Yonkers rules committee sends five administration items — including Westchester IMA and $987,000 DHS grant — to council

The Yonkers City Council Rules Committee on Oct. 7 reviewed five administration items and referred them to the full council for consideration at upcoming meetings.

City administration told the committee that Item 1 is a resolution issuing a negative declaration for various City of Yonkers capital projects and that it will appear on the special meeting agenda the same night. The administration identified Item 2 as a special ordinance declaring the City's findings regarding financing proposals for an energy performance contract with Honeywell International Inc.; that ordinance also was placed on the special meeting agenda.

Item 3 is a resolution to approve an intermunicipal agreement (IMA) between the City of Yonkers and the County of Westchester to formalize operational procedures for mutual aid and rapid response. City staff said the IMA will be presented to the council next week for formal approval. Item 4 is a proposed special ordinance to amend the City budget for the 2025–26 fiscal year to transfer funds between accounts for firefighting motor vehicles; the administration did not specify dollar amounts in committee and said the ordinance will go on next week's council meeting agenda.

The administration also introduced a related special ordinance to accept a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant of $987,000 to expand certain health and safety services and to amend the city's grant budget for fiscal year 2025–26. City staff told the committee that the grant-authorizing ordinance will be scheduled for the council agenda next week.

None of the administration items were debated at length in committee; the City administration representative presented each item and the committee agreed to move them forward to the appropriate council agendas. Council President closed the Rules Committee’s administration portion after the items were presented. A special council meeting was scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. the same evening, and remaining items were set for the following week's regular council meeting.