Board of Trustees
Right. Good evening, and welcome to the July 15 regular meeting of the Cortlandt Hudson Board of Trustees. I'm Mayor Brian Pugh. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance.
allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,
right. I'll note for the moment that trustee Slippen will be joining us later and trustee Nicholson's medical leave continues through this meeting. Alright. Do I next item of business is the approval of vouchers.
Hi. Good evening. For the general fund, we have $953,055.70. The water fund is $10,894.26. Sewer fund is for $2,795.69. Capital fund is for $252,793.37. Trust trust fund is for $10,498.30.
Alright. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachtaler. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Responses to some questions submitted via email manager. No questions submitted, mayor. Alright. Very good. We proceed to the local waterfront revitalization plan review for the new overhead sign structure along Route 9.
Yes. Thank you. So, the Waterfront Advisory Committee met last week with trustee Simon as chairman, and they reviewed this, request from the New York State, DOT to replace one of the overhead signs on Route 9 northbound near Municipal Place. So the WAC determined that two policies, policy number 17 and policy number 18, were were applicable and consistent with the, with the project in terms of The Village's LWRP. So if there are I don't know if anyone else you know, the two board members that are here were the two board members at the WACs. Having them having them present, I I I report,
you know, that we we have 11 pages and and 44 questions as part of our local waterfront revitalization program policy review. And we had full attendance at the at the WAC, and I think that everyone did a good job in in considering all of them. Those are the two. And and obviously, you know, just by reading them in in their nature, they're they're fairly fairly general. But this is this is a a replacement of the structure of one of our signs on nine. And so the old the old poles will come out, the new poles will come in, and and there'll be an updated sign there. So hopefully hopefully, the any kind of incursion into, into the waters will be nonexistent, and, I think we'll we'll end up with a a better sign. Agree.
Okay. So you'll you have this on your consent agenda to vote on. Very good. Very good.
Alright. We proceed to public comment on agenda items. Anyone wishing to speak on an agenda item? This is your opportunity. There will also be a public comment section on non agenda items later in the evening. So, again, public comment on agenda items. Anyone wishing to speak? Please approach the podium. State your name and address. You have five minutes.
Seeing no one wishing to speak, we proceed at the report from the village manager.
Sorry. I forgot my glasses, so I have to make the the font bigger on this. Don't squint. We'll allow it. Oh, boy. Okay.
No. That's okay. Thank you. Alright. So we are responding to the worsening air quality in our area as a result of the Canadian wildfires. Silver Lake closed early today, and, the movie night at Senosseville Park for tonight was postponed. Employees who must work outside tomorrow will be provided with n 95 masks to use. Summer camps will be remaining inside tomorrow as much as possible, and depending on conditions, Silver Lake, may remain closed. So please check the website and our social media for updates. In terms of leaf blower violations, there have been a total of 13 issued since June 1. The engineering department has noted that there have been less calls received this month compared to last month. So, hopefully, that is, a combination of our education working and people, voluntarily complying with with our law. The engineering department has received a special permit application for a multifamily building at 425 South Riverside Avenue. After being reviewed by the village engineer and our planner, it has been deemed to be complete, and it will be on the planning board's agenda for July 28. And, you know, this will be the first meeting of what will be a long process that will involve a very comprehensive review. And the information on the application will be available on the website when the agenda is sent out to the public on July 24. Road milling has begun along Cleveland Drive and Old Post Road South, so they milled yesterday and today, and they anticipate paving these areas tomorrow. And then, on Friday, they'll resume milling, on Cleveland Drive. I think they made it up to Peter Lane today, so they'll be going from Peter Beatt Lane up to Jacobi. The Farrington Road steps are progressing. The concrete footings and walls have been poured so far this week.
I actually had pictures of them. It's a show, but I can read and pull those up at the same time.
Westchester County has officially started the Quaker Bridge replacement project that started officially last week on July 6. The commemorative plaques that had been on either side of the bridge, which I know people had a lot of interest in preserving, those were removed from the bridge and, provided to DPW for safekeeping. And, the county let me know today that the demolition of the existing bridge structure is scheduled to begin next Monday, July 20. The renovation of engineering department has begun. That also started last Monday. The work is currently being done in house by DPW staff, and the office is open to the public while the renovation work is ongoing. I'm pleased to officially announce that the village has received a grant from Westchester County in the amount of $353,744. This is through the complete streets program. It's for the installation of sidewalks along Municipal Place in South Riverside Avenue. This has been a long desired project that will also be receiving funding from assembly member Dana Levenberg in the amount of a $100,000. Design work is going to begin this year in coordination with the county, and then hopefully construction work will take place next summer.
The solar canopies at the train station are going through their final performance testing before being, excuse me, before being officially determined to be commercially operational. The project owner expects that to occur later this month or in early August. So right now, they are generating power on an irregular schedule because they have to every time they have to do this this testing regime, they have to come offline. And then once their, once their testing is complete, then they'll be generating on that regular schedule.
Construction on the AT and T antenna at the municipal building has been largely completed. They are waiting to install fiber for the antenna and the new generator before the system can come online. We are hoping that will be done by October. Con Edison will be completing their excavation work on Old Post Road North tomorrow and will begin the live gas connections next week on Old Post Road North. A separate crew has also begun the pole replacement project on Old Post Road South near the high school. Please expect delays while traveling in these areas during the upcoming weeks. And lastly, I would like to welcome Isaac Canas as our new Spanish speaking assistant court clerk and Scott Giordano as a new laborer in DPW. They've both joined our team in recent weeks. I also wanna congratulate Joe Koch who was recently promoted to skilled laborer in the DPW. So if you wanna give me a minute, I'll see if I can get that picture up because it was a nice nice picture of the steps construction.
Manager, the Quaker Bridge updates that you gave, are will those also be on the project page? Yes. We will I yeah. We'll update the website with that tomorrow. Thank you. Yep.
Can I just provide an addendum for the board, and the public? 425 South Riverside, you know, the new special permit code requires that to be transmitted to you. So that will appear on an upcoming agenda and that will start the thirty day period with which you can review it and make comments as a board if you want to. So rest assured that that material will be transmitted.
It will appear on an agenda for your discussion. So that will start the thirty days. Thank you. Thank you for that. Is that subsequent to the to it being officially received by the planning board on 07/28?
I'm sorry. I just it will be put on an upcoming agenda for discussion, and that will start the thirty day process. I don't know what your internal process is. I just wanted to reassure the public that you will this board will still have an opportunity and thirty days thirty days would will run from an agenda.
Thank you. Thank you. I have the picture up. I don't know gonna Yeah. This is from the this is from today with the, more of the concrete being poured in the, in the support walls
in addition to the the many things that our general foreman Scott Marsh is, he's also a good photographer. So yeah. They're doing they're doing a great job. So we'll we'll get this picture up on the project page also. Great. So alright. You can close that out, Janette. Thank you. Okay. That was it for my report.
Alright. Excellent. Okay. We proceed to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachtaler. Discussion.
Just, mayor, I just wanna point out, we have the request, from the Harry Chapin memorial run against hunger, and I I know we're all looking forward to that. I I can't, I can't remember exactly what year this is, coming up, but it's It's 40. Over 40. It does such a such a great job. It's probably the largest other than Summerfest, it's probably the largest gathering every year in in Croton. A lot of fun and, of course, raises money for such wonderful causes. I'm looking looking forward to that on October 18 and Yeah. Lots of different opportunities for folks to participate that runs, walks, and various combinations.
It's a great event. I read through the omnibus zoning text amendments for the town of Cortlandt and was pretty impressed with the drafting. Mhmm. It was similar, you know, laws to what we have. But I like the intent that they had up front, and it was it was just very clear and, well done, I thought. No issues or Good. Just Thank you. Just a referral? Or It's a requirement under the,
actually, New York State law requires when you're doing a zoning amendment, it needs to just be
Yeah. Circuit the notice of hearing needs to be circulated with a copy. Yeah. Hypothetically, if, like, the town was changing their zoning to allow a transfer station to be on the village's border, Right? You know, you may wanna you may wanna send comments on that. To the public hearing. Yeah. So it's a way to engage,
communities to communities. So Mhmm. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. And, also, excuse me, I wanted to wanted to thank, both the manager and our our grant writer, Valerie Monastra, for items four through six where we're four through seven where we're submitting various applications under the consolidated funding Yes. Agreement.
Yep. We're working on those, and I and also thank superintendent Balbi and his team because Absolutely. They've they've helped to get a lot of the information Yep. So far. So Yep. And we'll continue to help. Yeah. And, you know, we we went through this generally
during the budget process, but I think I did wanna point out in our in our debt policy, it is impressive that we have paid down $10,000,000 in in debt over the last several years. Yes.
Manager, can you, just inform the public what is revised about the debt policy? Because it thank says it's you.
Is it just the numbers that are So the the numbers the numbers were changed as you can Mhmm. For the twenty sixth, twenty seventh I'm sorry. This you know, it's it's very annoying because you when you when you redline things sometimes in Word, it uploads and it deletes the redlines. There was a there was a redline version of this. Yeah.
You to take you can click off the toggle when you're when you're forwarding it. I've done it many times and they're like, wait, you said this was a review. Where is it? I'm I'm very sorry about that. But yeah. So I'll just go I'll go over it. So the the changes that were in here was,
under Janette, could you pull that up where it says revised debt policy? Thank you. Okay. So under section three where it says debt, recommendations, it it previously said 17% to 22%, and we had previously changed our fund balance policy to be 17% to 25%. So that was just a correction there. Okay. And then as we said, we updated the numbers Mhmm. To reflect the current values. And, there was a sentence in the third paragraph, right, that said the village's long range goal is to maintain its debt level so the yearly debt payments, including interest in principal, do not exceed 16% threshold. And then it also had a clause that said, and will not issue more debt than it pays off each year, which was very important when we adopted this policy ten years ago because we had almost $40,000,000 in debt. Mhmm. But as we've been paying off our debt, that clause in the policy was somewhat restrictive. And we could because, theoretically, if we were follow if we had to adhere to that, we would not be able to do the projects that we're doing Mhmm. This year because of unfortunately, the cost of everything has has gone up. So that by removing that sentence, that in no way means that we won't try to do that. Right. You know, it's it's always been my goal to pay off more debt than we incur. Yeah. And I think, you know, the five years that I've been here has shown that. Yeah. Definitely. But, you know, it it was just a confluence of factors this year between the Half Moon Bay Bridge, the Brook Street work, you know, all these different infrastructure. Lot of infrastructure, which was a direct result of the budget priority survey that we undertook. Right? There was there was just a lot of factors that required us to,
take on the level of debt that that the board approved back in April. So, so the policy based on my conversation with financial advisor, it was recommended to update the policy to what you have before you.
Thank you. Yep. And I'll I'll also note that, you know, going back to our budget priority survey earlier this year or the yes. That was published on the village website earlier this year. It asks we asked residents, how should the village manage its financial strategy for long term capital projects? It gave the options of deferring maintenance even if it meant the diminishment of public assets and amenities, prioritizing the preservation of reserves to the point of having larger upfront tax increases to pay for capital projects. And the third option in the plurality choice was issuing bonds for major projects and spreading the cost over a period of decades consistent with, as were legally required, the useful life of the project. That's right.
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And and also it benefits you to have the option because you're you're applying for some New York Forward grants and there's a match associated with that and and you wanna be able to I sat here through 12 band resolutions that that your manager wrote and read verbatim. So I know the importance of being able to secure the funding you need to do your projects. Exactly.
Manager on the water infrastructure improvement application grant for Harrison?
The cost estimate for that is a million $2.36, and we're committing to provide a match of 370,000. So it's just I forgot where the The the if we're if we're successful,
And then on, item nine, the general fund budget to compensate police overtime for Con Ed. Uh-huh.
Con Ed is reverse reimbursed. Yeah. They've they've paid us that money, which is what we're putting in the Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome.
And as the attorney alluded, you know, we have a number of, capital projects that are receiving grant funding, but there's still a cost share. But, you know, with the Brook Street drainage project, which is not an insignificant project, There is some $700,000 in county money, some 700 coming on our side in the form of new new bonds. But, you know, that that really highlights the dilemma that that survey question posed. Right? We would be potentially foregoing the grants and foregoing maybe for a long time the opportunity to to address a, long term priority that, you know, we had identified as a capital need for the village. Mhmm.
I've up just in case anyone at home is interested, I've updated the agenda with the, redlined version. So Oh, awesome. You can yeah. So you can see the redlined version now on there.
discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Very good. Alright. Proposed resolutions manager.
Whereas the village of Cortlandt Hudson acquired the Kaplan's Pond property on Lounsbury Road in 1991, and whereas the village has undertaken various projects over the years to improve the area around the pond, including the replacement of the outlet structure and construction of a new emergency spillway in 2005. And whereas since 2016, a contractor has managed invasive species, including phragmites at the pond. And whereas to properly plan for the long term viability of Kaplan's Pond, a comprehensive water and health assessment has been requested as well as an assessment of the pond's earthen berm. Now therefore be it resolved that the village board of trustees hereby authorizes the village manager to accept the proposal from Princeton Hydro Engineering in the amount of $8,500 and be it further resolved that the village treasurer is authorized to make the following budget transfer in the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven general fund budget. General expenses increase a $71.10 dot 4,000, parks contractual $2,525, decrease a $19.90 dot 4,000 contingency $2,525.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachtaler.
Discussion? So this has been a long process as we all know. It involved, you know, a lot of conversation with the community that surrounds the pond. Mhmm. You know, we received the message that, you know, they wanted to have an outside firm that has that has no connection to the to the pond. Look at it. And so we have found a company that can do that. It's not not exactly easy to find companies that are certified dam inspectors. Wow. So but we have we've located this one, and, you know, we're happy to to keep this Yeah. You know, to hopefully get this get this completed. Thank you. Yep.
the did they give you a time frame? I I think that they're able to come out in sometime in August. It will depend on, you know, what their what their schedule is like, but it was it was gonna be a a somewhat quick Okay. Turnaround.
Whereas on 05/22/2024, the heart committee was established by the village board of trustees to identify and honor individuals and entities who have contributed meaningfully to the Croton On Hudson community. And whereas since that time, the heart committee has met regular regularly and hosted a number of events and ceremonies to recognize their honorees. Whereas the village board would like to have the heart committee serve in an ad hoc role moving forward, choosing honorees when called upon to do so. Now therefore, it be resolved that the heart committee is hereby reestablished as an ad hoc committee to honor Croton residents, businesses, or groups, either living or deceased, to have significantly contributed to the betterment of our village. And be it further resolved that members of the newly reestablished committee shall be appointed by the mayor as needed and have no official terms. And be it further resolved that the village board of trustees shall call upon the heart committee to choose an honoree at least once annually with the plan for such ceremony to be approved by the village manager, and be it further resolved that the village board of trustees shall play no part in determining future honorees for the heart committee.
Have a motion. So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nachtaler. Discussion?
Well, mayor, we've I think we've talked a lot about this with in the context of our committee updates and reorganization and fine fine tuning of of guidelines. And what we're essentially doing here is is relieving the committee of the of the burden of having to do three of these a year and and to meet monthly like a regular committee. So I'm I'm I'm glad that we're we're doing this, and and I'm particularly pleased that that we have at least one annually. They've done great work over the over the past past couple of years, and it will it will continue at a slightly lesser pace, but I'm grateful it will continue.
In the board's effort to, let's say, support and better institutionalize our committees, we adopted the guidelines that created, for lack of a better word, a regulatory burden for the committees and the volunteers. And the objective here is basically to slightly narrow the scope or allow hard to kind of tack on this issue and thereby avoid that regulatory burden. Okay. Further discussion?
They do have, just I'll say they have a a ceremony scheduled for August 1. That will be fair. Gonna say to honor Mark Cheshire. Right? Or And and the Historical Society. Society.
K. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright. Public comment on non agenda items. Anyone wishing to comment on any anything? This is your opportunity. Please state your name and address.
Before you start my time, I just wanna say quickly, I apologize for the way I look. I'm getting straight from work. Feel like I'm not very respectful being here, but Okay. Apologize
Gwen Cianfaglione, Mountain Trail. And so I did come once before asking questions about the dog park, trying to get it open to more people outside of Croton or outside of the village of Croton. That's number one. Number two, I'm thrilled that they've started. I saw that they're they have a workspace set up to start work on the bridge to me. Long time coming. Huge. I lived right there for years and years and years. I'm not even gonna tell you how many years. The bridge was so important. At one point, it was actually we used to have the little Croton phone books, and many, many times, not only was that bridge on the on the front of the Croton phone book, but a couple of years, it also had my mother and my children on the cover of the Croton phone book So at that I'm thrilled. I know it's probably a little late in the game since they're gonna start building it, but I'm curious. I never saw anything about the design of the new bridge and whether it's gonna have any form of character. It was a wooden bridge at one time, and that was during my lifetime. It was a wooden bridge. I remember that well. Clickety clack. Anyway,
really, my I'm thrilled about the bridge. That's number one. I'm looking forward to it. I hope it's gonna be finished before 2027. I saw May 2027 was an anticipated time frame. That's my thoughts and thrilled. I'm just hoping that there'll be some form of discussion at some point about the dog park. I'm not looking for the the village to supply poop bags or anything like that, but I would like it to be more inclusive. I go to other dog parks and actually people from the village who are part of the dog park, I'm running into at other places in Yorktown and Ossining, and they've told me that they don't feel that the Croton Dog Park is really that inclusive and that welcoming to people. And they also feel that when the park guy shows up to check everybody's ID and all, it kind of feels a little bit intrusive and not welcoming. I'm shocked that that we're policing people in that way. To be honest, Croton that I know and fell in love with many years, I swore to my family, I will never leave. I love Croton. But Croton had always been so welcoming and inclusive. And a lot of people, some new to Croton, some not so new to Croton, are expressing to me that they don't feel that way about Croton, which kinda breaks my heart. Anyway, that's it. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Thanks.
Hi. Ned Rust. Morningside Drive. My my second consecutive appearance. I wrote a letter about ye old leaf blowers to the editor at the Gazette last week, which, while a marvel of logic and and generally excellent craftsmanship, I'm not gonna recite here. But I do encourage you to read it and to support local journalism by ensuring that your subscription to the Gazette is active. But tonight, I'm just gonna focus on one of the points I tried to make. As in many public relations battles, one often hears the moneyed interests speaking suddenly loudly about their interest in the well-being of workers and small business. In the case of gas leaf blower preservationists, you will hear them say how these relics of the twentieth century are good for both. But as you surely know by now, there are numerous reports detailing how gas blowers, in fact, are terrible for their users and for everybody around them. Mount Sinai, an area hospital you may have heard of, has reported on the risks to children of all the pollutants the blowers create, and they've also looked at the effects on workers. Beyond cancer, heart, and lung issues, yard workers suffer greater hearing loss than any other category of worker. Even wearing ear protection doesn't help them because the intense vibrations of these machines transmit directly into their bodies. And these aren't people aren't just standing near these things, they're holding them. And then there's there's the pollution. Gas leaf blowers are so inefficient that 30% of the gasoline and oil that goes into them comes right back out in the combustion process or nonprocess. So if you put a gallon of gas into one of these things, you're gonna get more than two pints of fuel getting sprayed up in the air and in our community, essentially.
That means it it along with the carbon monoxide and the cancer causing hydrocarbon intermediates, like one three butadiene, it's right in our air. It's then sucked in by the workers' lungs, by our animals' lungs, our kids' lungs, our lungs, and eventually, unless it blows over into Yorktown or Cortlandt, it settles in our yards, soaks into the ground, enters our streams and wells, etcetera. So this is why you can smell blowers as well as hear them from several blocks away. And it's not just petrochemical pollution. When you run a machine that creates 200 miles plus jet blasts, a lot of that stuff on the ground, especially the little dusty stuff, gets thrown up in the air, and it stays there for hours and blows around and into the workers' lungs. So if if property owners are using pesticides and other chemicals on their lawns, it's right up in there for you to breathe. And also dried up animal feces, pollen, mold, and all kinds of fun things that don't belong in human noses and lungs and eyes. So look, I know changing habits is hard. I get it. We all want our life to be maximally convenient and cheap. We all want lawns that would make every New Jersey mobster green with envy. But as I pointed out before, in the history of America, there are moments where we stop doing something that, while easy and cheap, is just plain not good for us. And by us, I'm including the workers who are making their lives making our lives more convenient, easy, and cheap. So all that to say, a property owner or a business owner is actually not being good to yard workers if they're making them use a gasoline blower. So it it's kind of like paying somebody to smoke cigarettes and listen to, you know, rock music at 85 decibels all day just without the music or without the sweet taste of tobacco.
So all this information is out there, and it's spreading, and people are paying attention. And I encourage the board to do the actually not that politically risky thing and show that you care not just about the environment and our children, but for our day laborers, many of whom can't even afford to live here. They just come to Croton to damage their ears and lungs and make our properties look like something from a Long Island real estate catalog. So let's go ahead and do a full time ban. It's common sense. It's consideration. And I think these are quantities I've always felt here in Croton. It's partly why I raised my family here rather than in my native Briarcliffe. Those those people are barely civilized. So let's not blow this opportunity to show we're a village that leads, and let's not let Irvington and Rye leave us in the cancer causing dust. Thank you. Thank you.
My name is Ed Riely. I'm from Tuesdale Drive. I'd like to know two things. At the end of the last meeting, attended one of the principals on this board articulated I think it was socialist values, I think. We're rightfully proud of the competence and the abilities of our Department of Public Works operating under a licensed engineer with two incredible two or three incredible, managers and foremen that have built things that this village has never complicated contemplated building in the past. With that said, it we needn't slander or slam other contractors, especially contractors, the same contractors who saved this village, the same contractors who saved this village during the hurricanes in the past and got us back online faster than other communities. So if a, resident has a problem with a utility company or a contractor for the utility company, the first thing is be a man and go talk to the foreman. The second thing is call the village. Call the village manager and call the mayor who lives next door and have them talk to the foreman or the manager on the spot. And if they can't seem to fix the problem that they created, then it's a matter of shutting down the project as opposed to bitching about private enterprise and how badly they do stuff. Let me tell you, the government in this state and in general is a master of fraud and incompetence, and we'll start with the Medicaid system alone. And then we'll work over to Long Island Power Authority, which had to be removed from the electricity business and replaced by a public contractor from New Jersey, PSE and G, which still the state leans on and treats like crap. So, this little I think it was done, without a lot of thought. It it was a situation could have been easily been resolved. And if those two members of our, board did not do anything, That's one unlike them, and shame on them. But I believe they must have done something, talk to the contractor to resolve the problem. Item two is the idea committee,
which is really the DEI committee, diversity, equity, inclusion with another letter attitude turned around, and DEI was became nonpopular anymore. It's the committee that just keeps on giving. They didn't never do agendas when it didn't feel like it. Never public speaking. Never had any public speaking rules until a new sheriff showed up in the village board. The village board had two members, one live, living on the board, attending, and one former village trustee who couldn't seem to do the job, keep them on track. They put a new sheriff in town, and rightfully so. When a village committee attacks a newspaper in their minutes, a guy I disagree with 50% of the time, but I also know is a true true believer in the First Amendment. So I love having him around even though we viciously disagree 50% of the time. For a village committed to attack a newspaper is pathetic and should not be allowed. That committee needs reform, and it needs diversity. It's called the diversity committee. It is not diverse. It is a left wing progressive in what they do is a perfect example of that. But to continue, there is a boycott against CVS, which is one of the principal abortion corporations in The United States, fully cooperative with Biden's administration to swamp the entire United States with abortion pills, and they've been successful at that. They've had states buy up a million pills and put them on the shelf so they could throw them all over the place, and they've been very successful.
Halle Ray Born of Florida was admitted to admitted to purchasing drugs online, attempting to coerce her boyfriend to slip them to the mother of an unborn child who was a competitor for effect her for her affections. Mason Herring began mixing abortion drugs for his pregnant wife, Katherine's, drinks. Amid a difficult time in her marriage, Katherine became suspicious after falling violently ill. Robert Kuanda is accused of drugging his pregnant girlfriend. He slipped his girlfriend, mister Pristal, under the guise of iron pills and vitamins and killed her unborn child. I could go on and on. Once again, CVS is leading the charge on killing unborn children and will soon lead the charge on killing all people. Thank you.
Alright. Thank you. Seeing no one else wishing to comment, we proceed to reports from members of the board. After no. I'm sorry. No, I'm sorry. All right. Okay.
I'm used to trustee Slippen starting. So there's been a lot of news in the media about committees and I just want to say that the village board published guidelines to committees in May. So our new guidelines came out in May. And, committee chair dot gov email addresses were set up right in June. Correct. Yes. And so I look at this as, yes, ideally, we wanna get everybody kind of in compliance and all the agendas posted when they should in the minutes. But I think it's a little bit of an iterative process and I think we know we could do better. Right? And I know there's efforts to do better at this. I know the manager sent out an email today and we'll continue to communicate to committees on updates, guidelines, such as sending specific agendas prior to meetings, rules around minutes, including guidance on topics of what is, you know, appropriate to be discussed in a village meeting and and what isn't. I know we're talking to Lori Lee more about that. But, you know, I've, for the record, when the minutes came out about, the Chronicle meeting, I'm a trustee liaison to that committee, but I wasn't in the room when that topic was discussed nor was trustee Nicholson. So we didn't have any village folks in the room at that time. Had I been in the room, I certainly would have said that's not an appropriate topic to be discussed. And that was my message as well.
You know, personally, I'm grateful for the Croton Chronicle. Having a daily local newspaper online, drives civic engagement. It promotes greater government transparency, our art, and cultural activities. And, you know, while I get criticized from the Chronicle, I still appreciate that it's here. So I just wanted to say that. Thank you, manager, for updating the public on the 425 South Riverside special permit, And that's being referred or sending being sent to the planning board for going on the July 28 agenda. And I know we're gonna discuss more about when the board of trustees can start having a discussion around referring any unified comments that we may have to the planning board. Right? So we'll do that in advice of counsel, which I appreciate. Because my preference is to have unified comments as a board as opposed to citizen Stacey writing something separately. So appreciate that. There's lots of resident interest in maintaining the historic aspects of the Quaker Bridge. I know you get emails on that all the time. So I don't know if that's an opportunity to update on the project page, but and even to, you know, have a on a work session agenda, I'm not sure, but I know it's
not really up to us per se because county? It's the county. So, I mean, the county has and and the the, you know, the county and the town of Cortlandt and the village have been working jointly together on it, but, ultimately, it's up to the county. So, I mean, we can continue to have conversations with the county and with our county legislature legislature and Okay. You know, I I think everybody would like to see something happen, but it's not it's not our decision.
So I don't know in in if the right opportunity to discuss it as a board, what that might look like, if it's vice of counsel or an exact I don't I don't know. But hearing, you know, that it was the wooden bridge, we heard from Mark Cheshire that George Washington went over that bridge. And, you know, I could see a a day where we have beautiful plaques that really mark what took place there. So I don't know if there's opportunity to create a vision for this and and re make a recommendation to the county, but I'm happy to help any way that I can. Yeah. That sounds like we could we could explore that further. Yeah. Maybe we could maybe we could see if we could get a historic marker there like we
got at the cemetery. I think that, you know, that was always the intent. You know, it's it's the placard on top. And from the very start, I actually had the the pleasure of touring the bridge with the with the historian. And, you know, there was a lot of talk about, is there a way to save it, to retain it, make it a walkway if it wasn't suitable as a bridge. But, ultimately, it was saving that placard. Yes. So everyone everyone, I think, is On board with something. So. And then Yeah. And then the question is once you have this beautiful placard, what's the best way to display it? Mhmm. And and I think on-site, obviously Yeah. It makes makes the most So I think it's just getting there. But Yeah. So that's more to come on that. Yeah. Pretty good consensus on that, I'd say. And I I wanna thank, the manager and the recreation department and DPW
and police and fire I mean, the summer concert series event on Friday with the Aquarius band, I it was just an incredible evening. I just it was wonderful seeing so many people from Croton or people who visited Croton. So happy, dancing. The food and beverage was fantastic. Valerie, I saw from rec department there and working very hard. And the cleanup after the concert was just, you know, by DPW team and and Scott, and it was just it was just so well done. So thank you, and thank you to all of those involved, and it was it was great.
Okay. Okay. You're very good. Thank you. Just a a couple of small things and then a couple of somewhat larger, but I'll I'll try to be brief. On yesterday, our rotary meeting, we we were honored to host six high school students from around the country as part of the American exchange program. We've sent equal number of Croton students to other places around around The USA, and and and these were six from different different cities who came to spend the week in Croton. Literally, if you add up all of the all of the kids from all of the cities, villages, towns, and whatever that have participated in the program this summer, it's about a million altogether. So it's it's quite a thing. So we had a chance to talk to them a little bit about their impressions of Croton, which were very positive. And we kept hearing from them how green we are, which was very, very encouraging. So so I'm I'm I'm glad that we're that we did that and ended up being, I think, an enjoyable hour over at Capricio's. Secondly, we we just got our project mover numbers for month of June. Very positive. I haven't gone through them in detail, but our numbers are up over over May, which is encouraging. And we continue to to show, you know, lots of excitement about our new hub at Senesco Park. So I'll I'll I'll have more to say on the on the June project movers mover numbers at our at our next meeting, but also we'll go over them at our bicycle and pedestrian committee meeting tomorrow night. I did wanna mention just, you know, for those interested in in the in the historical moment, former congressman Richard Ottinger passed away at the age of 97 on
in March. And now his memorial service is gonna be this this coming Sunday at four to 6PM at Boscoville House And Gardens in in Garrison. He was one of the great congressmen of the of the twentieth century, represented Croton for about half of his congressional tenure, then switched districts over to the other side, a combination of redistricting and a few other things. So it'll it'll be online as well. And if anyone's interested in in watching that or or attending, just let me know. Manager and I, last week, met with some wonderful residents of the Beekman Wells area who are concerned about the the crosswalk at Maples And Wells on the way to PVC. And we we talked about some of the improvements that we're putting specifically at that cross crosswalk, particularly the the forthcoming rectangular rapid flashing beacon, RRFB, which we we hope will will be up in operation sometime this fall. So we're gonna continue to try to make things safer and give folks more confidence about their kids going going to school in the morning and coming home in the afternoon. Saturday morning at 10:00, speaking of of bikes, we have our third bicycle skills training class at the community room from ten until one. If weather permitting, it'll be classroom from ten to twelve, and then and then actually going out on bikes starting in the parking lot if and and in the general area of the municipal building to to put in place what you've learned in the classroom. So there's information in our most recent newsletter on how to register for this, and I think we'll be putting out another notice sometime between now and Friday for those that are interested. And I encourage everyone, particularly in the first two, it's been great to to see both parents
and and younger kids who are just, you know, getting into their bicycling, be in attendance. And and the more I think the more folks that we get in in these classes, I think the better off we all are. So those those are some of the some of the quick things that I wanted to mention. I two two things a little a little more substantive. First of all, a remarkable thing happened recently in in the congress of the United States. A a bipartisan bill was was passed. And usually what happens after a bill is passed, eventually, the president signs it. In this case, the president opted not to sign it. Once it reached his desk and ten days passed, it became law. He chose not to sign it in in effect as a as a protest over the lack of action on the SAVE Act, the voter identification and related items, legislation that he's interested in. So new a new law, it's called the twenty first century road to housing act, and probably it's the most significant federal housing law in the last last thirty years. It's got lots of interesting provisions. Many of them are what's called on the congressional side authorizations, which means it creates programs separately. They'll all need appropriations, which will actually fund them, but that's that's another story for another time. But it it does provide lots of interesting new authorities in the in the housing area for those for those communities, for example, that that get the community development block grant on a on a formula basis. We're not large enough for that. But but if if communities over 50,000 do get it, they're they're allowed to do things on the housing side that CDBG was never eligible for. There's some innovative pilot programs. There's some reduction in some of the NEPA requirements to streamline
the housing process. I think it'll take quite a while for us to absorb all of the things that that are that are in the bill. But and as we work with our local local HUD office and and and the state, which will have, you know, some role in in in administering this on behalf of the federal government, I think there might be some interesting opportunities for us. So we'll we'll have more to say, but keep an eye out for for the implementation of the of the twenty first century Road to Housing Act. Now what what I what I did wanna focus on also is a stunning development just just yesterday. As as you may recall from some of our previous meetings, as part of the legislature's work earlier this year, they passed what amounts to a one year moratorium on data centers. And the big question over the last few weeks, you know, since the legislature adjourned is when when and if the governor will will sign the bill. And she has my understanding until the end of the year to make that decision. She completely vaulted over that process by coming up with her own piece of policy on this, doing it by executive order. And this was a big surprise and and the as well as the some of the provisions that are in there, which go beyond what was what was in the legislation. So just to just to sort of summarize, probably and I should I should clarify. The governor's executive order, it pertains to what we call hyperscale data centers. Those are data centers of 50 megawatts or more. And it's a one year ban by executive order, and the purpose is to give the state time to build a regulatory framework for for these large data centers. But, also, what's what I what I thought was was rather rather stunning in in the governor's executive order is that it talks about and gives some significant detail on what she is calling a community investment framework. So localities can share in the benefits of data center development. The organization that we work with on state economic development issues, Empire State Development, is is going to develop fairly specific guidance to local entities to help them negotiate community benefits as part of the the data center process, including things as wide ranging as infrastructure improvements, childcare investment, that's a direct quote from the executive order, direct financial support for a community.
And there's let's see if I can find that handily. But there's in in the executive order or in in this attachment that comes from the executive order, there literally is a table that I'll just read that one last line. It's the it shows suggested investment on a megawatt megawatt basis. So that if a community was negotiating with an entity for a 50 megawatt data center, the the suggested investment by that data center in in that community is $50,000,000. 100 megawatts, a $100,000,000, and it goes on and on. So, basically, a million dollars per megawatt. There's also provisions in the executive order for for the PSC and the state energy experts, you know, to work on ways in which those that are promoting data centers, you know, are are are to contribute to the future growth of the of the energy grid as well. And they're also working on they'll also be working on a a new a new phrase for us, GEIS, which is generic environmental impact statement. So that so any any future large scale data center development, we will will have the ability to see what the true environmental impact is on energy, water use, and water quality, air quality, and and so forth and so on. And and they'll also be as part of that, as part of the grid process, they'll they'll be looking to establish a, quote, unquote, New York grid acceleration fund specifically requiring the data centers to invest in the state's grid infrastructure for future energy for the energy needs that that they're they're they're both using, but also for future growth as well. So it's, as I say, it's it's a it's a very big broad approach on the governor. And I think as I mentioned previously,
other state legislatures have have passed these these moratoriums. But in in every case that we know of, the governor of those states, I think Michigan and Iowa are the two most prominent, have vetoed them. And so, rather rather than do that, the governor has done two things. One is she's come up with her own executive order, and here it is. Executive order on fancy Do we have home rule on this? Fancy governor. Well, we'll see. You know, it's we have what we what we have is a is a moratorium on everything anything bigger, anything 50 megawatts
or bigger. That I understand. I wanna understand if there's home rule once, though. Moratorium
I think that's it's over. We have to wait for this framework. Yeah. Really, that's what we're waiting. Yeah. And I think that if you if you take the the community investment fund, the grid acceleration fund, all of it happens at the local level. And when the governor announced initially her her general outlook on this, her her her view was these are local issues, and I wanna maintain them locally. She's gone a little bit beyond that at this point, but what if you if you read read what's in it, it's essentially I wanna give local governments greater tools, whether it's environmental analysis or energy supply or community impact. So it's gonna be interesting to see what happens over the next year. Now the other other interesting thing is in response to the question to the governor, does does this mean you're not gonna sign the legislation that, that was passed by the legislature? They refused to be, specific on that and said that they they are maintaining, at least for now, the option of signing it between now and the end of the year and just need to understand what some of the implications of that are and whether whether it needs to be refined in any way. So it's it's effective immediately, by the way, which the moratorium is. But I I think the important thing is, of course, the moratorium is very important, but I think what's equally important is the things which follow the moratorium, the community reinvestment fund, the the generic environmental impact statement, the the grid acceleration, and and all of the other things that the state is gonna be working on in the in the next next year.
And and I yeah. I think we look forward to seeing what happens. Hear from our residents on how they feel about data data centers as well.
So Yes. But thank you. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Just just a reminder that, I mean, they're not really allowed anywhere in the village I understand. As as it is. Yeah. So
But it sounds like something is coming. Deputy Simon is educating us on the changes and Yeah. And see his benefits, but I think I'd like to understand more holistic perspective
about data centers. Sure. You know, well. Big issue. You for It's a big issue. And, you know, you can't of course, you can never say the words data centers, you know, without saying the other words artificial intelligence because that's that's why they're there, you know, to that's why they're there. And so so we have, you know, and this is throughout the world, you know, we have this sort of conflict of, you know, folks want AI, but but there's reluctance on data centers as there should be, if they're if they're done the wrong way. And that's that's why, you know, credit the governor, you know, with, with with trying to figure out if there's a right way to do it. And the pause will allow
the time necessary to look at the data Indeed. For want of a better word Yep. As to what needs to be addressed.
I guess it just makes me a little uncomfortable because it's, you know, just some some of the other aspects of it where, you know, just raising energy costs. So I think just education around. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome.
So I think I'll take this opportunity to note that our committees are comprised almost entirely of residents, all of whom are serving in a volunteer capacity. I think that our committees should be judged on their work product and not stray remarks or the table talk of a particular committee meeting. And in the case of the idea committee, its work product as we've seen from the recent programming, be it the pride flag raising or the Juneteenth celebration, is really, top top rate, and I think we're all pretty proud of the progress that they've made over the last few years. And speaking of other exciting village programming, we have coming up on October 18. What am I saying? October 18. October.
Move it right along. There is something on October 18. I'm sure there is. Okay. But
Well, it's the July 18. Chapin. That's right. That's right. That's what he said. On July 18 is our Croton River Community Panel, at 10AM, and then coming up on August 1 because we don't have a meeting between now and then. I'll note that we also have our America two fifty reenactment at Van Cortlandt Manor also at 10AM, with local historian and reenactor and bona fide American hero, Dwayne Jackson, as part of the demonstration. August 1. That's correct. And, you know, as to elaborate on some of my previous remarks, you know, the manager, I think, kind of discussed perhaps he did not, but I can share that, you know, with regards to the work, village staff has been on the work sites on a nearly daily basis. And, unfortunately, in at least one case, you know, they basically Con Edison, unfortunately, went beyond anything under the terms of its permit, and it was issued a citation. And it it's unfortunate that it came to that, but it did. And, you know, I don't think in the near term, we're gonna be in the process of, fundamentally reordering how we do, utilities in this country. But, as president Roosevelt said, the right of the people to own and manage their own utilities may need to be the birch rod to do the work when scolding is insufficient. Hopefully, a gentle admonition in the form of a citation and other regulatory pressure will be sufficient. Number of year you know, I think I try to be fair about these things. I can give credit where credit is due. Con Edison came a long way in the last few years from, you know, when they had that blue sky power outage in our village and not even to speak of the shambolic responses to the March 2018 so storms, and they made real investments in resilience and delivered eventually real results. But not all of the oversight of some other contractors has been lacking, and they need to step it up, especially given that they are typically or at the at least the last time I checked, the most expensive utility in the Continental United States. That includes the often much maligned LIPA, Long Island Power Authority, which is a very strange creation of a public authority that's privately managed and
has many issues of its own, but somehow, despite them, remains, less expensive than Con So Con Edison, for what it's charging, has a lot that, it owes its customers. And I think that's the real message here, with regards to my previous remarks.