At Village Hall: Pool Planning, Traffic Study, Pickleball Courts, Noisy Parties and Trick or Treating

Plans for the pool, concepts to improve mobility and safety around the Village, noisy parties, trick or treating and picklelball courts were all under discussion at the Village Board meeting on Tuesday October 11, 2022.

In her opening comments, Mayor Jane Veron thanked “the community for your enthusiastic turnout for the pool complex study presentation. We shared a lot of important information and have received great feedback from the community. I also want to thank our Mayor’s Council for providing helpful institutional knowledge and perspective. Our next step will require time spent drilling down on the financial implications of different options.”…. “One thing we know for sure - we will rebuild our beloved community asset. While we don’t yet know what type of facility can be supported by our community, there is a consistent and undeniable desire to make this important investment.”

About the traffic study she said, “On October 25, the FHI consultants will provide their final report on the Mobility and Placemaking study. The final presentation will serve as a roadmap for future possibilities. It is a draft plan, like a concept board, that will guide exploration for the future. It provides conceptual ideas for the Village to consider and test. Traffic and safety will take the lead as we begin to evaluate and test recommendations.”

Gas Powered Leaf Blowers

Village Manager Rob Cole reminded listeners that “Gas powered leaf blowers are only allowed Tuesday through Friday, October 1 – December 31, 2023. Excluding federal holidays.”

Paint Recycling

Trustees announced a new program to recycle old paint cans. On October 29 from 8 am to 3 pm a new paint recycling program will be launched at the Scarsdale Recycling Center on Secor Road. Residents can bring old paint cans to the center for disposal.

Meetings Via Zoom

Residents may soon be able to access and participate in all Village meetings via Zoom. Trustee Ahuja called for a public hearing on a local law to allow all bodies of the Village of Scarsdale to participate in meetings via videoconference. The hearing will be held on October 25, 2022 at 8 pm in Village Hall.

Pickleball Courts

New pickleball courts are being planned for Crossway Field. Trustees approved a resolution to hire Site Design Consultants of Yorktown Heights to design pickleball courts at Crossway Field at a cost of $45,610. Trustee Ahuja discussed a national surge in the popularity of the sport.

Public Comments

David Raizen announced the annual fund drive for Scarsdale Village Ambulance Corp. He explained that the service has four ambulances, 20 professional staff and 100 volunteers. There are also 7 volunteer paramedics within the corps. He said the goal was to raise $300,000 this year. He explained that the COVID testing SVAC offered last year did not make money for the corps and he hopes the public will give generously this year to support this vital service.
Mayor Jane Veron called SVAC “capable, phenomenal and prepared” and said, “taxpayer dollars do not cover the cost of ambulance. The village covers the expense of fuels in the vehicles and heat in the building and that’s it.”

Noise

Jeffrey Singer of 9 Hazelton Drive spoke about noise coming from outdoor parties at Fenway Golf Club. He said, “In late summer 2021 we started to notice noise coming from Fenway on Saturday nights. The bass could shake the windows. The DJ’s yell to the crowd. This went on every Saturday night from 8 – 11 pm until the mid-fall. Now it seems like more parties are outside and the sound travels a great distance. We would call the police who would go there, but the music did not stop. We were not given any feedback. We left messages for Rob Cole but did not hear back. Parties resumed in the early spring of 2022 until the end of the school year. Summer was quiet and the parties resumed in the fall. More neighbors have been calling the police. Nothing is getting done and it is frustrating. Fenway seems to adhere to no regulations. The parties should return indoor where they belong. The pivot to outdoors has caused this. Our neighborhood practically vibrates and the DJ’s voice cuts into our homes. We have the right to enjoy our homes in peace. The lack of follow-up is embarrassing. The lip service needs to stop.”

John Schwartz followed up on Singer’s comments on noise from Fenway. He said “residents should not have to suffer this problem. I commented on the proposed noise resolution. Police went to the club three times on Saturday night requesting that they lower the bass. We can’t use the indoors of our house. It is disruptive and unnecessary. Indoor parties are no problem. 65 decibels is unacceptable and needs to be evaluated. Fenway talks a good game but has no interest in complying.”

The mayor responded and said the new attorney is looking into the Village noise code. Rob Cole said “Chief Matturo has reached out to Fenway. We are looking to amend the noise code to address this.”

Halloween In Fox Meadow

Catherine Souther of 82 Hampton Road said “I am here about the street closures for Halloween. They want to close 3-4 blocks north of the school. Why do we need to close the streets? It creates an artificial explosion of people in our neighborhood. It is not at all okay.
No other neighborhood has been asked to host. We have gone from dozens of trick or treaters to hundreds. It is non-stop. Why do the same 4-5 streets in Fox Meadow host the entire village? I ask you not to authorize it or to authorize it for another area. We love Halloween but we don’t want to host the big party.”

Francis Tussing agreed. She said, “I love it when kids come to the yard – but it’s time for someone else to do it. Share the wealth.”

Mayor Veron responded. She said, “About the trick or treating in Fox Meadow, it was initially a pilot program. We will look into this.”

New York Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Bond Act

Henry Neal of 23 Barry Road is the Chair of Westchester County Parks Preservation Board.
He spoke about the New York Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Bond Act which is a proposition on the reverse side of the ballot in November. He said, “If passed it will allow the state to issue $4.2 billion in bonds for climate mitigation, flood mitigation and more. The County Board of Legislators supported it by a vote of 17-0.” He proposed that the Scarsdale Board of Trustees should also vote to approve it. He said, “I think it is worth debating and it would be nice if the Village Board would take a position on this.”

Pool Planning

Myra Saul of Lincoln Road presented her views on the pool complex. She said, “The community wants the pool to be repaired and 40% want a year-round facility and I support this. The alternative is private pools or gyms. Swimming is now a year round form of exercise, kids would have parties and it would provide a place for our teams to practice. We need a full accounting of the costs to keep an indoor pool open year-round. Making only repairs to the existing facility does not create long term viability. We need to take advantage of opportunities – and make Scarsdale a leader.”

Bob Harrison continued to ask for the existing facility to be repaired. He said, “I worked hard to get an indoor pool at the high school 20 years ago. We lost an opportunity. There was no leadership from the school board and the superintendent. If we want an indoor pool I think it should be at the middle school or the high school so that students have access to the pool and the community can use it at night or on weekends. The current site is not the place for a project of upwards of $50 million. Do our consultants know what they are doing?”

He warned that the country is heading into a recession.

Myra Saul returned to the mic to say that we should not be so concerned with today’s economic ups and down when considering a 50 year project.

Revenues and Expenses

Introducing the Village’s Statement of Revenues and Expenses Trustee Jonathan Lewis made the following statement:

Before we turn to our discussion regarding the Statement of Revenue and Expenses, I want to call the public’s attention to the important progress that is being made in the village’s governance of its financial affairs:

At the last board meeting, we learned that the “The Government Finance Officers Association presented the village with the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting presented to the Village for its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended May 31, 2021.” This was an important step forward in improve the quality of our financial reporting and our Village Treasurer deserves great credit for this. Also, we have been focused in improving the efficiency and processes used to oversee the management of public funds and in recent months the village has engaged an external investment manager to advise the village on cash flow optimization. In this way we are putting in place a process for enhancing the return on public monies while being mindful of the asset/liability management issues associated with our historic monthly variances in cashflow. While we are making progress - work remains. At the last meeting, I asked the Village Manager for an update on engaging a firm to conduct an internal audit, as well as potentially an operational review. My own preference is an internal audit.

As the public may recall, the Village Manager made a commitment to this in his April 26th comments - when he stated that the village will be “engaging a financial consulting firm to provide an operations review of our accounts payable, receivables, and payroll functions as a facet of our commitment to continuous improvement, service excellence, and demonstrating the highest level of fiscal stewardship.”

I would encourage the village manager to provide regular updates to the board and the community on the status of this audit and/or operational review. In light of recent history at both the school district and the village, it is reasonable that the public and the board should receive more frequent information about this important project. In the 5 plus months between the Village Manager’s April comments and the last board meeting, the Village received proposals from one firm, our current auditor. To the best of my knowledge since the last board meeting, the VM has reached out to 2 additional firms. It would be informative and beneficial if a firm other than our current auditor performed this work. No one has yet to be engaged.

Regarding the proposals received: in May and June the Village received proposals from PKF, our auditor, for this work. Their proposal neatly summarized at least one aspect of what could accomplished. PKF explained that the purpose of the internal audit was “part of the Board’s commitment to sound governance, fiscal responsibility and focus in improving processes,” and that “Scarsdale would like an assessment of their business processes.” PKF further explains that “Based on our discussion with the Treasurer, the Board is requesting the Firm to perform the following:
▪ Review internal procedures now used in the Accounts Payable, Payroll and Accounts Receivable cycles
▪ Verify the Village’s written policies have been updated to reflect current practices
▪ Identify bottlenecks points within the processes; and Identify opportunities to implement additional progressive practices.”

Before this evening’s meeting, I watched portions of the internal audit presentation to the Scarsdale School District by Nawrocki Smith. It was open, informative, and developmental. I would encourage the Village Manager to move forward on this issue, and for the public to pay close attention to its implementation.

Regarding the statement of Revenue and Expenses and the attached memo:

There are several key points from Treasurer Scaglione’s excellent memo worth highlighting:

a. The Treasurer’s office has remained focused on collections and there is a distinctly positive revenue impact from the office’s continued focus on interest and penalties.

b. At the same time, there remains concern about the health of the economy and a deceleration in sales tax revenue. We will need to be mindful of this as the year progresses.

c. Parking revenue remains a concerns - we know from our discussion of MTA ridership last week that commuting levels and parking at the station remain way down, though above the worst moments of the pandemic.

d. On the positive side there is a notable Improvement in interest earned (please see the pie chart on page 18).

e. A Positive pool fund balance for the first time in years - this reflects both a rebound in usage from Scarsdale residents from pandemic lows as well as the successful implementation of a non resident membership payment model.

f. Its important to note we have benefitted from strong mortgage tax receipts, which may be under pressure as interest rates go up.

g. Keeping the pros and cons in balance, we need to remain mindful of shifts in our cost structure, notably the impact of increased costs of fuel and parts at the garage.

Watch the meeting here.