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Cold Spring Village Board Considers Police Staffing
Tiny Tots Park and other issues examined at Board workshop
by Kevin Foley
The safety of where children play or where they cross the street, the age old problems of teenage congregation and adequate refuse collection on Main Street and the definition of an awning in an historic district were among the highlights of the weekly workshop of the Cold Spring Board of Trustees on Tuesday, November 28, 2007
The meeting began with a question from Trustee Karen Dunn to Mayor Anthony Phillips regarding the status of the Police Department in the wake of the death of Sergeant Darrell Burris. The Mayor said that two officers had stepped up to take interim administrative roles as well as patrol duties to maintain service and accountability. He said that a full patrol schedule for the month of December was already in place. He agreed with Dunn that the Board could discuss the matter more fully in an executive session following the public meeting.
The Friends of Tots Park, represented by Beth Edelson and Eugenie Milroy, then made a presentation on the status of the park, located at Morris Avenue and Haldane Street, and their hopes for equipment improvement. "This is a place the Village built together, people use it, love it, need it, it is a beloved park," said Edelson. The problem she said was that the equipment dates from 1990 and that the wear and tear of regular use had taken its toll.
"The main problem is that four of the play elements are made of wood which is splintering and worn away in many places," said Milroy who presented the meeting with photos to bolster the group's case.
Mayor Phillips said he would make repairs to the park a priority of the Village highway crew during the winter months. "We can remake wood items in the shop and we can sandblast the metal springs and repaint things," said the Mayor who emphasized repair over the likelihood of funds being found for the replacement of any of the play items.
Although Edelson and Milroy presented a vendor catalogue of new playground equipment and spoke of new safety codes and warranties, there was little enthusiasm among the officials for spending on new items, which Milroy acknowledged can run about $1,000 a piece. "I'm sure our highway people are just as concerned for the safety of our children as any playground company," said Karen Dunn summing up the Board position.
Trustee Seth Gallagher and the Mayor then had a discussion regarding a new awning for the Village visitor's center at the foot of Main Street. The Village Architectural Review Board has rejected a proposal for a fixed awning preferring instead a retractable model, much to the annoyance of the Mayor. "Retractable is not waterproof, it's expensive, it won't do the job," said the Mayor who said that water leaking into the center was the key problem.
Although Gallagher stressed that the awning had to be more than just functional, he yielded to the Mayor's insistence that Village employees would solve the problem without the need for external design assistance.
The Board next agreed to schedule a workshop session to discuss extending the hours of Village elections from noon to 9pm to 6am to 9pm.
Trustee Gallagher then raised the problem of Main Street garbage cans being full before the Thanksgiving weekend had even started and emphasized he thought a solution needed to be found for special weekend events. Mayor Phillips said extra or holiday time collections involving overtime fees were prohibitively expensive for the Village to pay. "I think the Chamber of Commerce should help pay for costs when there are special events, the residents shouldn't have to bear the cost; it's the same with the expense of the public restrooms," said the Mayor.
After a brief discussion of this thorny issue the Board agreed to meet with business leaders early in the new year to discuss it further.
Gallagher then raised the perennial issue of teenagers congregating in the Village with nothing to do. "We need to find ways for them to hang out in a non-destructive way. We should get the police, the kids and their parents together to discuss the issue," said Gallagher.
Trustee John Teagle suggested that the soon-to-be-released Philipstown recreation master plan should be part of the discussion. Everyone agreed that the problem seems to be that teenagers prefer Cold Spring streets to other venues for recreation.
The Mayor, who said he hoped the Haldane School could be part of a solution, put the issue in historical perspective. "We've been discussing this since I was a teenager hanging out in 1950. The difference is now its destructive; we've lost 200 light bulbs off the bandstand. That's why the police disperse them - not because they are teenagers," said the Mayor.
In response to an audience inquiry on the status of creating a crosswalk on Chestnut Street at The Nest, a childcare center and also the location for the Village farmer's market, Trustee Gallagher explained the Village is awaiting receipt of a state transportation grant of $25,000 which would fund the crosswalk among other things. The Mayor explained the crosswalk was not painted but involved using special state required reflective material, which cost thousands of dollars.
The officials said they believed the matter would be resolved before the next farmer's market opened in the spring. The Cold Spring Village Board meets weekly in workshop format on most Tuesdays at 7:30pm. The Board meets every 2nd Tuesday at 7:30pm for their monthly meeting.
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