Mayor Adam Bradley Calls the First Common Council Meeting of 2010 to Order
Photo credit: Pat Casey

After a jubilant and public inauguration on Sun., Jan. 3, the first Common Council Meeting of 2010 was held the following day with newly sworn in Mayor Adam Bradley taking the helm for the first time.

There was a brief Citizens To Be Heard session, during which residents approached the podium to thank Mayor Bradley for putting himself forward at this time and to wish him well. At 7:30 p.m. Mayor Bradley struck the gavel to call the official Council meeting to order. The room was packed with well-wishers and the mood was high. After the Pledge to the Flag, the two new members of the Council, David Buchwald and Beth Smayda took their oaths of office. Tom Roach followed, being sworn in for his third term on the Council. The Oaths of Office for Common Council were administered by White Plains Judge, the Honorable Jo Ann Friia.

The first order of business for the new team was to approve staffing appointments made by Mayor Bradley. These included John G. Callahan as Corporation Counsel, who will also serve as Chief of Staff; Michael Genito as Commissioner of Finance; John Steward as Director of Information Service; and David Chong as Commissioner of Public Safety.

A unanimous vote of the Council named Councilman Roach as Council president, a position he will hold for two years.

Facing the Financial Crisis

Mayor Bradley was solemn in his tone as he described the state of White Plains financial affairs as “dire.” Noting there is an $18 million budget deficit, almost nothing (about $1.9 million) left in the city’s fund balance (the city’s “savings” account used for emergency purposes), and that Moody’s had given White Plains a “negative” outlook, Bradley emphasized that White Plains’ budget problems are twice as large as those plaguing New York State percentage-wise. “The New York State budget deficit is $9 billion of a $132 billion budget, while White Plains” deficit is $18 million of a $158 million budget,” he said.

In an interview with White Plains Times prior to the inauguration, Bradley explained that with 75 percent to 80 percent of the city budget covering personnel costs, consolidation and staffing changes are necessary. During Monday night’s meeting, he announced $500,000 in administrative savings to June 30, by either eliminating or not fulfilling empty commissionerships and deputy commissionerships and other areas under his control.

The position of Executive Officer in the Mayor’s office has been eliminated and Callahan will not be paid a separate salary for his position as Chief of Staff. As Corporation Counsel Callahan will earn $185,000. The Finance Commissioner, who will act as Budget Director, will earn $150,000 a year, and the Director of Information Services will earn $130,000.

Bradley further announced the formation of an Ad Hoc committee, chaired by Councilman Ben Boykin, to examine ways in which the city and the White Plains School District can work together to share services and thereby cut costs. Bradley says he has spoken with School Superintendent Christopher Clouet, who agrees the two entities should work together to reduce the taxpayer burden. Mayor Bradley will name four more members to the committee and Clouet will name an additional three.

Bradley also called the Budget and Management Advisory Committee to action, renaming Timothy Sheehan, Patrick Austin and Eleanor McDonald. New appointments to the committee include Councilwoman Smayda as chair, Councilman Roach, and Richard Hecht. John Martin was reappointed to the Board of Assessment Review.

In an interview, Mayor Bradley said the fiscal crisis facing the city was caused by former administrations not doing the due diligence necessary. “Yearly, the city budget has been balanced by the selling off of capital assets,” he said. “There has been no long term fiscal plan. A city relying on sales tax revenue to the extent White Plains did, needs to protect itself from downturns. Sales tax revenue is not stable. The city also did nothing to protect its fund balance.”

Mayor Bradley further said the Common Council was not always as thorough during budget analysis as it should have been in previous years. “But if the Council had not saved the $3 million it did from last year’s budget, we would have zero dollars in the fund balance. If they did not do what they did, we would be in a very different [and worse] situation today,” Bradley claims.

Mayor Bradley is confident he and the Common Council will move forward and do what is right for White Plains. “It will not be easy,” he says, adding: “when my daughters, who are currently six and four are 20 and 22, I want them to have more opportunities than I had when I was that age. I want that for them and for all future generations.”

A Long-term Outlook

While Mayor Bradley knows he must deal quickly and effectively with a financial crisis, that does not stop him from having a vision for White Plains’ future. Acknowledging the new development that has taken place in the city’s downtown, Bradley says there is a fundamental difference between the former administration and his and that is a “long-term outlook.”

“I want to make White Plains a true destination point,” Bradley explains, noting that it is one thing to have new buildings, and another to make the city a place people want to walk in, a place where they can investigate. “White Plains should have more green space in its downtown and emphasis on the historical aspects of the city. It should be a place people want to stay in.”

Bradley would like to see the opening up of the City Center at the Mamaroneck Avenue entrance featuring escalators directly to the White Plains Performing Arts Center on the upper floor.

He would also like to see a “walkable” component next to the ArtsWestchester building at the corner of Mamaroneck and Martine Avenues. “It is illogical,” Bradley says, that the primary access to the City Center should be through a parking lot. This in no way plans for the city’s success.”

Bradley feels strongly that the existing malls should be more open and interact with the city’s downtown. “They should work together,” Bradley says. “I’d like to see the Galleria open to pedestrians on the Main Street side.”

Mayor Bradley also sees development of the train station as key to White Plains’s success and he looks forward to working with Metro North and Westchester County. This is a major entry way to White Plains and it should be developed as such with retail components and other attractions, he says.

Bradley thinks the development of a Public Safety Foundation could go a long way in making White Plains a friendlier city. He’d like to see more police walking a beat, more police on bicycles, and perhaps the foundation could raise money to bring the horses back.

Mayor Bradley is also concerned with issues of sustainability and the environment. He plans to initiate edible gardens in the city, and to improve energy savings and investigate ways White Plains can become more “green,” he has established a Sustainability Ad Hoc committee, chaired by Councilman Dennis Power.

As he closed his comments during Sunday’s inauguration, Mayor Bradley said his intentions are that White Plains remains one of the greatest cities in New York State. He says he would not have run for mayor if he did not believe there was opportunity to make White Plains even better in the long-term.