Town Council - Regular Meeting

Big Welcome everybody to the Ry Town Council meeting of December 8th, 2025. Please rise and join me for the pledge of

allegiance. United States of America to the stands for all. Please remain standing. Oh Lord, bless his assemblage. Grant us the wisdom to make every decision fairminded in the best interest of all residents. Amen. Please remain standing. I have a moment of silence. Uh Deputy Mayor Nard's mother passed this past week. like a moment of silence. Thank you. Thank you.

Please call the role. Council person Pamela Jaffy here. Council person Jill here. Council person Randy Sier here. Council person Thomas Ny here. And supervisor Gary Zookerman

here. Um tonight Before we go on to our regular business, tonight is the last official meeting, I hope we'll see her again sometime, of Councilwoman Jill Axelrod, who has served on this board for two terms, eight very short years. Um, and uh, I would like to acknowledge in our audience is our congressman, George Latimer. our county legislator Nancy Bar, David Heiser from the village of Rybrook, the trustee there for many years. Also in the audience is Debbie Freriedman who is councilwoman elect and will take office uh on January the 1. So um with that, we have some gifts for Jill. I would like I would I would like to present. Do you want to go up front?

Sure. I think it's a good idea. commends you for your exemplary service and achievement in the community. I don't know. Perhaps my gift will be forthcoming. So

friendship. So the thing about jail is Um, first of all, we've known each other for a long time. Um, our daughters were in school together and I was just telling Brett how I still remember when he helped when my daughter said birthday party at play and he was right there and so helpful the mother who was but um, but Jill, you know, we worked together on the board of legislators for eight years and I'm so glad that you will still be at the board and helping us and doing great work. Um, and I know, you know, from that I know how just how intelligent you are and how hardworking you are and very to have you for eight years here on this board. Um, it's a lot [laughter] fulltime job at the board, this work, two children,

a husband. It's a lot. And um, and you've really done such a terrific job and We're all so very grateful here. Um, also at the board. I do want to say though, one of the things that I don't know if everybody knows about you is you probably have a couple after this in stand up because Jill is really funny. And if you ever, you know, she can take some little, you know, thing that happens during the day or some other story or and she can turn it into a great uh, you know, anecdote that really reminds me of theater come. I think I think I need another job. I haven't had this.

I think [laughter] your husband will, you know, let you know. Um, but anyway, we're so so grateful for your service here. And this, of course, is the proclamations. You recognize it. Well, but it is beautiful and lovely to be on the receiving end. The board of legislators and and my colleagues have all said to please their regards and thanks and congratulations and we are so pleased to be able to give this to you. Um I'm so pleased to it's really beautiful. Thank you. I really am. It's very meaningful to me. So I certainly you've earned it. I so appreciate

follow. [laughter] This is from the town of Right where you have spent, as I said, the last eight years as a council and we recognize not only your contributions, but the to the council, but we recognize your background as an attorney and working with the board of legislators and brought that experience to your service on the council. I really enjoyed serving with you, especially when we That's the most of all. [clears throat] Yes, for sure.

And um you've been a a valued member of the court. You have contributed mighty to the whole community over the years. What was it? 25 years here. 25 years. Yes. In the community and only eight on the board, but I'm sure you'll continue to serve other capacities in your nature. and sorry to see you go, but things must move on. You make these decisions. We all have to make these decisions at some point. Thank you. Beautiful. I really appreciate it so much. We have something else for you. You want to hold your

We have something else. It is a necklace. Wow. Isn't that beautiful? Silver necklace. be jewelry. My go needs jewelry, right? That is really beautiful and so meaningful. Thank you.

And there's an inscription on the back is grateful for your service, 2018, 2025. I can't think of

my gift will be coming next week representatives. to honor you and speech that I'll have I'll share video with you record so that you know that not only not only the county which by the way

I got a necklace [laughter]

but in any event so that you have recognition as well in the House of Representatives. I just want to add one other thing. I've had a great opportunity served in five different legislative bodies and now Congress of the United States and I must tell you that I have a greater sense of commitment that you and your colleagues have made at this level of government than I do the level of government that I'm at now because you do it without any kind of significant compensation. You do it because you love the And if you do have something to consider, all of this is over. Consider the improvements that have been made during your time on this board as a member of this. And I I was here as we all were for this holiday festival festival on Saturday and I think we all remember this building were differently and and we didn't have an event like that and that is something that you and your colleagues can take to heart. I'll add that both clia and councilwoman Jaffy were dressed up for the roles [clears throat] that particular day was wonderful and as a family we barber for Tom as well. So you don't find that in other but then when you get beyond that it's different but you contribute to that environment here and that will stick with you to come. you drive around just for no reason at all just drive up and drive down to the right part too. Just look around and remember that is part [applause]

I just wanted to say a little something. Um how funny to be on this side of things too, right? Um, I do I want to thank the residents of the town of Rye for putting their faith and trust in me to represent them for the past eight years. I've tried my best to ensure that their needs were met while maintaining fiscal prudence and accountability. I hope I fulfilled or even surpassed their expectations. I also want to thank former council member Lindseay Jackson and current council members Tom Nordy, Randy Sier, and Pam Jaffy. You are all devoted public servants and truly strive to ensure that living in the town of Ry is an I'm getting emotional is an incredible experience for all. The town staff is [clears throat] a top-notch group of dedicated, hardworking people who ensure that every department runs smoothly. With Debbie at the helm, we can all feel confident that things will get done expeditiously and properly and that new and improved ways to run the town will always be forthcoming and hope who has devoted over 50 years in service to the town. Thank you for all you have done and the incredible kindness you have shown to me as well as everyone else you've ever met. You are a treasure. Last, but certainly not least, a huge thank you to Gary, our fearless leader, who gives so much time and energy to the town council and the park commission. He has shown me that with tenacity and vision, great ideas can be made into reality and paid for with grants, no less. [laughter] And I want to welcome my successor, Debbie Freriedman. She will be a fantastic addition bringing many years of experience in business budgeting,

community activism and engagement. It has truly been an honor and a privilege to serve on this council. I have learned so much from so many and have a newfound respect for anyone who chooses public service. I am so grateful for this experience and I look forward to seeing the exciting things that lie ahead for the town of Ry. Ever forward. Thank you, Jill. That was beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. Um Now um we have uh business to conduct. Uh first item will be adoption of the minutes of November the 20th. Uh may I have a motion and a second?

Second. If there are no additions or corrections, all in favor? I. None opposed. Um, our next item is the big item of the evening, continuing the public hearing on the 2026 budget. We left the uh public hearing open at our last meeting. Uh, are there any comments from members of the audience? Are there any comments from members of uh the public on Facebook? None.

Um, do any of the uh council members wish to say anything at this time? Otherwise, may I have a motion to close the public hearing? I think no, I can second. No, I you know, I just want to acknowledge everybody who put in so much time and effort and work uh draft this budget. Um, and you know, I just wanted that to be acknowledged. So, anyway, thank you. It's a lot of work for a $7 million budget, isn't it? [laughter] It would be the same amount of work million bud budget or a $4 million budget. Do you want to do you want to summarize the budget?

Sure. What is our

tax rate increase if any? [clears throat] We are presenting I'm presenting the my 22nd and final budget uh for 20 this for 2026 budget. Uh there was very minor changes to the line items of from the preliminary budget we discussed in November. There is uh we appropriated 48,000 of fund balance to the 2026 budget. The 2026 budget is tax uh compliant, so it's under the tax cap. Um the total appropriations are 7.652 million, which is uh 61,000 decrease over the 2025 adopted budget. So we we're asking the board just to approve the budget tonight uh to adopt it. And again, it's it's it's um there's no changes to the real estate tax levied. Um they're 2.3% higher in dollar amount. Our blended tax rate is 2.4% less than the 25 budget. Um, so for a typical home value of of 700,000, um, the tax rate comes out to about $274 in town tax. So, um,

that's that's the best deal around. I think it's a it's a pretty good deal [laughter] in terms of there's a lot of work. There was five five or six budget workshop sessions before uh November with with the board and we had input from all the department heads to come to this budget at this point. I think it's I think it's a great budget. Um the I even I was surprised at those numbers coming in and the uh the amount of money that we took from surplus Last year was what 500 and something 600. Yeah, it was about 580,000 which was about 12 point

and this year is is

about 9.7%. Now we we are looking to when the actuals come in through the end of 25 not used an entire 580. We're hoping to be about 180,000 or more less than that depending on uh the revenues and we've you know cut expenditures in certain areas as well. I think it's an excellent budget and I want to congratulate everybody who worked on it, especially the staff, Debbie, our accountants, Dave, um, people in the staff like Carla worked on it and Ruby who's not with us

and Cararissa. I meant Cararissa. Carla, too. She did. Cararissa Cararissa did a Cararissa did a fantastic job coming to all the meetings. She did a wonderful job and um I I just think that the council did an excellent job analyzing it, asking questions, and I'm sure Jill is very happy. Her last budget is going out with without an increase. So with that that those are my any other comments before uh we did we do a motion and second to close the not yet.

Um any other comments? Otherwise I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. I'll call the role this time. Close the public. Council person Jackie. Yes. Council person. Yes. Council person. Yes. Council person Nardy. Yes. and Supervisor Suckerman. Yes. Now, a resolution to adopt the 20 26 budget. I have a motion and a second. I'll make the motion. I'll second. If there's no further discussion, madame clerk, please call the role. Council person Kathy, yes. Council person Axor, yes. Council person Sier, yes. Council person Nardy,

yes. And supervisor Zuckerman, yes. Thank you everybody for a job very well done. Um, our next resolution and uh Jill made a little bit of an illusion to this about grants

is a resolution approving an IMA and corresponding easement agreement between the town of Bry and the county of Westchester for a grant in the amount of 1.9 million in connection with flood mitigation and or flood damage reduction in Rytown Park. Um, many of you watching may have read in the papers about our grant that we received from the state of New York for 9.1 um 8.1 million, I'm sorry. Um, for a similar but larger project. This is county funding for 1.9 million under the stormwater uh management program. It has already been approved by the board of legislators actually this morning after going through a process that lasted over a year starting with getting the project included in what they call the reconnaissance plan and moving it along through the planning board of the county etc. And I want to give a lot of credit to county legislator Nancy Bar who's here as well as Councilwoman Katherine Parker who represents the uh city of Ry where the park is actually physically located. It's been a an it's been an effort of many levels of government which we have advocated for from the time that I've been the supervisor and the park commission president. [snorts] You know, it's like we're all in this together. We're trying to get things done for the people of the area and and we are succeeding. So, this uh resolution is to approve the IMA.

uh it still has to be signed by the uh county executive after going through the board of legislators and it will be counter signed by uh the planning commissioner at the appropriate time. But I wanted to bring this forward tonight because this is our last meeting of the year and the next resolution authorizes our engineers to go forward. So again a motion in a second please. So moved. Second. Is there any further discussion or questions? Is this um this is by where the pond is. Is that Yes. Okay.

This this actually this project is to bring a pipe across from Forest Avenue through the park through the parking lot and into storm water drain on uh Dearborn Avenue. I know it sounds a little, but [snorts] the project is almost $4 million. So, um, so we've had a motion in a second. I'm ready to call. Please call the role. Council person Jaffy, yes. Council person Axel, yes. Council person, yes. Council person Nardy, yes. And supervisor,

yes. The next uh item is an authorization for the town to enter into a contract with Del Rill Engineering Division of AI to do the engineering work to bring this project to fruition. the um the engineering firm ha has been working with us for many years. Everybody knows Dfeld uh who passed away a couple of years ago and now uh he sold the firm to AI engineering. Donald Frell engineer is a branch is a subdivision of AI and um they did the work the preliminary work to formulate the plan for this project. The original plan was funded by a grant from FEMA as a result of all the flooding that we had u especially from Hurricane Ida. FEMA did not fund the work that would be this work to be required even though they had funded the study. So we have gotten funds for uh for the project from the state and now from the county and we're continuing with uh with AI to do the design and bidding phases the final design phases and the will be approximately $750,000 and it's based on the hourly rates for the personnel in the firm which coincides with the same hourly rate that

we pay them for all of the work that they do for us whether it's in Crawford or right park. So that's a summary. Any questions? May I have a motion and a second? So move second. Council person Jaffy. Yes. Council person Axelor. Yes. Council person Sier. Yes. Council person Ny. Yes. Supervisor.

Yes. The next resolution is to change the regular monthly meeting from January 15th to January 6th. And the reason for that is we um we have a uh an inauguration to do. So that will be the meeting that we inaugurate our new and reelected officials. And we have a lot of them. We have four judges, one clerk, one receiver, and two council people. So we will have the inauguration, we will have a reception, and we will have our reorganization meeting where we have to do all kinds of things. It's a long long not a long agenda but a long resolution. So,

um, motion in a second. I won't be here for it. So, maybe you should move. [laughter] Can I have it? You'll go first. I'll go second. All right. So, I'll motion and I'll second. Okay. All in favor? I our new our regular meeting will now be on January 6th, 2026.

Um the next and last actual item before we do the reports is a discussion of the elimination of pennies. I know this doesn't sound like much of a topic. Carl, do you want me to to tell everybody what this is about? This affects your office more than anybody. I know that you had um uh discussion with the receivers group. Correct. We did have some discussion. Yeah.

Um it's interesting because [snorts] uh an email went around surprisingly to me from our town supervisors group asking what are you doing about the pennies? Um, under the law, the town must accept cash. We don't like to do that.

We have been encouraging everybody to pay by a online uh those people that do not have their banks uh pay taxes through their mortgages, but we still have to accept cash. The federal government is phasing out pennies commencing immediately. That means somebody who has a tax bill of $4,26342 and wishes to pay in cash comes in and we would have to make cash with pennies that we might not have. This is not a problem immediately, but it will become a problem as time goes on. So there

I have a jar [laughter] that I would be happy to that'll carry. I was waiting, Randy. I was waiting for that [laughter] because one of our town supervisors also volunteered that he has a jar in his basement. I I do reserve the right to inspect them to make There no 1929s in which case

but actually you know we make a joke of it but it is real. There are one of the towns has actually passed a resolution already mandating that all payments be uh the exact change. They're not going to make change. Um we have I believe that's a am I correct? Yeah. Um, we have other uh suggestions that the that the tax bill be rounded up to the nearest nickel or dime. That cannot be done without state legislation. So, uh, I know that the Association of Towns will will be working on this, probably also with the Association of Counties and Nikon to talk about this issue as to what the solution would be. We raised this publicly because it's an issue. I was actually surprised when I looked at the agenda that I saw it here. I usually set the agenda and I did not know this was on here until yesterday. What is is it a state law that requires

Yes. Because you know there I recall several years ago going into a place and they said we don't accept cash and there have been articles in the newspaper about this and I my dollar bill out and it says something like uh legal tender. Yeah, legal tender. But apparently it is legal for a business establishment. Yeah, but it's not legal. And this is a state law. Yeah. It's not legal for a municipality. We have to accept cash.

We do not, I believe, have to accept exact u we don't have to make change. We we can mandate exact change or we have to accept the cash. They just passed a law that in restaurants. Jeff, I know you want to talk to the microphone, please. Yes, I know. I know the law you're talking about. They just the governor just signed it yesterday. Yeah. Which requires restaurants and other places of public accommodation to accept cash. Oh, yesterday. I think you signed it yesterday. I withdrew my com.

That's my report. [laughter] That's that one out of the way. All right. That that's any any further discussion about pennies? Yeah. It just doesn't sound like a wellthoughtout deal. Eliminating pennies. Really doesn't Well, it cost it cost 4 cents to make a penny, which doesn't make sense. Question. So start getting FaceTime for your re-election. [laughter]

So let's just say for the sake of argument that you say it has to be exact change or exact amount. What if somebody pays with all pennies or lots of pennies? I think we have to accept it. There are cases I have read about I forget where it was but I remember relatively recently of some Yeah, they're talking to the mic either. My voice is so boommy I don't think it's necessary of someone just out of sheer contempt for the government bringing in wheelbarrow a wheelbarrow of pennies.

Oh my goodness. And then will the government take those pennies? Can you do something with those pennies? Well, the banks well that's the question. I mean, could it be like I mean right now you can bring your pennies to uh is it Beluchi? Beluchi has it. Bring your pennies and we'll pay you whatever. And and and we could you insist this is getting absurd. Could you assist? We will accept pennies or nickels for that matter, but they must be in rollers, you know. They must we, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Well, no change. I mean, no loose change. Obviously, there's a lot of things to think about. Can I ask? Does anybody pay cash?

Yes. Not Oh, not the tax. Yes, they do. Yes, they do. Yes. In fact, in fact, Nancy, see, that was one of the issues when I first became supervisor and I found out how much how much money we actually collected in cash and we have people taking it to the bank without armed guards. So, we had to change that and we we set up something in the office where you could put cash. didn't really pay for us, but we had a sort of a vault where that counted cash and we had Brinks or one of those services pick it up once a month or once a week. Um,

pardon me, until co,

you know, I mean, this is an issue for us and it's so much easier and I'll stress it. I'm not even gonna have Carla do this. You can pay your taxes online. through AC right out of your bank account. Get an instantaneous receipt and it costs less than a credit card payment. It's a $150 charge for no matter whether you pay $500 or $5,000. It's a $150 charge. It's the easiest thing to do. You have a record of it and it gets credited immediately. It's easier than putting it in the mail, which costs you a stamp, and you're not sure with the postal service if it's going to get here. It's easier than coming. We have a dropbox in front, which people can use to pay their taxes, which is convenient, and yet you have to drive to it. You can do it at home on your phone or computer.

Yes, ma'am. Well, we know some people don't have computers or access to internet. So would you consider having something if they're going to come to your offices anyway? Would you consider having something there so that they could make that transition transaction on or from their account assuming they have an account but at a computer in your office? They do. There's a counter computer. So they can do that. Yeah, they can. The problem is though that if if you are set up to pay online,

then you already have a computer or a phone. Otherwise, how would you get online?

No, but that's what I'm saying. If you're not set up for that, if you're if if I first of all, there are people of course here who do not even have bank accounts because they don't trust banks. So there are people who literally have their money under their pillows or whatever. um mattress, I guess. Um but you know, so they come in with cash. So So they, so that won't really help. That's actually not the scenario though that I was talking about. So let's stick with they have a bank account, but they don't access it remotely. They go into the bank, right? So they're I'm so they can pay their taxes by coming into your office and using that computer to move it from their bank to Okay. So that

their bank to be able to do that.

They have to get Yeah, they have to have they have to have the knowledge to be able to get to the to the computer banking system of their bank. If they have a checking account, they might as well just make a check if they're coming to the office, right? But what if they Nancy is an attorney and she's raising hypotheticals as attorneys do. Well, also because representing, you know, I understand that, you know, it's hard. We don't always realize that there are people who and we there is an older community and um support someone has a checking account. Why are they Why don't you just write a check as opposed to and if they're coming to the office? So that's

right. They can do that. And now what if they don't have an account and they're just paying cash? Is there so like how would you Yeah. Well, we take cash. You do now, but if you change that if you were able state law, but if you I think they were saying they might require that the person paying provide the exact amount. So we are not in a position where it's like oh you owe me three cents but we don't have that. It's incumbent on them to figure out where the cents are going to you know come from. Right now we have all these people offering us pennies. So let's

maybe we could institute a series of credit. So if someone owes 24 cents but they only have a quarter, we'll give them a credit of one cent. There's so many solutions. I think Jeff Jeff I I think this is something that you really need to hit the books Nancy one day but how many pages would you like to memo [laughter]

this sounds like a job for chat one day a woman [laughter]

and she was very upset paying the penalty. This is way and she came in with 1,500 $1 bills that were all crinkled. So, we just stood there and, you know, try to flatten them out and count it and thank you. [laughter] Always gracious. I hate to think about pennies. I mean, you know, it the easiest thing to do for most people is to pay online.

We have to accept cash. We're raising this issue now. This is not an issue that we are raising here as I say denovo. This is an issue that's now been banging around uh among the receivers, among the supervisors and I'm sure somebody in Albany has all already been thinking about what what they're going to do with it because it's going to be a real issue at some point in time. It's not going to be an issue probably in 2026 or even 2027, but it will be an issue and governments have to be prepared going forward to uh to take care of it. Maybe the county when it issues its tax bills in the future will pass a rule that the tax the taxes will be to the nearest dollar or 10 cents or something like that. Uh Maybe other governments will do the same thing. I don't know. But this is just an issue that that has been raised and maybe um maybe it's raising more of an issue than really it's worth.

Someone has too much time in their hand. Somebody the most that could happen assum if somebody has a nickel. We're talking about four cents. Just think about it. That's what it would amount to. And you can have my jar there and give them their four. Here's the problem. When we do our annual audit and the and the and the numbers of the the tax numbers come in and the auditors say you receive 4 cents too less or you overcharge 4 cents too much and they criticize us for not being totally accurate.

You can make up the four cent yourself. I Point is, it would probably cost more money, more money to figure out how to do that than just paying the four cents. But anyway, nice discussion. Let's move on. Um, report. Charlie, I I know. Do you have a report? I know that you weren't able to come tonight. It's okay if you say you don't have a report. for more important but um I can say the assess for 80 years of hard work

I think he's praising you okay is there a translation [laughter] Charlie you're not being heard I'm sorry I heard something about eight years so Well, thank you very much. That's the only That's all you can hear. If it was anything kind, thank you very much. All kind words appreciated. The humor. Okay. [laughter] Um Deb, you want to do the grand status report?

Sure. This is something new that Randy had suggested, I believe, and Debbie ran with. Well, um, it wasn't too hard to run with it because we've been tracking this stuff for years. That's not coming up, so I'll use this one. Um, but it was actually it's a great pleasure to uh start to include this as a feature in our um in in the agenda. Can you put it up? Can that go on that side so that the audience can see it? Of course.

Thank you. Thank you, Patrick.

So, the um these are these are grants in progress, correct? Correct. Not grants that have already where we've completed the work,

right? Things that are happening now. Um the at the top is uh the retaining wall at uh Rytown Park. Um it can't have escaped anyone's notice that the retaining wall is not only um crumbling on both sides. Um actually but also preventing because of the safety fencing that we um have to put in place to protect um the public. We are missing an entire row of um handicap parking spaces. So, we have finally gotten uh two SAM grants or one low cap grant, one SAM grant from the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate that will provide almost all if not all of the funding required to rebuild those walls. We expect to be going out to bid before the end of the year so that we can begin construction and have the project done uh by the time we reach high season in 2026.

Those [clears throat] that retain well that's also has the showers on the back of it. Correct. And it won't it won't in the future. It won't in the future. Well, the showers will remain in the same location, but at the moment, our showers are not only mounted on the wall, but also several freestanding units. And uh we I've discussed with the friends of Righttown Park a uh another donation of more freestanding units. And that's the plan. Is the drainage from those showers part of the problem with the retaining wall? Thank you. Nobody has suggested that that's the case. But nobody has suggested that it's not.

One of the things we have noticed is every time we do a construction project and open up a wall or a floor, there is an unpleasant surprise of worms. Yeah. Okay. I just wasn't sure because I know there's ledge where the staircase is. There's ledge there. So, you're not going to get drainage there. So, I didn't know if they had a drywall that went maybe by the pavilions or under the pavilions or if it went down to the beach because if it just stayed there, then you're going to have a problem undermining. Well, e either way, it's going to be totally torn down. A new foot is put in. It'll be a new concrete wall covered with stucco just like the uh the bath house is and that the wall is now. Okay.

Right. So, this grant is not a matching grant. So, uh, it's $500,000. Um, if there is anything additional, that will be matched will will have to be provided by our community and the city of Ry in the proportions that capital projects follow.

The Righttown Park and then the um the Rytown Park bath house interior restoration project is fully underway. Um, this was funded by two grants. One is a 5050 matching grant from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, and the other is a grant from Westchester County. Um, so that the size of that grant, the project is probably going to be we know of 1,314,000 so far. So, they'll be We have 9 51 I'm sorry we have basically 850 $860,000 in um then there's the storm water mitigation project which we discussed earlier this evening um and that is comes with a grant from Westchester County of 1.9 million and we'll be using that in combination with the green resiliency grant which is awarded by uh New York State Office of Environmental Facilities Corporation um for $8.1 million. Um there are two other grants that are pending right now that would influence this project. Um, one of them is a congressionally directed spending request that was submitted by Senator Jillbrand and is currently um still in the bill. It's one of 10 projects that are in the Department of Homeland Security bill. So, we have our fingers crossed that it will survive.

Um, and uh we've also submitted a New York swims grant as well. Um, and that's New York State. Um, the Debbie Debbie, the uh the congressionally directed spending is not just for that. It's for also the um the coping on the seaw wall and the fence.

Yes. And last but certainly not least is the um South Barry Avenue Bridge over otter creek which is a project that we has was awarded in 2021 and we are finally at a place where if everybody holds their breath we will complete the um acquisition of um under $2,000 worth property. Um, and we will be able to submit a complete package to New York State Department of Transportation and be out to bid in at the first of the year. Um, and that was a grant for uh

4.5 million. Thank you. for basically four and a half million um for a five it's a 95% grant so intended to cover um you know all but a very small portion however given inflation and where the bids our estimate is quite a bit higher and we're we're seeking other grant money to fund the difference from the especially from the state no Nancy I'm not looking at the county yet I saw [laughter] I think we're going to look in any direction for help.

No, actually, you know, the Bridge New York problem. It's interesting. Let me just say I I'm on uh the the resolutions committee of the Association of Towns where we just passed our uh resolutions to be voted on by the full Association of Towns membership in February. And one of those measures is to increase funding for capital projects such as Bridge New York and CHIPS that affect all communities. Um the one of the problems and I I had it inserted in the resolution was to have increased funding not just for new projects but for current projects uh to fund uh shortfalls in the estimates that we that not only the town of Ry on this project are going But I've spoken with other supervisors, not only in Westchester, but in Albany at at the meeting. Everybody in the state is is has the same problem. And I'm sure Nancy, they have the same thing in the county when they go out to bid for their projects where the project comes in one year, their estimates, they, you know, they they come in the they wait two, three years, finally they go out to bid and all of a sudden the project is 20% higher. And then where do you get the money? I mean, it's one thing if you know the county has a lot more resources or the state has more resources, but you take a town like Ry where where the estimate is 500,000 or a million dollars more, not the estimate, the cost is 500,000 or a million dollars more than the original estimate and what the grant was based

on. It's a big hit. And I'm talking about not just town of Ry, the village of Rybrook, village of Portchester, city of Ry, Harrison, Ammerit. We're all in the same boat. I mean, we we locally do are very diligent in trying to get these grants and and have engineering reports and estimates and time passes where the granting agencies take too long to process. Even after they award the grants, it's okay. Now we need this paper. Now we need that paper. We need this. We need that. And we need new estimates. And you haven't done this. You're going to need to do that. And it goes on and on. In the case of this grant, it's gone on for three or four years. And prices go up. So, you know, this is we continue to fight the fight. Uh but as Debbie says, we're going out to bid hopefully around the first of the year, a little thereafter. So, any questions? Anybody?

And thank you for asking. Asking what? Asking us to talk about it. Oh, okay.

I know. Listen, I'm very proud of the staff for putting all of this together, you know, and depending on, you know, our engineers working with our architect, Gary J. Francisco, it's a lot of work to put these applications together. and also Millennium, our our grant writer, um coming up, you know, doing the actual hard work of actually writing this stuff. And um it's, you know, it's something when we get a grant, we get great joy out of it because then then we get the work done. Somebody once asked me, "What do you do?" A supervisor. I say, "I get stuff done."

Right? That's what we want to do for the the people of the town. All right, Debbie, anything else? No. Okay, thank you. Uh, the other reports, let's do we have a report from Crawford? I don't know that Vic is here.

Uh, Vic is here. And, um, I can start with a video of from our holiday light celebration that was just held on Saturday. Who did that job? Was it Patrick? Yes.

Patrick Murphy was about to appear. That's really beautiful. Very nice. [snorts] That's Portchester Council for the Arts. [snorts] That was our Christmas market. And uh I'll just I'll just scroll through the pictures. I think they speak for themselves. Um except I will say that we have a wonderful partnership with the Carver Center now. And there were activities all over the mansion that were designed and staffed by um the youth um youth group volunteers at the Crawford Center.

I'm sorry. And here they are. They had various projects put together with make your own hot cocoa mix and arts and crafts projects. These are all volunteers from the center and our holiday train ride was very popular and various bouncy castles. Yeah, we had

we had elves and I one of the things that is most rewarding to me is as wonderful as this is for the community and as you can see there are thousands of people who come together the 's staff took such joy in planning and staffing this event. It was a coming together of all kinds of folks.

And there's our town. That's it. Mrs. Claus. Mrs. Claus. Didn't even have to put padding under my head. [laughter] and Pam was assistant. Mrs. Applause.

This is not an event.

This takes months. We start in the middle of the summer with the committee meetings and everything. But once Halloween hits, the Crawford staff starts putting out all these lights and orderings um inflatables and contacting the vendors and food trucks and and then I sent Debbie a little message today and she saw how how much time I had to talk to her. Um, I walked 13 miles Saturday um, just to make sure this thing runs the way it runs. And I'm so appreciative to the committee, the town volunteers, and especially the staff.

Well, Vic, we are appreciative to you because I know how hard you work. The council knows how hard you work. Debbie knows how hard you work. You are the key cog in all of this. Making it all work. As I say, making the trains run on time. It went off flawlessly. And I you and your committee did a great job. The staff was wonderful. I even had [clears throat] one of my gym instructors was there. I didn't know. She told me the the the next day on Sunday that she was at Crawford Park and how wonderful it was. She was there with her baby. It was really just incredible. Um, everybody had such a wonderful time and and it's I think it's largely due to you and your staff putting this together with such love and affection. So, thank you very much.

Thank you. just Bradner from the Carver Center during the event and Debbie was talking about the young volunteers we have that have come now for two years from Carver and Ann says you know it's it's difficult for these kids to have a sense of belonging in the community but it's through events like this and in being part of something as big as this and giving back positively to other residents. It really helped make these teenagers from the Carver Center feel like they had a role, feel like they had agency, feel like they were giving something tangible and being a part tangibly of their community. And to me, that's a holiday gift.

It is. Um,

you know, people came and we had thousands of people again and I'm sure Vic knows, but when you know, Congressman Latimer comes in, his jaw drops. He's like, "It's bigger than it was last year." And, um, people just come in with their eyes sparkling, waiting to meet Mrs. Claus and Santa. And there are so many pieces of this, but I think what it is is a way to give joy. Um, we're giving joy to the community [snorts] and I know all of us who are part of it are really proud of that and proud of Vic and his team for facilitating it. So Debbie, thank you. I know you and Cararissa certainly pulled all the yman's duty, but just know that there were a lot of joy. So, thank you for that.

Great pleasure. Really the whole the whole staff. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend, but when we have these events here, it's for the families to get together. It's a family event, and it pulls everybody together. You're away from your phones, you're away from your TV, and you're together. And that's another good thing about these events. And the and the staff does a fantastic job with everything. Yeah. The thing that amazes me is how many people get online to see Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. They were there from 3:30 in the afternoon till 6:00 constantly. No stop, no break [laughter]

for me. And they were online at three. There were families that I was chatting with at 3:00. Some of them were from the uh photos that they took prior years. Like it's just so proud of what they have on their I think it's great album. I think I think it's just such a wonderful event. What else can we do? All right. Thank you everybody once again. Um Vic, anything else we done? [clears throat] Uh I just want to thank Bill for working with us all these years. I've been there. I wish wish you the best. And Tommy, I feel for your loss.

Thank you. I wish I could have been there, but you know where I was. It's all good. All right. Uh, thanks, Vic. Okay, we have the financial report. Who's going to give it? We have a new controller and we have our old controller. Anybody want to say anything? [laughter] That's

so the the only report additional report is just the normal monthly receivables report through November 30th. Uh the outstanding receivables tax receivables uh as of November 30th just about over 1.9 million. There's about 100,000 collected in the month of November. It was very quiet. There's still total of 15 inrem properties that are on the list and 10 of them are from the class of 25. So we'll look to get those. Jeff has more insight along with Carla in terms of uh collections on those uh in properties. Hopefully we can collect some in December to get them off the books by the end of the year.

We know I know Jeff doesn't want to speak anymore. I spoke to him. Uh we have one property that's in REM in bankruptcy and um we're expecting a payment this month, in [snorts] fact any day of almost $235,000. So that will help with your receivables, our reserves, and everything else. So that would be good. Uh the other one is is on for court conference um later this week. And then Carla, we don't have any the ones that are scheduled to go in REM. Uh you haven't received any payments on that those 10.

Okay. Jeffrey will be sending very mean letters this week. I'm good at that. Especially now. That's right. [laughter] So, the tax receiver can talk about the tax bills for December, January.

Thank you, Jason. Hi. Um, I don't really have a lot to talk about. Tax bills went out for the village of Portchester. They're due at the end of the month. Please pay online. That's the easiest and fastest way. The meal is very slow um to get the second installment. you residents did get both installments with the first bill. You can go online, you can view the bill, you can print the bill. Um, but the easiest way to pay is online. Um, that's it. I want to thank Jill for being so supportive of me. Really appreciate it.

Um, happy holidays. One more thing about the mailing, especially this time of year, the mail will be slow. It will be slow. Yes. And the receiver has no power whatsoever under the law to forgive late payments. If the payment is due December 31st and it comes in on January 2nd, you will be charged interest and penalty as set forth in the law. Well, it matters what it's postated. Postmark post office. So, if it's postmarked December or something, yes, then we do. But if it comes if it comes in too late,

yes, I do not call the receiver to ask her, please wave the interest. Oh, no. Because she cannot do it. She's a very nice person, but it's against the law for her to do that. Am I a nice person? Thank you, Carla. Sit down. Sit down while you're ahead. All right. I think um that should do it. Uh hope your report is submitted. I know you have your favorite announcement to make

for the shredder, the mobile shredder. Unfortunately, uh the a shredder broke down the last time was scheduled, but everything seems to be going well for December 20th

and from 10 to 1 in the parking lot at 222 Grace Church Street. But before I That's my announcements. I just I just put some words together for you. And Jill, we started out as acquaintances and then you became a member of the town family. and then a dear friend. I admired and watched you on the town council as you agreed to disagree, but I knew your heart was always in the right place and the outcome has always resulted in what was best for the community and for our constituents. I watched you listen to each other trying to to not talk over each other and as a result have shared some wonderful ideas. I admired your eloquence and your intelligence. Thank you for being a vital part of the town team and for all your concern and dedication and thank you for your friendship which I know will last for many years to come. May God bless you abundantly and everyone receives. Anybody else before we adjourn?

Yeah. Um, we've had some creative differences, as I like to call them, but it was always with respect. There was never any name calling. No, and that's one thing about this board. There's never any name calling, no cursing. It's always with respect, whether we agree or disagree. So, it was nice meeting with you for eight years. I think it's healthy discussion. Yes, healthy discussions. And and on a personal [snorts] note, I just want to thank everybody for the condolences from my mom.

It was it's been a real hard week. Um it was totally unexpected. Um but again, thank you for everybody. And at the funeral parlor, he wanted to know if I had the whole town arai over because they had to turn people away. So, I'm sorry about the people that came and got turned away, but it was beyond our control. So, thank you again and happy holidays to everybody.

Just want to um reiterate, Jill, I remember I came in on your tail about two, you know, six years ago and Gary's like, "Okay, so let me tell you about the board." He's like, "There are two other Democrats. There's a Democrat, but she's really, you know, financial conservative and we have a Republican, but the Republican's really nice. [laughter] Um, then my surprise, two years later, of course, you know, you come in and you're now part of the Democratic the town Democratic Party. But I just remember hearkening back um working on a book by these two, God bless some really crazy Fox commentators, and it was called Common Ground. And it was about how in this In this day and age, people don't listen to each other and they can't come to common ground and it's so party based. But even when I was brand new and I was looking up to you and you were teaching me so much, you were the only always the person I'd come to to talk and to talk it through and I always felt like we found that magical common ground. And like Tommy said, you know, we're a family and like Gary said, we're a family and we all get along and we may have heated discussions and we all have opinions, but at the end of the day, when we agree to disagree or we come together and we listen to each other and we walk away with better understanding because we've taken perspective from each other, I have just learned so much sitting here with you for six years and you have been an amazing role model. You're a wonderful, wonderful asset to the town and the county and your neighbors and all of us. And I hope you are happy. I hope you keep doing good for the people around you because you have a wonderful soul. And I think we've all been very blessed to share in that with you.

Thank you so much, my love by all.

You know, I think it's important While we all respect each other to have we can't agree on everything disagreements are important and I think in my two years many of the disagreements points of discussion have been raised by you and I think that is a very important role to play And what is the supposed to be able to disagree without being disagreeable? And I think that is obviously very important. And it's a lost art in many parts of our country, but not here. And uh I appreciate the thoughtfulness that you've brought to [snorts] our discussions. I also appreciate your willingness to disagree with Gary once in a while because how boring life would be if we all just agreed with Gary about everything and I and Gary knows it great deal I'm kind of joshing but it is important because you know there are legislative bodies I think like you know in communist China where the equivalent of Gary Xi Jingping thing says this is it and that's it. How boring. So, thank you very much for being somebody who in a polite and intelligent way has brought issues that we all need to think about.

You are considerate of your constituents and you always have put them first and that was my goal. Gary, did you ever think you'd be compared with Xihin? [laughter] Actually, I I I thought that I'd be compared to a lot of people, [laughter] but not him. Not him.

First of all, let me just say this about that. Um, everybody seems to have the idea that Jill is in disagreement with all of us at one point or another. That is not the case. Most of the time we are in agreement about issues. There are some times where we do have disagreements and we talk them out and um you know sometimes uh things go one way, things go the other way. But I think I can you know basically everybody here has said the same thing which is we talk things out, we work things out, we come to conclusions. There's never any animosity. And um we understand that we're a board that that's elected to do the best for the people of the town of Rai. And we all do that. We approach things in different ways. We approach we have different methods. We have different philosophies sometimes, but we come together and and we we do things. I think this budget is an example of it. There was some discussion when we first started about how big it would be. could we cut things? Should we add to certain things? And through that process and working with the staff,

they came up with certain cuts, certain amendments, and um and we came up with a very very uh excellent budget, I think, and that provides all the services that we need for the town. And we we've provided proper raises for our employees. And um you know, I think that that's the way work things and it's not just on on that issue. It's on all the issues. Should we do this or that? We've had other philosophical issues where things have come uh to the town. Should we should we uh do this or should we do that? Even if it didn't involve money directly. And we've we've talked things out. We've spoken to each other on the telephone or in a text without violating the open meetings rules. Certainly not. But we've had discussions uh as to the direction we should go and sometimes one or another of us would disagree with the general direction. We talk it out and we all end up heading in the same direction eventually. And Jill, you have been a tremendous participant. I won't say instigator but [laughter] leader leader

leader in in leading some of these discussions. I think I prefer her choice of terminology but okay. [laughter] No you you have led in many many respects and we all appreciate that and we're going to miss you on the board although I know that your successor has a certain reputation as well. She is also a leader [laughter]

and and we will um we'll go forward and and if you have anything you ever want to suggest to me or any member of the board, just pick up the phone, ask why we're doing something or should we do something, if you have ideas of what we should do or ideas of what we shouldn't do, you know, just let us know. Yeah, you can call us I'm especially hoping [laughter] I got a better idea. Come to the meeting. There you go. We need some people to come to the meetings. Yeah. This is the most crowded meeting we've had in a long time. [laughter] So, with that, I will feel you've already said Yeah, I said so much.

You say you said it so well. Much better. Thank you. I guess a lot. So, [laughter] I'm going to Our next meeting is uh January 6th. January the 6th. That's a big meeting. and you're invited. Okay. Excellent. So, with that, may I have a motion to adjurnn? So, moved. My last motion. There you go. Seconded. My last second. All in favor? I. Thank you, everybody.