Village Board Meeting Minutes - December 18, 2006

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village/Town of Mt. Kisco held on Monday, December 18, 2006 at 7:45 pm 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 Peter Grunthal (Arrived at 8:05pm)

Absent: Trustee Anthony Markus

Also Present: James Palmer, Village Manager/Clerk

Whitney Singleton, Village Attorney

Mayor Cindrich opened the last meeting for calendar year 2006 with the Pledge of Allegiance and asked everyone to please reflect on why we are here and asked for guidance in the decisions that we make this evening that they will benefit all the people of Mount Kisco. He also asked that you remember in your prayers Pat Swindell how lost her son, Steven Swindell. He also asked that you remember all the Village Residents that we have lost during the past year.

1) Communications: None.

2) Petitions: None

3) Board, Committee and Commission Reports: None

4) Village Manager's Reports -

Village Manager Palmer wished the Mayor, Members of the Board and all the residents of Mount Kisco a Healthy Happy Joyous Holiday Season.

A. Level of Byram Lake and Water Distribution System.

Village Manager James Palmer advised that the level of Byram Lake was at 100% of capacity this afternoon. The daily average pumpage for the month of November was 1,518,500 million gallons per day, and the Saw Mill Pump Station inflow averaged 1,896,090 million gallons per day.

B. Byram Lake Monthly Report: November - 2006.

Village Manager, James Palmer, provided the Board with a copy of the November, 2006 monthly Byram Lake Report provided by BLU DOT, Inc.

Month Total Rain inches 7.45

Month Max Level ft. 0.61

Month Min. Level ft. -0.35

Month Max Capacity 103.2

Month Min. Capacity 97.8

C. Lexington Avenue Bridge Update.

Village Manager Palmer stated that he provided the Board with the current completion schedule for the Lexington Avenue Bridge which was provided to him by Westchester County. The scheduled project completion date for Arben is March 26, 2007.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. stated that he was in on the original meeting and the original completion date was yearly November, 2006. At that time the contention was the moving of the utilities. That's not the case the utilities were moved. This delay is totally uncalled for and there is no physical reason why this project has not been completed by now. The Village of Mount Kisco is going to suffer come snow season. The existing condition is a very dangerous situation.

Trustee DiChiara stated that he personally witnessed a head on collision at that location and there will be more. He often saw people making the illegal left hand turn.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. stated that they have a no left hand turn at the stop sign coming on to Lexington Avenue. There should also be an additional sign directly across from that intersection, because people do not see the No Left hand turn sign.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he witnessed a vehicle making the left hand turn with a Police Car right behind them and the Police Officer did stop the person.

Village Manager Palmer stated that numerous tickets have been issued for the no left hand turn. He also asked the County to improve the signage at that location.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. suggested that a letter be sent the County Executive Spano expressing our concern, upset and disappointment in the County's Planning Department for their lack of supervision on this project.

Mayor Cindrich stated that the original completion date was supposed to be the beginning of September, right before school started.

Trustee DiChiara also requested that our County Legislature also be contacted and inform her that this delay is costing the Village of Mount Kisco money in trying to enforce the safety at the intersection.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. suggested that the Chairman of the Board of Legislatures also be copied on that letter.

D. Report on Con Edison Municipal Assistance Plan.

Village Manager Palmer, provided the Board with a Draft Copy of a Municipal Response Plan that the Municipal Administrators are currently working on in conjunction with Con Edison to improve Con Edison's response time for storms in our area. In part this response plan has been precipitated by the response time with tropical storm Ernesto. The Village Manager's will also be presenting this to the Westchester Municipal Officials in the near future. This is a work in progress but it is something that should hopefully help improve the response in the coordinated effort between the Village and Con Edison in the future.

E. Request for an Executive Session to discuss pending litigation, personnel and real estate matters.

Motion made by Trustee DiChiara and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. scheduling an Executive Session following the close of the Regular Meeting to discuss pending litigation, personnel and real estate matters, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

5) Board Reports:

Trustee Griffin, Jr. stated that last weeks Building and Grounds Committee was canceled due to a scheduling conflict. He had no report at this time.

Trustee DiChiara stated that about six months ago the Village Board passed a Taxi Ordinance and the ordinance requires quite a few things (i.e. every taxi needs to have numbers on each side, the driver needs to be able to speak English, rates need to be posted and for some reason this is not being done. He wanted to let the public know that we are contacting the Acting Chief of Police and enforcement will be stepped up. It is rather obvious from the outside condition of the vehicle when the Village Code is not being met. Hopefully we will have a taxi fleet in Mount Kisco that won't embarrass us.

Trustee DiChiara stated that on a monthly basis the Village Board gets reports of different infractions that are being enforced by the Police. The reason he is bringing this up is because we have quite a few speeding complaints from residents. He noted that in last months report the Police issued two (2) speeding tickets. He wanted to let the public know that we are going to work with the Acting Chief of Police to make sure that these speeding infractions are followed upon. Because either everyone is wrong and there is no speeding in Mount Kisco or it's not being enforced. I think we need to make sure that we do a better job in enforcing this.

Trustee DiChiara stated that the other issue he wanted to address was the significant increase in the commercial traffic at 345 Lexington Avenue. He was going to write a letter to this Board and the Planning Board because the additional commercial traffic was coming through West Street. He stated that the additional commercial traffic is expanding a non-conforming use in Mount Kisco and it is bringing a lot of commercial traffic into West Street. The Planning Board needs to review the use of the building, where there used to be one commercial tenant there is now two (2) commercial tenants as well as four apartments (4). We are looking at these issues and he asked the public if they continue to see things that are code violations to bring them to the Board and we will do the best we can to follow-up.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. stated that the Village Board of Trustees put a lot of time and effort went into the Taxi Ordinance to do the proper thing. He thought the major problem regarding enforcement was from prior management policies, where one person did all the taxi enforcement and that is not the case. It's every Police Officer's job to enforce our laws and our codes and it wasn't being done. Acting Chief Terlizzi is seeing to it that all officers are aware of what the code reads and to enforce it. He added that it was a blatant disrespect for our law the way these taxis are running around. We have laws and our Police Department must step-up and enforce them.

Mayor Cindrich reminded the Village Manager that the property that the taxi stands are on is owned by the Village of Mount Kisco and it is an eye sore and in a state of disrepair. The Village spent a fortune dressing up Kirby Plaza and I think it is time that they be put on notice that they should start looking for an alternate location.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he met with the Town prosecutor on the court and the procedures that are going on in the court and we are very much concerned with the related costs involved. He suggested scheduling a meeting in the near future with the Judges and the Court Clerks to see if we can rectify some of the problems that were brought to light during that meeting.

Mayor Cindrich stated that the Village Board has not appointed a Town Prosecutor, Zoning Board of Appeals Attorney or Village Attorney I hope to do that in January, but there is going to have to be one more meeting with the attorney's, if we don't have the retainer agreements completed it will be subject to ratification of those retainer agreements. Mayor Cindrich suggested meeting the week after Christmas.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he was serving on the Pinecrest Community Housing Board, we are constantly trying to improve the facility the new management is putting money into the facility. Mayor Cindrich noted last year there were quite a few Con Edison problems at Pinecrest Manor and that there is another light post that is out in the parking area. He requested that Con Edison be contacted to repair the light.

Mayor Cindrich noted that through the efforts of his wife and the Friends of the Library we have started a library for the residents at Pinecrest and if anybody does have any additional books they like to donate the residents of Pinecrest would welcome them.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he and the Village Manager attended a Senior Christmas luncheon and we had an opportunity to do a little networking with Senator Leibell and Assemblyman Adam Bradley and County Legislator LaMotte. We did bring to the County Legislator's attention our dissatisfaction over the Lexington Avenue Bridge.

Village Manager Palmer replied that County Legislator LaMotte has been in contact with Commissioner Butler.

Mayor Cindrich noted that he and Trustee Griffin, Jr. attended the Pearl Harbor Memorial service at the American Legion. It was a very short service and it is rather disappointing that we didn't have a significant turn out of Village residents. It is something that we should not forget and if it wasn't for the American Legion a lot of these things would be forgotten.

Trustee DiChiara noted that this was not a Village function, but that this was something that should be put out on our Village email notification system. He suggested that someone from the American Legion contact the Village of Mount Kisco and advise them of these functions so that we can get this information out to the public in a timely fashion.

Mayor Cindrich stated that in conjunction with the American Legion and the Mount Kisco Fire Department they had Santa Clause transported from Leonard Park with all the children of the Village, to a celebration at the American Legion. It was a significant turn out, however I would have liked to see more television coverage of these types of events. It seems all they never want to cover in the Northern part of the County is a tragedy or a controversial issue. I hope they get the message because the people of Northern Westchester want to hear about good things happening in the community.

Mayor Cindrich noted that there has been significant controversy in Westchester County regarding Menorah's and Cr�ches'. After the last meeting through the graciousness and the strong sense of community of the Mount Kisco Hebrew Congregation they offered to put their menorah for this year on their own property. We as a unified Board feel that the displays should be erected by local organizations and maintained by local organizations. Mayor Cindrich added that he had been working on a public forum law which didn't get crafted in time for the last meeting. However, he wants to start working on this law immediately so we can have a public forum policy in place by next year. The Village Board had a Special Meeting this week and revisited the motion from last week's meeting and not to anyone's satisfaction the issue was resolved for this year.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he had been meeting and talking with representatives of the Trump organization and he is continuing to take an aggressive approach in an effort to protect Byram Lake. We are not represented as interested parties in the planning stages of the housing proposal that is before both North Castle and the Town of Bedford. But our interest is at stake and we met two (2) years ago with Donald Trump and we indicated that we would prefer for environmental reasons a housing project over the golf course. Apparently now the housing project maybe in jeopardy and Mr. Trump has indicated that he may consider going back to the golf course. We are trying to work with North Castle and the Town of Bedford to make sure that the environmentally sensitive lake is protected. We think that the least intrusive project for the environment will be the housing project. We will continue that dialogue.

Mayor Cindrich stated that Mr. Lanson Hyatt a member of the Tree Board has offered to assume the position of Chairman of the Tree Preservation Board. Mr. Hyatt will also try to recruit other people to serve on this volunteer Tree Board that is very important to the Town. These volunteer Board's take a lot of time and we are constantly looking for people to Volunteer to help and serve the community. Mayor Cindrich added that if any resident was interested in serving to please call him or the Village Manager.

Mayor Cindrich stated that today he had received information about a significant Police response to the Boys and Girls Club that involved multiple agencies from Westchester County. He added that he didn't have any of the details yet. No body was injured and there was no disaster. He asked for a report from the Acting Chief of Police and we did get some information this afternoon. However, he wanted a more detailed report.

Trustee Grunthal arrived at 8:05 pm.

Mayor Cindrich noted that there was a new pedestrian signalization at the corner of Main Street and Moger Avenue. It is called a count down pedestrian signal. There have been a few complaints about this new signalization. We'll register the complaints with DOT and we'll get the cycle adjusted if need be, but to give it an opportunity to work. But if anyone was concerned, please give the Village Manager a telephone call or email and he'll forward the information to the DOT.

6) Old Business None.

7) New Business

A. Resolution authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Westchester County Bus Shelter Agreement.

Motion made by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. hereby authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Westchester County Bus Shelter Agreement, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

B. Resolution authorizing the Tax Certiorari Settlement with the Bank of New York vs. the Village and Town of Mount Kisco.

The Board of Trustees requested further information from the Village Manager regarding this tax certiorari settlement.

The following motion made by Trustee Grunthal and seconded by Trustee DiChiara tabling this Tax Certiorari Settlement until the next Board meeting, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Group Contract (June 1, 2005 - May 31, 2008).

The following motion made by Trustee DiChiara and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Administrative Group Contract (June 1, 2005 - May 31, 2008), all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal 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 $972,445.49

General Fund Claims $955,443.87

Water Fund Claims 11,454.81

Sewer Fund Claims 3,636.44

Library Fund Claims 1,910.37

Senior Nutrition Fund 1,207.21

Water and Sewer Fund 48,342.80

Library Fund 7,726.10

Capital Projects Fund 133,626.74

Trust and Agency Fund 16,763.22

TOTAL $1,180,111.56

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

9) Approval of Minutes -

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

Annual Meeting December 4, 2006

Town Meeting December 4, 2006

Regular Meeting December 4, 2006

Special Meeting December 12, 2006

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Trustee DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Mayor Cindrich stated that every time we authorize money to be spent we do it in a public forum. He stated that there are two applications into the Village (a letter and some type of application) to purchase Village Property. The Village Attorney has already spent money over a $1,000.00 on one application. Mayor Cindrich asked if anyone wanted to make a motion to authorize the Village Attorney to continue on this course of action for the sale or the potential sale or acquisition of the two properties in question or would you just want to defer this until we have an in-depth discussion regarding real estate.

Trustee Griffin, Jr. stated that we should have an in-depth discussion. If we have applicants that wish to purchase Village property they should come before this Board present their case for our consideration. Personally I feel we have a limited supply of land in this Village and I would like to maintain it all for the future green space and the use of Mount Kisco.

Trustee Grunthal stated that we need to look at each property on its own merits. Therefore, I would rather each applicant come and present their particular case to us, so that we can consider each on its own merits.

There was no motion to authorize the Village Attorney to continue to use the taxpayer's money in the pursuit of either the sale or acquisition of property.

10) Non-Local Business - None

11) Public Comment -

Mr. Donald Roseaforte thanked the Mayor and Board of Trustees along with Mr. Singleton for getting the dumpster removed behind his house. He stated that he has been complaining about this dumpster for the last four years. He wanted to thank them all very much he really appreciated all their efforts.

Mayor Cindrich thanked Mr. Roseaforte for his public service to the community. He noted how Mr. Roseafore took such good care of the children during the Santa Clause Parade.

Mayor Cindrich wished the entire Village a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah and all the best for the coming New Year.

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

8:30 pm.

__________________________

James M. Palmer

Village Manager and Clerk

Regular Meeting December 18, 2006 1.

Created by pmaiorano. Last modified 2007-02-13 09:43:46.