Written by Carol P. Bartold

Dec. 10, 2014: With a $6.8 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on the line, the Bronxville Board of Trustees urges village residents to vote "yes" to approve funding of the school district's $900,000 portion of the flood mitigation project in the January 22, 2015, referendum.

The referendum will also include a separate proposition to authorize the use of funds from the district-wide improvements capital reserve fund to cover the cost of the Hayes Field restoration and reconfiguration. Residents will vote separately on each proposition.

Deputy Mayor Robert Underhill noted that, although the village has received many emails from concerned citizens about the Hayes Field turf project, the village is not taking a position on that proposition in the referendum.

"We are advocating a 'yes' vote for FEMA," Underhill said. "We're not taking a position on the school field."

"I can't emphasize how important it is to vote for the FEMA funding," Mayor Mary Marvin stated at the board's December 8 meeting. "We spent years crafting an application that would get to the top of the pile." After a three-year FEMA review process, the agency awarded the village and school district a grant to cover 75 percent of the project's cost.

Under the terms of the grant, the village and the Bronxville Union Free School District will each fund 12.5 percent of the project's cost.

Marvin noted that the level of FEMA funding for the joint village and school project is unprecedented because, since Superstorm Sandy in 2012, FEMA has capped its funding for grants at 50 percent of a project's cost.

Mayor Marvin and trustee Anne W. Poorman both pointed out that, after two devastating hundred-year flooding events within only a few years, residents tasked the village to address issues of chronic flooding.

"It horrifies me to think we have money of an unprecedented nature on a platter and we would consider not using it for something this important," Poorman stated. "This is what we're doing to fix the flooding issue, so I hope people separate the two issues."

Deputy Mayor Underhill pointed out that if the voters turn down the FEMA grant, dealing with the next flood would be "strictly on our nickel."

Trustee Donald Gray Steps Down

Trustee Donald Gray announced at the meeting that not only has he decided not to run for re-election, but he will also step down from the board effective immediately. The two-time trustee who also served on the board 20 years ago said that, upon reflection, he feels it's time to disengage from the board of trustees as well as other charitable boards.

Randolph Mayer, an alternate member of the village's planning board and a 25-year village resident, has agreed to serve the remainder of Gray's term, which expires in March of 2015. Mayer is a municipal and land use attorney.

The Bronxville Board of Trustees will meet on Monday, January 12, 2015, at 8:00 pm in the trustees room at Bronxville Village Hall.

Pictured here: Behind the desk (L to R): Trustee Donald Gray, Mayor Mary Marvin, trustee Anne W. Poorman, and Deputy Mayor Robert Underhill; foreground: Maryann Magliato, secretary to mayor and village administrator.

Photo by Carol P. Bartold