Alright. Good evening, welcome to the February 4 regular meeting of the Curtin 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 from which it stands,
• one nation under God, indivisible,
• with liberty and justice for all. The
• first item of business, the approval of Badger's treasurer.
• The water fund, we have $33,781.47.
• Sewer fund, we have $6,931.91.
• The capital fund, we have $24,927.63.
• And the trust and agency, we have $7,946.20.
• Motion by trustee Simon, second by, trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye.
• Aye.
• Okay. Great. Now we proceed to our feature presentation, the presentation of certificates to the top responders of current EMS for 2025.
• I invite all the members of the board to join me at the podium on there as I call up members of the EMS.
• the one I just texted you, I heard there's some issues. So you if you wanna snoop around and see what what was going on with them Okay. Just because it's been a topic. Yeah. Thank you. Alright.
Good evening. Thank you so much for coming, and most importantly, thank you for your service. We're so proud and truly grateful of the EMS and truly grateful.
• Every year, you face a mounting call volumes,
• and you are answering the call day in and day out and keeping our residents stay safe.
• You have the thin white line, that protects us from illness and injury
• and puts people on the road to recovery. So thank you again, and you have the support of our board.
• As I think, hopefully, all you you are aware,
• there will be a referendum coming this November,
• to expand the LOSAP program to EMS, and we're very happy that you've already moved into your new,
• permanent home for the emergency medical service. After
• a long period
• of, making do with temporary quarters and cohabitation.
• So without further ado,
• senator, would you come up? This is an alphabetical order.
• Thank you. Thank you. And and please join us and stay. We'll do a big group photo in a minute. Eric?
• Alright. We'll hold on to that.
• John Delaney.
• Thank you. Phil
• Dankler, who's not with us this evening? Because he is
• protecting the public in other ways. Yeah. Yeah. He is. Yeah. Rich Ellison.
• Yeah. Should also mention,
• Rich is the absolute
• top responder. So thank you very much.
• Try to put you on the spot.
• Tiffany.
• Ken.
• Congrats. Thank you.
• Alright, Jeremy.
• Congratulations.
• And
• Liz, who is not here.
Well, thank you, mayor. I think the mayor said it beautifully. I would just add having been at the installation of the officers and and hearing the individual stories of of
• how hard you work on our behalf, but also the inspiring story that there
• are about
• 50 young people on the waiting list waiting to get in to the training program that that you do for for the up and coming future EMS members. So that's that's a tribute to the work that you do, and and we really appreciate not only the the day to day, but look into the future as well. So thank you very much for that.
I would just like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. You know, they EMS responders are lifesavers.
• Personally, EMS has come to
• family members' homes and truly has has saved lives. So I just wanna thank you from the bottom of my heart for the service that you do and also being out there in the community,
• Being out there at Summerfest
• and
• all of the different things going on in the community and giving people an opportunity to volunteer with you and giving the opportunity to our youth to volunteer is so important. So thank you so much. Really appreciate you.
I will just add that I appreciate that I know you guys support all the athletic events.
• The high school was without a trainer for a while, and I know you guys stepped in
• for that. So whether it's happening down at the new field or in the gym
• or on any of the fields, that is really great community service. Also,
• my daughter was hit by a car riding her bike, and you guys got to her. I got there pretty fast, but you guys got there before I even did.
• And
• I the comfort, I just knew she was in good hands. I never want to ride in the back of an ambulance, but it was
• as enjoyable an ambulance ride as it could could have been. So thank you.
• just wanna thank you too from the bottom of my heart. I can't think of a group that shows up at times when people
• have incredible fear or pain.
• And you go in and you provide the reassurance
• and life saving skills and get them where they need to be for
• perhaps additional care.
• And for that, you know, our community is so grateful.
• So thank you so much for everything you do. We're proud. Thank you.
And if you would like to be part of the group photo, please line up behind the podium now.
• It's gotten better now. They just came out now. They've been awake for two weeks.
• Our next item of business will be the public hearings. The first one on local law number one of 2026
• to authorize and override the property tax cap
• enacted by the state legislature
• if necessary.
• Alright. Do I have a motion?
• So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye. Aye. The public
• hearing is open. Anyone wishing to comment on this?
• This is your opportunity.
• Oh, yeah. Manager,
can you provide some context? Yeah. Sure. Thank you, mayor. So, just briefly, this is a law that we adopt every year. It's it's a bit of a formality.
• This law, there's no there's no decision that has been made to override the tax cap. The board in the vast majority of years has not overridden the tax cap. It's only been overridden once,
• more than a decade ago.
• And this is just basically a a formality in case the board finds itself in a position that it would need to because of some unexpected revenue loss or,
• other extenuating circumstance that might that might occur. But as I said, there's been no decision that has been made. This is just a law that we have to have on the books in case that decision needs to be made later on in the budget process.
• wishing to speak, this is your opportunity on this law.
• I'd to thank the manager for the improvement of the video.
• Could actually see this last week. We couldn't see anything.
• Regarding a tax cap,
• whoever cares to answer this later when you have a chance, perhaps the manager
• or the mayor, do you have any plans to override the tax cap?
• To my knowledge,
• at least in the last six years, I don't believe this village has ever
• overridden the tax cap,
• which is a tribute to the management.
• You've and the and the time you've spent managing our budget,
• may be attributed to the large ask from the federal government dumping it on the state, but you have been pretty good stewards of our money for the most part.
• So
• so that's the first question. Do you have any plans to override the tax tax gap? And number two,
• what is the process for overriding the tax gap?
• And three, I'd like to recommend to the board that in the future,
• and this should be nonpartisan.
• Under the previous admit federal administration,
• the entire country was hit with massive inflation,
• massive inflation, 9% compounded, 14% compounded.
• Gasoline going up 75%,
• fuel going up 75%,
• building materials going up 24%,
• which many of these things fuel does, but many of these other things do not
• sling back to the former prices.
• And so during those periods,
• when we're threatened
• by inflation like that,
• I would expect I don't care what party you're in
• because both parties have been guilty of this in a distant past,
• is to say something to both the state government,
• which is a
• disaster,
• and the federal government when they institute economic policies that have direct impact.
• And the reason I say that is
• most people don't get a chance to go to Albany or Washington DC.
• The best government is the government that's closest to home. And for the most part, this village has been done run pretty well
• with some exceptions,
• with some issues.
• So I expect
• that when
• some
• terrible individual is running
• one of the higher levels of government with direct impact on the taxation
• and the price of everything, especially housing, everyone wants to talk about housing,
• is that you should respond publicly to that.
• You don't have to call them out by party,
• but say, look, get this damn thing under control
• because that has direct impact on us,
• because you're the best government we have, the closest government to us. Thank you.
• Anyone else wishing to comment on local law one?
• Alright. Seeing no one else wishing to comment, do I have a motion to close the hearing? So moved.
• Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson.
• Manager, would you like to read the resolution?
Whereas the state legislature and the governor enacted legislation that establishes a property tax cap on the amount that a local government's property tax levy can increase each year. And whereas under this law, the total amount to be raised through property taxes charged on the municipality's taxable assessed value of property will be capped at 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is less with some exceptions.
• And whereas the state legislation provides for local governments to override the cap to protect the village from unforeseen financial circumstances.
• And where a state legislation requires that in the event that an override is necessary,
• the law enabling it must have already been adopted by the board of trustees.
• And whereas local law introductory number one of 2026 has been drafted to override the property tax cap law enacted by the state legislature if necessary,
• and whereas no decision has been made at this point to override the property tax cap for the upcoming fiscal year, and whereas a public hearing was opened and closed on 02/04/2026.
• Now therefore be it resolved, the village board of trustees hereby adopts local law introductory number one of 2026
• to override the property tax cap law enacted by the state legislature if necessary, which upon adoption will become local law number two of 2026.
• Discussion?
• Think you need a motion on that. Oh, sorry. Vote motion on that So moved. Second.
Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion? I just think there is an ongoing opportunity on this topic
• to be very I mean, right here in this meeting, we've made it very clear that there is no we're not passing this because there is an intent to override the tax cap.
• But every year, this comes up. This comes on the agenda and people are like, oh my god. We're gonna override the tax cap. And I think that I don't obviously, there's not a space on the agenda for it, but I think that if there were just some way to proactively
• reassure people and remind people because we're thinking about it all the time, but the vast majority of people in Croton are not, and they just see this and get worried. So I think that there's an opportunity here
• to just,
• when we communicate about this annually, to remind people that we're passing it as a protection, not with any intent.
• And the more specific
• we can be about that and the more broadly we can get the message out, the better. I'm you know, obviously, this is the smart thing to do for all the reasons that everybody has said.
• But the general population
• is not reading the whole thing and does not know the background. So I think there's an opportunity there to, you know,
• get ahead of people
• thinking that we're
• gonna override.
• manager, in expressing that this is just a, you know, a routine thing that we need to do and we don't have intent to
• to raise it. So I think you've done a good job at that. But if people are only looking at the agenda,
• kind of the the text and not double
• clicking in,
• you know, it might be nice to add that as well just in the future.
• But,
• you know, I personally don't have a goal to override the tax cap. And
• there is one
• particular expense that is concerning,
• which is health care insurance. We have lots of employees. And I think all around
• the country, health care insurance has gone up this year.
• I'm not making this a partisan issue, but it is something that,
• you know, has has increased.
• best efforts to,
• keep within the tax cap.
• of the cap. We've only had to go slightly above the 2% once. And so, I think I think we're gonna we're gonna work towards making sure that we're underneath the cap this year.
• Yep.
• All in favor? Aye. Aye.
• auditor,
• to the village code.
• Do I have a motion now open the public hearing? So moved.
• trustee Simon, second by trustee Nochteller.
• All in favor? Aye. Aye.
• Anyone wishing to speak? This is your opportunity.
• Oh,
• sorry. Yeah.
• the last work session that we held. This is,
• basically
• codifying
• a a practice that has existed in the village where,
• the
• bills that the village receives every week
• are reviewed by the professional staff,
• and then,
• those bills are presented to the board for approval to pay.
• So
• there's really not a change in practice here.
• I know there was a question that was raised about
• the
• professional audit that we had done at last you know, the the our auditing firm came to the last work session as well. This has nothing to do with that. Our, you know, our books will still continue to be audited by an outside,
• accounting firm.
• This has to just do with the review
• of the invoices
• that are submitted to the village for payment on goods and services and just making sure that,
• you know, the,
• paperwork is in order, that we're not being charged sales tax on anything, that there are, funds available in the budget to pay these invoices. It's just making sure that everything is in order before
• those bills come to the board.
There is not at the moment. I mean, the board has that in the law. You set you would set the compensation if if any, but I believe that the board's intent is to appoint me to this position, and, there's no additional compensation for me. So.
• Thank you. Yep.
• trustee Nicholson and I
• met yesterday with
• the controller, Thomas d Napoli.
• There are a few other people in the room as well, but we we we we we considered at our meeting. And he went to great lengths, you know, to talk about that there are some communities,
• and I was gonna mention this in my trustee report. There are some communities that are not doing that well in in terms of the auditing process, even in terms of getting the information
• that they need to get to the controller on an annual basis. And so he was very complimentary
• towards
• everyone that is doing everything right, but he was also saying if you're not doing anything if you're not doing everything the right way, I have my eyes on you. So I think any steps that we can take
• to to to ensure that everything that we're doing goes to the to the absolute limit in terms of accuracy
• and
• and and
and clarity. I I think I think that helps helps us as a government. It helps us with the controller as well. Yep. I I agree. And I would if there's anybody that has an interest in this topic, I would encourage you to sign up for the comptroller's weekly emails
• that come out on Saturday mornings, and
• you can review all the audits that he does of the local government units,
• which
• I I find to be very interesting. And they do. But, I mean, it's really helpful because you can read through those and you can sometimes see, oh, you know, I never thought about it this way or, you know, that's something that maybe we should be implementing. So there are a lot of,
• you know, helpful information that that come out of those reports.
Just the other thing to add is, I know, manager, our external auditor sees no issues at all with you
• taking on this role to audit invoices, which is great. Yes. Correct. Yeah.
• So the floor is open. Anyone wishing to comment on local law number two? This is your opportunity.
• Seeing no one wishing to comment, do I have a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee, Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye. Whereas
New York State Village Law provides to the board of trustees to audit all claims presented to the village for payment and whereas section five dash five twenty four of the village law authorizes the village to establish the office of auditor, which would undertake these duties of the village board of trustees.
• Whereas local law introductory number two of 2026 has been drafted to create the office of village auditor. And whereas the local law was reviewed and discussed at a work session held on 01/14/2026,
• and whereas the public hearing was opened and closed on 02/04/2026.
• Now therefore be it resolved, the village board of trustees hereby adopts local law introductory number two of 2026
• to create chapter nine auditor village of the village code to establish the office of village auditor,
• which upon adoption will become local law number three of 2026.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson.
• Discussion?
Mayor, could I just ask for an amendment to the resolution? We just add another,
• be it resolved clause appointing me to the position
• if there's no objection Motion as amended. By acclamation.
• All favor? Aye. Fine. Okay. That's very good. Thank you. Alright. Responses to questions submitted via email manager.
• No questions, mayor. Alright. Public comment on agenda items. Anyone wishing to comment on any agenda items? This is your opportunity.
• I'd like to commend the
• the EMS, the fire department, and DPW
• for their exceptional service,
• especially appreciated in the wintertime
• when the water mains break and you're operating with water in subzero
• weather.
• It goes the same for the fire department,
• given a recent experience at National Golf Golf Club where they couldn't find the fire hydrants because they're buried under snow.
• And then the EverReady
• EMS, we're lucky to have
• such people.
• And I think that the award system for attendance,
• which means more inconvenience for that person,
• more family disruption,
• more opportunity to get in a car wreck when they go to emergency scenes,
• more stress on servicing the community or the house or the person,
• and driving at high speeds,
• to a hospital or some other location
• deserves
• something better than a lousy piece of paper.
• Deserves a you know, they have medals. Give them a real good medal.
• So,
• not that they're looking for medals,
• but I think the average person appreciates them and has
• put that in writing. But it would be nice to have
• a ribbon and a medal, worthy of their sacrifice.
• Item two,
• on the consent agenda a three.
• The trustees wanna mark National Police Week
• in May 2026.
• Unfortunately,
• in this village,
• policing,
• not saying this board,
• but the citizens of this,
• some who have been on this board,
• go hot and cold on police.
• And we all remember the period when COVID struck. There were signs out in front of this building that said,
• god bless our emergency service providers. We love our emergency and they're talking about fire department, police department. And they were out in front of this building, so they're talking about the police department.
• It wasn't within
• three months they turned on the police department,
• and they couldn't do anything right.
• They were the rogue force
• for eighteen months.
• And people wrote about them in the newspaper in Croton.
• Racists.
• They're all militarists.
• They they like to beat people up.
• They like to show up with a gun and shoot things. All sorts of stuff.
• It used to be a poem about soldiers. God and the soldier,
• all men adore in time of trouble and not before.
• All things righted,
• god has forgotten, and the old soldier slighted.
• Same thing goes for our police department.
• The support of the police department
• except when somebody does something wrong,
• they should be presumed innocent, go through the process,
• so should federal agents,
• federal police.
• And wherever possible,
• local, state,
• federal police should cooperate. They share databases
• for god's sake. When you're to a traffic stop,
• you go through the FBI database, the state database, and everything else.
• Therefore,
• if during the process
• of apprehending somebody, if the Croton Police Department
• or their allies and auxiliaries
• run into a criminal, a serious criminal,
• which they may be not may not be able to hold,
• they should turn them over to the appropriate authority or
• the officer should go to the go to his telephone somewhere
• where he can't be tracked and drop the dime on that dude so the appropriate authorities can pick them up
• rather than have some dangerous person wander our streets
• and we wait for the next serious
• police blotter entry.
• That's how I think we should celebrate police week.
• On item number three,
• regarding
• fees
• for border and rumor per and roaming permits,
• perhaps,
• the the manager or someone else here
• would explain
• what that person,
• the person renting the room or having borders gets for their money.
• Do they get a fire inspection?
• Do they get a building inspection? What do they get for their money?
• Thank you.
• Does anyone else wish to speak on an agenda item?
• Alright.
• Seeing no one else wishing to speak on agenda items, we proceed to a report from the village manager. Great. Thank you, mayor.
• I just want to
• recognize once again the the work of our Department of Public Works who have been,
• continuing
• to come in at 04:00 every morning to
• address snow removal.
• You know, they did
• Brook Street on Monday. They did North Riverside on Tuesday.
• Today and tomorrow, they're doing Grand Street,
• and,
• Friday, they will be doing, portions of Maple Street. So,
• you know, we appreciate everybody that has emailed or called,
• you know, letting us know about piles or or areas that need attention.
• We are working as quickly as possible to get to as many areas as we can,
• you know? But we we have to, continue our essential services as, you know, picking up garbage and recycling and
• addressing,
• water main breaks and and those things in addition to trying to remove the snow piles. So
• just once again, you know, ask for everyone's patience as we deal with this, you know,
• very large snowstorm that that came our way.
• One of the things that they were able to do today was clear, duck pond. So,
• we did get duck pond shoveled, and so it is now open for skating.
• Because of the cold
• the extreme cold,
• we're not gonna have skating under the lights until next week potentially
• depending
• on,
• you know, temper temperatures moderating, which they're they're slated to do. So, hopefully, we'll see that happen.
• The ice is 12 inches thick, which is as thick as I can ever remember it being. Should be okay. Yeah. I mean, I don't think that ice is gonna melt anytime soon. Yeah. And our our notices that went out, I think, around 04:00 this afternoon on that, so people should be looking for that. Yeah. So the the green flag is up. As always, the skating is unsupervised,
• so please always go with a a parent or a friend or somebody. You know, don't don't skate alone.
• Just another reminder
• to sign up for our Everbridge alert system.
• You know, we've been sending out messages
• to the affected neighborhoods,
• when there have been the snow removal scheduled so that people know about the work. So, if you haven't signed up yet, please do so. You can choose to get the alerts by text or email
• or text and email. However however you want to get them, you can you can sign up to receive those.
• The
• we talked about at a previous work session,
• We have developed a budget priorities survey, and
• I'm hoping that that will be going out by email tomorrow.
• So
• the
• we'll have the survey open for about a two week period.
• Assuming it goes out tomorrow, I have the date to close, I think, on,
• February
• 20,
• which is a Friday.
• So look for that in your email.
• And it's a short survey. It's five questions. So it won't take too long for people to,
• to respond. And, you know, we'll all be we'll be looking forward to those answers.
• Just a reminder that the village offices are closed on President's Day, which is February 16,
• I believe.
• And,
• garbage will be picked up on Tuesday of that week.
• The entrance project at Van Cortland Manor
• is slated to start
• later this week.
• It's very exciting to see that project come to come to fruition after many, many starts and stops along the years.
• For those who are not
• aware, this is a project that will
• beautify the entrance to Van Cortlandt Manor,
• on South Riverside
• and also upgrade some of their infrastructure with regards to their their water their water infrastructure,
• their electrical, their
• pathways,
• just making the property more, handicap accessible,
• doing all sorts of upgrades that have been a long time coming.
• And this was money that,
• Historic Hudson Valley was
• granted by the federal government
• that is,
• being passed through the village to Historic Hudson Valley. So we are we're kind of the pass through agency for this project. So we have been working with them very closely to to see it happen.
• So they're gonna be working on that basically through,
• July 4, then they're gonna take a pause for the Blaze,
• and then they will hopefully finish up the project,
• next winter.
• And then also we got an update on the Quaker Bridge, which I'm sure many people have been wondering about.
• Westchester County is still awaiting final approval from the Army Corps of Engineers
• for,
• the replacement
• work on the bridge.
• So they're anticipating getting that approval in the next couple of weeks.
• And then as soon as they have that approval, their contractor is ready to mobilize and start the tree removal, which
• they have to do within a certain time frame.
• So,
• I haven't I haven't gotten an update as to the timeline of the project. Mhmm. You know, they had originally said it was gonna be done in June
• 2026.
• I I Right. I'm not sure if that's going to happen because the project was originally slated to start in November and it hasn't started yet. So,
you know, we'll have to see what their updated timeline is. But If they could get started when you suggested that that they might, '26
• I know there was discussion about
• finding a way to,
• memorialize
• the bridge that's currently there. Is there an update? And and there were discussions about the best way to do that. Do we was any decision made? Do we have any update on that? Yeah. They had, we've had a couple meetings about it. There was a a walk there was a site visit to look at the bridge and see exactly which pieces,
• The last I heard was that the town and the county
• were
• trying to decide,
• like, a best location because there was some discussion about,
• putting it at Croton Gorge Park. There was other discussion about potentially putting it at BlackRock.
• So
• we haven't been we haven't been too involved in that process, but I have I that was the last update that I had.
• an opportunity for the village to maintain a piece of it and sort of make that part of our archive as well? I don't have anything specific in mind, but I just don't I don't want it to be demolished and all of it to be taken away and then us to say, oh, no. We should have saved a little piece of that metal so that we can put it somewhere. I don't so I just wanna be thinking about that Absolutely. As that all unfolds. Yeah. No. We well, like I said, we have been
• I think the idea was that there was gonna be, like, one
• feels kinda weird to say, like, a memorial. But Right. You know Right. There would be one monument to the bridge Mhmm. Somewhere.
• So,
• that would that would include the historic plaques that are on Right. Either side of the bridge. With the writing. Yeah. And then I think one of the girders.
Right. So there that was the idea. It would kinda just be one monument to the bridge. But I think the people who use it I didn't mean to interrupt you. Yeah. But I think the people who use it to get back and forth, there's
• the practical
• feelings about getting the project, you know, about the bridge. And then there are the sentimental
• feelings about the bridge that even people who don't use it a lot certainly have. So I just wanna make sure that we're being thoughtful about that. Absolutely.
Thanks. Sorry for letting No. That's okay. And then the last thing I had was just an update on, 25 South Riverside,
• the,
• apartment building.
• They have submitted their paperwork to, get their temporary
• COs.
• So they are, moving forward,
• with the finish finishing finishing touches
• on the building, like, doing the
• exit emergency,
• signs in the building and, you know, just doing the finishing touches.
• And,
• you know, the building department will be reviewing,
• all the paperwork submitted
• and ensuring that they have met all the conditions of their building permit and their site plan
• and special permit. And then, you know, as long as everything is in order,
• they can issue the the temporary COs. They won't get their final CO until all the landscaping is done and,
• you know, there's other other things that can't be done until the spring, but the temporary COs can be issued.
• So
• that was it.
• So I just have a couple of questions. Sure. So one is an update on Barry Manor. So, you know, there was an inspection done
• last week on the apartments that were
• That were damaged. By the fire. So I just wanted to get an update on that. Yeah. Sure. So,
as you said, there was an inspection done. Unfortunately, the inspect the apartments did not pass inspection. There were a number of concerns that were raised by,
• the village inspectors that related to,
• some remediation work that still needed to be done and some of the materials that were used.
• The village engineer has been in touch
• more than once with the
• management company,
• as recently as this afternoon looking for updates on the work. The
• update that that he was given this afternoon is that they're still in the process of reaching out to the three remediation
• companies to get pricing
• and that, you know, they are they are planning to adhere to what was
• asked of them required
• of them.
• But that is the that is the latest
• update.
• it's it's very hard when you think that things are progressing as they should, and then you find out that that wasn't the case. Yeah. And then my second question is around the dog park hours. So the recreation advisory
• got an email from you letting letting them know your decision.
• So I'd just like you to sort of share what your decision was with the general public as well as your your thoughts.
• not fully prepared to discuss this tonight. I mean, I'm more than happy to as I shared, I'm more than happy to meet with direct advisory committee and
• understand their concerns and talk to them. But I did advise them that after reviewing the information that was presented
• and we had two discussions with the board at it at a at a board meeting and a work session,
• My decision was to basically leave the hours as they currently
• have have existed since 2021.
• You know, like I said, I'm more than happy to to meet with them and discuss it further, but I I felt that at for the time being, that was the best course of action was to leave the hours alone, and I I did share with them that I was open to having a discussion in the future if there was, you know, some additional information that
• that, you know, was gathered that we could that we could review.
• Do I have a motion?
• So moved.
• Do I have a second? Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion.
• point
• out the there are two memos from, the police advisory committee
• on
• here.
• And I, you know, I was at the meeting where these two topics or maybe it was even two meetings where these topics were discussed
• by the PAC. And I wanted to just thank
• the committee and all its members for a lot of and and the chief. And
• one of the other police officers was there too. I can't remember which one, unfortunately.
• But there was a lot of discussion
• on both of these topics. So I really wanted to thank them for the,
• you know, thoughtful
• consideration that they gave to both these topics.
• I do think that
• National Police Week is
• something great for the village to do.
• The PAC came up with a lot of very good ideas, very inexpensive
• ideas
• that are ways that we can
• celebrate and thank the police
• and also
• give opportunities for the public to
• interact with them. I know that the National Night Out,
• there was some discussion of how National Night Out is really a celebration of the police, but I think this is something a little different, and and I'm fully in favor of it.
• And then also just the
• red light cameras.
• There was a lot of discussion about all the different cameras that are visible
• in different locations around the village and what they are. And people have privacy concerns, and they're they are interested in what's going on
• with all the cameras. So I just think that I a lot of thoughtful consideration was given to to that topic also by the committee.
• But I you know, but and
• part of that was,
• as they say in the memo, you know,
• people see the cameras, they're interested in what they are, they not because they're doing something bad, they just wanna know what what they're being where they're being monitored and and why. So I think that,
• if there is an opportunity to,
• you know for with all with all of the surveillance
• that we use for different reasons here,
• to just be transparent about what those are because people are feeling
• highly
• their their their awareness of it is heightened.
• I think that's all I have on that topic.
• since the, the subject was raised during our, public comment section, could you just say a word or two on on why we would, charge a border or rumor a a permit fee for for doing that? Thank you. Yeah. So, I mean, it it's
much like we do with, an accessory apartment or an accessory cottage.
• Right? There are inspections that have to be undertaken.
• This is excuse me. This is a facility
• that is,
• being rented for somebody to use
• as sleeping quarters. Right? We need to make sure that there are proper egresses
• Mhmm. That,
• if there are, you know,
• appliances in there that those are up to code and,
• you know, it's a it's a one time fee. It's not an it's not an annual fee. It's just a one time fee that would cover the work to review the plans, do the inspections,
• and and make sure that everything is,
• constructed legally.
• the changes to the zoning code, the the cleanup Yep.
• Because it's not in the text. I just wanted to call out that these changes also involve shifting all special permit
• reviews
• from
• the elected board of trustees to the appointed planning board
• to streamline the process.
Right? Well, that's already I mean, that's already been done. That's that's what the various inconsistencies
• are. Right? Because we've already adopted that law. Yeah. Yeah. In 2025.
• Correct.
So it's this is it's just a clean That's why it wasn't called out in the text. Yeah.
I see. Yeah. Because that law was adopted last year, but it wasn't it wasn't addressed in every single section of the code. Right. I gotcha. Okay.
• a question
• on,
• eight b on number four
• on the
• unpaid taxes.
• I was just wondering if when they're collected,
• does that money go back into the property tax
• revenue line or does it go into unassigned
• work, right, is that on June 1 of
• the year,
• we bill all the taxes. Right? Everybody gets one tax bill.
• The way that our budget works, and correct me treasurer if I'm wrong, is that we
• we assume that we're gonna get a 100%
• payment.
• So we we we account for all the revenue as soon as we bill it.
• And then
• that's correct. Yeah. And then as the payments come in, we post those payments against that billing.
• So at this point of the year in February 1, we get a report from the deputy treasurer that shows these are the
• property owners that have not paid. Right? And it's usually a very small number. Right? Out of, you know, 3,200
• parcels,
• there's 40 people that didn't pay. Right? So it's it's usually a very small number.
• And,
• you know, as once those payments once once you approve this list, that then triggers us sending out a mailing once again to these people. There's a notice that's publicly placed on the property. Mhmm. We it goes in the newspaper. Right? So so there's a full court press to
• advise these people, hey. You need to pay your taxes because you're severely overdue at this point. And then that money gets you know, that money will start coming in, and that money gets, posted to the property taxes that were issued in in June.
• I just wanted to pull out and just mention that, you know, we are accepting a proposal. We discussed it at the work session
• from a firm, a landscape architect firm to help us with some site development plans with Guevais.
• So, you know, just to be clear, we're engaging with a firm. We're not making any decisions at all on the park,
• but this is just another step in the direction of making Guevea a usable space for our residents.
• And we will be having a meeting
• dedicated to Guevea Park coming up in March,
• which will hopefully answer a lot of the
• public's questions about the history of Guevea,
• the work that's currently being done and planned for this year,
• and kind of where what the decision points are going forward,
• with the park. So more to come. And that is on March 2. Yes.
• All in favor? Aye. Aye.
• Proposed resolutions.
• Whereas
the village has received a draft franchise agreement from Verizon to provide cable television service in certain areas of the village, whereas Cohen Law Group has provided a proposal to assist the village in negotiations with Verizon.
• Whereas the village has previously used the Cohen Law Group to negotiate the franchise renewal with Altice for cable television services.
• Now therefore, it be resolved that the village board of trustees hereby accepts proposal from Cohen Law Group of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in an amount not to exceed $10,710
• and be it further resolved that the village managers hereby authorize to sign the engagement letter with Cohen Law Group for services related to the negotiations of a new franchise agreement with Verizon and be it further resolved that its funding for this expense was not included in the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six general fund budget. The Village Ward hereby authorizes the Village Treasurer to transfer $10,710
• from contingency account a 19904000
• to the following account a 14204000
• law contractual
• $10,710.
• Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion?
Well, mayor, I think the, the the next sound you hear is another quote in residence saying, yippee,
• for the the at least the opportunity to consider
• Verizon
• cable service manager. Could you lay out in very broad terms
• what the timeline might be from this point
• to some future point where that might be an opportunity
for a Croton resident to receive that kind of service. Yeah. I you know, in my discussions with Verizon, they're looking to move,
• expeditiously
• on this, and I think the village is also looking to do the same. So, I mean, I would be hopeful that
• by the summer, we would have this service in place.
• You know, our negotiations
• should hopefully not take that long.
• And then it's just a matter of,
• you know, if and when the board approves the agreement, I imagine you would,
• then it needs to be filed with the Public Service Commission, which could take a little bit of time.
• So, hopefully, the summer,
• if all things go well, we could we could have Fios TV. And the franchise agreement would roughly mirror the the Altice
• franchise? Yeah. There there are certain provisions in the
• franchise agreement that we just signed with Altice that basically have to do with competitive advantages. Right? So it's not like we can't really
• make like a a deal with Verizon and and charge them less than what we charge Altice or we we couldn't charge them more than right. I mean, the numbers have to be very similar. But there there will be a franchise fee? There will be a franchise fee. And and some funding for PEG public Correct. Public educational and governmental television.
• Correct. Wonderful.
• Yeah. And I mean, the franchise fee, we're probably not going to see I I could be wrong, but I would imagine that the franchise fee is probably gonna largely stay the same
• that
• the,
• net amount that we receive.
• You know, instead of receiving a 100,000 from Altice, we may now get 50,000 from Altice and 50,000 from Verizon. Right? I mean, I don't think there's gonna, again, I could be wrong, but I don't think there's gonna be a ton of people out there who currently don't have cable who are now going to suddenly
• sign up for cable. But I could be wrong. I don't know. But I think that what we will see is that we're gonna get
• some additional
• peg money, hopefully. Yes. You know, because
• we haven't been getting that at all. So that would be nice. Great. Yeah. Thank you. Great.
Yeah. I I think it's You were gonna say Go ahead. I was just gonna make a joke that hopefully Cohen
And and we we thank them, by the way, for their discount, you know. Yeah. Was that nice? Was very nice. Yeah.
• Gives residents more choice and also,
• helps us prepare for the future and generates income.
• I wanted to ask
• if given that this is a specialty area, I know we you and I had discussed that that this is, you know, this law firm is really specialized and they sound like a great choice to be negotiating
• with Verizon. Yep. Could we would we consider amending their scope
• to include
• getting an opinion on how we can build a new income stream with the CLEC's, the competitive local
• exchange carriers
• who currently, you know, transmit through our lines.
• I know the CLEC agreements are uncommon and legally complex,
• but
• nonexclusive
• conduit leasing arrangement or a flat fee may be an option for our village to pursue,
• and we can earn incremental income. And those collects include companies like
• Crown Castle, Lightpath, Zayo.
• And,
• you know,
• I'm sure you you might have been looking into this before I
I mean, I don't know. Joined as a trustee. Have you heard of any of that stuff,
• attorney?
Lori Lee, my office might know more so I could ask her about it. I haven't Yeah. I mean, because we don't we don't necessarily own
• but we really don't own any of the lines. Right? Those are mostly owned by Verizon.
• I yes.
• You're. Yeah. Utilities
• are supposed to have a franchise
• with the village. Right. So understand. Yeah. So I don't know
• if
• some of those companies that you mentioned,
• you know, forty years ago may have applied for a franchise. We'd have to go back in the records and see. Yeah. Yeah. And what I was reading is franchise
• fee.
• You know, like a fee for coming through.
• easements where they were broad enough and they that municipalities
• have benefited under those types of agreements. But those are highly specific to this is the easement that you have,
• and we have this right. And then you could allow some type of utility usually
• next to data centers. Yeah.
• I've seen that.
Yep. I'm happy to look into that because, you know, that could potentially be
Another Some money. Resource. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great idea. Yep. Thank you. I know it's complicate you know, I mean and this law firm may know, you know, maybe They they some guidance. Could.
• and they are running their lines through
• Croatan.
Yeah. No. We definitely because we've been dealing with the double pole situation.
• Right? And I know that some of those crown
• crown light, I think, or something. One of them is serves the school. Yeah. I'm not I don't I know that Crown Lite has been on some, and I think there's First Light Fiber is another one that, you know, that we've been dealing with because they have some lines that are on these double poles. So they're definitely they're definitely here.
• So Yeah. Yeah.
• Alright.
• For the discussion?
• All in favor? Aye. Aye.
• the village board of trustees approved an agreement with American Legion Fox Eckloff post five zero five to reimburse various costs related to patriotic observances
• and remembrances throughout the year, and whereas the agreement authorizes expenditures
• up to $2,500
• annually to reimburse the post for these services.
• And whereas the post hosted the Pearl Harbor Day ceremony this past December, which it hosts once every four years, and whereas the expenses for the ceremony
• exceeded the annual authorization under the current agreement.
• And whereas the village is desirous of amending the agreement to authorize reimbursement for the expenses associated with the ceremony. Now therefore be it resolved that the board of trustees hereby authorizes the village manager to execute an amendment to the agreement between American Legion Fox, Eckloth post five zero five and the village of Courtland Hudson to support patriotic observances and remembrances throughout the year for the period beginning 06/01/2022
• through 05/31/2027
• and be further resolved that the village treasurer is authorized to make the following budget transfer in the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six general fund budget. General expended expenses increased a $75.50
• dot 4,000. Celebration to contractual, $500.
• Decrease a $19.90 dot 4,000 contingency,
• $500.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson.
• is is largely focused on the additional expenditure in connection with the Pearl Harbor ceremony, I just wanted to point out again what a wonderful ceremony it was. And, you know, we get to do this on a rotating basis every four years. And Fox Eckloff really rose to the occasion and and put together a fantastic program. So look forward to this helping them out a bit well deserved.
• K.
Whereas in 2025, the village of Corona and Hudson board of trustees requested home rule legislation to lease sports field fences to certain nonprofit organizations
• for advertisements.
• Whereas governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation requested by the village into law on 09/10/2025.
• Whereas the court in the league desires to place advertisement banners at Dobbs Park Field. Whereas the lease agreement
• has been drafted to authorize the placement of these banners. Whereas the fees paid under this agreement will be used solely for the care and upkeep of the village's playing fields. Now therefore, it be resolved that the board of trustees hereby authorizes the village manager to execute an agreement with the Kronen Little League for the leasing of certain sports field fences for the placing of advertisement banners for the period beginning 01/01/2026
• through 12/31/2031.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion?
So, I mean, as the as the resolution says, we received this authorization.
• This was a situation that we're regularizing
• because the banners had been there. And so we wanted to as trustee Simon mentioned earlier, we wanted to get everything in a in a in a row and and legal. And so we've gotten this authorization now. So now we're able to have an official
• agreement with the little league and,
• you know, just have everything on the on the up and up. It it literally
• to to think within
• our three degree temperature
• that that someday baseball will be played again. And
• fee, how did we
land on that? So the fee that had been paid for a number of years,
• I believe, was $750.
• That's what Little League had been paying
• for, you know, my the whole time I've been here.
• So we just raised it a little bit,
• up to the $900. It's not really
• you know, we're not looking to make a lot of money on this. It goes toward parks and Yeah. Yeah. So we'll be getting so that money even before we had this agreement, that money was,
• basically put in a silo for the same purpose.
• So and we used the money that we had in that fund
• to,
• help pay for the,
• AED
• containers
• and the electric work that was needed. Right? So little literally paid for the actual machines themselves,
• and then we paid for the the, storage boxes and the electrician to do all the wiring and everything. So so that, you know, that money was it was helpful to have set aside for for something like that. Mhmm. Thank you. Yep.
• Further discussion?
• All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay.
Whereas in 2025, the village of Cardinal Hudson board of trustees requested home rule legislation to lease sports field fences to certain nonprofit organizations for advertisement,
• whereas governor Kathy Hochul signed the legislation requested by the village into law on 09/10/2025,
• and whereas court and ASO desires to place advertisement
• banners at David j Manus Memorial Field, and whereas the lease agreement has been drafted to authorize the placement of these banners,
• and whereas the fees paid under this agreement will be used solely for the care and upkeep of the village's playing fields. Now therefore be it resolved that the board of trustees hereby authorizes the village manager to execute an agreement with Cronin Aesop for the leasing of certain sports fields fences for the placing of advertisement banners for the period beginning 01/01/2026
• through 12/31/2028.
• I have the wrong year up there. So
• it says '20
• says 2031, but it's really supposed they
• when I had the way I had it drafted was a five year, but ASO requested a three year. So I just I have to update the resolution. So 2028.
• Okay.
• Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion?
Same same thing except this is, this will be a wholly new program.
• The ASO does not currently have banners,
• but they
• had wanted to,
• emulate what the Little League has been doing to raise some funds for their program. Right. So,
• again, now that we have this legislation in in place, I didn't wanna I didn't wanna start it until we have this in place. So now, you know, they were very happy to to
• hear that this was signed and that they could move forward.
I just wanna say I think it's a great opportunity. I'm glad to see ASO getting in on this. I am a former ASO board member. Yeah. And so
• the it the organization really works hard to keep fees
• low so that every child in the village who wants to participate, is
• almost every little kid
• in Croton starts sports
• in ASO. So
• and I can remember many years ago for
• for years and years Little League doing this. So I'm really excited to see ASO getting in on it
• and utilizing that space
• the the fence space down at Manas.
• So this
• is great news, I think. Yep.
• All in favor? Aye. Aye.
• for the installation and commissioning of a solar canopy at the DPW garage, and whereas this project is to be funded through grants awarded to the village by the New York State Energy Development and Research Authority. Whereas two bids were submitted by the deadline of 12/08/2025,
• and whereas the lowest responsible
• bid received was for Murvertown Solar of Dobbs Ferry, New York in the amount of $302,940.
• Whereas Lindsay Auden, chair of the village's sustainability committee, has recommended moving forward with the low bidder. Now therefore be it resolved that the village manager is hereby authorized to award bid number 21Of2025
• to Rivertown Solar of Dobbs Ferry, New York in the amount of $302,940.
Alright. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion? Oh, mayor, as long as long as the manager, pointed out,
• Lindsay's contribution to this. This this was particularly
• just really for for technical reasons, just took a long time and a lot of effort on his part to iron out some of the specific issues
• with the with the vendor and the state and
• just to make sure everything was was perfectly done. So we really appreciate his his extra effort
• on this, and I think we'll see the results at DPW.
• Amazing project. Hopefully,
• we can get it done. Absolutely.
• All in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright.
• Public comment on non agenda items. Anyone wishing to speak? This is your opportunity.
Hey. I'm Brian, Dale from Third Universe over on North Riverside Avenue. I'm here tonight representing the associating
• Association of Business in Croton.
• I just wanna speak on the, snow and the snow removal.
• It's great that we have, the DPW
• doing their work. It was finally cleared a week after the snow hit.
• But, a lot of the businesses in the association and other businesses, I'm sure, had noticed a lot, like, a a lesser amount of business during this past that past week.
• So and that's mainly due not because the roads were not clear because they were. It was the parking spaces that were not cleared out at all. And, I know years ago, we used to have must have had bigger trucks because I remember a bad snowstorm about fifteen years ago. And they came through and they did the roads and then they did the parking spaces afterwards.
• There were cars in the way, and I agree with, like, keeping the cars out of the way.
• But I think an option should be made for,
• where that's gonna be.
• Where can you park if you can't park, in the regular spaces? Because it's difficult to know, especially with the snow falling and everything.
• So,
• I I'd be recommending something like a map or something physical some people can see. You could park here, here, or here.
• And if you open up the train station for parking, immediately, think of, I have to pay for that parking.
• If the village would make it an exception during these extraordinary
• events where, you know, there'll be there's a section or something set aside for village residents and
• even some some business patrons,
• I believe that it would help the village overall
• if we had something along those lines to
• alleviate the pain because it was a full week before I had parking spaces in front of my place.
• And I know that's due to the ice, but, it's also due to the initial plowing.
• Whenever you plow the roads, if it turns to ice, everyone knows you can't plow it again. It's just you gotta do what we're doing now with the DPW picking up the snow, throwing it away.
• But
• during the initial snow, if you go and you send out the trucks initially to clear out those spaces quicker,
• within three days,
• it'll be fine, and, everyone can park there again within a day because
• everyone in the village is required to,
• clear the sidewalks the next day. It's like sidewalks are clear. Come on in. There's nobody walking
• because there's nobody that can park nearby.
• So and that's a requirement. Otherwise, the property owner or the business owner gets fined for whatever it is. And, I think the other thing I wanted to point out was
• the ticketing was a little bit quicker than normal.
• We haven't noticed that kind of ticketing before where the
• the cops were in front of my place, and, I I know Sonia was away at the time, and her car was parked there, and I didn't have the keys right away. And and the officer allowed me to clear off the car, and and I was able to and an hour later, we moved the car out of the way onto a tertiary street, the one next to mine, Bank Street.
• Then, it was not a problem, but, a lot of other patrons up in Upper Village got
• tickets for
• getting whatever they got during the storm. And, usually, that kind of ticketing happened overnight. It really didn't happen as soon as it started.
• We never I've never seen that before.
• So if there can be some kind of consideration given to us,
• where,
• you know, you give us some leeway and say, hey. I know the first ticket blitz, was was effective because on North Riverside
• during, the next snowstorm,
• there was no one parked on,
• the west or east side of, Riverside,
• and it still wasn't plowed. It was plowed just so that a couple cars can get through, but nobody could park
• anywhere.
• So, you know, in closing, I'd just like to say, I believe and I know this happened all over because I I go to other towns. It's this is not the only town that it's happened to. It was very hard to remove the snow and peakskill even, and that's usually really quick.
• So, I understand that, you know, that
• can happen and it is a bad snow,
• but I I think that the
• business association
• and, the village could work something out where we can do a little bit better than we did this time.
• And that's all I have to say.
Thank you. Mayor, if I could just do a a quick comment while mister Deo is still up there. Mister mister Deo, for those that don't know, is president of the the ABC, the Association of Businesses in Croton.
• And his
• his comments, I think, are exactly why we wanted to have
• a strong business organization in Croton to get this kind of constructive feedback. And I I know we all look forward to working with you on some of the ideas that that you put forward and see if there's ways that we can we can
• either alter or improve, you know, some of our techniques
• to assist the the the businesses. One thing I wanted to point out is that the the ABC website
• is
• about to go live. I know that you've been working hard on it, and I wanted to point out Sonia
• Ferrante in the audience from from third universe who's been very active in working with the ABC.
• And
• once it's up and running,
• the kind of information that you were talking about
• that in terms of if you can park here and you're and you're looking to to patronize one of our businesses, here's where you can park. That kind of stuff can I think can we can work with you to have that living on the on the ABC website? That would be helpful. Any any Yeah. As well as our own website. Any information you can give us will go on our website and our Facebook feed and Instagram feed so that we can we can do that. And, of course, we we have details to work out on this, but we we intend as as a municipality to be a member of the Good. Of the ABC. So Brian has good videos. We just saw his. It was very professional.
I enjoyed that. Thank you. I just wanted to thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• as a resident today. I rent on North Riverside.
• And because I rent, there are no parking spaces,
• so I have to park on the street. That's no big deal. You know, you alternate park twice a week. That's okay.
• During this snowstorm, though, it was very difficult. I parked on Bank Street, and the following day,
• I got spoken to a little aggressively by a woman who lived on that street because
• she was upset that the plows couldn't plow properly because I had parked on the street.
• But there's not really many other options for me since I have no parking space. I could park over here in the village lot.
• It fills up fairly quickly.
• I believe there is also some parking over at the train station,
• but how could I walk home?
• That's a little bit of a a conundrum there. So I will commend the DPW for the work that they did because I've been in the city the past two days, and it's not looking good.
• But if there were some sort of way similar to what Brian said where
• there is free parking available at the train station or elsewhere in the village as well as some sort of free transportation
• to get back to my place of residence and be able to pick up my car the next day, that would be great because
• I did feel bad that this woman felt dissatisfied by how her street was plowed because my car was there,
• but I didn't really have any options.
• In addition, since I do work at third universe, we did notice a drastic drop in attendance or events and customers coming in due to the lack of parking.
• I'm not quite sure how DPW prioritizes
• clearing the parking on different streets,
• but if there was any way to potentially prioritize the different business districts in town, I think that would be amazing
• for our businesses, and they would be very appreciative.
Could I be indulged for just one one more one more note? Sonya, while while I have you've done a lot of work in terms of our various events
• with the shuttle.
• Do you see the the potential
• for
• utilizing
• the shuttle
• during winter events after the roads are cleared
• to provide people an opportunity to do shopping and use using the shuttle because of their inability to to find parking for their cars?
Think it would be dependent on how well the village communicates that with the public.
• And I do know as well it can be hard after snow events.
• I just need to remember we had the shuttle.
I think it was a little after Thanksgiving. Could you just come up to the microphone because no one else can anybody who's watching can't hear. Sorry.
I do know that we've used it in the past. We used it for the winter shopping, like the little holiday market over here.
• But because of the snow,
• you would get off the shuttle,
• but there was nowhere to walk from here to the municipal building because the sidewalks were completely covered in snow, which could be a safety hazard.
• So I think that, yes, it could work. However, it would need to be properly communicated to the residents
• as well as incentivized
• in some way, you know, letting people know that, yes, we could go, you know, onto your street because
• people aren't gonna wanna wait outside while it's snowing or if it's icy out. So there'd have to be a lot of precaution in that regard. Okay.
• Few few quick
• comments before we get down to business.
• The human rights presentation at the library,
• which was done by
• an outstanding
• presenter,
• mister Mayo Gregory Bartlett,
• a lawyer.
• And the Human Rights Commissioner was there.
• I didn't really
• get effects on him, but Bartlett was,
• excellent.
• I was expecting the worst.
• I got
• and I got the opposite. It was actually an excellent presentation.
• And he made the point because
• a lot of his presentation
• applied to
• discrimination,
• racial,
• or intolerance
• issues, but it also applied to crime.
• And he emphasized the redemptive aspect that
• if you can redeem the perpetrator
• or prevent the incident from happening,
• it's even better than dealing with the after effect of the incident because many times that taste can't be washed away. So
• I commend him and the people that brought it there. I went there expecting the entire reverse.
• I know the reverse will happen in the future because I go to the idea committee, but that was, an excellent presentation.
• Item two,
• Govea.
• The recreation department should not be shipped to Govea. It's inconvenient.
• Everything that the village provides in terms of
• fees,
• stickers, etcetera, should be done here, tickets, etcetera.
• The village court should remain here, not be shipped to to town of Cortland
• unless with some ironclad agreement, which you can't guarantee
• that they devote a justice here and he stays here
• and uses this courtroom forever.
• Item three,
• maybe someone later will address the
• huge amounts of ice and snow on the solar panels, whether they generate electricity at this time, whether there's any the weight of those of that amount of snow on the solar panels has any effect or danger to the people that park below.
• Lastly,
• with with regard to ASO and Little League advertising,
• who will censor that advertising, who will select who to advertise, who couldn't.
• And then lastly,
• the boycott of CVS continues.
• CVS Drugstore is the second largest
• abortion provider in The United States
• to find the evil empire of Planned Parenthood.
• They provide their abortions through r u forty six, which on several occasions have presented the danger,
• the severe dangers to women where they have twelve percent of all people taking o u forty six,
• complex of two drugs,
• have serious injuries which are underreported
• because the press and and the politicians, especially in a state like this,
• hide that stuff.
• And the precedents to that are
• by the way, the the the
• female executive of CVS who brought that in
• and government law adjust that went with it. She
• presided over a decrease in profit
• and income,
• but profit of 33%
• and was fired by that corporation. Now she's running for senate or something in Rhode Island.
• Congratulations
• to her.
• The incidents we've seen in the past with
• drug companies and politicians experimenting on women
• include, if you remember, the IUD safety coil
• and the Dalkon shield.
• You remember low dosage and high dosage contraceptive pills, which we still have not documented the result of that, which a very wise man once said,
• it was the largest and longest uncontrolled medical experiment in the history of The United States
• on American women.
• We also remember the
• injectable contraceptives
• and what happened with that.
• And then Depo Provera.
• And then I remember calling on a
• international
• physician in New York Hospital, of them was a separate one.
• And, he asked me what I was wearing. I told him it was a pro life thing. He said,
• I don't believe in that stuff. But you know what really bothers me
• is the way we systematically experiment
• on poor women,
• using contraceptive
• and abortion devices.
• And last week, I brought to your intention, while Greenland is in the news,
• the experiments that Denmark made
• on native women
• when they were under the age of consent
• and they had IUDs inserted,
• which they did not know they had in their bodies
• until
• ten or fifteen years later,
• such as the state of medicine in United States. Times expired.
John Sasso, 87 Morningside Drive. I'm a member of the Recreation Advisory Committee.
• I think everyone knows I'm a big supporter of everyone on the board, including the mayor and the manager.
• But I'm really here
• Debbie Braddock, the chair of our committee couldn't be here tonight. He asked me to come and listen to what the trustees would have to say about the dog park issue,
• and there wasn't much said at all.
• And so I feel like I'm sort of speaking for all the dog park users, of which I'm not a dog owner.
• So let me just take it back to the beginning.
• Chairman Braddock took over and decided that everyone on the committee needed to go visit all the parks.
• Nora was there for many of the visits. We made a list of things that we thought would be improvements.
• Since I'm at the Bocce Court, I took the dog park.
• And Debbie and I did did many interviews,
• came up with a list of things that seemed very reasonable.
• We presented that to the board
• going back a couple of months ago.
• The trustees at the time seemed interested and had questions and wanted to hear more.
• At a subsequent meeting,
• Brian
• said that he learned that he would be the one to make the sole decision.
• And so Debbie and the group, we can vote, and it was unanimous that we supported these changes.
• Sent a letter to the trustees
• listing the really top issues that we supported and reasons why.
• Two days later,
• Brian made a decision.
• And we know you didn't have time to get together and talk about any of this because our hope was once we knew that the decision laid just with Brian,
• we wanted to have the trustees who represent the community to have input
• and perhaps sway the decision.
• And the decision was made,
• and a subsequent letter was just sent, I think, yesterday to the village trustees,
• again, asking for what their support would be. And so I'm really here tonight
• representing
• because the dog owners have been very trusting of the process.
• They've let us go through this with them, and we've told them step by step what we've been doing. And
• to hear tonight, Brian say, well, we're not gonna discuss it tonight.
• And
• not hearing anything from the trustees about it,
• I think if I was a dog owner at home listening to that, I'd be pretty ticked off.
• And I think rightly so.
• So
• I would hope at some point,
• I mean, we've they're willing to come here. They're organizing themselves to make a case. But if the decisions made before they can make a case doesn't seem fair,
• while I'm here, I'm gonna state the three main topics.
• One is that we did research in almost every,
• village and town in Westchester
• has sunrise to sunset hours for the dog park.
• Croton is the only one that ends 04:00 Saturday and Sunday.
• The other is when we check the noise ordinance,
• people can cut their lawns till 06:00,
• but they can't bring a dog to the dog park after 04:00.
• Again, what's reasonable? That doesn't sound reasonable.
• And the other is that they would want the opportunity to speak to the board about it before decision's made.
• So you have it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• responding to a couple things that people
• said during the comment session.
• I want mister
• I wanna say something about the the dog park.
Oh, I thought it wasn't that you talked about. No. Well, I just wanted to I wanted to be able to respond to what a couple people said. This is the part of the meeting where the board gets to speak and address the public. So There was not a time before this for the board to talk about this.
• where we are with the dog park right now is,
• in the past when the discussions about the dog park were had and I was the
• I can't remember if I was the chair of the recreation advisory committee at the time or if I was just on recreation advisory committee at the time. Maybe because I tried to block it out because it was so traumatic.
• But what happened was at the recreation advisory committee meetings,
• both people who were in favor of
• what
• in favor of the dog park,
• broadly speaking, and not in favor of the dog park came and had a discussion there.
• And
• that was how the recreation advisory committee came up with the recommendations that were made.
• And I think
• that
• my understanding is
• because I'm not the liaison, so I I'm only the secondary liaison, so I'm not I wasn't at the meetings where this was discussed.
• But I am fairly sure that
• the
• that process didn't occur at the rec at at the at the REC.
• I don't think dog park dog owners
• or people who utilize the dog park and people who live near the dog park and have feelings about how it's being utilized. I don't my understanding is those people didn't both have a conversation at the RAC.
• So the way it happened before was it was announced by the RAC.
• It was on the agenda, and then people came, and there was a large community discussion at that community meeting.
• And then and from that came the the advice of the
• RAC,
• not just,
• and I'm not minimizing the work you did because I know how much work you guys have done, but it wasn't just from the observations,
• and the feedback of a couple people who knew about it. It was, like, more broadly
• an
• you know, advertised
• to residents to come and speak on both sides of it. So I feel for me personally,
• I don't I you know, I have heard from people on both sides, but I didn't I don't feel like we've gone through the same type of process we went through last time to get where we are now
• to figure out what the next the next part of that process
• would be. I
• I do think that there is more to talk about on this for sure.
• You know, I didn't know that the manager made some decisions and we made some decisions.
• I just personally, I think that we need to hear from more people
• because at the last meeting, I can't I think there were only a couple people here and it was a work session. So was it a work session where we talked about it? So we haven't really had the opportunity
Sorry. Not to interrupt you. We talked about it at a regular board meeting and then we talked about it at a work session the following weeks. We actually talked about it twice.
Right. Yeah. So I do all I'm saying is I do think that there is more conversation
• to be had about this,
manager, just for clarification to Is it is it possible to do it in your report?
• Just that no decision has been made, manager, regarding the
• additional
• participation
• of the dog park
• by schools
No. That that decision is up to the board. Right. Right. Okay. I just want to clarify that. Thank you. All
I'm saying is that I do think that it's it warrants a little bit more discussion, and it warrants a little bit more discussion both at the committee level and probably at this at at at this level.
• So I I know you don't have the the opportunity to respond in the way that the meeting is right now, but I don't it's just as the the format of the meeting doesn't allow it, the back and forth. The committee unanimously recommended this. So it's not a matter of more of the So sorry. Sorry. We we really shouldn't be having this kind of back and forth. Anyway, so I just wanted to address it. I I think that at the committee, both both sides residents who represent both sides should, the committee should at least hear from residents on both sides,
• as part of the
• decision making process. And I don't believe that's happened. Maybe I'm maybe I don't
• am misinformed,
• but that's what I think.
• So once that's happened, then I think we could have another conversation about it
• to to make that decision.
• Regarding moving the rec department to Govea, I just wanted to say that a lot of recreation
• departments in other municipalities are located not in the municipal building, but in
• the parks.
• And my understanding is
• that most of the functions in terms of
• registering for a class or doing that type of thing would still be or paying for something through the recreation department would still be able to happen at this building if people wanted to do it that way. It would just give the opportunity for once the space at Kubeya is
• open to the public, more programming would the the current staff would be able to run more programming
• and more robust programming because they're located in a spot where that can happen.
• And then finally, just about the snow and businesses. I think we got both from the business perspective and the resident perspective.
• I think we did get a lot of feedback during the snowstorm
• regarding
• the
• parking
• and snow removal and a lot of that. And I think that,
• as everyone said,
• and I will echo, the DPW,
• it does unbelievable work. But I think there is an opportunity for us maybe at a work session sooner rather than later to just talk about some of the things that were brought up. I I don't wanna second guess how any snow removal is done. I can only be grateful at how well the snow is removed on my street, but I happen to live on a residential street with
• two spots in my garage and two spots in my driveway for cars. So I although I do sympathize because people on my street don't have parking.
• I just think that there's a lot to talk about on this topic, and I think that we there is some room for improvement and and some opportunity to do things a little bit differently. So I would like to,
• especially
• for the residents
• who have suggestions about how the parking has gone and if they were ticketed and the businesses who are maybe impacted by this. So I think there's a space that. Yeah. For this on a on a work session
• sooner rather than later. I don't know how we you know, obviously, we have these we have several business organizations
• that probably have input.
• There are there's just a lot of moving pieces, but I think that
• if we could talk about it at a work session soon, that would be good. I don't even know how you get your arms around that topic, but it feels like there are a lot of people in the village who wanna talk about it. And I would like to talk about it with my colleagues in a way that is more than us just reacting to to some very, helpful comments, but also very
• narrow comments. You know, I'm sure there are a lot of other people.
• Like the lady who's mad at you where you parked. Her opinion is different than yours, but I think that we can find solutions for everybody. So
• all that being said, I speaking
• of the storm
• communication,
• as you know, I've been a big advocate for
• sending out text messages
• as well as emails and putting things on Facebook. And I
• I'm I know that you were reluctant,
• so I appreciate you doing it. I am so grateful when I get a text message
• seeing where the snow removal is going to happen. And I have had people say, I know Brook Street's gonna be closed because,
• so thank you for doing that. I do think it's making a a big difference,
• so I appreciate it. There are a couple events coming up this weekend that I'm sure my colleagues are gonna talk about, but I do just wanna say, of course, Eagle Fest is this weekend,
• which is always great. Also, the arts and humanities
• advisory
• committee
• has organized the Aaron Copeland tribute this Sunday at 02:00 at the library.
• That committee works so hard on so many things,
• and all the events they put on and all the activities they do are amazing.
• So I would highly recommend that people do that. And also,
• there's a blood blood
• emergency
• shortage,
• and there are lots of opportunities to donate. But, gratefully, there's one in the village on the twenty first. So I would really ask that people please
• attend that if they are able.
• I have a question about tax grievance day. It's usually in the past, it has been in February.
• Yes. And now this year I I think it was in the newsletter Yes. That you put this, but I just wanna keep reminding people because
• I think if people were used to grieving or thinking about it, that the fact that it was in February, it and it was in that room in this room. It is now not in February, and it is now not in this room. It is now in June, and it is now at the town of Portland. And so I just wanna make sure that we keep reminding people of that because it's a significant change from the past.
• I just have two three other very quick things. I the valedictorian and salutatorian at the high school were named this week,
• and I just wanted to congratulate Jeremy Pollock and Maja Sebastian,
• on those incredible honors,
• and making Cronin very proud. And also Dani Koski,
• received a Scholastic silver key for,
• artwork that she created. So congratulations to them. And then finally,
• today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. And so just a shout out to all our female athletes in the village,
• of which I'm the mother of two. So I just really wanted to
• shout them out because
• they make us proud.
• Thank you.
• Okay. I wanna thank all the speakers tonight.
• It was actually refreshing to hear from you, Brian, from the business council. I that's new from from me at least, and I I really appreciated
• your point of view and look forward to
• discussing ways that we can continue, you know, to support local businesses here. So with the snow removal, I agree with
• trustee slip in that it's a great opportunity for us to have a
• more deeper dive discussion on,
• you know, kinda key learnings and what we can consider doing. And if potentially we need to hire more contractors
• to help,
• you know, with some things initially
• so that businesses have more spaces, you know, just I know there are lots of implications to things, but
• I think the manager
• and DPW
• has done an outstanding job there. So thank you. And
• and with respect to the RAC, I'm grateful for all the recommendations
• that the RAC has presented. I believe that we approved all of them except
• for that one.
• Just I think there's just more work and discussion needs to be done on that one, but, you know, all the others were unanimously,
• I believe, approved.
• So thank you for that.
• I wanna recognize the Croton Senior Citizens Club for their achievement,
• and strong engagement with a 130 active members.
• This past week, our village rec department held a fantastic Korean barbecue luncheon at K Pot. Oh, wow. And they went there by shuttle, and
• they had a big culinary adventure,
• and they cooked right at their table. Special
• shout out to Joanna Straub,
• our part time director of senior programming for facilitating such a great trip.
• And the next trip
• that the rec department is planning with the seniors is, to Southern Table Kitchen. It's a lunch on February 17, so I encourage anyone to go because they seem to have, so much fun,
• in doing that. So
• that is my report.
• Thank you. And
• snow removal and parking. So
• trustee Simon and I were up in Albany yesterday and the day before meeting with other municipalities.
• The hot topics are the same no matter where you go.
• It's parking and it's housing.
• So, you know, I think that we need to think about
• kind of the parking on North Riverside.
• I know that, you know, as we kind of go into the budget ary process,
• thinking about expanding the parking here at the municipal building,
• that's potentially a capital priority.
• We also own the lot at the edge of Brook Street
• as municipal parking. So I think that there's there's gotta be some opportunity
• to expand
• parking options in general in the village.
• And I think the snowstorm,
• really just sort of amplified the need for parking,
• in the village because it is so tricky.
• It's when it snows. So appreciate your feedback. And we really just need to kind of think about it because it's it's a greater problem. Parking is kind of a greater problem in the village for businesses, especially.
• So more to more to come. And I think we can sort of talk about talk about that as part of the budget process.
• I just wanna kind of say at the
• conference that we were at, you know, also what came up is affordability.
• We talked a little bit about,
• trustee Nachtala talked about insurance rates.
• What was striking to me, we, you know, there is some there's
• some reform,
• that the governor is trying to do in the insurance industries,
• including with auto insurance.
• These numbers were striking to me. I just wanted to share. And since 2020,
• auto insurance has gone up 50%,
• homeowners insurance has gone up 70%,
• and health insurance has gone up 395.
• Just
• staggering numbers in terms of affordability.
• So
• that, you know, that was a very interesting conversation.
• Tom
• DiNapoli,
• our controller,
• is a really, you know, I I think a really straight shooter.
• He did speak about,
• you know, we continue as the state
• to
• to beat our projections
• when it comes to revenues, which is really positive.
• You know, we talked a little bit about the comeback since COVID,
• really lower Hudson Valley, and the city is driving that comeback. So it's not necessarily
• equally distributed, but it is nice to see that our revenue projections continue to exceed.
• Know, he talks about kind of the out year, but it's interesting. This is my third time going.
• He seemed a lot more maybe because he's running this year, he seemed a lot more optimistic,
• even though, you know, it's all doom and gloom kind of out there. So that that I thought that was very interesting. We also kind of learned about pavement deterioration
• curves,
• which the manager you'll appreciate, but kind of the cost of
• fixing pavement before it gets bad.
• And I think that we are, you know, laser focused on that in the village of trying to make repairs
• to the village roads before they get too expensive because the multiplier is really considerable.
• So I
• again, I'm sure my colleague, Glenn, will talk
• more about the NICOM conference, but, you know, those were those were some of my highlights. Oh, one other thing. Sorry.
• ADUs.
• So Kingston
• has ADU laws.
• You know, they're really trying to propel growth there
• in their ADUs. I don't think we're quite the same, but they did have an innovative idea
• of having preapproved plans
• for folks,
• so that, you know, things were already, you know, preapproved plan. All the all the, resident would need to do was a survey. And then there was kind of a a box kind of plan ready ready to go. So I just thought that was interesting and and thinking about kind of our
• our planning and our,
• you know, the building in the village and how we could maybe make these processes just a little bit easier for our residents. But I thought that was very innovative and interesting.
• And then, you know, just to talk about, you know, the the dog park,
• you know, I did share with the recreation advisory committee. I do appreciate their feedback and their
• and and their recommendation.
• At the Recreation Advisory Committee, I did share
• my you know, when this recommendation was being made, I did share with y'all that, you know, there was a very long negotiation
• that happened between dog park,
• participants
• and residents. It was a two year long
• negotiation,
• and it was a very, very
• difficult negotiation.
• And I'll I'll let, I'll let my colleague
• to the right sort of talk about it, but,
• that that final decision was made in 2023.
• So I think that I had several conversations with neighbors
• and they were not quite ready to
• to support a lengthening of dog park hours.
• I will defer to the manager because it is indeed his decision.
• But I I do think that the the neighbors around the dog park were very much
• concerned.
• You know, I think that they were feeling I think there were there were a lot of bad feelings
• about between the res the the dog park participants
• and the neighbors. And I think things had kinda gotten to a good spot.
• And I think this kind of, you know, this suggestion that we extend hours really brought up a lot of emotion
• from the neighbor's side. I also wanna point out that this neighborhood
• is about to go into
• a pretty dramatic change with the introduction of a new Quaker Bridge.
• They are going to have
• 60 trees cut down
• in that area in the next few months.
• A new bridge is gonna be built in the next few months.
• So I think just out of respect for the residents in that neighborhood,
• I I'm gonna agree with the manager. I think that there is an opportunity to look at this in the future. But for right now, the timing was just not quite right. But I appreciate the racks recommendation,
• and we can look at it in the future. And, you know, if the manager gets more information,
• you know, he's always able to change
• his mind. Thank you.
Thank you, trustee Nixon. And just, just because you ended with that, I'll just, you know, say one word.
• The the approach we took on a lot of those issues, whether signage,
• time of day,
• even, you know, shrubbery for insulation,
• it was
• dog owners and residents together.
• And the
• what guided us at that point, and it was just a
• small group, was that nothing was agreed to until everything was agreed to. And we just sort of sequentially went through
• a range of issues and and eventually got there. And and perhaps this is the this is the time to reconvene that process and get everyone at the table and and see if
• see if there are some possibilities of of changes. And I'd be I'd be happy to be part of that down down the road. You know, there's there's others at the table that can do that as well, plus our our our wonderful recreation committee. So I I think there's there's still some work to be to be done. And just to reiterate what I'd what I'd said before, that's the hours issue and then the the question of the school board
• or or school
• school system residents is a separate issue, and we can we can get to that one as well. But back on on
• on our
• meeting in Albany, and I think it was suggested earlier
• that from during public
• comments participation,
• you know, that,
• you know, we ought to be speaking truth to power in effect, saying saying to people
• what we what we don't like and what we do like. And and I think we were able to achieve that in in Albany
• in the last couple of days through our New York conference of mayors and municipal officials,
• we really focused on three items as priorities.
• The the transportation
• budget,
• the budget of general assistance to municipalities,
• which is called AIM,
• and the the the the clean water and drinking water infrastructure budget. And
• I think without without hesitation
• or without any any qualification,
• I think the organization and and the individuals
• said,
• you know, the the governor's budget as proposed, while we appreciate the funding that's in there,
• it is not adequate.
• And mostly because it doesn't properly take into account the ravages of inflation over the last several years. Most of these
• programmatic funds in these key areas are are pretty flat with some increases, but not enough to to make up for inflation. So we said that to to the public.
• We specifically said it in
• the Capital Building itself on the on the stairs when
• we had a a press conference with probably about 50 or 60
• representatives
• there. So I think we're being, you know, pretty clear in in areas where we think there can be significant improvement
• in the state budget, and we'll continue that conversation. In fact, on Friday when our Westchester
• municipal officials
• meets
• with our own Westchester delegation on in Greenberg on Friday, and we'll we'll be talking about those same issues. But I did wanna say the governor was, you know, kind enough to invite us to her home, which is, you know, always always nice nice to be there. She talked about her budget, and then she talked about some regulatory
• reforms,
• particularly in the SECRA area, the the environmental review area that I think most municipal officials
• think are are pretty interesting.
• We we had a very brief moment to to say hello to her and thank her for
• what what what she's done for Croton,
• which in fact is
• specifically
• signed five pieces of legislation that were that were home rule bills for for Croton, whether it's
• our our little league advertisement and a few others. So it was it was good to be there, but but especially also good to to roaming around in the room where not only the governor and and we we municipal officials, but also lots of the governor staff and appointees, and we got a chance to to talk with them about what's going on in Croton. So that was that was good. As trustee Nicholson said, it was always good to hear the controller.
• The attorney general came by and and and met with us as well, which was which was very helpful,
• and talk about what her priorities are for the year ahead.
• And
• and then
• excellent
• prep workshops on for the ones that I attended, smart growth infrastructure,
• the affordability conference, and and so forth. So it was really
• an excellent excellent couple of days up there.
• A couple other things while we're here.
• We last week, we had a project
• mover
• phase two meeting.
• We're we're gonna be looking at ways that
• that the project goes on after 2027,
• which we'll we'll have more details on as we as we go forward. And there is a a village press release that went out just this afternoon that that summarizes
• what our first phase was, which I think everyone
• acknowledges
• was very successful.
• And and I really have to take my hat off to
• all of our wonderful residents here in Croton who who gave bike share and project mover a wonderful try and seem seem to have liked it. So
• our planning board met on January 27. Trustee Nach Taylor and I were were there and
• the planning board very efficiently
• since we were talking about ADUs,
• processed two additional
• ADUs,
• and and at long last approved the signage for Mirage Mirror and Glass at
• at 425
• South Riverside. So looks like they'll be in business, you know, fairly soon. And last but not least, I think it was trustee Slippin who mentioned
• the Eagle Fest.
• It is going to be very cold on Saturday,
• but the Eagle Fest temps
• tents will be very warm. So Like last year. Like yeah. So we encourage everyone to come out to
• to Eagle Fest. You'll be cold as you walk from the train station or the parking lot, but you'll be you'll be warm once you get inside those tents. And if anyone has
• any questions about it, just go to ttown.org.
• You've got all the information there, including hours
• of operation, ticket purchases, and some of the features that you'll see there. I was I was honored to be with the mayor at the press conference kicking off Eagle Fest last Friday and
• met a wonderful owl. They didn't have an eagle there, but they did bring a very wise owl
• there inside. And we were we were exceedingly grateful. Usually, this annual press conference is at Croton Point Park. And
• although I'm always, you know, delighted to be anywhere in Croton, the fact that it was indoors at T Town
• was some somewhat comforting.
• So
• we're looking forward to a great Saturday.
• For those of us that have friends
• that live in the city, say,
• for example, that from time to time have
• suggested they might wanna come to to Eagle Fest, there is a special the MTA was a part of our press conference. The president of Metro North was there,
• and he talked about
• a special Eagle train
• to Croton Point Park departing at 09:25AM
• from Grand Central Terminal
• and 08:58 from Poughkeepsie,
• each train going different directions featuring
• a dedicated car with a T town guest. Right? Guest speaker, a naturalist right right in the car. So as your train is going along, you'll learn all about birding and what to expect at Edelfest. Look forward to seeing everyone there. That's
• K. Very good. So,
• you know, I think that the whole board has tremendous appreciation for the RAC's work and as does the manager and his manager Healy indicated, he's very happy to meet,
• you know, at when he's available,
• when his schedule allows for him at the upcoming
• RAC meeting
• to hear the committee out on this and provide some more
• detailed explanation for his decision.
• With regards to the question of snow and snow removal,
• I agree that it makes sense for us to review our snow removal process and policies.
• You know, that's gonna also have to be scheduled permitting. Obviously,
• DPW,
• including its leadership, is incredibly
• taxed at the moment. And,
• you know, even after the snow abates, I imagine that they will be catching up on a lot of other important responsibilities.
• So it will have to be consistent with the their availability, but I think it is worth having it for those reasons, though. I think it's probably unlikely to happen
• during the winter, especially if our very own Westchester's very own Cluxet, Tani Henrietta, is right. And,
• you know, we have an early spring.
• I sadly, I feel like she is wrong, though. And
• and we're gonna need to have continued patience. And I think that's
• kind of the watchword here, right, is
• we
• have to recognize we could
• always do better, but there's only so much that can be done in a situation where you have a once in a decade storm. It's 20 you know, we haven't had weather like this really since 2016 and
• before that, maybe 1996.
• And when you have a heavy snowfall combined with
• lengthy periods of subfreezing
• temperatures,
• it's just it's gonna be hard all around, and it's not gonna be a frictionless
• period in anyone's life.
• Sonia, I hear you loud and clear on the challenges of not having off street parking. I lived in North Riverside Avenue for a number of years.
• And, again, going back to the particular
• challenges of a storm like this, right, is, you know, from all all my time living there,
• it was possible to park on the DOT right of way. And in fact, legally, it is. But physically, at the moment, I can't imagine it's actually possible.
• You know? And that just is kind of when the weather's bad enough,
• you know, everything is pushed to its limit, but we should look to see what we can do to accommodate people
• in hardships and situations like that in extreme weather.
• And that being said,
• I also wanna welcome
• well, we say goodbye to Darren Weber, who we recognize his
• letter of resignation.
• And we also wanna welcome some new folks
• or, some
• not new because he's already serving on a village board. But, Matthew Berger, I would like to appoint Matthew, to the CBA. He's currently the chair of the Visual Environment Board.
• As members of the board are aware, if we approve our, you know, proposed
• guidelines for the boards and committees, you know, there will be a time when,
• he will need to transfer. He's aware of that possibility.
• And so, you know, that's something that we're we're preparing for that progression on VAB already.
• And I also would like to,
• reappoint,
• Peter Settlemeyer and Emily Baguio Baguiolli to, the RISC,
• now that they are in position to continue their terms or for new terms.
• Do we have a motion? Yep. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by, trustee slip slip in, second by trustee Simon.
• All in favor? Aye. Aye.
• Because I I do I just wanted to thank everybody for their comments, and I just wanted to thank,
• the mayor,
• for what his comments,
• just now because
• there's definite there's always room for improvement, and we're always happy to have the the conversations about what we can,
• what we can do to make things better. But, you know, as I started out my first report,
• you know, we just start asking for people's patience because this was the biggest storm that we've had in a decade.
• And the
• stretch of subfreezing temperatures
• is
• in, like, the top 10 of records in the hundred and fifty years. Right? It's this is highly
• unusual
• because we're not you know, there's no melting going on. Mhmm. So we're not getting any help from
• the weather itself, and so we are are just out there having to do our best
• to,
• try to get things clear.
• And,
• as mister Deo suggested,
• we are prioritizing
• the business districts.
• You know, the Upper Village was done first on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. We did Harmon on Friday because that's when their alternates
• are scheduled, and we did North Riverside,
• on Tuesday of this week because Tuesdays are when their alternates are scheduled. We tried to we tried to match it up with the alternates as best we could to not,
• know, to limit the disruption to people because we're cognizant of the fact that there is limited parking and trying to make people have to shift more than they already have have to,
• is we were trying to limit that.
• So, you know, I'm we're absolutely open to having a conversation.
• As the mayor said, I think it probably
• wouldn't be happening until after this winter.
• I also wouldn't wanna necessarily make any changes midstream because I think that might be confusing to people.
• But, you know, we've we've gotten a lot of a lot of good feedback from everybody, you know, including the feedback we got this evening about, you know, things that we can do differently with regards to the seasonal parking, things that we can do differently in regards to sidewalks,
• crosswalk. Alright. I mean, we've gotten a lot of feedback. And, you know, we we like I said earlier as well, we appreciate all that feedback. And, you know, we wanna try to make things as as good and as safe as they can be.
• So
• you know? And just one other thing I wanted to point out,
• we did provide free parking at the train station in this most recent storm.
• People were allowed to park there, through Monday
• with their weekend stickers.
• So and I know many residents did take advantage of that because I got a number of messages from people, you know, thanking me for allowing them to do that. They didn't have to clean off their car because they were parked under the canopy. So,
• you know, I I've I think if we get storms
• that are you know, we were able to do that in part because we knew based on the severity of the storm that the train traffic into the city would be extremely limited. So we were able to offer those permit spaces
• to residents knowing that they would not be
• used by the regular permit holders. We can't do that on every two inch storm because, you know, people are gonna still go to work in in that. But, you know, I think I think this was this is the first time that we've done this
• where we extended
• the weekend parking permits to allow people to park there. I think it was a success. I think if we get, you know,
• moderate to major snowstorms in the future, we can we can do that again,
• and and make that available to people.
• So,
• and I think we've pretty much covered, you know, all the information with regards to the RAC.
• I absolutely do wanna come and talk. I've been to a number of your meetings, you know, last year. Unfortunately,
• this this month's meeting moved,
• and I wasn't able to go because I had a previous engagement on Monday evening.
• But, you know, I I did send an email to the chair.
• You know, I didn't get a response. I understand that, obviously, it was received,
• but I am absolutely open to coming and talking to everybody. And,
• you know, as I said in that email,
• you know, I'm happy to have a further conversation and revisit the the decision, you know, with if there's new information, more information,
• you know, this is it's a it wasn't a final decision. It's an ongoing
• conversation.
• So
• that's all for my second report. Alright. Thank you, manager.
K. Very good. Thank you all, and have a great night. Take care. Thank you. We're going So do I have a motion to go into executive session? So it doesn't matter. Consent in place, no. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. On favor, aye. We will not be returning to public session.