Category: Linda Loeb

To Date We Have Received No Documents From Village of Hastings-on-Hudson Clerk Susan Maggiotto. Update: Ms. Maggiotto provided us with a document showing her annual salary at $104,470.08, but the document supposedly listing her annual benefit and pension costs to taxpayers is unreadable. We are still waiting on the other public documents we requested.

1. Freedom Of Information Compliance And Knowledge Ratings:

Under Review: Village of Hastings-on-Hudson Clerk Susan Maggiotto says she can’t respond to a June Freedom of Information requst for public documents until sometime in August. Most other of Westchester’s city, town and village clerks were able to fill these requests in les than a week.

2. Email Address For Filing FOI Requests 

smaggiotto@hastingsgov.org

3, Mailing Address For Filing FOI Requests

Town Clerk
7 Maple Avenue
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706

4. Experience:

5. From The Village Website:

The Village Clerk is appointed by the Mayor, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, to a two-year term which coincides with the term of office of the Mayor. 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 also serves as Clerk of the Board and keeps a record of the meetings.

The Village Clerk issues permits for parking at the railroad station.

The tentative assessment roll is filed with the Village Clerk by February 1 and is open for inspection during regular business hours. It is available online. Taxpayers may appeal an assessment to the Board of Assessment Review on “Grievance Day”, the third Tuesday in February. Taxpayers may appeal the Board’s decision in Small Claims Court.

Staff Contacts

6. Media Reports / Related Pages:

FIND THE DATA: Susan Maggiotto Salaries

2011 $95,597

2013 $96,927

Please Read More Here:

http://state-employees.findthedata.com/d/a/Susan-Maggiotto

The Retrofit: Hastings-on-Hudson – Citizen Involvement

….There are a few improvements the village could undertake on its website to promote civic involvement. The “About the Village” section has six sub-sections: history; businesses; leisure activity; demographics; schools and attractions. As of October 25, only the first two subsections had working links. Given that both the Chamber of Commerce and the Historical Society have dedicated websites, it’s a little mystifying that those sites aren’t connected to the businesses and history categories, respectfully. Those sites have their own issues, too: the Chamber’s website (hohchamber.com) still advertises an event scheduled for March 31, 2011 and has a bafflingly mapping function, and the “History of Hastings-On-Hudson” section of the historical society’s website is currently under construction. It’s not clear where one would currently go to learn about the town’s attractions or leisure activities. For both residents and potential visitors, this is a major shortcoming to be addressed.

Please Read More Here:

https://sites.google.com/site/theretrofithastingsonhudson/governance/civic-engagement

YONKERS TRIBUNE: Hastings-on-Hudson Appoints Downtown Advocate

The Village of Hastings-on-Hudson is pleased to announce its appointment of Barbara Prisament to the position of Hastings Downtown Advocate.  She will start Monday, October 20th.  Ms. Prisament will report directly to Hastings Village Manager Fran Frobel and work with the Hastings Board of Trustees to review strategies, policies, and programs that affect the downtown community.  The goal of this newly created, part-time, position is to create a more vibrant, beautiful and economically successful downtown. Towards that end, Ms. Prisament will collaborate with Hastings government departments, boards, commissions, and committees as well as residents, business and property owners to ensure that the downtown serves the needs of residents and visitors as both a commercial marketplace and a community gathering place.

Ms. Prisament was selected by a committee comprised of Village Manager Fran Frobel, Deputy Manager/Village Clerk Susan Maggiotto,  Mayor Peter Swiderski and the Hastings Board of Trustees after an extensive process that included reviewing thirty-nine applications and interviewing 5 candidates…..

Please read more Here:

http://www.yonkerstribune.com/2014/10/hastings-on-hudson-appoints-downtown-advocate-by-hon-fran-frobel

Democratic Incumbents Win Hastings-on-Hudson Election

Mayor Peter Swiderski and Trustees Bruce Jennings and Meg Walker are the winning candidates in the Hastings-on-Hudson Village election. The incumbents were running uncontested, since no independent or additional party candidates filed to run in the election.

Out of 132 total voters—Swiderski received 98 votes; Jennings got 92, while Walker received 89 votes.

“It was a very quiet election,” said Susan Maggiotto, deputy village manager and village clerk.

Magiotto believes it may have been the lowest voter turnout in recent memory, however she wasn’t able to confirm this for sure offhand Tuesday night. According to Maggiotto, two years ago there was an uncontested election with three candidates that received a total 184 voters…..

Please Read More Here:

http://patch.com/new-york/rivertowns/democratic-incumbents-win-hastings-on-hudson-election

NEW YORK TIMES: Making Films, Making Waves

….Hastings-on-Hudson commands one of the highest fees for filming: $1,500 a day and other requirements, including paying for off-duty police officers, posting a bond and signing contracts with merchants, who also receive a fee when filming takes place downtown. ”We require any production company to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to film here,” Neil Hess, the Village Manager, said.

When H.B.O. went to Hastings last month to film ”Earthly Possessions,” starring Susan Sarandon, which was also filmed in New Rochelle and Yonkers, they paid the village $20,000 altogether. Susan Maggiotto, Deputy Manager for Hastings, said the feature that makes Hastings attractive to movie producers — the quaint, old-time look of the village — also makes production difficult to manage.

”Our little downtown is very concentrated and bordered on one side by the river,” Ms. Maggiotto said. ”There are very few choices of egress. In New York City, if you’re blocked, fine, you go another way. In Hastings, there’s just one way to get where you’re going, and if you can’t go that way, you’re stuck.”

Ms. Maggiotto said that some merchants did not see the benefit of film production. ”They say that the crews come in with their own food trucks, so they’re not in the local delis,” she said. ”All they see is that their own customers can’t get to their stores.”

The manager of Hastings Video disagreed, saying she greatly enjoyed seeing her small town transformed for the filming of ”Earthly Possessions.” Stores were dressed up with new fronts, and a rain machine produced drizzle in front of her store.

”It was fun,” Dorothy Honovich-Kavanah, the video store manager, said. ”Our store became Get Away Travel. The architect firm next door became a bank. The bank was made into a funeral home. And Susan Sarandon was lovely and gracious. It was really a nice thing to happen here.”

A Hastings resident, Linda Atkinson, was trying to run errands on the day ”Earthly Possessions” was being filmed. ”You’re trying to go about your daily business and some young kid comes up and says, ‘Excuse me, you’re not allowed on this side of the street,’ ” she said. ”And you want to say, ‘Excuse me, but I live here and I need to go to the video store and the bank.’ ”

Ms. Atkinson, an actress and a documentary film producer, said she knew the industry all too well. One recent morning she found a young woman in her front yard. The woman said she represented a film producer who was interested in using the house next door for a location.

”Being in the industry, I know my neighbor is excited because she’s going to make a couple of thousand bucks, but I know we’re talking about 20 trucks maybe, miles of cables, and you’re talking about people that don’t mind walking in your yard or stepping on your lilac bush,” Ms. Atkinson said.

Ms. Stevens, of the county film office, said that film crews are now taking a much more respectful attitude toward private property. ”I’ve monitored most of the productions that have gone on here,” she said. ”Part of my job is to protect Westchester County. I have seen a real change. There’s a softer, gentler production community, which is much more mannerly.”….

Please Read More Here:

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/10/nyregion/making-films-making-waves.html?pagewanted=all

DAILY VOICE: Hastings to Hold Lottery for Parking Permits

…Residents who wish to apply must include theirapplication , a copy of their registration and a check for $440 to the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson. You can also apply for a quarterly permit for $139. All applicants must be Hastings residents to be eligible.

The lottery isn’t done every year, only when it is deemed necessary by the village.

“We don’t know until 5 o’clock on Dec. 1 how many we have,” said village clerk Susan Maggiotto about how many applications they’ve received. “If we can give them to everybody we will, if not, then well do the lottery.”

The village has 164 permits to give out, which is more than the total number of parking spots in the lot.

“We give out maybe 20 percent more because if we only gave as many as we have places, the lot would be empty the majority of the day,” Maggiotto said. “We try to give out as many as we can without having anyone shut out.”….

http://rivertowns.dailyvoice.com/news/hastings-to-hold-lottery-for-parking-permits/456096/

Hastings Board of Trustees Names New Village Manager

The former town manager of Coventry, R.I., a suburb of Providence and that state’s largest town, has been picked by Hastings’ board of trustees to be the village’s new manager, effective Monday, July 18.

Francis A. Frobel, 53, replaces Neil P. Hess, who has been on a leave of absence, battling cancer, and who retires July 31. Frobel, who has been described as “typically stone-faced” by the Providence Journal, served as Town Manager of Coventry, which has an area of 64.8 square miles and a population of over 33,000, for 19 years through late April.

Before that, he was assistant town manager of Killingly, Ct., in eastern Connecticut, for eight years.

He received a B.A. degree in political science and public administration from Central Connecticut State University and a Master’s degree in public administration from the University of Hartford.

Frobel’s appointment does not also include the position of village treasurer, an additional post that Hess held. The new village manager will make recommendations to the board of trustees about filling that spot, Mayor Wm. Lee Kinnally Jr. told Hastings News.

“He will be looking at the way we are structured in general; I would expect that from our new manager,” Kinnally said.

Frobel will be paid $140,000 plus benefits that include retirement, health, three weeks vacation, a moving allowance and a housing allowance, Kinnally also said.

As Coventry town manager, he received $104,275, according to another Providence Journal report. Frobel was the board’s top choice, Kinnally noted in response to a question.

The mayor said that Frobel will replace Susan Maggiotto as Acting Village Manager for the rest of the month, until Hess’s retirement becomes effective.

Maggiotto will continue as Acting Treasurer, he said. The board of trustees expects to approve Frobel’s employment contract at a special meeting called for Monday at 8 p.m.

http://www.bogart.cc/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/hastings_news–extracts.pdf

7. Notes

This Ratings Page Has Been Updated With Additional Information

About Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in the southwest part of the town of Greenburgh. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 7,849. It lies on U.S. Route 9, “Broadway” in Hastings.

The area that is now Hastings-on-Hudson was once the home of the Weckquaesgeek Native Americans, one of theAlgonquian tribes. In summer, the Weckquaesgeeks camped at the mouth of the ravine running under the present Warburton Avenue Bridge. There they fished, swam and collected oyster and clamshells used to make wampum. On the level plain nearby (which is now Maple Avenue), they planted corn and possibly tobacco.

Around 1650 a Dutch carpenter named Frederick Philipse arrived in New Amsterdam. In 1682 Philipse traded with the Native Americans for the area that is now Dobbs Ferry and Hastings. In 1693 the English crown granted Philipse the Manor of Philipsburg, which included what is now Hastings-on-Hudson. After dividing the area into four nearly equal-sized farms, the Philipses leased them to Dutch, English and French Huguenot settlers.

During the American Revolution, what is now Hastings lay between the lines of the warring forces and was declared neutral territory. In reality, the area became a no-man’s land and was raided repeatedly by both sides. Following the Revolution, the Philipses, who had been loyal to George III, saw their vast lands confiscated and sold by the newly established American state. In 1785 the four farms comprising today’s Hastings were bought by James DeClark, Jacobus Dyckman, George Fisher, and tavern keeper Peter Post.

Around the same time, Westchester County, which had been established as one of the 10 original counties in New York, was divided into towns, and the area that is now Hastings became part of the town of Greenburgh. The village was incorporated in 1879 and its name changed from Hastings-Upon-Hudson to Hastings-on-Hudson.

Stone quarrying was the earliest industry in Hastings. From 1865 to 1871, hundreds of Scottish and Irish laborers blasted huge quantities ofdolomite marble from a white Westchester marble quarry. An inclined railroad carried the marble down to the quarry wharf where it was dressed by skilled stonecutters and loaded onto ships bound for cities like New York and Charleston, South Carolina.

By the 1880s, Hastings Pavement was producing hexagonal paving blocks which were used extensively in Central Park and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Between 1895 and 1900, Hastings Pavement produced 10 million such blocks and shipped them throughout the United States and to cities in Canada, Brazil and England. By 1891 the National Conduit and Cable Company had established an operation on the waterfront producing cables for utility companies here and abroad. Labor strife between striking workers of the National Cable and Conduit Company in 1912 left four people dead. Two were striking workers; the remaining two were bystanders. Similar labor unrest occurred in 1916, whereby the village was put under house arrest.

During World War I, 200 National Guardsmen were stationed in Hastings because of the security interests of the National Conduit plant and a chemical plant opened byFrederick G. Zinsser that produced a wood alcohol called Hastings Spirits…..

Please Read More Here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings-on-Hudson,_New_York