Town Board

February 20, 2018

1. Building safety

During Reports from the Town  Council, Councilwoman Roker, board liaison to the Public Safety Committee, said she was in discussion with Police Chief Noble about how to make a town building safe. Although she did not specify which building or buildings she was talking about,  follow up comments from Councilmen Patel and Lachterman specifically cited the YCCC and town hall.

2. Hanover Street traffic light

(See Town Board, 2-13-2018.) Highway Superintendent Paganelli advised the board that based on discussions with the DOT, the damaged traffic light can be repaired instead of being replaced, saving the town tens of thousands of dollars.

3. Sanctuary City

The discussion began during Courtesy of the Floor in anticipation of a board vote later in the meeting on a resolution, introduced by Councilmen Lachterman and Diana relating to a proposed law before the county Board of Legislators dealing with the sanctuary city issue. In addition to numerous comments in support and opposition to the proposed resolution, Mark Lieberman questioned the process that led to the resolution being placed on the agenda; he asked how several people in support of the resolution came prepared with written comments when the public only knew about the resolution late in the afternoon when the final agenda was posted online.   In response, Town Clerk Quast explained the Councilman Diana had submitted the resolution late Monday and that Councilman Lachterman had revised the resolution Tuesday morning. After Councilman Roker explained that proposed resolutions were supposed to be submitted by the Friday before a board meeting unless they were an emergency, Councilman Lachterman said the haste in putting the item on the agenda this evening was his understanding that the Board of Legislators was scheduled to take up the issue on February 26.

During the board’s discussion on the resolution, one of the key areas of disagreement between supporters and opponents of the proposed county law was whether or how the law would/could affect Yorktown and the ability of our police to protect the town and its residents.  

Supervisor Gilbert said that while he agreed with some sections of the resolution, he opposed others and that in general, he saw the resolution as a “speculative political statement.” Councilwomen Roker, holding up mailings from last year’s election campaign, called the resolution “fear mongering” but said she wanted to hear from more residents on the issue. In general, there were differences of opinion as to the impact the proposed county law would have on undocumented immigrants.

While there was a board consensus to hold a follow up meeting that would provide more public input, Councilman Diana pressed for vote on the resolution.  The resolution was defeated 2-3. In a subsequent vote, the board agreed to hold an informational meeting on the sanctuary city issue on March 7^.

4. Referrals and public hearing schedule

Following up discussions at the  2/13/2018 meeting, the board referred out the following applications and set public hearing dates

  a. Illington Road parkland alienation: hearing April 3

  b. NYCDEP wetlands permit/Croton Reservoir: hearing April 3

  c. Mohansic Trailway wetland permit: hearing April 3.

The board tabled a resolution to refer out and schedule a hearing for a wetland permit for 1515 Journeys End after Councilman Lachterman  questioned what right the town had to require tree replanting to replace trees in a wetland buffer that had been cut down without a permit.

5. Appointments

Barbara Santoro and Paul Turiano were reappointed to the Advanced Life Support District Commission and

Joseph Troia and Jeffrey Siegel were appointed as new members of the Commission.

6. Creation of new advisory committees.

(See Town Board, 2/13/2018.) The board voted unanimously to create the following new committees

Substance Abuse Prevention and Mental Health Committee, charged with working with and cooperating with all existing community resources dealing with the issue. Councilman Lachterman initially questioned the need for the new committee which he said duplicated and competed with existing groups and asked for a more clearly defined mission statement but did vote to create the committee. Councilman Diana also expressed concern that the new committee might draw resources away from existing groups but Councilwoman Roker said that a possible member of the new group from the Hudson Valley Hospital would bring “deep pockets” to the new committee.

Economic and Business Revitalization Committee.  A seven member committee.

7. Other resolutions

  a. Authorized supervisor to sign an agreement with Cary Vigilante for broadcasting services (the town’s public access channel) for one year at $550/month.

  b. Approved a schedule 2018 Town Board meetings

  c. Awarded an RFP to Maser Consulting services to do a traffic study of the East Main street corridor in Shrub Oak. (See Town Board, 2/6/2018.)

  d. Mohanisc Trailway. (See Town Board, 2/13/2018.)Set March 15 for an informational meeting about the proposed trailway project.

  e. Authorized the transfer of $235,800 from the General Fund fund balance to pay for engineering inspection and oversight services for the Lowes project. In response to a question during Courtesy of the Floor, it was explained that the money would come from Lowes’ required inspection fee.

  f. Authorized a new one year contract with USAgain for the town’s textile recovery program after Supervisor Gilbert satisfied Councilman Diana that an earlier problem with overflowing  collection bins had been rectified and that the town’s recycling coordinator recommended renewing the contract.

8. Courtesy of the Floor

Litter. The lack enforcement in town parks, streets and aat DeVito field track was raised again by two speakers.