South Nyack Dissolution Meeting Marred By Zoom Bombers

SOUTH NYACK, NY — A virtual board meeting Monday to discuss the upcoming referendum over dissolving the village of South Nyack accomplished its goal of hiring a consultant, but not before the trustees had been Zoom-bombed by two masked hecklers.

"Unfortunately, during today's special Board of Trustees Zoom meeting there were a couple of participants that used inappropriate and disturbing language and videos," Mayor Bonnie Christian said in an email to residents afterward. "On behalf of the Village Board, I denounce the vile and hate-filled "Zoom bombs" at our special meeting today. The words spoken were racist and anti-Semitic, and they threatened the safety of village employees and residents. We will not tolerate these actions, and we are taking this matter seriously. Our South Nyack/GrandView Police Department have been notified and are investigating this matter."

At the online meeting, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to hire government consultant firm CGR to research and explain the process, costs and benefits of dissolving the village, The Journal News reported. CGR was the low bidder at $15,000. The other firm under consideration was the LaBerge Group, which is handling the Pawling village/town merger. LaBerge bid $28,000.

SEE: Dissolving South Nyack: Village Board Calls Special Session

South Nyack is a village within the town of Orangetown. Three other incorporated villages in the town are Nyack, Grand View-on-Hudson and Piermont.

There are 10 unincorporated communities in Orangetown, including Blauvelt, Upper Grandview and Pearl River. Its total population of roughly 49,000 is served by a full list of departments including the Orangetown police, who already handle policing for the village of Nyack.

Living in an incorporated village, the 3,500 residents of South Nyack have their own government, including building and public works departments, local court and police force, which they share with Grand View. They have use of some town services, including parks and recreation.

In another layer of government, there are also two school districts serving the area, with their own structure and property taxes: Nyack and South Orangetown.

Residents who want to end the village-level layer of local government, leaving just the town of Orangetown, filed a petition with enough signatures to force a referendum. The success of the petition drive put the trustees on a timetable set by state law. SEE: South Nyack Residents To Vote On Dissolving The Village

A similar process is going on in Dutchess county, where the village and town of Pawling are considering consolidation. Benjamin Syden, the consultant in that process, told Pawling residents in a presentation Aug. 25 that 21 villages in New York have dissolved themselves since 2010, when legislation was passed in Albany to make it easier.

Some New Yorkers hold strong opinions about the layers of local government under which they live. In South Nyack, proponents of dissolution have said among other things that they want to save taxpayer money by eliminating duplication of services. Opponents have said among other things that they fear services would not be as good under the town government.

A galvanizing issue is the sale of part of the Nyack College campus to a Ramapo-based yeshiva and developer. Yeshiva officials have said that initially they want to offer a high-school and college for 500 students. SEE: Nyack College Sold To Yeshiva Viznitz For Religious School.

Some in South Nyack say they don't want the kind of issues Ramapo wrestles with between its burgeoning Hasidic community (there are 25,000 students in the East Ramapo school district who attend the Ultra-Orthodox community's private schools, compared to under 9,000 children who attend the public schools) and the non-Hasidic community. The issues include taxes, services, safety, development and corruption. SEE: Rockland Leaders Grapple With Development, Anti-Semitism.