Peekskill City Council Work Session - December 15, 2025
Peekskill City Council Work Session - December 15, 2025
The City Council held a work session on December 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM in the Common Council Chamber. The agenda included nine items plus an executive session. The meeting began with a presentation on the city's insurance renewal, followed by discussions on election canvassing, a tax map maintenance contract, several fire department donations and grants, budget adjustments, and an update on the 710 Washington Street special permit. Council members also gave liaison reports. Most items were slated for formal adoption at the mini council meeting the following week.
Presentation & Discussion: Insurance Renewal
- City Manager Matt introduced a presentation by John Riley of Alliant Insurance Services, the city's broker for property and casualty insurance for the past three years. The renewal premium is $971,176, an increase of approximately $9,000 from the expiring premium of $962,367. The increase is driven by property, cyber, and flood policies. A two-year rate lock was secured last year, shielding the city from market fluctuations until October 2026. The presentation was informational; the item will be brought back for a vote at the mini council meeting.
Consent Calendar / Routine Approvals
- City Clerk – Statement of Canvass for General Election: The city clerk presented the certificate of the county board of canvassers showing that Beverly Chang, Charlie DeGruccio, Darren Rigger, and Mayor Vivian McKenzie were elected. A resolution will be brought for adoption next week.
- Assessor – Tax Map Maintenance Contract: The assessor's office recommended renewing the contract with CAI for 2026 at a $2,500 decrease from last year (removing a one-time setup fee). Council agreed to bring a resolution forward.
- Fire – Accept Donation from Lanza Family Foundation: Chief Seymour requested acceptance of a $25,000 donation from the Lanza Family Foundation, earmarked for electric vehicle fire suppression equipment and equipment for the new fire rescue boat. No opposition. Resolution will be on the next agenda.
- Fire – Declare Surplus Equipment: A list of surplus items (elliptical machine, freezer, furniture) was approved for auction through Auctions International. A misprint listing four freezers was corrected to one. Resolution to follow.
- Fire – Accept Grant Award from Leary Firefighters Foundation: The city received a $19,000 grant (no match required) for battery-operated hydraulic extrication equipment. The grant was written by firefighter Tobias Louisa. Council expressed appreciation.
- Fire – Accept Grant Award from DASNY (Port Security Grant): The council had previously accepted a port security grant; Chief Seymour requested formal acceptance of $100,000 from the Dormitory Authority (DASNY) through a CREST grant to fund the new fire rescue boat. This reduces the city's match from $172,000 to approximately $72,000 on a nearly $750,000 boat.
- Fire – Budget Amendment – Receipt of DASNY Funds: The department fronted $44,000 (with $6,000 pending) for battery-operated equipment purchased under a DASNY grant. Chief Seymour requested that the reimbursement when received be moved back into the firefighting supplies line (0437) to replenish funds used for fire hose and turnout gear, which were deferred. Council agreed.
- Finance – Authorize 2025 Budget Adjustments: Controller Tony Tracy presented two budget amendments:
- First amendment ($415,000): To appropriate CEFER grant funds for salaries and related expenses of six firefighters hired in early 2025.
- Second amendment (long list of transfers): To move available balances from lines with surpluses to cover deficits in lines such as overtime for police ($412,000), overtime for senior nutrition ($69,513), legal services/outside counsel ($397,000), and special counsel ($205,000). The total transfers are balanced. Tracy noted the city is not projecting a use of the $350,000 fund balance reserve, but final numbers will be available in late January 2026. Council asked clarifying questions and agreed to bring resolutions.
Discussion Item: 710 Washington Street – Special Permit Update
- Carol Sammel, Director of Planning, presented the latest iteration of conditions for the special permit for Grand Street Cannabis at 710 Washington Street. Key conditions:
- Before a certificate of occupancy for Grand Street Cannabis is issued, the building owner (650 Holdings) must obtain site plan approval for the remainder of the building.
- Obtain any other approvals determined by the building inspector for other uses in the building.
- Install fire separation and protection for the remainder of the building in compliance with code.
- Other conditions for Grand Street Cannabis (already discussed) include odor mitigation, VOC monitoring, quarterly reporting, and shortened corrective action timelines.
- Council expressed mixed views:
- Councilmember Ryan praised the work, stating the conditions address community concerns and add accountability. He noted the separation of building work from tenant work is important.
- Mayor thanked staff and expressed support for moving forward.
- Councilmember Fernandez expressed deep concern for residents, stating that the building's pre-existing violations should have been resolved before approving the cannabis use. He also wished the council could have visited a similar facility in person to see the mitigation system.
- Councilmember Scott noted that the city took the community's concerns seriously and that the conditions are a strong remedy.
- Sammel emphasized that the process has forced improvements to the building that will benefit the neighborhood. The item will be brought back for adoption at the next meeting.
Council Liaison Reports / Concerns and Issues
- Councilmember Douglas: Announced the need for a new liaison to the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) and highlighted the CAC's progress on the tree ordinance, tree study, and food scrap program.
- Councilmember Scott: Reminded that the Youth Bureau is hosting its annual holiday event and toy/gift card giveaway on December 18, 6-8 PM.
- Councilmember Faser: Thanked organizers of the tree lighting event (two Saturdays prior) and the Holly Market; noted the market's Sunday cancellation due to weather and encouraged online shopping. Also thanked Parks and Rec for a free ice skating event. Reminded that the next BID board meeting is January 13, 2026.
- Councilmember Fernandez: Raised concerns about winter parking regulations in the Highland area (Highland, North Division, Albert, Lyman streets), where residents who had not received tickets in years are now being ticketed. Suggested alternative parking solutions. Also asked about the elevator at 951 Maple Street, which has been out for over two years; it was noted that an open permit exists and one elevator remains operational. A resident asked about holiday decorations downtown; it was noted that snowflake decorations were placed on Central Avenue rather than from Broad to North Division this year, and some missing wreaths were noted.
- Councilmember Talbot (Deputy Mayor): Reported on the Parks and Rec board meeting: Jonathan Zamora gave an update on park refurbishments (12 companies expressed interest in RFQ, 90-day timeline, groundbreaking in summer, one-year completion). The Hub newsletter has 400 subscribers with an 80% open rate. Winter programs include aquatics, senior water aerobics, infant/toddler pool, adaptive swim, tennis, indoor soccer, maple sugaring, and ice skating (weather permitting). Deborah Bliss discussed the Mayor's Monarch Pledge. Chair Jeff Grimshaw is resigning; Kim is expected to become chair. Two board openings with one applicant. Encouraged residents to join.
- Mayor McKenzie: Announced a senior who turned 103 years old. Seniors are requesting CPR classes (possible in January) and an American Sign Language class. A senior food distribution occurred. Middle School Student Council will serve lunch to seniors on December 16. Missing street signs need inventory. City clerk's military tribute banner program opens December 15, 2025 to March 13, 2026; banners fly Memorial Day to Veterans Day; cost $187 plus $15 hanging fee. The Mayor also thanked staff for the holiday party, recognized former Chief Delewski's final walkout and welcomed Chief Renwick, congratulated Angels on Call Health Home Care for receiving the Purple Flag for excellence in dementia care (first in NYS), and wished everyone a happy Hanukkah. She closed with a note to keep those affected by recent tragedies in thoughts.
Key Outcomes
- All agenda items were discussed and, with council consensus, will be brought back as formal resolutions for adoption at the December 22 (mini council) meeting.
- The 710 Washington Street special permit conditions will be presented for a vote at the next council meeting.
- The meeting moved into executive session at the end for matters concerning personnel and pending litigation.
Meeting Transcript
Of the whole meeting for today, December 15th, 2025. We have an agenda of about nine items and then an executive session forever matters, discussion of matters concerning the medical, financial credit, or employment history of a particular person, persons, or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person, persons, or corporation, and discussions of matters concerning pending litigation involving tax matters. So at this time I'll turn it over to our city manager. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening. Uh I uh have to ask if it's okay to add a presentation at the beginning of this um agenda. We did receive our insurance um quote at uh five o'clock on Friday. We will also bring this back to you in the mini cow, but this gives you the whole week of information before we vote on it, and we'll follow the right procedure with the mini cow by having it listed on the mini cow uh as we have done many times before. And um Tony Tracy is here with John Riley from Alliant, and Alliant has been our broker for about three years now, and they uh helped us out last year at a big way. Uh John is going to um explain the quote to you and uh talk to us about what our options are for 2026. Hello, council members, thank you for your time. John Riley with the Lion Insurance Services. I am your broker for your property and casualty uh insurance. There we go. Thank you, Matt. Um last year we had a very challenging renewal, and uh the team here and I decided to remarket the whole program during the spring, and we were able to achieve um something that was very beneficial for the city with a new carrier, and then we also were able to do a two-year rate lock, which kind of alleviated us from having to deal with the marketplace for this most recent renewal on all lines of coverage or on most of the lines of coverage. We still had to renew our cyber, we still had to renew our property program, but everything else is in this two-year package. So I'm not sure if everybody can see the screen or has the information in front of them, but essentially uh the renewal premium is expiring at 962-367, and for the upcoming term, you're gonna be looking at a renewal premium of 97176. So it's about just under a ten thousand dollar increase. Some of that is driven by the property, a little bit driven by the cyber, um, and then some is driven by the flood policy. So overall is a very favorable result for the city. Uh this is a two-year rate locks, it will expire at the end of this year, so we will bring it back out to market. And we have been buttoning up a lot of the previous claims history and trying to clean everything up prior to getting it out to market at uh October of next year. So the loss run didn't play into this for the past last year, or so it's because you're in that two-year rate lock that we didn't really have to bring it out to the marketplace, show any updated loss history currently, correct? Okay. That's a good thing. Yeah. Council, any questions? Fantastic. Some money. It's good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. It was good. Thank you for your time, everybody. Thank you. Okay. And so we'll go uh we'll follow the regular agenda since we did that as a presentation. And we'll bring Tony will bring this back to you on the mini-co next week. Okay, so I also have in the regular agenda uh the clerk gave us the certification of general election by forwarding us that certific that um the statement of the county board of canvassers attached, and so we would like to bring this back in terms of a uh resolution presented next week indicating that uh Beverly Chang Darren uh excuse me, Beverly, excuse me, Charlie DeGruccio, Beverly Chang, and Darren Rigger were selected by the voters as attached, along with uh Mayor Vivian McKenzie, if that's okay to bring back in the resolution. Absolutely. Okay. Um we have uh so we have been fighting different illnesses throughout, and Bob is out. Uh he left today, and so he is interested in the tax map maintenance contract being renewed for 2026. Uh CAI was used last year. He budgeted uh he he's bringing them back to us with a 2500 dollar decrease over last year because that was a setup fee. And so uh he had inadvertently included the 2500 dollars in the budget. Uh so if the council is okay with that, we'd like to bring that back.
openpublica.com