Williamsville Village Board of Trustees·June 22, 2026
A Parking Standoff · A Moratorium Extended · Paving on Monroe · Free Hugs, Made Official
A short Monday-night meeting turned on a familiar village frustration: two residents pressed the board on speeding and parking, and the answer was that enforcement is largely out of the village's hands and out of this year's budget — the village directs parking complaints to the Amherst Police non-emergency line, has looked at handheld-citation equipment only since February, and set aside no money for it, while a trustee promised a resolution next meeting to streamline the six-week complaint lag. With just three of five members seated — Mayor Christine Hunt presiding, Trustees Amy Jackson and Jeffrey Hahn present, and Trustee Steven Meyer and Deputy Mayor James Celeste absent — the board still moved a full docket: it extended its moratorium on short-term rentals (Local Law No. 2), awarded a $786,155 Monroe Drive paving contract to a Niagara Falls firm, approved $580,487.21 in payroll and vouchers, hired an invasive-tree contractor for Glen Park at $29,000, appointed a beautification-committee volunteer and five $17-an-hour pool attendants, opened and closed a public hearing on a sidewalk-code change that drew no comment, and gave a proclamation to Trey Young, Main Street's “free hugs” guy, before adjourning into executive session on pending litigation.
The meeting's public-comment window — which in Williamsville opens only after the board votes to “suspend the rules” — produced the night's most substantive civic exchange, and it was about a problem the village conceded it cannot readily fix. Jessica Reynolds, a resident of Hirschfield Drive, told the board that drivers routinely hit 35, 40, even 45 on the street's north end toward Main Street and roll through stop signs, that the corridor has become a cut-through, and that an email to the village's traffic contact went unanswered. The board noted a sign is already posted, but agreed the trouble sits closer to Main Street.
Then came Nick Roth, a 20-year resident speaking as a member of the Traffic and Safety Committee, who pressed harder. Parking on Main Street, he said, is “way out of control” and has been “for years,” especially seasonally with the summer “Music on Main” crowds, “and yet nothing has been done about enforcement.” He asked the board to name the vendors it had evaluated for handheld citation equipment and which model it favored. Mayor Hunt said the village had begun looking into it in February, had reviewed one demonstration to date, and — the operative point — “did not budget for it this year.” Pressed on whether anything would change, she was blunt: “There won't be this year.” Any purchase, she said, waits on RFPs and the next budget.
Roth's larger complaint was procedural: a resident complaint routes to staff, then to a Traffic and Safety Committee that “may not be meeting for six weeks,” and the eventual answer is the same — call the Amherst Police non-emergency line, which alone can write a parking ticket. That lag, he said, “is not a good look for the village,” and he signaled he would propose a resolution at the next meeting to streamline it.
Who Writes a Parking Ticket Here?
Williamsville is a village inside the Town of Amherst, and for now the practical enforcement authority for speeding and parking runs through the Amherst Police Department — residents were told to use its non-emergency line. The village has been exploring its own parking-enforcement capability (handheld ticket-writing devices in the hands of a village officer) but says it set aside no money for it in this budget cycle. Until it does, complaints that reach the village are effectively referred back out.
The night's clearest piece of lawmaking took barely a sentence to enact. The board approved Local Law No. 2, extending the village's moratorium on short-term rentals — the Airbnb-style lodging pause that holds new short-term-rental activity in place while the village works out permanent rules. There was no discussion at the table; the motion was made, seconded by Trustee Jackson, and carried on a voice vote of the three members present. A moratorium extension is a placeholder, not a policy resolution: it buys time. What the village ultimately does about short-term rentals remains, by the board's own action, unfinished business.
The biggest dollar figure of the night went to pavement. Reporting from the work session, Trustee Hahn moved and the board awarded the 2026 paving and drainage project for Monroe Drive to Miller Construction Services, Inc., doing business as Scott Lawn Yard of Niagara Falls, for $786,155. The contract was advertised, bids were opened at 10 a.m. on May 21, three bids came in, and the award went to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. The same run of business seated a volunteer: Nicholas Tiede of Amherst was appointed to the beautification committee, effective immediately — not present, but thanked in absentia for stepping up.
Trustee Jackson carried the Glen Park business, and the headline item was a contract to control an invasive species. The village awarded a Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) abatement program at Glen Park to Ecos Cooperative, Inc. of Buffalo for a total of $29,000 — broken out as $250 for consultation, $11,500 for invasive-species management, and $17,250 for tree removal. The resolution itself flagged a procurement wrinkle worth understanding (see box): the village's own policy wants three quotes in a given price band, and only one of the three it received actually landed inside it.
Jackson also reported on a new volunteer push: a community work day at Glen Park's Noll Pavilion on the third Saturday of each month, 9 to 11 a.m. The inaugural session moved three cubic yards of mulch across the park's main garden, with help from Trustee Hahn, former trustee Eileen Torre, Glen Park Joint Board chair PJ Glauber and his daughter Lauren, Paul Krieter, and Doug Richardson.
The Three-Quote Rule, and the One That Qualified
Village procurement policy requires three written quotes for public-works contracts between $5,000 and $34,999. For the Glen Park abatement, the village reported it got only one quote inside that range — the other two came in above the band's ceiling. The board recited that fact into the resolution and awarded anyway, to the single in-range quote. It is the kind of detail that reads as routine until a contract is challenged, which is presumably why it was spelled out on the record.
The meeting's emotional center — and the better part of its running time — was a proclamation. Mayor Hunt honored Trey Young, a youth pastor and Williamsville South High School graduate who for three years has stood on Main Street holding a “free hugs” sign for passing commuters. The date carried its own coincidence: Young's first day out, a resident recalled, was June 22, 2023 — three years to the evening. The proclamation commended him for “uplifting the residents and the visitors of the village by reminding them that they are important, special and loved,” and ordered a copy into the village's official records.
There was a surprise attached. Lindsay Palmisano, an Amherst artist who says she has driven past Young on her Monday commute for a year and a half, painted his portrait for an upcoming art show on themes of community and unity, learned he was about to be honored, and finished it in time to present it that night. A local group asked to display the portrait at Old Home Days[*]. Trustee Jackson, taking her turn in reports, said she was “practically in tears,” calling the moment “so meaningful” against “so much happening outside here.”
The reports moved quickly through the village's summer to-do list. Phase one of the sewer project is progressing, though older infrastructure has produced unanticipated repairs and one unexpected water shutoff. The village is awaiting a July recommendation from the Waterway Improvement Ad Hoc Committee on an invasive-species grant for Glen Park, and pursuing state Consolidated Funding for the waterway. ADA-compliance upgrades at Village Hall and the Fire Hall are targeted for completion by July 22, after which the village will hold open houses; the Fire Hall is being positioned to serve as a warming or cooling center in emergencies. The village also reported it is moving along on its Comprehensive Plan and a village-wide sidewalk project.
For the nation's 250th anniversary, the village — “a tree city,” Mayor Hunt noted — used a grant from County Legislator Vinal's office to plant a swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor) in South Long Park, with a dedication ceremony set for Wednesday, July 1 at 4:30 p.m. and the Queen City Chorus[*] performing. Administrator McCormick reported that Tuesday, June 23 is primary day (residents should confirm polling places via Erie County) and that village taxes are due July 1 without penalty, and shared results from the June 6 Dare to Repair Cafe: 75 public interactions, 44 of 59 items repaired, nearly 600 pounds of waste diverted from landfills, an estimated 4,300 pounds of carbon offset, and about $5,200 saved — an improvement, he said, on last year at every margin.
The board opened and closed a public hearing on a sidewalk-code change in a matter of moments; no resident stepped to the podium to comment. It approved five seasonal recreation attendants for the Garrison Park wading pool at $17 an hour — Nancy Berger, Colette Christopher, Tess Morlock, Brady Roland, and Jenny Wild — and Deputy Clerk Rappleye noted the pool is running one shift (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) until the new hires finish CPR training on the 25th, after which it goes to double shifts through 7 p.m. Attorney Grieco had nothing to report. The board then voted to go off agenda and into executive session to discuss pending litigation and an employment matter.
The evening's third public speaker, Thomas Frank — a village resident who noted he had just come from the town board meeting — used his three minutes on a funding pitch rather than a complaint. He urged the village to move on a July 31 deadline for a state Consolidated Funding Application, with the Glen Park Joint Board (the village-and-Amherst body under a long-dormant intermunicipal agreement he traced to 2005) as the lead agency. His sketch was ambitious: a five-year, roughly $10 million[*] plan tied to Ellicott Creek, the Niagara watershed, an environmental-education facility in a long-vacant Amherst State Park building, and a multi-mile greenway. It was a resident presentation, not a board action — the board thanked him and voiced interest in collaborating — but it puts a marker on the summer's grant calendar.
Three of the five members answered the roll: Mayor Christine Hunt presiding, and Trustees Amy Jackson and Jeffrey Hahn. Trustee Steven Meyer and Deputy Mayor James Celeste were absent. The board votes by voice; every motion below carried on the “aye” of the three members present, with no negatives and no recusals recorded. Staff heard from during the meeting — Administrator Nick McCormick, Attorney Charles Grieco, and Deputy Clerk Kathryn Rappleye — are named as they appear in the minutes.
Motion by the mayor, seconded by Trustee Hahn; the amendment corrected a meeting-date reference in the prior minutes.
Williamsville's public comment is not automatic; the board votes to suspend its rules to open a comment window (three minutes per speaker), then votes again to close it. Speakers: Jessica Reynolds (speeding on Hirschfield Drive), Nick Roth (parking enforcement), Thomas Frank (a Glen Park Joint Board grant pitch).
The board opened the hearing, invited comment on the sidewalk-code change, and — with no one stepping to the podium — moved to close it. No vote on the underlying code change was recorded at this meeting.
Total of $580,487.21: payroll of $86,972.79 for the period 6/1–6/14/2026, plus general-fund vouchers of $493,514.42 covering 5/30–6/22/2026. Read as amended from earlier figures; seconded by Trustee Jackson.
Extends the village's existing pause on short-term rentals while permanent regulations are worked out. No discussion at the table; seconded by Trustee Jackson.
The 2026 paving and drainage project for Monroe Drive was advertised; three bids were opened at 10 a.m. on May 21, 2026; the contract was awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, Miller Construction Services, Inc., DBA Scott Lawn Yard of Niagara Falls, N.Y., for $786,155. Moved by Trustee Hahn, seconded by Trustee Jackson.
Nicholas Tiede of Amherst, N.Y., appointed to the beautification committee; not present, thanked for volunteering. Moved by Trustee Hahn, seconded by Trustee Jackson.
Contract for the Glen Park Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) abatement program awarded to Ecos Cooperative, Inc. of Buffalo: $250 consultation, $11,500 invasive-species management, $17,250 tree removal — total $29,000. The resolution recited that procurement policy asks for three quotes on contracts of $5,000–$34,999, that only one received quote fell within the range and two exceeded it, and awarded to the in-range quote. Seconded and carried.
Appointed for the 2026 summer season: Nancy Berger (Amherst), Colette Christopher (Amherst), Tess Morlock (Buffalo), Brady Roland (Buffalo), and Jenny Wild (Clarence), each at $17/hour. Seconded by Trustee Hahn.
Routine motion to close the published agenda ahead of executive session.
The board voted to enter closed session to discuss pending litigation and an employment history; no action was reported on the public record before the meeting audio ended.
Editor's Note
This brief was produced from the recording of the June 22, 2026 regular meeting and cross-checked against the Village's official minutes of that meeting. The roster, resolutions, dollar amounts, and the names of speakers, staff, and appointees follow the minutes.
One caveat remains: the June 22, 2026 minutes are still in draft, unapproved form pending the board's adoption at a later meeting, and are cited here as such. A few details heard only in the audio and not recorded in the minutes are marked [*] and remain audio-sourced.