Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Drew. Okay, we have several items on for open session. The first one up is engineering, matters surrounding possible changes to the fee schedule for the yard waste facility. Then that will be with Bob Kern, Drew Dillingham, and Ms. Clifford. Come on up.

I have a handout for everyone. Thank you. I think we have it. Oh, you do. Okay, I had emailed it. Yes. It's a colored version. Oh, okay. Okay, so engineering has proposed to increase the yard waste, permit cost primarily because it's never been increased before in 20 years. And even a $10 increase is a $42,000 increase in our revenues. Well, I'm just going to correct that. That would be a $7,000 increase for the total revenue. Right now it's $35,000. So 700 people at $50. So the total, you know, we would get to $42,000. It's not an increase. Since 2014, the salary of a heavy equipment operator has increased over 16%. And consumer price index has gone up over almost 30%. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And fuel costs for the dump trucks and payloaders, that's also increased by 10%. And the data for those numbers are attached. Mm-hmm.

We just proposed a $10 per permit increase effective January 1st of 2025. And that would bring it to a total of $60 per permit. So that's a $60 per permit fee for yard waste. And a $20 daily fee for yard waste. What's the daily fee now? $15. Mm-hmm. So just clarify that. So you buy the, for residents, you buy the, you buy a permit for the year, but you still pay each day you go in? No. So that's what you're getting? Yeah, no. Because that's the operating fee. $60 for the year or $20 if you're just going to use it for the year? Yeah. Just like the beach. Yeah. Some people, you know, they're going to pay $20 for the year. Yeah. So that's what you're getting. Yeah. So that's the operating fee. Yeah. Because you'll have someone do their lawn, and they might just take down, you know, a couple of bushes so they only need to go once for the year. If I'm just doing a one-time spring clear up, I'm only paying $20. Right. Cheap. Mm-hmm. It's like the beach. Yeah. Yeah, what we do is we looked at other towns, some towns, actually, every time you go there, they weigh in, they charge you by weight. So this right here really should be $100 for the season. season but you know understanding that it's not the taxpayers you know that the people that get this permit it's not their fault we haven't raised the fees in 20 years so we have grace periods like just where it's leaves only that does not a fee yes in the fall during the leaf season you can bring just leaves free of charge and this is in addition to the fact that the town collects yes yeah pretty slam-dunk easy slam-dunk I'm just a little taken back that it's never been raised before and then how does that put us with the heavy equipment operating and then we're covering all our costs it doesn't cover all the costs but when the garbage men pick up the leaves at the curb they're bringing it there also so you know people are partially paying for yard waste in their taxes so it makes it more even and helps make up the increase in the cost the people that get the yearly pass is that primarily landscapers or no just residents just residents homeowners doing their own work well it's cheap yes so maybe a senior citizen might only be able to make like one trip a day and take it slow and easy you know cleaning up the yard instead of them paying $20 they can take their time over the year do smaller cleanups and still have a set fee of $60 that doesn't help me out right live it to three days I'm happy that people are cleaning up that's a good thing I'm good no Brandon good has the there was a matter of some vermin up there has that been done I don't know if there's any vermin up there has that been addressed that is being addressed okay by both Tom Rosano crown and Dave okay now I don't need to hear the details but I just wanted to make sure it was being addressed yes it is good okay excellent thank you folks okay thank you appreciate it next up we have police officers next up we have police officers and police matters surrounding the monthly report with Chief Hayden Miller good morning good morning okay hopefully everyone has their main monthly report for 24 things looks good still working out the kinks switching over is he generally liked or is it still a generally not generally like yeah hopefully so I think we head that with head so I think we head that with QED in the beginning to the first one to my dad you know weren't happy with it but all know we're in good shape all perceived with down domestics were up only slightly stratus quo really more vehicles were way up for me everyone this is out driving deer strikes councilman Kerner down reported yes reported deer strikes correct summons issues basically status quo fourth 1435 to 1415 arraignments are down and I think that's just a reflection that criminal incidents are down charges are down arrests are down criminal instance are down non-criminal instances are down revenues are up good shape and there were no fatal overdoses for good so adding elect extra police has helped sounds like actually always helps as far as definitely overtime is concerned there's a direct correlation between overtime and staffing so hopefully out yes hopefully also being out there and down my point right yeah I think that's a good point I think that's a good point I think that's a good point right out and about omnipresence is always omnipresence and that's exactly the formula that you put into downtown by having two sectors down there now correct mission that you put together I'm hearing good things downtown so all good we're weeding out the bad element and cleaning it up and glad to hear it the business people are pretty happy so that's a good thing that's a good thing that's a good plan can I ask you chief two things one there was a grant that the retreat was looking for to partner with the police department has that had been so the time attorney reviewed the MOU and we signed off on it yes oh great and if you could just give us an update on the rolling out of the cameras body cameras for police officers just gonna mention that also so the grant award was signed by myself and I'm going to go ahead and give you a little bit of a little bit of a look at the money that we're going to be receiving and it's been sent back to the state so now we just have to wait for the money and it looks like they're gonna give us the money up front and oh good so it's not a reimbursement right yeah which is a good thing any idea how long it will actually take to get them in and get them implemented yeah yeah that point I don't know when the money's gonna actually come through it's you know 1.4 7 million dollars is coming our way so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so [transcription gap] Good. There's still some kinks we have to iron out whether they take it home and keep it home or whether they come to headquarters and pick it up or whether it's in the car and they get it. All those things have to be worked out. Probably have to be in a charger station. Yeah, right. I'm a big fan in taking it home and keeping it at home. Just like your gun at yours. Just like your gun, correct. You're responsible for it. You're responsible to charge it. Right. Have it charged. It'd be nice if they downloaded it there too. I think that would be convenient but as I said, it's a little bit of a challenge. Yeah. I don't know if the DA's would do something like that. Yeah, you're not going to want it on your personal computer. Right, right. But who knows? Maybe they could just have a Wi-Fi connect that would connect to their optimum and go to the cloud. Just so they don't get foiled on some things. Correct. It's probably better to have it at the PD. Excellent. Nothing else? No. No, no, no. [transcription gap] media release right to our local media outlets. Oh, we got that. So they get a blotter every day at two o'clock in the morning, and then they get the arrest report or the arrests during the week, every week. Okay, good. Is that why these guys are tired? I think he looks happy, doesn't he? Yeah. Well, it depends what the Yankees did last night too. Sometimes it. They lost. All right, next up we have code enforcement. Matters surrounding the monthly report with Senior Investigator Richard Downs. Thank you. How are you, sir? Good morning, everybody. Good morning. How's everybody doing? Good, how are you? Good. Good. All right, everybody got their handouts? Yeah. Complaint investigations, we opened up 94 new complaints. This is the month of May. I won't go through every single one, but high grass and weeds is up right now because the grass is growing. To the season. Yep, to the season. We got 10. We got seven overcrowded houses. We have seven no rental permit complaints and 10 zoning use complaints. All right. We have 46 cases. Two cases. Two cases. [transcription gap] from January of this year so still not completely resolved we issued 78 summonses for the month of May and those ticketable infractions are no rental permits we issued 12 no building permits 16 no certificate certificate of occupancy to issue two for noise the noise ordinance parking on front lawn we got to commercial litter one litter on residential properties to weeds rubbish 11 violation of approved site plan one importation exportation of materials that's three unsafe buildings we had four dangerous hazardous conditions to we had to stop work order violations one shopping carts three unregistered vehicles visibility at intersections we had two we had one unlawful signs and three accessory buildings and structures and five New York State property maintenance code violations the state code property maintenance rentals we had we have inspected 166 residential type houses we collected twenty thousand five hundred and fifty rental fees was a typo there that's from total revenue from January to May is 118,950

what's the fine for no building permit so under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under under [transcription gap] before the meeting, it's got to be changed. We have to change that. Commercial site plans, too, probably have to be amended to be increased a bit, too, because I think the minimum is $500 for that. I have a silly question maybe for it, but it's a pet peeve of mine. Going now, you're in the political season campaign, and these campaign signs are throughout the town. We're still requiring candidates to put up front money, right, to clean up, so do we make sure that that's been done? Like, who monitors that? Is that from the town clerk's office? But what are the violations, like Calverton National Cemetery? Like, they're littered around the whole... It bothers me that people put political signs in the National Cemetery as you drive around the whole facility, and they're out there, and that's like... I don't know what control we have to clean that up, but they don't belong on the National Cemetery property. Yeah, we can look into that. I don't know how I can do that. I mean, you're not supposed to be putting them in right-of-ways. Yep. Not on telephone. You have to have property owner's permission, period. You've got to have property owner's permission. If you don't have permission, the sign doesn't go there. The whole Grumman site is littered with them all along Route 25. I would vote to ban them entirely. I hate those things. I hate that we use them. But I know we've talked about it before. We would never get support of both of the major parties to not put signs up. Yeah, you're supposed to collect them when the campaign's up. Yeah, within a certain number of days, you have that. Get them picked up. Just the National Cemetery. Funeral's going in. Okay. That's absolutely right. It's disrespectful. I don't know if we own that property, though, in order to tell them to remove those. But I don't know if it's a code violation or if it's something that we have to create. They may or may not have permission, and if they're in the right-of-ways... I'm certain the federal government does not allow political signs in the National Cemetery. I don't think they're allowed on state property, so I don't think that they would be allowed on... Right. Right. As well as our town property. They shouldn't be on town property as well. Correct. I just don't know if we have the authority to find for that. I would love it if we could, if you could check on that. Well, as a curious question, if codes... I think it's in the sign code. So, yeah, there are penalty provisions. And the number of days they have to be removed after the event. Yep. Just to keep in mind. Thanks. You can look into it. Will do. Any other questions? I don't think so. Keep up the good work. All right. Like any of these numbers. All right. It's good stuff. Thank you, guys. Thanks. Okay. Next up, we have Justice Court. Matters surrounding the monthly report. And we have Counselor Saru. Good morning. Good morning. Okay. Let me start off with my disclaimer. This is only for town code offenses. Nothing with PD. That's the DA's office, except for the quality of life offenses. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. So, for May 6th, parking, we took in $630. It was a light calendar. May 7th, we took in $14,815. Slightly inflated, we had a $12,000 default judgment, which as of now hasn't been, no one has come in for it or tried to appeal it or anything like that. So, it may stick. Parking, 380 was a light calendar on May 13th, but we did have a trial, and we were, we got a guilty out of that. And the max fine on that. May 14th, we got a total of $6,400. We also did have a trial on two dockets for no rental permits, and we got guilty on both of those as well. May 21st, we had another trial, and we got a guilty verdict on that. And we took in, as you can see, the fines are all laid out there. We had a lot of return on warrants. As you can see, we had a lot of return on warrants. We had a lot of return on warrants. [transcription gap] And we took in $1,555 on people that pled when they were taken in. So, it was a litigious month. It was a good month, and I'm happy to report these sets. Great job. Any questions? I think you're doing great work, because people are talking about, like, a number of houses that have been cleaned up within the different areas that we focused on. So, you work hand-in-hand with code enforcement. I think there's a noticeable difference going on. So, thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Great job. Thank you. We have another trial coming up next week, so I'll report on that in July or the month of June. Generally, if they go to trial and they're found guilty, is the fine typically the max? Yes. Because that would make sense. Yeah, for the most part. Not that you're wasting, but it's costing money and time to go to trial. Especially for the no rental permits. Right. As we know, most of the code officers, their shifts are earlier in the morning. They end in the afternoon. And the trials are generally at 3. You know, sometimes 4 p.m. So, we're trying to break even or, you know, make it worth their time. Sure. There, so. Awesome. Good job. Good job. Thank you very much. Thank you, Victoria. Thank you.

Okay. Next up, we have matters surrounding the change to Chapter 251-7, commercial paving after 8 p.m. Kern and Hurley.

Good morning. Good morning, Danielle. How are you? Good. So, this was a topic that was brought to our office by Councilman Kern. Right now, in order to pave your parking lot, you have to do it during the day. There was a situation where we were looking to now have that be done at night after 8 p.m. Right now, the code says you can't pave after 8 p.m. It's part of the noise violation code, Chapter 251. So, this would be an amendment to that that would allow people to conduct paving of a parking lot that contains 50 or more parking spaces. Okay. So, we're going to have to do that after 8 p.m. In order to get that done through 251, usually there's a request for a variance, which requires a public hearing. So, we thought for something low impact, like paving at night, so that way they're not doing it during the day, where the parking lot is segmented and it's causing a lot of traffic and things like that. So, they would still, the person who's looking to do this would still need to get a variance. But we wouldn't have to do a public hearing. So, what the person would do is they would file an application with the town board, which would consist of a letter from the applicant, and they would explain what they're looking to do and any noise abatement, because it may potentially be noisy. Upon getting that letter, you all will review it. It has to be done 10 business days prior to the date of paving so that you have a chance to review it. And then after that, the town attorney will consult with the board and the planning department, see if there's any site plans, make sure that they're going to pave and do the lines according to their site plans. And then we would issue a letter saying they're allowed to proceed. That way we don't need to wait 30 days for the public hearing. But if you've gotten such an application and you felt you wanted to have a public hearing for whatever reason, it was a larger project or it would emit more noise than normal, you would still be allowed to opt for a public hearing. Yeah, looking at the commercial spaces, they're really not going to affect residents. Staples is a perfect example. Gallifresh is another example. And if you look at Target right now, they're doing it in segments. And the problem with that is that they leave a... it's approximately one inch deep gouged out section that they now have to come back and pave that again. And I'm glad we're doing the lines because Staples right now has numerous lines and you can view what space. But I wouldn't even... I don't know why you'd have to go to a variance. I mean, I would just say you can pave at night. It keeps the asphalt trucks off the road during the day. I just do it. Yes, it's a variance by the town board, not by... No, I understand. Mm-hmm. Which... yes. It makes sense because they just did Gallifresh, that whole parking lot up there, and trying to do it during the day with customers coming and going. It's a sin. If somebody was going to get hurt or fall on something, it was kind of a mess up there. So it makes sense for the large project to do them in the evening for sure. Mm-hmm. Well, the large projects, but what about smaller ones? Yeah. I mean, I think it's a good idea to have a lot of those that might be near residential neighborhoods. They would absolutely... It has to be minimum of... Minimum of 50. Minimum of 50. It has to be 50s, over 50 spaces. And I mean, if that number... If you all want to change that number, that's something you can discuss and let us know. But we just figured 50 or more spaces just so that it stays really with the larger properties. Yeah. Because I'm just thinking of some medical doctor's offices and such. They live... I mean, they are sometimes near residential neighborhoods. That might be a problem where they may have 50 or more spaces. Mm-hmm. But people do live in those areas where those medical parks are. That's a problem. We should have a number of town park projects coming out. We should be paving them at night, not when they're filled during the day. Mm-hmm. Eventually down the road, we're working on funding for a couple different... We do Bayberry Park and things like that. You know, it's residential, but you don't want to shut the whole park down or shut the whole park down. Yeah. I mean, I think it's a good idea to have a lot of those. Yeah. I mean, I think it's a good idea to have a lot of those. I mean, I think it's a good idea to have a lot of those. I would be able to do under this. We would be guilty of our own rules. So they wouldn't be able to do the grinding that sometimes they need to do to prep the area that's going to be paved. So paving does include milling, which is that grinding up... that grinding up of the old layer and then the laying of the new asphalt on the lines that is all encompassed in the word paving. It is. So that, yeah. Again, it is, you know, when you look at these large lots, it is, it's dangerous. You know, when people, you know, when they're doing this stuff and during the day, at night they come in and they do it, people wake up in the morning, they got a new parking lot. This also doesn't mean they have to do it at night. They could still do it during the day, correct? We could also draft the code such that the milling is just done during the day and then paving happens at night. The only problem is you leave, it's still dangerous when millings are laying all over the place. Yeah, they would have to cordon off their parking lots probably. Yeah, well the effective is to... When you're joining other pavements, you have a... I prefer you do it all... At once, but... It creates more work. I mean, that's the way this is. Even a large scale parking lot is going to take two, three days to pave. Oh yeah. That's it. It's not, this is not like a long term noise nuisance. Right. You have to deal with it for one or two nights. It is what it is. And once you've got these letter applications, you'll be able to put constraints on that. Like, yes, you can pave at night, but you can't pave till three in the morning. You know, we set a time limit. And part of that application, they're supposed to provide some sort of note that says, you know, you can't pave at night, but you can't pave till three in the morning. You know, we set a time limit. And part of that application, they're supposed to provide some sort of noise abatement plan if there is anything that they could do to reduce the noise that they'll be producing. But the goal is to get it done at night. So it's not evasive to the people driving there during the day. And it takes one or two nights and be done. Instead of. multiple days. I like that the process would be sped up a little bit. I think that the way that it is now it's too drawn out. You have to go for a public hearing and yes they're improving the property so that's a plus. We don't want them to. And we have yeah you're right we have currently people that are in violation of their site plans for not payment and you know some of these parking lots look like Haiti. Nothing against Haiti but you know they're loaded no they've got potholes all over the place like third world. You would not see this in the Hamptons. You would not see this in Manhasset, Great Neck but somehow it's in Riverhead. We have just set rich some gaping potholes in the Staples parking lot. It's ridiculous. So that's part of the code amendment that the town attorney's office has passed. So that's part of the code amendment that the town attorney's office has passed. We'll consult with the planning department to see and make sure that they're improving according to their site plan. Great. Yeah I had a conversation. That they're not reducing their parking. I like it. Well thank you very much. Everybody good? So do we want to go to public hearing with this draft or do you want us to take some of the thoughts in? Yeah. I'd like the thoughts like about not doing the grinding at night or setting a time limit to a certain hour. You said not paving until 3 in the morning and things like that. My only disagreement with that is it drags on multiple nights. Let them just have at it and let them have one bad night. Yeah get it done. Then you drill and you pave it and it's done then. And even if you try to limit it to 3 a.m. or something like that just let them go through the night and have one bad night. Shorten the time you're putting out for multiple nights and then I imagine there's going to Thank you. [transcription gap] grinding during the day and then then have crews return later on to pay right night trying to think of any place that has 50 or more spaces that would be near residential I'm just thinking of medical parks a lot of times on 58 no not just 50 and just in like I don't know say aqua bog or other but they do but they're not 50 space yeah we've looked at that the corner of Union Avenue where the insurance company is the James Park Commons but there's really like just get it bang it out and get it got a lot of residential there either though nothing it's not like it's surrounded by houses could you put some kind of limitation on that that they have to have it done in a certain number of days if we're gonna let them pay it at night but they can't drag it on usually it's under 50 spaces it's involved too the shortages on asphalt right the other side I mean are the asphalt plants open 24 7 where they can get product it must be because I know that they do the work at night all the time on the expressway yeah I know it's more expensive to do it because you're paying night rates to the workers right look at the complaints we get when we paid roads people are complaining you know that the traffic is a nightmare you know head this would the the application's going to require them to put in all the details so when they're doing it the extent to which they're doing it and everything and then when it's when it's reviewed by the board you can offer recommendations as to conditions on the approval so as to avoid going to the public hearing clear if you guys agree on that. Go through the night. You can look at each case individually depending on the location. Right. I like that. Okay. Sounds good. Good. Cool. All right. Thank you. Danielle, you're going to stay up here for the next one? Yes. Matters surrounding change to Chapter 201-240, bed and breakfast facilities. Andreas, come on up. Good morning. [transcription gap] How are you, sir? Good morning, sir. Good morning. Me and Danielle worked on this together. Just a quick cleanup because the bed and breakfast code, the way it's written, seems to allow it in every residential and commercial district, but that's not the case. So when you go through each zoning district in the code, some specifically allow it, some specifically prohibit it, or some allow it by special permit. So just basically changing this, one sentence in the code where it says that specifically allow bed and breakfast facilities as permitted use or specially permitted use. And that pretty much cleans it up. And then in the other Section B, the use as specifically permitted in each zoning districts and regulated. So this just makes it. Instead of all districts. Right. All right. This is more of a, like Andreas said, it's a very specific area. It's a very specific area. But there's a lot of cleanup. It did go through code revision. And also the prior code change we just discussed also did go through code revision. I wanted to mention that as well. Yes. Good point. Mm-hmm. Okay. Appreciate it. All right. So we've gone straight forward. That's it. This was a pretty easy work session, people, I have to say. It's complicated. Thank you for your work on this. Do you appreciate it? No problem. That makes all the sense in the world also. All right. Thank you. Thank you all. Have a great day. [transcription gap]

Okay, that ends our open session for today's work session agenda. Make a motion to close the open session, and we will go into executive session to discuss matters surrounding possible contractual agreement with Suffolk County, and that will be with Dawn Thomas. So I have a motion to close the open session and go into the closed session. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Okay. We are closed, and we will retire to executive session. Rock, paper, scissors. Have a great weekend.

Thank you.