Supervisor Barbara Gerrard says good-bye and thank you

December 16, 2011
by Barbara Gerrard

Good evening. This evening my Report is a very large “Thank you” to so very many people who have made this administration successful despite the many challenges facing New Castle and beyond. Appropriately, my first and foremost “thank you’s” are to all the residents I served for these past 12 years.

It has been my pleasure and my privilege to serve you for 4 years as Supervisor and 8 years as a Town Board member. My primary goal, one shared with the dedicated members of the Town Boards on which I have served, most especially this Board, has always been to provide the best services we can, in the most fiscally responsible way it can be done. The members of this Board in particular have expended countless hours reviewing proposed legislation, mountains of budget materials, personnel issues, residents’ complaints and recommendations, and suggestions of all kinds from our talented and passionate volunteer boards, all in an earnest effort to make this Town the best place in Westchester to live and to raise our families.

Among the successes the Town Board has accomplished over the last decade include partnering with 10 other municipalities to provide Advances Life Support—- called ALS – to our residents through the Westchester Emergency Medical Services. They work cooperatively with our dedicated volunteers of the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps to provide essential services to our residents. That alliance was so successful that early in 2008 I worked with the Village and Town of Ossining, through then Town Supervisor Martha Dodge – a wonderful woman who spent the last 2 years of her life determined to establish similar ALS services in Ossining, the western portion of New Castle, and now expanding to Croton and other western municipalities. These potentially life-saving entities go unnoticed and underappreciated, until they are so desperately needed.

On a lighter note, over the last several years New Castle has added to additional ball fields. The Town has preserved over 600 acres of open space – remarkable not only because so little land is available, but also because, until recently, the land values kept ever escalating. Even in the center of Chappaqua, land previously used as a parking lot (adjacent to Citibank) has been transformed into a pedestrian plaza, one used extensively in all but the harshest weather. And the rebuilt gazebo, too, offers seating and a welcoming place to read, meet friends, or – when in season – enjoy the musical talents that the Chappaqua Orchestra and the local bands have to offer. There are more subtle streetscape improvements as well – the renovated train station, the new trees, banners and lampposts greeting passengers, and new and rebuilt sidewalks to encourage pedestrian traffic. A new crosswalk between Town Hall and the Library has just been completed. And one of the most requested amenities in Town is now firmly established: we have a thriving Farmer’s Market thanks to our Sustainability Advisory Board members, and to 2 residents in particular, Priscilla Sorensen and Nancy Lyman. Their hard work and determination to work with the Town to make this happen cannot be overstated. They are the perfect example of what this progressive Town working with its residents can accomplish.

Many of these improvements were recommendations from the Project for Public Spaces’ interviews with residents done several years ago. My hard working and valued Deputy Supervisor, Elise Mottel, must take most if not all the credit for our Downtown Steering Committee’s work to effectuate these positive improvements. And we are pleased she has taken on that responsibility now for the hamlet of Millwood. I am certain you will see similar streetscape improvements – and in fact the intersection at Routes 133 and 120 has already seen an aesthetic improvement. Working with our Town Planner, David Brito, the son of the owner of the charming little rail station that is in such disrepair, Mr.Lawrence Rotta, may be able to effectuate and refurbish that structure, and make it a welcoming amenity.

This Board and I also can take great pride in the environmental legislation and policies we have moved forward with the Town. New Castle was the very first community in New York State to become a Climate Smart Community – we took the 10 point pledge to make changes in environmental policies and advance energy savings in all phases of municipal actions. We became members of the International Council of Environmental Initiatives, a multi-national organization whose mission is to reduce carbon emissions. With their assistance, the Town, with the invaluable work of our Deputy Commissioner of Public Works, Gerry Moershell, measured its carbon footprint and has pledged to reduce that footprint by 20% by 2015, a mission we are striving hard to accomplish. We require new residential construction to be “Energy Star” compliant; we have been upgrading our lighting to energy-efficient LED bulbs; we installed (with an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal grant) a solar wall on our water treatment plant – which will reduce our heating oil consumption at that facility by nearly 20%; we have an outstanding request with NYSERDA to put solar panels on the large expanse that is the south train station parking lot; and we established the aforementioned Sustainability Advisory Board—- one of the most active and successful boards which in just the last 6 weeks sponsored 2 forums, each attended by over 100 people, interested in and dedicated to making New Castle more sustainable in every single way.

But by far the most challenging issues over the past 4 years have been:

1. The reconstruction of the Route 120 Bridge over the MetroNorth tracks (yes, that’s its name)—- although it still has some small finishing touches to go——there is much landscaping to be completed in the spring, and the crosswalks will be enhanced with Belgian Block and brick, along with some wrought iron work that is still being fabricated – the bridge reconstruction which began (after an unfortunate 4 month delay because of a misguided lawsuit) in September 2008, has been completed and de-mobilization is taking place right now. It has been frustrating and seemingly endless, but the finished project is a beautiful structure – true to the original in stonework, lampposts, and other aesthetics, but meeting 21Century requirements for safety, width of pedestrian walkways, sight line vision, lane demarcation and other features.

2. The application for a zoning change on the Readers Digest property. It is so complex and of course is still in litigation, but suffice it to say that all of us who worked on it did so with dedication to what is beneficial to the entire Town. We continue to have complete confidence in the results of our detailed and well-thought out deliberations, but even if you disagree with the ultimate actions, I would hope everyone recognizes that this Board held multiple public hearings, read all the many letters and e-mails, and absorbed literally thousands of pages of SEQRA documents consisting of public input and professional consultants’ reports before making our decisions. The book is still open on the ultimate outcome, but we gave this project enormous energy and effort.

3. Lastly, but by far the most challenging and difficult event has been the collapse of the national (and international) economy. In September of ‘08, when Lehman failed, many of our residents had been members of Lehman – and if not Lehman, sister entities with similar credentials. The fear and panic were palpable ... and unfortunately many families have struggled ever since. This stagnant economy, especially the real estate market, has brought austerity measures to New Castle as well as to most other communities, in Westchester and well beyond. This Board has tried to be as fiscally responsible as humanly possible, even to the point of reducing staff who have been employed by the Town for many, many years. This is not easy and not something anyone feels good about, but this “Great Recession” is not over, and unfortunately will not be really over for quite some time. We ask the residents to be patient and understanding ... we all need to “pitch in” perhaps more than we have in the past. We have a great Town, and we all need to work hard to keep it that way – especially through these less than stellar economic times.

With all of that, I would personally like to express my sincerest appreciation to every single member of the Town Board that it has been my privilege to work with, starting with the Supervisor I was first elected to serve under, the late Marion Sinek. No one could ask for a more dedicated or more knowledgeable Supervisor. She was my greatest inspiration. In addition, I have learned tremendous amounts from Marion’s Deputy Supervisor, Richard Laster – a consummate leader, business executive, school board president, and still a community leader in so very many issues. Jason Chapin was an insightful member of the Town Board when he and I were first elected – I know he will add his thoughtfulness and intelligence to the Board again; Janet Wells generously made me her Deputy Supervisor for 4 years, and it was my privilege to learn from and serve under her. Other previous supervisors have also been gracious with their time and wisdom to help me better understand the responsibilities and obligations of the position: Polly Kuhn and Bruce Gilchrist in particular, shared their significant experiences with me over the years. And I cannot say enough about our counsel, and also a previous supervisor, Clinton Smith—- with his folksy humor and self-deprecation, don’t be fooled—- he is a VERY, very smart attorney with mad legal skills, and as wise a counsel as any municipality could hope for.

There is a group that deserves special recognition, and that is the staff and especially the department heads in this Town government. They are of the highest caliber – Jill Shapiro, our Receiver of Taxes and Town Clerk is dedicated to good and responsive government; our Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, Robert Synder, has a County-wide reputation for environmentally responsible maintenance of our fields and other recreation facilities; David Brito, our Town Planner, has stepped up admirably to the many responsibilities of helping our community grow in a sustainable way; and Robert Deary, our new Comptroller, has proven a valuable asset to the Town who we hope will stay with us a very long time. I must give a very special thank you to 2 special women—- Carolina Bruschi and Daisy Hernandez. Carolina is the Town Administrator’s secretary and Daisy is mine. They are the two most talented, kind, thoughtful people, with really good skills for helping me through all kinds of situations. Thank you both for all you have done over these years. There are so many others I cannot mention even half of them, but I hope they know how deeply I respect and admire their work and their work ethic. We have a wonderful team here. I will just give one mention to two members of our Town Board meetings team who never get recognition: Diane Stevens at the Clerk’s desk, has been taking the minutes of both work sessions and these regular meetings for as long as I can remember. She’s smart, efficient, and I cannot say enough nice things about her. And behind the scenes – doing the “tech work” none of us can master, is Kyle Spitzfaden, whose services are offered through NCCMC.

But the New Castle Town Board must give special and unqualified praise to the Town Administrator, a very difficult position requiring a myriad of skills. The Town was fortunate to have had Jerry Faiella serve in that capacity, steering the Town responsibly and impressively for 13 years. And since his retirement, we have had the outstanding good fortune to have Penny Paderewski in that position, hitting the ground running, working 24/ 7 in one of the most – if not the most difficult year in Westchester’s history as to weather-related nightmares – hurricanes, earth quakes, huge snowfalls, snowfall before the leaves were off the trees, countless residents out of power—- twice in 2 months—- yet she retains her composure, her grace, her professionalism throughout. Working with you has been an absolute pleasure—I could not imagine anyone better to steer the administration of this Town.

That brings me to my colleagues on the present Town Board – I believe I have worked effectively and productively with each and every board member. We have collectively accomplished the streetscape improvements, achieved the environmental goals, and, most challenging, handled 4 budgets over these difficult times. Every Board member has special skills and talents which have made this Board so productive: Michael his creativeness and determination to see things through; Robin his thoroughness and insight; John his enthusiasm and caring for neighbors near and far; and of course, Elise, my Deputy Supervisor all 4 years, my personal right-hand who gives her all in anything and everything she does. I do not believe I could have done this job were it not for her wisdom and pragmatic problem solving.

I welcome in the in-coming Supervisor, Susan Carpenter. She is very smart, very caring, is a very fast learner, and the Town is most fortunate to have her become its new Supervisor. I have known Susan for almost 20 years. She has served on numerous committees and boards, and given Continuing Legal Education courses on conservation easements – her specialty at the Westchester Land Trust. I also welcome the returning current Board members, and the returning Jason Chapin, who as I said I was proud to serve with in the early 2000’s. This is a Town Board that I am completely confident will make wise decisions, and continue to provide for and protect our investment both financial and emotional, in our home town of New

Castle.

Thanks to all for your patience and support over these many years. It’s been a privilege.

Barbara Gerrard