Hastings Will Not Share Rec Superintendent

Hastings-on-Hudson has decided it will not conduct a one-year experiment of sharing a superintendent of parks and reacreation with the Village of Dobbs Ferry.

“Tonight I’m reporting that we’ve decided not go forward with this IMA [intermunicipal agreement] at this time,” said Hastings-on-Hudson Mayor Peter Swiderski, at Tuesday’s village board meeting. “The reason is that in our negotiations with Dobbs Ferry we’ve encountered some issues that led us to conclude that we should set aside, right now, any plans to share a superintendent of our parks and recreations departments.” 

The Village will save about $65,000 in salary and benefits by not hiring a new superintendent and keeping acting superintendent Kendra Garrison in her current role. 

“We are fortunate to have a more than able acting parks and recreation superintendent who can certainly manage the program in the immediate future,” said Swiderski.

Hastings’ mayor said that both heads of the villages’ parks and recreation departments will start to put their heads together to see how Hastings-on-Hudson and Dobbs Ferry can work together on new programs, sharing expenses and collaborating on other initiatives.

Swiderski vowed that the village board would continue to find ways to reduce the tax burden and prevent service and personnel cuts by seeking ways to collaborate with other municipalities like Dobbs Ferry and the Town of Greenburgh. He said that if the Village failed to go down the road of sharing services it would be forced to make budget cuts or exceed the tax cap.

“Thankfully we’re not there yet,” said Swiderski.

According to Swiderski, Hastings-on-Hudson would not lose its spirit or individuality if it collaborates with Dobbs Ferry and that “we can sustain our identity even as we adapt." He said village the board is “deadest to fight against” the erosion of services and quality of life in Hastings and that “we will not cease to work with Dobbs Ferry because of a them vs. us attitude,” as the Villages already work together by aiding each other on police and emergency service calls and share equipment. 

“We either work together as neighboring communities or cut costs or we watch our taxes rise and our neighbors squeezed out,” said Swiderkski.

Click here for our previous stories on the proposal. 

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