The Yorktown Town Board met on June 16, 2026, at 7:00 PM to discuss a range of topics including code enforcement, retirement of the police chief, proposed new local laws, and a public hearing on affordable housing set-asides. The meeting included reports from board members, public comments, and multiple votes.
Good evening and welcome to our June 16th, 2026 town board meeting. If we could all uh rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led today by Chief Robert Noble. Congratulations. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And if we could all remain standing for a moment of silence, as we remember, our first uh responders are veterans. Uh and I would also uh indulge uh to ask you for a special prayer for my mother-in-law Rose, who is in the hospital now fighting a couple of uh issues thank you introductions to my right. Good evening, Diana Quas, town clerk. Patrick Murphy, town councilman. Supervisor Ed Lacterman. Deputy Supervisor Sergio Esposito, Councilwoman Susan Siegel. Uh do we have a town attorney back here? So Adam Rodriguez, our town attorney is here as well. Um reports uh from the town. Uh I'm gonna uh make mine quick and I've asked our board to do so as well. Um I just want to make sure that our residents know uh we have hired, as I've spoken in the past, about uh uh fire inspectors and code enforcement part-time, where we have now been uh heavily enforcing fire zone violations. Uh and as I move forward with this, we will try to even bring in more part-timers. Uh at this point, there were there have been in the last couple of weeks about 90 violations given out. Uh our biggest issue with fire zone violations, other than blocking fire vehicles from being able to get into a fire, is that it becomes very dangerous for people, especially children, walking off of a sidewalk behind a car and coming out into the roadway to the parking lot to cross over. Uh I've seen way too many uh dangerous situations where someone's zipping past, and uh it could be a very, very uh tragic situation. So we will keep up on that. I've also instructed them to look at the handicapped parking spots in the in the uh in the town. And also uh we will be talking later about proposed legislation to uh increase the fines from where they are at as well. Uh just a reminder that our uh town buildings will be closed on Friday for Juneteenth, which is a holiday in our town and national holiday at this point. Uh we do have uh uh well we did have on Saturday uh the American Legion where I saw the outgoing commander Carl here. Uh they did their uh flag burnings of retirement ceremony, which uh is a great ceremony. It's uh unfortunately I had to miss this one. It was the first one in uh I think the last seven or eight years that I've missed, but uh Carl, thank you in the post for for keeping that uh tradition. And uh, you know, I know we uh did we well maybe later you could let us know how many flags you retired, but I know it's usually in the hundreds. Um so uh there's that, and we will hear a little bit later. Uh you know, so sort of some bittersweet news about the upcoming retirement of our chief of police. Uh and he will be up here uh spending a little time with us for uh an unbelievable career in the town of Yorktown. So uh I will pass it on at this point. Lottie. I will just uh add on Saturday. There was a wonderful event over but behind the firehouse or right alongside the flag burnings. Um there was a uh uh GG's playhouse had a one-mile walk, and it was uh an inspiring to see families and all people from the town and out of town participating. Uh as to everything else, I defer to you, Ed uh, and I wish your mother-in-law all the best. Thank you, Lottie. And I think it's important. So for those of you that don't know, GG's Playhouse uh uh works with children with down syndrome. That's Anna Mandira, and she works with our clerk's office and uh an amazing young lady herself and uh was recently recognized by New York State. Okay, just a few items. Um I just want to pick up on something that was said, I think it was at the last meeting when the question was raised again about the naming of the Jack DeVito Veterans Veterans Field. Um comment was made about the town board in 2015, was looking to change that name, and of the five of us, I was the only one on the board at that time. I didn't remember what happened then, so I looked at the town minutes. Um on July 28th, the minutes say the issue was race and veterans raised the issue, and the supervisor Michael Grace said that he would make sure that the field was always referred to as the Jack DeVito Veterans Memorial Field, and the minutes of November 25th, 24th, 2015, have a reference to that, and again, it's just called the Jack Devito Memorial Veterans Memorial Field. So there was no discussion in 2015 about changing the name. Um I also want to give an update on fluoride. If anybody didn't see the notice, the federal court of appeals in the 9th district vacated the order from 2024 when the judge um the judge said that uh that that fluoride was a danger, and that was the just and it was that judge's decision that um led this town board to cancel and uh stop the fluoridation. What the judge what the court of appeals said is they remanded it back to the same district judge who has to deal with a first trial, which did not include that controversial information.