BLOOMINGBURG – With a new mayor, a new trustee, and newspaper reports of a possible ten-fold growth in the village's size over coming years, Bloomingburg's annual reorganizational meeting saw a completely packed village hall last Thursday, April 21... and much overt anger at the newly elected village leaders.

The new village board, headed by new mayor Russ Wood, consists of Rivkah Mosessen and Aaron Rabiner. As village attorney, Steve Mogel has been replaced by Rory Brady of Goshen.

Wood, who served four years on Mamakating's town board and before that sat on the Bloomingburg planning board during the period when the Chestnut Ridge development was approved, started the meeting by introducing a budget for the coming year. Immediately, the crowd was on edge, with several of the figures drawing sharp commentary from the public.

An increase in projected revenue from mortgage tax, from $2,000 to $14,000 was one. A decrease in fines and forfeitures from $27,500 to $5,000 was another.

Speaking from the audience, recently defeated trustee Kathy Roemer complained that Wood's budget numbers were "just pulled out of the air." Another voice said they were "meaningless." Holly Roche, of the Rural Community Coalition which has fought the Chestnut Ridge development in recent years, said that if construction was going to increase enough to raise $12,000 more in mortgage income, why would the fees and fines expected from building inspections fall so dramatically?

Wood, who remained civil throughout the evening, responded that if the building inspector did his or her job and extra income was produced, he would welcome it.

Questions then shifted to the village's sewer fund. At one point, former mayor Frank Girardi, who was defeated in this year's election by Wood, noted that it costs $25,000 a month to run the village. He added that the developer was $140,000 in arrears on his share of the agreed costs for the waste water treatment plant for the year 2015. Furthermore, the developer is $70,000 in arrears on 2016's operating cost contributions already. How long could this continue, he wondered.

Wood announced that another $20,000 would be transferred to keep the new waste water treatment plant operating. That brought on angry comments and cross-audience discussion of the agreement between Chesnut Ridge developer Shalom Lamm and the village over future funding of the waste water treatment plant, including its annual operating expenses.

Since the matter is currently involved in litigation between the developer, the village and the town, the question was put to attorney Brady, who responded that he was too new to the position to have an answer yet.

Later, a representative for Lamm noted in an e-mail that, "Any hint of controversy regarding the WWTP is manufactured. The parties are working together and should have a mutually agreed upon agreement in the next few weeks."

Further hostile questions were posed regarding new village trustee Rivkah Mosessen, who also goes by the name Sarah Rivkah Vann, about her name change for her new role. Mosessen responded quietly and politely, noting that for now she will be known as Rivkah Mosessen. Rabiner later clarified that while he is a member of the Satmar Hasidic community, his new fellow trustee is an Orthodox Jew.

Another discussion centered on Wood's already disclosed plan to bring planning and zoning control back to the village from the Town of Mamakating. Asked why he would do this since the job is currently being "done very well," he said it would be done even better under village control.

That finally brought the kind of outburst that had been expected from the beginning. During public comment a man stood to say that the people of the village have been called names and vilified for their opposition to the developer.

"All we're asking for is honesty and open government," said the man. "All the things we've been saying are finally out there in the newspaper."

That brought a round of applause from the crowd and another comment that suggested Wood wanted control of planning and zoning in the village to do the bidding of the developer. "You're corrupt from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet," came their conclusion.

That comment received even louder applause.

The final issue to be discussed was related to the sale of a trailer park. Elderly residents complained that they faced eviction and sought assistance. Wood was asked if he knew whether the trailer park had indeed been sold and replied that he had no information regarding the matter.

Still keeping his cool, Russ Wood adjourned the meeting.

Most of the other budget numbers remained the same as in the previous budget