VILLAGE OF COLONIE EDWARD SIM DEPUTY MAYOR VILLAGE HALL 2 THUNDER ROAD PATTY SCHWARZ LOCKART COLONIE, NY 12205 TRUSTEE JAMES M. RUBINO (518) 869-7562 FAX (518) 464-0389 TRUSTEE THOMAS J. TOBIN ART WHITE MAYOR TRUSTEE villagehall@colonievillage.org JAMIE L. BLOT www.colonievillage.org VILLAGE CLERK MINUTES MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2023 6:30 P.M. The meeting of the Mayor and Board of Trustees was held on Monday, August 7, 2023, at 2 Thunder Road, Albany, NY 12205. Mayor Tobin opened the meeting at 6:33 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Mayor Tobin Present Deputy Mayor Sim Present Trustee Lockart Present Trustee Rubino Absent Trustee White Present Clerk Blot Present Minutes of the regularly scheduled Board meeting that was held on July 17, 2023, were reviewed by the present members of the board. A motion was made by Trustee Lockart to approve the minutes. This motion was seconded by Trustee White. Vote: Trustee Lockart Yes Trustee Rubino Absent Trustee White Yes Deputy Mayor Sim Yes Mayor Tobin Yes Motion passed. A motion was made by Deputy Mayor Sim to approve Resolution 2023-38 “Authorize to expend funds out of Capital Reserve Village Hall fund for CARES expenses”. This motion was seconded by Trustee White. Vote: Trustee Lockart Yes Trustee Rubino Absent Trustee White Yes Deputy Mayor Sim Yes Mayor Tobin Yes Motion passed. A motion was made by Deputy Mayor Sim to approve Resolution 2023-39 “Purchase of air packs from Capital Reserve – Fire Equipment”. Motion seconded by Trustee Lockart. Vote: Trustee Lockart Yes Trustee Rubino Absent Trustee White Yes Deputy Mayor Sim Yes Mayor Tobin Yes Motion passed. A peddler’s permit was submitted for review from Chad DiDonna of Shore Marketing for peddling of Verizon internet and cable services, it was the recommendation of the Clerk to deny the peddler’s permit, as most residents to not condone door-to-door solicitation in the Village, and end up contacting the hall and ultimately the police. A motion was made by Deputy Mayor Sim to accept Clerk Blot’s recommendation and deny the peddler’s permit. Motion seconded by Trustee White. Vote: Trustee Lockart Yes Trustee Rubino Absent Trustee White Yes Deputy Mayor Sim Yes Mayor Tobin Yes Motion passed. Deputy Mayor Sim mentioned that the electrical work on the new sign at Cook Park is complete and training is beginning with the social media committee on how to use and operate the sign and it will be up and running. He added that the senior renovations continue to develop. Mayor Tobin mentioned that the concert in Cook Park is tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. Chief Kayser read aloud the monthly fire report for July 2023. Several residents from Marini Court were present to address their concerns with 6 Marini Court (1 Marini Court, 4 Marini Court, 5 Marini Court). Code Officer Meservey was present to state that he is in contact with the daughter of the owner of the property and will pursue getting the property cleaned up. Clerk Blot explained the foreclosure process and added that this property is delinquent in Village taxes going on three (3) years, but could not speak to general property and school taxes without doing a property search, however added it was not on the most recent Albany County lien list. Code Officer Meservey stated he was allowing the daughter a few days to get some legal papers in order and was going to reach back out to her for a status update, but stressed that he will remain on top of this situation. Clerk Blot asked the residents if they wanted to leave their contact information after the meeting, she would make sure it got to code enforcement for future updates regarding this property. Judy Jacobson, 1 Marini Court, said she has concerns with rodents, and she said currently the air conditioning to the property is running, and she is worried that with all the garbage inside the residence that when that is turned off the smell is going to be overwhelming. She added the air conditioning runs all year long. Code Officer Meservey mentioned that the water has been shut off to the property. He also added that the daughter said once the legal paperwork is in order, the daughter said her intention was to hire an outside company to clean the property and then sell it. Judy said the outside of the property is a mess too. Judy added that there are vines growing around the air conditioning unit. Code Officer Meservey said he would go over in the morning and check the exterior of the property. Deputy Mayor Sim clarified that we cannot enter the property. Residents Jeff and Anita Green of 3 Vics Court were present to address their concerns with 59 Broderick Street. Mr. & Mrs. Green believe the owners of 59 Broderick Street are operating a car tinting business from their residence without approval. They stated they had mentioned to code enforcement in the past that they thought the owners were doing something with cars prior and code enforcement put them on notice and things seemed to slow down, but it seems like things have picked up again. Mr. Green said he’s counted as many as 7 cars a day parked in the driveway. Mrs. Green witnessed cash changing hands for tinting services. Mr. Green said he heard from an associate who attended the last planning commission meeting that there was a discussion regarding the owners of 59 Broderick Street possibly putting in an application to run a business out of the residence. Mr. Green said that the property owner has a facebook business page. Mr. & Mrs. Green stated that any variance should be denied and the Village should continue unannounced visits to the property. Mr. Green also mentioned that the homeowner has rather bright lights on the garage and about 10-15 security cameras around the property, and feels like that is an invasion of privacy. Code Officer Meservey said that he addressed the security cameras when they were first mentioned and he’s seen footage and they only show the top of the fence and do not look into the yard of the Greens. He also said as far as the lighting, our code does not touch on residential standards for brightness. He said that when it was first brought to his attention that they might be running a business, he issued a order-to-stop, and things did slow down. Once things picked up again, he did go back over and has a discussion with the owner and said if he wanted to pursue the business he would have to apply to the planning commission for a special use permit. Code Officer Meservey said that they need to be formally put on the agenda, which they are still not, but encouraged the Greens to check our website for the planning commission agendas for future meetings. Resident Bill Colter of 21 Stella Terrace was present to discuss 100 Broderick Street. He said that the property is being listed for sale as a commercial property. He mentioned that it would be great if the Village could acquire the property. He also mentioned his concerns with ATV’s in the area. He suggested downloading the Town of Colonie article about how ATV’s are illegal and sending that out to residents. Mrs. Green also mentioned that she agrees with the concerns about the ATV’s. Mr. Stevens of Pine Avenue inquired about Brownies on Central Avenue planning approval, for change of occupancy to become a dispensary. He had some concerns with traffic. Trustee Lockart said that they are not approved yet, and the planning commission also had concerns with traffic. Brownies has been asked to return to the planning commission with plans on traffic patterns. Deputy Mayor Sim mentioned that it was a bit of a play on words in the newspaper, that while they received their approval from the State to be a dispensary, they have not received planning approval from the Village. Mr. Jim Splonskowski of Peter Drive mentioned that is someone sees something they should say something, in regards to the hording condition situation on Marini Court. Code Officer Meservey said there are unfortunately lots of hoarding conditions all over the Village, you can’t dictate hoe someone lives in their house. Deputy Mayor Sim added that we have to help and do what we can within the confines of the law and the code and added that it’s a very frustrating situation. Mayor Tobin added that code enforcement has done a great job and is diligent on matters, and added that recently spent a lot of time changing the code so we have some bearing to enforce these property maintenance issues and inflict fines. Mike Bouck of 1 Marini Court asked if the Village could clean the exterior of the property, to which Deputy Mayor Sim said that we can clean the exterior, either our Department of Public Works, or we have a few private contractors who also do it if we don’t have enough man-power at the time, and then we bill the property owner, and ultimately it gets put on the taxes if it remains unpaid. He also asked what deems a building getting a red “X”, to which Code Officer Meservey said it usually indicates it’s uninhabitable, and structurally unsound. He said that currently there is a notice on the door of 6 Marini stating it is uninhabitable, so that first responders know of the conditions, he said it does not have a red “X” yet because he has not been able to check the structure of the building. Judy said there is another house on Gert Lane with clutter in the yard, another hoarding issue, to which Code Officer Meservey said he would look into. Chief Kayser stated that he contacts Code Officer Meservey several times a week on various commercial and residential issues, sometimes in the middle of the night, and Officer Meservey always answers. Trustee Lockart thanked all the residents for attending. Mrs. Green said they’ve lived in the Village for 44 years and love it, and would just like something done about this recent issue. The following reports were submitted: Senior Rev. vs. Exp. 7/17/2023-7/28/2023 Recreation Center July 2023 Fire Department July 2023 Senior lunch report 7/17/2023-7/21/2023 Senior lunch report 7/24/2023-7/28/2023 Senior lunch report 7/31/2023-8/4/2023 Abstract #5 General: $104,815.95 Water: $11,835.64 Sewer: $14,890.51 Total: $131,542.10 Deputy Mayor Sim made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by Trustee White. Vote: Trustee Lockart Yes Trustee Rubino Absent Trustee White Yes Deputy Mayor Sim Yes Mayor Tobin Yes Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 7:24 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jamie L. Blot Village Clerk Village of Colonie