City Council Discusses Deskovic Case

After announcing that the City Council would be going into executive session to discuss legal matters regarding “Deskovic,” council members spent more than an hour talking to lawyers behind closed doors at the start of Monday night’s work session.

Jeff Deskovic, wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a Peekskill High School classmate in 1990, was exonerated in 2006 after serving almost 16 years in prison. Two years after the 1989 rape and murder of the classmate, Angela Correa, a jury found Deskovic guilty of the crimes that Steven Cunningham later confessed to committing. Deskovic was 17-years-old when he was sentenced.

Last week Westchester county legislators approved a $6.5 million settlement for Deskovic. Several lawsuits, including one against the city of Peekskill, are still pending. Here is the case information from the Innocence Project and an article by the Journal News' Jonathan Bandler on the settlement.

When the work session was opened back up to the public, the council discussed several agenda items. Among them:

-Children May Bring Kurzals Building Back Alive

Joan King, the owner of , discussed opening a second childcare center in the first and second floors of the almost 200-year-old on Main Street, directly across from City Hall. King plans to use the first two floors for the childcare center and to use one part of the first floor as a children’s salon, which her daughter would run. The council agreed to create a resolution allowing the special permit.

“It will be great to see that building restored and have a vibrant business in it,” said Mayor Foster.

The building has sat empty for more than twenty years, but a Benjamin Fiering is under contract to purchase it and renovate the first two floors, bring them up to code and then renovate the third floor, which houses a more than 100-year-old theater that has deteriorated.  Follow updates on this story here on Patch and on our facebook and twitter pages.

-Homestyle Desserts parking:

At Monday night's meeting, owner of Homestyle Desserts on Lower South Street Rose Sanca was scheduled to meet with the Common Council to discuss but Sanca postponed to a later date when she would be able to have her attorney with her, City Manager Rick Finn told the council. Mayor Mary Foster asked Finn for an explanation of the agreement that he and staff had reached with Sanca. The city has been in discussions with Sanca regarding replacement parking spots for the city owned land where Sanca’s current parking lot sits, and on which the city will be building a Lincoln Plaza Visitor’s Center within the next few months.

Last week, Sanca brought a group of supporters to speak out against metered and permit parking for her business, an agreement that Finn and City Planner Anthony Ruggerrio had recently reached with Sanca, Finn said. Finn said that he thought she had been happy with the agreement the week before the meeting.

“We thought both parties had an agreement, it took us by shock,” Council member Marybeth McGowan said, of last week's council meeting turnout.

“It surprised us too,” Finn said. “We shook hands,” Finn said of the meting with Sanca in which he said the deal had been worked out.

After discussion about placement of parking spots, meters and permit parking, planning department assistance with signage, and the size of the Visitor’s Center, Mayor Foster asked Ruggerio for more information about the situation, including how many employees Sanca employs (22) and where they currently park so that the council could be well prepared for their eventual meeting with Sanca in the next week or two.

-Peekskill Ineligible for Portion of CDBG Funding Set Aside for Communities with Less Affordable Housing

Applications for the 2012-214 round of the Westchester Urban County Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), a federal program that gives assistance to communities for neighborhood revitalization and improvement, must be submitted to the county by June 1, 2011.

As part of the county’s need to comply with obligations required by the 2009 to build 750 units of affordable housing in eligible communities, Peekskill will not be able to claim 10 percent of the total amount that will be available through the CDBG. Peekskill is not eligible for the mandated affordable housing because it already has a disproportionate amount of the county’s affordable housing units. Communities with less diversity and little to no existing affordable housing will be able to receive a higher percentage of CDBG money than Peekskill.

Council members expressed frustration that the more affluent Westchester communities that are eligible for the portion of affordable housing grant money have not shown they will put the money to use towards building affordable housing.

-Customer Service Training:

City manager Rick Finn explained to the council that an intensive six week, 2 day per week customer service training course would begin next week for 25 city employees. The course would be given to all employees over the next few months, with next week’s course starting with the city manager, supervisors and those second in command.

“This is the first set of training amongst many to hopefully change the basic culture and approach of our work force,” Finn said.

Here is the stated purpose of the management training, contained in the Customer Service Proposal:

“The purpose of this management training is to provide the leadership team of Peekskill with (1) a comprehensive overview of what a culturally driven' customer service approach encompasses, (2) why it should be the approach of choice, and (3) acquire the fundamental principles, concepts, skills and strategies, necessary to routinely practice 'culturally proficient', quality customer service.”

-Priority Projects:

City Planner Anthony Ruggerio reviewed some of the planning priority projects, but, because the meeting had already lasted about three hours by the time the council reached that item, the full discussion on that topic was pushed back for a later date.

-Memorial Park Improvements:

A resolution to award Memorial Park Improvement project to Vernon Hills Contracting Corp in the in the amount of $126,414.65 will be placed on the consent agenda for next week’s Common Council meeting.

-Permits for Community Events:

The council agreed to place permits for the Italian Festival and Cinco de Mayo event on the consent agenda for the next Common Council meeting. Cinco de Mayo will be held by Ruben’s Café, Finn said, and it is on May 12. The Italian Festival will be in August.