From Larchmont Village Hall
By Mayor Lorraine Walsh
Work is underway to prepare for the next round of road paving in the Village. A contractor hired by the Village is replacing and/or repairing curbing on sections of Monroe, Willow, Mayhew, Bayard and Beach Avenues. Once the contractor completes their work Village DPW crews will perform any required upgrades to the water, stormwater or sanitary sewer infrastructure on the same streets. The final step will be for the paving contractor to mill and pave the roads, completing the project this summer. Please avoid unnecessary travel on the aforementioned roads for the next few weeks, or until work is complete.
We are excited to introduce two new Village employees.
In the building department, Vincent “Vinny” Salanitro has joined us as Assistant Civil Engineer. Vinny comes to us from Briarcliff Manor where he served as the Junior Civil Engineer in their Building/Engineering Department. He is working toward obtaining his NYS Engineering License and holds certifications in Code Enforcement, Construction Management and OSHA Safety. As Assistant Civil Engineer in Larchmont Vinny will be instrumental in modernizing and streamlining the Land Use Approval and Inspection process here in Larchmont. Its expected Vinny’s career will continue to grow in the Village upon receipt of his P.E. License.
In the administrative department, we have hired Aylone Katzin as Assistant Village Administrator. Aylone comes to Larchmont from Scarsdale where he served as Assistant to the Village Manger since 2019, previously working in Rye Town, Port Chester and Hastings-on-Hudson. He holds a Masters of Public Administration from Binghamton University and throughout his career has exhibited an enthusiasm in local government management. As Assistant Village Administrator here in Larchmont, Aylone will be tasked with managing the Village’s parking program, developing a new Village website, overseeing communications to Village residents and other Village initiatives that will ultimately lead to more efficient means to deliver high levels of services to Village residents.
Village Hall Renovations: It has been obvious for some time that the workspaces in Village Hall, which is now 100 years old, are cramped, outdated and, in some cases, hinder productive workflow and customer service. Therefore, in late 2019 we embarked on a slow and thoughtful office-by-office renovation. Always mindful of taxpayer funds, we are using DPW staff (doing a great job!) and sourcing government-auction office furniture.
The Treasurer’s office was the first one tackled and now has new paint, carpeting, and furniture, with a more functional layout and service counter. The next pressing need was for the building department, as their workload has increased exponentially in the past few years and their office layout had become impractical.
However, since my office was to become part of the new building department, we needed to create a new Mayor’s office first. Completed this past winter by reconfiguring the court offices into a new space with a hallway service window, the new Mayor’s office is now across from the Village Administrator.
With that done, work has now begun on the building department offices. If you’ve been to Village Hall lately, you may have noticed that they are temporarily operating out of the conference room! We appreciate their flexibility – and after working in one small room together for a few months, I’m sure they’ll appreciate the new open layout, large service window for contractors, residents and realtors and wide-format scanner to assist with our transition to electronic file storage and plan submission.
We are looking forward to a spring and summer full of community gatherings and fun times. Our staff and many volunteers have been working on plans for these upcoming Village events. Here’s a current listing:
The Sprint to Flint 5K run and 1M kids’ run will held on Friday, June 17, in Flint Park, of course. Starting at 6:30pm, the 2022 Sprint to Flint 5K & 1M Run/Walk Larchmont in Flint Park on Locust Avenue will be held. Contact recreation@villageoflarchmont.org for details and to register.
Larchmont Summer Concerts will kick off with the 2nd annual Larchmont Music Festival on Saturday, June 11 from 12-9:30PM in Flint Park. Then the summer series will be Thursday evenings from June 30 through August 4 in Constitution Park, with a special first performance by Kaya Nicole, New Rochelle jazz vocalist and Westchester County Arts Alive grant recipient.
Larchmont Summer Camp runs from July 5 through August 12. Contact recreation@larchmontny.gov for information.
Larchmont Day/Weekend – planning is underway for our annual Larchmont Day celebration. The festival will be Saturday, September 17. We are planning to mark the 100th birthday of Larchmont Village Hall with a special presentation on Sunday, September 18. Details coming soon.
Electric Vehicle Charging stations and hybrid vehicles: Larchmont will be installing three EVC stations this summer, one by the library, one in Addison lot and one in Wendt lot. Furthering the commitment of our Green Fleet Policy, we now have one hybrid PD vehicle (Ford Police Interceptor Utility) in service, with three more on order, the cost of which will be spread across the ’22 and ’23 budgets.
Cable TV Franchise Agreements: Larchmont has begun the process of renegotiating the franchise agreements with our two cable service providers, Altice (formerly Cablevision) and Verizon FIOS. As part of that process, we will be holding a public comment session at our Board meeting on June 20 at 7:30PM in Larchmont Village Hall. This session is for subscribers to provide feedback on cable company service and is for incorporated Village of Larchmont residents only.
The Larchmont Chamber of Commerce will be holding their annual Sidewalk Sales June 2-4. Always a fabulous opportunity to find a new shop, try a new restaurant and maybe snag a deal.