Town Council Meeting
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Agenda Town Council Meeting Tuesday, June 15, 2021 7:30 PM via ZOOM Page THE RYE TOWN COUNCIL WILL NOT BE MEETING IN PERSON. IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GOVERNOR’S EXECUTIVE ORDER 202.97, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, MEETINGS WILL BE HELD VIA VIDEOCONFERENCING. THE RYE TOWN COUNCIL HAS ORGANIZED AN INTERACTIVE RYE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING ON TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2021 AT 7:30 PM. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE AND HEAR THE MEETING LIVE WITH THE USE OF A COMPUTER, TABLET OR SMARTPHONE. YOU CAN ALSO SEE THE VIDEO AND HEAR THE AUDIO OF THE LIVE SESSION ON TOWN OF RYE'S FACEBOOK PAGE. THERE IS A LINK POSTED ON THE TOWN’S WEBSITE OR YOU CAN ACCESS THE PROGRAM BY CLICKING HERE: https://www.townofryeny.com/council-meetings COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC SHOULD BE ENTERED INTO THE COMMENT SECTION ON THE FACEBOOK PAGE AND TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE, WILL BE ADDRESSED BY THE COUNCIL AT THE END OF THE RELEVANT AGENDA ITEM OR AT THE END OF THE MEETING. 1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 2. ROLL CALL 3. ADOPTION OF MINUTES 3.1. Meeting Held May 18, 2021 3 - 15 05-18-2021 Meeting 06-08-2021 Special Meeting 4. PRESENTATIONS 4.1. Annual Audit Report for the Year 2020 - Jeffrey C. Shaver & Scott P. Oling 16 - 78 Town of Rye Audit Presentation Final 2020 Town of Rye Financial Statements 5. PUBLIC HEARING Proposed Projects for Crawford Park and Rye Town Park Public Comments 6. RESOLUTIONS/DISCUSSIONS 6.1. Resolution: Authorize a Grant Application to the Westchester Urban County 79 - 81 Consortium Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for ADA Compliant Facilities for Crawford Park and Rye Town Park RESO -- Authorize a Grant Application to the Westchester Urban County Consortium Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) ADA Compliant Facilities for Crawford Park and Rye Town Park - Pdf Preliminary Floor Plan 7. REPORTS 7.1. Assessor Page 1 of 95 7.2. Crawford Park 82 - 83 Activity Rpt for 6-15-21 Mtg 7.3. Finance 84 - 89 Tax Receivables Summary as of 5.31.21 In Rem Receivables Detail as of 5.31.21 7.4. Receiver of Taxes 90 - 94 Tax Collections - May, 2021 7.5. Town Attorney 7.6. Town Clerk 95 Town Clerk's Report, May, 2021 8. ADJOURNMENT Upcoming Meeting - July 20, 2021 Page 2 of 95 MEETING HELD MAY 18, 2021 A monthly meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Rye, New York, was held on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 7:30 P.M. via ZOOM due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic with Supervisor Gary J. Zuckerman presiding. PRESENT: in addition to Supervisor Zuckerman were Councilpersons Jill Axelrod, Lindsay Anne Jackson, Pamela Jaffee, Thomas Nardi and Town Clerk Hope B. Vespia. ALSO PRESENT: Town Administrator Deborah Reisner, Town Attorney Jeffrey Binder, Town Comptroller David Byrnes, Town Receiver of Taxes Nicholas C. Mecca, Town Assessor Denise Knauer, Deputy Town Clerk Neiva Garces, Director of Grounds Victor Federico and Facilities and Community Liaison Camille Meola. ABSENT: None * * * * * * * Supervisor Zuckerman led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance. Supervisor Zuckerman called the meeting to order at 7:44 P.M. and asked Town Clerk Vespia to call the roll. * * * * * * * On motion of Councilperson Axelrod, seconded by Councilperson Jaffee, and unanimously approved, the minutes for the meetings held April 20, 2021 and May 10, 2021 were adopted as submitted. * * * * * * * Presentation: Preservation Training Program, sponsored by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and the Woodlawn Cemetery Conservancy David Thomas jumped on as he returned from an African American Advisory Board meeting and stated that this is a major opportunity for the African American Cemetery and the Town of Rye to have the war damaged monuments at the site repaired professionally. Mr. Thomas, who is extremely excited with this project, has completed the preliminary work and photographed all the monuments at the site. Frank Sanchis who represents the World Museum Monument Fund will let us know how this all works. Mr. Thomas will be meeting with Susan Olsen, of the Woodlawn Cemetery, on Friday and hopefully meet some of the students who will be involved and to have the opportunity to talk with one of the experts. Mr. Thomas expressed his gratitude to Susan Cleary from the Jay Heritage Center who brought him, Frank Sanchis and others together to handle this very important work. This is a major investment in the preservation of the site. Once this is completed, they hope to achieve several things; a real and lasting repair to some of the more damaged monuments enabling them to withstand and giving some young people apprenticeship opportunities. Working with the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, one of the most famous cemeteries in the country, and this collaboration among these organizations is really exciting. Frank Sanchis, spoke about the World Monument Fund (WMF) in the United States, a non-profit historic preservation organization for fifty-five years based in New York City which also serves globally. Frank Sanchis, serves as director of a WMF Program in the United States that he and Susan Olsen of the Woodlawn Cemetery developed back in 2015. This is specifically a job development program for under-served youth in New York City to teach them the skills of stone masonry preservation. The program has been a great success and expanded to the Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn in 2017. At this point, as of the end of this May, one hundred fifty interns, who have attended a ten-week program, graduate. Some of the graduates go on to actually apprentice at the Woodlawn Cemetery to work for another year directly; usually two or three apprentices with a master trainer who is a certified stone mason. The apprentices will reset monuments that have fallen over, put together monuments that have cracked in half and dig up buried monuments. At the end of their apprenticeship, eighty percent of the graduates are able to get jobs. However, some apprentices are always looking for extra work. They thought it would be good to create an opportunity for past apprentices from the Woodlawn program to work and give back some of this knowledge, that they have, to African American cemeteries near Woodlawn. Mr. Sanchis reached out to Susan Cleary from the Jay Heritage Center who suggested the African American Cemetery in Rye. They developed the concept for a pilot program for one week consisting of four apprentices along with their master trainer to work for one week in June. Monuments are to be selected by Dave Thomas and Susan Olsen. Page 3 of 95 The WMF is supporting this program which will be basically ten thousand dollars for one week. WMF will contribute one half and the Jay Heritage Center will contribute the other half. They are looking to be at the African American Cemetery in Rye for the week of June 14th with the hopes of getting a lot done. Mr. Sanchis mentioned that if this program actually works, they would like to replicate it, raise funds and meet with the African American Cemetery Advisory Board to find other such cemeteries in Westchester County to extend the program. * * * * * * * * Presentation: Proposed Eagle Scout Project at the African American Cemetery Jack Thomas Lawler was present to share the Eagle Scout Project he planned to take on at the African American Cemetery in Rye, New York. “My project is to enhance the quality of the African-American Cemetery, located in the Town of Rye, next to the Southwest portion of Greenwood Union Cemetery. To reach this goal, I plan to plant three to four feet high holly plants behind the newly constructed sign installed by the Town of Rye. There will also be a newly constructed flower bed in front of the sign built with four x four by eight feet pressure treated wood. The flower bed will be eight feet by four feet by two to three feet high, as recommended by Mr. Victor Federico. The flower bed will have mulch and topsoil. There will be perennials planted in the flower bed that will grow to two feet tall, no taller when fully grown.” On motion of Councilperson Jaffee, seconded by Councilperson Nardi, and unanimously approved, Jack Thomas Lawler as well as others who facilitate this project at the African American Cemetery shall be deemed as volunteers for the Town of Rye during the course of this project and are therefore insured under the Town NYMIR General Liability Policy. * * * * * * * * Community Solar Claire Kokaska, who manages the Community Solar Program for Sustainable Westchester was present to explain this new initiative that was launched a few years ago to solve the problem of real lack of access to install solar panels on people’s homes which is expensive and there might be a tree in the way or the roof may be in need of repairs. Therefore, with Community Solar, there is a way for anyone who doesn’t have solar panels on the roof already, to subscribe to a community solar farm in Westchester and then receive discounts on their monthly electric. Ms. Kokaska has been working with the Town of Rye on a really exciting solar campaign to secure grant funding. The Town of Rye will be receiving a grant from NYSERDA to be used for the butler building to house their new landscaping electrical vehicles at the Crawford Park. * * * * * * * * Supervisor Zuckerman was happy to present this resolution recognizing June as LGBTQ and Gay Pride month and for every June thereafter. This resolution follows up on previous resolutions that the Town has passed in support of diversity and inclusion and support of the ADA community by reaffirming equality for people regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender, etc.