Hot Topics In Yorktown: Update 2/28/13

[Update 2/28/14: a big thanks to Ken Belfer, MLID president, for coordinating the informative Q&A with Yorktown Comptroller Pat Caporale; and a huge thanks to her for taking her personal time to educate the Mohegan Lake community on town procurement policies.  Very informative and gracious on both your parts. I was personally excited to learn that all of the 7 Mohegan Lake districts(+Shrub Oak Community Park) are all departments of Yorktown, technically.  That's pretty cool.  I'm technically the vice president of a department of Yorktown; I'm relatively certain I'm only a few steps away from being appointed to the vacant Town Board seat. Agreed?]

2014 is shaping up to be an exceptional year for Yorktown.  As we all know, I'm all things Mohegan Lake, and it's technically a part of Yorktown.  So here we go:

First off, The Mohegan Lake Improvement District [MLID] is hosting a Q and A with the Yorktown Comptroller to get clarification of the financial aspect of the 7 park districts comprising Mohegan Lake. Here's a message from the MLID president with details.

The Mohegan Lake Improvement District is hosting a meeting for all lake park districts (including Shrub Oak Community Park) to get clarification on Town of Yorktown purchasing policies, and the bidding, requisition and purchase order process.  Pat Caporale, the Town Comptroller, will be speaking, handing out materials, and answering questions.  A copy of each districts budget will be available as well.  The meeting is this Thursday February 27th at the John Hart library meeting room in Shrub Oak at 6:30:00 PM.  The library closes at 8:00 PM, so the meeting is guaranteed to last only an hour and a half.  Please come promptly at 6:30.  The past couple of years there have been so many questions asked and so much frustration expressed, that I thought this meeting could be helpful for all, as well as an organized way to give feedback to the Comptroller.  Hope all of you have been surviving this crazy winter ok.  

Second, Yorktown is missing a Town Board member.  The board is split 2 v 2 because TB member Paganelli was elected Highway Supervisor (congratulations on a hard fought victory).  Messrs. Grace and Murphy want to appoint a new member; Messrs. Patel and Bianco prefer the people elect an "elected official."  While Town attorney Koster originally was cool with a special election, she did a 180 and is now not cool with it.  It will take too much time, she now says; too bad we didn't start the process the first week of January, 2 months ago when it was proposed.  I won't expound, but I do want to share a quote from former supervisor Seigel's Town Board meeting notes for Citizen's for an Informed Yorktown (CIY) expressed by supervisor Grace last night:

He said that holding a special election politicized the issue.

I hope you didn't fall out of your chair reading that.  So the argument for not holding a special election is because an election would politicize the "issue."  The issue being a vacant TB seat which is normally filled by an elected official. Elected positions and elections aren't political, by definition?  Okie Dokey. 

Third, you'll probably hear someone claim that we don't have the money for a special election.  I would counter that we do have the money [no one can actually say how much it would cost], but wouldn't if we keep depleting the general, departmental, and special district funds to claim a tax "decrease" every year, otherwise we're going to get a credit downgrade just like Westchester received this week.   Perhaps Cortlandt's got a better perspective on fund balances than Yorktown.  Do you know where the funds for the extra road salt the TB had to buy last night?  Point being that fund balances are there for contingencies. 

For example, the supervisor, well over a year ago, decided that demolishing the Holland Club and cleaning up the site was well within in the wheelhouse of our highway department; we were told we'd save tens of thousands of dollars.  It turns out that the Department of Environmental Conservation wrote a violation to Yorktown for doing a bad job of the clean up.  This Monday I spoke with DEC representative Wendy Rosenbach and the project engineer overseeing the remedy of the open violation.  They confirmed the violation is still open and work still has to be done on site to lift the violation.  How much is that costing us?  I'll buy you lunch at any restaurant in Yorktown if you can ascertain the costs accrued and forthcoming for the cleanup. 

Fourth, it's been a long cold winter.  I like to think it builds character, though I've had people tell me that the inclement weather just exaggerates a person's character.  I imagine both can be true.  I know that the Mohegan Lake community has weathered it with grace. We are lucky to have one of Yorktown's natural wonders with our 110 acre lake, steep hills and woodlands; it softens the blow.  Our character has shone through this winter. I hope you've fared as well. 

Lastly, there's a big Planning Board public hearing for the proposed new 18,000+ square foot Faith Bible Church development   on a single acre in Mohegan Lake on March 10th, 2014; Town Hall, 7pm.  Definitely keep your eye on that one.