Village of Cherry Valley Board Meeting Minutes
Tuesday August 19, 2025
The Village of Cherry Valley Board of Trustees meeting opened at 6:30 PM by Mayor Stiles with the Pledge to the Flag. In attendance were Mayor Jeffrey S. Stiles, Trustee Ian M. Feulner, DPW Superintendent Wayne B. Valentine, Clerk-Treasurer Melissa F. Gregory, and Attorney Jill A. Poulson, Esq. Also in attendance were the following: business owner Mr. Dustin Lewandowski, of Dustin’s Automotive; residents Lisa Gerdin, Cindy Borchert, Mark Hayes, Howard Young; Noelle Adamoschek, of Historic Cherry Valley Businesses
Approval of the August 19, 2025 minutes was made, as members received in final written form. It was upon motion of Trustee Feulner, seconded by Mayor Stiles, unanimously carried, to accept the minutes as written.
Treasurer’s Report
It was upon motion of Trustee Feulner, seconded by Mayor Stiles, unanimously carried, to accept the Treasurer’s Report as given.
Guests
Noelle Adamochek, representative of the Historic Cherry Valley Businesses, was in attendance to update the board about the upcoming Art Trail (10/4 & 5/2025) and Falltober Fest (10/24/2025). Regarding the Falltober Fest Mrs. Adamochek noted there was to be music at the gazebo (rain location is at the Cherry Valley Old School in the Cafe). DPW Superintendent Valentine confirmed there would be power available for this use. Vendors for this event will be set up at the Village parking lot located by the NBT bank.
Dustin Lewandowski, of Dustin’s Automotive on Alden Street in the Village, was in attendance to provide updates from the last meeting and to ask other various questions. Notes from the interaction between the Village Board and Mr. Lewandowski are summarized below:
Mr. Lewandowski began by stating that the Village was sending him letters “every three days”, that he is being harassed, and also claimed that someone from the Board sent the EPA and DEC to stop by both of his locations and do a check (which he noted he’d be filing a FOIL request with them for that information). He wanted to know why all these things were happening because the Board was (in his words) going to “back off” once he got rid of cars. He asked about enforcement regarding non-compliance with requests from the Board.
Attorney Poulson responded to Mr. Lewandowski's initial questions with the following information, stating that “We wanted to proceed with an agreement [and] work together.”:
The Board sent two letters to Mr. Lewandowski after the prior meeting, one of which was to thank him for his initial cooperation with their requests and the other was to follow up regarding documents that he stated he would provide to the Board but had yet to do so as of the timeline that was requested.
The Board (as stated in prior meetings) is following through with their obligation to residents when they have complaints, and because this complaint has yet to be resolved, it is still a topic of discussion.
She touched base with NYSDMV after the prior meeting, regarding Mr. Lewandowski noting that his business is registered with NYSDMV . Her research concluded that his business is in fact not registered
Regarding enforcement, she stated: there would initially be a $250.00 per week fine, then it would go to the Town of Cherry Valley Court and it would depend on their decision at that level, what the next step(s) would be.
Mayor Stiles noted that no one from the Board made a call to the EPA and/or DEC to do a check on him and that anyone could have that done and they could also just come on their own to businesses.
Mayor Stiles made note that he has seen three vehicles moved, and Mr. Lewandowski noted that more than two have been moved from the Main Street location.
Both Mayor Stiles and Attorney Poulson inquired about how many cars on the Main/Church Street location have been moved in total, with Mayor Stiles reminding him that he is inquiring/following up because he represents everyone.
Trustee Feulner added that if Mr. Lewandowski himself was to file a complaint that the Board would be responsible for looking into it.
Mr. Lewandowski claimed that the resident making the complaint(s) has a “personal vendetta” against him.
Trustee Feulner noted that if the resident that made this related original complaint was to come to him/the Board about the status he would take the time to explain it to them. If the complaints were to continue though, the Board would need to sit down with them and further discuss next steps.
After further discussion, Trustee Feulner followed up with the question again to Mr. Lewandowski (as it had yet to be answered) regarding exactly how many vehicles have been moved, and how many more is he willing to move?
Mr. Lewandowski did not immediately answer the question, but inquired about Mr. Barry Ellis and if his property has been a topic of complaint before.
Mayor Stiles noted that it has been and has/is being dealt with.
DPW Superintendent Valentine offered to walk with Mr. Lewandowski in his yard(s) to help him identify vehicles to be moved.
Attorney Poulson reiterated the Village Junk Vehicle Law to Mr. Lewandowski, then followed up again with re-asking if he would please answer the question at hand.
Mr. Lewandowski did not answer the question about how many vehicles have been moved and how many he is willing to move. He did respond though with, “I don’t need you to justify my actions.”
Mayor Stiles inquired about the four vehicles that Mr. Lewandowski towed at the (prior) Board’s request, telling him that if he brings us those names and registration information that the Board will reach out to them personally.
DPW Superintendent Valentine inquired to Mr. Lewandowski if he charges a storage fee for vehicles, as the remarks from Mr. Lewandowski were centered around noting how he has so many vehicles because they are there for repairs, are done, and now he’s not getting payment for them.
Mr. Lewandowski responded that he does have a storage fee but doesn’t utilize it too frequently.
Mr. Lewandowski’s next question was, “When does the harassment stop?”
Attorney Poulson noted that Trustee Brigham has been in contact with resident Charlie See. She followed up by acknowledging Mr. Lewandowski’s feelings stating that the Board understands he is frustrated, “so let’s focus on what we’ve asked.” She also reminded him that it is not the Board’s job to get involved in neighbor disputes. She further apologized, on behalf of the Board, that he feels as though he’s being harassed because that is not what has been intended.
Mr. Lewandowski presented Attorney Poulson with his DBA. She made a copy of the document for record purposes but noted that particular document does not help with anything being discussed at this time.
Attorney Poulson and Trustee Feulner both brought up that DPW Superintendent Valentine had offered to help him and that he had not yet answered whether or not he’d like said help.
Trustee Feulner went on to say that the Board cannot control Mr. Lewandowski’s customers but that Attorney Poulson has offered her help also and had not yet responded to that.
Mayor Stiles followed up stating that “As we spoke before, we’re trying to work together and I don’t feel like we are.” He went on to mention that the (current) Board is trying to clean up prior problems, most importantly right now being the well. He continued by saying, “We have no intention of hurting you financially.”
Attorney Poulson asked Mr. Lewandowski if we could now wrap up the discussion. She provided him with the following options:
Provide us with a current inventory of vehicles OR do a walkthrough with DPW Superintendent Valentine to discuss other possible options for the vehicles at both locations (especially at the Main/Church Street one though).
Mr. Lewandowski agreed to have DPW Superintendent Valentine do a walkthrough with him.
OLD BUSINESS:
Department of Public Works (DPW)
DPW Superintendent Valentine reported that the frame of the plow/dump truck has been welded during the previous week.
Regarding the repairs to Well #1, there were no updates for him to provide at this current time other than the possibility of having Gridley Excavating do the digging at the well house. Mayor Stiles noted that he’d prefer Gridley to do the excavating for this project (which would be less than $1,000.00) because he is fully insured and knows that the DPW crew will be heavily involved in leaf removal at the time when the repairs are to be done. DPW Superintendent Valentine noted that he plans to be fully involved and in attendance when all well repairs are being done.
Regarding the garage door opener “key” for CV Artworks, DPW Superintendent Valentine noted that Mr. Lamouret (CV American Legion) currently has the “key” and is working to touch base with him to resume possession of it so it can be passed along to CV Artworks.
Attorney
There was no old business to discuss aside from that of which is noted above regarding Mr. Dustin Lewandowski’s business.
Clerk-Treasurer
Clerk-Treasurer Gregory noted that the Annual Financial Report (AFR) is approximately 85% completed and expected to be done in time for the date of the provided extension.
Regarding the updates to the Village’s website, Clerk-Treasurer Gregory noted that Trustee Feulner was in contact with Olga Daniels who helped the CVCFC with their website. She was hoping to attend tonight’s meeting but was unable to due to scheduling conflicts. Trustee Feulner will be in contact with her after the meeting to follow up.
Clerk-Treasurer Gregory requested the following items from Attorney Poulson, and the responses are following each:
Scheduled monthly meetings with the Village office - to be determined after this meeting
Request for documents (Property Care contract; Legion Contract; Kraham file; other Dustin’s Automotive files) - all were provided except for that of the Kraham files, which Attorney Poulson stated she would send via email/provide in person, tomorrow (September 17, 2025).
Regarding the inconsistencies with Casella and the difficulties that have been ongoing, Clerk-Treasurer Gregory reported that both Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Bouboulis and herself are working to finish comparing the list that Casella provided with that of what we have in our office records. At this time of the meeting, Mr. Lewandowski noted that he would like the Village office to contact Casella about receiving toters for both of his business locations. Both Mayor Stiles and Trustee Feulner agreed that Casella could set up a meeting for the Village. Clerk-Treasurer Gregory noted it may be best to plan this for just before snow season, as there will be changes to address with placement of toters for the weather.
Per last month’s meeting request by resident Dorothy Jica, a set of signs for Lancaster Street (indicating “deaf child”) have been ordered.
NEW BUSINESS:
Department of Public Works (DPW)
Guest and resident Cindy Borchert noted that the DPW does a “Fantastic job”.
DPW Superintendent Valentine updated the Board about their continuous plans to prepare for the upcoming winter months. He noted that the leaf collector is ready to go and they will start doing said leaf collecting within the next one to two weeks. Another way they are preparing for winter is through grinding down and patching sidewalks to make it easier for plowing. With this note came discussion of the sidewalk directly in front of the apartment building on the corner of Main and Montgomery Streets and how poor of condition it is in. Mayor Stiles stated he would contact Matthias VanDerwerker (who he thinks may have contact information) to get further details on who may be in charge of repairs to this specific location.
Attorney
There was nothing new to discuss.
Clerk-Treasurer
Clerk-Treasurer Gregory reminded the Board of the generous donation ($2,500.00) by Mr. Nicholas Budimlic (in December 2024) to benefit the beautification of the Village during the winter holiday season. She noted that now is the time to begin discussing plans on whether or not we’ll be purchasing new items for such beautification. Many ideas were discussed, including the following:
“Rebuild” the Christmas/Santa program that the Village use to have
Hometown Heroes banners down for holidays, to be temporarily replaced with holiday banners
If further interest is had, will need to be discussed with the leader of that project
Decorative wood boxes around the Village
Guest and resident Cindy Borchert suggested the idea of it being a community decorating event/competition (similar to what is done with the light poles each year); these could even be decorated to “for” a Veteran/in their memory
Further discussion will be had at the next month’s meeting (October 21, 2025)
Other
Guest Lisa Gerdin wanted to thank local farmer Zach Youngs for his commitment to communication on Facebook regarding the workings of his farm of late.
Guest Cindy Borchert thanked the Village for preparing and physically handing out the fliers regarding the water emergency and newsletters.
Finances:
Audit of Claims:
After review by the board, it was upon motion of Trustee Feulner, seconded by Mayor Stiles, unanimously carried, to make payment on paid bills and budget modifications as follows:
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 8:26 p.m. upon motion of Mayor Stiles, seconded by Trustee Feulner, unanimously carried.
Respectfully Submitted,
Melissa Gregory, Clerk-Treasurer
October 20, 2025
