Scarsdale Board Pays Tribute to Departing Trustees Kay Eisenman and Jon Mark

On Tuesday March 25 the Scarsdale Village Board and community said thank you and goodbye to two exemplary Village Trustees who have just completed four years of service on the Village Board. Trustees Kay Eisenman and Jon Mark finish their service to the Village this month and the Board devoted their last meeting to reflecting on their service and applauding their efforts on behalf of the Board, the Village and the community

Each remaining Board member took a turn lauding Eisenman and Mark and then the two departing members gave their comments as well. Speakers were emotional at times, reflecting the personal bonds they have formed in the many hours the board has worked together.

After thanking his fellow trustees, Mark delivered an insightful statement on the state of the village, discussing key issues that will be faced by future boards and giving a call for residents to get involved and provide broad-based community input.

Mark summed up his thoughts on the non-partisan system and how it serves the Village. Discussing the merits of the current system over a partisan one he said that the non-partisan system allows the Board the opportunity to approach issues free of the pressures that come with a political system. The non-partisan system has no barriers to entry and residents who wish to participate can do so and make an impact on the Village. However he cautioned that only a small number of residents do get involved or provide input to the Board on key issues, leaving the floor to a few outspoken neighbors who may not represent the general consensus. He discussed development and preservation and the challenges imposed on the independence of Village government by Albany where state mandates are threatening the Village's ability to function. (His full statement appears below.)

Here are excerpts from the tributes of Board Members to Eisenman and Mark:

Trustee Bill Stern thanked both Jon and Kay for their "Enormous amount of time, dedication, energy and devotion to Village Affairs at great sacrifice to themselves and their families." He said their efforts, made "Scarsdale one of the pre-eminent places to live in the country ....and it does not happen by accident." Calling the two "extraordinary people" he said "Trustee Mark is a diligent, careful analyst of the issues that come before the Village. He gives extensive thought to the issues and presents it in a balanced way. He is very selfless. I thank him for his four years of incredible work.

He called Kay Eisenman an "incredible person" who "comes to issues without pre-judgment, analyzes the impacts and comes up with thoughtful ideas." He added, "she is a proponent of green, parks and sustainability."

Trustee Thomas Martin said "Both are quality leaders, blessed with a wealth of experience that they have applied." He said when he came onto the Board last year, "he came up the curve a lot more quickly because of you two." He said they have "demonstrated patience and grace" and that he was "impressed with their broad technical knowledge." He summed up by saying, "You both did a phenomenal job and I will miss you both."

Trustee David Lee was next, first turning to Kay to say, "Getting to know you has been one of the true pleasures of serving on the Board. You are a calm voice of reason; you have integrity, respect for fair process and excellent judgment. ... I was grateful to work with and learn from you and now call you my friend."

He recalled that before he was elected as Village Trustee, the LWVS sponsored a candidate's forum and Trustee Jon Mark prepared for all three of the candidates. He said Mark was "Capable of presenting issues in an insightful and organized fashion, recognized his "exceptional conscientiousness and dedication to doing the very best we can for our Village." Referring to 2-4 Weaver Street, Lee said that Mark "negotiated agreement that recognized the developers wants and our desires to protect residents in the area." He said, you are "an exemplary trustee – we are indebted to you for your invaluable service."

Trustee Stacey Brosky called Kay "the quintessential public servant in Scarsdale." About Eisenman she said, "she has lived here for over 30 years. She served the Village in many roles. She is a fountain of knowledge about the Village and Westchester County. She has thoughtful opinions about issues and studies, listens, and learns. She is fair minded, clear headed and very good with people."

She remembered Kay's response to residents during Superstorm Sandy when tempers were frayed. Brodsky said, "Kay's intrinsic empathy cut through the anger and calmed everyone down. Eight days in she had no power and a large tree had fallen on her property. Kay asked people to be reasonable. Her words and demeanor reminded people that the Board of Trustees are just neighbors."

According to Brodsky, Kay also distinguished herself in discussions about the controversial Homestead Tax Option in the face of strong advocacy for and against the measure. "Kay cut right through the arguments." She explained that "it felt wrong and unethical and she could not vote for it." She said, "Kay gets to the heart of an issue with balance and empathy. It is an art... I can't think of anyone who is a better representative of all the people with a strong commitment to doing what is right."

Turning to Jon Mark, Brodsky said, "I am having a hard time saying goodbye because I can't imagine the Village Board without him... I often think that being a board member is the perfect job for a nerd. I mean this as a compliment when I say there is no bigger nerd than Jon. He reads his documents more thoroughly than anyone. He is a forward thinker and a backstop on every issue we address... He is a master of the process in involving the community in decision-making. He skillfully navigated public meetings, always respectful of all participants. His energy and focus has encompassed all aspects of the board's work. I have learned so much from working with Jon. I am individually grateful and grateful as a representative for the whole community for Jon's work. I think he is irreplaceable."

Next it was Mayor Bob Steves turn to pay tribute to his departing colleagues. He said, "Doing this job is all about the people! About all the people but sometimes it's about the individual people. The people who make it worthwhile, the people who inspire, the people who point our your mistakes and help you correct your mistakes. These are two of the finest people who have provided that support for the community. Kay is a quiet person, you find yourself listening intently to the quiet voice. Had I not listened I would have lost her wisdom. Good thoughts, worthy thoughts, objective and well thought out. Almost like the conscience. "

About Jon he said, "There is eloquence in true enthusiasm. You bring gusto, energy, and all your strengths to the job. I have enjoyed the phone calls, the back and forth as we exchanged ideas. Jon is a prime example of what it means to be a trustee. The bar has been set very high."

Kay Eisenman then took the mike and said, "These have been eventful years – years of great personal growth for me. I have gotten to know many wonderful people on the board and staff of the village. I feel that you have all become friends as well as colleagues. I will miss our collegiality. You should all know how terrific Mayor Bob Steves is – it's a shame we have term limits because two years is just too short a term."

She then commented on her fellow Board members:

Jon Mark is a stellar guide in leading us through the intricacies of all the problems we faced. On the development at 2-4 Weaver Street he worked with the both the developer and the Heathcote Coalition to bring this project forward.... He can dissect an issue to its essentials, understand its details and shine a bright light into the dusty corners of the knottiest problems.... I hope we will have the opportunity to see him in a leadership position once again."

She called Stacey Brodsky "A passionate speaker with well-reasoned ideas and incisive arguments," saying " You don't want to get on the wrong side of Stacey when she has a keenly held opinion. I always enjoyed our interactions."

About David Lee, she said he is "quiet, logical, and delves deep into all issues." She said Lee is "a gentle man who is also a gentleman who takes his time to formulate ideas (which) are always worth waiting for."

According to Eisenman, "Bill Stern is a force of nature who brings levity to serious issues while still taking them seriously." He has a "fresh approach to issues and is "not afraid to speak his mind." She credited him with a fascinating mind and said, "He does not always color within the lines."

She called Tom Martin "a man with good common sense and practical knowledge, calling him "a pragmatist who doesn't mince words with an unfailingly courteous manner. ... He is truly a man for all seasons."

She ended by saying, "I will miss you all. Thanks to Al, Steve and everyone at Village Hall. ...and to my patient husband Shelly who didn't see me during the week but could always count on seeing me on TV."

Jon Mark began by saying, "As I attend this final meeting as a Village Trustee, I would like to thank the residents of the Village and particularly the Citizens' Nonpartisan Committee for giving me an opportunity to serve on the Village Board. It has been an enlightening, interesting experience in which I came to appreciate how well our Village is run by our professional Village staff and how much time and effort is put in by resident volunteers, including my fellow Board members, in contributing to that overall effort. We have just come from a dinner that is something of a Board tradition at which, among other things, I let the Mayor and my fellow Board members know how highly I think of them and of what a pleasure it has been to serve with them on this Board. I would like to share some of my remarks with those residents who are here or may be watching on cable."

The balance of his extensive comments are shown at the bottom of this article:

Mark was followed by community members who thanked both trustees:

Scarsdale Forum President David Irwin said, "I am here tonight on behalf of two outstanding trustees. I had the opportunity to serve with Kay and John during their first year and they hit the ground running. They have shown great sensitivity to the needs and desires of village residents. Kay is a tireless champion of our green and open space, our tree planting program, and the mulching initiative. Jon, has been a major contributor in many areas certainly the law committee and land use committees where he was a major force in moving along difficult negotiations with the developer. The two have been leaders in financial issues – and kept tax rate low
The village has faced fiscal challenges in the four years they have served and they helped the board keep the tax rate as low as possible while maintaining services to Village residents. They provided four years of outstanding service. On behalf of the Scarsdale Forum I express gratitude for a job very well done."

Incomiing Trustee Deb Pekarek said, "you both emulate "non sibi,"not for ones self." You have served with distinction and grace. Your service is greatly appreciated and warmly acknowledged. You are wise, knowledgeable, patient kind and inspiring. There is much to be learned from you."

League of Women Voters Susie Rush attended the meeting to thank the two for their service on behalf of the LWVS. Here are her remarks:

"Trustee Eisenman, your service on the Board has been a continuation of your long years of service to the Village, including as chair of the BAR and the Conservation Advisory Council. You have been an enormous asset to the Board, bringing your vast knowledge of the Village and a deep, genuine sense of caring and imparting your invaluable expertise in land use and environmental planning. With a quiet, gentle manner, you have provided sound guidance in stormwater management and vital leadership in sustainability issues. We are grateful to you for your steadfast efforts to make us a community of leaf mulchers and for continually encouraging us to explore ways to improve the quality of the environment in Scarsdale, including through consideration of the establishment of an open space preservation fund.

Trustee Mark, we have been the beneficiaries of not only your legal background but also your ease with financial matters. You are a quick study on issues that come before the Board, whether it is a rough back-of-the-envelope calculation of the impact on residents if the Homestead Tax Option were adopted or the number of miles of roads we can resurface with the dollars allocated in the budget, and have demonstrated a remarkable ability to find a solution to the most intractable of issues, such as 2-4 Heathcote. Your incisive questions and analyses always serve to move the discussion forward. Yet even as you look to retire from the Board, you are thinking about the future of our community and the challenges that your colleagues and future board members will be forced to tackle.

We thank both of you for your dedication and unswerving commitment of time, energy and intellect to improving the quality of life for all of us."

Former Trustee Bob Harrison said, "Kay was my sidekick, elbow to elbow, who helped me when my papers became dislodged. I would like to call her Mrs. Sustainability. Thank you for your tremendous service to the community."

To Jon Mark, Harrrison said, "How many billable hours could you have billed the Village for all the valuable work you did?. You brought people together. The community does not realize how much time you put in as trustees – all volunteers."

Here is the balance of Jon Mark's remarks from the meeting:

Trustee Martin
Tom—we grew up in Scarsdale at the same time, but it took more than sixty years and the Scarsdale nonpartisan system to bring us together. I am glad we met. You have brought both your imprinted memories of the Scarsdale we knew growing up and your business acumen to the issues coming before the Board. You were determined to ask the hard questions as we went through the budget process in the spirit of finding answers to the economic challenges the Village and its residents face. In addition, you took up the reins as Chair of the Board's Personnel Committee duties and quickly worked your way to an efficient process for re-populating the Boards and Councils that are an important source of resident input to the Trustees. It was high time we got together and I look forward to seeing the fruits of your efforts on the Board in the years ahead.

Trustee Stern
In recent years, some have suggested that it might be beneficial if the Village Board membership included a resident with a scientific and particularly, a technological background. Bill, you have exceeded expectations in fulfilling that slot. A world-class PhD electrical engineer, as well as a successful businessman, you bring your knowledge of state of the art technology and a no nonsense practical approach to a variety of issues that come before the Board. Whether it is successfully advocating for new equipment for the Cable TV Commission, or lending your enthusiastic voice to conservation and sustainability efforts for the Village your forceful manner laced with humor makes you an effective contributor to the work of the Board. It has been a pleasure getting to know you and I look forward to seeing the results of your contributions in the years ahead.

Trustee Lee
David — We also grew up in the Village at the same time. And I am similarly glad we finally met and had the opportunity to work together. You bring your legal analytical skills and a willingness to wrestle with details to bear in considering Board issues generally and in particular the proposed Village Code amendments this Board has focused on during our tenure together. Your care in considering all sides of an issue, in listening to points raised by fellow Board members, Village staff and Village residents is a key asset you bring to the work we do. You are also able to articulate your views in a clear, understandable manner that is critical to the transparency of the Board process. I greatly enjoyed working on the Board with you David and am confident that you will continue to make meaningful contributions to its work during your second term.

Trustee Brodsky
Stacey -- Where to start? Your deep concern for the Village comes through in every Board task you take on. From land use issues, historic preservation concerns, Personnel Committee decisions, Finance Committee budget analysis and advocating for the Library for which you serve as Board liaison you have an ability to get to the heart of an issue and pose a solution that will work. You are always willing to listen and are not afraid to be persuaded to a point of view other than the one you may have started with. You have an ability to present your conclusions clearly and succinctly and are always willing to assist me in making sure I did the same on matters for which I carried the laboring oar. Your hard work on this Board and the contribution to the Village that it represents cannot be overstated. You have been a wonderful colleague and I will miss our collaborations when I depart.

Trustee Eisenman
Kay – We met in the third floor conference room on a Sunday in 2009. You emerged from the meeting room having just presented yourself to the Citizens Nominating Committee and I was about to head inside. You wished me good luck. As luck would have it, we wound up serving on the Board together. Your long-term residence in the Village, your expertise in urban planning and the local knowledge you gained serving on the BAR, including two years as Chair and your service as chair of the Conservation Advisory Council, have allowed you to make important contributions to the work of the Board. Your oversight of various storm water projects as Chair of the Municipal Services Committee and your tenacious advocacy for mulching leaves in place have provided critical support for these projects. While there is still much work to be done in these areas, it is clear to me that without your contributions, the Village would not have made the progress it has in these areas. It has been a pleasure working with you and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Mayor Steves
Mr. Mayor -- Bob, you are the model of a Scarsdale volunteer. Having served seven years on the School Board, including one as its president, in the '90s, to devote five—going on six years—to the Village Board is an example of Village volunteer service only a few residents can match. If that were not enough you also found time to serve as president and treasurer of the Scarsdale and Edgemont Family Counseling Service, president of the Greenacres Neighborhood Association, chairman of the STEP program, chairman of IHM's School of Religion and chairman of the Scarsdale Bowl Committee. With all that volunteer experience under your belt you know, above all, how to set a tone for openness, fair consideration of competing points of view and a commitment to getting things done. You lead by example. Your energy and commitment to Village life are a model for us all and it has been a pleasure getting to know you and working with you over the past four years. The Village is lucky to have you.

I would like to take this brief time to address a broader subject in light of my experience over the past four years and express my thoughts on our non-partisan system embodied in part by this Board.

Since the early 1900s Scarsdale residents have run municipal government on a non-partisan basis. While dissatisfaction with that approach is expressed from time to time, the overwhelming evidence is that our Village is very well run as reflected by the continuing desire of almost half our residents to remain here long after their children have completed school, and by the arrival of new residents. The very able Village staff keeps things running day-to-day and I see no basis for concluding that, a partisan system of electing officials overseeing Village staff work would improve how the Village staff carries out their day-to-day duties.

What the Mayor and the Village Board do in general terms is to oversee the staff; establish spending priorities through the budget process; appoint residents who volunteer to the various Village Boards and Councils; and focus on areas of resident concerns and consider how improvements might be made. What the non-partisan system supports is the very strong Board principle that when acting, Board members must consider the interests of all residents when deciding on a course of action.

The ability of the Board to approach issues without the pressures of partisanship gives it the freedom to balance competing concerns in exercising its judgment on the matters before it. It does not mean that the Board is always right. It does not mean that every resident is happy with every Board decision—we receive regular reminders from residents that some are not happy with Village operations or decision-making. However, it does mean that every resident who wishes to voice an opinion to the Board is heard and his or her comments are weighed in the balance. That openness of approach – the willingness to hear all sides of an issue -- is not something that I am convinced a partisan system would produce, much less improve.

Another benefit of our system is that there are no barriers to entry. Almost any resident can participate by simply investing the time and effort to do so. Many take advantage of the opportunity and more should. Board members are your neighbors and the issues that the Board addresses are issues for all of us in the Village. The community interests Board members share with all residents is one of the strengths of our system.

What could we all do better? Perhaps more broad-based participation in the municipal side of Village life. There are 17 municipal Boards and Councils staffed by residents who volunteer their time and effort to decide and/or advise of a variety of Village-wide issues. Approximately 130 residents give unselfishly of their time usually after full days of work and attending to their families in serving on these bodies. In addition to that formal commitment, over the course of the year, residents appear before this Board to express their views on Village issues. Also, the Scarsdale Forum and League of Women Voters provide important input in the form of generally well prepared written reports that this Board considers on budget and other issues. Still, with all this feedback, I for one have struggled with the issue of how best to get a sense of what residents really want in terms of service.

Input from approximately a few hundred residents out of a Village of 17,000 is, at least on a numerical basis, seemingly not a lot of feedback. And perhaps that is how it should be when things are running smoothly. But on the one hand, it is easy to know that residents want smooth, pot-hole free streets and to be unburdened by the threat of flooding during major rain storms. On the other hand, concern about over-development of the Village is a harder concept to put into effect. It is appears that some residents would like Scarsdale placed in a bubble, to be preserved for all time as an example of 20th century suburban life. These views are easily perceived as they come from an ardent, vocal—but relatively small number of residents. Where it gets more difficult is in balancing the potential cost of addressing that concern against the rights property owners – old and new. Residents weigh in larger numbers when there is a crisis, but other than that we tend to hear from a core group of dedicated followers who sometimes reflect only one side of a particular issue, leaving the Board to guess at what residents might say on the other side.

The time for making tough choices is now upon us. We have substantially completed the budget process for fiscal year 2014-2015. The proposed budget and those for future years will be molded by pressures driven by general economic pressures and the desires in Albany to force municipal consolidation through fiscal discipline. The State has tried to impose discipline through the misleadingly labeled property tax cap, among other things. It is misleadingly labeled because it is not a cap at all. It is an aspirational target designed to put pressure on local spending on municipal services and schools while ignoring other significant factors that cause property taxes to increase – namely, state mandated payments for pension and health benefits that are exempted from the tax "cap" calculation. As a result of these pressures, we will increasingly be required to decide what sort of Village we want and more importantly what we are willing to pay for. The choices made will directly and visibly impact the nature of life in this Village. The Village staff and the Village Board are tasked with making those choices and doing so will be difficult.

While it won't make the decision-making easier, having broader-based community input on what expectations are going forward would contribute greatly to making those choices both thoughtful and when made, better explained to residents generally. So my parting suggestion is for residents to speak up in a thoughtful, civil and constructive manner. Volunteer to serve on the Boards and Councils, or join the Scarsdale Forum and League of Women Voters if you wish to have recurring input. If that is not practical, an opportunity for public comment on any Village issue is a part of every Village Board meeting held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month. Hearing your voices in these ways can only help the Village in navigating what will surely be difficult years ahead.

One final comment on a personal note: I would not have even walked through the door at the first Citizens Nominating Committee meeting I addressed had it not been for the support and encouragement of my wife BK Munguía. The awareness that some CNC members had of her hard work in a variety of Village-related matters over many years were the coattails that gave me at least some creditability as a potential nominee. So BK, I thank you for creating the opportunity to serve our community and for your steadfast support of over the past four years.

Again, my thanks to the community for allowing me to serve and my best wishes to my fellow Board members, to Marc Samwick and Deb Pekarek, Trustees-elect who are here tonight and to all my neighbors for the years ahead. And with that, we should turn to the Board business at hand.