Westchester County Charter Revision Commission Meeting - June 10, 2026
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Westchester County Charter Revision Commission Meeting - June 10, 2026
On June 10, 2026, the Westchester County Charter Revision Commission held a meeting at 7:00 PM in Committee Room, 800 Michaelian Office Building, White Plains, NY. Chairman Lyndon Williams called the meeting to order at 7:07 PM. Commissioners Beth Smayda participated remotely from Silver Bay YMCA Conference Center, NY, and Ruth Montgomery participated remotely from O'Hare Airport Terminal 5 (Delta baggage claim). The sole agenda item was discussion and approval of the 2026 Charter Revision Commission Draft Report (Item 2026-274).
Consent Calendar
- Minutes Approval: The minutes from the meetings of May 12, 2026 (6:00 PM) and June 9, 2026 (7:00 PM) were approved unanimously via motion by Shurla Tukuru, seconded by Shauna Rae Long.
Discussion Items
- Westchester County 2026 CRC Draft Report (Item 2026-274): The commission discussed the draft report, which includes recommendations, summaries of department requests, and an appendix containing the focus group report and prior meeting minutes. Key points of discussion included:
- Pagination and binding: The report was to be paginated and bound with tabs for appendices. Page numbers were omitted from the current draft pending final layout.
- Requests from the Office of the District Attorney (page 74): The commission clarified that none of the DA's requests were approved, and the report details the reasoning for each denial.
- A typo on page 75 ("start" instead of "state") was noted and to be corrected.
- The motion to approve the draft was structured to allow for non-substantive changes and corrections before final printing.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of the Draft Report: The commission voted to approve the 2026 CRC Draft Report, subject to non-substantive changes, corrections, and final pagination. The roll call vote recorded 17 ayes: Commissioners Lyndon Williams, Tim Warn, Carolyn Stevens, Ken Jones, Gary Holmes-Nelson, Joseph Marchese, Heather Lackey, Nancy Kaboolian, Ruth Montgomery (remote), Beth Smayda (remote), and others present. No opposed, absent, or abstentions were noted.
- Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 7:27 PM on a motion by Shauna Rae Long, seconded by Gary J. Zuckerman.
Meeting Transcript
indicated that she would be participating from our flight her flight will cancel yeah so she may not so we I mean we still have the so that's meeting that's gonna be on she's not on the meeting okay all right okay yeah the meeting okay okay I called to order the meeting of the charter revision commission for Wednesday June 10th 2026 it is now 707 p.m we will everyone has signed the signing sheet correct okay let me um let's announce our attendance i'm lyndon williams present out for present times present shawl long present surprise Nancy Selexon present Carol Stevens present and Jones present Terry Holmes Nelson present Joseph Marcese present and our lackey present on your quote hiancy colour present there is a command present okay we have a quorum and uh we have um our council on there jones is here yeah well uh limit fixed back we have minutes for meeting of May 12th of 2026 uh get a motion to approve the motion to approve second motion moved and seconded all in favor any opposed minutes for June 9th of 2026 second all in favor any opposed okay the minutes are approved there the single item on the agenda tonight and that item is um is for approval and discussion of the twenty twenty six uh draft report uh we have gone over draft before before uh there you have made some I think you had some minor corrections uh yeah based on the uh the feedback I got and and the district attorney section starts on page seventy four of this document examining okay so member review that seven and four this one's passionated button uh we have we have gone over much of much of this in the past I mean we changed it some of the language um to uh do you want to identify the language that was changed well um there were requir requests that were made to soften some of the language which I believe yeah um and I ran that by you right I I reviewed the the changes also and so if there are any uh questions that any of our members have uh if or if they if if you want us to read any part of it why don't we discuss that now one section that was added was the um is on page 15 it's uh establishment operation of the commission I don't believe that was was that there last I don't page 15 page six page 15 okay but that is yeah okay right those are not the recommendations yeah that's not part of the recommendation that's part of yeah and I'll I'll I'll I'll kind of go through what the the parts are we gonna fill in um that we have to that section is just a summary of yeah yeah yeah it kind of tracks what was in the 20th I don't believe that was was that there last I don't page 15 page 15 but that is yeah okay right those are not the recommendations yeah that's not part of the recommendation that's part of yeah and I'll I'll I'll I'll kind of go through what the the parts are we gonna fill in that we have to that's actually this is just a summary of yeah yeah yeah it kind of tracks what was in the 2013 report it had a similar section it knows one of the the only one meeting that we had we had no form yes and what yeah that's what that would be footnote one yes yes always looking to put notes and the the committee recommendations we made for the committees and the commissions or the the the focus the focus yes so um both the report will be in a in an appendix but the recommendations themselves I mean that related to or that is addressed in a um in the report it's the first part that's the county executive it was the county executive who made the recommendation so yeah but the actual commit the actual report itself will be incorporated into the appendix of the report this what you're seeing here is the is really the report itself without the appendix the appendix will be lar a larger document thank you for joining us that's addressed out of the modernized county boards and commissions um recommendation and that would be under the office of the county executive to repeat that starts on page 70 at the bottom of page 73 in the second beginning of the second oh hi Beath hi okay oh hi Beh hi it's a little aid on dialing in here I couldn't find the dial in but me thank you what why does the the request from the county executive office go so far back and the legislators are so far up what is it structured that way yeah it's alphabetized okay so it's like if if the beginning of the if it starts with office it's like if O would be oh yeah I can't say that I noticed that and going for it that it was alpha no the table of content at the beginning right so even the general comments we had though which were an overlay really to all of the boards of commissions are only included in the appendix they're not referred to here it's gonna be mandatory reading to at least read the first page just because I feel like we had the sense that those very basic requirements of adhering to the open meetings laws and updating the website. So if you go to page if you go to the top of page 74 it says um the final paragraph that the memo containing these and other recommendations are appended to this report and the commission adopted them in their entirety including specific recommendations on the African learning advisory board the focus group incorporated by reference in this demo. Okay 74 you said top the top 74 so it'll be attached yeah it's an attendance that's right yeah it'll be appended to this report when I say appended it's not gonna be in a different it'll be in the same tab right yes going to be a what the way that is going to be bounded is that the the last report had a separate kind of uh a separate loosely binder for the the the report and for the appendix we're trying to do is have a not the loose leaf binder but a bound document with tabs in it and one of the tabs would be the appendices which would include the report of the uh the you know of the the the focus group here yes um on page nine requested the starting up from my day of the request that she has here what is the recommendation might be good some might be a question mark somewhere that we I think it's important because she's she's an elected official now's where's page not page nine yes yeah page five one two three four fair request for the office okay summarizes this that's just summarized this is on page Yes, um on page nine requests that the officer I'm just like to know from my day of the request that she has here what is the recommendation someone might be good, some might be a question mark, some might be there. I think it's important because she's she's an elected official now. Where's where's page not page nine? Yes, yeah. Page five, two, three, four, fair. Request of the office of the district attorney. Okay, summarizes that. That's just summarized. This is on page okay. That's that if you start at page um at page from page two through nine to ten summarizes the various requests that we receive from the various departments. One of those requests was a request from the district attorney's office, and that appears on page nine. Yeah, so that's what it is. So what being an elected official, not an appointed commissioner, it's a different category. And certainly it is different category when you're elected, not appointed. Right. But it's absolutely different I'm not talking about honor, I'm just talking about like, you know, like for the purposes of like operating government. No, I think that the determinate, I mean, I page nine, uh, David, it puts all in other words, the board of legislators are here, they're elected. This the county executive is elected, and it's also on one of the pages. Yeah, he's right. Yeah, it's all this is. So it's all them. It's alphabetized. I'm guessing it's simple English, right? Not a lawyer and not a judge. Right. But the district attorney is requesting. Yeah. I know there's been an issue with what is she Yeah. Okay, let me tell you what. I mean, the item she requested is here. This is I say amend the laws of Westminster State and District and is an attendant elected official. That was addressed in the report. And then just the numbers. This is just a summary. And it tells you what's how the report, yeah. This is just the summary. I'm asking a simple English. But she's requested is we're gonna recommend it to the county board, or we're just gonna make no comments. Go to page 74 and it says not all of them approved and not approved. David, nothing none of none of the DA's requests were approved. Yes, David. But it says right underneath requests of the Office of District Attorney not approved, and that is referring to all of them. And then if you go to the back, it does it reason out and it lists the reasons. So they're all not approved, and it's and it says not approved, and then it says all of these things. If you look at page 74. Okay, right, yeah.
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