Susan Taylor, a resident and former Walden mayor, spoke about her qualms with Orange County Transit during the public comment period at last week’s Walden Village Board meeting.

Members of OC Transit approached the board in 2020 requesting sewer hookup for its bus facility at 1041 State Route 52 in the village. In August 2023, the board agreed to give OC Transit a 12-month extension for connecting its facility to the village’s sewer line after the company faced delays obtaining a permit from the New York State DOT. Since then, however, progress toward the sewer hookup has remained stagnant with little communication.

“I remember Trustee Garrison requested that they come before the board. I don’t know whether I missed them but I don’t think they ever came, which I think is rude,” Taylor said. “And I remember Trustee Hall, when you were talking about an extension for them, you wanted to go for six months; we didn’t do that, we decided to give them 12 months. I don’t think they’ve come maybe once, I don’t know if they’ve even come once since.”

“I think we really need to think about what’s been going on. Do your due diligence,” she continued. “I think these milquetoast emails they’ve been sending is ridiculous, I think you at least deserve to see a face every once in a while to explain what’s been going on.”

The board then reviewed an email that they recently received from OC Transit, stating that the company will likely secure a permit within four to six weeks and begin breaking ground for its facility in October. Trustee Ralph Garrison Jr. expressed his frustration with this proposed timeline.

“The timeline in the email doesn’t make sense. They said four to six weeks for them to have the permit but they scheduled to break ground in October, which makes no sense because it’s going to start getting cold,” he said. “They’re not going to be able to start or finish anything. Not to mention, coming up in October is when their deadline is for the 12-month extension.”

Garrison then suggested that the board request a representative from OC Transit to appear at the next meeting and provide a more substantial update; the board motioned approval for Garrison’s suggestion.

The Wallkill Valley Times reached out to Orange County Transit for comment, but did not receive a response by Tuesday’s deadline.