MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE VILLAGE OF PORT CHESTER INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY HELD: August 10, 2016 TIME AND PLACE: 6:30 P.M., Village Hall, Planning Office, 222 Grace Church Street, Port Chester, New York A regular meeting of the Village of Port Chester Industrial Development Agency was convened on Wednesday August 10, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. at 222 Grace Church Street, Port Chester, New York 10573. Roll Call The meeting was called to order by Chairman Frank Ferrara. On the motion of Board member Richard Cuddy, which was seconded by Board member James Taylor, the meeting was called to order with the following Board members being present: John Hiensch. Also in attendance were, Administrative Director Christopher Steers, Treasurer Leonie Douglas, Planning Director Eric Zamft, Assistant Village Attorney David Kinney and Acting Board Secretary Constance Phillips. CUDDY HIENSCH TAYLOR
Chairman s Remarks Chairman Ferrara began by saying that tonight s meeting is focused on getting our financials in order. We are under state mandate to have this done by the end of the month. There seems to have been some confusion with regard to the agenda for tonight s meeting. Chairman Ferrara said he did meet with Build Up NY and received some literature from them and Sustainable Port Chester Alliance regarding extracts of labor policies adapted by some IDA s. Mr. Ferrara said his intention is to bring these policies to the Board in October but in the meantime do an extensive review in preparation for the meeting: where we stand with investors in the Village, competitiveness, and the position of this Board using the tools that are at our disposal. Chairman Ferrara said that he and Chris Steers meet with developers weekly as developers are moving into the suburbs looking for opportunities because of the expiration of the 421a tax credit in New York City. It s a good time to do a wholesale review of tax rates throughout the County, where we stand competitively in comparison, and as part of that discussion we can include labor. Also, Mr. Ferrara said that he would like to have the Board Counsel present for the discussion and if anyone would like to discuss this further during New Business feel free to do so, otherwise it will be tabled to October when we have done our homework and are fully prepared. Audit Presentations A phone call was placed to the auditors Luke, Jordan and Tom of Drescher and Malecki who were going to share with the Board the results of the recent audit of the Port Chester IDA financials for the year ending in 2016. The results of the audit were shared with the Board and the entire audit report can be viewed on the IDA website. It was reported by the auditors that there were no uncorrected misstatements found during the audit. There was one item of noncompliance regarding the PILOT payments that was corrected during the year. However, there were no adjustments found or needed during this audit. After hearing the report a brief discussion was held by the Board and there was agreement to accept the report. On the motion of Commissioner Hiensch, which was seconded by Commissioner Taylor the Audit Report as prepared by the Auditors from Drescher And Malecki was accepted. CUDDY HIENSCH TAYLOR
Administrative Director Report Administrative Director Christopher Steers informed the Board that the Board of Trustees did approve the spend for the remaining tasks of the Parking and Mobility Study that the IDA will not cover. Board Counsel Justin Miller and Village Attorney Anthony Cerreto are working on finalizing the contract. AGD North Pearl has requested an extension of their Mortgage/Sales Tax which expired on June 30, 2016. They were granted an extension to the end of September. There were some issues with the modular that were installed and alterations were made to them which cannot be done without state approval, so the process has taken longer than what was anticipated. The Castle project did submit their jobs report however there is a question as to when their exemption expires. Chairman Ferrara and Mr. Steers both concurred that developers are looking at Port Chester on a weekly basis looking to do business in Port Chester. New Business Board member James Taylor said he just wanted to say that he was in concurrence with Chairman Ferrara with regard to handling in a comprehensive way the labor discussion in October. And in addition comparables on the mill rates it is not all that important. However he is interested to know the unemployment rate in Port Chester. Most of the data he can find is raw and to the extent someone wants to favor hiring within the Village, do we even have construction workers that are out of work? Do we have some data point by which we judge the need? Similarly can the staff find two or three of the recent developments and determine if the Contractors were from out of State? The modular development workers were from Pennsylvania. If and when we get to setting a policy and people are already coming from Putnam and Orange County, we are not the size of development that we are getting the workers from Georgia and South Carolina that other people are complaining about. In October if we could know where the developers and contractors are coming from would be helpful to us in determining if we really need a policy. Treasurer s Report Invoices Treasurer Leonie Douglas provided the following Treasurer s Financial Report: The following invoices were also submitted for payment: Christopher Steers $1,500.00 Leonie Douglas $ 650.00 Constance Phillips $ 350.00 Harris Beach $1,338.44
See next page for Financial Summary
On the motion of Board member Richard Cuddy, which was seconded by Board member John Hiensch, the submitted invoices and Treasurer s Report were approved. CUDDY HIENSCH TAYLOR Minutes On the motion of Board member James Taylor, which was seconded by Board member Richard Cuddy, the minutes of the July 13, 2016 meeting were approved. CUDDY HIENSCH TAYLOR Adjourn Meeting On the motion of Board member Richard Cuddy, which was seconded by Board member James Taylor, the meeting was adjourned to September 14, 2016.
CUDDY HIENSCH TAYLOR Respectfully submitted, Constance Phillips