Village Board Meeting - June 20, 2006

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village/Town of Mount Kisco held on Monday, June 20, 2006 at 8:30pm in the Frank J. DiMicco Board Room, Village Hall, 104 Main Street, Mount Kisco, New York.

Present: Mayor J. Michael Cindrich

Trustee Peter DiChiara

Trustee George L. Griffin, Jr.

Trustee Anthony Markus

Trustee Peter Grunthal

Also Present: James Palmer, Village Manager/Clerk

Whitney Singleton, Village Attorney

Mayor Cindrich opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and asked everyone to reflect on why we are here and asked for guidance in the decisions that we make this evening will benefit all the people of Mount Kisco. Mayor Cindrich also asked that we keep in our thoughts and prayers the family of Eric Vontobel who died at the early age of 20 and Pete Smith who dedicated his life to helping people.

Mayor Cindrich advised that the Board met in work session prior to the meeting to discuss and interview construction managers for the upcoming Library Project and apologized for the late start of the meeting.

1) Communications:

A. Resolution Approving Request from Mount Kisco Elementary School

Motion made by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Griffin approving the request from the Mount Kisco Elementary School to hold their Fall Car Wash and Carnival Fundraiser on Saturday, September 16, 2006 from 9:00am to 3:00pm subject to approval and cooperation with the Fire Department, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

B. Resolution Approving a Block Party

Motion made by Trustee Grunthal and seconded by Trustee Markus approving

the request from Stacey Witz to hold a Block Party at the lower portion of Carlton Drive cul de sac of the Mount Kisco Chase on Sunday, July 16 from 2:00pm to 5:00pm, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

C. Resolution Approving Request from United Methodist Church Re: Tent

Revival Request

Motion made by Trustee Griffin, Jr. and seconded by Trustee Markus

approving the request from the United Methodist Church of Mount Kisco to hold an

"old fashioned" tent revival on the evening of June 25-28, 2006 subject to the

coordination of parking with the Mount Kisco Police Department, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

D. Letter from Twigs dated June 15, 2006 advising of their upcoming fundraising event to be held in front of Starbucks on Saturday, July 8, 2006

2) Petitions: None

3) Board, Committee and Commission Reports: None

4) Village Manager's Reports -

A. Level of Byram Lake

Village Manager, James Palmer advised that the level of Byram Lake as of 5:00pm this evening was at 99.9% capacity.

B. Village Manager, James Palmer advised that Christopher Paci has been appointed to the position of Parking Meter Repairer effective June 1, 2006 and Alejandrina Griffith will be appointed to the position of Registrar of Vital Statistics this evening.

C. Croton Avenue/Prospect Street Project Update

Village Manager, James Palmer advised that the project is largely complete and he has gone through the punch-list items with Michael Stein, Consulting Engineer. Mr. Palmer said that he has visited the site to make sure that the fence is secure, that the lot going up to the water tower has been re-graded, that the new curbing has been installed on the south side of Prospect and that the curbing is in place along the eastern side of Croton Avenue and the western side also.

D. Lexington Avenue Bridge Update

Village Manager, James Palmer gave the following schedule for the Lexington Avenue Bridge Work; work to begin week of June 26th, temporary pedestrian bridge put in place the week of July 10th, traffic moved to the east side of the roadway week of July 17th, excavation of new footings week of July 24th, driving of new piles for new footings week of July 31st, pouring of new footings week of August 14th, installation of new concrete planks week of August 28 and construction of new roadway week of September 4th. Mr. Palmer said that the plan is to put the final surface down, stripe the roadway and complete punch-list items the week of September 11th.

Mayor Cindrich said that the major concern is that the project be completed more than substantially before for the start of school and asked Mr. Palmer to emphasize with the County that we do not want any delays.

F. Resolution Scheduling an Executive Session

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. scheduling a work session to discuss pending litigation, personnel and real estate matters, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

5) Board Reports

Trustee Grunthal advised that he attended a meeting of the Byram Lake Committee wherein they discussed the next steps for preservation and maintenance of the Lake as recommended by the consultant. Trustee Grunthal said they will be coming before the Board to make these recommendations.

Trustee Markus said that he met with Karen Schleimer, the Building Inspector and Patti Tipa on the sign Law and hopes to have something for the Board to review in the next couple of months.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. advised that the Buildings and Grounds Committee is continuing to discuss and work on the completion of the Kirby Plaza Project. Trustee Griffin, Jr. advised that they received a good bid from the original installer of the fence.

Trustee DiChiara said that he is working with Village Manager, James Palmer on Code Enforcement Issues that will be reported on in upcoming meetings.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he is satisfied with the Croton Avenue Project, has met with the engineers several times and is pleased that this project is almost complete. Mayor Cindrich thanked Mr. Palmer for his efforts because this project has been a source of many complaints.

6) Old Business

A. Request to Modify LOSAP Investment Portfolio

Trustee Grunthal advised that the Trustees of LOSAP had accepted recommendations from Morgan Stanley to invest a small portion of this portfolio (no more than 10%) in international equities. Trustee Grunthal advised that at the present time asset allocation is approximately one half in equity investments and the other half in fixed income investments. Trustee Grunthal said that the Village Board had expressed some concern about having international investments and asked that we refer this to the Finance Committee for their comments. Trustee Grunthal said that the Finance Committee's comments were as follows; Professor Tom Snyder felt that international investments were fine but perhaps a little volatile for a fund of this nature especially if you take into account emerging markets, another member of the Finance Committee expressed the same view and a third member said that it was just not important whether we had them or not and the fourth member thought that the impact on the portfolio would be so trivial that it would not matter. Trustee Grunthal said that he felt that the LOSAP Trustees, i.e. himself, Jim Palmer, and Tom Warren, who have spent the most time with Morgan Stanley and who are taking into account the advice of their investment specialists, should be the ones who make this decision. Trustee Grunthal said that he felt that we should go into international investments with several constraints; only invest in major companies which are comparable to large U.S. Companies; not go into emerging markets but diversify the risk of investing in major companies by choosing not only United States companies but choosing other major economies and corporations of the world.

Trustee Markus said that he doesn't see any problem and trusts Trustee Grunthal's judgment on this. Trustee Markus said that it can sometimes be unsafe not to spread the risk, and we have to trust our investors.

Trustee DiChiara said that international funds can add diversification and can add incremental gains but there are more risks involved such as foreign currency risk and government stability and he is not sure it is worth the risk since we are a small Village. Trustee DiChiara asked if we are being asked to change the LOSAP Investment Portfolio Guidelines to agree with the recommendations of Morgan Stanley. Trustee DiChiara said that he is concerned that by letting the investment professionals decide it would be in a way of saying lets not have any Guidelines.

Trustee Grunthal said that the issue here is who is going to be making the decisions. Trustee Grunthal said that the check on our investors should be done by the Trustees of LOSAP, Jim Palmer, Tom Warren, himself and the two members of the Fire Department because these Trustees have spent many hours with Morgan Stanley looking at investments, fees, risks, and awards. Trustee Grunthal said that as a Trustee he would never allow Morgan Stanley to make the decisions but does listen to their recommendations because it is their job to have the facts about investments. Trustee Grunthal said that he felt that the decisions now and in the future should be left to the LOSAP Trustees not with this Board.

Trustee DiChiara said that he disagrees because just as we have given the Treasurer guidelines in investment policies that have been approved by this Board, he feels that the Board should also give LOSAP an investment policy that should be followed because the Village Board is also responsible for the investment Portfolio. Trustee DiChiara said that if there ever was a dramatic decrease in the LOSAP Investment Portfolio it would require additional funds to be paid in by this Village and a decision that would affect our tax payers and he is not willing to advocate responsibility for the investment guidelines.

Trustee Grunthal asked Mr. Warren if the current investment policies that we have preclude us from international investments. Trustee Grunthal said that he believes that we are permitted to have equities up to a certain percentage in mutual funds and asked if we are precluded from international investments and if not then this Board does not have to take any action.

Village Treasurer, Tom Warren, stated that the guidelines were silent on this issue.

Mayor Cindrich said that he is very concerned because we have taken great lengths to assemble our Financial Committee and feels that they are experts in the financial world and tend to agree with their recommendation on voting no in investing in international equity mutual funds. Mayor Cindrich said that he is also concerned about the state of the world as it exists today. Mayor Cindrich said that he understands that a great deal of work has been put into this, but he is reluctant to go along with this since it is in opposition with our Finance Committee.

Trustee Grunthal stated that one of the members of the Finance Committee said that he thought there was no point of going into international investment because we can do just as well by going to energy derivatives (a business of which he is involved in) and asked that the Board take this into consideration. Trustee Grunthal said that the Finance Committee members have spent no time with Morgan Stanley versus the Trustees who have spent a lot time with Morgan Stanley. Trustee Grunthal said that the Trustees of LOSAP have worked very hard to make sure they have the knowledge and information to make an informative decision.

Trustee DiChiara said that he agrees that the current Trustees are very knowledgeable and have the best interest of the funds, but he is also concerned of what could happen in the future if we have someone who is not as knowledgeable and is concerned that we could have disastrous results if there aren't the appropriate guidelines set by the Village Board.

Trustee Grunthal said that politically elected Board's should be kept out of the decision process and it should only be LOSAP Trustees making the decisions.

Trustee Markus asked how we should proceed.

Trustee Grunthal made the following motion:

A motion made by Trustee Grunthal and seconded by Trustee Markus that this Board devolves upon the Trustees of the LOSAP the power to make investment policy in consultation with Morgan Stanley.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. asked if we are voting to allow the LOSAP Board of Trustees to invest with Morgan Stanley as they so feel fit without the advice of our Finance Committee or Village Board.

Trustee Grunthal said that is correct.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Nay

Trustee DiChiara Nay

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Nay

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

Mayor Cindrich asked the Village Attorney to give him a brief on what the Village Board's responsibility is in relation to the investment policies. Mayor Cindrich said that the people have elected us to be the watchdogs of their funds and does not mind designating committees but would like to make sure that this Village Board is involved. Mayor Cindrich said that he does not feel that the decisions made are political decisions because each Board member is invested in this community as is the Finance Committee.

Trustee Markus asked that since the motion has been denied what is the role of the Trustees anytime there is a change in investment strategy. Trustee Markus said then maybe we do not need LOSAP Trustees unless we use them only for advisory purposes.

Trustee DiChiara said that he is willing to allow the LOSAP Board to make specific decisions, but would not be comfortable if we do not have broad policy Guidelines that were approved by the Board of Trustees.

Trustee Markus said that the issue here is whether or not we should have expanded the Guidelines to include international funds in this particular case.

Trustee DiChiara said that the way it is written now is that the LOSAP Board can invest in equities and because it does not distinguish between U.S. and international equities they do not need the Board's approval to invest in international funds.

Mayor Cindrich said that this Board is responsible for everything that happens in this Village and if we are not going to have input then the people of this Village will lose trust in us. Mayor Cindrich said that he wants to have some idea of what is going on and how the decisions are going to be made. Mayor Cindrich said that if we have to expand the Committee he will expand the Committee to include each member of the Village Board.

Trustee Markus said that he didn't disagree but when we make appointments to Planning and Zoning Boards, the Village Board does not make those decisions and thought that this was similar.

Trustee DiChiara stated that Planning and Zoning Board actions are spelled out by New York State law and Village guidelines and it is proper that the Village Board give the LOSAP Trustees similar guidelines to follow.

Trustee Markus stated that he thought that there were specific guidelines for the LOSAP Trustees to follow and he sees the issue now of whether or not we want to change to policy since the issue of international funds came into place.

Trustee Grunthal said that he agrees that as a Board of Trustees we ultimately have to accept responsibility and does accept the fact that this Board should control the investment guidelines, but it was not clear to him if he should have asked for a motion to invest in international investments because that may have passed.

Trustee Grunthal made the following motion.

Motion made by Trustee Grunthal and seconded by Trustee DiChiara that this Board empowers the Trustees of the LOSAP to instruct Morgan Stanley to invest up to 10% of the equity portion of the LOSAP Portfolio which is approximately 5% of the total Portfolio in the Corporate Stock of major international Corporations.

Trustee Markus said that it seems to him that we do not have to make this motion because they already have that authority.

Trustee DiChiara said that this motion is actually putting a limitation which he felt is proper.

Mayor Cindrich said that he would like to wait for an opinion from the Village Attorney on this issue as to the span of control and what the authority is. Mayor Cindrich said that he is very concerned with the comments from the Finance Committee, the number of members on the LOSAP Committee and would like a spreadsheet on this entire package before he votes on this.

Trustee Grunthal withdrew the motion.

7) New Business

A. Resolution authorizing the Village Manager to sign the SPCA Agreement for 2006/2007

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee DiChiara approving the 2006-2007 SPCA Agreement, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

B. Resolution authorizing the payment of certain claims in

advance of Village Board Audit and Approval

Motion made by Trustee Grunthal and seconded by Trustee Markus authorizing the payment of certain claims in advance of Village Board Audit and Approval, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

C. Resolution approving a corrected tax bill for Gerald Scanlon &

Margaret Hunter

Motion made by Trustee Grunthal and seconded by Trustee Markus approving the request from James Palmer to correct the Village tax bill for Gerald Scanlon in the amount of $171.20 and Margaret Hunter in the amount of $171.20 to reflect a veterans tax exemption, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

D. Resolution authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Insite

Agreement for the Mt. Kisco Public Library

Resolution tabled at this point in the meeting.

E. Resolution to utilize Kirby Plaza capital funds to complete

Fencing

Motion made by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. authorizing the use of Capital Funds to complete the fencing at Kirby Plaza, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

F. Request for Sale or Disposal of Surplus Vehicles

Motion made by Trustee DiChiara and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. authorizing the disposal of surplus vehicles as detailed in Thomas Warren's memo dated June 14, 2006 and further declares them as surplus, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

G. Resolution authorizing the Village Manager to sign the lease

Agreement with New Cingular Wireless

Village Attorney, Whitney Singleton said that we currently have an existing Lease Agreement with Cingular Wireless as a successor and have been negotiating a multitude of changes over the past several months. Mr. Singleton advised that the lease payments are going down, however, there is currently another enterprise that is looking to co-locate and the Village will receive one third of those revenues. Trustee Singleton advised that this will be for a period of five years with two additional five year extensions with the Village retaining the right to cancel any of the five year extensions.

Mayor Cindrich said that he has an issue with the increased traffic on the access road, the aesthetics, and the condition of the roadway ever since this tower went up. Mayor Cindrich requested that a provision be put in the contract that they take the right of way (in from the curb line of approximately 20 feet) and put down a grass-crete composition or something that looks natural. Mayor Cindrich also requested that they reimburse the Village if they need to have the road plowed.

Mr. Singleton stated that he has clarified this with Cingular that they will be responsible for all maintenance of the access road and doing it in a timely fashion.

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee DiChiara authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Lease Agreement with New Cingular Wireless subject to the Village Attorney adding the that they install in the right of way from the curb line of approximately 20 feet either a grass-crete composition or something that looks natural and that they reimburse the Village for any special event/problem if the road needs to be plowed and that they also be responsible for all maintenance of the access roadway and that it be done in a timely fashion, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

H. Resolution authorizing an out of state conference question for

Charles Pieragostini, Superintendent of Recreation

Motion made by DiChiara and seconded by Trustee Grunthal approving the Out of State Conference Request from the Superintendent of Recreation to attend the N.R.P.A. Congress Conference in Seattle, Washington from October 10-15, 2006 at a cost of $1,500.00, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

I. Resolution Appointing Registrar of Vital Statistics and Deputy Town Clerk

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee DiChiara appointing Alejandrina Griffith as Registrar of Vital Statistics and Deputy Town Clerk, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

8) Bills -

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

General Fund $148,533.75

General Fund Claims $130,006.37

Water Fund Claims 12,100.31

Sewer Fund Claims 4,202.64

Library Fund Claims 2,224.43

Senior Nutrition Fund $ 3,910.10

Water and Sewer Fund $218,884.46

Water/Sewer Fund Claims-old yr $150,128.51

Water/Sewer Fund Claims-new yr 68,755.95

Library Fund $ 7,377.26

Capital Projects Fund $ 5,999.27

Trust in Agency Fund $ 11,774.84

TOTAL $396,479.68

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

9) Approval of Minutes -

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee DiChiara hereby approving the following minutes:

June 5, 2006 Regular Board Meeting

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

10) Non-Local Business - None

11) Public Comment -

Anthony Monteleone, Vice President of the Library Foundation, said that they have been waiting for the contract to be signed so that the foundation can go out and raise the additional $875,000. Mr. Monteleone said they know how hard the Village Board has been working on getting these contracts and getting the project moving and how difficult it is under existing State law. Mr. Monteleone said that the most important thing is to get the best responsible people to handle this project and knows that is the Board's concern and their objective.

Joyce Wall asked if they are planning on paving Croton Avenue and improving it in a way that it doesn't turn into a speeding track.

Mayor Cindrich said that there will be people who will argue that by paving the road with a smooth surface is going to encourage cars to drive faster. Mayor Cindrich said that the roadway is in disrepair and has to be repaved and we will have to rely on the Police Department to deal with the speeding problems.

Motion to enter into an Executive Session to discuss the Insight Agreement made by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr., all in favor.

Resolution authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Insite

Agreement for the Mt. Kisco Public Library

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Insite Agreement for the Mt. Kisco Public Library Project subject to approval recommendations and amendments by our Village Attorney and provided that it is clear that Insite will have to report and update our Construction Manager or any other representative that the Village Board designates and additionally subject to the review of the Construction Manager, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

Resolution Authorizing the Village Manager to Enter into an Agreement with a Construction Manager Re: Mount Kisco Public Library

Motion made by Trustee Grunthal and seconded by Trustee DiChiara authorizing the Village Manager to enter into an Agreement with a Construction Manager to perform construction management and oversight services and coordination between the Architect, Engineer and Regulatory Agencies to move this project forward, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Abstain

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

Anthony Monteleone said that he has the construction management responses and there are some amounts next to each of their respective responses and would it be correct or incorrect to assume that the manager will be negotiating within that framework.

Mayor Cindrich said that this was discussed but the answer is yes but we will not move this project forward unless we have a reputable representative on board to protect the interest of the taxpayers.

Mr. Monteleone thanked the Board because the Library Board and the Foundation appreciates this because their goals are the same.

There being no further business to come before the Board a motion to close the meeting was made by Trustee DiChiara and seconded by Trustee Markus, all in favor.

9:20pm.

__________________________

James Palmer

Village Manager and Clerk

Regular Meeting June 20, 2006 1.

Created by pmaiorano. Last modified 2006-07-18 13:32:00.