Eastchester REVIEW THE
December 9, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 50 | www.eastchesterreview.com
Fire district, union ink new 5-year contract
Holiday
cheer
By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer
Jack Heffernan shoots a jumper during the finals of Eastchester’s Holiday Basketball Tournament on Dec. 3. The Eagles won the annual tourney with a big assist from the senior, who was named MVP. For story, see page 14. Photo/Mike Smith
Westchester County officials rally to ‘ban the barge’ By JAMES PERO Staff Writer Amidst allegations that the U.S. Coast Guard circumvented proper procedure in order to fasttrack approval of 43 additional commercial barge anchorages along the Hudson River, Westchester County officials and environmental watchdogs are calling for the agency to withdrawal its proposal. According to a statement by Pace University’s Environmental Policy Clinic, the proposal— which would speckle anchorages across the lower Hudson River shorelines, from Kingston to Yonkers—skirted procedure in order to avoid scrutiny of its environmental impact. “This is one of the most egre-
gious violations of public transparency and public trust I have seen in four decades working on Hudson River issues,” said John Cronin, a fellow at the Dyson College Institute for Sustainability and the Environment at Pace. The clinic’s chief concerns, according to Cronin, are the Coast Guard’s failure to complete any environmental surveys and failure to coordinate with mariners, environmental groups and residents of impacted areas, as per the Coast Guard’s own interagency requirements. “Any projects like this, whether it’s a pipeline, or anchorages, or a power plant, or a proposed development,” Cronin said, “the first thing you’re supposed to look at is the worst possible negative impact. All of this informa-
tion is completely absent.” Among the Westchester ports that would be affected by the proposal are Montrose Point in Cortlandt Manor, as well as a port in Yonkers that would see the addition of 16 new anchorages alone. While the U.S. Coast Guard has offered its plan to add additional anchorages—the largest of which would be the Yonkers port, which would span more than 700 acres—as a means of increasing safety and thru traffic on the waterway, both county officials and environmental advocacy groups have cast doubt on the Coast Guard’s motives. “The point that’s being made is that this is needed for safety,” said Leah Rae, a spokeswoman for the environmental advocacy
group, Riverkeeper. “We don’t feel they’ve made any rationale for that claim.” In a letter to the U.S. Coast Guard sent by the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey in January, which urges the Coast Guard to move forward with the construction of additional anchorages, one particular passage has given Riverkeeper pause. “For several years the [U.S.] has developed as a major energy-producing nation and the great port of Albany as a leading export port for Jones Act trade of American Bakken Crude Oil and Ethanol,” the letter reads. “Trade will increase on the Hudson River significantly over the BARGE continued on page 5
The Eastchester Fire District has come to terms with the firefighters’ union on a new fiveyear contract, which guarantees annual salary increases and concludes an arbitration case which could have cost the district as much as $7 million. The contract, which spans from Jan. 1, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2019, guarantees the Eastchester Professional Firefighters Local 916 union two years of retroactive raises at about 2 percent each, and three years of similar raises through 2019. The union had been out of contract since the beginning of 2015. Dennis Winter, chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners, said, “I think it’s a fair agreement all around for both parties.” But the agreement also required the union to permanently drop a grievance that it had filed against the district in May, claiming that the district had not been adequately contributing to the New York state retirement system related to the union’s final year average salary pension plan. The district has maintained that the clause in the contract pertaining to a final year average salary is ambiguous. As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, CBA, that clause, which had been in the union’s contract since at least 2000, has been removed. “The fire district only wanted to come to an agreement if the final year average salary was removed from the CBA, that way we resolved all of our material labor problems in one shot,” Winter told the Review.
INSIDE Meet Topps’ new owners Story on page 7
According to the Board of Fire Commissioners, that grievance could have cost the district $5.2 million as a lump sum or $7 million over 10 years. Winter had claimed that if the union won the arbitration, the district would have been forced to cut between 12 and 14 jobs in order to cover the costs. Steven Ranellone, the firefighters’ union president, said the union was amenable to dropping the final year average salary arbitration in light of the new contract, adding that overall, the CBA was fair for both parties. Beginning in January, as per the CBA, the district will begin contributing $115,000 per year to the union’s dental insurance plan. The fire district’s budget for 2017 is $16.9 million, more than 70 percent of which has been allotted to cover costs of employment for the district’s approximately 75 firefighters and officers, as well as a part-time treasurer and secretary who do not receive benefits from the district, a full-time maintenance worker, and an allotment for a part-time district manager position which has not yet been filled. The district will hold its annual election on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Fire Commissioner Jerry Napolitano’s seat is up for re-election. Napolitano, a public safety advisor for Motorola Solutions, will run against Stuart Rabin, an administrator in the Eastchester Parks and Recreation Department. Fire district commissioners are elected to five-year terms and do not receive financial compensation. CONTACT: corey@hometwn.com