- Rye Record
- Posts
- On The Record: City Looks to Retain Public Safety Commissioner
On The Record: City Looks to Retain Public Safety Commissioner
Kopy needs the state to OK his job
Good morning subscribers. ☕This is your Tuesday, Sept. 3, Rye Record newsletter, curating some of the latest headlines across the city of Rye.
Today’s Weather Channel local forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 77 degrees ☀️ Check out the forecast for the rest of the week here.
Red tape. The City Council has “indefinitely” tabled separating its Public Safety Department into two emergency services divisions, leaving Rye’s well-compensated commissioner in place — as long as New York state signs off.
The city had initially pursued the idea of amending its charter to restore separate police and fire departments earlier this year, leaving Public Safety Commissioner Michael Kopy’s future potentially in jeopardy.
But the City Council missed an Aug. 4 deadline to place the measure on the November election ballot in order to facilitate the change for 2026.
And with a reshaped council set to take office come January, including a new mayoral administration, the issue has been pushed off until at least next year.
As a result of that decision, the city is now pursuing a new 211 waiver through the state, which would allow Kopy to continue double dipping — serving as paid commissioner in Rye despite having retired from the state police where he collects a pension.
A Mamaroneck resident, Kopy earns about $340,000 in annual income, according to city and state records. The waiver allows him to continue collecting his $115,800 annual pension from the state.
Kopy was first hired by the city in 2021 under a 211 waiver, after serving as the state’s former director of emergency management under then Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
It is not the first time the city has gone the route of hiring a candidate that required a 211 waiver. Former police commissioner William Connors, a veteran of the NYPD, ran Rye’s police department for 13 years until he resigned in 2014.
To read Rosie Newmark’s full report, click here.
Michael Kopy came to Rye in 2021 after working in the administration of then Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
-Today’s newsletter is curated by Christian Falcone
➡️ Follow The Record, @ryerecordnews, on our social media channels and at ryerecord.com for the latest news. 💻📱
RYE RECORD STUDIOS 🎙
INSTAGRAM POST OF THE WEEK 📸
-Rough weekend anyone?
IN OTHER NEWS
Battle on. The return to school also means the return of fall sports, and for a football-loving town, trading in a chair by the pool for a spot on a cold bleacher seat is more than fair. Inside our Fall Sports Preview, you’ll find stories on six Garnets teams, all with aspirations to win section titles and more. -Chris Marshall
Sleeping dragon. There are currently 27 rides open at Playland, including 15 in Kiddyland. But many of the park’s main attractions like the historic Dragon Coaster, the ferris wheel and the log flume have remained closed all summer. -Camille Botello
Taking a lap. Ahead of the holiday weekend, a 51-year-old was attempting to swim from Shenorock Shore Club restaurants across to his home on Hix Avenue before going missing in Milton Harbor waters. -Camille Botello
AROUND TOWN
-Since a devastating fire in late July, the community has rallied around the owners of Midland Deli (Delicias Arellano), fundraising close to $30,000 for repairs. The Rye Fire Department’s union also pitched in, presenting the deli with a check for $1,000. -Sydney Depietto
-Formed during the early days of the pandemic, Mermaids and Dolphins — the paddle boarding group of local resident draws around 10 people into the Long Island Sound most mornings. Part workout, part socializing — the group is all about shared belonging. -Avery Gershwin
Off the Record: The mystery local planning group is at it again, recently disseminating an email to unveil its own master guiding document “in the coming weeks” — ahead of the influential November elections. To read our previous enterprise report on this group which refers to itself as the Rye Community Planning Collaborative, click here.
➡️ Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for our newsletter here. Interested in advertising or sponsoring this post? Click here.
FROM OUR PARTNERS
POLICE & FIRE
An abandoned e-bike was found nearly on fire by the city Department of Public Works last week.
The Rye Fire Department found an abandoned e-scooter with a smoking battery last week, as a surge of micro-mobility devices being seen across town become an increasing concern.
The city’s Public Works Department notified the Rye FD after employees noticed a smoking e-scooter in the back of a garbage truck, according to fire Lt. Max Billington, who responded to the emergency call on Aug. 26.
When firefighters arrived, Billington said it was no longer actively emitting smoke – but that it still had a burning smell.
-by Camille Botello
Mia Padovano committed to college in the first semester of her junior year.
SPORTS
In the classroom, high school students grind until the very last day of their senior year, aiming to elevate their test scores and GPAs to perhaps land an academic scholarship.
But in the increasingly competitive world of college sports recruitment, it has become common for teams to sign top student-athletes when their time in high school is barely even halfway over.
In the school’s 2025 graduating class, 38 student-athletes are going on to play a college sport, including 30 in Division I.
-by Ariana Ottrando
BUSINESS & ORGS
Eight establishments compete in Rye’s quarter-mile-long central business district to pour residents hot and cold creations.
Downtown Rye got a strong caffeine jolt in April 1994 with the arrival of The Coffee Tree — Purchase Street’s first barista bar.
The outlet’s monopoly on satisfying the local thirst for cappuccinos proved short-lived, however. Just two months later Starbucks opened directly across the street.
In those days, New Yorkers were fascinated by the phenomenon of espresso emporiums charging premium prices to a population that had long been content to drink cheap brews served in blue-and-gold diner cups.
-by David Hessekiel
Residents learned some of Rye’s memorable history while riding around town in trolley cars — a tribute to the city’s past.
LOCAL HISTORY
From the Nursery Field parking lot, the trolleys rolled onto Milton Road and into history.
Residents, from elementary school students to senior citizens, showed up recently for Rye Historical Society’s “From the Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties” trolley tour and picnic.
“The tour was a reminder that there are hundreds of years’ worth of stories, controversies, and patterns that bring us to the current moment,” said Linsey Furnary, who joined the tour.
-by Alison Cupp Relyea