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:
Status – Under Review – Greenburgh Town Clerk Judith Beville has failed to respond to some of our freedom of information requests and phone calls to her office.
Ms. Beville’s Office seems not to be consumer oriented at all.
Oddly, the clerk’s web page lists the town’s main number instead of the clerk’s phone number. When asked about this Carol in the office said that Ms. Beville did not want her staff bothered with calls that might be for other Greenburgh town departments.
Ms. Beville’s staff can be difficult at times, because of the clerks attitude of not wanting to be bothered with questions from residents.
Ms. Beville fails to realize that the Greenburgh Clerk’s office is often the first point of contact for many town taxpayers and voters that have a question or concern.
It is important forMs. Beville to do a better job in order to ensure access to information in an efficient, convenient and unencumbered manner.
Ms.Beville needs to do more to help to facilitate a resident’s access to information as well as assisting them in navigating their course through local government on any matter or issue.
Maintaining a customer friendly environment for the public needs to start being of high importance to Greenburgh Town Clerk Judith Beville.
Quickly and efficiently responding to and completing FOI Requests seems to a bit of a problem. In public statements Ms. Beville has said the hardest part of her job is…
“The most challenging part of my job is just making sure that things are done in a timely manner.“
“I suppose that one of the most challenging parts of my job is keeping a clear desk! But I really enjoy what I do. As a reelected official, we are going to be confronted with challenges every day.“
Ms. Beville has often stated that that Greenburgh has a statutory period of time to first acknowledge receipt of a request for information and that she has the right NOT to immediately respond or produce any information.
This is a very bureaucratic approach that doesn’t lead to accountability, confidence or transparency in Greenburgh.
When Greenburgh Town Clerk Judith Beville can legally and unnecessarily withhold a taxpayer’s access to a public document until the last minute of the last hour of the last day of the FOI laws stated statutory times, but morally and ethically it is wrong for Ms.Beville to unnecessarily withhold a taxpayers access to a public record.
Sadly many taxpayers in Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Hastings On Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown feel that Ms. Beville’s motives for withholding public records are political in nature.
Ms. Beville, likes playing it both ways.
When a New York State’s “Committee On Open Government” Executive Director Robert Freeman issues an advisement in her favor, then she is quick to use it to deny taxpayers access to public records they technically own.
But when one of Mr. Freeman’s issues an advisement from the Committee Open Government not in her favor she takes the position that
“While that has been the position of the Committee on Open Government, we note that its advisory opinions are not binding upon the Town“
With Ms. Beville’s FOI games a Greenburgh town resident is damned either way.
Often Greenburgh’s taxpayers, who want access to public documents, must go through the additional expense of an FOI appeal or court case. This is because of Ms. Beville’s inconsistent manner in handling Freedom of Information requests for public documents.
If Ms. Beville or others in Greenburgh’s privileged political class want to keep secrets inside town hall.
New Yorks problem with local corruption is a lack of accountability and transparency. Ms. Beville’s failure to provide quick access to public record and her inconsistencies make a fertile ground for corruption that the taxpayers of Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Hastings On Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown must ultimately pay for.
Town Clerk
177 Hillside Avenue
Greenburgh, NY 10607
4. Experience:
Greenburgh Town Clerk Judith A. Beville refused to provide a short biographical paragraph to this public interest project to measure the responsiveness of Westchester County’s town clerks.
On the internet we found the following for Ms.Beville:
City/Town of Residence: Town of Greenburgh (White Plains)
Once a member on the Valhalla Union Free Public School Board.
Email: jabeville@yahoo.com
Many town residents have said Beville’s hosting of fundraisers, farmers market music guests, cable public access shows and other events distracted Beville from her core responsibilities.
Despite Ms.Beville and the town board’s efforts to license massage parlors in town. The town is plagued by massage parlors that are really being used for prostitution.
5. From The Town Website:
Trucks drive through a flooded road in Greenburgh, N.Y. Sunday, March 14, 2010 after a storm passed through the region. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
WELCOME TO GREENBURGH: Image From The Town Of Greenburgh Website Home Page, Managed By Town Clerk Judith Beville
The Office of the Town Clerk Provides the Following Services for Town Residents
Agendas & Meetings
Coordinates and prepares all Town Board Agendas (Tentative, Final, Special Meetings, Work Sessions, Outreach Meetings, receives requests for street closings for holiday and civic association events and prepares resolutions for agenda)
Bids
Places Legal Notices for all Town Departments in Official Town Newspaper. Receives and files Bids.
Cable
Serves as liaison between Town residents and Cable companies. Assists resident’s in resolving Cable related problems and oversees Cable contracts along with the Legal Department.
Dog Licensing
Serves as Administrator for the Dog Licensing Program for Unincorporated Greenburgh and the Town’s Six Villages. Issues New Licenses, Annual Renewals, and Replacement Tags
Elections
Coordinates Elections with Westchester County Board of Elections. Acts as a satellite office for the Board of Elections on all election days. Coordinates the use and set-up of the Town’s 81 Polling Places. Assists in the delivery of materials for the Board of Elections to polling places. Works with Elections Inspector Coordinators in assigning election inspectors. Supplies Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Forms.
Freedom of Information (FOIL)
Receives all Foil requests and disseminates to appropriate department for review and response. Contacts applicant upon response, provides submitted documents, collects any associated fees. Coordinates Foil Appeals with Town Board. The Town Clerk serves as the Freedom of Information Officer.
Licensing & Permits
New York State Licenses: Fishing, Hunting, Handicap Parking Permits
Town of Greenburgh Licenses: Cabaret, Canvassing/Peddlers & Solicitors, Filming, Going out of Business, Sanitation, Taxicab and Taxi Driver
Records Management Officer
Coordinates the retention of all Town records, keeping in compliance with the New York State Retention Schedule. Generates departmental reports for all records stored. Oversees the scheduling for destruction of all Town records, as per the New York State Retention Schedule.
Senior Citizen Rent Abatement Program (ETPA)
Serves as liaison for qualified Town residents and New York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal Office, including annual report for Receiver of Taxes
Vital Records
Issues original birth, death and marriage certificates. Retains all vital records and issues certified copies. Does searches for Genealogy. Apostles
Sales Tax Letters
Issues letters to residents and businesses for correct Sales Tax amount for the Town
Code Of The Town Of Greenburgh
Files newly adopted Local Laws with NYS Department of State; Maintains and updates Town Code Books, distributes supplements to all Agencies
Miscellaneous
Maintains book of Dangerous Conditions; Town Clerk is the receiver of the following documents; Notice of Claims, Summonses, Petitions, Certioraris, Scar Applications, etc. Maintains Oath of Office Book for elected officials and all other oaths administered by Town Clerk; Maintains and updates Boards & Commissions and Civic Association lists; Maintains records for the Board of Ethics; Coordinates Internship program for the Town
6. Media Reports
GREENBURGH TOWN CLERK SAYS DON’T BLAME HER FOR TOWN’S POOR WEBSITE
It seems Town Supervisor Paul Feiner and Town Clerk Judith Beville, both of whom are running for reelection this fall, are touchy on the subject of who is to blame for the Town’s failing grade for its website.
Town Clerk Judith Beville said today that she is not responsible for the Town’s website, which received a failing grade last fall from Albany-based public interest organization Empire Group…..
PATCH: Massage Parlors Under Scrutiny in Greenburgh
A proposed law to regulate the establishments is meeting resistance, according to attorney and community advocate Bob Bernstein.
In recent years, the number of massage parlors in Greenburgh has grown, a move that has many in the community upset because they claim the establishments are brothels merely posing as massage parlors.
The Journal News reports that some officials and residents are trying to take matters into their own hands by passing strict legislation to regulate the establishments. But according to one local attorney and community advocate, the matter is being met with some resistance.
On The Edgemont Community Council website, group president and local attorney Bob Bernstein writes that a proposal to regulate such businesses is being opposed by Town Attorney Tim Lewis and Town Clerk Judith Beville, namely because Lewis questions whether local jurisdictions can regulate the businesses under New York State laws…..
DAILY VOICE: Uncontested Races Retain Incumbents In Greenburgh, Ardsley
Incumbency is alive and well in the Town of Greenburgh, where the 24-year town supervisor and his entire board was reelected on Tuesday unopposed.
The same held true in three of the six villages within the Town of Greenburgh on Tuesday: Voters in Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry and Irvington all elected village officials who ran unopposed this fall…..
…Also in the town of Greenburgh, Town Clerk Judith Beville, a Democrat, ran unopposed; as did three Democratic candidates for Town Justice: Arlene Oliver, Delores Brathwaite and Walter Rivera…..
MID HUDSON NEWS: Over a dozen same-sex couples tie the knot in Westchester
TOWN OF GREENBURGH – It was all smiles and wedding bells Sunday afternoon in the Town of Greenburgh as some of the first legally recognized same-sex marriages in the Hudson Valley were performed at the Greenburgh Town Hall by Town Clerk Judith Beville.
Beville opened the clerk’s office at noon and preformed ceremonies while on her day off Sunday afternoon….
