RYE, NY (May 15, 2023) — The City Council of the City of Rye held a regular meeting in City Hall on April 26, 2023 at 6:30 P.M. Councilmembers Lori Fontanes, Bill Henderson, Carolina Johnson, Joshua Nathan, Julie Souza and Benjamin Stacks were present while Mayor Josh Cohn was absent. The Council convened at 6:00 P.M. and Councilwoman Souza made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss litigation and personnel matters. The motion was seconded by Councilman Stacks. The Council reconvened in a public meeting at 6:34 P.M. and the meeting was streamed live at www.ryeny.gov for public viewing.
Flood Mitigation Lobbying Firm
Steve Schultz, Alyssa Lovelace, and retired Congressman Tim Bishop from Envision Strategy, an Albany-based, bipartisan lobbying firm, introduced themselves to the Council. Envision has been working with the City of Rye to identify flood reduction methods to minimize flood impact through various nonstructural and/or structural strategies. Envision has identified methods and potential funding to provide a positive cost-benefit to Rye and provide positive local impacts.
Other projects discussed with Envision:
- Bowman Avenue Dam
- Upper Pond Clearing Study
- Nature Center entrance reconfiguration
- Bridge replacements at Locust Ave, Orchard Ave, Boston Post Road, and Highland Road. Councilman
- coastal zone management funding
- Hix Park project
- Future project development with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, NRCS Emergency Watershed Protection Program, and FEMA.
- Sidewalk and road projects funded by NYSDOT
FEMA Reimbursement for Recent Disasters
The City of Rye has been working to receive reimbursement from FEMA for costs associated with presidentially declared disasters Isaias, Ida, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Noga Ruttenberg, Assistant to the City Manager, joined a recent meeting to explain the ongoing work for FEMA reimbursement. The City was eligible for 100% reimbursement for project costs and has submitted numerous claims. The recovery and reimbursement requests were approximately $176,500 for COVID-19, $578,000 for Isaias, and $2.4 million for Ida. The City has been reimbursed $1.38 million total for the disasters with $1.78 million pending. Once the City receives confirmation that FEMA has signed off on reimbursement, they will advance the tennis court project. The standard timeframe for a FEMA response has varied.
City Comptroller Presents 2022 Preliminary Financial Results
Joe Fazzino, City Comptroller, presented the 2022 preliminary financial results. The ongoing audit of the General Fund began in April and final results will be presented in July. The 2022 General Fund totals included $27.5M in property taxes and $18.4M in other revenues. Operating expenditures were $48.3M and capital investment was $5.25M. The 2022 Unassigned Fund balance was $4.88M, which was 10.2% of the 2023 budgeted expenses. Revenues other than property taxes were $3.75M over budget for 2022. Salaries and wages showed the largest gap in actual versus budget at $910,650, attributed to vacancies filled in Q1 of 2023. Capital investments in 2022 included $2M for the City fleet management program and $1.85M for street resurfacing.
Capital Projects Finance Plan
City Manager Usry updated on the Capital Projects Finance Plan. The 2022 total project expenses were $41M, with most expenses related to the DPW building projects and sanitary sewer improvements. The DPW salt shed, Building 7, and fuel depot construction projects were underway, and Building 5 will begin demolition in the fall. Miscellaneous projects to begin in winter 2024 include a new HVAC system for City Hall and work on Forest Ave sidewalks. The police and court facility and the Theodore Fred Wall were longer-term projects with outdated cost estimates. Total funding sources for 2022 were $42.76M and consisted of bond proceeds, CAPEX reserves, grants, and projected state and city budget monies.
Public Hearings
Public hearings were held to discuss amendments to the Rye City Code. One proposed amendment was to Chapter 187 “Trees” of the Rye City Code. Another proposed amendment was to adopt a new local law to amend Chapter 191 “Vehicles and Traffic” by adding a new Part 4 “Residential On-Street Parking Permit System” and adding Article IX “Residential On-Street Parking Permit Regulations” to the Code of the City of Rye for the Mead Place parking district.
Credit to Rye Golf Club Members
The City Council adopted a resolution to provide a credit to Rye Golf Club members. The credit will be provided to any 2022 member, resident or non-resident, so that they will be charged the same rate as a 2021 or earlier member. The City Council also decided to provide the same credit to 2023 Rye resident members. The Rye City Manager and Rye Golf General Manager were directed to provide credits to Rye residents joining Rye Golf Club in 2023 who are not renewing members. The credits will bring them into parity with the rates paid by 2021 and previous renewing Rye resident members. The credit will be distributed consistent with the plan recently enacted to provide credits to the 2022 joiners in these categories.
Public Hearing Set to Amend City Code on Private Sanitary Sewer Laterals
A public hearing has been set to adopt a Local Law to amend Chapter 161, Article III “Private Sanitary Sewer Laterals” of the Code of the City of Rye. The amendment will add § 161-17.1 “Standards for connection to a common force main.”
Resolution to Amend Fees and Charges for Clerk’s Office
The City Council adopted a resolution to amend the 2023 Adopted Fees and Charges for the Clerk’s office. Ms. D’Andrea explained that the amendment was for all-day, all-night parking permits that allow residents without access to driveways or off-street parking to park in city-owned lots. The resident annual permit was currently $900 and the six-month permit was $500. Since the pandemic, the City has offered a monthly permit that costs $900 for one year. The amendment would streamline the fees and remove any perceived penalty for six-month permits. The loss to the City was minimal at $250 out of the $63,000 budget line.
Resolution to Appropriate Funds for Arborist Services
The City Council adopted a resolution to appropriate $25,000 from contingency for Arborist services. City Manager Usry explained that the money would be used for consultation related to the ongoing revision of the new tree law and several other matters.
Consent Agenda
The Rye City Council approved two items on its consent agenda. The first item is a request from the Rye Free Reading Room (RFRR) to use the Village Green for various events such as outdoor Wiggle Giggle, family story times, Robert the Guitar Guy, classical musical concerts, and other common library programs on various days from May 1, 2022 – October 31, 2023. RFRR will coordinate with City staff to ensure there is no interference with maintenance of the Village Green. The second item is a request from RFRR to use the Village Green on Friday, September 8, 2023 until Monday, September 11, 2023 for a sale that will take place Saturday and Sunday from 12 pm – 5 pm. The Village Green will be completely cleared by Monday morning.
There was no old or new business discussed at the City Council meeting. Councilwoman Souza made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:34 P.M., which was seconded by Councilman Stacks. The Council was in favor and the meeting was adjourned.
The next regular meeting of the council is scheduled for May 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Source: Conversation with Bing, 5/15/2023 and the Approved Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Rye held in City Hall on April 26, 2023, at 6:30 P.M