An imminent extension by the Westchester County Board of Legislators on the fate of Playland’s pool casts a shadow of uncertainty over a $1.5 million payment from new park manager Standard Amusements.
According to county Legislator Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat, while the deadline for legislators to make a decision on the pool ends on Sept. 30, after press time, there is a possibility the date could be extended further.
“We don’t want to demolish the pool, but we have some details to figure out if we’re going to rehabilitate it,” Parker told the Review.
According to Ned McCormack, spokesman for Republican County Executive Rob Astorinio’s administration, with that potential extension for the pool could come yet another extension on an initial payment from Standard Amusements—the management company put in charge of operating the park—which is set to coincide with the county Legislature’s pool deadline.
“All the parties are talking,” said McCormack regarding the prospect of another payment extension for Standard. “It’s likely that there will be another extension.”
The extended payment—which is the second contractual payment to the county as part of Standard’s deal to manage Playland, struck in May—was originally due on June 15, but was granted an extension to Sept. 30 from the county executive’s office on July 21, more than a month after the initial due date.
Questions surrounding when Standard may make its initial payment have boiled to the surface over the past several months after county Legislator Ken Jenkins, a Yonkers Democrat, accused Standard of missing the $1.5 million transfer and breaching the contract.
“That payment was not made,” Jenkins said. “I would question whether or not Standard is living up to their end of the bargain.”
Both representatives of Standard and representatives with the county executive’s office have repeatedly refuted such claims.
“There was no late payment,” McCormack said, adding that both parties have been in constant negotiations. “An extension was granted in a timely manner.”
However, emails obtained by the Review through a Freedom of Information Law, FOIL, request, show correspondence between Associate County Attorney Tami Altschiller dated June 27—nearly two weeks after the payment’s due date—prodding the co-founder of Standard Amusements, Nick Singer, on when the payment will be received.
“I have checked with the finance commissioner for the county and she does not have any record showing a payment from Standard Amusements,” reads the email. “As you will recall the payment was due June 15, 2016. Please advise when the county can expect this payment to be made.”
An email response from Singer, reads, “Let me speak to my CFO tomorrow and can come back to you…. Do we have wire instructions on the special reserve account?”
A representative from Standard Amusements told the Review that those correspondences failed to reflect ongoing discussions between the company and the county executive’s office; discussions which Altschiller was allegedly not privy to, according to a Standard spokesperson.
Altschiller declined to comment on whether or not her email was sent to Singer without such knowledge.
When reached by phone on Wednesday, Singer would not tell the Review whether Standard planned to make its $1.5 million payment to the county by the previously agreed upon Sept. 30 deadline.
A representative from Standard emailed a statement to the Review, which said, “Standard Amusements is committed to one thing: making Playland a crown jewel of Westchester County, once again. Any suggestion we have done anything to disrupt that goal is just silly.”
County administration officials have repeatedly tied Standard’s reluctance to send its initial payment to uncertainty over Playland’s pool.
“[Standard said] it doesn’t make sense for us to make a payment before [issues with the pool] get resolved,” McCormack said.
In a county Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting on Aug. 15, Lawrence Soule, the county budget director, reiterated similar sentiments about the payment, explaining during discussions with committee members that Standard’s payment was “delayed” and is “pending the outcome” of a decision on the future of the pool.
Parker, who was among county Democrats deriding Astorino’s agreement with Standard before its authorization in May, said that the last payment extension as well as a potential extension in the near future is just one example of a flawed agreement between the two parties.
“My discomfort with the agreement started right from the beginning,” Parker said. “The structure gives Standard the right to pull out and it gives little power to the county.”
According to the finalized version of the agreement, Standard may exercise its right to contractually exit the agreement if the county Board of Legislators fails to reach a decision on the pool before a predetermined deadline.
That deadline was originally slated for July 31 but was extended until Sept. 30. To date, Standard has given no indication that it intends to exercise its right to opt out.
A 30-year agreement between the county and Standard commits both parties to $30 million in critical capital improvements at the ailing amusement park and is the culmination of several years of negotiations with various public and private entities.
Now, legislators seem in favor of providing renovations to the pool amidst tepid support for a bond act introduced by Astorino’s administration that would have seen its complete removal.
Legislator Ben Boykin, a White Plains Democrat, could not be reached for comment as of press time.
