Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The North Salem Town Board held a regular meeting and worksession on July 8, 2025, at 7:00 PM at the Town Meeting Hall, 66 June Road, following a 6:45 PM executive session to interview a prospective board member and receive legal advice on contracts. The board approved multiple resolutions including awarding a solar installation contract to Opal Energy, authorizing the renovation of Delancey Hall, setting public hearings for short-term rentals and the Croton Falls Master Plan, and heard a presentation from the North Salem Farmers Market founders requesting transition to a weekly market.
Resolution #4 – Short-Term Rentals Public Hearing: The board set a public hearing for Tuesday, August 12, 2025, at 7:00 PM to consider a local law amending Chapter 250 (Zoning) to permit and regulate short-term rentals in certain dwellings within zoning districts R4, R2, R1, R1½, R1¼, BG, B, and PO as an accessory use, subject to Planning Board conditional use permit and site plan approval. A board member noted there are currently eight short-term rentals in town. (Unanimous)
Resolution #5 – Award Bid to Opal Energy (Solar Installation): The board awarded a $458,333 contract to Opal Energy for turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction of rooftop-mounted solar photovoltaic arrays on the North Salem Highway Garage and Salt Shed. The supervisor reported that after approved grants, federal investment tax credits, and other incentives—including a bonus for using American-made inverters—the net cost to the town is expected to be zero. The system is expected to generate approximately 160 megawatts (likely megawatt-hours) annually and cover all electricity costs for the Highway Garage plus offset other municipal accounts such as Town Hall and water districts. The Climate Smart Communities (CSC) task force, particularly Janine, and Sustainable Westchester's Leo Wegman were credited for their work. (Unanimous)
Resolution #6 – Authorize Tundra Contracting Agreement (Delancey Hall Exterior Renovation): The board authorized the supervisor to sign a $588,000 contract with Tundra Contracting Group for the exterior renovation and window restoration of Delancey Hall, a historic building subject to historic preservation requirements. Tundra was selected after bid review as the most reasonable bidder. (Unanimous)
Resolution #7 – Refund for Recreation Programs: A $50 refund was authorized for Michelle Verhe. (Unanimous)
Resolution #8 – Recreation Programming Agreement: The board authorized a $500 recreational programming services agreement with musician George Guerrero for a musical performance on July 19, 2025, free for North Salem residents. (Unanimous)
Resolution #9 – Payment to Ferguson Waterworks: A $798 payment was authorized from the general fund for meter parts, to be reimbursed by individual water districts as items are distributed. (Unanimous)
Resolution #10 – Change Order No. 1, Tundra Contracting: A $17,653.15 change order was authorized to cover the cost of performance and payment bonds for the Delancey Hall Renovation Project. (Unanimous)
Resolution #12 – Hammond Museum Concert: The board authorized a $1,000 expense to underwrite the Norm Hathaway Moonlight Swing Band concert at the Hammond Museum on August 1, 2025, with free admission for North Salem residents. (Unanimous)
Resolution #13 – Support Assembly Bill 8778 (Arc Westchester Property Transfer): The board resolved to support Assembly Bill 8778, introduced by Assemblyman Chris Burdick, which would authorize the New York State Office of General Services to transfer the property at 39 Sullivan Road from OPWDD to Arc Westchester so it can be repaired and reopened as a group home. The property has been abandoned since approximately October 2022 and requires significant exterior maintenance. The town clerk was directed to transmit the resolution to the governor's office and other appropriate state officials. (Unanimous, as amended)
Resolution #14 – Supplement Bond Resolution for Delancey Hall ($500,000): A resolution to authorize an additional $500,000 in bonds for Delancey Hall reconstruction was postponed to the next meeting at the request of board members who wanted more time to consider financing options, including whether to bond or use fund balance. (Postponed)
Resolution #15 – Solar Energy System Bonds ($450,000): The board authorized the issuance of $450,000 in bonds to pay for the purchase and installation of the solar energy system on the town Highway Garage. The supervisor explained this was a cash-flow measure to maintain fund balance through the tax cycle, with the expectation the bonds would be repaid early from grant proceeds. Roll call vote: Peter – Aye, Martin – Aye, Catherine – Aye, Supervisor – Aye. (4-0, Brent absent)
Resolution #16 – Croton Falls Master Plan: The board amended Resolution #211-25 to accept the draft Croton Falls Master Plan as complete for public hearing purposes, set a public hearing for Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at 7:00 PM at Town Hall, and referred the plan to the Westchester County Planning Department as required by New York State Town Law § 272-8B, General Municipal Law § 239-M, and County Administrative Code § 27761. The town board is the sole involved agency and lead agency under SEQRA. (Unanimous)
North Salem Farmers Market – Presentation and Requests: Natalie Marie Gerrels, founder and co-director of the North Salem Farmers Market, along with her husband and co-director Yonis Anderson, presented to the board regarding plans for 2026 and beyond. Key points included:
Staff Relocation During Delancey Hall Renovations: The board discussed temporary relocation plans for town staff while Delancey Hall is under construction. Plans include moving Town Clerk Maria and Andrea into a vacated office in Lobdell, with Russ or Janine in an adjoining room. The supervisor noted Tundra Contracting is expected to begin work shortly, with window removal as the first priority and the building needing to be secured by November 30, 2025. The project timeline for the replacement windows from Cronenberger is approximately 10–12 weeks. Options for remaining displaced personnel included space at the Community Center or renting office space in Croton Falls. The board discussed whether to restore all 17 windows now or defer the upper front windows, with the consensus that doing all windows now is more cost-effective than restoring them separately later. The supervisor noted that the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) requires the windows to be restored to historic specifications.
Yeah, he always does that. That's why nobody ever hears them. We yell at them all the time and he keeps on pushing it away. You're on. Okay, I'm gonna call the July 8th, 2025 town board meeting to order, and we'll start with the pledge. Pledge allegiance to the lab in the United States. Try not to lean back on this. Okay, so the um first resolution is simply to go into executive session. And I will uh resolve the town board, town North Sam shall enter an executive session to interview prospective board interview and for legal advice of council on contracts. And I'll make the motion. Second. All in favor. Aye. And I vote aye. And we'll probably do the uh the legal part a little bit later when the lawyer gets here, but maybe we can get them there. Okay. So we went into executive session there for a little bit, and um we're coming back out. I'd like to just reconvene the meeting. And um we're gonna go to resolution number two, I guess. Well, let me just take a look at Cynthia. Do you want to cover some of your stuff first? Well, the minutes and the minutes approval reports. Yeah. We need to do approval and reports. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just looking to see what we had on the farms market. That's gonna be later. Oh no, all that stuff's a little bit later. Okay. So we don't have the June 10th or 24th, correct, Maria? Correct. You just have the Maria was running yesterday on like 50 phone calls. So okay, so um, we have the approval of the May 27, 2025 meeting, regular set meeting and work session. Any changes, additions, deletions? No, not for me. Okay, and then the approval of report will accept them as written. Thank you, Maria. And then the approval of the reports, the building inspector monthly report, these are all for June 2025. Facilities managed monthly report, highway department, monthly report, planning board, financial report, police department, monthly report, receiver of taxes, monthly report, supervisors, monthly report, town clerk monthly report.