Grace wins--let's review some of his promises

Yorktown residents will have a new supervisor, Michael Grace, as of Jan. 1, 2012.

Grace, who ran on the Republican line, garnered 2,809 votes; Democrat, Independence and Working Families candidate Don Peters had 2,587; and incumbent Supervisor Susan Siegel, who ran on the Conservative and Yorktowners for Better Government had 2,112 votes, according to the Westchester County Board of Elections website.

Michael Grace is a lawyer whose practice is across the street from Town Hall. He and his wife have eight children, four of them are adopted.

Grace's campaign slogan, "Progress with Preservation," was a play off of the town's slogan, "Progress and Preservation."

During his campaign, Grace promised to make the town board more accountable. During a debate, hosted by the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce, Grace reminisced about the days when town supervisors held weekly meetings with department heads and were well aware of employee issues (implying the past few supervisors were not).

One of his campaign promises was to return accountability to the town board by taking the development approval process back from the planning board. It was a politicial decision to transfer the power to the planning board because how a town councilman voted for any individual project would not affect him at the voting booth, he said.

Grace believes each member of the town board should be held accountable for what projects are permitted to move forward in town, he said.

I'm a huge fan of holding the town board accountable for the governing of the town (well, duh! Right?). It's not okay for town council members to show up to a meeting, have no idea what's on the agenda, be unfamiliar with the topics, and expect to lead the town and its people. Town board members are not getting paid to show up once a week, sit in a chair and nod. So I hope to see Grace shake things up a bit.

Grace isn't the only one who made campaign promises. Others include: Town Councilman Nick Bianco promised he is a friend to the businessman; soon-to-be Councilman David Paganelli promised to bring business practices and strategy to town finances, and to recognize those who volunteer their time to the town.

I look forward to seeing what these gentlemen will do.

Inside the ballot box: More than 400 votes left uncounted

In Yorktown, where residents still do not know who their next town supervisor will be, three districts have not yet been counted, representing 14 percent of the vote in the elections Tuesday, Nov. 8.

The districts where the votes have not been counted are districts 27, 16 and 3, according to elected officials.

District 27 and its 225 votes cast represents about half of Jefferson Village, a senior citizen community; District 16, located in the Beaver Hill area of Yorktown, has a 2:1 ratio of registered Democrats to Republicans. District 16 has 171 uncounted votes. District 3, which also consists of mostly Democrats and is located in the Kitchawan area of Yorktown, has 40 uncounted votes, according to elected officials.

Town Supervisor candidates Michael Grace, who ran on the Republican line, and Don Peters, who ran on the Democrat and Working Families lines, are nearly tied, with Peters ahead by two votes as of Wednesday, Nov. 9.

Incumbent Town Supervisor Susan Siegel, who lost the Republican primary to Grace, ran on the Conservative line and a line of her own, and garnered 27 percent of the vote; Peters and Grace each have 36 percent, so far.

Results 2011: Paganelli, Bianco, Raniolo are the only clear winners

Yorktown will have some new faces in the board room and behind the bench as of Jan. 1.

As of this posting at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, Yorktown Town Council candidate David Paganelli has pulled ahead with more than 85 percent of the districts reporting, and will replace Councilman Jim Martorano on the town board.

Paganelli was the top vote-getter Tuesday night.

"I am beyond myself with gratitude for my committee and friends and constituents who spoke and made this possible," he said Tuesday night. "May the best of our past be the worst of our future, looking ahead to my role guiding Yorktown through some difficult times."

Yorktown Councilman Nick Bianco keeps his seat on the board, and will serve another four years.

Town Justice candidate Gary Raniolo is currently edging Justice Ilan Gilbert by 8 percent.

But the big news tomorrow and perhaps in the weeks ahead will be who has won the town supervisor race. Michael Grace and Don Peters are neck-in-neck, and there is little doubt that one of the candidates will call for a recount. Susan Siegel had a strong showing, but will most likely hand the post over in January.

Alice Roker, who ran unopposed, will retain her position as town clerk.

In the county races, Legislators Michael Kaplowitz and John Testa both look likely to keep their seats.

My Opinion: You've got a friend in Paganelli

I first really met Dave Paganelli, owner of Travelers Rest, about four years ago, maybe a little less. Although I had eaten at Travelers with my family, I could have walked by Dave on the street and not known who he was prior to hanging out an Travelers for some political event I was covering for North County News. We got to talking, and I told him about a problem I was having developing a professional relationship with someone on my beat. As a reporter and editor, it is important to keep lines of communication open with everyone -- especially with those who don't like you. Dave reached out to this person and laid the groundwork for me to gain the person's trust.

That's how we became friends. When I had my first date with the man who is now my husband, we went to Travelers. It was a blind date, and I knew that if things got ugly (and things can get ugly quickly in the world of dating) Dave and his family would have my back (meaning they would hide me in the coat closet if necessary).

Things worked out (obviously), I didn't need to hide, and my husband Phil later proposed to me at Travelers. It was a no-brainer to have our wedding there, in September 2009.

I immediately let it be made known through my column in the newspaper that I would be recusing myself from the editorial endorsement process for the Yorktown races. I didn't want the newspaper's credibility to suffer and I didn't want anyone thinking Dave was getting any special favors, so I bowed out. It was a tough thing to do and yet the easiest thing to do, because it was the right thing to do. You can ask my former Web Editor, Mary Dempsey, and she'll confirm I kept my word.

Now, in 2009, I am not working for a newspaper at the moment, and I can tell you: Vote for my friend. Don't vote for him because he's my friend; vote for him because he genuinely wants to be yours. Dave is one of those people who will help anyone he can. And as a town councilman, he would have the opportunity to help a lot more people. Yorktown Town Councilman Nick Bianco has been in office over 20 years because he returns people's phone calls. The smart elected officials know it is all about constituent service, and that's Dave's focus.

When he told me he was thinking about running for office in early 2007, I told him good luck, and whatever you do, don't become a politician. If you haven't seen the movie, "The Candidate" with Robert Redford, you should. I feared getting involved in politics would change him.

So far it hasn't. I'm betting it won't.

Grace beats Seigel 2 to 1; Paganelli top votegetter in Republican primary

It's getting more and more interesting in Yorktown politics.

The results are still being tallied of the write-in candidates for the other party lines, but David Paganelli is the clear frontrunner on the Republican ticket, with Councilman Nick Bianco coming in second, and Tom DeChiaro a not-so-distant third. Presumbaly Ed Ciffone is in fourth, but the county's website hasn't posted the write-in candidates.

Word has it that Town Supervisor Susan Seigel may stay in the race on her own party line, after Michael Grace beat her 2 to 1 in the Republican primary. If she does, she is sure to to take votes from Grace and give Democratic candidate Don Peters a good shot at taking back his old seat as supervisor come November.

Beaver Farm partners with Town to build playground

The Town of Yorktown has received a $48,750 grant from The Gilbert Beaver Farm, Inc. to purchase handicapped accessible playground equipment that can be used by all children.
Town Supervisor Susan Siegel thanked the administrators of Beaver Farm.
“I’d like to thank the Board of Directors of The Gilbert Beaver Farm for this generous
gift that will enable the Town to expand its recreational opportunities to more of our
children,” Siegel said. “The Farm has been a mainstay of the Yorktown community for at
least 100 years and, in addition to its worldwide charitable initiatives, it has always been
involved in improving the quality of life for Yorktown residents.”
Siegel has asked Jennifer Fava, the Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, to initiate a
discussion with the Recreation Commission of what equipment to purchase and where it
should be located so that recommendations can be provided to the Town Board as soon
as possible.
“We don’t want the money to sit in the bank,” Siegel said. “We want to put
it to use as soon as possible.”
In announcing the gift, Nonnie Braddock, Administrator of The Gilbert Beaver Farm,
called attention to how important it is for children with disabilities to be able to play with
their friends and siblings.
“Having personally known families with disabled children, I know how meaningful it is for non-disabled children to be able to interact and play with
disabled children and vice versa.”
This one time memorial contribution is made in the names of Gilbert and Jean Beaver,
former Yorktown residents and philanthropists.
Siegel noted that this grant for special handicapped accessible recreational equipment
would complement current efforts already underway to improve ADA accessibility of
Yorktown parks.

State Comptroller issues official Yorktown report

An official copy of the state comptroller's audit was released by Yorktown Town Hall Friday, Aug. 12.

The official copy is very similiar to the draft copy first reported in June at NCNLocal.com. http://ncnlocal.com/ncnlocal_news/article_de328cca-9426-11e0-8b89-001cc4c002e0.html

"We found that Town officials did not solicit competitive bids or properly bid for purchases from nine vendors totaling about $2 million and paid eight professional service providers over $3.9 million without seeking competitive proposals or quotes," according to the report, entitled, “Ethics and Internal Controls over Purchasing Practices and Computer Use” examines Town records from Jan. 1, 2007 to May 13, 2010.

The new news? The Town Board will begin approving minutes from the previous meeting at its meetings, a practice that should have been put in place eons ago. (Every civic group I can think of approves meeting minutes at the start of its meetings. It's good business practice, according to the state auditor.)

Also, Highway Superintendent Eric DiBartolo wrote in response to the audit that anyone could have used his computer to view pornography, and he has begun locking his computer to combat the problem.

The auditor's response that the pornography was emailed back and forth between DiBartolo's account and accounts of people who "appear to be his relatives."

Town Clerk Alice Roker also responded to the comptroller's findings, and said she has put safeguards and checks in place to tackle the issues. There is one big question mark: At the end of Roker's response, she questions whether the state comptroller bothered to attempt to watch a video of a board meeting she submitted in response to some questions. The comptroller's response was to say that the last minute of the video had a different date than the rest of the video, and the comptroller questioned whether it had been edited.

The handling of the Envirostar oil spill cleanup continues to be a big discussion point. Despite a response from Town Board members containing a timeline of both notifications received and actions carried out by Town officials, who said they were told that testing the site had stirred up problems that had to be handled immediately, the comptroller responds that the Town failed to provide documentation to prove that the cleanup for the decade-old spill was an emergency.

The executive summary of the report clearly states the concerns and findings of the state. Although a written comment from the Town Supervisor's office regarding that many of the problems have been addressed, the report emphasizes the need for further changes. The Town has 90 days to respond with an action plan.

The following two paragraphs are from the executive summary:

"We are concerned that the Superintendent has not always acted appropriately and in the best interests of the Town’s citizens. We identified actions of the Superintendent1 in which we believe both his personal financial interests and public responsibilities conflict. We found that the Superintendent sold used equipment and materials totaling $28,670 to the Town, and the Town paid a company over $100,000 that was owned by his sister-in-law and for which his two brothers were vice-presidents, which created prohibited interests. In addition, we identified irregularities in the bidding processes for various pieces of equipment, including ignored bid specifications and erroneous bid documents to make it appear as though purchases were bid when they were not. Finally, we found that the Superintendent’s computer was used to view and store pornographic and other inappropriate images, engage in a political campaign, and to buy and sell auto parts, for personal use, on a public auction website.

"We also found that the Board did not establish adequate policies and procedures for procurements.
The Town’s purchasing functions are not centralized, which does not enable Town officials to
aggregate purchases or take advantage of volume discounts. We found that Town officials did not
solicit competitive bids or properly bid for purchases from nine vendors totaling about $2 million and
paid eight professional service providers over $3.9 million without seeking competitive proposals or
quotes. Furthermore, we found instances of incomplete and inaccurate recording of the minutes of
Board meetings relating to the purchase of Town vehicles. Without adequate internal controls that
include the adoption and enforcement of a comprehensive procurement policy and procedures, the
Board and Town officials cannot assure taxpayers that purchases of goods and services were made
in the most prudent and economical manner without favoritism. Finally, the Board did not establish
adequate internal controls over credit purchases to ensure that payments to vendors were for necessary
and actual Town expenses."

For those who would like to read the entire report, go to http://ncnlocal.com/pdf_4d6798fe-c520-11e0-a0e9-001cc4c03286.html.