On Tap For Tonight's City Council Workshop: Cannabis & Loitering; Drought Emergency Plan; Highway Department; CSEA

The City of Beacon has posted their Agenda items for tonight’s City Council Workshop Meeting. This meeting is open for the public to view/attend, but the public cannot speak. It is an opportunity for the lawmakers to meeting with the City Attorney to debate what laws they are about to enact, or money they are about to spend.

The meeting can be watched live on Zoom or at their YouTube channel.

1. Proposed Local Law Concerning the Drought Emergency Plan
Recent years have seen increases in drought conditions in the State of New York, Dutchess County and the City of Beacon (the “City”), with 2024 being a particularly dry year. In 2024, the City saw the enactment of several burn bans and a drought emergency declaration. The City acquires its potable water from three (3) reservoirs and three (3) water wells, which except for one (1) well, are all owned and operated by the City. Hence, to safeguard the general welfare, health, and safety of residents and businesses, Chapter 24 of the Beacon City Code, entitled “Drought Emergency Plan,” sets forth three (3) stages of drought emergencies for when the City’s reservoirs and/or water wells reach critical thresholds and accordingly provides restrictions on water usage which escalate with the drought’s severity.

2. Proposed Local Law Concerning Loitering
The State of New York legalized the possession and recreational sale and use of cannabis for adults over the age of 21 and also determined that adults may use cannabis in most public places where it is also legal to use tobacco products. As such, the possession and use of cannabis is largely preempted under New York State Law, meaning municipalities may not adopt more stringent laws concerning the lawful sale, use, and possession of cannabis than what is set forth under State law.

Section 145-3(C) currently provides “a person is guilty of loitering when he or she loiters or remains in a public place for the purpose of possessing or using marijuana or a controlled substance.” Therefore, the proposed local law amends Chapter 145 of the City Code to bring the City’s loitering law in conformance with State law concerning the consumption of cannabis in public places.

3. Proposed Amendments to the 2025 Budget
Amend the 2025 General Fund Highway Budget for the accumulated and unused time payout or one employee retirement Amend the 2025 General, Water and Sewer Fund Budgets for the cost-of-living increases in the CSEA Collective Bargaining Agreement (and Administration staff), which was not approved until after the 2025 Budget presentation. Amounts were accounted for in the contingency lines and will be transferred accordingly. Below is the proposed budget amendment. Proposed are transfers to the Salary and Payroll tax lines from the Contingency Fund.

Announcement of Next Meeting: May 19, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.

1. Executive Session: Real Property

City of Beacon Lifts Stage 1 Drought Emergency

On January 15, 2025, hours after A Little Beacon Blog published that the City announced on January 6th that Beacon continued to be in a Stage 1 Drought Emergency, quoting City Administrator Chris White from the 1/6/2025 City Council Meeting: “We still are in a Stage 1 Drought, even though we've had quite a bit of precipitation,” the City of Beacon announced via their Facebook page on 1/15/2025 that the “reservoirs have recharged significantly.”

Stage 1 Drought Declared For City of Beacon; Burn Ban Of All Outdoor Burns Remains In Effect

During last night's City Council Meeting, Mayor Lee Kyriacou issued a Stage 1 Drought Advisory for the City of Beacon, following the Village of Cold Spring doing so on October 4th, which they elevated to a Stage 2 Drought in early November. Cold Spring’s drinking water sources are different than Beacon’s, where they need to pay New York City to draw water if necessary. Cold Spring’s Stage 1 Drought trigger was 79.16% capacity. The Stage 2 was 59.8% capacity, where it had dropped from 67% a week prior. The capacity triggers for the City of Beacon are different, as Beacon pulls from different reservoirs and wells.

The Mayor cited the City of Beacon's Superintendent of Water and Sewer, Ed Balicki, who advised that the city's 3 reservoirs have reached 60% capacity, which is the trigger set in the City of Beacon’s code.

Mayor Lee stressed more than once that there is ample water, but that people should conserve and reduce water usage. Mayor Lee recommended the following:

• Fix water leaks.

• No washing of cars except at a commercial Car Wash.

• No washing of patios driveways and outdoor areas.

• No refilling of and drawing City water for fountains, waterfalls, pools, lakes, or ponds on your properties and then the.

• No watering of lawns or golf courses.

This would also be a good time to schedule your water meter reader which can detect leaks in your home and alert the City of Beacon.

Mayor Lee educated on where Beacon's water comes from, explaining that water is pulled from 3 wells, which is why he is not concerned with how much water the City has, even though the code is requiring him to issue a Stage 1 Drought and recommend water conservation.

He confirmed with City Administrator Chris White that the City is pulling from 2 of the 3 wells right now. City Administrator White responded that there is a water quality issue with the Melzingah well, which is offline as a result. Further information about the cause of the quality decline was not given in this meeting.

Earlier, the Mayor confirmed that the Burn Ban remains in effect, and will be reissued every 5 days. He was comfortable with extending beyond the November 30 state-wide ban Governor Kathy Hochul issued earlier. However, the Mayor stated, Beacon’s ban is more restrictive in that it bans all exterior open burning. He clarified: “If you have a grill that closes and you're grilling outside, that is okay. But open campfires other open burnings outside are not permitted.”

As lawns and soccer fields remain dry and dusty, Councilmember Paloma Wake asked how the Burn Ban was being enforced. City Administrator Chris advised people to call the police if they see a fire. There is a $1,000 fine for breaking the ban. "We had a fire on Saturday from someone not extinguishing a smoking device. I think it was a cigarette and somebody's deck almost went up and FL so please be really careful. It's so dry out there."

Beacon Tips Out Of 2019 Drought Thanks To Rain and Snow

As of early December 2019, Beacon has emerged out of the drought that started in October 2019, according to City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, who made the announcement at the 12/09/2019 City Council Meeting.

“The reservoirs continue to refill,” explained Anthony, with some still being below normal. But the Melzingah Reservoir (the city’s smallest) is “running over,” he said. In 2018, the drought proclamation was lifted in February.

Beacon In Stage 1 Drought As Reservoir Levels Are Low

First announced at the October 7, 2019, City Council meeting by City Manager Anthony Ruggiero, the City of Beacon is in a Stage 1 Drought. While you may expect drought conditions in the summer, Beacon did have plenty of rainfall this season. Droughts have been declared in past fall and winter months, including October 23, 2017 and December 9, 2016.

Beaconites use between 2.4 and 2.6 million gallons of water per day. The water comes from two wells, and three reservoirs that depend on rainfall to fill up: Cargill, Melzingah, and Mount Beacon. Beacon also buys water from Fishkill. Currently, Well #2 has been taken offline due to a fracture 240 feet down, which was causing “high turbidity from silting.” Repairs to Well #2 are expected to take three months.

As of October 7, the three reservoirs were below the designated safe levels by the following amounts: Cargill (6 feet), Melzingah (15 feet-plus), and Mount Beacon (8 feet) according to Edward Balicki, director of operations for the Beacon Water Department. “These levels place the total capacity at about 60 percent, which is the main parameter for the Stage 1 Alert,” said Edward in a letter to the City of Beacon.

Beacon is currently in a building moratorium, with water supply concerns cited as the justification for the six-month pause in approving new building applications (get moratorium details here). During a water study, it was determined that there is enough water, and even a projected surplus. But the City Council is proceeding with caution.

Hasn’t It Been Raining? Will The Reservoirs Fill Up?

Despite the rain during the past two weeks, the reservoirs have not filled up. But, they have held steady. “There has been no significant change to the reservoir levels since the Drought notice [on October 7, 2019], which is a good thing,” said Anthony via email to A Little Beacon Blog. “The recent rainfall has helped hold the reservoirs to the same levels from two weeks ago. There is more rain forecasted for tomorrow [Tuesday] and possibly several days next week.”

Recommended Water Conservation Methods

There are several actions you can take to conserve water, which are recommended by the city, including:

• Limit car washing to commercial vehicle-washing facilities (i.e. car washes).

• Limit the washing of sidewalks, driveways or outdoor areas.

• Limit the use of water for ornamental purposes, including waterfalls, pools and ponds.

• Limit the filling of pools (pretty easy this time of year!).

• Only water lawns between the hours of 7 am and 8 am and 10 pm and 11 pm.

• Repair any leaking pipes or faulty plumbing. (This should be done anyway to limit wasted water and reduce the consumer’s water bill, according to the city.)

• Refrain from opening any hydrant without permission from the Water Department.