The City of New Rochelle has a new deputy corporation counsel. Brian Powers was a staff lawyer for Travelers Indemnity Insurance Company for 19 years, and before that was a deputy county attorney in Westchester County. He starts March 1.

Have you either upgraded or renovated your Sound Shore-area property to make your house more “green”? For example, have you installed solar panels, rain-collection buckets, or begun to compost in earnest? We’re looking for a green house/homeowner to profile for an upcoming Express story. Contact Leah Rae at lrae@lohud.com if you think you might qualify.

A few of us from the Sound Shore team had a nice time yesterday (and a tasty meal) at the Nautilus diner in Mamaroneck, chatting with patrons and letting them know about our “Unofficial Mayor” contest next week here on the blog. You can win real stuff – real good stuff – a laptop and digital cameras. That seemed to get folks’ attention. Get all of the details here. We’ll be out in the local communities in the coming days spreading the word, but it’s up to you to come back and participate next week. We can’t wait to see what you have to say.

Are you getting ready? Don’t forget to check out the rules and get all the other information you need to join our Express “Unofficial Mayor” contest, your chance to show just how much you know about, and how connected you are to your community.
The contest starts March 1. It’s easy to compete. Just keep checking this blog each day next week and look for our question of the day. You’ll have two hours to answer. Compete every day and answer all our questions, you could win a mini laptop computer, a chance to blog here for three months, and a story about you in our Sunday Express.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars, and good luck!

I wrote yesterday about the Monroe College Junior Culinary Team winning the silver in a cooking skills competition earlier this month. The school sent me some photos of the four course meal cooked by the New Rochelle team. The menu was poached sole, salad with roasted golden beets and toasted spiced hazelnuts, duck breast in an herb crepe with a gratin of parsnip and St. Andre cheese, and a slow-roasted Pear Williams frozen mousse. Enjoy.

Nine municipalities in Sound Shore and Southern Westchester have joined forces to take on United Water New Rochelle, which is planning to hike water rates 55 percent. The rate increase would hit property owners in New Rochelle, Ardsley, Bronxville, Eastchester, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Pelham, Pelham Manor and Tuckahoe.

Under the water company’s plan, bills for 31,000 customers would rise from an average of $470 per year to $718 per year. The annual cost for hydrant service and maintenance — charged to municipalities — would go from $672 per hydrant to $1,308. The company says the rate hike is needed to pay for $94 million in infrasturce and repair costs over four years.

United Water New Rochelle filed for a rate hike in November with the state Public Service Commission, and the plan is now under review. The public is invited to comment (the case number 09-W-0824):
• Call the PSC Opinion Line at 800-335-2120.
• Visit www.askpsc.com online, go to the “contact us” page and send an e-mail.

You can read news from the company about the rate increase here: United Water New Rochelle Files Rate Request with PSC. Let us know what you think about the proposed rate increase by posting your comments here.

Paul Mackey of Haldane fouls Lance Freundlich of Blind Brook during the Section One Class C boy’s semifinals at the County Center in White Plains Feb. 22, 2010. Blind Brook won 46-33.

To see more photographs from this event , click here to be connected to our daily sports gallery at LoHud.com.( Joe Larese / The Journal News )

Blind Brook Superintendent William Stark is proposing a 5.19 2.14 percent tax levy increase for next year’s school budget, and he and the board seem to be bracing for debate right down to the last decimal.

The $39.5 million plan increases spending by 1.61 percent over the current year, and a slightly larger share would be paid through property tax. The equivalent of 6.8 full-time positions would be cut, including a psychologist and curriculum director, and the “merged” sports programs would end.

At tonight’s board presentation, a number of residents called for a zero change in the tax rate. Others called for restoring the hockey team, currently made up of 67 Blind Brook students plus others from Harrison and Rye Neck. Steve Ketchabaw, whose son is the Titans’ team captain, said parents are already organizing to raise money that would fund the bulk of the program.

So the puck has been dropped (sorry, but you knew we had to use a sports metaphor) on the 2010-11 budget season. It continues March 6 with a budget workshop at 9 a.m. at the high school.

Correction: I had the wrong figure earlier for the tax increase. The proposed increase in the tax levy is 2.14 percent. The proposed tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value is 5.19 percent. Will head to the penalty box for two minutes.

A few of us will be meeting tomorrow (Tuesday Feb. 23) at the Nautilus Diner in Mamaroneck at 1 p.m. to spread the word about the “Unofficial Mayor Contest.” The details are here.

Essentially, we’re looking for people who will take part in the conversation on this blog (or one of our other blogs, depending where you live), and show off their wisdom by posting responses to a “campaign question” each afternoon.

In any case, stop by to say hello. The Nautilus is at 1240 East Boston Post Road.

In Mamaroneck, there’s been a fairly active campaign to save funding for the high school and middle school’s theater programs. As you recall, Superintendent Paul Fried wants to cut district funding for the programs saying it could save $38,400 during this year’s tough budget season.

Since then, around 100 Mamaroneck students have started up a Facebook group to protest the idea and parents have actively been emailing district heads about alternatives to cutting the funding.

Last night, Hommocks Middle School principal Seth Weitzman emailed a group of parents bouncing around a few ideas to avoid cutting the theater programs at the middle school.