REGULAR BOARD MEETING

Monday, February 2, 2026 @ 10:00 a.m.

Stephen McNally, Chairperson

Matthew Brassard, Vice-Chairperson

Chairman McNally called this Regular Board meeting to order at 10:00 am with the following Supervisors in attendance: Clayton Barber, Matthew Brassard, Chris Clark, Timothy Follos, Mary Lamphear, Tracie McGill, Steve McNally, Clayton Menser, Timothy Pierce, Richard Preston, Cathleen Reusser, Matthew Stanley, Davina Thurston, Michael Tyler, Joe Pete Wilson and Meg Wood. Kenneth Hughes and James O’Bryan were excused.

Department Heads present: Laura Carson, Michael Diskin, James Dougan, Josh Favro, Judy Garrison, Roy Holzer, Mary McGowan, Dan Manning, Mike Mascarenas, David Reynolds and Heather Sheehan.

Also present: William Tansey and Michael LaVallie.

MCNALLY: I call the regular board meeting to order please rise for salute to the flag. Good morning. Roll call please. Thank you. I don’t believe we have any quests today so we can move right to resolutions please.

RESOLUTION #19 – AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASING AGENT TO AWARD BIDS, ISSUE CONTRACTS/AGREEMENTS OR PURCHASE ORDERS.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Tyler, seconded by Mr. Barber and adopted upon a roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2433 votes

NOES: 0 votes

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

RESOLUTION #20 – AUTHORIZING THE ESSEX COUNTY PURCHASING AGENT TO GO OUT TO BID/RFP FOR VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Thurston, and duly adopted.

RESOLUTION #21 – AUTHORIZING APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS, COMMITTEES AND/OR COUNCILS.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Mr. Barber, and duly adopted.

RESOLUTION #22 – AUTHORIZING CONTRACT AMENDMENTS/CHANGE ORDERS IN VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Barber, seconded by Mr. Tyler and adopted upon a roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2433 votes

NOES: 0 votes

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

RESOLUTION #23 – AUTHORIZING VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS TO APPLY FOR AND ACCEPT GRANTS.

This resolution was moved by Ms. Thurston, seconded by Mr. Barber and adopted upon a roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2433 votes

NOES: 0 votes

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

RESOLUTION #24 – SETTING THE DATES AND LOCATIONS FOR THE 2026 HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE DAY EVENTS IN ESSEX COUNTY.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Brassard, and duly adopted.

RESOLUTION #25 – AUTHORIZING BUDGET AMENDMENTS FOR VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Tyler, seconded by Mr. Barber and adopted upon a roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2433 votes

NOES: 0 votes

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

RESOLUTION #26 – ADOPTING A HOME RULE REQUEST FOR ACTION ADOPTION BY NEW YORK STATE SENATE OF SENATE BILL S-8482 AND ADOPTION BY NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY OF ASSEMBLY BILL A-9098, AMENDING SUBDIVISION 10 OF NEW YORK STATE TAX LAW §1202-S, AS IT RELATES TO THE USE OF ALL REVENUES RECEIVED FROM HOTEL/MOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX GENERATED IN ESSEX COUNTY.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Tyler, seconded by Ms. Wood and defeated, upon a two-thirds roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2341 votes

NOES: 993 votes (Stanley, Preston)

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

MCNALLY: Questions, concerns?

STANLEY: I’m not going to belabor this too long this week because I feel like I did that last week. I’m still in opposition of this mainly, the wording going from 5% to 10% for the admin portion of this tax. That’s where I’ll leave it today.

MCNALLY: Anybody else? If not, roll call please.

RESOLUTION #27 – IN SUPPORT OF SENATE BILL S-6956 AND ASSEMBLY BILL A-8720 INCREASING THE EARNING LIMITATIONS FOR RETIRED PERSONS IN THE POSITION OF PUBLIC SERVICE FROM ITS CURRENT $35,000 LIMIT TO $50,000.

This resolution was moved by Ms. Wood, seconded by Mr. Clark, and duly adopted.

RESOLUTION #28 – ACCEPTING AND PLACING ON FILE THE 2025 ANNUAL ACCOUNTING OF MONIES RECEIVED AND DISBURSED BY THE ESSEX COUNTY CLERK.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Wood, and duly adopted.

RESOLUTION #29 – RECOGNIZING LONG-TERM EMPLOYEES OF ESSEX COUNTY.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Barber, unanimously seconded, and duly adopted.

RESOLUTION #30 – AUTHORIZING TO APPOINT TWO MEMBERS OF THE ESSEX COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TO SERVE ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR THE LAND BANK CORPORATION IN ESSEX COUNTY.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Stanley, seconded by Ms. Wood, and duly adopted.

RESOLUTION #31 – OF CONGRATULATIONIS AND APPRECIATION TO ANNE E. MAHER UPON HER RETIREMENT FROM SERVICE WITH THE ESSEX COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Pierce, unanimously seconded, and duly adopted.

GARRISON: Resolutions from the floor –

RESOLUTION #32 – AUTHORIZING TO CONTRACT WITH NFP PROPERTY & CASUALTY SERVICES INC. FOR A SUPPLEMENTAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE POLICY FOR DEPUTY FIRE COORDINATORS FOR 2026.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Brassard, seconded by Mr. Pierce and adopted upon a roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2433 votes

NOES: 0 votes

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

MCNALLY: Do we have twelve from the floor?

GARRISON: Yes, we do.

MANNING: This next resolution was sent to me in the resolution packet but you have on your desks a substitute resolution it has a black asterisk on the top of it, take a look at that. This is a resolution we are voting on, the difference is the amounts that were calculated last week were incorrect even left out so the current figures purchases the amounts of the purchased price of taxes owed and the net have been revised on this particular resolution you have with the black asterisk on the top so that will be the one that you’re voting on. In addition, I received a telephone call about 9:30 today from a piece of property located in the Town of North Elba which is listed as parcel #116. This piece of property is involved in litigation and there’s a question whether proper notice was given to the true owners of the property therefore, the better part of valor is to remove this at this time, this parcel number 116, Town of North Elba, tax map no. 42.143-1-2.200 from today’s resolution so that we can kind of flush out what the problems are and what needs to be done. It will simply delay the transfer by a little bit which we should be able to determine where we sit on this, this week so it will be a brief delay so we will simply remove that from this list.

Then I am told –

MASCARENAS: Yeah, lot #77 property in Moriah if we want to include that as part of the same resolution the property did not get back the taxes owed and there is some question whether the purchaser has violations in not only the town but in many other towns when it comes to codes and those types of things so if we could remove that for now that would be great.

MANNING: Those are code violations right?

MASCARENAS: Correct.

MANNING: And just for the board’s edification as part of locks in process we send out, we attach the auction booklet it’s also listed on the website so all parties can be aware of the terms and conditions of the sale in bold in capital letters from the very beginning of the terms and conditions of sale it does say at all sales are subject to the approval of the Essex County Board of Supervisors and that they can settle or reject any sales for any reason whatsoever and so property owners know that it maybe applicable to these two pieces of property. Some of you may recall I don’t know if anybody is still here from years ago we took a case up to the appellate division which we won in that clause where we decided we had other reasons to lease the Frontier Town Property, our portion of it and we did not agree to sell to this individual they brought a lawsuit, it went all the way to the appellate division found that our terms and conditions and that statement stood so that’s basically it so, this resolution will be a resolution accepting the report of the January 21, 2026, real property auction sale and authorizing the sale of such parcels to the highest bidders however, removing parcels no. 116 in the Town of North Elba and also no. 77 in the Town of Moriah.

MCNALLY: Do we have twelve to allow this on the floor?

GARRISON: Yes, we do.

RESOLUTION #33 -ACCEPTING THE REPORT OF JANUARY 21, 2026, REAL PROPERTY AUCTION SALE AND AUTHORIZING THE SALE OF SUCH PARCELS TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER, HOWEVER REMOVING AND NOT APPROVING PARCELS NO. 9, 77 AND 116.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Tyler, seconded by Mr. Barber and adopted upon a roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2433 votes

NOES: 0 votes

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

MCNALLY: Questions, concerns?

BARBER: I have a concern with 37 Margaret Street. This piece of property we actually had the previous owner going to court two days before the auction. This is a blight property that has a lot of garbage on it and another concern of mine is obviously we didn’t receive the money to cover the taxes so what’s the restrictions of people taking these over properties as far as cleaning them up?

MANNING: People who buy at an auction are subject to the same rules as anyone else that owes a piece of property so if they have property that is in violation of code or if they are unsafe buildings they would be taken to court or we can begin the proper proceedings to make them comply.

BARBER: Okay so I still have concerns as I said we didn’t get enough to cover the taxes.

MANNING: What property?

BARBER: The property on 37 Margaret Street.

MASCARENAS: Property nine, lot #9 Mr. Manning.

MANNING: He is an attorney in Lake Placid that’s all I know. What would you like done with it?

BARBER: So, I would like to make the motion to pull it. I think this property would be good for low income or either go back to auction in the future.

MANNING: Alright, we can add that to the list.

MCNALLY: So, we made three changes I believe?

MASCARENAS: Yes, lot #9, 77 and 116.

TYLER: Mr. Chairman it’s my belief that if somebody bids on a property and they don’t want it, it goes to the second bidder? Is that the case?

MANNING: Yes.

TYLER: I’m just curious, there is a property in Westport is that the original bidder or is that going to the second bidder?

MANNING: Which property Ike?

TYLER: That is 7567.

MANNING: 156? Do you want that removed?

TYLER: Well, I probably should have had this discussion with you before because I assume the person that bought it was a neighbor who was going to tear it down, it’s in disrepair nothing can be built there really it’s not a property that is feasible to build on. I was told somebody bid it but then they didn’t want it after they looked at it because they bid without looking at.

MANNING: I will have to ask Mr. Diskin.

MCNALLY: Courtesy of the floor to Mr. Diskin.

DISKIN: To answer your question Mr. Tyler this is the original bidder there is a back up bidder however the back up bidder has not indicated that they want it and this bidder has said that they will not finish the purchase, they would forfeit their down payment so the name that’s on here is the original bidder the back up bidder has been contacted and has not replied as to whether they want it or not. If there is no reply from them we are going to keep it and sell it again but they forfeited their down payment.

TYLER: Thank you.

DISKIN: Anybody else on here that doesn’t close by February 27 also forfeits the down payment and we’ll attempt to reach the back up bidder at that point. We have to give them the opportunity to close before we know.

TYLER: Thank you.

STANLEY: Mr. Diskin do you send out a report of or let us know who does an actual complete sale of this auction?

DISKIN: Yeah, we can do that. Typically, it’s very few once in a while but usually the back up bidder will take it.

STANLEY: The only reason I actually say that is there could be properties that people back out of on this foreclosure auction and now that the price has been set it may be attracted to the land bank.

PIERCE: I’m just curious about the down payment. What is the standard down payment based on?

DISKIN: The down payment is based on 25% of bid price, the actual down payment is based on the total of the bid price plus the buyer premium. The buyer premium is actually the commission of the auctioneer gets so you have to add those two together then it’s 25% of that or $1000 whichever is higher.

PIERCE: Thank you.

DISKIN: On some of these small properties the $1000 is higher so that’s why then up putting 25% more down on it.

PRESTON: Just for clarity back to lot #9, why is that being questioned or pulled? Just for clarity.

BARBER: The lack of taxes being covered; we refuse it and then I would consider that going to the land bank.

PIERCE: Thank you.

MCNALLY: Thank you. We have another resolution from the floor, do we have twelve to allow it from the floor?

GARRISON: Yes.

MASCARENAS: So, I have a resolution this morning, it’s really a housekeeping item I need a resolution withdrawing resolution #305 from December 30, 2025, that resolution is allowing the purchasing agent to award a contract with RelComm for software assurance on the phone system. The reason why I am going to ask you for a different resolution that’s $8,000 cheaper after we withdraw this one.

RESOLUTION #34 – RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 305 DATED DECEMBER 30, 2025 AWARDING A CONTRACT TO REL COMM INC. FOR SOFTWARE ASSURANCE FOR THE ESSEX COUNTY PHONE SYSTEM FOR THE TERM FEBRUARY 3, 2026 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2007.

This resolution was moved by Mr. Stanley, seconded by Mr. Brassard and adopted upon a roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2433 votes

NOES: 0 votes

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

MCNALLY: Questions or concerns? Roll call please.

MASCARENAS: Okay I’m asking for a new resolution with Twinstate in the amount of $13,873.60, for software support of our phone system.

MCNALLY: Do we have twelve to allow that on the floor?

GARRISON: Yes, we do.

RESOLUTION 35 – AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT WITH TWINSTATE TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PERIOD FEBRUARY 2, 2025 THROUGH FEBRUARY 25, 2027 RELATIVE TO MITEL PREMIUM SOFTWARE ASSURANCE PROGRAM AND MIVOICE BORDER GATEWAY PHONE SYSTEM IN THE AMOUNT OF $13,873.60 AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN OR COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL CONTRACTS OR DOCUMENTS RELATED THERETO

This resolution was moved by Mr. Stanley, seconded by Mr. Tyer, and adopted upon a roll-call vote as follows:

AYES: 2433 votes

NOES: 0 votes

ABSENT: 420 votes (Hughes, O’Bryan)

MCNALLY: Questions or concerns? Roll call please. Thank you.

MASCARENAS: We would like to have a motion to go into executive session regarding legal advice of contract negotiations.

MCNALLY: Moved by Mr. Barber, second by Mr. Tyler. All in favor.

THE COMMITTEE MOVED INTO AN EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 10:26 A.M.

TO DISCUSS LEGAL ADVICE OF CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

AND MOVED BACK INTO OPEN SESSION AT 10:43 A.M.

MCNALLY: Thank you. Can we get a motion to come out of executive session? Moved by Mr. Preston, second Mr. Barber. No decisions were made. The time is 10:43 a.m. Anything else to come before the board? If not, we’re adjourned.

As there was no further discussion to come before this regular board it was adjourned at 10:43 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Judith Garrison, Clerk

Board of Supervisors