Board of Trustees

Good evening, and welcome to the January 21 regular meeting of the Court on Hudson Board of Trustees. I'm mayor Brian Pugh. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance.

• I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands,

• one nation under God, indivisible,

• with liberty and justice for all. Alright.

• Treasurer?

• Yeah. No worries. Difficulty. Okay. No

• problem. Your

• first first item of business will be approval. The vouchers treasurer will be meeting soon meeting rather as soon as technically possible.

There you go.

Okay. Good evening.

Alright.

For the general fund, we have a $158,087.11.

• For the water fund, we have $23,653.40.

• For the super fund, we have $25,724.85.

• And for the capital fund, we have $17,592.40.

Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachteller.

• All in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright.

• Next end of the business, our future presentation will be a presentation

• of, the key to the village to zoning board of appeals chair, Christine Wagner.

• Members of the board, please join me on the floor.

• And help me carry out all of the awards that Christine will be receiving tonight.

• Okay. Two.

• And

• can I have this one? You've

• got it.

• No. Oh, I should give them the container. Yes.

Ryan, remember remind me to give you a kudos after the meeting.

• Something you did.

Come on in. So

• I I think anyone who's been around municipal government

• for a bit knows that there are a few

• areas,

• that we deal with more challenging than land use.

• And the very hardest cases of all go to the zoning board of appeals.

• And, Christine has presided

• over that board with skill and grace,

• and we are so grateful for everything that she's done for our village, years of dedicated

• service.

• And we're glad that she is, finally getting the recognition that she deserves starting with the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation's award that she received last year. And now with this key to the village as well as all these other awards that are joining us, congratulations.

• Thank you very much. Remarks from other members of the board? And I'll hold these while yours.

Well, thank you, mayor. And, first of all, greetings, to the Wagner family. Glad glad you're here, and, thank you for, sacrificing,

• your your time with, Christine.

• Sometimes

• Thursday Thursdays, sometimes Mondays, but it's it's it's varied over time. But, anyway, a couple of couple of thoughts here. Back in, 2019,

• I had the honor to be appointed by the mayor,

• to the zoning board, and I certainly had a lot to learn at that point. I also had the benefit of serving under Christine Wagner, a chairman that was experienced and smart.

• In the two years I served on the Wagner board, I learned from my chairman that we are guided by the letter of the law, but that every case is different. Every request for a variance has to be carefully evaluated so that the decisions represent

• adherence to the law, but fairness for the applicant, understanding

• their unique situation and the best possible solution for the neighborhood.

• Very often, our more challenging cases required us to make a site visit, to a home in question.

• One of the most memorable site visits for me,

• was when Christine and I went alone. The other board members had to go at a different time. When our visit concluded, the applicant thanked me for my time, looked at Christine,

• and then complimented me on bringing my daughter to the site visit.

• That's when I decided I needed a new mirror.

• Last but not least, this past April, as the mayor mentioned, Christine was presented with a distinguished citizen planner award from the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation.

• Here's why we thought she so richly deserved,

• that award

• for bringing the stability

• and continuity

• to,

• to the zoning board, in her fourteen years there for dealing with the complexity

• of, of all of the issues,

• for understanding that the duration of your chairmanship, there had been considerable

• growth and change in in in Croton, that somehow had to be reflected in the decision making process.

• For your skill in in forging a consensus

• among

• there's five members of the zoning board, but there are probably 15 to 20 that served with you over the time that you you were there and for always keeping neighborhood concerns foremost in your mind. So I'm I'm very delighted to actually give you a copy of the application

• Thank you. Filled out for for your scrapbook. Thank you.

Thank you. And

for those viewing at home or just in the audience, I'll note that we have awards from, our county legislators, state assembly person, and state senator.

• And, tomorrow will be Christine Wagner Day in Westchester County, which means that her name will run-in lights at the county center.

• Alright. Would members

• Would members of the family like to come and join us for a group photo? Alright. Hold on to this. We're gonna move the seal.

Alright.

Alright. Come on down.

• Let's distribute the awards to some of the family members. Yeah. We go. Kids.

I'll grab them. Alright.

Thank you very much. Congratulations

• again. Congratulations.

• And

back up.

Alright. Okay.

And before you go

Alright.

And on to our next item of business, public hearing

• on the renewal of the cable franchise agreement

• with Cablevision of Wappingers Falls.

Thank you, mayor.

• So this has been the culmination of a process that actually,

• started back in 2024

• when we retained a special counsel to,

• negotiate the renewal with,

• Cablevision, now known as Optimum.

• And

• this agreement was reached after our counsel and their counsel met many times over the past,

• year plus to

• negotiate the terms.

• There have been some

• notable improvements

• in this agreement, namely one of them is that the village will now be getting what's known as a PEG grant, which is the public educational and government channel grant.

• And,

• Altice

• Optimum, Cablevision, whichever name you wanna use, will be paying, 50¢

• per subscriber per quarter

• to the village. And the funds that are raised from that grant will be able to be used to, improve the equipment that is used for broadcasting

• the meetings, upgrading the the technology here in this room.

• You know, we've done a lot in here so far, but there's still more to be done. So that money will definitely be well spent.

• You know, as part of this renewal

• agreement,

• process,

• our special counsel undertook

• an audit of the franchise fees that are paid by the cable company to the village.

• We found that,

• all the fees were in order. So they have been following the

• agree the previous agreement in regards to what they, owed the village.

• And so that will continue to be paid. That's a separate fee from the,

• from the PEG grant.

• A lot of the,

• rules and regulations that,

• deal with these cable franchise agreements

• are regulated by New York State.

• Cable services in general are you know, is a regulated industry through,

• New York State,

• Public Service Commission.

• So a lot of the

• agreement is not necessarily unique to the village,

• but,

• it is something that we are required

• to undertake.

• Every ten years, we have to renew this, cable agreement.

• Any other questions?

Not before we go to the hearing, I don't think. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second.

• Motion

• by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nachteller.

• All in favor? Aye. Aye.

• The floor is open. Anyone wishing to comment on the proposed franchise agreement with Cablevision? This is your opportunity.

And Riley on Trousdale Drive.

• I have more questions and comments.

• Cable contracts, as you know, when they were first installed in cable was a rage.

• There was quite a lot of corruption in terms of selection, not here in Croton, but New York City was the prime example where

• vice president, Richard Kennedy's husband, controlled the installation of cable

• in huge boroughs of the City Of New York, delayed it and so forth.

• And then,

• you know, obviously, cable's a monopoly just like

• other public utilities. Now this is a renewal every ten years.

• Obviously, cable's changed, and my understanding is there have been drastic reductions in

• the number of people participating

• in cable, but cable also provides

• Internet service.

• So my

• question is, and perhaps the

• village manager can enlighten us,

• what fees and taxes apply to the

• Internet portion of the business? And

• is this a case of basically

• a decreasing number of subscribers,

• a steady decrease in number of subscribers over the last decade, let's say, since the contract was issued?

• Also, what are their responsibilities regarding wire and telephone poles? Thank you.

We have anyone else wishing to comment on the franchise agreement?

• Do I have a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachteller. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

Manager, would you be able to answer some of the questions? Yep. So, it is true that there has been a decline in the number of subscribers,

• over the past ten years.

• It's something that we have accounted for in the budget. You know, we have decreased the anticipated revenue

• in that particular,

• budget account over the past couple of years based on the actual revenue

• that has been received.

• It's most likely that that revenue will continue to decline as,

• additional people,

• you know, no longer subscribe to cable and use other services.

• But there will probably,

• you know, always be some,

• you know, base number of of subscribers. So there will still be some revenue that does come in.

• The agreement only covers cable. There is no franchise

• requirement for Internet services.

• So,

• just like there's no franchise requirement for telephone,

• it's only for it's only for cable television that there that this agreement covers.

• And, with regards to,

• polls,

• the agreement does not cover poles, but the village does have a separate, law on the books that deals with,

• double poles. Right? So when a utility company comes in and replaces,

• a telephone pole for, you know, whatever reason to upgrade it, if it was damaged in a storm, whatever it might be,

• they have a set time frame under the law by which they're supposed to,

• remove the old pole.

• Now, unfortunately,

• I'll say eight times out of 10,

• that does not always happen, and we usually have to continue to follow-up with the utility until,

• when we get the, we get the old polls removed.

• And so that can that can take,

• a decent amount of time. But we do keep a list in my office of where those polls are located

• so that we can,

• follow-up regularly with the utility companies to, continue to put the pressure on to, you know, adhere to the law because, you know, ultimately, they are, you know, they are responsible for following the law just like anybody else.

Thank you. I I also wanna add because we're

• having some extreme weather patterns,

• with potential

• second you know, another snowstorm this weekend. So I just wanna remind the public that this is also on the village website that New York State

• requires

• the cable company,

• to reimburse,

• you know, residents

• if there's an outage that's four or more hours.

• So,

• you know, that's a a service standard that's in the New York State contract. So just wanted to remind the public of that.

Yeah. And just one clarification

• with that is that the customer has to request

• it's not an automatic credit. So you have to actually call

• cable and request it, you know. Yep. It would be great if they would just give it automatically, but unfortunately,

• they don't do that. Thank you for adding that. Yep.

And I just wanna compliment the manager,

• on the multi year effort,

• to

• to renew this franchise and the assistance that

• that you got from the law firm. Could you just identify the law firm? Yes. It was the Cohen Law Group. Yeah. And I think they did a very, very commendable job. I actually, you know, had the opportunity to work on the original cable regulatory act back in the in the Jurassic age. And the

• the question of franchise

• fees was

• was front and center in in the whole legislative debate, which took many years itself.

• And that's I think that's one of the big victories that the folks on the municipal side

• had and something that we fought for very strongly. And and that's why you see franchise fees

• as part of the television

• portions of of the service, but not in any others. And there were it was it was a bargain. There were certain things that had to be given up in order to retain franchise fees for all time. But I I I think it's well worth it when you calculate

• the the the the amount of revenue on an annual basis with at a 5% franchise fee over over ten year franchises.

• And and this would be the the length of this is the third, I would think,

• third renewal manager,

• probably.

• Probably, it's back to the eighties.

It's probably the fourth, I think. Right. '80. The fourth. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. So

glad to see it

• locked up for another ten years. Yep. Yep.

Yes.

• And, for anyone that wants proof of Len Len's presence at the, Foundation of Modern Cable Television,

• you can go to c C SPAN. And, 11/03/1983,

• Leonard Simon testifying on behalf of the US conference of mayors Yep.

• Regarding HR forty one zero three on the subject of cable television. Thanks very much,

Hammer. And I should say also going to have to look back. Yeah. It was it was quite a battle, fascinating

time. But it it was also bipartisan at the time. We had president Reagan,

• a democratic house, and a democrat republican senate. So it was a it was a very interesting period.

K.

• And just because

• there's a perennial question on this point

• about competition,

• you know, there is Fios or Internet service in, I think, almost all of the village.

• There is the,

• eternal hunger to have Fios, service

• for television.

• We're not there yet. We continue to advocate for that. That is

• the result of a strategic decision by Verizon many years ago,

• but we will continue to advocate for providing our residents with the choice. K.

• All in favor? Aye. Second. Yeah. Aye. Oh. Sorry. I think I have to, I didn't I don't think I read the resolution yet. Here we go. Okay. So,

resolution authorizing the village of Cortlandt Hudson to renew a cable franchise agreement with Cablevision of Wappingers Falls Inc. To operate a cable system in the village of Cortlandt Hudson. Whereas the village of Cortlandt Hudson is a franchising authority in accordance with title six of the Communications Act of 1934

• and is authorized to grant one or more nonexclusive cable television franchises pursuant to article 11 of the New York State Public Service Law as amended in title 16 chapter eight parts eight ninety dot 60 through eight ninety nine of the official compilation of codes, rules, and regulations of the state of New York as amended.

• And whereas the village executed a franchise agreement with Cablevision of Wappingers Falls Inc. On 09/14/2015,

• which was thereafter confirmed and made effective by the New York State Public Service Commission on 12/03/2015

• for a term of ten years. And whereas said franchise agreement expired on 12/03/2025.

• And whereas franchisee has submitted a proposed franchise renewal agreement continue operating its system within the village. And whereas the village and franchisee have mutually agreed to the terms of said franchise renewal agreement,

• whereas the village has determined that the franchisee

• is and has been in substantial compliance

• with all terms and provisions of its existing franchises and applicable law.

• And whereas the village has determined the franchisee has the requisite legal, technical, and financial capabilities to operate a cable system within the village and that franchisees proposals for renewal of the franchises

• meet the cable related needs of the community.

• And whereas a duly noticed public hearing affording an opportunity for all those interested parties within the village to be heard on the proposed franchise renewal agreement was held before the village on 01/21/2026.

• Now, therefore, be it resolved that the village board of trustees determines that it is in the best interest of the public to award the franchise renewal agreement to the franchisee and be it further resolved that the village board of trustees hereby authorizes the village manager to enter into the franchise renewal agreement with the cable vision of Wappingers Falls Inc. And to execute any other documents necessary to effectuate the granting of the franchise renewal on behalf of the village of Croton On Hudson.

Do I have a motion? So moved.

Second.

Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachteller.

• We had the discussion, but if anyone wants to add anything,

• all in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay.

• Alright. Responses to questions submitted via email. No questions, Mara. Okay. We'll proceed to public comment on agenda items. Anyone wishing to comment on any agenda item, this is your opportunity.

Ed Riley from, Treesdale Drive.

• First comment is on the,

• on the retirement, so to speak, of,

• zoning board of appeals chair chairwoman

• Christine Wagner.

• I only had an opportunity to see,

• three or four of their meetings.

• And as for the CAC chairman,

• whoever selected and reappointed her has good judgment,

• meaning that she always conducted her meetings in a professional organized,

• inquisitive,

• and friendly manner in accordance in according with the the

• laws of the state of New York and the village of Croton.

• So whoever appointed her originally and reappointed her is to be commended

• just like the the

• CAC chairman.

• And hopefully, that's a

• that's the way things will be done in the future also.

• Item eight a, item number,

• small I.

• This is regarding,

• the Recreation Advisory Committee and Mark Cheshire regarding proposed monument for Revolutionary War veteran John

• Rifle Jack Peterson.

• This concerns a piece of property,

• which the American Legion

• serves a part am a part of, submitted a proposal

• to the village that

• the piece of property opposite

• the

• Veterans Memorial

• right there on the edge of Radnor,

• which is a small piece of flat property, then it goes into a

• small

• ravine. And the only monument there is a

• a seat for the bus stop.

• What we proposed is that

• if that's developed as a park, regardless of what kind of park it is, it'd be named after

• rifle Jack Peterson,

• real name

• John Patterson.

• And he says, my

• real name is

• John Patterson.

• So the American Legion proposed that that be named after him and then maybe a suitable monument be placed there. The historian we refer to the historian who we have great respect for. So Mark Cheshire proposed is

• that,

• lest we forget, and there's no

• historical

• plaques or anything to these people,

• is that the guy that actually ran the state during the revolutionary war was

• Pierre Van Cortlandt. He was lieutenant governor, was for twenty years.

• Clinton was a general. His brother was a general, so he was off a lot. So

• Pierre Van Cortlandt was well organized,

• basically established state government, ran what was left of the colonial government, etcetera.

• So he was a he was a revolutionary war, not only in his civil capacity, but he was a colonel

• of the third Westchester militia.

• And his son, Philip,

• and I meant to bring the book here with me. Hudson,

• Historic Hudson Valley commissioned a guy to

• trans translate all their papers.

• Volume one is a story of Philip Van Cortlandt's

• service during the Revolutionary War. He was everywhere.

• Little little little known fact is that when Washington left Valley Forge, he took Van Cortlandt's regiment with him to Monmouth,

• but he left Van Cortlandt in charge of Valley Forge

• to

• send the people that couldn't be sent forward to the army home to hospitals and so forth and the people that were recovering, you know, forward in an organized basis to the army.

• And Washington had that confidence in him a couple of times. He was responsible for the rear guard

• as it went to the Battle of Yorktown, and he was given a brigade

• opposite,

• readout number 10.

• One of his people was Alexander Hamilton.

• So that first volume and it's only about 50 pages of

• text plus the letters behind it.

• So Mark Cheshire felt that it would be appropriate to dedicate that part to

• the four veterans we have. The new guy, Sylvanus Tompkins,

• rifle Jack Peterson, one of the best soldiers we had,

• and the two Van Cortlands.

• We haven't uncovered everybody else yet, but Cheshire's on the job.

• So, we have no objection to that. What we we would like though, if you keep in memory and and working with the, village manager on this,

• soon the village will receive a plaque that says, by the way, there's two guys

• buried in your cemetery that served in the revolution at War Peterson and Tompkins.

• Fine. Whatever you do with that plaque, fine. Put it next to Bethel. We want a plaque for John Patterson, John Peterson

• on the Lexington Drive area where we proposed it,

• whether we have to pay for it or Palmer comes up with a dough. Thanks.

Thank you.

• K. Seeing no one else wishing to speak, we proceed to the consent agenda oh, sorry. No. The report of the village manager. Still getting used to it.

Okay. So my report tonight is mainly gonna deal with snow and weather.

• You know,

• is

• a more traditional winter, I'll say. The past couple of winters have seen very little snow, and so I thought it would be helpful to just kinda give a refresher on,

• you know, what the village's rules are.

• The long established village law prohibits parking on roadways when snow reaches two inches of accumulation.

• This amount was chosen as it represents when DPW operations switch from salting to plowing.

• While parking is prohibited on street, parking is encouraged in our municipal lots,

• which include Asbury,

• Merwin Oak, the Municipal Building, and South Harmon on Benedict Boulevard.

• This is the purpose is to get vehicles off the street. The village's main responsibility during snow events is to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors.

• Moving vehicles off the street allows us to achieve this goal more effectively and more efficiently.

• This past Saturday, the official forecast was for a half inch to two inches of snow, and no weather advisory was issued by the National Weather Service.

• However, a heavier band of precipitation ended up forming over our area, and we received more snow than originally forecast.

• A weather advisory was issued around noon on Saturday, and this information was promptly shared through our website. At 01:15PM,

• we officially measured two inches, and alert was sent through Facebook announcing that parking was prohibited on the street. The police then began issuing tickets after 2PM.

• We share information on impending weather through our website and social media accounts. In an emergency, we would also share information through the Everbridge alert system.

• Residents are strongly encouraged to follow or register

• for all of these services to ensure that they remain informed.

• Of course, we have already begun monitoring this next storm that is forecast to impact our area beginning late Saturday night into Monday.

• This storm could bring a significant amount of snow. Please be alert to messages from the village related to parking prohibitions and potential changes to sanitation pickup on Monday.

• Are there any questions from the board?

No questions, manager. I was in my trustee reports, I was gonna be complimenting,

• the DPW for the great work that they did. And Yes. And and I'll I'll I'll do that again later on. But I do think that everything

• you said is completely appropriate, particularly on watching the alerts. I I think it might be useful if just

• I I think anyone going around the village

• Saturday,

• Sunday,

• Monday, Tuesday of this week and today,

• you you can't talk to someone without them having a suggestion, you know, or or good an idea. Many of them interesting and good on on ways that we can enhance what we're already doing. So I would suggest in the springtime, you know, after we we know there's no more snow coming,

• perhaps a community conversation

• on on ways in which we can

• bolster our efforts in here and or or or bring them

• in line with some maybe some best practices that others are doing that we we're not aware of. Although, I think I think we actually have a pretty good program here, but it can always it can always evolve over time. So let's let's continue to talk about that in in the springtime. Yeah. I mean, our law was

put in place thirty one years ago. It was, you know, put in effect 1995.

• The world has changed a bit since 1995.

• So, I mean, it can certainly be be looked at to see if there's any ways that we could improve what we do.

• You know, it's like I said, there is a, you know, there is a reason for why that number was chosen. So, obviously, we would need to have DPW involved in the conversation.

Happy to happy to look at it further once the winter's over. Yeah. And particularly, you know, we've all I think we we were all in receipt of, you know, a couple of thoughts from from, particularly from business folks, you know, who are wondering

• about how how everything

• works together in terms of them keeping their businesses open versus traffic and cars and all that. So we'll we'll throw that into the mix. Yep. Manager,

could you

• just speak a little bit to the seasonal parking permit? Because my understanding is

• that's primarily

• the intent is primarily for residents who don't

• have

• off street Correct. Right, parking options. Yep. But there is an exception

• if you do not have a permit,

• and you find yourself with an obligation and you need to be

in town, you can use one of those municipal lots, right, without getting ticketed. Correct. So you don't need to so the permits allow you to park on the street.

• Right? So if you have a park if you have a

• a permit, you don't have to park in one of the lots. Okay. You're more than welcome to because, like I said, our goal is to get as many vehicles off the street as possible. So if you, you know, you can park in the lot if you want to, but anyone can park in the lot without a permit.

• So, if you

• live on Maple Street and wanna move your car into the lot to get off the street, you're allowed to do that.

• You know, if you have

• if you live on,

• you know, Lower North Highland and you wanna drive over to the municipal building and then, you know, have somebody pick you up and bring you back home, you can do that. I mean, lots of people do park their cars here and then get picked up and go somewhere else.

• It's you know, the goal is just to get as many cars off the street as possible. Now as as you said, there are many older homes in the village that,

• have no garages at all or no driveways

• or have stone garages that were, you know, built for buggies and not, you know, the cars of today.

• And so we do offer those seasonal permits

• on a case by case basis.

• You know, you can apply for it. Code enforcement

• reviews the application,

• makes a determination as to exactly how many parking spaces are available

• on the property.

• And,

• you know, if there's a determination that a permit should be issued, we issued the permit.

And if you don't have a permit,

• but you find yourself out on the road due to some obligation that you may have, whether it's worship or you're at a doctor,

• and it's snowing more than two inches, can they can you park in the municipal lot Yes. Without being ticketed? Yes. That's correct. Yeah. There I understand there was,

you know, on social media, there was some, you know, reports of

• confusion

• on that topic. But,

• no. The the rule has always been that we want cars off the street. Right? And so we want people to park in our lots. Right. And and just to say it affirmatively,

at the point in which the two inch, rule is invoked,

• the time limits in the municipal lots are suspended. That's correct. Yes.

And so you but you have until once the snow ends,

• your car is supposed to be moved out of the lot within twelve hours because then that allows DPW to go in and clean the lots. Right? So the first priority is to clean the streets. Yes. And then twelve hours, you have to move your car out of the lots, and then they can go in and clean the lots. Yep.

Great.

• And you,

• typically, the the village always

• alerts residents

• on Facebook or on other channels when you've restrict, you know, when those two inch Yeah.

That's that's a fairly new practice. We hadn't done that in the past. Probably the past, I would say, within, you know, two years, we've started doing that just in an effort to, you know, assist with getting the word out to people.

• So you know? But, yeah, generally, people

• you know, we have signs at at each entry point to the village, right, you know, announcing

• our,

• snow parking rules. We also have signs announcing the forty eight hour rule where you're not allowed to park on leave your car on the street for more than forty eight hours straight.

• So that that signage is at every entry point so that people who are not necessarily

• familiar with the village or, you know, are just visiting the village. Right? They, you know, can, you know, see those regulations when they come in so that they're aware.

• Thank you. You're welcome.

Again, this is first and foremost about getting the roads clear so people can safely get about their business.

• First responders can return to emergent respond to emergencies, and, hopefully, life can return to more or less normal.

• And to get that done, we depend on our DPW.

• And, manager, do you have any information on the extent of their activities over the last weekend?

Yeah. They worked very hard. They were here from, I believe,

• 5AM on Saturday until

• late into the evening,

• and then they were back again Sunday morning. And, you know, we're here through most of Sunday because,

• thankfully, we didn't yeah. It was a very odd weekend. We got more snow than forecast on Saturday, and then we got less snow than forecast on Sunday. And

• but it was it was just a very long

• duration,

• you know, light snow,

• heavy snow, light snow. It just kept going back and forth. So, you know, they were they put in quite a bit of hours. You know? And, thankfully, we had Monday off so that they had a little time to recoup, and now they're gonna be right back at it because our plan as it stands right now is that we're gonna brine on Friday,

• and then they'll be in, you know, probably, I would say overnight Saturday into Sunday.

• So

yeah. Be a very challenging few days for a DPW. Yes. So

• And as members of the board know, because we visited them last week,

• you know, they're incredibly dedicated.

• They have cots set up in the DPW

• Building if necessary.

• Hopefully, those won't be needed, but we'll see. Mhmm.

• But in recognition

• of, you know, the unexpected

• intensity on Saturday and how

• that took took some people by surprise,

• I would like to propose that we waive

• on a one time only basis

• the

• snow parking tickets that were issued then and then emphasize to everyone that

• and we'll do our best to remind everyone that this is a long standing law and policy, and people need to be diligent and and cooperate because the DPW is gonna do their part and we need to do ours.

• So do I have a motion to I

on Saturday and Please please to make that motion,

• mayor, to, waive the fees for for Saturday and, for the reasons you explained one time, I think both, fair and compassionate.

Okay. And to be clear for Saturday and Sunday. And Sunday. Yep. Motion by trustee Simon. Do I have a second?

Second.

Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachteller. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Great.

I

• will, I will talk to the village prosecutor. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Alright.

• Of course, rather, consent agenda manager.

Do wanna ask for a motion? Oh, do I have a motion?

So moved.

• Do I have a second? Second. Motion by trustee Simons, second by trustee Nachteller. Discussion, anything that we wanna pull out or highlight?

Is this discussion around

• AI?

• Is that what

Oh, no. No. Any anything in the consent agenda

• group.

• If you wanna just mention anything, either pull it out for a,

you know Cars the correspondence

For the discussions.

Yeah.

So anything under eight.

I mean, I have I have comments around Yeah. No. This is your okay. Yeah. This is your opportunity to make comments. Yeah. Thank you.

• I just wanna thank the American Legion,

• Mark Cheshire,

• and the village the our village historian

• and our recreation advisory committee on their thoughtful recommendations.

• I

• spoke with Mark as well, and I understand that he

• will likely have more names than,

• you know, the three,

• that have been discussed. And he's working very hard in doing research,

• which, we're very grateful for.

• And we should honor all the patriots who served and risked their lives for our country's independence.

• And,

• you know, the the one question I have for those groups is really,

• I mean, time. This is this is coming up pretty quickly.

• So, you know, when you kinda back out a schedule for actually having a memorial and you look at

• time for finalizing

• research, your wording on a plaque or

• memorial

• approvals

• needed,

• memorial design, fabrication,

• site prep, and installation.

• If we wanna get this done in the summer,

• we need to impose, I think, deadlines. And I'm I'm not sure who who's gonna drive those deadlines,

• but,

• you know, for example, for our businesses have an opportunity for this.

• Croton is a destination

• with incredibly

• rich history

• with the revolution,

• and what a fantastic

• opportunity this is for our businesses

• to have a destination for people to come and visit these memorials and plaques and learn more about the history.

• But I just don't want that to happen in December or November.

• You know? I mean, it it would just be a shame or a miss. So,

• you know, I'm I'm I'm

• not clear who's driving the

coordination of this and the and the schedule and the timeline. So Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, we've gotten these recommendations

• back, and there's obviously some

• and and disagreement is not the right word, but difference of opinions, right, on what what should be done. So I think, you know, the board is gonna probably have to have a discussion on it at a work session

• and see what direction that you wanna go. But in the meantime,

• as was mentioned by one of the commenters,

• we do have a sign, one of those blue and yellow,

• like, historical signs,

• that has been donated by

• the,

• Pomeroy Foundation.

• Mhmm. And that is,

• I actually just was notified on Monday

• that

• it has started to be,

• cast.

• So

• but believe it or not, I couldn't I could not believe this. It said sixteen to twenty weeks for delivery. Right. So Exactly.

• Yeah. So, I mean, so but that actually works out well because that mean it will it gets right around Memorial Day

• of, you know, memorial late May, early June. We just need to agree on what it's gonna say. Well, though the word the wording has already been

• yeah. So that that's already been done. That's it. So this sign is going to go

• on the Cleveland Drive side

• of,

• the cemetery.

• So this is not this is different than

• the area that's being talked about in this in these, memos. Mhmm. So,

• but we will you know, so we do have something that's coming That's great. That will be honoring

That's great. Yeah. Those two,

soldiers that are buried in Bethel. Mhmm. So we can certainly,

• plan to do something

• when when that sign is installed. You know, I've already spoken to the DPW superintendent about it. It's not a very big job because it's not a know, it's just a it's relatively

• small

• sign sign that just needs a concrete base to be poured and then installed.

• So it won't that sign won't take very long. Okay. Yeah.

• So but, you know, we do we do have a lot of topics for work sessions coming up. So, you know, we are gonna have to try prioritize and see when we wanna have have this discussion. Right. So, you know, we don't need to make that decision right now, but it's something that

But I think it's time sensitive.

Yeah. Yeah.

• Including the two hundred and fiftieth in general. Yes. Some some some items that we wanna Right. Right. Get done Good point. To that. Mhmm.

Further discussion on the consent agenda?

• Okay.

• All in favor? Aye. Excellent. Okay.

• Proposed resolutions or resolution.

• Yes.

Whereas the cardinal Hudson Police Department makes use of a computer aided dispatch system to document all calls for service that are received. Whereas the department wishes to upgrade to a newer system that has

• that has

• enhanced functionality,

• including the ability to share information with neighboring departments.

• And whereas the court of the Hudson Police Department town of Yorktown Police Department and the village of Briarcliffe Manor Police Department are investigating the use of a Motorola CAD system, which is currently used by six other departments in Westchester and Putnam Counties. Whereas the three communities desire to apply for a grant, the New York State local government efficiency grant program.

• And whereas the memorandum of understanding has been developed to establish the relationship between the three communities in regards to this grant application and whereas the signing of the MOU does not commit the village to spend any funds. Now therefore be it resolved that the village board hereby authorizes the chief of police to execute the memorandum of understanding with the Yorktown

• And Briarcliffe Manor Police Departments related to the local government efficiency grant program.

Do I have a motion? So moved. Second.

Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachteller. Discussion? It's I think it's an it's an innovative approach. It's gonna be interesting. You know, I have a general understanding of of how a CAD system works.

• Freestanding

• one one community, it'll be interesting to see. I think it's great that that we can share the service and get the funding for it potentially if if we're successful. But then to see all three of them try to work together on that, I think that would be that would be a a great innovation and something something to see and and boast about. Yeah. That's

the Briarcliffe Tuesday. So I know that the signature wasn't there, but I'm just making it. Very good. Thank you.

K.

• Further discussion?

• All in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright.

• We proceed to public comment on non agenda items. Anyone wishing to comment on anything, this is your opportunity.

Ed Riley from Truesdale Drive.

• Last shot at resolutions,

• item one.

• I think the state controller

• is requiring the village of Croton to get a letter

• that says they wanna violate the tax cap

• before they even vote on whether they're gonna violate the tax cap, which is typical of government in general. It's weird.

• It's like putting a cart before the horse.

• And

• the pushback to the

• to the state controller,

• who's who's not corrupt and didn't go to jail like the last guy,

• is that estimated 10%

• to 15%

• of state funds, especially in the Medicaid area,

• are

• are used for corruption

• and

• people are not eligible for those funds. And this has gone on for decades,

• we think. At least they've been saying it out loud for three decades.

• So I think the New York state with a budget of its size

• is $303,150,000,000,000,

• needs a doge

• operation

• well beyond what

• Napoli

• can do as a state controller

• and is afraid to do in many cases because of politics.

• So

• we should have pushed back

• on what needs to be done at state level because

• there's a lot more money that's being wasted that could be used for the benefit of the communities of the state of New York.

• The other items the items I really wanna talk about is that we have a March for Life bus leaving from, Briarcliffe,

• 4AM on Friday,

• which is always the anniversary of Roe v Wade,

• which is where we march on a nationwide basis in Washington DC

• and wander around the

• senate office buildings and the

• House of Representatives trying to see our representatives.

• We still have seats in that bus, not too many. And, if you need money, I'll pay for it.

• Item two is that there's still an ongoing boycott against CVS Pharmacy.

• CVS Pharmacy is one of the big three

• whose president led the charge on dispensing

• r u r u forty six in a prodigal manner. Just throw those pills out all over the place.

• Put them in your put them in your

• in your

• medicine cabinet.

• Let your daughters get at it, whoever else gets at it, productively and sending them throughout The United States.

• And then passing laws to protect

• criminals who prescribe those pills to husbands,

• boyfriends,

• mothers who wanna

• abort their grandchildren or their children in other states indiscriminately.

• Now,

• this is this is not something new. This has happened before. New York state,

• has,

• since 1970,

• operated within the state that way, and and I'm not gonna talk about that. I I will in the future.

• I mean, landmark disgusting

• things that they allowed to happen in the state.

• But I had talked to you about r u forty six

• and the dangers,

• the serious complications that happen at ten percent of the women,

• and the fact that

• in the in the birth

• control area,

• they have allowed

• dangerous drugs to be used, High dosage contraceptives,

• injectable contraceptives,

• are all turned about to be so dangerous to women

• without women on an organized basis objecting to it. And it would go on for years and years and years.

• I'm gonna use an example of a country we're all interested in right now.

• This is a Greenlander.

• This woman is about 30 years old,

• and she's complaining

• about a Danish experiment,

• much like the experiments we do in New York State,

• on birth control where she was

• an IUD was inserted in her body at age 13, didn't know about it.

• Years later, had all sorts of pelvic complaints and pelvic problems.

• And then

• only to find out at a later age, she was now totally

• incapable

• of having children because it was a project,

• much like Planned Parenthood in The United States, a project of the government

• to control the native population of Greenland. Does that sound familiar? It should.

• They say the high dosage contraceptive

• was the largest

• uncontrolled

• medical experiment

• in the history of the world.

• I had the had the benefit of knowing a friend of mine. His wife came back from Indonesia.

• IUDs

• were banned in The United States,

• were inserted in her, and when she came back, had to be removed five to ten years later. Thank you. Thank you.

Alright. We proceed to reports.

K.

• I know we just went, through that wonderful award ceremony for

• chairwoman Christine Wagner. But, again, I wanna just

• say while it was a a short I only had one meeting as a liaison.

• And, you know, with Christine,

• I I just think she's an incredible leader. So I wanna thank her for her service

• and congratulate

• Jim Tooman,

• on his

• new chair position and welcome new member to the zoning board of appeals, Ethan Lewis.

• That's and thank, DPW

• for their just absolutely incredible

• work.

• I mean, I drove

• a lot

• over the weekend, which I know I probably shouldn't have, but our roads were among the cleanest that I've seen

• all throughout the county. So great work, and thank you.

Oh, thanks.

• And,

• ditto to,

• trustee, Nak Taylor on both Christine and Jim and, and Ethan. Last night was Jim's first zoning

• board chairmanship.

• And, I actually watched it on television for the sole purpose of examining channel seventy eight on my own. And since I knew it was gonna be a relatively brief meeting and he did a wonderful job as chairman. And I noticed that that from my own notes, I I forgot to mention when we were talking about Christine that

• I regard

• her resignation from

• the zoning board,

• not a departure from public service on behalf of the village, but a sabbatical.

• So we we we hope that that we can snare her back to some some work on our behalf sometime in the future. So just a just a few additional things,

• you know, just I think we've all talked about our our admiration

• for for the work that DPW did. But, you know, particularly is just what what I what I noticed is even when the snow is still coming down, by the time we noticed the snow,

• the streets are mostly clean by

• because of the brining and the salting and the and their great work. So I just wanna I I can't say enough in congratulations

• to the

• DPW

• team and superintendent

• Balby and just wish them all the best. You know, they're they're trying to make us safe, we hope that they they all stay safe this

• this very uncertain weekend.

• A few other things. On on the January 15, we had

• a

• Zoom with congressman Lawler. He does this on a quarterly basis with

• the municipalities

• in in his district, and we there are about 20 communities, I imagine, that were on on online with us.

• We talked about the congressional appropriations process, community

• projects,

• one of which we we we've received information on today

• for water related projects,

• what he's trying to do on health care, what he's done on salt, and some of his thoughts

• on some possible

• congressional housing legislation.

• So it was a good good opportunity to chat with him.

• On the eighth, both, trustee,

• Nachtaylor, and I were, in Mount Vernon at the Wartburg Center, for the monthly

• Wamoa meeting, Westchester Municipal Officials Association.

• The guest that evening, there's always always a guest, was Brian Coffin,

• the legislative director of the New York conference of mayors and municipal officials.

• And he reviewed what the state legislature and the governor accomplished

• in our area last year and and previewed what will be going on in Albany

• starting

• well,

• essentially, this week, the governor submitted her budget yesterday.

• And so

• the that's usually the starting point for activity. So there's a number of things that we'll be watching closely

• there.

• On January 15, our bicycle and pedestrian committee met. Mayor and I were there. We

• talked about project

• the committee talked about project mover expansion, which we're looking at when the hibernation period is over in in in April.

• The possible locations

• for red light cameras, if we should go forward with that. And then some partnership activities that the committee is considering with Croton Harmon Schools.

• Similarly,

• our sustainability

• committee met on the eighteenth. Mayor and I were there. We

• talked about

• the EV chargers at the train station.

• We reported on our renewable diesel

• pilot,

• which has gone from pilot to all of our diesel vehicles in

• DPW,

• commissioning of the train station solar canopy,

• the some some things that

• Sustainable Westchester will be doing to

• to replace their their some of the programs that they've lost,

• and some other things going on at the state level.

• We had yesterday the county call, monthly call with

• county executive Ken Jenkins and his team and talked about some of the county initiatives,

• including,

• you know, some

• some

• suggestions they have for

• what what municipalities

• should do with respect to DHS in in their community. And, you know, we'll be certainly aware

• of that and a few other number of grant programs.

• And then during the call, the county executive,

• after I asked a question on some couple of the topics,

• let me know how much he's looking forward to coming to Croton for EagleFest on on February 7. So we look forward to greeting him there

• at EagleFest.

• And I should say one thing that was, you know, particularly special on January

• last Friday,

• our terrific

• fire inspector Jim Ferguson came to the regular seniors club meeting and

• gave a wonderful presentation to the seniors

• on fire safety. Jim was able to provide just a great deal of technical information

• to

• the the attendees of the club. And typically, there's about at least 50 every every Friday.

• And he did so in a way that was very practical and very useful for the group. So our thanks

• to Jim for doing that, and we're just very lucky to have him on our team.

• I should mention that we have a

• we we do have a very accomplished artist in our in our midst, Eleanor Qui.

• Most folks who know or many folks who know Eleanor

• may not also realize that she, for many years, was one of the principal artists on the

• Winnie the Pooh books. And

• Winnie the Pooh is celebrating

• its

• one hundredth anniversary this year. Eleanor

• is staging a reading of some passages from the Winnie the Pooh books at the Black Cow on

• Friday at 5PM.

• And some of the readers will include former

• mayor, Leah Wegman,

• architect,

• Julie Evans,

• Andy Dorado

• from the

• Buy the Damn Books,

• Leaf Qui, who is

• Eleanor's son,

• and yours truly. So we'll be we'll be

• of course, completely free to everyone and just having having a good time. There'll be some some refreshments

• there and just an opportunity to celebrate

• Winnie the Pooh, which is, you know, now I'm I'm on my third generation of Winnie the Pooh. I read them, my kids read them, and our grandkids are are reading them. So it's

• and and, of course, it's exciting to know that Eleanor had such a big role in in in the creation of those over the years. And last but not least, Jeanette Gold.

• I'm sorry. Jeanette Gingold,

• wife of Joel Gingold, a longtime

• resident of Croton. Both of them passed away last week, and I was honored to attend her funeral on behalf of the village. She worked for many years as an editor and

• with Reader's Digest and other publishers and was very talented

• quilting and knitting artist.

• Joel was a longtime

• member of our sustainability

• committee and served on our hundred and twenty fifth anniversary committee and has served the village in many other ways. And I'm sure we'll continue to do so in the future. So our condolences go out to the whole Gingold family. That's it.

Okay. Very good.

• So tonight, I would like to appoint

• Shiloh Shade to the Conservation Advisory Council,

• Dana Nicholson to the Bicycle Pedestrian Committee,

• Syed Hosseini as the alternate to the

• planning board, and Adriana

• Zavala to the idea committee.

• Do I have a motion? So moved.

• Do I have a second? Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachteller. All in favor?

• Aye. Aye. Alright. Thank you. And thank you to our new commit new and returning committee members.

• All in favor? Oh, yeah. We already voted. Okay.

• Manager?

• Oh, we covered I did my report already.

Thank Encore.

• Alright.

Do I have a motion to close? So moved.

• Second. Motion by Justice Simon, second by Justice Nacht dollar. All in favor? Aye. Aye.