Ossining Town and Village Explore Their Future

Village and Town of Ossining officials viewed presentations from two consulting firms interested in performing a study on the best form of government for the two municipalities. The study would also look at how the Town and the Village could possibly increase efficiencies. Village and Town officials are set to decide which one of the consulting firms will move forward and perform a study.

The two companies interviewed were CGR and Fairweather Consulting. One of the two firms will be picked to conduct a study that will be paid for by a Local Government Efficiencies High Priority Planning Grant provide by the New York State Department of State.

“We had four consultants offer to do this study. We narrowed it down to two consultants,” said Town of Ossining Councilman Pete Tripodi. “Both of these proposals contain initiatives to put everything on a website that the public can participate in. Both of the companies mentioned more than once that they engage the public about this and will have public meetings.”

The State of New York has been pushing communities to find ways to consolidate services and governments. Since the 90s the Village and Town have had a number of inter-municipal agreements providing services to one another. Most of those agreements involve the Village providing services to the Town.

Right now the Village Board has made a proposal to the Town Board to consolidate the Town’s Highway, Planning and Building Departments along with along with the Town’s contracted sanitation work.

“This is the next step forward while we’re studying the best governmental structure,” said Village of Ossining Mayor Bill Hanauer.

The Town and Village are set to pick one of the two consulting firms, which will be used going forward. Once a decision is made, the firm will perform a study detailing which form of government will work best for the two Ossinings and/or what efficiencies can be implemented. That could mean the creation of a village-town, a town-village, a city, dissolution of the Village into the Town or the annexation of the Town into the Village.

Some Town residents in voting districts bordering the Village of Briarcliff Manor in being annexed into Briarcliff.

Last month, Philip Zegarelli, Briarcliff Manor's village manager, presented findings from a study that explored the impact of annexing voting districts 17 and 20 into the village. He presented the findings in both and , with mixed reviews at both meetings.

The other possibility is that the study might find that combining the two Ossinings will not create greater efficiency and save money. In that case, the Village and Town would continue as is, while moving forward with more inter-municipal agreements.

“We’ve given them a pretty broad scope of what we’ll accept from them. We want them to take a fresh look at everything and tell us what they think is the best way forward,” said Town of Ossining Supervisor Catherine Borgia.

The Town and Village hope to pick a consulting firm in the coming weeks.

“I’m almost certain that it will happen in the month of June. But we’re all anxious to get started on this,” said Borgia.