Sooo - How does the Town operate?

The Town of Wappinger Town Board meeting of March 27 got off to a energetic start when, during the public portion (please remember public comments are limited to items on the agenda and the public is requested to make comments on agenda items BEFORE they are reviewed or well understood) when a former town supervisor made her case that the agenda items referring to updating the Town of Wappinger Rules/Changes were limiting free speech and the opportunity for residents to make comments. Of course, since this was before the item was discussed and the town board members who placed that item on the agenda could explain their intention and proposal, this resulted in a "Yes it does... No it doesn't" back and forth of individuals talking past each other with assertions of the "the Board doesn't turn into Pumpkins" and this is "cancel culture". This has to be totally expected when an agenda just throws open a discussion without any context. This was followed up by discussions about an item on the agenda "Acknowledge Application of Mid-Hudson Development Corporation dated March 7, 2023". Neighbors of the proposed development, as they have several times in the past, spoke about how they are against a change in zoning for this proposed development. A neighbor raised a very interesting point asking "what is the process?, "why do we still have to come back to these meetings, how are these decisions made?" This triggered a long laborious explanation by the town attorney (who was thanked by members of the board for his clarity) -- and everyone is still left wondering how and when do decisions about large scale developments in the town get made, because the rules and processes seem very situational and fluid (see notes on the Tuesday ZBA meeting). There was also a discussion about whether an application by the developer was actually submitted, or was it a letter of intent? and the Town Board punted and decided that the Director of Strategic Planning and Municipal Codes would be asked for a decision. On what exactly...not clear to the majority of the room.

The discussions then jumped to a topic of groundskeepers vs. laborers -- and a request for a fund transfer to pay for a Password Entry System because it was not a budgeted item in 2022 -- though the work was completed -- without the Board actually passing a resolution to approve the funding of the work. Apparently some confusion about what was discussed/agreed in an executive session (where usually the town attorney says "no decisions were made") and whether or not that was an "approval" -- leaves one wondering who is making what decisions/when. But no fear, the town board agreed to fund the Password Entry System.

LED Light conversion at Robinson Lane was approved and significant progress has been made - initiated by the involvement of a board member - to getting Altice/Optimum to support wifi service at Robinson Lane.

Craig Roberts, who provides IT support to the Town offices, explained the benefits of upgrading to Microsoft Office 365 and the costs/implications if the update is done prior the expiration of the current e-mail license (June). The Town Board indicated their support but did not make a decision.

We then moved to the provocative agenda topic of how to manage town board meeting agendas so that town board meetings would end earlier rather than later. Efforts to better manage the agenda items and looking at how other towns manage their meetings were discussed.

The implications of Senior Property Tax & Disability Tax Exemptions were next on the the agenda (the state has raised the amount of income where exemptions could be given) with a fair amount of time spent discussing how no one understood how the Wappingers Central School District made their decision...because without understanding the number of Sr. Citizens who would meet income eligibility limits .. the implication to other tax payers in the Town would not be well understood. More information to be gathered.

The Town Attorney asked again to have AI software which would help resolve inconsistencies and conflicts in the Town's Code - but was denied by the Town Board Members because of a bad experience with the software development company.

A Performance Bond from Old Myers NY Lic Solar Farm was accepted.

A discussion about updating fees and fines was held - the board needs time to review and a public hearing needs to be set (so why was this in the resolution part of the agenda and not the discussion part?)

At 9:55 the board went into executive session, returning at 10:30 - with no decisions made.