Andrea Stewart-Cousins is an American politician and educator from Yonkers, New York. A member of the Democratic Party, Stewart-Cousins represents District 35 in the New York State Senate. She serves as the body’s Majority Leader
Stewart-Cousins was born in 1951 in Yonkers, New York. She earned her Bachelor of Science Degree from Pace University and her teaching credentials in Business Education from Lehman College.
She received her Masters of Public Administration from Pace University in May 2008 and is a member of Pi Alpha Alpha, the public administration honor society.
She spent twenty years in the private sector, including thirteen years in sales and marketing with New York Telephone.
She also pursued a career in journalism and teaching before entering public service.
Stewart-Cousins’s public service career began in 1992, when she was appointed as the Director of Community Affairs in the City of Yonkers.
Stewart-Cousins was married to the late Thomas Cousins.
1. Freedom Of Information Compliance And Knowledge Ratings:
Under Review – No response to date – FOI acknowledgements are past due.
Unresponsive Village Clerk Liz Dreaper Can’t Hear Taxpayers Seeking Public Information In Dobbs Ferry
Now in his second term Mayor Hartley Connett has repeatedly failed to bring accountability and transparency to the village clerk’s office
The single family home owners of Dobbs Ferry are constantly being frustrated in seeking seek public records as, the village assessment rolls are declining more and more each year as employee retirement and health contributions increase.
Small businesses frustrated with the lack of accountability and fairness are leaving downtown areas—yet Dobbs Ferry residents can’t get the public documents they need to come up with solutions to lower taxes.
Sadly only the taxpayer funded privileged political class in Dobb Ferry seems to be the only ones benefiting from lack of accountability and transparency in the village clerks office. All three candidates for Dobbs Ferry village trustee ran unopposed: Republican Victor Golio Jr. and Democrats Vincent Rossillo and Anna Lisa Corrales.
Dobbs Ferry employs about 113 people and its annual operating budget is approximate $17 million, but it is difficult to get Village of Dobbs Ferry Clerk Liz Dreaper to release total employee compensation figures for elected and public figures.
Liz Dreaper failed to respond to our freedom of information request seeking public documents about her salery, benefits and penson cost to taxpayers.
Ms. Dreaper did not respond to a request for a short biographical paragraph, but we found the following on the internet.
Village Clerk
Village of Dobbs Ferry
– Present
Unknown
1992 – 2003
Security Guard
Coastal Carolina Community College
–
Unknown
1983 – 1991
Radio Operator
Marine Corps
–
5. From The Village Website:
The Clerk’s Office, located in Village Hall, is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The Village Clerk is appointed to a two-year term. The Clerk has custody of all Village records, papers, books and communications, as well as the reports and communications of the Board of Trustees.
At meetings of the Board of Trustees, the Village Clerk serves as Clerk of the Board and keeps records of the meetings. The Clerk is responsible for preparing and preserving the minutes of their meetings. In addition, the Clerk compiles a record of all Village resolutions and local laws.
The Clerk’s Office issues various licenses and permits including: annual parking permits for the business district, handicapped permits, peddler’s permits, sidewalk café permits, film permits and taxi licenses/permits.
The Vital Statistics office is also part of the Clerk’s office. The Registrar of Vital Records maintains and issues certified copies of birth and death records of the Village.
The Village Clerk is the Public Access Information Officer and processes all requests for records under the Freedom of Information Law.
The Village Clerk also provides tax records, collection of taxes and is a Notary Public.
Village Election Information
Village Elections are held every year on the first Tuesday in November, (Election Day). Elected positions include Mayor (1), (2-year term), Trustee (6), (2-year terms), and Village Justice (1), 4-year term.
Voter Registration forms and absentee ballots are available from the Village Clerk, but must be sent to the Westchester County Board of Elections for processing. Completed forms may not be sent to Village Hall. Forms are also available online at the Board of Elections website. Polling Places are open 6:00am – 9:00pm on Election Day. To confirm your polling place, call the Board of Elections at: 914-995-5700.
6. Media Reports / Related Pages
DAILY VOICE: Dobbs Ferry – How Does Your Village Work?
….As reported , a recent Dobbs Ferry Board of Trustees meeting involved heated debate over Mercy College’s future development plans. Dobbs Ferry resident Sue Sussman made a statement, which was followed by Mercy College representative William S. Null, who rattled off traffic statistics. Sussman stood up and directly challenged the legitimacy of Null’s statistics.
“It does get out of control sometimes,” said Village Clerk Liz Dreaper. “It’s more of the chairman’s [decision] to put a limitation on it.”….
JOURNAL NEWS: Dobbs Ferry approves police contract after 3 years
Village police who have been working without a contract for more than three years now have an agreement that was approved Tuesday and goes into effect immediately.
The agreement calls for police to receive an 11.75 percent pay increase over five years. It also lowers initial starting pay of new officers and calls for newly hired police to pay more for health insurance.
“It took a long time because we were looking as a village to offer a competitive compensation program for our officers and at the same time we recognized the need for an agreement that is affordable for taxpayers,” said Mayor Hartley Connett.
The contract runs from retroactively from June 2012 until May 2017. The village has 25 police officers. The police budget is $4.2 million of Dobbs Ferry’s $16 million total budget……
Dobbs Ferry is advertising for a Village Administrator to replace Marcus Serrano, who resigned in June.
The position is currently posted on the village website, and calls for candidates who have “at least seven years of experience in public administration.” Additionally, the village considers it a plus if the candidate have “experience in strategic and financial planning, performance measurements, and union negotiations.”
Currently, the position is being filled on an interim basis by Police Chief Betsy Gelardi, who is also a member of a search committee the village has established to help find a permanent replacement…..
PATCH: What You Need To Know What Is the Dobbs Ferry Party?
Mayor Hartley Connett describes the local political party he represents.
…Despite a common perception that the Dobbs Ferry party is inherently more conservative than the Dobbs Ferry Democrats, Connett said that isn’t the case. …
Dobbs Ferry Mayor Hartley Connett and the Board of Trustees fielded public opinions on the pending Rivertowns Square project Thursday night in the Embassy Community Center.
Though some residents offered a positive outlook on the project’s likely impact, the majority of those in attendance voiced concern for what some felt was a large development in a small space.
“The biggest problem is the traffic it would warrant,” said Dobbs Ferry resident Hubert Herring. “Whatever else you want to say about the project is irrelevant, because the traffic would be a disaster.”
Apprehension about more traffic in Dobbs Ferry was the most frequent complaint. The project, located between the Saw Mill River Parkway and Lawrence Street, would include an apartment building with 202 units, a gourmet supermarket, retail and restaurant businesses, and a Sundance Cinemas complex with eight theaters…..
This Ratings Page Has Been Updated With Additional Information
About Dobbs Ferry,, New York
Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York. The population was 10,875 at the 2010 census. The Village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a part of, the town of Greenburgh. The village ZIP code is 10522.
Dobbs Ferry was ranked seventh in the list of the top 10 places to live in New York State for 2014 according to the national online real estate brokerage Movoto. Dobbs Ferry is also the first village in New York State certified as a Climate Smart Community, honored in 2014 with the highest level given out in the state.
Dobbs Ferry was named after Jeremiah Dobbs, a descendent of William Dobbs, of Swedish and Dutch ancestry whose family ran a ferry servicethat traversed the Hudson River at this location. Jeremiah [Dobbs] was a fisherman and settled near the southern part of what is now Dobbs Ferry, and he “‘added to his meager income by ferriage of occasional travelers across the Hudson. He used a style of boat know at that day as a periauger, a canoe hollowed out of a solid log. . . From this primitive ferry the village took its name.'”
Dobbs Ferry played a vital role in the American Revolutionary War. The position of the village opposite the northernmost end of The Palisades gave it importance during the war. The region was repeatedly raided by camp followers of each army; earthworks and a fort, commanding the Hudson ferry and the ferry to Paramus, New Jersey, were built; the British army made Dobbs Ferry a rendezvous, after the Battle of White Plains in November 1776, and the continental division under General Benjamin Lincoln was here at the end of January 1777…..
