MONTICELLO  — On Wednesday night, the Village Board of Monticello voted in favor to support the upcoming Halloween Parade.

Hosted by Reach Towards the Stars, this event is promised to be an exciting event for all, it has been going on since at least 2018.

This event will be held behind the Ted Stroebele Center on Saturday, October 26.

Trustee Theodore Hutchins inquired Danielle Galati, the President and Co-Founder of Reach, if there has been any important correspondence with Village Manager James Snowden. He talked in regards to the time the event starts and what roads would need to be blocked off.

“We’re trying to follow how we did last year since it worked well last year,” explained Galati. “The parade would start from Bank Street and it goes all the way down Broadway and ends at the neighborhood facility behind the Ted Stroebele Center.”

They would again have the fire department where the kids can tour the fire truck.

She also anticipates the presence of pumpkin painting, face painting and a “big time DJ this year” for live music for the families and kids.

Monticello Police Chief David Lindsay was stated to have contacted Galati saying whatever they needed, such as escorts for the parade and support at the trunk-or-treat that “they would be on board as well.”

“It would be a rolling roadblock,” explained Lindsay. “We would just travel behind them and keep traffic back until the parade gets to the Stroebele Center and then traffic would resume as normal.”

Trustee Gordon Jenkins thanked Galati for her organization volunteering their time to help out with the kids.

Galati also mentioned that people have been reaching out to see if the event needed vendors and what her next steps would be regarding that.

Hutchins advised her to reach out to Snowden as he would be able to assist in that department.

“Danielle, if you could you can put a little pep in your step and get the food vendors [anyway],” joked Hutchins. “People are gonna be out there, I would like to get some cuisine.”

Updates on proposed health insurance plan

Village Attorney Michael Sussman wanted to bring to the Board and public’s attention of several meetings of a new health insurance plan.

“There was a lengthy presentation about the advantages and slight disadvantages of the new proposed insurance,” explained Sussman.

At the time of the presentation, Sussman had made a point to advise the Board that because this was a mandatory subject of negotiation - in the course of adopting this plan - the best course was to first hold a public hearing and have a conversation so anyone could make comments on the matter.

If the Board still wanted to proceed, they said they would have to share this with the Union to determine what its position would be in regards to negotiating changing the [current health insurance] contract.

He reminded that a public hearing was held back in July.

He walked through that after the hearing it could be dictated if the Board wanted to proceed in this direction.

“In July, I wrote to the Labor Unions’ representatives and sent them the papers that you have considered,” stated Sussman. “I did not hear back, and in September I re-contacted the same individuals. I sent this again to them and asked to give feedback in regard to it.”

Upon reportedly not receiving feedback, Sussman tried again and was answered with “We are polling our members.”

“Most recently I was informed by them that they don’t want to discuss it. They want it to be part of the next contract - rather the contract negotiations.”

“My understanding from prior discussions is there was a financial imperative or need for this in light of the situation that you inherited as a desire to move the Village forward financially.”