Haverstraw town moved forward with switching six police officers' pension plans so that they can get full benefit after 20 years instead of having to work until they are 62 years old.

It took about 15 years for the officers to notice that their retirement plans were different from what other officers have. And in 2004, [...]

Six Haverstraw village employees will be competing to become the "biggest loser."

"We want to get healthy," said Village Treasure Judith Curcio, adding that as of Thursday, six employees — Mayor Michael Kohut, Building Inspector Ruben Berrios, Assistant Building Inspector Rafael Bueno Jr. Fire Inspector Pat McNamee, Public Works Superintendent George White and herself — expressed [...]

Haverstraw Town Board this week appointed West Haverstraw Village Justice John K. Grant to town justice to fill the unexpired term of Thomas Walsh, who was recently appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson to serve as an interim judge of the Rockland County Surrogate Court.

This creates a need for West Haverstraw village to appoint someone [...]

Stony Point Town Hall is closed again this afternoon because of some "smelly" air coming from an "inhibitor" installed on the wall, Supervisor Phil Marino said.

The town has been addressing mold issues in Town Hall's basement. A contractor is working on it.

Town Hall also was closed yesterday afternoon and opened this morning. But it was [...]

Its details remain secret because it's a surprise, but the four town supervisors in Rockland have been meeting twice a week since the beginning of this month to practice their performance — singing and dancing — under the direction of two accomplished Broadway dancers.

"This Sunday night is our big performance," said Stony Point Supervisor Phil [...]

Neighborhood Cruisers, a Stony Point-based nonprofit group, found a new home for its Monday Cruise Nights.

The weekly event that runs through May to September had been based at Annie's Snack Shack on Route 9W until last year. But the landmark restaurant was sold to a developer and a pharmacy and bank are under construction on [...]

When I was on the phone with Stony Point Town Board member Geoffrey Finn on Friday, he told me about his frustrations related to the James A. Farley Memorial Bridge's replacement project.

First of all, he did not like the fact that the recent two meetings, where a state Department of Transportation engineer explained the agency's [...]

Haverstraw Village Clerk Emma Velez told me yesterday that she wanted to remind residents that Village Hall at 40 New Main St., has been offering extended business hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. the first and third Mondays every month. The Building Department will be open until 7 p.m. the first Thursday of every [...]

A caller alerted me this morning that Haverstraw town's highway trucks migrated to the town's Philip Rotella Memorial Golf Course.

To see what's going on, I drove by the golf course on Thiells-Mount Ivy Road this afternoon, and saw a total of 13 trucks, some of them with snowplows, neatly lined up in the parking lot [...]

It was about five minutes before the Stony Point Town Board meeting at Rho building at Letchworth Village on Tuesday. As I was looking for a seat to sit down, Supervisor Phil Marino came up to me and told me that he needed to talk to me.

We went to the back of the meeting room.

There, [...]

Haverstraw town announced this week its plan to improve court security, using the grant the town recently received from the state Office of Court Administration.

Towns and villages in the county have been awarded the state grants ranging from $2,000 to $29,000. Haverstraw town got the second highest amount, $24,826.

Haverstraw town Supervisor Howard Phillips said part [...]

I started taking a Spanish class at Rockland Community College so that I can better communicate with people who feel more comfortable with speaking in Spanish rather than in English.

The first class was last night. Guess who was in my class?

When I was going through my datebook in the classroom, while waiting for the teacher [...]

Two supervisors in North Rockland want to meet the public this Saturday.

Haverstraw town Supervisor Howard Phillips will hold a “meet the supervisor and town elected officials� event from 10 a.m. to noon at the ShopRite store on Route 202 in Garnerville. Residents can bring their questions and concerns related to the town government.

Stony Point Supervisor [...]

I stopped by Haverstraw Center this week, where the Haverstraw Collaborative — a group of local agencies serving the village youth and families — was hosting a week-long event for children during the school break.

When I was visiting, multiple programs — including a knitting class, a group discussion, and exercises — were ongoing, and participating [...]

This podcast features highlight's from last week's North Rockland tax forum. The North Rockland Business Alliance hosted the forum, check out what the president of the group and what one resident had to say.

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North Rockland taxpayers raise their concerns at tax forum

Burt Singer of Pomona always thought that more parking spaces should be available at Pomona Village Hall when it serves as a polling site. He thought many residents might shy away from casting their votes because of the difficult parking situation there.

Through his observation, Singer realized that on an election day, election workers seemed to [...]

I’ve been receiving so many calls and e-mails about the Hudson Pines Condominiums, an affordable housing complex I wrote about in Wednesday’s paper, I figured I'd share all the information I have:

The condominiums are on Dowd Street in Haverstraw village. That’s off Route 202, not too far away from the Route 9W intersection.

There will be [...]

I drove by Benson Street in West Haverstraw yesterday to check if Raines and Welsh and Sons, a construction company on Railroad Avenue, was clearing up its backyard, following an order from the state Department or Environmental Conservation.

The work was in progress: a piece of heavy machinery was loading piles of dirt onto a truck.

Last [...]

In my recent story on Papo Cancel’s quick comeback to the Haverstraw Town Board, Supervisor Howard Phillips was quoted, saying that two people â€" Cancel and Salvatore Greco of West Haverstraw â€" notified the Democratic Committee of their interest in the Town Board seat vacated by John Ramundo. He also said because Greco later withdrew [...]

Since John Ramundo left the Haverstraw Town Board to become West Haverstraw mayor earlier this month, the Town Board has been missing one board member.

Supervisor Howard Phillips said he was planning to appoint someone to fill the vacancy at the reorganization meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 3.

Rumors have been circulated that Town Board member Isidro [...]

Right after the regular Town Board meeting last night, Haverstraw town Supervisor Howard Phillips casually asked Hector Soto, Haverstraw Town Board member-elect, if he wanted to join him and others at Dunkin’ Donuts.

Soto politely declined, saying that he was watching his weight.

Phillips insisted and said, “I’m going to drink water. That’s what I’m going to [...]

A long-awaited bridge-replacement project at the former Letchworth Village finally started this week.

The bridge on American Legion Way, formerly known as Underpass Road, was condemned in fall 2005 because of structural problems.

The condemnation left the North Rockland school district's Fieldstone Secondary School and Willow Grove Middle School without an emergency route in or out of [...]

Carl Gilpatrick, president of the Civil Service Employees Association’s Stony Point unit, said yesterday that the union had endorsed Democratic candidates for November’s local election.

Those candidates endorsed by the union were incumbent Supervisor Phil Marino; Town Board candidates Luanne Konopko and Tom Brown; and Patrick Kennell, who is running against Republican incumbent Highway Superintendent Larry [...]

Angelo Cintron and Ricky Sanchez, both Democrats and former Haverstraw village trustees, will be formally endorsing two Republican candidates, not their fellow Democrats, in November.

According to a statement released yesterday, Cintron and Sanchez support incumbents District Attorney Michael Bongiorno and Haverstraw village Mayor Francis "Bud" Wassmer.

Democrat Tom Zugibe, former West Haverstraw village justice, is challenging [...]

Ricky Sanchez, who finished second in the Haverstraw mayoral race in the Democratic primary, recently said he had not decided if he would support the winner, Mike Kohut.

Kohut, who got 385 votes in the primary, will run against Republican incumbent Francis "Bud" Wassmer in November.

To Kohut, getting support from Sanchez, who got 349 votes in [...]