[0:13] All right, welcome to our August 19th combination work session and regular

[0:18] combination work session and regular meeting.

[0:19] We'll do the pledge at the start of the regular meeting,

[0:23] which is estimated to be at around 7 PM.

[0:25] And we'll start with our work session items.

[0:28] So the first is an update from the chair of our Sustainability Committee,

[0:33] Lindsay Auden, on battery energy storage systems and our RFI process for them.

[0:39] Okay, the host has disabled my use of screen share.

[0:44] Update that for him, please.

[0:50] Sorry, Lindsay, one minute.

[0:56] Okay, Lindsey, you should be able

[1:04] to do it now.

[1:07] Okay, let's see what happens here.

[1:10] All right, one moment.

[1:13] Okay, hold on, one more step.

[1:16] Just make that full screen so people can see it.

[1:19] One second here. Here we are.

[1:22] Okay, you should be seeing my title

[1:26] slide.

[1:27] Yes.

[1:28] Good. Okay. All right, here we go.

[1:30] Thank you very much for the opportunity to present to Croton Village Board of

[1:35] Trustees on the results of the August request for information to developers of

[1:40] battery energy storage systems, hereinafter known as BESS for short. Okay.

[1:45] In July, we assembled a list of best developers and compiled that from a

[1:49] developers and compiled that from a variety of

[1:50] sources, including a list from NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Office,

[1:55] that listed the approved energy storage contractors.

[1:58] We also went to the professional association of the—

[2:01] of battery companies called BEST, Battery Energy Storage Technology Consortium.

[2:06] And also, I have my own professional contacts in the energy industry.

[2:11] many, many, many others.

[2:12] We found a total of 50 different firms, identified them,

[2:16] and then initial contacts were made to verify their statuses.

[2:20] And in so doing, we had to eliminate 21 of them for various reasons.

[2:24] In some cases, they had been merged with or acquired other best firms,

[2:29] or they were simply no longer in business,

[2:31] or they weren't doing business in the United States,

[2:35] or they just failed to respond to multiple efforts to communicate,

[2:39] including telephone, email, LinkedIn, blah, blah.

[2:42] Which generally indicated that they probably weren't really in business

[2:47] probably weren't really in business anyway.

[2:47] Now, the draft RFI was assembled and approved by the village manager.

[2:51] This was in July. It was distributed to the remaining 29 vendors out of the 50 on

[2:57] August 3rd, with responses due August 17th, which was last Monday.

[3:01] Of that group, 6 vendors provided full responses by the deadline.

[3:05] 3 others bounced back as undeliverable, so we— as far as we're concerned,

[3:10] they're not in business.

[3:11] And the other 20 didn't respond at all and did not bounce back.

[3:15] I expect most of that is due to the fact that they are firms that primarily do

[3:20] larger projects than what we're interested in.

[3:23] We had asked them if they would do projects between 2 and 5 megawatts.

[3:28] Most of the companies in this business are doing work at the utility-scale level,

[3:33] which is 5 to 10 times larger.

[3:35] So, I think they probably looked at us as small potato and didn't bother.

[3:40] Based on experience, we had expected about 4 or 5 responses,

[3:43] so getting 6 was a success. Any questions before I go on?

[3:47] No.

[3:49] Okay. So, let's look at the 6 responders.

[3:52] In alphabetical order, they are Luminase, Microgrid Networks, New Lake Energy,

[3:57] Nine Dot Energy, Orenda Power, and RIC Energy.

[4:00] And I'm sure you've never heard of any of them.

[4:03] Suffice to say that all are well known in the industry.

[4:06] You know, it's not the biggest industry in the world.

[4:10] And they are actively developing projects in our region and/or in New York City.

[4:15] One of them presently has 3 5-megawatt battery energy storage systems operating

[4:20] battery energy storage systems operating in

[4:20] Westchester County. Let's see, Hawthorne, Yorktown, and Ossining.

[4:24] Others have other things being developed in other areas,

[4:28] primarily in the city of New York. So we have our 6 responders.

[4:32] They are backed up by a variety of different financial firms.

[4:36] Primarily, they're all, you know,

[4:38] either startups or companies that are still in the private capital region,

[4:43] so they have support from organizations like Blackstone, Brookfield,

[4:47] and others that you've probably heard, you know,

[4:50] do private equity for a variety of other smaller companies.

[4:54] So the next steps, now that we've got 6 people interested,

[4:58] Next thing I gotta do is summarize the responses to the RFIs in Word and Excel,

[5:03] and that'll be compiled by Labor Day,

[5:05] and I'll have that then ready for review by the village manager.

[5:09] Then, because now we have 6 interested, I'm going to draft a request for

[5:14] I'm going to draft a request for proposals,

[5:15] RFP. I'll assemble that and try to get that out by middle of September with

[5:19] responses by mid-October.

[5:21] If we hadn't gotten any responses to the RFI,

[5:24] I wouldn't have bothered to do the RFP. So I thought I'd wait till the RFI was done.

[5:29] Instead of wasting my time on something that wouldn't go anywhere.

[5:33] If any of the best projects are proposed as a result of the RFP in the middle of

[5:39] October, the sites and proposals that they're discussing will be reviewed by

[5:44] they're discussing will be reviewed by village

[5:44] officials and checked for their feasibility.

[5:47] If any are acceptable, public discussion will then be initiated as desired.

[5:52] If they want to have public meetings or, you know, training session,

[5:56] whatever you want to do,

[5:58] we'll have at least something there to bite on and have people will discuss.

[6:02] That's basically the story. Thank you for your time and attention.

[6:07] I'm open for any questions, comments, or whatever.

[6:10] Thank you, Lindsay.

[6:13] Thank you.

[6:15] Great, great, great presentation, Lindsay. Just a real quick question.

[6:21] Once we get to the RFP process— and I thought the RFI was superbly prepared,

[6:27] so thanks, thanks for that as well— but once,

[6:31] once we get to the RFP process,

[6:34] will the RFP That goes to them include a listing of eligible public parcels?

[6:40] After Bryan Healy and I go through and whittle down the list,

[6:43] it's like he gave me a list of like 70-some-odd properties.

[6:46] I know a bunch of them aren't going to make it right away.

[6:49] We have to look at which ones are zoned properly and all the rest of that.

[6:53] That's the chunk of work between now and the middle of September.

[6:57] I figure there's going to be probably somewhere between 5 and 10 that might make

[7:01] somewhere between 5 and 10 that might make it.

[7:01] The rest are either too close to homes or whatever.

[7:04] And yes, there'll be a list of the properties and also The, um, uh,

[7:07] whatever that tax number is that you need to look it up on the site at the county to

[7:11] see exactly what the boundaries are and all that stuff.

[7:14] They'll be sent that list that's been approved,

[7:17] and then they will look at them and they'll either come up with proposals or

[7:21] they'll either come up with proposals or they

[7:21] say they're all too small or they're all too wet or whatever and come back to us.

[7:25] And just a quick follow-up,

[7:28] and that sounds like a good approach on the parcels.

[7:32] In the RFP, will you,

[7:34] or should we include a ballpark figure for what we're looking for

[7:40] in terms of annual rental fees?

[7:43] I don't think that's wise.

[7:45] We already have a pretty good idea based on preliminaries,

[7:49] and I can give you that number where it ought to come out right now in Westchester

[7:54] County. The going rate is approximately $30,000 a year. per megawatt.

[7:59] So if you had a 5-megawatt installation,

[8:01] you should be expecting that they'll offer you at least $150,000 per year.

[8:06] If not, they're screwing around with us.

[8:09] So that's a ballpark, and I'm hoping it'll be a lot more.

[8:12] Right.

[8:14] And so we would expect them to,

[8:15] to at least understand what the ballpark is these days and maybe,

[8:19] maybe try to wow us, but maybe at least come in at the ballpark level.

[8:23] If they don't, you know, we're not required to do anything.

[8:26] We can drop this thing, come back later.

[8:28] It's just this way we find out if there's anything worth fighting over.

[8:32] Very good. Thank you.

[8:35] I want to ask if it's possible for the Board of Trustees to see the RFP before it

[8:42] goes out.

[8:45] Sure. I have to send it to Brian Healy,

[8:47] and he's got to bless it 7 different ways to Sunday anyway,

[8:50] so I'm sure it'd be fine for you to see that too.

[8:53] I mean, I don't have any issue with sharing it, but generally speaking, the,

[8:58] you know, If the board has agreed to move forward with it,

[9:01] it's an administrative task in actually writing the document and publishing it.

[9:06] So I mean, we can have the conversation either now or later as to whether or not

[9:10] either now or later as to whether or not you

[9:10] want to.

[9:11] I would like to see the parcel list.

[9:13] Yeah.

[9:14] Oh yeah. I mean, we talked about that at one point prior.

[9:18] I think it's going to be— I have to talk to Lindsay about it and see,

[9:22] because there's a lot of parcels where it simply wouldn't be possible, right?

[9:26] For example, We can't install it on parkland because it's not right.

[9:30] It's not allowed by New York State law. So all of those parcels come out.

[9:34] You know, we can't install it at the firehouses because those buildings are

[9:39] firehouses because those buildings are pretty

[9:39] much— those parcels are pretty much taken up by the buildings themselves.

[9:43] So we have to go through the list, which we haven't done yet,

[9:47] and narrow it down so I can report back as to what the,

[9:50] what the potential parcels are.

[9:52] I think that would be really helpful.

[9:54] Because, and thank you for doing all that legwork.

[9:57] Because I know it's a lot of work to go through if you're starting with 70,

[10:01] and you're ending up potentially with 10, however the number is.

[10:05] Yeah.

[10:06] But my question is, what if there are a couple of parcels that meet the criteria,

[10:12] you could connect it to the utility line, etc.,

[10:15] but the board may not feel comfortable with The location, you know,

[10:20] I'm making this up, but maybe it's in a bit of a dense location and it's,

[10:25] it's not a location that we want to entertain.

[10:29] Are we better off crossing it off the list before it goes to an RFP and a vendor

[10:35] spends time on it? Or, you know, I don't know.

[10:38] I mean, that's really, that's really a policy decision for, for you all to make.

[10:43] Um, you know, an RFP is, is just that, it's a request.

[10:46] It's not— there's nothing binding about an RFP. It's not a bid, right?

[10:50] When you do a bid, you generally have to accept the results of the bid as long as

[10:54] it's a responsible bidder, right? That's not the same with an RFP.

[10:58] You have full control over it.

[11:00] You could just say, you know what, we've changed our mind,

[11:03] we don't really want to do a BES at this time,

[11:06] and you don't have to move forward with any of them.

[11:09] I mean, I get the point about not wanting somebody to do all the work if it's

[11:13] something you're not interested in anyway.

[11:16] So, you know, that's something that you could think about.

[11:19] But, you know, I think it—

[11:21] I think what's a good thing is to have me and Lindsay go through the list and narrow

[11:25] it down, because there, there could not—

[11:28] there could very well not be that many parcels that we talked about before,

[11:32] like how many parcels actually could there— correct, there,

[11:35] it may not be a high number at all.

[11:38] Yeah.

[11:38] But I would say also looking at the train station solar array as a comparable

[11:43] example. That came to the board in various permutations a number of times.

[11:48] Yeah, the expectation is that at key, at key moments, whether it's approving,

[11:53] you know, the RFP or different— or not, not the RFP, approving the, the,

[11:58] the selected bidder or other aspects of it, it'll come to the board.

[12:02] Yeah, you would just move it hypothetically through the process, right?

[12:07] You would have to vote to award the RFP, right?

[12:09] So you'd have to select a vendor,

[12:11] and then we would have to write out a lease agreement,

[12:14] which you would then have to approve as well, right?

[12:17] So there's, you know, there would be multiple times, as Trustee Simon was

[12:21] multiple times, as Trustee Simon was saying,

[12:22] that it would come before the board. Yeah.

[12:24] Can you remind me again the zones that this is permitted use in?

[12:29] Uh, it's RA-40, RA-60, light industrial,

[12:34] And central commercial.

[12:37] So central commercial is C2.

[12:43] Okay,

[12:46] any other

[12:49] questions,

[12:54] comments,

[12:58] things?

[13:05] No, just thanks. Thanks so much.

[13:07] Thank you.

[13:08] Very enlightening and promising as well.

[13:10] We'll see. The last time we did this for the train station,

[13:13] it took almost a year to get to anything close to a contract.

[13:17] So, you know, this may be a while before we talk again.

[13:19] Anyway, I think it would be helpful to have a site visit for the Board of

[13:26] have a site visit for the Board of Trustees

[13:26] to go and visit. some of the buses that are out there, Lindsay, that you had

[13:32] are out there, Lindsay, that you had shared,

[13:33] whether in Ossining or, you know, just to look at them.

[13:38] And I know one is in it in the church.

[13:43] No, it's behind— it's behind St.

[13:44] Augustine's Church in Ossining, just over the border from Croton.

[13:48] It's like 5 minutes from here.

[13:49] Lindsay, would our own be comparable in terms of just taking a look at it?

[13:55] At the train station.

[13:58] Um, yeah, it should be.

[13:59] Um, I've got aerial views of all the others that are existing, and, uh,

[14:03] they all look pretty much the same, though.

[14:05] Um, the other ones, the ones that I mentioned, are, um, pretty much surrounded

[14:09] mentioned, are, um, pretty much surrounded by,

[14:10] uh, like, uh, open space. One is near the river.

[14:12] You know, they're, they're not nearly as urbanized, if you will,

[14:16] as the one at the train station.

[14:17] Yeah, that— and I guess looking at your maps again would be helpful,

[14:23] just revisiting that,

[14:25] looking at what is out there and How much space is typically around these areas,

[14:32] you know, because we are getting a bit more dense in the light industrial and the

[14:39] C-2 areas here in Croton. So, you know, I don't know. But I'll do that.

[14:46] I'll go back and just kind of look at the aerial shots of the examples you shared

[14:53] just to see how much surrounding space is open, kind of open space around these.

[15:03] So—

[15:03] The one behind the church was going to be a soccer field,

[15:05] and then for whatever reason they decided not to do the soccer field,

[15:08] so they just plopped it right in the middle and there's still a lot of empty

[15:11] middle and there's still a lot of empty space.

[15:11] I know the guy down at St. Augustine, so that's the easiest one to get to.

[15:14] So if you ever want to set something up, you know,

[15:16] pick a time like a month in advance or something, and I'm sure we can work it

[15:19] something, and I'm sure we can work it out.

[15:20] Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it.

[15:23] Okay, thank you all very much. And I guess I'll say good night then.

[15:27] Thank you.

[15:28] Okay. Bye-bye now.

[15:30] All right. And next is a presentation on the use of principally

[15:36] license plate reading cameras by the Croton-on-Hudson Police

[15:41] Department.

[15:46] All right, hello everyone. Nice to see you all.

[15:51] Chief and Detective,

[15:52] would you mind introducing yourselves for the folks watching online?

[15:54] I'm John Nicotopoulos, Croton-on-Hudson Police Chief.

[15:58] Along with me is Detective Mark Fielding of this department.

[16:02] We're going to give you a little presentation on the license plate readers

[16:07] presentation on the license plate readers that we

[16:08] currently have and maybe future sites if you're interested,

[16:12] but the main thing is to talk about the license plate readers that are currently

[16:18] license plate readers that are currently up.

[16:18] I brought Detective Fielding with me because he is part of the RTC,

[16:23] which we have been part of for the last 8 or 10 years.

[16:27] Real Time Crime Center.

[16:28] Excuse me.

[16:29] Yes.

[16:30] Yeah.

[16:30] Okay.

[16:31] Which is run by the county.

[16:33] Mark goes down there once a week, generally on Monday,

[16:37] and he puts and time and assist down there.

[16:40] He has access to the cameras down there because he's part of the RTC.

[16:45] The cameras we currently have are stationed at Croton Point Avenue and

[16:51] stationed at Croton Point Avenue and Riverside

[16:51] Avenue, and Municipal and Riverside Avenue.

[16:54] They're the 2 sites that are currently up.

[16:57] These cameras are used strictly for crime analysis and solving crimes.

[17:02] The LPR license plate reader is basically fixed to take a picture of the license

[17:08] plate. We really can't see who's operating the car.

[17:12] The cameras are set up to take pictures of the license plates,

[17:16] which helps us with investigation.

[17:19] So we did send you a study or, you know, something that Mark put together together,

[17:25] which you have on the screen.

[17:27] And this has assisted us in numerous cases, and some serious ones,

[17:32] throughout the crime, and, and some,

[17:34] even some little ones that turned into bigger crimes, really.

[17:39] Uh, so I will let Mark, uh, go through the study with you and explain to it,

[17:44] and then we have a couple of little comments that we put together after the

[17:50] comments that we put together after the fact.

[17:51] Okay.

[17:52] All right. Thank you.

[17:53] Good evening. Um, I understand there's obviously some growing concerns about

[17:58] obviously some growing concerns about privacy

[17:58] and data retention and things of that nature.

[18:01] Um, so I just want to clarify that the cameras that we use are not Flock cameras.

[18:06] Okay, it's not a private company that manages data of where people are driving.

[18:11] This is all managed by the Westchester County Police,

[18:15] and it's in the hands of law enforcement.

[18:17] Um, It's—

[18:21] the data is also stored there, so it's not like some cloud.

[18:25] This is, this is all stored there.

[18:27] No third party has access to it, um, and only local police officers can access it,

[18:32] only local, local law enforcement.

[18:34] And like the chief said, uh, it—

[18:36] the cameras take pictures of license plates and vehicles.

[18:40] They're not taking pictures of your face as you're driving.

[18:43] Um, it's just, it's, it's for vehicles.

[18:46] Not even every Croton officer accesses the system.

[18:49] It's just, you know, investigative purposes only.

[18:55] These—

[18:56] we've been using these cameras since before Croton even had them installed in

[19:01] Croton. We've been using the countywide system. They've helped us solve crimes.

[19:06] It's, it's, it's countless.

[19:08] I, I will say that every investigation I conduct in some way, shape,

[19:12] or form We're at least checking LPRs,

[19:15] whether they're in Croton or on the way south to New York City.

[19:19] They're always looked at.

[19:21] They've helped us solve larcenies, burglaries, hit-and-runs, sexual assaults,

[19:26] organized retail theft, scams, fraud, stolen vehicles, narcotics, missing

[19:30] stolen vehicles, narcotics, missing persons.

[19:31] We've had missing person cases where they're not missing from Croton,

[19:35] they're missing from elsewhere.

[19:38] That's right.

[19:38] And they're detected in Croton.

[19:40] So just to give you an idea of like the network and how it works,

[19:44] there's been times where suspect vehicles from other agencies are detected in

[19:49] Croton. Croton has assisted and our officers have stopped the vehicle.

[19:53] And whether it be identifying occupants or it's a stolen car, it gets impounded.

[19:58] There's, there's, there's so many things.

[20:00] Obviously, I have sent A list of some case studies which we could talk about

[20:05] momentarily. I also want to clarify that license plate readers are not automatic

[20:10] probable cause for an arrest.

[20:12] I've seen cases where there's reports— again, I'm not there,

[20:15] I don't know what's happening—

[20:17] where somebody was wrongfully accused based on a license plate reader detection

[20:22] based on a license plate reader detection from

[20:22] Flock camera. I don't know if I necessarily think that is accurate.

[20:26] I mean, who knows what we're being told because we're not there.

[20:30] I But you don't know who's driving that vehicle.

[20:33] A license plate detection is an investigative lead.

[20:36] It's no different than other types of investigative tools that we have,

[20:41] like a criminal history search, a TLO report.

[20:43] There's things that we can use to develop information, and that's what this is.

[20:48] This is just— it leads us to the next step in the investigation.

[20:52] And like I said, we've had countless cases that these have been instrumental in

[20:57] solving for us. Um, do we— do you want to go through each case study, or—

[21:01] Well, for the public, maybe a few, or, you know, just so they— That's a good idea.

[21:09] So I'll go through, and the ones that I think should be highlighted, you know,

[21:13] pointing out that the—

[21:14] that whole document is part of our agenda for tonight for people that want to follow

[21:19] up.

[21:19] Um, in the fall of 2024, we had a missing juvenile.

[21:23] Um, we used a nearby LPR camera to identify,

[21:27] identify a vehicle that arrived to pick up a food order that we, that we saw, um,

[21:33] the juvenile ordered.

[21:35] So we were able to identify the vehicle, uh,

[21:38] based on LPRs at the time it arrived for the food order pickup.

[21:43] Um, and we located the missing juvenile.

[21:47] So again, that's— Obviously every missing juvenile incident is taken very serious.

[21:53] Um, oh, this was, uh, the Gouveia property window damage.

[21:58] Um, you guys have all read through this, I assume?

[22:02] Yeah.

[22:02] Okay. Um, for, for those that weren't working here, uh, in the summer of 2022,

[22:08] the Gouveia windows just kept getting broken.

[22:12] It was 3 or 4 incidents separately, um, very extensive damage, you know,

[22:18] high dollar amount. We didn't have LPRs at the time,

[22:22] and we used the countywide LPRs to ultimately solve and arrest the

[22:28] ultimately solve and arrest the perpetrators of

[22:29] that incident, those incidents. Smash-and-grab burglary.

[22:33] LPRs were instrumental in this one.

[22:36] We were able to link it to a Similar burglary in Secaucus.

[22:41] The vehicle that targeted our business,

[22:44] we were able to link it to a similar burglary of the same type of business in

[22:50] Secaucus, New Jersey. That one's still ongoing. We know who the suspects are.

[22:57] I don't know if it's going to move forward. Nursing home burglary.

[23:02] This one is still ongoing as well,

[23:05] and I don't know if this one is going to be closed with the rest.

[23:10] The subjects live in a different state.

[23:13] And we were able to use the license plate readers, including Flock in this case,

[23:20] to show that the suspect vehicle not only was in Croton at the time of the crime,

[23:26] but was in another state at the time of a—

[23:30] the time a stolen credit card was used in that vicinity.

[23:34] So that also gives you the idea of, you know, the network is what works.

[23:40] This one, February 2023, counterfeit currency arrest.

[23:44] I believe this one, a known counterfeit currency vehicle,

[23:49] someone who operates this vehicle has done counterfeit currency incidents in the

[23:56] past, was detected by our license plate reader.

[23:59] Which in turn led our officers to go investigate and stop the vehicle just

[24:05] investigate and stop the vehicle just after it

[24:06] had attempted to use counterfeit currency in Croton.

[24:10] Turned into a pursuit, and I believe the suspect was arrested.

[24:15] We've had a couple of these, so I'm just not positive on that one.

[24:21] Do you get alerted when the—

[24:23] if you're looking for a suspect and he's connected to

[24:28] a certain license plate?

[24:31] Yes.

[24:31] Do you get an alert?

[24:32] Yes. So not directly.

[24:33] These cases could be— they've committed this offense in other jurisdictions,

[24:38] this offense in other jurisdictions, right,

[24:38] which we would have no idea of knowing unless you're talking to that person,

[24:43] that officer directly.

[24:44] So the alert list is through the county system, the Real-Time Crime Center.

[24:49] So they have the alerts.

[24:51] So if somebody— like if we have an unsolved counterfeit currency case,

[24:55] we would Send that to the Real Time Crime Center, and which our suspect—

[24:59] we'd identify our suspect vehicle, and it would get added to an alert list.

[25:04] And if that vehicle is detected anywhere in the network, not FLOC,

[25:08] this is the local, you know, the Westchester network,

[25:12] all agencies get an alert about it.

[25:14] It goes out over what's called the hotline radio.

[25:17] Okay.

[25:19] So that's how we're involved.

[25:20] If another agency has a suspect vehicle that's detected in Croton,

[25:23] That's how sometimes we stop the vehicle here because we know it's here based on

[25:27] here because we know it's here based on the

[25:27] alert.

[25:27] And a lot of these people are repeat offenders.

[25:31] That's right. Yeah, exactly.

[25:32] Elsewhere.

[25:33] And then, you know, so we just continue to build the case with other agencies.

[25:36] Summer of 2023, fatal motorcycle accident.

[25:39] Without really getting into details of the accident, the—

[25:44] there was a second vehicle involved that fled the scene.

[25:48] And using license plate reads,

[25:51] we were able to identify the suspect vehicle that was missing a piece of its,

[25:57] you know, missing a piece of its mirror that was found at the scene.

[26:02] So instrumental in solving this.

[26:05] Detective, I want to point out, just from having read some of these,

[26:08] you're summarizing them, which is great,

[26:10] but there's a lot of detective work that goes into this before you even get to the

[26:15] LPR.

[26:15] Yeah.

[26:15] Yeah, a lot. Like, just this took around 3 days of searching LPRs to find this car.

[26:22] Right.

[26:23] So there is a— and that's what I— to my point before,

[26:25] that an LPR read is not just automatic probable cause for an arrest.

[26:29] If your car is detected in the area during that motorcycle accident,

[26:32] you're not going to be arrested for this crime of leaving the scene.

[26:36] There's so much more investigative work that goes on behind the scenes.

[26:39] This is just an investigative lead.

[26:42] And presumably in some cases, maybe a lot of them,

[26:44] there's a lot of work that you have to do before you even reach for the LPR.

[26:48] Yeah, I mean, that's not even including like the investigation at the scene,

[26:53] scene processing, right?

[26:55] We're not— we're typically not opening license plate readers before we actually

[27:00] license plate readers before we actually know

[27:00] what we have after our investigation at the scene.

[27:04] In certain instances, that does happen.

[27:06] If somebody fled, you know, you may want to see where they're going because Again,

[27:12] to my point that it's not probable cause for an arrest,

[27:16] we still have to identify who was driving.

[27:18] If a vehicle flees the scene and doesn't get stopped before it reaches its

[27:23] destination, we may never find out who was driving it because an argument could be

[27:29] made that, you know, this, this guy wasn't driving that, it was somebody else,

[27:34] and we don't know because we didn't stop them at the time it was driving.

[27:39] So typically it's best to get the alerts out there sooner rather than later.

[27:44] So it can get stopped around the time that the crime occurred,

[27:48] and we could identify who was involved. Another smash-and-grab burglary.

[27:53] I believe this one was over $20,000 worth of proceeds.

[27:57] Again, without the LPRs on this, I don't know if this gets solved.

[28:01] This was our LPR at Croton Point Avenue was the one that detected this vehicle.

[28:07] And again, instrumental in making an arrest on this.

[28:10] Member of service stolen license plate.

[28:13] Someone that works here had their license plate get stolen.

[28:17] Now typically, if you notice your license plate is missing,

[28:21] You may not automatically assume that it's stolen, right?

[28:25] It could have just fallen off somewhere,

[28:27] except when it's detected in an alert that it was detected by an LPR read on a

[28:32] different car. Then you know that there's some criminal activity afoot.

[28:37] So that happened to somebody close to home because they're an employee here.

[28:42] So that car was detected.

[28:44] Unfortunately, that was the only time the plate was ever used again,

[28:49] and no arrest was made. We were not able to identify—

[28:52] Who was driving it.

[28:53] the perpetrators. Stolen envelope of cash,

[28:56] our license plate reader at Municipal Place detected that one.

[29:01] Stolen vehicle, October of 2023. It was detected traveling north on Route 9.

[29:08] And we responded out there and it drove past us and we were able to stop it

[29:14] and close out that case for Peekskill Police.

[29:18] Does the board want to continue going through these?

[29:22] Or do you want to spend some time asking?

[29:25] Yeah, I mean, I think we can ask some questions.

[29:29] Yeah. Sure.

[29:31] So I mean, the police work and the, you know,

[29:35] the need for the license plate readers, I mean,

[29:39] from a crime-solving perspective is very essential.

[29:43] But, you know, with the concerns of the public for privacy,

[29:48] I just want to sort of talk through that a little bit.

[29:52] So just to reiterate,

[29:54] the system that we have our license plate readers on is run by Westchester County,

[30:01] correct? That system is not run by a third party, correct?

[30:05] And that system is not out there for consumption in any way, correct?

[30:11] Correct.

[30:12] When we use Flock, right, because we don't have Flock cameras here, but there—

[30:17] it's a network. Like, can you just explain that?

[30:20] So, um, yeah, Flock cameras, I mean, I'm sure you've seen the maps.

[30:23] There's a lot of them.

[30:25] Yeah.

[30:25] Um, so I personally don't have access to Flock.

[30:28] Uh, what I, what I have to do if I need to see if a vehicle was detected by a

[30:33] different license plate reader besides the ones that are in West Chester,

[30:37] I have to send an official request I make a request to other agencies,

[30:41] whether it be the State Police Crime Analysis Center,

[30:44] and they provide me with the reads that I was asking for.

[30:48] It's not just like I pop in and peek at who was doing what.

[30:51] It's an official request. I need a case number.

[30:54] It has to be an active criminal investigation.

[30:57] And again, those are different than how the Westchester ones work.

[31:01] Do you have any— part of the issue is that there is a Flock

[31:05] camera map, right? And some of our cameras are on that map.

[31:10] Correct.

[31:10] And do you have any idea why that would be the case?

[31:13] So I don't expect somebody who's organizing like an anti-license plate

[31:16] organizing like an anti-license plate reader

[31:17] movement to know the difference between Flock or ReCore or Westchester.

[31:20] You know, it's just different equipment, different databases.

[31:23] So that particular map isn't coming from Flock itself, it's coming from—

[31:27] That's coming from, I think, people that are seeing them.

[31:29] Yeah. If you look at the map and you hover over the ones that are in the Village,

[31:35] you'll see that they do label it as Ricoh.

[31:38] So, but it's, you know,

[31:40] they just list all cameras on that website regardless of what model or what

[31:46] company they are.

[31:47] The general consensus is they're all Flock.

[31:51] Yes, because people don't know the difference.

[31:53] It's like using Xerox for photocopying.

[31:56] Correct.

[31:57] Correct.

[31:58] And I don't expect them to know the difference by looking at it.

[32:01] You know, they— you could definitely see that we have cameras when you drive past

[32:05] the sites.

[32:05] So when you look on that website, though, it looks like— like, does—

[32:10] I assume the town of Cortland must have cameras because they're—

[32:15] they use the county police.

[32:18] I mean, they're all over the county.

[32:19] If it's in Westchester—

[32:20] When you look on that website, whether or not it's accurate, I mean, we can, like,

[32:25] debate, like, you know, people get information on the internet.

[32:28] So, like, I don't know if it's accurate or not.

[32:31] I just know when I pull up the website what I see.

[32:34] And when I run my license plate number through the have you been flocked, you

[32:38] through the have you been flocked, you know,

[32:38] there's a lot of information out there, accurate or not.

[32:42] But it doesn't, that doesn't show any cameras in Cortland.

[32:45] It only shows cameras in Croton.

[32:47] Then whoever organized the website may have missed the ones in Cortland.

[32:51] I think that's why people are thinking it's flocked.

[32:54] I don't, I think what all this says to me is, and people have questions,

[32:59] people talk, I mean, we talk about this at PAC every single meeting.

[33:03] That's why we're here.

[33:04] But I sort of, the way when I saw this, the way it was set up on the agenda,

[33:09] I kind of thought we were gonna have like more of an overall conversation about,

[33:14] and maybe I walked in a few minutes late, so maybe we did, what all the cameras are,

[33:19] what the difference is, you know, like the body cameras,

[33:23] Body cam is a whole different thing than this, but it's all cameras.

[33:27] And I think there is an opportunity to educate the public.

[33:31] I'll just speak for myself.

[33:32] I want you guys to be in a position to do your job and to be safe and to be safe

[33:37] from being harmed and also to be safe from being accused of something that a body

[33:42] cam would, would be able to protect you from.

[33:45] But at the same time, Citizens are super concerned.

[33:48] You're being monitored everywhere you go.

[33:51] And like, I mean, there is a, there's a huge lawsuit going on.

[33:55] It's not like it's coming from nowhere. I don't think, you know.

[33:58] Yeah.

[33:59] So I think that people's concerns are real.

[34:01] So I do think that if we're gonna have cameras, which we do,

[34:04] and it sounds like we're gonna have others, there is,

[34:07] we do have some responsibility to explain to people Maybe not show them exactly

[34:12] where they are, because again, we talk about this in PAC, you know,

[34:15] what's the right way to have signage, right?

[34:18] Should we point out exactly where they are, or should we just say like,

[34:21] there are cameras? Like when you pull onto a school ground, it says,

[34:25] this is monitored by cameras.

[34:27] It doesn't say— Smile, you're on camera.

[34:29] But I, you know, I do think there's an opportunity and a responsibility for us to

[34:34] opportunity and a responsibility for us to be

[34:34] educating people about what's going on.

[34:36] We—

[34:36] the relationship with the police department is fabulous.

[34:39] But when you feel like you're being monitored and what's happening with that

[34:44] footage— also, our contract is not with the county and it's not with you,

[34:48] it's with ReCore. And we don't— do we know what they're doing?

[34:51] Like, is that a— can you speak to that? So what are they doing?

[34:54] I can speak to that.

[34:56] Um, the county is actually moving away from ReCore and keeping everything

[35:00] from ReCore and keeping everything entirely

[35:00] on premise at Westchester County PD.

[35:02] So they're gonna— but it's also like the infrastructure,

[35:05] like the county PD has the Technological infrastructure to be able to run the

[35:09] county, like do all whatever the back end of it that RECORR would do?

[35:12] It's already almost complete, the transition.

[35:15] And actually, another— this, I was going to mention this later—

[35:18] another positive thing about this is that we're going to save a lot of money on

[35:21] maintenance fees. We pay annual fees for the RECORR service,

[35:24] which the county is not going to continue charging once it's been migrated to their

[35:28] system.

[35:29] Okay. So does that mean that we need a new contract with I mean,

[35:33] if the county presents us with one, I'm based on, based on the information, right,

[35:39] that we have, we don't have a— we don't,

[35:42] we don't have an existing intermunicipal agreement with them.

[35:47] I would like to suggest that we talk about that, discuss that.

[35:51] I know we don't have an agreement with them now on this,

[35:55] which is why there are a lot of unknown questions. questions, right?

[36:00] Like, we don't, we don't know how they're using the data other than what you're

[36:05] telling us.

[36:06] How—

[36:07] who's using the data?

[36:08] The county.

[36:08] Okay.

[36:09] That's what the county is.

[36:10] It's odd to me that we wouldn't have a municipal agreement with the county over

[36:15] municipal agreement with the county over the—

[36:16] I mean, the only reason we get some access to the cameras is because Mark happens to

[36:20] work there once a week. There are a lot of agencies that don't have people there.

[36:24] A lot of them But, you know, like Mark said, if you have to,

[36:28] you would have to request information from the county then to get it correct.

[36:32] You know, I mean, we just happen to have some of our staff work there.

[36:35] So we're— we can get it a little easier.

[36:37] But so we're on county computers when we are in the county offices looking at the

[36:43] footage.

[36:44] When I go there?

[36:45] Yes.

[36:46] Yeah.

[36:46] So when you—

[36:47] what do you see?

[36:48] Like, do you see a car? Do you see Do you see just a license plate?

[36:51] Like, what do you see?

[36:53] You see a picture of the car and a zoomed-out picture of the

[36:58] license plate. And yeah, it's a very clear photo.

[37:02] And so you cannot view this footage from Croton?

[37:08] I can. Yes, I can review it at my desk.

[37:10] You can review it once you have it.

[37:12] You could put more part of it there.

[37:13] So you download it.

[37:15] It's essentially a login.

[37:17] Oh, okay.

[37:18] Yeah.

[37:18] Okay.

[37:19] So it's like in the cloud somewhere?

[37:20] No, it's at Westchester County PD physical storage.

[37:23] So do you have to VPN into the—

[37:25] No.

[37:26] No.

[37:26] So then I don't understand how you get access to it from here.

[37:31] So they keep the data physically at County PD, and I can log in to that.

[37:38] So that's basically a VPN, right?

[37:40] I mean, that's— I don't know if I'd—

[37:42] I don't know.

[37:42] Yeah, I mean, that's the only way you can get down there, I would imagine.

[37:45] Sounds like it.

[37:46] Yeah, because you're remotely logging into their system.

[37:49] It's— I mean, yeah, I guess so. I don't know if that's the same as when you're

[37:54] know if that's the same as when you're out.

[37:54] But I also think some of these questions are not—

[37:56] I appreciate all the questions that you can answer.

[37:58] Like, I have questions that there's no possible way you could answer about data

[38:02] storage and things like that. Like, this conversation is much—

[38:05] So even, even Like before the transition from RECOR to county doing it themselves,

[38:09] um, RECOR didn't even store the data for the county.

[38:12] The county has always stored the data.

[38:15] Um, but RECOR owns it because RECOR is the company that—

[38:19] We were just using— and again, this is more a question for county, but, um,

[38:24] just to be able to, to search, we'd use their system.

[38:27] But it was all Westchester County data, was Westchester County data.

[38:31] I think it's not like Flock collecting data and storing it in their server or

[38:35] data and storing it in their server or their

[38:35] cloud. It was always controlled by Westchester.

[38:38] Yeah, I guess I just have data security issues that I don't even— I mean,

[38:42] I'm not a data security expert, but I have a lot of data security concerns,

[38:46] not just about this, about, you know, medical records,

[38:49] whatever kind of records you have that are out there. Right. I'm sure we all do.

[38:53] So I feel like that's the component of this conversation that's missing.

[38:57] I am grateful that you guys are able to Tell us all these successes you've had

[39:01] Tell us all these successes you've had that

[39:02] you wouldn't have had without the cameras.

[39:04] But that, I feel like there's a piece of, a big chunk of this pie,

[39:07] of this conversation that we can't just have.

[39:10] It's helpful to hear how beneficial it is to you and technically how you use it and

[39:14] why it's important, but—

[39:16] It needs to be with the county.

[39:17] And the county is not able to talk about it at the moment.

[39:20] Well, but there's gotta be somebody, I don't, I mean, I guess—

[39:24] I know I'm not a computer scientist,

[39:25] but I do know that this is not part of any national network, right?

[39:29] Somebody from a federal agency would still need to contact the county police to get

[39:33] data. It's controlled by law enforcement. It's not controlled by Flock.

[39:36] Okay, I know that's a big concern is, okay, if it's controlled by Flock,

[39:40] who can ask Flock for the information, right? That's not happening here.

[39:43] This is the county that you have to go through and you need an active

[39:47] through and you need an active investigation

[39:47] to get data from them.

[39:49] And they need a case number.

[39:50] You need a case number, yes.

[39:51] So, Detective, you were talking about making a request of some of the

[39:54] making a request of some of the third-party

[39:55] networks.

[39:55] Correct, like a Find Your Truck.

[39:56] And then you were saying, it's not like that for us.

[40:00] Can you elaborate on— and when you say us, you mean dealing with,

[40:04] obviously, the Canadians?

[40:05] Local, local, local, yes.

[40:06] So can you elaborate on what it is like? Do you need a written request, et cetera?

[40:10] So, because I work at the RTC, I do— I can log in myself and—

[40:13] conduct my investigation.

[40:14] Other agencies that need data from the RTC would have to submit a request to them.

[40:19] And again, I can't speak for them.

[40:20] I don't work— I'm not a county police officer who's assigned.

[40:23] I just am a Croton cop who's assigned there.

[40:26] But I know that, like I gave you the example before, when I need FLOC,

[40:29] I have to submit an official written request.

[40:32] It's similar to, you know, again, I know there's data and privacy concerns.

[40:36] You go into a local business, like You know, ShopRite, for example, your face,

[40:40] they have a facial recognition camera that it's like I'm sitting here right next to

[40:44] you. That's how clear the photo is.

[40:46] If I need that as a law enforcement officer,

[40:48] I have to send an official written request and then I can obtain that, right?

[40:52] So that's the same thing with license plate readers, except it's not your face,

[40:56] it's just your license plate.

[40:58] Well, and identifying, like, you know,

[41:00] I think you can see identifying pieces of the car.

[41:02] Sometimes you can see, sometimes in the license plate reader, because whenever,

[41:06] like, If you get a picture of a ticket, you know, in the city, if you get a—

[41:09] you can see that it's not just the license plate.

[41:12] You can see the license plate in the picture, but it's like your car.

[41:15] They can— you can't necessarily make out a face, but—

[41:18] Well, yeah, so I'm talking like specifically about, you know,

[41:20] like probable cause for an arrest.

[41:22] There's no way you could use a photo that was taken by the license plate reader to

[41:26] say, oh yeah, that's John Nikitopoulos and he, you know.

[41:29] And I don't know if you might have walked in after I said this,

[41:32] being detained Being detected by a license plate reader is not probable cause for an

[41:36] arrest. I've seen reports that somebody got arrested because the Flock camera

[41:39] detected them. That's not how it works. I don't know what those reports are.

[41:43] You still need other investigative steps because your car being there does not mean

[41:47] you committed the crime, if that makes sense.

[41:49] I just want to—

[41:50] We believe that the county tells us the truth, obviously.

[41:53] We don't think they're hiding anything from us.

[41:56] They're telling us it's kept in-house. We believe that.

[41:59] Mark is part of the team down there and he has access to it.

[42:02] You know, we don't use them for anything else other than investigative leads.

[42:06] You know, Mark's just not going on there saying, oh,

[42:09] let me see who's driving through Croton. You know, we don't do that stuff.

[42:13] Yeah, I don't mean like,

[42:15] I'm not worried about you guys using it for those kind of reasons.

[42:18] I'm not, you know, you misusing it is not my concern.

[42:22] Well, I don't believe that the county's misusing it either. You know, as I said.

[42:26] No, but it's where it is after that and it sounds like we're not Totally sure.

[42:31] I don't feel totally confident from what they tell us that everything is kept

[42:35] in-house down there.

[42:36] It's kept in-house.

[42:36] You know, that's—

[42:37] so why can't we have a municipal agreement with the county with them putting that in

[42:44] writing to the village?

[42:46] Because right now we have, we have an agreement with RECOR,

[42:51] and one of the issues is it's on— it's a public contract.

[42:56] And so in the contract,

[42:58] and this is what's kind of making the public nervous is that there's—

[43:03] under data rights, the contract says user retains all rights and ownership.

[43:10] The provider may use the operational data for—

[43:14] and it says use with other governmental or quasi-governmental agencies.

[43:19] That is in our RECOR contract. That's what's making the public nervous as well.

[43:26] It's— from what you're saying, this— that's not hap— like, it's not happening.

[43:33] Well, a governmental agency can, with a case number,

[43:36] can contact the county police and get an investigative lead or data that they're

[43:41] seeking. It's a governmental agency.

[43:43] It's not like, you know,

[43:44] some random person Who's curious about what's going on can contact them and

[43:49] what's going on can contact them and obtain

[43:49] that. Which, again, I don't know if that's the case for FLOC,

[43:53] because FLOC is third party, right? That's, that's the concern.

[43:57] In this case, the governmental agency would have to contact the county for the

[44:02] would have to contact the county for the data.

[44:02] Correct.

[44:03] Yes.

[44:03] But in our contract, the county is not the provider. RECOR is the provider.

[44:09] I thought you said the user. The user.

[44:12] We're the user.

[44:13] Okay.

[44:14] Yeah. And in our contract—

[44:16] It says both.

[44:16] Okay.

[44:17] Right?

[44:17] So, I mean, you know, I have it up.

[44:20] I don't want to misquote it,

[44:23] but it talks about the provider may use the operational data for—

[44:29] and if RECOR is the provider and we're the user, in this case,

[44:34] that's wrong. It's creating misinformation, if you will,

[44:39] because The county is the provider of the data.

[44:43] Unless we'd have to look at this in a little more detail.

[44:48] Yeah, I mean, I'm not— I thought the— what we signed back in '22, thank you,

[44:53] had to do more with the maintenance of the equipment.

[44:59] Correct.

[44:59] Right.

[44:59] So because it's okay, take a look at the contract. It's in Exhibit C.

[45:04] And this is what was posted Online.

[45:07] Yep.

[45:07] Was also making the public—

[45:10] yeah. And in terms of an IMA with the county, I'm certainly not opposed to that.

[45:15] But that would need to be at the— the county would need to request that.

[45:19] Yeah, would need to do that. You know, they, they generate the IMAs.

[45:25] So, so we have no— there's no intermunicipal agreement in

[45:30] terms of You know, Detective Fielding being in that building

[45:35] or—

[45:35] Not that I'm aware of.

[45:38] Equipment or anything like that, right?

[45:40] No, it's more of a—

[45:42] Agency agreement.

[45:44] Yeah, it's more like the mutual aid situation, right?

[45:47] Where we have, you know,

[45:49] Detective Fielding works 5 days a week and one of his 5 days he's assigned to work

[45:54] at the RTC. So it's just, that's where he reports.

[45:58] So when you're reporting to that facility,

[46:00] are you looking at active cases?

[46:02] Like, what are you sort of spending your time doing?

[46:06] Well, it depends on what's going on in that particular day,

[46:10] but I'm free to work on my own cases.

[46:12] If it's a slow day there, I can work on my own cases that, you know, from Croton,

[46:18] because I'm employed by Croton.

[46:20] Like, my primary responsibility is obviously to solve crimes that occurred in

[46:26] Croton. So, yeah, I mean, I think that's kind of getting away from the—

[46:31] Right.

[46:32] So you're not really looking at the license plate readers?

[46:35] I do when I'm there. Yeah.

[46:38] Yeah.

[46:38] They have, they have full-time, they have full-time, you know,

[46:41] officers that are monitoring the license plate readers for alerts and things like

[46:45] that. That's not my primary responsibility there.

[46:48] So I do look at the license plate readers there if I'm investigating something or if

[46:52] they need assistance with something. It's kind of like as needed, you know.

[46:56] You know, and we know the information is going there because counties are the ones

[46:59] that come and hook up the cameras for us.

[47:01] Yeah, they do the installation.

[47:02] They're the ones that install, which saves us, which saves us a lot of money.

[47:05] You know, we just get the equipment and they come and hook it up.

[47:08] Right.

[47:09] Attorney, can I ask you, Lori, don't mean to put you on the spot, Lori Lee.

[47:15] But how do these intermunicipal agreements work?

[47:19] Does it have to start from the county, or could we draft something up?

[47:25] And— No, it would, it would be a county IMA.

[47:29] They generate it using their forms of contract, and they send it to us.

[47:35] So it's generated as it starts the county.

[47:39] So is this Do all municipalities who are using this have this?

[47:43] Is this—

[47:43] I mean, is this the contract they have?

[47:45] All of those municipalities are contracted with ReCore, or some—

[47:49] nobody's contracted with the county?

[47:51] I can't speak for other agencies, but I know that the system was ReCore.

[47:55] Like, ReCore has our maintenance fees. That's just the equipment they used.

[47:59] So now there's going to be—

[48:01] I don't know if they're going to send something new out for us now that they're

[48:05] switching away from ReCore. Again, because I, I can't speak for what they're doing.

[48:10] But if an agency is participating in having license plate readers installed, I

[48:14] having license plate readers installed, I mean,

[48:14] I think they're free to use whoever they choose.

[48:17] But if they want to be on this county network,

[48:20] they'd have to go through ReCore for now.

[48:22] If the county is going to take on maintenance of the system going forward,

[48:26] and they're going to expect us— if they're going to charge us,

[48:29] or even if they're not going to charge us,

[48:31] I would imagine that there would be some sort of I agree.

[48:34] And then you terminate ReCore, maybe.

[48:37] I would assume so. If the county is taking over the

[48:41] maintenance, there would be no need for us to have ReCore

[48:45] anymore.

[48:45] They're not totally transitioned yet.

[48:48] It's close, but not quite there.

[48:50] We'd retain the ReCore hardware, and then the county would—

[48:54] So the hardware that we have is—

[48:56] there's multiple manufacturers of the hardware that's used to install this.

[49:01] The cameras themselves, I think, are manufactured by Mobotix.

[49:05] So once— and again, I didn't organize this whole thing—

[49:09] once they migrate to the county system,

[49:12] I don't think we're going to be dealing with ReCore at all anymore.

[49:17] So getting ReCore out of the storage system doesn't affect the hardware or

[49:21] system doesn't affect the hardware or anything

[49:21] like that?

[49:22] No, it shouldn't.

[49:24] I think, and this is a suggestion of Stacey, Trustee Nachtaler, I mean,

[49:28] I think that there's an opportunity for us to have a Q&A sort of developed with the

[49:33] information that you've shared with us this evening,

[49:36] information that we have from the county,

[49:39] and then sort of what's unanswered from the county, and be clear,

[49:43] because there are some questions that the county is no longer able to answer due to

[49:48] the lawsuit. So I think we just need to be clear to the community that, you know,

[49:53] what you're seeing on the internet is not true in terms of, you know,

[49:57] these are not flock cams.

[49:59] Maybe explaining— I mean,

[50:01] I learned a lot in terms of what a flock cam even was this evening.

[50:05] Really understanding sort of the difference between a third-party system,

[50:09] what we're currently using in the county,

[50:12] the county's aspirations to move it entirely in-house,

[50:15] kind of all those things in a, you know, in a way that the public can understand

[50:20] in a way that the public can understand it.

[50:20] And hopefully, you know, ease some fear.

[50:23] I mean, we're just not living in the same world that we were living in in 2022,

[50:28] unfortunately. So there's a great,

[50:30] great amount of distrust of the government right now.

[50:33] Well, clear, you know, and I also think that, I mean, you know, when we,

[50:38] we got that communication from our county legislator regarding the Q&A that the

[50:43] county is in the process of Putting together or wants to put together once

[50:47] together or wants to put together once the—

[50:47] I don't remember exactly what this— where we were with that.

[50:51] But there is an advocacy piece that we should be doing, asking the county to—

[50:56] she is advocating for—

[50:57] to her colleagues and the county staff to put together this Q&A.

[51:01] But her ask to us was we should be doing the same thing.

[51:05] There are only so many questions Detective Fielding can answer,

[51:09] and I really do appreciate it.

[51:10] Good.

[51:11] I'm sorry for putting you on the spot.

[51:12] No, no.

[51:12] I know you're not a data expert, but I think this conversation, the questions,

[51:18] some of the questions we have, you can't possibly answer.

[51:21] But that is definitely not making them go away for me.

[51:25] I feel a little, I feel like I have more information than I did.

[51:29] And it is great to see how successful some of the, this has been for us,

[51:34] but I don't feel any better about the cameras than I did before we put this on

[51:39] cameras than I did before we put this on as a

[51:40] topic. So I guess my question, you know, I want to keep the conversation going.

[51:45] You know, and I guess drafting a Q&A is a good first start,

[51:49] but also the advocacy piece,

[51:51] because we need to understand we're just guessing if we're not getting the

[51:56] information from the county.

[51:57] Yeah, well, and, and to what Trustee Nicholson said, right, I mean, I'm—

[52:02] if I'm putting up Putting together a Q&A, I'm not going to guess, right?

[52:06] I mean, if there are things that we don't know the answer to,

[52:09] we just have to say we are not able to get the answers to these questions at this

[52:14] time. And I mean, the county is not going to comment on pending litigation, right?

[52:19] I mean, there's not—

[52:20] But I think sometimes an answer is we don't know.

[52:22] We don't know an answer is an answer.

[52:24] That's what I just said.

[52:25] Right. But I think that I would not leave that question off just because because we

[52:29] don't have an answer.

[52:29] I think the more transparent we can be— yeah, I'm agreeing with you.

[52:32] Okay.

[52:33] Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[52:34] You know, it's just that there are going to be some things that we don't know the

[52:38] answer to. So we have to say it, say that. Yeah.

[52:40] Yeah. Can I ask a question just for clarification of the detective?

[52:47] Is the license plate reader cameras the same as the red light

[52:53] cameras?

[52:54] No, the license plate cameras They don't issue tickets, which is the primary,

[53:00] I think, responsibility of the red light cameras, right?

[53:04] They'll send you a fee in the mail for not stopping for a red light.

[53:09] The license plate cameras are not that.

[53:12] They take photos of the vehicle as it passes and stores that for investigative

[53:18] leads.

[53:18] Okay, so you don't see the drivers?

[53:22] Like I think one of the trustees mentioned,

[53:25] You might see a human being driving the vehicle.

[53:28] You might be able to tell it's a female, not a man.

[53:31] Correct.

[53:32] You know, something like that.

[53:33] A red shirt versus a blue shirt, things like that.

[53:35] But there's nothing that's gonna automatically give somebody probable cause

[53:39] automatically give somebody probable cause for an

[53:40] arrest because of a picture that was taken of the car.

[53:43] It's just, you're— there's so many— so much glass involved.

[53:46] Think about it, the windshield, the side windows, window tints,

[53:49] it's almost impossible to see in the Vehicle, you know, and then like,

[53:53] I just hone in on the plate. Correct.

[53:55] Right. I think that that's an important point for the public, is that we can—

[54:03] those of us who know the vernacular, we can say it's not probable cause.

[54:08] But perhaps that would be part of the Q&A or the FAQ to explain exactly what that

[54:15] means. Probable cause means you can make an arrest based upon this one Photograph.

[54:22] Yeah, there's other investigative steps that need to take place once you identify

[54:26] that need to take place once you identify a

[54:27] suspect vehicle.

[54:27] Thank you.

[54:29] Yeah.

[54:30] Welcome.

[54:30] So it was earlier mentioned that not all the officers in the department have

[54:36] access to, you know, the, the LPR data from the Real Time Crime Center.

[54:41] I assume— well, Detective Fielding obviously does. Chief, I assume you do.

[54:47] What other What would— what other situation would, you know, create—

[54:52] why would an officer have access?

[54:54] We generally try and keep it in-house to supervisors and stuff like that.

[55:00] There are a couple of officers that like to follow up on some of their own

[55:05] cases, so we may give them temporary access to use it to follow up on their own

[55:11] cases.

[55:11] Okay. So as a general matter, it's the detectives, sergeants,

[55:15] and on a temporary basis, officers?

[55:17] Generally supervisors and above. Okay.

[55:21] But all sworn law enforcement?

[55:24] Yeah.

[55:24] Which is also important.

[55:25] Yeah.

[55:25] Anyone using the system has to go to Westchester County?

[55:31] No, no, no.

[55:33] You can log in?

[55:34] Correct.

[55:41] You know, we didn't touch base on the ones in the cars.

[55:44] We do have ones in some of the patrol cars that, you know, I mean,

[55:47] the officers are driving around and it reads the license plates as they go by.

[55:51] And it may pop up on the screen that this car has a suspended license,

[55:55] that's probable cause to pull them over, you know, and stuff like that.

[55:59] So, you know, we do have several of those also.

[56:02] Correct.

[56:03] We keep that data In-house?

[56:06] It's on the same, same system.

[56:07] Same system.

[56:08] Same system.

[56:09] Yeah.

[56:09] What about our parking enforcement?

[56:10] That's, that's non-law enforcement.

[56:13] So that's just used for enforcement and for permits.

[56:17] So they don't have access to that.

[56:20] Correct.

[56:21] And we're not really storing that either.

[56:23] Not that I'm aware of. Yeah.

[56:26] So that's just, it's just, you know,

[56:29] maintained by our parking permit vendor.

[56:33] You know, the big thing with our cameras is we're not using them to focus on any

[56:38] particular person, group, or anything else.

[56:41] They're just used for investigative purposes if we need them.

[56:44] Okay, other than that, they just sit there and take pictures of plates.

[56:48] And I think a big concern with the Flock,

[56:51] this Flock movement that seems to be growing, is, uh, you know, who,

[56:55] who has access to it, who can access it, who is Flock giving it to, right?

[56:59] In our situation, We know who has access to it—

[57:02] cops that work in Westchester and Putnam, right?

[57:05] Or who are assigned to the Real Time Crime Center.

[57:07] So it's not just some random third-party company that happened to grow nationwide

[57:12] and is giving the data out.

[57:14] But in your experience with FLOC, you are required to share a case number.

[57:20] Correct. And I don't even deal with FLOC directly.

[57:23] I deal with a crime analysis center that then takes a day or two to get me the

[57:28] results that I'm looking for.

[57:30] So it's not like I can just log in and peek at what's going on with Flock.

[57:34] There's a process, which I imagine is the same process for an outside agency looking

[57:39] to get data from the county police. Hey, I'm investigating this.

[57:43] This is my case number. I'm looking for this crime window in this location, right?

[57:48] And the county police, again, I don't work for them, They, I'm sure,

[57:52] have their policy on how to answer those things,

[57:55] but I know that a lawful request for information, I'm sure they would provide.

[58:00] So who would work on this FAQ?

[58:04] Is it like, would it start with you,

[58:09] manager, and then you would get the input

[58:15] from— Detective.

[58:17] Yeah, I mean, I'll have to— I will talk to the chief about it and see.

[58:21] Yeah.

[58:21] So, but we'll combine our forces and put it together.

[58:27] Yeah. Thank you.

[58:27] And then from a timeline perspective on kind of a

[58:31] separate issue, where are we at with the body cams?

[58:35] The body cams, the manager and I have a meeting tomorrow.

[58:40] We're going to try and finalize the policies we have.

[58:45] Once we finalize them,

[58:46] we have to send them back to Lexipol because they're the only ones that can

[58:53] because they're the only ones that can edit

[58:53] what we changed. Okay, once we get that back,

[58:57] we're going to put it in part of our policies.

[59:01] We're going to send it out to the rank and file so that they have a copy of it.

[59:07] I have a meeting scheduled for September 9th, I believe, to sit down.

[59:13] It's going to be a staff meeting with the supervisors.

[59:17] We're going to start to explain what the policy and program is about.

[59:23] We have the cameras right now.

[59:25] Okay.

[59:26] They're in. We don't have them in the cars yet.

[59:29] That's going to be coming soon too,

[59:31] because you'll have both body cams and you'll have cameras in the cars.

[59:36] We're hoping to have this rolled out.

[59:38] We're hoping to have it rolled out by the end of September,

[59:42] where people start using them. That's our, that's our goal.

[59:45] We're hoping to achieve that.

[59:47] So just from a communications perspective to the public, I think—

[59:52] Yeah, we need to, we need to have a comprehensive message.

[59:56] Another FAQ and maybe video. Yeah.

[1:00:00] Yep.

[1:00:02] And then what, you know, I would like to see the policy, you know,

[1:00:07] just to understand what it is.

[1:00:09] Yeah, we've been working—

[1:00:10] Kind of an overview of what it is.

[1:00:11] We've been working with Labor Council for a while now.

[1:00:14] I mean, there were, there were, there were some breaks in between,

[1:00:18] but we've probably been working on it for 4 or 5 months, going back and forth about,

[1:00:22] you know, what to include, what not to include, what, you know,

[1:00:26] what needs to be revised.

[1:00:27] And that's— hopefully we're having our final meeting tomorrow where we can all

[1:00:31] final meeting tomorrow where we can all come

[1:00:32] to An agreement.

[1:00:33] And that data is being housed by our—

[1:00:37] Housed in-house, right?

[1:00:40] Housed in-house.

[1:00:41] Yeah.

[1:00:41] The body cam data?

[1:00:42] Yeah.

[1:00:42] Aren't we paying $50,000 a year for cloud storage?

[1:00:45] Yes, but it goes to a cloud storage for— to keep the, you know, so cool.

[1:00:50] So we have it for an indefinite period of time.

[1:00:54] But, you know, it's housed so we can just access it. So that's our goal.

[1:00:59] Hopefully by, you know, October 1st, you know, we can have everything operational.

[1:01:04] We may have it sooner, it may be a couple weeks later, but we're going to have them.

[1:01:10] Like I said, the, the equipment is in now.

[1:01:13] We have to start setting it up, we have to start assigning,

[1:01:17] but we want to get the policy done because we don't know, you know,

[1:01:22] it is a It is a subject that we have to negotiate with the union on.

[1:01:26] So we have to make sure that they don't have any issues with the policy too.

[1:01:32] So the policy might change a little after we finalize it.

[1:01:36] But I mean, we've already— we've had initial conversations with the, with the

[1:01:40] initial conversations with the, with the union,

[1:01:40] with the union.

[1:01:41] So, so yeah, we don't see anything coming out of that.

[1:01:46] I know cloud storage makes the public anxious because of how it could be

[1:01:51] hacked, or, you know, so if, as you're reviewing the policy,

[1:01:56] if you could just shed a little light about this cloud storage,

[1:02:02] the protections that are on it.

[1:02:04] Sure.

[1:02:05] Thank you.

[1:02:06] Yep.

[1:02:07] It would be great in the FAQ is if we saw a mocked-up picture or an actual picture

[1:02:12] with obviously no— but just kind of what you see, just to give people an idea.

[1:02:16] of like, this is a car with a license plate kind of thing blown up,

[1:02:20] just so people can understand a little bit about, you know, what it is,

[1:02:25] how much detail you're seeing?

[1:02:27] I could certainly check with the county police

[1:02:30] about what we'd be able to release and get back to

[1:02:35] you.

[1:02:35] Yeah, I mean, if need be,

[1:02:36] we could have just one of the police vehicles go through and pull the plate.

[1:02:39] I think we might have their own people to do something.

[1:02:41] Yeah.

[1:02:41] Okay.

[1:02:43] You know, because it'll be our cars and stuff like that.

[1:02:46] So, so that's where we are with, with all that.

[1:02:49] So I'm hoping to get it implemented very soon.

[1:02:52] Yeah, thank you so much.

[1:02:54] It's a lot of work pulling that together,

[1:02:57] but the public is super grateful, I, I'm sure,

[1:03:00] for seeing how it's used.

[1:03:02] Of course.

[1:03:03] Thank you.

[1:03:03] Well, I mean, if any questions develop out of tonight,

[1:03:06] you can let us know and we'll answer them for you. Thank you.

[1:03:09] Thank you.

[1:03:10] You're welcome.

[1:03:10] Thank you, Detective.

[1:03:11] You're welcome.

[1:03:12] Good evening.

[1:03:12] Have a good night.

[1:03:13] Thank you.

[1:03:13] Can we take like a 3-minute break?

[1:03:17] Yeah, we can take 3 minutes break.

[1:03:18] Let personnel switch around here.

[1:03:59] Statement from the county.

[1:04:01] What she did was give like a personal assurance that the county would never use

[1:04:05] assurance that the county would never use this

[1:04:05] for or would never hand it over. But that's not— that was like her personal

[1:04:09] that's not— that was like her personal opinion.

[1:04:10] And that's the way any legislator, any, anyone would have answered it.

[1:04:13] I understand why she did. But I think the ask needs to be directly to the county.

[1:04:18] We need to see, as you said, what their policy looks like.

[1:04:21] And we need to understand because I don't—

[1:04:23] the county doesn't own it.

[1:04:24] RECOR owns it.

[1:04:25] Right.

[1:04:25] And we have no idea what RECORP, absolutely no idea what RECORP is doing.

[1:04:28] So—

[1:04:29] Not—

[1:04:30] She's on vacation?

[1:04:31] No.

[1:04:32] I know that this is on.

[1:04:33] All right, well—

[1:04:35] Should we break it?

[1:04:37] Yeah, just don't—

[1:04:40] this is—

[1:04:40] we're not meeting— this is not—

[1:04:42] let's stop.

[1:04:42] I don't feel like my questions were necessarily answered

[1:04:48] by the people we— Had,

[1:04:50] not because they couldn't answer it.

[1:04:53] Yes.

[1:04:54] Because they couldn't answer it, not because they weren't answering it.

[1:04:57] It's the beginning of a process, as with all things.

[1:05:48] You can make that smaller.

[1:05:49] The kids off to

[1:05:53] school now?

[1:05:55] Isabel left.

[1:05:58] Isabel went Sunday. Frankie's going a week from Friday.

[1:06:03] So it's like madness.

[1:06:05] Madness.

[1:06:07] You have a dog, right?

[1:06:09] Uh, yeah, so we're gonna return— we're gonna begin a regular session.

[1:06:13] Um, so we've concluded our work session,

[1:06:16] so please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[1:06:19] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of

[1:06:24] America and to the republic for which it stands,

[1:06:28] one nation under God, indivisible,

[1:06:32] with liberty and justice for all.

[1:06:35] All right, our first item of

[1:06:40] business is the approval of

[1:06:45] vouchers.

[1:06:46] Yes, Wednesday, August 5th meeting.

[1:06:52] General fund is $545,512.10.

[1:06:56] Water fund, $54,368.97.

[1:07:02] The sewer fund is $2,204.31.

[1:07:06] Capital fund, $152,208.52. And trust fund, $8,490.02.

[1:07:13] Uh, do I have a motion to approve?

[1:07:17] So moved.

[1:07:18] Second.

[1:07:19] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. All in favor?

[1:07:22] Aye.

[1:07:23] All right.

[1:07:26] We have the next warrant.

[1:07:27] Oh, okay. Excuse me.

[1:07:29] Next warrant, August 19th.

[1:07:31] General fund, $182,077.50.

[1:07:34] Water fund, $12,054.52.

[1:07:37] Sewer fund, $3,807.15.

[1:07:43] And the capital fund, $810,638.15.

[1:07:44] Do I have a motion to approve?

[1:07:49] So moved.

[1:07:50] Second.

[1:07:51] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. All in favor?

[1:07:56] Aye.

[1:07:57] All right, we proceed to responses to questions submitted via email. Manager?

[1:08:01] No questions, Mayor.

[1:08:02] All right, very good. We proceed to public comment on agenda items.

[1:08:05] Anyone with any, uh, who would like to speak to any item on the agenda,

[1:08:09] this is your opportunity. Uh, please state your name and address.

[1:08:12] All speakers have 5 minutes.

[1:08:14] Good evening, uh, Manager, Mayor, and members of the board. I'm Tom Kaplan.

[1:08:18] I'm a captain in the fire department.

[1:08:20] And I have the privilege of chairing our Fire Prevention Committee.

[1:08:24] I'm here tonight to provide a brief update on our upcoming fire prevention and

[1:08:29] education programs heading into our busiest season.

[1:08:32] The National Fire Protection Association's annual Fire Prevention Week kicks off on

[1:08:36] Sunday, October 4th, 2026.

[1:08:38] To mark the occasion, the fire department will host our annual Fire Fair,

[1:08:42] a staple event we've proudly held right here in the village for over 30 years.

[1:08:47] We invite you all and all members of the public to join us on October 4th from 1 to

[1:08:52] 5 PM at our Harmon Firehouse.

[1:08:53] This year's theme builds on last year's Charge into Fire Safety:

[1:08:57] Safe Charging is a Superpower.

[1:08:59] The NFPA is continuing to report an increase in battery-related fires,

[1:09:03] which underscores the critical need for public education and safe use of

[1:09:07] public education and safe use of lithium-ion

[1:09:08] batteries and devices.

[1:09:09] Accordingly, we're in the final stages of coordinating our senior outreach and local

[1:09:14] school assemblies. leading up to Fire Prevention Week,

[1:09:17] along with updating our website and social media materials.

[1:09:20] I would be remiss if I didn't express our committee's deep appreciation for the

[1:09:25] support of our entire department.

[1:09:27] These dedicated volunteers not only give up their time to train and respond to

[1:09:31] alarms, but they also prepare and execute these vital public relations initiatives

[1:09:36] year-round. I'd also like to thank the numerous village departments that make

[1:09:41] numerous village departments that make fire

[1:09:41] fair possible— EMS, engineering, police, public works, recreation—

[1:09:45] and all the amazing staff office.

[1:09:46] We're also teaming up with several outside agencies.

[1:09:50] This includes having the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services

[1:09:54] Communications Division on site this year for our Learn to Call 911 station.

[1:09:58] Kids will get to talk to a live dispatcher learning how to call 911.

[1:10:02] Additionally, we've secured sponsorships from several local business partners for

[1:10:07] various fire safety stations.

[1:10:09] This is an arrangement that significantly reduces our overall cost and strengthens

[1:10:13] our ties with the Croton business community.

[1:10:16] Finally, we're extremely grateful to the board for your consideration in funding a

[1:10:21] new Sparky the Fire Dog costume.

[1:10:23] Because our previous costume served us well for over a decade,

[1:10:26] this new suit will be a lasting tool for the village for several years to come.

[1:10:31] It's a tremendous asset for engaging the public with our messaging,

[1:10:35] and we're hopeful that Sparky's cousin Smokey the Bear may pay us a visit as

[1:10:39] Smokey the Bear may pay us a visit as we're

[1:10:39] in coordination with the New York State—

[1:10:42] Thank you.

[1:10:42] Forest Service. With the exception of Sparky,

[1:10:44] we've secured all the other resources required for this year's event.

[1:10:47] We can't wait to see everyone there, and we thank you very much for your support.

[1:10:51] Thank you.

[1:10:52] Thank you.

[1:10:53] Thank you.

[1:10:54] Wait, can I ask you a question?

[1:10:55] Are you asking for the funding for Sparky for this year's event?

[1:10:58] Uh, yes, ma'am, and I believe there is a resolution on the agenda tonight,

[1:11:03] so we're eager, uh, we're eager to see if that passes through, and then, uh, we're,

[1:11:08] we're prepared to cut that Fantastic.

[1:11:10] Thank you.

[1:11:11] Thank you.

[1:11:11] Mayor, is it appropriate to talk about the presentation that you had previously?

[1:11:19] Yes, that was— that would— I'll count that as an agenda item. So, yep.

[1:11:23] Joe Stringy, Assistant Fire Chief.

[1:11:26] As you heard Tom just mention, the increase in battery fires that he

[1:11:30] increase in battery fires that he mentioned,

[1:11:31] according to the NFPA,

[1:11:32] and of course we've had a few in our own village of those things,

[1:11:36] makes this a concern for us because obviously we have to protect it all.

[1:11:41] The battery storage systems that Lindsay talked about, when we get to, you know,

[1:11:46] siting them, a couple things concern me.

[1:11:49] One is, you know, location, location, location, exposures that we have to

[1:11:54] location, exposures that we have to protect,

[1:11:54] things of that nature.

[1:11:56] But the other thing that I need to consider at this point in time is we don't

[1:12:01] consider at this point in time is we don't have

[1:12:01] all of the information we should have and need for the current battery storage area.

[1:12:06] I can't tell you honestly, after doing this job for the last 8 months,

[1:12:11] whether it's on or off. They were nice enough to provide us with a walkthrough.

[1:12:16] Is there battery storage taking place? Are those systems loaded?

[1:12:20] I can't say I know for sure. I think that's a good question.

[1:12:24] But there's things such as the fire safety plan, additional fire training.

[1:12:29] Well, they did do a walkthrough with us a few months ago.

[1:12:33] All of the things that are required, um, I don't believe are in place.

[1:12:37] An example, that the Knox box they installed,

[1:12:40] which was very nice so we could gain access to the facility, has nothing in it.

[1:12:46] Another example, I know you've had some ups and downs,

[1:12:49] or they've had some ups and downs with the contractor, the management of Location,

[1:12:54] change of ownership, whatever the case may be.

[1:12:57] But before we start going into more battery systems in the village, A,

[1:13:02] we want to play a role in that, which I'm sure we will,

[1:13:06] and we want to understand the areas that they're going to go into because we've got

[1:13:11] to protect them. The other thing that's a little bit outside the box is, I guess,

[1:13:16] a question to Brian.

[1:13:18] Do we require financials from these investment companies Lindsay started out

[1:13:23] investment companies Lindsay started out saying

[1:13:23] there was 100 of them, and we only heard from 6,

[1:13:26] and a lot of them have been in business, out of business, sold, this, that,

[1:13:31] and the other thing.

[1:13:32] I'm hoping that we do get financials from them to see how solvent they are,

[1:13:37] and are they going to move forward with us in a progressive way as an entity and not

[1:13:43] just make an installation for us and find out in a year or 2 or 5.

[1:13:47] Okay.

[1:13:48] That they're no longer in business or somebody else bought them and they don't

[1:13:53] somebody else bought them and they don't care

[1:13:53] about battery systems that are placed in our village.

[1:13:57] So that's something that I think the RFP should absolutely contain,

[1:14:01] which I think is important to know what their financial status is of any one of

[1:14:07] those companies, especially after listening to Lindsay's— some of his

[1:14:11] listening to Lindsay's— some of his explanations.

[1:14:12] And that's it.

[1:14:14] That's it for right now.

[1:14:14] Thank you. Thank you.

[1:14:16] Thank you.

[1:14:17] I think it's just important to point out that the battery system that's at the

[1:14:25] train station, as well as the future systems that may or may not be researched

[1:14:33] further, are lithium iron phosphate.

[1:14:36] They are not the lithium-ion that have caught fire in previous places.

[1:14:43] The lithium iron phosphate is much more durable.

[1:14:48] Yeah. But the chief raises good points and we'll—

[1:14:52] Well, I will investigate his other, his other points.

[1:14:55] You know, I'm not, I'm not aware of what the answers are right now.

[1:15:00] Just learning about them now. All right. Thank you.

[1:15:03] Ed Riley from Truesdale Drive. Thank you to the chief for bringing those 2 items

[1:15:09] to the chief for bringing those 2 items up.

[1:15:10] It's a shocker to know that the fire department,

[1:15:13] who has to respond everywhere and more than usual to a government-run railroad

[1:15:19] than usual to a government-run railroad and

[1:15:20] the facilities nearby, does not—

[1:15:22] has not been told the status of a very controversial type of power accumulation.

[1:15:28] And the first thing I—

[1:15:30] when he mentioned that they went to 41 companies or whatever and half of them are

[1:15:36] out of business, we've seen this before with buses,

[1:15:40] electric buses and everything else under the sun.

[1:15:44] So thank you very much, Chief, for bringing those up.

[1:15:48] It's also interesting based upon the camera presentation by the police

[1:15:53] camera presentation by the police department is

[1:15:54] probably half the crimes are solved with private cameras.

[1:15:59] I provided information from my cameras on Truesdale Drive for people stealing checks

[1:16:05] out of mailboxes and stuff like that. Sometimes we have them, sometimes we

[1:16:11] Sometimes we have them, sometimes we don't.

[1:16:11] And, and I hope they continue to rely on that.

[1:16:15] What concerns me is the state of New York just passed a law that says The state or

[1:16:21] any one of its functionaries,

[1:16:23] including the Village of Croton and their police department,

[1:16:28] can't cooperate with federal authorities on illegal immigrants,

[1:16:33] and that there are now 27,000 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes which the

[1:16:39] immigrants convicted of crimes which the state

[1:16:39] of New York is not going to share information with the federal government.

[1:16:45] If that's the case, I hope the federal government doesn't share any money with

[1:16:51] government doesn't share any money with them.

[1:16:51] that would be appropriate.

[1:16:53] And that's 17,000 convicted illegal immigrants in the city of New York.

[1:16:59] The city will not be able to share the status of those criminals with the federal

[1:17:05] government. So I would— and then I would like to know, oh well,

[1:17:10] we'll do it for criminals, we'll do it for murderers, we'll do it for rapists.

[1:17:16] That's what you said when the state of New York and its governor and its assembly

[1:17:22] and its Senate passed no cash bail for murderers, rapists, burglars,

[1:17:27] and everybody else that committed crimes in New York. We don't trust you.

[1:17:33] You're not trustworthy. I'm sorry.

[1:17:35] So, um, I hope that— it's certainly a big issue with cameras and license plates.

[1:17:42] Uh, also, a lot of the stuff on here has to do with, um,

[1:17:46] environmental review of projects. There's 3 items on here.

[1:17:50] Yes.

[1:17:52] Um, and that the current proposal,

[1:17:54] which is creating so much heat besides bringing pot to Croton,

[1:17:58] which was a decision by the village board, irrevocable, which shouldn't be,

[1:18:04] but it's irrevocable, is to build a—

[1:18:06] to encourage a 49-unit project across from ShopRite, which, like the other project,

[1:18:12] which was built by a,

[1:18:13] a contractor with a good reputation as opposed to a contractor with a bad

[1:18:18] reputation. The one that's completed, which is mostly luxury, is well built.

[1:18:23] It just looks like crap, but it's well built, and it was built too high.

[1:18:28] In other words, the top deck is perfectly viewable by the people on Van Wyck Street,

[1:18:34] a place they used to live, so I know a lot about that.

[1:18:38] And its elevator and its appurtenances are too high,

[1:18:41] necessitating that that contractor come back,

[1:18:44] rebuild the reinforcement structures on that hill about 3 different times and

[1:18:49] that hill about 3 different times and plant

[1:18:50] trees, which then block the view of some of the people on Van Wyck Street.

[1:18:55] So it looks like we're headed down the same road.

[1:18:58] And just for the review, I'd like to remind people,

[1:19:02] one of the worst offenders for pollution besides the state of New York and its park

[1:19:07] system and its railroad is Westchester County sewer system.

[1:19:11] And that they not once but twice,

[1:19:13] the sewer system of Westchester County has broken and dumped effluent into the

[1:19:19] Hudson River system and the Croton system,

[1:19:22] so much so that the Croton River was shut down, I believe, for a month,

[1:19:26] and the Hudson the Hudson River was shut down for two months during the summertime

[1:19:32] when it gets hot and people are supposed to go swimming at places like Croton Point

[1:19:38] and the Hudson River, and.

[1:19:39] denied you revenue because you couldn't put canoes and kayaks on the Croton River.

[1:19:45] Not that it's a lot of money.

[1:19:47] So, and that sewer system,

[1:19:49] which these major projects which you encourage because there's 2 members of

[1:19:54] encourage because there's 2 members of your

[1:19:54] board want to be a housing state housing community where you pledge to change the

[1:20:00] complexion of the community and to encourage regional planning as opposed to

[1:20:05] encourage regional planning as opposed to local

[1:20:05] planning. Which is what the citizens of Croton elected you to do.

[1:20:10] Thank you.

[1:20:12] Thank you.

[1:20:13] Hi, thank you. Um, my name is Nora Regis-Odland. I'm on Van Wyck Street.

[1:20:18] Uh, I am, uh, speaking today about the—

[1:20:21] I know it's to schedule the public hearing on Local Law 10.

[1:20:25] But I did want to just address it now so that— because I have concerns,

[1:20:30] and hopefully we can revise it before scheduling needs to occur.

[1:20:35] I understand that something about the pigeons was rooted in health risks.

[1:20:40] However, I know Manager Healy has done a lot of research,

[1:20:44] and my friend Kate Elliott and I have as well, and pigeons don't carry bird flu.

[1:20:50] I know that there have been other members of the public that are concerned about

[1:20:56] that. Pigeons don't carry bird flu.

[1:20:58] Their biggest risk comes from their droppings when they are dried.

[1:21:03] But even that, it's a disease I can't pronounce, pituitosis, comes from—

[1:21:08] there's only been 10 confirmed cases by the CDC over the past 16 years.

[1:21:14] And most of the symptoms, they're flu-like.

[1:21:17] It's not pleasant, but it only has like a 15% mortality rate.

[1:21:21] Pigeon— not pigeons, Chickens, on the other hand, actually do carry bird flu.

[1:21:27] And I think that we should keep backyard chickens.

[1:21:30] I like the resolutions about backyard chickens personally.

[1:21:34] A friend mentioned that New York State sells them in groups of 6,

[1:21:39] so that might be something to go back and look at. But I like chickens.

[1:21:44] We aren't thinking about banning chickens.

[1:21:47] So I, with my remaining time,

[1:21:49] I'm going to read Kate's letter because I think it's really good.

[1:21:54] Okay.

[1:21:55] Hi, to the mayor and board of trustees.

[1:21:57] I'm writing because I'm having a hard time understanding the need for a complete ban

[1:22:01] on keeping pigeons in the village, and I keep coming back to one basic question:

[1:22:06] what is this specific problem the ban is trying to solve?

[1:22:09] If the concern is public health,

[1:22:11] I'd like to understand what evidence shows that responsibly kept domestic pigeons

[1:22:15] pose a meaningful risk.

[1:22:16] If the concern is cleanliness, odor, noise, or overcrowding,

[1:22:20] Those are issues that can be addressed directly through reasonable rules—

[1:22:24] sanitation standards, limits on flock size, housing requirements,

[1:22:27] enforcement of existing nuisance laws.

[1:22:29] Those kinds of regulations would address the actual concerns without banning pigeon

[1:22:34] keeping altogether. I was also struck by comments from the May 27th work session

[1:22:38] where the village attorney reportedly suggested that even a temporary moratorium

[1:22:43] might be excessive, given that only one resident has expressed interest in keeping

[1:22:47] pigeons. If that's the case,

[1:22:49] it's hard to understand why a permanent village-wide prohibition is now being

[1:22:53] considered, especially one that would exist and impact an existing keeper and

[1:22:57] exist and impact an existing keeper and his

[1:22:57] birds. I'm also concerned about the decision to not grandfather existing

[1:23:01] decision to not grandfather existing pigeons.

[1:23:02] Tarrytown was mentioned as a nearby example where pigeon keeping is prohibited

[1:23:06] example where pigeon keeping is prohibited but

[1:23:06] existing owners are grandfathered in.

[1:23:08] That feels like a reasonable and humane compromise here.

[1:23:11] If the village believes a ban is necessary going forward,

[1:23:14] Why not allow the current flock to remain?

[1:23:17] If the board is rejecting that option,

[1:23:19] I'd appreciate an explanation of what specific harm would result from allowing

[1:23:23] specific harm would result from allowing these

[1:23:23] existing birds to stay under reasonable conditions.

[1:23:26] I also want to ask how pigeons being defined— would domesticated doves be

[1:23:30] defined— would domesticated doves be included?

[1:23:30] Since pigeons and doves are part of the same biological family,

[1:23:34] that distinction matters, and it should be spelled out clearly in any law.

[1:23:38] Finally, I hope the board will consider the animals themselves.

[1:23:41] Pigeons are intelligent social animals that form strong bonds with each other and

[1:23:46] with their caretakers.

[1:23:47] Asking someone to disperse an established flock isn't just regulating a hobby.

[1:23:51] It has real consequences for living creatures that have formed a home and

[1:23:55] creatures that have formed a home and social

[1:23:56] structure here in Croton.

[1:23:57] I am not arguing for unlimited or unregulated pigeon keeping.

[1:24:00] If there's legitimate concerns, they should be addressed.

[1:24:03] But regulation and prohibition are not the same thing,

[1:24:06] and a ban should require a clear, well-supported justification.

[1:24:10] I'm going to skip her questions because you guys have them, um,

[1:24:13] and just go with her closer because it was good. Also, hi Kate.

[1:24:17] Um, if there's a specific issue at a specific property,

[1:24:20] that should be addressed directly,

[1:24:22] but a village-wide ban feels like a very broad solution to what appears to be a

[1:24:26] broad solution to what appears to be a very

[1:24:26] limited situation. Croton's a community that values fairness and thoughtful

[1:24:30] decision-making, and I hope those values guide this process.

[1:24:34] At a minimum, I ask the board to reconsider grandfathering the existing

[1:24:37] reconsider grandfathering the existing birds so

[1:24:38] they can remain with their owner. Thank you.

[1:24:40] Thank you. Thank you.

[1:24:42] Thank you.

[1:24:49] Yes, of course.

[1:24:51] Hi everyone. First, I feel like I'm—

[1:24:56] Sir, would you mind stating your name and address?

[1:24:57] Uh, my name is Tony. I live on 148 Old Post Road North.

[1:25:01] I'm the owner of the pigeons.

[1:25:04] I feel like I own an explanation to the town because I know a lot of people,

[1:25:09] they've been supporting me and a lot of people, they have questions.

[1:25:14] So the pigeons I have, I tried to explain last time,

[1:25:18] but I think you guys were in a rush or something.

[1:25:22] So the pigeons I have, I vaccinate them 2 to 3 times a year. I train them well.

[1:25:28] I release them once, once a day, probably 1 or 2 hours just for training.

[1:25:33] I feed them on the wood feeder. They don't get fed on the floor or outside.

[1:25:39] As a specific person keeps describing them, they're like rats or roaches.

[1:25:44] They're not. They're blessed by Jesus Christ. I feed them well.

[1:25:49] I vaccinate them 2 to 3 times a year. I train them well.

[1:25:53] I feed them on the wood feeder. I water them. They have their can.

[1:25:58] It's not like they drink anywhere.

[1:26:01] They have grids on the floor, which means they won't be eating bad food.

[1:26:06] So they're not going to contain— it's hard to explain myself.

[1:26:11] So it's not like they're going to get disease from other pigeons because the

[1:26:16] disease from other pigeons because the food

[1:26:17] they eat, they only eat it from the clean Like feeder where I give it to them.

[1:26:23] Whatever comes out, it goes down the grid,

[1:26:26] and I clean them like 2 to 3 times a week.

[1:26:29] So it's not like they're gonna eat bad food and get disease.

[1:26:33] And honestly, I never heard about people having problems for pigeons getting

[1:26:39] different disease, which a person is— again, I— it's been mentioning, um,

[1:26:44] trying to explain himself, I guess, trying to give people bad ideas.

[1:26:50] So, uh, I don't know, like, it's,

[1:26:52] it's very hard for me to explain myself probably in English to you guys and

[1:26:58] understand me well, but I've been keeping them since I was 6 years old.

[1:27:03] I never have any problems from, from them.

[1:27:06] Um, my father had them I got this from him. He died.

[1:27:10] He passed from from this world, and I feel like they're my memories from him.

[1:27:16] So, so like dividing me from them is just I I just can't see myself without them.

[1:27:22] I specifically bought this house for them because first of all,

[1:27:27] when I saw the house, I searched.

[1:27:29] This town, it shows like I'm so I could keep pigeons, and that was a law.

[1:27:35] So, and then I wanted to make sure I called the village;

[1:27:39] they told me I can keep the pigeons.

[1:27:41] I emailed just to have a proof; they told me I can keep the pigeons.

[1:27:46] So now it feels like personal to me trying to remove them.

[1:27:51] And as I mentioned the last time, it I mean this town is amazing.

[1:27:56] It seems like everybody like it's very respectful, but it seems like.

[1:28:01] Somehow somebody got it personal with me, which I don't even know the reason why.

[1:28:07] But I don't understand why should I be separated from them?

[1:28:11] I don't understand why they should be removed if I got done everything right

[1:28:17] removed if I got done everything right from

[1:28:17] the beginning, pulled the permit, done the shed right,

[1:28:21] get the get the approved to keep them.

[1:28:24] So I would really appreciate if I could get an answer for that,

[1:28:29] and I just need to know what I done wrong.

[1:28:32] Like, why do you guys have to remove them if I done everything right from the

[1:28:38] beginning? So that is all.

[1:28:40] If anybody from town, they have any questions after this, I could explain.

[1:28:45] I could try to explain. I could answer any questions you guys have.

[1:28:50] It's not like I read something because I didn't even know I'm supposed to stand

[1:28:56] didn't even know I'm supposed to stand here

[1:28:57] and talk. I thought I was just supposed to listen.

[1:29:00] 'Cause I just noticed yesterday this, this meeting is happening.

[1:29:05] I didn't even know I'm supposed to stand and talk,

[1:29:09] but I wasn't prepared for everything.

[1:29:12] But if anybody has any questions after we're done here,

[1:29:16] I would be more than happy to explain myself for everything.

[1:29:20] Thank you so much for your time.

[1:29:23] Thank you very much.

[1:29:24] Thank you. Yeah.

[1:29:25] I'm sorry for the loss of your father.

[1:29:27] Thank you.

[1:29:37] Anyone else wishing to comment on any agenda items?

[1:29:39] Mayor, I'll just note that we received a number of

[1:29:43] written comments which are posted as part of the agenda

[1:29:47] backup.

[1:29:47] Thank you, Manager.

[1:29:49] Yep.

[1:29:50] And thank you for coming out to speak.

[1:29:52] I know that this is a topic of a lot of interest, and again,

[1:29:55] as was previously noted, there will be a public hearing on this.

[1:29:59] The board is not making a final decision tonight. Thank you.

[1:30:02] All right, report from the village manager.

[1:30:05] Oh, thank you.

[1:30:08] Okay, so just a few items this evening.

[1:30:12] The first item I wanted to talk about was PFAS and the water supply.

[1:30:18] I understand that there was a some commentary about this late last week.

[1:30:24] Our water supply is safe.

[1:30:26] It does have some low levels of PFAS contamination, which are well below the

[1:30:33] contamination, which are well below the state,

[1:30:34] the state and federal guidelines.

[1:30:37] The exact levels are listed in our water quality report that gets sent out to every

[1:30:44] user of the Um, of the water system and is available on the village website.

[1:30:51] Um, but there is no, no reason that the public should have any immediate concerns.

[1:30:58] We constantly monitor the water quality.

[1:31:02] Uh, the water is tested on a regular basis, and, uh,

[1:31:06] the test results are sent to Westchester County.

[1:31:10] And, um, you know, we have a very, uh,

[1:31:14] Competent water department that maintains our water pumps and our water supply.

[1:31:21] And if there was at any point an issue or concern, you know,

[1:31:26] we would immediately communicate that with, with all the,

[1:31:31] all the residents of the village.

[1:31:34] Um, that being said, you know,

[1:31:37] we do want to take steps to recoup whatever funds we can so that if there

[1:31:43] whatever funds we can so that if there needs to

[1:31:44] be potential remediation in the future, you know,

[1:31:48] the residents and the ratepayers of the water fund do not have to fund that.

[1:31:55] Why should, why should residents have to pay the costs of what corporations did,

[1:32:02] you know, 30 years ago?

[1:32:04] So back in 2023, the board did retain this law firm to represent us in these various

[1:32:11] lawsuits. To date, we have Recouped over $1 million in, in funds for this,

[1:32:18] $1,078,778 to be exact.

[1:32:20] And these funds are in the,

[1:32:22] in the water fund and can be used for future projects related to the water

[1:32:29] future projects related to the water system.

[1:32:30] So those funds came from the corporations that voluntarily agreed to settle.

[1:32:36] With the attorney.

[1:32:38] Transaction.

[1:32:39] Correct. Yeah, with our law firm.

[1:32:41] Um, the remaining, uh, companies that did not settle were—

[1:32:46] a lawsuit was filed against them last week.

[1:32:49] And so we will now, uh, you know, this law firm, which is not our,

[1:32:54] our village law firm, it's a special counsel, uh, law firm, uh, you know,

[1:32:59] they're going to represent us as this case moves forward, and we will see what the,

[1:33:05] um, you know, what the verdict is on that.

[1:33:09] So are there any questions on that before I move into the rest of my report?

[1:33:15] Thank you, Manager. Where is the report located on the annual water quality

[1:33:21] located on the annual water quality report?

[1:33:21] Yeah, so you can get to it either on the water department page, okay,

[1:33:25] or if under the Citizen Action Center, if you Click public documents,

[1:33:29] all of the water reports are listed there.

[1:33:31] Thank you.

[1:33:32] Yep.

[1:33:32] I was going to mention, Mayor— Manager, we are,

[1:33:37] we are part of the National Rural Water Association.

[1:33:41] We're not rural, but—

[1:33:43] It's kind of funny, but yes, it's based on population.

[1:33:46] I worked with them for many years, great organization,

[1:33:50] and their members are smaller water systems like ours.

[1:33:53] So much of our legal work, legal activity has gone through that.

[1:33:57] Yes, correct.

[1:33:59] And they, as I mentioned,

[1:34:01] they're well respected for what they do both legislatively and legally.

[1:34:05] Thank you.

[1:34:06] Yep.

[1:34:09] Okay, just an update on the food scrap program.

[1:34:12] I reached out to our coordinator and she let me know that we currently have 229

[1:34:18] families that are participating.

[1:34:20] So we did see a slight uptick since we released our PSA on the program,

[1:34:25] but there is still room for 70 more families to participate.

[1:34:29] So if there's anyone interested, you know, we can—

[1:34:33] you can either contact my office or just go on the village website and get the

[1:34:38] contact information for the food scrap program,

[1:34:42] and we'll be more than happy to put you in touch with, with the right people.

[1:34:47] Uh, in terms of leaf blower violations, we have issued a total of 16 this year.

[1:34:53] So there's been 3 additional violations issued since the last meeting.

[1:34:58] Uh, and are those to landscapers as well?

[1:35:02] Uh, I mean, the enforcement—

[1:35:04] the enforcement officer has the discretion as to whether or not to issue it to the

[1:35:09] homeowner or to the landscaper.

[1:35:11] Uh, generally, our practice has been that You know, the homeowner has been—

[1:35:16] I should say the property owner has been receiving the violation.

[1:35:20] Okay.

[1:35:22] Yep. The Half Moon Bay Bridge project is moving along.

[1:35:26] I feel like I say that at almost every meeting, but it is true.

[1:35:31] Our final plans, specifications, and estimate, or the PS&E,

[1:35:36] has been submitted to New York State DOT, and that was submitted on Monday.

[1:35:42] They are going to be reviewing that.

[1:35:45] We have received some additional funding from New York State towards this project.

[1:35:51] So the bond that the board approved in June, which was for $1,250,000,

[1:35:57] we most likely will not have to take out because of this additional funding from

[1:36:03] because of this additional funding from the

[1:36:04] state. So we're very happy about that. So more to come on that.

[1:36:09] The Farrington Road steps, the railing is going to be installed over the next weeks,

[1:36:15] or the railings on either side.

[1:36:18] And then once that's done, they will be ready to open.

[1:36:22] So DPW thinks by the end of next week,

[1:36:25] they'll be open just in time for school to begin.

[1:36:29] We are working on our new website, which is very exciting.

[1:36:33] We're hoping to launch that a week from tomorrow.

[1:36:37] So I had originally thought, or I was under the impression,

[1:36:42] that people were going to have to resubscribe to get the emails,

[1:36:47] but that's not the case. Everybody's email addresses have been migrated over.

[1:36:53] So I just wanted to clarify that because I don't know if I've said that at a

[1:36:59] previous meeting or not. But people will not need to resubscribe.

[1:37:04] You will continue to get our emails.

[1:37:07] So Miguel in my office has been working with all the different department heads to

[1:37:14] make sure their information is up to date and populate the calendar and everything

[1:37:20] else that goes along with launching a new website.

[1:37:24] So hopefully we're ready to launch that next week.

[1:37:28] The governor has signed our red light camera bill.

[1:37:32] That bill was signed into law on August 14th.

[1:37:36] I'm sure the mayor may have some more comments on this later in the meeting,

[1:37:42] but we'll probably have a work session discussion on that at some point in the

[1:37:48] future. And then lastly,

[1:37:50] we received our sales tax payment from the county for the second quarter,

[1:37:55] and we saw a 5.1% increase in our sales tax payment from last year to this year.

[1:38:02] So that was very much appreciated.

[1:38:04] So that 5.1% turned into—

[1:38:06] equals roughly about $40,000 more than what we got last year.

[1:38:11] So, and that is my report. Oh, I'm sorry, what did I say?

[1:38:16] Oh, I'm sorry, I meant the school speed camera bill. Got signed into law.

[1:38:22] The red light camera bill was signed into law last year. So I apologize.

[1:38:27] No, the governor signed our, our speed,

[1:38:30] our school speed zone camera bill into law on August 14th.

[1:38:35] Thank you.

[1:38:36] Yeah, sorry. I apologize for that.

[1:38:38] I just figured she liked it so much.

[1:38:42] She signed it twice.

[1:38:45] Yeah.

[1:38:45] Oh, and while we're on that topic, I'll just note,

[1:38:48] and I meant to mention this in our earlier work session,

[1:38:51] although there is authorization for red light cameras,

[1:38:54] the village has Currently non-deployed.

[1:38:56] And I agree, that should probably be a work session now that the 2 have been—

[1:39:00] 2 authorizations for the automated traffic enforcement have been signed.

[1:39:04] We should have a work session on that.

[1:39:06] And is the $40,000 additional dollars over

[1:39:11] your budget? Like, how did we plan sales

[1:39:15] tax?

[1:39:16] No, we're significantly over. Well, sorry, let me clarify.

[1:39:19] Are you talking about the year that just ended May 31st or the current year that

[1:39:24] we're in? So most of that month,

[1:39:27] 2/3 of the money that just came in goes to the old year because it covers April,

[1:39:32] May, and June.

[1:39:33] Got it.

[1:39:33] So, um, but we were— we generally have been, um,

[1:39:37] somewhere around a quarter of a million or slightly more, um,

[1:39:43] Over our projections.

[1:39:45] So like in last year's budget,

[1:39:48] we had $2,125,000 budgeted and we brought in $2,399,000.

[1:39:53] So we try to, you know, budget conservatively so that, you know,

[1:39:59] we end up with a surplus.

[1:40:01] So, and that's what the county is seeing as well for that.

[1:40:04] You know, they just released new updated numbers and they're seeing a positive

[1:40:08] increase in county sales tax, which is fantastic.

[1:40:13] Yes. Where does the money go? Which fund?

[1:40:15] Uh, the general fund.

[1:40:16] Right.

[1:40:17] Thank you.

[1:40:17] All right, and with that,

[1:40:19] we proceed to the consent agenda.

[1:40:22] Do I have a motion on the consent agenda?

[1:40:26] So moved.

[1:40:27] Second.

[1:40:28] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. Discussion?

[1:40:31] Just a few words here and there, Mayor.

[1:40:34] Just congratulating the police on the AAA Gold Award. That's wonderful.

[1:40:40] We've gotten that before, and it's terrific that their good work is

[1:40:45] terrific that their good work is recognized.

[1:40:46] Thanks to Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber for once again sponsoring our October

[1:40:52] Halloween scarecrow contest.

[1:40:54] Thanks to the manager and all the individual managers out there for the good

[1:41:00] individual managers out there for the good energy

[1:41:00] consumption report. And and then the The, uh, I was gonna say a word or two.

[1:41:06] I think we've said it all about— I guess, uh, thanks for the—

[1:41:11] to the fire department for their leadership in general, but particularly on

[1:41:16] leadership in general, but particularly on the,

[1:41:17] on the Sparky, uh, uh, fire, fire costume.

[1:41:20] We actually, in Tacoma, it's incredible how, um, how these costumes and are, are

[1:41:26] how, um, how these costumes and are, are so,

[1:41:26] uh, are things that kids are so responsive to.

[1:41:30] We had, uh, in Tacoma, we had, uh, Froggy the Recycling Toad,

[1:41:35] and it became so successful they wanted federal funding for a second one.

[1:41:40] So, you know, that was pretty terrific.

[1:41:43] And finally, just very glad that we're making progress on the—

[1:41:48] with DOT on the rapid reflecting flashing beacon for Maple and Wells,

[1:41:53] and hopefully we can get that up and running as soon as possible.

[1:41:58] Second, I apologize.

[1:42:03] Further discussion?

[1:42:04] Um, I think this is just a process question.

[1:42:09] I would like to pull out the MTA MNR, um,

[1:42:13] referral to the Waterfront Advisory Committee for

[1:42:18] discussion. So is that—

[1:42:20] You don't need to, you don't need to pull it out. You can—

[1:42:23] Because it's combined in resolution with a lot of other things.

[1:42:27] Yeah, but you can have the discussion on it right now unless you,

[1:42:30] unless you specifically want to vote on that separately than the rest. But—

[1:42:34] Yes, I would like to vote on it separately.

[1:42:37] Oh, the consent agenda requires unanimous consent, so we will remove it.

[1:42:41] Further discussion?

[1:42:43] Um, I just want to call out that the, um, you know, part of the consent agenda,

[1:42:49] which is amazing news, is the, um, flashing beacons that, um,

[1:42:54] will hopefully be installed installed before the school year,

[1:42:59] soon after the school year starts on Maple Street, which is fantastic.

[1:43:04] I also, just from a process perspective, for folks in the audience that are here,

[1:43:11] we are scheduling a public hearing next week for our Local Law 10,

[1:43:16] which includes the fowl and pigeon conversation.

[1:43:20] So the public will come next week and make statements on that.

[1:43:25] And then we'll decide whether or not we'll vote at that point,

[1:43:29] or we will table that conversation, or, you know,

[1:43:33] make some changes next week based on public feedback.

[1:43:40] Is that fair? I think so.

[1:43:42] Do you think that it makes sense to schedule a public hearing the last week of

[1:43:47] August, or do you think it makes sense to move it to September?

[1:43:52] When it— this is obviously a popular topic,

[1:43:54] and I want to make sure that everyone who wants to speak on this topic is able to.

[1:44:00] Um, and the last week of August—

[1:44:02] Well, it's September 2nd.

[1:44:04] Oh, I thought—

[1:44:05] I'm sorry, I thought—

[1:44:07] No, well, I mean, it's— I, I did think about— I had the same concerns,

[1:44:10] but I figured school has already begun at that point, so people are going to be—

[1:44:14] I just want to be— I just know that it's very— it's a very, um, popular topic,

[1:44:19] and I just want to make sure that we are not scheduling it—

[1:44:22] we are scheduling it at a time when everybody who wants to have their voice

[1:44:26] everybody who wants to have their voice heard is

[1:44:26] able to have it heard.

[1:44:27] I don't know if, you know, Labor Day is late, school is starting early,

[1:44:31] Labor Day is starting late.

[1:44:32] I just wanted to— I just want to think about when we've scheduled it.

[1:44:36] There's no requirement that you close the public hearing, right?

[1:44:40] You can, you can keep it open to the next meeting if you feel like there's

[1:44:46] additional comments you may want to hear.

[1:44:48] So, okay, I just want to let everybody know it seems like our Zoom computer has

[1:44:54] know it seems like our Zoom computer has not

[1:44:54] been great. So we've lost our attorney.

[1:44:57] Oh, that's a problem.

[1:44:58] Yeah, so we're still we're working on it, but I just want to.

[1:45:02] Does that mean that can the public watching it on?

[1:45:06] Yeah, no, it doesn't affect anything on that.

[1:45:08] It's just it's just that we can't display the agenda or and we don't have Zoom.

[1:45:11] Zoom at the moment.

[1:45:12] Okay.

[1:45:12] So, but we're trying to bring it back.

[1:45:14] Stream's good.

[1:45:15] Yeah.

[1:45:16] Manager, just a question because I'm even though I'm nine months in, I still am new.

[1:45:22] I feel new.

[1:45:25] Item number six: consider acknowledging receipt of local law number

[1:45:30] fourteen. So what is being asked of us on that?

[1:45:34] Like when you consider acknowledging receipt. I received a bit.

[1:45:39] It doesn't mean that— are we—

[1:45:41] All you're doing is saying, I've received this.

[1:45:44] That's right.

[1:45:45] Yes.

[1:45:45] All right.

[1:45:46] Because you have to—

[1:45:47] Working on it.

[1:45:47] No, you have to receive it and then refer it.

[1:45:51] Right.

[1:45:51] Right? So that's—

[1:45:52] I just wanted to make sure that's all it is.

[1:45:54] You can't give it to someone else unless you have it first.

[1:45:58] All right.

[1:45:58] Thank you. All right. Very good.

[1:46:03] Thank you.

[1:46:04] Further discussion?

[1:46:05] Yeah, could I just go back to the item that Trustee Nicholson pulled out?

[1:46:08] Do we have any— do we have any information on— I know there was—

[1:46:12] we weren't sure what the timing was going to be with the flashing beacons.

[1:46:15] We were waiting for something. Can you just talk a little bit about—

[1:46:18] Yeah, so Maple Street is a state road, right?

[1:46:22] And so even though we've installed 2 flashing beacons on Maple Street already,

[1:46:27] flashing beacons on Maple Street already, Uh,

[1:46:27] New York State DOT asked for some additional information this time compared

[1:46:32] additional information this time compared to the

[1:46:33] other 2, so it took us a little bit of time to get that information.

[1:46:38] Uh, we have since submitted everything.

[1:46:40] I've spoken with the, uh, uh, sorry, I'm blanking on what her title is right now,

[1:46:46] but one of the engineers in the, uh, Katona office, the Northern Westchester

[1:46:51] Katona office, the Northern Westchester office,

[1:46:52] um, who said that she was ready to issue the permit.

[1:46:56] But we can't start work in the state right-of-way unless we have DOT's

[1:47:00] right-of-way unless we have DOT's approval,

[1:47:01] right? So until we get that permit, we can't start the work.

[1:47:05] So, um, I'm hoping that at the very least we will have some of the work started

[1:47:11] before school begins, if not fully installed,

[1:47:14] so that people will at least see that it's making progress.

[1:47:18] Um, but we're certainly going to do our best to, uh,

[1:47:22] To have it done before September 1st.

[1:47:24] So, manager, the, um, the—

[1:47:28] did I see on here the, um,

[1:47:32] the sidewalks regarding the snow removal?

[1:47:37] Uh, we're scheduling a public hearing for that.

[1:47:41] That's, uh, Local Law Intro Number 12.

[1:47:43] Also for September 2nd.

[1:47:45] Same day. Yeah.

[1:47:46] So is that When we can discuss potentially adding the 2 homes that—

[1:47:53] Yes, we would discuss that as part of the— I mean, although, I mean, the laws,

[1:47:58] if you want to discuss, we could discuss it now as well, because if,

[1:48:03] if a majority of the board wants to do it,

[1:48:05] we might as well add it to the law now so we don't have to rehold the public

[1:48:10] hearing. So, I mean, you know, like I put, like I put in my memo,

[1:48:15] and I apologize for not being able to Put it up on the screen here.

[1:48:19] You know, it was—it's my—it's—it's my understanding of the law, right?

[1:48:23] That we generally only exempt sidewalks that have geographical limitations, right?

[1:48:29] So like if you live—if you live on top of a hill,

[1:48:32] but your property goes all the way down to the bottom of the hill,

[1:48:36] and you have a sidewalk at the bottom of the hill.

[1:48:40] It would be unreasonable, you know, for you to get down to the bottom of the hill.

[1:48:45] And so, you know, you're exempt from that, from that regulation.

[1:48:49] Mm-hmm.

[1:48:50] Um, you know, and so I put together in that memo showing the areas that, um,

[1:48:56] specifically on Farrington, right, there's, um, the, the Bank Street

[1:49:01] there's, um, the, the Bank Street affordable, uh,

[1:49:02] condominiums, right? They don't have any access to the sidewalk on Farrington.

[1:49:08] And then, um, the 4 homes on Palmer, um,

[1:49:12] don't have any access from their properties on Palmer to Farrington.

[1:49:17] Um, I did not include the last 2 homes on Palmer because they do have access down to

[1:49:24] Farrington. They have staircases on their property that connect right down to the

[1:49:30] sidewalk.

[1:49:31] Right.

[1:49:31] So, um, in my interpretation That's not a limitation.

[1:49:35] Obviously, that's a policy decision that's up to the board.

[1:49:39] If you want to determine that, you can do that.

[1:49:42] I don't know if there are other circumstances in the village where if you

[1:49:47] circumstances in the village where if you do do

[1:49:48] that, you know, you may get further requests.

[1:49:51] Yeah, I don't know if my other colleagues are familiar enough with this to weigh in.

[1:49:57] Um, I know how I feel about this. No. And I will share.

[1:50:01] I think, uh, that adding— there are 2,

[1:50:04] 2 households that are now being kind of excluded that are on Palmer,

[1:50:09] that because they have stairs down to Farrington,

[1:50:12] they're not included in the exemption.

[1:50:15] I think we should just include all of Palmer, uh, and not—

[1:50:19] and just not disclude these 2 houses.

[1:50:22] I think that's reasonable.

[1:50:23] And those are the ones that we received correspondence regarding, correct?

[1:50:27] Well, we've only heard— I, I don't know if the board received—

[1:50:30] I've heard from one homeowner. You're right.

[1:50:32] Yeah.

[1:50:33] Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know if you're going to do that.

[1:50:36] I don't know if you want to also include— I mean, there's,

[1:50:40] there's other homes there on Farrington, right?

[1:50:42] The home on— there's 2 homes that have Farrington addresses that have the same

[1:50:46] situation, right? That have sidewalks on 2—

[1:50:49] On Palmer or on—

[1:50:50] which way do they go?

[1:50:51] Both.

[1:50:52] They go both ways.

[1:50:53] Right. So there's, um, it's 24 and 26 Palmer.

[1:50:59] Right.

[1:51:00] And then 27, and I think that might be 31. I can't really read that.

[1:51:04] I think it might be 27 and 31 Farrington.

[1:51:07] And the only access that they have is a staircase up to Palmer.

[1:51:13] Well, 27— so 27 Farrington has a— has— they front Farrington, obviously,

[1:51:20] and then they have a— they have a walkway that leads them up to, um,

[1:51:26] To the sidewalk on Palmer.

[1:51:28] So there are

[1:51:31] potentially 4

[1:51:35] addresses then.

[1:51:39] Yeah, I mean, I, I just,

[1:51:41] I just caution again that the purpose of looking at this whole section and making

[1:51:48] the changes that we did is that DPW was overburdened this past winter. Right.

[1:51:54] And so my only concern— it's not my—

[1:51:57] I don't necessarily have a specific concern about adding 2 more houses here.

[1:52:03] My concern is that if we change our criteria for what we—

[1:52:07] what we use to add the sidewalks,

[1:52:10] do we then start getting requests from other areas in the village that, you know,

[1:52:17] for every, every house that has 2 sidewalks?

[1:52:20] Mm-hmm.

[1:52:22] Yeah, because you— I mean, you could have corner lots.

[1:52:26] There's a lot of— yeah, there are a lot.

[1:52:28] Well, that's my point is, yeah, yeah,

[1:52:30] I understand the idea of adding these in because it's only 2,

[1:52:34] but it's also then what's—

[1:52:35] Yeah, no, very steep set of stairs down, right?

[1:52:38] I mean, I'm pretty familiar with that area.

[1:52:40] So, so if we were to do that,

[1:52:42] would that mean that none of the sidewalks on either side of Farrington Would be

[1:52:48] able— were, were going to be shoveled by any— so I'm looking at 24 Farrington.

[1:52:53] So it looks like if that's the case,

[1:52:55] then there are sidewalks on both sides of that street,

[1:52:59] neither of which would end up being cleared.

[1:53:02] Well, the DPW would clear them.

[1:53:03] Yeah, so the law, the law exempts— the law exempts the owner from having to do it,

[1:53:10] so we end up doing it. The law doesn't say we have to do it, but we end up doing it.

[1:53:17] Right, so the residents are just doing the ones that are—

[1:53:19] But I do feel like this is a little bit of a special situation where it's not like

[1:53:25] there are houses on the other side.

[1:53:27] Like, if there are houses on the— I'm looking at it sort of driving north, I

[1:53:32] looking at it sort of driving north, I guess.

[1:53:32] It's a pretty special situation where both of the sidewalks on both sides— well,

[1:53:37] actually, I don't know if it is or not.

[1:53:40] But this is a case where both sides of the street are impacted by the decision we're

[1:53:45] going to make, which would mean that then DP—

[1:53:48] this would be impassable on the sidewalks if DPW didn't do it.

[1:53:52] It's not like you can cross the street and walk on the other side.

[1:53:56] The one, the one sidewalk that abuts, uh, the Bank Street condos, um, we,

[1:54:01] we have been doing that one.

[1:54:04] It just for whatever reason has not been included in the list. Okay.

[1:54:09] So, um, so we're, we're making that correction now.

[1:54:12] I'm not sure who has been doing those Palmer sidewalks.

[1:54:16] Maybe it's the— maybe it's the homeowners who have been doing it.

[1:54:21] They've, you know, maybe they've had to drive all the way around and, and do it.

[1:54:27] So, or maybe one of the—

[1:54:29] I feel like they've been on the fine list too.

[1:54:32] They could have. Yeah.

[1:54:33] I mean, you know, we,

[1:54:35] we do our best to try to check different areas in different storms.

[1:54:39] I think a couple years ago they were on Yeah.

[1:54:42] So, um, I mean, yeah,

[1:54:44] my perspective is to add them as well as the 2 houses on Farrington.

[1:54:49] You know, and I think it's a harder task in the future, you know, to,

[1:54:54] to evaluate new requests, but I don't think that should stop us from,

[1:54:59] from going forward with these 2.

[1:55:01] Well, if there are future requests, then I think we will have to reevaluate,

[1:55:07] but we can add it for now.

[1:55:10] Yeah, I'm not against doing it.

[1:55:11] I just, I want, I want to make sure that the sidewalks are clear so the kids can

[1:55:14] walk to school because these kids would do not get a bus to school.

[1:55:17] That's what I'm thinking as I'm considering this.

[1:55:19] So just, just to be clear, are we just adding to the 2,

[1:55:23] the 2 houses on Palmer, those 2 sidewalks,

[1:55:26] and not adding the 2 on Farrington?

[1:55:28] I mean, I, I think that we should add them all. Can we get— I don't think—

[1:55:34] all right, let's get the— now that we got our computer back, let's get the memo.

[1:55:41] Up, Rachel, sorry. Go to Local Law Number 12. Scroll down to the second page.

[1:55:49] Okay, so there we go.

[1:55:51] So can you make that— Yeah, can you— sorry, can you zoom in a little bit?

[1:55:58] So, I mean, those two, it's,

[1:56:00] it's a little bit strange because the two homes on Palmer, right,

[1:56:06] their backyards are Farrington, but then the other two homes,

[1:56:12] their front yards are Farrington. So maybe we just stop at the two on Palmer.

[1:56:19] Yeah.

[1:56:22] So, I mean, it seems like you should have to shovel the sidewalk in front of your

[1:56:27] house. Like when you need to like walk downstairs and go to another street,

[1:56:31] like that seems like a lot of effort, right?

[1:56:34] I mean, if we're already excluding those houses, I mean, this would—

[1:56:38] it's like they have to drive all the way around the block to do it.

[1:56:42] No, that's, that's what I mean.

[1:56:45] When I was looking at this, I'm like, I'm,

[1:56:48] I'm really shocked that these people on Palmer have not complained in the past.

[1:56:54] So unless it's just not being done, period, right?

[1:56:58] Which, I mean, right, it's, it's possible.

[1:57:01] So, um, okay, so we will— did you get the Zoom up? Sorry, Rachel.

[1:57:06] Um, can we just take a minute break here so I can get the Zoom back up?

[1:57:11] Because I would like— I would like Lori Lee to pop since we're changing the law.

[1:57:18] I just would like to get her opinion on this. Thank you.

[1:57:22] Okay.

[1:57:22] Thank you.

[1:57:23] Yeah,

[1:57:24] don't turn it.

[1:57:29] That's fine.

[2:00:32] Where is Lori?

[2:00:34] Lori Lee,

[2:00:38] are you back?

[2:00:42] Laurie Lee,

[2:00:46] are you back?

[2:00:59] Just probably like, meeting's over.

[2:01:07] I am here.

[2:01:08] Oh, good. Okay. Okay, so, uh,

[2:01:12] sorry to, uh, sorry for the technical

[2:01:17] issues.

[2:01:18] Um, I waited it out.

[2:01:21] I filled up my water bottle, so I'm good.

[2:01:23] Very good. Um, we're discussing—

[2:01:26] we had a little conversation about Local Law Introductory Number

[2:01:32] 12, um, which has to do with changing the, uh,

[2:01:36] sidewalk exemptions with regards to snow shoveling.

[2:01:41] Yes, I remember we talked about this at the work session.

[2:01:44] Yes, so the village board, um, did we just— sorry, did we decide to just do the

[2:01:50] just— sorry, did we decide to just do the 2?

[2:01:50] I think we're still discussing whether or not to do the 2.

[2:01:54] Okay, so they want—

[2:01:56] We just did the 2.

[2:01:57] Just do the 2, is that what we said? Is that right? So everybody's okay with that?

[2:02:04] All right, so, um, we,

[2:02:05] we need to change the length of the exemption area in the law to include 2

[2:02:12] additional properties.

[2:02:14] So can we still schedule the,

[2:02:16] the public hearing for now with the understanding that we'll update the

[2:02:22] understanding that we'll update the wording

[2:02:23] before the— before the law is published?

[2:02:26] Absolutely, yes.

[2:02:29] All right, I just want—

[2:02:30] I just wanted to make sure we were doing everything By the book. So, yeah.

[2:02:36] Okay, so we will. So, so it's just, it's just a length. Correct.

[2:02:40] I need to, I need to have,

[2:02:42] I need to have Superintendent Balbi just measure it out and update, you know,

[2:02:48] whatever it is, you know, 250 feet to 350 feet, whatever it might be.

[2:02:52] Great.

[2:02:53] So, all right, thanks.

[2:02:55] Well, if I was there, you know, I'd have,

[2:02:58] I'd have out my Tape measure and I go out there right now for you. Okay, no problem.

[2:03:04] Yeah, yeah, we can, um,

[2:03:05] you can make that change once you have that number and just get it uploaded.

[2:03:11] That's great.

[2:03:12] Perfect. Thank you. Okay.

[2:03:19] All right, so I guess, uh, do we have a motion to approve the, uh,

[2:03:23] consent agenda as amended?

[2:03:26] So moved.

[2:03:27] Second.

[2:03:29] Yes. Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye.

[2:03:34] Very good. All right. And then we had the item that was removed.

[2:03:38] Do we want to discuss that?

[2:03:40] Yeah, let's put that— let's put that one first, I guess.

[2:03:42] Um, I missed that. Which one? The MNR referral to the WAC.

[2:03:51] Got it. Thank you.

[2:03:52] You want me to start?

[2:03:57] No, I'm just— I'm looking for the resolution. Sorry. Okay. Yep.

[2:04:00] Oh, well, I guess that would be the correspondence resolution because that's

[2:04:05] correspondence resolution because that's where

[2:04:05] it's under. All right. So, um, yeah, so it's the first resolution there, Rachel.

[2:04:10] Okay. So, uh, now therefore be it resolved,

[2:04:12] the Village Board of Trustees hereby undertakes the following actions.

[2:04:16] 1, approving the request to hold Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce

[2:04:21] Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce Scarecrow

[2:04:21] Contest during fall 2026.

[2:04:23] 2, refer the consistency review request from MTA Metro-North Railroad to the

[2:04:27] Waterfront Advisory Committee for their review and comment.

[2:04:30] 3, filing for the record the 2025 Energy Benchmarking Report,

[2:04:34] the letter from Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services

[2:04:38] Department of Senior Programs and Services for

[2:04:39] the Senior Citizen Hall of Fame,

[2:04:40] and the letter from AAA Northeast announcing the 2026 Gold Award for the

[2:04:45] announcing the 2026 Gold Award for the Village of

[2:04:45] Croton-on-Hudson. in the AAA Community Traffic Safety Award Program.

[2:04:49] Do I have a motion?

[2:04:52] So moved.

[2:04:53] Second.

[2:04:54] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. Discussion?

[2:04:58] So I will— I want to thank you, Manager, for meeting with me this week.

[2:05:04] I know we discussed this M&R project, um, and, you know, the,

[2:05:09] the questions that I raised around it and I left that meeting at the—

[2:05:14] at that time feeling like, okay, we'll refer it to the WAC.

[2:05:19] But after thinking about it, I would like to just have the discussion, you know,

[2:05:26] with the board and get their, their thoughts on it.

[2:05:30] And also just give more visibility to this project to the public, because it's—

[2:05:37] if someone's just glancing at an agenda, they're not going to really understand.

[2:05:43] Okay. That this is probably one of the most significant Metro North railroad

[2:05:50] projects, I think, facing Croton on Hudson in in a while.

[2:05:54] What this is, it's it's related to coast coastline resiliency, right?

[2:06:00] And you know, in in efforts to improve the resiliency of the railroad,

[2:06:06] what they're looking to do is.

[2:06:08] Proposed installation of new signal equipment and fences at various locations

[2:06:15] equipment and fences at various locations along

[2:06:15] the Hudson River all the way up to Peekskill. This is the phase that we're

[2:06:21] Peekskill. This is the phase that we're in.

[2:06:22] Poughkeepsie.

[2:06:22] Poughkeepsie, sorry. Yeah, even further than that. Yeah.

[2:06:27] And I know, you know,

[2:06:29] we've already given permanent easements and temporary I guess, placements or—

[2:06:37] Both permanent and temporary easements.

[2:06:39] Easements years ago for, for this.

[2:06:42] But I just wanted to explain that this work will occur adjacent to the Croton

[2:06:48] work will occur adjacent to the Croton River

[2:06:49] and the Havestraw Bay, significant— with significant fish and wildlife habitats.

[2:06:55] The work will occur within You know, the active rail corridor.

[2:07:01] There'll be in-water river work going on at several locations for the placement

[2:07:08] footings for platforms, lots of steel work.

[2:07:11] And when I reviewed this, you know, we're asking the WAC,

[2:07:16] the Water Advisory Commission, to, you know, review it for consistency,

[2:07:22] the coastal form. And I know that that group and Deputy Mayor, your chair,

[2:07:29] take their job seriously.

[2:07:31] And I felt, because I'm on the WAC,

[2:07:34] that there's no way that I could personally answer any of these coastal

[2:07:40] personally answer any of these coastal assessment

[2:07:41] determinations based on the information that Metro North has provided.

[2:07:47] I think that what they provided is incomplete.

[2:07:51] And I know that the engineering department goes through painstaking efforts to make

[2:07:58] sure applications are complete before they pass them along, you know,

[2:08:04] to planning boards and other boards.

[2:08:07] And, you know, I do have concerns, you know, around this, this project, you know.

[2:08:14] It's— let me say, so we don't know, you know,

[2:08:18] what equipment is being placed in the floodplain.

[2:08:22] We don't know what the elevations are of everything they're doing.

[2:08:28] How do we answer how it will impact the scenic vistas of the river when we have no

[2:08:35] information about heights of anything? We don't know what the fill is.

[2:08:41] Will construction alter drainage?

[2:08:44] The plans, the maps they provided— I'm calling them maps, but they're dated—

[2:08:50] many of them are dated draft November '22.

[2:08:54] And the document is signed by a senior planner at Dewberry on behalf of MNR.

[2:09:00] So, you know, basically, you know, we don't really know how large this project

[2:09:07] don't really know how large this project is,

[2:09:07] what the height is, what the footprint, the dimensions, the foundations.

[2:09:13] Right.

[2:09:15] There's in-water work being done.

[2:09:18] We don't know how the footings will be installed, what equipment's being used,

[2:09:25] where the staging areas necessarily are, how they're managing disturbed soil,

[2:09:31] if they're doing— you know, so my request is to discuss with the board,

[2:09:38] can we ask MNR for More complete information before we refer this to the

[2:09:44] information before we refer this to the WAC.

[2:09:44] Because the other option is we just refer this to the WAC and we sit around the

[2:09:51] table and maybe 3 of the 5 of us or all of us say, you know,

[2:09:56] we don't have the complete information here.

[2:10:00] This is a project that will likely cause many nuisances to the village,

[2:10:06] and I think it would be Very helpful for us to have more transparency around how

[2:10:13] they're going about this project.

[2:10:16] I know that we don't have control over Metro North; they can do whatever they

[2:10:22] Metro North; they can do whatever they want,

[2:10:23] and we can't impose any fines on them.

[2:10:26] I mean, but here's an opportunity for us to say, "Wait a minute!

[2:10:32] This is coming to our Waterfront Advisory Commission to evaluate,

[2:10:37] make determinations on."

[2:10:39] the LWRP, um, 43 or 44 points, we, we need more information on the project.

[2:10:46] So that way we, we have it on record, you know, more information for the public.

[2:10:53] Um, and that's, that's my, my— that's my ask.

[2:10:57] I mean, I, I did a lot of research on The project,

[2:11:01] and I can tell you that they made determinations,

[2:11:05] but they did not share any data to back up their determinations.

[2:11:11] And the determinations came from a planner, not Metro North themselves.

[2:11:17] So, you know, I'm personally not comfortable with this.

[2:11:22] But so thank you, Trustee Nachtaler.

[2:11:24] As I Said when we met on Monday,

[2:11:27] I agreed to request more information from the planning firm.

[2:11:31] And I also said that the WAC was more than able to invite a representative from

[2:11:37] their group to attend the meeting to answer the questions that you may have.

[2:11:42] So I don't think people would sit around the table and say, oh,

[2:11:47] we don't have enough information. But All of that aside, you're— this is a referral.

[2:11:53] This is an administrative task that you are doing, and it goes to the WAC,

[2:11:58] and then it comes back to you.

[2:12:01] So even if you don't— you don't have to agree with what the WAC says.

[2:12:06] You could take what the WAC says and say, no,

[2:12:09] I still think we need more information.

[2:12:12] And then, my opinion, that would be the appropriate time for this board,

[2:12:17] the village board, to ask for more information.

[2:12:20] This is not— this is not your, your time right now. You— this is the WAC's time.

[2:12:26] So, you know, I think the proper course of action here in accordance with our law is

[2:12:32] that this gets referred to the WAC.

[2:12:35] The WAC, if you read the section of the code with the WAC,

[2:12:39] they are entitled to ask for more information, delay their decision.

[2:12:44] They can ask for experts and charge the— charge it to the consultant. Right.

[2:12:50] I mean, they have a lot of power to do these consistency reviews.

[2:12:54] So, but there's no— there's no— this is not—

[2:12:58] this is not an application like a special permit application, right?

[2:13:03] This is not a village application.

[2:13:05] This is— you don't have any— as Stacey Nachtaler was saying,

[2:13:09] you don't have necessarily any authority over the project that they are conducting.

[2:13:15] You know, certainly not any Activity in the water, right?

[2:13:20] That's, uh, Coast Guard— um, sorry, DEC and Army Corps.

[2:13:24] Um, you know, and the rest of it on there, on, you know,

[2:13:28] Metro-North or MTA property, right, is, you know, as,

[2:13:32] as we know from many activities over the year with, with the railroad, right,

[2:13:37] we don't have, you know, authority over. So, um—

[2:13:41] And this is going to be in the river.

[2:13:43] People will see this Activity on the Riverwalk.

[2:13:46] You know, I just think,

[2:13:47] when is the time where we have any leverage at all to be asking for more

[2:13:52] leverage at all to be asking for more complete

[2:13:53] information on the project?

[2:13:54] You know, is it— and, and I just,

[2:13:56] I don't personally understand how the WAC could do its job with—

[2:14:01] No, I know, but as I just said on Monday while we were in my office, I,

[2:14:05] I asked them for more information. I've, I've made the ask already.

[2:14:09] So yeah, no, so I, I mean, I just I don't necessarily see what benefit— well,

[2:14:14] besides the fact that I don't think it's, it's necessarily right in the process, um,

[2:14:19] but I don't really see the benefit in delaying it for another 2 weeks, um, to—

[2:14:23] you're going to see the information anyway at, you know,

[2:14:27] because it has to come back to you. You're not being asked to make a determination.

[2:14:32] You as the village board are not being asked to make a determination tonight.

[2:14:36] All you're doing is referring it to the WAC so that they can—

[2:14:40] Oh, I know. It's just that I'm on the WAC, so I'm thinking—

[2:14:44] I know, but you're not sitting in your WAC capacity right now. Right. I understand.

[2:14:49] Manager, just— I think I heard you correctly.

[2:14:52] Is it possible to have either Metro North or the Dewberry firm

[2:14:57] available for—

[2:14:58] Yeah, they've already agreed to be there.

[2:15:01] In person or by Zoom?

[2:15:02] I think they're going to be on Zoom.

[2:15:03] Okay. That's— yeah, I think that's helpful. Yeah, and yeah, because they'll—

[2:15:08] and like I said, they'll be able to either answer your questions or say,

[2:15:12] I'll need more time to get that information.

[2:15:14] And then if the WAC feels like they can't make a determination,

[2:15:18] there's nothing that requires you to make a determination in one meeting.

[2:15:22] You can hold it over until the next— your next meeting.

[2:15:25] And you've given them, I would imagine, of course, you know,

[2:15:28] Trustee Nachtaler was there with you,

[2:15:30] but the range of information that you're interested in in terms of—

[2:15:34] Yes.

[2:15:35] So they should come prepared.

[2:15:36] Yes, they— yes. So unfortunately, the, um,

[2:15:38] the lead planner on the project is out of the office this weekend,

[2:15:42] but she will be back— sorry, this week— and she'll be back on Monday.

[2:15:46] Okay.

[2:15:47] So, and we're meeting Tuesday, so yeah, that's fine.

[2:15:49] Okay, so I agree. I mean, I think that process-wise it should go to the WAC, um,

[2:15:54] and then they can, if they have the ability to ask for more information,

[2:15:58] that's the point. Um, I also just want to say I appreciate your research.

[2:16:03] I appreciate your concerns. I have a very big concern.

[2:16:06] I think the biggest economic risk to Croton-on-Hudson is the tracks being

[2:16:11] underwater, uh, in 20 to 30 years. And that's a real possibility.

[2:16:15] And that's, you know, why they need to do this work.

[2:16:18] So unfortunately, it may cause some nuisance in the village, but—

[2:16:22] Or safety in general.

[2:16:24] And safety in general.

[2:16:25] We're going to see these tracks flooding, and they, they do need to do this work.

[2:16:30] So I Do support being careful, but at the same time, um,

[2:16:33] I also don't want to be a roadblock to important work that needs to be done from

[2:16:38] important work that needs to be done from a

[2:16:38] track.

[2:16:39] You know, and actually, I, I commend you, Trustee Nachtaler.

[2:16:42] It's, it's an innovative approach to try to get them to actually come into the WAC

[2:16:46] and, and meet with us and, and be available for, uh,

[2:16:49] to supplement the information that they've given us.

[2:16:52] Yeah, thank you. I'm definitely not looking to be a roadblock to Progress on

[2:16:58] looking to be a roadblock to Progress on coastal

[2:16:58] resiliency. But if it's an opportunity to share more transparency around this

[2:17:04] project for the village,

[2:17:06] because we know that we're going to be getting calls when stuff starts popping

[2:17:12] getting calls when stuff starts popping up.

[2:17:12] And if we don't know, you know, it just— we don't—

[2:17:16] we know what that position is like. And if we can avoid it, great. So.

[2:17:21] Is this also an opportunity for us to invite our planner to sit into that

[2:17:27] invite our planner to sit into that meeting

[2:17:28] just to help to give some perspective and some additional guidance to the WAC as

[2:17:35] they approach the pre— you know, the proposal, to help them ask questions?

[2:17:41] I know that everyone on the WAC is very skilled,

[2:17:45] but I do think that This is both an environmental situation and a, you know,

[2:17:52] transportation situation.

[2:17:54] I just think I have grown to really appreciate what Valerie and her team bring

[2:18:01] appreciate what Valerie and her team bring to

[2:18:01] the table. And I think this could be another opportunity to, you know, just

[2:18:07] another opportunity to, you know, just have,

[2:18:08] you know, more perspective and people at the table from Croton.

[2:18:13] Yeah.

[2:18:14] I don't have any objection to that, but I think we should let the WAC review it.

[2:18:18] Can we offer it to them?

[2:18:19] Yeah, and make that decision if that's what they would like.

[2:18:22] It's a good idea.

[2:18:25] Yep.

[2:18:25] Thank you. All right, thank you for— thank you.

[2:18:32] So, oh, do we need a separate resolution?

[2:18:35] No, I think— well, I mean, we've had a motion and a second, so.

[2:18:37] All in favor? Aye.

[2:18:40] Trustee Nachtaler, do you want to vote nay, or—

[2:18:42] If— well, you said you're— they're going to come and speak at the WAC.

[2:18:47] Yeah.

[2:18:47] So I'm— I support that.

[2:18:50] Okay.

[2:18:50] Yeah, thank you for asking.

[2:18:52] So that's unanimous, Judy.

[2:18:53] But I didn't know they were able to come. It's unanimous, no confusion.

[2:18:57] Yeah.

[2:19:00] Back on track.

[2:19:05] All right, we proceed to proposed resolutions.

[2:19:08] Okay.

[2:19:10] 2.

[2:19:12] Bless him. Thank you.

[2:19:16] Whereas the Village of Cortlandt-on-the-Hudson recently solicited

[2:19:19] Cortlandt-on-the-Hudson recently solicited sealed bids for

[2:19:20] trade labor services under bid number 22 of 2025,

[2:19:22] and whereas this bid was broken down into the following categories,

[2:19:26] allowing vendors to individually bid on the categories applicable to them:

[2:19:29] general construction, plumbing, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning,

[2:19:33] ventilation, and air conditioning, masonry,

[2:19:34] and roofing. Whereas 6 bids were submitted by the deadline of January 22nd, 2026.

[2:19:38] Whereas of the 6 bids received,

[2:19:39] 2 vendors submitted proposals for the plumbing portion of the bid.

[2:19:43] And whereas the lowest responsive bid received was from Joe Lombardo Plumbing of

[2:19:47] Suffern, New York, in the amount of $42,557.60.

[2:19:49] Whereas Frank Balbi, Superintendent of Public Works,

[2:19:52] has reviewed the bids and recommends moving forward with this bidder.

[2:19:55] Now therefore be it resolved that the Village Manager is hereby authorized to

[2:19:59] Village Manager is hereby authorized to award

[2:19:59] bid number 22 of 2025 For trade labor services, plumbing, to Joe Lombardo,

[2:20:03] Plumbing of Suffern, New York, in the amount of $42,557.60.

[2:20:06] Do I have a motion?

[2:20:10] So moved.

[2:20:12] Second.

[2:20:12] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson.

[2:20:15] So that, that dollar amount just kind of represents the average, you know, that's—

[2:20:20] that doesn't mean that that's what we're going to pay him because it's based on how

[2:20:24] often we have to have services done.

[2:20:26] There's no payment until their call— their services are called upon.

[2:20:29] Right. Yeah, so that's just based off of what an average year of, um, plumbing is.

[2:20:37] Yeah.

[2:20:37] All right, further discussion? All in favor?

[2:20:46] Aye.

[2:20:48] Whereas the village issued an invitation to bid on July 16th,

[2:20:51] 2026 for the purchase of a 2025 or 2026 Chevrolet Tahoe police Pursuit Vehicle.

[2:20:55] Whereas one bid was submitted by the deadline of July 24th, 2026.

[2:20:59] Whereas the lowest bid received was from Emergency Vehicle Specialists of

[2:21:02] Poughkeepsie, New York, in the amount of $51,900.

[2:21:05] Whereas John Nikitopoulos, Chief of Police,

[2:21:07] has recommended moving forward with the low bidder.

[2:21:10] Now therefore be it resolved that the Village Manager is hereby authorized to

[2:21:14] Village Manager is hereby authorized to award

[2:21:14] bid number 7 of 2026 to Emergency Vehicle Specialists of Poughkeepsie, New York,

[2:21:19] in the amount of $51,900. Second.

[2:21:22] Do I have a motion?

[2:21:22] So moved.

[2:21:23] Second.

[2:21:24] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson.

[2:21:27] This was one of the, uh, vehicles included in the capital budget for this year, so.

[2:21:33] All right, further discussion? All in favor? Aye.

[2:21:38] Whereas the village issued an invitation to bid on July 30th, 2026,

[2:21:42] for the purchase of a loader-mounted snowblower,

[2:21:44] and whereas 4 bids were submitted by the deadline of August 11, 2026,

[2:21:48] whereas the lowest bid received was from FDR Hitches of Roselle Park, New Jersey,

[2:21:53] in the amount of $62,599, and whereas Frank Balvi, Superintendent of Public

[2:21:57] Frank Balvi, Superintendent of Public Works,

[2:21:57] has recommended moving forward with the low bidder.

[2:22:00] Now therefore be it resolved that the Village Manager is hereby authorized to

[2:22:04] Village Manager is hereby authorized to award

[2:22:04] bid number 10 of 2026 to FDR Hitches of Roselle Park, New Jersey,

[2:22:08] in the amount of $62,599.

[2:22:09] Do I have a motion?

[2:22:14] So moved.

[2:22:15] Second.

[2:22:15] Motion by Justice Hyman, second by Justice Nicholson. Discussion?

[2:22:19] I know FDR is looking down from above.

[2:22:23] Just very, very glad that he's being

[2:22:26] celebrated with—

[2:22:28] And I know the DPW team was very excited about this particular piece of equipment.

[2:22:33] Yeah. Oh yeah. Well, the superintendent's memo was excellent, I thought,

[2:22:38] just in terms of describing The efficiencies that it helps bring about.

[2:22:43] And it assures us less snow.

[2:22:45] Yeah, we're already— we're gonna have no snow.

[2:22:47] Yeah, we've already talked about sidewalk shoveling, snow blowers, right?

[2:22:52] So continue.

[2:22:54] If you buy— if you buy salt, I'm leaving.

[2:22:56] And also the parking, alternate side parking.

[2:23:01] Yes. Yeah, that's coming next.

[2:23:03] Fix the roof when the sun is shining.

[2:23:06] All in favor? Aye. Whereas the replacement of traffic signals on South Riverside

[2:23:10] Avenue at its intersection with Benedict Boulevard and its intersection with Cordon

[2:23:15] Point Avenue was included in the 2025-2026 capital budget,

[2:23:18] and whereas the level technical specification needed for the development

[2:23:21] specification needed for the development of the bid

[2:23:22] documents requires third-party assistance, and whereas Nelson and Pope Engineering,

[2:23:26] Architecture, and Land Surveying of Melville,

[2:23:28] New York has provided the proposal in the amount of $9,500 to develop the bid

[2:23:32] documents and provide assistance during bid review.

[2:23:35] Now therefore be it resolved that the village manager is hereby authorized to

[2:23:39] village manager is hereby authorized to accept

[2:23:39] the proposal from Nelson and Pope Engineering, Architecture,

[2:23:42] and Land Surveying of Melville, New York, in the amount of $9,500.

[2:23:46] Do I have a motion?

[2:23:49] So moved.

[2:23:50] Second.

[2:23:51] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. Discussion?

[2:23:54] Well, uh, Mayor, the firm has been doing a great job for us in grant writing,

[2:24:00] been doing a great job for us in planning.

[2:24:02] And so I'm glad to know that—

[2:24:04] learned recently that they've got this capacity as well.

[2:24:08] And it's, it's in effect like bringing on additional staff capacity so that the

[2:24:14] superintendent doesn't have to put aside everything else that he's doing for a week

[2:24:19] to prepare the paperwork, the specifications.

[2:24:22] Yeah, we have over the past couple of years, you know,

[2:24:26] the board has wanted to support a lot of capital projects, which is great.

[2:24:30] And, you know, we want to improve our infrastructure.

[2:24:34] But there's only so many hours in a day, right?

[2:24:37] And so, you know, like, for example, this project was funded last year in, you know,

[2:24:42] June of 2025. But it just—

[2:24:44] there's a lot of work that goes into this type of bid specification.

[2:24:48] And so we haven't been able to get it done.

[2:24:51] So, you know, I was happy, like Trustee Simon said,

[2:24:54] I was happy to learn that Valerie's firm also offers this Uh, you know, capacity.

[2:24:59] And so I was, I was very happy to get the proposal from them.

[2:25:04] Indeed.

[2:25:07] Great. All in favor? Aye.

[2:25:10] Whereas the Village of Cortlandt Hudson assumed the ownership of and maintenance

[2:25:15] requirements for the Half Moon Bay Bridge over the Metro-North railroad tracks in

[2:25:19] 1996, and whereas in order to address past safety issues and the proper maintenance

[2:25:23] of the bridge, the village is moving ahead with the rehabilitation and construction

[2:25:27] of the Half Moon Bay Bridge.

[2:25:29] And whereas on February 7th, 2024,

[2:25:30] the Village Board of Trustees adopted Resolution Number 29 of 2024 to accept the

[2:25:34] proposal from Tectonic Engineering of Rocky Hill, Connecticut,

[2:25:37] to provide consulting and engineering design services for the project.

[2:25:41] And whereas Tectonic has provided a proposal to cover an additional scope of

[2:25:45] proposal to cover an additional scope of work

[2:25:45] related to submissions required by the New York State Department of Transportation

[2:25:49] in the amount of $32,230.

[2:25:50] Now therefore be it resolved that the Village Board hereby authorizes the

[2:25:54] Village Board hereby authorizes the Village

[2:25:55] Manager to accept the proposal from Tectonic Engineering for the above scope

[2:25:58] Tectonic Engineering for the above scope of

[2:25:59] work, and be it further resolved that funding for such work is available in

[2:26:02] funding for such work is available in account

[2:26:03] H5110.2106.15287.

[2:26:04] Do I have a motion?

[2:26:05] So moved.

[2:26:06] Do I have a second?

[2:26:09] Second.

[2:26:10] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. Discussion?

[2:26:13] So, Manager, how does this work evolve?

[2:26:16] From what we'd previously had in terms of the engineering work?

[2:26:21] These are just additional scopes of work.

[2:26:24] You know, New York State DOT, as they go through their review process, you know,

[2:26:30] asked for— I mean, I could pull it up here. Exactly.

[2:26:34] But they just asked for tweaks to different things that were outside the

[2:26:39] different things that were outside the original

[2:26:39] scope of the proposal.

[2:26:41] So they calculated that that Um, that additional asks came up to that number.

[2:26:47] So it's nothing like, um, oh gee, we never looked at that before.

[2:26:50] This is an additional requirement, uh, from— I'm sure, sure it's worthy, you

[2:26:54] from— I'm sure, sure it's worthy, you know,

[2:26:54] coming from—

[2:26:55] Yes. Yeah, you know, Superintendent Balbi reviewed it and agreed with it.

[2:26:59] So yeah, you're good.

[2:27:02] Yep.

[2:27:02] Very good. With the resolutions concluded,

[2:27:05] we proceed to public comment on non-agenda item— oh, sorry, all in favor?

[2:27:10] Aye.

[2:27:10] All right, uh, with, uh, resolutions concluded,

[2:27:13] we proceed to public comment on non-agenda items.

[2:27:15] Anyone wishing to comment on anything, this is your opportunity.

[2:27:18] Please state your name and address.

[2:27:20] Hi, Dave from Farrington. Thank you for this time to speak.

[2:27:25] First, I'd like to say thank you to whomever is responsible for the yellow

[2:27:31] whomever is responsible for the yellow markers

[2:27:31] in the no parking spots on Riverside at at Farrington and High Streets.

[2:27:37] This is a big help trying to navigate those left turns, so thank you.

[2:27:42] Now, as much as smoking on commercial aircraft is now unthinkable,

[2:27:48] future generations will wonder why gas-powered leaf blowers remained

[2:27:53] gas-powered leaf blowers remained commonplace

[2:27:54] long after their harms became abundantly clear.

[2:27:58] It's because lawmakers like you that we all wait,

[2:28:02] covering our ears and mouths and sheltering our children inside.

[2:28:07] Waiting for the toxins to dissipate.

[2:28:10] Mayor Pugh, do you remember playing outside when you were a kid?

[2:28:15] Do you remember when your parents asked you to come inside from the backyard

[2:28:21] you to come inside from the backyard because

[2:28:21] carcinogens are coming over the fence?

[2:28:24] Did you close the window to concentrate on homework,

[2:28:28] but a machine was making 100 decibels outside, making it difficult to

[2:28:34] outside, making it difficult to concentrate?

[2:28:35] Well, that's what our kids have to deal with now.

[2:28:39] Board of Trustees, Mayor Pugh, you have not acted in the interest of public

[2:28:45] not acted in the interest of public health.

[2:28:45] in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and so far 2026, after the knowledge,

[2:28:51] the facts delivered to you by the CAC in October of 2020.

[2:28:56] Now, just about 6 years later,

[2:28:58] with towns across Westchester already multiple years into full-year ordinances,

[2:29:05] you've not seen fit to follow their lead,

[2:29:08] but instead punted the issue of this public health threat back to the CAC with

[2:29:14] public health threat back to the CAC with a

[2:29:14] huge list of new asks that has resulted in exactly what you wanted— further delay.

[2:29:21] You've given them a task equivalent to Charlie Brown reading War and Peace over

[2:29:27] summer break. You only acted finally on May 27th of this year, 3 months ago.

[2:29:33] They told me to expect a recommendation 3 months from now.

[2:29:38] You've asked too much of the CAC.

[2:29:40] It's taking too long, and it's not the CAC's fault.

[2:29:45] Let's take a closer look at that first C in CAC.

[2:29:48] It stands for conservation, and this committee works very hard for Croton.

[2:29:54] But with all this respect they deserve,

[2:29:57] why are you relying on them to advise you on legislation intended to protect the

[2:30:04] public health of Croton?

[2:30:06] What is the CAC's expertise or even experience with hearing loss, with

[2:30:11] experience with hearing loss, with carcinogens,

[2:30:12] with carbon monoxide inhaled by children? We all demand faster action.

[2:30:18] We demand you protect public health. Not later, now.

[2:30:22] It isn't protecting public health in Croton what your seat—

[2:30:27] you are in your seats to do?

[2:30:29] In less than 2 weeks, on September 1st,

[2:30:32] a 4-month-long assault on the public health of Croton begins again.

[2:30:37] Decibels that strip the naked ear, toxins known to cause cancer, Cool.

[2:30:43] It appears this legislative body of Croton is okay with that.

[2:30:48] This is what I ask of you beginning September 1st.

[2:30:52] For the next 4 months, every time you see, hear, or smell a gas leaf blower,

[2:30:58] right on through the day of New Year's Eve, I want you to remember that someone,

[2:31:04] a whole lot of someones, including you, is in harm's way.

[2:31:09] Hearing damage, emphysema, asthma, Lung and esophageal cancers,

[2:31:14] cardiovascular disease. I hope it's not a child. Your child. My child.

[2:31:19] The case for ending the use of gas-powered leaf blowers has been made over and over

[2:31:26] again, going back years.

[2:31:28] The only question is, if you, as the elected leaders of Croton,

[2:31:33] are willing to do something about it For the town you were elected to serve.

[2:31:39] It will take commitment and maybe some intestinal fortitude. Do you have it?

[2:31:45] Is our public health worth it? Thank you.

[2:31:48] Thank you.

[2:31:50] Thank you.

[2:32:02] Thank you. Oh, actually, thank you.

[2:32:07] Thank you.

[2:32:19] Just off topic, I'd like to say that I've done my lawn for 77 years,

[2:32:23] and my wife insisted that An outside guy do it, part of the landscaping industry,

[2:32:29] you know. Guy makes about $65,000 a year and he's the manager,

[2:32:33] as opposed to the other guys that make like $35,000.

[2:32:36] Um, and so they showed up and he showed up one of those big jobs,

[2:32:41] lawn mowers that the village uses, which makes a lot of noise.

[2:32:45] And I have an electric lawn mower, which makes a lot— Or not electric lawn mower,

[2:32:50] a gas lawn mower. Which makes for a lot of—

[2:32:53] so he started doing it with the gas-powered leaf blower, and I ran out and

[2:32:58] gas-powered leaf blower, and I ran out and said,

[2:32:58] you can't do this, you can't do this.

[2:33:01] Use this electric leaf blower, which I have, which sucks.

[2:33:04] They really suck, and it costs a lot more.

[2:33:07] Um, don't have the power, don't have the— they don't last very long either,

[2:33:12] the charge. So he put his away, and, and, um, I said, let me see that one.

[2:33:17] It's a gas-powered— and he had a low-noise gas-powered leaf blower.

[2:33:22] And so between whatever leaf blower he uses and my lawnmower, which spits out

[2:33:27] uses and my lawnmower, which spits out stuff,

[2:33:27] makes dust all over the place, blows crap away,

[2:33:30] I'll bet you we make as much noise as any damn leaf blower does.

[2:33:34] It's when you gang up on leaf blowers.

[2:33:37] And I think that maybe gasoline lawnmowers are next because They hate gasoline or

[2:33:42] whatever the hell else. I'd like to remind you of something.

[2:33:46] This is what— I was off topic.

[2:33:48] Um, I was looking as we were dealing with this outrageous housing proposal across

[2:33:54] from ShopRite, and I believe housing's going in there.

[2:33:57] It should only be half the size, maybe 30 units. It should look nice.

[2:34:02] It's going to have to reinforce the hell out of the bank.

[2:34:06] You can use Van Wyck Street as an example. Reinforce the hell out of that bank.

[2:34:11] Thank you.

[2:34:12] And, and make a project look attractive,

[2:34:15] which the other tracts are either mediocre or terrible.

[2:34:19] The exceptions being the one that's a plain development next to the Harmon Deli,

[2:34:26] the 3-story job fits perfectly. It's a narrow building.

[2:34:30] And then the one which you approved years ago on a corner where Baked by Susan is

[2:34:36] and on top of the pot shop. It should be appropriate.

[2:34:40] sized building for the lot, and it should be in sync with the neighborhood,

[2:34:46] the landscape, and the neighbors. Neighbors have rights.

[2:34:50] And the infrastructure, which is in doubt down there.

[2:34:54] In passing these documents around,

[2:34:57] somebody passed the comprehensive plan from 2005 around,

[2:35:01] and I looked at the front page and I burst into laughing. I had a laughing out loud.

[2:35:07] Because they said as follows,

[2:35:10] this is a favorite of our state senator and our governor,

[2:35:14] talking about transit-oriented housing.

[2:35:17] Talking about transit-oriented housing, you know, parking lot A.

[2:35:22] This is a new up-and-coming idea, transit-oriented,

[2:35:26] and it's especially put in place in the states of California and New Jersey.

[2:35:32] Right.

[2:35:32] And when I read that, I said,

[2:35:34] if we follow anything in housing that the states of New Jersey or California do,

[2:35:40] we're in big trouble.

[2:35:42] We already lost a million people out of this state in the last 3—

[2:35:47] a million people left this state.

[2:35:49] There's only 2 other states proportionally that lost more, and that's California,

[2:35:55] Illinois, which is terrible, and New Jersey. And their housing plans suck.

[2:36:01] If you drive up and down the East Coast of the United States,

[2:36:05] which I do on a regular basis,

[2:36:07] you will see what their transit-oriented housing plans look like.

[2:36:12] And Montrose is a perfect example, and of course, Parking Lot A will be another.

[2:36:18] Montrose looks like a maximum security prison.

[2:36:21] And I assume as we develop, that's the kind of housing we're going to get,

[2:36:27] especially with some of the contractors that have proposed stuff to us lately.

[2:36:33] So I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Thank you.

[2:36:37] My prime concern right now is RU46. RU stands for Russell.

[2:36:41] Damn, Euclaf, which was a German French pharmaceutical firm that was searching for

[2:36:47] stuff to deal with thyroid problems,

[2:36:50] and then they had a six-digit code which they shortened. 46, 3 digits.

[2:36:55] And then they dumped this abortion pill in the market.

[2:36:59] And when you look at the development of that pill in Europe, it had the same

[2:37:05] that pill in Europe, it had the same tawdry,

[2:37:05] dirty, corrupt development as in the United States with state and federal

[2:37:11] United States with state and federal officials.

[2:37:11] Last thing I'd like to put on the record,

[2:37:14] this is a card on how to save a child after The first drug has been administered

[2:37:20] after The first drug has been administered to

[2:37:21] a woman. You can save that child.

[2:37:23] You can save those twins if you get help within 72 hours.

[2:37:27] It's the same treatment that is used for miscarriages. It's only—

[2:37:32] Time, time expired.

[2:37:33] 50 years old. Thank you.

[2:37:34] Thank

[2:37:37] you.

[2:37:41] Hello.

[2:37:45] Ned Rust, Morningside Drive.

[2:37:48] I didn't realize there was a meeting tonight till yesterday,

[2:37:52] so you guys are in luck.

[2:37:54] And I didn't have— so I didn't have time to prepare a full 5-minute speech.

[2:37:59] And you're extra lucky because I'm going to offer you some of the best life advice

[2:38:05] to offer you some of the best life advice I

[2:38:05] can. I know everything in the world is really Complicated.

[2:38:09] There's a lot of gray. There's a lot of nuance.

[2:38:12] There are a lot of exceptions and extenuating factors and caveats running

[2:38:17] extenuating factors and caveats running over all

[2:38:17] around and, you know, threatening to bite us in the butt.

[2:38:21] But here's a handy way to make things really simple.

[2:38:26] There are 2 types of action you can make in this world and things you can say.

[2:38:30] There are considerate ones and there are inconsiderate ones.

[2:38:34] And you're either thinking more about other people when you do or say something,

[2:38:39] or you're thinking more about yourself.

[2:38:42] And guess what the leaf blower preservationists are doing when they,

[2:38:47] or when they have their paid servants,

[2:38:50] fire up these outdated cancer-causing pollution machines?

[2:38:54] Are they thinking about others?

[2:38:55] About the carcinogenic legacy of aromatic hydrocarbons on the children of our

[2:39:01] community about the respiratory and auditory health of our landscape workers?

[2:39:06] Is that considerate or is that inconsiderate?

[2:39:10] It's a simple rubric, and you can take it to your work here on the board too.

[2:39:15] I thank you for your consideration, which, by the way,

[2:39:19] can be sometimes be include being brief and decisive.

[2:39:23] Thank you.

[2:39:23] Thank you. Does anyone else wish to

[2:39:29] comment? Seeing no one else wishing to

[2:39:36] comment, we proceed to reports.

[2:39:41] Trustee Slippen.

[2:39:44] Thank you, Mayor. Um,

[2:39:45] there aren't a lot of committee meetings going on.

[2:39:48] I can't even remember the last time we had a regular meeting.

[2:39:53] July 15th.

[2:39:54] July 15th. Okay. So there haven't been a lot of committee meetings,

[2:39:58] but I do want to shout out the Arboretum who has met throughout the summer,

[2:40:03] and the Arboretum looks terrific.

[2:40:05] I don't know if people have made it there recently,

[2:40:08] but it looks terrific in spite of the beaver dam or because of the beaver dam.

[2:40:13] So thank you to the Arboretum folks for doing so.

[2:40:16] Also, our— a newly formed Although not technically village committee,

[2:40:21] the Friends of Croton Parks have been busy at work all summer long also.

[2:40:25] I'm sure that Trustee Nicholson is going to speak more about that, so I won't, um,

[2:40:30] say too much. But I do just want to thank that— those 2 organizations for their,

[2:40:36] their work, um, throughout the summer.

[2:40:38] Um, and I just want to take a minute to talk about committees in general.

[2:40:43] Um, I heard this quote this week, or read it,

[2:40:46] Just about democracy and how it really doesn't happen without public

[2:40:50] doesn't happen without public participation.

[2:40:51] And I really believe that,

[2:40:52] which is why I have been so adamant about working on our volunteer committees,

[2:40:57] our citizen committees, you know,

[2:41:00] and getting them in a place where not only the volunteers are being well served,

[2:41:05] but so is the community. I know there's been a lot of conversation recently about—

[2:41:10] Yeah.

[2:41:10] about the minutes and the agendas and how everything is working.

[2:41:14] And I do think that it's a work in progress that we have not perfected yet.

[2:41:18] Trustee Nicholson and I spent a lot of time on the guidelines and how that was

[2:41:23] time on the guidelines and how that was all

[2:41:23] going to work and what that's going to look like.

[2:41:26] And we have certainly not perfected it yet.

[2:41:29] But in my meeting with the manager this week, I probably, much to his annoyance,

[2:41:33] said that I would like to have another work session Or minimally a meeting with

[2:41:38] work session Or minimally a meeting with the

[2:41:38] committee chairs just to talk about how it's going and how we can do better,

[2:41:43] because I really do appreciate all those people who do so much work in all

[2:41:47] people who do so much work in all different

[2:41:48] capacities for the village.

[2:41:49] Whether or not everybody agrees with everything they're doing all the time,

[2:41:54] I think we should really be grateful to them.

[2:41:56] So I just, I think the work is really important to everyone in the village and

[2:42:01] important to everyone in the village and how

[2:42:01] we're doing.

[2:42:02] Um.

[2:42:03] You know, another component of that, which I've been talking about frequently,

[2:42:08] is the inclusion of high school students on these committees.

[2:42:11] I think it's going to be a very nice way to create another connection,

[2:42:16] bring in another perspective.

[2:42:17] I do think that there are some items on the guidelines that we put together that I

[2:42:22] would like to revisit.

[2:42:23] I don't know how exactly that happens,

[2:42:26] if that has to happen at a meeting because we adopted them if it can happen more

[2:42:30] informally. Um, and I don't need to go into them now, but, um,

[2:42:34] the activities fair that I hope Trustee Nicholson will join me at is going to be

[2:42:39] Nicholson will join me at is going to be on

[2:42:39] September 15th, where we will talk to some high school students, um,

[2:42:43] about participation on these committees.

[2:42:45] So I just wanted to first say out loud to, you know,

[2:42:48] all the families whose kids are in the high school that that's going to happen on

[2:42:53] the 15th, but it is also open to high school students.

[2:42:56] Thank you.

[2:42:57] who are village residents that maybe don't go to the high school.

[2:43:00] So I just want to remember that that's an important component,

[2:43:03] but also talk about making some adjustments to that.

[2:43:06] So I don't know how that happens,

[2:43:07] but maybe you and I can continue that conversation.

[2:43:10] And yeah, I mean, depending on what they are, uh, it was adopted by resolution.

[2:43:15] So I think it says that it's supposed to be revisited during the organizational

[2:43:20] meeting. So that would be December.

[2:43:23] I just, I think the way it's written right now maybe would exclude some people that

[2:43:28] I would otherwise— I think we— it says the students have to be village residents,

[2:43:31] which is not even consistent with what our regular committee rules are.

[2:43:35] I don't want to spend too much more time talking about this.

[2:43:38] Meeting's already gone on for a while, but I did want to bring it to your attention.

[2:43:42] Okay.

[2:43:42] And I also, I just want to make sure that people are aware of this.

[2:43:47] I want to— we had a meeting today regarding some more planning for Gouveia,

[2:43:52] which is a very frustrating and exciting project for me, but—

[2:43:56] and for a lot of people.

[2:43:58] But I do think that progress is getting made there and will continue to get made

[2:44:04] there. There is work being done.

[2:44:06] I hope that we can continue to highlight the work that's being done there and share

[2:44:12] it in the newsletter.

[2:44:13] And on social media because progress is getting made,

[2:44:17] especially our our this new group Friends of Croton Parks has some really exciting

[2:44:22] ideas along with collaborating with the Recreation Advisory Committee and the Arts

[2:44:28] and Humanities Committee.

[2:44:30] So you know there is progress that I would like to be celebrating whenever we can

[2:44:36] because it's been a very long how long is it twelve years?

[2:44:40] But there was progress made there today.

[2:44:42] The other thing I know that you know there are a couple you know there are a few hot

[2:44:48] topics happening in the village right now,

[2:44:51] and obviously there's been a lot of attention to the revising of the law that

[2:44:57] includes the pigeon situation.

[2:44:59] I think that what got us to where we are now are a A couple things, you know,

[2:45:04] that have been unfortunate in how it got here.

[2:45:07] You know, some decisions were made at the zoning board meeting that have impacted

[2:45:13] where we are now, and some— I just,

[2:45:15] I really want to be thoughtful about how we proceed,

[2:45:19] and I really want to make sure that everybody gets to speak at the public

[2:45:24] everybody gets to speak at the public hearing

[2:45:25] and that we are not making decisions You know, we're putting numbers on animals.

[2:45:30] You know, I'm hearing from people, you know, it's not— it seems that when we,

[2:45:36] when we embarked on this project,

[2:45:38] it seemed like it was going to be a simple way to make things better.

[2:45:43] And it's very complicated.

[2:45:45] I think that we— I just want to be very careful about how we're considering what

[2:45:50] we're doing because a lot of people are going to be impacted and a lot of people

[2:45:56] have opinions about it.

[2:45:57] Yeah.

[2:45:59] And I don't— we can't fix the, the way that decisions were made in the past,

[2:46:05] but we're going to have the opportunity over the course of what I hope is a robust

[2:46:10] public hearing to make the right decision that is going to be the best for the

[2:46:16] village going forward and not create more issues. That's my report.

[2:46:21] Thank you.

[2:46:25] Judy. Judy.

[2:46:29] I'd like to change my vote to no referral to the WAC. I don't— thank you.

[2:46:36] I don't think you can do that.

[2:46:38] You've already— attorney. The attorney is here.

[2:46:41] Let's go to the attorney.

[2:46:42] Go to the video tape. You can't change it absent another resolution.

[2:46:50] That is a subsequent resolution,

[2:46:54] and that would have to be at the chair's—

[2:46:58] at the chair's option to re-resolve an action. Okay.

[2:47:04] In other words, you can't— I don't know,

[2:47:08] you can't call the resolution yourself.

[2:47:13] Yeah, once the vote is done, it's final, right?

[2:47:17] It's like You know, so you can't, you can't re—

[2:47:23] well, a single member— recall your vote.

[2:47:25] Yeah.

[2:47:26] Or change it in the same meeting that we just spoke about 5 minutes ago.

[2:47:32] No, I'm saying, what I'm saying is a single member of the Board of Trustees

[2:47:38] single member of the Board of Trustees cannot

[2:47:39] reopen a resolution.

[2:47:40] So you'd need to ask, um, the chairman of— the mayor to, uh,

[2:47:45] to call the question as to whether you would like to reconsider the resolution.

[2:47:52] Okay, Mayor, I'm sorry to bother you with this.

[2:47:56] I'll know in the future not to do this.

[2:48:00] If we can possibly reopen it, everyone will vote the same way, and I'll just,

[2:48:06] for the record, vote no. You just need a vote of the board to renew it.

[2:48:12] I don't think we've ever recalled a vote,

[2:48:15] and I think it's fine to note your objections and proceed from there.

[2:48:19] Okay, so—

[2:48:21] But I'm not— I do not wish to reopen the vote.

[2:48:24] Right. So how— Judy will note my objections on the minutes?

[2:48:28] Yeah, just as part of your— as part of your report, right?

[2:48:32] Just say that, you know, Trustee Nachtaler, upon further, uh,

[2:48:37] reflection, uh—

[2:48:38] Yes, and also comments I heard from here, which were upsetting.

[2:48:43] So we don't have to get into that, but thank you for noting it, Judy.

[2:48:49] I appreciate what you do.

[2:48:51] Okay.

[2:48:52] Um, okay, so Sunday, um, this past Sunday, August 16th,

[2:48:57] I attended the 50th Annual Jewish Music and Arts Festival, um,

[2:49:02] put on by the Westchester Jewish Council.

[2:49:05] Pam Goldstein invited the board, and, you know, I had the privilege of, of going.

[2:49:12] And, you know, it was, um, it was great.

[2:49:15] They had a lot of great vendors, a lot of great music, um, and, you know,

[2:49:22] lots of great attendees and, and good engagement.

[2:49:26] So there were lots of great services too, um, for the community.

[2:49:31] So, um, I appreciated that.

[2:49:33] Thank you.

[2:49:35] Also, I appreciated— and I didn't get his name, but he was in the fire EMS group—

[2:49:42] but I'm grateful for everything that the fire and EMS teams have been doing.

[2:49:48] I heard they answered 5 calls today.

[2:49:51] We know that they've had, you know, super challenging rescues at the county.

[2:49:57] Um, it sounds like, um, county park calls have been kind of heating up.

[2:50:03] So, you know, I guess with summer and, you know, you have more, you know,

[2:50:09] folks there, um, partying or, you know, having a great time.

[2:50:14] But, um, you know, I'm really grateful to them.

[2:50:18] And I do want to mention that the county emergency service group put out new fire

[2:50:25] safety tips and videos.

[2:50:27] Oh, great.

[2:50:28] Which I think, um, Manager,

[2:50:30] I don't know if that's something we can ask the Fire Council or, you know,

[2:50:35] the group to put on their website, or maybe if you—

[2:50:39] if it's appropriate to add a link on our website.

[2:50:43] But I found these fire safety tips videos done by the county to be, like,

[2:50:48] really helpful. You know, they're short.

[2:50:51] I've seen them. Yeah.

[2:50:52] Yeah, they're good.

[2:50:53] Yep.

[2:50:53] You know, and Like the gentleman who spoke tonight, he said that,

[2:50:58] you know, they've been answering a lot more calls than usual.

[2:51:03] And, you know, so I, I think it's, uh, it's helpful if we can, you know,

[2:51:08] promote those.

[2:51:09] We can, we can link to those, and I'll, I'll, you know, um,

[2:51:13] reach out to the chiefs about using their social media to promote it also.

[2:51:17] Yeah, thank you. Um, And I do want to thank the planning board.

[2:51:22] You know, they've worked very hard on the 425 South Riverside project,

[2:51:29] and I thought that they handled the planning board meeting, you know,

[2:51:35] with real professionalism.

[2:51:37] You know, and I know that the public is, and thank you, Laurie Lee, as well,

[2:51:44] and to our planner. I think everybody did a great job.

[2:51:48] So I know, you know, that we're waiting.

[2:51:52] The planning board is waiting for that application to come back with more

[2:51:58] specifics, right? So, you know,

[2:52:01] we'll see if it ends up getting on the September—

[2:52:06] Yeah, the August 25th meeting was canceled.

[2:52:09] So the next meeting would be September Right.

[2:52:12] Yeah, so the— and the deadline for that would be Monday.

[2:52:16] Yeah, yeah. So I know there's a lot of public interest in that, but I,

[2:52:21] I thought the planning board did a really good job.

[2:52:25] Um, and, um, I do want to just give a shout out to the VEB,

[2:52:29] the Visual Advisory Board. They met.

[2:52:32] I know Trustee Slippen was on the call with me, and so were you, Manager.

[2:52:37] Um, you know, they're a small but mighty group.

[2:52:41] So, you know, I know we're going to look forward to the meetings in person, um,

[2:52:47] as well. I understand, right, they'll move from Zoom to in person,

[2:52:52] which I think will be great.

[2:52:54] And I know— thank you, Manager, for sharing,

[2:52:57] giving them advanced peek and opportunity to weigh in on,

[2:53:01] on the color for underneath the Half Moon Bay Bridge for paint.

[2:53:06] Yes.

[2:53:07] So, you know, that was, that was good, um, good timing on that. I appreciate it.

[2:53:12] We're happy. I'm happy to have them weigh in on stuff.

[2:53:16] You know, it's, it's what they're—

[2:53:18] that's what they're there for to do it.

[2:53:21] Yeah. So, yeah. And, um, just the seniors club, um, you know, the senior club, I'm,

[2:53:28] I'm a liaison with Deputy Mayor Simon, and they meet every Friday, uh, 11.

[2:53:34] To 1, and their meetings from 12 to 1.

[2:53:37] Um, and they have a pizza party coming up at the Yacht Club September 11th, uh,

[2:53:44] for senior members. It's just $5 or $10 for guests.

[2:53:48] So that's, you know, at the Yacht Club. Should be fun.

[2:53:53] Um, and then, um, there's a senior barbecue, um, which is—

[2:53:58] Right.

[2:53:58] Actually, that's August 28th next Friday.

[2:54:02] So, um, that— I'm trying to see where that is, but probably,

[2:54:07] probably at Senosqua. Yeah, DPW's cooking.

[2:54:11] It's— I would assume it's Senosqua. Yes.

[2:54:14] Oh yeah, so that's this Friday for anyone that wants to go. Should be fun time.

[2:54:20] Um, and I know that, uh, Deputy Mayor Simon will update on some exciting—

[2:54:25] your exciting FPD DR trip, right?

[2:54:28] Coming up.

[2:54:29] The seniors. Okay. Yeah. Um, so, all right. So that's— yeah, that's it. Thank

[2:54:36] right. So that's— yeah, that's it. Thank you.

[2:54:36] Oh, sorry. The, uh, my notes are getting smaller and smaller, my font.

[2:54:42] Um, I do want to acknowledge all the letters that we received on the pigeon

[2:54:49] letters that we received on the pigeon topic.

[2:54:50] Um, on kind of both, both sides.

[2:54:53] You know, and I was very moved by the speakers tonight, you know,

[2:54:58] including Tony and Nora and, you know, everyone who spoke on the topic.

[2:55:05] So I think like Trustee Slippen,

[2:55:08] I look forward to the public hearing and to further discussion around this to make

[2:55:15] sure that you know, we all do the right thing and, and just feel good about, um,

[2:55:23] any changes that we propose to the law. So thank you.

[2:55:27] Thank you. Um, so I will keep it brief.

[2:55:30] I just want to thank the DPW and Recreation Department, um, this—

[2:55:35] for the summer concert series.

[2:55:37] It ended, um, really successfully the other evening, Friday night.

[2:55:42] It was It was a beautiful night and it was so nice to see a couple that actually got

[2:55:48] married down at Senosqua.

[2:55:50] Oh my God.

[2:55:51] And the bride and groom did their dance and Valerie and I were like, what?

[2:55:56] Yeah, so amazing. Just so special to everyone in the community.

[2:56:01] It was so nice to see.

[2:56:03] And the DPW has been working,

[2:56:05] the DPW has been working so hard on all of the various road projects in the Village.

[2:56:11] I noticed that the sidewalks, um, on Old Post Road are being taken care of,

[2:56:16] which is very exciting.

[2:56:18] It's been a pet project of mine.

[2:56:19] So that is happening as we speak, uh, which is really exciting.

[2:56:24] And then kind of all of the new painting and roadwork and Cleveland Drive, um,

[2:56:29] are just beautiful. So that is amazing.

[2:56:32] And then the recreation department has been working, um, on successful camp

[2:56:37] been working, um, on successful camp years.

[2:56:38] A challenging Silver Lake year.

[2:56:40] But, you know, really putting in a lot of great effort there.

[2:56:44] Maria alluded to the meeting that we had today,

[2:56:48] which was with the landscape architect that the board had contracted with to do a

[2:56:53] master plan of the grounds of Gouveia Park.

[2:56:56] So it was amazing to see someone that has had history with the village and has done

[2:57:02] various village projects in the past, was a former resident,

[2:57:07] sort of see what his vision was of the, of the park and what it could be.

[2:57:12] So, you know, it continues to move forward, which is really exciting.

[2:57:17] As Maria said, Friends of Croton Parks is now a nonprofit separate from the village.

[2:57:23] So if residents are interested in supporting parks,

[2:57:26] they are going to plan some upcoming opportunities.

[2:57:30] Where they'll be doing a workday at Gwabea Park where they'll be doing some weeding

[2:57:36] and some, you know, beautification. So that's really exciting to see.

[2:57:41] And with that, I will pass it to my colleague.

[2:57:44] Well, thank you very much.

[2:57:46] And I think, like we've all said, it's been a—

[2:57:49] it's been a month or so since we've sat in these seats.

[2:57:53] So just a few things to catch up on.

[2:57:56] On July 16th, our Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee met.

[2:58:00] Mayor was there and So was I.

[2:58:02] And we got an update from the team there on next steps on the redo of the bicycle

[2:58:08] pedestrian master plan. So looking forward to progress on that.

[2:58:12] We received a lot of plaudits from everyone on the Cleveland Avenue repaving.

[2:58:18] Everyone was just very pleased about that.

[2:58:21] So we were— it was quite good to hear that.

[2:58:24] And we talked a little bit about Some of the funding that we're seeking from

[2:58:29] the funding that we're seeking from Project

[2:58:30] Mover, that's set-aside funding for infrastructure projects,

[2:58:34] and we'll be submitting some paperwork to them on funding for bike lanes,

[2:58:39] additional RRFBs, bike racks, and signage.

[2:58:42] So we'll have more to report on that in the future.

[2:58:46] Unfortunately, on July 18th, we had to cancel our bike skills training class,

[2:58:52] which was 50% indoors, 50% outdoors.

[2:58:54] 'Cause that, that was the, the height of the Canadian forest fire bad air days.

[2:59:00] And so it was, it was canceled for that. And I think it was raining as well.

[2:59:06] So we're working with, with the recreation department to,

[2:59:10] to reschedule it for sometime in the fall. So I'll let everyone know about that.

[2:59:16] On July 24th, I sat in on the quarterly Zoom that Congressman Lawler has for For

[2:59:21] local elected officials in the district,

[2:59:24] and he gave us a quick briefing on the housing bill, the Road to Housing,

[2:59:29] which we've talked about briefly here before,

[2:59:33] some work he's doing on surface transportation reauthorization,

[2:59:37] and how he's pushing back against some of the proposed amendments to the grants

[2:59:43] process, which would tend to politicize it. So it was always, always good to get.

[2:59:49] information from that office.

[2:59:51] On July 25th, just congratulations to the Recreation Department for the community

[2:59:57] paddle. It was terrific. My wife Linda and I were pleased to participate.

[3:00:02] The mayor was there as well. I thought it was a great success.

[3:00:07] I think there were about 40 or so folks there, mostly in kayaks,

[3:00:11] a few rowboats there.

[3:00:13] And of course, Mark Cheshire did a great job in trying to Put the whole thing in

[3:00:19] perspective with a little talk on one of the islands.

[3:00:22] And so I want to thank Recreation.

[3:00:25] Also want to thank the 125th Committee chaired by Carolyn Whiting,

[3:00:30] which actually came up with the original idea to do the community paddle in 2023.

[3:00:36] And it's continued every year, every year since.

[3:00:39] So, and I think it's going to be— continue to be a great institution.

[3:00:44] On 425 South Riverside, as Trustee Nachtaler said Croton should be very

[3:00:49] Nachtaler said Croton should be very proud,

[3:00:50] I think, of the planning board's care and deliberate work that they're doing.

[3:00:55] Our engineer, our planning staff, and our village attorney are really,

[3:01:00] really doing a fantastic job in making sure that we're going step by step and

[3:01:06] holding the proposed developer to a very high standard.

[3:01:10] And the absence of any subsequent meetings Since the 28th, I think,

[3:01:15] is a good indication that's working.

[3:01:17] On July 29th, I think all of us were participating in the Lions barbecue.

[3:01:22] I was grateful for the invitation and to participate in that,

[3:01:27] and it's amazing how much good work the Lions do for Croton.

[3:01:31] They should really be applauded for that.

[3:01:34] On July 30th, I had the great honor to appear with Senator Pete Harkam To receive

[3:01:40] $100,000 in CREST funds for the village,

[3:01:43] which we will hope to use for the Harmon Firehouse new roof with additional other

[3:01:49] funds. And assuming that we go forward with that, it'll be a couple of years,

[3:01:54] I think, before the funds actually float into our account.

[3:01:59] But once, once we get the roof work done,

[3:02:02] There's the potential for putting solar panels on the Harmon Firehouse,

[3:02:07] just like we have on the Washington Engine Company.

[3:02:10] We looked at this before through the Sustainability Committee,

[3:02:15] and fact is you can't put solar tiles on a bad roof.

[3:02:19] So we've got to get that roof done.

[3:02:21] And of course, Independence Day, we were all there as well.

[3:02:25] Dwayne Jackson, and Joe Serrato are great reenactors doing that in blistering heat,

[3:02:31] you know, just wearing these heavy cotton, you know, or whatever they were,

[3:02:37] burlap colonial uniforms.

[3:02:39] And it was especially—

[3:02:40] I'm so grateful to the village manager and everyone for having had the idea of not

[3:02:46] doing that on July 4th,

[3:02:48] but doing it on August 1st when there were less distractions like the big ships that

[3:02:54] were coming into the, into the, into the port in New York.

[3:02:58] And of course, we had,

[3:03:00] we had a second half of that because in addition to the great reenactment,

[3:03:05] I think was longer than I've ever, ever experienced. They did a fantastic job.

[3:03:11] But secondly, then we were able through the Hart Committee to honor Mark Cheshire

[3:03:17] and the Historical Society for all the— Mm-hmm. All the great work that they do.

[3:03:22] And second last, second to the last is National Night Out just last week.

[3:03:28] Again, I think we were all there.

[3:03:30] Thanks for the police department, fire department, EMS, everyone, drone.

[3:03:35] DPW drives the drone.

[3:03:37] Yeah, DPW, everyone that participated.

[3:03:40] It's a great, it was a great community event and a great, great coming out.

[3:03:45] And of course, thanks also to the golf course for the wonderful food.

[3:03:49] So it was just great.

[3:03:50] And as long— just wrapping up, as long as Trustee Nachtaler mentioned it,

[3:03:55] we are taking all of the seniors that want to.

[3:03:58] It's at least 30, so last time I checked the registration.

[3:04:02] We're taking them up to FDR.

[3:04:03] I'll be giving them a tour of the library and the museum,

[3:04:07] and we're very excited about that.

[3:04:09] And for those of you that aren't going on that trip but would like to Uh,

[3:04:14] like to make a special trip, uh, up there between now and December.

[3:04:18] Um, long story short, you know, until about, uh, 1812 or '13, uh,

[3:04:22] there were no copies of the Constitution— of the Declaration of Independence.

[3:04:27] Uh, you know, there were, uh, there were,

[3:04:30] there were newspapers that had repeated the words,

[3:04:33] but there were no copies like we're used to seeing.

[3:04:36] So the, uh, the federal government at the time was—

[3:04:40] Uh-huh.

[3:04:40] Um, had the idea of commissioning a, um, a, a steel plate that, uh, that had, um,

[3:04:46] the reproduction of the words and the signatures of the, um, of the Declaration.

[3:04:52] And they were generous enough to print up 200 copies for the, for the whole country.

[3:04:58] There are only 50 left of, uh, that, that are known of,

[3:05:02] and we now have one of them at, at FDR.

[3:05:05] Wow.

[3:05:05] on loan to us through December 26th by the great David Rubenstein,

[3:05:10] who is a great philanthropist and owner of the Baltimore Orioles,

[3:05:14] who are now tied with the Yankees, in case anyone knows.

[3:05:18] So, if you're interested in coming up, just let me know,

[3:05:22] but we're very much looking forward to the seniors being there on February 10th.

[3:05:27] All right, thank you all for your comprehensive review of the intervening

[3:05:32] comprehensive review of the intervening weeks.

[3:05:33] And thank you to everyone that spoke, uh, tonight's meeting.

[3:05:37] Um, I want to, uh, thank the, uh,

[3:05:39] Trail Subcommittee of the Conservation Advisory Council for a great cleanup on

[3:05:45] August 8th. And I also— there will be a meeting before this,

[3:05:49] but I want to give people maximum notice—

[3:05:52] a village town hall on a potential New York Forward application.

[3:05:57] New York Forward Being the younger sibling to the Empire State Development

[3:06:02] Corporation's Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

[3:06:06] This would be potential state funding for economic development and the creation of

[3:06:11] various amenities in the village,

[3:06:14] something that we are eligible for as a pro-housing community.

[3:06:18] A new round has not been announced yet for New York Forward,

[3:06:23] but it has been budgeted for.

[3:06:25] So in order to prepare our application,

[3:06:27] we want to get public input sooner rather than later.

[3:06:31] And our planner/grant writer will be explaining some of the thinking in terms

[3:06:37] explaining some of the thinking in terms of the

[3:06:37] overall strategy for this application,

[3:06:40] and we will also be hearing from Mayor Marjorie Hsu of the Village of Sleepy

[3:06:45] Marjorie Hsu of the Village of Sleepy Hollow,

[3:06:46] which is a previous New York Forward winner.

[3:06:49] Who will be describing,

[3:06:51] summarizing some of the projects that New York Forward has allowed Sleepy Hollow to

[3:06:57] pursue. So that will be taking place on— did I say September 3rd?

[3:07:01] Because I'm not sure that's right.

[3:07:03] It is.

[3:07:04] It is the Thursday. All right, so very good.

[3:07:06] In this very room.

[3:07:06] Yep, in this very room.

[3:07:08] So more information will be coming out shortly, but it is on our village

[3:07:12] shortly, but it is on our village calendar,

[3:07:13] and I hope we have robust participation. Manager, do you have anything else to add?

[3:07:18] Um, I don't. Did you have any appointments?

[3:07:20] Uh, not at this time.

[3:07:24] The VEB.

[3:07:25] Oh wait, sorry, uh, uh, Jen Johnson, uh,

[3:07:28] Jen Johnson rather, uh, for, uh, the VEB.

[3:07:31] Yes, do I have a motion on Jen?

[3:07:33] So moved.

[3:07:34] Second.

[3:07:35] Uh, motion by Trustee Slippen, second by Trustee Simon. All in favor?

[3:07:38] Aye.

[3:07:39] Thank you.

[3:07:40] To clarify, that's for the chair.

[3:07:42] Yes, as chair.

[3:07:43] She was already a— she was already a member.

[3:07:45] She was already a member.

[3:07:50] Yeah. Oh, do I have a motion to adjourn?

[3:07:52] So moved.

[3:07:53] Second.

[3:07:54] Motion by Trustee Simon, second by Trustee Nicholson. All in favor? Aye.

Work Session & Regular Meeting

Transcript