Voters approve school district’s $44 million capital plan

Rendering of new classroom space at the Administration building on Elm Street.

December 13, 2023

The second Tuesday in December doesn’t come to the top of mind as a voting day, except if you’re looking to pass a referendum on a capital spending plan or running for fire district commissioner in Mohegan Lake. Despite low voter turnout for Tuesday’s Peekskill City School District capital referendum, the plan passed with 88 percent of votes cast, some 379 people. Just 46 people cast a ‘no’ vote on the first proposition, in unofficial results. The second proposition for an energy performance contract received 92 percent of the votes cast, 344, to 30 no’s.

In the next months, architects will begin designing and requests for proposals (bids) will go out to contractors. Residents should expect to see construction in school buildings by May of 2025 with projects completed in November of 2026.

About the Contributor

Regina Clarkin, Editor and Publisher

When the Peekskill Herald weekly newspaper ceased publishing in August 2000 it was the first time in the history of the city that there wasn’t a local newspaper. The award-winning weekly was often referred to as the ‘glue’ of the community. Founded on January 9, 1986 by Regina Clarkin, Kathy Daley and Rich Zahradnik with a $7,000 credit card line, the paper filled the void created when the daily Evening Star was sold to Gannett and moved out of town. Founding publisher Regina Clarkin continued to live in the Peekskill Cortlandt area and turned her attention to other life endeavors. Through the ensuing 19 years, Clarkin was frequently stopped in town and asked when she would start up the Herald again. In January 2019, Clarkin decided it was less labor intensive to deliver a weekly blog than a print newspaper so she began posting one story a week about life in Peekskill. After a successful crowd funding campaign in 2020, the Herald was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in July of 2021. Peekskill Herald is a digital relative of the former print edition, featuring many of the favorite aspects of the beloved Peekskill Herald such as old pictures, personality profiles and well written stories about newsworthy events. Regina Clarkin is the editor and publisher of the site. Photo by Joe Squillante