Mamaroneck REVIEW THE
June 22, 2018 | Vol. 6, Number 25 | www.mamaroneckreview.com
Larchmont approves 10.5% water rate increase By FRANCO FINO Staff Writer
Jill Krutick has opened up a fine art gallery in Mamaroneck showcasing some of her works. The gallery, located on Mount Pleasant Avenue, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, June 14. For more, see page 6. Photo/Franco Fino
Village board codifies compliance to Open Meetings Law The village of Mamaroneck will look to bolster its committees’ understanding and compliance with Open Meetings Law after passing a local law this month. Specifically the new law— passed unanimously by the village Board of Trustees on June 11—will codify that all advisory committees, including the Planning Board, the Traffic Commission and the Harbor and Coastal Zone Management Commission, among others, now must comply to the requirement of the state’s Open Meetings Law.
INSIDE PBS to feature Boston Post Road See page 8.
According to Trustee Nora Lucas, a Democrat, while those committees were likely already complying with the requirements—all of them already publicly noticed their meetings—the law will help ensure that all of the village’s bases are covered. To help further hammer home compliance to Open Meetings Law—a law that sets forth guidelines on transparency for school and municipal governing bodies—the village will also host a training session for all committee members and village employees in the fall. “It’s basically a reminder that the Open Meetings Law is important, and while we encourage compliance, it’s important to pro-
vide training,” she said. This will mark the second year in a row in which the village has invited Robert Freeman, the executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, to conduct a lesson for village employees and volunteers; last year’s session came on the heels of a lawsuit against the village board alleging breakdowns in transparency compliance filed, and later withdrawn, by two residents. In recent years, the village has come under fire for alleged violations of transparency laws that have, at times, led to litigation. Notably, the village is still embroiled in a legal battle with Hampshire Country Club, located in the village’s waterfront
neighborhood of Orienta Point, over what the club claims in its suit was backroom dealing by village officials over its proposal to build approximately 100 residential units on their property. Violations to state Open Meetings Law also played a central role during an ethics probe of former village Trustee, Louis Santoro, a Republican, when he failed to leave the dais after recusing himself from a discussion over his own personal reimbursement of attorney fees. Lucas said she hopes the new law will help crystallize Open Meetings Law in the future. “You can’t assume people are familiar with it,” she said. -Reporting by James Pero
After three years of not increasing water rates, Larchmont lawmakers approved hiking rates in order to recuperate from debt the village has incurred for a number of capital improvements over the last two years. The water rate increase, which reflects approximately a 10.5 percent difference from when the village previously raised rates in 2015, took effect on June 1. Water rates will go up by 71 cents per unit during the summer, which is a little less than $8 a month for the average household. During the winter, residents will see water rates go up by 61 cents per unit, which is a slightly more than $6 a month for the average household. “Unfortunately for us, there was a lot of deferred maintenance within the water operation and we were faced with a situation where within the span of two years we needed to take on three capital projects,” said Mayor Lorraine Walsh, a Democrat. “Had any of those been done in a timely fashion we would not have been faced [with] a large capital outlay at this time.” Since previously increasing water rates, Larchmont has taken on approximately $3 million in debt for three capital projects. Over the last two years, the village replaced both its water meter and tank, and installed a new water pump station. “The repairs we completed were not wants; they were needs,” said Village Administrator Justin Datino, who added the village hasn’t seen any relatively similar improvements since the 1960s. According to the village administrator, at one point, the Westchester County Department of
Health refused to certify the village’s water systems considering a number of “serious deficiencies” that were present in the operation, which have all been resolved, as of press time. Datino said water rate increases also come as a result of potential rate increases in New York City, where the village’s water company—Westchester Joint Water Works, WJWW—purchases all of its water. WJWW is a nonprofit public benefit corporation that operates the water systems of its three-member municipalities: Harrison, and the town and village of Mamaroneck. The company, which was created under a special act of the state Legislature in 1927—governed by a three-member board of trustees—supplies water to more than 14,800 retail customers and sells water on a wholesale basis to the village of Larchmont, United Water New Rochelle and the Aquarion Water Company of New York. The water company purchases all of its water from New York City through the Delaware Aqueduct in Yonkers, and Rye Lake, which is located near the eastern part of Kensico Reservoir in Harrison, according to the WJWW website. CONTACT: franco@hometwn.com
“SEEING RED” Pg. 3