Williamsville Village Board of Trustees·September 28, 2026
The Village Board signed on to a Modern Disposal refuse contract bid by the Town of Amherst, and told a resident asking for a dog run in Amherst State Park that the park inside the village belongs to the town. Also: Michael Chmiel[*] named village prosecutor Oct. 1; a $203,384 paving contract; the Ellicott Creek wall nomination absent a fourth time.
The Village of Williamsville is 1.2 square miles sitting inside the 54 square miles of the Town of Amherst — a figure a resident recited to the board from the podium on Monday night, unprompted, as though it explained something. Over the next twenty minutes it explained a good deal.
The largest decision of the evening was a contract the village did not bid. Amherst's Contract Compliance and Administration Department opened proposals on June 4 for the collection, hauling and disposal of municipal solid waste, yard waste and recyclables, and included Williamsville in that process, as the two governments have done for years. Three vendors responded. The lowest was Modern Disposal Services, Inc., and the board authorized the mayor to sign the final contract on a voice vote, with no discussion and no figure read aloud — the resolution names no dollar amount and no term.
The same pattern ran through the mayor's report. The village is moving forward with implementation of the Tyler software platform — not only for the clerk's office and financial staff but for planning and permitting — and it is doing so jointly with the Town of Amherst[3], work that began last week. Trustee Amy Jackson's second native-species planting at the top of Glen Park Garden, set for October 10 from 9 a.m. to noon, will draw on Amherst Youth Engaged in Service students alongside Glen Park Joint Board members and any resident who turns up.
Then Guillermo Friedrich[3] came to the podium. He lives on Reist Street[*], by Amherst State Park, and was frank that he wasn't certain whether that put him inside the village line. He has a hound from a shelter that missed its critical socialization window; off leash, he said, “she's going to run off,” and finding her can take half an hour. She is friendly and she loves company, and so she never comes off the leash. Other dog parks exist, but they are out toward East Amherst, and his dog is carsick the whole way. He asked for something small: a gated area, inside the park, within walking distance.
The mayor's answer was jurisdictional. “Amherst State Park is actually the town,” Hunt said. “It belongs to the town of Amherst, but it is something I can bring up to their board, to the supervisor.” A trustee remembered the village discussing it before: the space by the depot was wrong, and the town, as another member put it, is “very anti-dog park up there. They want to make sure that they're on leashes.” Someone raised the Lehigh Valley Triangle, where the idea had come up a couple of years ago and gone nowhere. Someone else raised a dog park at Doc's Farm[3] as the model. “We'll see what we can do,” the mayor said, and moved on.
Amherst State Park sits inside the Village of Williamsville but is not the village's land. It is a Town of Amherst park, and the village board has no authority to fence, gate or designate anything in it — not a dog run, not a trail, not a sign.
So a village resident asking his village board for a village amenity in a park he can walk to gets an answer that sounds like a deflection and isn't one. The board's entire available action is what the mayor offered: carry the request to the town supervisor and Amherst's own board, and wait.
It is the same boundary that explains why the village's trash contract is bid in Amherst, and why Williamsville's street names are carried on the town's street index rather than a list of its own.
Trustee Jeffrey Hahn took his turn under reports and said this: “Under reports, we did have the HPC meeting. They are making progress on the wall. And we also made some progress on the paint for the Meeting House. So hopefully we'll be able to bring that to a conclusion soon.”
That is the whole of it. It is also the first time the East Side Ellicott Creek Stone Retaining Wall has been spoken of at the trustees' table since the landmark nomination was filed — and Hahn, who took over as Historic Preservation Commission liaison for the 2026–27 year, is the trustee in a position to say so. The commission met on September 22.
What did not happen is everything that matters procedurally. The nomination was not on Monday's docket. It was not referred. No hearing was noticed. No vote was taken. Whether “bring that to a conclusion soon” refers to the wall or to the Meeting House paint is not resolvable from the recording — the sentence follows the paint.
The mechanism underneath is not rhetorical. Filing a local landmark nomination freezes alterations on the properties it covers while the nomination is pending. Four private properties have been under that freeze, and the only body that can lift it by acting — in either direction — is this one.
Buried in the mayor's report was a vacancy nobody had announced. “On September 18th, I did accept Howard Cadmus'[3] resignation from his position as village prosecutor,” Hunt said. “So he is no longer the prosecutor, but as you see, we will be appointing a new prosecutor this evening.” No reason was given and none was asked for.
The appointee was already in the room, and had opened the meeting: Michael Chmiel[*] of Williamsville led the Pledge of Allegiance before he was anything official. He takes office October 1 and fills the vacancy through the end of the 2026–2027 village year. Because a prosecutor is the mayor's appointment rather than a board action, the item produced the evening's one flicker of parliamentary confusion: Hunt began “make a motion that” and caught herself — “this is not a motion, I take that back” — a trustee observed “it's an appointment,” and someone seconded it regardless. “I'll second anyway.”
Chmiel then spoke briefly, and apologetically — he had someone waiting with an early morning ahead. He has been practicing about 26 years, was a prosecutor years ago in the Town of Somerset[3], and has done town and village court work[3] including, he said, in this village years ago. Cadmus had let him sit in the week before. “I look forward to starting with you, and we'll get right to work.”
The second speaker was Thomas Frank[3], a village resident, and his subject was a parks-interconnection plan he has been pressing on the village for some time: a greenway linking the walkable village to the Town of Amherst's central corridor along Ellicott Creek, which he described as a former Native American trail and part of the Niagara watershed. He tied it to the relicensing settlement on the Niagara Power Project that runs through 2050, to a comprehensive plan from 2000 that he says was never implemented, to the village's vacant commercial storefronts, to climate-change funding streams, to a meeting he had with a county principal planner, to a five-year, ten-million-dollar capitalization, and — by the end — to the 300th anniversary of the French fort at Niagara, five colonial wars fought over the ground the board was sitting on, militiamen paid in Indian land, and Jeffrey Amherst himself.
The rules the mayor had read aloud four minutes earlier allow three minutes, one trip to the podium, no yielding of time to anyone else, and remarks addressed to the board as a body. Hunt tried to close him out at least six times — “Okay, thank you, Tom,” then “Yes, thank you, Tom,” then “All right, that's enough,” then “Thank you for the history lesson. Please sit down.” When that failed she named the consequence: “Okay, Tom, I'm going to ask you to take a seat one more time and then I'm going to ask you to be removed.”
“Thank you. I don't want to have you have me removed,” Frank said — and got two more sentences in about a regional transportation shuttle before the floor closed. Nobody was removed. The board moved to close the suspension of rules and went to its docket.
On a Williamsville agenda, “Suspension of Rules for Public Participation” is item IV, and it is a real vote. The board's rules of procedure, adopted July 13, govern the meeting as a working session of a legislative body; ordinary members of the public have no standing to speak during it. To take public comment at all, the board formally suspends those rules, hears speakers, then votes to un-suspend before moving to business.
It reads strangely — a board voting to permit the public to address it — but it is what puts the three-minute limit, the single trip to the podium and the no-yielding rule on a legal footing. It is also why the mayor, not a parliamentarian, is the one enforcing them.
The public hearing on proposed Local Law #4, prohibiting smoking in village parks and recreation areas, was opened, offered to the room, and closed inside 25 seconds. “Seeing nobody step to the podium, make a motion to close the public hearing.” No speaker, no comment, no discussion from the board, and — importantly — no adoption vote. Having held the hearing, the board can adopt the law at a later meeting; it did not do so Monday, and did not say when it would.
The board then noticed a second hearing. On Trustee Hahn's resolution, the administrator was directed to publish notice of a public hearing for October 26 at 7:30 p.m. on a proposed local law amending Chapter 103 (Vehicle and Traffic), Section 15 (Stop Intersections) — identified on the agenda as Local Law #6[*]. Which streets get stop signs, and which intersections are involved, appears nowhere in the packet.
That numbering is worth a beat. The village's recent local laws run #3 (unsafe sidewalks) and #4 (smoking in parks); the stop-sign law is now #6. The village-wide demolition-permit moratorium the board noticed two weeks ago for a hearing on October 13 still carries no number at all, and its draft text has still not appeared in any packet. The board assigned a number to stop signs before it assigned one to a freeze on demolitions — a freeze whose hearing is two weeks sooner. The Comprehensive Plan Update Committee, the body a moratorium would normally be holding the door for, met September 23 and meets again October 28.
Payroll and vouchers of $342,827.37 covering September 7 through 24 carried without comment. The packet breaks it out: $64,849.06 of payroll, and $277,978.31 of vouchers — $159,144.94 general fund, $64,318.16 sewer, $23,833.57 to the sewer consolidation project, $23,501.21 to the Village Hall renovations, $3,987.73 Glen Park, $3,192.70 trust and agency. Two sets of budget transfers followed, in the general fund and the Glen Park fund, both for fiscal 2026–2027 and both approved “as written” without a figure spoken; the printed transfers are small housekeeping moves — $100 from service contracts to translator fees, $305 out of Glen Park maintenance into miscellaneous, and similar.
Deputy Mayor Celeste moved the year's milling and paving contract: Occhino Corporation[*], mill and overlay on Arend[*], Hillside and South Ellicott, at an estimated $203,384.35, paid from the village's New York State CHIPS, PAVE NY, EWR and POPS funding-assistance revenue lines. It carried on a voice vote with no discussion.
Trustee Hahn moved an application to the state's Justice Court Assistance Program for up to $30,000 in the 2026–2027 cycle, for improvements to the village court offices and the courtroom. No local match is required. And Trustee Jackson authorized Crew Chief Benjamin Vilonen[*] to attend the NYCOM[*] 2026 Public Works Training School in Lake Placid, October 19–21, at a cost not to exceed $1,200 covering conference, meals and lodging.
The creek. The village is preparing an RFQ for its waterway problem and possible solutions “to get that water around the island” — the mayor's framing, offered without elaboration. She also held up a draft timeline for the Ellicott Creek corridor restoration project, which will be posted to the village website so residents can follow it. Both items are process, not decisions, and neither came with a date.
Bioswales. The bioswales team presented during the unbroadcast work session — Alexandra Zirkel[3], who leads the project, and the summer intern, Bryn[3], who has produced a “lookbook” documenting the summer's work and the plants that went in. It will be handed out at village events through the rest of the year and posted online, alongside a short PDF update on the bioswales. Jackson's Glen Park planting, she allowed, is now in friendly competition with it: the new beds will be “as spiffy as the bioswales, I certainly hope. I feel like we're in competition now, but not really.”
The Meeting House. Celeste, who holds that liaison seat, reported the building “operating as robustly as ever”: 21 events in September, 11 booked for October, and 204 event days across the June-to-May year — roughly 68 percent occupancy. The committee is now working on ways to fill it further. From the dais: “Zero to 68 in a couple of years. That's pretty darn good.”
Parks and public works. Three chess tables are installed at Garrison Park by the gazebo, boards built in — bring your own pieces. Another Eagle Scout project is going up near the depot, expected complete mid-to-late October. New rails are in at the park, with a gate still to come once back-ordered hinges arrive. Leaf pickup begins October 1. Administrator Nick McCormick[*] and the deputy clerk each reported nothing further.
And one arrival. Trustee Steven Meyer had no committee report, and used his turn for something else: thanks to the community for its well wishes for the daughter he and his wife welcomed last week, Thea Penelope Meyer[3]. “For at least a few days I think she held the title as newest village resident.” Asked whether he was getting any sleep, he said last night had not been great, and that he was there anyway. “It's a good reminder to know that community is here for you in these times.”
All five members answered the roll: Mayor Christine L. Hunt, Deputy Mayor James Celeste, and Trustees Jeffrey Hahn, Amy Jackson and Steven Meyer. Every item below carried on a voice vote — the board took no roll call on any resolution, so the record contains no individual positions and no tallies. No recusals were stated. Resolution numbering follows the agenda packet's own labels.
Moved by the mayor, seconded, voice vote.
The rules of procedure were read aloud first: one trip to the podium, recognition by the presiding officer, name and resident status stated, three minutes, no yielding of time, remarks to the board as a body. Two residents spoke. The second was warned he would be asked to be removed before the floor closed.
Opened on a voice vote, offered to the room, closed on a voice vote when nobody came to the podium. No adoption vote was taken. The board may now adopt the law at a future meeting; it named no date.
Payroll $64,849.06 (9/07–9/20); vouchers $277,978.31 — general fund $159,144.94, sewer $64,318.16, sewer consolidation project $23,833.57, Village Hall renovations $23,501.21, Glen Park $3,987.73, trust & agency $3,192.70. Grand total $342,827.37.
Approved “as written” with no figure read aloud. The printed schedule is routine housekeeping, e.g. $100 from service contracts to translator fees and a transfer into physicals/eye exams/safety glasses.
$305 from park maintenance (009.7141.4352) to miscellaneous (009.7141.4450).
Collection, hauling and disposal of municipal solid waste, yard waste and recyclables. Proposals were opened by the Town of Amherst Contract Compliance and Administration Department on June 4, 2026, with Williamsville included in the town's bidding process; three vendors responded; Modern Disposal was lowest. The resolution authorizes the mayor to sign the final contract and states no dollar amount and no term.
A mayor's appointment rather than a board action, filling the vacancy through the end of the 2026–2027 village year. Follows the mayor's acceptance on September 18 of Howard Cadmus'[3] resignation as village prosecutor. Chmiel led the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the meeting and addressed the board briefly after the appointment. Seconded anyway, after the mayor noted a second was not required.
Mill and overlay on three streets at an estimated $203,384.35, to be paid from New York State CHIPS, PAVE NY, EWR and POPS funding-assistance revenue lines. The mayor is authorized to approve the contract. No discussion.
Justice Court Assistance Program, 2026–2027 cycle, for improvements to the court offices and the courtroom. No local match is required. The board records that it “fully supports this application.”
Directs the administrator to publish notice of a hearing on a proposed local law amending Chapter 103 (Vehicle and Traffic), Section 15 (Stop Intersections). The affected intersections are not identified in the agenda packet.
Lake Placid, October 19–21, 2026, at a cost not to exceed $1,200.00 covering conference, meals and lodging.
Moved and seconded on a voice vote at roughly 8:09 p.m. Staff reports produced nothing further from either the administrator or the deputy clerk.
What aired and what did not. This brief covers the 7:30 p.m. regular session only. The Village Board's 6:00 p.m. work session was not broadcast and is not in the recording, which matters twice over tonight: the session ran long enough to delay the regular meeting by eleven minutes, and the bioswales presentation described in the mayor's report — the lookbook, the plant list, the summer intern's work — happened there, unrecorded. What is reported of it here is the board's own on-air summary, not the presentation. The meeting was also not captured live: the recording is the village's archived stream, retrieved about two and a half hours after adjournment and transcribed immediately. It runs 1,667.8 seconds (27.8 minutes), opens on a few seconds of pre-gavel chatter and ends on the motion to adjourn.
No roll calls. Every resolution Monday night carried on a voice call for ayes. The board took no roll call on any item, and no audible dissent was recorded, so this brief reports outcomes but cannot report how any individual member voted on anything. Readers wanting per-member positions will need the official minutes.
Corrections. [*] marks a proper noun corrected against the posted agenda packet, the verified village roster or the municipal street index, all of which govern over the audio. Applied tonight: Michael Chmiel (audio: “Mike Shamil”), Occhino Corporation (audio: “Ocino”), Arend Avenue (audio: “Aaron”), Reist Street (audio: “Reef Street”), Benjamin Vilonen (audio: “Villanen”), NYCOM — the New York Conference of Mayors (audio: “NICOM”), Local Law #6 (the speaker gave the chapter and section but no number), Nick McCormick, Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer (audio: “Administrator Cork”), and the board's own surnames, which this room's audio renders loosely (“Seles” for Celeste, “Han” for Hahn).
Unconfirmed names. [3] marks a name or detail the audio alone supports, which no official document confirms. Agendas name entities and actions, not the residents who come to the podium or the staff mentioned in passing, so both public speakers, the outgoing prosecutor, the bioswales project lead and the summer intern, the appointee's account of his own career, the joint Amherst software implementation, and the newest resident's name all fall in that category. Verify before quoting.
Street validation. Run per this village's standing method: Williamsville has no street file of its own because the village lies inside the Town of Amherst, so the transcript was checked against the town's street index. Three candidates surfaced; two — “Justice Court” and “Williamsville Village Court” — are the tool mistaking the word “Court” for a street type and are not streets at all. The third, “Reef Street,” is not on the index and was corrected to Reist Street, which is, and which runs beside Amherst State Park as the speaker described. The tool only finds phrases carrying a street-type word, so street names spoken bare would not surface; the three paved streets were confirmed against the agenda packet by hand instead. Addresses were also cross-referenced against this publication's scanner address record; nothing in it bears on any matter before the board.
Continuity. Two items carried over from September 14 were checked against this docket. The village-wide demolition-permit moratorium remains set for a public hearing October 13 and still carries no local-law number and no published draft text. The East Side Ellicott Creek Stone Retaining Wall landmark nomination was again absent from the docket; the single sentence in the Historic Preservation Commission liaison's report is reported above in full, and the reader should know it is the entire record of the matter from this meeting.