The 2022 settlement that governs Croton's Black Rock dog park showed cracks Wednesday night, as Recreation Advisory Committee members asked the Board of Trustees to extend weekend hours and admit a limited number of school-district residents — with neighbors and dog park users looking on, and no decision at the end. A committee memo dated January 2 carried three recommendations: install a defibrillator at Black Rock Park, revisit the dog park's rules, and schedule a public CPR course. The CPR class is settled — the recreation department will offer one this summer, Trustee Nora Nicholson confirmed. The defibrillator appears headed for approval: Village Manager Bryan Healy said Public Works Superintendent Frank Balbi put the installed cost at $4,144, covering the unit, a pediatric add-on, an outdoor enclosure, signage and electrical work, with the money to come from contingency funds at the board's next meeting. The village's ballfields already carry defibrillators donated by Little League and now maintained by the village. The dog park itself drew the evening's longest discussion. Committee members Debbie Braddock and John Sasso described two years of walking the park and asking users what worked and what didn't. Braddock said the committee could hardly gather what it heard and stay quiet: "just because it might not be something people wanna hear, well, then we're not doing our job", Read 87:37▶ Braddock said. Sasso, who said nobody spends more time at Black Rock — founding its bocce program, giving free lessons most of the year — said school-district residents who live just outside the village are turned away. "In the two years, I'm there every day. Never seen more than five cars for that dog park ever", Read 101:15▶ Sasso said. Sasso also passed along secondhand complaints — reports attributed to dog park users, not personal experience — that a neighbor's hostile reception has kept some women away. Healy had comparative numbers: the two nearest dog parks that admit nonresidents charge very different rates, with Bedford at $175 and capped at 60 permits, and Ossining at $25 with no cap. Croton issued permits to 52 families in 2025, down from 57 in 2024 and 87 in 2023, with permits issued per family. The village has 500 to 600 licensed dogs on its books, Healy added, and an estimated three times that number in all. The park's current hours run 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on summer weekdays, 8 to 6 in winter and 10 to 4 on weekends; the committee asked for a 10-to-6 weekend window. Healy traced the schedule to a pre-pandemic negotiation between park users and neighbors, restored to the same weekend hours when the park reopened after COVID closures. "my opinion is that the hours were negotiated", Read 79:20▶ Healy said, adding that the village heard nothing from Black Rock neighbors for years — until the item landed on the agenda and emails arrived. Trustee Stacey Nachtaler said several residents living adjacent to the park have raised concerns of their own. Trustee Maria Slippen pointed to the absence of usage data, suggesting a waiting list could show how many school-district residents actually want in. Nicholson said the board could live with a capped number of nonresident users given the drop in registrations. No action was taken: park hours sit under the village manager's authority, and Healy agreed to confirm whether village law actually bars school-district residents from the park. Earlier in the evening, municipal advisor Beth Ferguson of Fiscal Advisors and Marketing walked the board through the village's Moody's credit rating — Aa2, with only two notches above it. Moody's rates the village "a double a two, which is a very high credit rating", Read 25:47▶ Ferguson said, citing the agency's findings of strong incomes, resident wealth and an improving fund balance. An upgrade could follow if leverage — debt plus retirement-benefit obligations — fell below 250% of revenues, or if fund balance held above 50%; rising retirement costs or a fund balance under 25% could push the other way. The village's debt policy, which caps new borrowing at roughly the debt it retires, and its fund balance policy were both viewed positively. Ferguson's practical suggestion: "It might be worth considering moving to the other rating agency", Read 36:56▶ Ferguson said — a shift to S&P Global Ratings, accomplished for one or two other Westchester municipalities with Croton's profile, each of which gained a notch. There is no downside, Ferguson said: investors accept either agency, Moody's would keep rating the village's outstanding bonds, and each notch is worth roughly five-hundredths of a percentage point in borrowing cost. Any switch would take effect at the next bond issue. Healy noted a refinancing the village ran about three years ago "ended up saving us over the long run well over a million dollars", Read 44:39▶ Healy said. Reserves are a balancing act, Healy added: rating agencies want a large fund balance kept out of day-to-day operations, while the state controller's office can accuse a village of "you're overtaxing your residents because you have too much fund balance", Read 45:42▶ Healy said. Much of Croton's balance is already assigned to capital projects. Even Village Attorney Joshua Subin was impressed: "This was one of the most informative that I've seen. Very educational for the public", Read 52:18▶ Subin said. A budget priorities survey is headed to residents in February, likely after a February 4 board review. Healy's draft asks about satisfaction with village services, value for the tax dollar, spending priorities, preferred ways to fund them and long-term capital strategy. Trustees asked for forced rankings instead of single picks — Slippen argued a ranking would capture more nuance — plus 'other' options and an open comment field. Nachtaler asked that the survey make clear village services exclude schools, and floated separating maintenance from expansion when asking about infrastructure. Healy said the village can expect at least a couple hundred responses; the survey will be anonymous, with help available for residents who would rather not complete it online. The board also previewed a local law, drafted by Healy and Subin, creating the office of Village Auditor to formalize the claims review that New York village law assigns to trustees. Croton's village managers have performed the duty for fifty years, Healy said — checking invoices for proper backup, sales tax charged in error and miscodings before the warrant reaches the board. Slippen questioned whether someone further from the manager's office should hold the post as a check and balance; Subin noted that Healy neither inputs nor signs checks, and that village managers hold the same duty in Port Chester and Briarcliff Manor. The law is due at the next meeting. The board then approved eight committee appointments by a 5-0 vote, on Deputy Mayor Len Simon's motion and Trustee Nora Nicholson's second. Mayor Brian Pugh announced the Conservation Advisory Council's chair is stepping away from the post — a change Pugh said caps a chapter of civic service — but will stay on the council organizing cleanups, with member Eva Thaddeus elevated to chair through December 2026 and serving on the council through December 2027. Also appointed: Ellen Elchlepp (Arts & Humanities Advisory Council, December 2026); Lenore Edman (Arts & Humanities Advisory Council, December 2027); James Nadeau (Bicycle-Pedestrian Committee, December 2027); Dan Ozaruk (Bicycle-Pedestrian Committee, December 2028); Manuel Coronel Jr. (Police Advisory Committee, December 2026); and Jan Johnsen (Advisory Board for the Visual Environment, December 2027). Balbi, opening the meeting with a follow-up to the trustees' recent tour of the DPW garage, said the fleet now runs on renewable diesel after a three-month pilot in selected vehicles turned up no issues — an estimated 12% cut in the village's carbon footprint, with part of the cost offset by solar-panel revenue from the garage roof. Salt supplies and equipment are holding up for the rest of winter, Balbi said, though winter overtime will exceed its budget after the early storms. Trash costs are climbing for a reason beyond the village's control. "Disposal fees of trash has almost doubled, it looks like, in '26 versus '25", Read 17:44▶ Nachtaler said. Healy blamed Westchester County tipping fees, long raised about a dollar a ton yearly before this year's jump: "I think it went up, like, $12 a ton or so", Read 19:01▶ Healy said. Recycling drop-off remains free, Healy noted — anything recyclable kept out of the trash is money the village does not spend. Asked about growing the village's composting program, Balbi was blunt: municipalities with full curbside food-scrap collection have found the waste numbers do not fall as much as expected — "it's not really one to one", Read 24:39▶ Balbi said. The same realism shapes Balbi's view of new technology: Croton is not New York City or Yonkers, and bigger governments should work the bugs out first — "let's let Yonkers break it. Let's let New York City break it", Read 6:58▶ Balbi said. The defibrillator purchase and the Village Auditor law are due at the board's next meeting, with the budget survey to follow in February.