I am proud of what I have accomplished during my time on the Town Board. Having said that, I know that good leaders acknowledge that accomplishments very rarely result from the efforts of any one person, but rather inevitably require the active participation of many others whose contributions inevitably are needed to get things done right (such as our employees, professionals, residents and fellow Town Board members). So, thank you! to everyone who has collaborated to make this town an even better place.
An important underlying approach to my accomplishments is that I carefully analyze things to achieve results that are as cost-effective and fiscally responsible as possible so as to avoid wasting our residents' tax dollars and to avoid unnecessary delays. In doing so, I refine my analysis by actively encouraging others to voice their candid opinions. Some important examples of things I have been able to accomplish through collaboration include the following:
I have fought hard to preserve North Castle's special, small-town character that drew many of us here, and not surrender its unique charm to excess or overly-dense development. For example, I am the only Town Board member to never have voted in favor of the requests by the purchasers of the Mariani site, including the requests for excessive density granted to a site that to this day remains a blight on the gateway to our town and its adjacent historic district. I also rejected residential or commercial redevelopment of the existing Town Hall parcel in connection with proposals aggressively pursued by others in early 2025 for a new Town Hall. Another example is my support of the residents of Byram Brook Place in their fight against what seemed like a thinly-veiled, "camel's nose in the tent" attempt to transform their pleasant, close-knit residential neighborhood into a commercial hub.
I fought tirelessly against the granting of unjustified preferential condo tax treatment to new development projects until I was able to get enough other Town Board members to join with me in voting against them. (When the Town Board grants condo tax treatment, a developer's new homes permanently pay property taxes that essentially are as much as 50% lower than the rates the rest of us pay. That amounts to a subsidy to developers that the rest of us pay for (in the form of a smaller tax base that results in higher taxes for the rest of us) because the lower taxes translate into a higher selling price for the developer's homes, which is why developers have routinely sought them in the past from the Town Board.)
This type of preferential tax treatment is especially unfair to residents who live in developments with similar types of homes — such as Whippoorwill Hills, Whippoorwill Ridge and the Cider Mill — because when they go to sell their homes, it puts them at a pricing disadvantage to the other homes that have been granted condo tax treatment.
I also have dedicated myself to protecting the safety and sufficiency of our drinking water. For example, through persistence, I was the catalyst in protecting the quality of the desirable NYC water in Kensico Reservoir. After repeatedly refusing to do so for a year or more, the developer of the former MBIA property (which overlooks Kensico Reservoir) backed down from eliminating a four-acre conservation easement that protects the reservoir's water quality, and increased it to five acres instead. This was an important victory for our town because we increasingly are getting water from the Kensico Reservoir at the same time that there have been growing concerns about our private wells and our town wells, which collectively supply most of our town's drinking water, e.g., greater awareness of the risks of even low levels of "forever chemicals," and even wells going dry.
Against this backdrop, it was helpful that Matt Milim and I questioned a costly initial proposal for replacing water from a contaminated well in Lombardi Park and supported a revised plan devised by Sal Misiti, the very capable head of our Water and Sewer Department, to instead extend the water main on School Street into the park. This extension will help facilitate further planning by Sal to connect Armonk's downtown water district to water from the Kensico Reservoir, and then to further extend the water main on School Street to Byram Hills High School. Once that is done, many more residents will have safe water to drink, including our students and educators at Byram Hills High School.
For many years, a major priority was the maintenance and repair of our local roads. Building on a useful pavement study and the work of our Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, I helped to accelerate — with low-interest debt — the repaving of our local roads. This not only improved the quality of our roads sooner (which, of course, already was later than it should have been), but it also saved us money by avoiding further deterioration of our roads, which would have resulted in higher costs for their delayed repair and repaving.
I have been a strong proponent of improving our recreational facilities for many years. For example, when Matt Milim joined me on the Town Board in 2021 and proposed turf fields for IBM Community Park, I analyzed the costs and benefits and steadfastly supported this important project, as well as upgrades to the ballfields at Clove Road. I also actively advocated for the town's purchase of the town pool — which benefits many of our residents, including the kids who attend our town camps — together with Matt's successful approach for consummating the pool's purchase that overcame long-unresolved obstacles. In addition, I supported from the outset our residents' desire for our popular new dog park at IBM Community Park, which was championed by Matt and our local high school student, Juliet Meyers, and her mom.
Increasing concerns over how we have been spending taxpayers' money in the past two years have led me to object to the increasing use of change orders — such as the questionable one used over my objections to demolish the building in Lombardi Park — without seeking qualified alternative pricing that may be significantly less, when it is feasible to do so. My concerns about the use of change orders and, more broadly, wasting taxpayer dollars, also motivated me to work to improve the town's procurement policy that was recently adopted.
As liaison to the Police Department, I have worked for many years to maintain and improve our public safety by helping to ensure that the police have the resources they need to protect us and to reduce the car thefts that plagued us. In addition, I spearheaded the automation of a time-consuming daily task, thereby freeing up time that could be dedicated to more policing.
I also have served as liaison to the volunteer Armonk Fire Department for several years and routinely attended the Fire Commissioners' monthly meetings. In addition to advocating for their needs, I worked closely with the AFD to devise and implement an agreement that significantly reduced unnecessary calls from our local assisted living facility.