Village Board Minutes - February 14, 2005

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village/Town of Mount Kisco held on Monday, February 14, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. in the Frank J. DiMicco Board Room, Village Hall, Main Street, Mount Kisco, New York.

Present: Mayor J. Michael Cindrich

Trustee George L. Griffin, Jr.

Trustee Peter Grunthal

Trustee Anthony Markus

Trustee Peter DiChiara

Also Present: William Williams, Village Manager/ Clerk

James Palmer, Assistant Village Manager

Whitney Singleton, Village Attorney

Mayor Cindrich introduced Rachel Sadler, Army Specialist 4^th Class who led the Mayor and Board of Trustees in the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Cindrich introduced Rev. Heymie of the St. Francis A.M.E. Zion Church who led everyone in a moment of silence. Mayor Cindrich asked everyone to remember Richard Brown who recently passed away succumbing to cancer. Mr. Brown worked as a Byram Lake Attendant for the Village of Mount Kisco. Mayor Cindrich presented Army Specialist 4^th Class Rachel Sadler with a Certificate of Appreciation.

1) Communications -

Joseph Cerbone stated that the reason he was here was because of the hospitalization. What I'm going to do first of all - I'm going to go over previous meetings of the Village Board. I'm only going to take 5 or 10 minutes of your time not even that. The first one I have, most of the comments are made by Trustee and Mayor Patsy Reilly she made one comment on 2/20/97 and her comment was Mrs. Reilly stated that she did not vote politically she voted her conscience. The second one I have 12/19/95 Page 28, she felt that the Village should not be paying hospitalization. Then I have a letter from Tom Warren, who states that while Mrs. Reilly was the Mayor she permitted Trustee David Feldman to receive hospitalization from February 2000 - October of 2000 and also but when Dick Flynn was the Mayor he had hospitalization from 2/1/86 - 1/31/92, when I believe he became County Legislator. The next comment I have from Mrs. Reilly is on page 7 of 4/3/95, I'm very very honest anything I vote on in the Village will be for the betterment of the Village in my estimates after studying all the issues. Mrs. Reilly did not want me to have hospitalization when I was the Town Judge, that was one of the comments, but she permitted Mr. Feldman to have it. Also I noticed that the former Village Manager John Pierpont not only had hospitalization they also paid him extra, above and beyond that for additional bills that weren't covered by hospitalization. How much they were I don't know. I have a funny feeling that it was a couple $1,000, but I'm not sure. I know it was extra money. Mr. Pierpont has been very lucky in this Village as some of you may or may not know. When he left in June of 1995 and Chief Martini left in August of 1995 and after two (2) years they were in the possession of Village computers and this is the list of computers that Mr. Pierpont had in his house. There were seven (7) of them. Here's the picture of four of them that they had in the Police Department that he returned two (2) years later. As I just told you I'm not married, but I have difficulty believing that no one in this house ever noticed these seven (7) pieces of equipment. In my house if I brought home a pen the question was where did they come from - so I don't know. The next thing is the District Attorney, Mrs. Piero wrote a letter and I have a copy of it, and it said that the Mount Kisco Police Department and the Mount Kisco Town Government Officials using Town owned computers in their homes. Well they were no longer in their homes. I assume you have the records of the Police Department the investigations, I'm not going to go into that - but they did use them. Also Mrs. Reilly was very generous to our present Chief she gave him a no show one million dollar contract, which I thought was really wonderful. It says here by reason of fact that the Chief of Police must devote substantial time out side of normal business hours to perform the work required of the Chief of Police the Village recognizes that the Chief of Police does not have normal seven (7) hour days. That's quite good. Why I am here is because I believe that I should be entitled to in my retirement to the hospitalization be paid by the Village and the reason I say that is that I have had hospitalization for 32 years. These are all my POMCO cards. I'm a Tier One, I have 34 years in, I feel that any Tier One that has left this Village has received the hospitalization paid by the Village and I think I'm entitled to it. The Resolution you passed that the present Judges will be paying 25% and the Village will be paying 75%. Well that 75% is part of their compensation and that added to their salary is compensation. Well I had that the whole time so that's why I feel that that is why I am entitled to the hospitalization and I base my opinion on the two cases one against the Town of Stamford and one against the Town Favit, if you need copies of those opinions/decisions I will be more than happy to send them to you.

Mayor Cindrich asked Mr. Cerbone to send those opinions over to Village Attorney, Whitney Singleton and they will be taken under advisement.

Mr. Singleton replied that he has copies of the opinions.

B. Letter from Allison Eckhart, Recreation Supervisor re: Baseball Opening Day Parade Request and Invitation.

Mayor Cindrich read the letter from Allison Eckhart, Recreation Supervisor re: Baseball Opening Day Parade Request and Invitation dated February 2, 2005.

Motion made by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Markus approving the request to hold the Baseball Opening Day Parade at an estimated cost of $750 as noted in Lt. Edward Dunnigan's memorandum dated 2/10/05, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

Trustee DiChiara suggested that the Village might save some additional money by using Fire Police vehicles instead of Police vehicles to lead the parade.

2) Petitions - None

3) Board, Committee and Commission Reports - None

4) Village Manager's Reports -

A. Level of Byram Lake and Water Distribution System.

Village Manager, Bill Williams, advised that Byram Lake was at 100.3% of capacity and the total monthly pumpage for the month of January is 1,331,234 gallons daily average.

The Village Board of Trustees schedule the following meeting dates:

April 4, 2005 Regular Meeting

April 11, 2005 Public Hearing on the Proposed 2005/2006 Village/Town Budget

April 18, 2005 Regular Meeting

May 2, 2005 Regular Meeting

May 16, 2005 Regular Meeting

June 6, 2005 Regular Meeting

June 20, 2005 Regular Meeting

Village Manager, Bill Williams stated that the New York State Department of Transportation has independently conducted a study on the north bound left turn lane with some lane configurations. The NYSDOT recommendation was that we eliminate the north bound turn into Shoppers Park and only allow people from the south of 133 to make a right turn. The study was based upon an analysis of count hours between 8-9 am and 4-5 pm on or about June 17, 2004. During that period there were only six (6) cars that made the left turn between 8-9 am and ten (10) during the peak time. As a result of this there were well over 381 cars that went north on 117 which were effected by the queue lag and about 221 cars that went west on 133 Main Street. It was based upon this information that the DOT recommend that the Village eliminate that turn and they try to explain how they didn't have traffic studies before they made the change. Then came the issue of whether to eliminate the parking spaces in front of the Library/Village Hall on Route 117. The individuals at the DOT recommended that if the Village wanted to get a maximum amount of change we should consider eliminating the parking spaces. However, Mr. Williams stated that the Village would be well served by considering a resolution that did not eliminate the parking spaces in front of the Library/Village Hall. That just the left hand turn lane reconfiguration is sufficient enough. The NYS DOT would do all the planning and make all the necessary construction changes. The NYS DOT regretfully informed him that it would take over six (6) months for them to start this project (once the Board adopted the resolution) due to their current heavy work load schedule.

Trustee Markus asked how many cars will be able to queue northbound on Route 117.

Village Manager Williams replied that currently 2 - 3 cars can queue now. With the new lane configuration there will be up to 10 cars (7 additional cars). However, with the elimination of the parking in front of Library/Village Hall there could be up to 14 cars.

The Board of Trustees agreed with Mr. Williams's recommendation to keep the parking spaces in front of Village/Hall. This recommendation would create a balance between allowing more cars to queue and to keep the desperately needed parking spaces in front of the Library and Village Hall.

Mayor Cindrich requested that someone review the Northern Westchester Hospital Traffic Study that was recently done and see if this intersection was included in the study and if so what recommendations were there. He added that the NYS DOT is going to spend approximately $30,000 on this realignment project and we should gather as much information as possible so that the Board could make an informed decision. Mayor Cindrich also requested that the merchants that border the Shoppers Park Parking Lot entrance area be notified of this proposed realignment project and ask for their input.

The Board tabled making a decision on this item until the February 28, 2005 Board Meeting.

5) Board Reports -

Trustee Grunthal reported that the Finance Committee met a few weeks ago prior to the last Village Board Meeting and there was nothing else to report tonight.

Trustee Markus reported that the Community Relations Committee met on February 2, 2005 and the highlight of the meeting was the Temporary Homeless Housing Project that has been setup by numerous individuals to address in some small degree the homelessness that exists in our area. Trustee Markus thanked the following individuals for their contributions in making this project so successful, Rev. Paul Alcorn; Melvin Berger, Carola Bracco; Mount Kisco Police Department, Mayor Cindrich for endorsing this project, Dolores Vidal-Roy; Nan Miller. Trustee Markus also thanked the following churches for participating in this project the Katonah Presbyterian Church, the Mount Kisco Methodist Church, the Mount Kisco Presbyterian Church, the Mount Kisco Lutheran Church and the Bedford Presbyterian Church.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. reported that the Building and Grounds Committee met on February 8, 2005. The Building and Grounds Committee is in the process of setting a priorities list of projects for the coming year. The Building and Grounds Committee is aware that the Village has a limited budget available for improvements and repairs. They have requested two repair projects for the Village. The first being the Clock Tower in Village Hall, which is in a state of decay and the second project was resurfacing of the front entry porch with slate tile. The Building and Grounds Committee would like to take a survey of the existing sidewalks in the Village and report back to the Village Board with a list of repairs. The Committee would like to ask the Friends of the Library to stop collecting and storing any more books at the Old Post Office the reason being that it is a fire hazard.

Trustee DiChiara stated that he has been meeting with the Library in regards to setting up the Library Foundation. The purpose of the Library Foundation will be primarily to raise money for the interior of the proposed new Library.

Mayor Cindrich stated that some of the merchants and the Chambers of Commerce have been raising some issues regarding parades their concerns are with traffic and parking. Mayor Cindrich asked the Village Manager to broker a meeting in order to address these concerns. He suggested the merchants, members of the Chamber of Commerce and also the parade committee members be in attendance and all participate in this meeting.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he has been meeting with the new owners of the Grand Union Warehouse property, which has significant development potential. The public hearing discussions on this property may be rekindled in the same fashion or a different fashion. He will be meeting with the Grand Union owners again this week to ask that they act in collaboration with us and move a legitimate use and zoning along so we can set the path of the proper zoning of that property and the future of the Village. Mayor Cindrich stated that he attended a meeting with the Westchester County Planning Department regarding the former Swiss Property. He hoped to also meet with State Senator Vincent Leibell to also discuss the future of this property and to have him at least consider holding part of the property as a natural resource in per purity. Mayor Cindrich reported that the Village is working in conjunction with Carmine Labriolia of Realife Land Improvements Inc. to do an in house maintenance plan and an environmental engineering plan for this mitigation of the downtown to help alleviate some of the flooding.

6) Old Business

A. Board resolution authorizing the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts to use the Branch Brook Green Area on July 17, 2005 from 1:00pm to 8:00 pm for the Shakespeare in the Park Celebration.

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. authorizing the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts to use the Branch Brook Green Area on July 17, 2005 from 1:00 pm to 8:00 pm for the Shakespeare in the Park Celebration, all in favor

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

B. Board resolution authorizing the overtime cost estimates for Police assistance during the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

The Village Board of Trustees tabled this item. More information was requested i.e. the exact cost of the overtime, how many Police Officers will be schedule for this event; how many hours will they be scheduled (overtime vs. plug-ins vs. regular tour of duty).

C. Board resolution authorizing the overtime cost estimates for the Recreation Department Baseball Opening Day Parade.

Motion made by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Grunthal authorizing the overtime cost estimates for the Recreation Department Baseball Opening Day Parade, all in favor

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

7) New Business

A. Board resolution authorizing the Village Manager to sign the new Library Proposal from Lothrop Associates dated 2/4/05.

The Village Board of Trustees tabled this item. The Board requested that the contract proposal be revised. The Board requested that just enough documentation be included in this proposal in order to send it to a referendum and that the construction management section in this proposal be excluded at this time.

The following motion was offered by Trustee DiChiara and seconded by Trustee Grunthal to pay the bills, all in favor.

General Fund $105,605.44

General Fund Claims $ 87,232.04

Water Fund Claims 12,293.42

Sewer Fund Claims 4,020.10

Library Fund Claims 2,059.88

Senior Nutrition Fund 3,268.89

Water and Sewer Fund 78,299.28

Water Fund Claims 74,662.55

Sewer Fund Claims 3,636.73

Library Fund 8,708.41

Capital Projects Fund 9,343.29

Trust Agency Fund 16,024.81

TOTAL $ 221.250.12

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

Motion made by Trustee Griffin, Jr. and seconded by Trustee Grunthal approving the following minutes:

January 31, 2005 - Regular Village Board Meeting

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

10) Local Business - None

11) Public Comment.

There being no further business to come before the Board a motion to close the meeting at 9:00 pm was made by Trustee Marcus and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr., all in favor.

William F. Williams

Village Clerk

Regular Meeting February 14, 2005 1.

Created by superuser. Last modified 2005-09-13 15:59:48.