LEWISBORO, N.Y. - With just two weeks to meet a federal deadline, the Lewisboro Town Board voted Dec. 16 to allocate the remainder of the funds it received through in 2022 through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Passed in 2021, ARPA provided $350 billion in funding to assist state and local governments, small businesses, households, nonprofit organizations, and hard-hit industries in recovery from the Covid pandemic. Lewisboro received a total of $1,284,303.83 in ARPA money, and the town was required by the statute to allocate all its funds by the close of 2024.
The Town Board had allocated $749,066 of the funds prior to the Dec. 16 meeting. In allocating the remainder, the Town Board approved the following expenditures:
Highway Department radios, totaling $173,100
A new maintenance truck, at a cost of $76,600
A new truck for the Parks and Recreation department, at a cost of $62,057
A truck for the Highway Department’s superintendent, costing $58,750
A new excavator for the Maintenance Department, costing $55,772
An additional baseball backstop at Fox Valley Park in Katonah, for $26,800
A stand-on blower for the Parks and Rec department, $10,919
A new generator for the Cyrus Russell Community House, costing $8,300.
New filing cabinets, at a cost of $6,000
Town Supervisor Tony Gonçalves noted that the town originally sought about $313,000 in funding for road repaving, an amount published in the meeting’s agenda. However, the 2025 budget already includes $600,000 for repaving so Gonçalves wanted to focus on the town’s other needs.
Before the votes took place, Councilman Rich Sklarin sought to gain support for allocating the $313,000 amount instead to the Lewisboro Police to begin a project to construct a new headquarters.
“LPD has been in a woefully insufficient, double-wide trailer for a number of years,” Sklarin said. “I want to show that we have a financial commitment [to the police] from the ARPA funds, which have been available for a period of years.”
Because of the two-week time constraint to the end of the year, Sklarin said a contingent resolution could be introduced committing this funding in hopes of finding a contractor to develop a plan to improve the Lewisboro Police headquarters. “If we don’t then what we have here goes into effect, like a default,” he said.
Others on the board were skeptical.
“The PD is going to get their headquarters whether it’s now or later it’s going to happen,” said Gonçalves. “It whether it is going to be a $10 million project or is it going to be a $500,000 renovation.”
“It’s going to be a large cost and it’s going to have to be bonded,” said Councilman Dan Welsh. “That’s what you do with big projects like that.”
“I think we’re all in agreement that we will make a new police department of priority in the coming year,” said Deputy Supervisor Mary Shah. “We look forward to giving the police department and Chief of Police the space that they need.”
Councilwoman Andrea Rendo favored the ARPA expenditures but criticized the lateness of the allocations.
“Once again we find ourselves in the position where our feet are being held to the fire and we have to make a decision in the eleventh hour,” she said. “I’m tired of it. The police department could have used a bunch of money… Highway could have used a bunch of money [sooner]. From last year’s budget to this year’s budget a whole year went by where there were no discussions about all this money that we had to spend.”
The sole public commenter echoed Rendo’s remarks. “This entire Board needs to make a much more concerted effort in addressing both long-term and short-term issues,” said Barbara Mangione of Goldens Bridge. “It seems that there’s a continual pattern year after year of major decisions being made within the last two or three weeks before deadlines, which is not the proper way to make major financial decisions.”
Following the ARPA vote, the Town Board approved two new-business resolutions. The first called for retrofitting a Highway Department vehicle with a hydraulic hook lift/hoist swap loader. The hardware will be acquired through New York State’s Sourcewell purchasing network at a cost of $57,677.75. As part of this resolution, the board also authorized the installation work by Ness Automotive of Danbury, Conn., at an additional cost of $4,715.
The second resolution okayed a resolution authorizing Gonçalves to sign the town’s Partners in Safety 2025 agreement. This is the service that performs drug testing for employees.
Among other business, the board heard a 2024 accomplishments report from John Lemke, chairman of the town’s Veteran’s Advisory Committee. He noted that Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY) recently recognized committee member Mark Vibert as Veteran of the Year.
Lemke and the board members also gave a special tribute to World War II veteran and Bronze Star recipient John Gullen, who died on Dec. 1 at the age of 100.
Lemke also pointed out that the Katonah-Lewisboro School District has approved the committee’s request to have an area on the grounds of John Jay High School dedicated to seven graduates of the school who have died while on active duty. The school also announced plans to post a commemorative plaque with their names inside the school building.
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