To the editor:

The Pelham Town Board has read an erroneous posting published in several places on social media that merits substantial corrections.

As for the assertion the town “failed (a) N.Y. State Information Technology audit in August,” that is utterly false. The state comptroller’s office issued a report with recommendations to improve the town’s IT environment, including preparation of various written policies such as acceptable use policy, breach notification and disaster recovery, and a security awareness training session, improved management of user accounts and their access, improved management of inactive user accounts, and converting the hourly IT consulting arrangements to a written contract of services. Nowhere in the report, which we encourage all to read, does the comptroller “fail,” condemn or even criticize the town’s cybersecurity systems and protections. Indeed, like most Westchester County municipalities, Pelham relies on and works with county information technology experts and county systems that provide extensive cybersecurity for the town’s network and data. Those systems provide strong cybersecurity protections not only for the Town of Pelham, but also for most municipalities in Westchester County. The misleading accusations simply seek to insinuate some sort of cybersecurity “failure” and do not accurately reflect either the recommendations of the state controller or the nature of the report.

Indeed, these social media accusations were written by a resident of the Village of Pelham who omits from his accusations the recent issuance of a similar report containing many of the same recommendations applicable to his own village. His omission, we suggest, is neither coincidence nor oversight. For a copy of that report, see: Office of the New York State Comptroller, Village of Pelham Information Technology Report of Examination (2017), including recommendations regarding acceptable use policy, breach notification policy, disaster recovery plan, service level contract, and the like. 

The same accuser claims “there haven’t been any public statements from the town council or individual members regarding the hate crime that occurred last month in our schools.” This, also, is utterly false. We urge everyone to read the statement of the town board that was issued and focus on the expression of the “town board’s disgust and disappointment” that was conveyed not only in the written statement, but also in a personal call with Rabbi Salzberg. See Town Supervisor DiPaola Statement on Swastikas at Middle School (Oct. 4, 2019).

Finally, the same accuser claims that his review of minutes of town board meetings shows no effort by the board to address issues such as vaping, teen alcoholism and drug use. Once again, such an assertion is utterly false as the accuser would know if he attended town board meetings—which he never has on even a single occasion. Had he attended he would know that these are precisely the issues the board has been concerned with and, thus, has provided extensive support to the incredible work of Pelham Together. A member of your town board is both an official member of the Pelham Together board, which oversees the organization’s efforts to address such issues as vaping, teen alcoholism and drug use, and also serves as an explicit liaison to the town board for purposes of reporting on the progress of Pelham Together and the ways in which the town may assist. Additionally, your town board authorized the recreation commission and town recreation department to implement the hugely successful teen nights to provide Pelham teens with recreational opportunities on weekend evenings as an alternative to some of the activities that challenge today’s youth. The town has further explored on two occasions the possible acquisition of properties that might serve as an additional community space particularly for the benefit of town youth and continues its investigations in this regard. These are important issues faced by our youth and we are heartened to see that they are important to the community. We are disheartened to see that they are being misused for readily apparent political purposes.

Peter DiPaola

Town Supervisor

4810 Boston Post Road (Apt. 4E)