Village Board Meeting Minutes - May 7, 2007

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village/Town of Mount Kisco held on Monday, May 7, 2007 at 7:30 pm in the Frank J. DiMicco Board Room, Village Hall, 104 Main Street, Mount Kisco, New York.

Present: Mayor J. Michael Cindrich

Deputy Mayor Peter DiChiara

Trustee George Griffin, Jr.

Trustee Peter Grunthal

Trustee Anthony Markus

Also Present: James Palmer, Village Manager/Clerk

Whitney Singleton, Village Attorney

Mayor Cindrich opened the Village Board Meeting he asked everyone to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance and asked everyone to please reflect on why we are here and asked for guidance in the decisions we make this evening that they will benefit all the people of Mount Kisco. He also asked that people remember in their prayers all those men and women who are serving our country in harms way.

1) Communications:

A. Letter from Marcogliese re: vacancy on the Beautification Committee.

Mayor Cindrich read the letter dated April 23, 2007 from Ms. Marcogliese.

Deputy Mayor DiChiara stated that since the Beautification Committee was an open Committee and Ms. Marcogliese has already spoken to Carol Welch, the Chairperson of the Committee who has no objection to her being appointed he offered the following motion.

Motion made by Deputy Mayor DiChiara and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. appointing Ms. Margaret Marcogliese to the Beautification Committee, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

Mayor Cindrich read the letter dated April 13, 2007 from Mrs. Fran Hall, Secretary of the American Legion Auxiliary requesting permission to offer the Memorial Poppies in the Village of Mount Kisco during the month of May, 2007.

Motion made by Mayor Cindrich and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. granting permission to the American Legion Auxiliary to offer Memorial Poppies in the Village of Mount Kisco during the month of May, 2007, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

Mayor Cindrich read the letter from Jane Balter, Event Co-Chair dated April 20, 2007 regarding the MKESA - Captain Merritt's Hill Historic Home Tour scheduled for Friday, June 8, 2007 between 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Motion made by Deputy Mayor DiChiara and seconded by Trustee Markus granting permission to the Mount Kisco Elementary School Association to hold their third annual Captain Merritt's Hill Historic Home Tour on Friday, June 8, 2007 between 9:30 am to 1:30 pm, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

Mayor Cindrich requested that either the Village Manager or the Assistant Village Manager respond to a letter he had received from Tom Farmer regarding a defective water line. Mayor Cindrich noted that Tom Farmer is another example of somebody that has served this community for a significant period of time as a member of the Plumbing Licensing Board.

3) Board, Committee and Commission Reports: None.

4) Village Managers' Report -

A. Level of Byram Lake and Water Distribution System.

Village Manager James Palmer advised that the level of Byram Lake as of 9:00 this morning was at 99.3% of capacity. The daily average pumpage for the month of April was 1,542,800 million gallons per day, and the Saw Mill Pump Station inflow averaged 2,130,230 million gallons per day and the outflow averaged 2,003,137 million gallons per day.

Trustee Grunthal requested that the historical month-by-month comparisons for Byram Lake be included in future Village Board's agenda packages.

Village Manager Palmer noted that the Byram Lake Committee is in receipt of Don Cuomo's analysis of completed data for 2006 and it is currently being reviewed and at a future meeting he thought he would have a representative from the Chazen Company and Don Cuomo do a presentation on the plan to implement an analysis on the five year data for Byram Lake.

B. Executive Session to discuss pending litigation, personnel and real estate matters.

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Deputy Mayor DiChiara 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

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

5) Board Reports:

Trustee Markus indicated that the sign committee did meet about a week and a half ago and we are just about finished with our first draft. We went over the very important issue of amortization, because there will be a change in the ordinance if it is ultimately passed and it will have a phase in time for compliance. We addressed that issue and we have another meeting coming up this week and I hope to report back to the board on a completed project very shortly.

Trustee Grunthal read the letter from the Conservation Advisory Council dated April 30, 2007 on Ways to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions. He added that this was a very good set of proposals and that it coincides with a lot of what is going on in municipalities around the country.

Dear Mayor Cindrich and Village Trustees:

Last fall the Conservation Advisory Council submitted two letters in which we suggested that the Village purchase hybrid or electric vehicles as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Below are some additional suggestions for reducing these emissions that contribute to global warming:

1. Pass a law requiring green building standards for all new commercial buildings.

2. Replace all incandescent lights in municipal buildings with compact fluorescents.

3. Buy a specified percentage of green energy in the form of wind power and/or solar power.

4. Require that all computers in municipal offices be turned off at night.

5. Form a Climate Protection Task Force- This task force could be patterned after the Climate Protection Task Force that has been created by the village of Irvington. A main purpose of the task force would be to review the recommendations of the Westchester County Global Warming Task Force and provide advice on implementation. It is suggested that this task force meet during the day so Village staff could be included.

6. Join 494 other municipalities in the US, including 5 in Westchester, and sign the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, a nonbinding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 7% below 1990 levels by the year 2012.

As you probably know from the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change it is too late to prevent serious consequences from global warming. At this point the effort is focused on avoiding extremely dangerous or catastrophic consequences which means keeping the global temperature from rising more than 2�C or 3.6�F above pre-industrial levels. So far the temperature has risen about 0.8�C. The steps we are suggesting we think represent a start at dealing with this immense problem.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Respectfully,

Robert Liebman

Chairman, Mount Kisco Conservation Advisory Council

Trustee Grunthal added that at the last Village Board meeting he noted that he, Village Manager Palmer and Assistant Village Manager Econom attend a municipal officials meeting some while back and following that he obtained from Linda Cooper the Supervisor of the Town of Yorktown the resolution which they had prepared to deal with exactly what our Conservation Advisory Council is suggesting we deal with. I would ask that Village Manager Palmer distribute this resolution and we can review it and decide exactly what we want to do about this. Certainly the recommendations are meaningful and necessary and we should address this as the next few months go by.

Mayor Cindrich requested that more information be placed on the next agenda regarding the geo thermal heating system for the new Public Library.

Mayor Cindrich stated that we started our week off after the last meeting extremely well with the celebration of the little league parade and then came the announcement that this Village has received a prestigious award from Intown Magazine which is an affiliate of the Journal News that we have been named the Best Family Town in Westchester County. We had some stiff competition in this award including Pleasantville, Katonah, Larchmont, Rye, Armonk, White Plains, Scarsdale and a host of other Village's and Town's. On Sunday May 20^th we are going to be celebrating that prestigious award right here in the green space area behind Village Hall. A committee has been formed and we have had a great response from merchants and civic organizations wanting to participate in the event. I am also very pleased with the contributions that the Chamber of Commerce has been making. The event is going to be free to the public, and residents should post it on their calendar. The award is a complement to the people of this Village, make sure you're all out there and congratulating each other.

Mayor Cindrich stated that he was not going to comment on what's been on the news in regards to the on going investigation. They called it a homicide that occurred and the remains where found on Byram Lake Road. The investigation is being handled by the Town of Bedford Police Department, they are the lead agency. I just want to assure everyone that is listening to this and every member of this community that we have a quality police department we have a compassionate police department and that the community should be in support of the police department in these trying times and that they are working to bring this case to fruition and resolve. If anyone has any information, I'd asked that you do contact the Bedford Police Department. He added that sometimes what is being printed is not always accurate, it's not always complete and sometime information doesn't get disseminated as fast as everyone would like because there are elements of confidentiality in law enforcement that preserves the integrity of any investigation. I am confident at the end of the day, the rest of the story will be told, so be patient and with the resources that Westchester County has and the State of New York has and I am confident that the issue will be brought to a successful resolve.

6) Old Business -None.

7) New Business

A. Resolution authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Application for Corrected Tax Roll.

Motion made by Trustee Markus and seconded by Trustee Griffin, Jr. authorizing the Village Manager to correct the County Tax Roll for the warrant that was issued on April 1, 2007 for the property located at 146 Barker Street. This correction will allow the Village Manager to issue a Veterans Exemption to Mr. Piazza who has an Irrevocable Trust at the property located at 146 Barker Street. His current County Tax bill reflects a total bill of $1,189.45. He is entitled to a Veteran's Tax Exemption which will reduce his tax bill by $173.40. His new County Tax bill will be $1,016.05, all in favor

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

B. Resolution authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Westchester County Intermunicipal Agreement for Selective Enforcement for Traffic Safety.

The following motion was offered by Trustee Griffin, Jr. and seconded by Trustee Markus authorizing the Village Manager to sign the Westchester County Intermunicipal Agreement for Selective Enforcement for Traffic Safety from October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2011, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

The Village Manager presented and reviewed the Village of Mount Kisco's Stormwater Management Municipal Compliance Certification form for Year #4 as required by the State.

D. Board of Trustees approval of the 2006 Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP).

The following resolution was offered by Trustee Markus and seconded by Deputy Mayor DiChiara, all in favor.

Resolved, the Board of Trustees, as sponsors of the Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) for the Mount Kisco Volunteer Fire Department, approve the points earned by active volunteer firefighters for calendar year 2006, including credit for past qualified service, as certified by Mount Kisco Volunteer Fire Department Length of Service Award Program Committee on the attached lists dated March 8, 2007, and

Be it Further resolved, the Village Manager/Clerk is authorized to sign the “2006 Sponsor Authorization Form” required by Penflex, all in favor.

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

This item was tabled. Deputy Mayor DiChiara suggested that the Village Attorney and the Village Manager have a telephone conference to discuss the proposed revised changes and then distribute the changes to the Village Board.

8) Bills -

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

General Fund 131,376.85

General Fund Claims $127,546.28

Water Fund Claims 2,748.15

Sewer Fund Claims 50.89

Library Fund Claims 1,031.53

Senior Nutrition Fund 4,691.83

Water and Sewer Fund 78,866.65

Library Fund 1,456.90

Capital Project Fund 102,742.47

Trust and Agency Fund 167,031.28

TOTAL $468,165.98

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

9) Approval of Minutes -

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

Public Hearing and Regular Meeting April 23, 2007

Motion Adopted

Mayor Cindrich Aye

Deputy Mayor DiChiara Aye

Trustee Griffin, Jr. Aye

Trustee Grunthal Aye

Trustee Markus Aye

10) Non-Local Business - None.

Mr. Anthony Giardina mentioned that at the last Board meeting Trustee Markus made a brief comment about the transfer station about whether or not the lease had been transferred. He asked if we have any more information on that subject?

Mayor Cindrich stated that the new group is called Covanta. They burn garbage to produce energy and they have locations in multiple areas. I don't have any more information I don't know if it is complete. Their initial overtures to the community and the Village Board was that they were going to make certain improvements.

Village Attorney Singleton stated that he and Village Manager Palmer did have the opportunity to meet with them and the corporation is planning on taking it over at a minimum a cut above what was there.

Mr. Giardina stated that if there is in fact new management and new personnel there we should be sure that they are aware of the responsibilities they have under the lease agreement. He stated that last week we had trucks queuing on Columbus Avenue waiting for the gates to open a little before 7:00am. I would like to make sure that the new operators are aware of the fact that he will be on them if they begin to go back to their old ways again.

Village Attorney Singleton stated that the new owner seem to have done a lot of due diligence they seem to be a much more viable operation then what is there now.

Mayor Cindrich stated that the Village will stay on top of the situation. He also added that he had heard that the new owners were anticipating doing a fully enclosed operation which will benefit us all.

The meeting closed at 8:40 pm.

__________________________

James M. Palmer

Village Manager and Clerk

Regular Village Board Meeting

May 7, 2007 1.

Created by pmaiorano. Last modified 2007-06-25 11:15:48.