Town Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ry Town uh, council meeting of January 6, 2026. Um, and I'd like Congressman George Ladder if you would please lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Everybody, please rise. George flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

I'd like to welcome everybody. I'm obviously Gary Zuckermanman. I'm the supervisor of the town of Ry and we have a number of distinguished guests here. Welcome to our inauguration and reorganization meeting. We have with us, aside from our venerable and wonderful Congressman George Latimer, uh we have Portchester Mayor Louie Marino, Rybrook Mayor [applause] Jason Klene, our administrative judge uh for village and town courts, Bill Gako, County Legislator, Nancy Bar, Meredith Village Trustee Nora Lucas,

[applause]

village prosecutor for the village of Portchester, Maddie Troy, and the new representative from Governor Hokll's office, Morgan Sloum. Where are you, Morgan? [applause] There she is in the back. Welcome, Morgan. I'd like to begin with honoring our outgoing town controller, Dave Burns. Um, Dave, please come up. [applause] You know, Dave never gets to come up here. He's always in the back talking money.

Um, this is a town proclamation. Uh, I'm not going to read it all because it's far too long, but Dave has been a resident of the town of Ry since he was born. Um, and he's provided service to the town in various capacities. most important to us as a town controller for over 20 years. His depth of knowledge in municipal finance, taxation, accounting has strengthened our financial stability. and he's an exemplar of fiscal leadership, ensuring sound financial reporting, strong internal controls, responsible budgeting, and debt service management for the benefit of the town residents. Um, we express deep regret and regret, pardon, gratitude. [laughter] Now, the regret is the regret is that he's leaving. although he has a worthy successor who'll be introduced later. Uh, gratitude for his many outstanding years of service and aside from the written words, I consider Dave a personal friend and a fiscal mentor. Um, even though I had been uh a trustee in Rybrook previously and familiar with budgeting, since I became supervisor, uh, things were a little bit different and Dave has guided me and the board through monumental decisions as the town has embarked on a program of construction of facilities.

and has through it all managed fiscal responsibility. Our reserves are larger than for for a town of our size than probably anybody's. We are in fantastic fiscal uh shape and that's due partly and almost entirely to you because you know when you get elected officials they want to spend the money and he says no you can't do that. [laughter] So Dave, thank you so much. And [applause]

sure. Um my wife Julia, [applause] my daughter Laura, who's my business partner, who's back there with her husband Andy. [applause] My son David and his partner Dave B or we call him BB3. And my grandkids Ava and Andrew I think were back there as well. You know [applause]

I think you know it's been you have made my job as supervisor so much easier. I don't know if people know this, but under the town law of the state of New York, the town supervisor is responsible for all fiscal decisions in the town of whatever kind. Then it says unless there is an appointed controller. So everything Dave has done over the last 20 years, the previous supervisors have not had to do. And that goes back to Bobby Borbido and Joe Carvin. The controller is a really responsible position. It's not a bookkeeping position. It's a real fiscal responsible responsible position. And Dave has done it as well as it could be done. And I want to thank you.

Thank you. And we have some other [applause] We have a gift for you, but you're not allowed to open it here. Okay. can open it later. I'll tell you why. Um and we have other proclamations and I was remiss um as some women uh Steve Otis have just joined us as well in the back. We have proclamations. This is from Steve Otis. You want to give Steve can give his own proclamation?

Oh, George. George. I'm sorry, Steve. Just wait. George, you have a proclamation. You want to say something, please?

I'll be so many people there watching compliment Dave 21 years excellence. I'm calling in from Washington DC, the citadel of fiscal irresponsibility to credit someone who has been the paragon of fiscal responsibility. And it is no need to trick your town villages underneath it to figure out how to budget and to figure out how to manage cash flow. Dave and like unlike many other people who have your skills, you're a regular guy. You're a nice guy. Uh many times deal with people who have fiscal responsibility. They're very difficult to deal with. But you show your ability to accomplish things with the boards that you've served with. You have my friendship and respect. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. [applause] Thank you, George. It's always a pleasure having you here. Anytime you can make it. Thank you so much. I know you have a roll call vote coming up up very soon. Thank you for coming and joining our celebration. Thank you. Assemblyman notice.

Congratulations. And I just say, you know, following on Gary's words, Gary wants to do a lot for the town. You know that. You know, that's his record. And so that made Dave's job a lot more difficult. And [laughter] and um in a sense, Dave kept Gary out of trouble and kept the town out of trouble. But um municipal finance is very important, very complicated, and um easy to do incorrectly. And um it takes skill to manage it correctly. And this is what you've done all these years under a a few administrations and lots of interesting times. You should be very proud for your service for the town of Ry and for all the residents. Um very special congratulations to you from the state assembly and also I bring greetings from Shelley Mayor in the state senate. So congratulations. Good luck. [applause]

[applause]

County Legislator Nancy Bar. So, I have a proclamation for you. [applause] I hope this is not a harbinger of things to come, but as some of you know, my legislative aid is is being um sworn in tonight as as a town of Ry um trustee

council. Councilwoman, sorry. And um the proclamation is in the car where she left it. So I hope [applause] I hope this isn't a sign of how it's going to work out. It's not. She's terrific. But anyway, we will get it from the car and bring it to you, but it is a proclamation from the county board of legislators. And um you know I have nothing but good kind words to say about you. Really appreciate all of the work that you've done for our town. And you still have hair left and it's great though. Your wife's still getting you while you're young. It wasn't great when I started.

Well, yeah, that's always a story. But anyway, thank you so much and I hope you have a terrific time post. Yeah. See you on H. She will be walking with us. Thank you so much. Absolutely. That do we have any more? Is that it? Oh, I forgot. Morgan, come. Morgan Sloan from the governor's office. [applause]

I'm not going to be up here long. Uh, but on behalf of Governor Kathy Hokll, congratulations to you, David, on your 20 years. service to the town of I. Thank you so much for all your dedication and your hard work. I don't think I'd be able to do it for this long, [laughter] but thank you so much for all that you've done. And this is from Governor Kathy Hok in the executive chamber. Thank you so much. [applause] Thank you. [applause]

Say a few words. Uh, I just want to thank all the elected officials for taking the time out of the busy day to come here today and present me with proclamations. I know you have a very busy schedule, so thank you very much. Uh, it's been my joy and pleasure to work with the town for 21 years and work with the individuals at the town. We have a very strong team and we're in good position going forward. My uh successor John Priscantelli has many years of accounting experience and he's going to be a good te caretaker for the town of Ry going forward. There was I had some other stuff to say, but there was one thing I wanted to give some advice to to John because he was asking, you know, how to navigate, you know, you know, because he hasn't worked in government accounting, how to navigate through government, you know, through all the stakeholders, individuals, and I I have a clip I wanted to show him. It's an advice I was given many years ago and I still follow today. So, I have I think it's more

can't wait to see this. [laughter] This is different. Where's

Caressa? [laughter] [snorts] Is that a yes or no? Oh, I love So it's basically can we do that? That's a definite maybe. [laughter]

Thank you everybody. And I think Thank you Dave. You're wonderful to work with. These are for you. Thank you so much. [applause] Okay. Uh, now we're going to go on to our inauguration ceremony. The first oath of office will be for John Priscantelli. Come on up, John. [applause]

Hi, John. Hey, Carrie. You know, this is your last chance to say no. Well, you know, I wish I'd seen that video on the interview or something, but Okay. Did you want to practice? Do you want to come up? You know, you can have your wife bring you. You want to come up? You want to hold the Bible for him? Can somebody take pictures? Can somebody take pictures? So, we do have your camera has the camera now. Great. Okay, good. Everybody take a step that way please. Okay.

Face me. Perfect. Come this way. Come this way. Better that way. Great. Repeat after me. I I say your name. John Prriscantelli. do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and I will faithfully discharge the duties of the town controller for the town of Ry the duties of the town controller for the town of Ry to the best of my ability to the best of my ability.

So help me God. So help me God. Thank you. Thank you. [applause]

And then have you sign later on? I can sign them all at one time. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now, the Honorable Max Defabio Did you want to come up?

I don't know if I should do this. [laughter] I've known Max. Max has been uh was appointed our administrative judge and he's doing a great job and it's my pleasure to swear you in for Thank you. Repeat after me. I I say your name. Max Fabio do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and defend that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and I would faithfully discharge the duties of the Office of Town Justice the duties of the office of town justice

for the town of Ry for the town of Ry according to the best of my ability. according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Thank you. [applause]

Judge Redneck and Lois. known Jeff for for a long time since actually he was before a judge. You're a trustee. You want this one? Did you want I I Jeffrey Rednick do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and defend that I will support and defend

the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties and I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of town justice for the town of Ry of the Office of the Town Justice for the town of Ry according to the best of my ability. according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. [applause]

Jose here. No, this is Jane. Jane's here. Bab, [snorts]

were you here alone? I'm here alone. Then hope. Yeah, I'd love to. Let me take [clears throat] on this. I raise you right here. Jane is the first female justice in the history of the town of [applause] Lot. Jane, repeat after me. I I say your name. Jane Litman do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States

and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of town justice for the town of Ry the duties of town justice for the town of Ry to the best of my ability to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Thank you.

I'll give you our receiver, Carla. [applause] Hi. Hello. Is there somebody to hold? Yes, my kids. Come over here. [laughter] Are you ready? I guess so. I I Carla Ples do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States that I will support and

defend defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Const excuse me and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge and that I will faithfully discharge the the duties of the office of Town of Ry, receiver of taxes. To start the duties of the duties of the office of town of Ry, receiver of taxes. The office of town of Ry, receiver of taxes. According to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God.

You did it. [applause] Who is it? Wait a second. Um, hope

How are you doing? Absolutely.

Before we go on, I have known Hope [laughter] since I since I I'm a newcomer. I'm only here 40 years. I've known Hope all of those years. And Ashley, her wonderful daughter, went to school with my children. So, I am so proud and happy to be able to do this. Once again, we're not going to say how long you've worked for this. [laughter] Repeat after me. I I hope do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and defend that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York

and the Constitution of the State of New York. that I will faithfully discharge And I will faithfully discharge the duties of the duties of Get this in. Town clerk. Town clerk. Registar of vital statistics. Register of vital statistics. Records management officer. Records management officer and records access officer. And records access officer and marriage officer. And marriage officer for the town of Ry for the town of Ry. To the best of my ability. to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God.

Thank you. [applause] Debbie Freriedman will be sworn in by county legislator Nancy Bar. [applause] Why don't you introduce all of these people? [laughter]

Why don't you introduce all of these people? My husband Cadman, my daughter, oldest daughter, Dana Dman. Sorry. Now, [laughter] middle daughter, Tammy, and my son and my mom on Zoom. My son, I don't know if my mom's still there. [laughter] Did you want to? Okay. I I Debbie Freriedman do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties

and I will faithfully discharge the duties of The office of town council member of the office of town council member of the town of Ride of the town of Ride. According to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability [applause] before you go first of all welcome to the town council. We hope you don't regret it. [laughter] we have for you in addition to your oath of office. Oh wow. Name tag. Name tag. So that when you go to all the meetings you're going to have to go to [laughter] that

and the town of Ry pin to go on your lapel. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Gary. You're very welcome. Very much looking forward. [applause] just want to say I'm very looking forward to my service and thank everybody for their support and um you put my your trust in me and I will work as hard as I can. Thank you. [applause] Yeah.

And now, Councilman Tom Nardi, who will be sworn in by Judge Jako [applause]

TJ?

Yeah. My mom's Bible. The old one. Yep. That's the one. No. No. Got to come this way. You got to come this way, everybody. I'll sit. You gonna go over here. Yep. Come here, Rosie. Come on, Rosie. Get closer. Come on. Close. You can all get on TV. That's it. Say my grandma. There you go. All right. Tom, get over here. All right. Before I start, I want to uh tell you how thrilled I am and honored that Tom asked me to do this again this year.

Uh I see so many people in this room that I go back 354 years with. Look at Matt Troy. I haven't seen you in ages. Man, how you doing? Uh so it's an honor for me to be asked to be here. So Tom, raise your right hand. Please repeat after me. I Thomas Fardy I Thomas Fardy do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States. I will support the Constitution of the United States. the Constitution of the State of New York. the Constitution of the State of New York. And I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of town council member. I will faithfully discharge the duties of town council member for the town of Ry. for the town of Ry. According to the best of my ability. According to the best of my ability. So help me God.

So help me God. Congratulations. [applause] I do that very well. [laughter] You want to say anything? Yes. Um I'd like to thank everybody. Um [clears throat] I'm starting my fourth term which I'm I'm very happy about

and [applause] uh I'm going to do what I do. I'm just going to keep plugging along. Do the best I can. Thank you. [applause] I've known you since obviously since I've been uh the supervisor and once again I'm pleased to appoint you as deputy supervisor for the [applause]

really appreciate it. Thank you again. I'll do the best I can. I know you will. Thank you so much. And that um

Hi. Um I just want to I would like to thank my family for being here. my daughter Ashley, my sister Faith, my niece Samantha, and my um nephew Joe Passo and his wife Jess and Phoebe and Charlie. Charlie's my godchild, and they brought me these beautiful flowers. I'm sorry. [applause] Thanks.

Um we have a reception down below. Everybody can go or if you like to see our reorganization meeting, we will have that now. It should last, if I planned it correctly, no more than 10 minutes. I like to run the meeting very quickly. Um, so we are now going to go right into the reorg meeting. Please bring the chairs around and um have my uh and I need a copy of the agenda. I know we all Where's the agenda?

There are You can read this too with me. Will you sit next?

All right, we'll have to put one more chair here. Let me have that. We'll move this one down. I'm gonna call the

Will will Will Councilwoman Debbie Freriedman please take her seat?

Thank you, Debbie. I'm sorry, Shelly. Hold it. Before everybody disappears, I want to introduce our state senator, Shelley Mayor, who has graciously joined us. Welcome, Shel. Facebook.

Um, we have a message from former councilwoman Jill Axelrod. She says she's sorry she couldn't be there, but extends her congratulations to all and a warm welcome to new council member Debbie Freriedman. Oh, very nice. And we also have Comment from Linda Porterino to Tommy. You're the best. Thank you, Linda. Okay.

All right. Call the roll, please. Help. Oh, good. Thank you, Paula.

Okay. Council person Debbie Freriedman here. Council person Pam Jaffy here. Council person Randy Sier. Council person Thomas Nardy here. And supervisor Gary Zuckerman here. Um our first item of business is adopting the minutes of December the 8th, 2025. If there are no corrections, may I have a motion and a second? [laughter] Yep. Gonna make you start off point. We're getting you into the group. All in favor? I

um our next resolutions are the reorganization resolutions. Uh there are several. I'm going to summarize each of them. Uh these are resolutions that are basically done every two years. Hope everybody's read them and nobody has a problem. Resolution A designates our depository financial institutions. Resolution B designates the Spain agency as the uh agency to uh cover

to get the blanket coverage of our undertaking, also known as a bond uh for the town of Ry for all of its employees. Resolution C uh designates the Ganet Journal News as the official newspaper of record for the town of Ry. Resolution D designates the third Thursday of every month at uh 6 PM [clears throat] as the official meeting date for the regular meeting. Resolution E uh provides for uh the amount of reimbursement of expenses for employees using their own vehicles on town business. Resolution F designates uh Debbie Risner, our town administrator, as also the purchasing agent for the town. Resolution G designates Jeff Binder as the town attorney.

Resolution H designates Dan Tartaglia and Jeff Binder as our taxert attorneys. Resolution I retains uh Vincent Tumi as our special labor council. Resolution J appoints Jeff Binder as the records appeal officer of the town of Ry. Resolution K appoint appoints John Prescantelli as our controller for the 2-year period ending December 2027. Resolution L appoint appoints Pope Vespia as register of vital statistics. appoints Hope Vespia as records management officer.

appoints Hope Vespia as marriage marriage officer. I think there Yes. It also appoints me, the supervisor, administrator Deborah Risner, town clerk coveespia, and the deputy town clerks pow and Stephanie Masiel as also marriage officers of the town of Ry. Um, appoint resolution O appoints Brandy Beltus as our town prosecutor. Resolution P appoints several people as civil officers to serve in the capacity at no compensation but shall be entitled to collect statutory fees as allowed by law and civil actions. Resolution Q uh appoints Lindseay Jackson actually reappoints Lindseay Jackson to be reappointed as a member of the Rytown Park Commission. Resolution R establishes a standard work schedule for elected officials and resolution S a standard work schedule for appointed officials and these relate only to the those officials who are um participating in the New York State retirement program. So that would apply to you Debbie I believe and to Tommy. So With all of that, may I have a motion and a second?

Make the motion. Second. Call the role, please. [clears throat] Council person Freriedman. Yes. Council person Jaffy. Yes. Council person Sier. Yes. Council person Nordy. Yes. And Supervisor Zukerman. Okay. We have three resolutions to go quickly through. Uh the first one is to hold set a date to hold a public hearing to adopt local law number one, a local law to adopt the Westchester County Greenway Compact. And that meeting of the February monthly meeting, February 19th, February 19th at 6 PM.

And Debbie, briefly, what is what is this for? Why are we adopting this uh local law? What does this do for us?

It is um first of all, it is completely in line with the uh policies and the mission outlined by this uh uh town administration uh to support the sustainability of our environment. Um secondly, the Westchester County Compact, Greenway Compact, um is um um has been joined by almost all of our neighboring communities. So, we're joining them in supporting the community, the uh the the mission of the Westchester Compact, which serves to um preserve the sustainability and uh advance um sustainable billing practices and policies.

Thank you. Any questions? This is to set a hearing date of February 19th. Yes. May I have a motion and a second, please? I'll make the motion. I'll second. Call the roll, please. Council person Freriedman, yes. Council person Jaffy, yes. Council person Sier, yes. Council person Nardy, yes. Supervisor Zuckerman, yes. Next resolution is to adopt the procurement policy to the town of Brian, which has not changed substantially from the procuring policy previously adopted. Is that correct, Dy? That's correct. Okay. May I have a motion and a second, please? So moved. Second. This will take a voice vote. All in favor?

I. And the last resolution is to designate voting delegates at the Association of Towns 2026 annual business meeting which is in February. And those voting delegates are me. Yes. And the alternate is Debbie. And we will be at the meeting. And I invite all of our elected officials to and appointed officials to come to that. and it's very very educational. So I have a motion. Want to make a motion? I make a motion. Second. Second. Be happy to second a motion. All in favor?

I've been blocked at both fronts. I Okay. Motion carries. Um normally we have reports. All reports will be submitted uh to uh afterwards. Um some of them are not quite ready because normally this meeting would occur on January 20th. So some of the reports are still in process. They will be added as an addendum to the agenda when they are ready. And with that I have a motion to adjourn. So move second. All in favor? I I guess we're not allowed to impeach Trump. That's