Regular Meeting
Excellent. Alright. Good evening, and welcome to the regular meeting of the Cortlandt and Hudson Board of Trustees. I'm mayor Brian Pugh. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance.
Alright. Now we proceed to our approval of vouchers.
General Fund, $394,132.30. Water Fund, $357,979.80. Sewer Fund, $25,038.16. Capital Fund, $145,837.38. And the Trust Fund, $11,750.
Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. Very good. Now we proceed to our feature presentation, a presentation of certificates of recognition from the New York Conference of Mayors to John Spada in recognition of twenty five years of service and to John Nikitopoulos in recognition
of forty years of service.
Now I would like to invite the board to come join me in presenting the
So, again, the first one is for John from our water department. He is continuing a family tradition of service to our village. So I wanna, on behalf of the board, extend our deep thanks to him for his service and look forward to years of continued work for our village. Thank you, John. And chief Nikitopoulos, a, true lifetime dedicated to our village. Thank you.
Alright. And for the folks that were here for that presentation, I'll you wanna stay, you're welcome to stay. You wanna take this opportunity to leave, please do so. Okay. Great.
Okay. Now we have three public hearings of the evening. The first will be on local law number 10 Thank you. Of, draft local law number 10 of 2026 to amend chapter two thirty zoning
of the village code to update provisions related to domestic animals and farm animals.
So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion?
Yes, mayor. If I could, I just wanted to make a couple of quick comments. I wanna say, first and foremost, that the Village Board of Trustees has worked hard on local law introductory number 10. The purpose of which is to amend our zoning provisions on domestic animals and farm animals. If anyone had told us one year ago that in 2026, we would be spending substantial amount of time on this topic. We would likely not have believed them. But things change and events cause that change to occur. So a number of developments in the village made it clear that our existing zoning provisions regarding animals and fowl were insufficient. With the help of our manager, our village attorney, our planner and engineer, this board of trustees has made a sincere effort to craft legislative language to address the inadequacies of our existing code. Is it perfect? Of course not. Are we finished? Also, of course not.
The great congressional giant, John Dingle, fifty nine years and twenty one days in the US House of Representatives, would regularly say, often when I was in the room, quote, nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. So you guys need to go to work. That was good advice when it was told to us by chairman Dingle and it's good advice today. As we've seen in recent weeks, there is a significant divide within the community on a number of issues related to the current draft of local law introductory number 10. The job of the board of trustees in the weeks ahead is to continue to work hard on this bill, but to do so in a way that bridges that divide. That's hard work, and it must be done seriously and without distractions that would tend to divert this board from its main mission of finishing its work in an able manner. Some have said that as we go forward with our work that I should recuse myself
from further involvement in the drafting of local law introductory number 10. They say I should do so because I live next door to a family that now lives next door to a flock of racing pigeons. I appreciate suggestions that I recuse myself. In fact, before a single letter was ever written or any other communication on that issue, I raised that question myself back in May when we first began considering these issues. I was told then by our village attorney, mister Subin, at the time that it was not necessary for me to do so. However, I did subsequently recuse myself from a zoning board advice of counsel session, again relying on our village attorney who felt it was appropriate in that instance since the zoning board was dealing with a specific interpretation of the zoning code impacting two homes. I was grateful for his guidance and, of course, did so recuse myself. Soon after this hearing date was established and we received specific questions on recusal,
I have been guided by our very capable village attorney to my right, miss Dickson. She advised me that anytime I feel I cannot be objective as we go forward, I should recuse myself. Today, I feel as objective as I've always been on the issues surrounding local law introductory number 10. My goal in this and other legislative endeavors on our part of our board is to get to where house speaker Tip O'Neill always advised us to be. Quote, the most good for the most people. In other words, I'm trying to be helpful here. When I see a problem or one is presented to me, I don't measure the distance of that problem from my house. I just try to find a solution. That's how I approached all of our work here in Croton since I joined the board. And this is not a unique trait of mine. I believe all of my colleagues do the same. That's what this job is all about. I never wanna look at a neighbor who feels distressed by a village law or problem
or even a legislative draft and say, sorry, I can't help you. You live too close to me. On the other hand, as I said a moment ago, this work is too important to be put at risk by any distractions. And most importantly, I have great faith in the talent and abilities of my four colleagues assisted by the manager, by our planner, by our engineer, and our attorney to devise a final version of local law introductory number 10 that meets speaker O'Neill's standard, Quote, the most good for the most people. And I believe they share my view that our obligation is to solve the problem and that doing nothing in this instance is not a good option for Croton. So to remove any potential distractions as this board goes forward, I will recuse myself from any further involvement with local law introductory number 10. I wish you all the best as this hearing and any subsequent action on this measure proceeds.
I thank everyone for coming out tonight and sharing your thoughts with the board. And now until this specific hearing is concluded, I will relinquish my seat on this board and happily join the people.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Before we proceed to the public hearing, manager, do you have any, background information you'd like to present or share?
How far back do you want me to start? Anything anything that I think is real. No. Thank you, mayor. I'm not back to that guy.
I'm So, as trustee Simon kinda gave a brief synopsis on the law, I'll just say that, you know, the board has had numerous discussions on this law. Much of the information is included in the backup, documentation that is available on the village website as part of the agenda. For those who are interested, we have received comments from our Water Fund advisory committee. We have received comments from our village planning board. We have received comments from the Westchester County planning board. All that information is available on the village website. You know, this is just as was said, a public hearing. You know, the board can after they've heard comments from the public, can choose to close the public hearing or leave it open. There's no requirement that it be voted on this evening. You know, if the board wants to take the feedback that it's received both through email and through, the public commentary to come
and go back to a work session, get further guidance from our attorney. Those are all options that you have available,
Manager, thank I I just wanna make sure I understood. So deputy mayor Simon
has recused himself from Yes. From yes. Correct. Going forward? From considering the law. And any revisions from that will come from your hearing. Okay.
Thank you. And I just wanna say that I'm grateful for all the residents who came out tonight. I'm sure you're here for various reasons, but I I'm grateful that you're all here. And, I'm grateful for the people who submitted letters concerning local law 10, the proposed law that is, including ways that it can be more clear. I really respect the amount of engagement the community has shown around this law, and it will only help us strengthen it and make it better. So thank you.
Well said. And, out of respect for that engagement and those contributions, we will not be voting on this law tonight. We will be taking it back, for a work session for further review to be informed by the comments from our respective, you know, formal referral body bodies, but also from what we hear tonight and over the preceding and coming days via email.
Okay. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you. The floor is open. Everyone has, please state your name, address. You have up to five minutes to speak. And just to clarify, the this is public hearing for the loss of the Yes. Yes. There will be three pub well, two more public hearings, then public comment on agenda items, then public comment on non agenda items towards the end of the meeting. So Don't start that okay. Debbie Braddock, 23 Young Avenue.
To me, this became quite confusing about someone having, I believe it was pigeons. And my husband's father had homing pigeons for years and lived in Croton. It wasn't a problem. You know? It just life happens. I personally feel that it would be detrimental not to have that, not to continue that legacy for someone else, and to be concerned about people who might wanna have chickens. Because if we say birds, we could then move to chickens. Are we gonna say a specific number? I think we need to gracefully meet again and discuss what this is gonna do to someone who bought a house and has a hobby and wants and I do not know this person, but I want them to have every opportunity we had. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Allison Rosen, Old Post Road. Thank you to the mayor, trustees, and manager for considering protecting our neighbors and village by banning pigeons without grandfathering as many municipalities have done in the face of residential flock operations. The facts and documented impact show the greater good this ban would bring to our community and the village wide risks of not taking swift action. I'm among seven of the eight closest households on the same block as the pigeon operation at 148 Old Post Road North, and that's excluding the member of the board of trustees, who have expressed support urging an immediate pigeon ban with no grandfathering. I'm uniquely able to provide details of our lived experiences of the havoc caused by this flock on our property and our quality of life. This board has reviewed some of the visual evidence shared by our neighborhood, like the examples of pigeons on the board over here that perch for upwards of a couple hours on our roofs, gutters, garden beds, and other outdoor spaces.
It is unreasonable to allow dozens of kept pigeons or any neighbor's animal to occupy other people's properties. They cohabitate on neighbor's properties causing health, safety, quality of life, and financial impacts, which include defecation on our houses, cars, lawns, driveways, patios, and furniture, a predator killed bird that fell on our property, noise disturbances from the large flock routinely wake us up at 4AM, very low flight path that first runs directly over our property at peak outdoor times with pigeons shedding debris, feathers, particles, and poop right overhead. A diminished ability to use our outdoor spaces due to the mess and constant repeated flights. Village officials have been told that the majority of the pigeons in the condo are young. It takes just twenty days for eggs to hatch and about another month for pigeons to become fully grown. By six months, they begin reproducing.
As shown here on the board, in low end controlled breeding, a flock of 24 pigeons can easily multiply to 120 in just one year, according to the NIH and other reports. It's easy to see how quickly this becomes impossible to manage and regulate and how the nuisance exponentially grows. A flock of pigeons 24 pigeons poop about a thousand times a day. On the low end, that's 50 to 75 times an hour as they fly overhead or remain perched on neighboring homes and properties. Their droppings are corrosive and cause damage to homes and cars. A flock of a 100 pigeons produces 4,800 pounds of poop per year. More exposure in higher quantities means higher risk of infectious diseases and a greater nuisance to neighbors. Free from these impacts is the flock operator who does not live in that home, yet constructed this massive pigeon condo along his elderly neighbor's property line backing up to their vegetable garden.
Well established property line trees have also been removed or disturbed, increasing flight lines and sight lines. It's not feasible for the village to regulate or accurately count this pigeon operation, which can be swiftly relocated or released like has occurred over this past week. This board is also aware of instances of code and rule circumvention at one forty eight, which leaves future compliance in doubt. There is not enough space or distance from neighbors for this type of operation, and there's no realistic way to prevent these animals from congregating on and damaging neighboring properties. Our block is not unique in Croton. Much of our village is comprised of small lots and closely built homes. Everyone should be able to enjoy their own homes without worrying that neighbors' animals will be treating their houses or lawns like toilets. There these are some of the same reasons why other municipalities in Westchester,
the city of Chicago, and beyond do not permit pigeons in residential areas. This board is aware of the range of binding state and federal case law that, for good reason, supports an immediate municipal ban with no grandfathering. A wide sampling of verified residents in neighborhoods across the village agree that Croton should not become a beacon for pigeon flock operations. They cite already budding ecological concerns about the pigeons found or photographed this summer around the village. Pigeons are large, nonmigratory, and do not behave as our native songbirds or backyard chickens do. Homing pigeons attract more invasive wild pigeons and doves, which they are known to mate with, to our neighborhood, pushing out songbirds that we've enjoyed over the years. As a resident biologist recently shared with the board, there is a real concern that wider biodiversity in Croton's neighborhoods and parks could continue to dwindle as the pigeon population grows and crowds out other species.
Beyond that, pigeons attract rats, other pests, and predators to neighborhoods. They pose health risks, especially to those who are immunocompromised to senior citizens and to children, including histoplasmosis, cryptococcus, cytokinesis, salmonellosis, and bird mites. Dogs and cats are particularly susceptible to cryptococcus, a fungus that is found in bird droppings, notably in pigeons. These are primary reasons I am not alone in urging you to act tonight on the board's previously stated consensus intent to adopt a pigeon ban without grandfathering to protect neighbors, pets, properties, and our environments. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Hi. Good evening. Can everyone hear me? Yes. Good evening, members of the board, mayor Pugh. My name is Erica Loudoun Corwin, and I live at the dead end of Penfield Avenue in the house where I grew up. I'm speaking tonight because I I have some concerns and questions regarding the establishment of erasing pigeon loft on Old Post Road. I'd like to just point out that pigeons are not foul. By the way, what is the definition of fowl? No. Not all birds are considered fowl. While bird applies to any feathered, warm blooded vertebrate, the entire scientific class avis, fowl is a much narrower term used in both biology and the law. In simple terms, all fowl are birds, but not all birds are fowl. Biologically, the term fowl refers almost exclusively to two specific order of birds, galliforms, landfowl, heavy bodied ground feeding birds such as chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quails, grouse, and peacocks,
and seriformes, waterfowl, like swimming birds such as ducks, geese, and swans. Because pigeons are often not defined as foul in standard municipal dictionaries, towns often regulate them under general public nuisance ordinances, like noise, odor, property damage, acid waste, livestock, animal limits, or specific building codes for outdoor structures and lofts rather than just bird laws alone. While pigeon racing may have a rich tradition, it belongs really on expansive agricultural land or designated urban rooftop facilities. I don't think I think we all know it doesn't belong jammed into single family suburban neighborhoods where the footprint directly impacts adjacent homeowners. Often, pigeon racing enthusiasts view their birds as highly trained athletes and become completely blind to the reality of the nuisance they create. The hobby has deep roots in dense urban environments like rooftop coops
in The Bronx or Manhattan or expansive rural areas like Upstate New York, but it translates terribly to small lot suburban neighborhoods. I also have some questions that I think would be helpful. Why did this homeowner specifically choose a house that wouldn't be a good fit for racing pigeons? Why did this homeowner target Croton? Why should other residents have to allow his racing pigeons to disrupt and vandalize their property with dropping and corrosive pigeon poop? What does he have to prevent reproduction? Is he eating the eggs? Is he selling the eggs? Does he pay taxes on bedding when he's racing the pigeons? How are the pigeons tagged? How does a pigeon qualify to receive a band on their leg? I just think those are some questions that would be helpful to know. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
Hi. Good evening. My name is Nicole Shapiro. My husband and I live diagonally across the street from Tony, and therefore, we have a pretty good perspective on whether Tony's pigeons are creating a problem for the neighborhood. They are not. With Tony's permission, we looked at the coop ourselves. The coop is clean and well maintained. It is set well back from the neighboring property lines and is a substantial distance from other houses. The birds were quietly cooing. There was no offensive smell. We saw no rats, no droppings outside the coop, nothing that struck us struck us as dirty or unsanitary. What we saw saw bore very little resemblance to the picture painted by many of the allegations being used to justify a ban. These are not feral street pigeons. They're tagged racing pigeons. They're individually identifiable, domesticated birds that are bred and trained to return to their home loft.
Our understanding is also that Tony has had the birds vaccinated. In other words, this is a managed flock of birds being cared for by an owner. Where's the evidence that Tony's pigeons have caused a rat problem? Where's the evidence that anyone has incurred pest control expenses because of these birds? Where's the evidence of a fire hazard? Has anyone contracted any illness associated with the pigeons? Has testing revealed dangerous airborne pathogens? Is there evidence of damage to neighboring property from these particular birds? We are not aware of any such evidence. There's obviously a difference between something that theoretically could happen and something that is actually happening. We don't think Croton should, prohibit an activity throughout the entire village based primarily on a hypothetical and generally unwarranted concerns. If the concern is that improperly stored pigeon food might attract rodents, require pigeon food to be stored in sealed rodent resistant containers.
If a coop becomes unsanitary, require the owner to clean it. If there's an offensive odor, regulate it. If the village believes coops should be a dis a certain distance from property from property lines or neighboring homes, establish a reasonable setback. These are sensible regulations. What we do not understand is why the solution needs to be a complete ban. There's also the issue of fundamental fairness to Tony. Our understanding is that Tony specifically checked with the village before purchasing his house to make sure he would be able to keep his pigeons. He subsequently constructed the coop with the village approval and its compliance, with applicable building requirements. He relied on what he was told and spent money building to, to, build the coop. It's difficult to see how it is fair for the village to tell a resident that something is permitted, allow him to rely on the representation
and make an investment, and then change the law after the fact specifically to prohibit what he was told he could do. There are potentially serious legal issues associated with this as well. Given that Tony was already keeping the birds, consulted with the village, and constructed his coup with village approval, it seems obvious that an attempt to force him to eliminate the existing use could result in litigation. That means Croton taxpayers could end up paying for attorneys to defend a lawsuit over a clean pigeon coop that could have been avoided by simply adopting reasonable regulations or grandfathering an existing use. There's a straightforward compromise available here. If the village believes pigeon keeping needs additional regulation, establish reasonable limits on the number of birds, establish setbacks, require the birds to be properly housed, require feed to be kept in rodent resistant containers,
require the coop to be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition, address unreasonable odor or noise. The village could even require the pigeons to be banded or otherwise identifiable if it believes that that would be useful. Then enforce those rules when someone actually violates them. That approach would address virtually every legitimate concern that has been raised without prohibiting re responsible pigeon keeping. If the board ultimately decides that it does not want new pigeon coops in Croton, we believe Tony's existing coop and flock should unquestionably be grandfathered. We respectfully ask the board not to enact a blanket prohibition on keeping pigeons. If reasonable regulations are needed, adopt them. If an actual nuisance develops, address it. But please do not impose a village wide ban based on problems that, as far as we can see, have not actually occurred. And if the board nevertheless decides to prohibit new pigeon keeping,
at an absolute minimum, Tony's existing village approved coop and flock should be grandfathered. Thank you.
My name is Andrea Fury. I live at 14 Morningside. I don't have that much to add to what Nicole just said. She was so thorough. But I would like to bring up one aspect of this whole story that we haven't really talked about, and that is the importance of pets in people's lives today. My daughter is working at the VA hospital in Washington DC as a clinical psychologist, and she told me just a couple of nights ago that one of the biggest issues that they are facing is that for a lot of these veterans, their closest companion is their pet. It's their animal. In this case, as as has been, ascertained, these are Tony's pets. So it's not just an issue of, outlawing, birds that fly around like like wild birds. These are his pets. I also would like to add that I did hear a lot of what if, what if, what if. I don't think that really stands. But mostly, I would like to thank the board for extending this conversation
and, not voting on it tonight.
Hello. My name is Jean Clairefeld, and I was raised in the same town where my the same house where my father grew up and where my grandmother still lives, 90 Truesdale Drive. And I would like to speak as someone who hosts Project Feeder Watch, a citizen science project created by Cornell Ornithology Lab. And I routinely work in my job with many birds, especially morning doves, are biologically almost identical to pigeons. I would like to say that I've heard a lot about infectious diseases, and I wanna say from an ornithological point of view that pigeons do not pose a unique ill threat of illness compared to any other species of bird. Okay? We are not dealing with, as you may have heard them called, unfortunately, like, rats of the sky. That is an unfortunate situation in which, of course, pigeons, as we associate them with cities and metropolitan areas, are essentially they were released on mass before, and they were kept as pets and now basically,
are sequestered to eating, garbage in in cities. So that is not, up to that it's not integral in the nature of pigeons. And when they are kept, they are just as as clean, just as safe as any other pet. Okay? So I would really like to quench to quench this rumor that pigeons are are somehow dirtier or more, you know, illness, you know, producing than any other bird, any other pet that we have. Okay? All these concerns, all these illnesses that we're hearing named are not unique to pigeons. I would also like to say that, you know, it really does generally seem that, you know, we live in the natural world. And and if you were worried about biodiversity, reducing the amount of songbirds in this town, reducing the amount of species of birds in this town. I'm an avid bird watcher, and all I'm going to say is that I think it's kind of interesting that that interest has not popped up at any other time.
So I think if you're interested in things like biodiversity, interested in things like reducing illness, interested in things like, you know, helping the immunocompromised, I I wish that would that that concern would emerge at other moments as well as someone who is genuinely concerned about those topics and expresses my concern for biodiversity, for the natural world, in my work, and and in everything that I do. And I'm generally concerned that that's something which seems to be inconvenient to very few people is now going to limit the the freedoms of the town which which I've come to love and which I know that that many, many birds have have come to love. So so thank you so much, and, I hope you vote nicely.
Good evening. How are you? My name is Healy. I'm the president of, New Rochelle Vision Club. Tony is a member. He's the newest youngest member of that club. Our club was established in 1943. So, you know, like, through the years, you know, like, we have so many people, you know, like like, doctors, businessmen, you name it. As currently, our our club is 32 members, and, they're all, spread up through the Chester. Some of them are Greenwich, Connecticut, also. Rice. So, you know, like, that somebody make a comment about one family house, coops, you know, like, that doesn't, exist. I live in one family house, and I have a coop over there. My neighbor loves the pigeons and all that. I've been raising pigeons since I was probably five, six years old as I can remember. And another thing that I wanna, you know, like, to in you know, agree with the ladies that about the disease. You know, like, we take care of our pigeons like we take care of our babies. My daughter tells me you treat your pigeons as your babies, and you treat ours as your pigeons. You know? So, you know, like
also, you know, like, my son is is in a spectrum, and it's like he's a relaxing thing, I would say. You know? Like, when he gets tantrums, you know, like, the only thing I can chill him off is bring him to the pigeon coop and relax with him over there for an hour or two. If that would pose any danger or any, you know, disease for him, I would never bring him over there. So, you know, like, it's not in questioning. I mean, you know, like, somebody wanted to know about how we tag them and all that, the eggs and all that, and it's a very simple process. You know? Like, they can go to Benz in live and see how we we tag the pigeons. You know? Like, they have the band. They have the chip. We have expensive equipments that we trace pigeons and all that. And also, you know, like, there is a way that, you know, like, we separate the boys from girls, I would say, you know, like, after the the breeding season, and there's there's no eggs or anything in the coops that we eat or we break or whatever we do with them.
What you know, like, another thing is that, you know, like, we take care of them about the disease. You know? Like, right today, you know, like, I ordered a very expensive, testing kit that I wanna send to Texas by, certify, you know, like, and, you know, mail to check for any disease that might have. You know? I check the droppings. I check everything. You know? Like, we're vets, basically. The pigeon, flyers, they're vets. You know? Like, the all the flyers that are in our club, you know, like, I'm the youngest one, and they made me the president just because, you know, like, there are a lot of old people, and they don't know how to deal with the, you know, like, the the clocking system and the computers and all that. By the way, I'm the director of IT department for the city of Pigskill. So that's why I'm the president. They they made me over there to to to take care of all this kind of stuff. But,
you know, like, we have generations of people over there. Like, the guy's 80 years old, and he's telling me his grandfather had pigeons. So, you know, like, it's it's a lovely tradition. You know? Like, and it's a hobby that, I guess, you know, it's like a horse race. You know? So I don't know. Know? Like, I I love my pigeons. I'm pigeons are keeping me alive, to be honest with you guys, with what I'm going through in my house. So, you know, like, it's I'm sorry. And there's no rats. Another thing is about the mice and all that stuff. You know? Keep in mind, if one mice enter in the coop, the pigeons are gone. He's gonna kill all of them. They're all gonna be dead. So there's no, you know, like, no way rats would be in that coop or, you know, like, if they attract rats, you know, like, we take care of them in many ways. But, you know, like, there's what can I say, guys? You know, like, we take care of we love our our pigeons. We love our hobby, you know, like, and all that. You know? Like, we don't want anybody to, you know, like, lose
his pleasure in life or, you know, hobbies because of somebody's health. I don't know what it is, whatever it is. But as I say, you know, like, we we we we have the pigeons here as part of our life. We have in our blood. Like, many people have, like, other hobbies. You know, like, pigeons are our life. I mean, anybody has any question, you know, like, how we test them and everything, I can go through all of that. But I assure you guys that there is nothing cleaner than a pigeon coop in a pigeon fancier's yard. I've been having pigeons in my house for probably eleven years right now when I moved over there. And the only complaint I got, it's, it was this, old guy named Anthony that, why do you lock your pigeon in wintertime? Because he like to see the pigeon flying every single day. And the reason why we like them in wintertime is because of the hawks. We don't want our pigeon to get hit by hawks
during the winter because hawks tend to hit the pigeons, you know, like, the the leaves of the the
trees sir. I'm sorry? Time has expired, sir. Alright. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you, guys. Thank
evening. I'm Jennifer Paulie. I live at 146 Old Post Road North, right next door to Tony. And I've lived there with my husband Andy Simmons for over twenty years. And before I say anything else, I just want to thank all of you for being on the board, for your commitment to public service and the public good, and appreciate your having this discussion today. I would like to add too that I am home most of the time. I work from home. I usually am not going into the office. I garden, and we have two dogs. And my husband is a senior citizen. Sorry. I had to put that in. He's gonna kill me. But in any case, both of us are outside in our yard a lot, and we are very aware of what goes on in neighborhood. And I rarely see Tony's pigeons. I think his coop is closer to my property than to anybody else's. But I rarely see them unless I walk near the coop, which is where they seem to spend the vast majority of their time.
When I have seen them flying, they do a few swoops over our house and a couple of others, and then they return to their coop. Their sound is a very muted, gentle cooing. Tony keeps the coop very clean. There's no odor coming from it. And as a cursory look at public health literature will confirm, there is no public health hazard from domestic pigeons. There's certainly no more risk from them than from wild birds flying all over Croton. Have these pigeons ever pooped on my patio? Maybe. Have they ever sat on top of my house? Perhaps. But so is every other bird in Croton. It's important to note too, as Tony has told me, that he received village approval before he built his coop. And Tony doesn't live in his house full time because he is renovating it, but he will be moving into the house and living there full time with the pigeons. He has followed all the rules. He got all the necessary permits. He built the coop. He moved his pigeons in. To tell him now that his approximately
20 pigeons have to go is outrageously unfair and unjust. I know other neighbors have complained to the board about the pigeons. We've heard some tonight. They have also called the police multiple times to report that the pigeons are flying over their house. Somebody, I don't know who, even called the Fire Department once, claiming that the coop was on fire. Every time one of these calls is made, as you know, it requires that the police or firefighters come to the house to investigate. Is this really the best use of our taxes to send first responders into the middle of a dispute between neighbors, taking them away from real emergencies? If you support this ban, please consider that you will be aligning yourself with a campaign of harassment against Tony, who is a new Croton resident. I also have to say, I find it hypocritical to consider a ban on pigeons when we still allow gas powered leaf blowers.
As we know, gas powered leaf blowers are so loud they can damage hearing. In our house, we have to spend the best weather months of the year with all the windows shut tight so that we don't listen as as much to the daily roar of leaf blowers. Gas powered leaf blowers spew carcinogens and toxic emissions into the air. This is a well documented fact. They kill beneficial insects, and they destroy pollinator habitats. And people wonder, all the time I see it on Facebook, where are all the bees? Where are all the fireflies? Where are all the butterflies? And yet, we allow gas powered leaf blowers, but we're considering banning pigeons. I'll remind you that pigeons, unlike leaf blowers, don't cause cancer, they don't destroy the environment, and they don't ruin your hearing. I think we, as a community, need to focus more issues of real importance and worry less about people's pets. Thank you for the chance to speak.
And thank you for your service to the community. It's truly appreciated. Appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Good
evening. Jim Miller, 18 Wolf Road. I've followed the discussions the previous weeks about this quite a bit. Read the pretext for this statue of concerns about health related to bird droppings, related to, seed that is used to feed the birds, attracting rodents, and other health related concerns that have been caused by apparently, we have one pigeon coop in the village, 20 pigeons. And what really struck me today is I walked out my front door, and I have a couple of birdseeds, theaters hanging from my tree. And as I walked out, there was a flock of perhaps a 100 starlings on my front lawn. Nothing unusual. It's it's fall migration this time of year. Also, the feed is there for them to eat, and they come. And when I startled them, they flew across the street, half of them landing on my neighbor's roof, the other half landing in the tree next to their house. And the other thing that I noticed was not only have I attracted these birds that are going to be pooping all over the place and causing disease, but also I've attracted rodents. I I I saw squirrels running all over the place.
And what what I wonder is have we considered banning bird feeders in Croton? Because whatever dangers you feel arise from a pigeon coop, the same dangers arise from bird feeders. And, I'm here to say, like, well, maybe first you came for Tony's pigeon coop. Next, you may come for my bird feeders. Please don't. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Excuse me. Gary Eisinger, Cleveland Drive. Good evening, members of the board and neighbors. I wanted to take these few minutes to talk about nimbyism. It's been quite a few years now that many of us in the village have been attacked with this word. We went from being neighbors to being envious. The word utilized against us, slandering us with implications of our utter horridness as human beings. While allowing ADUs on the smallest slots in Croton built right up to and looming over long standing property setback requirements. You shot us nimbiest down, favoring, it seems, the shadows taking away gardens and hard earned little slices of paradise with absolutely zero neighbor input allowed. With lot a, our neighbors on Wayne Street brought up the obstructed views they would have from this five plus story structure, and those neighbors were also written off as nimbious, obstructionists in the Hochul to Harckham to Pugh slam dunk to take away neighbors' right to voice grievances on the impact your progress and your preferred changes to the village impact our daily lives.
With 425 Riverside, we have neighbors, dare we name label them nimbius as well, who have grave concerns of a slope collapse in their own literal backyards. At Gottwald Circle, an unnecessary elongation of the zeroescaped garden curbs were designed such that parking spots were removed from in front of these neighbors' houses impacting their businesses and daily life. In this case, a redesign could have pleased all sides, but our mayor and deputy mayor, with less concern for other neighbors' backyards or street front in this case, ignored their pleas. And with Kathy Hochul's Let Them Build package, we have exempted large scale projects like 425 Riverside and soon the Green Growler Building from SECRA, which enabled public input into projects that quite literally impact our backyards, our front yards, and our quality of life. So now we come to the subject of this diatribe, our own deputy mayor's backyard.
It seems to have now gotten personal. I mean, absolutely no one likes bird shit in their backyard. And since we are now holding a public hearing on what ostensibly boils down to where we draw the line on pigeon shit, in what seems to be the wrong neighbor's backyard. And by wrong neighbor, I find it quite amusing that it is Croton's own godfather of anti nimbyism, who now apparently having reached his own come to nimby moment. So now that you've had this epiphany that our backyards can really matter to us, would you please consider joining the voice of community excuse me, the voice of Croton community group. And with our community group behind you, we can help you fight the power of hokel to Harkom to Pugh and reclaim the joy and dignity of your little slice of paradise we call the backyard. And on a more serious side regarding the chickens, I really think your proposed setbacks are way too big.
So odd that you champion a 10 foot setback for an 800 square foot ADU, but asked for five times that for a 60 square foot chicken coop. Please make that difference make sense to me in the coming weeks. Thank you. Thank you.
Hello. My name is Doug Simmons. I live on Finney Farm Road, and I'm here to advocate for my neighbor, Tony, and his pigeons and doves. Tony is a good neighbor. He's a nice guy. When you talk to him, as I have on a number of occasions, I've gotten to know him, you realize you're in the presence of a gentleman. Please know that he's suffering from this proposed legislation. I think you saw some emotion tonight from one of his, I guess, his colleagues. I didn't I didn't know that gentleman. Tony's fearful. He's not a guy looking to fight city hall. You know, he he he doesn't have a lawyer at ready. This is a this is a it really caught him, unexpected. He moved here because he sensed a loving and tolerant community, and he's been treated so poorly. It's really shameful. I understand the May 29 petition, has 41 signatures, was circulated among parents at the school bus stop in front of my home. It's directly across from
Jennifer and Andy's and and Tony's. No one knocked on my door and asked me to sign. I had no idea this petition even existed until a few weeks ago. The petition is alarmist in tone and out of touch with reality. Let me address two specific objections. One, pigeons, coops, excrement, and feed attract rats and other pests. These create health issues and costly control burdens. This was obviously written before we got to know before I got to know Tony, and it's a gross exaggeration. Tony's coop is immaculate, and anyone with a bird feeder knows that seed has to be properly stored or rats will become a problem. Two. Two of the six. Only do the two of this petition, May 29 petition. Sizable coops it's not that big, by the way. Sizable coops are known to be a fire hazard. This is an irresponsible allegation, and our fire department was indeed summoned to Tony's home with the report that the coop was on fire.
There was indeed a smoke condition, and it came from a barbecue grill in the yard behind Tony's home. Our volunteer firefighters showed up for no reason. Along the same lines, I also understand that the police have been called in response to complaints that, Tony's birds have been defecating on their property. Seriously? Another call was made to a local business to remove a dead pigeon from a yard. I'm not sure which one. Was it Tony's? His pets are banded with identification. Imagine if a deceased dog or cat wearing a collar had been discarded without attempting to reach the owner. No one attempted to get in touch with Tony about that bird. This is harassment. This is abusive. It really has to stop. It's like picking on a newcomer. Circumstances have changed since the circulation of the May 29 petition. The coop is built. His beloved birds are acclimated to their new home. It takes a while for pigeons to get settled into a home.
They they will fly around. They're homing pigeons. They gotta figure out where their home is. It's another reason why it'd be really cruel to uproot them again. Other neighbors like myself and friends in Old Post Road have come to admire Tony's doves. These neighbors include Andy and Jennifer who live across the street. They're the closest. I've measured by my footsteps. They're the closest to the coop. Their bird is the closest neigh their their home is the closest neighbor to the coop. They love the birds. I love the birds. A new petition started on August 21 just a few weeks ago. It's it's since been circulated. It says here a 196 signatures, but since I wrote this, I think it's gone over to 200. That quick, that many people rallied to this petition. And that includes my immediate neighbors and three households to the south of me on Old Post Road. The new petition is rational and fair,
and it concludes that we ask the board, the petition, and I ask the board to reject the ban, grandfather existing keepers, and protect the rights of responsible pet owners in Croton. Thank you for this opportunity.
Good evening. Pete Panzeca, 110 Old Post Road. I'm sure Tony's a nice guy. I don't know him, but I would not be happy if this statute which allowed Tony to enter neighborhood under this pretext of owning pigeons, were allowed to stand. Because you need to put yourselves in the neighbor's shoes, and I know there's some neighbors who testified tonight that the pigeons don't bother them. But those pictures don't lie. There are birds in the house. I'm sure there's poop in the house. Your windows are open. I'm sure there's cooing, and that becomes annoying after a while. Dogs are legal, but if a dog went into your front lawn and tore up the neighbor's flowers, they would call the police. If dog was incessantly barking all night, you would call the police. And if a dog was pooping on your lawn, you would call the police. I just wish that the neighbors who are inconvenienced by this would be given that same consideration
because they're this is their lived experience, and they are suffering from this. And if it was me and somebody moved next to me because this law was in place, I would be very unhappy. I can understand chickens. They are contained in a in an area. They don't fly around. Bird feeders. You're inviting the birds to your property. I am a physician. Toxoplasmosis and histoplasmosis are real diseases that people do get. So I've seen it.
Conversations should be the comment came to me. So, so that's all I really have to say. I would not you know? And I love animals, but if animals are an annoyance, they shouldn't allow to be annoy, you know, people in the town of Croton. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Good evening. I'm Carrie Andrews, 20 Hunter Street here in Croton. And I just think this is a issue looking for a problem. And I I really support Tony being able to have his pigeons. The thing is, pigeons are already here. I keep eBird accounts, which is, you know, I track the birds that are in my backyard almost daily and elsewhere. And I've had pigeons. They're called rock pigeons, feral pigeons. I've had them for years now. They're they're in Croton. They're here. So I don't think that that is such an issue that, they have that the pigeons, you know, that are confined, it's only 20 of them. It it seems like a reasonable thing to have. And in terms of the illness caused I'm a PA, retired PA, and I used to park in The Bronx in a garage that was so full of pigeons that feathers were everywhere, poop was everywhere. And I would get out, and I would I was actually a little nervous about it, to be quite honest, when I first started parking there. But by the own admission of the review of the records
with the that that he Bryan Healy presented, the risk of those illnesses, psittacosis and toxoplasmosis and all of those, is extremely rare. And so I don't really think it is a a health hazard. And I just think that it's really, really unfair for this person who has gotten a permit, moved here because he thought he could have his pigeons, and then all of a sudden, we're, like, pulling the wool from under him, you know, the rug from under him. I don't think it's quite the hazard that is being presented, and I I really think he ought to be able to allow and we shouldn't have this ban. It seems like it's something that came up after a situation came up that I don't really think is well thought out.
I heard a lot of concerns tonight and a lot of support, and I really appreciate for all your support. The concerns they have that if I wanted to get eggs and eat eggs, that I would keep chickens so that don't have to keep pigeons because they have a way smaller eggs. And the other con the other their concern is that every single bird contains same disease if they get it. So on Croton, we have 380 different species birds. None of them are being vaccinated. None of them been treated. None of them been been cleaned. Mine are. Every single day. Their water has been cleaned every single day. I don't leave the same can on the same day for two, three days. I cleaned it. I feed them only for what they need to eat. I don't leave feed on the on the feeder. I don't. I I wanted I I love them. I don't want to risk killing none of them. As per mice and rats rats, as my president of the club or club mentioned it,
If a single mice or rat gets in my coop, for them it's like a poison. In twenty four hours, they would die. So that is my first concern to keep them clean and not allowed any single rats or rats coming in there. I'll Nora and Stacey, they've been to my coop. They've seen it. How I keep it? I have everything secured. There is no way they could get mice or rats in there so that about that concern, mice and rats, that that that that just can't happen. And the other thing is, on Croton, you guys been having pigeons forever. My question is, how many people got sick from them? Because for what I heard, none of them got. So if that's all your concerns, you had that concern here a while ago, and I don't understand why police haven't been called for any wild pigeons or doves, which they fly every single day in my house, and they've been flying before I brought the pigeons on my house. I have pictures and videos way before I brought them because I knew this is was this was coming.
So doves have been here. They flying on top of my roof, the neighbor's roof, any anybody's roof, and different birds are flying there. They're pooping all over. Is that the same poop, or is that that's a different poop? So I'm I'm I'm so I'm so yeah. It's so confusing. And then, there was another question, another concern which I can't actually remember exactly, but have they flied on the people's houses? Yes. They have. Have I mentioned it here the first time I was here that they could be flying the first week they come out of the coop, the young young ones? Yes. They do. Because they're afraid from predators. Their wings are not strong enough to fly up in the air. So what they do, they fly around the houses to scan the property, get used to it to the to the area, then they won't be doing that anymore. Well, I heard they ripped a neighbor's cushions. They don't. They don't have that strength. They both seen
the feeder plastic bag. I have it on the coop with the pigeons. If they they had that strength, that bag would have been ripped long time ago. So the cushion, some guess, it's way stronger than a plastic bag is. So if these ones are the con all the concerns, and if there is any other concerns, I would be more than happy to answer. That's all I have.
Good evening. Ed Riley from Truesdale Drive. When I heard the gentleman speak last week, I was very sympathetic. It may may still be. I'm not sure. Croton's had serious problems with pigeons in the past. I grew up on Van Wyck Street down here. Spent twenty one years there. And pigeons populated the entire Riverside Avenue, Brook Street area, the train tracks, you know, the train station. And then as changes were made in the village, they migrated up, and they hung around two story and three story buildings. They created an incredible mess. As a matter of fact, my neighbors used to hire us to get with pellet guns and BB guns to shoot them off their drains because you'd have this phosphorescent white streak down the sides of these houses. And they were dirty, and they were filthy. They were an unwanted pest. I don't know how Croton got rid of them, but Croton did get rid of them. Now if these pigeons and and I'm surprised the board didn't ask the gentleman from New Rochelle,
the last gentleman, a lot of question. Hope hopefully, he'll do that in, in work session. You know, on this pigeon issue, I thought that maybe these pigeons go with the urbanization of Croton. You know, you need if Croton's gonna be an urban environment with a lot of apartment houses, maybe you need the pigeons and the squirrels and then, you know, feeding things in the in the park. I think what people are afraid of is if you want a a a visual in your face representation of what pigeon mania could look like if these pigeons are not controlled is if you go to Tuckahoe Road in Central Avenue, there's a Dunkin' Donuts there. It used to be a bank. It's right next to the Tuckahoe Road Post Office. If you look at the pigeons and the crap and the filth in that whole corner, and it and it comes from the fact that people feed those pigeons. They attract those pigeons to that area. Now if these pigeons are well trained pigeons actually, World War one, a a pigeon, a pasture pigeon
for New York division got a medal of honor because he helped save this lost battalion. Now if his pigeons are so well trained that they don't bother your neighbor, that's always a big violation. If your pigeons on a regular basis bother your neighbors and and create filth in your neighbor's house, you are violating neighborliness. And then if you have a complaint against that neighbor, the first thing is not to go to the Village Board of Police Department, is to go to your neighbor and confront them about that. But if these pigeons are so well pay you know, so well trained that they go they can go to the Ringling Brothers show. And after, you know, one or two errant trips to the neighbor's house, they will always return, and they're and they're numbered. Remember, you regulate the number of chickens in somebody's yard. You don't allow chickens to go in somebody else's yard, and you regulate the number.
If this gentleman I I have great sympathy for because it's, maybe we ought to call him Marlon Brando here as a witness. But if, if he if he can regulate the number, he has bans on everyone, They will not bother the neighbors' houses and poop all over their houses. They are not like wild birds. They are like starlings. That that's great. But it should be grandfathered Because I find it hard to believe that, you know, like in every household, a couple of pigeons get together and say, hey. You know, let's go over the wall and set up shop, you know, down the street or someplace like that. But if that's the case, if these can be controlled, they're so well disciplined, etcetera, I think you should grandfather this gentleman because he could come in here and ask permission to have these. Remember, we've had this problem before, and I don't know whether they're fish or fowl. But remember the geese problem? Everybody used to love geese. Right?
Now everybody hates geese. Why? Because they poop all over the place. That's what pigeons do if they're not regimented. Now maybe he has a regiment that's well regulated. God bless him. But you missed your chance, and hopefully, you'll do this in a work session where you can ask back and forth or people can submit questions to you, and you can get the full story. Your pigeons will never escape. If you leave town, you'll take every one of them with you, etcetera. But in the dark past of Croton's industrial era, we had thousands and thousands of pigeons, and they were a plague. Thank you.
Matt Angelini, Cleveland Drive. Thank you, for everybody on the board for hearing us all out tonight. It's really impressive that you've let everybody take up all of your time. I just have two quick things to add. One on the public health issue that we've heard so much about tonight. I think it's interesting to add in some data to the argument when we're talking about cryptococcus and other diseases that are spread by pigeons. The CDC cites the per capita rate on those diseases as something like one in one hundred thousand cases. And then when you're talking about New York State and something like Lyme's disease, you're talking about two hundred times that rate, something like two hundred per one hundred thousand. So I think if we're talking about public health as being one of the reasons for putting this local law into effect, and we're not also comparing the effects of deer, on the village of Croton, then
we're not really passing the purple face test there when it comes to public health. And the second thing that I wanted to address, I think one other commenter addressed it tonight, but changing the setbacks on foul coops and Holmes from 15 feet to 50 feet is a massive change to The Village, and I believe would ban most of R 9 and R 5 from being able to put a coupe anywhere on their property, and I think that that's something that a lot of chicken owners in Croton would be against as well. So, again, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Hi.
Nora Audin, Van Wyck Street. You guys have heard a lot from me on this, so I'm gonna just keep it brief. And I just wanted to refute one point that I heard brought up here, which was about dogs. You know, if there was a dog that was constantly going into a neighbor's yard, you know, you would do something about it. You probably would. But the thing that I don't think you would do is ban dogs, Village. Why? And that's where my my particular I've I have been organizing around this, but my particular issue with this is that I do feel that a ban is a really, really big reaction to something that probably doesn't you know, like, now if somebody else wanted to ever keep pigeons, we're never going to allow that because of an a neighbor dispute. And whether that's fair or like, I don't that's just where I have an issue with it. So I wanted to add that into the record. And everyone really spoke really eloquently. I thank you all for listening to this and all of your service about this. So thanks so much. Thank you. Good
evening, everyone. Nigel Rovelo, 167 North Riverside. I am one of the neighbors within the seventh closest to this pigeon pigeon coop. I have sent the board of trustees pictures, and I think there was one video of the change in my property from these pigeons. The moment that, I guess, they they were put in, I started noticing poop going up my steps. So now when I walk up my steps, I have to carry my dog so that she doesn't step on the poop so that then I have to knee clean her paws when I go inside the house. I had a pigeon on top of my car. I had poop near my car. Now I can't park my car underneath the trees in front of my house because I have some pigeons in my trees. One day, my dog came out and ran towards one of my flower beds because there were two pigeons there that did not scatter once my dog got there about a foot away from eating them. Why didn't the pigeons move? Now many people have said, well, we've always had pigeons. These could be wild pigeons. Yeah. For sure. But you know what? I've lived there for many years. I've never seen pigeons in my trees.
They've never been in my flower beds. They've never been on top of my car. They never been pigeon poop going up my steps, on my driveway, on my deck. I walk on Wall Street three times, sometimes two to three two to three times a day a day with my dog. I've never seen so many pigeons on the pole lines, on Wall Street, on people's, rooftop. So there is a change. There's absolutely a change, and that is something that we need to consider while making this decision. Yes. It's only one coup right now. But if we pass this law and it's unregulated, and as the gentleman said earlier, where we don't have something in place to ensure that the amount of pigeons that are allowed to be in a property, don't expand, that's that can create a very big problem with the pigeon population. Just like chickens, they can overpopulate if we're not regulating them. Right? So there's also the questions of, oh, we're saying a lot of what ifs. Well, when we're making decisions, we have to use what if, and we have to use scenarios of worst case to best case. Because if you don't take into account those what ifs, what are you going to do? Wait to ban something after something actually happens.
So if there's a possibility, a one percent chance of somebody being able to get sick or a one percent chance of just damage to your property or in a nuisance because of noise. Right? I do hear the cooing noise at 05:00 in the morning for quite a long period of time. It's disturbing. So, as I said before, I've sent videos. I've sent images. So there is proof in a visual aspect. There's many people here that are sympathetic. I'm sympathetic to our new neighbor. I haven't met him. Haven't gone to his house. He hasn't come to my house. He also didn't do that, prior to building his coop and informing all of us, hey. What do you guys think if I'm doing this? I don't know. If I were somebody that was building something to, let's say, house ducks, I'm gonna ask my neighbors, hey. What do you think if I start doing this? I need to take into consideration what my neighborhood is going to think about.
Many things get done in neighborhoods in different cities and towns and villages without taking into consideration what the other might think. We can't be selfish. I can't sit here and be selfish about what another neighbor's trying to do with pigeons, with chickens, with crocodiles, or whatever. Right? But I can only be adamant about what's happening in my property right now, and I can only be sympathetic to what's happening in other another neighbor's property. And I'm also here speaking, also thinking in the broad aspect of what might happen within our village and surrounding village if this pigeon situation gets out of control. So there's a what if for you. There are other villages and towns in Westchester County and in the surrounding counties and in other states that have passed a ban. Why did they do that? There had to be something behind it. So I ask that you take into consideration
all of the pros and all of the cons and all of the information that the public and the neighbors have given to make a wise decision. I've doubted while I was sitting here and listening to everybody and all the new information that I received about me asking you to please put this ban in, but it's been reinforced for me to ask you to put this ban in and not grandfather this situation. And I'm not asking this because of anger that I have to walk in and go up my steps with pigeon poop on there. I'm asking you because of concern in the greater, view of the village. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I'll just note for the record that we received a number of written comments which are posted to the agenda.
So moved. Motion by trustee Nachtaler, second by trustee, Slope. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
Alright. We proceed to our second public hearing of the evening concerning local law number 11 of 2026 to amend chapter two zero four. I'll give folks who wanna leave this opportunity to head out now.
Don't have a date for the work session where we're gonna discuss this yet, do we? No. No. No.
Well So a quick clarification. If we do make revisions in the work session to local law 10, can we reopen the public hearing? Yes. We'll have to We'll have I mean, to we we we I've noticed a new one. Yeah. Correct. Did we close it? Just We we just closed it. Oh, okay. Sorry. You made the motion. I know.
I was just so excited to be able to make the motion. If you if you make substantive changes, then you really need to have another public hearing. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
But I do think it was clear to everybody that what are the next steps we were gonna do, which is why, otherwise, we would have left it open, I guess. Yeah. Okay.
Good folks have nothing to
For those that are leaving, please proceed on your way out. Please. Please. You're staying, please regain your seat.
Alright. Do I have a motion to, an opening of public hearing on local law number 11 of 2026?
had discussed this local law at a pub at a work session. I believe that was in July. This is a change in the law, related to the senior citizen rent rental income exemption and the disabled person rental income exemption program. It applies to properties that are already covered under the emergency tenant protection act. So, in the village, there are five, properties that are covered under that, program. And the the existing village code already has a provision. It's chapter two zero four dash 30 b that provides for the automatic adjustment of the limits, based on the action of the state legislature. So this is really just a housekeeping item to, update our
codes so that if people do look at it, they know what the actual limits are. Sorry. Yep.
The public hearing on local law, 11/11/2026 is open. Anyone wishing to speak, this is your opportunity.
Okay.
Seeing no one wishing to speak, do I have a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Motion by Trustee Nicholson. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Trustee Simon. All in favor? Aye.
Whereas the New York state budget for twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven included legislation that increased the income limits for the senior citizen, rental income exemption, and disabled persons rental income exemption programs from 50,000 to $75,000. And whereas these changes were discussed at a work session held on 07/22/2026, and whereas local law introductory number 11 of 2026 has been drafted to increase the statutory limits in the village code. And whereas the public hearing was opened and closed on 09/02/2026, now therefore be it resolved that the village board of trustees hereby adopts local law introductory number 11 of 2026 to amend chapter two zero four taxation of the village code to update the limits for the senior citizen rental income exemption and disabled persons rental income exemption programs, which upon adoption becomes local law number 10 of 2026.
So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion.
Just a point that, you know, when we talked about this at the work session, I think we asked the question of any if if any renters has taken advantage of this, and the answer was no. So I think with the
change is that right? No. There are we do have there's there's, I believe, two people from Barry Manor that That have taken that that are that are currently receiving qualifying. The qual the Yeah. Qualifying or receiving. Correct. Yeah. I just wanna you know, this is a significant increase.
So there there may be more people that are eligible. So just getting the word out that this is Yeah. Something that people can take advantage of would be great. And should we adopt it? I think we likely will. We'll start with the seniors meeting on Friday and brief them on that. And and hopefully, there are folks that can make this applicable to them, great. If not, if they can be telling some of their friends as well. Yeah. I think we had discussed at the work session. It it's a it's a relatively small number. I I forget. I I think it's about a 130
units total that are covered. So it's it's feasible to just send a mailing directly to those That would be great. To those people. So, you know, we'll just we'll pull something together. There's probably stuff on online on the state website that we can that we could send. That'd be great. Yep.
Fantastic. Thank you. Alright. We proceed to local law, intro number 12 of 2026 to amend chapter one ninety seven, streets and sidewalks, to update the list of sidewalk exempt from the duty to clear or make safe. Do I have a motion?
So, this local law came out of a work session that was held in June where we discussed, the impacts and the, requested, changes from the winter of twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. Right? So, we had multiple large snowstorms, right, which taxed our DPW. And, you know, after meeting with them to do a recap of the of the winter season, we went through the sidewalk list that, you know, the list of sidewalks that are maintained by the DPW. And so we made a number of adjustments or rec recommended a number of adjustments, made a number of adjustments for those areas that that we could. And in this law specifically, what we are looking to do is, remove a portion of the sidewalk on Old Post Road South, basically, across
Yeah. Thank you. So we're looking to remove a section of the sidewalk, on Old Post Road South as well as the tiny section of sidewalk on Radnor from the law. The sidewalk on Radnor is adjacent to village owned property, so we have to maintain that regardless. So it doesn't need to be listed in the law. And then there are two parcels on Old Post Road South that, you know, front onto Old Post Road South. And so there's there's no reason why the village needs to be, clearing those sidewalks. You know, most homeowners in the village are responsible for for clearing their own sidewalks. So, so we're asking to have the law amended to address that. And then secondly, if you wanna scroll to the next picture there, on Farrington, there's two areas. One, the Southern Side Of Farrington involves the, property that is part of the Fire Bank affordable condominiums at the end of Bank Street. There's no access from that property onto the sidewalk on Farrington,
and it's a similar story for the homes that have Palmer addresses that back down onto Farrington. So at the last board meeting, this graphic is not updated from the last board meeting from the last work session, but the board did agree to extend the area that DPW will be responsible for to include those two houses on Palmer.
And the law that's part of the backup tonight reflects those those changes. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. All in favor of the public hearing? Aye. Aye. Alright. Floor is open on local law 12 of 2026.
Hi. Hi. Dave from Farrington Road. My question is more so on the southern side because the northern side has a wall. But in the in the winter, I understand clearing. But in the summer, after things have grown, weeds, ivy, sometimes poison ivy, and you want wanna walk your dogs up and down the street, is that also included in this bill? Because it it basically overgrows the sidewalk. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Yep. So the this law only covers, snow and ice removal. So during the other times of the year, the property owners are still responsible for maintaining vegetation. So
what what's the course of action for the The engineering department and code enforcement will inspect it. Thank you. Yep.
Alright. Anyone else wishing to comment on local law twelve twenty twenty six? Alright. Seeing no one else wishing to comment, do I have a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Second. Motion by justice Nicholson, second by justice Simon. All in favor? Aye. K.
Whereas the village code requires that property owners clear their sidewalks of snow and ice within twelve hours after the end of a snow event. And whereas the village court also provides an exemption for certain areas where geographical limitations put an undue burden on the property owner. And whereas following the winter of twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, the village manager and Department of Public Works reviewed the list of existing exemptions and request for new exemptions and developed proposed changes. And whereas these changes were discussed at a work session held on 06/24/2026, whereas local law introductory number 12 of 2026 has been drafted to reflect these changes. Whereas a public hearing was opened and closed on 09/02/2026, now therefore be it resolved that the village board of trustees hereby adopts local law introductory number 12 of 2026 to amend chapter one ninety seven streets and sidewalks of the village code to update the list of sidewalks exempt from the duty to clear or make safe, which upon adoption becomes local law number 11 of 2026.
Second. Motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Discussion? Alright. All in favor? Aye. Aye. We proceed to responses to questions submitted via email. No questions, mayor. Very, very good. We proceed to public comment on agenda items. Anyone wishing to comment on any agenda item, this is your opportunity.
And Riley from Truesdale Drive. First comment is that in spite of my pleas, you cannot read your agenda. We can see your maps sometime most of the time, but we can't read your agenda. And you need either new screens or you need larger typeface. So you can talk about something, show it up here, and nobody can read it, except maybe I'm sitting here. Just a general comment. You know, after in terms of pigeons or anything else, dogs, whatever, bats, whatever you keep, whatever kind of pet you keep, listening to the last gentleman speak, if if I had a neighbor who let his dog, you name the pet, wander into my yard and mess up my yard on a repeated basis so it's filth and inconvenient for me just to walk into my door, I would be over at my neighbor's house apologizing profusely the next day. And some of the people on this board have done this for me. They I would be right there the next day, apologize. You know, my birds, my dog, my what can I do? Now maybe have a crazy dog. And so once every three months, the dog gets out and does the same thing. He chew daisies.
But if that happens, like, two or three, four times, it's time to deal with the with the dog, and maybe it's time the village starts issuing some summonses. You know? Right? So so if that's the case that's happening, if I were the pigeon owner, one, when you talk to him and sympathetically, yeah, I know your father was in his business. Get your ass over the neighbor's house and start apologizing to your neighbor. That's the first thing, the rule of neighborliness. So and I think you should take that into into into consideration. My at stance, I'm very sympathetic with this gentleman. He's got a history of doing these things, raising but if he can't guarant you know, he can't, you know, reach minimum standards of not polluting the area. You know, he's got a problem. Maybe he ought to go in a different sport or sell his pigeons. You know, that's tough love, I guess. I'd like to comment on item three.
The the firemen, in Ash a volunteer fireman. I just can't say enough about them. You really need better medals and campaign ribbons and whatever it is for them. The number of events that they respond to in a year given by some of the awards you've given these first responders in the past is just mind boggling. That's why people don't join stuff because, oh, I gotta go to a meeting once a month. These guys go out there, like, 30 times a month. So my hat's off to to and everybody in this fire department, past and present. They're really heroic people and so and really self sacrificing people. And it goes for their family because they get ripped away from family events with their children, and so it's a it's like being in the service. It's really a sacrifice, and my hat's off to them. So they I want my I was attracted to resolution b, two, emergency health plan, which brings us back to some of the commentary on national and state level.
We know that the national health plan for the state of New York and the federal government under the CDC, National Institutes of Health, and so forth was a disaster with COVID. And thankfully, for the most part, this village did not implement draconian measures when this health crisis came up. But there was some really outlandish crap, and a lot of vendors and businesses cater to their worst customers, you know, who are afraid to do it any any day. They're still wearing masks for that matter. So and the and the terrible the terrible health advice from the highest health department authorities in the state of New York to kill thirteen thousand or fifteen thousand people in our nursing homes. When, by the way, fifty percent of the nursing home in this state today can't pass a federal state inspection. And they forced those people to stay in those nursing home away from there and died without their friends and relatives.
And then denied where it came from, censored everybody, and then prevented them from using drugs that could have, if administered early, could have prevented serious COVID complications for those individuals. What a disgraceful history. So that's the atmosphere of distrust that you're proposing for health emergency plans, and please keep that in mind. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Does anyone else wish to comment on any agenda items? Alright. Seeing no one else wishing to comment, we proceed to the report from the village manager.
just some quick updates on things. DPW today was working on Old Post Road South. This is gonna be the start of what I hope will be a nice beautification project in the Upper Village. They replaced the, stamped concrete, which is more colloquially known as the fake brick, in the Upper Village between Maple Street and the entrance to the Mervyn Oak parking lot. So it had crumbled over time. And so this is the first in a basically a maintenance project.
So they had no sooner gotten the final stamp done than the skies opened up. Yep. And, you know, thanks to Scott and their and his crew for getting everything covered quickly and The tarp. Yeah. Yeah. And get and getting it getting it done. So they did a they did a great job today as as usual.
Also, I wanted to thank give a a really big thank you to, Ben Ling, who is a Croton resident and a grad student, and he has been, volunteering with the engineering department all summer, basically, to help, digitize a lot of their old plans. As part of the, you know, renovation and reorganization of that office, it was thought to try to get as much of the records as we could digitized and then hopefully save on some of the space. And so there is a a closet full of maps and plans from, you know, eons ago that have just been kept in paper format. And so, you know, we have now digitized all of all of those, hundreds of them. And so,
you know, now we'll be deciding if we need to keep the originals or if we can now dispose of those, or maybe there might be some that the historical society may want or or something like that.
But just Ben was a big help. His last day was, last Thursday before school started again. And so just really wanted to thank him for all his efforts this summer. And then speaking of the engineering office, they will be closed to the public on Friday. We'll send out an email tomorrow just letting everyone know, as the office staff is gonna be moving from their current office to the new, section of the office that, has been renovated this summer. So they're gonna be moving on Friday, and then they'll reopen Tuesday in their new spot. And then DPW is gonna start work on the their old spot that they're in right now. Monday, we're closed for the Labor Day holiday as I'm sure most people will know. Garbage pickup will be a day late, for those who normally get it on Monday. And our summer office hours are coming to an end this Friday. We will be back to our regular 08:30 to four, Monday through Friday next week.
So let's see. I'm sure the mayor and or trustee Simon will have more to say about New York Forward in their reports, but we do have a meeting tomorrow night, so hopefully people will be able to come. Also, the Farrington Steps, I'm sure will be talked about, but they are now reopened after a nice ribbon cutting yesterday, or sorry, Monday. Our retaining wall out around this the municipal building on Brook Street and Old Post Road North, There go our contractor is gonna start work on that project, hopefully, next week, weather permitting. As anyone who's walked around the building knows, there are some areas that are in need of some attention. Some of the plaster has fallen off, you know, so, we're going to get those repairs done and have the wall repainted. You know, so just based on where they're working and, the time of day, there may be some temporary sidewalk closures, so just be cognizant of that.
oh, I I wrote this on the top. I don't know if I we issued four leaf blower violations, between from the last meeting until yesterday. Yesterday, the, the ban the seasonal ban is over as of yesterday. So those would be the those four are the last that were issued. So I will, I'll have a final report at the next meeting of exactly how many how many violations there were and what the outcome of those were. And that is it.
Thank you. Questions? Mhmm. Thank you. Thank you, manager. You're welcome. Alright.
So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Discussion?
Manager, since it was brought up in the public comment, would you like to briefly summarize at the at a very high level some of the changes to the village's emergency health plan?
So the plan was last updated in 2023. Since that time, there has been some, revised guidance specifically from the CDC about how infectious diseases and communicable diseases should be handled. So there is a red line version that is, on the website as part of the agenda so that if there are people at home who are interested, you can you can look and see. But it it generally updates, some of the, language that's in here. In 2023, we were just exiting the the pandemic. Right? I mean, it was pretty much, coming to an end at that point. But there was there was some language here, right, like, you know, in the planning assumptions, which is on page five, it talks about the current coronavirus pandemic. So we were just we just changed us a lot of the language to, reflect the fact that, you know, there was a pandemic in 2020 and, you know, some of the guidance has changed. There were also, this the plan is specific to the village. Right? So each municipality has to have a plan that's specific to them. So we have titles that are identified as essential.
Those those specific employees have tasks that are assigned to them. So as the needs of the village change in terms of staffing and what goes on, we the plan should be updated accordingly. So, you know, for example, the treasurer's office, no longer has senior account clerks. They have new people in in in different titles, so that that's been updated to reflect that. Yeah. Just just things things that have changed in the past three years that are new responsibilities.
Manager, I I presume the employees have been involved in the in the development of these updates to the extent. So I work with the village clerk on these updates as our human resources
contact, And then we are required by law to share the chain the proposed changes with our unions. And, you know, the Teamsters wrote back and said, thank you. They didn't have any concerns. I did not receive a response from the police association. So but, you know, we're just we're just required to notify them. We don't have to, we don't have to do anything further than that. So, so that's been done.
Yep. Thank you. Manager, I know you had a very good explanation for eight, item number seven. The, authorizing village manager execute an amendment to the license agreement with the county for the running of electrical wires over village property. So I thought the the public might Sure. Appreciate.
and asked if we would be willing to entertain, allowing them to, have Con Edison run an electrical wire across our the wellfields, to the caretaker's house in Croton Gorge Park. You know, we have electrical poles that are in the wellfields, right, to power the different things that we have down there. It did require the addition of one new poll, to basically bridge the area between our property and the county property, which, you know, the county had they paid to have it put up at their expense. And in agreement for allowing this, the county assumed 50% responsibility for any future costs associated with our private poles. So if there were a tree came down and damaged the pole or if it needed to be replaced for whatever reason, the county would now split those costs with us. So, I mean, the board already approved the license agreement in 2025. The term of the agreement ends September thirtieth of this year. The county is asking for a three month extension just to find they haven't been able to finalize the paperwork,
so they're you know, they need a couple more months to do that.
We proceed to proposed resolutions. First resolution is in the proposal for a revised capital a revision to the capital plan for 2631.
Thank you, mayor. Whereas the village board of trustees adopted the twenty twenty six twenty thirty one capital budget plan on 04/22/2026, whereas since that time, it has been necessary to add additional funding for the 0.5 Moon Bay Bridge and Brook Street draining drainage project to the capital plan. And whereas the revised capital plan reduces the debt issuance for this current fiscal year by $420,520, a 9% decrease, and whereas this decrease has been made possible due to an additional 1,715,000 in grant funding for various projects. Now therefore, be it resolved that the village board of trustees adopts the revised capital budget plan for the years 2026 through 2031.
So moved. Second. A motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Discussion?
All in favor? Good news. Alright. Yeah. Good news. It's always good when it goes in that direction. Yeah. Yeah. It's always good to have it. Happy to reconsider any budget anytime we get new revenue. It's alright.
No. We just we have to readapt the bottom budget. Is this is a greatest hits, you know, kind of thing.
So just bear with me on this. I I think they did. You Yeah. Did. Yep. So I'm only as long as the attorney agrees to this Yep. I'm only going to read the abstract.
Thank you. Okay. And then It isn't necessary because this is just a readopting and a revision based upon, and you can explain it. Yeah. So the whole air conditioning one. That was always my favorite.
So resolution two ten, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum the upgrade of the air conditioning system in the Department of Public Works garage for the village of Colonel Hudson, Westchester County, New York at a maximum estimated cost of a $117,875 and authorize an issuance of a $117,875 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
So we have to do roll call Yep. Votes for these. So trustee Slope in? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye. Aye.
Resolution two eleven, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum, the Brook Street drainage project in and for the village of Croton and Hudson, Westchester County, New York at a maximum estimated cost of $1,519,525 and authorizing the issuance of $1,519,525 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
Trustee Slopeben? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye.
two twelve, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum the issuance of $92,250 bonds of the village of Hudson, Westchester County, New York to pay the cost of the purchase of a command car replacement for the Fire Department in Enforced Village.
Trustee Slopeben? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye.
On resolution two thirteen, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum, the purchase of police communication and tech equipment for the village of Cortlandt, Hudson, Westchester County, New York at a maximum estimated cost of 500 and sorry. $712,623 and authorizing the issuance of $712,623 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
Second. Motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Discussion? Or rather
Oh. Yeah. Let's go. Trustee Slopevan? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye.
Bond resolution two fourteen, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum improvements to fire stations in and for the village of Cortlandt, Hudson, Westchester County, New York at a maximum estimated cost of $558,113 and authorizing the issuance of $558,113 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
Motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Nicholson. Trustee Slippen? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mary Pugh? Aye.
Bond resolution two fifteen, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum, the issuance of a $108,125 bonds to the village of Cortlandt Hudson, Westchester County, New York to pay the cost of the reconstruction of the Farrington Road steps and enforce that village.
Motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Trustee Slope in. Aye. Trustee Nachtaler. Aye. Trustee Nicholson. Aye. Trustee Simon. Aye. Mayor Pugh. Aye.
Bond resolution two sixteen, a resolution sub authorizing subject to permissive referendum, the purchase of a firefighting vehicle, equipment, and apparatus for the village of Cortlandt, Hudson, Westchester County, New York at a maximum estimated cost of $219,350 and authorizing the issuance of $219,350 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
Trustee Slopeben? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor appeal? Aye.
Bond resolution two seventeen, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum, municipal building improvements for the engineering department office for the village of Cortlandt, Hudson, Westchester County, New York, and a maximum estimated cost of $84,050 and authorizing the issuance of $84,050 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
Motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Trustee Slope in? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye.
On resolution two eighteen, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum, improvements to park security in and for the village of Cortlandt, Hudson, Westchester County, New at a maximum estimated cost of $101,250 and authorizing the issuance of $51,250 serial bonds of said village to pay part of the cost thereof.
Trustee Slopeben? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye.
On resolution two nineteen, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum, the purchase of Department of Works equipment for the village of Cortlandt Hudson, Westchester County, New York at a maximum estimated cost of $492,000 and authorizing the issuance of $492,000 $492,000 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
Motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Trustee Slope in? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye.
On resolution two twenty, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum the reconstruction of roads throughout and in and for the village of Corona, Hudson, Westchester County, New York, and a maximum estimated cost of $857,500 and authorizing the issuance of $857,500 serial bonds of said village to pay the costs thereof.
Motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Trustee Slope in. Aye. Trustee Nachtaler. Aye. Trustee Nicholson. Aye. Trustee Simon. Aye. Mayor Pugh. Aye.
Final resolution two twenty one, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum construction of sidewalk improvements at Municipal Place in South Riverside and pedestrian and safety improvements in and for the village of Cortlandt Hudson, Westchester County, New York at a maximum estimated cost of $779,246 and authorizing the issuance of $779,246 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
Motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Trustee Slopeben? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye. Last one.
Bomb resolution two twenty two, a resolution authorizing subject to permissive referendum, construction of traffic safety improvements in and for the village of Cortlandt, Hudson, Westchester County, New York at a maximum estimated cost of a $138,375 and authorizing the issuance of a $138,375 serial bonds of said village to pay the cost thereof.
Trustee Slope in? Aye. Trustee Nachtaler? Aye. Trustee Nicholson? Aye. Trustee Simon? Aye. Mayor Pugh? Aye.
Whereas the village issued an invitation to bid on 07/23/2026 for maintenance services on the village's various HVAC equipment, and whereas three bids were submitted by the deadline of 08/13/2026. Whereas the lowest bid received was from HVAC now Inc of Poughkeepsie, New York in the amount of $49,375. Whereas Frank Balbi, superintendent of public work, has recommended moving forward with the low bidder. Now therefore be it resolved that the village manager is hereby authorized to award bid number eight of 2026 to HVAC now Inc. Of Poughkeepsie, New York in the amount of $49,375.
Motion by, trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Oh, we're not doing the, discussion discussions. Regular order. Regular order. Roll call anymore. No. I appreciate the the superintendent,
you know, working hard to get a a range of bids and and and There was a brain, Jess. Yeah. It was incredible ranges. You you you wonder, you know, about some of the higher ones. Right. Yeah. It is what it is. We got the right one.
Yeah. This is a this is a good example. This is a service that we haven't really had to bid before. But in recent years, as the cost of things have continued to increase and the state has not taken any action to increase the bid limits in the law. Things that used to have cost 25 or $30,000 and we didn't have to bid are now costing 40 or $50,000, and now we're subject to bidding. So it's just more work for us, more bids that we have to do, unfortunately, because of what the law is. So
remember raising the be it to thresholds was a NICOM legislative priority over a decade ago. Mhmm. And they're still where they were. Yeah. Right. Yep. So yep. Alright. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.
Whereas The Village issued an invitation to bid on 08/06/2026 for the annual street resurfacing program, and whereas six bids were submitted by the deadline of 08/27/2026. Whereas the lowest bid received was from Lewis Ronald, the Inc. Of Ossining, New York in the amount of $790,900. Whereas Frank Balbi, superintendent of public works, has recommended moving forward with the low bidder. Now therefore, be it resolved that the village manager is hereby authorized to award bid number 9 of 2026 to Lewis Ronaldi Inc of Ossining, New York in the amount of $790,900.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Motion by trustee Nicholson, second by trustee Simon. Discussion. Well, mayors, it's, I I think it's nice when the lowest bidder is also the one that you've worked with in the past and has a great reputation. So glad we'll be able to do some more of that this year.
So we will have probably by the next meeting, we'll have a list of the areas that are being repaved. So, you know, due to the board's support for infrastructure improvements in the capital budget, you know, we received we were able to include
many more streets than we have in the past. So, you know, I think there'll be a lot of areas that will see some attention this year. That's great. Yep. Good. What's the time frame?
You know, it's gonna depend on what other areas they are working in as well. Mhmm. So but we'll like I said, by the next meeting, we should have a idea of what the schedule is and what the streets are. Great. Yep. Thank you.
Alright. We proceed to public comment on non agenda items. Anyone wishing to comment on anything? This is your opportunity. Please state your name and address. Five minutes a person.
Hi. Dave from Farrington Road. I just wanna say that this is number 10 for me in non agenda. Comments. Here we go again. Rabbit season. Duck season. No. Pollution season. Unnecessary hearing damage season. Clouds of unburned fossil fuels into my open windows season. I was going to give you another study and more science about how toxic gas leaf blowers are, but I think the case has been made, like I said last time, over and over and for years. So instead, just read the Sinai letter you got last week. Mount Sinai. This is not a popularity contest. It's real people's health and well-being. We are losing the war on cancer and ignorance is the main culprit. Please stop poisoning us. Bring us in line with other Westchester and New Jersey towns that care about their citizens' health. Irvington, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, White Plains, and since I first came to talk to you last year, Dobbs Ferry and Rye
have passed full year ordinances. In New Jersey, there's Maplewood and Montclair. There's big towns, there's small towns. Croton is no, has fallen behind. You remember the bad air quality from last month's wildfires? That's PM 2.5. That's nitrogen dioxide. That's carbon monoxide which mixes with sunlight to create ground level ozone and the village sends air quality warning emails to residents. But does the village put out warning emails about dangerous air quality and literally deafening sound levels while gasoline powered leaf blowers are allowed? Because it's the same stuff. This is an easy fix, but you have to value public health. So do you? It's time for a change. Thanks. Thank you.
Ed Riley from Truesdale Drive. Just to make a comment on some issues, which I don't think are critical issues, but they they're brought up here again and again every week, is if a if a person's making an argument, you don't have to use hyperbole, especially in the environmental area where so much of the hyperbole is proven false. Just take, the electricity plans, the alternate electricity plans for New York for Westchester County and New York State. So I I recommend all speakers when they talk, address the point. I can't sleep at night. I can't hear. Whatever it is. As opposed to hyperbole. You know, the whole world's gonna end if this doesn't happen. Perhaps some of the trustees would address this before I get to my principal topic. It's up to them. One, I think the assist that the village manager I don't know who he does has doing these jobs now, but if he doesn't have an assistant now or somebody who's doing the job without the title,
he's like one of these Indian Indian gods with eight hands. Right? Hats off to him for that. Item two. Item number seven on page two brings up a licensing agreement about electrical wires. The original proposal for power lines, not the ones that went down the center of the river. Alright. We could talk about that. But the one that was supposed to go down by the railroad tracks and cross Croton Point, maybe we can an update on that. You know, maybe I missed something, but I haven't heard about it lately. Hopefully, it went the way of a Hudson River walkway from New York City in the Bronx to Poughkeepsie, hopefully. And when when you're dealing with street repaving, this village has done an excellent job with repaving, and potholes get fixed really quick. I wish you would share your intelligence and your knowledge and your drive with the state of New York, which sucks at this. They could have fixed from the Croton Bridge to Hawthorne Circle. They stopped halfway. It must have been somebody's assembly district that ended there.
And $1.29 is a trip. I ought to charge the state for the alignment on my car, right, which goes out every three years because of the state can't fix roads. The basic one of the basic functions of state government. And then on tax receipts, you transferred tax assessments to the town of Cortlandt. I would love to know what the actual what actually happened in terms of income to the village and the number of taxes that went up, by how much, and how much went down, and whether it came out the way people thought it would. Now I'd like to address the most serious issue. We have had a boycott on individual basis of, CVS, which is a terrible corporation. Nice people work here, but their corporation is the worst. They should really suck. And they've had a series of terrible CEOs. They fired the one that started selling abortion drugs and advocated a threat to The United States and then ran her her company into the ground. They fired her. Now she's running for political office where she belongs.
And I'll give to your clerk what what does RU46, this plethora of mailing RU46, stockpiling it, giving it to anybody, especially state physicians from New York who are protected by the state government, give it to everybody in any out of state. Just a case of North Carolina where they went to Virginia, and these two young people got RU46, aborted their 31 old child into a toilet bowl. And if it wasn't for an another older person calling 911, this 31 old child, that's a ninety five percent survival when you're born at 31. The child would be dead today. It also says something to our ethics education. The other item which I promise you, which is the history, the European history of r u forty six, it is as ugly and as destructive and as manipulative and as lying, and we don't give a crap about women as it has happened in The United States. I gave you the one on Clinton adopting r u how he did it politically
in The United States. And I can give you some examples. I have personal experience with this about where their test sites was, like one that was in Dobbs Ferry. So I'll read this to you next time, but I'll give it to you for your review now.
Alright. Public comment continues. Does anyone else wish to comment? Seeing no one else wishing to comment, we proceed to reports. Trustee Slope. Thank you.
I just wanna start by thanking all of the residents that came out to speak tonight. It is so great to see a full room of people. I'm glad that we are going to be able to have another conversation a further conversation, regarding Local Law 10 because and I'm just glad that we're gonna be able to have some further conversation about it. And, because I still have a lot of questions about where we are with what we're doing and how we're gonna deal with enforcement and what that's all gonna look like. But mainly, thank you. It's, you know, the last week of summer and a lot of people came out. And a lot of people have written to us also. You know, this is one of those topics where we I I it's not many topics where we get as much in, you know, commentary from residents as we did on this. So thank you to everyone everyone who came out tonight. Thank you to Dave from Farrington for his persistence.
What is the timing for waiting for
for waiting to get something back still from the see, can you remind me where we are? We've referred something to the CAC. It's coming back to us. What's happening? Where are we? We basically
we did refer we referred a memo with some information to the CAC. Okay. They have been working on that Okay. As far as I'm aware. You know, one of the things the board did ask was for them to respond back with an estimated timeline.
Okay. Right? You have not received that back. So could we just follow-up? Because I am I I am interested
They, like most of the other committees Right. Took off the month of August, so schedule But it feels like it's been this has been a while. Right?
Right. Yeah. Maybe it may a couple months maybe. It's been maybe months. I guess just even if there's some if there's some type of update about a timeline for when we think we're gonna hear from them, that that would be great. Yep.
I do sort of question the number of summonses that are being written. I mean, know that the that we're out of the quiet period or whatever you call it. But it's hard for me to believe there are only four since the last meeting because like I hear a lot of gas leaf blowers. So I'm, you know, interested to keep that ball moving down the field. I just wanna say welcome back to all the students. Schools opened this week. Congrats on opening day to our colleagues on the school board. I was disappointed that I could not be at the Farrington steps ribbon cutting. I'm sure my colleagues who were there will talk about that, but, you know, half the kids in the village, maybe more I think it's more than half the kids in the village do not get a bus to school after they leave CET. My children were included in that. So the more safe pathways to school we can have for the students, the better, and, those
steps look fabulous. So thank you to the DPW. I know we've been asking a lot of the DPW, always, but especially lately, which leads me to my next item, which is the incredible art installation that is now completed at the Riverwalk. I can't it's it's a harmonic
It's amazing. It's a piece of really impressive art that has that is was with a little bit of financial support from the village basically gifted to us. You know, the DPW did a tremendous amount of work. Bruce Holland was at the Arts and Humanities Committee meeting last night just kind of giving that committee an update on what's happening. Lots of photos, lots of interest from people. Arts and Humanities is gonna work on a ceremony to open it, dedicate it, get the word out about it. It's just spectacular. I'm so thrilled that Croton now has this piece of art. So thank you to everyone who made that happen And especially Bruce couldn't say enough about the DPW and how amazing they were to work with, which really just is across the board. Everything DPW touches is just really magic. So but this is another great example of that. And then finally, the manager and I and the chief of police and the chair of PAC,
have spent some time working on, getting an RFP getting a committee a company that's going to do the police survey, and that project is really moving along. We got a lot of pre proposals. We did some interviews this week. It seems like sometime next week we're gonna be able to narrow it down. You know, another comp department in the village that does unbelievable work for us is the police department, and I am anxious to get that study so that we can make sure that we're we understand how the department is working better. We can be addressing what they need from us and how, you know, how that's all gonna look. So I'm excited for that work to begin. It takes a long time to go through the proposals and do the interviews, and Carolyn Whiting, the chair of the police advisory committee is just just doing so much tremendous work there. So I would like to thank her. And then also just mention that the pack is gonna be doing a sir another community survey
that
we've been working on. I think it's gonna be rolled out sometime in October. October.
So I'm looking forward to that. It's all all of this is kind of related, but there's a lot of good work happening there. So thank you to all the people who are involved in making that happen. And then I just wondered what the update on the website is?
It was supposed to launch yesterday. Okay. Wasn't sure. I thought it what I thought you said. Yes. Okay. Did not launch yesterday. There's just a couple more things that we need to do. I'm just looking forward to our new website. Think it will be Tuesday. Fantastic. That's that's the new that's the new date. So Thank you. Yep.
Because you mentioned the police study. Thank you for your work on that. What is the process or, you know, kind of timeline for bring what's the process for bringing it to the Board of Trustees? Is it the study that is going you mentioned you're already interviewing.
we got a number of responses, 12 or 13 responses. You know, I put together a small working group of myself, the chief, the lieutenant, Carolyn Whiting, the chair of the PAC, and Trustee Slope in as the PAC liaison. Yep. And we everybody in the group reviewed all the proposals that we received. We met to go over them. We came up with,
consensus on the the top three that we wanted to interview. Okay. So we've done those interviews now this week. We're gonna meet next week
to see if we have a consensus on what our recommendation would be. And then at that point, I think we would bring it back to the full board for discussion and consideration.
sorry. That's in the, that was in the RFP. Right? So it's a it's a staffing study. So we're looking to analyze and evaluate the current staffing structure of the department, whether we have
You know, the all all that sort of stuff. Mhmm. And especially in light of things like the population of the village changing, the addition of body cams, things like that that Yeah. Might impact the is the number we have correct now? And Caroline has actually been really great about making sure to ask these questions. We're we're not just asking about currently what's happening and the current number we have, but in the future, we can't predict exactly what's gonna happen. But as we look forward, how will how can we use the information we gather to make sure that we continue to serve the needs of Mhmm. The the police department continues to serve the the changing needs of the village. That's great.
Yeah. And, they're also gonna look at civilians as well, not just sworn officers, seeing whether or not there might be an opportunity to bring in a civilian employee who may be able to take some of the
Right. Nonessential the administrative. Yeah. And then that way, that frees up an officer to do other officer things. Yeah. Thank you.
Okay. Well, on August 25, as a a member of the Water Fund Advisory Committee meeting, I attended the August 25 meeting with deputy mayor Simon. We reviewed, the major Metro North Railroad project for consistency with our local waterfront revitalization program policies. And at my request, which was supported by the board and manager Healy, for more comprehensive information, thank you, manager, for getting Metro North representatives to come and present at the WAC, which I know was, I guess, a first. So
First, I guess, is you, manager. Yes. Probably the first person in the last six years. Yeah. I probably have. It's amazing that, you know, that you got someone's attention, actually. Yeah. No. That's great because they came the WAC had very good questions for them, and, you know, they answered what they could. And they're coming back for the second round of of questions. So, you know, we it's not like we know we can't stop this project. We all want reliable, you know, train service, but it's just providing more complete information so that the WAC could make determinations against the policies. And it also adds more transparency to the public on what it is that they're doing. For example, we learned at the WAC that when we knew the project will replace the existing signal system with a high capacity vital cab signaling system, the work will span from Croton On Hudson to Poughkeepsie within active rail corridor adjacent
to the Croton And Hudson Rivers. Visually, it the project will introduce new fencing and new structures, some of them up to 25 feet tall. And we're trying to understand how many, where, you know, because we have to answer questions on the WAC, like how will this project affect sight lines. And also there'll be some in water construction to place platform footing. So we know that, you know, residents fish, and children play in the fields along the riverfront. So, you know, we're just trying to get more information. So and and they've been, pretty forthcoming. So appreciate that. On Wednesday, August 26, I was informed like the rest of the board that a senior member of our community was crossing the street. And just a few feet from making it to the curb, she was struck by a bicyclist. It was, you know, an accident. But, unfortunately, she was taken to the hospital and had staples in her head. And
I think while manager I know I've noticed, like, an increase in the bicycle safety videos that are out, which I think are great. But I know, you know, I welcome opportunity to elevate safety, you know, discussions and, you know, education with kids. And, you know, I know there'll be like a bike ped committee meeting, and I'm sure you're gonna discuss that. But I I think the more we can do, I think trustee Nicholson had a good idea with maybe, you know, exploring whether one of our hardworking detectives or police chiefs, I don't know, could come and talk to kids about bike safety. But, anyway, I just welcome more, you know, more we could do around that can can only help. On August 28, I attended the annual Croton Seniors Club barbecue at Sanasqua Park, which was so well attended. There must have been 80 people there. It was a gorgeous day. Special thank you to John McKeon and Bob Anderson for their senior club leadership,
Joanna Straub from our rec department and her fabulous planning, and to our DPW barbecue chefs, Raz, Bobby, and John. The food was, you know, I know funded by the seniors club, but it was it was it was It was a great afternoon.
on September 1, I attended the May with the mayor and trustee Nicholson and the manager, the reopening of the Farrington Steps. So I know that work was a long time coming. It was just really well done and beautifully done. And I know DPW is looking forward to continuing the the rest of the job. And, also, the neighbors were really supportive and kind while the work was taking place. I know, like, I'm sure there were some, you know, pains, but they were they were great. And then last, just because the public interest around 425 South Riverside on the planning board, I just wanted to say that this application will not be on the next planning board meeting agenda September 8. The meeting after September 8 is September 22. So, anyway, for those folks interested in that subject or application,
you know, the next meeting after the eighth is the twenty second. Don't know if it will be on then, but just wanted to share that. Thanks. Thank you. I'll just if I can just add on to that.
Anyone who's interested in that, just sign up for the planning board agendas on the website, and you'll That's a good idea. Get notified if it is on. Yeah. Yep. Okay.
Thank There have been no submissions received since, we had our initial planning board meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yep.
So I just wanna note that the fall recreation programming is up and available for registration. And I also wanna just highlight the fact that we are offering three programs for teens. So from fifth to eighth grade,
there is a Well done, Trustee Nicholson. You've been fighting this for a while. That's a first. And very well done to Working collaboratively.
We've been doing the nomination for now. Thank you. Will my 13 year old attend one of these? Yes. My kids missed out birthday. Yes. They will.
Up for debate. But it was very, very nice to see. You know, this is the first teen programming that, you know, trip wise, they're gonna be going to a couple different destinations,
which is really exciting, including the movies. So really exciting for that age group to kinda get out of Croton and And see the world. Which is which is really exciting.
Lorraine Hansberry Coalition will be hosting a display of materials at the library. So more to come on that and the exact dates, but it's in the next couple of weeks. I just wanna reiterate my, appreciation for the folks that came out this evening for Local All Ten. I, you know, I'm surprised more folks are not talking about chickens. Because I think there are more chicken coops in this village
that could be impacted by the passage of this proposed law. So As it's written now. As it's written currently.
So as we dive in at our work session, I would like to talk about that a little bit further. Also, we've gotten some emails regarding domestic caged animals inside people's houses, so people are confused about the language there. So there's some more to dig into with Local Law 10 than just the pigeon issues. So I just wanted to highlight those things. Many thanks to the DPW, with the Farrington steps, and, you know, it's really wonderful to see. And then just a quick update, we are working on the FAQ around the cameras in the village. So that is pending, but the village manager is working diligently on that, And we hope to have that out soon.
Great. Nice going on the teens. I'd like to offer the FDR Museum and Library because if I could take the seniors and the teens there in the same year, I think that would be that would be an accomplishment. So what's Multi generational. Yeah. Let them let them can't guarantee my own teen. Plenty plenty of stuff there for the young people.
Anyway, just taking us back to where we began this evening, I just wanna say a couple more words about chief Nikitopoulos and and John Spada. And just when you think of and and congratulate them. Forty years for chief Nikitopoulos. When you think about the changes in policing, whether it's computer technology or investigative techniques, and if you take this all the way back to 1986, DNA as a use of investigations where that was really at its infancy, increased diversity. What hasn't changed in in those forty years is John Nikitopoulos. You know, we've had the consistency and leadership of him all all these years as kind of a hometown hero. So I'm just kinda kinda just so grateful that that he's been with us for for four decades and also John Spada for twenty five years. When you look at the complexity of what it takes, you know, we Most people think the water comes from the faucet, you know, but it it doesn't.
And the treatment that has to go in there and particularly the the federal and state regulatory requirements that have changed so drastically over the last twenty five years, whether it's PFAS
or lead and copper, arsenic, cryptosporidium, you name it. And and on top of the homeland security requirements that that we've we've had to use to protect our water supplies coincidentally in the same twenty five years that John has been here. So I just wanted to thank both of them for their incredible service. Let's see. Tomorrow night, we hope to fill this room again with our New York Forward Forum. New York Forward for those of you out there is a $4,500,000 program that helps you reimagine different sections of your of your commercial areas, retail areas, whether it be streetscapes or improved transportation corridors or just helping our local business folks, you know, to to do a better job with with capital. So we're gonna talk about some ideas that that been developed through our planner, through our our departmental teams here, through some of our board members here, and particularly
trustee Nachtaler's had some great ideas that have forthcoming in the last couple of weeks on on New York Forward. So we'll have a chance to talk all of those through and get some good public feedback on what some of those are as well as some good ideas from the public. But in addition to that, we're we're very gratified that that mayor Marjorie Shu from Sleepy Hollow is gonna join us for our whole our entire meeting. When when it's a competitive state program like New York Forward, you wanna take a close look at those who have been successful in getting the grant previously in your region, and that's definitely Sleepy Hollow. So mayor Hsu will be coming in to talk about what Sleepy Hollow initially was trying to accomplish with their New York forward, how it's gone since they actually won the 4,500,000 four years ago, and what it's been like working with New York State and implementing that. So hopefully, can get some good inspiration from from her experience that will go into our our approach and our application, which probably
is gonna be due sometime in January. Earlier actually, last week, the manager and I attended the Fire Council, and we got a good update on what all the all the three houses are up to, very specifically for calendar updates. I just want everyone to circle Sunday, October 4. That's Fire Fair. The theme for Fire Fair this year is charge into fire safety. Safe charging is a superpower, emphasizing the safe charging habits for all the different devices that are powered by lithium ion batteries, such as our telephones, our tablets, our laptops, our bicycles, our scooters, power tools, a lot of toys. So you're gonna have a lot a lot of good lessons. So Fire Fair every year is just great for great for families and kids and everyone everyone involved. Back to the WAC meeting for a second. I did wanna thank trustee Nachtaler for the innovation. She's she's described it in full, but it was an innovative approach. And I've been on the WAC now for
almost six years since the first time we actually brought in someone from the outside to to to try to enlighten us. And they they didn't quite get there, but we invited them to come back. So, you know, they're they had some information, but they they owe us to return. They are willing to return. They owe and and they should because they owe us some more information. So I was very grateful for that session. And and in addition, in that WAC meeting, we also had under consideration, which we'll see at a subsequent board meeting here, the draft laws that we've put together with the help of our planner, Valerie Monastra. And I should mention, by the way, Valerie, of course, will be part of our New York Forward meeting tomorrow night. But on the WAC meeting, Valerie and and our attorneys have put together draft legislation to buttress and enhance our planning approach in light of some of the changes that have been brought about by
the SEC reforms that came out of out of the state legislature and the governor. So we'll The planning board will be taking up the site development part of the Yes. Enhancement on Exactly. On at their meeting on the eighth. Very good. Perfect. Perfect to know. Because that's part of the zoning code, so the planning board will be talking about that. Perfect. Perfectly stated. Another calendar item just because we haven't had a chance to talk about it much this year, but our annual rotary car show is Sunday, September 27 from eleven to three. So circle the calendars for that. Rotary is hard at work on on that, getting getting the great cars and the sponsors and the food trucks and all that. So hopefully, weather helps and and participates and and cooperates. And so we'll have a great afternoon that Sunday. Let's see. Trustee Slope mentioned the start of the school year. I just wanted to to thank
the manager and and DPW and police and everyone involved in in improving the approach that we have on on safety for the Maple And Wells Intersection. We're going to get an RRFB there, rapid reflecting flashing beacon, which really puts the teeth into our crosswalks. It's coming soon. You know, manager is working very effectively with our our state partners. But until we we get that, which hopefully, as I say, will will be very soon, We have temporarily there one of our police speedlights so that people that are coming to the crosswalk will understand, you know, how fast they're going. But we've also put up one of the temporary. You'll see it in the middle of the crosswalk, just someone standing there, cardboard person standing there saying, yield to pedestrians. So anything that we can do to strengthen that crosswalk until we get the RRFP will is is very much appreciated. So I I think it was great that we had all of these
these improvements, temporary improvements in place on the first day of school. And last but not least, on on our housing preference for first responders and medical personnel. Not only is it, I think, a triumph of good policy, but it's also been a triumph of good communications because the article articles in the entire New York region have been focusing on that. You if you just put in a Croton On Hudson housing preference for first responders and medical personnel, you'll see that way way to our north, our press release was picked up and run. So I think we're we're getting appropriate recognition for that. And hopefully, you know, others will will consider it as well. But I think it just it just goes to show, you know, what the good results we can get when we make sure to tell our own story in our own way. That's
it. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. Very good. I think most of the major points have been covered. I do wanna note, our 09:11 ceremony, next week, will be be done jointly with our neighboring communities. Buchanan is the formal host, but, of course, physically, it will be, in our village at our nine eleven memorial. That's Friday at four. And if it is, in the event of rain, it will be relocated to the Harmon Firehouse. But, hopefully, those that are available can come and join us and remember the twenty fifth anniversary, which is kind of remarkable to think about. I also want to congratulate three individuals on their exciting new adventures in public service. I will be appointing Kai Chang with the consent of advice and consent of the village board. I will be appointing Kai Chang, excuse me, Anne Rizzoli and to the to the VB, Visual Environment Board, and then also Gabriela Maribelli to the planning board as a planning board alternate.
Alright. So do I have a motion? So moved. I have a second. Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright. And that before we I have a motion to close. I'd like to have a brief moment of silence for Rhoda Stevens, who served our village for many, many, many years on the zoning board of appeals from 1982 to 2017, serving as chair from 2015 to 2017, and was also one of our is also part of the Westchester County Senior Hall of Fame. Hopefully, we all have opportunities to serve our community as she did.
Thank you. Do I have a motion to close? Mayor, before we close, could I just add one thing about the, 09:11 ceremony? Yes.
For we'll have three, new names from village residents who passed away from, nine eleven degrees. We recognize at this year's ceremony. So, know, we, we'll have the new plaques put on the monument down there. So, fortunately, we are still losing people as a result of that day. So