Town of North Salem Town Board Regular Meeting/Worksession – June 24, 2025

The North Salem Town Board met in person and via Zoom at Town Meeting Hall, 66 June Road, at 7:00 PM on June 24, 2025. The board acted on personnel, seasonal camp staff, a recreation refund, a budget transfer, water-district tank contracts, a wireless facility bond, a town hall exterior contract, and a SEQRA negative declaration for the Croton Falls Sewer District, then held a worksession on draft short-term rental legislation. All acted-upon resolutions were approved unanimously; the negative declaration was approved by roll-call vote.

Consent Calendar

• Minutes of the May 27, 2025 regular meeting/worksession were not approved; the supervisor indicated the minutes had not been finished.
• Appointed Jennifer Bonniello as full-time Assistant Building Inspector at an annual salary of $84,000, effective June 29, 2025, with a probationary period of not less than 12 and no more than 52 weeks.
• Appointed approximately 35 seasonal employees to the 2025 Day Camp staff for June 27 through August 8, 2025. Most salaries are $13–$15 per hour; lifeguards are the highest at $20.90 per hour, and counselors start at $13.30 per hour.
• Authorized a $1,500 recreation program refund to Jennifer Badula, 35 Musket River Road, Yorktown Heights.
• Authorized a budget transfer reducing line 010-3620-120 by $13,750 and increasing line 010-3620-141 by the same amount to cover payroll expenses for part-time services paid from the code enforcement officer line. The board noted the written resolution described the services as building inspection rather than code enforcement.
• Authorized the Supervisor to sign agreements with Aqueous Infrastructure Management for water storage inspection and cleaning services: $4,145 for the Pabst (PAPS) Water District and $3,775 for the Candlewood Park Water District, with amounts corrected during the meeting. The work was required by the Department of Health by June 30; Candlewood had not been done in roughly 18 years.
• The sixth agenda item was a duplicate refund item and was skipped.
• Appointed CJ O'Brien as a volunteer to support an individual staff member at Day Camp.
• Authorized the Supervisor to sign an agreement and pay $1,200 for Day Camp medical services, covering the camp physician on an emergency on-call basis from June 30 through August 8, 2025.
• Accepted a $70,000 renewal removal bond for the AT&T Mobility/New Cingular wireless communications facility at 101 Bloomer Road, as recommended by the Planning Board on June 18, 2025.
• Authorized the Supervisor to sign an agreement with Air Professional Associates, LLC and pay $350 for maintenance of the gas furnace at 250 June Road for March 1, 2025 through February 28, 2026.
• Awarded the Town Hall exterior contract to Tundra Contracting Group, Inc. in the amount of $588,438.48 as the lowest responsible bidder, based on a June 20, 2025 bid opening and HAN Engineering's June 23, 2025 recommendation. Four bids were received, ranging from $298,000 to $947,000; the two lower bids were non-compliant. Discussion noted that a specialized window restoration vendor would handle the window work, and that excluding some windows could reduce the price.
• Issued a Notice of Negative Declaration for the Croton Falls Sewer District after amending language to say septic systems "may compromise, may require frequent pump out." The roll-call vote was approved with all board members voting aye.

Discussion Items

• Draft Legislation for Short-Term Rentals (Local Law 250-7719): The board reviewed a draft prepared by the Planning Board and staff, with research by Lisa and interns. An Airbnb government liaison had sent notes, but the board said it did not need Airbnb's help at this point.
  • Rentals of fewer than 30 days would require a special permit from the Planning Board; the permit would run with the property and require renewal. Existing accessory-dwelling rules and Board of Appeals permits would continue to apply to second units, including the owner-occupancy requirement.
  • The draft includes a two-year ownership requirement before applying, intended to prevent people from buying homes solely for short-term rental use. Board members asked whether that requirement or other restrictions, including quiet hours from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily, were standard; staff said they had not seen legal challenges to the ownership requirement.
  • Trailers and RVs could not be rented as living spaces, and recreational vehicles parked on a property would remain subject to existing code restrictions.
  • Board members questioned whether the proposed penalties, including possible imprisonment, exceeded the town's zoning/code authority and asked staff and counsel to review that section before the public hearing.
  • Minor edits were noted, including a misspelling of "North Salem" on page four and a stylistic emphasis that could be removed.
  • Staff agreed to prepare a formal resolution for the next meeting so the board could schedule a public hearing on the local law for July 22, 2025, with adequate newspaper notice.
• Recreation Plan Update: The recreation committee is seeking firms for a recreation plan update. A prior planner, Vince Farandino, is available only for a tweak, not a full update. The committee is gathering proposals, and funding is available in the current budget.

Key Outcomes

• All acted-upon resolutions on the agenda were approved unanimously; the minutes were not approved.
• The negative declaration for the Croton Falls Sewer District was adopted by roll-call vote.
• Staff will prepare the short-term rental resolution to set a public hearing for July 22, 2025, and will research the penalty provisions.
• The recreation committee will continue soliciting proposals for a recreation plan update.