Meet Scarsdale's First Female Village Manager
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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After Village Manager Robert Cole’s abrupt departure last September, a key position in Village Hall was left vacant. The Village Board hired a search firm and undertook a national search, but the process was lengthy. In the interim, Deputy Village Manager Alex Marshall stepped up and was later promoted to Acting Village Manager.
After the Board vetted and interviewed candidates from the search process, they ultimately concluded that the best candidate was right in the building.
So on September 10, 2024, Mayor Justin Arest announced the appointment of Marshall to the role of Village Manager, making her the Village’s first female manager and the youngest one in Scarsdale’s history.
Congratulating Marshall on her promotion, Deputy Mayor Dara Gruenberg said, “Alex, you are truly extraordinary. A year ago, you stepped up without hesitation to take on the role of Acting Village Manager, and throughout this year, you have managed the village with exceptional efficiency and effectiveness, all while continuing your responsibilities as Deputy Manager, which is a superhuman feat. You are caring, patient, and an excellent listener. You have a unique ability to ensure everyone feels heard, and even when delivering difficult news, you do so with kindness and respect, making people feel valued. You have earned the admiration of the village staff, who were delighted by the announcement. When faced with the unknown, you dive in with enthusiasm and a commitment to learning. You are humble, approachable, and we are fortunate to have you as our new Village Manager. I am excited to see all you will accomplish.”
To help our readers get to know Ms. Marshall, we asked her a few questions, and here is what she shared:
Tell us about yourself: How did you become interested in municipal government and what has been your career path?
I first became interested in government in early 2016 when I began an internship at the Village of Rye Brook. My original career plan was focused on museum science, and I enrolled in a Master of Public Administration (MPA) program at College of New Rochelle, concentrating in non-profit management. My role in Rye Brook was intended to be temporary while I focused on my graduate school studies. During that time, I came to enjoy learning about the inner workings of municipal government and making a positive difference at the local level. I decided to switch my MPA concentration to government. I was fortunate that my internship materialized into a full-time job opportunity, and I enjoyed working in Rye Brook for nearly six years under the leadership of Village Administrator Christopher Bradbury. I credit Chris for showing me how interesting the world of municipal management is, and I still look to him as a mentor and role model.
How long have you been working in Scarsdale and what were your initial responsibilities and then in your job as Acting Village Manager?
I began working in Scarsdale in November of 2021 as Deputy Village Manager. My primary responsibilities as deputy included preparation of the Village Board agenda, participating in the creation of the annual budget, and creating public communications. Throughout my time in Scarsdale, I have worked closely with our department heads. I worked closely with the Village Treasurer on the budget and budget presentations. I also spent a period of time filling the Personnel Administrator role until that position was filled in early 2023.
When I stepped into the role of Acting Manager in September 2023, I continued my responsibilities as Deputy Manager while also assuming the responsibilities of Village Manager which include overseeing 10 department heads and having responsibility for the operations of the village.
What is the job of the Village Manager? How many people report to you – and what are their roles?
The Village Manager serves as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Village, managing day to day operations. The Village is fortunate to have such capable department heads who manage their respective departments, but the Manager has oversight of all operations in the Village including public works, parks and recreation, land use, public safety, and more. The Village Manager reports to the Village Board and works closely with them to execute their priorities.
What do you enjoy about the job and what are you looking forward to in your new role?
As Village Manager, I’m excited to be involved in more ‘big picture’ projects. Over the next several months, I’m looking forward to leading discussions about the pool complex, joint field study with the school district, and Village-wide stormwater improvements.
What do you think are the major challenges facing the Village?
As with many communities in our region, aging infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges we face. Much of our infrastructure was built over 100 years ago. The Village has deferred maintenance on many of these items so now we are looking for ways to ensure we invest in our infrastructure while also being conscientious of budgetary implications. As we look towards the FY 2025-2026 Budget Cycle, I expect staff and the Village Board will have continued conversations about necessary long-term repairs and improvements as part of the capital budget.
What are your thoughts on the renovation of the pool project? Do you think it will move forward this year?
I am happy to share that we are making positive progress on the pool project. Earlier this year we brought on the architects at Lothrop & Associates to begin developing more detailed concept plans for the pool complex, and we are looking forward to a presentation to the board and public at a work session on October 29.
Some are calling for the redevelopment of the Freightway site. What do you think?
My primary focus for the Freightway garage is ensuring that any necessary repairs occur over the next few years to maintain the structural integrity and safety of the facility as a parking garage until a future decision is made by the Village Board and community as to what will be done with the site.
What funding sources are available to replace the Village’s aging infrastructure?
Our staff and consultants are constantly looking to other government agencies for grant opportunities. For example, we recently received a $1,156,326.75 FEMA grant for the replacement of the culverts on Catherine Road.
As Scarsdale’s first female, and perhaps youngest Village Manager, do you think you will bring a new perspective to the role?
It’s an honor to be able to serve as Scarsdale’s first female manager. I believe I bring compassion, inclusivity, and a collaborative spirit to the role. While a younger manager, I have spent my entire career in municipal government. I have fostered close relationships with many managers and department heads throughout the county who are great resources. I feel confident in continuing to serve in the role of Manager knowing that I have an excellent team of professionals that work with me. While I may not always give staff and residents the answers they are looking for, I believe it's important to be a good listener, keep an open mind, and treat everyone with respect. The Village has some big infrastructure challenges ahead, but we have capable and experienced staff as well as dedicated residents who volunteer their time and talents for the betterment of the Village, so I am confident we will find creative and thoughtful ways to tackle these challenges. I appreciate the board’s trust in me, and I look forward to continuing to serve the Scarsdale community.
Lemonade for SVAC
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Two Woodmere boys came to Scarsdale to support the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Matt and Daniel Aspis set up a lemonade stand at the Heathcote Road home of their grandparents Sharon and Harold Aspis on Labor Day weekend.
They sold $300 worth of lemonade, and their grandparents matched the proceeds with their gift of $300, to donate a total of $600 to the ambulance corps.
The boys, their Dad and David Raizen paid a visit to SVAC where they posed for the pictures shown here.
Scarsdale Black Oak Tree Captures the Attention of CEO of the New York Botanical Garden
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CEO and President of the New York Botanical Garden Jennifer Bernstein is making a trip to Scarsdale next week to see an historic, healthy black oak tree at 21 Autenrieth Road. While neighbors have brought this tree to the attention of Scarsdale's Board of Architectural Review (“BAR”) because a renovation project threatens the tree’s future, the massive tree has also caught the attention of the New York Botanical Garden.
An investment group from Rye bought the house to renovate and resell. Their plan includes sandwiching a new two-car garage and a new driveway into the front yard next to the enormous oak tree, threatening the tree’s survival. There have been no objections to a proposed two-story addition, but neighbors are urging that the applicant use one of the two existing 2-car garages and not build near the tree.
Mature trees provide critical environmental services like oxygen, shade, stormwater mitigation, and wildlife habitat. In Scarsdale, they also serve an essential role in improving the water quality of the Bronx River. Scarsdale is part of the Bronx River watershed, and like all communities within the watershed, Scarsdale’s treatment of its mature trees matters. The Bronx River flows directly through the New York Botanical Garden, and the Botanical Garden is reaching out to communities along the Bronx River to emphasize the crucial role trees play in maintaining a healthy environment.
As evidenced by Ms. Bernstein’s planned visit, mature trees serve an essential ecological function. By protecting the stately oak at #21, Scarsdale can set an example of thoughtful municipal stewardship that allows mature trees to thrive in a suburban community.
The fate of the tree is now in the hands of the Scarsdale Board of Architectural Review and is on its agenda for Monday, August 12th, 7 P.M. at Village Hall. Please attend to share your concerns.
Letter from Friends of the Scarsdale Parks
August 7, 2024
By Email
Frank Diodati, Village Building Inspector
Scarsdale Village Hall
1001 Post Road, Scarsdale NY 10583
[email protected]
RE: Scarsdale Board of Architectural Review (“BAR”) Meeting- August 12, 2024
Black Oak Tree at 21 Autenrieth Road
Dear Mr. Diodati and Members of the Scarsdale Board of Architectural Review,
Friends of the Scarsdale Parks, Inc. (FOSP), a 501(c) (3) is a not-for-profit organization operating in the Village of Scarsdale since 1957. FOSP’s community efforts have been focused since its inception on the preservation, restoration, and conservation of Scarsdale’s parks and open spaces, often working in collaboration with Scarsdale Village on a range of environmental matters.
Scarsdale loses over 1,000 mature trees every year. To help repopulate our dwindling tree canopy, FOSP has served as a resource for the Village by providing advice on tree species selection for its street tree program and for its parks. When these new trees are planted, however, they are very small and will take decades to contribute the ecoservices a mature tree provides. As a result, FOSP is making every effort to educate our community about the environmental and aesthetic importance of our mature trees.
Organizations in Scarsdale are sounding the alarm about Scarsdale’s mature tree loss. In a December 2023 memorandum the village’s Conservation Advisory Council documented Scarsdale’s mounting tree loss, citing tree removal data supplied by the village. In early 2024 the Scarsdale Forum Inc. issued a report entitled, Environmental Protection and Preservation of Trees in the Village of Scarsdale. https://www.scarsdaleforum.com/Reports/download/1277 While Scarsdale is losing over 1,000 mature trees annually, business as usual cannot continue. The dire situation in which the community now finds itself is reflected in increased stormwater flooding as well as in neighborhoods whose aesthetic character is diminishing from exceptional to average as the trees disappear.
So what can be done? In a developed community like Scarsdale, neighborhood aesthetics change one house at a time. We understand that the BAR is responsible for ensuring that building projects preserve and promote the aesthetic character of a neighborhood, which in Scarsdale includes our mature trees.
FOSP is hereby requesting that the BAR exercise its authority to protect the visually stunning, historic, and massive Black Oak tree (Quercus velutina) located in the front yard of 21 Autenrieth Road from any risk of short or long-term harm as a result of the proposed renovation (see Location Map and images annexed hereto). The proposed construction of a duplicative new garage and new driveway in close proximity to this black oak would ruin an idyllic front yard as well as pose unnecessary risk to this centerpiece tree of the park-like neighborhood of Old Scarsdale.
According to the Village website describing the BAR, “Not only does their review include architectural design elements, but also the structure’s relationship to the site, …, including its identity as a Village in a Park” (emphasis added).
Neighbors hired arborist William (Bill) Bryant Logan for advice about protecting the Black Oak tree. Mr. Logan is President of Urban Arborists, Inc., a longstanding faculty member of the New York Botanical Garden, a visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture at Pratt Institute, and author of Oak, The Frame of Civilization (2005).
Mr. Logan personally examined the Black Oak in 2024 and stated in his letter that: “This oak is an extraordinary specimen, among the largest oaks in Westchester County. It is almost 5 feet in diameter at breast height (DBH). Such a tree represents an incalculable benefit, not only to the people who can see and interact with it daily, but also to the thousands of mammals, birds, insects, spiders, and other macroinvertebrates that live and/or feed on and in it, as well as the billions of bacteria and fungi that inhabit it. It is part of the intact ecosystem that characterizes Scarsdale yards and gardens. Its loss would be very serious, not only aesthetically but also ecologically.” The Black Oak is estimated by Mr. Logan to be between 275-325 years old, which means it has survived since colonial times. (Bill Logan 2/23/2024 letter attached)
Mr. Logan’s letter explains that: “Ideally, the construction should be kept back a radius equivalent to the Critical Root Zone (CRZ) of the tree … a radius of roughly 58 feet . . . an area within which the tree’s important roots are located, both roots that keep it standing and roots that absorb the water and nutrients that the tree needs for its life. No disturbance should occur around the entire circumference of the tree within a radius of 58 feet.” (emphasis added)
Neighbors who have appeared at Board of Architectural Review (BAR) meetings to request the protection of the tree and front yard have pointed out that the house already has two existing two-car garages, one handsome Georgian revival brick detached garage in the backyard, and one attached garage in the basement. It is significant to note that, while neighbors strenuously opposed the addition of a new garage and new driveway both of which would be built in the front yard near the Black Oak, they have not opposed the proposed two-story living area addition. See article in local online publication: https://scarsdale10583.com/arts-a-entertainment-601/10725-land-use-preserving-a-200-year-old-oak-and-rerouting-a-waterway
FOSP hereby requests that the BAR exercise its authority to protect this iconic tree whose survival is threatened by the developer’s proposed project.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of Friends of the Scarsdale Parks, Inc.
Madelaine Eppenstein, President
Cynthia Roberts, Vice President
Emily Kronenberg, Secretary
Jim Blum, Board Member
Betsy Bush, Board Member
Kay Eisenman, Board Member
Dorothy Kroenlein, Board Member
Jeannie Mackler, Board Member
Richard Reuter, Board Member
Scarsdale Family Donates an Ambulance to Israel
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Shortly after the tragic events of October 7th, longtime Scarsdale resident, Dr Diana Hurwitz, felt the need to support Israelis and convey a commitment to their wellbeing. She is the daughter of a holocaust survivor and has always been keenly aware of antisemitism.
When she acknowledged the painful reality of the rise in antisemitism both around the country and on college campuses, she lobbied to organize the first Jewish Affinity Celebration for students graduating from her alma mater. She also researched and connected with Magen David Adom, an Israeli organization founded in 1930, and Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service.
After a discussion with her husband, Jack Miller, and their sons, Harrison and Benjamin, they mutually decided to gift an ambulance to MDA. 10 months later, after a strike at General Motors where the ambulance was made, the ambulance made a stop in Westchester so that the family and some friends could celebrate it and dedicate it to family lost in the Shoah before it traveled to Baltimore for transport via boat to Israel.
Photos by Jillian Nelson
BAR Grants Heritage Tree Designation to a 200 Year-Old White Oak
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A 200 Year-Old Swamp White Oak on Autenreith RoadOn Monday July 29, the Board of Architectural Review unanimously approved Scarsdale code’s “heritage tree” designation for the majestic, almost 200 year old swamp white oak (quercus bicolor) gracing the front lawn of 17 Autenrieth Road in the village center neighborhood of Old Scarsdale. Appearing in person, homeowner Deborah Russell made an impassioned request for heritage protection of this unique tree based on a certified arborist’s assessment. Madelaine Eppenstein, President of Friends of the Scarsdale Parks, Inc., which had submitted its letter of support for the designation, made the case for the historic importance of the tree.
Over the last decade, the heritage tree codified designation has been conferred for other iconic trees throughout the village at the request of Friends of the Scarsdale Parks—the New York non-profit conservation group in existence since 1957. These trees include the 400 year-old red oak on the lawn of the Scarsdale Woman’s Club, a stand of spring flowering tulip trees at Hyatt Field Park, and a grove of beech trees at Chase Park, the woodland village green for which Friends of the Parks was instrumental in advocating to prevent its development as a parking lot.
Village code section 281-7B establishes the criteria for the BAR’s “heritage tree” designation:
”A tree may be designated as a heritage tree upon a finding that it is unique and of importance to the community. The following factors may be considered by the Board of Architectural Review when considering designating a heritage tree:
(1) It is an outstanding specimen of a desirable species.
(2) It is one of the largest or oldest trees in Scarsdale.
(3) It possesses distinctive form, size, age, location, and/or historical significance.”
Residents whose property hosts a tree that they would like to have considered for heritage tree status may apply to the Building Department. The BAR will then review and vote on the application. The Friends of the Scarsdale Parks is happy to consult with residents about whether their tree is a good candidate and to assist with the application.
The legislative intent of Article I, Trees, section 281-1 is included here to remind homeowners of the critical importance of their trees:
“The Village of Scarsdale finds that trees within the Village provide an important contribution to the health, safety, aesthetics and general welfare of Scarsdale residents and the community at large. Trees provide shade and aesthetic appeal, enhance green space, improve air quality, reduce energy use and atmospheric carbon dioxide, provide and promote habitat for wildlife, impede soil erosion, aid water absorption, inhibit excess runoff and flooding, provide screening, offer a natural barrier to noise, provide other environmental benefits and generally enhance the quality of life within the Village. These social, economic, and ecological benefits often increase as trees mature and the Village community's investment in trees has accrued over many years. This investment can be rapidly lost and is not easily nor quickly replaced due to the long length of time for a tree to mature. The destruction of and damage to trees and the indiscriminate and excessive cutting of trees can create barren and unsightly conditions, as well as surface drainage problems, increase municipal costs to control drainage, impair the value of real property and adversely affect the environment, health and character of the community. This article [of the code] seeks to address these conditions and promote the preservation of trees within the Village.”
