Citizens for an Informed Yorktown

Town Board

August 4, 2015

1. Baptist Church Road

Supervisor Grace gave the following update:  The two “east” culverts cannot be relined and the town will do a “hybrid” replacement that will keep the existing stone wall intact.  There is only one vendor who can do this type of work. The consulting engineer is preparing profiles for the replacement of the collapsed “west” culvert; the issue still to be decided is the relationship between the height of the rebuilt stone wall and the degree to which the culvert extends into the property of Dr. Salatin. The supervisor said that Dr. Salatin was being cooperative.  The supervisor was hopeful that the work could begin in the next few weeks but that the complete project would take longer to complete;  in response to a question from Baptist Church resident Patricia Peckham on when the work might be completed, he could not give an exact timetable.  He noted that while the town’s declaration of an emergency made bidding out the job unnecessary, the town was reviewing FEMA regulations which, he said, might require bidding out the job. The town is also waiting for the results of the soils test on the pond on Dr. Salatin’s property . Supervisor Grace said it was the town’s responsibility to clean out the pond and that the work had a public purpose and was not a benefit to a private party.

2.  2014 audit

(See Town Board, 7-28-2015) Supervisor Grace reported that the 2014 audit was  “great news” and that the town had been able to hold expenses below the budget and add to the fund balance. He added that the financial picture looked good for 2016 taxes. Commenting on the lower than budgeted expenditures, Councilman Patel expressed concern about projects that may have been postponed in order to reduce expenditures.

3. Trump Park Walking Trail

Councilman Bernard reported that there is now a public walking trail in the northern part of town on the site of the former Trump Park sales office. 

4. Hallocks Mill Sewers

I suggested that the supervisor send a letter to the approximately 200 unsewered  homeowners in the Hallocks Mill Sewer district who may now  be able to hook up to the sewer system.  I explained that even if a homeowner didn’t want to hook up to the sewer system now,  if they got a sewer permit now, the permit would remain valid for use at a future date if and when they wanted to hook up.

5. Northern Westchester Restorative Care/Public hearing

(See Town Board, 5/26/2015 and Planning Board, 6/22/2015.) The hearing was opened and adjourned so that the architect could address several unresolved issues raised in a June 24 Planning Board memo, including stormwater, the location, number  and screening  of dumpsters.  A resident from Ellis Street to the rear of the property expressed concern about garbage from the site.  The applicant will return to the Planning Board later this month.

6. Rescheduled public hearings

Public hearings for amendments to the Lighting Code, a stop sign at Summit St and Underhill Avenue and a park zone sign on Ivy Road were rescheduled to September 15 from September 1.

7. Route 202 ballfields drainage project

The board rejected the single bid for the ballfield drainage improvements, will review the bid specs and go out to bid again in the future for a 2016 project.  (The board authorized going out to bid on October 7, 2014.)

Without stating what the bid price was, the supervisor said it was almost double what the town had anticipated. In response to my questions why there was only one bid, Diana Quast, speaking in her capacity as chairman of the Recreation Commission, said that the specs called for the project to be done this year and that the time frame was too  tight for many potential bidders who already had jobs lined up. A second possible problem was that the specs included penalties if the work was not completed on time.  (There were also provisions about using seed or sod but the details were not clear.)

8. Appointments

John Kincart was reappointed to the Planning Board, Peter Capek was reappointed to the Board of Assessment Review and Noreeen O’Driscoll was appointed Nutrition Site Manager.