10/10/23 Bspa Trustee Meeting Summary

ICYMI here’s a summary of the 3 hour Village of Ballston Spa Board of Trustees 10/10 meeting in 24 emojis: 🚘🎻🌳⚖️🗼🚦⚙️🚧🚒🗳️🚚✍️⚙️🚾💧⚖️👷📑📣📖🇺🇸🗳️✅🪧

News to know:

🚘 450 cars were displayed at the BSBPA 10/8 Car Show! Thank you BSBPA and all who volunteered!

🎻 11/18 and 12/30 Sound of Winter concert series at Brookside Museum 

🌳 Woods Hollow contract reviewed during executive session; possible updates in next meeting 

⚖️ Ethics law deemed legal by village lawyer though still recommends labor lawyer to review the latest version before public hearing on 10/23

🗼John St water tower repair funding through bond resolution: village lawyer advises to seek the maximum funding authorized through bond ($1.7 million) even though final cost may be less, it is advised to get max even if don’t end up using it all. Could take 50+ days to get bond done before funding would be available. 

🚦Speed registers may be placed at key sites around village to measure traffic and speeding; Hyde Blvd has most complains but other areas also under consideration; cost TBD.

⚙️ Pulp St. Mill drainage structure is eroded and requires emergency repairs; village engineers working on plan and quote to fix ASAP

🚧 Brownfield Opportunity Area (program that provides credits for certain development/usage) to be further discussed; Mayor wanted Zoning Committee to also take on this but committee may not represent all who would be required to form BOA (need to involve property owners of the areas in question before BOA is finalized). 

Motions passed (we agree on):

🚒 Union Fire Co #2 approved to host 29th annual Thanksgiving dinner on 11/23; prep work on 11/22

🗳️ Town of Milton approved to use both Union Fire Co #2 and Eagle-Matt Lee Fire Co. #1 on Election Day 11/7 from 5AM-9PM

🚚 Mayor to commit to Mangino Chevrolet dealership the intent to buy one-ton dump truck on behalf of DPW; discussion still needed on whether will be financed at 8% interest rate or will be purchased outright from village fund balance.

✍️ Contract approved with special Labor Counsel from 11/1/23-10/31/26

⚙️ Approved LaBella Associates to create proposal for immediate fix for Pulp Street Mill drainage structure 

🚾 $12,500 approved from Eagle Matt-Lee Fire Company No. 1 firehouse bathroom renovations after receiving specific plans and budget

💧Water and sewer billing data to be provided to trustees, consultants and Revenue Advisory Committees by 10/18. (Passed 3-2; Mayor Rossi (R) and Trustee VanDeinse-Perez (R) voted no). 

⚖️ Ethics Law public hearing scheduled for 10/23

👷Engineering study for underground wires approved to move forward 

Motions tabled (needs more discussion):

📑 Village lawyer recommends not turning the committee policy into a village law since the policy has been updated twice since June when it went into effect. It would be very difficult to make any updates if was a law and we should make sure the policy version that stands today does not need updates before making into a law. Mayor Rossi (R), Trustee VanDeinse-Perez (R), Trustee Raymond (I) voted to table; Trustee Kormos (D) and Trustee Baskin (D) voted not to table.

Call to action: 

📣1️⃣ Tuesday’s 3 hour Village Board meeting brought positive progress on a revised ethics code for village officials and employees with a unanimously approved motion to move forward with public comment on 10/23. If you care about the erosion of norms regarding conflicts of interest that we see on a national stage with Supreme Court justices and congresspeople, this revised ethics code seeks to ensure the same does not happen locally. Add your voice of support for a strong, enforceable ethics law during the public hearing at 7:01 in the next village meeting on 10/23. 

Relatedly, our Democratic Trustees made the case to codify the revised committee policy, which helps ensure any citizens interested in serving on committees or boards in the village receive fair consideration. Long-time village democrats may recall years in which committees and boards were dominated by the same insiders, mostly local republicans. No one should be denied opportunities to serve their community based on their political party affiliation and our democratic trustees are continuing to fight to ensure that no longer happens. Find the committee policy on the village website and voice your support in public comment or via email to any trustee. 

Call to action pt. 2: 

📣 2️⃣ Mayor Rossi (R) and Trustee VanDeinse-Perez (R) again this week failed to address a question raised in public comment at the meeting about the deletion of comments on official Facebook pages. This question has been raised before and, if the allegations are accurate, raises concerns about the misuse of social media and potential infringement on first amendment rights. Democratic Trustees have followed the village lawyer’s suggestion to turn off comments in order to avoid situations just like this. In a village of friends, no one’s voice should be removed from the public square because of their political stance or their opinion on government. 

We thank Trustee Kormos for fighting to ensure that water & sewer usage data - which is critical to make an informed decision about the future of our water infrastructure - was finally made available after 18 months of delay. It is concerning to see both the mayor and his fellow Republican trustee vote against providing this data and information to their colleagues, consultants and the Revenue Advisory Committee. The public has made complaints on how slowly the board has acted on water infrastructure like fixing the John St water tower and these delays in securing data don’t help. 

Call to action pt. 3: 

📖We need a strong and enforceable ethics law now more than ever. We call on all members of the public to speak up in support in the next meeting on 10/23 via emailing the village clerk or in public comment. 

🇺🇸 As we saw in this week’s meeting with the discussion around financing key investments like the water tower and DPW equipment, it is crucial that our elected officials make sound financial decisions that prevent our village’s finances from sliding back into the red as we saw under previous Republican administrations. We call on all Village Democrats to support our candidate, Kamran Parwana in his campaign for village trustee this fall to keep the guardrails on and our village finances secure.

🗳️ Make a plan now to VOTE on 11/7 for Kamran (✅check one and done on the first line of the ballot!). If you want your Trustee vote to count for Kamran Parwana, you need to VOTE ONCE for Trustee. If you vote for Kamran AND a Republican candidate, your vote for Kamran will be cancelled out and BOTH Republican Trustee candidates will win. Kamran Parwana is the ONLY TRUSTEE to vote for on 11/7!

🪧 Consider putting a sign of support in your yard to remind your neighbors to vote on 11/7! Email miltondemocratsny@gmail.com to request a yard sign today!