The third forum on the Rye Town Dissolution Feasibility Study and Village Alternatives Analysis will be held on Wednesday, November 28. The forum will include a presentation of a draft final report exploring options and impacts that would be involved in dissolving the Town of Rye. The forum will be held from 7 to 9:30 pm at Rye Brook Village Hall, 938 King Street, Rye Brook, NY.
The draft report, A Review of Governance and Service Alternatives for the Town of Rye and Villages of Port Chester, Rye Brook and Mamaroneck, is available at the project website at www.cgr.org/ryetown, as well as at Rye Town Hall and Village Halls in Port Chester, Rye Brook and Mamaroneck. The report is also available on the respective municipalities’ websites.
The report concludes a study process that began in 2010 when officials in the Town and the three Villages launched a collaborative endeavor to analyze the feasibility of dissolving the Town in order to eliminate an administrative layer of local government. The Steering Committee was assisted in the study process by CGR, the Center for Governmental Research Inc. of Rochester, New York.
The project Steering Committee, which includes the Town Supervisor and each Village Mayor and their administrators, has provided copies of the report to their respective municipal boards for review and consideration.
Among other options, the report presents a particular restructuring alternative that would effectively result in the dissolution of the Town of Rye, to be replaced by newly-created coterminous town-village governments in Port Chester, Rye Brook and Mamaroneck.
It is important to note that the Steering Committee has not formally endorsed this – or any – model for moving forward. It issued the following statement: “While we believe this concept offers a practical, logical and objective starting point for moving this discussion forward, it is simply that – a starting point. Dialogue with our communities is essential to determining which alternative, if any, is most appropriate, desirable and achievable.”
The statement continued: “That is why the November 28 forum is so important. It offers an opportunity to start this important discussion in our community. That discussion will continue in additional meetings in the Town and each of the three Villages.”
The November 28 forum will include a presentation by the study consultant, CGR, and an opportunity for public comment and feedback to the Steering Committee.
Additional forums on this topic will be hosted by the three Village Boards, which will be scheduled in the near future. (see next page)
Steering Committee Members
Joe Carvin, Supervisor, Town of Rye
Bishop Nowotnik, Confidential Secretary to the Supervisor, Town of Rye
Dennis Pilla, Mayor, Village of Port Chester
Christopher Steers, Village Manager, Village of Port Chester
Joan Feinstein, Mayor, Village of Rye Brook
Christopher Bradbury, Village Administrator, Village of Rye Brook
Norman Rosenblum, Mayor, Village of Mamaroneck
Richard Slingerland, Village Manager, Village of Mamaroneck
Daniel Sarnoff, Assistant Village Manager, Village of Mamaroneck
CGR (Center for Governmental Research Inc.) is a 97-year-old independent nonprofit strategic consulting and decision support organization with significant expertise conducting local government consolidation and shared service studies and developing implementation plans across New York and the Northeast. CGR is headquartered in Rochester, NY and in July 2011 was engaged by the involved municipalities to serve as study consultant.
Read the draft Review of Governance and Service Alternatives in the PDF attached to this article.
