(WHITE PLAINS, NY) At a time where there are calls for increased security nationwide, Public Safety & Social Services Committee Chairman Legislator Ben Boykin (D-White Plains) asked the Department of Public Safety to appear before the Committee today to continue its discussion of the impact of several police officer vacancies and the need to fill them immediately.  The Astorino Administration replied saying no one would be coming to discuss the matter with the legislators.

WHITE PLAINS, NY - BOL Majority Leader Catherine Borgia has discovered that Legislator Bernice Spreckman’s resignation letter was incorrectly submitted and therefore her effective date of resignation has not yet occurred, according to New York State Public Officers Law Section 31 subd.1(f), which requires county officials to address their resignation letter to the County Clerk.  Since the earliest effective date of her resignation will be June 20, 2016, this allows the County board to set a special election for Primary Day, September 13, 2016, when there is already an election occurring in the Mt. Vernon section of the district.  Not adding another Election Day to the calendar has the potential to save taxpayers up to a hundred thousand dollars in overtime and other resources at a time when county government is under severe budgetary pressure.

At the regular meeting of the Westchester County Board of Legislators (BOL) on Monday night, Democrat Majority Leader Catherine Borgia blocked a vote on the Legislation which would set the date for a special election to fill the Legislative District 14 seat of retired Legislator Bernice Spreckman.  

(WHITE PLAINS, NY) A special meeting of the Board of Legislators was held this morning to vote on spending housing settlement funds on 10 affordable housing units in the Town of Mamaroneck with the hope that they would be counted in the housing settlement with HUD. The vote failed to pass with a supermajority which was needed because several legislators believed it too risky to commit $3 million of taxpayer dollars to a project that had serious doubts attached as to whether they would be counted by the court.  The units in question have already been designated as affordable housing as a result of an agreement between the developer and the Town.  Stipulations of that agreement call for these units to be reserved for workforce housing in the community.  The five county legislators all agreed that since Mamaroneck would still gain 10 units of affordable housing due to the good work of the local officials, the County did not have to risk County taxpayers $3 million.