Jan. 15, 2014:  Significant changes in personnel and programs will be coming to Bronxville in 2014.

Mayor Mary Marvin announced, at the January 14 Bronxville Board of Trustees meeting, that Village Administrator Harold Porr will retire on March 27 after ten years of service to Bronxville.

"Tonight I want to say the first of many thanks for your service to the village," Marvin said. "It has been first rate, and you will be so very missed."

In expressing his appreciation for the administrations he has worked with in village hall, Porr said, "You couldn't find better people involved anywhere in New York State."

This will be the second key retirement to take place in 2014; Porr's announcement comes one month after Village Treasurer Robert Fels announced he will retire on April 30.

New York-Presbyterian Hospital to Acquire Lawrence Hospital Center

Officials from Lawrence Hospital Center, at a meeting earlier on January 14 with Mayor Marvin, Deputy Mayor Robert Underhill, and Trustee Donald Gray, stated that New York-Presbyterian Hospital will acquire Lawrence Hospital Center in the near future.

Although Lawrence Hospital Center has had an affiliation with New York-Presbyterian Hospital, after the acquisition it will be fully owned and operated as a hospital within the New York-Presbyterian system. 

"We had a good session with them this morning," Gray said. "We came away convinced it's a good thing for the hospital and a good thing for the citizens of Bronxville and the village." Underhill echoed Gray's statement and added that having a hospital in the community that can provide world-class health care will be a tremendous boost for Bronxville.

New Parking Meters

Residents and visitors to Bronxville might see a change coming to the downtown business district as the trustees consider options to upgrade parking fee collection. While the current coin parking meters in use are not being fully discounted, options such centralized parking kiosks and a pilot wireless program giving drivers the option to pay for parking with their smart phones are under consideration.

Deputy Treasurer Peggy Conway outlined the possibilities at the trustees' work session, which preceded the regular meeting. Conway said that, while not popular with most patrons, the familiar coin meters function well and can be easily repaired and replaced. She noted, however, that most communities in the area still using coin meters provide another option, most often centralized payment kiosks, which accept credit and debit cards as well as cash and coin for payment.

Despite the popularity of payment kiosks, Conway said, humid weather conditions tend to cause paper jams not only with currency inserted but also with the paper used for printing parking receipts. Each kiosk, apart from a shelter that can be installed for protection, would cost approximately $12,000. Additional costs would be incurred for a repair contract and software upgrades to the system. Vendors recommend installing two kiosks per lot so revenue would not be lost if one machine malfunctions.

Conway described a third payment option as an enhancement that would give drivers the choice to pay for parking via their smart phones on a wireless system or use the existing meters.

With the Pango wireless system, drivers would set up an account, similar to a PayPal account, with their vehicle information and preferred method of payment. A driver entering a parking space would input the location and parking space number and the amount of time purchased. Drivers would be able to choose to receive a text message notification when their purchased time is about to expire and would be able to add more time, only up to the maximum allowed for that space, using their smart phone.

Pango has offered the village a free four-month pilot program to test its feasibility village-wide.

According to Harry Porr, every option is still under consideration, and the village will speak with several more vendors of various systems before presenting a recommendation.

The next regular meeting of the Bronxville Board of Trustees will be on Monday, February 10, at 8:00 pm in the trustees room at Bronxville Village Hall.

Pictured here (L to R):  Trustee Donald Gray, Mayor Mary Marvin, and trustee Anne Poorman at the Bronxville Board of Trustees meeting on January 14.

Photo by Carol P. Bartold