I put allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice all. Okay.
• Do I have a motion to for the approval of Thatchers? Or sorry. The next item of business is the approval of Thatchers, treasurer, or yes.
The general fund has $214,172.57. The water fund has the water fund has $27,220.70. The sewer has $4,603.38. The capital fund has $89,437.83. And the trust fund has $9,838.38.
Alright. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye. Alright. Fantastic. Responses to questions submitted via email. No questions, mayor. Alright. Public comment on agenda items. Anyone wishing to comment on any agenda item? This is your opportunity.
Sure sure wish you had a larger screen so we could see something. Ed Riley from Truesdale Drive. There's some general, questions rather than comments on the agenda item number seven. This is on a deal with AARP, which is a terrible organization, organization, by the way, to to have a flashing beacon on Maple Street. I assume that has something to do with slowing down, cars at the school. Maybe, the village manager or the mayor could enlighten us on that. That's number seven, the flashing light on Maple Street. And then item number nine, the village is going to execute a joint agreement with Historic Hudson Valley. Looks like a law firm regarding litigation at, Van Cortlandt Manor. I'd like to know what that litigation is since we provide their police protection, although they pay for it. And I believe the public is paying for their road. And I love historic Hudson Valley, but I'd like to know about this. Why are we paying for their attorneys? And what is the lawsuit about?
• Hydro number 10 is, I believe, a number of people in the village have stated that the word about the cost of and I've heard this multistate, problem, is the cost of storing all this camera material from, police cameras. I understand it's a big problem. I understand the length of time that the information is stored is excessive, and they understand the cost could be a very big number. And so I would like somebody on the board to address that.
• And lastly, this is an easy one for the village manager.
• How many veterans banners this is item 14. How many veterans banners are there in the village, and what price do people pay for them? Where can they get them? And is there or should there be a maintenance fee for putting them up every year? Thank you.
• Seeing no no one else wishing to speak, we proceed to the reports of the manager. Manager, if you wanna respond to any of the queries that were made Yep. In their report. If you want me to deal with the HHV one. Yeah. Let why don't we let the attorney address the HHV item first? Okay. Historic
Hudson Valley and the village, there's this project into the gateway, and I'll let the village manager describe the project in a little more detail. But there was a contractor who was sold who was chosen. They eventually did not had some issues with certifications via via the state and going forward with certain public bidding requirements that needed to occur. The HHV had in entered into an indemnification agreement with us. They wanted to go a different way with the contractor. We have they noticed the claim against us. They then sued us. HHV is stepping in to indemnify the village at no cost to the village. My fees have also been covered by the by HHV in regards to this as well. So that is the situation. If any more explanation is needed, we're happy to go through it. The public the filings are obviously public.
Thank you. And just, you know, the project is a very old project. It goes back to, you know, 2009. It's basically the beautification of their entryway at the end of South Riverside Avenue as well as some necessary site work, upgrading of the water main, the electrical lines, fire hydrants, all the just some necessary upgrades on the actual property. Okay. So the question about the veterans banners. The veterans banners are, know, the families pay $225 per banner. There were a total of a 117 banners that were put up, this week. They they I think they started at the beginning of the week, and I think they finished today, putting them up all throughout the village. You know, we have not charged a maintenance fee or a storage fee or a rehanging fee or anything like that. You know, I mean, obviously, that's up to the board to decide, but I don't necessarily think that that's, you know, a needed fee.
• You know, the the we started this program in 2019, I believe. So some of these banners are reaching the end of the the road. Mhmm. Right? Because they've been up and down so many times. So, you know, if people that we may have to reach out to people after this year and ask them if they would like to repurchase, you know, or if they would like to just, you know, take the take the old one back as part of their, as part of their purchase.
• And then the the grant for AARP, that it was for the rapid flashing beacon on, Maple Street at Van Cortlandt. That was in the the capital budget that was approved by the board, and, we applied to a AARP for a grant, and we were successful. So, you know, it's just a very nice, it's not gonna cover the whole cost, but it will cover almost half of it. So, you know, it's just it's less money that, you know, we need to spend either through debt service or fund balance or or taxes. So, so that's appreciated. And then let's see. So I think that answers the questions that were raised. Items that I had in my report, I just wanted to share with those who are watching that the variance application that was made for 52 Mount Airy that had been the subject of the zoning board for a couple of months has officially been withdrawn by the applicant. So this information was communicated to the neighbors who had expressed concerns about it, but just in case there were, others who who might be interested, I wanted to let everyone know that that has officially been withdrawn by the applicant. So there's no, at this point, there's no further, applications for that property.
• Next, I think many people over the past two weekends have heard some loud music, bass, noise, whatever you would like to call it, coming from the general vicinity of the river. Our police department spent a good deal of time last Sunday investigating this, working with Ossining and Westchester County Police, Rockland County Police, the town of Haverstraw. They checked out Corner Point Park. Rockland County checked out,
• one of the state parks over there. That Rockland County sheriff sent their boat on the river to try to see if they could locate a boat that was playing this loud music. All the all the efforts were fruitless. They were not able to identify, the source of the of the noise, but we will continue to investigate it if it if it shows up again next next weekend. You know, the chief is is ready to deploy our own boat if needed to try to assist in locating it, you know, and we'll we it does not seem like it's coming from within the confines of of the village. It seems like it's coming from outside the village that is
Yeah. Manager, so far, it's as far as we know, it's been limited to the weekends.
I believe it's the past two Sunday nights. Right? I mean, if anyone has information to the contrary, let me know. But I believe that's when It was the same
I I believe so. Yeah. Oh, okay. Good. I think it I think it was the past two Sundays there's been this this
• loud bass noise on Sunday night. So
Just because I had and I don't I didn't think to question it, but somebody told me that two weeks ago it was something at Hudson National. It was where the noise was coming from. I don't know if that was true or not. That was just what I had heard. I think I think that might have been an assumption. I don't think that's yeah.
• So if if there's more to report on that, I certainly I certainly will.
• Just wanted to thank everyone for their patience this week with our machines in the parking lot. They have been having some intermittent trouble with accepting credit cards. So, they have they've continued to accept cash, and then people were able to use either the app or by calling ParkMobile to pay if they wanted to use a credit card. So, yeah, there were no issues in actually accepting payment. We had multiple ways to do that, but it was just more of an inconvenience for people. So I just wanna thank everyone for their patience. It does appear that we got we got an email at about 05:00 this afternoon that they able to fix the problems. Hopefully, for people parking tomorrow, it will be back to normal. But just, you know, pay attention to any signage that's there and, you know, the directions of the park reinforcement. It might have been system wide for park mobile. I was having trouble with them in DC. Yeah. I I think it it wasn't it wasn't related to us. It was something throughout the throughout the system. Manager, do you know if any tickets were given out? There was regular enforcement that was going on because there were, you know, there were ways to pay for it. So yeah. So enforcement was not suspended. So yeah. I mean, the signage was up telling people, you know, you can't use this you can't pay with a credit card here, either pay with cash or use use the app or call this telephone number. The app is only accessible if someone has a, I assume, a smartphone. I know. That's why there's a telephone number that you can call if you don't have a smartphone. So yeah, the signage I mean, the signage is there. It it spells it spells it out. So
• okay. And then, we had just a reminder, we had the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, and so there'll be no, trash pickup, and the offices will be closed. Our summer hours start on June 1, and so the offices are open Monday through Thursday, 08:30 to 04:30, and then Friday, we close at two. So that continues June 1 through Labor Day.
• Dobbs Park Playground officially opened last Friday, which is very exciting. And we're hoping that the basketball courts will be finished. I think I they were hoping to have them finished by the end of this week, but it's looking more like next week. So, once we have once we have that work done, we'll set an official ribbon cutting date and celebrate accordingly. And then we have, excuse me, we have our annual summer leaf blower ban that is taking effect as of June 1. We have sent out our reminder letter to all of the landscapers that we have contact information for. I was able to get a list of landscapers from the village of Tarrytown, so that greatly increased the number of people that we're able to mail to. So I'm hoping that the word is is getting around more this year. We also have purchased a banner to hang at the train station on our on our sign at the corner of Cronin Point Avenue and Veterans Plaza, that will remind people about the seasonal ban. You know? And we will be looking at other,
• you know, other ways to remind people throughout the throughout the season. I I would like to have a have our communications vendor do a video, you know, short reel, I think is what they're called, on on Facebook and Instagram.
• And so try just trying to remind people about that going on. You know, we will have our fire inspector who, you know, were most grateful for his, assistance in code enforcement right now at this time. He will be available to investigate the the complaints that come in, You know? And, hopefully, when we have a replacement code enforcement officer, he will take that you know, do that as well.
There, you know, there are a limited number of properties that apply for the permit and Yeah. Receive it each year. Yes. Do we list those on a project page or anything just so We don't we don't publicly list them. I mean, you know, they're they're provided to the police engineering so that they know. Okay. Yeah. But, no. I mean, because some of them are some of them are private property owners, so we don't necessarily wanna put that Okay. Information out there. So and lastly, I'm sure that the members of the board will talk about this as well, but I just wanted to, you know, thank the rotary for the wonderful, celebration, luncheon that they, hosted for, DPW this afternoon, at Sinoscol Park because it was really just a very thoughtful thing to do. And, you know, to the I know there were members of the public that actually donated to help, you know, defray the cost. And so, you know, I think it really meant a lot to everybody that attended. You know, it was a beautiful day. Even though it was 90 degrees out down by the river, it was more like 70 with the nice breeze. Warm breeze. Yeah. It was it was just a really, really nice afternoon. And, you know, I mean, just the the support from the community for the village employees is just really appreciated because that doesn't happen everywhere. And so it's just really it's just very nice to see. So thank you. Thank you. Yep. Thank you.
Alright. And with that, we proceed to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion?
• Well, manager, thank you for your service as deputy clerk. And as an incentive to keep people watching this meeting, I'll be making the appointment in my reports. Good discussion.
We'll miss you. I'm not going very far. Yeah. I I'll just I'll just point out here because there's a there's a lot on the consent agenda, but, you know, it's all it's all good stuff. You know, we are applying for two more grants. We're applying to Westchester County for, to move the seawall at the train station, the flood prevention, and shoreline resiliency programs. We're applying, for funding to move to the next phase of that project, as well as applying for a a New York plays grant for the renovation of, the Harrison Street playground. That's the the next one on our list. It was done about twenty five years ago, so it's it's time to to get a refresh of that of that playground. So, hopefully, we will be successful in those two, in those two, applications as well.
• K. All in favor? Could I just say one thing? I know that there were a couple things that were added to the agenda, like, later on in the day today, and I just wondered if there was some way to indicate on the agenda when that type of thing happens. So somebody looks at the cause even though I've looked at the agenda now several times Mhmm. Since Mhmm. The draft agenda came out, I would like it to be if somebody looks at the agenda and something has been added since last time they looked at it, is there some way to sort of flag that? So you can if you look at the agenda again, you can see like, oh, this was added at 12:00 on Wednesday or something like that. I I don't have a well, I could come up with a solution, but I just think that it's,
you know, it's showing at the top that it's revised. Yeah. I think one thing you could just do in the in the agenda item is put an asterisk next to the item, and it would just I mean, it wouldn't be like a would I don't think it would make sense to time stamp it, but just say this this is an item that's been added since it was released first released. Right. Because it things are just put into the consent agenda. I just think it's good for the public and maybe selfishly for myself to be able to look be able to quickly look at this and see, oh, these were the things that were added since I looked at it last time.
I I think there'd probably be a way to do that. Okay. Would I be you know, I this is just a a template. So, like, if there was a way if there was a way that we could, like, you know, highlight it or something, I think that would be the most
something subtle. Think something subtle would be good, but I I do think that it's we're not there nothing's being hidden No. No. But it's hard to follow along with what's going on when things are getting added throughout the day, especially on the day of a meeting. Thank Yeah. And and you're welcome. And just generally,
just a general statement, we don't really like to do that. You know, I mean, when the when once the agenda is is public publicized, we don't really like to add stuff to it even though we have the ability under the rules of procedure to do so. We don't generally like to. It's just that this is the last meeting of the fiscal year, and we're not meeting in beginning of June, so our next meeting is not for another month. So there were just a couple of things that we had to add on afterwards. So but the point is well taken.
You know, pretty generally twenty four hours to the extent practicable, but if it's within all the twenty four hours and there's a practical reason you have to add it, you can make the exception.
And so I remember the public did ask about the a one c s contract. So, you know, just to clarify, that's a computer services contract for the police department, and it's not nothing to do with data storage. No. It is IT management for the police department. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. For our data storage in terms of our, body cams that are forthcoming, that is baked into the contract. The storage of the data is baked into the contract price Correct. Yes. For that vendor. Yep.
K. Alright. Okay. We proceed to our proposed resolution. Vote percent. Yep. Oh, I thought we did. Alright. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright. We proceed to our proposed resolutions.
Whereas WBP Development LLC will be submitting a building permit application for their 100 unit affordable home ownership development to be located at 1 Quotum Point Avenue in the near future, and whereas village engineer Vincent Salinichro desires assistance with the review of these plans in accordance with section 86 dash seven e of the village code, and whereas La Bella Associates, DPC of White Plains, New York, has submitted a proposal and agreement for third party building code review services for this project. Now therefore be it resolved that the village board of trustees hereby authorizes the village manager to execute the agreement with La Bella Associates DPC for services related to the review of the building permit application for WBP Development LLC and be it further resolved that the applicant is directed to deposit an escrow amount of $38,500 with the village to fund these services.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion?
Mayor, the the manager, this is a standard operating procedure for a project at this point in in the in the development stage. There's lots of documents to to be reviewed, and we wanna make sure that that the project stays as consistent consistent with the site plan, and everything else is is up to code.
service. Correct. Yes. That's what the escrow is. Correct. And my understanding is that the reason that we're hiring or that we've made this decision is that our current engineering department really can't manage this additional work. It's pretty significant to take on managing, like, oversight of a 100 unit construction.
Yeah. I mean, if you if you look in the if you look in the proposal, it basically talks about, I think it's sixteen but it's sixteen hours of work for one person a month and twenty four hours of work for another person a month. So it's forty hours of work a month on the project. And, I mean, you know, we can't have our staff that'd be more than a whole that's more than a week of the month. They can't just work on one project. I mean, they have to serve all the residents of the village, right? So Right. Yeah, it's not that that's really why we bring in these third parties for And he'll be reporting to the engineer. Oh, definitely. Right? Yeah. He'll be reviewing all the Yes. Yeah. And there and, you know, the the engineering department is still required to do certain inspections, you know, like related to the plumbing and the, you know,
• you know, there's other ones that they have to do. But, you know, the more specialized ones and the civil ones would be covered under this under this third party agreement. Yep. So Thank you. Yep.
Whereas the village of colonel Hudson was bequeathed the property known as Govea Park in 2015, and whereas the village also received an endowment in the amount of $1,000,000 to care for the 16 acre property, whereas successive village boards appointed Govea Park committees to develop plans for the property, and whereas the most recent iteration, the Govea Park working group convened numerous times in 2024 to develop a plan of action to enhance the public's use of the property. And whereas the Department of Public Works will be undertaking various site improvements as part of this plan, and whereas these site improvements involve extending the driveway to create a loop road, installing drainage and lighting along the roadway, and creating additional parking spaces near the house. And whereas the village has completed part one of a short environmental assessment form and a coastal assessment form. Now therefore be it resolved as follows. Number one, the village board hereby determines that the proposed action is an unlisted action. Two, the village board hereby declares its intent to be lead agency for secret purposes in connection with the proposed action and authorizes the circulation of its intent to all involved and interested agencies. Three, the village board hereby refers to EAF and CAF, which it has before it in connection with the proposed action to the Westchester County Planning Board, New York State Department of Transportation, and MTA Metro North Railroad. Four, the village board hereby directs village staff to make any other circulations and notifications regarding the proposed action as may be required by law.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion.
• Govea. Yeah. This is for the site work that was budgeted in the in the capital plan Mhmm. Previously. Mhmm. You know, we have gone up there and done some initial work, which has since been paused because of the, documentation of an active, eagle's nest in the park. So, in taking that pause and and looking at the full scope of the project and and talking with the attorneys and our planner Mhmm. It was decided that we should undertake the environmental review at this time and which also then necessitates us taking the coastal review as well. Okay. So, so we're gonna go through this process. We're sending it to the appropriate, involved agencies. We'll get comments back from them to see if they have any concerns. I mean, I don't I don't believe that the county or the railroad will have concerns. DOT may because it's their road, and we're we're hoping that we're gonna, you know, modify the curb cuts so that the driveway is at the or the loop road is is better aligned.
So they may have some comments on that. But generally, I don't think that we'll get Yeah. It doesn't seem like a large scope project. No. I mean, it's most of it qualified under as as as exempt, but the driveway is not a structure as qualifying as exempt, so that triggered the unlisted.
Manager, for the the fans of the waterfront advisory committee who are listening Yeah. Could you explain why this is not
directed to the to the WAC? It it will be. What so you you right now, you're declaring your intent to be lead agency. Mhmm. So you have to wait thirty days to get comments back from these agencies. And then after the thirty day period ends, that's when you declare lead agency, and then that's when you would forward it to the to the WAC. That's what I thought. Yep. And, manager, thank you for clarifying
the term project. Yes. Right? Because when I when we first reviewed it, it it wasn't clear. So I think it's very helpful that we're talking about the the work that the board had previously approved for roughly $400,000 out of the endowment. Right? Yes. So it's it's not the future vision of
the edge of the house or the entire No. The yeah. This this is not touching the house. This is only to do with the site work. And there is, Rachel, I don't know if you wanna if you could pull up the diagram. There's a Yeah. That'd be great. Yeah. And maybe Deborah could show that. If you're listening, Deborah, you can show it on the screen.
• So Yeah. Yeah. That correct. Thank you. So you can see there the the loop road, and then if you wanna scroll down a little bit and maybe zoom in up towards the bottom.
• So you can see there's some there's some drainage improvements that need to be done around that culvert there. And then sorry. If you can just scroll down, Rachel. I don't know why this is taking so slow. And so and, you know, we're looking to add some additional parking spaces near the near the house. Mhmm. So Mhmm. You know, so all all of this is with the goal in mind of eventually Mhmm. You know, being able to do something there, but it's not Yeah. You know, that hasn't been decided yet. Yeah. And then just as we're this is great to see this visual. Uh-huh. And
just in terms of the budgeting on this project. So has the superintendent gotten closer to so I know we've put $400,000 up to kind of thing in the budget. Has he gotten closer to actual budget numbers on this project?
I will follow-up with him. I mean, that we've still been operating on that $400,000 estimate. He did you know, he as part of the budget estimate, when we put together the the $400,000 number that, you know, he has a he had a breakdown at that point that, you know, that added up to that number. I don't know if that's been fine tuned because of the increase in costs, and I I have to check with him on that. Yeah. And then the landscape design firm that we have approved to work with Yes. That is still We haven't we have we just got it took a very long time, unfortunately. Some these things do sometimes because of the insurance requirements and getting all the appropriate paperwork, but that was that was finished last week. Oh, good. So we've we've issued the purchase order. They are now ready to go. Awesome. You know, the superintendent has been on vacation this week. He comes back on Friday. So I think after Memorial Day, we'll try to get something set up and, you know, start that start that work. Yeah.
That's great. Yeah. Because I know it seems like this is gonna take a a minute Oh, yeah. In the glacial pay pace that we operate.
Yeah. I mean, it's actually Hervea. Yeah. I I mean, I hate to say it was it's good timing, but, you know, the the eagle's nest could potentially be active through the end of the summer. So this is gonna be on pause for a couple more months, but that gives us time to finish this environmental process. It gives us time to move forward with the Landscape. With the landscape architect. So Yeah. I mean, it's not all bad, but it it's just, like you said, one more thing in the in the process here. Okay. There is progress that was made prior to the discovery of the eagle's nest. So they were able to do some clearing of the area, you know, in preparation for, like, where the road would go. They got rid rid of just a lot of it was just weeds and weed trees and a lot of thicket and all that stuff. So they were able to clear out a lot of that stuff. Is it possible to share some of those images? Because progress was made. Yeah. No. I it was. I I didn't, you know, we didn't post them because,
basically, they really they got in, like, three days of work there before they had to stop. So I didn't wanna just it was bad. I thought it looked when you shared them with me, I thought it looked like I was impressed by the amount of work that was done in a short amount of time. Yeah. No. And I think that any progress there, people are interested in seeing. Yeah. No. I think I I
just didn't I didn't know we hadn't gotten the feedback from the DEC yet, so I didn't wanna post them and be like, oh, we did this and now we stopped, It you was like we were trying to figure out what exactly was going on there. So, I mean, yeah, we can we can put them we can put them out there to kinda now that we we can explain to people that, you know, the board has started the environmental review now, this was the work, you know, we can give people a little more information. Yep. So The
To Cavea? Yeah. Mhmm. Oh. So Should we expand the park? We could have a glass We don't have enough acres. How about a glass walkway? Right? I know. No.
But just an FYI. Oh, okay. For quite quite a quite a tremendous amount of money. Okay.
Is the village of colonel Hudson desires to establish a school speed zone camera demonstration program, and whereas the state authorizes municipalities to make such requests through the home rule process, and whereas assemblywoman Dana Levenberg has introduced bill a eleven three twenty two in the state assembly to authorize a school speed zone camera demonstration program in the village of Cortana Hudson, whereas state senator Peter Harcom has introduced companion bill s one zero zero five eight in the state senate regarding same. Whereas the village is required to formally submit a home rule request to the legislature. Now therefore be it resolved that the village board of trustees hereby request authorization to establish a school speed zone camera demonstration program and be it further resolved that a copy of this home rule request be sent to this to state assemblywoman Dana Levenberg and state senator Peter Harkom.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion?
Mayor, just to point out that, this this, effort to get the home rule designation for the speed school zone speed cameras comes directly from our legislative program that that we adopted in March, forwarded to Albany, and very grateful both to Assemblywoman Levenburg and senator Harkom that they followed up on this on our behalf.
Yeah. I just wanna comment that, you know, I I posted this kind of on my what's on the agenda on social media, and I got some comments around, you know, this this is the preliminary step in getting the ability to make a decision on cameras. Cameras at this point are, you know, people are really questioning privacy issues at this point in our history. So, you know, if and when we get approval for this, we will have a deeper conversation about speed cameras and their use.
Yeah. In the existing camera systems used by our police department, are there's a certain brand to avoid, any commercial issues or whatever. I won't name names, but there's one that's been in the news lately. You can look it up if you're curious. We don't use that one, and, you know, there have been concerns raised about that one. Again, not the platform we use, and, our data is hosted locally by Westchester County Police, and it is not, cloud based.
I think that we have had a lot of ongoing interest from residents regarding every time cameras come up,
• whether they're school bus cameras or red light cameras or speed zone cameras, There is a lot of interest, among residents, especially, as trustee Nicholson said around privacy issues. So I I would like to take the opportunity to have a work session conversation with whoever the appropriate parties would be that could answer our questions and sort of maybe guide a robust discussion around the difference of those cameras, where's the data stored, what is the data used for, just so that the public could so we could have a public conversation and a public record Mhmm. For people to go back to about what all those different things mean. I'm not completely always clear on which is which and, you know, signage. The PAC talks a lot about signage and how we should let people know. So I would be in favor of having a conversation about that at a work session at some point with whoever the appropriate parties are that can answer our questions and maybe suggest us questions that we're not thinking of asking. I think with the existing vendor, absolutely, and to be and, you know, this would be for the speed cameras, this would be
down the road, by which I mean, typically, these bills get passed well, they have to get passed between now and the end between now and, like, the end of the session, which is the first week of June. And then they actually get signed typically in the last quarter of the year, probably closer to December. And so from there, that's when, you know, the conversation around these begin in earnest. Not that vendors aren't already circling us. As soon as a bill like this gets introduced and the community is named, you know, they reach out. I think every time cameras are on the agenda, the questions are raised, so I don't know what the Well, right time to have it that's what I'm saying is we could, at a time of any reasonable convenience, you know, I think we can do it with our our current vendor. But what I'm saying is, like, with the speed camera is, well, we don't have a vendor yet. I mean, we can have those conversations when we're, you know, looking at proposals. But Yeah. We we also have a current contractor that works with the police. So We can talk to them. Are
we on a timeline? Is is there a deadline where you have to authorize home rule? Yes. Basically, tonight. Why is that?
This is our last opportunity to make this request for home rule, not to necessarily execute on a home rule. Not making a decision. We're not understand.
Then then we wouldn't have the option. I mean, then we go from looking at this in 2027 to looking at it in 2028.
Okay. And so what would be the next step if we all, you know, authorize this tonight and it's approved,
what what is the next step? The next step would be for the board, it would be to wait for the governor to sign it. You know, it would be for the legislature to possibly pass it. The mere passage of, action by us doesn't guarantee it. In the past, we've had home rule bills that haven't moved, and, you know, that's happened. So there's no guarantee, but the time frame would be sometime between tomorrow and the end of the session, which, again, is the first week of June. It passes both houses. And then, typically, it will be sent sent to slash reviewed by the governor in the towards the end of this year, and then we would know whether or not we got the permission. Okay.
Yep. The program Mhmm. And vote on the program and whether you know, before moving forward. It doesn't author
No. Not at all. At own convenience. No time. Yeah. I mean, the the classic example here is some of our residential parking systems. I forget off the top of my head, but I I think in in I think we had two home rolls. Is that correct? For them?
Yes. Yes. Because we had to do two we had to do two. One for Nordic. Harman and then one for Nordica. And in both cases, I think it was maybe over a year from the time And we got the authorization to currently, we have home roll to do red light cameras. Correct. But we haven't budgeted for that yet. We haven't had that work session yet. Mhmm. So, you know, that's an example of we have the ability to do that, but we haven't done anything with that yet. We've had that since the end of twenty five. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. But I do agree with, trustee slip in and, like, maybe a camera q and a. What cameras exist in the village? What do they do? How is the data stored? Just to, you know because the it really is the rumoring is is pretty intense. And and really the business model of these organizations
that we're partnered with, right, we may they may not be part of our agreement where they're giving out data, but they do that. So I think including them in a work session would be helpful so we can hear from them
• Then we can they're using
could could even structure it like a town hall Mhmm. Down the road. Mhmm.
Thank you. Or at least a mechanism to collect questions from the public Yes. Prior to the meeting Right. If it's gonna be a work session. Yep. Because people have questions.
Hi. Hello. Dave Farrington Road. First, I'd like to acknowledge, trustee Nicholson's suggestion last week that we inform everyone of our seasonal gas leaf blower ban coming up starting June 1. I think that's a good idea along with the new banner just announced. Tonight, I'd like to present some myths and misinformation that I've heard going door to door collecting signatures. Myth, electric blowers can't do the job. The truth is if electric blowers couldn't do the job, ban towns all over the county, state, and country would reverse course. Not one has reversed their decision to put public health first. Not ready yet is what the industry says in every jurisdiction, and it has been not ready yet for fifteen years. Another ban. Another myth. A ban will crush landscapers. Here's the truth. Industry groups have predicted business collapse before every ban. The pattern is the prediction. The collapse never arrives. I urge landscaping business owners to push the governor to sign the leaf blower pollution and electric landscaping incentive program that has passed both the New York Senate and Assembly to ease their burden. Additionally, our website has a cost calculator tool that's easy to see. This myth is just that. Here's one. A seasonal or hours only restriction is the reasonable middle ground. Well, Sleepy Hollow started with seasonal restrictions is and is now revisiting a full ban precisely because the partial measure didn't deliver like in Croton. The towns whose code officers are still drowning in disputes are the towns that tried to live with hour by hour rules.
• I've heard this is government overreach. To that I would say, if this town can pass a noise ordinance against barking dogs, crowing roosters, the volume of your phonograph, it can pass one against gas leaf blowers, which are many times louder than all of those. There are some who just want to wait. Wait for the state, wait for the county, wait for more study. Look. Local use bans are the only mechanism that address current harm to current residents. The six Westchester towns with full bans didn't wait, and none has been preempted, sued successfully or asked Albany for permission. More study usually means study until the political will fail. Political will fades. Our political will will not fade. Finally, there is mowers and cars are just as bad. Why pick on leaf blowers? This is not just a myth but totally incorrect. Gas powered leaf blowers are uniquely bad on three dimensions simultaneously and no other common consumer equipment combines all three. There's sustained 100 plus decibel noise along with two stroke uncontrolled emissions. And finally, it's resuspension of ground level particulates. That's pollution that settles on the ground.
• Cars have catalytic converters. Mowers don't kick up near the amount of ground pollution. Construction is regulated by hour and by permit. Gasoline powered leaf blowers run for hours in residential neighborhoods with no exhaust controls and no permitting process. We are asking for a year round ban on gasoline powered leaf blowers with no exemptions and strict enforcement. It's time for a change. Please put public health first in Croton.
Riley, Truesdale Drive. I've listened to the previous gentleman talk three times, and I urge you to seriously consider what he proposes, but you should do it in a fair manner unlike the past ways that this village board has handled things like a rent rent guidelines, bills, well, the anything to do with housing. You screwed it through without bringing the landlords in. That's happened a couple of times. You as a work session as a village board should have this gentleman, who's a great lawyer, by the way, for his side. And the opposing side, many of whom are hardworking Hispanic people that make their living doing this. And quick is the way you earn money. I know that from personal experience. And you should have a thorough understanding of what's going on rather than one side. Because I can see you, and he's got this gentleman is great lawyer, and he might be right. But you need a fair hearing, which this village board generally does not give. I'd like to present to the board, for the record, the death of
• Lexi Arguello, 21. She was, 18 years old. She went into Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has a lot to do with this village, by the way. Never came out. She was 21 old pregnant twenty one weeks pregnant, underwent an abortion in February 25. The forensic pathologist determined that she developed a disseminated intravascular coagulation, a catastrophic clotting disorder after the abortion leading to cardiovascular collapse and multiple organ failure. For the record The
• boycott of CVS, one of the primary abortion promoters in The United States, continues. It's an ugly organization. Hasn't been doing well lately. The wrong administration's in power, I guess, and she's running for the the former president's running for the senate. I'd like to submit for your consideration the history of r u forty six, the abortion pill, which the Democratic Party has thrown out on the market and saturated the market in bed with the abortion provider plan standards, which is one of their political operations. One of the one of the results of this is by flooding the market and giving the abortion pill to anybody who applies for it and rescinding all the FDA requirements, which they did under the Biden administration, is that anybody can order these pills and give them to unsuspecting women. So let's see. There is Brenda Weiss, Holly Patterson, Vivian Tran, Orlane Shevin, Chanel Bryant. By the way, most of these are minority people, or they're underage. They're 17, 16, 17, per perfect target for Planned Parenthood. Here's some of the perpetrators that gave r u forty six to their wives, girlfriends, or competitors, without their knowledge. John Weldon of Florida tricked his girlfriend into taking metoprostol. Joshua Woodward administered metopristol to his girlfriend without a consent. Scott Bowling sent into prison after killing his unborn child. He laced a pancake with mefristone and gave it to his pregnant girlfriend. Skinder Arama, Virginia slipped abortion drug to his girlfriend's tea, killing her seven week child week old child. Mish Kumar Patel sentenced to prison after killing two unborn children. He listen. By the way, this is a common thing we don't think about, twins, triplets, or droplets. He was of Wisconsin. He slipped abortion drug to his girlfriend on multiple occasions,
• killing two unborn children. Shakanda Imram, sent to prison after killing his unborn child. Sage Lanza killed a 14 year old girl after giving him this drug. Jerry Smith of Wisconsin spiked his girlfriend's water bottle. Jagmeet Sandhu of California broke into his ex girlfriend's home and held her at gunpoint, forcing him to consume the abortion drugs. Alona Dixon in Nevada dies after r u forty six. This just goes on and on and on. And because everybody this is the third rail of politics, the third rail of medicine. And quite frankly, it follows the pattern of abortion, of of terrible drugs being ministered to women, especially young women, etcetera, going back to the seventies. And I'm glad you, you know, regurgitate some of those incidents in the future. Haley Rayborn, accused of kill attempting to kill another woman's baby because she was jealous over her boyfriend. Mason Herring of Texas missing abortion drugs in his pregnant wife, Catherine's drinks, during the conflict of their marriage. Robert Kawanda accused of drugging his pregnant girlfriend and Massachusetts. Thank you. Goes on and on and on. You got the message. We know it's happening.
• I would bet every dollar Times expired. Thank you. Never mention this in one of your caucuses. Thank you.
Alright. Seeing no one else wishing to comment, we proceed to reports. Trustee Slipin? Thank you.
Dave from Farrington, thank you for coming. We have now gotten more emails about this, I think, than anything else I have received emails on. This being the leave blower ban. Than anything else I have gotten emails on as long as I've been a trustee this time around. I I guess I just would like to the where we are with this is it's being referred to the
CAC sustainability. The CAC will look at it, but we haven't had a work session. Right. This is our first work session. Right. So I mean, sir, we haven't had a work session since the budget. So So
the emails are coming. We're reading them. It's moving at a snail's pace, but it is moving. I understand that this is an important topic to this community and to a lot of my friends and neighbors, and I'm looking forward to getting the recommendation and going through the process for this, you know, and hearing both sides as mister Riley said, and, you know, being able to move forward in a way that works for this community. The same way that many many of our neighboring communities have done. So thank you for your persistence and your organizing. It is impressive. Okay. So now I have this like weird potpourri of things to share today because I feel like we haven't had a meeting in a while. May is Jewish American Heritage Month, and I believe that senator Harkom recognized a Croton resident. Richard Mazer was recognized, alongside some other individuals, throughout the county for his or throughout SD 40, probably, as an outstanding, member of the Jewish community. So I just wanted to recognize and, thank Richard Mazer, and also take a minute to recognize Jewish American Heritage Month. It is also Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and another one of our neighbors, Kiko Nicolini, was recognized by, our county legislator, Emiliana Ulaei. And so I think it's really great that, our you know, the higher up the food chain,
• elected officials are recognizing some of our outstanding residents. So I just wanted to make that publicly known, at this meeting.
• Also, speaking of senator Harkom, I guess I have a question. And I don't know if we can have an answer to this now, but there's legislation that was passed about bike I'm just gonna read it. The bill passed requiring vehicles outside of New York City to allow a safe distance of at least three feet when passing cyclists. This common sense change ensures that both cyclists and vehicles share the roads safely for the areas of the state where implementation can be accomplished. So in my head, I'm picturing what that looks like on Maple Street. Mhmm. I don't know how that works, but because we are such a pro bicycle community, and we have a bicycle pedestrian committee, I don't know how this dovetails with what we are doing, but I would like to maybe volley this over to trustee Simon Yes. Who is the liaison to the bike ped committee. I'm sure that there's some discussion of it. I'm sure it's already on their radar because all the people on that committee are so, you know, keep so abreast of this type of thing. But I did just wanna mention it because Thank you. There are a lot of bikes on our roads. So I don't know how it affects us, but I don't I mean, is that even possible here? I don't know. But I thought maybe we could at some point have a discussion about it.
Such a Sorry. Just Yeah. No. No. By all means. On that, I don't I know I saw the same thing that it passed the senate. I don't know if it passed the assembly yet or if it's gone to the governor's desk, so we should probably just look at that and see. Yeah. I don't I just wanna I just
because we're so pro bike, I wanted to bring it up. Okay. Couple other things. The, I will get to my committee to update on my committees in a minute. I also wanted to mention that I know that some of our constituents have seen in the news or on social media or wherever people see things some discussion about the possibility that a data center would inhabit the space where Indian Point is. And so there was some discussion of that. There were a couple local news articles about it. I had a conversation with so, you know, obviously, it's outside of Croton, but it is still very close to us. So there were some emails back and forth with the town, etcetera. And it sounds like there is going to be an update at the decommissioning meeting, in June about I think I shared it with the whole did I share that with information with the board today? So there's gonna be an update after the decommissioning meeting in June, and I would like it I I mean, I can put it on myself, but I do think although it is outside of Croton, it's still of interest to us. It's certainly of interest to me and a couple other people who reached out to me about it, which put it on my radar. So I think that us being able to give updates about that or keep people appraised of it would be a good thing. I don't know what the best way to do that is. I can certain certainly informally do it. We don't have a rep we don't the village doesn't have representation at the decommissioning meeting. Yeah. But we you know, obviously, Senator Harkom's office is there. Our county legislator is there. And, certainly, we are part of the town of Cortlandt, which is where those are held. I just think it's
• Indian Point has is a, you know, it's it's an ongoing issue, whether it's up and running or decommissioned or something else is going there. So I just I think it's important for it to be on our radar.
Well, and I just wanna answer that because one of the big concerns with data centers is the amount of energy that they use and the trend of increasing energy expenses for residents around them. So we would need to understand if that were to happen, what could be the implications on energy costs for Croton? I mean, we're all I imagine we're we're not too far from there. And, you know, so I think it it is it is relevant.
So thank you for bringing it up. So I don't know what the right way for us to stay plugged into that is, but I would like to be doing so. Mhmm. Know, I I also wanted to mention that, you know, a couple meetings ago we had a hearing and then passed a resolution working with Verizon to expand Fios, and then there's been a flurry of interest in the topic. And I do just wanna make sure that we keep that conversation going. I I know there are people who, you know, it's it is for the vast majority of Crotonites a good thing, but there are people who are not included in what passing that resolution was able to accomplish. So I wanna be and we've hear we've heard from many of them. So I would like to be, you know, I just wanna acknowledge that we're hearing from them, acknowledge that we we that we this is everyone is not benefiting from this and that, we're going to continue to advocate going forward, whatever that means. I don't know. I mean, I don't know exactly what that advocacy looks like, but I would like to be able to continue advocating for them on on that point. Two other brief things. Sorry to be taking so much time today. I wanted to acknowledge, and thank everyone who voted in the school board election yesterday. The budget passed, and the library budget passed. I'm very happy to live in a community that supports its schools and its libraries, and the voter turnout was extremely high. So I really do wanna thank everybody, who did so. The Peace Pole dedication was this past weekend on Saturday at Croton Landing. It was a beautiful ceremony organized by the Arts and Humanities
• Advisory Committee. There was a there was music. There were poems. There was a there's a planting done around it. It's right at the spot on the path where the sort of the path breaks into two. The guard the sustain no. CAC? Yes. The garden. The garden committee, did some planting there. They're very small plants, but they are native plants and they are, I believe they're milkweed, so it's gonna be great. They're gonna be, you know, adding to the pollinator situation down there. Also, a resident, Jared Harrell, wrote a beautiful poem called Croton Landing. I saved a copy of it, manager. I would I would I would like to give it to you because I would like I think it would be really nice to be able to frame it somewhere here. It's beautiful. He wrote it specifically for the occasion, and then he gave it all gave a copy of it, a signed copy of it to a lot of people who were there on this very nice paper. So if we could find a nice place for it, I would love to do that. Okay. And then finally, I just wanted to acknowledge the really sad news that, Upper Village blooms, which has been a staple of the village. You know, we do a lot of time we spend a lot of time celebrating new businesses here. And I just wanted to take a minute to, you know, acknowledge a a staple of our village, an old business in the village that, when I reached out to Catherine, the owner, when I heard that it was closing, I said, all of the all of the flowers for the best and the worst occasions of the last, you know, eight years of my life or however long they've been there have come from her shop. So I'm really heartbroken to see them closing.
• They are gonna be open until the seventh, so I think that I would like to just ask everybody to, you know, maybe send them out with a extra special little bit of love for the next two weeks if we're able to do so, and thank her for being such a huge part of the upper village, for the last many years. Okay. Thank you for letting me Mhmm. Say all that. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. Well, speaking of businesses in the village, I know this past Saturday, I attended the Monday's gift shop ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony, ceremony, and that was with the ABC, is it? Yes. And it was I think it was it was really a wonderful event. A lot of folks turned out, and I wish them much success.
• I want folks to know that Juneteenth is just around the corner. I know we have to get through Memorial Day first, but there the idea committee is working on a Juneteenth event at the Grand that will start at 05:30PM, and it will feature a thirty minute short documentary on the hidden
• hidden slavery history of the hidden slavery in New York. And so it'll be pretty fascinating, and they'll have a panel discussion with an open mic. So I think it's it's gonna be a great event, and I hope very educational and all ages are welcome. So I hope we get a good turnout. Going back in in the calendar on Memorial Day, just wanna remind residents that everyone is invited to join the American Legion at 11AM on Veteran Corners for Memorial Day ceremony. And that's it. Thanks. Thank you.
So I'll be relatively quick, but I just wanna present a couple of questions that came out of the recreation advisory committee that met last week. So one of the issues that came up, and I think that we're maybe addressing it with our capital expenditures, is is supervision at Black Rock Park and people being in the water there. So there were some questions about whether or not we needed to have some additional ranger presence. I know we we increased the number of rangers a couple of years ago for Mayo's Landing and for the Proton River area. The the cameras that we have put into the capital expenditure budget for this year, are will there be cameras that could operate on the BlackRock Building?
I don't really think we should have this conversation at this Fair enough. Time. Yeah. Alright.
Thank you. But there there is some concern about folks being in the park and swimming. Yep. So
So does that become a work session topic? No. It's not a public topic. It would be exec session on a matter affecting public Got
it. Okay. Echo Keene has filled with 90 slots, which is fantastic to see. I also just wanna thank the Arts and Humanities Committee for really beautiful piece, pole dedication, as well as the garden club. This will be our last meeting before Summerfest, because the twenty seventh is a work session. So just so, Summerfest is coming up on Sunday, June 7. Also, the idea committee will be hosting the, annual pride flag raising, after the Summerfest parade here at the Municipal Building. So they're gearing up for a nice program with music and speakers, So look out for that.
And that's all I've got. Thank you. Thank you, trustee. I'm gonna do this as a lightning round real fast. We had the opportunity, mayor, manager, and I to sit down, I think it was last week, yes, May 7, with the Westchester Alliance for Sustainable Solutions and hear some of their concerns about about the both the incinerator and more that we can do on composting. Very, very interesting. Look forward to following up with them on that. I started a conversation way back in in during Eagle Fest with one of the staff folks at Teatown, Austin Chats, who sort of oversees their intergovernmental relations and gonna try to get some of the things that they're doing connected with our sustainability committee. So we we had a follow-up on that, and there's some wonderful things happening at Teatown, including a big rebuild that they're doing there, which I hope to learn learn more about. Wanted a tip of the hat to Jim Christiansen and the Croton Arts Council for a wonderful two day Hudson River Art Festival held last weekend, last Saturday and Sunday at the Windrose in four different buildings at the at the Windrose Complex and and almost a 100 different vendors, most of them from Croton or just right around here. So it was a lot of fun to see all that stuff. They did a great job. Honor to be here with for the police flag ceremony. Our planning board on May 12, you know, spent a lot of time with their sleeves rolled up looking at our draft local law on signage. So we're looking forward to their comments. We thank them for for for their hard work on that. The trustee Nicholson and I met on the fifteenth with our school liaison
• count counterparts. So very productive. I wanted to take a minute just to congratulate Anamika Bhatnagar, Jake, and bet and Betsy for their victories yesterday, but also thank Neil Haber and and Sarah for for their service and appreciate all that they've done. Also, last weekend up at CET, we had this amazing bike rodeo. I counted well over a 100 kids plus parents. This is put together by a wonderful phys ed teacher at CET, Suzanne Leslie, who went out and got a grant to get a whole bunch of bikes for the CET kids. Purpose of the bike rodeo was to raise money for a shed to store the bikes, and the outpouring from the Croton community was was fantastic. It was it was also featured for a couple of days on channel twelve, so it was just a a wonderful experience. Weather was beautiful. I gotta give a lot of credit to to miss Leslie, but also to the whole community for showing up for that. It was a lot of fun. And our bike ped committee was there as as sort of helping out and also had a table with lots of explanatory materials. On trustee Nach Taylor mentioned Mondays, I wanna I wanna thank Lori Weiss for doing a fantastic job in pulling all that together. She's outstanding when it comes to these ribbon cuttings for our business community that that she's doing more and more of, and she's working great with our with our ABC, which is going on all cylinders. But, also, if folks get a chance, go go and say hi to Kate and Cody Eichelberg, the owners, a wonderful young couple, the owners of of Mondays who've really invested in our community in that location where ASAP Mortgage used to be. But right now, you go in there and it's still it's very bright, and they've got wonderful wonderful things there. Peacepol was was wonderful to be part of that.
• And and, of course, the Lorraine Hansberry coalition on on on May 17 this past Sunday. Great to be there with the mayor and others, and the channel twelve covered that as well and including the the all the great speakers who were there. We have confirmed now, speaking of bike safety, we've confirmed July 18 for our next bike skills training session. That's gonna be in the community room on July 18 starting at ten and going till about 1PM. That'll be about about an hour and a half to two hours of classroom training, and then an equal amount of time roughly in in both the parking lot at at the municipal building and then in in the in some of our some of our roads. So the American League of Bicyclists working with Project Mover does a great job on that. I wanted to just, you know, thank on behalf of the rotary, thank the manager for his kind comments on our DPW event. It it was so wonderful to see. And Senasco, of course, was the perfect location for it. We had almost a 100% of DPW. They are so so well deserving of that. And how ironic that we we were celebrating their hard, tireless work for our four snow events on perhaps the most beautiful day of the year. So it was just just really great to be there. It was lunch and then a baseball game after that. So it was terrific. Just a couple couple of things. Just condolences to Jim Ferguson and his family on on the loss of Jim's dad. Thomas, who was a not only a longtime DPW employee, but just a very interesting guy. And we we learned that when his DPW days were done, his lifetime ambition was to be an employee for the Green Bay Packers.
• And and the family moved to to Green Bay, and and he did that for for a number of years. And and Jim was telling me what an interesting experience that was. So I did also get the chance to right after the Monday's ribbon cutting, I did talk to Catherine Williams of Upper Village Blooms. And this is very much a personal decision, you know, that she's made about where she wants to focus her energies in the in the in the next phase of her life. But as as trustee Slipin said, we thank her so much for for being one of the tent poles of our business community. And so, you know, she'll definitely be missed. And last but not least, speaking of Jewish American Heritage Month, we have a brand new rabbi at Temple Israel of Northern Westchester who actually is the current Cantor, assistant Cantor who's also a rabbi. It's complicated. We call him rabbi cantor, Dan Sklar. He's been focusing mostly on on the musical side of the business, but he's got a great great spiritual presence and looks forward to getting to know everyone in in Croton as as the head rabbi, and he'll he'll take over that position in in July 2027, and we'll be transitioning with rabbi Polish from from here from this point on on until July. That's it.
Alright. Very good. And for those who have been waiting in suspense, the successor to our village manager as deputy clerk will be Miguel Mara. Yes. Yeah. Who's also already with us in the village, but this will be a new position for him. And then, also some other, volunteer, service. Ian Murtagh will be appointed. I would like to appoint Ian Murtagh as vice chair for the PAC, Joe Strini as vice chair for the HART Committee, and Karen Pokora as vice chair for the RAC. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. And, my colleagues having ably covered all the other events leading up to tonight. I well, I guess we don't do the manager's report. So think that concludes the meeting. Thank all. Do I have a motion to close? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Eric. Sure.
• Apologies for for delay. But Okay. You're on. On the question of data centers, you know, I I think there's gonna be both at the at the state level and at the possibly at the county level and and even at the court level, some legislation. I would be I'd be pleased to sort of spend a little time on this and, you know, sort of add it to our legislative platform in terms of keeping an eye on it and and trying to find out what the next steps are and and how it could affect growth. So I'll if if there are no objections to that, mayor, I'll I'll I'll try to try to As the departmental liaison, I think that would be appropriate.
So does that mean after the June 1 meeting of the decommissioning? That's where the there apparently, there's an update coming at at that meeting. Yeah. Don't I know what the date is, but It's June 18. I just quickly googled it. Oh, thanks. Yeah. June 18. June 18. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess we can we could
the the community can expect some type of update from us at the whatever the meeting after that is. As as well as is if if there are relevant events happening other places within the state or even even federally. So