Town of Rye Continues with Dissolution Movement

Town of Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin - in a move to downsize government and create a more efficient entity for residents - has been working on dissolving the town. But according to a report in The Journal News, the process has been slow and will not occur anytime soon. 

Carvin updated town officials on the matter during a May 20 Rye Town Board meeting, and town volunteer media coordinator Dick Hubert wrote the below summary of Carvin's remarks:

1)    RYE TOWN DISSOLUTION – On Hold Until Rye Neck Solution Clarified.

Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin provided an update on the status of the Rye Town Dissolution effort, which is on hold pending a structural (organization of local government) solution for the Rye Neck section of the Village of Mamaroneck. Assemblyman Steve Otis (D), who represents the three entities included in Rye Town (Port Chester, Rye Brook, the Rye Neck section of Mamaroneck) has presented extensive legal reasons why the dissolution of the Town can go forward under state law. That proposed solution is still being vetted.

Working with experts from the New York State Assembly, Assemblyman Otis, himself a lawyer, discovered that in spite of conventional wisdom, there is no New York State constitutional requirement that a Town must sit above a village.   As a result, he has proposed that when the Town of Rye dissolves, the Rye Neck section of the Village of Mamaroneck (VOM) simply continue to be served by VOM for its needs and that the overlapping services currently provided by the Town cease to exist.  Assemblyman Otis is confident that eventual Home Rule legislation would be able to supersede any contravening statutes, given the fact there is no constitutional requirement for a Town to sit over a Village.

However, at present the process is stalled until Assemblyman Otis can persuade VOM counsel that his proposal is workable.   Supervisor Carvin expressed confidence in Assemblyman Otis’ proposal but indicated that Home Rule legislation would not be approved in the current legislative session.  The next session of the Steering Committee for Town Dissolution is set for Friday May 30th and he hopes to be able to provide an update after that meeting.

2)    RYE TOWN MOVE OF OFFICES TO VILLAGE OF PORT CHESTER (VPC) GOVERNMENT CENTER.  Supervisor Carvin’s statement on dissolution came at the end of a meeting which saw a long, civil, but pained debate on the costs of the impending move to the Port Chester Government Center at 222 South Grace Church Street.

This move has been a key part of the Town Board’s efforts to downsize Rye Town, and get rid of an old and deteriorating Town Hall (the 10 Pearl Street location which has been sold and where the Town staff and facilities now reside under a contractual clause with the buyer allowing them extra time to work out the logistics of the move). In fact, the Town Board, working with numbers provided by Town staff and the architect in charge of designing space for the move, initially expected that the net cost of the move would be $128,225.  

When the project was first bid, on February 21, 2014, the low cost proposal came in far higher than expected and was in excess of $600,000.

Deputy Supervisor Bill Villanova, Confidential Secretary Bishop Nowotnik and Architect Gary Gianfrancisco then reviewed the specs, re-worked the job and put out a second RFP.   The hope at the time was that by reducing the scope of work and more aggressively reaching out to potential bidders the Town would be able to bring the construction costs down closer to the original estimate.  

The new RFP numbers were received on April 11th but given the fact that the April Town meeting came on the heels of the bid, there was no time to provide numbers to the public at the April meeting.  Unfortunately, while the new construction number was improved to $498,226, the net costs to the Town still came in substantially higher than what was originally anticipated, at $383,000.   

That precipitated a comprehensive debate which is best seen on video to be appreciated. It showed a bipartisan split on the Town Board.

Supervisor Carvin first of all thanked Deputy Supervisor Villanova, Mr. Nowotnik and Mr. Gianfrancisco for all of the hard work they had invested in pulling together two successive bids.   He said that Town of Rye constituents had been well served by these dedicated public servants who had invested countless hours in this process.    He said he had no doubt that the project as currently configured could not be brought in at a price any lower than the price achieved through their diligent efforts.

However, Supervisor Carvin, taken back by the size of the cost miss, thought there was no way the approval to make the move could be voted on that evening, particularly in light of the fact that the new construction numbers had not yet been shared with the public. He argued there had to be at least a two week pause where everyone could look once again at all the options to make one last effort to reduce the costs and examine all available alternatives.

His Deputy Supervisor, Bill Villanova (Republican), argued that he had looked at every desk drawer and every nail and every can of paint that would be required, and he was fed up with delays and that the move should be voted on and made promptly.

Town Attorney Paul Noto reminded one and all that under the agreements the Town had already signed, the lease payments to the Village of Port Chester had started May 1.

Town Supervisor Carvin also noted that just that afternoon, the Town had received news from the Village of Port Chester (VPC) that they too had encountered the same kind of cost escalation difficulties for the move of the Town Court to the Village of Port Chester Court facilities and were asking that the Town of Rye work with them to find a solution.  He continued that it was clear that a comprehensive re-negotiation with VPC would be needed and that was another reason the vote should not go forward that evening.

Ultimately the debate boiled down to whether a vote should be taken that night, or whether there should be a two week breather during which time every aspect of the move could be fully vetted one last time and examined against a range of alternatives.

Supervisor Carvin argued that given the size of the miss and in view of the fact that the public had not previously been told of the miss, a vote to go ahead in a near empty meeting room with no local media present (the one reporter attending had left early to report on school board elections) was unacceptable.

Mr. Villanova argued that the time to start getting their act together was NOW. Councilman Tom Nardi (Democrat) joined with Mr. Villanova in insisting the move go ahead immediately, while the two week waiting period was supported in a 3-2 vote by Councilman Bob Nioras, Councilwoman Christina Collins, and Supervisor Carvin, all Republicans. And so there will be a Special Town meeting on Tuesday, June 3 at 5:30PM to determine how best to move forward.  

It is important to point out that the higher costs are part of a prevailing market trend in our community experienced by numerous participants beyond the Town of Rye, as the economic recovery takes hold and as builders who have been dormant for months are suddenly very busy.  In the case of construction costs for municipalities, that trend is exacerbated by New York State’s “prevailing wage” law that Mr. Nowotnik stated can increase costs for a municipal government project by as much as 50%.