Village opposes Skoufis’ reorg call, but trustees want more data

During the August 8 Woodbury Village Board meeting, Mayor Andrew Giacomazza proposed a resolution declaring the village’s objection to New York State Senator James Skoufis’ column, published in The Photo News calling for the town and village of Woodbury to be governed by one body. Giacomazza said that passing the resolution would show the state senator that the village is not interested in the merger plan and would emphasize that, under Municipal Home Rule, Skoufis cannot bring his proposed legislation before the New York State Assembly without the expressed support of the town and village.

Trustees Susan Fries-Ciriello and Matthew Fabbro both expressed their support for keeping separate governing bodies for the town and village. However, they each voiced interest in getting more details on how a proposed merger would work and what the potential cost savings might be. Trustee James Freiband also expressed an interest in learning about possible savings but did not make a statement supporting or opposing such action. He did, however, point to other communities that have adjusted their municipalities and said this is something the state was encouraging.

Among the public to speak on the matter was Chris Graziano, a Highland Mills resident who ran for village board last November. Graziano objected to the merger and questioned Skoufis’ claim that past boards wanted it. “I don’t know if he’s going back decades. I don’t know where he’s going, but from the last six years no one’s wanted to do this from the village end so [his claim] is incorrect.”

Former Woodbury Town Board member Tyler Etzel said it was wrong for the village board to not consider entertaining the idea of combining the town and village boards. “The main reason is there’s no cooperation between the two boards. I was on the town board for four years and there was no cooperation. For the last three since the mayor took over there’s been no cooperation between the two boards; it’s been awful and so nothing can get done.”

The board did not vote on the resolution and opted instead to have it redrafted by village attorney Kelly Naughton. Before that decision was made, Giacomazza, who proposed the resolution, explained that it was in response to Skoufis’ actions, which he claimed was motivated by the village’s intention to create a Beautification Committee, which the board approved at the August 8 meeting.

Beautification

Giacomazza explained that the village received a $100,000 grant from Skoufis in 2022 to be used on parcels owned or under the purview of the village. He said that the village has only spent about $20,000 of that grant and suggested that some of the remaining money be put toward improvements around the village, including replacing a flagpole in one area and installing a “Welcome to Woodbury” sign in another.

“What we’re talking about here is permanent. [The grant] has to be [for] things that have longevity... It’s got to be more than 10 years,” said Giacomazza.

Fabbro cited another $250,000 grant that he claimed Giacomazza said would be used for village beautification, even though there was no meeting between the mayor and the state senator to determine if the grant could be used in that manner. Giacomazza said there was no way for him to repurpose that grant for beautification, because the state senator wouldn’t allow the village to use it for infrastructure and affirmed Fabbro’s statement that only the original $100,000 grant awarded for revitalization would be used for the Beautification Committee.

Ethics

In other committee news, the board approved the appointments to the newly formed Ethics Committee; however, trustees Freiband and Fabbro expressed reservations about the selection process and voted against the motion. Fabbro claimed that in a previous meeting Giacomazza publicly named Carmine Mastrogiacomo, who was among the appointees, as the chair of the committee. Fabbro pointed to local law that states the members of the Ethics Committee must select their own chairperson. Giacomazza said while he’d like Mastrogiacomo to be the chair, it is up to the committee to decide.

Moratorium

The board moved closer toward determining if the village should extend the moratorium on certain construction projects. After hearing from members of the public, who largely supported the continuation of the moratorium on the belief that the village’s current water and sewer infrastructure was not robust enough to support further development, the board voted to close the public hearing on the proposed local law to keep the moratorium in place but will not decide on the law until the September meeting.

Freiband reiterated his request to have an outside engineer review the status of the water system in order to justify extending the moratorium. He claimed such action would protect the village in the event of legal action related to the moratorium.

Michael Philips, the village’s Water & Wastewater Treatment Plant operator and superintendent, said that there was no need to bring in an outside engineer to find information that the village already knows.