Board of Trustees Meeting
Okay. Good evening, and welcome to the August 1 regular meeting of the Croton on Hudson Board of Trustees. I'm mayor Brian Pugh. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Right. And, also, please join me in a brief moment of silence for Bruce Lamel, a form or longtime member of our conservation advisory council as well as Tom Wakeens, our village assessor.
Thank you. Right. We proceed to our first item of business, the approval of vouchers.
Thank you, mayor. The voucher report for tonight is as follows. For the General Fund, the total is $377,572.92. The Water Fund, $79,539.14. For the Sewer Fund, $32,116.55. The Capital Fund, $57,593.27. The Trust Fund, $9,095.70 for a grand total of $555,917.58
Thank you. Do I have a motion? Second. Motion by Trustee Horowitz, second by Trustee Simon. All in favor? Responses to questions submitted via email. No questions, mayor. Okay. Very good. Alright. We proceed to correspondence.
That's what we're 2223. Sorry. So the first item of correspondence is a memo from myself regarding an update on the Merwin Oak. So since I last wrote to the board at the beginning of July, we've been continuing our survey of what we can actually do with the trunk and the lumber from the tree. And so what we have come up with thus far is that we're going to save some of the slices of the trunk for display at the historical society as well as in whatever monument we ultimately end up using to to remember the tree. We've also gotten the request from a village resident, Considine, who is the executive director of NAMI of Westchester, and she would like to use some of the lumber for creating benches. So that won't be a problem. We should be able to provide some to her as well as creating benches for our own use at Veterans Corners. The American Legion had contacted us earlier in the year about asking to put benches at that location, and this should hopefully work out well for that. Also, we have been working with the Croton Girl Scouts to plant a tree in the park as a replacement. You know, superintendent Balbi went out there to survey the area, has determined that the best location in the park is the where the original tree was, and it will be the same type type of tree, which is a swamp oak, as well as a large diameter diameter tree, which should hopefully, you know, provide some comfort to people as opposed to just being a sapling. So the planting is going to take place in late August or early September, depending on weather conditions.
So that's that's the just a couple questions on that. And on the on the planting of the new tree, that sounds great. But and I think we talked about the possibility of some kind of a ceremony when we when we do that. Appropriate. And then I I think a bench at at Veterans Corner is a is a wonderful idea. I was I was hoping that also that we would consider Vassalo itself as a as a location since, you know, that's where Yes. That's where it came from. Yeah. Absolutely. I think that that would be worked into whatever type of monument.
Well, I I feel kinda silly saying monument. I don't know what we wanna call it. Memorial. Right. You know, whatever. There would be some sort of sitting, you know, bench. Right. Whether it's a bench or some sort of Yeah. You know, stump log type seating. Right. Something like that. Yes. Yeah. And I think something, as you indicate, in the historical societies are just a great idea. Yes. People can visit it under any any time of year. Yeah. And sorry. I should also mention that we got a request from Carolyn Whiting, who's the chair of the newly created hundred and twenty fifth anniversary committee, and they have also requested a piece of of the lumber for their activities, and we'll we'll be doing that as well.
Alright. Do I have a motion from the board to endorse these steps with regards to the commemoration of the Merwin Oak? So moved. Motion by trustee Horowitz or motion motion by trustee Simon, second by trustee Horowitz. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
So the next item of correspondence is a letter from Annie Mukherjee of 1 Alexander Lane. She is requesting that the village petition Westchester County to remove their property from the Ossining Sanitary Sewer District. This letter is the culmination of a a long conversation that has been going on between the village engineer and these residents. And it came to our attention recently that we're able to petition the county legislature to start this process of removing a a property from the sanitary sewer district. So this was the first step to have have the homeowner write a letter. And then what the board can do is, you know, make a motion to send this to the county legislature for their for their action.
but now in the Croton District? District? Or No. So they don't act they don't have sewer at their property. But when the county put this the sanitary sewer district into creation, I think they just lumped in everybody into the district, and then there were there have been processes over the years where properties have been removed because they're not they're not actually on sewer. Okay. And so can't be. And can't be. Correct. Because they're too far away. These are county sewer districts that relate to the treatment plants.
So they are in the district for the Ossining Sanitary Sewage Treatment Plant, which means they're paying sewer tax Okay. For that district. So generally, when a property owner to be removed from the district, it's because they're like, why am I paying taxes that go to support the sewage treatment plant when I can't connect to it? Mhmm. So, but the property owner cannot petition. The municipality has to Mhmm. Petition the county for them. And then typically, what the county will do is Department of Environmental Facilities will actually look to make sure, because their preference is always to have people connect to the sewer. So they will look to actually, advise the legislature that yes, this property really can't be, practically connected to the sanitary sewer. So that that's sort of the first, you know, that's the hurdle. The county doesn't just do this just because we ask. They want to make sure they really can't be put on the sewer.
That's why they want to be out because they are paying a sewer district tax. So that that that appears on their on their Yeah. Part of their county tax bill.
And it won't have any implication to village taxes. That's what yeah. That's what actually, that's what I was yeah. Okay. So it's on the county's
Okay. The next item is an email from Copernicus Crane, assistant director of intergovernmental relations for Westchester County regarding upcoming public engagement sessions on bus mobility in Westchester County. So Westchester County has been evaluating the use of the Beeline bus system. I think this was brought on, as a result of COVID and the varying levels of, use on different lines. And so they have put together a number of sessions. The in person sessions have already passed, but there are two online sessions scheduled for the evening of the sixteenth and midday on the August 17. And, you know, for anyone who regularly rides the Beeline bus, I encourage you to take a look at this plan. There is some impact to the lines that go down to the Croton Norman Train Station. They're gonna be consolidating some of those lines. So if you are a regular user of that, I would encourage you to take a look and see, and if you so choose to submit your comments.
Okay. The next item is our municipal energy benchmarking data from 2021. I think this is okay for now. Thank you. So as part of our sustainability pledge, we every year, we benchmark our energy data for the five village buildings that you see here. The three firehouses and the municipal building use natural gas. Obviously, all five buildings have electric. And then the DPW garage and Washington engine firehouse have, fuel oil for heat. And so, you know, this data is available on the village website, and you can look back and see how it has fluctuated over the years. You know, one of the one of the items that we're always looking to do is reduce our energy energy use, not only as a sustain sustainable practice, but also as a financial matter, especially now with the rising costs of all our resources.
I don't know if I can exactly summarize it. It's kind of what you know what, Daniel? Let's go to the graphs because the graphs actually show. Yeah. Well, it it it compares 2021
Yeah. So the graphs are a little bit better. So as you can see, some like, for example, the so the top graph is the electric usage. So for some of our buildings, we did better this year. Other buildings, we were a little had more usage. So, like, the DPW garage, Washington engine, and Grand Street Firehouse had less usage in electric this year than the previous year. The Harmon Firehouse and the Municipal Building had more electric usage this year than last. Municipal Building wasn't fully in use and occupied Correct. For a big part. That that's actually that's a really good point. We should we should point out COVID definitely impacted these numbers. Yes.
Let me let me let me wander further into an area I shouldn't go. Okay. But in in June and August, for example, when of '21, when the Municipal Building uses zero therms, is that is that mean under one? Or what what does that So the natural gas at the Municipal Building is our heat. Okay. So So we used zero heat. Yeah. Although, I'm not really sure why we would have used it in July '21. A cold July. Yeah. Correct. Correct.
That's interesting. We'd have to look at that bill. Yep. Yeah. But yeah. No. That's No no no need to add. I just Yeah. Ramp up.
Might I might ask Lindsay about that as well. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure he'd love that. Yeah. Yeah.
So, I mean, the firehouses, why you see natural gas usage from them is the stoves. Yep. So that's that's why their numbers we wouldn't expect them to be zero. But I don't believe I mean, we do have a stove here, but I don't believe it gets used very often. Yep. So And and, of course, we should see,
say, a year from now, we should see a big drop in electric use in Washington engine Oh, absolutely. By virtue of the solar roof that we're Yes. Putting on there. And hopefully, in oil usage as well if we get the the heat pumps installed. Exactly. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
And then let's see. Our last item is a letter from John Munson, the president slash secretary of the Croton Fire Council. And he is writing to the board to discuss a proposal that the fire council has been seeking to have changed. Currently, the fire chiefs of the village fire department must reside either in the village boundaries or within the boundaries of the fire district. And, they are looking to expand that to allow the chiefs to live in the areas that they accept members from, which would be the towns of Cortlandt, Newcastle, Ossining, and Yorktown. So there's currently this is a bylaw change that they would have to do, so there's no real action on the board's end. The only thing that I asked the board to consider with regards to this is whether or not you'd like to pass a law to limit the distance from the village where you would like the fire chiefs to live. You know, there's obviously, those four towns that are mentioned are quite expansive, and, you may not want a chief to necessarily live somewhere such as Chappaqua or Jefferson Valley or somewhere where that's, you know, a a distance away. So it may make sense to have, a sort of mileage requirement. So that that way, they could live in any of those towns as long as they live within a 10 mile radius or a 15 mile radius or something to that effect.
No. Right now, we don't have any law on the books because it it hasn't been necessary because the bylaws say that you have to you have to live within the fire district or the village.
So is this a is this a change because we are experiencing folks who want to move up but can't because of the just recruiting people?
I think, you know, just from, you know, conversations that I think the mayor and I have observed at, at the fire council meetings, I think it's it's them looking down into the into the near future. Nothing it's not a it's not a pending issue, but what you know, since the volunteer department has to constantly renew itself with with new volunteers, they see some very promising volunteers who show potential and interest in moving up the ranks as chief or deputy chief or assistant chief through the years. And I think they don't want to they want to have that they happen not to live in Croton right now. This would be the idea here, is to remove that barrier now so that difficulty can be overcome down the road. And I would say on that, think the concept is fine. If you're looking at it from a bird's eye view, even though he's a volunteer, fire chief, he or she, should be viewed as a department head. Yes. And we don't require residency for any of our other department heads. Given the unique position of the fire chief, I think it's appropriate, you know, to have some constraint for in terms of residency like Ellenville, for example, would be too far far away. But I I my my my view right now is, you know, I I prefer just to go with their recommendation right now, and then, you know, we can revisit that over over time. But I think their recommendation right now is a sound one.
You actually the chief Munson is seeking your approval, but there's really no approval to be given because we don't have a law on the books right now that prohibits this. So You're Right. Your non your non action is approval, I guess, because you're not doing anything to limit them. Right. They had to change their bylaws. They have to change their bylaws. Have to change We don't have any law to change. So
So the the bylaws of the fire department say that to be a member of the fire department, you have to live within these these towns, the towns of Cortlandt, New Castle, Ossining, and Yorktown. Okay. To be a to be a chief, either the assistant chief or the chief, it's further constricted. You have to live within the village Okay. Or the fire district. Okay. So So they did that for a reason. Well, correct. That yeah. Because the idea is that, you know, obviously, it's a volunteer department, so people are not always at the firehouse. And they would like they want a fire chief that's gonna be able to respond. Absolutely. You know? So that's I mean, you know, now maybe things have changed since that was put into effect, and people can respond better. You know? But it's just that that's why it was put in. Okay. I
guess I would like to hear from the fire department themselves to explain why they are willing to change that. You know?
Change that. Again, I think it's about retaining a pipeline of talent. They also have beyond the geographic standards, they have what's called a when you say credential or educational or experience. Yes. Additional qualifications in terms of experience and credential that are required for chiefs. And I think it's a desire to balance those two. You know, there's a preference for maintaining at least some level of their credential requirements. And if there's going to be a pool of people, this is one way to ensure that you have a pool to choose from for the members. That's the other thing to point out is that the officers of the fire department are elected.
So my general view is to give them broad discretion in selecting who's going to lead them because they have to serve with them and not serve under them, you know, when they're responding. And hopefully, the members make the right choice and know the individuals they're dealing with. I'm just saying it is a change of policy, though.
Right? I mean, by the department more than the the village government itself. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, the chief's letter, I think, does a I think does a pretty good job at outlining the
No. I I understand why. I'm just saying, you know, there was a reason before. And so now there's another something else to consider.
You know, I think the other I guess what I'm saying is I think it's important. Yeah. Absolutely. You know? And I think just to in in further to the mayor's point, you know, there have been chiefs that have been going around again for another term. And, you know, we've seen, you know, John Munson was chief before. Before him, Phil Dinkler was chief before. Now Chris Columbo, who was the chief before Phil, is now back in the ranks. So I I do agree that by changing their bylaws to allow a wider pool, they will hopefully be able to get more candidates to be chief because I don't I don't know how many more times we can ask Phil to come back and be chief. Well, I and I I think that's a good point, manager, because it it's the the ones who
have either live in Croton or have done this a while who are are the ones asking for this change. Yeah. They can broaden that pool. Because, you know and as as as as you sit around the fire council or other others of their meetings, you know, you see the potential chiefs, you know, there, you know, in in in years to come, and you just wanna you wanna be able to clear the path. But this doesn't have to become a consideration because as the mayor said, there are a lot of other considerations, and and no one gets elected from the pool. You you get elected having been assistant chief, deputy chief. And they wanna they wanna start saying, gee, if we if we elect mister x, you know, assistant chief, that's great. But that, you know, that's that means he can't be chief, you know, because he doesn't want to. Just getting that properly aligned, I think, is a good idea.
Alright. With that being discussed, move to public comment on agenda items. This is specifically for items on tonight's agenda. Mayor, could I Oh, sorry. Do we need to accept this as a or or or
is it accepted? Yeah. I mean, I don't we don't need any action on this, Linda. Right? I
I mean, we don't we if if there's a need to, we'll bring it to the next Yeah. But I don't think we do. Again,
this is public comment on agenda items only. Please state your name and address before you speak. You have five minutes per person.
My name is Ed Riely. I'm on Truesdale Drive. I'd like to agree with the village manager in terms of I think the fire department's looking for guidance. That's why one of the reasons they brought it to your attention because in every organization, there's politics, etcetera, etcetera, because people are afraid some sometimes to exert what would be common sense. And that means that, as the village manager points out, you you could live in Tarrytown. You could be a mile and a half from here. RI, you can live in Yorktown. You could be a mile from here on the other side of mine, the Croton River. You could live in New Castle, and you could live on the other side of Croton River. Or you can live in New Castle 15 miles away by a back road. You can't get here in time. So I agree that with the village manager, you should give the fire department some guidance in terms of distance and time. Just like the police department needs guidance on how fast it should get to the high school if there's a shooting incident, this fire department needs guidance on how how fast their officers should be able to get to a scene of a fire. So they need distance and times requirements. The second item is I'd like to point out the fact of, this is something that's happening that never been done before because I used to watch the county legislature for thirty years, every meeting. You could never cut back service bus service in this county ever. They would kill you. Cut one line, they would kill you. But if you watch the buses of Westchester County in the last two and a half years, you realize no very few people are riding them.
Double. You know, those double vindicule buses, whatever they call them, 12 people in a whole damn bus, and it's a common problem. So and then as we know, the gravy chain from the federal government, where they borrowed money, given it to you given to the state, the state gives it to you. They give us tax rebates in time for the election. It's gonna come to the end soon. It's actually gonna come to the end like the tax rebates on gasoline just before the election. Thanks. Thank
you. Anyone else wishing to comment on items on tonight's agenda? Items on the what? On the agenda. K. Seeing no one wishing to comment, we move to proposed resolutions.
Whereas the Village Board of Trustees has received a special permit application from the mantra group for a 29 unit multifamily development at 1380 Albany Post Road. And whereas this project is located within North End Gateway overlay district of the village where multifamily developments are allowed by special permit. And whereas on 07/05/2022, the village board referred the special permit application to the village planning board as required by law. And whereas the planning board has provided the board with a memorandum in support of the application. Now therefore be it resolved, the village board of trustees hereby schedules a public hearing on Monday, 08/15/2022 at 7PM to consider the issuance of a special permit for a 29 unit multifamily development at 1380 Albany Post Road. And be it further resolved that such public hearing shall be held in the Georgianna Grant Meeting Room of the Stanley H Kyla House Municipal Building, 1 Van Wyck Street, Croton And Hudson, New York 10520.
Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by, trustee Simon, second by trustee Rosales. Discussion?
Mayor, I would just note that Trustee Ghileli and I were present at the planning board meeting where this came up a couple of weeks ago as board liaisons. I think the developer did an excellent job in presenting the project. It's a very interesting project. I think it's got a lot of merit. I think the planning board did a did a good job in inquiring about all of the key aspects, and and their memorandum, I think, speaks for itself in terms of some of the some of the key issues and some of the concerns that have already been met in previous discussions. So I look forward to the public hearing on the in a couple of weeks.
Whereas the village of Cortlandt Hudson and the Housing Action Council have agreed to formally work together through the Housing Action Council's technical assistance program to further housing and community development. And whereas the HAC's technical assistance program will provide support and guidance to the village, including technical assistance and education in constructive ways to local public officials, residents, other stakeholders to develop affordable housing. And whereas Westchester County has awarded funds to the HAC to assist and advise non for profit organizations, municipalities, affordable housing committees, and affordable housing coalitions. And whereas the following services outlined below will be provided to the village in response to the Croton Housing Task Force report. One, provide recommendations for the adoption of an overlay affordable housing zone. Two, explore the preliminary feasibility of developing affordable housing on lots owned by the village through participation in the fall twenty twenty two land use leadership aligned training program with identified leaders from the Croton Housing Task Force, municipality, Croton housing network, and others as may be appropriate. And whereas the housing action council has provided the village with an updated memorandum of understanding indicating that the purity of performance shall take place from 08/01/2022 to 12/30/2022. Now therefore be it resolved that the village board of trustees hereby authorizes the village manager to execute the memorandum of understanding between the housing action council and the village Croton for work under the technical assistance program.
Mayor, when when the housing task force presented their report six weeks or or so ago, one one of the things that occurred to me was there's a there's a tremendous amount of work involved in implementing the the recommendations, most of them, I think all of them, which were very good. And, one one of the things I was thinking about at the time is we're gonna need a lot of resources in order to, turn some of these things into reality. So the the fact that we can get some of those resources in terms of time and expertise and have it paid for in effect by Westchester County through the Housing Action Council, I think is is great news for Croton, and I look forward to working with them on on all things related to to housing.
Yes. Very much appreciate, functionally, Westchester County picking up the tab for us on this. This
is a great thing. Can you just, talk just a bit about the overlay affordable housing zone? Like, tell us what that actually is. So
what that's kind of what we're investigating. We have to see, you know, exactly what that would look like. It would be basically a zone that would go over multiple zoning district. So, like, for example, if we decided that we wanted to put this overlay zone over parcels that are zoned r a 40 and r a 60, let's say, you know, we could set aside different affordable housing regulations for those areas. Like, we could say that we would allow ADUs that are detached from the buildings in those zoning districts because they're much more expansive than, like, the RA five. You know, I'm just using that as an example. I'm not saying that's what they're gonna do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it would be it would be something like that. Mhmm.
Thank you. Yep. I I would add just, you know, from, you know, all the different things that have come across our desks in the last few years related to housing. The Housing Action Council is clearly the gold standard within Westchester County for doing this kind of work. So it's great that we get to work with them extensively on this, and that Westchester County is making that possible. So I think they'll do great work for us.
Happy to see movement on the affordable housing side. Thank you. No no problem. It actually it worked out very, very well. Because as soon as we got that report from the the task force, this email with the the grant opportunity can't it was, like, the same day. So Yeah. It really it it couldn't have worked better time wise. So it wasn't in reaction to our
No. What just happened. That that Yeah. That's fantastic. Yep. And and I if if I'm correct in my recollection, I I think the Reagan Development has worked with them over the years as well. So Yes.
Yep. And and the the functionally, the management company, even though they're not Yeah. Exactly. They're a nonprofit, but they're the man functionally the manager for the Croton Housing Network properties in the village. Great. All in favor? Aye.
Okay. Whereas local law number three of 2003 was approved at a regular village board meeting held on 10/07/2003, and whereas this local law called for the setting of village fees through board resolutions, And whereas the village wishes to set the vendor registration fees for the two twenty twenty two fall festival to help cover some of the cost of the event. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of trustees approves the below fees for the twenty twenty two fall festival Early bird fees, will be in effect through August 26. General vendor, $100. Nonprofit civic, $50. Food vendor, $150. Alcohol vendor, $200. Food and alcohol vendor, $350. And then the regular fees after August 26, general vendor, $1.25. Nonprofit or civic organization, $60. Food vendor, $1.75. Alcohol vendor, $2.25. Food and alcohol vendor, 400. As well as an additional setup fee on Old Post Road South of a $100.
Do I have a motion? Second. Motion by trustee Horwood, second by trustee Simon. Discussion?
Think the these these fees are reflect conversations with our Croton Business Council colleagues who will be working hard to make Fall Fest and the Oktoberfest component of it successful. And we know from since we've had our initial discussions with them that there's been a lot of great interest in this. So I think the fees will should cover the cost, but I also think that we're going to have a very successful joint event on October 1.
there are a number of capital projects that have been completed and reviewed to the village's annual third party audit, and whereas the village treasurer recommends closing the capital accounts associated with these projects as follows. And they're listed there on the board. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the board of trustees authorizes the village treasurer to close the above listed accounts as of 05/31/2022 and return $89,757 to the debt service fund and $64,961.78 to the general fund. And be it further resolved, the $50,000 shall be reclassified from project twenty three seventy two to project twenty one three eighty three. And be it further resolved that an encumbrance of $13,204.22 shall be closed and deposited into the General Fund.
Do I have a motion? Second. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by Trustee Horowitz, second by Trustee Simon. Discussion? Manager, so I see that the TAP slash CPA improvement grant is there. Yes. But while we're closing it out for that particular Capital Fund, this does not represent the closeout of that initiative at this time. That's correct. So we had originally closed the project at the beginning of July,
and some further work with the auditor determined that we actually need to move some of the money back into the debt service fund. So that's what that number represents. That's not the that's not the total that's not the total amount that the project came in under budget.
Whereas the village of Cortlandt Hudson has received American Rescue Plan Act funds in the amount of $415,126.95, and whereas this payment represents the second of two payments the village will receive under this legislative act. Now therefore, be it resolved that the village treasurer is authorized to make the following budget amendment to the twenty twenty two twenty twenty three general fund budget as follows. General revenue increased federal aid other, $415,126.95. General expenses increased contingency by the same.
So as we said at the last meeting, we expected the funds to come in any day, and they have arrived. So we're now going to make it official and, you know, add them to the to the budget.
Right. That's good. So, yes. I mean, a critical lifeline. Absolutely. And also a lifeline that will be disappearing in the next budget. Absolutely. All in favor? Aye.
every now and then. All right. Public comment on non agenda items. Anyone wishing to comment on any item may approach. Everyone has five minutes.
Name and address before speaking. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Renee Curtzy. I live at 233 Hessian Hills Road with my husband, Georgi Ivanov. Georgianna's dad was a designer and builder in Wappingers where he built 30 plus homes. He said to us, if you can find a spot that my commute is less than one hour, I will build you guys a home. So my mother-in-law found a parcel of land listed in the penny saver at the top of High Street. We bought the land after walking it and touring the village that very same day. George and his father built a beautiful two two bedroom home. We moved in the summer of nineteen eighty six, some thirty six years ago. We outgrew 55 a 55 a High Street. We have two children, a boy and a girl. It was time to move. Should we build again or should we buy? That was the question at the time. In our search, we drove around Croton. I'll never forget to stay back in 1996. We found Hessian Hills Road, windy wooded road tucked away. We drove to the top of the dead end street, and I said to my husband, if only this house were for sale, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. The house was 233 Hessian Hills Road. Well, it wasn't for sale, so we decided we would build again in this bucolic village of ours at Fort Ackerman Court. Here almost twenty years later, our adult children now in New York and Brooklyn, it was time for us to downsize, and it happened. The very same home at the top of that dead end road, 233 Hessian Hills Road, was for sale. By the end of the day of the opening house, there were 11 bids on that property. Property.
The setting makes this property a true Croton gem. We were lucky enough to win that bid. So the story goes that Ben Goldstein purchased the property in the thirties. He owned from Hessian Hills School, which is now Temple Israel of Northern Westchester, all the way to the end of the road. He called Hessian Hills his driveway. When selling off parcels, he understood he would pass each home when leaving or arriving at his own home. So mister Goldstein approved the style and plan of each home as well as the placement of each home on each individual lot, knowing then that the aesthetics in arriving or leaving your home is invaluable. Sadly, the very same land mister Goldstein gave to the village for $1, that $1 gift in nineteen forty eight may now be the demise of the serenity and beauty of Hessian Hills Road. Croton is rich in architectural history. At the nineteen thirty nine World Fair, a film showcasing the Hessian Hills School made its debut. There were three homes built by apprentices of Frank Lloyd Wright on Hessian's Hill Road. There are three to five bow house homes in Croton, Croton, three of which will be in the view of the the view shed of the tower. The architect Gregory Aihn, a I n, not sure of pronunciation, built a glass walled house now nestled here in Croton amid flowering trees. In 1950, that glass walled house was on exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Longview, the beautiful home of Gloria Swanson, sits on the hill of Mount Derry. All of these Croton gems, and there are many more, will be in the view shed of this monstrosity of a tower. This tower will be visible from all of our outside spaces, and most of our windows will have the green space view now replaced with that of a tower.
We will have nowhere to hide from this tower. It will even greet us each morning as we take our shower, which currently has a beautiful greenscape view. What a terrible way for us to start our day. I am not a NIMBY by any means. Putting an industrial tower in any residential area that will loom at 140 feet with a base compound larger than that of the train station of 80 by 30 feet is unacceptable. The tower's base compound will house numerous pieces of cooling equipment and generators per carrier. It too will be an eyesore. This site pollution and constant and additional noise pollution do not belong in any dense residential area. This looming tower does not belong at 230 Hessian Hills Road or any other residential site in our beautiful village. Please, with tenacity, find another resolution. Protect the land in our village, protect the homeowner, and most importantly, your Croton residents. We have placed the future of this village in your hands. I sincerely urge you to stop this proposal in its tracks. Thank you.
Thank you, Renee. Hi. Kurt Carlson, from 231 Hessian Hills Road, speaking about this tower. I I don't know if I could put it any better than she did of how wonderful it is up there and how it's nice. And and people come up there, they walk up there, they bike up there, they push the strollers up there. And, you know, I I, of course, run out and say, well, do you know there's gonna be a cell that and they just go, like, aghast because it's it's not something that is appropriate. That being said, if there is a deficit in cell coverage in Croton, we would like to fill it. Okay? We've got four towers already covering the area, then we should be able to rectify any deficit. Now I've I'm an architect. I've I've I've served on new boards. I I master plan committee, planning committee, and I know I see the clock going round and round and round, and I haven't eaten yet, that sort of thing. But I have been in touch with a consultant that is very familiar with this type of development, and that's what it is. It's a development, and, would be happy to help us. Now I would also like to be happily tell you that I can devote time and energy to working out a non tower solution. He says it's it's it's totally possible. We just need to actually kind of do it. And, please, you guys know you probably know where I am, and, I'd be happy to spearhead any kind of solution that we can find at this that avoids a tower in any place. I don't wanna relocate another tower someplace else. Nobody deserves that. So let's let's let's let's do it right. No. At that yes. There's that too. Yes. But that's part of what I'd like to find out from this this guy. That was just my idea. I'd rather like to find out, you know, professional opinions. So Kurt Carlson, 231 Hessen Hills Road, 9142712044. I'm a registered architect in the state of New York.
My name is Georgianna Ivanhoff, and I reside at 233 Hessian Hills. That's my wife. She spoke earlier. I'd like to speak briefly on a proposed cell tower in Hessian Hills. As some of you are aware, we are in direct view of the proposed tower. We have no tree coverage from the current emergency service tower, which is 60 feet, and a 120 foot tower less than 200 feet away, will literally loom over us. I'd note that the 120 feet does not include the emergency equipment antenna for Croton, so in reality, this will be at least a 140, if not higher. The 30 by 80 base will result in any remaining trees be removed, exposing us not only to the monopole, but also to the high tension wires currently obscured. I think a board member stressed that environmental issues are paramount. But after that July 11 work meeting, I'm concerned that those environmental issues are taking a back seat to the promises of of dollars from Homeland. Beyond the aesthetics of the tower, there's an issue of the base. Beyond the clear cutting of this wooded lot, we and our neighbors will have to endure cooling units and generators running for each carrier on top of the site pollution a site like this brings. We already hear the current generator occasionally. And, you know, are you asking us to endure endure even more? It's sad to note that a potential Croton Trailways area would be turned a 180 degrees from the board's green state vision to an industrial site. Prior administrations have given us Elliot Way, Senosco Park, as well as many wonderful parks parks. I urge this board to keep these environmental goals at the forefront. It's also important to note that this site was already rejected by this board in the late nineties.
So I'm wondering why are we constantly having to do the same thing over and over again. While the Homeland rep purported to be unaware if the Danish home tower is operational, the reality is he did not want the board to understand that the tower is a Verizon owned and of no financial benefit to Homeland. Homeland already indicated that more towers are coming along with five g as four g is on its way out. Five g requires more towers as its signals are weak and relying on unidirectional signals. In light of this proposal, we've had to research the process, understand the technology, and try to discern the future. It's apparent that Croton cell tower zoning resolutions are woefully antiquated compared to Cortlandt, North Castle, Bedford, Scarsdale, amongst many others. Cortlandt has its own cell tower consultant, enabling it to avoid relying on Homelandt's promises. I suggest Croton do the same. I plead with the board to look at any impact to its citizens, future proof its zoning resolutions before the sprawl of powers impacts another neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you.
Hi. I'm Louisa Carlson. I'm the daughter of Kurt Carlson, so also on 231 Hessian Hills Road. I would just like to point out that the area that it's located in is absolutely beautiful. We're just a walk away. We're not a walk away from anything from the Croton Arboretum. The hillside is covered in wonderful berry patches and other flowers. There are constantly rabbits and birds and bees all throughout the area, and it's been proven that cell towers kill between 5,000,000 to up to 40,000,000 birds a year annually. That evidence is less clear on bees, but seeing as all these beautiful, like, wildflower gardens and overgrown lawns to protect our bees, the signs I see around Croton, and again, it's proximity to the Croton Arboretum, I would like to put a little bit more evidence emphasis on protecting our environment if possible just because that is an issue that's increasingly coming up more and more. So that's all I had to say about that. Thank you.
My name is Ed Riely. I'm from Truesdale Drive in Croton. I'd like to, thank two Croton citizens, Paul Steinberg and Therese Godoy for their letters to the Croton paper regarding the sex education scandal at the high school. I have a name for it, but I can't say it here, but it's fine. An inappropriate lesson if there ever was one. In terms of what the ladies and gentlemen here are talking about in terms of the cell tower, Croton has a a problem, as I said, maybe it's because of the Democratic board. They call it urbanization, uglification. And one is solar panels all over a proposed parking lot in a bird sanctuary. Sanctuary. Cell towers sticking out in Hessian Hills next to a arboretum. Are you kidding me? Mass housing proposed in vacant parking lots. And there's only one board member, as I've said, who's ever argued for the beauty that Croton should have. I know we all appreciate that, but every time you do a salt tower trick like this or a solar panel trick, you just add to the uglification of our tent. So I hope you take the gentleman here up on his suggestion because he doesn't know what he's talking about. At the last meeting, I suggested that the board get in touch with the three largest landholders in in Croton and Hudson and put pressure on them on a regular basis. How do you do that? You do it through your state elected officials. These turkeys are up for election. They're doing everything in their power, including sending checks to people. In November, the state senator at the assembly, the the worst state senate assembly in The United States, by the way, and the worst governors in The United States, three or five of them in jail, put pressure on them with the MTA. This is the cripple yard. This is the old North Croton Station Yard. This is the old freight yard. They occupy more space than anybody else. You put pressure on them and make demands on them on a regular basis. To make demands on them does not mean you have control over their zoning. I know you don't have control over their zone. But you have the telephone. You can pick them up. I bet you don't even know their names. You should be able to talk to the head of the MTA on a regular basis, who's that position's usually been occupied by a real bum. The person now they say is competent. We'll see. This village, because of so much of its land being occupied by the MTA, you should be talking to them every day of the week. The same with the county of Westchester.
There's three county parks, two and a half in this village. You should be on the phone regularly with county executive making demands of the county on what they do with their park, controlling parking, giving you back land, seed backs. And who's the third one, which is the easiest one to make demands on, by the way? Why should people run to a tiny little library or a tiny cooling room downstairs when they can go to a school? The school district in this town occupies the third third largest landholder in this village, and they should be pressed and put upon on a regular basis by the village to provide services to the people of this village every time they turn around. I don't have time to get to everything today, but I don't know if you know it or not. The county board of legislators, which is an old institution, as a board of legislators elected the way this goes back to 1970, proportionate to other part time legislators, they are the highest paid in this whole county. They're also the least democratic. Do you know for two and a half years, they've not had a public meeting? Oh, we had a Zoom meeting. Yeah. Half the board appears by Zoom. Some of them are sleeping, chasing a dog, taking care of the baby, taking out the garbage. Right? That's their public meeting, and then half of them will show up in person. Nobody in the public's allowed except 25 of their employees there.
And their little mask routine was almost hilarious. Up, down, off, on, up, down, some with them on, some with them off. Two and a half years without public participation. I wanna commend you, this board, for having public meetings, more so than anybody in this town and in this I wanna commend you for that. You did the right thing. The county board is a disgrace. And the person who runs that county board lives in this town in village, and she should be told so. Thank you.
Oh, sorry. Thank you. Thank you. You've got it. Alright. Yep. Oh, sorry. Does I think everyone knows everyone spoke, Sharon. Alright. Oh, sorry. Did you wanna speak? Okay.
Alright. I'll move out to the result. Do you want us to stay? Alright. I'll you want to, but it's not it's not required. It
On, let's say, on the May 8 I'm sorry, on the July 18 minutes, page eight, line 22, just a name change or a spelling change on Janine. It's Violante, v I o l a n t e.
No. He's like No. The last name. I thought it was the first name too, and then he started spelling v e. Oh,
V I o l a. Okay. First name right. First yes. Yeah. First name is okay. First name is Genette. Yeah. Right.
I o v I o l a n t is the last name. Right. We'll have to get our Genines sorted out. I know.
It was funny because I already I already had spelled the first name for Judy. But you didn't give her the last name. I didn't catch the last name. That was my fault.
The rotary meeting is tomorrow, so I'll tell Janine. She's the subject of She's the subject of our board for deliberations. That's it for me.
All right. Do I have a motion to approve as amended? Motion by Trustee Horowitz, second by Trustee Rigisaccia. All in favor? Aye. All right. Approval of the Executive Session minutes. Do you have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Horowitz. All in favor? Aye. Alright. Reports.
Trustee Verastegui Bisaccia. Just wanted to comment to everybody. Well, yesterday, we did have the blood drive. We're gonna see more of those going forward. I wanna ask everybody to, please, commit to future blood drives and also make sure you get down to to our lovely parks during the summer season. This over the last couple weeks, we had an opportunity to be down at Mayo's Landing almost every day and also the various parks. So we wanna be very grateful for everybody keeping those parks up and running, but also safe, including our our park rangers. So thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Let's see. Subsequent to our last meeting, on July 20, our bike pedestrian committee met and we were able to discuss the Safe Streets for All grant in development with Emily doing a great job in pulling that together. And also, they were briefed on the 0.5 Moon Bay update on the the the pedestrian area being reopened. On the July 24, our sustainability committee met. The mayor and I were there as liaisons. The we got updates on the train station solar project on some development some possible developments with respect to Croton Landing. The the progress on the solar roof at Washington Energy Company, implementation of the stretch code, and further discussion on the food scrap recycling program, which we discussed here at our meeting. On July 26, the Rotary met and is well into its plans for the September 25 car show. One interesting innovation that may occur is the Rotary is is working and in discussions with Croton one hundred, regarding, the possibility of having an electric vehicle section of the car show, not, not necessarily in any kind of competition, but just to give EV owners the opportunity to have their cars there so people can see them. Similar to the meetups we've done before at various events in the village and even freestanding, but there's never been an EV section of the of the car show. So we'll see if if that if that comes along. Trustee Ghalelli and I attended the the planning board meeting on the twenty sixth as liaisons, and there were a couple of couple of good projects that were were discussed there, and their their ongoing work is, you know, continues to help us all. I think as we we talked earlier, we had the fire council meeting also on July 26, and
mayor and I were there as liaisons. We briefed them on mutual aid resolution that we'd passed. They talked about the the drill I'm I'm sorry. Meant the manager and know the mayor was not there. The drills and training that they're doing and and also the unique recruitment effort that they had last Thursday where which I think is an indication of their need for for additional volunteers to be forthcoming in the years ahead. That's what volunteers depart volunteer departments rely on on the on on new folks coming forward. So I look forward to hearing at the next meeting how that how that went. And and then we, with manager, was able to participate in the meeting with with our school bus transportation folks. And I know the manager will have some some words on that, I'm sure. And that's it.
So yes. I mean, it was interesting. When I was walking along Elliot Way last week, I saw the fire department in their training, and that was really interesting to see them there, and lots of people found it fascinating to watch. So, yeah, just in in terms of beautiful parks, the Elliott Way walk from 0.5 Moon Bay all the way down to the end of Croton Landing is gorgeous for watching sunsets. The Clean Croton subgroup of the Croton Conservation Advisory Committee has come up with an idea to augment the very successful large scale cleanup campaigns that, Croton has been experiencing over the past several months. This new idea called Croton Clean Sweep would be a Croton wide cleanup event where folks would sign up to clean up whatever part of the village they want, provided it's safe. It could be a park, a street, a playground, etcetera. They would sign up to clean that spot at some point over a weekend, any time of their choosing. The suggestion has the benefit of making it incredibly easy for people to participate. They can spend fifteen minutes just outside their front door or a couple of hours at Duck Pine Park. It has the benefit of allowing greater community participation and a more global cleanup campaign. Again, this would be an addition to the village wide cleanup events, And it, looking possibly at one of the last two weekends in August to, to debut this possibility. So that sounds like a really good plan. And I just want to say that I'm very happy that the Croton Business Council and the village management staff are looking towards combining the Fallfest with the Oktoberfest, and I think that's gonna be a really fantastic community event with a lot of village participation. So I'm looking forward to that. I believe today is a deadline for seniors who are 60 or over to sign on for lunch and a movie. I think today's the last day. I don't know. Just to go up to midnight, I'm not really sure. But I know that you it the the the trip is is scheduled for Wednesday. It's to go to the Jacob Burns Theater in Pleasantville, which is showing missus Harris goes to Paris.
I think it's at noon to 04:30. It includes lunch. It's a great film I saw, and it's just really delightful. So I think that if you want to go, you can go online to miss make a reservation. So it's a really long site to go on to, so I'm gonna recite it. It's, roton on hodson-ny.gov/seniors/links/registeronlineprogramstrips.
We have almost four more hours. The clock is ticking. Clock is ticking. Thank you.
Alright. Well, I think that my colleagues have covered almost everything worth discussing. I will say that there are a lot of worthwhile events coming up. You can read about them in detail on the Village website. If people aren't subscribing to it, I suggest that people do sign up for our e alerts, including the community events calendar.
Manager, do you have anything you want to share? Yes. A couple of things. Mhmm. So with regards to what Trustee Simon brought up about the transportation department, we have met with them to ensure that the school buses can successfully traverse the dummy light intersection with our new bollards that have been placed there to improve pedestrian safety. So we'll be doing a test drive tomorrow with the school bus. So if you see a bus out there tomorrow morning school has not started early. Well But it's just What time is that gonna be? 11:30. Okay. Yeah. So feel free to come on by. Okay. We're we're not in the bus. No. We won't be in I mean, unless you wanna be in the bus. It might be kinda hot in there. To say. I'm rooting for it. I'm rooting for the bus. I am.
the chairman of our bicycle and pedestrian committee to to join us. Great. Yeah. So that will be that will hopefully go well tomorrow, and that will be all set. The parking survey for the Harmon area, specifically Benedict, Hastings, Young, has been mailed. We've already started to get responses, so we'll do a we'll be doing a code red call in the near future just reminding people in case they get the mail and and put it to the side. Just wanted to remind or or inform, depending on what you know, village residents that they should check the state controller's office website for unclaimed funds. There are many, many people who are listed on there, including the village itself. We have applied for our own unclaimed funds. So, you know, checks get lost in the mail or whatever happens, they get sent to the wrong place. And, you know, you can you will you don't find yourself, you'll most likely find somebody you know on there. So you should you should take a look and and search. In regards to the benchmarking, I neglected to say that Emily, my assistant, did that work, so I wanted to thank her for that. And, you know, one of the efforts that we're seeing as part of the benchmarking is trying to reduce, obviously, our our use of resources. And we are done that through the installation of Nest thermostats. We have one here in the meeting room. Yeah. So that those, you know, those can be controlled through your phone. So in case there if somebody forgets to put the thermostat down or if, you know, there's unscheduled closing of the building for whatever reason, you know, we can adjust the the thermostats remotely and, you know, not have the air on or the heat on when it doesn't necessarily
need to be. And, you know, they're also helping us participate in the grid's reward program through Con Edison. You know, we had our first three days of that during the big heat wave, a couple weeks ago, and, you know, it worked it worked very well. You know, they we are able to cool the the building before they give you a time frame between, like, four and 8PM that they want you to reduce your energy usage. And so or you're able to cool the building down beforehand. So, you know, if your thermostat's at 72 at, like, noon, you would lower it down to 70 so it gets the room nice and cool. And then at 04:00, when they want you to conserve, you put the thermostat up to 76. And then that way, you don't run the air conditioning for that four hour period that they want you to conserve. So and hopefully, if we've done everything correctly, which I think we have, we'll get a check rebate from Con Edison at the end of the year. That's great. So it's it's a it's a good program. It it works on on a individual basis. Yes. It really does. Yep. The bid for the road resurfacing is out. We'll be doing the bid opening a week from tomorrow. And then once we have those numbers, we'll be able to release the list of streets that are are going to be repaved. So that will hopefully be coming out the next couple weeks. What else here? The Blaze Historic Hudson Valley is hiring for The Blaze. So if you're and if you know anyone who's looking for a part time job or, you know, college kid who may be on a on a break or home for this this semester or something like that,
you know, they have lots of openings for people that work in in the parking or people that work out in the, in the concession or, excuse me, or the gift shop. So you can go on historic Hudson Valley's website, which is hudsonvalley.org. Very easy to remember, unlike the one Sherry read. And you can look you can look for a job on there. And finally, just, you know, kudos to our DPW for all the work that they do during the year. Two of the more recent projects that have been going on is the building of the new bocce court at Black Rock Park. If you haven't gotten over there yet, you know, take a drive. It it's coming along really nicely. And, also, they have completed the work at the bathhouse at Senosco Park. They put a new roof on, and they have done some new siding on the building. So it really looks like between that coupled with the the mural done by Dylan O'Keefe, it it really looks it looks fantastic. So, know, we're just I know we say this regularly, but it doesn't hurt to repeat it that we're very lucky to have, you know, such great workers in house. So
Motion by Trustee Howard, second by Trustee Simon. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you.