Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Peekskill Common Council met on Monday, October 5, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. for a work session that included budget presentations for the Water, Sewer, Planning, and Economic Development departments, along with discussions on the Depew Park improvement plan, the MTA parking management plan, the transfer tax, and proposed local laws on gas-powered leaf blowers and e-bikes. The meeting also featured an executive session on pending litigation and liaison reports from council members.
Depew Park Improvements: Alison Yoven of Saratoga Associates presented a plan focusing on the tennis court area, including a new pavilion, accessible pathways, a mini-pitch basketball court, and ADA upgrades. The plan addresses drainage and pedestrian circulation. Council members expressed support but raised concerns about the condition of the adjacent parking lot and horseshoe courts, which are not in the current scope. The project is funded through multiple grants, including a $1.7 million playground grant. The design will go to bid in winter, with construction expected to start in spring 2027. A resolution to authorize the bid will be brought next week.
2027 MTA Parking Management Plan: The council discussed a lease agreement with Metro North and approved fee increases. A new plan and contract will be brought as a resolution next week.
Transfer Tax Discussion: Finance Director Tony explained that the transfer tax fund has a restricted balance of approximately $6.6 million, to be used for firehouse debt (11 payments remaining, $9.4 million debt). The proposed budget appropriates $600,000 per year to cover most of the debt, and future transfer tax revenue would be directed to emergency services expenses. A resolution to redirect the funds will be brought next week.
Water Department – Social Media Video Series: David Rambo presented a three-part video series with Riverkeeper, totaling nine minutes, to educate the public on the city's watershed. The council supported the project and may bring a resolution if needed.
Water and Sewer Budget Presentation: David Rambo presented the 2027 budgets. Key points include: the city owns 1.5 billion gallons of water; 17 water breaks occurred in 2026, 15 of them between January and March; the department is seeking a new grade one maintenance worker; lead service line inventory is ongoing (1,100 unknown lines to check by 2037); and $18 million in grants are being managed for water and sewer projects. Council asked about cybersecurity protections (the new SCADA system is offline) and the advantages of having a self-owned water supply.
Affordable Housing Consultant Contract: Planning Director Carol Samuel recommended awarding a contract to Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress and Hudson River Housing for on-call affordable housing consulting. The contract will be funded through escrow accounts and city funds. A resolution will be brought next week.
Planning and Economic Development Budget Presentation: Carol Samuel and Peter presented the 2027 budgets. Highlights include: managing 33 grants totaling $30 million; the comprehensive plan process (Peakskill Plan) with public engagement; the GovWell online filing system; downtown improvements (Civic Hub, DRI projects, arts trail, kitchen incubator). Council discussed the need for ongoing art maintenance funding ($25,000 requested), project labor agreement compliance, and the importance of short-term economic development initiatives. The department will bring a resolution for the affordable housing consultant contract next week.
Gas Powered Leaf Blower Ban: City Attorney Eric Gordon proposed a local law restricting gas-powered leaf blowers from June 1 to August 31, with exemptions for city and school use and emergencies. Council members differed on the impact on small businesses and enforcement. The council decided to table the item and requested more information from other municipalities that have similar bans.
Amendment to Local Law Chapter 182 (E-bikes/E-scooters): Eric Gordon presented final language allowing the towing of children (12 and under) in trailers or seats, and towing trailers for goods. The council agreed the legislation is ready and will bring a resolution at the next meeting to adopt the amendment.
All right, so good evening everyone. Welcome to our committee of the home meeting. Um 6 p.m. meeting to include some budget. We also have a couple of presentation and then an agenda, as well as the liaison reports from council. And then 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'll turn it over to our city manager, Mr. Alexander. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Evening. So tonight we have I do have I may have to change the schedule of executive if the council's okay with that, just to make sure that I get the right person in to talk to during executive. So we have uh one of our attorneys is in court and on his way back. So I'll just uh I'm waiting for a text. But in the meantime, we have uh a regular committee of the whole agenda. We have a presentation about the pew park and uh we have some budget presentations all mixed in tonight. Very exciting. So uh we we worked in the we made sure that we were able to get department heads home if they didn't need to be here for the whole thing. So that's the purpose. Okay. Okay, so I'm gonna let Jonathan Zamora uh present uh excuse me, introduce Saratoga Associates, and uh we've got Emily and I also from New City Parks on uh Zoom. Good evening, counsel. Good evening, so as you may recall last winter we came to you asking uh for a bid for professional services work for the improvements made to Dupu Park. Uh Saratoga Associates Associates was awarded that bid, and we have uh Alison Yovine, uh one of the project administrators uh who's going to be giving us an update and uh doing our presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening, I'm Alison Yoven from Saratoga Associates, and um we've had the privilege of working um at Depee Park for over the last two years, and it's really quite a lovely spot. Um so I just wanted to give you a little um presentation, a little update of what we've been doing and where we're going on this project. Um as you're probably quite familiar, but you park it's centrally located and quite nice um between the different schools. We've got the elementary school, the middle school, and the high school nearby, but also turns into a a gateway into the Blue Mountain Reservation. Um, so it's it's a nice um interlude into the the mountains. Here's a uh plan of the existing conditions and aerials. So all the little orange lines show you some pathways. Um we've been visiting the uh site over the last several years, and some of the um things to think about improving is the site circulation, um the pedestrian circulation. That's that's something that we've been wanting to look at. Um and also, of course, um some of the existing courts are in need of some renovation. So the um these are some pictures of the existing conditions. Um we have um the the tennis court uh that's already there that's got some cracks, some weeds that come through. Um we have an existing clay court here that also is um probably beyond as useful life. We have um in the middle on the top is the Rotary knoll, um, which is a nice spot, but sometimes the the grade can be challenging to get up there as a steep slope. Um then we have uh this open area near the tennis courts, the basketball court, um it also has many cracks and weeds throughout, and then we have the playground. So back in 24, we created a master plan for the park. And so with this, we were looking at ways to improve the entire park. Um so recommendations that are on this plan are to, of course, to work on these courts up here to remove the the clay court to put pavilion in, rehab the basketball courts, and also to be um doing some pedestrian circulation. We even thought about doing some things such as um like a disc golf course throughout.