Town of Greenburgh
Work Session Agenda of the Greenburgh Town Board
Tuesday – December 2, 2008 – 2:00pm
(All Work Sessions are Televised Live on Cablevision Channel 76, Verizon 32 and are streamed live. Work Sessions and Town Board Meetings will be aired each Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at 7:02am and 4:45pm. Each segment will run for approximately 6 to 7 hours, depending upon the length of the two meetings.)
2:00p.m Library - Budget Review
3:00p.m. Personnel – Update - Applications for Comm. Public Works
3:15p.m. Department of Public Works – Al Regula
5:30p.m. Adjourn
7:30p.m. Parks and Recreation – Gerry Byrne
8:15 PM TDYCC- Bill Carter
APOLOGIES-- We try to release our work session agenda the Friday before the Tuesday work session. Because of the Thanksgiving holidays we were unable to finalize the schedule until today. Sorry!
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47 comments:
Nothing like a 100% accurate and thorough representation by the lame duck DPW head.
Come on get real.
No changes in Sanitation schedules or pick ups till the new sherriff gets in there and finds all the other fat first.
Get real, and fiscally responsible
Maybe Sheeeeeeeeehan will give up praying to his laptop gods during public hearings and work sessions.
Pay attention to whats going on. You don't need to have your laptop open and using our valuable electricity.
If the Library is opening seven days a week, you gave them too much money.
Why is it that spooktown (AKA Barnes and Nobel Hartsdale) is still painted that horrible pumpkin orange? I remember last year they had to paint the building white after Halloween and it was done. Why isn't this Done yet??
Maybe the Library will want to present their case at today's work session that they need another $100,000 to pave the 34 landbanked parking spaces. The following is my response to an email explanation from the Supervisor (which follows my response)
From: Hal Samis
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:46 AM
To: Paul Feiner
Cc: Towncouncil; Howard Jacobs, Eugenia Contrata
Subject: Re: 12/14/2008 event
Mr. Feiner:
You've got to be kidding! Howard Jacobs actually had the chutzpah to say to you that the library parking has limited parking space! Let me remind you and others that pre-referendum, the Library tour told taxpayers that the new Library would have 160 parking spaces. Following the referendum, the Library learned that Town zoning required 154 parking spaces. After hearing of this, the Library then sought a variance to reduce this requirement to 120 parking spaces with 34 "land-banked". At that time I protested asking where would the Library get the money (estimated then @ $100,000) to pave those 34 spaces should the need be established. Now, at its first public event in the new building (the Library of tomorrow), Mr. Jacobs says that the public cannot be invited because there aren't enough parking spaces.
Furthermore, as the invitaton states the new Library is a place for the community to gather and that the building has doubled in size. Its present 46,000 square feet was the result of a study from their paid consultant, Noel Lushington, who proscribed one foot of space per resident of unincorporated. Does this mean that the new Library is not large enough to serve unincorporated?
Either Mr. Jacobs is full of manure or the Library doesn't want to invite the taxpayers who are paying for the building (the bricks and the operating expense) to attend this function or the urgent need for the landbanked 34 parking spaces is already proven. Certainly, there will be other programs and events at the Library to which the public at large will be allowed entry and given this, when are the needed 34 parking spaces to be paved and where is the money to do this coming from?
Please advise.
(in response to Mr. Feiner's earlier email)
From: "Paul Feiner"
I met with Howard Jacobs yesterday. According to Howard--. The library parking lot has limited space. the Library invited some key people to the ceremony. I do not believe that uninvited residents can be kicked out or will be kicked out --however the library is trying to keep costs down (staff will not be paid to work on Sunday, no one will be getting overtime). There will be a list of activities for people to attend at the library beginning Monday--when the library officially opens.
Since no one is going to be asked to leave if they attend the ceremony - there is no violation of the open meetings law.
PAUL FEINER
Hal,
Give it a rest. The library is having a "cermonial" opening. If you want to go -- go. If you dont, dont go. But what the libary is trying to do is not having people thinking this is a good day to go over and borrow books. If that is what you want to do, wait a day.
To 1:53,
Do you think that taxpayers might want to attend, or at least be given the choice, the Grand Opening ceremony, especially those who voted to spend the $20+ million to expand the Library?
But the issue per this chapter is that according to the President of the Library Board of Trustees, Howard Jacobs, the Library doesn't have enough parking spaces. Not even open yet and he knows this. Isn't this a little different posture than at the beginning of the project, before any construction contract was awarded, that the Library went before the Zoning Board to ask for a variance to reduce the Town's parking requirement by 34 spaces? We don't need; we do need -- now who's going to pay for what was left out?
I'll give it a rest when someone admits that they were wrong. The Grand Opening will be their celebration of how they were right. The problem in Greenburgh is that no one in government ever admits to making a mistake. Perhaps after 20 years of mismanagement many residents have come to accept this as a way of life. However, I'm not equipped to bury my head in the sand. Like you.
Hal,
I dont bury my head in the sand, but whats done is done. There are many many more things that can be fixed. But if supporting the Feiener's agenda is more important to you, yes go on being fixated on teh library.
hal may not bury his head in the sand but the ecc is damn quiet about the library's sheehanigans.
i guess they dont mind paying for this white elephant.
years ago the wall street journal had the courage to say the village voice was right about another boondoggle - westway.
when will the ecc finally say what everyone knows is the truth - samis was right about the library.
The ECC, as far as I know, spends its time on issues currently on the table. But speaking for myself, I only wish every major expenditure, like the library, had been subject to a referendum.
i leave it to hal to give us chapter and verse as to all the current library construction matters as well as the fact that the library should not be in the business of buying, storing, cataloging, cooling or heating dvds - this is something netflix does well and should be outsourced to them. ill bet netflix already serves 90% of edgemont and a near equal amount of the villages.
the ecc should weigh in the library's expenditures.
ps - the new library is an architectural albatross and very ungreen.
Dear 3:58,
How about a Referendum on not hiring Al Regula and Butch Nana as consultants to the Town and taking the chance that the "well-greased" wheel continues to roll or giving them a hand in choosing their successors (being paid as a consultant for this).
Leaf season is over by their departure so we don't need the top dogs to supervise this annual party. Like having them on hand leads to no problems.
But what's behind the fear in not having Regula and Nana around on call during the snow-plowing season?
Think about it. The snow comes every year; there are no new streets in Greenburgh this year and won't be until Avalon II.
If Regula was such a great Department head, wouldn't he already have systems in place, not because he's leaving but because it's the same deal year after year.
It's the same roll-out, just one repeated the number of times it snows.
Certain streets get plowed first, then others, then others. And what's the new break-through in salting and sanding?
Do we really need to spend any more on their services while we seek their replacement(s). Can we survive without anyone in these jobs for three months -- and save their substantial salaries during this time? Maybe even hire one cop with the money.
It isn't as though Regula has really been doing such a great job and if his defenders are going to say that greatness eluded Regula because of Feiner's tight leash, then why pay him more money as a consultant when he will be even more vulnerable to Feiner?
And, forgive me for mentioning again the Library, but with the opening in two weeks, what do find out but that Regula has no punch list of things remaining to be done; that he has no idea of when work has been completed or what's lacking; and he certainly has no idea of what is outstanding in change orders or what's left of the increased budget.
As for driveway garbage pick-up, today the waffling goes on, now the fee is $500; the next minute it is to hire back the workers and eliminate the charge. A true executive, just the kind of take charge guy we need to waste more money on entertaining us.
And, remember my vanity sidewalk complaint at 32 North Washington Avenue. The one that leads to nowhere and the adjacent soft dirt path that is prone to 5 inch footprints which are soft one day and frozen, ankle spraining ruts the next? Because the project was done at the wrong time of year when ground cover (i.e. grass) is out of season. Oh, and my FOIL request for bills to, and payments from the homeowner has yielded that such documents do not exist. That means for work completed two weeks ago, there is no agreement to pay for services and no bill tendered. Taxpayers need to determine if a new sidewalk in front of two home, one which ends at the property line and goes no further, with a new concrete walk to the owner's porch, are a benefit to all taxpayers. It is your dollars in these harsh economic times that make possible these special "arrangements". We definitely need Mr. Regula as a consultant to see that these sweetheart deals continue without interruption.
Usually a recall is to remove faulty products or workmanship. In Greenburgh, it is to bring back damaged goods and enrich them further at taxpayer expense.
Library costs are the least of Edgemont's problems with Feiner's proposed budget for 2009, which cuts 6 to 9 cops, arbitrarily cuts another $100,000 in police overtime to pay for other cops to do their jobs, and cuts sanitation, snow removal and leaf pickup.
Instead of first cutting non-essential services, Feiner has focused on cutting essential services, which is idiotic.
As for the library, its costs costs are budgeted at 2006 levels and the cost of construction is about $68 per average $15,000 assessment. That's chump change compared to the Town's real money problems.
There's something wrong with a town that cuts cops at precisely the time when they are most likely to be needed, but can't seem to cut a penny from non-essentials like the $100,000 gift to the Fairview Fire District, the $167,000 Xposure after school program, the $167,000 SWAT costs (most of which goes to the villages to pay for the overtime their cops incur for the training) the $61,000 Council on the Arts, Feiner's $67,000 "confidential" secretary, the hundreds of thousands of dollars in duplicate costs for summer camps, recreation programs and transportation services run by the Departments of Parks and Rec and Community Resources, each with its own set of highly paid commissioners -- and each of which runs a budget that's millions more than what the Town allocates to the library.
All this focus on the library is nothing more than a red herring.
Mr. Samis, I guess you have good things to share with us, the problem is that your abrasive way let's you down.
Again, why don't you really make a different and get in the Library Board of trustees.
I am sure Mr. Feiner and teh town board will appoint you in a second.
So stop the talk and start the doing, walk your talk.
500.00 for back door service,are you crazy ? what part of the town will you spend my 500.00 in ? how will this service be done if you plan to eliminate five positions in the sanitation department,before I pay the town 500.00,I will make a deal with my sanitation men,I rather give them the money,at least I know where my dollars are going
The Board is not going to offer the services for a fee. Only curbside pickup.
I am not certain duplicate camps cost anythign at the counelor level. If I had Feiner's job, I would have asked the cost per full time camper (that can be approximated) at each camp, including transportation, lunch, etc -- all in -- and then think about it. I doubt Feiner has. In any event, we dont need multiple commssioners, etc.
If you are watching the work session live now (Parks and Rec) you will see that of those present (Town Board and Comptroller), the only one without any papers in front of them, even a copy of the budget, is the Town Supervisor. Perhaps we don't appreciate him enough but I never realized that he was so good an administrator that he has memorized the entire budget and thus can follow right along with the discussion.
Of course, most of this has been discussed with the Town Board the first go-round and maybe Feiner remembers what the rest of the Town Board can't.
Interesting when you put it in the context that Feiner is the Town's Financial Officer but what do the boring numbers really mean anyway.
If he's not bothered by having to concentrate on them, all the Supervisor has to do is work on preparing a sound byte for the camera and microphone to capture.
Hal,
Lets be fair, Feiner was on his blackbery for part of this (as was Sheehan on his computer). Sonya was asking questions so stupid (lets put skateboarding parks everywhere -- OK maybe not so stupid, more no-show jobs for her felon nephew). And Gerry couldnt really tell us what anything costs. What does he care, as long as they dont take away his car. And he did say he would try to limit camps to town residents by next year or so.
NOT ONE OF THESE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND HOW ANGRY TAXPARYERS ARE.
The work session is getting better and better. Feiner is saying how employees earn less than they are worth. Like camp counselors at 15/hour at TDYCC. Give me a break.
i received an undated letter from david dwinnell (sp?) about a mistake his office made in my school taxes - neither the bill or the letter even told me who to make my supplemental check payable to.
paul -your name was on the letter too - who is checking his work product?
and why was this mistake made in the first place?
dwinnell's pay should be reduced for his poor performance.
what kind of idiot sends a bill and fails to say who to pay?
dwinnell's pay should be reduced or he should be fined
That was the assessor's mistake. Heah, it is not easy, she works at least 4 hours a day.
To 6:37,
Joining is not curing. Nor would the Town Board appoint me to anything. I prefer to work from outside the system. I don't have secrets. If the Library Board or any Board wanted to heed my advice, they can still use the road maps I provide free of charge from impersonal email. They don't have to embrace the messenger. As Marshall McLuhan wrote, "The Medium is the Massage".
Dear Mr. Herring,
(not exactly the best allusion: a red herring in underwriting is the compilation of the salient facts brought into sharp focus so that a buyer can make a Sy Syms type of decision.)
At the risk of deviating from the study guide, I want to point out that the Library budget $3+ million is not an inconsequential amount and that of all the budgets, the Town Board, through its belief that it needs to disengage from line analysis and just deal with a total number, there is still good reason to continue harping. Who knows last year's Arts Council was similarly banished from discussion and this year it has made it to the finals.
First, comparison with the 2006 Library operating budget is not meaningful and for reasons other than the doubling in building size. During the pre-referendum shows, the Library teams sold the public that expenses would not necessarily rise due to the larger size. The obvious expense of HVAC was handled by telling everyone that thanks to geothermal wells, these costs would be contained. And the glass windows would allow natural light in and reduce the electric bill. You may remember their funded "Special Project" which was to purchase the equipment and tags to electronically sort media which would reduce employee handling.
But what is being overlooked when comparing with 2009 to 2006 is that the 2006 budget was grossly inflated which was the specialty of the Library Board of Trustees. The kind of budgeting that allowed for unparalled increases for the top management and leaving large and growing balances in the Library Fund. Since the Town Council wanted to be best friend to the Library, there was no oversight, even to capping their annual booty. So, from my point of view, in 2006 the Library got way too much money.
However, as for your other comments, you are assuredly correct in that Feiner has not really considered the impact of his proposed budget on reducing essential services while preserving those economic dinosaurs of the past.
His stubborn determination to retain his $67,000 (plus benefits) confidential secretary "hello, the Supervisor isn't here, would you like his voicemail" is a throwback to another era while using modern day technology to reduce the secretarial requirement to zip. The fact is that we don't need a costly human presence to direct us to an answering machine. What the Supervisor, however, does need is not having an angry ex-employee revealing his grey market dealings.
Defending the Arts Council staffer at $61,000 is so off-the-wall in a difficult budget that one would think that here is another person that has the "goods" on Feiner. Especially when everything she does is replicable by the Schools or the Library. The face-saving gesture would be to say "now that the Library is open..." And don't forget what is coming but hidden from view is the now $3000 expense of the Hartsdale sculpture curator.
The Police Department is another matter. Here there is a fine line created by understaffing the Patrol function while running a department store sheltering boutique services that are mostly unique to Greenburgh. The EMS functions, tech support, SWAT, marine unit, Patriot the dog, etc. are all corruptions of the theme "what if someone were to die" which apparently can only happen in Greenburgh but not at its neighbors. The Chief of Police says that each officer is "two mints in one" in that they also perform not one but two jobs, i.e. patrol and ems or, patrol and SWAT. with the second function assumed only when the officer is called to provide that service. What the Chief does not admit is that if a Patrol Officer becomes engaged performing EMS duties, the patrols are now reduced by at least one officer until their EMS work is completed. Thus, when the Department budget leaves no money to beef up the sector patrols (cops need extensive training before being of any use AND they need even MORE training to learn a specialty) and these patrol functions are understaffed, cutting the budget and reducing the number of officers makes no sense ESPECIALLY when the budget is apportioned to preserve the non-essential services. In effect, the public is being held hostage to maintaining Greenburgh firsts while the main mission of the Police is under funded.
The other items, Xposure, Fire District, private tennis instruction, stipends, summer programs are all aimed at narrow specialized publics but if more grateful voters can be won over at public expense, why would you expect these bits of fluff to be lost to providing instead a high level of essential services. Bob Bernstein made a good point when he defined some expenses as nice, some as needs and some as necessary. If the purpose of the budget is to address all those residents who tell Feiner that they can't afford to live in Greenburgh, a truly concerned Supervisor would see that before the "nice" find their way to budget lines, the necessary are first adequately funded.
And that is the rub. Feiner the politician only deals with the perceived reality because the current objective reality from lowered revenues is too painful.
If he can make people believe he is doing a good job, that is more immediate than actually doing a good job.
And, were revenue shortfalls truly enigmatic, then the Town Board could easily seek the return of all those illegal gifts made with the WestHelp funding. But these are considered water under the bridge and if you seek to raise these issues, then you are buying another 30 minute tutorial on replacing the bridge.
And comment quickly, Feiner is sure to return with a new posting of what a great and useful work session we just had.
Perceived reality always trumps objective reality. Welcome to the world of Feiner.
Mr. Samis
You write,"Joining is not curing. Nor would the Town Board appoint me to anything. I prefer to work from outside the system. I don't have secrets."
So, you are a chicken hawk!
You do not have the guts to do any real work. It seem you enjoy the game of complaining about others work.
Give me a break!
I'm not sure about the wisdom of cutting police. A man died of a heart attack last night at the NYSC in Hartsdale village around 10 P.M. According to one witness who tried to help the stricken man, it took 7 minutes from the time 911 was called until the Greenburgh EMT/Police arrived. Despite valiant efforts of some people present, the man's pulse stopped about a minute before the EMT arrived. I have no idea: is about 7 mintues acceptable arrival time for 10 pm on a Monday night to Hartsdale Village?
Dear Anonymous Stalker,
There are people who believe that being on a Committee or Board is the be-all, end-all. There are even people who think so highly of themselves that they promote the nonsense that they have decided to give something back to the community. Needless to say, that their worth to anyone is just the figment of their own imagination.
The Citizens Budget Committee is such an example. So ashamed of the final report, three of the seven members did not sign it. So are we to praise the four that did?
On the other hand, my personal favorite volunteers are the Library Board of Trustees who are people who honestly love the Library and what service it can be to a community. My quarrel is that they don't know what they are doing in pursuit of this goal. And that their ignorance and pride has cost taxpayers lots of wasted money.
The gatekeeper to being on these Commissions and Boards is Feiner and the Town Council. Need I say more. On the other hand, maybe you think made in China is a mark of high cachet.
Just what is it I have written about issues that you actually disagree with? What is it (besides signing up for service) that you think I don't know what I am talking about?
If you think I can't be right because I haven't sought to join some resume enhancer, then what errors have I made in my posts?
This is the old game of taking potshots at the messenger. You don't like the news so change papers.
If you want to be a joiner and get your name on some list, be my guest. But I'll match my hours of work on behalf of the residents with any member of any appointed Board or Committee. And since you remain anonymous, I'm thinking you're ashamed of your own missing credentials.
Dear 10:57,
I don't understand.
With or without the Greenburgh EMT, the result would be the same.
What is perhaps a more reasonable question is why the "Health Club" which promotes the idea of strenuous exercise did not have a defibrilator or other standard life saving equipment on premises AND, if so, why it wasn't used or used properly by someone on the staff?
What do you think the EMS would have done differently if they got there a few minutes sooner?
The defribrilator and CPR should be sop at Health Clubs and I assume that if the man was on some machine, that many of these devices read bp and pulse, leaving the user with responsibility to exercise caution. Obviously I am making assumptions but I would also direct those interested to ask why the nearby Fire Department on Central Avenue didn't get there ahead of the Police EMT although 7 minutes seems to be a reasonable response from any source. I repeat, I'm not familiar with the actual events so I am drawing inferences just from what you have written.
Definitely a matter that you should take up with the Police Chief -- if it was a Police unit responding. And if you are still interested, you might want to give Feiner a crack at the pinata and ask whether similar public establishments should be required to maintain such life-saving capabilities on premises.
If for example the Library has a defibrilator for all those suffering strokes turning the pages of a suspense novel, then certainly a health club or a gym should be required to maintain the same level of preparedness.
Be a good citizen and make this your issue. Maybe you and 10:51 can be on a committee...
hal
based on your analysis, if the town of greenburgh was a stock, it would be trading at record lows and a bus (the cybermobile perhaps ) should be getting ready for a trip to washington dc for a needed portion of any bailout......
broker's recommendation? - strong sell
Correction to broker's recommendation:
Short the hell out of it!
Seems like bloggers are out of touch with the town. Most of us like Greenburgh.
and which greenburgh is that?
the 80th best city?
or the town of juettner on the town board for 20 years with zero accomplishments other than being known as the sphinx
Heah, at least Juettner didnt push for a commissioner who supports no-show jobs and no-bid contracts.
If every department ran as efficiantlyand cost effectively as the Receiver of Taxes' department, we'd be in quantumly better shape.
David Dwinell deserves praise or the continuously outstanding job he has done since first being elected to the post.
As a side benefit, because he is elected, he is truly independent, least of all beholding to Feiner.
The shot from behind the "anonymous curtain" is laughable compared to the $2.4 MILION blunder made by the Town Ass-esser; the $3-5 MILLION blunger made by the abdication of oversight by the supervisor and his unTonto-like sidekicks vis-a-vis the lbrary; the $500,000 blunder by not having a binding- or for that matter ANY contractwith the Greenburgh Housing Authority for private police protection, and on and on and on.
You cowardly character ass-assin who dares not to give his name, probably had no topic to address so a typo gave him a raison d'etre.
Maybe Hal Samis is labeled as irritable because he delivers the truth, and the truth hurts.
I know there would be little or no blog, if one could not post anonymously. but maybe it would be for the better.
Dear 10:01 on 12/2/08,
David Dwinell is not to blame for the "supplemental tax bill."
If you paid attention, Hal Samis tried to address the issue at a board meeting and to no avail our "beloved" Assessor did not have the balls to get up and respond to him or the public!
So maybe you should contact her and Paul Feiner, but you will not get an answer from either one of them, so contact Hal or Mike Kolesar since they seem to no the real answers!
I pity the Assessor's staff since she probably has them like "trained chimps" to do and say whatever she dictates!
But don't blame Dave since he doesn't seem to get caught up him the BS like the rest of the department heads!
The Assessor seems to have a lot of
Ed KRAUSS: You complain about the library but you also SUPPORTED THE LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT WHICH FEINER OPPOSED. You are responsible, in part, for the tax hikes and construction issues. If Feiner was against the library you had to be for it. If Feiner had been for the library you would have been against it.
The library referendum passed by less than 70 votes. Had Ed campaigned against the referendum, instead of for the vote, the referendum might have been defeated.
ed - this was not a mean spirited attack on mr dwinnel
he was legitimately criticized for sending out a bill without telling the taxpayer who to pay. he could also have created a faq on the website of the villages and the town regarding the actual payment date of 2/2 as jan 31 is a weekend.
ed - this was sloppy and we should expect better.
now - why is the assessor allowed to use town facilities to do private work for other municipalities without being charged??
this is yet another of the town's A budget giveaways and it has to stop.
In the police dept there are only 7sector cars assigned to be on the road on each shift. The town is very big and the police cars can be anywhere at anytime. They need to stop all the special units and patrol our streets. we need to make ems workers civilians. The Hartsdale FD should also been called for the call at the health club
Maybe they can be anywhere if duty calls, but you can always find a police car set up for a speed trap in the Presser/Webb field parking lot every night at 10 PM.
Gerry Byrne very rarely even uses the car assigned to him and as far as not being in touch with taxpayers concerns, you are dead wrong. Everyone here likes to throw stones, yet they live in glass houses. Were you not hugged as a child?
Is it true we still don't have a final number on exactly how much the library is costing us?
Is the bunch list for the various disciplines signed off on?
Is Triton still on the Job?
Who will handle warranty calls?
Do we have 12 month warranties for labor and material IN WRITING?
Has Mr. Regula handed over all pertinent construction documents?
To who did he pass on these documents?
After he's gone, and bills show up who will verify their authenticity?
Poor prior planning produced piss poor performance, have we learned anything from this costly boondoggle?
I'll bet, not even the Shadow knows.
The assessor needs to be fired!!! Who else can make a 2.4 million dollar mistake and keep their job?
The assessor makes well in excess of $100,000 a year. We deserve much better than this. The behavior of teh Town Board is shameful at best. As Chief Financial Officer, Feiner should address this issue publicly.
In regards to the ems call at the NYSC... Of the three paid fire Districts in the town, the only one that does NOT respond on EMS calls is Hartsdale. Fairview and Greenville routinely respond on all ems calls. The only time Harstdale FD will respond is after the arriving police or EMS unit request for assistance. That should answer your question as to whether or not the fire dept responded to the NYSC or if they did why it took longer than 7 minutes.
The other question about "is 7 minutes too long for ems response". Usually it takes less than 5 minutes to get an ems unit to a call (police medic or civilian medic). Unfortunately there isn't always a civilian medic available, when he is not there(due to vacation,sick,injury, personal time), he is not replaced because they don't want to pay the overtime involved to cover his post. If the police medic is available he would go, but thats a big if. If he's tied up with a police call (his primary responsibility) he will probably still go with a delay (whatever time it takes to free up from the police call). If neither police nor civilian is available, they would send the civilian medic assigned to cover the six villages and that would cause a delay if responding from any of the villages. Last resort would be to call mutual aide from a different jurisdiction and that to will be delayed. The bottom line is there are times when you only have 2 medics total (police and civilian combined)assigned to cover the entire town including the villages. The majority of the time an extra couple of minutes will not make a difference but when it comes to the more serious calls as the one at the health club, every second counts. I am surprised that the health club does not have a defib. machine, that could have made all the difference in the world if the person needed defibrillation, but I wasn't there I don't know any of the perticulars sorrounding that call and maybe the response could have been faster if there was enough manpower(assuming that was an issue on that day)
With that said I ask you the Greenburgh taxpayer these 2 questions:
1- Do you keep cutting the police budget and expect to continue getting the service you are accustomed to getting or do you simply gamble and hope that the one time you need police or ems they will come quickly enough to make a difference?
2- When will the residents of Harstdale realize that they don't get the same service(fire dept) that the rest of the town gets but there fire tax bill is still one the the highest fire taxes in the state? By the way the Hartsdale FD goes on less than 900 calls a year, probably 2-4 fires a year, maybe,so they are available for ems calls
The town would be better and safer,If the Police officers would do police work and let the civilians do EMS calls. we need to have civilian paramedics and emt's available. I still can't believe we send police officers (paramedics) to the hospital when someone feels sick and they are gone for at least an hour and we don't have police protection, for that time.
It is unsafe but the town saves a bunch of money having the cops do the ems stuff. Most residents have no idea how often there are only 1 or 2 cops available for the entire town when you have 3-5 guys at different hospitals. Sometimes there out at hospitals like Phelphs, Lawrence, Dobbsferry, or St johns. All Hospitals which are nearly impossible to get back to in an appropriate time frame should police be needed for an emergency. I'm a cop in town, and I can tell you there's nothing more frustrating than being stuck in the hospital when a legitimate police emergency comes over the air. The department needs more civilian medics and emt's but with the financial mismanagement that has occured in town the past few years, not only is that not going to happen, but we also lost a civilian medic that they will not be replacing, which will increase the ems responsibilty of the police medics and emt's. The way the town see's it, they get a cop and a medic for the price of one which is cheaper than two salaries for 2 employees.
What about Cliff Abrams secretary - a part time summer workers still employed at TDYCC $20/hr - An a low level activity supervisor (Abrams) making $66,000 a year salary plus a secretary - Under Hopeton White there was only one secretary in the building - Another (2) Valerie Whitehead unnecessary employees still working at the TDYCC. Can Abrams pass the civil service exam without a high school diploma???? NO
Feiner politi-tricks along with Sonja Brown and Valerie Whiteheads wasted taxpayer money - They all need to go NOW!
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