Proving that art creates conversation and at times controversy, members of Peekskill’s Common Council heard at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting from artist Robert Brush why he choose the words of the song “Ol’Man River” for his illuminated frieze (made of neon) that pays homage to Paul Robeson. 

In March, city staff presented the art piece to the Common Council for final approval, but questions and concerns were raised by Councilman Rob Scott. “Whenever we want to have a discussion about black people, the first thing we run to is something with slavery – we’ve contributed way more to this country than that narrative, “ said Scott at the March meeting. Scott’s comments ultimately prevented the sculpture from being approved, until the artist appeared before the council to discuss the art piece which he did at the July 8 meeting.

Previous renderings of “Ol’ Man River” showed it on the building behind Taco Dive Bar and more recently on the facade of The Central (300 Railroad Avenue). Now, Brush and city staff hope to install “Ol’ Man River” on the side of the former Peekskill Brewery building on South Water Street. The location has not yet been confirmed, according to City Planner Peter Erwin. 

During Brush’s presentation, he explained that he chose a lyric from “Ol’ Man River” for his art piece because of his admiration for Paul Robeson. He stated that this is his way of ‘crowning’ Robeson. 

Brush then provided council members with a history lesson about the Peekskill Riots.  “If you do know the history of the Peekskill Riots, everybody goes ‘Oh, that’s a bad thing’ but if you actually do know it – he’s played here three times before without an issue,” said Brush. He added that he hopes to transform Robeson’s association with the riots with his art piece, and provide visitors with a talking point if they are unaware of the history. 

Councilman Scott, still against the art piece, stated that since the art is a part of “Illuminate Peekskill!” the art piece should have something to do with illumination. He suggested Lewis Howard Latimer as an alternative, due to Latimer’s history with light bulbs. Scott emphasized that he has nothing against Robeson but would rather have something that better fits the ‘Enlighten Peekskill’ project. Scott thanked Brush for coming to the meeting to address his concerns.

Councilman Brian Fassett expressed his support for the project and commented, “Good art drives conversation and I think you’ve certainly done that with this art piece and I think knowing the history and understanding the history is important, whether it’s good or bad.” 

Councilman Dwight Douglas stated that he liked the change of location, saying that the former location by the train station wasn’t appropriate.

City staff will return at a later date with updated renderings, a confirmed site, and a resolution accepting the art donation.

Enlighten Peekskill is the name of the Downtown Revitalization Project (DRI) that has three categories: Illuminate Peekskill, Making Connections Murals and Five Elements Murals. Two new illuminated art sculptures have been installed along Central Avenue – “Wind Farm” and “Illuminate!”. These sculptures are a part of “Illuminate Peekskill!” a series of illuminated sculptures that lead visitors from the waterfront to downtown Peekskill. 

Community Development Block Grant Public Hearing

At next week’s common council meeting, (July 15) the city of Peekskill will hold a public hearing to receive input on the proposed projects for the city’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for the 2025-2027 funding cycle.

The proposed projects include: Replacement of the electrical panel in the elevator at the Neighborhood Center, Upgrade of the Riverfront Green Restroom to increase its size, ADA accessibility and winterization, Installation of a Mini-Soccer Pitch at Depew Park, and Intersection/Pedestrian Signal Improvements at North Division/Main Street, Nelson Avenue/Main Street, North Division/Park Street, and South Division/Brown Street.

In addition, at next week’s public hearing, nonprofit organizations will get the opportunity to present their proposals to the council and the public. The County CDBG program requires that the city provide a public platform for nonprofits. Director of Planning Carol Samol informed council members that nonprofits do no’t compete with the city for funding, and so far three non-profits have reached out to the city expressing interest.

When council members got the chance to comment, Councilman Fassett questioned why the Depew Park Mini-Soccer Pitch project was moved from 2027 to 2025 instead of intersection improvements as he requested at the June 17 meeting. Mayor Vivian McKenzie also questioned why Riverfront Green restrooms got pushed back a year.   

Samol explained that intersection improvements were not moved because city staff wanted to figure out how much funding they would receive from the Momentum Fund and the CDBG program. She stated that the planning department can revisit that.

In regard to Riverfront Green restrooms, Samol said that was pushed out due to ‘resiliency planning reasons’. In April, the city applied for $1 million through the Congressional Direct Spending process, for a Hudson River resilient shoreline study and engineering to address increasing flood levels.

“To understand what kind of solution we would need to have and what effect that might have on the restrooms themselves, we need a little time in there to do that work,” said Samol.

Samol noted the city needs to wait to see if they get the grant, then work on the shoreline while building on the work done by DPW, and figure out what the options are for the restrooms (repairs or razing, etc.). Holding off also gives the city time to get a match in place for the grant, added Samol.

Following next week’s public hearing, city staff will return at the August 5 work session with a memo to present to the council. A resolution will be prepared for the August 12 council meeting, authorizing the city manager to submit the four applications to the county for CDBG funding. The CDBG application deadline is August 16, 2024.

Paramount Theater Renovations

A new funding source has resuscitated Paramount Theater renovations. Originally, in early June, the city sought $500,000 from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) through the NYS Consolidated Funding process. Weeks later, the city determined that requesting money from OPRHP for two projects (Depew Park renovations) was not a good idea, and Paramount Theater renovations were no longer under consideration by the city.

A new grant from the 2024 Climate Smart Communities Grant program could potentially fund HVAC renovations at the Paramount. The Paramount Theatre’s existing HVAC system consists of a 125-ton cooling capacity, custom rooftop air handler unit and an outdoor condensing unit. According to the city’s Sustainability Coordinator, Emma Kaminski, the unit is now past its useful life as per the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, having been installed in 2002.

In addition Kaminski states that the HVAC upgrades project qualifies for the 2024 Climate Smart Communities program due to the lower Global Warming Potential refrigerants to be used in the proposed system, and the promise of safe refrigerant disposal and monitoring throughout the system’s life. The HVAC  upgrades would also result in more efficient heating and cooling of the theater, providing savings on energy spending and reductions in Carbon Dioxide emissions, according to Kaminski. 

The city plans to request a total of $1.2 million, with an additional 20% ($240,000) city match. A resolution authorizing the submission of an application through the NYS Consolidated Funding process for the Paramount Theatre HVAC upgrades will be on next week’s council agenda..

2024 2nd Quarter Review 

At the July 8 Committee of the Whole meeting, City Comptroller Toni Tracy provided council members with a 2024 2nd Quarter Review presentation. The presentation featured revenue and expenditure activity and projected variances for the 2nd quarter of 2024. All figures are as of June 30, 2024. 

According to Tracy’s presentation, quarterly reviews allow the common council and management heads to proactively identify and address significant issues that may impact year-end performance, and to make adjustments where possible.

Tracy’s projections have the city bringing in an additional $674,040 in revenue by year-end. Tracy states that this is mostly due to recent city fee increases. In regard to expenditures, Tracy has the city spending $462,098 less than originally anticipated in the 2024 budget. Therefore, the city is expected to only use $988,862 of appropriated fund balance instead of $2,125,000 which was originally budgeted, according to Tracy.

Items shown in red are projected to come in less than anticipated by the end of the year. Top items include fire inspection fees, which was projected to bring the city $100,000, but will only bring in $2,590 by the end of the year (97% decrease). Tracy states that this is due to a fire inspector not being hired by the city yet. She added that fire inspection fees are currently being collected and put into the building fee line.

Second are building permits, projected at $600,000 in the budget and are now expected to bring in $400,000 according to Tracys projections (33%decrease). Tracy stated that the Building Inspector expects larger projects to come in later this year.  

Following the revenue table, an expenditure table was shown to council members. The items shown in green are coming in less than budgeted, per Tracy’s projections. Most of the items highlighted are personnel vacancies, which include Corporation Counsel office, Animal Warden, and Economic Development Department. 

Below this were items/expenses that are projected to come in over their budgeted amount by year-end. The highest is Special Counsel, which was projected at $100,000 and will now cost the city $300,000 due to an unfilled assistant corporation counsel position (200 percent increase).

“If the projections flow through the rest of the year looking like they do now, then we have retained about a million dollars in fund balance that we anticipated using.” Tracy informed council members that this is due to department heads being very careful and saving where they can and cutting costs. 

RISC Grant Acceptance & Engineering Procurement

DPW Superintendent Chris Gross spoke before the council at the July 8 meeting, seeking authorization to accept three grants totaling $600,000 for pre-development work for three different projects.

Gross informed the council that the city had received three draft agreements from the Housing Trust Fund Corporation, which is represented by the Office of Resilient Homes and Communities (RHC). Each of the three grants provides $200,000 with no city match required, to fund the pre-development for the following projects: McGregory Brook – Drainage Improvements, Peekskill Hollow Creek Basin – Drainage Improvements, and Peekskill Riverfront – Resiliency Improvements. Gross stated that pre-development work could include engineering studies, feasibility studies, land survey, and early conceptual design work.

According to Gross’s memo to the council, once the city approves the draft agreements, RHC’s will sign off and a final draft will be provided to the city for signature by the city manager. 

A resolution accepting these grants and allowing the city manager to sign all three draft agreements will be on next week’s council meeting agenda.

Design, bidding and construction services for Sewer System Phase II Improvements 

In April, the Common Council passed a resolution authorizing the selection of Barton & Loguidice (B&L) for professional engineering services for Sewer System Phase II Improvements.Although already selected, Superintendent of Water & Sewer David Rambo returned at the July 8 council meeting, with the total amount B&L will charge for the project.

The total amount to hire B&L to provide professional engineering services for this project is $776,500. This amount includes: Design Phase Services – $440,000, Bid Phase Services – $27,500, Construction Administration Services – $158,000, Reimbursable expenses (mileage, printing, postage, etc.) –  $20,000, Construction Observation Services – $131,000.

In response to council members confusion as to how B&L was chosen without the total amount, Rambo responded, “The way the grant is written, you select the company but you don’t know what they charge.” He added that the city has to select the most qualified engineer, then go back and ask for a proposal. Rambo explained the water department doesn’t have a way of knowing if the other companies were less expensive due to this stipulation.

B&L was one of four engineering firms interviewed for phase two of this project. They were chosen due to their experience and the fact that they are already working on phase one of the Sewer Improvement project.

A total of $9 million worth of sewer work has been proposed by the Water & Sewer department, stated Rambo. Two major portions of that include repairing and replacing sewer piping that is allowing stormwater to enter the sewer system and constructing a new sewer pumping station at the riverfront.

Funding for these improvements includes $1.075 million from a NYS Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (WIIA) grant, with a city match of $3,225,000 and $5.2 million in grant funding from the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC).

A resolution authorizing the city to hire Barton & Loguidice for engineering services in the amount of $776,500 will be on next week’s agenda.