https://sleepyhollow.localarchives.org/files/original/9fe61058bfeb76786faaf054a9f473bc.pdf adc379f0c7630c44236e118d45d57040 PDF Text Text The Board of Trustees of the Village of Sleepy Hollow held a meeting on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at Village Hall, 28 Beekman Avenue, Sleepy Hollow, New York. Present: Mayor Kenneth G. Wray Deputy Mayor Denise Scaglione Thomas Andruss Sam Gonzalez Jared Rodriquez Sandra Spiro, Trustees Absent: Trustee Gebler Also Present: Anthony Giaccio, Village Administrator Paula McCarthy Tompkins, Village Clerk Sara DiGiacomo, Village Treasurer Anthony Bueti, Village Police Chief Sean McCarthy, Village Building Inspector Clinton Smith, Village Counsel At 7:00 p.m. Mayor Wray called the meeting to order with a pledge to the flag and a moment of silence for residents Donald Gray Eder of Kendal Way, Juana Rodriguez of Valley St., and Eric Weiss of Ichabods Landing. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Mayor Wray asked Village Clerk McCarthy to read aloud the Public Hearing Notice regarding installation of a stop sign on Beekman Avenue at the intersection of Cortlandt Street. Mayor opened the Public Hearing and invoked the 3-minute rule. Anne White of Kendal Way, addressed the Mayor and the Board of Trustees and supports the placement of the stop sign. There were no further comments from the public. Village Clerk read letters from the Sleepy Hollow Fire Department and the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns regarding their concerns and suggestions for the STOP sign location at Beekman and Cortlandt intersection. Trustee Rodriguez recommended the stenciling of the word STOP at the intersection of Beekman and Cortlandt and possibly adjust the curb so buses can make the turn. Deputy Mayor Scaglione stated a further conversation should be had about the turning issues at this location. Trustee Andruss is in favor of the stop sign and to include the stenciling. �Trustee Gonzalez is in favor of the stop sign and suggested the Board consider the recommendations of the Fire Department and the School. Trustee Spiro supports the Fire Department's suggestions as well. Trustee Andruss moved to close the public hearing, seconded by Trustee Rodriguez. Motion carried. Approval of Warrants: On a motion made by Deputy Mayor Scaglione, seconded by Trustee Andruss the warrant was approved and Treasurer DiGiacomo was authorized to pay bills in the amount of $669,204.09. Mayor Wray thanked the members of our Fire Department for volunteering their time to assist in mutual aid to the Town of Mamaroneck who were recently hit hard by Hurricane Ida. Capital Budget Presentations: Fire Chief Korzelius and Ambulance Chief Martello presented their capital budget requests. Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Deputy Mayor Scaglione, seconded by Trustee Andruss the minutes of the August 31, 2021 meeting were approved. Motion carried. Trustee Gonzalez not present to vote. (Stepped out of the meeting) On a motion by Trustee Rodriguez, seconded by Trustee Andruss the minutes of the September 7, 2021 meeting were approved with amendments. Motion carried. Abstain: Trustee Spiro. Mayor's Announcement: Mayor Wray made the following announcements/comments: Mayor Wray thanked the members of our Fire Department for volunteering their time to assist in mutual aid to the Town of Mamaroneck who were recently hit hard by Hurricane Ida. Upcoming events: JP Doyles Block Party, Saturday, September 18th 2-9pm on Beekman Avenue; Oktoberfest, Saturday, September 25th 1-5 at Kingsland Point Park Mayor Wray stated that a thorough and exciting presentation was made last week from Margie Ruddick Landscape and Charles McKinney of the landscape designs of LDC Common, Devries, Traffic Island on Route 9. Mayor Wray stated the Board would like �them to proceed with their designs and recommendations. There are 6 active cases of COVID in Sleepy Hollow Deputy Mayor Scaglione stated there is a Sleepy Hollow Football game at home, this Saturday at 1:00pm. Come support the Horsemen. Public Comments: Mayor Wray opened the meeting to the public and invoked the 3 minute rule. Anne White of Kendal Way, addressed the Mayor and the Board of Trustees and made suggestions for the use of ARPA fundings, including sidewalk repairs and upgrade watermains to benefit the residents and business owners in the lower part of the Village. There were no further comments. Resolutions: R1 - Approve DRI Application Trustee Spiro stated she supports all business to use these grants and that all communities are looked at as needed. Trustee Rodriguez stated this grant potentially could bring $10 million dollars to the downtown. R2 - Approve Seasonal Employee for DPW R3 - Approve Actions of the Fire Wardens R4 - Approve Little Library Request R5 - Accept Employee's Resignation New Business: Mayor Wray stated Trustee Gonzalez would like to make three specific recommendations regarding the Local Development Corporation Board. Trustee Gonzalez stated he would like to give a little bit of context regarding an issue he discussed with council back in August, and read the attached letter into the record. Trustee Andruss corrected Trustee Gonzalez and stated the Village was ^auctioning the property (referred to). Mayor Wray differed with Trustee Gonzalez's statement and stated the LDC did not bid on this property, and neither did the Village. Mayor Wray stated he is upset with how Mr. Dawley is being characterized and portrait in Trustees' Gonzalez statement. Deputy Mayor Scaglione stated that the Board of Trustees did not ask the Local Development �Corporation Board nor Michael Dawley to do anything with the property in question. Trustee Andruss thanked the members of the LDC Board for their service. Trustee Rodriguez also thanked the LDC Board and suggested having further discussions. Brief discussion ensued. Mayor Wray stated that anyone, including the Board of Trustees may attend the LDC Board meetings at any time. Trustee Rodriguez asked about the raised sidewalks and Administrator Giaccio responded that the Village engineer is looking at various designs and costs. Discussion ensured regarding a future traffic study. Communications: Some correspondence was received regarding ARPA funds and some comments regarding the parklet on top of Cortlandt Street were received via email. Trustee Rodriguez stated that most comments regarding the parklet have been positive. Public Comments: Mayor Wray opened the meeting to the public and invoked the 3-minute rule. Anne White, Kendal Way, addressed the mayor and the Board of Trustees and thanked them for all their hard work. There were no further comments. At 8:55pm, Trustee Andruss moved to go into Executive Session to discuss negotiations. Seconded by Trustee Gonzalez. Motion approved. Deputy Mayor Scaglione moved and Trustee Rodriguez seconded to exit executive session. At 9:15 p.m. on a motion by Trustee Andruss, seconded by Trustee Spiro the meeting was adjourned. �( T m t e e 6BxyUe^ Mayor and fellow SH Trustees, I recently asked Clinton B. Smith to look into Mike Dawley's decision to c ~ S l 0 ? h J U , y h 1 m \ 2 ° 2 1 °n p r 0 p 6 r t y SOU 9ht y h a V 6 failed t0 m e e t his I r ^ T r Kl ?u ? B o a r d ? n S « ' b e h f e ' °Ur s s f s a r - ^ a LDC 'S the ViSageTTas fiduciary duty by submitting * with our Village 9 m i s s i o n i s to w o impiement projectsto improvethe ^ ° f As the mayor mentioned to us several days before the bid, a private citizen can exerose their option to make an investment in properly H o w e ^ n instances where private and public interests overlap such aslsTheTaJe S w T ? P e r ?°UrSe °f 3Cti0n is t0 a b s t a i n actions that raise conflict of interest concerns. Persons in positions of public trust are SffSffn^roSrtre3^6"3"06 " °f ^ ,n ^ View ' T m ' T C , ° U n s e l t 0 r e v i e w t h e m a t t e r a r * he has concluded that technically, Mr. Dawley was not in breach of fiduciary duty to the Board of yj"3,9® p 0 p u l a t i 0 n i n t h i s m a t t e r - H o w e v ^ e did note that, Certainly, the LDC and the Village dealt with this matter more casually than I would have preferred. Mr. Dawley should have had the not to bid ' r memorialized in some fashion, the Mayor and he should not have relied on his oral notice, and the Mayor should not have simply mentioned it to the Board of Trustees." SHWIageboard never received a formal recommendation from the L D C to bid on the sale of the property in question. Moreover, the S H L D C m a w K a M - c o l l a b o r a t e d w i t h ^ e Village, as it did with the purchase of the UAW building. The S H LDC sought and received funding from the vSlage to buy the former UAW building. The Village could have approved transfer of funding to the LDC in this most recent case as well, if the L D C h a d proposed an investment strategy to the Village Board. That never happened. The LDC would have been in a much better position to execute an d a P t e n t , a l d e a l w i t h l e s s r e d t a Llrn T , , ° P e - t h a " the path the Village Board ult.mately chose to follow, and no village entity benefitted from the July 14 sale This was a missed opportunity for the LDC and the Villaqe i T l T u w , a s b r ° u g h ! t 0 l i g h t s e v e r a l i s s u e s that are appropriate for us, as the SH Village borad should address. Here's are my recommendations: 1. Going forward board members that have a fiduciary responsibility and participate in a public role, be it Village or LDC Board, must ensure the inwL°ctrU,f L y t a V O l d L n 9 3 C t u a l a s w e " a s t h e a PP e arance of a conflict of interest. If that member cannot adhere to this basic principle then that person should not serve in a public capacity. .««en max �2. The Sleepy Hollow L D C should amend its by-laws, outlining the written procedure m wh.ch the "Member" (SH Village Board of T r u s t e e s ^ * * nntenf i a < J ? V ? k e n b y L D ° m e m b e r s ' i n c a s e s where there' i s a potential conflict of interest. These actions should be memorialized as our legal counsel has suggested. This provides transparency and solves two issues I ensures that the L D C board members will properly separateTheir pubhc interest from their private concerns. Secondly the Village Board is n n ™ S P 0 n d t t 0 p " b , i c s c r u t i n V o v e r ^is type of conduct and will avoid a potential lawsuit and/or violation of law recommendin 9 t h a t t h e L D C by-laws be amended and spec fy that it will pursue economic development opportunities on behalf of the Village, which .ncludes making formal proposals to the Village Board on real estate, job development, training, or other investments or opportunities that serve the public good. The email below is the full opinion that C B S sent me on August 20 in regards to my inquiry of Mr. Dawley's bid. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes & Resolutions-2021 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource MINS_TRUST_2021-09-14 Subject The topic of the resource Board of Trustees Minutes-2021 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Village of Sleepy Hollow All Rights Reserved. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text