The Peekskill Common Council held a work session on Monday, June 1, 2026, at 6:30 PM in the Common Council Chamber. The meeting featured presentations and discussions on a sculpture donation, a proposed local law regulating e-bikes and scooters, a PILOT agreement for the Children's Village project at 41 N. Division Street, the 2026 Wellness and Nutrition Program contract, potential mountain biking trails in DePew Park, the Youth Bureau's Sexual Risk Avoidance Education Program (SRAEP) grant, the Capital Plan, water infrastructure bids, a landscaping agreement extension, prisoner transportation negotiations with Westchester County, and a parking regulation amendment. The council also received liaison reports and set the stage for an executive session.
So good evening, everyone, and welcome to our committee of the committee of the whole meeting for today, June 1st, 2026. We have three presentations this evening and then on to uh our regular agenda with a number of items and an executive session for 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. So at this time I will turn it over to our city manager, Mr. Alexander. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening. Uh first up tonight we have a presentation from children's village. And I think uh we're gonna have to wait for that. So we'll put that a next item and we'll go ahead and we'll ask Peter Irwin to talk to us about uh sculpture donation. Can I share my screen, Matt? It's a free thing. Call on me. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening. The Peak Skill Arts Council held their quarterly meeting this morning, and so I have a few updates from that, and uh one of which would require a resolution by the Common Council if you feel comfortable with that at the end of this presentation. Um but first I just wanted to mention that we would we will be celebrating the uh opening and completion of the DRI funded enlightened Peak Skill Initiative uh public art during the week of uh June 25th through 28th, which corresponds with upstate art weekend, which we're proud to participate in. And so there are a number of events that are being um held by Hudson Valley Mocha and the Peak Scale Arts Alliance, our partners, and so those are up on the screen uh just briefly now. And um I know you already have this, but just wanted to uh distribute these flyers if you don't mind it. Um secondly um I am excited to preview that um we've been working with uh pause right that we've been working um with an applicant on um hosting theater in Pugsley Park this summer, which is the will be the first um effort by the Peak Scale Arts Council to work with performing arts and um we've been working with the Parks Department and Jonathan on setting this up and uh we'll be um disseminating more information soon, but encourage you to hold the date in mind, July 25th. We'll have uh theater performance in Pugsley Park, which would be free uh to everyone in a nice family event. And uh lastly, Hudson Valley Mocha has uh offered to donate to the city a sculpture entitled Libre by the artist Jeff Overly, and it's pictured here, and the Arts Council met to discuss uh the merits of this artwork, and they voted to recommend that the Common Council authorize accepting this donation. Um I can tell you a little bit about the work. It's um just over six feet tall, in case you can't sort of get the scale from that photograph. It's stainless steel polished with like a chrome finish. Um we understand that it's very durable uh in and is capable of being the exhibited outdoors. Certainly some maintenance is gonna be required on this to uh maintain its polish. Uh it could also be exhibited indoors. I've suggested a couple of locations on the right side of this slide, one of which is uh under construction now, but as we open up the new uh public spaces through the DRI, it might be a nice opportunity to exhibit at least temporarily some of the artwork that we're acquiring. Um it's a it's a valuable piece. We'd really be honored to um accept it. And if you agree, we'll have a resolution at next week's common council meeting to authorize the Peak Skill Arts Council to go forward with this. Questions, comments, council? I think I really like the piece. Um we'd have to really figure out where it goes. I think it's a it's pretty much a human scale item, so I'm not sure it would work down in Brown Plaza, but maybe temporarily there till we get something else. Um but I like it. I I also like it very much. Uh and that was my first thought too. It needs to be on a pedestal. Yeah. Some kind, you know, maybe a three-foot pedestal or something. A square. And I'm wondering, are we are we borrowing this for a certain period of time, or are we actually just taking complete ownership forever? This is meant to be a permanent donation. And we actually uh as a city now have title to a couple dozen sculptures, and one of the reasons the Peak Skill Arts Council was requested to be established by the common council is to figure out ways of maintaining this collection, and uh that's definitely a work in progress. Um but we do have guidelines uh around that and uh we have been working on some ways of fundraising as a as a council around the maintenance issues, uh which I'll have to come back to the council with at a later meeting, but we do have some ideas about that. And when it has to be I mean it has to keep up the polish. Does that just take a cloth and shine it up or there is there? Yes, unless it's damaged in another way. Um it's stainless steel.