a separate thing.
Yeah. So, um, so there also is listed a
[22:48] link to go if you don't have a
smartphone to take pictures.
[22:53] somebody out in the audience we know
still doesn't but um
[22:59] there's the link on the county and you
can also go to the county website to the
[23:02] department of emergency management and
right there there's like four options
[23:06] and one of them is sign up for emergency
notifications
[23:10] and agenda and al yes yes it's and it's
listed on the agenda as well and what
[23:16] that allows us unfortunately it relies
on the on the public to do the active
[23:22] signing up. Um, but it then will allow
us to post notifications
[23:27] to reach out to people that we'll be
able to post ourselves without going
[23:31] through getting our website provider to
post something on the website. So, it
[23:36] can be really instantaneous.
Um, and so we're working on that. The
[23:42] other mechanism for us reaching out to
people is through the town email. And
[23:47] that's another thing that you know we're
working on posting more and more things
[23:52] and reaching out to people. So I'm we'll
encourage people on our main main page
[23:57] of the town website on the left hand
side there's a whole row of you know
[24:01] items to do and near the top or
somewhere up there is sign up for town
[24:06] email. Um so we're really encouraging
people to do that cuz that will also
[24:11] allow us to communicate faster and
better. And we're working with our um
[24:16] internet provider, not our internet, but
our webpage provider because things
[24:20] postings and the email has always had to
go through them to place these things
[24:26] and you know on a Friday night or when
we're down and phone service is down and
[24:31] our email is down. So, we're going to
reclaim control over our email account
[24:37] to be able to ourselves just shoot out
emails to people um which will allow
[24:42] obviously much faster communication. Um
one of the things we talked about at the
[24:48] emergency meeting was um we talked about
the extent of the pickup of tree debris,
[24:56] branches and things like that um and non
uh tree debris. So, our tree to be
[25:03] debris pickup, we're going to finish at
this point have the last put out of
[25:10] bundles and and just debris within that
ride ofway. So, it needs to be right up
[25:14] close to the road Sunday, September
13th. So, people have two more weekends
[25:20] to get stuff out and then we'll be
coming around Monday and perhaps Tuesday
[25:24] if need be. But people need that's the
end where people have to put their tree
[25:29] debris out right next to the road. Um
we're working with the county to be able
[25:34] to pick up similar debris from, you
know, houses that are on the county
[25:39] roads and we still haven't contacted
fully with the state to to find out, you
[25:43] know, when they're going to be doing
that and if they'll be doing that for a
[25:47] more extended time. Um,
we I spoke with people or we spoke with
[25:53] people at County Waste and those people
who have County Waste as their trash
[25:57] service, they they pick up 10 bags of of
yard waste free and I push them to
[26:04] increase that to 15 or 20 bags with each
round where they come around. And I
[26:09] haven't heard back from them, but to
remind people if you're a county waste
[26:12] person, you've got at least 10 bags that
they'll pick up each time. Cassella or
[26:17] Twin Bridges, whatever they're known as
now, has no limit on their bags. And
[26:22] they do accept sticks and things tied
up. You don't have to tie up your sticks
[26:26] because we'll be picking up sticks. But
they clearly said, "Don't put any sticks
[26:30] in the bags. We will not pick up a bag
if we see sticks in it." So, um, but
[26:35] that's already been their policy, so
it's just a reminder. Um, building
[26:39] debris, we had talked about at the
emergency board meeting. Um, and
[26:46] Ry had some connections through Veterans
Connections, a company called Jay Dog
[26:51] that picks up refu um building debris,
things like that. And we weren't able to
[26:57] get a commitment from them of a reduced
price, but they did say that if volume
[27:01] is sufficient, they will do that. So
that's one possibility you could try or
[27:07] any of one of the 1800 got junk junk
something like that. We've also arranged
[27:12] for two rolloff big trash collection
things. Um, one dumpsters. Yes, sorry.
[27:21] Um, one at Gavin Park and one at Town
Hall. They will be available for people
[27:26] to bring things to. Not
yard weight, not trees and and leaves,
[27:32] but construction type debris starting
this Wednesday for 2 weeks. However, no
[27:39] sheet metal, no concrete, no
electronics, no hazardous material. And
[27:44] that will go up on our website and the
email list again tomorrow to make sure
[27:48] that that's clear. And we'll put signs
on those dumpsters. So, the one at Gavin
[27:53] Park is going to be right off the
Beverly
[27:56] Street exit parking lot. So, if you come
in Beverly Street, the closest parking
[28:01] lot, and at Town Hall here, it'll be
sort of to the side or behind the senior
[28:05] center. So, it will be easily visible
and we're asking people to go just
[28:10] during daylight hours, but that allows
them to do that on the weekends as well.
[28:15] Um,
and there's one final thing to that
[28:19] we're asking people who experienced
storm damage to sign up for. There's a
[28:24] um Department of Homeland Security puts
out a self-reported damage report. It's
[28:29] five pages of, you know, just a few
lines on each page. So, if you
[28:33] experienced any storm damage, so that's
going to be posted on our website
[28:38] tomorrow and that helps um FEMA
determine and the county determine what
[28:44] the extent of damage is for homeowners
in the county. For FEMA to consider this
[28:49] eligible for federal level aid has two
qualifiers and both have to be met. One
[28:55] is that Saratoga County must be able to
say that they had over $1.14 million in
[29:02] damage and that doesn't include what you
pay tree companies to clean up. It's
[29:05] structural damage. And then New York
State requires many, many millions. I'm
[29:11] forgetting how much it is. And it does
not seem that the state had much more
[29:16] activity other than in Saratoga County.
But the last one I spoke to people from
[29:20] the state yesterday, they felt that it
probably won't be declared at the state
[29:25] level, but it was too early to tell. So
that whole FEMA declaration is still
[29:29] pending in the air. Um,
[29:35] and I guess I'm going to ask for since
this is a sort of active issue if
[29:41] anybody has any questions from the
audience at this point in time on that
[29:46] item before we move on.
[29:49] Yes.
>> I'm just curious, have you decided to do
[29:52] or considered doing a debrief of
everybody? And does the town have an
[29:57] emergency response plan? They do.
>> We do. We do. And we're we're going to
[30:02] be doing a debrief and sort of convene
an emergency management group to review
[30:07] and to update things and to to sort of
and and I'm thinking of actually asking
[30:12] the county um cuz there's a lot of new
supervisors that came in this year and a
[30:18] lot of us who were elected in 2025 and
have two-year terms. We have to run
[30:23] again now. So there might even be
another batch of new supervisors um not
[30:27] in the cities. So, Saratoga Springs,
they kept their two-year terms, but the
[30:32] rest of us got cut one year short
because of the change in election law to
[30:36] see if they would be interested in doing
or or even sending their emergency
[30:41] management supervisor to Andre um Andre
Delvo to us to to work through stuff
[30:49] with us cuz a lot of emergency issues
come everything funnels down from the
[30:54] county down. But this was an issue that
happened and it was really limited to
[30:58] Wilton. So everything had to trickle up.
Um so yes, we will be reviewing that and
[31:03] as I said, we're updating our
communication systems to be able to
[31:07] really more readily reach out to people.
>> Might be useful to find a community
[31:13] aspect of that too because the people
are impacted obviously concerns but some
[31:18] of them can't be solved by the town.
They have to deal with them themselves.
[31:22] but to also have that opportunity for
people just to sit down and hear what
[31:27] the plan is. And I I kind of look
quickly, but I didn't find one. So I I
[31:31] was just curious to know how your record
gets updated is like comprehensive plan.
[31:37] » I mean, it was actually updated
partially in this year in 2026. There's
[31:41] a bunch of updates. Um but like that
what people thought existed, the reverse
[31:46] 911 doesn't exist anymore and it's now
this new system. Um so which people have
[31:52] to sign up for
>> it should be like a playbook of sorts.
[31:56] We did it with some of my past work. We
work homeland security at bigger
[32:02] scenarios for more than this way.
>> Yeah.
[32:07] » Right. So, and
>> stuff like that. But the point is it
[32:10] gives people a playbook to work with so
that if you're preoccupied with somebody
[32:15] supervisor, maybe Ryan can handle it or
Connor, but everybody's got to be a
[32:21] player. So it's it's not one person
should bone you stop there but it's a
[32:29] team.
>> Right. Right. So yes and um we also put
[32:34] up um based on the meeting on Monday
people said can you help us? We feel
[32:38] overwhelmed. Are we getting fleeced by
the contractors coming the roofers? So,
[32:43] um, Connor put together a really nice
outline of, you know, things to do,
[32:47] things to look out for, and that got
posted Monday evening on our website, as
[32:53] well as, you know, the first iteration
of, you know, what what we're doing in
[32:57] terms of debris pickup and we'll have,
you know, sort of updates then again
[33:03] posted tomorrow. Um, so
yes, Brenda,
[33:09] » I have a question. So you're saying that
the orange sheet on the wall that is
[33:14] that new system that you mentioned WPS?
>> Yes.
[33:18] » Because the one out here is if you have
a problem to report.
[33:23] » That's different. Yes. So the the orange
one is is the same as the QR code on our
[33:29] agenda and it's the office of emergency.
It's the wireless notification, the
[33:34] Inspiron logics blah blah blah.
But there is in addition to to submit a
[33:43] claim.
>> No, I just wanted to be sure that they
[33:46] were because I have this one in hand. I
just wanted to be sure this is not the
[33:50] one to submit a claim. No, I scanned it
to that is that is on a separate piece
[33:57] of paper over there and it is just a
link. They didn't have a QR code,
[34:01] » but it's basically the same thing. The
sheriff's the sheriff's notice whatever.
[34:05] Yeah,
>> the link. No. Oh, yes. Correct. Same
[34:09] thing. Yeah.
>> Right. But these it's not a submit a
[34:12] claim. It's submit self-reported damage.
So it doesn't put you in. Yeah. So
[34:18] » Okay.
[34:21] » All right. I also just want to say thank
you to Mike from the highway department.
[34:26] It's actually the tornado was a week ago
today for the tornadoes and it is
[34:32] unbelievable to me how quickly we were
able to get the roads back open. And a
[34:36] lot of that most of that is because Mike
and his team were incredibly responsive,
[34:41] came prepared with uh with an action
plan with people we needed to work with
[34:48] um to get things up and running quickly.
Um very communicative. I spoke to him,
[34:53] you know, early mornings on the weekend.
Uh, so just want to say thank you and
[34:59] the town appreciates us.
[35:07] » Thank you for your leadership, Mike.
>> Thank you. I will pass it on to
[35:13] » I'm sure they're all sleeping well
for 30hour blocks.
[35:18] » Every time I wait in the neighborhood
today, they were still making their way
[35:22] back.
And and I have to say also, Richard
[35:28] Sears Tree Company has been pretty
amazing. I mean, we had a limited
[35:33] contract with them to help us with the
big stuff cuz they have like a 40in
[35:38] chipper and these incredible machines.
Um, but they then went on looking around
[35:44] for the elderly widow who's overwhelmed,
who is freaked out by, you know, the
[35:50] quotes she's getting from tree companies
and and they've helped several of those
[35:54] individuals. So, um, and you know,
they've been pretty remarkable and and I
[36:01] think he's still available. So, if
anybody knows of somebody who kind of
[36:05] fits that bill, who's really needy and
and just can't afford um cuz I'm sure
[36:09] there's a certain amount of scalping
that goes on with what the tree
[36:12] companies are claiming.
>> I have a lot of friends who live over
[36:15] there. It sounds like a lot of the
companies are starting to undercut each
[36:18] other, so they're ending up with
[36:22] » they're ending up with better deals.
>> Yeah. Markets work. But friends of mine
[36:27] that needed to take down stuff with
Sears because they stepped up so big.
[36:33] They were doing stuff at no charge just
to help out. The neighbors were buying
[36:38] them pizza.
>> I mean it was it was a great community
[36:42] effort in a tough time.
>> Very generous.
[36:46] » Um if if I could mention just for a
second, Supervisor Sturm uh mentioned uh
[36:50] Jay Dog junk removal and hauling. Um, I
I've used them in the past and a reason
[36:56] I became familiar with them is uh
they're a veteranowned business and have
[37:00] been supportive of veteran causes that
I'm involved with. And um and the way
[37:05] they work is if you call them um they'll
come to your home, they'll take a look
[37:09] at what you have and there's no charge
for that. They'll tell you, you know, of
[37:14] the materials you have, what they can
take away and how much it would cost you
[37:18] and you're under no obligation to use
them. And there are other services as
[37:21] well that are available in our area, you
know, if uh if you want to be
[37:25] competitive and see what best deal you
can get. But uh but but I I found them
[37:31] personally to be a good reliable outfit.
[37:36] » All right. Um on to next item agenda.
Um, Saratoga Plan is um um
[37:45] seating their conservation easement at
the property around the Kings Mill
[37:50] development. Um, Ryan, do you want to
talk about that? There's not much to
[37:55] say, but
>> say they're just uh taking over the
[37:58] conservation surrounding Kings Mill
property.
[38:01] » Wilton is taking it over because it is
land that the town of Wilton owns. Kings
[38:06] Mills is an older development, but it's
got streets that reach out and then so
[38:10] the conservation land kind of these
fingers
[38:14] » on the town land.
>> So it's really duplicative to have
[38:17] another agency
>> just protected.
[38:19] » Yeah. All right.
>> Super.
[38:21] » No.
>> No. No.
[38:23] » All right.
>> So, um, request a motion for resolution.
[38:27] » I'll make a motion for the assignment of
the conservation ement.
[38:29] » I'll second.
>> Okay. All in favor? I.
[38:33] » Any opposed?
Thank you. Motion passes unanimously.
[38:38] Next item, uh, report
sort of not quite quarterly. It's a
[38:44] month over. I think
>> Margo Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park.
[38:50] And I don't was it at our request that
you delayed the I I think we did.
[38:54] » It was your request and then it was my
request cuz last month I I went to
[38:59] Montana for my grandbaby a month early.
So, congrats.
[39:04] » Thank you. Thank you. And I also see in
the agenda today, I did not bring a
[39:10] PowerPoint presentation cuz I know you
wanted to kind of keep things moving.
[39:15] So, um, so I just honoring people's
time. Um, so the report that I submitted
[39:23] to the town board that you should all
have, um, it does cover our activities
[39:29] through the end of the summer. Um, so it
covers everything that happened in the
[39:34] second quarter, but then also because
the summer just ended, I included those
[39:40] as well. So talking about uh what we've
been doing with the Larry Gordon Outdoor
[39:45] Education Center that the uh building
the old winter lodge was demolished and
[39:51] again thanks to the highway department,
the building department who were able to
[39:55] get that done. We covered the costs of
that as we discussed at the town board
[39:59] meeting and so now we're moving on with
the next phase um and looking into
[40:05] developing building that will then
replace that one that has been taken
[40:08] down. Um we just we got a survey done at
that area cuz again with the new site
[40:13] work we need to know where the lay of
the land is. Ray and Ryan came out to
[40:18] help with that. Uh we had a surveyor who
named Matt Steves from Steve Matt Steves
[40:24] » came and they uh Proono uh did the
points that we needed out there and that
[40:30] information went to the LA group. Again,
Proono is developing the site plan so
[40:35] that we'll be ready to move ahead uh
hopefully as we move into the fall with
[40:41] um the Ray Gordon Outdoor Education
Center. Um,
[40:45] so I know the town is really I I think
the most interested in many times in
[40:51] what the programming is and how we're
serving the public. Um, so in the report
[40:56] you can see the list of all the
different public programs that we had.
[41:00] So again, all of the spring programs and
then running into the summer. Um, and we
[41:05] make uh make a big effort to try to
reach all different audiences all the
[41:10] way from preschoolers up through
retirees through the Academy for
[41:14] Lifelong Learning doing walks with those
retirees and preschool nature hour and
[41:19] other programs so that we are covering
all of the different uh people in our
[41:24] community who are looking for activities
and programming. Uh so a lot of of
[41:30] course science and natural history and
environmental based programs but also a
[41:34] lot of incorporating the arts into
nature as well. So we have different uh
[41:40] nature writing in nature painting in
nature sketching the sand plains
[41:44] different kinds of programs that attract
different kinds of people and their
[41:48] interest in getting them out onto the
properties at Camp Saratoga out on the
[41:52] trails out in nature which we all know
is beneficial to people. And again,
[41:57] there's a very long list. I know Aeron's
always looking at that list of all the
[42:01] different schools and community groups
that we work with with these school
[42:05] after school and then the summer camp
programs. So, um we work with, you know,
[42:10] from all over. I feel feel like we take
care of our local schools really well
[42:14] and then also, you know, a broader
community um reaching down to Albany
[42:19] County and Wler County and Warren County
and so the surrounding areas. So really
[42:25] regionally um we're reaching all of
those. Um so looking at um the graph
[42:32] there with the second quarter attendance
um I left it as the second quarter
[42:37] because I wanted it to be able to be
compared to past second quarters. So
[42:41] this does not include the numbers from
the summer programs. You'll get that
[42:44] when you have the third quarter report.
Uh but I was kind of blown away to see
[42:49] that it was over was 30% over the second
quarter of last year and our wildlife
[42:55] festival some of you were there um was
huge like at least double what it has
[42:59] been in past years in terms of people
coming. So that was part of that
[43:03] increase but also the welcome cabin um
having people come in and stop at this
[43:08] newly renovated building parking lot
there at Saratoga. People are stopping
[43:13] in for maps, stopping in for
information, coming in for programs. And
[43:17] so 20% of that number is people who were
stopping in the cabin. And just in case
[43:21] you asked, I looked and thought, well,
how many people have come so far this
[43:24] year? And we're at over 3,000. Just over
3,000 people have stopped through the
[43:29] door of the welcome cabin this year so
far. So um those are all just really you
[43:35] know it's exciting to see that when
you're working on things and then to get
[43:38] this kind of validation that you know
they always say if you build it they
[43:42] will come from
>> it is happening it is happening. So um
[43:48] so those are kind of the main points
that I wanted to make. I also wanted to
[43:52] um thank Ryan um and all of the trail
stores uh tornado update from us as
[44:00] well. you know, as you pass just souths
of Camp Ser Road. Um, so I went flying
[44:06] up there to see and all the buildings
were good, but um, the trails, the
[44:10] county trails at Eden Road are going to
be closed probably for some time cuz
[44:14] there's tremendous tree damage on on the
southern part of that parcel. Um, and
[44:21] then, um, at the town's Neilman parcel,
our stewards went out and there's a lot
[44:26] again, the other tornado went through
there. So, um, so we have it posted as
[44:31] closed on the advice of, uh, of the town
to close Neilman for now. But I did get
[44:37] a report from the county right at the
end of the day today that they have
[44:41] cleared the county trails at Calvis
Perry. So, I take that to be that the
[44:46] bike trails are still closed. The
county,
[44:48] » there's a lot of trees in the bike
trails, Calvis Perry, and also the state
[44:52] trails entry back from Rose. State crews
were in there. the uh the rangers
[44:58] clearing trees too.
>> So that's that's our report on the the
[45:03] tornado as well. And so our trail
stewards again are out there and they're
[45:08] GPSing trees down and then we send it to
the state to the county. We get every so
[45:14] that everybody knows and so we can
update them on the trails as well.
[45:21] I was out on the trails um following the
vicinity of Camp Saratoga and you'd
[45:26] never know that you had a storm.
>> Yeah.
[45:31] » And there were Yeah, there weren't as
many just like a normal storm, you know,
[45:34] there trees coming down, but when I came
in Friday morning to check on things, I
[45:39] believe the the car the the the forest
ranger had already cleared the trail
[45:45] that was blocking the way up to Camp
Saratoga. And then Roy and Greg were
[45:51] taking down the trees that fell in and
around Camp Saratoga. They already had
[45:55] those cleared up. So, um, so
>> quick action by everybody.
[46:00] » Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. So,
thank you everyone. And I don't know if
[46:05] anyone has any other questions.
[46:10] Our our fall fundraiser is coming up. So
some of you will hopefully and most of
[46:14] you will be able to get your hope your
invitations in the mail while the bell
[46:17] blue will be wishing well again. This
year we are honoring Ann and Ethan
[46:21] Winter for creating helping create the
wonderful graphite range community
[46:27] forest here in the town of Wilton um in
partnership with the county and the town
[46:32] also helps with that.
>> Great. Thank you.
[46:36] » Thank you.
[46:41] Okay. Uh the next item
is a request for a motion for a 30-day
[46:48] waiver uh for their liquor license for
Canopy.
[46:53] » Second.
>> And all in favor?
[46:56] » I. Anyone opposed?
>> Okay. Motion passes unanimously. And
[47:00] Sue, this is a temporary. They're
changing over to offering liquor. Yes,
[47:06] they they don't have anything now. they
they can't offer your wine. So, so yes,
[47:11] this just expedites their their ability
to start.
[47:21] Next item um is the addition of an
electrical inspector to the town
[47:27] approved list and this is for
residential inspections only. And the
[47:31] inspector
is Timothy Staniac. uh he's got a
[47:37] master's electrician's license.
So requesting and we have a list of in
[47:44] certified approved electrical inspectors
uh in the town. So if anyone it would be
[47:50] on in within the building department uh
listed on their pages.
[47:55] So,
sorry, Steve.
[48:00] » Pardon?
>> We did it.
[48:03] » We did.
It was so It was very quick.
[48:07] » We were We were so efficient, Steve.
>> I must have been blinking.
[48:13] » Um, so
yes. So requesting a motion to add uh
[48:19] Timothy Staniac to our
approved electricians list.
[48:25] » So just so I understand the vetting
process to for adding uh electrical
[48:31] inspectors or others
[48:38] » they have to basically submit their
credentials that they've been through.
[48:43] » Mhm.
Once they've done that,
[48:47] » okay,
they can be credential,
[48:51] uh, residential, commercial.
[48:57] Okay.
[49:01] » So, you're familiar with this level of
qualification or comfortable. Okay. And
[49:05] this actually came up now in the tornado
with at least one person who had their
[49:12] meter box was outside of their residence
and then Nat Grid connected to it and
[49:17] Nat Grid needed them to have an
electrical inspector come and verify
[49:22] that the circuitry was safe from their
meter box so Nat Grid could then rering
[49:27] their wires to connect to it. Um, and it
was good to be able to give this person
[49:32] a list because I think we had five
companies on the list, but each company
[49:36] has like five different people listed
individually.
[49:40] » So, this is if you don't know an
electrician.
[49:43] » It's not just an electrician, it's an
electrical inspector.
[49:46] » Okay.
>> Many of which who are electricians.
[49:50] » Perform electrical inspections.
>> You have to hire contract to do that.
[49:54] Got it.
>> So, it's typically every town has a
[49:57] list.
>> Mhm.
[49:59] That's what we got. Yeah.
>> All right. I'll make a motion to
[50:02] approve.
>> I'll second.
[50:03] » All in favor?
>> I. Any opposed?
[50:07] » Motion passes unanimously.
Next item um is a proposed amendment to
[50:14] the code uh building department fees and
those are those minor fees from 150 to
[50:21] $300. There were two of them,
>> right? from the time when we had amended
[50:25] the building department fees, but there
was a typo and that was corrected. Um,
[50:30] and that was actually the public
hearing, the first public hearing
[50:34] tonight that nobody had any comments on.
>> So, uh,
[50:38] » could I ask a quick question? Did all of
these recommended I know we voted on
[50:42] this. Did all these recommendations go
through?
[50:45] » Mhm.
>> H Okay.
[50:52] Yeah, because we the list on the
spreadsheet, we looked at all the
[50:56] surrounding communities. What?
>> No, I remember I remember doing this
[50:59] list, but I remember having objections
to two things that I don't remember
[51:03] approving that are on here as with check
mark. Um
[51:10] I I'll look back through the minutes.
[51:15] » I'm having this is on the accessory
structure, residential, and portable
[51:19] storage unit. I don't have an issue with
this. Yeah. Is there a motion?
[51:23] » Yeah. I'll make a motion to approve the
accessory structure, residential, and
[51:26] portable uh storage unit um typo
amendments. I'll second.
[51:31] » All in favor?
>> I.
[51:33] » Any opposed?
>> Passes unanimously.
[51:43] Maybe you made an objection, but we now
voted you.
[51:46] » Probably. You're probably a hostile
hostile actor.
[51:51] Or maybe
>> I don't remember.
[51:53] » Powers of persuasion such that we can
>> exactly.
[51:56] » We're going to have to Google that
later.
[51:58] » Right. YEAH.
[52:05] » OKAY. Next item. Um
so this is about the uh changes to the
[52:13] signs. Um and we're this was again part
of the this was one of the public
[52:18] hearing items, right?
>> Um so I'm requesting an a motion to and
[52:24] can I just clarify quickly of the two
things that the gentleman mentioned that
[52:27] his his two objections one the timing
for the election and two the reason
[52:32] we're doing it. One timing is not
applicable because we're doing it it's
[52:35] going into effect after the election on
December 1st. And two um why are we
[52:41] doing it? It's because our current sign
code is unconstitutional and it's a big
[52:45] legal risk for the town to have it in
our code because anyone who challenges
[52:49] it, the whole thing will be thrown out.
So that's why this is something
[52:53] happening now and that is why we've
chosen the date at least for the motion
[52:58] to have it go into effect.
>> And actually didn't happen now. It
[53:03] happened several months ago well before.
>> Yeah, this is around thection.
[53:07] » We've had this has been Yeah, we had we
introduced it. We set a public hearing.
[53:12] We I think came back had some amendments
um and set another public hearing just
[53:17] because I you know just wanted it to be
ironclad that it's been introduced and
[53:22] given enough time for the public to
consider.
[53:27] » All right. Um
next item
[53:30] I'll make a motion to approve uh going
into effect December 1st. I'll second.
[53:34] » All in favor? I. Any opposed? The motion
passes unanimously.
[53:42] Next item, uh, building permit fee
waiver.
[53:47] Do we do we have
the verbiage of that?
[53:57] » I don't have it. But I also know that um
one of the wonderful
[54:05] council that we have had a couple
changes that they wanted to make. So let
[54:10] me pull those up. I didn't have an
opportunity to revise.
[54:14] » Was that your email, sir?
>> Yes. I think it
[54:30] You have it.
I can read it if you'd like.
[54:42] I don't have it in that initial email.
I have it right here.
[54:48] I did send it. So the essence of it is
that the town is waving any building
[54:54] department permit fees resulting from
damages sustained in the recent storm.
[55:01] Um and it's an extensive time period so
that the construction has to begin by
[55:07] end of December.
>> End of December.
[55:08] » So but if you want to go ahead with
>> Do you want me to read it?
[55:11] » Email.
[55:14] if you want to.
>> Yeah, I'll I'll read it and then and
[55:17] then we'll have a couple quick changes
to make to it as well. Resolution number
[55:22] whatever of 2026 uh resolution
temporarily waving town building
[55:25] department fees for repairs related to
the August 27th, 2026 storm. Whereas the
[55:30] severe storm and tornadoes of August
27th, 2026 caused substantial damage to
[55:34] homes and other properties within the
town of Wilton. And whereas the town
[55:37] board wishes to encourage the prompt and
safe repair of storm related properties
[55:40] without imposing additional costs on
affected property owners. And whereas uh
[55:45] chapter 4843 section 18 of the code of
the town of Wilton provides that the
[55:49] building department fee schedule may be
established and amended by resolution of
[55:52] the town board. Now therefore, be it
resolved that the town board hereby
[55:57] temporarily amends the building
department fee schedule to wave all town
[56:00] of building department permit and
inspection fees for work necessary to
[56:04] repair or replace property damages
result direct result of the August 27th,
[56:08] 2026 storm subject to the following.
One, the permit application must
[56:13] identify the work as storm related and
be submitted on or before December 31st,
[56:17] 2026. Two, the building inspector or
code enforcement officer John shall
[56:22] determine whether the work qualifies as
a repair or replacement of damage caused
[56:26] by the August 27th, 2026 storm and may
request such information as is
[56:30] reasonably necessary to make the
determination. Three, the waiver applies
[56:34] to repair or replacement of storm
related property, including work
[56:37] necessary to comply with current code
requirements, but does not apply to
[56:40] additions, expansions, or improvements
unrelated to the storm damage. where
[56:44] where an application includes both
qualifying and non-qualifying work.
[56:47] Ordinary fees shall apply to the
non-qualifying work. And four, the
[56:52] waiver applies solely to fees imposed by
the town of Wilton building department
[56:55] and does not wave any fee imposed by
another governmental entity, third party
[56:59] inspection agency, other town department
of board, or outside consultant. Be it
[57:03] further resolved that nothing herein
waves or modifies any permit,
[57:06] inspection, building code, zoning, or
other legal requirement applicable to
[57:10] the work. Only the applicable town
building department fees waved. be it
[57:13] further resolved that this resolution
shall take effect immediately and the
[57:17] town board may extend the application
deadline by subsequent resolution.
[57:22] Uh ran this by the attorneys and they
recommend and I
[57:27] would like to amend to include language
uh adding or impede after wave and or
[57:34] contractor after consultant in paragraph
number four.
[57:43] If you want to take a minute to read it,
totally fine. I thought you had
[57:46] » item four. Where?
>> Oh, paragraph paragraph number four.
[57:50] » Yeah.
>> Um, add or impede after wave and or
[57:55] contractor after consultant.
[58:00] » So, it's not does not wave or impede.
>> Yes.
[58:03] » At board or outside consultant or
contractor.
[58:06] » Yeah.
[58:10] » Thank you.
I'll make a motion.
[58:14] » I'll second it.
>> All in favor?
[58:17] » I.
>> Any opposed or abstensions? Motion
[58:21] passes unanimously.
Thank you.
[58:25] Um the next item is
a discussion of the repaving of Hilltop
[58:32] Drive
and the first process in that will be
[58:36] milling that's done by Kubriki cuz we
don't have the capabilities to do that.
[58:42] Correct Mike?
>> Correct.
[58:44] » Okay. And
there is a question that I'll pose to
[58:49] our legal counsel that there was issues
between some of the parties around that
[58:56] property that resulted in a lawsuit and
council has not been able to get some
[59:03] information from results of that
lawsuit. But does the status of that
[59:09] make a difference? Can we go ahead and
fill our obligations that we have a
[59:14] letter of credit from them to complete
the paving?
[59:18] » One of the questions we had cuz this
been going on for years was did the town
[59:21] ever adopt accept Hilltop Drive as a
road?
[59:26] » If we didn't, it's not ours to do. And
we were trying to go back years of
[59:30] paperwork to find out if we actually
ever took over ownership of the road,
[59:36] which I think was very hard to find. But
then the lawsuits were also
[59:40] happening.
>> Right. The first part we have no clue
[59:44] and no development. Then is it I don't
know if it's on is on our trips
[59:47] inventory. I I don't know. I don't we
have no idea nor would we have a way of
[59:51] knowing if it's been formally adopted
except there's a town road whether it's
[59:55] on our trips inventory or anything else
or things that maybe um I don't know if
[59:59] Mike knows or not.
>> As far as I know it was. I have the
[1:00:03] file. I seem to recall it is also but I
could be wrong but um
[1:00:08] » well you know what it was there were
contingencies.
[1:00:11] I believe that they were contingencies
and we were trying to determine whether
[1:00:14] the contingencies were fulfilled.
>> But Erin's absolutely 100% correct that
[1:00:19] we've tried pretty hard to find out
details of the litigation and so far
[1:00:24] we've been spun along by the parties and
the court doesn't have anything further
[1:00:27] to offer.
>> Where does that leave us? Are both
[1:00:32] parties
in in the lawsuit?
[1:00:37] Both parties in the lawsuit are still
lying.
[1:00:41] » Well, we we only know of the council for
one who made reference
[1:00:50] to a settlement agreement or a judgment
of the court, but only made the
[1:00:54] reference without attaching the
document. We tracked it down to the
[1:00:57] county clerk's office. found the
agreement or or order I can't remember
[1:01:00] which but what was not found with it was
whatever the substance was saying what
[1:01:05] does or doesn't happen to the road or
more importantly whose responsibility
[1:01:10] for portions of the road who is
responsible for portions of the road
[1:01:14] » so that lawsuit specifically does
potentially impact
[1:01:19] » the outcome
>> that could
[1:01:23] we'll try again
>> I mean we had talked about blocking off
[1:01:25] the road not making accessible because
it's not safe, right, once you get to
[1:01:31] the top with the way that it's
crumbling. But there's also issues with
[1:01:34] drainage infrastructure up at the top
that's now becoming more exposed and the
[1:01:40] more time goes by.
>> Well, for sure, but if it's not our
[1:01:44] problem, we shouldn't be paying for it.
And that's what it's we've just it's
[1:01:48] like kind of one rabbit hole after the
other. But I think we need to find out
[1:01:51] whose responsibility it is.
>> Could I just You're
[1:01:55] » talking how much money
to repair pay that $100,000. Yeah.
[1:02:01] » Yeah. If we're getting stonewalled, who
the what are we asking the parties that
[1:02:06] are not giving us
>> an agreement that supposedly the parties
[1:02:11] made that was supposed to be part of the
recorded order, but wasn't
[1:02:16] » it wasn't part of the recorded order? I
mean, is it then is it legally binding?
[1:02:22] » Can't tell you unless we see it.
>> Fair. Is there uh like anything we any
[1:02:28] action we could take that would require
that as a part of discovery?
[1:02:32] » Only if we only if we started a
litigation action
[1:02:35] » and we would probably be cheaper to
start a litigation action.
[1:02:37] » We weren't a part of the original
action. So we so we're not involved
[1:02:41] legally in terms of discovery.
>> Who were the parties
[1:02:46] at
>> ruin and
[1:02:49] correct?
>> Okay. And can I ask when was this street
[1:02:54] built? 15 plus years ago.
>> Okay. But we're not clear on the records
[1:02:57] of town acceptance.
>> We talked about before this is that the
[1:03:03] lawsuit stated the road to be built the
town's backs and town was taken over but
[1:03:07] it was never built back so it was never
topped and the binder course that is
[1:03:11] there is crumbled and failed and we need
we need to take it all out and start
[1:03:15] over. So that 100,000 is just for
material. That doesn't include highway
[1:03:20] labor, cost of our trucks,
>> right? Which should all be in turn
[1:03:24] counters suited against the developer.
>> Right. And I I was on the planning board
[1:03:29] at the time and I remember that we had
contingencies
[1:03:33] on that road before we adopted it.
>> Are they in the planning board minutes
[1:03:38] from that time? I mean, do we is that a
place to
[1:03:41] » That's part of the game. I don't even
know like sh
[1:03:44] » we pulled the letter of credit because
the bank was not going to read the
[1:03:47] letter of credit anymore.
So
[1:03:56] » right this has been many many years in
the works trying to figure out how to do
[1:04:02] this.
>> I mean
[1:04:04] » so does some of this legal uncertainty
exist for the very bottom portion
[1:04:09] because that was a conversation we were
having. Should we just take
[1:04:13] » together? You can't just segregate
>> the whole thing. It's all
[1:04:18] » sounds to me like if we were going to
accept it if it's built to town specs
[1:04:21] and it's not built to town specs and now
we are facing the consequence of it not
[1:04:25] being built to town specs that's
probably not our road. And if we draw,
[1:04:29] you know, you stake a claim that it's
actually ex parties road, let them come
[1:04:36] back and say, "No, it's not." And we'll
say, "Okay, prove it."
[1:04:39] » Right? And then they have to bring court
paper,
[1:04:42] » right? So they'll stop stonewalling at
that point, right?
[1:04:45] » So is that
a reasonable legal maneuver to
[1:04:52] » uh I'm not comfortable giving too much
legal advice at dealing with public
[1:04:56] committee?
>> Right.
[1:04:58] » Okay. So So we can So we're going into
executive session discussion to
[1:05:03] executive session.
>> Yes.
[1:05:04] » Yeah. Okay.
>> Good.
[1:05:09] All right,
next item. Uh, proposed lighting code
[1:05:14] update. Connor,
>> lighting code. Okay. Code zone revision
[1:05:17] committee has spent, we've touched this,
uh, for 3 months. Um, took half of a
[1:05:25] meeting, then a full meeting, and then
maybe a quarter of a meeting. Um, has
[1:05:28] gone through a few different rounds of
revision, but we have a proposed outdoor
[1:05:33] lighting chapter, an entire new chapter
to the town code. Um Ryan was in those
[1:05:38] meetings, John was in those meetings. Um
and this is something that we've heard a
[1:05:44] lot of at least I've heard a lot from
residents
[1:05:48] uh who have concerns with lighting um
who have reached out and asked what can
[1:05:55] we do and the answer is well we don't
have anything on the books. Um, so this
[1:05:59] is an attempt to rectify that and give
people what I believe is a uh reasonable
[1:06:05] course of action to take in the case of
uh real trespass. Um it is
[1:06:14] light light trespass. Yeah. Yeah. Um I
think it's fairly reasonable. It all
[1:06:18] hinges on a complaint um mechanism where
nothing's going to be enforced
[1:06:24] uh willy-nilly. It's if a neighbor has a
complaint, that is the point at which
[1:06:29] someone reaches out, you know, to the
town and the town will uh investigate
[1:06:34] and see if it constitutes any sort of
trespass under these these series of
[1:06:39] ordinances. Um
I've had we had one person reach out I
[1:06:46] they saw on the website who seemed to be
supportive of this um via email. I don't
[1:06:49] know who was on the thread um but happy
to happy to chat. So my first question
[1:06:58] is a lot of things that we have issues
with with their lights have been around
[1:07:04] for a long time. These are new reg
regulations. What kind of teeth do we
[1:07:09] have to
force someone to step up to what we're
[1:07:16] now instituting as a new code?
>> I mean it depends on it depends on the
[1:07:20] trespass. If somebody has a light that
is uh the size of five suns and nobody
[1:07:26] complains, there will be no action. If
someone has a and this is exactly what I
[1:07:32] was trying to rectify. I remember
knocking on on a door last year and
[1:07:36] speaking to uh to a resident who lived
near a self-s storage facility. They're
[1:07:41] like, "Every night we're blinded. Every
night we're blinded. We cannot sleep.
[1:07:45] What can we do?" I said, "I don't know.
Look into it. Nothing on the books." In
[1:07:49] the case that uh there is genuine light
trespass that is hurting residents where
[1:07:56] they can't sleep where it's it's
impacting their quality of life. Yeah.
[1:08:00] They can complain to the town and the
town can take action.
[1:08:02] » Um but a lot of that lighting is
determined during the planning process
[1:08:07] too because they have to go through they
they're submitting plans. The scope of
[1:08:12] light has changed so much with the the
downward stuff instead of it being like
[1:08:16] a beacon in the sky.
>> Yeah. And a lot of it's really just a
[1:08:20] shielding issue.
>> Yeah.
[1:08:24] » Could I add to that?
>> Um
[1:08:30] I think this is where the supervisor was
coming from the question, but I could be
[1:08:33] wrong. But there are certain situations
in which I would not necessarily agree
[1:08:38] with the blanket statement that the town
can enforce or prevent. And there's
[1:08:42] something I think Tony asked about,
correct me if I'm wrong, situations that
[1:08:46] have been in existence for a number of
years.
[1:08:48] » Well, there is an item number seven,
applicability to existing lighting.
[1:08:53] » Right? So, what I'm saying is is we
can't guarantee that adopting a lighting
[1:09:01] code provision now can necessarily be
successfully enforced against lighting
[1:09:06] that's existed for. That's my answer to
your question.
[1:09:10] Yeah.
>> So, a lot of what people then complain
[1:09:16] about in a sense we can't really do much
about.
[1:09:20] » Well, well, it doesn't mean that if a
complaint is filed and the town takes
[1:09:24] action that even someone who may have
had, you know, that lighting in
[1:09:29] existence for years won't comply. You
know, just is there a commercial
[1:09:35] property that's the issue or is it
residential? for me personally.
[1:09:39] » Oh, never mind.
[1:09:43] » It's the Target warehouse all along
Ballard Road. There their there lights
[1:09:48] along their their building. There are a
few that are nicely aimed down. The rest
[1:09:52] are straight out. And when I have a
migraine at the end of the day and it's
[1:09:57] dark out and I'm driving home, it's like
right in your eyeballs and you see this
[1:10:01] haze of light in the sky. It's like
major
[1:10:05] » Sorry, Ace Hardware. Mercedes. Yes, Ace
Hardware
[1:10:09] » hardware that say Ace,
>> but but they're also those are light
[1:10:12] fixtures that are what 30 ft up at the
top of the building and which is
[1:10:17] different I guess if you have a
residential neighbor who can just change
[1:10:21] the light bulbs or you know hopefully
make some simple modifications.
[1:10:26] Um so
>> usually commercial entities will comply
[1:10:31] if it's something that they can
reasonably do.
[1:10:33] » Sure. you know um but if it's something
for their safety or their operation you
[1:10:38] know then that's something needed to
hold them why did the spread of the
[1:10:41] light
>> right
[1:10:42] » right right
>> there can also be issues as to timing
[1:10:46] when who was there first who/ what was
there first
[1:10:51] » oh yeah you build your house right
>> next to the existing lighting correct
[1:10:55] » and gee I'm unhappy on the golf course
about mowers
[1:11:02] » yeah build it yeah built the house that
backs through to the northway.
[1:11:05] Somebody's got to do something about
those cars,
[1:11:06] » right?
[1:11:09] » So, without getting or without getting
into too much detail, again, at an open
[1:11:13] public meeting, there's a legal
principle called coming to the nuisance.
[1:11:18] » And like Ray says, if you build a house
by the Northway and say, "Oh my god,
[1:11:22] look at the traffic in my backyard."
State New York's not going to close down
[1:11:25] the Northway because there's traffic.
>> Mhm.
[1:11:31] But all we're doing at this point is
setting a public hearing.
[1:11:34] » Correct.
>> Yes.
[1:11:36] » All right. So requesting anyone else
have questions, comments here.
[1:11:43] » So request a motion to set public
hearing refer to the San County October
[1:11:49] 1st 7 p.m.
>> All right. All in favor?
[1:11:55] » I I Any opposed for abstensions? Motion
passes unanimously. Sorry, who seconded
[1:12:00] that?
>> Okay, thank you.
[1:12:05] » Uh, the next Oh, all right. So, we have
some sort of public servicesy
[1:12:10] announcements that were not on the
agenda. Um,
[1:12:16] September 13th, Sunday, uh, there is a
historic home open house.
[1:12:23] It's I don't think it's an open house at
their home. I think it's a presentation
[1:12:28] at the historical society.
[1:12:33] » Hold on.
>> I had the invitation from the
[1:12:38] » historic
presented to Andy's
[1:12:43] Parker.
>> They're on Parker Road in
[1:12:47] Parker.
>> Okay. So, it is it's a presentation the
[1:12:50] Spanos are going to do about their very
historic home on
[1:12:54] » You can't show up there.
No, we can't get a free house tour,
[1:13:00] but it's one of those houses. It's at
the corner of Parkhurst and uh Gaylar
[1:13:06] Road that then turns into goes up the
hill to the Wilton Grinfield, the old
[1:13:10] Styles Tavern, which is very, very, very
old.
[1:13:13] » What time is it?
>> So, September 13th,
[1:13:16] » 1 to 3.
>> 1 to 3, but it's at the Wilton
[1:13:18] Historical Society, which is um five
Parker Road.
[1:13:25] If people are not, keep reading it to
show that they're not.
[1:13:28] » The next item um
>> I'm getting in.
[1:13:33] » Where is everyone?
>> Is uh Saturday, October 10th. It's our
[1:13:37] hazardous waste and electronic waste uh
day, and you need to register it. The
[1:13:43] the registration spots are already up on
the town website. You actually have to
[1:13:48] list what hazardous waste you're going
to bring. Uh the electronic waste is has
[1:13:53] descriptions of what kind of things you
can and cannot bring. Um so it's a
[1:13:57] reminder to please and hazardous waste
is really the last one was about four or
[1:14:02] five years ago and it's sort of a big
deal to put together and probably won't
[1:14:06] happen for a couple more years
>> and it takes a lot of volunteers.
[1:14:11] Uh you said I'm sorry the 10th October
10th Saturday from 8 to 1
[1:14:18] » and sorry that is at the town hall
property. The next item is bulk waste
[1:14:23] day, which is the following Saturday,
October 17th. And it's at both town hall
[1:14:29] and Gavin Park from 9 to 1. And that's
things like couches, refrigerators,
[1:14:34] stoves, and again, that has a list on
our website of what kind of things you
[1:14:39] can bring.
>> Just show up.
[1:14:41] » And that's right. You don't have to
register. You can just show up. Time to
[1:14:45] » 9 to 1.
[1:14:51] All right. Uh, going on to committee
reports. No.
[1:14:55] » Um, Ray, do you have Well, veterans in a
certain fishing pier.
[1:14:59] » Oh, yeah. So, we have really nice
turnout and perfect weather thankfully
[1:15:02] for the grand opening of the Roy
McDonald Veterans Fishing Pier and uh
[1:15:08] Roy uh two of his daughters uh two of
his grandkids, his wife uh were all
[1:15:13] there uh to share on that celebration
with us. And um in fact I saw Roy gosh
[1:15:21] probably about a week later I ran into
him. We had something to eat together
[1:15:25] and uh the guy was still smiling ear to
ear about being recognized and his his
[1:15:30] wife and one of his daughters was with
him when I saw him. Uh so it went really
[1:15:34] well. Uh I appreciate uh the town board
support for the naming of uh the
[1:15:40] facilities and certainly uh Mike getting
you know more accolades for the uh path
[1:15:45] work and other uh work done on the site.
Um it came out really well. So uh yeah
[1:15:53] couldn't be happier.
>> There's a beautiful crushed stone path
[1:15:56] in a big crushed stone isn't the right
word.
[1:15:59] » Stone dust. stone dust path um in a big
circle and then it branches off to go
[1:16:04] down to the stream with this big
elevated fishing pier and already Ray
[1:16:08] you've seen
>> a lot every time I I probably drive down
[1:16:11] to Northern Pines Road you know almost
every day and there's almost uh always a
[1:16:17] a car or two or three in the lot. Um, I
was there I think the day before
[1:16:22] yesterday uh after taking the tour of uh
tornado damage uh to see what sort of
[1:16:27] damage there might be at the park there
and uh there was a dad there with three
[1:16:32] kids uh fishing. Uh they weren't
catching much but they were enjoying the
[1:16:36] heck out of it anyway.
>> I want to tell one more story about the
[1:16:40] day when Ray and I showed up. There was
a mom there biking with her two
[1:16:43] daughters and I had a Folds of Honor
t-shirt on. They are a recipient of
[1:16:48] fulls of honor and a tone of towers
family. They lost their husband and
[1:16:52] their dad who is in the Navy and she was
like I don't even know what brought us
[1:16:55] here this day but I think we're meant to
be here and they joined us for the they
[1:16:59] were there for the ribbon cutting too.
So it was
[1:17:02] » it was great.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So that's the other thing is
[1:17:04] uh if there is a group of people that's
visiting more than any other um it's
[1:17:10] kids on bikes and uh you know anything
about that John
[1:17:16] » but uh yeah I see you know kids in bike
on bikes in there all the time so it's
[1:17:20] pretty cool
so and there's a beautiful glade behind
[1:17:25] a row of I think arborvite big tall
mature ones and then behind there
[1:17:30] there's some big pine trees so it's this
shaded glade and when you step past the
[1:17:34] pine trees, all of a sudden you're
looking down and it's a steep embankment
[1:17:37] cuz the stream kind of goes like this
and you're right looking down on the
[1:17:41] stream. So, we want to get a nice bench
in there.
[1:17:45] » Um, so it it's really has potential for
being a a really nice site even if
[1:17:49] you're not a fisher fishing person.
>> Oh, one other thing, you know, there's
[1:17:53] uh subsidized veteran housing just north
of the site and a handful of the
[1:17:57] veterans that live there uh came down.
Uh they all introduced themselves to
[1:18:02] Roy, you know, who's a decorated Vietnam
veteran. So that that made the day extra
[1:18:08] special having those folks there. And
we're looking to put in a path. There's
[1:18:12] a little shallow wetland wet area
between that fishing pier area and those
[1:18:19] veterans apartments. So, we're looking
to calling out an Eagle Scout
[1:18:25] to help put in, you know, sort of a
little elevated raised through the
[1:18:30] wetland pathway to connect the two
areas.
[1:18:34] » Um, anything else, Ray?
>> Nope.
[1:18:37] » Okay. Uh, Aaron,
not right now. I have a meeting with the
[1:18:42] school district on the 14th and Sue and
I have a meeting with the
[1:18:47] uh county treasurer about the short-term
rental information to come in October.
[1:18:53] » Great. And you had tons of stuff last
month about all the sorts of things that
[1:18:57] you have in park.
>> Okay. Uh Joe,
[1:19:01] » um the emergency service planning
committee uh traditionally takes off the
[1:19:05] last Monday of the summer. So we did
that and it also was good because they
[1:19:08] had had a long weekend.
storm response. So what I said, what do
[1:19:13] we postpone or not have one this month?
Okay. Yeah, fine. That's fine with us.
[1:19:19] No, no, we're in that group. I did just
have a conversation with Mr. Kogan um
[1:19:24] going forward. So this month he and I
will collaborate and try and make
[1:19:28] progress towards this revised code to
present to Conor's revision committee
[1:19:33] for the uh nuisance alarm systems
because what we have is antiquated. I
[1:19:39] did do a little research online what
other communities do and it's just kind
[1:19:44] of
you could reel because some communities
[1:19:49] do and some don't and it's just just a
lot to absorb to
[1:19:55] move forward to figure out what makes
sense for us. But for us, for our
[1:19:58] especially our our fire departments that
are all volunteer, when you have alarms
[1:20:03] that are malfunctioning and they go off
three times a day, four times a day, you
[1:20:08] know, five times in a week, these are
volunteers who are dropping everything
[1:20:11] and leaving their jobs and rushing out
and it's just it's a horrific waste of
[1:20:17] resources and it really taxes the fire
departments.
[1:20:22] » Transportation Committee had a quick
meeting yesterday.
[1:20:24] » Oh. Oh, so I want to announce we have a
new member for alternative
[1:20:28] transportation committee and I think he
faded Steve Wilcox is now has joined the
[1:20:33] alternative transportation committee.
>> Good evening bunch.
[1:20:38] » Um and then uh it's not in the formal
committee report but uh supervisor Sturm
[1:20:43] asked me to put together a land hawk
group and we met here with Miss Baldwin,
[1:20:47] Mr. Riper, uh Dominic what? Deandre
Deandre Deandre our IT man and Colin
[1:20:56] from Greensbury an audiovisisual design
professional.
[1:21:00] » So he's going we talked with him um and
expressed uh
[1:21:05] problems in this room and he understood
and he knows how to do this and it's all
[1:21:10] about you know committee meeting
presentation meetings and then you know
[1:21:15] public capability so being able to zoom
better. So he's going to make up come to
[1:21:20] us with a presentation of a unified new
system uh new microphones probably
[1:21:28] roughly sketch ideas perhaps an LED
screen there LED screen here a camera
[1:21:34] here for if someone's zooming in if one
of us are zooming in or a presentation
[1:21:39] they can see the audience and then a
better one screen can be split two
[1:21:43] different views. So, that's sort of the
idea. And then
[1:21:48] we're going to take the wall down.
>> Yes.
[1:21:52] » We're talking about this is all prompted
by the um overflow meeting from zoning
[1:21:56] board of appeals where extra folks had
to go to the senior center. There just
[1:22:00] wasn't enough space here. So, we're
going to take that wall down. We'll have
[1:22:04] more space from here to the lobby. Uh
and a more enhanced
[1:22:10] presentation system. Nice. more to
follow.
[1:22:14] » Great.
Connor, do you have any?
[1:22:17] » Yes. Uh, we spent the last meeting
I wrote some a draft of new multi-use
[1:22:25] path code. Uh, it's come to our
attention that, you know, we only have a
[1:22:28] sidewalk code and we are building a
multi-use path on car road. So, we need
[1:22:34] uh we need some code to say what that
means because a sidewalk code is not
[1:22:38] going to apply to it. Um so did a draft
there have realized that there is now
[1:22:45] actually a need for to distinguish three
things multi-use paths sidewalks and
[1:22:49] trails and that's largely the
maintenance responsibilities and the
[1:22:53] relative liabilities to people with
easements to adjoin land owners. Um so
[1:23:02] that has been reddrafted. Ryan got me
some notes today. I'm going to look
[1:23:05] through them. Uh and it's coming along.
Um and I met yesterday with Eric and um
[1:23:12] woman Eva from Saratog Springs, a
subcontractor in Nicerta to discuss some
[1:23:18] uh battery energy storage system
uh code essentially. Eric has drafted
[1:23:24] some and we were getting feedback from
that advisor. Uh it was I think it was a
[1:23:31] good meeting.
>> Yeah.
[1:23:34] » And well yeah right and solar.
>> Yeah. because we have a concern
[1:23:39] » because we have a moratorum
>> on best. So we have and we have solar
[1:23:43] code on the books. The issue which um is
you know is a real issue is that for
[1:23:49] solar if it's regulated as a public
utility um the state can just come in
[1:23:54] and put it wherever they want.
>> And the code that we have in the books
[1:23:57] right now is not written in such a way
that can
[1:24:02] prevent that essentially. And the
objective is not to prevent the use of
[1:24:06] public utility, but rather to site
properly and ensure that should a solar
[1:24:11] provider come into town um that they are
being treated reasonably
[1:24:18] um and that we don't have like a blanket
ban on the books. um which essentially
[1:24:23] can give us a lot more leverage not only
with any provider but also just to be
[1:24:30] fair and equitable and allow things that
are cited well to happen.
[1:24:39] » Can I just add one thing to avoid a ban
in disguise?
[1:24:44] » Yes, that's a big no no too because bans
are easily defeated. There's no no teeth
[1:24:50] and people react
happily to a ban where it's banned but
[1:24:54] means nothing in the courts are
demolishing bans left and right. So you
[1:25:00] can't write a piece of code in disguise.
This has got to be a wellthoughtout
[1:25:06] piece of legislation that addresses real
issues and shows that we are thoughtful
[1:25:11] about how these facilities can be cited
as much as people may regret it. But the
[1:25:18] thing is the code can speak for itself
and most of the time we're going to be
[1:25:22] facing less than 25 GW anyway whether
it's for gas or for solar. So like won't
[1:25:30] necessarily find our legislation overly
burdensome or substantially burdensome.
[1:25:36] I can't remember the words. So it's just
to have give us the best chance we have
[1:25:42] to have control as much control as
possible in citing these things to keep
[1:25:47] community. That's what this channel,
[1:25:52] » right?
Even though we may be the the collide
[1:25:59] money if they want money to be made and
so invest and you know that's the
[1:26:05] biggest challenge.
>> Thank you.
[1:26:09] » Great. All right. Um
our controllers report Maria.
[1:26:15] » Thank you. So the first item is our
budget transfers. We only have one. Uh
[1:26:20] last month, if you recall, we added the
open form development to our road
[1:26:24] maintenance schedule related to some
poor samples that were taken and uh you
[1:26:30] know, recommendation made to go ahead
and and pave that section of town. Um as
[1:26:35] a result of doing that work, we need to
purchase more cherry asphalt solid for
[1:26:40] the machines. So that cost is $11,340.
And that money is coming from our
[1:26:47] maintenance of road blacktop budget.
>> I'll make a motion to approve that
[1:26:51] budget transfer. Second.
>> All in favor?
[1:26:54] » I. Anyone opposed or abstaining? Motion
passes unanimously. Thank you. Our
[1:26:59] second category is the 2026 budget
amendments. And the first three items
[1:27:04] are related in that the summer camp
salaries went over budget this year. uh
[1:27:10] they went over budget because and this
is this represents the totality because
[1:27:15] summer camp is now over. So we're able
to analyze the salaries portion. We
[1:27:19] certainly haven't received all of the
invoices yet. We haven't gotten the bus
[1:27:22] transportation invoice. We won't get
that for several months. So this might
[1:27:26] be, you know, to be revisited for summer
camp in general, but salaries in
[1:27:31] particular went over budget. And I
questioned um about that as to to why.
[1:27:36] Uh apparently there have been staffing
um challenges in relation to ensuring
[1:27:42] that there is the proper ratio between
counselors and campers. In addition to
[1:27:46] that, we had accepted more campers. So
we needed more stackers. Um so for
[1:27:51] several reasons, we went over budget by
approximately $21,000.
[1:27:55] Um so pulling money from the additional
monies that we received as a result of
[1:28:00] having more campers, we had more fees
that we collected for field trips and
[1:28:04] for summer camp fees. So, we're able to
use some of that to offset the salary
[1:28:08] cost. And in addition, I'm going to use
some of our surplus and interest in
[1:28:12] earnings to offset the remainder. So,
that's items 1, 2, and three. Item four
[1:28:17] is related to summer campus for program
supplies. So, more campers means more
[1:28:21] cost for supplies that they needed, so
arts and crafts and so forth.
[1:28:26] And I'm just going to make a comment
about the summer camp. It is so
[1:28:31] successful that when they open
registration in March, it's filled
[1:28:35] within a couple hours.
>> Sorry.
[1:28:40] 6 minutes.
>> So successful does work overtime.
[1:28:45] » So it's pretty remarkable.
>> It is. It's a excellent program. It's
[1:28:49] very popular obviously. Um, and I am
going to be working with Ross and Matt
[1:28:55] as far as the revenue schedule for the
um the various tiers that we have. So,
[1:29:00] Wilton residents, non-residents,
non-school district residents, um, you
[1:29:04] know, just to kind of revisit because
everything goes up. The cost of salaries
[1:29:09] obviously rehab, you know, the cost of
everything goes up. So, um, we're going
[1:29:14] to be taking a look at that. Right now,
the fee that somebody pays for 6 weeks
[1:29:19] of sending their child to full-time
summer camp every day, 6 hours, 7 hours
[1:29:24] a day, is in the range, it's less than
$1,000. And if you add field trips to
[1:29:28] it, it's less than $1,500. So, it it's a
really very very good deal, you know, as
[1:29:34] opposed to paying for daycare or
something over the summer while you're
[1:29:38] working to have someplace for your child
to go. Um, hence, you know, between that
[1:29:42] and most importantly the excellent
programming, it's um a very popular
[1:29:46] program. So, I think that we're going to
take a look at that and hopefully not
[1:29:51] run into any overages next year. I would
like to approach this as a break even
[1:29:56] activity. Not that we want to make a
profit, but we certainly don't want to
[1:29:59] run into these types of situations where
we're so far under budget.
[1:30:05] » Okay. Thank you. So, that was that took
us through items 1 through four. Items
[1:30:09] five, six, and seven are related and are
pertaining to our tornado cleanup. Um,
[1:30:15] we have used uh Richard Sears uh for a
day that we're being charged at $18,000.
[1:30:22] In addition, we've rented a chipper at
the cost of nearly $4,000. So, I'm
[1:30:27] asking for $22,000 in total coming from
two places. One is our interest earning
[1:30:34] surplus and the other is our emergency
disaster budget which of course this
[1:30:37] fits that category 2. Um so we had
$10,000 in our emergency disaster. I'm
[1:30:42] using all of that plus an additional
12,000 from interest in earnings to
[1:30:46] create a transfer to the highway fund
from the general fund of a total of
[1:30:50] 22,000.
The next three items are pertaining to
[1:30:56] the Hilltop Drive and I know that
there's going to be additional
[1:31:00] discussion in executive session. Um I
want to add to that that there is a
[1:31:05] letter of credit that we drew last July,
so a year ago July to the tune of
[1:31:11] $72,000 and as Mike had said uh a few
minutes earlier, the total estimated
[1:31:16] cost right now is about $100,000 to do
what we plan or contemplate doing on
[1:31:20] Hilltop Drive. So the $72,000 that we
took from the letter of credit, we book
[1:31:25] as deferred revenue on the balance
sheet. Now that we're contemplating
[1:31:28] actually using the money as an expense,
we can match the revenue to the expense.
[1:31:32] Take that money off the balance sheet,
put it as revenue. So the forfeite of
[1:31:36] deposits will be increased by coming off
of the balance sheet and going onto the
[1:31:41] income statement. And then the
remainder, the $28,000 that we'll need
[1:31:45] to get to the $100,000 will be taken
from interest and earnings surplus. So
[1:31:50] that covers items 8, 9, and 10. Are we
holding off on that or are we going to
[1:31:54] go ahead and just get that? So that that
therein is the question. So I mean, we
[1:31:59] can we could move the money now so that
if it's determined between now and the
[1:32:04] next uh budget meeting that there we can
go ahead and do it, the money is there
[1:32:09] to do it.
>> If if we can't do it, then we'll put the
[1:32:11] money back.
>> Yeah. I'd be I'd be inclined to go with
[1:32:14] their recommendation is to fund it.
Yeah. Yeah, for London and then you know
[1:32:19] so it's there to use because I think
that paper is going if we can proceed
[1:32:23] paper needs to start there needs to
start.
[1:32:26] » Okay, thank you. And then items 11 and
12 which are the last two items on this
[1:32:30] category. Um, there is a an initiative
to do some work to have CT now do some
[1:32:37] site work at Smithbridge Road to pretty
much bring up to speed from the last
[1:32:42] time CT now ML looked at Smithbridge
Road to now to to bridge that that span
[1:32:48] of time maybe it was two years that
they've done that work at least.
[1:32:51] » Yeah.
>> It's really an engineering assessment of
[1:32:54] the road right over the dam. Right.
>> Just a visual assessment in comparison
[1:32:58] to where it was prior.
Right. So that cost is $2,800. We
[1:33:05] received the uh proposal for that and
that's going to come from interest
[1:33:09] earnings as well to transfer from the
general fund to the highway fund
[1:33:14] appropriation.
So those were the the 12 budget
[1:33:18] amendments. I have a motion. I'll
second.
[1:33:22] » So all in favor I
>> any opposed or abstensions? Motion
[1:33:26] passes.
>> Thank you. And on the the back side, I
[1:33:29] have some other items on personnel. Um
Marcus Sila, he's currently a seasonal
[1:33:35] worker in um our building department,
and he is available to fill the
[1:33:41] full-time position for the building
inspector that was vacated by John
[1:33:45] Purley in January. If he's approved, Mr.
Consilla's rate of pay would continue as
[1:33:50] what it is now, at $40 an hour, and it's
going to be effective pending the
[1:33:54] completion of paperwork. Uh we estimate,
you know, that that should be around the
[1:34:00] 22nd of September.
>> Okay.
[1:34:02] » All right. Request a motion.
>> I'll make a motion to approve, Mr.
[1:34:06] Gilla.
>> Second.
[1:34:08] » All in favor?
>> I. Any opposed? Abstensions? Motion
[1:34:12] passes.
>> Thank you. And then we have our JCAP
[1:34:14] grant application. Um, Justice David
Town is requesting to apply to the state
[1:34:18] for funding from the Justice Court
Assistance Program. The court wants to
[1:34:23] digitalize their records. Um and so
they're going to apply for $30,000. Um
[1:34:29] they had received a quote in that
amount. Uh the quote is just to get an
[1:34:33] idea of about how much it would cost. Um
but they would have to go through the
[1:34:38] regular procurement channels to you know
actually have the work done. So it's
[1:34:42] just to apply for the grant and then the
state will review it and if the money is
[1:34:45] granted then the town can you know fund
the budget for that. Make a motion. I'll
[1:34:51] second. All in favor? I. Any opposed?
Motion passes.
[1:34:56] » Thank you. And lastly, this
isformational only um power ORPA money.
[1:35:00] The state local rescue fund uh money
that came from the treasury uh has been
[1:35:05] completely spent as of December 31st,
2025.
[1:35:09] So, um we have filed all of our reports
and we received information from the
[1:35:15] Treasury that they have reviewed our
reporting and no additional reporting is
[1:35:20] necessary. So at this point we're done
with reporting. We're done with the
[1:35:24] spending obviously and um no additional
work is done as needed. So that was
[1:35:29] justformational.
Okay. Thanks for your work on that.
[1:35:33] Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[1:35:34] » It was
very
[1:35:40] » All right. Uh thank you Maria. And I'm
making a motion to go into executive
[1:35:44] session and
>> the generic reasons for executive Oh no.
[1:35:51] Sorry.
>> I make a motion going to executive
[1:35:55] session for discussions regarding
proposed, pending, or current litigation
[1:35:58] in medical, financial, credit, or
employment history of a particular
[1:36:01] person or corporation or matters leading
to appointment, employment, promotion,
[1:36:05] demotion, discipline, suspension,
dismissal, or removal of that person or
[1:36:09] corporation.
>> I'll second.
[1:36:12] » Thank you.
Can you give me a general idea of the
[1:36:15] proposed topic? Cerseiary
>> certary. This one.
[1:36:20] » Okay.
>> Certary and um hill personnel and
[1:36:25] hilltop.
>> Okay. The hilltop one won't fit the
[1:36:29] executive session war criteria, but we
can talk attorney client privilege
[1:36:33] » even though there's litigation involved
and we're
[1:36:36] » not involving us.
[1:36:41] » Okay.
>> All right.
[1:36:43] » All in favor? I
>> All in favor? I
[1:36:52] » I'm going to rephrase that. All in
favor?
[1:36:56] I
>> are you guys in favor of the motion to
[1:37:00] go?
I Okay. Any abstensions? No.
[1:37:09] I understand.
[1:37:16] All in favor? I. Anyone opposed?
>> At your own peril, say no.
[1:37:22] Unanimously.
>> Passed. Okay. Uh, no action taken uh
[1:37:27] coming out of uh executive session. And
I will make a motion to adjourn.
[1:37:33] » Also second. Who second? Aaron. Oh,
Aaron. All in favor?