Pelham Mayor Chance Mullen and Deputy Mayor Pete Potocki met at village hall Tuesday to conduct the board of trustees meeting virtually, with other members on by conference call.

“In the time of crisis, our police department, fire department, DPW and village staff have done yeomen work for the last two weeks under incredible hours and incredible stress,” said Potocki. “They have done a terrific job so far and we expect them to continue.” Potocki also thanked John DeCicco and his family, who own DeCicco and Sons, for handling the crisis to the best of their abilities. 

Essential services, such as grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations, remain open and running. Residents were reminded that although their thanks to first responders is appreciated, it is crucial to not interfere with them when out, as they are likely engaged in serious work.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer and Ellen Hendricks, assistant director of intergovernmental relations,  joined the  meeting to provide information on the pandemic as it pertains to the county.

“From what we have seen in China and what we have seen in Italy is that this thing starts out with a certain level of contagion and then it explodes like the front end of a bell curve,” said Latimer. “The question is how high does the bell curve get, because 20% of the people who are infected wind up needing hospitalization.”

With these statistics, he estimated that as of Tuesday around 800 people in the county are or will be hospitalized for the disease. Westchester has a total of about 3,000 hospital beds, 160 of them in ICUs. In the past week up to the meeting, the number of positive cases had increased by a factor of ten, with records showing just 380 cases in the county the week before. With these projections it is likely that hospitals will quickly become overtaxed with patients, Latimer said. To meet the increasing need for medical attention, the Westchester County Center is being set up for use as a temporary hospital, and the Glenn Island parking lot has been turned into a drive-through testing center. In addition, Westchester Medical Center has set-up a testing center and St. John’s Hospital in Yonkers is in the process of doing so.

Latimer said Westchester County has tested more people per capita than any other county in the nation. “When you test a lot you get more positives. You also get more negatives, so we get an idea of what we are up against.” The county is trying to be realistic in its numbers and estimates, he said.

Mullen said he is given daily statistics and updates, however some people’s positive results have not yet reached the system.

The county emergency service department is shipping protective equipment and hand sanitizer from Albany to be distributed as quickly as possible. Latimer put a call out last week for all medical professionals to give assistance. He told the trustees that the county is reliant on the federal and state government to supply ventilators, so that aspect is not in its control.

Bee-Line busses have gone fareless in an attempt to limit driver-passenger interaction. Only rear entrances are in use, and the closest rows have been closed off. These measures have been taken to prevent drivers from catching the disease, as this could lead to the bus system shutting down entirely.

Latimer said county parks will remain open for the time being to encourage social distancing, in addition to golf courses that now have added restrictions, such as a one-person-per-golf-cart rule.

Police and fire departments have access to information on whether a household has a positive case before going to aid them, allowing for safety preparations. Potocki questioned what other safety nets the county has regarding testing for first responders.

“If you have a key first responder who has been exposed and needs a test, reach out to us and we will see what we can do,” the county executive said. “We will try to get the results back as soon as we can.”

When questioned by Mullen about the state of New Rochelle, Latimer said, “New Rochelle was not the worst, it was the first,” and that because of this its population has had the most diligent and widespread testing. As an example, he said, he number of positive cases in Yonkers jumped from 145 to 195 in one day, while during that same period New Rochelle only saw an increase of two cases because of the vast amount of people who have received testing in New Rochelle. 

Mullen said the people of the Village of Pelham have been doing an amazing job of supporting each other. “People don’t change in a crisis. They get magnified.”

Both Mullen and Potocki made it clear that coronavirus will take its toll on Pelham and its businesses, but said that they will do everything in their power to aid in adjustment when the time comes.

“Whether it is a month from now or nine months from now, there will be a time where this is no longer what we are doing,” Mullen said. “We will get through this, and we are going to be as diligent at that moment to kind of rev things up and try to get things moving, get our local businesses making money again just as seriously as we are trying to keep you safe now.”

The board discussed the 2020-2021 tentative budget, which shows 7.85% increase. Mullen reminded residents that this is typical with a preliminary budget, saying that it will be worked down under the state tax cap. He also said that this is a very difficult year so Pelham will need to be conservative on non-property tax revenue. Retirement assistant funds added $200,000 to $275,000 in spending and the new garbage contract another $570,000 to next year’s budget. However, the tax cap states that Pelham’s levy can only go up about $300,000.

A public hearing on the tentative budget will be held April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the next board meeting at village hall to receive comments from residents. Emails with comments on the budget are welcome before that time. The budget is posted online on the village website.

Mullen provided the email addresses [email protected] and [email protected] as outlets for questions and concerns from Pelham residents, and Latimer welcomed residents to email [email protected] with any questions or concerns, which can be asked and answered in both English and Spanish.