Trustees Approve Renovations to Fire Station #1 and Hire Consultants to Review Assessor's Office

The Board of Trustees approved funding for a major renovation to the firehouse on Popham Road at the January 10th meeting. Before reviewing those resolutions, the Board discussed several other issues:

Assessor's Office:

Mayor Jon Mark provided an update on the Village's response to objections to the 2016 revaluation, and announced that the Village will retain a municipal management consulting firm to review the assessor's office and make recommendations on moving forward with the next revaluation. Vendors are now under review. 

Mark said that the Board had conferred with lawyers about the assessor, who was appointed in October 2013 for a six-year term. He said that personnel changes were under consideration. Formation of an ad hoc committee on a future revaluation will be deferred until the Village had a better picture of changes in the assessor's office.

As for J.F. Ryan, the contractor who conducted the 2016 revaluation, the Village is still holding $43,000 due from the contract and also has not paid Ryan an additional $6,000 he billed for his appearance at Village Hall in August 2016. Ryan's lawyer has sent two letters to the Village demanding payment.

Food Scrap Recycling:

The Mayor announced a new Food Scrap Recycling Program that allows residents to collect food scraps and bring them to the Secor Road Recycling Center where they will be collected and ultimately trucked to a composting facility. Michelle Sterling and Ron Schulhof joined the Mayor on the dais to display the new food composting kit that can be purchased for $20. See more about the program here. Community members can request an in-home demonstration on how to recycle food from a member of the committee.

Village Budget:

Village Manager Steve Pappalardo said that the Village staff is in the process of working on the Village budget for 2017-18. A first pass of the budget will be presented to the board and community on January 19 and the public is invited to attend.

Public Comments:

In the public comments portion of the meeting Mayra Kirkendall Rodriguez wished all Scarsdalians good health, happiness, love and peace. She invited residents of old Scarsdale to join the Old Scarsdale Neighborhood Association and she implored the police to enforce speed limits. She said, "People think Fox Meadow Road is the autobahn. This morning I chased a car down Fox Meadow Road to tell her to stop when the school bus is stopped." She urged all residents who are over assessed to email her and said she would file the article 78 on Friday. She said that the "Mayor and Board of Trustees do not seem to be troubled by tax distribution" adding, "This year we will be forced to pay more in county and school taxes for erroneously assessed homes." She claimed that, "Ryan gave breaks to those with the right connections," and complained that she had not received emails she foiled seven months ago from the Village." She thanked "Trustee Callaghan for not submitting to pernicious "group think" and voting against the library." About the CNC she said, "I hope the CNC vets candidates for competency and numeracy. Diversity is importance. I thank Ms. Conkling and Mr. Cole for their work – I wish we could clone you."

Village Attorney Wayne Esannason replied to Rodriguez saying that the Village had released 14,834 emails on July 18 and 15,496 emails in October. Of the 3,545 remaining emails, the Village turned over 1,142 in December. He said, "You will be provided with an explanation as to why the rest were withheld."

Gifts for the Library:

The Board of Trustees accepted the following gifts to the Scarsdale Public Library Addition and Renovation Capital Improvement Project, totaling $153,496.

Friends of the Scarsdale Library: $147,495
Zhenyu Wang and Cuiwei Lin - $500
Ning Yuan - $1,000
Yuan-Ting Yang and Kaechun Wang - $500
Qing He - $1,500
Jing Li - $1,500
Yutong Xie and Mengrong Cheng - $1,500

Additional Funds for Road Repairs:

The Board approved a supplemental appropriation for road repairs of $36,842, brining the total funds for road resurfacing in the 2016-17 budget to $1,337,086.

Village Election:

The Board authorized the Village Election to be held on Tuesday March 21, 2017 at a new location, The Scarsdale Public Library.

Renovation of Fire Station #1:

Discussion then turned to a series of resolutions authorizing renovations to fire station #1 at Village Hall. Currently, the station is too small to accommodate the equipment and the sinking driveway is being supported by 15 jacks. The Board has been reviewing plans for the renovation since 2007 and plans had to be scaled back when the construction estimates came in at $5.1 million, well in excess of the budget. Plans were modified, replacing a stair tower and an indoor elevator with a lift and outdoor stairway, but still include a full structural renovation of the building, new dormitories for female firefighters, a bigger, more modern kitchen and new bathrooms for the paid staff and the volunteers. There will be new HVAC and insulation, a sprinkler system and 90% of the electrical and plumbing will be replaced. The new fire communication system will exceed the system in the public safety building.

Firefighters attended a December, 2016 board meeting and said they had not been consulted about the renovations and complained that their needs were not addressed. However, the Board of Trustees later met with the group and reviewed their concerns.

At the meeting, the Board passed several resolutions designating funding and authorizing work on the project. The final estimate for the work is $3,834,165 of which $2.9 million comes from a bond offering with another $820,000 transferred from the unassigned general fund. The board passed resolutions awarding $2,246,400 for construction, $474,000 for electrical work, $314,600 for plumbing, $361,100 for mechanicals and $46,000 for lead abatement.

All the trustees were on board with the renovation, with the exception of Matt Callaghan who thought the plans were misguided and wanted the Village to begin the process again, using architects and engineers who specialize in the design of firehouses.

Callaghan said, "We are throwing good money after bad. Six years and there is no shovel in the ground. Griggs and Davis are structural engineers, not firehouse engineers. They have no firehouse experience. Do we entrust life safety issues of 5,700 homeowners and roughly 18,000 people to an organization such as this? We had a death on the Boulevard a few weeks ago... we had another one 42 years ago. We do not want that to happen again. The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the cheap price is forgotten. ...I recommend we start again."

Trustee Stern answered Callaghan saying, "The idea was not to build a new firehouse. The idea was to make it safe and able to accommodate the new equipment. Expediency is very important here. We hired a firm who was focused on structural integrity. Dorms and bathrooms will be upgraded in the renovation."

Village Manager Steve Pappalardo reviewed the history of the project. "We began this project in 2007. Our initial goals were to handle the settlement of the driveway and the deterioration of girders. We hired Scarsdale engineers who worked on the public safety building. We needed to address the safety of bays so we put in supports for the girders and addressed the driveway. The plan includes new dorms and bathrooms for men and women, a new meeting room and a new generator for village hall. The finishing work will be completed by Village maintenance staff. We will have sprinklers, upgraded water, plumbing and gas. The construction meets the initial intent to repair deficiencies and adds space."

Fire Chief Seymour also endorsed the project. "If we had an endless supply of funds and a new parcel of property I would not endorse this. But if you look at the existing building, only one truck fits inside. After the project, all apparatus will fit into the building. Our building will be safer and fit the heavy apparatus. The ramp is now being supported by jacks to hold up the driveway. We will have a newer station
It will last for the foreseeable future. It will allow us to safely respond to the community and I support it."

Trustee Jane Veron questioned Paul Zaicek, the Director of Capitol Projects for the Village of Scarsdale about the use of the funds. He assured her that the money was being well spent and that the renovated firehouse would serve the Village for years to come.

Trustee Carl Finger expressed concern that the firefighters had not been given an earlier opportunity to weigh in on the project. He said, "I read the correspondence that we received from the firefighters and listened to the comments from Mr. Mancini and took that seriously. I have been to several meetings with the engineers and this project has been discussed half a dozen times. Money was borrowed for this particular project. I am disappointed that I wasn't aware that there were concerns that we didn't know about until now. I am not sure it would have changed what we may do tonight. In the future we will try to alert the community early and hear your concerns. We do want it to be safe --and I believe this renovation will put us in a better position to deal with issues. I look forward to a more robust and timely exchange on other issues in the future."

All the resolutions passed with everyone voting in favor save Trustee Callaghan.