efermann

I was scanning through the latest round of AFG grant announcements and I am pleasantly surprised that five departments from Westchester have been awarded federal money so far this year. I may have missed some, but the departments from Westchester I see are:

Banksville

Larchmont

Millwood

New Rochelle

Ossining

I wrote the Ossining grant, so I know how much work went into these. Congratulations to everyone so far.

Date: 7/31/09

Time: 1450

Location: 621 Chappaqua Road between Washburn and Charles Ct.

Frequency: 46.26, fire16

Units Operating: Chapaqua, Chapaqua VAC, Mt. Kisco FAST, Millwood Engine, Briarcliff Tower Ladder, Ossining FAST, Bat 16

Relocate: Pleasantville relocate 1 engine to Chapaqua, Ossining relocate 1 engine to Millwood, 1 Engine from Armonk to Chappaqua

Weather Conditions: Heavy Rain

Description Of Incident: unknown type of fire in residence, multiple callers reporting

Reporters:

Writer: efermann

1st two engines to lay in from Briarcliff and Hardscrable Road

please feel free to update any additional fire

I recently came across this sign on a newer small commercial building. The sign was posted low on the outside wall near the front door. The design is different than what is described in the earlier link from the NY Dept. of State, but I think it's just as effective if not more so. There's less to decode...

Just received an email on this that stated not all solar panels are electric some are just for heating water and is hot to touch on a sunny day but no electrical current. Can anyone confirm or deny this??????

Solar water heaters:

My brother in MA has some on his house - no electrical current.

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=12850

Aside from villages belong within towns, etc, I believe the way the government is organized is also different. Below is how I understand the governments to be set up.

- Towns are run by an elected (political) town supervisor and a town board made up of elected (political) representatives. The supervisor is usually a full time position. Town board, I think, is not full time.

- Villages have an elected (political) mayor and an elected (political) village board. They also have a non-political (by means of appointment) village manager. Managers, however, can change as regularly as the majority of the village board. The manager is a full time position who oversees the village departments and should serve as an intermediary between the departments and the board. The mayor and board members are part time and work with other boards (zoning, planning, etc) to establish legislation. Village managers do not play a direct roll in the legislative process.

- Hamlets, as was previously stated, belong within a town (as do villages), but do not have an established sell-contained government.

A town/village like Mt. Kisco can decide if they want to run themselves more like a town or more like a village.

No matter what, there is a tremendous duplication of some government services when villages or hamlets lie within towns.

My wife took this picture of Ossining's E99. She didn't take any others.