OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

New Rochelle PB Steering Committee Meeting - June 30, 2026

Meeting Portal — Tuesday, June 30, 2026
BodyNew Rochelle, New York
SessionMeeting Portal
DateTuesday, June 30, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 46:46

Transcript — Verbatim
0:13

Welcome to the meeting of the City of New Rochelle's participatory budgeting steering committee on June 30th, 2026 at 7 p.m.

0:23

Taking place in the City Council Conference Room at New Rochelle City Hall.

0:27

The meeting of the City of New Rochelle's participatory budgeting steering committee is now called to order.

0:33

Will the deputy city manager please call the role?

0:36

Absolutely.

0:37

Alika Ampries Samuel.

0:39

Present.

0:41

So Anthony Bibo, um, who's the next on the list has actually resigned.

0:46

Um his job called him back into service.

0:50

So council member Al Tarantino was the one who selected him, so he has been advised and he will be going through the applications to pick somebody new for hopefully next month when or yes for next month.

1:03

So thank you.

1:04

Okay.

1:05

Um Ava Charles.

1:07

No.

1:09

Giselle Reyes.

1:11

No.

1:12

Janna Gullery?

1:14

Present.

1:15

Lauren Hurwitz?

1:17

Present.

1:18

Victor Bowman Jr.

1:19

Present.

1:21

Matt Stern?

1:22

Present.

1:22

Gino Frabasile?

1:24

Present.

1:25

And Makita Lewis.

1:26

Present.

1:28

Also in attendance tonight are the following individuals.

1:30

Myself, Todd Castaldo, Deputy City Manager, and John Jones, our director of communications is in the audience.

1:38

Thank you.

1:41

And welcome to the folks that were in here at the last meeting.

1:45

And good to see you, Gino.

1:47

We talked a lot about me.

1:51

First on the agenda is the approval of minutes from the June 2nd meeting of the PBSC.

1:58

Is there a motion to approve?

2:01

That motion.

2:04

Is there a second?

2:11

All in favor?

2:12

Aye.

2:14

Everyone.

2:15

Sure.

2:17

Hi.

2:19

Excellent.

2:22

The minutes of the June 2nd meeting are approved unanimously.

2:29

Second on the agenda is a discussion item reviewing the revisions of the participatory budgeting rule book that we discussed during the June 2nd meeting.

2:39

And our city deputy manager will go over.

2:41

Yes.

2:42

So last month, actually, I guess it's still this month.

2:48

We met twice in one month.

2:50

We went through the rule book.

2:52

If you remember, we had taken a template from the city of Boston and also from the city of Raleigh Durham and kind of mesh them.

3:01

Predominantly more of Boston, just because it was a it was a much more robust addition.

3:07

So we went through that and in your packet under item two, starting on packet page number six, is that rule book.

3:17

And what I did was I I basically went through my version of it and I redlined everything.

3:23

So we can see exactly what we talked about and the changes that we made from one to the other.

3:28

So I my suggestion is that we just kind of work our way through to make sure that I captured everything that the committee asked for, and then we can move forward from there.

3:38

And if there's any additional changes we want to make, we'll notate them down.

3:42

And when we get to item five on the agenda for hopefully adopting the rule book, we can read those into the record as a part of the adopted version.

3:52

So if we were to look through, I believe the first page that there are changes are on packet page 15 under the rules and responsibilities.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Community Engagement███████████████████████████████████████39%
Public Engagement██████████████████████████████████████38%
Procedural██████████████14%
Youth Programs█████████9%
Summary of Proceedings

New Rochelle Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee Meeting - June 30, 2026

The City of New Rochelle's Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee (PBSC) met on June 30, 2026, at 7:00 PM in the City Council Conference Room. The committee reviewed and adopted the final version of the participatory budgeting rule book, discussed community engagement strategies, and reviewed submitted project ideas. The meeting was chaired by Deputy City Manager Todd Castaldo, with Director of Communications John Jones in attendance.

Consent Calendar

  • Minutes Approval: The minutes from the June 2, 2026, PBSC meeting were approved unanimously by a voice vote.

Discussion Items

  • Rule Book Revisions: Deputy City Manager Todd Castaldo presented a redlined version of the participatory budgeting rule book, incorporating changes discussed at the June 2 meeting. Key revisions included:
    • Clarifying that idea refinement will be completed in concert with city staff and the steering committee.
    • Adding eligibility questions: residents must be at least 14 years old and a current resident of New Rochelle, or a full-time employee of New Rochelle High School. U.S. citizenship was added to avoid confusion.
    • Removing the question "Is this project on public property?" as it was deemed not appropriate.
    • Explicitly stating that programmatic projects and events are not fundable; only capital improvements are eligible.
    • For voting: eligible voters must meet the same criteria as submitters (residents 14+ or full-time high school employees). Voting will occur online and in person, with each voter selecting up to three projects. Projects are funded in descending order of votes until the $200,000 budget is exhausted. A tie-breaking procedure was added: if funds are insufficient for all tied projects, preference goes to the lower-cost project; if costs are equal, a random drawing conducted publicly by the PBSC resolves the tie.
    • Data collection now includes optional age, race, and ethnicity demographics.
  • Community Engagement: The committee discussed outreach strategies for idea submission and future voting. Key points:
    • The city's promotional video was launched on June 29. Postcards were distributed at summer events, mailed in the Spring/Summer newsletter, and placed in the New Rochelle Review. Approximately 2,500–3,000 cards were given to the school district for high school and eighth-grade students.
    • Committee members shared outreach experiences: attending Ghost Fest, a district council meeting, and Pride. Suggestions included using pull-up banners, partnering with local businesses (e.g., ice cream shops) to incentivize submissions, and leveraging a texting campaign (e.g., "Text Me Homes" service) to reach residents.
    • Ideas for engaging youth: using summer youth employees to promote the program, creating a contest for the most submissions, and having young people make short videos for social media (#PDNR hashtag).
    • The committee noted that the $200,000 budget is funded from the city's operating budget, community benefit fees, open space fees, and bonds. Administrative costs are $20,000, with only about $500 spent so far.
    • Upcoming events for tabling: Summer of Soccer community tournament (July 10 at Flower City Park) and World Cup finale watch party (July 19 at Ruby D Park).
  • Current Ideas Submitted: As of June 22, 12–13 ideas had been submitted, with a total of 18 by the meeting date. Deputy City Manager Castaldo noted that one idea was outside the designated high school area (the pilot year focus). He will share a OneDrive spreadsheet for committee review. No decisions were made on the ideas.

Key Outcomes

  • Rule Book Adoption: The committee unanimously adopted the final version of the Participatory Budgeting Rule Book. The document will be reformatted by the communications team for visual appeal before public release.
  • Next Meeting: The next PBSC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
  • Action Items:
    • The city will update the online submission form to match the adopted rule book.
    • Deputy City Manager Castaldo will follow up with Kelly Johnson about involving summer youth employment program participants in outreach.
    • Committee members will continue attending events and sharing promotional materials.
    • The city will explore creating a PDNR hashtag and producing youth-driven video content.

Meeting Transcript

Welcome to the meeting of the City of New Rochelle's participatory budgeting steering committee on June 30th, 2026 at 7 p.m. Taking place in the City Council Conference Room at New Rochelle City Hall. The meeting of the City of New Rochelle's participatory budgeting steering committee is now called to order. Will the deputy city manager please call the role? Absolutely. Alika Ampries Samuel. Present. So Anthony Bibo, um, who's the next on the list has actually resigned. Um his job called him back into service. So council member Al Tarantino was the one who selected him, so he has been advised and he will be going through the applications to pick somebody new for hopefully next month when or yes for next month. So thank you. Okay. Um Ava Charles. No. Giselle Reyes. No. Janna Gullery? Present. Lauren Hurwitz? Present. Victor Bowman Jr. Present. Matt Stern? Present. Gino Frabasile? Present. And Makita Lewis. Present. Also in attendance tonight are the following individuals. Myself, Todd Castaldo, Deputy City Manager, and John Jones, our director of communications is in the audience. Thank you. And welcome to the folks that were in here at the last meeting. And good to see you, Gino. We talked a lot about me. First on the agenda is the approval of minutes from the June 2nd meeting of the PBSC. Is there a motion to approve? That motion. Is there a second? All in favor? Aye. Everyone. Sure. Hi. Excellent. The minutes of the June 2nd meeting are approved unanimously. Second on the agenda is a discussion item reviewing the revisions of the participatory budgeting rule book that we discussed during the June 2nd meeting. And our city deputy manager will go over. Yes. So last month, actually, I guess it's still this month. We met twice in one month.

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