Kevin Sheehan, a resident, told the Village of Albion Board of Trustees on Jan. 10, 2024, that he wanted to know why he was not interviewed or considered for a vacant seat on the board. The minutes record the question and nothing else — no answer, no discussion, no item placed on a future agenda. He asked it into a room where two of the board's five members were not present to hear it. Angel Javier, Mayor; Joyce Riley, Deputy Mayor; and Timothy McMurray, Trustee, made up the entire voting board that night. Christopher Barry, Trustee, and David Buczek, Trustee, were both marked absent, and every recorded vote that followed carried 3-0. Riley presented a letter from Buczek to the board, in which he told village employees he would spend the week "working through the remainder of the storm" while continuing to visit departments and respond to calls and emails. With three votes carrying the meeting, the board built out its calendar for the 2024-2025 budget. It set ten department budget hearings running from Feb. 6 through March 7 — Animal Control, Parks and Rec, Code Enforcement, Cemetery, Fire Dept, PCF, Police, DPW, WTP and Clerk — and scheduled the public hearing on the budget itself for March 27, 2024 at 6 p.m. Alongside that planning, the board received a schedule of the Fire Department's outstanding debt: $70,000.00 in principal and $3,262.50 in interest due on a fire truck in 2025, rising to $75,000.00 in principal and $1,687.50 in interest in 2026, plus $60,000.00 in principal and $1,380.00 in interest due in 2025 on a roof replacement, with no 2026 figures recorded for that project. The board also authorized its attorney to negotiate a requested lease agreement with Crown Castle, to be brought back to the board Feb. 14, 2024, and approved hiring the law firm Hodgson Russ for services in labor-contract negotiations — a motion the minutes attribute to Barry, even though the same roll call records him absent. Trustees ordered all village vehicles decaled except the Police Chief's, and Riley told the board that folding the Cemetery department into DPW would not cost any current employee a job, with staffing changes to be addressed only as individuals retire. Earlier in the meeting, Dr. Brandy Young and Drake Thomas had raised a public health issue involving cannabis and marijuana testing; by the end of the night, the board tabled a cannabis code change until March 13, 2024. Trustees also voted to let Election Inspectors reside outside the village and named Denise Cornick, Democrat, and Beth Schmidt, Republican, as Election Inspectors for the March 19, 2024 election. The board closed the night behind closed doors, entering executive session at 7:17 p.m. to discuss personal matters and returning at 7:37 p.m. before adjourning at 7:38 p.m. The minutes do not record what, if anything, came of Sheehan's question about the vacant seat. The Crown Castle lease is due back before the board Feb. 14, the budget hearings run through March 7, the cannabis code change returns March 13, and the public hearing on the 2024-2025 budget is set for March 27, 2024.