Town Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to our September 15, 2026 board meeting. If you could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And if we could all please remain standing as we have a moment of silence. Today I'd like to remember the life and passing of Jake Okara as we celebrated or commemorated four years since he was killed out on London Road. I just implore that everyone drives carefully through our work zones. We now have Jake's Law here in Yorktown, and it's just so important. It reminds us that it's not only our first responders that we worry about, but all of our employees, especially those working in the construction zones. Thank you. Okay, we will have introductions starting to my right.

Good evening, Diana Quast, town clerk.

Dean Patrick Murphy, town councilman.

Supervisor Ed Blackman.

Sergio Esposito, deputy supervisor. Councilwoman Susan Siegel.

Ilan Gilbert, councilman. Adam Rodriguez, town attorney.

All right. Report to the town. First, for all those who celebrated, I hope that you had a very, very happy New Year. Rosh Hashanah just passed. A very sweet and prosperous year to all. We move into our next actually religious event here in town with the Feast of San Gennaro. We'll be starting tomorrow. We will have a procession starting at 6 p.m., ending the whole fair ends Sunday at 10 p.m. during the week through Saturday. It will remain open until 11 p.m. I believe each night it will open at 5 for Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. Saturday and Sunday the feast will begin at noon. We will be having a very busy end of year as we look forward to finish up some law changes. I know there's been a lot of conversation about e-bikes, and we will have a work session taking place on 10-13-26, where we'll also be looking to bring in some law changes for review and public hearings, including some traffic safety laws, sign law, and the cell tower law. So we're looking to get all of that done. coming through by the end of this year. There will be an October 7th commemoration on Thursday, October 1st. That'll be presented by Lights of Tomorrow, the group sort of founded in town by Judge Cohen Pearson's daughter, Talia. Talia Pearson has been doing a phenomenal job in working with the youth in our schools and educating about anti-Semitism, about acceptance, about freedom of religion, and she's been doing a phenomenal, phenomenal job. That will be at the Cappellini Center, 6 p.m. on October 1st, and they will have a sign-up form online, I am sure, as they have in the past. We will try to get that onto the town website when it becomes available. I also want to apologize. I know the agenda that went out over the weekend had some changes in our start time and we flipped back today. We were originally going to have a discussion on the EMS RFP submissions. There were differing opinions on if this could be an executive session item or an open session. Because some of the things are definitely executive and some could float into open. We felt it safer to pull it all together. Both the town clerk and the town attorney felt that there were ways We were looking at doing this that it could be very difficult to keep it in the lines of the open meeting law, so we We did well I sent out an email today. I have majority consensus of Just going straight to an interview process now. There are some questions. Usually we wouldn't interview all of the Submissions some might get dropped out because of price but since this is such a unique RFP in what we're looking to do, and we need to think outside the box. It's very important for the future of VMS. The town board has agreed to, well, we'll vote on it, but as of this morning, agreed to have an extra session where we just come in, go into close, and interview all of the applicants. the reason we don't want to do that in public is because they will hear the questions that we're asking and I'll give an unfair advantage to some of the other applicants so we will we will do something hopefully that'll pass today on the Tuesday the 29th of September and we will start that at 5 p.m. and spend an evening together going through all of the different interviews And actually, if we were following the way we were going, which would be to pick it apart today and then start scheduling interviews in October, this actually will speed up the process where by the end of October, hopefully we could have a chosen RFP and have that put out and working on. So with the importance of what the future of EMS is to our town and the paths we need to take to help our ambulance corps, I think that we owe it to everyone to explore every road that's out there and make sure that we go down there. And that is it for me.

We had a wonderful Grange Fair. It was really, really attended very well, at least Friday and Saturday. Sunday we had rain in the morning, but I believe in the afternoon we had decent attendance. And I am proud to say that I received a participation award for the bubble gum contest. I meant to bring in the pink ribbon, but I forgot it at home. On a more serious note, I wish you all who observe an easy fast during this period of reflection in the Jewish High Holy Days, which will culminate in Yom Kippur this coming weekend. And for those, I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and sweet year through the new year and through the high holy days. So thank you.

Thank you, Alon.

Okay, thank you, Ed, for giving those October dates for e-bikes and cell towers. That was one of the questions I was going to ask. The public should know that I have sent memos to the town board with some suggestions on the, not just e-bikes, but also regular bicycles. Call them non-motorized or standard bicycles, whatever you want to call them, because we have had issues with those, especially on the sidewalks in the Hamlet area. And also around the track, whether they're e-bikes or regular bikes, and they totally have to be dealt with separately. Also, I have sent the board a memo outlining some issues of concern dealing with cell towers. And if anyone wants copies of what I have said to the board, they can email me and I will share them with those. Those are just my thoughts, my suggestions as to what can be discussed. I would like to get some status reports on some issues that I have been following. The sewer pump station issue that our engineer talked about last week. I'd like to know what the status is. Ed, if you have any information, has the revised farm walk pump station plan been sent back to the Department of Health, and what's the status? Also, he said that the Mohancic would be, the Mohancic plan, be ready in two weeks i think the two weeks is up is that ready um and then when are we when can we expect the um the three other pump station to uh to be ready because we are under a deadline all of this work has to be plans have to be approved by the doh the bid specs have to be prepared We have to go out to bid, we have to vet the contract, the contracts have to be signed, the work has to be done, and it all has to be completed by May of 2028, or else we can lose a lot of money. And also, I'd like an update from the engineer on the status of the Hallux Milsior extension. what's been happening with that, and also what's happening with the ComPlan Review Committee. We were told that they would be coming in in September to give us an update, and I'd like to know what's happening on that. Now I have a prepared statement that I'd like to read about the emergency medical services or the ambulance course. Let me just say first that I prepared this statement this afternoon based on a lot of email exchanges. Ed said we were going back and forth and changing our plans. Inadvertently, when I was telling the two volunteer ambulance corps that I was planning to make a statement tonight, I hit the wrong button starting with S and so a town board member got the information knowing I was going to make a statement and knowing it was not going to be a very positive statement. So I suspect that the town board has had advanced notice that I might be saying something tonight.

You're making accusations. Yes, all right.

Susan, I actually don't know about it, but- All right, okay.

No.

All right, okay. So let me- Right away, the division. Let me read this, let me read my statement, please, and please bear with me. I normally just speak top of the, just ad lib, but this was very important to me and I wanted to make sure all my points were made. There's total agreement that our two volunteer ambulance corps, shortened as VACs, the Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Mohegan EMS need an additional source of revenue in order to maintain their current level of service. When you have a medical emergency and need an ambulance, every minute counts. The issue is how to provide that assistance, an issue I've been working on for about ten months. It took the Courtland Town Board one month back in January of 2026 to be precise to agree to participate in a joint study of creating how special purpose ambulance districts was the only feasible solution for providing the financial assistance that they need. Cortland has to participate because as many people know or do not know, Mohegan EMS covers the northern part of Yorktown and the northeastern part of Cortland. But it took this board six months to agree to do a study for one simple reason, politics. Some of my colleagues will likely disagree with me, but if you know me, you know I tell it like it is. For political reasons, the supervisor did not want to study. Just a study that might, I repeat, might lead to attacks without even knowing what that tax might be, $5, $10, $15, whatever. He kept putting obstacles in the way of hiring a consultant to do the study. Finally, when he couldn't continue to find reasons why not to do the study, in June, the board voted to advertise a request for proposals, RFP for short, but not before it amended the study's scope to include issues that had nothing to do with the creation of ambulance districts, which for months had been the purpose of the study. When the Vax pointed out that these additional issues were muddying the study, their comments were ignored. And it's why, even though I fought hard for the study, I abstained from that vote. And now with the responses to the RFP in, the chickens have come home to roost. And the supervisor is putting up more obstacles which are causing more delays. Of the seven responses, only one addresses the initial purpose of the study. which again was the creation of the special purpose ambulance districts. The six other responses all proposed a study to study a problem that doesn't exist and would cost considerably more than anticipated. They range from $38,000 to $139,000. The six responses are proposing a comprehensive study of the town's emergency medical services program, otherwise known as EMS. Without getting into the weeds, there are two components to our EMS program. The volunteer ambulance cores that respond to all calls and when needed transport people to the hospital. And the Empress paramedics who provide the advanced life support, otherwise known as ALS service when necessary. And when necessary, they accompany the ambulance to the hospital. These two groups, the Empress paramedics and our VACs work hand in hand and close together. but there has been no discussion about any problems with our ALS service. So why do we need the consultant to study ALS? This board addressed the ALS issue in the 2025 budget when it added a second fly car. What if anything has changed in one year that now has to be studied? The only EMS problem that has been identified is the VAX financial problem, and that's the problem we need to address. Which brings me to tonight and to more delay. The board, as Supervisor Lackman said, was supposed to discuss the RFP responses tonight. And some back members adjusted their schedules to be able to attend that meeting. But as of this morning, the supervisors decided to postpone that meeting. Why? He said there were pitfalls over whether the discussion should be an open or closed session. He referred to that. What pitfalls? The town board has always, always followed the open meetings law when it discusses RFP and has discussed RFP responses in closed session. The EMS RFP is no different. It's also not clear why the supervisor appears to unilaterally be considering how the board responds to the RFP responses. As of today, he was saying that the board should interview all seven responses, regardless of their qualifications or their prices, instead of just interviewing selected ones based on their credentials or their cost. One of the out-of-town responders would actually have to hire a New York State attorney at a cost of $10,000 to answer very basic New York State law questions. The supervisor will likely respond to my comments by telling you that if we don't interview all respondents, we could be subject to a lawsuit. Wrong, absolutely wrong. The town is under no obligation to interview all responders. In fact, a few weeks ago when the board was ready to interview RFP responses to the original streetscape RFP, the supervisor had no problem deciding that the board would not interview some of the responders whose proposals he decided were too expensive. Consistency doesn't seem to be a problem for him. The supervisor will also likely tell you that it makes sense to take a holistic view of our EMS needs. In general, I agree that a holistic approach to most problems makes sense, but not when the holistic response is not necessary and when it is being used as an excuse to postpone a decision that needs to be made. And that decision should be made by you, the taxpayers, not the five people on this board. first we need a study of an ambulance district and a study that will tell us tell you how much it could cost to provide the facts with the added revenue they need that should be then then that should be your decision how much are you willing to pay to know that when you have a medical emergency an ambulance will be able to respond in the shortest possible time That's what we're talking about. But you won't know that until a study is done. That's what this is all about. And that's what the supervisor doesn't want to do. He doesn't want a study that could result in a new tax, even a tax that you may be willing to pay. So let me make one other point. You're probably here from some of the members of this board. that I'm making this statement all for political reasons. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone who knows me, who has witnessed my involvement with town government over multiple decades, knows that I am nonpartisan when it comes to Yorktown. My motivation is, always has been, and always will be what's best for the interests of the town of Yorktown and its residents. Not politics and not getting reelected. Other members of the board may disagree with some or all of what I have said. I will not be responding to the comments that will come after me, okay? You have heard from me, you may hear from them. I leave it up to you to decide which is the right way to go. Thank you.

Pat, you want to go?

Sure.

All right, so I hope everybody is going to come out and enjoy San Gennaro. It's this weekend. Ed gave you all the details, but just a little reminder, get out there. And the library is going to be closed September 20, what is it? 29th and 30th. It's right after the Friends of the Library has their book sale. So the book sale is over on the 28th, and it closes at 5 o'clock that afternoon. Okay, and they're going to have Mr. Kennedy's coming out there, and he's going to read the book called The Ride, and that's the Paul Revere's Ride. And the library has a wealth of things to do for the town. But they're going through a renovation. They're closing for two days. And that renovation, they're going to get a new service desk. They're going to get new flooring. They're going to have a teen corner. And then they're also going to have a little reading lounge. But that's about it. And while I'm here, one second, I just want to talk about the e-bikes. I know Susan brought it up. And we're going to have a discussion about it. But the little bit of research I did on it was... The police use this thing called 529 Shield. It's basically a QR code on a bike, and the bike, basically it's to find the bike. There's nothing that they could use in radar to, A, hit the bike exceeding the limit, and then giving a ticket out. They can get the speed of the bike, but they can't. They're not going to chase after the bike. So, again, it all comes down to enforcement.

Yes, it does.

All right. It was first responders night at Yorktown High School. And the rivalry is back with the Lakeland varsity football and Yorktown Central varsity football. It was a great game. honored, there were a lot of first responders there. The kids came out, they all had a theme, it was USA night, it was just a very impressive game as well. It came down to the last play of the game, and quite an impressive play. A lot of fun, you guys should try to take in some of these games. The camaraderie and the school spirit and the town spirit are alive and well, and it's nice to see. grange fair was packed uh just like councilman gilbert mentioned um i was there uh briefly in the beginning to uh at the opening uh they asked me to speak at their 9 11 uh opening and the opening of the grange fair and it was an honor to be asked to do that i love the grange fair i'm glad to see that it's alive and well i believe it's 102 years that they've been here, and I went over some history. Actually, the Grange started in the late 1800s, and the first Grange Fair was over a dispute on who had the biggest potatoes. So it just takes you back in time to a much simpler time when something like that was the issue of the day. It was a great fair and a lot of fun. 9-11 was particularly solemn, 25 years. We had Yorktown knows how to commemorate our fallen. We had a 911 Memorial at the Elks, a 911 Memorial at Jefferson Village, a 911 Memorial at the 911 Memorial in Chabot, and of course, as mentioned, the Grange Fair. This month, today, marks, my computer's rebooting on randomly. Perfect timing. Today marks National Hispanic Heritage Month. It runs through October 15th, so from 9-15 to 10-15. It actually starts on the 15th for a particular reason. It's the independence anniversary of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. And soon, I believe on the 18th and the 20th or something like that, it's the anniversaries of Mexico and Chile. so um so uh enjoy the culture uh the hispanic culture is unbelievable um and comes with all sorts of uh fun things that uh that that we should all uh uh take uh take part in the rfp for the streetscape is in our emails um i reviewed it already i'm asking the board to get back to me with any comments uh before we uh we get it out as an rfp um i'm anxious to get that done again the rfp the streetscape we want to uh make our streets uh more beautiful we also want to put in some extra functionality we want to increase the walkability we're looking at the center of town here in the Heights area right now. Once I think we get through this, I'd like to go around the rest of our beautiful town and see what we could do to improve our downtown areas for all our citizens. We're looking at bike lanes. We're looking at possibly one-ways. We're looking at... on street parking possibly. There's a lot of possibilities, and I'm looking forward to hearing what the RFPs yield for us so we can make a well-informed decision and get some outside perspective from engineers and traffic consultants and all of that. So I'm excited about that. So if everybody could get back to me by maybe Friday morning.

You got mine already?

I got yours already. I got, and whatchamacallit. So I'd like to see if we have to make any changes. I'm happy with the way it is, and I'm ready to get it out there. So if you guys could just get some comments, and then I'll put all of those together, and we'll hopefully get something final that we could agree on and get it out.

Can we discuss that? Because I did want to make a few suggestions. Right now. No, no, not now.

Yeah, thank you. All right, so we could discuss it. I'll read your comments, and we'll take a look at that. about acting politically susan you act politically up here all the time you use your bully pulpit to uh you know even we go back to the street sign the the sign law when i was talking to you about possible signs the only thing you were focused on political signs i think i think the sign law could be expanded into a much broader thing you know a a-frame signs whether we want banners there's so many things times when things could be out types of signs, if you need a permit, that kind of stuff. You seem to just be focused on political science only. As a matter of fact, you added a part, a chapter in there that says, political signs. You're constantly using it up here to attack all of us. You pretty much attacked me tonight putting words in my mouth saying that I passed on. I don't really care about your email that you were bragging to people that you were going to let us have it tonight or whatever. I don't really care about that. That's why nobody knows about it. Because if that's what you want to do, you're entitled to do it. But please don't put words in my mouth. I mean, I'm asking you nicely. I've asked you multiple times in the past. I'm asking you again. Okay? Please. You know, so the accusations and the assumptions that you've made in your statement, I'm not going to review them. But I will tell you that our supervisor has scheduled a special meeting for what's the date? 29th. The 29th of this month. We're not scheduled to have any meeting that day. He added an additional meeting just for this purpose to discuss the EMS stuff. Because it's a broad topic. It's an important topic. And he's allocating the time for it. But you failed to mention it. And I know you know about the meeting. But you left that part out. And that's what's questionable. Anyway, I look forward to the 29th. I look forward to the discussion. I look forward to moving it forward. And thank you for scheduling all the other dates as well for the other stuff. Thank you, Sergio.

Can I just add something on the sign law? I remember the discussion.

Can we just go and then you can make your comments? No.

You know what? If you want to make a comment about the sign law system, but we're going to be talking about it again.

I remember the discussion very well when I said that I suggested because the key issue that has come up has been the political signs and I specifically made recommendations on how to change that and you said you were concerned about the other signs which I agree they could be used but I never heard from you in terms of which signs and how you would change them where I gave specific suggestions for the board to consider. So yeah, the sign law, it's too late now for the political signs. But anytime you're ready to come and provide me with some of your suggestions going through the sign law, I'll sit down with you and work with you on that.

Well, I'd like to discuss it in public because having a conversation with you in private might yield some attacks here in public. So I'm sorry, but that's been your modus operandi.

Let me just set a few issues.

And one other thing, to just reiterate what you said, you may disagree about how we're proceeding with the EMS. But that's how we want to proceed. And we're a board of five. You're not the only person. You may think that all we need is this and all we need is that. But there are four other people that you haven't considered. And maybe we want to hear about other things and we want to have a broader study and a broader discussion because it's a very, very, very important topic.

All right. Thank you, Sergio. That'll lead me into some of my things. God bless. The EMS RFP is more than just about let's just start a taxing district. Otherwise, why are we spending the money on it? I think that, as Sergio put it, there's a board of five. Each one of us has 20% of the vote. And I'm sorry if you think there's one RFP that's worth looking at and there's only one solution. And, yes, I would imagine that the ambulance corps have their own opinion on what they think is right because they're very vested in it. And sometimes when you're overvested in something, you can't look at it as a whole. You can't look at it holistically as you use that. I as well do not appreciate having words put into my mouth that have never come out of my mouth in fact all of my conversations have just been about doing it right from day one there's a realization that we need to do it but you did get one thing right I'll give you credit for I do not want to raise taxes on our residents but as you see as you'll see later on in the agenda you know what there's a very big possibility not only will we have to raise a little bit this year but possibly break the tax cap so it's in there to prepare and there there is a piece in here that's saying hey look here's the law if we're going to do it we need to pass this resolution so I don't want to raise taxes, Susan. Absolutely right. There are stark realities in our world. The fact that diesel fuel is over $6 a gallon right now and most of our trucks run on diesel. You know what? Our electric bills are through the roof. All of these things that are out of our control... are affecting our budget and there's a reality that yes we need to you had a I agreed with your article in the newspaper about hey you know what we have to look is is a five or ten dollar a month raise in taxes is that is that something you'd be in favor for for keeping the services up there you were spot on with that spot on and I didn't feel I didn't feel that was political But when you tell me what I'm thinking, that is political. That's all that is. But especially when the evidence in front of you tells you differently. And if you read through all of my emails that you were answering, it would tell you differently as well. So you know what? I appreciate your wanting to get this done. Once again, there are five of us that sit up here. And if anyone is uncomfortable with rushing it through, my job as the executive is to make sure that that is answered. And if I'm the one who's uncomfortable with it, I certainly need to make sure that I'm doing that because I don't go to bed at night and put my head on the pillow unless I could say I did everything I felt I could for a situation, right, wrong, or indifferent at the end of the day. Because I'm more than what more than happy to say when I made a mistake, you know what I could admit it But we need to make sure we're going through this Sergio you missed one 9-11 ceremony with the Mohegan firefighters actually do one. I At 7, I know you were at the Grange, so I popped over there, and it's a great, great little ceremony, especially because we had members of our Mohegan Fire Department who responded to the pile after 9-11 and were part of that great Americanism that came through on September 12th. The comp plan committee, Susan, I did want them in on this meeting or actually last. There were a couple of key members that were not available. One is Aaron Bach who adds a lot to it. And then the question came up is can we wait until the middle of October because at that point they feel they will be completely walked through every category of it they might not have everything ready to go but they would they could talk to us in much better detail so because of that in of the availability and the the fact that they're at the finish line of stage one

they ask for the middle of october so we will see that in october in fact i i was at the meeting last month for the uh the 485 b committee and one of their issues that they the core issue that they have to decide to talk about is the extent to which we want to encourage commercial development in Yorktown and I told them that the comp plan was was under review and I told them at that point that I thought it was going to be in a September discussion and that they should participate it they should come and listen and hear what what these people are saying the ones who have reviewed the plan and not that they've made any changes they're just reviewing it to see what needs to be changed or what could be changed and So it is very important that it's not just us at the town board, but also that 485 committee needs to know what's happening and what the status of that plan is. So I hope that with enough advance notice, barring illness and other certain unanticipated events, that those members of the committee could come.

If they would like to come, the doors...

The plan committee.

Well, yeah, we'll get them in. It won't be a full board because I know there's one who's not available on Tuesday.

It's impossible to always get everybody in at the same time.

Understood. And then, you know, and I know you questioned, like, the open session and closed session, but... Even though she sits on the other side of the aisle, I do rely on Diana Quast for her opinion on things. She has an unbelievable knowledge, and that's really what being an elected official in our town is about. We are all here for the same reason. And Diana had some questions. Our attorney had some questions. The long and the short, could we have wrangled it in? Maybe. But to say that we always do executive session and it never goes off kilter, we've been stopped many times, sometimes by you, saying, hey, we're getting off topic here. And I think it's better to just eliminate that because this is such an important concept and it's an important RFP. So, you know, sometimes that discretion is a better part of valor. And we need to keep moving through on that.

As I said before, I am not going to make any more comments about the email message.

Okay, that's fine. You don't need to. And then we'll see if Dan is around today, and we'll ask him if he could come and do it. Because I did not come across him today when I was in and out. I talked to him this morning.

He's been really swamped. He did say that the Mohancic one would be ready, I think, in two weeks, and those two weeks are up. All right. So I'd like to know.

So we will move on. Poet Laureate, you got a poem?

Yes, I do. I got this from John's wife. Talking to elevators by John F. McMullen. I started talking to my elevator when I was about six. I was lucky. Many of my friends didn't even have elevators. Over the years, I've talked to many elevators and cars and, of course, motor scooters, but only when alone. They've been a great help. They listen attentively, and best of all, they don't talk back. John F. McMullen. Yeah.

Yeah. Miss John. Good man.

Yeah.

All right. We will go to presentations. The Alliance for Safe Kids.

You okay, Liz?

i'm the executive director at the alliance for safe kids here in yorktown and for those that may not know the alliance for safe kids is a community coalition that has been in yorktown for almost 20 years and we connect the community to important resources on substance misuse prevention treatment and recovery youth mental health and opportunities for thoughtful service so I am here tonight to just share some information about some upcoming events I know I was here not too long ago talking about the run for recovery that's coming up next Saturday on September 26th It's at 9 a.m. at DR Park, Lot 1. And this 5K, you know, it's our only organized fundraiser. And as I have mentioned time and time again, you know, there was a cut in our county funding this year that has really impacted us because we have, you know, we work on a shoestring budget. So this run is really important. And it not only supports the Alliance for Safe Kids, but also Run for Recovery and Search for Change, which are partner organizations that we work with. so i would encourage families to sign up come out you know it is a 5k but you can walk you can bring your dogs push strollers it's a wonderful community event we're also going to have a save a life wellness fair so there will be resources at the event as well we still have sponsorship opportunities unfortunately the t-shirts have been printed and um but there are still many other assets that sponsors may benefit from um and there are we have the opportunity through friday to uh continue ordering um the uh the race signs you know which are lawn signs that will be put out along the route so if there's a business um that would like to sponsor if they're 150 dollars or if there's someone that you would like to memorialize or support, if they are in recovery right now, this is a wonderful way to do that. I'm going to leave flyers that I have, as well as a sponsorship opportunity, and these little cards that have the QR code that take you right to the event platform. And if anyone has any questions, they may always reach out to me. My email is liz at allianceforsafekids.org.

Is there a website, Liz, that people can go to?

run for recovery yeah sorry coming up after that on September 30th at 6 p.m. right here at Town Hall we're going to be having a drug epidemic awareness memorial event and for those of you that that may not be aware there is a drug epidemic awareness memorial that is just over it's between Patriot Park and the skate park and it's a chain link fence and there are locks on it to memorialize individuals that have been lost from by the drug epidemic and there's also on the sign there we have a resource I know this is very little but this is what the sign looks like and it has a QR code that that I keep updated with resources for you know, treatment and recovery and support groups. Well, Sergio, you were very helpful. You got the fence donated for us from Salem Fence. And then the YAC donated a bench so that, you know, someone can, if they just want to come and have a quiet moment, think about their lost loved one, they may. there is uh if someone is out of town and this information is on the website also the town website if someone is from out of town they can mail a lock to the parks department and jim martirano will make sure that it is thoughtfully placed on the fence so at this event it's it's we're going to have some resources but but really what's most important about this event is reading of the names of those that we have lost So if anyone would like to submit a name, any community member would like to submit a name, they may send it to this email, D-E-A-M-Y-O-R-K-T-O, I should have just said Yorktown, gmail.com so it's de am drug epidemic awareness Memorial Yorktown at gmail.com or they may reach out to me if that's easier lives at Alliance for safe kids org it's September 30th what time Wednesday 6 p.m. but I will leave fliers on the back table as well I also wanted to let you know that the Yorktown Youth Council is starting up we're going to have our first meeting in October and I have a wonderful Yorktown Youth Council member here with me tonight that is going to tell you a little bit more about that thank you this is Bernadette Hi Bernadette

Hi my name is Bernadette Shafiq I'm a senior at Yorktown High School and I'm a member of the Yorktown Youth Council I really enjoyed being a part of this council we've definitely done a lot from senior breakfasts and food drives and it's just a really great open space for all like students to be able to express their opinions on any changes they want to make in the community and I've noticed that a lot of people like to speak about their opinions, and we wanted to make that more open, and we've created a suggestion box at the Yorktown Library, the Yorktown High School Library, for people to be able to put their opinions in. And yeah, it's just been a really great opportunity for everybody to kind of be able to be connected more to the community and be connected more to the adults of the community and make an actual change. Okay, great.

Bernadette, you don't get off that easy.

Were you a member of the council last year?

Yes, I was.

Officer or do you not have officers?

We don't have official officers. Kind of everybody is able to make a change, make their opinion. There's nothing official.

Did you have any project last year that was yours that you owned?

Nothing that was mine, but I did come up with the idea for the suggestion box.

You guys act as a group.

yeah we all work as a team yeah okay and uh was that your first year on or were you what year are you in right now senior i'm a senior yeah last year was my first year on okay very good anyone how senior year it's been great so far a little stressful but i'm excited to finish off senior year is not supposed to be stressful it's supposed to be fun it is fun it is it definitely is

Anyone? No? It's great. Great work. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you. Thanks, President. Thanks, Liz.

Yep, thank you.

All right, we'll move into personnel Authorized employee 302010 unpaid leave of absence until October 5th 2026 I have a motion

Motion. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Okay. We'll open the floor to public comment. Remember, one time only, three minutes per speaker. And we ask that you introduce yourself, be mindful and respectful of others, and you do not have to wait for courtesy of the floor. We could be reached at our Emails, our offices, walking on the streets, the many places that people stop us and it is never a issue. It's always a privilege to be able to speak to people. So, we can start.

Hello, good evening everyone. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. My name is Zamira Kutra and I am a Yorktown resident. I am here because I recently learned that a house near us was listed on Airbnb. When I looked into it, I was surprised to find that non-owner occupied short-term rentals were permitted in Yorktown and that there are other properties being operated this way. I understand these properties may currently be permitted. So this isn't about a particular homeowner or things like that. I actually really like this homeowner and they relocated and they live out of state. my concern is what this could mean for our residential neighborhoods moving forward and i am experiencing this again right now i've seen people come in and out of this home and it's something that i really want to bring forward to the board There is a big difference between someone occasionally renting their primary residence and a single family home being operated primarily as a short-term rental business. And I like to say this because it is like a short-term rental business. Think of it as a hotel. Somebody can rent it for the day, for the night, however way they want to use it. They can even rent it for the week. They can go for one night and they paid for the whole week. there's a fly yeah um and i've looked into to see you know other resident like other westchester towns if they have put anything in place and i've looked into it there are a few one in particular that really stood out to me was north salem we all know north salem It's known for the quiet area. You have the farms, you have things like that. And for investors who are looking for homes, they're looking for these type of locations where they can make... money and which is fine but i think that for yorktown our primary concern should be maintaining that residential environment um that i know to love and i've been here for many many years um So I do believe that Yorktown should consider similar protections or just have something in place before it becomes an issue. Again, it's not an issue. I have looked into it right now. I've only seen two homes in Yorktown that are listed are on Airbnb. I've also looked at the VRBO. I don't know if I'm saying it right. I never really go on that, but I also looked on that website too. I didn't see anything. There are other websites that homeowners can use to list their homes. You have booking that.

Well, all right.

And we'll respond when we're done with everyone. Okay. All right.

Thank you, guys. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you.

Yep, walk up, introduce yourself and you have three minutes. Dan Curtin, I'm a Yorktown resident, 31, 32 years, I'm not sure. I just wanted to put in a pitch for the library after Councilman Murphy's remarks. We all know that money's tight and getting tighter. But books aren't cheap either. This thing here is paperback. It was printed in 21. In 21, the price was $22.99. I know it's gone up. Hardcovers, the average price is pushing $30, $32. If you want to see Sticker Shock, walk into Barnes & Noble and just look around. As I said... Money's tight, but I'd like to try to emphasize that you try to throw as much of it as you can the library's way. Next year, somebody else maybe will be asking for it, but right now I'm sure they could use it. I hope they get a better deal by buying in bulk, but these prices are just ridiculous, and everything else is going the same way. But thank you for your time, and that's all I've got to say.

Thank you, Dan.

Thank you.

Hello friends, this is Susan.

My name is Bill Cattucci. I'm the owner of Fieldstone Manor, Mohegan Lake, and I see that my property is on the agenda for possible acceptance of my donated park. We do miss seeing Susan there every morning doing burnouts in my parking lot when she sees me, but I've been telling the board for years that the park is still on my property. And as the town supervisor in the old days, you knew the protocol and you knew that it had to be accepted by town board. So anyway, the town records, now that we have them, instead of you looking at the town records and checking it out and foiling it like I did, you wrote horrible articles about me. You ruined my reputation. You sued me in Supreme Court. Everybody, yes, thank you. We beat you anyway. for trespassing on my own property. Now that you all have seen the correct information from the town, which was at your fingertips, right next door, I had to bring it to you, and now you can see that it's my property. when an approved development includes signed deed to dedicate land for recreation park but the town board never formally votes to approve it and accept it the dedication is considered incomplete thus the town does not legally own it or control it and susan has known that the whole time but she still comes after me When a municipality or town officials falsely defame and slander a developer like you've been doing, the legal consequences fall under the tort law, civil rights violations. Thus, the developer can sue the town, its officials, or both. That's all. Have a nice night.

Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Bill.

Major Mike Sheridan, Pine Grove Court. My pronouns are Major and Sir. I'm here tonight on behalf of the Veterans Advisory Committee to remind you all that the Veterans Advisory Committee will be convening tomorrow night after our summer hiatus, Wednesday, 9-16 at 7 p.m. in the Albert A. Cappellini Center. community and cultural center room 104 and if anybody doesn't know where the AACCC is I hope you don't change the name of it tonight with some kind of a pseudo resolution or something but we'll be at the AACCC tomorrow night room 104 two of the matters that will be discussed will be number one a risk assessment if any was done by any member of the town board prior to the town sanctioning a fireworks display in support of an event put on by a private group on town property that was purportedly in support of the military. And the net result was from the rockets red glare and the bombs bursting in air was flaming and smoldering debris uh being dropped on the building grounds parking lot and vehicles of actual veterans at the vfw was any risk assessment done by the town board the other item that we'll be discussing is the stolen valor aspects of comments made by members of this board at the town board work session on the evening of May 12th, 2016. For anybody who wishes to attend tomorrow night, I suggest you review the public record videotape of that meeting and you can skip everything that came before it and skip forward to about the one hour, 17 minute and 13 second mark to see the comments that will be discussed and their aspects regarding stolen valor.

Thank you, Mike.

Thank you Major Sheridan Have a good night Could you please stay because I have a question for you I hope you're staying Major When we finish I have a question for you about your meeting

Howie, please. Okay, thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, I'm Howard Gould, a 27 year resident. And just for full disclosure, I am not running for public office this year. I might next year, Susan, so we'll see.

My term is up.

I stand before you tonight to address the growing challenge of our roads right here on Route 202, Route 6, Commerce Street, and across our local residential streets in Yorktown. Modern EV technology and now high speed scooters have outpaced our laws, leaving our streets and youth vulnerable. we must ask, are these high-speed electrical bikes toys or are they vehicles? When an EV capable significant speed shares a road with traffic, it is a vehicle in every practical sense. Between gridlock traffic and EV bikes, our town's infrastructure has become a growing public concern and a very serious dangerous situation affecting our residents and children and drivers in recently the incidents at the JV Mall. In Westchester County, a 16-year-old driving in a car holds a junior license with strict limits, curfews registrations, and mandatory insurance. We enforce these rules because safety requires structure. Yet on these same corridors, a teenager can ride high-speedy bikes without a license, registration, safety training, or insurance. Safety requires consistency, not arbitrary loopholes. Standard auto insurers cannot cover e-bikes because the DMV does not register them. Parents lack coverage options. Pedestrians face unpredictable sidewalks, and young riders navigate heavy traffic without safety training. This is not about limiting mobility. It's about common sense responsibility. I recommend that our town enact stricter penalties and higher fines for reckless bike operations and traffic violations on our road. To ensure true accountability, parents must be held financially responsible for any damages, accidents, or fines incurred by their minor children. While fines incur unfortunately an ounce of prevention is worth the pounds of cure. When we approach local challenges with open dialogue, civil respect, and clear priorities, there is no problem with our community cannot solve. Protecting our youth on e-bikes requiring effort, providing that it truly takes a village to keep our roads safe. I encourage, well, I'll skip that. I want, and I guess that's it.

Have a nice evening.

Good evening, Sarah Wilson. I wasn't planning to speak about it. But our first speaker mentioned Airbnb and rentals in our residential single family neighborhoods. And I recently became aware of a rental in my neighborhood, I looked into it, and determined that the owner of the property actually owns five properties here in Yorktown, which I was surprised about. So I think maybe it is something that at least would be helpful to clarify what are the rules around rentals in our residential neighborhoods. And if the Community Housing Board can assist in that, let me know and we can put it on our agenda. What I did want to mention is coming up this Sunday, September 20, right behind Town Hall here at the Veteran Memorial Circle, The Garden Club will be hosting public tours of the native plant garden at Veteran Memorial Circle. We're pretty proud of the work that we've done over the past three years in bringing that to bloom. And so it's an opportunity for... are for visitors to learn about the native plants see what they look like in real life how they might look in you know their own people's yards it was it's a showcase of over 40 native plants and it's a year-round garden so as we celebrate our 100th anniversary this month we look forward to welcoming visitors between 1 and 4. Again, that's this Sunday right here behind Town Hall. Thanks.

Thank you, Sarah.

Good evening. Michael Hickens, Yorktown resident. to everyone. I just have two things, two questions actually. One is whether the striping is finished on the intersection of 118 and Underhill because it's still missing definitely the stop bar on the southbound side of 118 and so I was just curious about that and the other question I had relates to Granite Point and I know that currently there's an extension in place but For those who aren't aware, there's a lot of concern about the development there causing runoff into the Amarok Reservoir, which obviously is something that we use, and the concerns that that site contains lead and arsenic and antimony and other toxic metals, that there's potential runoff and sewage risks and forever chemicals on that land as well. So my question is... what's our contingency plan is yorktown and i realize that the uh what's the word the uh the jurisdiction is somers's um but it obviously concerns us as well so um what can we and what have you guys envisioned doing if this goes forward thank you thank you michael

Hi, good evening, Jamir Jandani. Actually, I have just a super quick, easy, hopefully question. With the back and forth conversation, I wasn't clear myself on the for the meeting on the 29th. I'm not clear whether that is going to be a closed session for discussion for the EMT RFP. Or, or if it's an open session, or if you're going to be starting close and then have it open. I just wasn't clear on that. Thank you. Yeah.

Anyone else for courtesy of the floor? motion to close courtesy floor i'll make that motion second all in favor all right all right uh zamir it's actually funny because i spoke to the building department about this last week i noticed one as well when i was online so it's something we are looking at i was at a supervisor's meeting yesterday and the supervisor of north salem was there so we did we did speak a little bit about it so that is being researched probably another law that will be hitting if not for the end of this year by next year to look at that Dan yep you're right the library costs on the books are high and unfortunately there is no discount matter of fact Even crazier, when we buy electronic books, they cost more than the paper books, and they have a shelf life. I think it's a two-year license, and then they disappear. And if you have an electronic copy, it can only go out one at a time. It's quite a racket. So, unfortunately, we are stuck with that. Well, Bill is not here. Susan, I would leave that if you want to comment. Do not feel free Howard you heard about the EV law coming in we'll be discussing that So some great ideas bring them bring them to the table for the for the public hearing, please The Airbnb once again there for Sarah and the veteran memorial circle they did a phenomenal job there and I know Lena was giving tours of her backyard. Carol missed it, but she got a private one the other day. So just some great work, and 100 years is simply amazing. And I'll try to get by on Sunday. I'm not sure what my schedule is, but we hopefully will, you know, see some of that. Michael, the striping is not done. That's actually what's considered temporary striping. They want to see how it works. I believe it is this Thursday the fire department wants to come by and test the turn to see if one of those stop bars needs to be relocated. So we'll be out there doing that. But one of the things that I did ask Dave to do and we were able to fund in his budget is to restripe Underhill and some of the other roads around where that striping is very faded. It's unfortunate. that they do fade like that. And the pricing is pretty astronomical per mile for the striping, especially when you go to the double yellow instead of the white fog. But we're gonna hit a couple places in town that we weren't able to pave. and a couple of roads that are major roads that are very faded, so that will be taken care of. Granite Point is Somers, as you pointed out, but actually the water supply falls into northern Westchester Joint Water Works itself, which is our main concern. There is a plan that the northern Westchester Joint Water Works is putting forward to try to connect to the – Catskill Delaware Delaware thank you Susan I always get confused because this is East and Delaware is West but it's the the Delaware aqueduct and that will That will actually bring a fresh water supply down, and the idea is to pipe it across 684 and into what is currently the Amawoc plant, and then have a water supply that does not deal with the All of the pesticides, the salinity issues that we have, the forever chemicals, those would all be bypassed and we'd have a clear, strong, fresh water supply. It's pretty expensive and pretty complicated, so we're trying to deal with DEP on some of these issues and try to see if we get some state and federal help. We actually paid DEP for this water, even though it comes out of our water source. And if that's the case, I personally feel that we should be absolved from paying for the water if we're doing the work to get the fresh water supply here. It's kind of counterintuitive to say pay to get it here so you can pay for it. So it's a lot of conversation going on. The four towns that are involved in Northern Westchester Joint Water Works are part of that team, and we all work together. It's a voting unit just like a board, and we are all in favor of trying to get them to kick in and see what we can do. It's just a matter of getting them to the table right now. Jan the 29th is closed because it'll be interviews. We will open for one resolution, most likely, to allow in a couple of members of our EMS, Volunteer Ambulance Corps, to come in because executive session normally wouldn't have that. But it would close and go to that. I do not foresee us opening up. I'll let you cover the fireworks, Sergio.

So yeah, just a couple things. With the Airbnb, I'm not sure. I'm looking forward to see how we could regulate that, because it would have to be something like a zoning thing, because you can't really tell a property owner what they could do on their property to a certain extent. But I understand your concern, and I'm glad that there's only two that you found. So it's not this major thing, at least not yet. So we're going to look into it, right? You said that, right? So we'll look into it. Hopefully we'll have an answer. We're going to have an answer, whether it's going to be what we want to hear or not. That remains to be seen, but we will look into it. And I understand your concern. You don't know who's moving the next door to you, right? And then if it's a revolving door, if it's a lot of people... Now, you did say it was his primary residence. The residence here is still his primary?

No, they relocated it.

Yeah, so they have a different, so this is a rental property, really?

This is a rental from when we spoke to them. Yeah, discussions.

All right, as far as the fireworks, the company that we hired, they do an assessment. They make sure it conforms to the right distance that's set forth in law. Then they run it past, they have to file for a permit with the building department and then the building department looks at that kind of stuff as well. We have had fireworks there in the past. We've always used the same company. I remember I used to do the ball drop and we used to do the fireworks from the exact same location because that's where it meets all the distance requirements. As another precaution, what we did was we made sure that we had our fine men and women from the fire department on hand. There was a fire truck there, ready to go. The fire truck was fully staffed, just in case there was any kind of incident. And that is standard procedure. I used to do that with the ball drop in the Chamber of Commerce. We did take all the necessary precautions, and I don't know what happened with what you were describing, but I'll look into that and give a call to the company and see if there's anything we could do differently moving forward in the future if we ever have it again. So that's that. Harold, Howard, let's see. Vote for Howie. What do you think? You need a campaign manager, man. Keep me on the short list. I will be your campaign manager and we'll hit it hard and we'll campaign hard. Yeah, Mike, as far as the striping, just like the supervisor said, they put the temporary stuff. We have identified certain issues. Dave actually has identified them and the changes will be incorporated in the permanent striping. I didn't know about...

us making it extended that's pretty cool so um that's uh that's all i got thank you yeah just a few comments uh thank you for bringing up samir the the airbnb something new to me and i think maybe we need something in town law i know we have a we have a regulation for boarding houses i don't know if that's the closest to it and i in all my years here i've never seen i think it needs a special permit i've never known that we had a boarding house but But but it's something it's close. So we have to look into that. Mr. Curtin. I'm sorry he his left but his pitch for the library and that follows up on the article that I submitted to the Yorktown News that supervisor alluded to We as a board will have when we vote when we have to vote on a budget in December we need to hear from you the community what you want and what you're willing to pay for and And everyone has different needs. We have heard concerns about the library for Mr. Curtin. We have heard concerns about the passes for families for the pools have gone up. They're too much. Don't get me started on roads and why you're not paving my road or fixing my drainage. Ed alluded to the increase in cost. We have to make trade-offs okay and we can't please everyone all the time but are you willing to spend that extra money in my article i said i just threw out a number i said fifty dollars more more a year which is what five dollars more a month or something like that um and we need to hear from you are you willing to do that or would you like to see the cutbacks in the service would you like to see the library not be able to buy the newest books would you like to see the library Maybe close, close more on the weekend. I've been told that the biggest demand they have is to open Sundays year-round, okay, and open Friday nights for people who are working. That costs money. This is something we need to hear from you. Please call us, send us emails, tell us, are you willing to spend the money? I post it as $50 for some kind of town service or two pizzas. It's your choice, you are the taxpayers, and we have to reflect what you want. As far as Mr. Cattucci's personal attacks on me, I won't respond to that, but just let me give you two facts. One, in 2019, deed that he signed was filed with the county with the county transferring the land to the town he stopped paying taxes town taxes county taxes school taxes on that property in 2019 you can go to the the tax records online and you can see that the property has been, the town has been paying those taxes since 2019. Also, I will have more to say on that when we get to the resolution later in the agenda. Major Sheridan, I'm a little confused and Cindy, maybe you can help me on this. You indicated that your meeting was tomorrow at room 104. Unless I misread something on the town's community calendar, the 485B committee is meeting at room 104 tomorrow night. So that is it. So I don't know, but that's a confusion. So I don't know if you can... clear that up. We can't be two groups at one time.

As far as I know, and I don't know what the room numbers are, Susan, so I apologize. The 485B meeting is in the Nutrition Center.

In the Nutrition Center. Could you just double check the town's website tomorrow? Yes. I could have misread, but I thought I read. I know you said the Nutrition Center, but then I read it was 104, so I was confused. I'll check it. All right. Howard on the e-bikes. Our hands are tied by the state law regulating e-bikes. The state law specifically says what can be done and what can be regulated. And any town in Westchester cannot change the law unless Westchester County first changes the law. And one of the things in the state law specifically deals with fines. It's a maximum of $50 and it talks only about teenagers. sick if you're 16 or over 16 and I think if you're under 16 a parent has to be with you with with the bike so our hands are tied that's not to say we can't do certain things and this will be discussed on the in the October meeting and also I address this issue in the in the email that I sent to the board that's available if anyone in the public wants what we can do

within the constraints of the state law so i don't think we could we can't make the law from the state less stringent but we could add our own no we can't change it if you but we could add our own regulations that make it that make it tough in it we could not like that not with town law you can't make it less you can't change the fifty dollar fine but you could actually impose your own well there are things we could do that's not accurate let the town attorney

deal with that because there's a specific provision when they regulate they have all the regulations that they lay out the e-bikes and then there's a separate section for nassau and suffolk and a separate section for westchester and the way i read this and adam i would defer to you on this the way i read the law and others have read that section that deals with with westchester specifically It says Westchester County can change something, and we can't act as municipalities until Westchester acts. And when I spoke to somebody at Westchester Parks, he said the only regulation they have on e-bikes deals with allowing Class 1 bikes on the Bronx River Parkway for Bicycle Sundays. And one of the reasons that they haven't enacted the law, for example, if we say adults have to wear a helmet, because I think the state law just says children have to wear it. If we say that and then somebody goes from Yorktown into Somers or into Cortland, then you've got a problem. And we have, well, the trail is county, but in some of the other issues, there are county facilities that cover more than one municipality. So you can't have one town saying one thing and another town saying another thing. And that's a problem.

You can't say you can't have a helmet that you can't wear. You don't have to wear a helmet because you're weakening the state law. But you can say you have to wear two helmets as an example. I don't. Flush it out because you're making the law stronger. You can do that. It's in any legislation. But anyway, go ahead.

I'm sorry to interrupt you. there are most state laws will give the town the option to go strong and not weaker but stronger i will defer to adam's comments when we get to this on october 5th on october 13th but my reading and other people who have read the state law and that specific provision that deals with westchester county says we can't do anything until westchester county does something it's up for discussion Sarah, again, thank you on the Garden Club. They're phenomenal, and I look forward to that visit. Jan, on the EMS, the New York State Open Meetings Law is very clear on the very limited topics that can be discussed in closed sessions. before the town board goes into closed session there's supposed to be an open session say we are going into closed session and we are going to be discussing x y and z you just can't say we're going into closed session which is the way our agendas typically read which is technically a violation of the open meetings law but We don't have to nitpick things, all right? One of the things that is allowed as executive session is negotiations with corporations where you would be dealing with hiring them. And that's why RFP discussions have always been in closed session. And so that's what the law is. And I think that's all I wanted to say.

And Susan, I will say you were right and wrong on the, I just looked it up, it has the 45B board meeting in both rooms. So I just sent a text message to Marissa to fix that. It's in the nutrition room, and then later on it says room 104, I think, because they met in 104 the last time.

Last time they were here in the boardroom, when they met last time.

Okay. They might have met in 104 one of the times. It's in the nutrition room. The Veterans Advisory is in 104.

I'm glad that came up because I would have gone to 104. All right, thank you. Thank you.

The good news and the bad news of going last regarding these discussions is I think everything has been covered.

And I think Patrick- And I'm second to last.

But just honestly, Sarah, congratulations on the 100 years. That's awesome. You guys do a great job. And I have those two beautiful pots that I bought on Mother's Day. They're still blooming and hanging perfect. And just so people out there in TV land know that e-books are more expensive than paper books. And when they expire, they just go away in your little tablet. If you have the hardcover book, it's a couple pennies a day. And hopefully it stays like that. But the e-books are exponentially more expensive. And it's a huge expense for the library. And like Dan says, if anybody has, you know, the end of the year, if you have any donations, the library would love to be the recipient of that.

You buy a hardcover or softcover book. You buy Catcher in the Rye, right? Whatever we used to read in high school, grade school. It lasts forever. This, you buy a book. You got to rebuy it two years later. And it's crazy money.

They just make up the numbers.

I might actually still have my high school version of Catcher in the Rye. Yeah, I think it was eighth grade. And I know I also read Atlas Shrugged back in high school and I still have that copy.

That was a good book, Anne Rand. Yep. That was a really good book.

All right, so we will move on. We have a public hearing.

Discussion on the override law? Discussion.

Discussion is first, I'm sorry.

Yes, okay.

Proposed local law to override a tax levy limit for fiscal year 2027 pursuant to New York general municipal law 3-C. So Adam, do you want to explain the law a little bit? Why we have this now?

You know, there's a real estate property tax cap in New York State that limits what you can do every year unless you pass a local law that gives you permission by 60 percent of the votes would be three votes uh to exceed it and you have to have this set up as a prerequisite or else you won't be able to pass a budget that exceeds it so it's sort of a prospective measure that we've drafted in case that's the the situation we find ourselves in so you have it before you

process would be preferred well schedule public hearing you know and go through the process like any other local law right so this is not to say we're breaking the tax cap this is to be prepared in case we have to because we know that that's that's something that we really will need to look at and a lot of that will come through the november meetings with the town board and the department heads so with the process of a public hearing it's So it would be a minimum of 10 days notice if we waited until after the budgetary meetings We probably would not have enough time to notice it and fit it into our meeting schedule In order to pass the budget in the first meeting in December, which is our normal mo so We will set up today to advertise for a public hearing for it. Anyone have any questions or comments?

I just want to make two comments. One is a question. I think the tax cap for this year, which is set by the state, is 2%.

I think it's a little higher.

I thought it was 2%, and we know inflation is 3.4%. The other comment I want to make is to distinguish the tax cap has nothing to do with the tax rates that you will pay, whether it's for the general fund highway library, which is all one fund called the town tax, and then if you're on public water, you have a separate water tax. If you're on sewers, there are 12 different sewer districts. This is a garbage tax. We have multiple taxes. The tax cap combines the tax levy for like 23 different taxing districts and says this is the maximum, this is what you can do. So it has no effect, okay, on your tax rate and what you will pay in taxes because everybody's taxes are different and that has to be understood. The tax cap is this artificial cap that the state enacted many years ago, all right, and has nothing to do with actually what your individual, what the town, what the actual taxes that you are charged with and that has to be made clear.

Yeah, and back in the day, the state actually used to incentivize municipalities to not break the tax cap, and they would give a special rebate check each year. That stopped a few years back. So there's no penalty. Right, there's no penalty to it other than we pay higher taxes, which is a penalty. And I think that it's sort of important to stress that that back in the day may have been detrimental in a sense because as we are in a very high inflationary period which happens from time to time. it's harder and harder to make up for the shortfalls in the budget if you haven't been keeping up. So as Susan pointed out, 3, 3.5% inflation. Some things are much greater. You know, the market sort of looks towards the future, and it doesn't see it as a huge problem yet. But, you know, it can be something that starts knocking on our door very quickly. And the fact that we had so many years of nothing and even a couple of years where we cut taxes, it just sort of kicks a can down the road.

in many years when the previous town board said oh we've got to be under the tax cap under the tax cap you got penalized because if you spent under your tax cap in one year it hurt you the next year because your tax cap your threshold was lower so we actually hurt ourselves going back many years but let me give you an example when i said how the tax cap doesn't affect your taxes We have about 12 sewer districts, and almost all of them have some sewer debt, which varies. But if you're not involved in a sewer district, you're not paying any sewer tax. But the tax levy for those sewer districts gets figured into the tax cap, and that's why it's an apples and oranges type of a situation. So my suggestion is, Don't get obsessed by the tax cap. Just look at what your tax rate is.

I would just like to, you know, The resolution is something that we need to protect ourselves just in case there are shortfalls that we need to deal with. But I assure you that we all will fight for you to keep your taxes as low as possible in a responsible manner. if we need to deal with unexpected or difficult situations that expenses due to the nature of the national scheme in terms of inflation and all that and the expenses of gasoline and how that affects our town. You could throw our state into it also. Yes. But we will fight as your council people, I believe we will fight to keep your taxes as low as possible.

So the tax cap exists for a reason. It sets limits. So I hear all the comments. But, you know, it's there for a reason. It's not there. It's not some, hey, don't worry, it doesn't affect anything, it doesn't do anything, it doesn't mean anything. If it didn't affect anything, do anything, or mean anything, why is it there? That's my comment.

It was there to make politicians sound good. That's why it was there, right? And it was done by the state, but it affects the municipalities and it ties the hands of municipalities, which is one reason why we can't do things and we don't want to bond certain issues. Because if we bond certain issues, then it's going to cost money when we have to pay back the debt service on the bond, and that factors into the tax levy, the tax cap.

And it doesn't take into account unfunded mandates by the state when the state tells you to do certain things and they don't provide you the funds.

I think we have exhausted this. So that was our discussion. We'll go into our public hearing. Proposed local law to amend Chapter 219, peddling and soliciting by adding a do not knock registry. No, it's in a resolution letter. Okay, so Diana? We have our posting there. Why don't you lead us off on this since you took the lead on it and I think it's a great action.

so we've taken some time to really clarify the peddler and solicitor's law clean it up a little bit but what we are doing and the main reason is to add a do not knock registry so by adding a do not knock registry an owner or occupant of a residential property located in town of yorktown who wishes to prohibit soliciting and peddling on the premises shall complete a form which will be available in my office or on our website the completion of that form will allow the owner occupants premises to be included on a list of properties that will be issued to any solicitors or peddlers that come in for a permit from us. And then we will say you're not allowed to basically go to those premises and knock on their doors. what it will not cover and I want to make clear on this is that it shall not constitute a violation I'm sorry I'm in my wrong section all solicitors and peddlers shall obtain a current do not knock registry at the time of issuance of a permit and at the time of registration to solicit pursuant to the provisions of this chapter so basically what will happen it will give the police department some teeth in order to issue summonses if they do break that particular part of the law and go on your property anyway so I think that's an important aspect of what we're doing i also want to say that this does not cover certain things so if you're going on a property for political reasons for charitable reasons for non-commercial reasons you you you won't be subject to this law and it's important to know that there's a difference there okay basically the Segway people that are out there we have a lot of peddlers and solicitors that come in town we've had a lot of complaints about them we have ones that don't even bother to get permits there are some charitable organizations that don't need to be permitted by us but they do have to let us know they're gonna be in town Santa can you remind people about the option to have stickers if they want The town clerk's office will be looking into basically getting stickers that you can place on a window or on your door, and that'll be for purchase in the office also.

Very good. All right.

But I do want to say it's going to take us a couple weeks to get it all in place, so don't knock on the door tomorrow, but we will have it in place soon, okay? We don't really have any comments on this. The Conservation Board said they had no comments at all, so that's about it.

So if someone went online and signed up, do they still have to come to the office or everything's online?

No, it'll be option. You can either do a paper format or you can do it online.

Perfect. We'll open for public comment on this. With no one coming for a comment I make a motion to close the public hearing My comment is more of a question initially I copied off the proposed local law from the clerk's website

and subsequently I think one of the reasons why that hearing was postponed for two weeks it was because it had to be reformatted as quote a local law the local law that we have does not have a the the purpose and intense section which typically a law starts out with why we're doing this law and i just wondered if that was an oversight or was that intentional that was uh section uh chapter 219-1 title intent findings of fact um the

The local law, as far as I know, only has the changes to the law. The regular law, anything else in there stands the same.

Does it say- And that includes, obviously, definitions and all that.

Does the law say that- 219 has an intent section. This is just changes to this, so it's still going to be an intent section.

okay so what is this so it just changes from repealing 219 to okay because the intent explains why we're doing this thank you all right well with with that being the comment I'd like to make a motion to to amend chapter 219 I'll make the motion second all in favor aye congratulations Diana great work thank you We will move forward to resolutions from the Albany-Capolini community.

I'm sorry to be so interrupting today. I noticed as I came to the board meeting tonight and looked at the agenda, I saw two resolutions that were not on the online version that I read, I don't know, sometimes between 3 and 4 o'clock. We're used to sometimes getting last-minute resolutions that the supervisor just reads in, but I'm concerned that these resolutions, one of them is kind of innocuous, and the other one possibly is more substantive, and I will ask a question about that.

Which ones would you like me to pull out, Susan, and I'll pull them out? I'm not pulling out, I'm just... No, no, but we could go over them at the end. That's fine.

Which two are they? There was the one about the... The CREST grant, which was not on the one that I read online.

That's correct. But in order for me to process the preliminary grant application, I need permission for the supervisor to sign it.

I understand why. That is why it's signed. I understand. But there's the disconnect. As I say, we accept the fact that sometimes there are last-minute resolutions that are just read in. That's a procedure that we have followed. But the fact that the agenda changed, if anyone was looking at the agenda... and didn't come to this meeting, they wouldn't have seen these changes. There's that one and then there's the resolution about the the uh the completed nature of the granite knolls the uh the parking lot okay um i ask this because sometimes depending on the resolution i like to read it before i come to the meeting so i can do any research and think about whether i have any questions or issues with it but here i saw it when i came down here at 7 30. that's the only reason why i'm bringing it up

If you'd like, if you have questions, I'd be more than happy to try to call Jim Matarano. He did send it earlier in the week, and I think it got missed through the clerk's office, and they picked up on it today. And similar to the signature on the Crest Grant, the clerk's office in double checking had picked up on that as well, so.

I don't want to pull anything out or separate anything but I just want to make a comment regarding one of the I intend to vote on it but I want to regarding the 3680 Lexington Avenue resolution I wanted to just simply say that I will be voting upon it based upon the advice of council that there is no impediment to apply and move forward based upon the subdivision approval and acceptance.

I'm actually going to separate that one anyway because there was an error in some of it.

Yeah, I'd like that one separated.

Okay, but I just wanted to make that statement. Yeah, that's good.

Thank you. Separate out, please, the one about John Tegeler because I have comments on that one. And then I have a question about the Tom Diana one, but I have no issue with it, but I have a question about it. So when you get to that.

All right, so. Any questions about the adjournment? Can we jump to the adjournment? Is that your question? All right. Resolutions from the Albert A. Cappellini Community and Cultural Center authorized Chabad of Yorktown the use of the nutrition center at the Albert A. Cappellini Community and Cultural Center for five hours on Sunday, December 6, 2026 for their annual Hanukkah celebration for the community. Authorized Lights of Tomorrow, a nonprofit for Jewish youth use of the Nutrition Center at the Albert A. Cappellini Community and Cultural Center for three hours on Thursday, October 1st, 2026 for an event to honor families from the communities affected by the October 7th attacks in Israel. From the Engineering Department, authorize a comptroller to release an erosion control bond stormwater permit BSWPPP027-23 in the amount of $500. Authorize a comptroller to release erosion control bond stormwater permit BSWPPP039-25 in the amount of $500. We're going to skip that one for now. We're going to authorize a supervisor sign an agreement with Marshall alarm system to install a And monitor a fire alarm system at the Alice E. Roker archival and records center Do we have a did we do a resolution with the official naming I

Yes, a long time ago.

Okay, just make sure it's in my mind. Authorize a town clerk to attend the 2026 New York State Association of Town Legislative Conference on September 22nd through 23rd, 2026 in Albany, New York. And I will have an add-on resolution for that afterwards. Approve the town board meeting for September 29th 2026 to conduct interviews regarding the EMS request for proposals and Skipping the next one and moving to- No, you don't have to skip the Crest.

I have no issue with the Crest.

Authorize a town supervisor to sign the Crest grant preliminary application for 100,000 for safety and security. from the Office of the Town Comptroller, set the date of public hearings for proposed local law to override the tax levy limit for fiscal year 2027 pursuant to New York general municipal law.

So can you separate that for me please? Okay. Sorry.

From Section 8, Housing Department, authorized Section 8.

Wait, wait, you got to the parks. The parks are up. Brandon knows. You don't want that pulled up. No, I have a question about that.

Okay.

It seems unusual to have a resolution like this. I don't remember having a resolution like this that says the project is completely authorized final payment. I don't remember that. We have had, you know, when we refund, when we have erosion control bonds, that's standard. This one says in the bold to make the final payment in full, and then it says later on, that authorized to receive payment in full subject to all required closeout documents and contractual requirements, which makes me ask the question, has it been Has it not been completed, and are we saying we're going to pay in full without knowing that everything has been completed? Because to me, this is a very unusual resolution.

It's been inspected, completed work is determined, the projects have been satisfactorily completed, acceptable- But it's subject to what will require closeout documentation.

Is this generally just for finance to make sure they have everything they need? Yeah.

I've never seen this before, and we have- Well, either way, well look.

candidly I don't understand why you'd be concerned about that language because it's just protecting the town but at the end of the day the finance wouldn't pay it if they don't have the required documentation anyway but so again I don't see why do we have this and not the dozens of other projects

That's why the red flag went up in my mind.

Some of it may have to do with the fact that all of the payrolls have changed, the certified payrolls are going online and having to be verified by the state. So from the Parks and Recreation Department, accept the completed parking lot paving project at Tom Diana Park at the Granite Knoll Sports and Recreation Complex and authorize the comptroller to make final payment in full to Cerrone Construction, Inc.

It came out beautiful, by the way. It really did. Great infrastructure improvements.

Thank you. We really wanted to make sure it got done. From Section 8 Housing Department authorizes Section 8 program directed to sign the annual civil rights certification for the fiscal year beginning January 1st, 2026 for submission to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in connection with the town's five year public housing agency plan. Set the public hearing date for Housing Choice Vouchers Program Administration Plan. Authorize a town clerk to advertise a request for proposals for fee accounting services for the Section 8 Housing Department. the water department authorized a supervisor to execute an agreement with Rayburn consulting to develop new operating procedures for the implementation of a new billing software system at the water department and I think Adam I think you had a couple of questions that went to their attorney so we won't sign anything until we have a call tomorrow just to make sure I was on the same page

exactly what services they're providing uh we know i think that we're going ahead with uh trying to get new they're they're not providing the software we have to do separately to get new software for our billing system the the problems that they identified between the the uh the lack of communication between the joint waterworks and in our census meters are they going to fix that before we change the billing before we change into the new software Exactly what are they doing?

The software will be run in-house, so we will end up similar to the Somers Point aqueduct there. We'll be bypassing it.

I know, but the question is what services are they providing? I'm all in favor of what they're doing. They are fixing problems that existed.

They're going to develop the new operating procedures for the implementation of a new billing software system and merge all old meter data into the new system. We will have to make the decision but I think with hiring a new person we still save somewhere in the area of $80,000 a year so if we need to that's fine I don't know if this is something that could be handled with the existing staff in the department

That's a conversation with Paul But I think we've gotten the Indication that we can go ahead with making that change over and taking over our own billing whether we do it in-house or we hire And then

Let's see, let's have a motion on those. Motion.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Very good. Let me just see, this is my local law. Did we have a resolution to put this out for referral on the local on this on the stop Stop signs say again. Did we have a resolution to put this out for you?

We can just we can yeah, and but we can typically when we do Highways we simply just set the public here. Okay, so

So we are looking at a local law to amend Chapter 275 of the Code of the Town of Yorktown entitled Vehicles and Traffic. So rather than read all of this in, it's a pretty simple thing. At the intersection of New Road and East Main Street by the Lakeland Deli and our library and our 9-11 Memorial, It's sort of a blind turn there, especially heading west to east. So I want to propose to put up a three-way stop sign there. There's already one coming out of New Road, but actually a little traffic calming on East Main Street. Apparently, even though we were looking at this and working it, I think last night there was another accident over there where someone was just going too fast, couldn't stop, hit another car. Thank God everyone was okay, but... It's something that has been in need of being addressed. I've spent some time monitoring over there. Vehicles come around that turn way too fast, and speaking with the store owners in there, there's genuine concern.

So where is that exactly?

So you know where the 9-11 memorial is?

Absolutely. Deli, very close to it. They have the deli.

So we're going to, there's a new road which goes to the right alongside. By the restaurant. Yeah, that's good. So we would put a stop sign right before the turn, the elbow of the turn. And then on the outside of the shoulder of the pteranodon, going east to west, we would put another stop sign. I've asked Dave to make it the blinking stop signs because we really want to make sure that these are seen. it'll be something new and he'd even mentioned a speed bump which I'm not not in big favor of so but we'll see that's it So so I think I thank both Dave and Adam for their work on this and Getting it there. So can I have a motion to refer this out?

I'd like to set the public hearing for October 6th also and to set the public hearing for October 6 Second all in favor.

All right Great. Now, let's pop back through What we've missed here. Except the conveyance of real property located at or around 3680 Lexington Avenue in the town of Yorktown. The second paragraph where as it says the current owner of record which is a mistake that was something that was in earlier. So that is that is deleted from this.

So how is it going to read?

Whereas Lake Mohegan Mansion LLC offered to convey said property.

Oh, just delete current owner. It's not accurate.

We're the owner of record.

Okay, just delete that. All right. I have some comments about that.

Sure, Susan.

May I remind the board that we're in active litigation, and I ask you to bear that in mind when you...

certain questions or make any statements Yes I will okay one of the issues is I have been I think as everybody knows very involved in this issue putting aside Mr. Patuki's comments but but I have been concerned about how it's been handled but I have been reticent and silent about speaking out because it is the subject of litigation and attorney-client discussions however I have some concerns about this resolution I make that motion

Second. All in favor, aye. Aye. Aye. All right, I'm sorry folks, we're going to need you to step out for a few moments.

Why don't we do this at the end so people don't have to wait? Why don't you let the supervisor finish his sentence?

Well, no, she wants to wait until the end. That's fine. But then they will have to come back in for the vote regardless.

Oh, all right.

If they're interested. Yes, if they're interested. It looks like everyone would prefer me to finish up, and then we could go into the vote, into closed session. So we'll hold off. I'll take that as a motion to go into closed before adjourning. Yeah. Okay. We will have to cut it. well not yet not yet not yet tommy we still have the tax cap that you okay from the office of the town controller set the date of a public hearing for proposed local law to override the tax cap limit for fiscal year 2027 pursuant to new york general municipal law uh section 3c and uh the law is up for consideration on the back of the agenda But that is pretty standard. We've been there, done that on this. Can I have a motion?

Motion.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed?

Aye.

Wait, you said I opposed?

Yeah, he's opposed. Last time I said nay, and that was wrong, so now I'm saying aye.

Aye, you're opposed, okay.

An aye for an aye.

I'm just saying, last time I said nay, and they were like, so what, do you not want it?

So from the planning department, authorize the extension agreement with John Taggart for provisions of planning consulting services at a rate of $105 per hour for a maximum of 18 hours per week. Susan, you had some questions?

I value John's service to the town for the many, many years he was planning director, and I did vote to extend, give him this additional contract for six months to complete some of the work that he had been working on. I did some arithmetic. At an hourly rate of $105 an hour for a maximum of 18 hours a week for six months, that totals $45,360. When the board agreed to hire him for that additional time There were there were three projects that he was working on one was Participating in the comp plan review The second one was working on the field home the adaptive reuse and whether we can find a use for that building and also the streetscape RFP that Sergio talked about I think the comp plan review committee is basically finished with its work in terms of identifying what needs to be done. All right? The field home, the core work that the town had to do has been done. The project is now in the hands of the consultant that we have hired, an architect, and also some marketing people. to go out and find potential investors in the project there's nothing that the town is necessarily involved in at this point until some person comes and says yes i'm interested let's have more of a dialogue the streetscape um john did two rfps the town wanted to change the first rfp uh he did a revised rfp which the board has still to discuss basically i feel that his work is is finished we don't need him anymore and when we hired and when i voted to hire uh to promote robin steinberg to the full position of director of planning it was with my full confidence that she could do the job robin has been here for she was here in 2010 i don't know how much before that so i have full confidence that if we proceed with anything to do with the com plan Robin, who was here when we did the 2010 review, she can handle that, and any additional work that needs to be done with the field home, Robin can do, and the streetscape is Subject to some modifications with on the RFP is done and Robin who has been involved in vetting any number of Responders on RFPs We can rely on her because if I can't rely on Robin and why did I vote to promote her to director plenty? I had full confidence in her and I think this board did and $45,000 is what John could potentially bill us, all right, for this. And Ed has been talking about, and I've been talking about, Lanny's been talking about the concern about taxes, taxes, taxes, taxes. And whether we have to, how we're going to pay for all of those additional expenses and still keep the tax rate as low as possible. and not cut the services like books in the library, as Mr. Curtin brought up. I think this $45,000 can be better spent on other things. Some of the department heads are having problems with their potential budgets and may not have enough money in some of their budget lines to cover very known expenses. And if we cut that, again, This is discretionary, and I don't think it's needed, and that's why I have a lot of respect for John, and for all of the work he's done, and for his skills. But I also have the confidence in the person we have in that position now, and I think she's more than capable of handling this job, and that's why I would vote against this.

All right, Susan, I just want to say one thing. Susan, that's your opinion. Mine, yes. Can I finish, please? It's your opinion. Robin is the one asking for John's extension, okay? There's two or three projects that she's working on, and this is Robin's first year in the job, and we all have utmost confidence in her. But we want her to set her up to succeed. She asked for additional support, And that's what we're providing. That's all. Yeah.

Actually, that's not all because it's important for me to say the first thing I asked her as a department head, how are you paying for it? Because you're right, Susan, we have to be concerned. In her department is supposed to be an assistant planner salary, and they have not hired anyone yet for that. They're trying to look for the right person for that. So they're using that. And I asked her, what is his average in hours? I know he's authorized up to 18, but he's been averaging about 12 hours. So that's two-thirds of that price, not the full ticket that you were talking about. It also comes without the benefits that would be earned by someone in that assistant planning position. So I thought that her logic and defense of how she would pay for it was extremely well thought out. I did go over the things that he was working, and you're right, the field home reuse, which is not over the finish line. And if we don't get over that finish line, I have publicly stated, if we do not have a bird in the hand we are going to end up losing that building because we're not paying to take it down. It will be on Toll Brothers, and they are almost closing on this deal, and that's sort of where it goes. The Streetscape RFP, which has gone out, and John has been very heavily involved in, They feel that it's important to, Robin feels that it's important to keep him involved as that goes through, especially because the scope of it changed so much because of some of the changes and rightfully so that you and Sergio wanted to see. So that adds to that project quite a bit. There's been some work still outstanding for the historical signage at Underhill Farm. There's been some historical resource research that we've been going through on that and still outstanding that we're trying to work on is the new senior center that is supposed to be paid for by Beaver Ridge that I would like to have moved because I think that having it where it was proposed back in 2020 is actually, does not work and creates a hazard for the people over there. You could laugh, but these are things that are going. I did ask also, and Robin's involved in this one, but John has that historical knowledge when we talk about the historical resource research. I think Railroad Park needs a restroom in there. So something that we can have.

Very disrespectful. I don't know why you're laughing.

I'm sorry. I can't resist. I apologize.

Okay. And I did ask him last year that I'm still waiting for the final work on is I'd like to see a Civil War monument complete our veteran memorials circle as the New York State was very involved in the Civil War. So those were those are just a few the one thing though that You were totally wrong about and we wouldn't end regardless the comp plan review Even though they're at the end of phase one. There's still more but if you remember correctly I We appointed him as part of a volunteer board for that. That is not something he bills for that is something that we are using his historical knowledge for and that he agreed to because of his love of Yorktown, and we did a special resolution allowing him, based on that knowledge, to be someone from out of town, residence-wise, working on that board. So, you know, that's just...

So the money is in the planning board's current budget to ride this out at least to the end of this year? Right? That money's there already. What is the the the assistant planner usually typically get a year without the benefits?

I don't remember the exact salary, but I believe it's in the the high 80s.

So high 80s. So this is coming in. He's using only 12 hours, we kept throwing around fake numbers that really didn't exist. But it this is this is considerably cheaper, and we're not paying benefits. And we're getting the benefit of John's experience.

And you're getting 20 years of institutional knowledge in this guy's brain.

And Robin has requested this. I showed the email myself. I'm just putting, you know, answering my own question. But Robin has requested this, correct? Yes. Okay. Just to make some good points, but I don't see.

Just a quick question regarding something you just brought up that I was unaware. What's the other potential location for the senior center?

uh... that where they used to have the old parks and recreation building over by sparkly sparkly We've spoken about that before so not where the trailers were but the property on the back that actually was everything's there all the all the hookups everything we need the sewers there electric is there. So it it will save a lot and we want to tear apart and then we we fix parking lot black topping we want to we will create the traffic issue that Beaver Ridge is very concerned about of I've gotten quite a few calls from the residents of Beaver Ridge And they are very, very against it.

Well, this definitely needs a lot of discussion because part of the benefit of having a senior center in town is the accessibility of the town. And if you throw it out off of Sparkle Lake, it's isolated. So, I mean, I'm just saying.

We could look at some other spots. I had some other things in mind.

I'm just throwing that out.

There's no decisions that have been made, and there were pluses and minuses to both locations. I mean, the Senior Center in a really serene, beautiful area like on Sparkle Lake,

that's got some merit too but this discussion is about john and if we're going to extend this is all right it's just something new that i have two follow-up comments to what you said the assistant the assistant planner that's in the budget and i um that would go into 2027 all right if the town and the supervisor is making the tentative budget so I'm not going to see it until it comes out at the end of October but if we're in a budget crunch as we are going to be in a budget crunch and we're looking to where we could cut without cutting services I question whether given the current load and the anticipated load at the planning department okay we can maybe eliminate that position in the 2027 budget because historically i'll tell you the little secret in terms of budgeting okay we budget positions that we don't fill all right and that's how the town ends up susan let me ask you a question no no no let me ask you a question you may you made a statement i want you to qualify that for planning

When have we not, no, qualify that for planning. That's a much greater discussion, and there are a lot of things looking to come to town.

And can those two people deal with it? This is a question that I have, and I think I had it.

Apparently not, because Robin is asking for it. She's requested this, so apparently the department head, the planning director, feels that she needs this assistance. I don't want to belabor, but I just want to clarify. I mean, we keep leaving that part out, but that's a very important aspect of it.

I just want to clarify what you said about the field home, all right? By the terms of the approval resolution for the field home, the planning board resolution, the town has to make a decision whether or not to accept the field home 60 days from when the plat is signed. They just got DEP approval, so to the best of my knowledge, they have all the necessary approvals for the, they can now go to the town and say, the planning board and sign that plat, which means the clock is ticking for the town board to decide on what to do with the field home. I understand that one of the potential investors is gonna have a field visit later this month to see if they're interested. let's say they have some possible interest I don't think that they're going to be making a multi a multi-million dollar decision that that quickly they have to do more more work so I think going ahead over the next two months this town board has to make a decision about the field home what happens and this is Robin's suggestion and Robin's suggestion that we that we acquire the, even if we have no investor ready to sign, well, committed to sign something, that they're gonna take the property, that we take it, again, Toll Brothers said at a nominal cost. They never told us exactly what a nominal cost is. And they're going to give us $150,000 for the upkeep of the building. That buys the town some time. Let's say roughly a year.

Susan, we spent that money on the RFP with Beardsley.

That's right. And Beardsley is working hard to try to do it. And they gave us a full report. They have reached out to dozens of potential investors.

What does this have to do with the resolution that we were discussing? If we could just stay on topic.

No, I just want to clarify what Ed said about the field home. No, I understand that you've clarified it, but we're trying to stay on topic. We need to make a decision. We have roughly two months.

We know that, Susan.

And that's actually a good reason why having John in the fold may help us expedite that.

Absolutely. I think you're right. So from the planning department authorized extension agreement with John Taggett for provisions of planning consulting services at a rate of $105 per hour for a maximum of 18 hours per week. May I have a motion?

Motion. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Opposed. All right, that one was done, that one was done. I think that was it. So the closed thing, yeah. So we had our motion to go into close. Can we have, just so we have it on record, a motion to adjourn as we come out of closed.

Not only going to pass a resolution. Not if you're going to pass the resolution.

Okay, so never mind. Tom, we'll have to silence the mic and be right back if we could. All right. So we already have the motion and the second, the vote to go into closed. Ladies and gentlemen, I will need to ask you to leave the boardroom. Thank you very much. All right, sorry about that little recess as we went into executive session. I could have a motion to come out of executive session?

Motion.

Second. All in favor? Aye. All right, so we're gonna go back to resolutions and then I have one to read in as well. Sorry, I forgot, but it's a fairly minor one.

Where are we here?

Lexington.

Yeah, Lexington.

From the office of the town attorney, accept the conveyance of real property located at or around 3680 Lexington Avenue in the town of Yorktown of New York. Can I have a motion? Motion.

I already made my statement. Yes, thank you.

So I have a motion.

Motion. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Aye.

Okay, one to read in. Authorization for delegate to legislative meeting of the New York Association of Towns, whereas a town clerk, Diana L. Quast, will attend the New York Association of Towns and YAOT legislative conference and meeting on September 22nd and 23rd of 2026. and whereas the town of yorktown benefits from having a delegate vote on what to include in ny aot's twenty twenty seven legislative priorities and whereas the town of yorktown has the authority to designate any officer employee or representative of the town as a delegate for this meeting Therefore, be it resolved that Diana L. Quast be designated as a delegate for the Town of Yorktown, and be it resolved that in the absence of Diana L. Quast, Town Supervisor Edward A. Lachterman be designated as a delegate for the Town of Yorktown. And I guess have to take a ride up to Albany if that's the case. I will say that I thank the Association of Towns because this meeting used to happen in February, I believe.

They still have another one in February down in the city, yes.

Yes, but they used to do this after the budget was released, which doesn't really help. Because this sets up what we're asking for the budget for the state. So it's a great move by them and hopefully it's useful.

Can I just add that thank you Diana for being our delegate but I think when we know what would be on the agenda and what they're voting for I think the town board since you are speaking for us that we should know which pieces of legislation we support and which we might for some reason oppose I think that's out in an email already I believe anyway I think there have been so now that we know we're going to have a voting delegate there I would like to

You could take a look, and if you want to suggest anything to Diana, I will do the same. But if I give her the voting right, she has the voting right. But I think she should- Once again, you could give her your suggestions based on what they've released. everyone could give her that you can pilot an email count us all in I will take the majority okay thank you and that would be appreciated so may I have a motion motion second all in favor aye any opposed all right and I know I know this one is This one is going to get a lot of backlash. Motion to adjourn.

Motion. Second.

All in favor? Aye. That was easier than I thought.

Yes, thank you, Yorktown.