Westchester County Legislature Joint Budget & Appropriations and Legislation Meeting – October 26, 2026

The Board of Legislators' Budget & Appropriations (B&A) and Legislation committees met jointly on Monday, October 26, 2026, at the Michaelian Office Building in White Plains. The session opened around 10:00 a.m., with the Legislation committee convening at 11:41 a.m. and final adjournment at 12:33 p.m. County staff and Law Department counsel presented items on police training, hazardous-materials preparedness, airport leases, charter qualification changes, litigation authority, and notice-of-claim procedures. All substantive items discussed in the transcript were approved, with the defense-and-indemnity legislation amended before passage.

Note on source materials: The supplied agenda excerpt lists only items 2026-501/502 and 2026-519 through 2026-522, while the raw transcript also covers earlier committee business not shown in that excerpt. The summary below includes all business reflected in the transcript.

Consent Calendar / Administrative Approvals

• Committee minutes from prior meetings were approved by roll call.
• A receive-and-file item accepting a Sciacom collector license valued at approximately $10,000 was accepted.

Discussion Items

Police Academy Instruction IMA (Item 2026-493)

• Public Safety staff presented a continuation of a five-year inter-municipal agreement allowing outside law-enforcement instructors to teach at the Westchester County Police Academy. Instructors remain employees of their home agencies, come on agency time, and are not paid by the county; the county does not assume liability for their service.
• Staff noted that instructors must be certified by the Division of Criminal Justice Services and that a recent basic police course relied on 487 instruction days from outside agency members.
• The item was approved by the B&A and Public Safety committees.

Regional Hazardous Materials Partnership (Item 2026-495)

• Commissioner Spear presented a partnership with Putnam and Dutchess Counties to receive federal PHMSA grant funds for hazardous-materials transportation preparedness. The federal share for 2025-26 is $15,000, with a 20% match satisfied by existing county personnel costs and no additional county funding.
• The grant funds joint training for special-operations teams within the state's 18-region partnership structure. Decommissioning at Indian Point was discussed as a continuing risk factor because spent fuel remains on site and future waste transport is relevant to hazardous-materials planning.
• The item was approved by the B&A and Public Safety committees.

Airport Lease Conversions: Pepsi and Interlaken (Items 2026-510 and 2026-511)

• Airport staff and county attorneys presented conversion of two 30-year ground leases at a shared airport hangar facility to improved-premises leases. The new leases set rent at $41 per square foot with 3% annual escalation; Interlaken's initial term is 20 years and Pepsi's is 5 years plus two 5-year renewal options. Tenants become responsible for all improvements and structural repairs, while the county maintains roads, taxiways, and runways and conducts annual inspections.
• The financial impact statement showed current-year revenue of about $1.06 million rising to about $1.8 million. Legislators discussed whether the rate was aggressive enough, the length of time before market repricing, and how tenant improvement approvals are handled. Staff cited a market study by R.M. Friedland and said the lease package requires a public hearing and, because of the terms and renewal options, a two-thirds Board vote through a local law.
• Both leases were approved by the B&A and Infrastructure/Housing committees.

IBM Hangar Whiskey Lease (Items 2026-514 and 2026-515)

• IBM's Hangar Whiskey lease was converted from a ground lease to an improved-premises lease at $43 per square foot, reflecting IBM's exclusive apron, parking, entrance, and hangar space. Annual rent rises from $245,000 to about $2 million, with IBM absorbing maintenance and structural costs.
• The lease includes a narrow temporary sublease provision so that another HPN-based aircraft can be accommodated during construction or roof work; the lease expressly prohibits FBO use. IBM may terminate after the 10th anniversary with 24 months' written notice.
• The item was approved by the B&A and Infrastructure/Housing committees.

Required Qualifications for Certain Commissioners (Items 2026-501 and 2026-502)

• Deputy County Executive Joan McDonald and Law Department staff presented a public-hearing resolution and local law to remove the county charter requirement that the Commissioners of Public Works and Transportation and Environmental Facilities be professional engineers. McDonald argued the departments' missions have expanded into operations, project management, facilities, airport, bus, and environmental policy, and that similar roles at NYS DOT, NYC, Yonkers, Buffalo, and the MTA do not require a PE.
• Legislators discussed whether removing the requirement would affect salary or civil-service expectations. McDonald stated the position's value and salary would not be reduced, that a PE could still be selected, and that the Charter Revision Commission unanimously supported the proposal. One B&A member said he would not support the item, but the package passed in B&A and Legislation; some Legislation votes were cast without prejudice.

Defense and Indemnity Actions (Items 2026-519 and 2026-520)

• County Attorney John Nonna, Assistant Chief Deputy County Attorney Justin Adin, and Associate County Attorney Shawna MacLeod presented a local law amending Section 158.11 of the Laws of Westchester County. It would allow the County Attorney to initiate defense, indemnification, insurance-coverage, and contribution actions without a separate prior Board authorization, while reorganizing existing exceptions for money judgments up to $25,000 and emergency injunctive actions.
• County Attorney Nonna explained that the need often arises when a contractor or insurer refuses to defend or indemnify the county, and that a CPLR amendment imposes a 90-day window for third-party actions, making prior Board approval impractical.
• Board members requested a notification requirement so the County Board is informed when the County Attorney commences these actions; the County Attorney agreed and the committee adopted that amendment. The public-hearing resolution and local law were then approved as amended by B&A and Legislation.

Written Notice for Contract and Nontort Claims (Items 2026-521 and 2026-522)

• The Law Department explained that the proposed local law would require written notice for contract and other nontort claims, modeled on a City of Newburgh law that was upheld by the Appellate Division, Second Department. The law would create a three-month notice period similar to tort notice-of-claim requirements, giving the county early notice and helping protect against stale claims.
• The public-hearing resolution and local law were approved by B&A and Legislation.

Surety Bond Litigation Authorization (Item 2026-504)

• Senior Assistant County Attorney Mark Gardner sought authorization related to a surety bond claim after the usual outside counsel, Irish Shulman, could not be used because QBE, the surety or insurance company, declined a conflict waiver. The authorization was capped at $50,000.
• The item was approved by the B&A and Litigation committees.

Key Outcomes

• B&A approved the police academy IMA, hazmat partnership, Pepsi/Interlaken and IBM airport leases, commissioner-qualification package, defense-and-indemnity package as amended, nontort notice package, surety bond litigation authorization, minutes, and receive-and-file item.
• Public Safety, Infrastructure/Housing, and Litigation committees approved the items within their jurisdictions.
• The defense-and-indemnity local law was amended to add County Board notification before passage.
• Staff agreed to follow up on airport tenant-improvement approval standards and comparable market-rate questions, and to correct an apparent typo or page-reference issue in the fiscal impact statement.
• The agenda/transcript mismatch is noted above; no separate public comment period appears in the transcript.