Citizens for an Informed Yorktown

Town Board Regular Meeting

January 14, 2014

(The agenda was, for the most part, the same as that of the cancelled January 7 meeting.)

1. Vacancy on Town Board

Supervisor Grace indicated that a decision on how the vacancy would be fillede would be made in the next couple of weeks and that the decision would be made by “four people.”  Councilman Bianco stated that the town attorney has been asked to prepare a written memo outlining the Board’s options for filling the vacancy.

2. Courtesy of the Floor

a. Teatown deer culling. Ann Kutter, speaking as a private citizen, asked the Board to pass a resolution in support of Teatown’s plan to use sharpshooters to cull the growing number of deer on its 1,000 acres. She pointed out that the number of deer are seven times the recommended number and the damage they are doing. Supervisor Grace said he had no problem with supporting the plan but Councilman Bianco said he had some problems with the use of rifles in the woods and said he needed more information. Ms. Kutter gave the Board an FAQ about the Teatown plan and a draft resolution for its conditions.

b. Water quality. Citing a notice that appeared in a current issue of the Pennysaver about a November violation of coliform standards in the town’s water supply,  Dan Lefkowitz wanted to know why there had been no public notice of the problem when it occurred. He said there should have been some form of mass mailing alerting the public. Supervisor Grace said the incident has been addressed.

c. Senior club money. Gil Kaufmann, chairman of the Senior Advisory Committee and Jennie Menton, a member of the St. Patrick’s senior club, both addressed the issue of the $2,700 annual contribution the town makes to seven senior clubs.  (Earlier in the meeting, the Board voted to authorize the supervisor to sign 2014 agreements with the clubs.) When Mr. Kaufmann stated that the last time the clubs actually saw a written agreement was in February, 2012. Supervisor Grace said he’d get a copy of the new agreement to him but that there were no changes from past agreements.

Ms. Menton raised the issue that had been brought up before about the fairness of all the clubs receiving the same amount of money regardless of the size of their membership as well as the criteria used to determine when a new club was eligible for the subsidy.  She said that the clubs had discussed these issues with the Board in the past but that no action had been taken.   When Supervisor Grace said that keeping the status quo was the easiest way to proceed, Ms. Menton responded  that it wasn’t the fairest. The Supervisor said the Board would look into the matter again.  Ms. Menton added that the St. Patrick’s club is not limited to members of the church but is called St. Pats because the group meets there. She said that a newly formed St. Patrick’s senior club would  not be asking the town for money.

3. Appointments

The Board reappointed Patricia Caporale as Comptroller at a salary of $92,750, Jeannette Koster as town attorney at $113,300 and made a new appointment of Barbara Korsack as Receiver of Taxes at a salary of $78,280.

The Board also renewed contracts for the services of Sharon Robinson as acting town engineer, Bruce Barber as environmental consultant and Fred Koslich for GIS services.

4. Advertisements

a. Set March 4 for a public hearing on the request for a special permit for a convalescent home  at 482 Underhill Ave (at French Hill Road).

b. Re-advertise bids for body work on town cars and trucks. (There was no explanation of why the bids had to be re-advertised.

5. Selected Organizational resolutions

a. Official newspaper.  The Yorktown News will replace the Journal News as the town’s official paper for the purpose of legal notices.

b. Agreements with sports clubs.  Authorized the supervisor to sign agreements with the Shrub Oak Athletic Club, Yorktown Athletic Club and Mohansic Girls Basketball providing the clubs with funds.

c. Meeting schedule. The Board adopted a meeting schedule for 2014 with fewer meetings than in past years. Instead of four meetings per month, the Board will meet three times in February and September and twice in July, August and November. The Board added a December 31 meeting to the calendar in the event it needs to meet to wrap up unfinished business.  Additional meetings will be scheduled as needed.

d. Liaisons. Supervisor Grace announced Board liaisons to various advisory boards and invited members of the public to also be liaisons. Membership on the Board is not required.

6 Tax Certiorari settlement

Accepted a settlement lowering the assessed value for 1969 East Main Street in Mohegan Lake for the years 2007 through 2013. The amount of money to be refunded was not disclosed.