Rye Town Park Commission Special Meeting (Public Session) - October 23, 2020

special meeting of the right town park commission um what is today's date the twenty twenty third october um uh debbie do you wanna say the pledge for us i think i pledge allegiance to the united states of america for which it stands [Music] commissioner president commissioner rosenberg i'll mark him as present uh commissioner cohn here commissioner falanka yeah president zuckerman here okay may i have a motion and a second to get into uh executive session to discuss litigation matters i'll move second call the role please commissioner heard yes commissioner cohn yes commissioner helenetro yes commissioner rosenberg yes commissioner falanka yes president zuckerman yes okay we're now in executive session to close executive session and to uh reopen the special meeting i'll move second all in favor hi hi any opposed no okay debbie we are now in public session okay okay we have a motion on the table uh actually we don't may i have a motion to approve the resolution 2020 resolution r20 of 20. a motion in a second we can have further discussion i'll make the motion i'm sorry so you're in public session now yeah okay so the public can view and everything yes okay okay so specifically we've been recording this it has not been broadcast would you like me to broadcast now yes that's going to take me a minute hold on peace foreign are we ready no i i have to i have to get to the right page please emily i'm glad you could stay here are we public right now yes i'm yeah i'm in the uh live stream to facebook is making its way around i was gonna swear but i didn't want to swear on facebook and in front of my five small friends standing right here but i i'm about to pull out my hair all right i believe i was just i believe we're live on facebook i was just remarking i'm glad that you were able to stay i know you have those issues um okay for the public we have left executive session per uh a motion and a vote we are now in public session uh i'm calling for a motion to approve resolution number 20 of 2020 um authorizing the ryton park commission to make a tax payment to the city of rye may i have a motion on a second i'll make a motion second okay four seconds all right um now thank you uh is there any further discussion on this motion i would i would just supplement uh that if any board member require requests any information to substantiate the financial uh status uh and condition for this one-time payment that they would be granted uh all the information requested well that's always the case betty you don't need that in the motion that's that's awesome somebody i understand that but if somebody's uncomfortable voting in the affirmative because of that i'll i'll put that out there so i appreciate that benny i guess what i would ask is is that the the motion would include the stipulation that there are sufficient unencumbered assets to pay the the tax arrears and support operating expenses of the park going into the 2020 season in normal fashion all right sorry go ahead and i accept that i think that's rational i i just wanted to add that i in support of the resolution um we add the documentation that we received today from the comptroller all right jeffrey um do you have the wording i would i would put that after the last where as clause and before the first resolve clause i can can we there is a bunch of whereas is i have comments on all the whereases and why don't you just strip the whereas is and keep the meat and potatoes of this so that we don't have to go through and and editing of the whereases i was not expecting this and i don't actually have my notes on the whereases in front of me well debbie do you have the ability to edit this on the fly right and um i do i'm i'm just dialing up right now as you're speaking can you share the screen debbie everybody see the uh the resolution yes okay ready to go so i i don't see any need for the whereas is why isn't this just a resolution to pay the tax arrears to pay the tax arrears in full i i agree i don't know if we need all the history on here okay with me i have no pride in authorship that's fine the only the only whereas i think we should keep them is whereas the amount currently due to the city according to the most recent bill is 266 etc and then resolved that we pay 266. so uh the whereas as i've just highlighted delete all right it's too small on my screen okay to read what you're doing so you could just debbie just read the first whereas clause that you've highlighted and we'll just put call the question delete or in cursor or keep we'll do all right the first whereas whereas right town park is jointly owned by the town of rye and the city of rye and is situated wholly in the geographic boundaries of the city right delete unnecessary well that's just a statement i mean i don't care we all right i'm just gonna i'm just gonna edit all these things let's let's let's just cut cut cut to the chase i think all we want to save is what jeff was suggesting but i i can't read your screen debbie because it comes out as too small on my screen and i don't get to adjust the view because you're screen sharing so actually i can't that's interesting i can just i see it well for josh's benefit read it so we've got the whereas and i'm trying to see it whereas the amount currently due to the city according is and and greg that's the sum is that right five hundred 266 six dollars and twenty two cents greg is that correct he's returning to his office right now i'm sorry josh what was the question the the precise taxable sum the sum in arrears 266 506 222. i i believe that is right two seconds i'm sure that's the amount that uh joe sent debbie yeah the uh the backup is is uh here in the resolution i can it open it i can open it up if you'd like that's fine it's that's correct can you okay so that's that's the first whereas yes and then the next one is whereas to avoid the continued accumulation of interest and penalties stemming from this matter the rye town park commission does now authorize the payment of 266 thousand and 506 dollars and 22 cents representing the current amount of real estate taxes interest and penalties billed to the right town park commission by the city of rye now therefore be it resolved that the right town park commission hereby authorizes the payment of 266 506 and 22 cents to the city abroad in full satisfaction of real property taxes for the three parcels comprising right town park for taxable years 2013 through 2020 and it is further resolved that the right town park commission hereby authorizes the payment of the above mentioned some without prejudice to any future remedies including but not limited to either legal legislative or inter-municipal that may be available to the right town park commission its successors or assigns and be further resolved that the right town park commission hereby makes this payment under protest without waiving any and all rights it may have with respect to pending or future legal proceedings related to the park's assessed value and or taxable status i i don't i don't think that we need the further resolved and and those savings provisions i think if you just pay it you've got whatever rights i i can't i i can't vote to uh and i i can't vote in favor of further tax litigation with the city of rye which is what's implicit there yes it is implicit and i i think that foreign well i think that we need to reserve to uh reserve the rights of the commission i don't want an argument that we paid this now we can't litigate it anymore sorry benny go ahead we're not signing an mou so there is no uh attachment this payment has nothing to do with the uh offer from the city so i i don't see the link between them okay fine i don't know that we need a resolution though the city of raleigh tax commission why can't i just pay the bill i thought it would be better process for us to get an approval resolution do i need you don't need a resolution then then let's not have a resolution but i i'd like to see the resolution and i i i think it removing the further resolve clause doesn't uh limit the right town parks uh commission's ability to do what it needs to do if it needs to do it well i'll just say as the as the attorney uh craftsman i was asked to draft uh this resolution uh with um several objectives in mind one is pain two is reserving our rights and i was advised by tax circuit council who's handling our our tax our cases that we are to pay this under protest so i i think it's i think it's um it's like for us uh litigation wise location posture that's like you know one of those belt and suspenders type of lawyering moves it doesn't seem to hurt anyone's position but i think it could potentially help down the road so that there's no i'll tell you when i'll tell you mr why you know and how and when and under what circumstances i'll tell you let me read that last further resolve so we can hear it again is by the way debbie is there a typo on the first whereas under the underlining where it says rptcp is that a typo right yeah it did it is it all it should always say rye town should always be rtpc and then i don't know the next one that's like uh a conjoined rpt c t piece that's a line just take that out i believe all right i'm gonna make i'm gonna make a suggestion then uh i would like to take a voice vote authorizing me to pay that sum of money uh and hopefully we can do that unanimously uh and that way josh doesn't have to vote against the resolution and what i will do is send the payment to the city of rye with some of the wording in the resolved clauses that are not being voted on is that acceptable that way everybody can vote for the payment and we can send the payment and i'll send a cover letter with or cover email with the payment however it's done physically um reserving whatever rights we have the city could deposit the check and if we gosh maybe josh you'd like to abstain that's always an option yeah i was just gonna maybe also suggest that as well all right i like here's my here's the problem with that voice vote and we can talk about it my concern is that not concerned uh because we're dealing with arrears a large sum of money coming from various budget lines i just think you start from a historical perspective that this document will substantiate the rationale for the right town park commission and how it paid this lump sum settlement that i just feel more comfortable having it in a formal resolution and then you know for all the other reasons that we discussed before even the voice vote that you're calling for gary it doesn't provide for the under protest provision that that jeff is looking for yeah but benny you had said before that you want a unanimous vote and josh well he's not going to vote for it well i mean i'm not suggesting that he is or isn't i don't know how he's going to vote the question the point i'm making to you is if you do a voice vote there's nothing in the voice vote to pay this bill on the protest i'm saying that i would write a letter paying under protest but if you want to i mean my my view is to leave the resolved clauses and and then josh will either abstain or vote against it the uh any any um like sometimes taxpayers will make a payment on the back of their check they'll say paying under protest right which reserves whatever rights they might have um i'm not sure josh is distinction has a real difference between a reso and if we attach something in writing or attach something to the check and josh's josh votes for the payment and the payment comes in with you know some sort of protest language or reservation of rights language that you know josh you can speak speak to this point i feel that that's an important enough distinction for you i i if if it's if it's if it's being paid with reservation of rights um i i can't i can't support it okay that's your answer benny so we do the resolution take the vote and see where it goes no okay so the fresh fresh resolution well i mean you could do all these as if we agreed already that they're not necessary leave them out but i would put the condition in uh that josh had initially uh requested because i think it's important um and he's uh has the ability to review any uh backup information as a right town park commissioner you know he's entitled to that you want that going into the resolution absolutely do you want to keep the deleted sections off or put them back in for historical purpose can i just ask a question is this reservation of rights thing i mean basically what you're trying to say is that you're grieving and that there may be a refund issued right in addition there may be other remedies available to us in the courts can we just say that and i mean isn't it we all understand that i don't understand why but josh's point is that he's the mayor of the city of rye and he doesn't want any implication that he supports again suing the city of ra it's a conflict but he's a commissioner doesn't he reserve the right of the commission to reserve us right he's well he can do it i don't know how did joe sack vote in the past i mean that the only guy i have in terms of his his sack had abstained on several votes where the where the commission was uh took a position that he thought was was uh not consistent with the city's position he did it that's reasonable you can abstain yeah i want to get the city paid and i want to make sure that the money that we're paying the city is available and it won't bankrupt the right town park in the future those are my only two things i want to see yeah and i i i to the extent i have a voice in this you do yes it it it should it should reflect both those concerns i i provided some language in in addition to yours and and that is that there were assets sufficient unencumbered assets to pay and support operating expenses of the park going into the 20 21 season in normal fashion all right guys i have to drop where do we stand i personally have no problem with dropping the whereases because i mean jeff if if there are no whereases how does it preclu how does it take away any of our rights whatsoever you know so litigators you know we think from multiple hypothetical angles as to what could potentially be argued down the road is this uh you know considered to be considered some sort of global settlement you know but we also we also have this um don't this is a record now in public this is a public session it's recorded so i i i don't see how there could be any ambiguity we've stated over and over again that we don't want to um forego our rights in the future we're saying it now um i understand that it's not in the resolution but i i don't know i i see it's nice always to have your t's crossed and your eyes dotted but you know it's not one way or the other it's not this is not that's not the spot that having that there's no like magic language there there's really no magic language there given all of our deliberations i think anybody going back and looking at the record can divine what we intended here i don't think that that's going to be confusing so if you want to take it out okay but you guys are let me make it suggest i drafted it like belt and suspenders yeah i understand i understand all right i make a motion gary i'd like to make a point that the resolution has uh as a as uh modified uh be adopted is that the one that is currently yes that's the one that debbie is currently rewriting you got to put the calendar year 2021 in there debbie okay second debbie call the roll please commissioner rosenberg yes commissioner heard yes commissioner yes commissioner cohn abstain commissioner salanitro yes debbie just put 2021 circumstances that's not 2021 betty we talked about the 2021 season yeah it was that is that we can sustain the operation in the park in 2021 normal 2021 under normal circumstances the word under yep yeah thank you yes pleasure all right that was a yes benny yes president zuckerman yes thank you everybody um this is a hard one i think perhaps we'll have further discussion motion to adjourn don't move that's me again all in favor aye aye have a good night thank you everybody

Channel: Town of Rye, Westchester NY

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Id: olmTJzixARk

Length: 24min 42sec (1482 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 13 2020