During the regular session of the board’s Tuesday meeting, Lawyer David Cooper from Zarin & Steinmetz LLP presented to the board regarding item #13 on the agenda, which covers a permit needed to order a temporary cell tower for Pelham Green.
Mayor Chance Mullen originally suggested tabling the resolution regarding the permit, as well as the relocation and settlement agreements with T-Mobile and AT&T until the board’s next meeting, on November 26, since the board had received the agreements an hour before the meeting and did not have ample time to read the fine print.
“The reason we have to do these relocation and settlement agreements with TMobile and AT&T was that some other board was not as thoughtful and diligent in reading the contracts,” said Mullen. “We don’t make the mistakes that they made.”
However, Cooper said that those two weeks translate into a significant delay for construction because it takes about seven weeks once the tower is ordered for it to arrive and be put together before the cell companies can move in. Pelham Green cannot continue construction until the cell tower is ordered and put together.
“If there are issues with the agreements with the carriers, which we are not involved in necessarily, I ask you to take item number 13 individually,” said Cooper. “We understand the village needs to finalize the agreements with the carriers. I know it takes time. It has to go through various levels of review.”
According to Village Administrator Chris Scelza, the board received the completed permit application with all supporting documentation completed on Friday.
“That’s two business days,” said Deputy Mayor Mike Carpenter. “That’s not really a fair ask of us. Is there any place in the world you can apply for a permit like this and in two business days get the permit back?”
According to Mullen, the settlement and relocation agreements were given to the board one hour before the meeting.
“The seven volunteers are now speeding up and are responsible for all of the potential delays because all of the attorneys and all of the telecommunications folks, during the last couple of months they could have just sped this process up by an extra week so that we wouldn’t be in this position, but they didn’t do that,” said Mullen. “Instead, it is on the Village Board to move with absolute haste, lest it all come crumbling down.”
The Village Board decided to hold a special meeting this coming Monday at 6 p.m. to revisit the permit resolution and the two relocation and settlement agreements at a special meeting.
PKF O’Connor Davies, the independent financial firm for the village, presented the audited financial statement for the 2023-2024 fiscal year ending on May 31. According to the presentation, the village had $815,000 in revenue over expenditures this year. Mayor Chance Mullen also highlighted that the shift to in-house garbage and recycling collection has decreased operating expenses from 1.1 million dollars in 2022 to $642,000 in 2024.
“The village is in great financial health,” said Firm Partner Robert A. Daniele.
During the regular meeting, Sergio’s owners Alban and Ylka Gashi proposed a new restaurant on the first floor of the 139 Fifth Avenue building. According to Ylka Gashi, the concept is a fast-casual Mediterranean counter space. Gashi came to the board with the proposal to change the 548 square feet deemed “community space” to back-of-house space for the proposed restaurant. The board of trustees unanimously agreed to refer the Gashis back to the Planning Board for this proposal.
The board voted unanimously to legitimize the “No Parking” status at the end of 2nd Avenue. While there were already signs indicating it was a no-parking zone, it was not legitimized into the village code until Tuesday.
School Crossing Guard Carmella Gori’s letter of resignation became effective on Monday. The board voted 7-0 to confirm the appointment of Elysia Baker of Mount Vernon to take her place as a part-time School Crossing Guard, effective Tuesday.
