Town Board Workshop
All right, IT IS 6:30. GOING TO CALL TO ORDER the town board workshop. If everyone could please have your seats. I would like to first today invite up our library director Adam Traub and town engineer Keith Mortimer on future library preparation. They came to us a few months ago about trying to get ahead of this as our library lease is up in 6 months 6 years. 6 months. No, that's a much bigger but you know, they we have a lot of really hard working people on this and they want to get ahead of it and Adam and Keith are they're doing a great job and they're going to set us up with a little bit of a timeline and we're excited to hear more because library is an integral part of our town. So, please. All right. Thanks Alex. Um, thank you all for being here. Can everybody hear me okay? Awesome. Thank you. All right. So, what Keith and I are are hoping to do here is share a little bit of information and background on where the library is situated right now. As Alex said, we have just under 6 years before the library's lease is up. If you aren't familiar, the library is renting the space over in Webster Plaza.
And we want to give you some background information on that and then lay out very roughly a couple of options that we may have and then in another future presentation we'll come back with a more thorough analysis for that. But we really wanted to make sure that you all in the community got a chance to find, you know, what basically the library board has been wrestling with for quite some time. So, first of all, I just want to give a little bit of a timeline. So, the lease was originally signed in 2001 back when the library actually was in this building here and then moved over to Webster Plaza. Many of you probably remember the big grand entrance that was on the front side of the plaza where all the other businesses were. There was a renewal signed in 2006. I put some other markers here just to kind of get your memory jogged. So, we had the great recession in 2007. In 2016, the second renewal was signed and that renewal is the one that we're currently on. So, that goes until the end of March 2032. So, if you're doing some quick math, that means the library has will have been in its current location about 30 years or many of you probably are are familiar
with this this time span in your your mortgage for your house. So, it'll be about a 30-year time span and I'll come back to that because it's a really key component of what the library board and the library is is working with right now. So, we had the second renewal signed. COVID happened in 2020 obviously. My predecessor Terry Bennett retired in 2021. The board hired me in 2022. And then looking forward, our 100th birthday or the 100th year after we were officially chartered with the state as a public library is 2029 which is about 3 years before our lease ends. So, I mentioned that timeline of 30 years. So, the next slide I'm going to show you is essentially what you look at when you look at your amortization tables when you're paying your mortgage, that kind of thing. So, over the course of the 30 years by the end of our lease, Webster will have spent just shy of 13 million dollars on the rental that we currently have. That does not include any of the upgrades that we've had to do. That does not include any the renovation that happened in 2016.
This statistic is just the rent, the CAM which is the common area maintenance, and the taxes we pay. And yes, even though we're a library, we pay taxes on our property because it's owned in a private plaza. Um, now we're going to keep digging into this math, but I want you to remember that over 30 years Webster will have spent 13 million dollars on that building. We didn't include the maintenance and upgrades because we assume that that would have been like for like if we had built in 2001 as well. HVAC wears out, lights need to be replaced, etc. So, I want to show you how the usage of the library has happened since 2021. The reason I'm doing that is 2020 was a singular year for everybody. And comparing to 2019 isn't particularly instructive, although I do it for myself to keep myself honest, but here's our circulation and door count. This is what I would call a critical statistic. Some people might call a KPI, a key performance indicator of how the library is being used by the community. So, the orange bar you see is our door count. So, everybody that comes through our front doors gets counted on the way in and on the way out. So, in 2021 we had about 140,000 visits in that year. Last
year we broke 200,000 for the first time since COVID. We had a small dip this year, but relatively stable. But what you will see is our circulation. So, circulation if you're not familiar is how we count the books and videos and etc. that you all might check out. We call it circulation. We have all sorts of library lingo gets confusing, but what you can see here is a trend going up. Nationally, libraries circulation was going down prior to COVID. Now that we we're past COVID, libraries are seeing on a national scale a rebound of that circulation. And actually, trends that are being forecast show that we will outpace 2019. So, there may be a point in the future where I say, "Let's go back and look at that." But for now, we're on an upward trend for both of our main statistics of circulation and door count. Another key component because one of the comments that I get the most and really brings me the most joy is when people tell me how much they love our library. Now, I had very little to do with this library. We didn't pick the spot. I didn't choose all the staff. We have an amazing team that works over at the
library that really makes the most of what we have. And to be fair, we do have a lot of space. We have 45,000 square feet which is probably a little bigger than this community needs, but here's the thing. While we may be shrinking some collections, the usage of our space is as you can see here is skyrocketing. So, the blue bar is our community room. If you've ever come to a main event a big event at the library, it's that room with a projector screen. There's a kitchen on the back. That room is in relatively high demand. It's both in use for library events as well as community organizations. So, a good [clears throat] example is we had the Red Cross in there doing a blood drive today. Our events are also going up. So, we're you know, our staff are really working hard to bring events to you that might be interesting. So, we've got a Ukrainian Easter celebration coming up this weekend along with a diverse abilities fair. We have a ton of programming and it has gone from under 500 Well, let's look at 2022. Say 700 for the for sake of argument and then this past year we broke a thousand. Um and so we're seeing really healthy events and really healthy event
attendance as well as frequent study room use. Um some of you may have come and worked with us, worked from home from the library. We have a lot of people that do that. We have a lot of teachers and tutors that use our space to help students. Those study rooms have gone and that's the green bar that you see just exponentially and we only have three of them. So, that 3,000 or almost 3,000 last year means each room got used almost a thousand times. The next slide, this is really something that goes a little um under the radar, but I wanted to highlight just to show what a great job the library board and the library staff have been doing. Since uh so the orange bar is our population, about 45,000, okay? In 2021, Webster had 12,174 active borrowers. These are people that use their library card at least once in the past 364 days. Fast forward to 2025, we're almost at 16,000. That's a 30% increase in the number of active users. I could tell you how many people have cards and that number continues to go up because eventually they they're still in the system but not active. These are active
users in our community. So, about a third of our community uses our library on a semi-regular basis. So, now I want to get back to some of the ways that um maybe we could be doing better, some of the ways that that give me pause as a library administrator. And um John, I'll apologize to you because you've probably seen this one before, but I think it's new for everybody else. Uh so in 2022, the board asked me to do a similar presentation and one of the areas where Webster really fell down was our collections expenditures. And when I say collections, I don't mean uh debt collections, I mean the stuff that we loan out, the books and stuff. Um so this is how much we spent in 2025. You can see here that we just broke 150,000 and that's with the support of um the Webster board uh town board. Um I we were at 100,000 when I first started in 2022. We are about and you can see here we're still catch playing catch up with a lot of our peers. These are the other peer library our other peer libraries. Um You can see we still have a lot of catch up to do. Um so we've been slowly and steadily increasing that budget until we get up to that average line. So, about $200,000 of investment in our
collections. The reason that's important is because for every book we can't afford to put on the shelves, we have to borrow on your behalf. And for any of you active library users, when a new hot release comes out, you know you're going to be on that hold list for a while. Um and the other reality is Webster, just like many of its peers, give our books to our residents first. So, that means when I have to go out and ask another library for a book, Webster residents are still playing second string because we're asking another library to let us borrow that book. It makes perfect sense. They're responsible to their to their taxpayers just as I'm responsible to you, but as a result, we see increased waiting times in compared to comparison to our peers, which can drive people away. Now, this is that this is another view of that first slide I showed you with the bar graph going to 13 million. These are the libraries in Monroe County that are most like us, what are considered large suburban libraries. Um what you'll see here is our buildings and maintenance expenditure. I have a little call out at the top of our blue bar, which tells you that this number is just the rent, the CAM, and
the taxes. So, when I sign that bill and our treasurer signs that bill every month, it's a $40,000 bill every month to keep that library open. Now, in comparison, we've got Greece, Fairport, Penfield, and Brighton. Now, three of those library Three of those four libraries all own their building or the town owns their building. So, their maintenance and their building expenditure is relatively low. There's no bond on their current um building and they're paying just to maintain it. Fairport, on the other hand, also rents like we do. Fairport is one of the best funded suburban libraries in the county um and you may wonder why if I'm comparing rent to rent, why there's so much lower. I can't speak to that. What I can speak to is this is today's reality. So, we've got six years to really figure this out and what we want to do as a community about how do we solve this? There's always the option of renewing a lease, but I'd like to posit that a more fiscally responsible [clears throat] option might be to investigate alternatives. So, I believe that's my last slide.
Sure.
And so I'm going to introduce Keith Mortimer, our town engineer, who's been a great colleague and partner in this effort. Do you want to switch or do you want me to pass the mic? Yeah, we can switch. All right. So, for those of you who don't know me, uh Keith Mortimer, town engineer with the town of Webster. Um a lot of new faces out there in the audience. Um which is great to see. Um So, we're going to talk about uh what's next and what's next is sort of where I I the the engineering ta- technical side might come into this. So, we've got about three options. Um we could lease or rent. Um we could buy a existing structure and renovate or we could build new. Um one of the things I'll talk about or I want to just remind everyone about rent or leasing is if we were to lease in place where we're at today, [clears throat] we are likely to need to renovate that space as well. So, those dollar values that um Adam just, you know, showed to you of that 12, 13 million and let's just say that holds steady over the next 30
years, we can expect another dollar value on top of that. What it is, I I couldn't tell you today, but it would add considerably to that. So, let's talk about where [clears throat] we're we're kind of at today and where we think we might be headed here. So, Adam and I have had off-and-on conversations throughout all of um 2025. Casual conversations, hey we know this is coming, know this is coming. And we made a commitment that we would start truly getting into the weeds on this um shortly after the holiday season of 2026. Um Adam went away to Puerto Rico, I went away to Puerto Rico. We had to get through our vacations and whatnot and deal with deal with our winter here first.
do some work in Puerto Rico together?
No, I well I probably could have. We might. We could [laughter] do that. We could do that, yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, you know, it's uh um but that being said, um when we got back, we we we got together and well, say about the last week of February, we really had a hard conversation and really that conversation was to figure out where we're going, you know, we know 20 March 31st of 2032, which Adam has [clears throat] drummed into my brain at this point, um that is when our lease is up, right? So, we're roughly six years away from that. And we and we want to get out ahead of this. We want to get everyone acclimated to some thought processes. We don't want to get to say July of 2029 and say, oh, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Got to and try to rush it through. So, this is going to We hope this gives us a lot of leeway to kind of really evaluate, think through this, and and come up with the best option and the best approach for our town. What this at the end of the day, everything ends on March 31st, 2032. We either renew our
lease and we stay where we're at and we think about where we're going to what we'll do with the space as we have it today or we think about um building new or renovating an existing structure. Either one is very plausible at this point. Um actually all three are very plausible. It's just, you know, we kind of talk about when we're talking about building new or renovating an an existing structure, we do have other things we have to consider at this point. So, the first thing out of the starting gate is location. We need to figure out where we're going to go and, you know, and we've already started that process of evaluating various parcels throughout the town and we're looking into that. We are thinking right now that we really need to have an understanding if we going to go this route, um we're going to have to have that location identified by September of next year, 2027. Once we know where we're going, then we can begin the whole process of design, um we can go out to the construction, go through all of that and finally move into what might be a new space. Again, whether we do this or we stay where
we're at today and just renew our lease, we all end on 2032. Um so just at this point what I'll say is Adam and I now have homework to do and and Adam well and I will admit a lot of this presentation was Adam. I mean he he carried the bull work of it all. The next [clears throat] one will probably be a lot of me and that's where we're going to go through those three options and sort of give everyone a flavor of cost, what we think each one of those options are going to cost, some pros and cons and then certainly get input from the community, from the town board because we really will need to understand here very shortly, hey are if we are going to proceed with build new or renovate an existing structure. In short order so that we can continue this process of looking for space land to build on. We'll probably still continue that process just running on a parallel path but we we do want to get out in front of everybody the these three options and you know like I said what we think the costs are and what we think the the pros and cons are for each one of them. And with that
Oh Thank you. Thank you very much for this well thought out presentation and I'm [clears throat] I'm I'm glad to see you had the foresight to start planning ahead because 2032 is going to come before we know it. Um I had I've written down a few questions um obviously personally I don't want to continue to rent because I feel it's a waste of taxpayer dollars unless let's not kid ourselves. This is not our money. Okay, it's the taxpayer's money. So in planning um I'm a staunch advocate of putting money aside in reserves knowing 2032 is coming. All right, we know the building's going to cost millions of dollars. So have you begun to put money aside in the budget? No. Yeah. Um yes, so um one of the things that um I worked with the previous administration on was growing our fund balance. So since 20 I think 2022 we had a balance of about 100 I wish Paul were here. Maybe 180,000. Um we're just about 900,000 right now.
Um and so we we are hoping that we can um we're going to keep growing that fund balance to help offset those tax dollars. Thank you. And I and I would I'm an advocate of that too because it goes along with having foresight. You know we're probably going to need to build new and a lot of the information you've put forward tonight, I'm I'm very happy to have received it because it's very very important. I mean we've seen the financial impacts in several of our projects that we're doing in the town because that foresight wasn't there and it hurts the pocketbook of the taxpayers at the end of the day. Because if we had set aside as we're doing now significant monies for the next upgrade of the sewage treatment plant, we would not be bonding as much money as we're bonding. We're putting you know the town in financial risk because we're having to bond so much money. So is do you have and I know you at least when I was liaison to the to the uh to the library, there was money that it was gifted to the library. Will that money be available to
some of it to be dedicated towards this new building? Would you say? So I can't speak for the foundation board. I think that's what you're referring to is that yeah. Um I can't speak for the foundation board. I would imagine that there would be money available. Yes.
Okay, it's a conversation you'll have down the road.
Yeah and and one that I think the foundation would welcome. Okay. So have you taken a a a look at because I know there's a lot of open space down there that's well it when you're walking in there's a lot of open space as far as square footage. So when you go to plan your building, it's you know you can get a rough estimate of the cost based on square footage. So have you come to a decision as to what you're going to need for square footage or is that something that's you're going to continue to work on? Well I you know there is a I think what did we say? It's a Well the the square footage size is it's about a square foot per um resident.
Oh oh I'm sorry. Yeah. To give you a you know so if you have 45,000 residents in a community, the the going the the rough um mark is is a is a one square foot per resident for a library.
So you've got 45,000 square feet right now. We've got what 45,000 people roughly in Webster. Yep. So you're talking about having a library that's the same size that has a lot of square footage that's not used right now. Well so I think that's kind of where I'm No no I can yeah no I We're that's kind of where this whole if we were to stay in that space to make it more usable and more efficient, we'd have we'd want to renovate that. You're right, there's a lot of dead space in in that. When you walk in, it's it's maybe not utilized to its its fullest potential. So I think that's the that's the conversation we get into when we go you know if we do build new is we get into programming with a design team is how do we gain all of the services and all the wants we need for the least amount of square footage, right? And and and so and be as cost effective about [clears throat] that as possible. Right now we're looking at a space you know we you know
we're in a space where you're right, it's it's a lot of grand open space that's just not being utilized and the goal would be is to make that more utilized and and you know do we think it's 45,000? We don't really know that at this point. We just know that that's the best estimate out there.
on on the current 45,000 square feet and the amount of square footage is it's it's dead square footage with with my in my opinion. So in my conclusions to that would be if you were going to build new, you don't need 45,000 square feet. I I don't know how they came up with that metric as far as you know one square foot per per resident. resident. Yeah. I mean I will say if this you know when the when the library flipped its entrance um I don't the history that I've gathered, I don't know that that was a particularly um library led effort in terms of thinking about how that space was laid out. Um I can tell you at a bare minimum we need more study rooms. Um we need a larger community room. And if I could renovate or start with a blank slate I think we could build a smarter library more effectively. And no doubt. Um and
and I agree with you. There's a lot of open space that you know we try to make use of but could be better used and better planned for sure. So I I don't mean to get into the wood the weeds on this and I I apologize if I'm asking questions that aren't appropriate at this time. Um but I have a question about you know you talked about the community room which is used a lot. Yeah. And and and and and the community as a whole benefits a great deal. Um do you charge rent for that community room? No. No, it's it's free. Um we do encourage donations um but generally speaking no, it's free. I would say uh there's some community groups that regularly donate but it's few and far between. Okay. This may be inappropriate but why do you not charge rent? If you are planning on building, you need revenue. The revenue could offset Um I mean philosophically the reason I mean it first of all that's that's what I that's the way Webster has has uh been before me but if I were to make that decision, I'd make the same one. And the reason being is that the community paid for that community room already. Um and so in many ways they've already invested in
it. So I I that would be and I feel that way with the books and just about every other thing that we offer as well.
I'm not saying it's a positive or negative. I'm just curious so asking the question so everybody you know everybody knows. And and and I would say totally appropriate in my opinion. Would it be appropriate for you in the next few years to have I don't maybe Kyle you could weigh in on this fund drives to help fund the new building if we go that direction. Uh I would
Um it's not legal for the library to do. It is legal for the friends and the foundation to do. He's right. Okay. Yeah. Great. Yeah. Do you have a parcel in mind? No. You know in talking about we we did we've had some conversations of course about money and you know we're looking at grants. You know there are grants out there. There are also other initiatives through the library system that you know have um they have money associated with it that you know, we would certainly look to um take advantage of, you know, when it when it comes time. Well, sounds like you guys are looking at every avenue, and I appreciate the the input and the answers, and I'm sorry that I'm you know, taking up so much time. You'll probably have more questions in part two. You'll have a lot more questions.
Okay. Can already see it.
[laughter]
And and I like questions. It's my job. Yeah, I can see these guys all day every day, so I like you guys to be able to answer any anything you want. Now, John asked uh I'm going to get this closer. John asked many of the questions. I thing with size is you have to watch 6 years is a long time. We don't know how the community is going to grow, change, and evolve, or how utilization is going to grow over time. So, just making sure that's taken into consideration with the space will be very important. So, it's not only built for the need in 30 32, but the need in 30, I don't know, 30 62.
[laughter]
Oh my gosh, Jennifer. Do you know how OLD I'LL BE?
[laughter]
YEAH, but there'll be a lot of people who are Yeah, I mean, I I I grew up here when the library was here. I spent many much time in this area going through encyclopedias to write papers, you know, in the fourth grade when there was no internet. So, when dinosaurs roam the earth.
[laughter]
That's how we did things. But that's why like libraries are such a key part of the community, not just for the books, the space. And you know, I I'm the liaison now to the library, so I've I've been in the weeds with Adam on this. You know, I think he's doing the right thing. He's looking ahead. Adam, to kind of dovetail off of Jennifer's thing, you know, how do you kind of think about that of how the library's changed in the use of residents now, and how do you and fellow librarians think about that as you plan to the Um I'll be retired by then. Um But um but but but seriously, um I would say the library the role of the library There's a lot of professional hand-wringing that goes in library circles. What are we going to do when the internet came? What are we going to do that AI is here, etc. The library a book is a piece of technology. A book is a way to share a story, to share information, to help educate. It's just a format. Um and while it's a format that's very accessible and very familiar and hopefully familiar to kids that are the age of my kids, um it's really about connecting people to the information and the expertise that they need, and hopefully when they need it. So, I don't see the role changing as
much, but I do see the way we're being used changing. So, there's obviously more demand for digital services. Digital services we don't own. A book we can resell. A service we pay for, and when we stop paying for it, it goes away. That's a big seismic change for libraries. Um and one that eats up increasingly large portions of collections budgets. Um on top of that, my predecessor Terry had this vision, one which I embrace, of the library as the community's living room. And it really is I mean, if you looked at those stats, one of the most dramatic changes was the use in our meeting rooms and our study rooms and our community room. So, that demand on space, whether it's to connect with a tutor, again, connecting with expertise, or having a group meeting about what action to take next on a particular project, or um you know, we've got a uh a mushroom hunting uh workshop next week, how to safely forage for mush- mushrooms, right? And and these may sound like kind of one-off kind of things, but these are all requests and needs that we're hearing from the community, and I think that that's one main way is we've shifted to
try and connect people with the experts in the area, um as well as to the books, to the online resources. And it's not to downplay all the other stuff that we that is our bread and butter, but that's one area of, I would say, rapid growth for libraries. All right. And then next question is you and the board have to think about this. What's your viewpoint as to John's point of being fiscally responsible, the balancing needs versus wants when you start to think about what new library looks like, whether you stay in the space or you you build a new space. So, I think the first thing first kind of like if we're thinking of this um as a process, one of the gates or process gates that we're dealing with is finding out which direction community wants to go. Um and that's really where we're at right now and why we've brought it to the town and to the board to discuss it. Um once we get through that, in terms of figuring out what we want versus what we need is really a process by uh that we work with a designer and an architect on to try and work through what is the best layout, what is an efficient use of space, what is really necessary because the idea is not to build I mean, I'm going to make an assumption that Webster is not trying to rebuild the Taj Mahal.
Um we're trying to look at it what does a library look like in 2032, 2062, 2092. Um pairing down those wants is really a process that will work collaboratively through community input, meetings like this. Um we're also usually um when an architect comes in with a project like this, they help us run study groups so that A, I'm not filtering things through myself or through my own mouthpiece, and B, they're the experts in building that space. So, when they hear, "Oh yeah, we'd really like more meeting rooms." Yeah, sure. Of course. "Oh, we also want a stable for the library's pony." Well,
[laughter]
that sounds like And I And I'm I'm being absurd to prove a point, though. It is that we will have extreme requests. And we do get requests to this day that are lovely ideas, but potentially not particularly fiscally responsible. You're going to say no to the in-ground pool, right? I I'm not going to have a pool, correct. Come on.
[laughter]
Come on, John. Pool, water park.
I know, I'm such a killjoy.
[laughter]
Chickens, maybe? Chicken coop? Oh, boy. No animals. No. So, service animals only, please. But I'd say that's that's how we do it is working through the process of both working with community input and working with a knowledgeable, you know, experienced architect who is who has experience in building community centers and libraries like this. Excellent. Thank you. Jen or Nick, anything? No. Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate it. Yeah, of course. All right. Thank you very much. If anybody does have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us via email. We have a contact the department sections on our website. Uh we would love to hear community feedback on anything from this point on. So, thank you very much. And up next is uh the chair of our conservation board, Dennis Gorlick. Um one of the things that keeps getting brought up is registering to be climate smart community, which has actually come into play in a lot of our grant applications, including our water quality improvement ones, anything with a DEC, um and what it means to register for this. So, Dennis, the floor is yours as soon as
Josh gets your slides up and running. Yes, Josh is going to be my co-pilot. Okay. Here we go. So, the quest questions, I know everybody holds them till the end, so please do that. Um I did provide a lot of material in your package, uh supporting material, and I'm definitely going to go over that because some of it's kind of dense. I it it's the underpinnings and what lies beneath the slides. So, they're a little dense, so I didn't want them in the slides, but we'll hit the high points when we get to them. Okay, let's get it Oh, there it is. Okay. Climate Smart Communities. Um I'm going to hit five major areas, and when I finish, you're going to be experts in this area, believe me. Okay. Oh, one thing I wanted to say before I started. Uh this is listed as the Conservation Board's presentation, and it is cuz we worked on this kind of as a group. Um but um I worked on the final slide, so any errors are mine, but there are no errors, so just want to let you know. Um okay. We'll hit five things: what a Climate Smart Community is, what it really is. There's a lot of misconceptions about what it is. Hopefully, I can make it
very clear to you. Why [clears throat] should we register to be a Climate Smart Community? What's in it for us? What's the advantages? What's the cost? Um why should we even think about it? What's in it for us? We're also going to look at which of our neighboring towns have already become Climate Smart Communities, why they did it, how they did it, and what's in it for them. What's their benefit over where we are, cuz we're not yet a Climate Smart Community? What benefits that they that they have that we don't have in terms of environmentally based grants or grants that do some of the things that we're normally doing anyway, as a matter of course, in making the town better. Um how to become a Climate Smart Community, and who does the work? It's always resources. Uh do we have all the resources in the town? And I'm a pretty sure I can show you that we do. Let's go to the next slide. Okay. What is a climate smart community? So, it's a it's a program. It's primarily run by the Department of Environmental Conservation of the state. But it's a program that believe it or not, they don't have a lot of control over what you do. They have very little control over what you do except
the the the description of how you apply for the program. Once you get in, you're very you're very open in the kind of things you do to qualify and move through the program. Um it's was started in 2009. 2009. Um and it was a interagency initiative. By 2018, there was so much interest, they set up a web portal because they were getting so much so many applications, a web portal to set it up. And then in 2022, they added um regional climate smart community coordinators. People whose main job is to work with people who want to get in the program, benefit from the program, and help them go through what they have to do, and to identify opportunities. So, that's a resource we'll talk about later. I've been in touch with our um regional coordinator, and she's been incredibly helpful about telling me just how the program works. And and how to apply for it. Uh what's in it for Webster? Um a couple of things. It provides We know it provides grants and technical assistance. That's one of the things our um coordinator does. She helps us identify appropriate grants and
tech and provides technical assistance for things that are appropriate for the community, things that are on on our comprehensive plan, things that we're doing already that we could benefit from and possibly do better since we're already going to do do them and put less burden on the taxpayers because those grants can offset some of that cost. And I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but I like the idea of somehow taking the taxes that we paid to the state, and we do get some things from them, but this is a way for us to do things for the town and to take advantage and to recoup some of those funds that we put into state taxes to help us do things we're already going to do for our town. Or things that we can do that will add to the quality of life here and not add any additional cost. Um and all of these grants and technical assistance kind of go to the major the major focus of the climate smart community. It's that
[clears throat]
whether or not you have a firm idea of what you think is causing climate change, there is climate change. So, I'm not going to debate that. Um but that's something that things are different. Um you can either adapt to it or ignore it and ignore it and let it kind of run over you. Um and you can also do things that help reduce some of the things that add to climate uh effects on a local level. This is a local program even though it's funded by the state, and they're very aware of that. Okay, let's get into what are some of the advantages? And these are pretty clear advantages. I mean, they are These are granting advantages. And these grants are all grants that tie in with uh uh initiatives that look at improving the quality of life that uh in spite of things that are happening in the environment. Uh pretty rainy yesterday. Um one of the things that happens in in uh change with global warming is you get more water evaporation, you get more weather. You get more rain, you get more events. And I got soaked getting to my car yesterday, and took about a half an hour to get home cuz I couldn't see where I was going. Just an aside. Okay, we've got grant programs listed. These
are not all of them. We've applied for some of these in the past, the town, and we've done it pretty well. But half about half of the towns in Monroe County are already climate smart communities. When they apply for a grant, depending on the grant, you can see CSC benefit on that right-hand column. The grant gets reviewed. The grant might have 80 or 90 or 100 points that the reviewers base their scoring on. If you're a climate smart community, you get extra points. And that would be a nice thing to have for some of these grants. Um you can get a very small amount of points if you're what we call a registered community. I'll explain that to you later. That's the easiest thing to do. It's the fastest, but you don't get very much benefit. It's saying, "Yep, we want to be on board, but we're not really doing much about it." If you look at that first column, you see it two extra [clears throat] points for registered, six extra points for bronze. These are different levels. If you actually do some of the things that um they have on a whole list of items, which are things we always do. I'll go into those in a minute. You actually get more points. And uh you have to take the first step to get
involved, and it's a fairly easy. I'll spell it out later. Um climate smart community programs. Um we also planning grant grants for to buy property. Didn't we just do some grants to try to see if we can get a grant to obtain some property for to use and to preserve. These are grants that if we had that uh that climate smart designation, we would start off ahead of any of towns that don't. Right now, we're kind of uh at a disadvantage when we do these things um because a lot of towns have that advantage and we don't. Let's take one more. I want to take a look and kind of define this. This is a little bit of the busy map, but the main point here, this is all of um Monroe County. And this is one area we do compete with. We also compete on some grants with bigger things, but normally we compete with this area with with towns in this area for some of these grants or um Monroe or I'm sorry, this is the Finger Lakes region, all of these things that are our consultant coordinator is responsible for. Monroe County is a little piece of that. And about half of the towns [snorts] in Monroe County are are climate smart registered. So, um we
are not. Where is Webster? Missing in action. See that big question mark? We're not in the program. We're at a disadvantage when we when we go looking for grants, and that could be an issue. Okay? In the whole Finger Lakes region, there's about 45 climate smart communities. And uh that again is a a little over half, a little under half of the community. Let's see. Okay, now we're going to get to the nitty-gritty. These are just some examples. These are just some examples of some grants that have recently awarded to towns. And these are climate smart community grant based. Um the first one is Gates. It's a fairly big one, but it was over 2024-2025. Gates is kind of a pretty good example when you start talking about this part of of New York state. He's done pretty well. They've very gradually done done a a really focus program to look at programs that they normally would have already done in their community. How can they get some help from the state to do this through these programs and also be kind of a leader and looking at how do we how do we plan for changes that might affect Gates based on on changes in climate? And
that's what all these grants do. I'm going to hit some more later, but this is a main one. This is a vulnerability assessment just to take a look at things, what might happen, and what will probably happen. And before it happens, like the library thing, let's not let's not look for a place to build a library and spend the money 6 months before we have to do it. Let's plan ahead and look at things that could happen and try to figure out how we could could reduce the impact. Um the second two are 2026 projects. Our city of Rochester just got a big grant to add off-street bicycle and and and walking lanes. And the ideal was that if you could have them in areas that are normally a lot of a lot of local car traffic traffic, especially going to schools, perhaps, um or to shopping [laughter] areas that are near the communities, that you could reduce the amount of travel by cars and make the place more um pedestrian friendly. I know we're thinking of some of that, pedestrian friendly um changes both in the hamlet and in the when we talk about the comprehensive plan, thinking about how do we get some sidewalks in areas that will make
movement along those areas, the pedestrian traffic and safer, and also cut down on the use of cars. Excuse me. Ontario County recently got one the whole county for a 60,000 grant, not in Monroe, obviously, but nearby, to develop an organics waste management plan. Does that sound familiar? I'm wondering. I I have a tendency to wander when I get in front of a microphone. Okay. Um we have a big program now that's a really excellent program on waste management, a new treatment plant, working with with Fairlife. A lot of good things that go on there, and there are grants for um counties. This This grant was to decrease the total volume of waste because they knew that their processing plant was going to be going offline. Different situation, but that's another place where we did get funding, but maybe we could do better. If you take a look, I didn't bring this up. I gave you in your package one thing that I wanted to take a look at because this is a a press release. January 2nd, 2026. DEC announces more than 22 million for climate smart communities grants awards. Climate smart. Be nice if we had that
designation. I'm just going to point out a couple of them. You know, it's not all about the grants, but that makes it nicer and it costs the citizens of the the town much less. A number I'm going to point out a few. Let's go to they're organized by area. Finger Lakes, you can see again that city of Rochester won and the Ontario County won. Let's see some other ones. Oh, Land if you look at Land, excuse me, Long Island, which is the next grouping. The town of Brookhaven just got a $500,000 grant for land acquisition to preserve preserve natural areas. And I know we're looking to do the same thing. So, those grants are out there and they'd get a more a better a better chance of getting those. Where's another one? You can see a lot of them as you go through that are sidewalks and bike improvements, but there's one I wanted to point out. I don't want to belabor this. Where was it? There was one. Sidewalk, sidewalk. Woodstock. Okay. If you go another page or two, looking at the main title, Mid-Hudson.
Go all the way down those Mid-Hudsons and right near the end the city almost to the end, the city of New Rochelle. Okay. $112 for citywide tree plantings. Again, if we're trying to make sure that we don't that we can keep pace say with trees that die from disease, trees that fall down, trees that have to be taken down because they're diseased or damaged, struck by lightning, run over by cars. It'd be nice to have some granting that we didn't have to bear the whole cost. So, these are examples of things that are in this program. We may not choose to do those as part of our uh part of our um certification or part of our application, but there's a huge number of things that you can look at that would work with the town. So, let's take a quick look at those. And the next slide, I believe, is how do we become a climate smart community? Okay. This slide is we've got um One thing I want to mention first. I was talking when we talked about grant advantages about two or six or eight points or 10 points that you can get as a additional grant point. The points that I'm going to talk about in that you have to get or that you're required to get in order to qualify for
some of these levels are actually what we call action points and I'll explain that to you. It took a little while for me to understand that as well. Um there are three rows and two columns, okay? Um the let's look at the we've got a level. There's three different levels and I want to be to just talk about two levels to keep it simple. Um and then the required tasks you have to do to get to that level and what they call action points. We'll get into those action points. Some of those points are things like uh energy savings. In uh gradually move from incandescent to LED lighting on street areas and in buildings. I think we're doing that. So, some of them are very simple and things that we're already doing. Uh develop a plan to have more efficient waste treatment. Sounds like we're doing that as well. We'll get into that in a minute. Um okay. Registered climate smart community, that's the easiest thing. That's the basic thing. You essentially have to do things that I've done just talking to the uh regional coordinator. You don't have to do any of these action points. You don't have to get involved in any of the looking up what you have to do. It's a simple thing that says
passing a resolution, which they call the CSC pledge, that says, "Yes, we think there might be something going on. We want to play. We want to participate." But there's no obligation to do anything more. It's the first step. And it kind of gets you in the system. So, you say, "Yes, I want to be in the system." The town board does have to pass a pledge and I have some examples for it. It's fairly simple and you can modify it a bit. Designate your primary contact person. I've been doing that with our That's already been taken care of. I've been doing that with our regional coordinator. Uh create an online profile. She's already started that for us, but it's fairly simple. That sets the stage if you want to go to the next level, but you're not committed to doing anything. And build a climate task force. That's an ongoing thing. It sounds like a very ominous task. But that is essentially the uh conservation board and um the community development group. You know, these are people who have some of a focus on it. That's that qualifies as a task force. So, all of this is pretty much been done except the pledge. It just gets you something. Uh the next level certification, there's a couple. Um you have to do a little more, but it's not a whole lot more. You essentially have to look at this long list of possibilities
that are customized. Customized You can customize and pick and choose any choose anywhere any of a hundred different actions, many of which we already do. There's no forced actions. Um and you have to complete them. We've done many of them. One of the other things I've given to you to take a look at is a a pretty dense a pretty dense one. I don't know if you have Josh, can you zip over to the um to the um spreadsheet or is that something a little difficult to do? Okay. In your packet, there's a spreadsheet. We wanted to find out before we did this and it's got a lot of columns and a lot of lines. It's a spreadsheet that looks at all of the different
Dennis, but it is running late and since we only have two certified sections right now, I do want to give the board time to ask you questions.
Okay. They'll be fast. Okay. The bottom line is if you look at that spreadsheet that you look at the spreadsheet, there's hundreds of actions. Many of them we've already done. Josh's group looked at what we've already done and if we look at how many points we might get, we're already past the qualified points. So, if we want to go to the next level, which I think is worth it, you get much more benefit, three times the benefit in points or five times. Uh and a lot of the stuff has been done. It's a matter of putting it together and and getting it in. We're already what you call bronze ready on the bottom. We could do that today. We could certainly do the first one today because everything is in place except a resolution by the board to do the first step. Okay. Who does the work? This is where everything meets the road. We do have a regional coordinator and this is free advice, free technical advice, free training. Um free uh identifying appropriate grant opportunities and helping us put them together and ushering it through the system. So, that's a a resource that's incredible. Um let's
go to the real resources that might be more of a of a of uh concern. Let's go to the town resources. That next slide. As we look at what resources we need to do this, um I could not find any additional resources that we need to do this. Um as you can see on the top, we've got the community development group. You've got me, the conservation board. That's already been done for registered. Um putting together that big spreadsheet, some of the same people in Josh's group would be doing that. And it's it's really very no additional. It's it's designating people to work to put it together. So, we'd and there are other resources we could probably count on. Um I already have my eye on one of a couple of Josh's interns. We'll have to work on that if we need that to help us a specific thing. And I know that there are a lot of Webster citizen groups that would be only too happy to work with us to help us identify opportunities that they might help with. Um friends of Webster trail and so forth, Green Webster. Um let's go on to the next one. Okay. It was fast and I only started about 5 minutes late because we were librarying, but that's okay. Um
climate smart community, right. What is it? Why should we do it? I think it's pretty obvious. It's A, the right thing to do. B, we're behind the eight ball. C, we're we can do this and and uh do things that will help make life better for the community because many of the things we're already doing and my question is always, "Why wouldn't we do it?" because we leave money on the table. We've already paid into the state to do these projects. Why would we start off our grants on a back foot um with other people ahead of us? Why would we do that? So, hopefully you've got a pretty good idea. If somebody said, "What is it? Why should we do it? What's in it for me? And who does the work?" I would hope everybody would know that. So, you've got my 15-minute talk in 12 minutes and
I just want to ask the big question that we're all going to know is, can the DEC and who owns this program dictate what we can and cannot do? No, that's kind of No, the beauty is there's so many choices and if you go through that I think there's 112 different items you can choose and pick from. And if you pick the right the right 15 or so you already are are kind of in the next thing and they can't they can't they dictate any of that.
entity in the state has jurisdiction over this? I'm sorry. I think it's Department of DEC actually
so if the governor okay stated that she wanted something mandated with respect to those communities that are climate-smart communities as she has done with her 2030 plan the DEC would be bound to implement if it was if a law was passed by the bureaucrats downstate. I guess my only response to that would be I know the program has been in in effect since 2009. I know there's been a number of governors and I don't think there's ever been a mandate that changed the focus of the plan. But my question is could that happen? You're saying that it can't
anything could happen but I think it's unlikely. Based on history
It could also happen. If the legislature decided to mandate something for the communities that are climate-smart Yeah. they could do that. Correct?
It's been a pretty independent organization. I don't think I could say yes or no on that. I'm not in the position.
I think the answer is yes, they could because they they generate the laws and the mandates. And then I think
during COVID? I think the town would then be able to withdraw themselves from the program. It is a voluntary program. That's true. Good point. We're not obligated to do
there anything documented that we could withdraw from this program if we if we wanted to? Yes. I haven't seen it. We can withdraw. We can decide we don't want to play. It's a voluntary program. It's a totally voluntary program from the towns. Yeah, no material I've read I haven't seen anything that said we could voluntary opt out once we opt in. No. Once you opt in you you don't have to actually do You're not obligated to to do anything. If you don't do anything
think you can opt out either. I would like more information about the ability to opt out. Um Some of the concerns I have is that the and Josh you can maybe talk to this is that the town staff is already taxed and stretched very thin. So adding adding another program that is going to have um requirements for reporting. There's reporting requirements. There's emissions requirements. There's work extra work to administer the program. So I I did see on the presentation department heads listed as resources and I What are your thoughts? Josh and Keith is a department head. Um No, that's a great question. Um we did engage with many of the department heads to kind of take a an updated inventory of what their current operations look like and what elements of those are on this list and we did get a lot of cooperation. Um the sewer department is already responsible for routine reporting uh to
the DEC associated with their operation. So it's really just a matter of collecting data that we already that respective departments already have and there is an annual um reporting requirement. And actually if you don't uh meet that reporting requirement you are removed from the program or deregistered automatically which is why we believe that there really is no long-term um hook at the end that will force the town into doing something that they don't want to do. So you already have someone designated to head this project up. Yeah, so the conservation board would be obviously assisting us a great deal Who within the management team though? With well with Maria Duer being our grant liaison she already has a lot of information that we're tracking for these grants anyway. So yeah, my staff working with Maria in addition to the conservation board and some periodic meetings with my colleagues and other department heads would be about all the effort and I'm pretty confident that we
would be able to make it work. So but nobody currently has been designated to spearhead this project. Correct? Do you have the name of a department head that's going to be responsible for submitting all the requirements to the DEC for this project currently? Do you have anyone a department head responsible for it? Well, it would be my department so I guess it would by default be me. Okay. And are you okay doing that? Yes. Great. You know Josh, speaking of the workload and there's other towns you mentioned doing this. Have we heard back from other towns of how much that workload really is? Cuz as you mentioned Dennis, if other ones are doing this it's not an unknown. It'd be good to hear from them firsthand what it's like.
That's a great point and do you want to talk about that?
uh actually what we did is uh um um Charles Chuck Slotkin who's on our our conservation board is also on the Monroe he's a representative of our board from Monroe County Environmental Council and we did a survey asking all the members on that board so that all the towns in Monroe County including um uh Pittsford all the all the towns around a survey about uh climate-smart whether they're in it. Why did they get in it? What sort of demands that it put on their on their uh resources and uh there was only one town that that thought about getting an additional person and that was uh Penfield who decided to go a different way and now they've decided they're actually going to apply for it because of the way they went of getting a person and setting up something that wasn't quite in climate-smart didn't work out. Most of the towns all of the other towns said that they didn't have to put anybody else on but they had to find someone who was already doing grant stuff and submission and was able to work with the regional coordinator
to help frame the stuff so it's in the right format when it goes in. Not the right format. Format that's easy for that ensures acceptance. Would you be able to share that with the board Dennis? Hm? Would you be able to share that survey with the board?
I can get that survey I've got there's uh Yes, I can do that. And also I can do a couple of other things. You asked you asked about the ability um Jennifer opt out. Mhm. What I'll do is I'll send you the the description of the program how it works and in terms of opting out Josh also said um if you don't take any action for 5 years you're automatically they approach you. They approach you all the time. Our coordinator in it says do you want to do any more stuff or you happy where you are? After 5 years you can reapply if you want. It's fairly easy because you're already in there. Um if you don't want to you don't have to. Um and also the opt out you especially that first step there is no obligation to do anything in addition but you don't get a lot of benefit. It's kind of a first step to actually being certified which gives you benefit. And Dennis, one more question. You mentioned you know the grant funding that just came out. When does the next grant funding window open for these programs? Um there are
usually four a year but it depends on how many grants are coming up. It's three or four times a year so um I'd have to check on the exact date but it would take us we could do the first part in a matter of a few weeks. The second part usually takes most people about 3 months just to make sure they to get everything in place. So we wouldn't even be certified until then and that's where you actually get a leg up. So I can find out. I'm not sure when the next one is. It's usually quarterly but I'm not sure this year. Thank you.
Varies year to year. Josh, I had a quick question for you with respect cuz I know we're talking a lot about grants and and we've we've been turned down for in the last couple of years for a few grants. Correct? Yes. And part of the de-scoping of the reasons for not receiving the grant I know that that's been talked about. I never actually participated in that. But to your knowledge has the reason for us not being a climate-smart community been given as a reason why we did not receive a grant to your knowledge? I I can't recall that being a specific reason cited in any of our debriefs. All right. Thank you. I can make one comment. I think it was Maria who said when she applies for a grant that's in this program there always is a question there at the beginning that says are you a climate-smart community and what level are you registered or certified? I understand that. So at least we know that they ask it. Right. But the important Yeah. The question to is the reason why we weren't awarded the grant. And to Josh's knowledge and I appreciate your response that's never been given as a reason that we did not receive a grant. Mhm. I don't know if we specifically asked. I
actually tried to probe to find out from Rachel a little more about how what opportunities and kind of feed you back and there they They certainly say it has an impact, but they're not going to tell us exactly what the proportion of ones that didn't didn't get through because they did or didn't have it. So that's a tough one to get, but maybe we can get it out. I don't know. Anything else? Okay. So my ask, I know what you're going to have to ask is I'd like to I think it makes sense for us to get to the first step. The first step is easy. There's definitely no commitment, but it puts you in the position to go to the next level if you want to do that, which I would certainly move forward, but So for clarification, Dennis, if it's okay. So that first step being to actually just get registered into the program and that's just simply by setting up our online profile, having a contact person, and then having a task force. Having a resolution, yes.
And that's an automatic two points. That's an automatic Well, that for grants it's two points, yes. Well, for not every program, but for most programs. It varies by program.
specifically. Yeah. The next step, step two, would be the bronze certification. And that's been the brunt of the conversation about what it takes to compile that information. I just want to make sure we clarify the Yeah. Yeah.
terms of in the process.
That step gets you three times as many points in many things, not everything cuz it varies. Um but it also um like you said, we've actually identified so many things we've done or are doing and you can actually go back I think a year or two cuz they realize people sometimes talk about this a long time for these things. We actually have enough points even at the minimum cuz each one of these activities has a range of points. Even if we get the minimum points on everything and we will get more than the minimum, we have enough to become bronze today. As as long as we had the mechanism and we're able to document that we did those. So it's kind of a no-brainer if we want to go ahead with it. Um the question is do we want to go ahead or do we want to keep working in a disadvantage? That's my my point worth. It's also the right thing to do. Thank you, Dennis. You can We'll Dennis will be back later for answer any questions while we have that as a resolution, but um it is now through 7:39, so I'm going to close the town board workshop and I'm going to give us 5 minutes to run to the bathroom and prep for the town board meeting.
on it. Now yeah, now now he brought it to my attention. All right, thank you all for coming. I will now call to order the town board meeting for April 16th, 2026. You would all rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, [clears throat] with liberty and justice for all. Ms. Mar, would you do roll call? Supervisor Sheldon. Here. Councilman Cahill.
Here. Councilwoman Wright. Here. Councilman Hunter. Here. Councilman Wagner. Here. Attorney for the town, Taylor. Here. All right. Uh we will now do the open to the floor. As always, the rules are you are speaking before the board, please speak to the board, not the audience. Public comments are limited to 5 minutes to keep the meeting progressing. At 4 minutes, you will see me waving my hands. Um if I do not catch your eyes, I will mention you're at 4 minutes. Um at 5 minutes, we will be wrapping up and moving on. We do We will not be answering questions, but if you do want your question answered, please provide your email address either on the sheet here or to the town clerk afterwards and we will get back to you. Uh please respect the speaker. Uh you know, they're They may not have the same opinion as you. They have a right to say it and it's important that they get to be heard. Uh and threatening statements will not be tolerated and may involve you being removed from the meeting. With that being said, everyone who signed in, you do not have to speak when I call your name, but as I stated before, if you wish to speak, you needed to sign in. So up first is our friend Chris Nacca.
Chris Nacca, 1065 Shoecraft Road. Um I had planned on coming up to the podium to talk about the cell phone tower um last night at the conservation board meeting, it it at least appeared to me that that um that presentation by Dennis was going to have the cell phone towers as the topic and I was kind of really hoping to have you know, a bit of that floating in my mind rather than all the other things that I wanted to talk about at this podium tonight because I felt like they really wouldn't have been productive and to try my hardest to keep it on town issues, not personal issues. And um cuz there were some pretty juicy little details was that came out at that um conservation board meeting last night that was not recorded was not filmed to the to my knowledge. Um to anybody that is interested in the cell phone tower issue um they have not studied the land first hand from what I gathered. That might be wrong. But it's pretty clear at least in a casual sense that it is a wet land and that it will not be a good building
site. Um another thing that kind of came out was that Verizon didn't even ask the town of Webster about if we needed a cell phone tower or if we wanted a cell phone tower or that hey, we're coming to you because we see that you have a coverage spot. They had already sent the proposal to the state of New York and [snorts] we found out that Verizon was trying to have this cell phone tower put in through the state of New York. So they didn't even give Webster the decency of asking us or communicating with us. They just in my opinion probably were throwing darts at a low coverage map and sent out of a bunch of proposals to gather leads for towns of places that they could call and say, "Hey, we noticed that you have a coverage spot here. Blah blah blah blah blah." And uh you know, not to speak for Josh or anything like that, but I you know, feel like he kind of gets it and the how disrespectful that these corporations are to us when they're trying to do business with us and how little they actually think of us when they're conducting the business that they have. And it's really sad. Um I think that there wouldn't be too many of us here that would clutch their pearls at the
statement that a lot of people are addicted to their cell phones. Some people's addiction is worse than others. In my personal opinion, everything side note. Everything that I say at this podium is personal opinion. I am fallible. I do not know everything. I do not think that all of my thoughts are 100% God-like. But um my personal opinion is that Verizon they are drug dealers and we are their clients. People like God forbid there's a dead spot at Webster Park. God forbid. And then when we have meetings and certain people want to film and then people get all irritated that people are filming. That is the metaphorical manifestation of cell phone towers. You don't like people filming you at all times. You don't like people being in your business at all times. Well, those cell phone towers essentially represent that. That's the direction we're moving towards especially if What Why don't we just sell the town to Verizon? Be done with it, you know, like freak it. Screw these meetings. Like what's the point? We could just sell it to Verizon. Let them deal with it. Go
down Verizon's path. Have no more uh power in anything that we do. We just let Verizon handle it. No big deal. No, you know. Um And it's it's just uh it's it's I said this with Alex in his little meeting and uh this is hopefully the most cynical thing that I will say is off the topic of the cell phone towers and onto the topic of the solar garden. Um What I saw here that night all those people coming out not just people that live there, but a lot of people every single time it was on the agenda, this place was packed. And to hear some people on the board say that they weren't going to change their decision because of the people that came here that live in the area, I was hurt by that because it was clearly not just people that Of course the people that come to this podium and talk, yeah, out of all those people, the people that live in the area are probably going to be the ones chosen to come up to the podium and talk. We only have so much time. But this place was packed with just regular citizens, regular taxpayers
that didn't want to see it. But when the money's in front of the town when You are at 5 minutes, Chris. When when people ask, "Hey, we want to drop these bombs on these kids in another country." That's essentially the reverberation of what I think happened here is the money's in their face. They're going to say no to the people.
we are moving on to the next person unfortunately. Um sorry.
I love you and I respect all of you. Um up next, I don't think he's here anymore, but Peter Knapp. Um all right. John Randall. Is this on? Yes. Um My name is John Randall. I'm a resident of Webster since November of 2020. Um I want to thank the board for this opportunity to speak. And I did really appreciate hearing the back and forth uh because of course whether we decide to take the pledge to be a climate smart community is something that we do need to carefully consider. And um I'm I'm very interested in in all the points of view. Um So a little about me. I'm a retired scientific software developer. Um I've been advocating for the adoption of the CSE over the past several years as it's important to me personally
to do my part to stop contributing to the problem that is greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change. My home and my vehicles are now all electric. So I have put my money where my mouth is. Um so after the last uh time that I spoke before the board, I've studied the CSE program in detail. And it appears to be a straightforward incentive program. There were concerns that it was uh a land grab by the state was the phrase that was used. I don't see any evidence of that at all. It is structured as a purely voluntary incentive program. The program establishes goals and then leaves it to the member communities to try to reach those goals. Um this saves because we are we are facing situations that we have not had to face in the past. So it's a way to share expertise uh to make that available to communities who are trying to get ready for what is coming. So by implementing the actions that they recommend here are the benefits that communities are experiencing already. Cost savings through greater efficiency. Greater energy independence and energy security.
Improved air quality by switching to clean energy. Healthier, more walkable urban centers through smart growth. Conservation of green spaces for recreation and biodiversity. Reduction in future flood risk through climate change adaptation strategies. Investment in an economy that supports sustainability and green businesses. And greater engagement with residents who care about the future of their hometowns. I find all of those to be beneficial things that I would welcome that would improve my quality of life in Webster. And I ask you to pass this resolution tonight. I did find the uh application deadline. It's May 22nd. The next one is January 9th, 2027. So if we're going to get this ball rolling, we need to make that decision soon. That is to say, you need to make that decision soon. we have been talking about this now for several years. Um So I hope that at this point um we can find a way to move forward. Um I did not find anything about opting out. Um and I personally would be happy
to go and call somebody at nice or the DEC and get an answer to that. Um It seems that the program is entirely it thinks the other way. These are financial incentives. You need to qualify in an appropriate way to receive the incentives. If you're not doing the work, you're just out of the program. You stop receiving the incentives. There is no mechanism in the structure of it to mandate actions on our part. And thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you.
[applause]
Up next is Lori Lawrence, but I also believe she has left. Okay. Up next then is Rebecca Collins. Good evening, board members. Um thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Rebecca. Most people call me Becky Collins. And I'm coming up on 10 years as a Webster resident. I am also speaking this evening to encourage you to support the resolution for Webster to register as a climate smart community. Both New York State and Monroe County have aligned goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Therefore, this is just an ideal time for Webster to take action to bring about changes that foster sustainability, resiliency, excuse me, and innovation here at the community level, and to support the state CLCPA and the county climate action plan goals. Becoming a climate smart community is completely voluntary and the program is free. And so, this registration is a choice. It's It is our choice to make.
If Webster registers and decides later on that the town wishes to opt out, it can choose to not renew, which is, as Jennifer pointed out, it's every 5 years renewal. You just choose not to renew or you simply um ignore the program. So, I spent a lot of time, as John did, on the site to find all of these little tidbits of information. Um and there are no penalties [clears throat] for non-participation. Additionally, there are no mandates. Participation in the program does not compel a municipality to adopt to any specific regulations. But there are lots of benefits. Becoming a climate smart community, as we learned from the presentation during the workshop, will give us access access to grants um as low as 10,000 to up to 2 million, depending on whether you're completing certification actions or you're um doing implementation projects. And as we also saw in the town workshop presentation, many town projects already qualify for points towards this grant money. I believe it is the town's duty to take advantage of these financial incentives that can offset costs and save taxpayers' money. Registering also enables Webster to apply, as we saw, for free technical support in completing the action items.
Yeah, being a CSC community can foster economic growth and innovation through embracing sustainable practices and green technologies. This creates new opportunities for local businesses, attracts investment, and strengthens our economy while supporting the creation of jobs. And finally, registering demonstrates leadership. As a climate smart community, Webster will help inspire neighboring towns and villages to take actions and register as well. And um by the way, Monroe County itself is a um climate smart community, and as we saw in the presentation, there are 14 other towns or villages in the county that are also climate smart communities and are already to enjoying the benefits of being part of the program. In my almost 10 years living here, I noticed that Webster has a strong sense of community, and I believe that by embracing the climate smart community initiative, we will reinforce this spirit by coming together to protect our environment and secure a sustainable future for town residents. So, I urge you to um vote to support the resolution. Thanks for the opportunity. Thank you. [applause] All right, I'm not going to attempt your last name, Leaf, but I can try it, um
Also, because I can't read handwriting as well as I used to be able to. Okay, I'm here. I'm going to make a brief. I'm here to make an emotional plea. We say to our kids that we love them, to our grandkids that we love them. But yet, we are destroying their environment. What will they have left to live in? This week, a tree came down on the house of the neighbor. Thank God, nobody was killed, nobody was hurt, but that house is damaged. These things are happening more and more. Last year, there were people in certain parts of the country that couldn't go outside for 6 weeks because of the fires. So, our environment is in great danger. We owe it to our kids and grandkids to do anything we can to save their environment. Thank you. Thank you.
[applause]
All right. Uh up next are a bunch of library people, so if you're still here, uh Peg Amon, uh Rick Jurassic, uh Karen Stoddard, uh Eileen Bruckers. Okay. Uh up next, and I'm going to get this one right, Rick Sterlacey. Good job, Kevin. Rick Sterlacey, I've been a Webster resident for 20 years. Uh I'm here to talk about this cell tower again. Uh I'm against it. Um I'm going to talk about I'm going to give you a couple of points, and I know that uh the folks at Verizon are going to say that they're not important, but I believe that they are. First of all, decrease in home values. Um there's been many, many national and regional research projects. Homes very close to the tower, within 500 ft, often sell for less. Multiple US and international studies
typically show that between 2 and 20% reduction in value when you're in the visible line of sight of a cell tower. Do we really want to do that? Visibility matters as much, if not more, than distance. All right, so if you can see this 135-ft cell tower from your house, your potential customers to buy your house are going to probably walk away. So, um buyer perception is very important. I've been a salesman for 48 years. Perception is a lot stronger than fact. All right, so Verizon's not going to be able to fight that. The other thing is, uh even if the RF exposure is within FCC limits, and by the way, those limits were written in 1996. I've been in the electronics business for 48 years. What was written in 1996 has nothing to do with today's power that's coming out of the cell tower. But Verizon continues to point to that mandate or to that that um issue. All right? They always talk about that. It's ridiculous. So, I'm going to ask you to please preserve the home values of the residents of Webster. That's point number one.
Harmful to human beings. Nobody wants to hear this. Everybody says, "Well, it's not harmful." Well, there's a lot of studies that say that it is. All right, the Belmore study in 2022 was one. 38 human base station studies. 73.6% report significant effects. That's very That's a lot. The Belovet and Lai 2010 review, 100 base station antenna studies, 80% report biological effects near towers. So, I'm going to ask the the board, if we're going to if we're going to make a decision, all right, let's let's err on the side of caution. Let's get more and more facts. Verizon tells us there's no issue. Well, they're a little biased. All right, let's pay attention to that. I've got more studies. The effects on wildlife and the environment. 1 2 3 4 5, I've got six different studies here. In France in 2003, in Egypt in 2007, in Germany in 2004, newer one in 2011 in
Brazil, 2017 in India, and a new study in 2021 in Brazil say the exposure to RF radiation is devastating to to wildlife. Okay? We need to pay attention to that. Okay, if the if the Verizon reports What if the Verizon reports are wrong? They say that there's no problem. What if in 10 years, there is a problem? How are we going to go back and fix that? Why don't we wait? Why don't we put a moratorium on cell towers for now, until we get more information? Okay, last point. Is there really a need for a cell tower? Is there a mandate? Two questions. What did we do for cell tower service before 2020? Before COVID, because that's really when they started to kicking them in, because people couldn't go out and fight against them. I've lived in Webster for 20 years, I and I'm in business, and I use my cell phone constantly. Never have a problem. People say, "Well, you're in a
neighborhood that's got a lot of service." I'm in the neighborhood that they say is a gap. All right? I don't have a problem. Some of the people in this room, and even on the board, lived in Webster, drive around Webster, and say, "They don't have a problem." So, what's going on here? Why do we need more cell towers? They say there's a gap. Well, I'm going to point out a couple of places. First place is in Irondequoit. If you look if you're coming over from 104 going towards the Bay Bridge, there's two cell towers right next to each other. They're within 100 ft of each other. So, if there's a gap, why are they so close?
Okay, if there's a gap, why are they so close? Right here in Webster, the bus barns, there's two cell towers almost on top of each other. So, if there's a gap, why are they putting them on top of each other? Or is it a place where they can sell um advertisement, not advertisement, but other things they make money on.
Unfortunately, we do have to move on to the next. The cell towers go out of business. Rick, I'm I'm sorry. We do have to move on. I'm sorry. Just let me give you a summary.
Actually, we do have [applause] John Lockhart 784 Maple Drive. Sorry about that. Isn't just a green program, it's a road vital natural assets. We are defined by the Well Field area, these 60 plus and our community character. By found works and preserve the green print of the wells are here for future generations. Shorelines stay intact. And helps identify energy burden on Webster taxpayers. Plus, state grants bring in our tax dollars in a walkable community. Climate smart actions like improving bike lanes, like the Hojack Trail, and supporting our local farmers strengthen our strengthen our local economy. It makes Webster more attractive to young families who want a modern sustainably This is about Webster thinking New York towns through community. Conclusion here, the climate smart and will save money on energy and keeping our neighborhoods but I find the library is a dead weight around our neck knowing that we pay over a hundred thousand dollars a
year to a Californian developer who owns the mall. That's a million and a half dollars today. We could have had that library if we just did something then. So, I am wholeheartedly approving the the board to consider moving that forward and really getting us something we need. Thanks. Thank you.
[applause]
All right. Katie Malarkey. Good evening and thank you for your time. My name is Katie Malarkey. I've been a Webster resident since 2006, which is amazing that it's been 20 years. Um I'm here in support of Webster becoming a climate smart community. I'll be brief cuz as everybody else has already shared, um I think this is a practical step that gives our town access to state funding and technical support for projects like infrastructure improvements, energy savings, and resource management, um things that will all benefit that will benefit all of us as Webster residents. Um many of the neighboring communities already taking advantage of these opportunities and joining the CSC would ensure that Webster doesn't fall behind. Uh it's a flexible program as uh has been talked about tonight, um that will allow the town to move at our own pace and choose the different projects that make sense for us locally, um to keep our community as beautiful as it is. So, I respectfully encourage you to support this designation. Thank you.
[applause]
Thank you. Kevin Lockhart, you are up next, sir. Hi everybody. Kevin Lockhart from 100 here at Kittleberger Park. Um I just got a couple things tonight. I'm not approving the climate smart community plan until I see something material that achieves consensus from the residents of Webster. I don't like the generalities that people speak in. I don't understand it. It's all very vague to me. Furthermore, I'm not under the false pretense that my opinion or viewpoint will or can affect the town business unless I start filing in the Supreme Court to actually, you know, appeal to a judge. I don't I'm not fooling foolish enough to believe that I'm going to be able to sway anyone's opinions or advocate for anyone in any meaningful way here. But since we're on the topic of conservation, to me conservation, I sat through the conservation board meeting. The conservation board has newly been formed. In my opinion, it's a direct augmentation to the town community development department. It's not necessarily an independent board. In my opinion, it's an advisory board.
Whatever that means. Uh but to me conservation, I I was challenging the board last night to define what conservation means to them. To them, it means money, grants, climate, uh so you know, that kind of stuff. So, but conservation to me means preservation and quantification. So, I find it devastatingly hypocritical that people will be advocating for a smart climate community, but then advocating simultaneously to knock down 17 acres of woods to build [clears throat] an industrial solar farm. That just devastating. The cell phone towers, one is in a gully and the other is 139 ft tall, well above the allowed variance. Uh needs a special use permit, needs NDAs to be signed with the uh property owners so that they can't go and speak to each other about the deals that they're getting from Verizon. It also changes the character of that neighborhood permanently and irreversibly. The town overcame this problem of consent through the town comprehensive plan. They created a steering committee. Um and I actually want to go through a couple of details uh related to the previous administration tonight, which is my purpose for being here.
But uh I want to go all the way back to July 17th of 2025 when this town board passed a resolution to approve in its current form the town comprehensive plan steering committee. Supervisor Flaherty at the time made a statement that he said no substantial work was accomplished by the town of Webster comprehensive plan steering committee prior to the town forming it through town board resolution on July 17th, 2025. So, I gathered some documents through collaboration with the town clerk and other offices in uh you know, the relevant offices in the town. Going back to January 28th of 2025, which is when the committee first began, the invoice that was billed to the town of Webster, these invoices are $6,000, $10,000. Ultimately, for the seven months, it was a grand total of $80,000. Now, they want to increase the money going out to
[laughter]
the engineering contractor to be up to $150,000, which is $40,000 more than what we were told it was going to be. Um but in the invoice, there were about 20 invoices that I received and the first invoice on January 28th documented the uh community uh the CPC kickoff meeting. The community plan CP What was the CPC? The planning committee? I'm drawing a blank on this. You guys should know this though. Um so, it included the first meeting of the town comprehensive plan committee. Comprehensive plan committee. Thanks, guys. Uh was on January 28th. The invoice indicates January 28th was the first com kickoff meeting. It included the town supervisor at the time. It identified committee members and it indicated a structured committee that at that time already existed. It was selected personally by Josh. It was not an informal or one-off meeting. Moving ahead to February 28th, the invoice evidences another invoice evidences that the committee meeting explicitly states that a committee member meeting on February 28th
uh used formal terms such as committee members, confirmed confirmed the defined membership, and it was billable work charged to taxpayers. I'm going to skip ahead because I'm short on time. Long story short, all of this was billed to the taxpayers months prior to there being any comprehensive plan committee, the steering committee, actually being formed and authorized. This was a dual track meeting. The town, like they're doing tonight, doesn't care what we think. They don't care what we think. All the business
All right. They don't care what we think. All the business is determined prior to us getting here. They're using our money to fund their pipe dreams. That's the bottom line.
you, Kevin. We do have to move on and up next is going to be Monica Gorlick. It's It's almost not even worth coming and speaking here. That's how That's how nutty this place is.
[applause]
Kevin, you did get an extra 30 seconds, so. I could still shout. I got lungs. He turned it off. So, anyway, can you hear me? I want to thank the board for this opportunity. I want to thank Dr. Gorlick for his presentation. Uh I am in favor of the climate smart community program and I do hope you vote or whatever you have to do in favor of it. Um Briefly, I would just want to say that climate change has made a difference in everything. I've got a lot of years in me, so I grew up on Long Island and we didn't have major storms or anything. Um and as I got older, I noticed that the storms have gotten more fierce, more frequent, and more deadly. I was in Manhattan at one of my reunions and Manhattan never had any up couple levels. Um for So, people were I know that we temporarily had passed. So, I do hope you do through the years that I think I've ever lived through as much. Thank you for many things. Are you sure? Okay. All right, business. I have reviewed the longest minutes I think I will ever view in my life.
Thank you, Deneen, for your incredible effort in what you do. I found them to be satisfactory and great. So, I would make a motion that we approve the minutes for the April 2nd, 2026 workshop. Second. Supervisor Sheldon. Aye. Councilman Cahill. Aye. Councilwoman Wright. Aye. Councilman Hunter. Aye. Councilman Wagner. Aye. And I would also like to make a motion to approve the minutes from the April 2nd, 2026 board meeting. Second. Supervisor Sheldon.
Aye. Councilman Cahill.
Aye. Councilwoman Wright. Aye. Councilman Hunter. Aye. Councilman Wagner. Aye. All right, John. You had the honors. Yes, I did review the bills and found that everything to be perfect. Um so, I'm going to move to approve the bills as submitted by the director of finance. Second. Councilman Cahill. Aye. Councilman Hunter. Aye. Supervisor Sheldon. Aye. Councilwoman Wright. Aye. Councilman Wagner. Aye. All right. I would like to make a motion to approve prepaid warrants as submitted by our director of finance. Second. Supervisor Sheldon.
Aye. Councilman Hunter. Aye. Councilman Cahill. Aye. Councilwoman Wright. Aye. Councilman Wagner. Aye. I would also like to make a motion to approve purchase orders as submitted by the director of finance. Second. Supervisor Sheldon. Aye. Councilman Cahill. Aye. Councilwoman Wright. Aye. Councilman Hunter. Aye. Councilman Wagner. Aye. All right. So, our first thing up tonight is just a little backstory for people for the Fast New York grant. This is a complimentary contract to approve that we did 2 weeks ago. This is because it is working on a environmental site as we build the new roads and take that vacation that Costage wants to make sure that all the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted and we're doing the best for the community. The village approved theirs 2 weeks ago, but Keith has can answer any brief questions on this if any of the board has them for us.
no questions. I'm all set. Jen and Garrett. What's the breakdown of the cost between the village and the town? Kyle, what are we at? 66 30 something? I believe it's 58 32. Okay. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. All right. And then, Kyle, we got this late. Are you good with all the terms and conditions in there cuz that wasn't in the prior draft.
Yes, I'm I'm good with it. Okay. All right. Then, I would make a motion to approve the White Stone contract for the Fast New York. Second. Supervisor Sheldon. Aye. Councilman Cahill. Aye. Councilwoman Wright. Aye. Councilman Hunter. Aye. Councilman Wagner. Aye. All right. Here's the big one. Our development moratorium that we've been going on about. We had the public hearing a couple weeks ago. Had nothing but support. Nothing's really come through the office that has any concerns or any questions that need to be changed. I have a question. Yeah, what do you got? And I don't know why I didn't suggest this. I know I suggested requested that the cell or the solar panels and data [snorts] centers be added to the moratorium. And a gentleman made a good point this this evening regarding cell towers. What is the the board's feeling on adding cell towers to the moratorium? That would run into a legal issue as it's a public utility, but Kyle, you could shed more light on that one. John, that would be an issue I would have to research because you do get into the federal law that governs the Okay, I just wanted to pose a question. No, no,
that's a good question, too, cuz I thought about it as soon as Rick said it, but No, you thought about it as soon as I said it, buddy. Oh, yeah, that's I just [laughter] follow you. Verizon Wireless is not a public utility in New York State. Look it up. Okay. Unless I have a precedent of not being afraid to be sued by these companies. Verizon To answer your question, I would have to research that issue for you and get back to you. Okay. So, just Yeah, we'd get into FCC regulations.
Yeah, hold on a second. I just want to ask Kyle if we could add cell towers with a condition that you do the research and it's allowed or not. And if you if you advise us not not to, that's that's fine. I just wanted to bring up the subject for discussion. No, it's it's a good question, but it's more of a procedural issue. If there's a desire to change the text of the local law, it would require going back, drafting it, and then setting another public hearing, holding that public hearing, and then going through this process of approval and referral to the county planning board. It cannot the local law can't be written in a way where it's contingent on confirmation.
you. Yeah. So, then that would have to be a a completely second moratorium if we looked into it and wanted to go down that path. What do you say? A completely separate moratorium? You you talking about a separate Like this one this one is a yeah, this one is a defined process. It's done. The next one starts the process again. They're not related to each other. Correct. That's what I mean by separate like
So, we could move this one on, but still consider the moratorium on cell towers as a separate Yes, you could do that. And I think and a a very good and important point was brought out um at the meeting, the public input with respect to the studies that Verizon is always putting out there. You know, the the the radiation that's it's not harmful. Well, the study, to the gentleman's credit, was done in 1992. And I know that um Mr. Kennedy has put forth that he wants new and updated studies done on these cell towers and 5G. So, I'm just putting that out there for public consumption. I believe the last study that was in the Verizon package was from 2019. So, the concern that I I would have with the study from 2019 is if you look at the um 5G LTE um frequency, which is new and more powerful, that started to roll out in 2019 and didn't really explode into suburban areas and and more rural areas until
2021 to 2024. So, like that that's a that's a question. It's a question on the date and the type of study and the type of frequency in the study. It is, but it is unfortunately not related to our current development moratorium. So, we couldn't have a I guess we're we're we're digressing on the topic, but as far as the study, there is a it's a newer study. Yeah, they put it together earlier exploring our Fast Forward set project. I'll do some I'll do some research on that and hopefully the gentleman provide me with some information. Okay. All right, but with with that, I would like to What do you got? And we got to read the whole one. For the resolution, Kyle, are you good that we've got it fully drafted to comply with all the laws that we need to make it Yes, I am. to check the boxes. As part of the resolution, there is a requirement that you make a secret finding. In this instance, it would be a type two administrative action. So, I just want to make sure that that's included on the record here. Yep.
Oh, thank you. Yeah, I will very happily make a motion uh for a type two action under the New York State Environmental Review Act being routine or contingent continuing agency administration and management not including new programs or major reordering of priorities [laughter] that may affect the environment and to refer the development moratorium to the county planning board for approval. Second. Supervisor Sheldon. Aye. Councilman Cahill. Aye. Councilwoman Wright. Aye. Councilman Hunter. Aye. Councilman Wagner. Aye. All right. Up next is the Climate Smart Community. The reason we did have a workshop is because we did want everyone to you know, be up to speed. There was a lot of misinformation previously in some of them and we're not moving forward with the certified or any of the expensive stuff. This is just simply us passing the resolution to just register. Um we have had and I know some you guys have had the emails that have been sent today. Deneen has had them and put them in the minutes. We'll put them in the minutes online with the public stuff that we had earlier. What what
what are you referring to as going in the minutes? Oh, the emails that we received from a couple residents regarding support for Climate Smart Communities from a Sven from Sven Vetter and from Butch Fitzsimmons. So, a question on He's on the zoning board. He is on the planning He is on the planning board, which is That paper has got to go through the town clerk. You can't just issue a There there are no comments from the audience at this point. Okay. But I would like to Yeah, a board question. What's the process on what gets submitted to the record and what doesn't? And we had many emails on the Xerox solar project that came in that didn't make it in the record.
It states Kyle. They should be submitted through the clerk's office. Or the we have We have I mean to put you on the spot. We also have a portal on our website for submitting comments. Right? That's the Yeah. Occasionally stuff will come through my office and say, "Hey, can this go into the minutes?" We had some recently at the planning board that the friends of Webster Trail wanted to submit. So that one we went through and we put in So if emails come through to the board members
Yeah, you can submit it right to Denine. Emails that come through to the board members including yourself, the process to get them on the record is what? Just sending them to Denine. And if I don't send them to Denine, they don't get on the record. Not on the record of the minutes, but they are.
of emails with respect to the Xerox solar farm
and the cell tower.
And the cell tower.
And I had no idea that to get them officially into the record, I had to submit them to Denine. Well, they're all fileable information. It's when the resident requests, "Hey, can this be read into the record?" is when I submit them either to Denine or we would read them aloud. Well, that's good to know because I didn't I wasn't aware of that.
There's there's actually a smart form on the website on the webster.ny.gov website where it specifically states that they request for it to be added to the record. So if it's submitted that way, then they're always in the minutes. So there was a couple at the last town board meeting where they were put into the minutes. The very long minutes. Yes, there were some that were actually not said out loud that had come through the clerk's office that were in the So it needs to be said in there they want it in the record, that's what you're saying?
That's what I if if they email it to me and state that or text me or call me and say, "Hey, I'm sending you something. I would prefer this be added to the minutes or addressed. Please submit it." and then I will. But I'm just trying to see where his says add to the record. Just to be fair to the residents He he texted me he texted me earlier today about it and said if you do send it to all the board members, I'll forward it on to the clerk. That's just what this piece of paper is. I'm not going to read it out loud.
Yes, I didn't get a text. Yeah, we're just trying to understand of like, you know, what you know, the point that we want to avoid the appearance of impropriety with the head of the head of the department the Democratic Committee text you and puts it up in the record to make sure residents have that same ability. Oh, yeah. Anyone anyone who texts me Ben Wisniewski from the friends of Webster Trail asked me to put stuff into the record from for the planning board stuff that came through. I would argue that it's probably safer to avoid Yeah, I would I would advise that the board should direct them to submit it through the official channel, which would be through the website. I'm happy to do that. I think that's the proper course of action so that there's no question. Yeah. Yeah, I mean that just sounds like some of the confusion here of like it should go through the proper channel, not a text. Like
Well, I said that's what I I just said submit to everybody, but I'm happy to submit every I'm happy to have everyone submit it.
So just understand that the just understand the flow. Sven emailed everybody and then texted you and then you were the one that submitted it.
today asking something could be added to the minutes. I said just send it to the entire board. And then you then gave it to Denine, which made it
I sent it to Denine. So so you put it on the record for him? Yes. Yeah, I sent it to Denine saying, "Hey, resident has requested that this comment be read into the record." It was sent to the entire board and forwarded it over to her. All of your emails are included in it from this afternoon. I mean that just
[sighs]
I don't know. It just seems like a lot of like inner party dealing it seems like in texting. It's just It's not it any resident that done it. There were people that were have sent me stuff that we read into the minutes before for other stuff. I forward everything on. All right. A Webster resident is a Webster resident. I didn't get anything from what's his name Sven? Yeah. Okay. It came late right before the meeting. It was probably sent out at 6:00 maybe.
Yeah, he was unable to make it as his Again, I I would just advise that anyone anyone who wishes to offer a comment needs to submit it through official channels. That that exists. They should take advantage of it to avoid any appearance of impropriety so that there's no confusion so that it's certain that it gets in the record in the proper fashion.
Yeah, yeah. I don't have I don't have it. Yeah, that's fine. No, happy to do that. But I do want to get back to the climate smart community again. We are just registering. It is something that actually Garrett was the one who brought it to my attention last year and said that, you know, he was the one who brought to my attention that we had tried and weren't able to and I know we all talked about it a lot and interviewed. So I just, you know, I figured, you know, let's let's do the registration for this. Let's at least get the ground running because part of it is also we have these DEC grants that we want to go for. We have these open space stuff that we want to do. This gives us a leg up. We're not committing ourselves to any of the other stuff. But it will set us on the path that we can do this. Also it is one of the big things Josh and you can explain this the smart growth grants that we are currently utilizing for the comprehensive plan with this this would aid us in getting the next level of
granting for these zoning regulations. That is correct. Yes.
But we have gotten a lot of grants without having the designation and we did get the smart growth or smart community grant to do the comprehensive plan without having the designation. So while I appreciate what what everybody is saying in the support for it, I believe the community in Webster has demonstrated support for it without making the pledge. Dennis had mentioned we are automatically or we could be at a level of bronze because we're already doing things with preserving green space and with the trails and walking and and what we're doing with the wastewater treatment plant, which was which is state-of-the-art energy efficient development. And we're doing all of this without that designation. So my my concern is the board having less control over what we choose to do and what we don't do. It it's not it's not that registering for a climate smart
community isn't the right thing to do. It's just I really want to understand what the burden is to the staff. So yes, Josh, I hear what you're saying, but you know, there's there's 13 other department heads. I'm concerned about the reporting requirements. I'm concerned about the town having less control overall and and just to have like a couple extra points on a grant. So like I'm not disrespecting what I heard here tonight. I believe we're doing all of those things and we're successfully getting these grants without having that designation. So there's 50% of of towns that have opted in. There's also 50% that haven't opted in. So it I I guess this kind of came up fast on the board agenda. So I would just like to understand, you know, what really is the cost to taxpayers to do this? What is the cost of these mandates? What are what's some of the cost um in in not being in the program, but it that would be a result of the program. I'm just sharing
what some of my Like I said, those are some of my concerns. Um I believe we're doing all of the things without having the designation and we're actually quite successful doing what we're doing. No, Jennifer, I appreciate you sharing that and this has been before the board now four times already.
This will be the third. This is the third, right? Three four times it's been up there. Um I think, you know, all the Color Me Green folks did a great job kind of presenting on what they care about with this. And I think, you know, I, you know, personally see some benefits to this. I know like the DEC grant we just applied for for open space land acquisition was not impacted by this in any way. So it's very much grant dependent. And I think at the end of the day like we're all represented here elected to represent the people of Webster with different views. And if there's more questions like Jennifer has and John has, you know, they deserve to be addressed. Like I mean in the next two weeks we can address those. I think it could be good to hear back from the survey from other towns to hear what they're doing. It could be really good to hear from other towns that are in this. Okay, now that they're in this, what's the staff impact? And did they join and actually do something out of it or is it just like you said, Jennifer, we already did the stuff, we joined it and then we were just kind of like, "Eh, this is too much there's some great towns doing it. I know you mentioned Gates. Like yes, Gates has done a great job. Virginia McIntyre over there is a huge champion of this. I'd love to hear from people like that of what success they've had or not with this.
So we can get the board comfortable with it, get the questions answered and hopefully find a path to move forward. I didn't connect with Virginia last night. I do like to do my homework. She sent me a message, but it was too late. I didn't get a chance to talk to her. So I would like to understand what they've done. I would like to understand the reporting requirements and and burden to the other department heads and staff. I really would like just a little feel or understand more about the control or maybe lack of control that we may have from opting in. So, those are three things I would like to get some more information on before we go.
you've you've put this up three times now. So, I mean, you have the you know what the requirements are. You guys have done the research on this. You guys have again been doing this for 4 years now. So, I think you should be able to answer a lot of these. Yeah, um again, I'm not aware of any specific costs associated with the program to taxpayers. Um from all of the research that we've done, um we do not believe that there are any mandates associated with it. You know, we we view it as a voluntary program and we get to choose what items we want to pursue. Um again, a lot of these actions were already doing as a part of our daily operations. A lot of our reporting requirements to the DEC um make our staff have to gather this data anyway. So, I certainly don't want to speak for all the other department heads. Um but I we think we came up with a process and a plan that would make it uh as efficient as possible utilizing the existing resources that we have. So, here's here here's an I don't mean to be negative, okay?
But to your point, we've brought this up this is the fourth time. Third. Third. Okay, the third time. And it's pretty much has the same requirements as the previous two times. But we still won't have anyone designated within the departments that's going to head this project up, that has put together what it's going to cost, what's involved. And I just think it's premature to do.
it's not going to cost anything. We've gone over that about four times now.
Okay. Can I put It's I didn't feel like there's any cost.
Yeah, and then like if we've if we've got I think Dennis you said we've got till or no, someone I think said May 22nd is the deadline. So, like if we're all on board that we're
That's for applying for grants that qualify for this. Okay. Sorry, Dennis Dennis, I'm sorry. Um but even if there's some deadline that's applicable if there's the if the most recent deadline is May 22nd that can impact us and we take two more weeks to get comfort so we can stop having these objections but not looking into it. Like if these are the concerns by the board members and I think Jennifer's are very reasonable and a good list. Yeah. Can we just get them addressed?
They they are, but I do have to ask is this has been on our agenda in the SharePoint for over 3 weeks now. Why are we just now hearing these questions? You could ask the board members at the time questions. You could have, you know, talked to each other.
them out, we say, you know, we send out the agenda and you're supposed to reach out with questions. Sure. So, now you're saying since we didn't ask questions, we missed our chance and you just want to move forward. No, I'm just asking that in the future when we do this, when you see the stuff, please reach out with questions. I know we've asked before and when it comes up and I know Jen has a lot going on in her life, but you know, we do we do we are timely in putting this stuff out and you said with you know, the Whitestone contract came in late. That's that's been in there since the last before the last board meeting. I actually, Alex, the contract in there before didn't have all the terms and conditions and didn't have the signature pages. Correct.
added in as immediately the next day following our last board meeting. But it wasn't complete. How did you just added it?
If I may, because we're like going around in circles, what I would like to propose is I would like to make a motion to reschedule um the approval of the town of Webster becoming a climate smart community
[snorts]
to the next the next May 7th board meeting. Second. Councilwoman Wright.
I. Councilman Wagner. I. Supervisor Sheldon. Nay. Councilman Cahill. Nay. Councilman Hunter. I. No, we were voting to reschedule.
We're voting to reschedule.
I know. You wanted to vote on it tonight with in in incomplete information. Let's have the vote. It would It will Well, it just passed the table to table. Or res- reschedule so. Oh, Shoot.
[laughter]
Okay. I misunderstood the motion. My apologies. No, you're fine. So, that one is rescheduled for the May 7th board meeting and we will see you all then. Um we have one last item up. Nick, this is all you. Sure. I make a motion or resolution to approve I'm assuming the replacement for a vehicle that was totaled from the police department. Can I just verify that correction? It just says approve a total vehicle. Uh we have to remove so it's basically asset removal, but the police department doesn't typically have asset removal. They just have a totaled vehicle. So.
Okay. It's just wonky wording. Yeah, it is.
I make a resolution to approve a vehicle that was totaled from the police department vehicle asset asset tag number 07376. Second. Councilman Hunter. I. Councilwoman Wright. I. Supervisor Sheldon.
I. Councilman Cahill. I. Councilman Wagner. I. All right. Um so, there was a It was a totaled Um [snorts] does anyone else have business before the board, Bridget Braden before we do our round tables? No? All right. Garrett, would you like to kick us off? Sure. I think, you know, as we've heard before, we just applied for two New York State DEC grants for open space preservation. Um and I just want to thank everybody involved. And the last time this was done, it was done by a private resident and he took the lead and did almost all the work on his own. And, you know, this time there was more coordination between the town and the private resident and that was a learning curve for all involved and I appreciate everyone's hard work, especially Maria Dorer, who was a grant liaison and what fell on. It was a massive task. And I know that was a change of kind of bringing teams together, but I think that's the good part of governance when
we all come together and work together for something for the town. So, I just want to thank everyone for their hard efforts for that and fingers crossed that we should hear hopefully sometimes August to September that we can get those two grants. All right. That'd be very exciting. Jen. Um there's so many things. Um first, um summer celebration. Summer celebration is at the Parks and Recreation Center on June 13th. Um the Zac Brown Tribute Band will be there. It is one of the largest events. It's the largest event in Webster. It's very well attended in Webster and even from some surrounding neighborhoods. So, mark your calendars for that. And um mulch mulch is there. It's out. It's available for delivery. It's $50 for a 10-wheel truck. So, it's a it's a deal and a half if you're looking to start a garden or or or whatnot. And um lastly, the revaluation project project is progressing. There are community meetings coming up at the end of June. There will be three of them. One's in the afternoon. I don't have all of the
dates right in front of me right now, but June 14th, I believe. June 14th and 16th. 13th and 16th. Thank you, Bridget. Um I encourage people to attend those sessions to learn what the revaluation entails and what it may mean to you and your property. Thanks. Um it is building permit season. Um so, if you are doing a roof, if you are building a pole barn, if you have a shed, any project, uh the building department is they are crazy busy right now, but they are here for you. Please reach out if you have any questions about what projects require a permit. I recently found out that a roof actually you need a new roof, you need a full permit in Webster. Um so, but they are very busy. So, thank you to all of them who are working tirelessly, mainly Darla Roth, who is literally a one-man band and a just a machine and she's one of the most incredible, hardest working people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. So, please come in, see our building department, get your proper permits and that's all. John? Oh,
I thought we're going into the name. Sorry. So, um the IMA with uh Penfield ambulance is moving forward. We should have some some information on that um pretty soon. Um the other project um the RNG project um renewable natural gas. Um I should have some updated information um on that. I'm asking Rick also um next week to put a timeline together of the original build uh construction schedule um and what it and how it relates to where they currently are. There's some aspects of that of that of that project that are a little bit behind. Um and also we're going to be doing doing some research as well. I should say Kyle is going to do some reaching out to RNG with respect to the proposed um contract that we would be required to sign as part of that um RNG project, which has a lot of a lot what I deem to be serious questions essentially from a liability standpoint. Um, we should have some answers um pretty soon on those those questions and concerns that I'm sure everybody that read the contract has. I know Kyle has concerns about it also. Um the one concern I probably mentioned
this at a couple of board meetings is the sequence of events of information that we're being provided by um this company in my mind with project management experience is just is very unacceptable. There's stuff There are issues in that contract in my opinion we should have been presented before we even voted to have the engineering done. The concerns are that significant. And it's not not like that we couldn't have asked RG&E, "Hey, can we take a look at the potential contract that we're going to have to to sign. What's involved? Who has a liability? Is it split or does the town assume all liability?" So, that's the update on that. All right. Thank you, John. Yep. Nicholas. Um so, from a communication standpoint, Bridget, can I verify did our survey close for
on April 20th. Okay. So, April 20th, right now we have the survey out to the community to try to get a better understanding of how you'd like to receive information from your government. Um so, please, if you haven't already, take an opportunity to fill that out. Um so far we've had really really good success with people filling it out. So, we just want to bolster that um so that we can do better for the residents. Um we have a couple of more community office hours this month. We have Jen's next week and Alex you have one the following, correct?
Um and I'm going to do one every month and I believe that we're going to have some other council folks have their own community office hours moving forward. Um police department, they wanted to remind you guys that if you see something, say something. It's always important. But, it's also getting warmer so people are out more. You tend to see more speeding this time of year. Watch out for kids in the road. So, just be aware. It's just that time of year where things start to ramp up in the police department. So. Is the comprehensive plan survey still up? No, that closed a long time ago. Okay. I just wanted Are you talking No, no. Josh, you have the draft one, right? That closed There's [clears throat] currently an opportunity for for a feedback on a draft uh policy document.
Okay. I thought I saw something. Yes, that's the one we're referring to. Okay. Yes. And when does that close? Um that closes at the end of next week and it's accessible through the project webpage. All right. All right. With that, I will close the town board meeting of April 16th, 2026. Thank you all for coming.