Proposition to Establish Ward System in No. Castle on Nov. Ballot

Propositions asking North Castle voters whether they want to have a ward system of town government and to increase the size of the town board from four to six members will be on the November ballot.

The board agreed to accept the two propositions at its Sept. 23 meeting. A third proposition to freeze the compensation paid to North Castle’s four council members at this year’s level to avoid having a larger board cost more money, was rejected because the town does not have authorization on that matter, said Town Attorney Roland Baroni.

Anthony Futia, a lifelong North White Plains resident who helped lead the petition drive to place the propositions on the ballot, said he has pursued the ward system because he believes it is a more representative form of government.

Each board member would be elected from one of six wards representing a different area of town. Currently, each of the municipality’s four council members are elected to serve at large.

Futia said that the town board can be insensitive to the needs of residents in areas outside of Armonk. In recent years, the board had been dominated by Armonk residents.

“This would provide a board member from each of six major areas in town, or wards, who would look after the needs of their neighborhood as well as work for the town as a whole,” Futia wrote in an e-mail to the community.

Previously, Futia said that the ward system would encourage more residents to run for office, in part because it would be less expensive to wage a campaign. It would also reduce the power of the town’s political committees, he said.

If the proposition is approved, the Westchester County Board of Elections would be responsible for drawing the districts’ lines.

At last week’s town board meeting, several speakers said they disagreed with the concept. Banksville resident Sharon Tomback said the town’s voters would be largely disenfranchised.

“I can only vote for one ward, one candidate, so I’m disenfranchised from five-sixths of the votes,” Tomback said. “So remember, unless you are willing to run from your ward, you better vote no on it because the talent pool has just been reduced.”

Current planning board member Guy Mezzancello, who is running in a special election for town board in November, said only 11 towns out of more than 900 in New York State have opted for the ward system. Most municipalities that have the ward system are much larger cities, such as Yonkers with a population of about 195,000 and New Rochelle with 75,000 residents. North Castle has about 12,000 residents.

Mezzancello said at a time when there should be less government, the ward system creates more.

“I don’t think it’s the right move,” he said. “I think you should really think about it and understand how it works and read up on it because it’s not the right thing for us.”

Armonk resident Neal Baumann said he believes that if the town uses the ward system it may be difficult to unseat council members who would only have to answer to constituents in their section of town. Over the past several election cycles, the current system has produced turnover on the North Castle Town Board.

“If people are happy with the United States Congress then they’ll be happy with the ward system,” Baumann said, “because essentially you’re going to turn this (town) into the Unites States Congress.”

Futia said he doesn’t believe that the third proposition freezing total town board compensation should have been left off the ballot but he is unwilling to contest it now. If the propositions are approved, he would again attempt to get that proposition on the ballot next year.

North White Plains resident Richard Panetta, a ward system proponent, said the intent of the third proposition can be achieved through the annual operating budget. Town officials have the authority to set council members’ pay.

At last week’s board meeting, there was a brief discussion about the propositions’ wording. Baroni said he had tweaked the language to for clarity; however, resident Mario Ruggiero, another advocate of the ward system, said the town needed to keep the same language that was presented on the petition signed by residents over the summer. More than 300 signatures were collected.

The board decided to go with the original language but will submit the updated language to the Board of Elections as an abstract version.