Orangetown Council Changes Meeting Schedule

Despite moving meetings to Thursday nights earlier this year, the Orangetown Town Council last month, and on Tuesday night voted to approve the schedule for the rest of the year.

The schedule was passed unanimously, with a bulk of the meetings taking place on Tuesdays for the rest of the year. There are a few workshops, audits and other meetings scheduled for Monday and Wedesday. Supervisor Andy Stewart said the board can also call for emergency meetings if business comes up that needs to be attended to immediately.

The only issue with the new schedule came from Councilman Tom Morr, who suggested they change the Tuesday meeting scheduled for Sept. 11 later this year. Morr said there will most likely be a lot of remembrances and memorial services that day, and the town shouldn’t have a meeting so the board members, as well as the public, can attend those instead. Stewart said he would be open to changing that week’s meeting to another day, but suggested waiting until closer to the date to see what other events are going on and when.

Plenty of other items were discussed at Tuesday’s meeting. Here are some:

• The board voted to support to the New York State Department of Transportation’s proposal to redesign the Route 303/Erie Street intersection, which has experienced a 50 percent higher than expected incidence of traffic accidents, according to the department. The proposed redesign includes a median, new striping, signalization, lane reconfiguration and landscaping. A group of business owners near the intersection asked Stewart if they could all meet to discuss the project, because while they’re in favor, they have some additional concerns about the project.
• The most discussed issue of the meeting was putting a sidewalk on Oak Tree Road in Palisades. A majority of those who spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting wanted to talk about the need for a sidewalk on the road because of drivers that speed through the street, nearly hitting pedestrians. In 2010, 11-year-old Jordan Barreto was hit by a car and killed near the road. Many who spoke said they’ve talked with the town about getting a sidewalk on the street for close to five years already. One man said when he and others get off the bus on the street at night, they walk in groups and take flashlights with them to protect themselves from speeding cars and the various blind spots on the road. Stewart and the board told Superintendent of Highways James Dean to start looking into the design and costs for different kinds of sidewalks, whether it’s using blacktop, like sidewalk near the road that would be connected to Oak Tree’s, or to go with a different kind.
• The board approved a licensing agreement to allow Veterans Park Batting & Food Corp to assign its license agreement for the food and beverage concession at Veterans Memorial Park in Orangeburg to Richard Cerdeira.

The board also reappointed and appointed members to its various advisory boards after recruiting and interviewing candidates. Those reappointed at appointed at Tuesday’s meeting were:

• Louis Sanders was reappointed to the Board of Ethics
• John Lukens was reappointed to the Board of Ethics
• Dr. Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick was reappointed to the Board of Ethics
• Michael Mandel was reappointed to the Board of Ethics
• Thomas Hyland was reappointed to the Board of Ethics
• Peter Byrne was reappointed to the Orangetown Housing Authority
• Robert Tompkins was appointed to the Orangetown Housing Authority
• Walter Wettje was appointed to the Orangetown Housing Authority
• Paul Whalen was reappointed to the Orangetown Housing Authority
• Sharon Ogden and Patricia Brown were recognized as tenant representatives of the Orangetown Housing Authority based on report of election results

The board also reappointed and appointed members of the Volunteer Health Advisory Board:

• Donna Alise, of the Piermont Fire Department, was reappointed
• Paul Morer, of the Nyack Ambulance Corps, was reappointed
• Maryanne Portoro, of the Pearl River Ambulance Corps, was reappointed
• Louis Irrizary, of the Pearl River Ambulance Corps, was appointed
• Glen Albin, of the South Orangetown Ambulance Corps, was appointed
• Steve Harris, of the South Orangetown Ambulance Corps, was appointed

Also part of Tuesday's meeting, the Orangetown Highway Department gave out its Highway Heroes Awards and the town council honored the section champion boys basketball team and state champion boys swim team from Tappan Zee.