Peekskill Work Session and Common Council Meeting - November 24, 2025

The Peekskill Common Council met in a work session at 6:30 p.m. on November 24, 2025, and then convened the regular Common Council meeting at about 7 p.m. No executive session was held. Police Chief DeLuski served as acting city manager in place of Matt Alexander. Mayor McKenzie presided; Councilmembers Fassett, Scott, Douglas, Fernandez, Deputy Mayor Riley, and Councilwoman Talbot (remote under City Code Chapter 133) participated. The council adopted the 2026 city budget, overrode the state tax cap, passed parking and battery-storage local laws, approved routine resolutions, and heard extensive public comment on cannabis siting and immigration/ICE policy.

Work Session: Youth Bureau Grant and Liaison Reports

• Youth Bureau Director Tuesday McDonald requested approval to apply for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) youth employment services grant. The grant had funded a youth employment worker from 2019 until June 2025, serving out-of-school youth ages 16-24 with GED support, resume help, soft skills, a pre-work boot camp, and local job placements.
• Councilman Scott reported on a Nov. 18 civic and advocacy session with young people at the Youth Bureau.
• Councilman Douglas summarized the Conservation Advisory Council's Nov. 20 meeting: CAC membership recruitment, a CAC member attending council meetings in January, the Tree Board's first meeting in January, the Mayor's Monarch Pledge, Lake Mitchell water-quality sampling, and Teachers Park discussion.
• Councilman Fassett thanked organizers of the Thanksgiving turkey trot, which had 300-plus registered participants; he reminded residents the holiday tree lighting is Dec. 6 at 4 p.m. and the BID board meets Dec. 2.
• Deputy Mayor Riley reported on the library board: three book clubs, the library is under budget, Library Advocacy Day in Albany is Feb. 3, 2026, and strategic-planning surveys are underway. She also praised the community pre-Thanksgiving dinner at the Red Door.

Public Comments & Testimony

• A resident questioned the repeated NYS tax-cap override and said legal-services spending appeared to grow from about $300,000 to $615,000/$665,000 in the proposed 2026 budget; he argued in-house counsel would cost less. Chief DeLuski said he could not provide budget detail without the budget book and offered an appointment with the city manager.
• A resident questioned voting on the budget without City Manager Alexander present and asked about $11,000 emergency masonry at the Paramount Theater, DRI grant funds, and board members' theater-management experience. Staff responded that the DRI project is still in process and does not include the leak/masonry issue; the resident called for an internal audit.
• Rev. Phillip Styles asked whether the Youth Bureau senior office assistant position would be restored and the front steps repaired, saying he had entered through the side/back for seven and a half years. Chief DeLuski responded that a part-time office assistant is shared between two departments, the youth employment worker was grant-funded and ended with the grant, and a grant is being pursued for the building and steps.
• Delvin Heath read a letter from former Black Diamond Johnny Brown supporting increased Youth Bureau funding. Addison Cuevas, a Black Diamonds member, said the Youth Bureau front entrance has been unusable for almost eight years and asked where repair funds are; the mayor said repairs are part of a broader costly building plan being assembled under a grant.
• John Hodgins opposed the payment-in-lieu-of-parking plan at the public hearing, calling it a 'giveaway to developers' and citing winter parking limits. Planning Director Carol Samol responded that the program would produce revenue for infill housing, fund garage improvements, and could be monitored and limited. Two written emails were received.
• For 710 Washington Street, the planning director reported written-only comments, petitions, and a CPL engineering review; CPL concluded the odor system should work if designed, installed, operated, and maintained properly, and recommended a final mechanical design review before a building permit plus VOC sensors with computer monitoring. Councilman Fernandez objected that a written-only comment period was unfair to residents who cannot write; City Attorney Eric Gordon defended the process as legal and consistent with due process. The hearing was closed.
• Later public speakers opposed the cannabis microbusiness: Regina Bronz said nearby businesses were unaware it was a manufacturing use and cited odor-mitigation failures elsewhere; a resident noted Grand Cannabis's application said odor is 'expected to remain within confines' and 'to the extent possible,' and demanded a guarantee and clear consequences if odors escape; Melissa Magnus Kennedy asked for close scrutiny because the site is near Franklin Park and many homes. The mayor said the legal department would review claims of application misrepresentation; Samol said she had visited a facility in the Bronx and found no odor.
• The battery-storage moratorium hearing had no public comments.
• Multiple residents (Evan Rosen, Jackie, Alex Jenkins, Jim Lillo, and others) asked the city to create or make visible a local immigration/ICE policy. They argued the Westchester County Immigrant Protection Act does not apply to city police and cited other municipalities that passed local laws. Jim Lillo said Halloween trick-or-treating at his house fell from 400 in 2024 to about half this year because of immigrant families' fear of ICE. Chief DeLuski said the police department follows state/federal/local law and has updated rules and regulations; he offered to share the policy, said it would survive his retirement, and said violations go through department chain-of-command. Councilman Fernandez and the mayor said they are open to discussing making the policy more visible or codifying it.
• Athena Canaris and John Sullivan asked what police would do if ICE acts illegally or if residents witness or protest ICE actions. Chief DeLuski and City Attorney Gordon responded that local police have limited power to interfere with federal agents, will follow New York State Attorney General guidance, and that peaceful protest and First Amendment rights remain.
• Ingrid Whitman criticized Mayor McKenzie's paid trip to Israel, asked why she declined a Herald interview and skipped a Gaza vigil, and described residents' concerns about ICE, SNAP, housing, and good-cause eviction. Mayor McKenzie defended the trip as educational and non-political, saying she checked before going that it was not a conflict and that she learned about segregation and spoke with Palestinians and Israelis.
• John Hodgins alleged that Darren Rigor solicited funds from Jeffrey Epstein while at Dynamic SRG and asked whether Rigor would be censured; no council response is recorded in the transcript.
• Arnie Paglia, speaking online, criticized the council's meeting structure and the mayor's Israel trip as reflecting undue influence, and said neither side could trust the cannabis decision. Gail Bennington asked whether ICE contacts police ahead of time; Chief DeLuski said ICE is not required to, sometimes gives courtesy notice, but does not present warrants to police.

Discussion Items

• Local Law 12 of 2025 to override the NYS tax cap for the 2026 budget passed 5-2, with Councilmen Scott and Fernandez voting no; Mayor McKenzie noted this satisfied the 60% requirement.
• Local Law 13 of 2025 adopted the downtown payment-in-lieu-of-parking program. Staff said it would create per-space parking and maintenance fees, eliminate fees for one-to-two unit conversions, allow developers to provide parking on site, decouple parking costs from housing, and generate about $255,000 in 2025 for 17 spaces at 1019 Park. It passed unanimously.
• Local Law 14 of 2025 extended the moratorium on battery energy storage systems over 80 kWh for an additional six months; the prior moratorium had expired Nov. 5, 2025. City Attorney Gordon cited three significant BESS fires in New York since May 2023 and upcoming NYSERDA requirements. It passed unanimously.
• The council discussed conditions for the 710 Washington Street cannabis microbusiness special permit, including CPL's recommended monitoring and design-review conditions; the planning director said she would return next week with a memo.
• The green purchasing and green fleet policies were presented as sustainability measures to reduce emissions, waste, and operating costs.

Key Outcomes

• Local Law 12 (tax cap override): passed 5-2.
• Local Law 13 (payment in lieu of parking): passed unanimously.
• Local Law 14 (BESS moratorium extension): passed unanimously.
• J1 (2026 city budget): passed 6-1; Councilman Fernandez voted no.
• J2 (Holiyay Market street closure, Dec. 13-14, 2025, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.): unanimous.
• J3 (New Year's Eve celebration street closure, Dec. 31, 2025, 8 p.m. to Jan. 1, 2026, 2 a.m.): unanimous.
• J4 (service agreement with Peekskill City School District for a city employee three days a week, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.): unanimous.
• J5 (WIOA youth employment services grant application): unanimous.
• J6 (July 4, 2026 fireworks contract with Garden State Fireworks): unanimous.
• J7 (New Year's Eve fireworks contract with Garden State Fireworks Inc.): unanimous.
• J8 (2026 water maintenance materials bid award): unanimous.
• J9 (2026 water treatment plant chemical and sludge removal bid award): unanimous.
• J10 (RFP for downtown intersection design under the Momentum Fund program): unanimous.
• J11 (Fleischmann Pier RFP for 2026 commercial operators and pier management): unanimous.
• J12 (1050 Lower South St. referral to Planning Commission): unanimous.
• J13 (winter parking regulation change on Ellen Street): passed with Councilman Douglas abstaining.
• J14 (CEEP 2026 agreement renewal, $45/hour, not to exceed $38,440): unanimous.
• J15 (Green Purchasing Policy): unanimous.
• J16 (Green Fleet Policy): unanimous.
• J17 (emergency masonry work at the Paramount Theater with MCAS Roofing and Contracting Inc.): unanimous.

Discrepancy Note

• The agenda listed a Good Cause Eviction presentation by Jason Hilliard of The Builders Institute, but the transcript does not contain it; no meeting minutes were available for comparison.