Supervisor

Dana Levenberg, Town Supervisor
phone (914) 762-6001
fax (914) 762-0833
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16 Croton Avenue
Ossining, NY 10562

The Supervisor's Office is located on the third floor of the Town offices. Office hours are Monday - Friday, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm.

Supervisor's Update - February 14, 2020

Details: Last Updated: 14 February 2020 14 February 2020

It has been a love-filled week in the Town of Ossining!

I started off the week on Monday visiting the Montrose VA for their Salute to Veterans week. I joined the staff and residents there for an ice cream social, visiting several of the different inpatient care centers just up the road from Ossining. I have participated in this event for the past few years, and it is always such a meaningful way to thank those that have given so much in service to our country. Thank you to the staff in the Voluntary Services office for always inviting me to join in the fun and huge shout out to the Ossining Girl Scouts for making Valentine's Day cards to share with the veterans!

This morning, I joined the Ossining School District and the staff of our Senior Nutrition Program for the annual Valentine's Day breakfast for seniors at the Community Center. There were so many talented performers from the Ossining Schools, with breakfast served by the wonderfully enthusiastic students of Ossining High School's National Honor Society.

There were even a few celebrity sightings! County Legislator Catherine Borgia was there, along with other elected officials like Senator David Carlucci and Mayor Victoria Gearity.

I also ran into some familiar faces, here's Legislator Borgia with Chris and Dom Cafarelli (yes, the grandparents of the Supervisor's Office's very own Victoria Cafarelli!)

It was such a great way to start Valentine's Day and I very much enjoyed being able to spend time with our community's seniors to kick off a fun day.

Then, I joined Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, other elected officials, and the staff of New York Presbyterian Hospital for a press conference at New York Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor to highlight how you can spread the love this Valentine's Day by becoming an organ donor. Signing up to be an organ and tissue donor is an easy way to help save lives and give hope to the thousands of people on the list waiting for a life-saving transplant -- one life can save the lives of eight! Learn more and sign up to be an organ donor today by visiting LiveOnNY's website.

This week was also the first week of kit sales for our new Food Scrap Recycling Program. Marcus DaSilva, our part-time coordinator for this program, attended EagleFest with volunteers from Green Ossining for the first few sales of residential kits for participants. Here's Green Ossining Chair Suzie Ross purchasing the first of the bins! You can now purchase a kit of your very own at Cedar Lane Arts Center (235 Cedar Lane, Ossining, NY) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from 9am to 4pm. Starter kits can be purchased for $20 ($21 credit/debit card). Kits include one 2-gallon countertop pail, one 6-gallon home storage & transportation bin and one roll of 25 compostable bags for your pail. Visit www.ossiningcomposts.org for more information and sign up for our mailing list to learn of additional locations to purchase kits coming in the near future. The Food Scrap Recycling drop off-bins are located at the Cedar Lane Park (235 Cedar Lane). The drop-off site is open during the park hours of operation (Monday-Sunday, dawn to dusk). There is no charge to drop off food scraps and this program is available to all Town of Ossining residents, including residents of the Villages of Ossining and Briarcliff Manor. Thank you, once again, to our partners Teatown Lake Reservation and Green Ossining for helping with this exciting program. If you have any questions, send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We received an update from the Village of Ossining Water Department today regarding the steps they have taken to address the taste and odor issues many residents have been experiencing in recent months. Please read the message here for more information.

A few messages from our Highway Department:

Did you know that the Town of Ossining Sanitation and Recycling calendar is now available online? Get ALL your waste and recycling-related questions answered easily, accurately and when you need it, at your fingertips! Visit the Town's website OR, download the free mobile app for Apple and Android devices. Search keywords are “Westchester” and “Recycle. How is this better?

Get your address-specific sanitation and recycling schedules - download, print or add it to your iCal or Google calendars.
Get reminders to set your trash and recycling out - via phone call, text, app, or email
Receive service alerts about pickup cancellations - same as above
Find out how to dispose of just about anything using ‘Recyclopedia’ - an up-to-date and ever improving directory of what goes where.
Ask questions and report a problem at any time of day
Access all of the above in 7 languages!

Also, the Highway Department would like to remind everyone to not flush baby wipes or even wipes labeled as "flushable" down the toilet! These items will clog up our sewer system and often cause issues with our sewer lift stations, which could cause serious problems if they are damaged. The Highway Department staff will be very grateful if everyone helps out a little and does their part by making this simple change.

The Ossining Schools have started up their advocacy efforts again as the State Legislature is well into their 2020 session and budget meetings. As you may know, the Ossining Schools are part of "The Harmed Suburban Five" alongside Port Chester, Glen Cove, Riverhead, and Westbury School Districts. Since the Foundation Aid Formula was established in 2008, the Harmed Suburban Five have experienced increasing student enrollment; decreases in community wealth; and also received less than 55% of the Foundation Aid funding originally promised, while other school districts have remained fully funded, or in some cases, over funded. The Foundation Aid gap in these Districts will continue to grow as student needs and enrollment increase. Our communities are simply asking that these Districts be funded at the same level as our peers by providing us with at least 80% of the fully phased-in amount and that this matter be discussed and resolved in legislative conference. Sign the Change.org petition to Governor Cuomo, or learn more about the District's advocacy efforts at the Ossining School District's website.

The Village of Ossining is seeking proposals to lease the Kiosk at Gourdine Park. Ossining’s busy waterfront is home to the Summer Concert Series and Food Truck Fridays, the Louis Engel Spray Park, playgrounds, picnic areas and unbeatable views of Hudson River sunsets, and directly abuts the Ossining Boat and Canoe Club, the Ossining Metro North railroad station and the Haverstraw/Ossining ferry. The Village hopes to find a tenant to run a seasonal concession in the Kiosk beginning in May 2020. Please visit the Village’s website to view the RFP; all responses must be returned to the office of the Village Clerk no later than 10AM on Monday, March 9^th.

Starting in February and ending April 15th, IFCA Housing Network will be providing free income tax preparation services at their offices on Spring Street and at Ossining High School. This program is for New York State residents, who work in New York State, have incomes less than $56,000 per year, and who are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit. You can start making appointments now by calling (914) 941-5252 for sessions at IFCA's headquarters at 138 Spring Street and appointments are available Monday (12pm-3pm), Tuesday (10am-3pm), Wednesday (1pm-5pm), Thursday (10am-3pm), Friday (1:30pm-3:30pm), and Saturday (12:30pm-3:30pm). There will also be walk-in hours on Mondays from February 3rd through April 6th at Ossining High School (Room 202) from 4pm through 8pm. Please note the walk-in hours at OHS will not be held on February 17th, April 6th, and April 13th. This program is sponsored by Wells Fargo Foundation.

There is also tax preparation help available at the Ossining Public Library. Here are the details:

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 15th at 12 noon, the day has finally arrived to join me at our very own Louis Engel Park beach for Gullotta House’s 3^rd Annual Escape from Sing Sing Plunge. It’s supposed to be both a beautiful day and MIGHTY cold--maybe below freezing, yikes! You can join me or sponsor my fellow plungers and I by visiting www.gullottahouse.org. Money collected will support scholarships for OHS students as well as local families with emergency needs. I sprung for a new suit just for the occasion—bathing suit that is!

Tomorrow is the February meeting of the Talk Culture Literary Book Club at the Ossining Public Library. As part of OPL's adult programming recognizing Black History Month, the book this month is Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. You may have run out of time to read the book, but if you want to give speed reading it a try, copies are available at the information desk at OPL. Otherwise, grab your copy of March's book, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and get started for next month's meeting. All discussions take place on Saturdays at 3pm in the 2nd Floor Conference Room.

On Thursday, February 20, the Ossining Documentary and Discussion Series is also honoring Black History Month with a screening of “The Trials of Constance Baker Motley” at 7pm at Sing Sing Kill Brewery. This film follows the story of Constance Baker Motley, who joined the NAACP’s legal team at the height of the Civil Rights movement, and went on to achieve pioneering successes in the fields of law and public service as the first black female New York State Senator, Manhattan Borough President, and Federal Judge. What an incredible life! Join Ossining residents Rick Rodgers (the film’s director and producer) and Joel Motley (the film’s producer and Constance’s son) for a special Q&A discussion of this important film.

On Saturday, February 22, the Mala Waldron Quartet, a group of internationally acclaimed jazz virtuosos headed by jazz vocalist/pianist/composer Waldron accompanied by her top-flight backup group, will make a rare local appearance in Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT)’s Jazz in the Box Series. Waldron, will perform a sophisticated blend of soulful jazz together with Steve Salerno on guitar, Michael T.A. Thompson on drums, and Jennifer Vincent on bass at WCT’s black box performance space, 23 Water St. in Ossining. The Mala Waldron Quartet will play sets at 7:30 and 9:00 pm. General admission is $20, and tickets are available now online.

This event is a month away, but Gullotta House has limited free tickets, so reach out to them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to claim yours!

Start working on your award winning chili recipe now for the chili cook off fundraiser for the Ossining Pride 11U JCYS baseball team at Sing Sing Kill Brewery also coming up next month.

Finally, all Town offices will be closed on Monday, February 17 in observation of Presidents Day. Next Monday and Tuesday are also the dates of the Association of Towns Annual Conference, so we have canceled our Work Session for Tuesday, February 18. Most staff will be back in the office on Tuesday, but please call ahead if you need immediate assistance from any office and plan on visiting us on Tuesday. The Town Justice Court will be closed on Tuesday, February 18 as the whole staff will be attending training at the Association of Towns conference. Everyone will be back and ready to serve you on Wednesday! I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend, or for those will school aged children, a nice and relaxing winter break!

Happy Valentine's Day!

--Dana

If your business, non-profit, or community group has an event that you would like to submit to be a part of the Supervisor's Update, please e-mail a flyer and brief description to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We are happy to pass along events that provide a benefit to the community and support our local economy. Thank you for helping us to highlight all the best Ossining has to offer!

Supervisor's Update - February 7, 2020

Details: Last Updated: 12 February 2020 12 February 2020

Food Scrap Recycling has officially come to the Town of Ossining! The last of the program materials arrived this week so we are finally ready to launch this weekend. Residential kits will be sold starting tomorrow, Saturday, February 8th at the Green Ossining booth at EagleFest. Stop by to say hi to Marcus DaSilva, our part-timer working on this program, as well as Suzie Ross and the other Green Ossining volunteers. They are passionate about saving the environment and will be happy to answer your questions, get you set up with a residential kit, or even sign you up to be a volunteer for the program. Can't make it to EagleFest? Starting on Monday, Marcus will be at the Cedar Lane Art Center three days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays) with kits available for sale. The collection point for all food scraps will also be at Cedar Lane Park, in the parking lot adjacent to the Art Center. Check out our dedicated webpage on this program to learn more and sign up for the mailing list. Check out this residential kit -- for just $20 (or $21 if paying by credit or debit card) this could all be yours! These kits have been vetted by the group in Scarsdale that launched Food Scrap collection in Westchester County. As long as you seal them, they are odor free. They said these kits have been working out really well for the other municipalities that have been using them. Also, the collection bins lock securely and are varmint proof. As a reminder, all residents from the Town of Ossining (including those that live in the Villages of Ossining or Briarcliff Manor) are eligible to participate in this voluntary program.

While you're picking up your composting kit, learn more from Green Ossining about the upcoming plastic bag ban in New York State , which goes into effect on March 1st, 2020. Start the habit now -- make sure you always have a reusable bag (or two!) with you when you go to the grocery store. Did you know that New Yorkers use over 23 billion plastic bags every year? That is simply unacceptable and devastating to the environment. Learn more about the plastic bag ban online or from our Green Ossining volunteers Saturday, and do your part to help our planet!

Even if you aren’t looking to purchase a compost kit this weekend, or aren't planning to chat with Green Ossining Volunteers about the plastic bag ban, EagleFest is an absolutely amazing event. This is Teatown’s 16^thcelebration of the bald eagles migration and stop on the Hudson River. The event is at Croton Point Park from 9am-4pm this Saturday, tickets are no longer available online but you can buy them at the event. There are birds of prey shows, films, food trucks, historic walks, viewings of wild birds like eagles, owls, and hawks through scopes, and lots for the whole family to do, and we are anticipating some great weather. So come one come all!

Earlier this week, I met with Superintendent of Recreation Bill Garrison, and Mike and Miriam Risko from Mike Risko Music to go over the preliminary schedule for the Summer Concert Series. Many excellent candidates replied, and Mike and Miriam put together a great mix for summer. I can't wait to share the schedule with you for the summer once it is all confirmed. We will hopefully have the schedule finalized in the coming weeks! The Chamber is also preparing to solicit food trucks and other vendors to participate in Food Truck Fridays this summer. Stay tuned for vendor applications, sponsorship opportunities, and more coming in the near future. It is always fun to daydream about summer Friday nights at the waterfront on dreary February days like today!

Town Clerk Sue Donnelly, Deputy Town Clerk Martha Quituisaca, Town Counsel Christie Tomm Addona, Budget Officer Victoria Cafarelli, and I got together this week to discuss the rollout of our new Dog Park and License legislation. As you might remember, we adopted a Local Law a few months back regarding administration, rules, and permitting for the dog parks at Cedar Lane and Ryder Parks. All residents (yes -- the canine ones!) with valid dog licenses will be given permits to utilize the dog parks at Cedar Lane and Ryder Park. We have also shifted the schedule for dog licenses that every license will be issued from June 1 - May 31 annually. Since this year is the first year, it will take some administrative creativity to get everyone on the same schedule ensure everyone who wants to utilize the dog parks gets their correct tags to do so. Keep an eye out for more information from the Clerk's office very soon.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer shared this today: With flu season at or near its peak, the County Health Department will offer residents more free flu vaccines in February. You can call 995-5800 to schedule a flu vaccine at a County Clinic for residents age 3 and up, as follows:

Tuesdays, Feb. 11, 18 and 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 134 Court St., White Plains
Fridays, Feb. 7 and 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 134 Court St., White Plains
Friday, Feb. 14 and 28, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 20 S. Broadway, Yonkers.

Westchester flu clinics are open to all, especially those without insurance or whose insurance doesn’t cover vaccines. The New York State Department of Health has reported a surge in the number of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases and hospitalizations reported statewide. In the week ending January 25, 15,012 lab-confirmed cases of flu and 2,015 flu-related hospitalizations were reported statewide -- so it is especially important to take any steps you can to prevent getting to flu this season. Flu activity usually peaks between December and February, but can last into May. One flu vaccine now provides protection all season long and can prevent illness or reduce the severity of flu symptoms. The vaccine becomes fully effective after about two weeks. Thank you to Westchester County for offering this service County-wide, hopefully we can stop the flu in its tracks!

There is also tax preparation help available at the Ossining Public Library. Here are the details:

The Winter Cycle of the Ossining School District's Saturday Explore and Learn ends this Saturday. Check out the many fun offerings they have for the whole family, while there's still time! Stay tuned for details about the Spring Cycle soon.

The Ossining Public Library has an amazing line-up of adult programming for African American Heritage Month. Check out this weekend's Meditation Aromatherapy Sound Session with Beverly "Aminata" Spencer in the 2nd Floor Conference Room. What a relaxing and meaningful way to start the weekend!

There are some awesome cultural arts events lined up in Ossining this weekend -- check out one (or all!) of them!

Our very own Receiver of Taxes, Honorable Holly Perlowitz and Town Clerk, Honorable Susanne Donnelly are the guests of honor at the Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce's February 11th Business B4 Business Breakfast at The Tasty Table. Come, meet your local elected officials, and learn all about the services provided by their offices to the entire Town of Ossining.

The US Census 2020 is gearing up this month and they are hiring! Learn more about potential job opportunities at a job fair here in Ossining hosted by Ossining's Census Committee, Ossining Counts, coming up on February 12th at the Community Center from 1pm to 6pm in the Museum Lobby. They recently increased the salary and I believe it’s around $23 an hour.

Gullotta House's 3rd annual Escape from Sing Sing Plunge is coming up next weekend! Register now, or become a sponsor -- the proceeds fund the Gullotta House's many deserving causes. And yes, I am still planning to take the plunge!

With the Legislative Session under way in Albany, the Ossining Schools are gearing up their advocacy efforts once again to increase the share of Foundation Aid to the "Harmed Suburban Five" School Districts -- Ossining, Glen Cove City School District, Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District, Riverhead Central School District, and Westbury School District. Save the date, March 26th, for a planned rally in Albany to advocate for fair funding with our State legislators. Learn more at the Ossining School's website about other ways you can get involved in the meantime.

--Dana

Supervisor's Update - January 31, 2020

Details: Last Updated: 31 January 2020 31 January 2020

First off -- you have a few short hours to get your 2nd half School Tax paid on time! The Town Tax Office will be open until 6pm tonight, January 31st for taxpayers. You can also still pay your taxes online until the clock strikes midnight tonight. If you have any questions, please call the Receiver of Taxes Office -- (914) 762-8790, they are happy to help.

On Monday, I joined County Executive Latimer and many local elected officials and representatives (like my friends Jaimie Hoffman and Mayor Victoria Gearity from the Village of Ossining) from Westchester municipalities for an official kick-off of US Census 2020. As we discussed at our first work session of the year, the Census is mandated by the US Constitution to take place every 10 years. Over $880 billion federal dollars are distributed based on Census figures, and I do not believe that even includes what happens at the state and county levels. Also, our representation in the county, and in New York State and Washington is determined by the census count. State aid to schools also uses the census count as a part o its formula. So it is critically important that when you get your letter in the mail in March, you respond and answer the nine simple questions you will be asked.

We also learned that there may be some grant funding coming to municipalities and the county to assist with outreach regarding the census, so stay tuned for more details about how the Town will be performing outreach to our residents. In the meantime, check out these informational events in Briarcliff and Ossining regarding the census:

The Census is also hiring! Learn more about potential job opportunities at a job fair here in Ossining hosted by Ossining's Census Committee, Ossining Counts, coming up on February 12th at the Community Center.

We learned some exciting news this week from County Executive George Latimer about how the county is going to be assisting communities in the future with composting food scraps. As you might remember, the Town received a grant from the New York State DEC to start a food scrap recycling program in Ossining (we are so close to the official launch!) modeled after our neighbors in Greenburgh, Scarsdale, and others. As these programs have grown throughout the county, County Executive Latimer announced that the county will soon launch a county-wide transport and disposal program for food scraps. Similar to their current role in regular garbage collection, the county will establish a transfer station to collect and haul food scraps from all participating municipalities to the nearest commercial composting facility, currently in Ulster County. This will hopefully cut back on the costs to individual municipalities to recycle food scraps and encourage more municipalities to participate. This new offering was an action step identified as a result of a recent Food Waste Study completed by Westchester County.

This was all extremely exciting news to us as we are on the cusp of launching our food scrap recycling program with a drop off site at Cedar Lane Park. Our new part-time staff member, Marcus DaSilva (check out his shout out on the Green Ossining Instagram page), started this week preparing kits for residents to purchase to make it easy and smell-free to collect these scraps in your own home, and laying the ground work for the program. We still have a few more items on our "to-do" list before we can officially start accepting food scraps, but I encourage you to check out the dedicated Ossining Composts webpage set up by our partners at Teatown to learn more about this upcoming offering.

More good news from Westchester County this week -- we will be receiving $120,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding to renovate the kitchen at our Senior Nutrition Program! Our current kitchen has seen better days, and requires some upgrades to be a more appropriately designed "commerical kitchen" to service our evergrowing program. The Town's Senior Nutrition Program feeds dozens of seniors, including the homebound, with meals on a daily basis and they deserve the best! We will be having preliminary meetings with an architect and the staff at the Westchester County Planning Department in the coming weeks to get this project started.

We are also gearing up for New York State's plastic bag ban, which goes into effect on March 1st, 2020. Start the habit now -- make sure you always have a reusable bag (or two!) with you when you go to the grocery store. Did you know that New Yorkers use over 23 billion plastic bags every year? That is simply unacceptable and devastating to the environment. Learn more about the plastic bag ban and do your part to help our planet!

There is still time to check out this event, hosted by Ossining Parent Leadership --

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 1st from 10am to 3pm is the Lantern Gift Shop's Valentine's Day and Bake Sale. The Lantern Gift Shop will have many unique gifts for Valentine's Day including cards, handmade items, and lots of yummy baked goods. The shop is located on the grounds of St. Paul's on the Hill Church at 40 Ganung Drive in Ossining.

Ossining School District's Saturday Explore and Learn series continues this Saturday. Check out the many fun offerings they have for the whole family!

Make sure to head to the Ossining Farmers Market this weekend for all of your Super Bowl Sunday goodies! PickleLicious has a special offer this Saturday -- spend $20 and get a free pint of pickles. You can also get locally sourced meats from Sunset View Farm, and much much more. We have gone vegan here in the Supervisor's Office, so we will certainly be stocking up with hummus and other Mediterranean dips from Nana's Home Kitchen this weekend. The Farmers Market is at Market Square on the corner of Main Street and Spring Street every Saturday from 9am to 1pm all winter long.

Starting February 3rd and ending April 15th, IFCA Housing Network will be providing free income tax preparation services at their offices on Spring Street and at Ossining High School. This program is for New York State residents, who work in New York State, have incomes less than $56,000 per year, and who are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit. You can start making appointments now by calling (914) 941-5252 for sessions at IFCA's headquarters at 138 Spring Street and appointments are available Monday (12pm-3pm), Tuesday (10am-3pm), Wednesday (1pm-5pm), Thursday (10am-3pm), Friday (1:30pm-3:30pm), and Saturday (12:30pm-3:30pm). There will also be walk-in hours on Mondays from February 3rd through April 6th at Ossining High School (Room 202) from 4pm through 8pm. Please note the walk-in hours at OHS will not be held on February 17th, April 6th, and April 13th. This program is sponsored by Wells Fargo Foundation.

Assemblywoman Sandy Galef's annual Town Meetings have kicked off and will include a meeting scheduled at the Briarcliff Manor Library on Thursday, February 6th at 7pm.

There are quite a few events scheduled for next weekend highlighting Ossining's many cultural arts offerings. Plan on checking out one -- or more -- of these next week!

Save the date, Saturday, February 15th, for Gullotta House's 3rd annual Escape from Sing Sing Plunge! Register now, or become a sponsor -- the proceeds fund the Gullotta House's many deserving causes. And yes, I am still planning on plunging!

--Dana

Supervisor's Update - January 24th, 2020

Details: Last Updated: 24 January 2020 24 January 2020

This week, although it was just four days long, I was able to pack in a lot of meetings on some very important topics! This started with the Sustainable Westchester Annual meeting on Tuesday. I was officially elected to the board of Sustainable Westchester at this meeting, although was serving unofficially starting earlier this year. It was great to learn about the new efforts being worked on collectively, including HeatSmart, Zero Waste, Recycle Right, Solarize/Community Solar, Electric Vehicle Municipal Fleets, Westchester Power (our Community Choice Aggregation!) and so much more. All of this work helps us to meet the State goals of reducing Carbon Emissions and helps us reduce our impact on the environment.

To that end, the Village and Town of Ossining met this week with representatives from The Nature Conservancy, Hudson River Watershed Alliance, and Pace University to begin planning for a Community Resilience Building Workshop in March. The team from these great organizations have been working their way down the Hudson to offer these trainings for most municipalities on the shoreline to better plan for flooding events and other dangerous impacts of climate change. This workshop will be attended by municipal staff, first responders, and other key stakeholders to identify community assets and infrastructure that are vulnerable to these types of events, as well as strategies to ensure community safety and long term planning to make us all more resilient to the devastating impacts of climate change. We are planning for February or March for this workshop, I look forward to sharing with you any new plans or procedures that come out of this collaborative planning effort.

On Wednesday, I attended a meeting on the findings from the Westchester County Housing Needs Assessment. The data for the Town of Ossining revealed that there has been no significant growth in affordable housing in the Town of Ossining in recent years. I am hoping to utilize the data collected by the County as we move forward with the Comprehensive Plan.

Speaking of the Comprehensive Plan -- we also held interviews this week with potential candidates for the Steering Committee! We had many excellent applicants from various neighborhoods in Ossining, with a variety of interests, specialties, and connections to the larger Ossining/Briarcliff community. At our Work Session this week, Town Planning Consultant Valerie Monastra led the Town Board through a discussion on the components of a successful Steering Committee, and I think the applicants we received check most of those boxes. The next step will be for the interview committee (myself, Councilwoman Shaw, Planning Board Member Gareth Hougham, and Assessor Fernando Gonzalez) to make recommendations to the Town Board for specific appointments.

Finally, earlier this morning I attended a press conference for Teatown's annual EagleFest, scheduled for Saturday, February 8th from 9am to 4pm at Croton Point Park. This is one of my favorite annual events, so I was glad to join representatives from Teatown and my fellow elected officials this morning to highlight this upcoming event. There was also a class from Brookside School in attendance and we all got to meet Aurora, an eagle who was saved after having been hit by a truck in Illinois and suffering a broken wing so can no longer fly. But Aurora can still flap around a lot and put on a great show care of Christine, her falconer. Teatown, in addition to annually putting on an amazing EagleFest, also reaches into local schools to help educate our students and start them on the path of lifelong environmental stewardship. They are also one of our most valued partners -- they are helping with the education and outreach associated with our new food scrap recycling program, launching in just a few short weeks. This program will help take food out of our waste stream and put it back into the environment in a healthy sustainable way. We hope you plan to participate!

Just another reminder: it is a tax collection month once again! Second Half School Taxes for the Ossining and Briarcliff School Districts are due on January 31st. You can make payment in person, by mail (make sure you witness the postmark to ensure timely delivery) or online (be wary of online bill pay from your bank -- those mailpieces are not postmarked and if we receive your check after January 31st, you will get a penalty), or utilizing our dedicated mailbox at the Ossining Post Office. The Tax Office will be open extended hours on Thursday, January 30th and Friday, January 31st from 8am to 6pm. Please call (914) 762-8790 or e-mail Receiver Holly Perlowitz at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This is a tax payment you do NOT want to be late on -- the penalty is 10%! Holly and her team are happy to help you come up with a strategy to ensure your payment is made timely. You can also sign-up for direct messages from Holly here.

And again from Dale Cemetery Superintendent Pete Connolly, please pick up any seasonal decorations from Dale Cemetery or Sparta Cemetery by this coming Monday, January 27th. Otherwise, the decorations will be removed and disposed of by our Cemetery Staff. If you have any questions, please call the Cemetery office at (914) 941-1155.

The Ossining School District's Saturday Explore and Learn series continues this Saturday. Check out the many fun offerings they have for the whole family!

Assemblywoman Sandy Galef's annual Town Meetings kick off tomorrow, January 25th, at the Desmond Fish Library in Garrison at 10am and the Field Library in Peekskill at 1pm. Assemblywoman Galef will also be more local to us at the Briarcliff Manor Library on Thursday, February 6th at 7pm.

Tomorrow, January 25th is the Westchester Collaborative Theater’s Mid-Winter Dance Party with DJ Johnny J starting at 7:30pm at 23 Water Street. Get your boogie on with this local non-profit and enjoy a fun filled evening of music, as part of their 10^th anniversary season.

We are gearing up for the 2020 Census -- plan on joining County Executive George Latimer for the Westchester County kickoff on Monday, January 27th at Pace University. It is absolutely essential that Ossining and Westchester County are accurately counted in 2020, we know that was not the case in 2010 and that has cost us millions of dollars per year in state and federal funding since -- including education funding. Westchester County Planning Commissioner Norma Drummond presented at our first Work Session of the year on this important topic -- I urge you to learn more and get involved in this process, even if that just means sharing the facts with your friends, families, and neighbors during the coming months.

Shannon Reilly of Simplified by Shannon (aka Ossining and Briarcliff's local Marie Kondo) is offering a "Getting Organized" workshop in Ossining at Speak Easy Creative Workspace on Main Street on Wednesday, January 29th at 7pm. Shannon was one of the temporary employees we hired this fall to help with a records management grant we had received, and she helped transform our records management program! If she can help us, I know she can help you get organized in the New Year.

Think you know everything about Ossining? Test your Ossining knowledge at the Ossining Trivia at Sing Sing Kill Brewery on Wednesday, January 29^th starting at 7:30pm, hosted by Village Historian Dana White. I hear Town Historian Scott Craven will also be making a special guest appearance with some questions focusing on Hudson River trivia. This event is free to enter and is sure to get pretty competitive!

Our very own Receiver of Taxes Holly Perlowitz and Town Clerk Susanne Donnelly are the guests of honor at the Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce's February 11th Business B4 Breakfast at Tasty Table. Come, meet your local elected officials, and learn all about the services provided by our Receiver of Taxes and Clerk's offices to the entire Town of Ossining.

--Dana

Supervisor's Update - January 17th, 2020

Details: Last Updated: 17 January 2020 17 January 2020

We have hit the ground running this year with presentations from the County Planning Commissioner on Census 2020 (at our first work session of the year), and follow up meetings with the Cornell and Hudson River Estuary folks to discuss next steps from the work we did with the Climate Adaptive Design Studio with the Village of Ossining. We have also had changes in our staffing including a new addition to our Parks Department (Alban Sylaj), a new Judge (Benjamin Felcher Leavitt), new Town Clerk (Susanne Donnelly), new Town Prosecutor (Stephen Dewey), officially elected Highway Superintendent (Pete Connolly), and in the Supervisor’s office, new Budget Director (Victoria Cafarelli). We have one more change that we are hoping to make at our Special Meeting on Tuesday regarding our planning consultant. The Town Board will be considering a resolution on Tuesday, January 21st to appoint Nelson, Pope, & Voorhis, LLC. as the Town's planning consultant for 2020. We will be saying goodbye to FP Clark Associates, and David Stolman, who have served the town for decades. David has been such an asset to the Town, and certainly a familiar face to many. We thank David for his decades of service to the Ossining community and all of the incredible work he has done on projects ranging from simple two-lot subdivisions to Comprehensive Plans; he has touched nearly all of our existing polices on planning and zoning in the Town.

We are also excited for the future with Nelson, Pope, & Voorhis, LLC. with Valerie Monastra who will serve as the primary contact for the Town. Valerie is also a familiar face around Ossining as she lives in the Village with her family, and served as the Village of Ossining's planner for ten years before entering private practice. Valerie has the best combination of institutional knowledge of our community and innovative thinking for this role. I am confident Valerie will do an excellent job helping us navigate all of the projects on our horizon, including assisting us with the Comprehensive Plan as we bring our Steering Committee on board and look to select another planning firm to take the lead on the Plan. Valerie will be joining us for her first Town Board meeting on Tuesday evening, when she will be discussing with us recommendations for the size and composition of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. This decision will help us select the right candidates to be appointed to this important committee as we complete interviews will all applicants next week. Welcome Valerie!

On Monday, we finally held the bid opening for the Dale Cemetery Cottage Renovations. This project has been in the planning stages for several years, and it was very fulfilling to reach this stage! This historic building requires a good amount of work and has a lot of potential. We formatted the bid to include several "add/alternates" in order to scale the renovation within the Town's budget during the bidding phase. We are now going to review the bid submission in detail with our architect, engineering staff, and Cemetery Superintendent Pete Connolly and present to the board our recommendations for the full scope of the renovation.

On Tuesday, we had our debriefing meeting with the team from the Cornell University Climate-adaptive Design studio. Along with the Village of Ossining and a few key stakeholders, including state and county representatives, and significantly, Metro North representatives, we reviewed the designs completed by Cornell landscape architecture graduate students for our waterfront. Participating in this program has been an eye-opening experience -- as we consider the impacts climate change will have on our waterfront in the next few decades. Although the designs produced are still at student level, this debriefing meeting with Professor Josh Cerra, Libby Zemaitis from the Hudson River Estuary Program, and their community coordinator Liz LoGiudice will help us navigate next steps. This will help inform and buttress future grant opportunities, some of which are made available only as a result of our participation in this program. As we move forward and help bring the lessons learned from this experience into our community, we know we need to keep the impacts of climate change front and center and consider incorporating the designs and ideas of the students into our Comprehensive Plan Process.

This week, the Town Parks Department was hard at work getting us ready for spring. These warm days in January let us finish up installing our new mulch around our new equipment at Louis Engel and Buck Johnson Parks. Although it's a little too cold outside for outdoor workouts, you definitely need to check out these latest additions to our parks when it warms back up a bit! At both Engel and Buck Johnson, the outdoor adult fitness equipment can help you incorporate some cross fit training into your outdoor walks or runs. Here's Engel Park:

Pro-tip: each of the pieces of equipment have QR codes that you can scan to help learn some new workouts! And here is the finished product at Buck Johnson:

Both parks also have upgrades for our younger parkgoers -- at Buck Johnson there is a super cute playground piece and at Engel, we have installed new swings. The old swings broke last season, so we are very excited to get this piece of equipment back in place. Note: one of the swings is ADA accessible. Shout out to our newest Parks Groundskeeper, Alban -- he definitely approves!

Dale Cemetery Superintendent Pete Connolly would like to remind everyone to please pick up any seasonal decorations from Dale Cemetery or Sparta Cemetery by Monday, January 27th. Otherwise, the decorations will be removed and disposed of by our Cemetery Staff. If you have any questions, please call the Cemetery office at (914) 941-1155.

It is a tax collection month once again! Second Half School Taxes for the Ossining and Briarcliff School Districts are due on January 31st. You can make payment in person, by mail (make sure you witness the postmark to ensure timely delivery) or online (be wary of online bill pay from your bank -- those mailpieces are not postmarked and if we receive your check after January 31st, you will get a penalty), or utilizing our dedicated mailbox at the Ossining Post Office. The Tax Office will be open extended hours on Thursday, January 30th and Friday, January 31st from 8am to 6pm. Please call (914) 762-8790 or e-mail Receiver Holly Perlowitz at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This is a tax payment you do NOT want to be late on -- the penalty is 10%! Holly and her team are happy to help you come up with a strategy to ensure your payment is made timely. You can also sign-up for direct messages from Holly here.

Neighbor's Link is offering free English tutoring at their offices in Ossining on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They can accommodate up to 30 participants per session. Thank you to Neighbor's Link for all the good work they do for Ossining, helping people learn English, and growing the community.

The fight for Foundation Aid continues for the Ossining School District as the New York State legislature comes back into session for 2020. Join the Ossining schools for an Educational Equity Rally this Saturday, January 18th, as they continue to encourage our state legislators to address discrepancies in Foundation Aid funding. The rally will take place from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. at the Westchester County Daronco Courthouse located at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., White Plains. This rally will focus on the fight for the “Harmed Suburban Five” school districts, which receive some of the lowest percentages of Foundation Aid funding in New York State - including Ossining, Glen Cove City School District, Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District, Riverhead Central School District, and Westbury School District.

A book discussion group focusing on African-American, African, and Afro-Caribbean authors meets at the Ossining Public Library on the 3rd Saturday of each month. This month's book is Americanah by Chimandanda Ngozi Adiche, and the next meeting is January 18th at 3pm. Next month's book is The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead -- get your copy reserved now at OPL!

The Ossining School District's Saturday Explore and Learn series continues this Saturday. Check out the many fun offerings they have for the whole family!

This weekend, we can honor Dr. King by attending the Cooperative Scholarship Fund Celebration and Tribute to Dr. King, to be held on Saturday, January 18th at 3pm at the Ossining High School Theater. Donations will support the Cooperative Scholarship Fund, which goes directly to OHS students heading to college. This year, the celebration will feature KJ Denhert -- one of my favorite local performers, and Sarah White will be speaking, another of my new faves -- she is a great storyteller!

Have you tried West African Dance yet? Not to be missed, work off calories while dancing to the tune of some phenomenal drumming! Then enjoy some craft brews at SSKB. It is invigorating to say the least.

Plan on joining the Briarcliff-Ossining Ministerial Alliance for a service remembering the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Sunday, January 19th at 7:30pm at Star of Bethlehem Church. This annual service will feature the theme of Renewal and Reconciliation with speaker Reverend Dr. William Shaw. Reverend Shaw has experienced the power of renewal and reconciliation advocating for peace and acceptance through sectarian conflicts in Northern Ireland. This is always an inspiring evening honoring the life and legacy of Dr. King.

Senator David Carlucci is holding a meeting of his Student Advisory group on Thursday, January 23rd from 6:30pm to 8:00pm at the Ossining Public Library. This is open to any and all Ossining or Briarcliff High School students -- contact Stanley Dorsainville at Senator Carlucci's office at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more.

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Ossining Library will be presenting this performance which promises to be both fascinating and entertaining, about the woman who hid the Frank family in Holland. As a child of a hidden child myself, my mother was also born in Amsterdam, I plan to be there, and am hoping to see many of you as well.

Assemblywoman Sandy Galef has her annual Town Meetings lined up for January and February, starting on January 25th at the Desmond Fish Library in Garrison at 10am and the Field Library in Peekskill at 1pm. Assemblywoman Galef will also be more local to us at the Briarcliff Manor Library on Thursday, February 6th at 7pm.

If you haven't been checking your weather app, we just wanted you to know that there is a Winter Weather Advisory in our area starting at 10am on Saturday, January 18th and ending 1am on Sunday. There is a high potential for light accumulating snow in our area starting late tomorrow morning and ending tomorrow evening. As of right now, it looks like we could get around four to five inches, with snow falling at a rate of one inch per hour, so please remember to be safe and try to stay off the roads if you can. On this long weekend, it sounds like a good plan to stay inside with a good book and wait until the snow clears. As always during snow events, please do not shovel or plow snow from your driveway onto the street, stay out of the way of the snow plows, and we should be good to go by Sunday!

--Dana