After Trustee Deborah Winstead voted “no” on the Pelham Manor Budget, three residents questioned her decision during the public comment session at the April 13 Village of Pelham Manor Board of Trustees meeting.
Cindy Courtien, a resident of Pelham Manor, wanted Trustee Winstead to elaborate on her reasoning behind voting “no” on the Manor Budget. “Would you be able to tell us why? or at least me?” asked Courtein. “Especially since I did a little bit of research and Village of Pelham Manor tax levy growth is just under 3% every year. Did you know that? And it’s the lowest levy increase we have across all the entities in town. The town of Pelham has broken the cap three years in a row and the Village has busted two of the last six years. Did you know that? It’s the smallest growth of any taxes we pay and really it’s a model of fiscal prudence. Congratulations to the board and Lindsay and everyone else. All the while we do this while delivering premium services and no debt which is wonderful. I run a business and that’s what we want, right? So can you tell us why you voted no?”
“Yeah, there were several reasons,” said Winstead. “I think the most important one to me was a matter of transparency and how we consistently under budget the sales tax revenue. I’m not saying we need to spend that money but I do think we should show the residents here a little bit more closely that we can tell overtime that that revenue is coming in.”
Manor resident Steve Shekane voiced concerns about Winstead’s ability to work collaboratively. He referred to a Facebook post made by New York State Senator Nathalia Fernandez about a meeting she had with Trustee Winstead and the Bronx Park Commissioner.
“Senator Fernandez posted ‘Teamwork makes the dreamwork. Yesterday, I met with new Pelham Manor Trustee member Debbie Winstead and The Bronx Park Commissioner to discuss the issue of flooding along The Bronx and Pelham border. It takes a joint-effort to remedy such an issue and support all our communities,’” said Shekane. “I didn’t see any official communication from the Village about this visit and there hasn’t been any updates to the community about it. I have a number of questions. How did this meeting come about? Were the Mayor, other Trustees, and Village Manager aware of this meeting and were they invited? What was discussed during this visit and what was the outcome or next steps?”
Winstead responded and said, “I set up that meeting, well I asked the Senator to set up that meeting, and the discussion was trying to push them along to do the work that they need to do on their side of the property, on the New York City side. They did a study. We have been waiting for them to re-build that bridge, dredge it out, and nothing has been happening. It was an effort to make contact with them and talk with the hydrologist and see what we could do to push it along. The DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) wasn’t there and what they decided is they wanted the DEC to look at the big pipes that go underneath 95. I guess where the water flows out from 95 through those pipes and into that golf course river basin there. They wanted to check and make sure those were clean before they moved on anything. The next step is to have a meeting with the DEC which was scheduled for today but which got cancelled so we’re gonna try again to push them along and see if they do what they need to do on their side. I will say that they’re worried about mosquitoes in that part of the park and what that’s gonna do to the golfers and I think that someone needs to really impress upon them that we’re talking about people’s homes here and they need to do what they need to do on their side.”
“I would echo that Trustee Winstead that I would hope our State Senator would say who cares about the golf course our people’s homes are at risk,” said Sheknae. “I think all the people on Monroe could tell everyone on this board. Yes, please keep pressing on with the DEC and whatever other meetings come about but our State Senator needs to be at the forefront of this. I hope she was vocal about saying houses over golf courses.”
The Village Manager, Lindsay M. Luft, said, “I do just want to provide a clarification. I don’t know if it is the same meeting with the DEC regarding our grant application or rather a war – but we do have a meeting with the DEC on Wednesday to discuss our stormwater project. The throughway authority is not going to be present at that meeting but they are the ones who own the culverts under 95 and they do a pretty good job at maintaining them. They have been at meetings with the parks numerous times and the parks has made it unfortunately rather clear that they don’t intend on judging and the don’t believe in judging for the lack of better words so it is absolutely frustrating. I would like to see the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) involved on the city side, I think we all would, and I just wanted to add those comments. I was not at the meeting that was mentioned specifically regarding the Facebook meeting but I’ve meet with them separately over the years.”
Steve Shekane asked again if anyone else on the Pelham Manor Board of Trustees was informed about the meeting and Luft responded that she was not informed. He then asked Winstead why she did not inform the other board members of the meeting.
“Because I have relationships with them and I’m trying to push it and get them to do something for our people on Grant and Monroe,” said Winstead. “That’s why.”
Mayor Jennifer Lapey jumped in and said, “I really have to respond to something there. We have relationships too and we have a grant with the DEC for half of that Monroe project. And I think we just have to remember we’re all collaborators on a governing board. All meetings are important. Keeping lines of communication with outside agencies and outside municipalities are important but we have something called a Village Manager in this municipality. And that’s an insight executive. My understanding is with respect to the Monroe project some of this outside communication that has involved you potentially could have compromised the project. Correct?”
Winstead told Lapey that the project developed last week. After asked by Lapey, Winstead said that she resuscitated the project herself.
Shekane inferred, “So, there was separate other one off communications without the Village Manger that potentially caused a problem?”
“There was some confusions caused,” said Winstead. “It started through an email thread with the DEC. I forwarded it to the Senator’s office. Their contact the Chief of Staff which I typically directly interface with. He called me. We spoke. We clarified what’s going on. Got the train back on the tracks so to speak. I think we are cleared and ready to go for Wednesday to discuss the next steps for the Monroe Street project. I think we all want to see that project break ground asap. I think that is everyone’s goal. We’re in the design phase, absolutely. To keep it on track to go out to bid we need to keep the timeframe. I think the DEC very much agrees with that. So that’s what we’ll be confirming on Wednesday.”
Mayor Lapey said, “I guess as the Chief Elected I would ask that any trustees who set up meetings that particularly pertain to projects that we have underway, like the Monroe Street project, that the Manager at a minimum is apprised.”
“I think I’m much more concerned that this visit was scheduled and took place without the Village manager or any other members of the board,” said Shekane. “Trustee Winstead, you are in office only three months when you had this meeting. I’m concerned that any communication that you had with representatives from the city or the state senator were incomplete and potentially uninformed given you did not have detail about years of discussion between the professional over here and the representatives on the other side. You are one member of a team and do not have the ability to make decision or act single-handily so this gives me great pause on your ability to work collaboratively in the interest of this community. You said you didn’t inform anyone and that really is concerning to me.”
Another Pelham Manor resident, Sylvia Rowe, voiced concerns about Trustee Winstead’s plan to plant 250 trees.
“I know that based upon the study that was done at Greenwood Cemetery which is about the same size as we are and square milage and they have been replacing trees at a rate 5-6 times that we have and they’re still losing their canopy,” said Winstead. “And if we’re replacing one-to-one, it’s not enough to keep the number of trees that we have here. So I do think that the first thing that should come is the funding and then we could figure out maybe there’s a tree giveaway maybe people would want to plant them on their properties. There is room to plant them in the Manor. There’s room to plant more.”