The Village of Walden board held a productive meeting last Tuesday, September 3, in which the mayor and trustees finalized their new residency requirements for village employees, considered a paid parking system, and prepared plans for unsafe buildings.

The board opened the meeting by passing Local Law 10 of 2024, which expanded the residency requirements for the village clerk, treasurer, and police chief from the Town of Montgomery to all of Orange County. While the requirements for the village clerk and treasurer were complete, the board spent several meetings interpreting the definitions of a legal address and residency for the police chief. As of August 20, Village Attorney David Donovan revised the law’s draft, requiring the police chief to have a permanent address in the county rather than a temporary one.

Before passing the expansion, Trustee Becky Pearson questioned if the county and state’s civil service law would create a loophole for candidates. She read that, according to civil service law, a candidate applying for police chief in Orange County can live in a bordering county and still be eligible for the position.

“I looked up civil service law for Orange County and New York and what it takes to be a chief in Orange County,” Pearson said. “It says ‘The police chief candidate must be a resident of Orange County or a resident of a county with the State of New York contiguous to the County of Orange at the time of the appointment.’”

“So that doesn’t mean he has to live in Orange County,” she continued. “So my concern is we’re making this Orange County, but it sounds like he can come from another county and still be chief.”

Donovan explained that the village residency requirements override civil service law’s requirements, disallowing candidates from neighboring counties. The village’s previous residency requirements, for example, followed civil service law but restricted candidates to the Town of Montgomery.

“By New York State village law and our local code, it’s limited right now to the Village of Walden. That trumps the civil service,” Donovan said. “The current local law has been in effect for over 50 years. All you’re doing is expanding the geographic boundaries for the chief of police from the Village of Walden to the County of Orange.”

Pearson also suggested that the law refers to a permanent address as a domicile instead of a residency. The board did not agree with the replacement and Donovan simply responded “Perfection is often the enemy of good” and “Beware the paralysis of analysis.” The board then passed the law with a 4-2 vote; Pearson was still unsatisfied with the law’s terminology, and Mayor John Ramos prefers candidates who live in Walden or Montgomery.

Paid Parking
Later in the meeting, Village Manager John Revella stated that several businesses, including Millspaugh Furniture and Sohns Appliance, requested the board to enforce paid parking on the village streets due to the growth of tenant parking overtaking business parking. This would discourage non-customers from taking up parking on the street for extended periods and allow more customers to park on the streets.

“Several businesses asked us if we could please do a meter system instead of the timed parking without the meter system,” Revella said. “If someone wanted to park for let’s say five hours, they’d have to pay extra money for the time.”

Deputy Mayor Chris Batson felt uncomfortable charging local employees for parking and wanted to meet with these businesses to learn more.

“I struggle with the fact of employees in our local businesses having to pay for parking every day,” Batson said “For their customers, it gives access to their businesses, I think that is valid. For their employees, I’m not sure.”

Trustee Liz Kyle asserted that, hypothetically, if the board implemented paid parking, she would prefer to use coin slot meters over kiosks, as she finds the former more consistent and less frustrating than the latter.

“I do not like the kiosks at all. There’s been more than one time that I and my husband have gotten a ticket after paying because the people who are checking it didn’t check the license plate,” Kyle said. “Then you have to call and fight a ticket that you weren’t supposed to get because they don’t require you to put anything in your vehicle, they’re just supposed to check your license plate number and it wasn’t happening. So there’s human error involved in there as opposed to a meter, where you stick your quarter in.”

Trustee Ralph Garrison Jr. was in the opposite boat and explained how kiosks are faster and easier to use for parking compared to meters, allowing drivers to pay online by scanning a barcode.

“I’ll use the Beacon Train Station as an example. There are two kiosks in the parking lot and a barcode is posted everywhere in the parking lot. You scan the IR code, it brings you to the website on your phone, you put your license plate number in, hit the button, and then you’re done,” he said. “Or you can go to the kiosk and pay there. Either way, you’re not sticking anything on your window.”

The board agreed to speak to the aforementioned businesses and formulate a plan first before considering paid parking in the village.

“Let’s engage the local businesses or have a public hearing to hear from other people,” Batson said. “I think this is a contiguous issue, and the issue we’re really solving is long-term tenant parking taking the place of business parking.”

Unsafe Buildings

Following this, the board scheduled two hearings on October 1 for two unsafe buildings at 768 West Main Street and 60 Main Street respectively. During these sessions, the owners of these buildings will talk with the board and explain how they will address their buildings’ conditions.

Additionally, the board is currently seeking bids for a contractor to demolish an unsafe building on 3537 North Montgomery Street, another property the board discussed at the beginning of this year.