Supervisor's Update - January 28, 2022

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Last Updated: 28 January 2022 28 January 2022

Happy Friday! I hope everyone is safely inside and off the roads as this winter storm gets underway. If you’re reading this email, you also received an email earlier with winter weather reminders. Please refer to it, and do be careful this weekend! 

 

Some good news on the COVID front: the COVID-19 surge that we experienced in the New York metro area in late December and early January seems to be decreasing significantly.  Case numbers in Ossining and Westchester County are down by more than half, at 673 for the Town of Ossining including both Villages and 16,093 for all of Westchester County.  Of course, this is not the time to let down our guard. We need to continue masking, testing, and getting vaccinated and boosted.  Vaccines and boosters are available at the Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps – visit their website www.ossiningvac.org/covid19 for more information, or vaccines.gov to find other locations and dates. 

 

Recall that the Biden Administration launched www.covidtests.gov last week; all US households can order four free at-home test kits from this site. You can also use it to learn more about other available testing resources, such as insurance reimbursement for at-home test kits you purchase out of pocket. If you’re in need of a PCR test, you can make an appointment at the new testing site at SUNY Purchase, the Westchester County Center, or Westchester Medical Center, or use the state’s database of testing locations to find another site that meets your needs. 

 

Victoria Cafarelli in my office has been working with the Village of Ossining to ensure we are ready for a return to hybrid meetings in the Town Board meeting rooms at 16 Croton Avenue as well as at the Courthouse. We recognize that even if we need to return to in-person meetings, the hybrid meeting format with the Town Board appearing in person and most members of the public, consultants, and other special guests choosing to appear remotely is definitely here to stay.  Zoom offers products that will make that format seamless for the Board and the public that are cost effective, so we are looking into those offerings for the Town and Village. More to come on that front in the coming weeks!

 

We are very excited to share that a draft of the new Comprehensive Plan will be available for the public to view next week.  We will be scheduling a Town Hall meeting for later in February to present the plan to the community, and then we will be scheduling Public Hearings on the Comprehensive Plan in the coming months.  We are grateful to the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, our consultants at WXY Studios, and all of YOU who contributed to this important planning document.  If you are looking for some light reading for the weekend, there are plenty of materials already posted to the project website, Sustainable Ossining, that you can review as some homework before the full draft plan is released. 

 

Thanks to all who reached out with feedback, mostly positive, on the new Supervisor’s Update format! We will continue on this way, with some additional improvements thanks to those who shared input on how we can make it even better. There are now links to each page at the bottom of the new Update pages to make it easy for those who like to go through every section to do so. Happy reading!

 

Last call for the upcoming tax deadline! Village of Ossining taxes are due on January 31, 2022, as well as the second half of this year’s school taxes for both Ossining and Briarcliff School Districts. Click here for the Village of Ossining payment link and here for school taxes. 

 

We initially indicated that the Tax Receiver’s office will be open from 9 AM until noon tomorrow, January 29 to enable extra time for people to pay their taxes in person, but have to cancel these hours due to the weather. The Tax Office will be open from 8:30am until 6pm on Monday, January 31. Please e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (914) 762-8790 if you need assistance, and do not wait until the last minute! Pay your bill online and sign up for updates directly from Tax Receiver Holly Perlowitz on our website.

 

Till next time, please stay safe and warm during this cold, wintry weather! (If staying warm is a challenge for you, definitely check out our Assistance Programs page - there are resources listed for home heating assistance and more.) 

--Dana

 

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