*MINUTES

COMMITTEE ON COUNTYOFFICERS & DEPARTMENTS

MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2001

4:00 P.M.

 

 

PRESENT:  Chair:  LaMotte.  Members:  Oros; Pinto; Spreckman; Stuart-Cousins; Swanson and Young.  Staff:  Schecter, Vita.

 

ALSO PRESENT:  Larry Schwartz, Chief Advisor-CE;  Stanley Motley, Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Conservation; Katherine Carsky, Legislator-District 15.

 

Mrs. LaMotte called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.

 

ITEM #1C:  PRC Commissioner Appointment:  Stanley Motley:

On behalf of the CountyExecutive, Mr. Schwartz introduced Mr. Stanley Motley as the newly appointed Parks Commissioner of Westchester County.  He said this meeting would provide the Committee the opportunity to meet and ask questions of the new Commissioner.  Mr. Motley will be responsible for overseeing all public parks located throughout the County.  With review of his credentials and experience, the Administration feels he will have the best interests of the Department and that of the County.  The Administration recommends this appointment highly and hopes that the Board will convey a favorable appointment.

 

Mr. Motley said he was raised in the Mid West as an agricultural farmer and briefly spoke of his background.  He served three years in the military with the Corps of Engineers and held several Directorship positions in the largest County State Parks such as Illinois, Missouri and presently in Atlanta, Georgia.  Noting the County’s beautiful parks and facilities, Mr. Motley would like the opportunity to enhance the level of services within Westchester’s system the way he has done with other successful facilities.

 

Mrs. LaMotte inquired about the status of the Suhr property.  Mr. Motley has met with Mrs. Suhr and has already discussed her suggestions and reviewed some pictures of the property, noting he has dealt with living estates and that partnerships can be developed.

 

Revised:  2/16/01;ugl

*APPROVED 2/26/01;UGL/GO

COMMITTEE ON COUNTY OFFICERS & DEPARTMENTS   Page 2

 

He said “a gift is not a gift unless you can maintain it”.  He will do an analysis of the property and a cost analysis for the Board’s review by April.

 

Mrs. LaMotte also mentioned her concerns with Merestead and Lasdon. Mr. Motley said he would review the properties and forward his recommendations to the Committee Chair.

 

Mrs. Swanson asked when Mr. Motley will become a permanent resident of Westchester. She also had concern with ball field space for her little league teams in her district.

 

Mr. Motley will move to Westchester permanently after his son graduates high school in June.  He said he would like to formulate a plan, similar to the one he created in Atlanta for additional space for ball fields.  With this in mind, he also would like to involve each legislator when plans are considered in their district.

 

Mrs. Spreckman and Mr. Pinto were concerned with the number of park permits that are allotted.  Mr. Motley will address the needs of the various teams and is open for suggestions.

 

Mr. Motley stated that he will address the concerns of the Legislators brought to him today and noted that he is happy to be a part of the Westchester County system and will leave the lines of communication open between the Board and the Parks Department.

 

Mrs. Stewart-Cousins said Mr. Motley brings a voluminous wealth of experience to the County and his creation of Vision 20/20 puts principles of services in writing.

 

Mr. Young said his counterparts between the City of Mount Vernon and Atlanta highly recommend Mr. Motley, and welcomes him to Westchester.

 

Mr. Pinto appreciates Mr. Motley’s community outreach cause of action and will bring this information to a neighborhood meeting this week.

 

He would like a meeting scheduled with Mr. Motley to meet and discuss issues concerning the County’s golfers and their problems.

 

 

COMMITTEE ON COUNTY OFFICERS & DEPARTMENTS   Page 3

 

Mr. Motley thanked the Committee for the opportunity to present his intentions to the Board and welcomed any suggestions from the Board.

 

On the motion of Legislator Pinto, seconded by Legislator Young, the appointment of Stanley Motley as Parks Commissioner of Westchester County is hereby approved by a vote of 7-0.

 

WOMEN’S ADVISORY BOARD:  Re-appointments to the Board will be held over until next week when an attendance sheet is available.

 

FIRE ADVISORY BOARD: Committee members briefly debated the difference between paid vs. volunteer firefighters.  Mr. Oros would like to review the attendance records and would also like to know who is paid and who are volunteers in order to make sure there is a balance between the two.  Re-appointments will be held over until next week.

 

AGENDA REFERRALS:

Items 2D; 3d; 5d; 9d; 10d:  All items refer to matters of the Rent Guidelines Board.  The items are received and filed but will be kept on the agenda in a sub-file pending further review.  All in favor, none opposed, motion carried 7-0.

 

Items 11d and 12d:  These items were referred to COD in error.  They are received and filed by a vote of 7-0 and will be forwarded to the Budget Committee.

 

MINUTES:  On the motion of Legislator Pinto, seconded by Legislator Oros, the minutes of January 8, 2001 were approved as amended by a 7-0 vote.

 

PROPOSED LOCAL LAW:  SENIOR PROGRAMS & SERVICES:

Mrs. Spreckman wants the Administration to be aware of the many parallels of the Board’s Senior Task Force, which she chairs.  She spoke to members of her committee regarding the proposal and it was agreed that the Office for the Aging was doing a fine job, but would like them to address their concern with duplication of services.

 

Mrs. Bronz, who also feels this is a duplication of her Housing Committee, will bring this issue to her caucus.  If needed, Mrs. LaMotte will recommit the proposal at tonight’s Board meeting.

 

With no other business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m.