No. Castle Ward System Petition to Be Submitted This Week
North Castle’s former water and sewer superintendent plans to submit a petition today (Tuesday) that would enable voters to decide this fall whether they want town board members to be elected through a ward system.
Lifelong North White Plains resident Anthony Futia said last Friday he has collected well over 300 signatures, at least 100 more than he needs to get three propositions on the Nov. 4 ballot.
In addition to asking voters whether to establish wards–or districts–throughout town, Futia is also proposing to increase the number of council seats from four to six and to freeze the total compensation paid to council members at 2014 levels to avoid a cost increase to the town. The supervisor’s post would remain an at large position.
Futia said that under a ward system each area of town would be represented on the board, ensuring a resident of Banksville and North White Plains would be serving at all times. Recently, the North Castle Town Board has been dominated by Armonk residents, which is a key reason that prompted Futia to seek the change.
“The more people know their representatives the better off we’re going to be,” Futia said.
In order to include the propositions on the general election ballot, a petition with a minimum of 227 valid signatures from registered voters in town must be submitted to the Westchester County Board of Elections. Futia plans to turn in the petition to town hall, which would give municipal officials the chance to challenge signatures if they choose. The petition has to be submitted to the Board of Elections before Sept. 27 to get on this year’s ballot, he said.
The minimum number of required signatures represents 5 percent of the total number of town voters who went to the polls in 2010, the last gubernatorial election.
Under sample districts Futia and other ward system supporters have proposed, he said there would be between 1,400 and 1,500 registered voters in each district. In addition to Banksville and North White Plains, there would be representatives in the areas around Whippoorwill Hills and Windmill Farms and two Armonk representatives. However, should the proposition be approved, the Board of Elections would be responsible for drawing the district lines.
Armonk resident William Potvin, a former chairman of the town’s citizen’s advisory finance committee, said he thinks the ward system could improve North Castle government representation. So far, received positive feedback from residents and people who want more information.
“It puts the focus of town government on neighborhoods rather than political cliques,” Potvin said.
That is one of the reasons why Futia expects some pushback from the town’s political establishment. He said while candidates would still run on party lines, it would be more difficult for the local committees to control. Residents who want to run but might not pass muster with the political parties would be more inclined to challenge because it would be much less expensive to mount a campaign within the district than townwide.
Calls placed last weekend to Supervisor Michael Schiliro and leaders of the town’s Republican and Democratic committees were either not returned or comment was declined.
Futia dismissed the possibility district representatives could be overly provincial.
“I think the board would make decisions it thinks is best for the town 99 percent of the time,” he said.
While most cities employ ward systems, currently there are only 11 towns in New York State that do so. However, voters in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County are likely to see propositions on this year’s ballot asking them to approve a ward system and to increase the size of its town board.
In 2011, a group of residents in the Town of New Castle were able to place a similar referendum on the ballot but it was soundly defeated.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
