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Cold Spring's Mayor Anthony Phillips Reflects on the Future and the Past
by Kevin Foley
Anthony Phillips is a man who loves his job as Mayor of the Village of Cold Spring so he finds it easy to speak about the year just past and his anticipation of the challenges for the year ahead.
"Obviously I was grateful to be reelected," said the smiling Mayor who was first elected to head the village government in 1993. "There was nothing major during 2007 but we did get some things done," said the Mayor. He pointed to an enhanced residential recycling program negotiated with Royal Carting, the Village refuse contractor, which also included additional cans placed around Village streets.
Another environmental improvement was an energy audit and the receipt of a $45,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection to upgrade the lighting in all the Village buildings to save money and reduce the impact of electricity usage.
One matter that gained momentum in 2007 and looms large in any consideration of 2008 is the Village's Comprehensive Plan Special Board composed of appointed volunteer citizens who are in the midst of gathering a compendium of data and citizen input toward creating a new master plan for the Village's future.
Mayor Phillips was quick to acknowledge that he has sometimes bumped heads with the Board, which he said didn't detract from his regard for the members' efforts on behalf of the community. "I am an overly aggressive type of person, I admit. I get it in my mind something has to be done and I want to get it done," said Phillips.
He said his main issue with the Special Board is the pace of its deliberations and the broad approach it is taking to issues. "I would like to see it progress faster," said Phillips. The length of time it has taken to produce results from a Village survey first begun in May is an example of the Mayor's frustration with the process. "I understand the people involved have valid reasons for the delay, but I think you lose the Village residents as to where we're going when you take so long." (The results of the survey are scheduled for public release on January 10)
The Mayor stressed that he genuinely appreciated the spirit of volunteerism on the Special Board. "We couldn't afford to do a review without them. There's a tremendous group of professional people working on this," he said. But he is skeptical that all the effort being undertaken to rethink the planning process will result in any profound changes. "The Village is a mile by a mile, there is only so much you can do."
The Mayor also admitted his impatient style can also frustrate his colleagues on the Village Board of Trustees. "I sometimes get involved with individuals one on one and try to extract results from them for the good of the Village. "It's hard for people to see that sometimes that's needed. "There are people who don't want to discuss things in public until its necessary."
Although speaking generally, the issue of the development of the old Butterfield Hospital site and the possibility of a new firehouse on land donated from the developer was clearly being referenced by the Mayor who has made no secret of his support for the deal, which some members of the Special Board and the Trustees believe might benefit from a moratorium on all development until a new master plan is agreed upon.
"My feelings are simple," said the Mayor who was born and raised in the Village. "All my life I have seen things taken away from the Village. When the hospital was taken away we worked with Philipstown and Putnam County for 15 years to get the state to help us get the land donated for public use and we got nowhere."
Continuing, he said, "The current firehouse is inadequate. We have looked at every property in terms of safety issues, especially response time to fires. This particular spot is ideal even though it takes something away from Main Street." Phillips emphasized he believed a public referendum was needed to decide to finance a new firehouse and that the Cold Spring Fire Company would have the burden of convincing the residents to vote for the debt financing needed to build it.
He added that he thought the current Village offices could be moved to the present firehouse and the Village Hall could then be put up for sale. He also said that if the firehouse effort was successful that he would use his construction background to personally oversee the project, which would save some money.
The largest source of the Mayor's aggravation and fuel for his skepticism about the usefulness of large scale local planning is the impact of forces outside the Village boundaries, in particular the New York State government which has major influence and control of many issues. At Trustees' meetings he has often expressed his exasperation with the state's slow pace of response to Village concerns and the way approved funding trickles down to the Village coffers. He said it was worse when administrations change, as happened in 2007 with the start of the Spitzer regime.
"We have to find a way to deal with the state", said Phillips who pointed to several projects involving the state he hoped would move along in 2008 including a contract with the Department of Environmental Conservation to clean up the old gas plant site near the Cold Spring Boat Club; moving the paperwork and doing the surveying that will ultimately lead to new sidewalks and landscaping on Main, Cedar and West Streets from a $850,000 grant made by the federal government and given to the state Department of Transportation three years ago; and work which should begin this year on crosswalks on Rt. 9D at both Benedict Street and the Haldane School along with some drainage work from a $25,000 state grant secured by state Assemblywoman Sandy Galef.
Phillips also said he hoped to develop a better relationship with the state Taconic Commission which has jurisdiction over the Dockside Park property on the waterfront. " I hope we can see some commercial and recreational development there, we've waited a long time," said the Mayor.
A shadow cast on events of 2007 was the untimely death of Sergeant Darrel Burris with whom the Mayor worked closely to supervise the otherwise part-time police force. Noting it was still a painful memory the Mayor said he was "pleasantly surprised at how people who work here have pulled together after we lost our Officerin Charge." He singled out Officer George Kane, a firefighter in New York City, as being particular helpful while the Village seeks a permanent replacement for Burris.
Although some burglaries and vandalism plagued the Village during 2007, Phillips said it was no different than problems communities experienced up and down the Hudson Valley. "This community is pretty solid," he pronounced.
Realistic about contemporary issues and societal changes, Mayor Phillips is nevertheless unabashedly nostalgic for a Village life with local businesses serving mostly local people, parents concerned about everyone's children and a volunteer spirit based more on getting actual things done. The former Marine points with pride to a photograph along the back wall of the Village meeting room depicting a group of men in the early 90's, including his father, building the bandstand at the foot of Main Street.
"We're waiting for the next generation to pick up that spirit," he said with a wry grin that displayed both hope and doubt.
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