Full Transcript

Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Today is Thursday, September 12, 2024. We're here for a work session. As we start out, we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. And Frank Martini, if you would mind leading us in the pledge. Pledge of 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, Frank. Okay, folks, we are doing things in reverse order today. We are going to go into executive session now. In a moment, I'm going to ask to close it. And then we will come back at approximately 1130 for open session, give or take a few minutes there. We're assuming we should be finished and back by 1130 and we'll open back up. So at this time, I'd like to ask for a motion to close open session and go into executive session. I'll move. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Okay, we are closed. We are going into executive session. And people, we will be back at approximately 1130. Thank you.

Second. Second. Second. Hello everybody, we're back from executive session. It is again, it's Thursday, September 12th, 2024. We're here for our open session of our work session for today. We're going to start off, first of all, I have two quick notes I want to mention. A couple items this weekend. On Stotsky Park in the parking lot there at one o'clock on Sunday, there's a touch to truck program where you can bring your children down to see large vehicles. I know our highway department superintendent is going to have a couple of highway vehicles down there. I believe a fire truck might be down there, maybe an ambulance, other large equipment that a lot of little kids are very interested in, but they don't get a chance to get in one and climb up in it and see what it's like. Also, what I like about this is that's from one o'clock to three o'clock, but from one to 1.30, they call it a quiet time. If you have a child that might be afraid of a siren or the loud diesel engine, if they start it up, it will be quiet. There won't be any loud noises from one to 1.30, so you can bring your child down then. It's a great event and hopefully the weather looks good and stop on down. The second thing we have is our third and final meet the chief event, and that will be at 11 o'clock, starts at 11 o'clock at Riley Avenue School on Saturday. Again, meet the new chief of police, Chief Ed Frost, and that's at 11 o'clock Saturday morning at Riley Avenue School. Moving on to our matters for open session, we have matters surrounding the change to Chapter 237, road opening permit fees, and that will be with Kern, Zaleski, and Hurley. Come on up, people. Good morning. [transcription gap] Do you guys have a copy of ... We do. Oh, you do. Yes. I have a copy ... I have a copy of the code ... Okay, yeah. Print out her road opening permit where it goes through the cost analysis and the time ... Do you have what you're looking for? I could use a new pair of glasses. Ha. Ha. Oh yeah, I see that. You'd be walking in circles if you put them on there. This is a breakdown of a road opening permit process. Thanks.

This is a breakdown of the shopping cart process. It includes the financial end of the two. Who does what. I'm kidding. Oh, I'm sorry. What it takes. How much it costs. It's the shopping carts after. Okay. And then this is hard numbers of the actual carts. Alright, so you want to do the road opening permit first? Yes, let's do that one first. So, is everybody aware of the road opening permit process? Thank you. I'm not fully, so, and I'm sure many people watching today aren't, so maybe you could give us a Reader's Digest version of it? Okay. [transcription gap] Okay. ! Okay. Okay. That margin of whatever footage off the edge of the road is called the town right-of-way. If anybody is going to perform any type of constructual task, more than just putting a mailbox in or planting or whatever, making an additional driveway, planting a tree, making cement structures, whatever, they need a road opening permit through my department. The road opening permit is a $200 fee as of right now, and that fee has been in place, I'm going to say, at least 25 years, if not more. It entails the homeowner, property owner, or whoever to fill out a very easy form that they can download online. It requires, obviously, a $200 fee. And then our deputy... After we receive it, we have to go look at it to see exactly what you're doing, because we might be against what you're trying to do. Driveway too close to an intersection, tree too close to the road, whatever it may be. We then determine a bond amount. The bond amount usually is a fair amount to protect the town and the highways in case anybody doing the job ruins our road or destroys something in the town right away. More often than not, everything goes fine. The bond is returnable. We hold that for one year. That also requires from my department another inspection from the issue date, one year from that time. We go look, see what you did. Okay, you didn't ruin nothing. You get the bond money back. The fee we keep, obviously. And right now that fee is $200. And we would like to make it $300. So... This is going to be difficult. With one land... Oh, no. Do you want mine? Seriously, you want my cheetah's mic? Maybe. Please. Thank you.

Oh. That's a good insurance. What magnification is this? I think I need it. I don't know. These are ones that aren't working. Okay, the road opening permit. You can see the breakdown, what it takes. Obviously, someone would have to download the form or come into my office, fill that out. Then... Okay. My secretary, usually Margaret, will help them through it, receive it, make sure they filled it out right. Then it goes to either my deputy, who handles this most of the time, or myself. We review it. Then we go on site and look at it, make sure what they're trying to do. Determine a bond amount. And then Margaret then re-approaches the person, tells them what the bond amount is, issues it, signs off. Then again... They can begin the work. The work then will take place. They have one year before we come back and inspect everything. And then if everything's good, the bond money comes back. And they have a legal, permittable fee or permit to do the work they asked. If by any chance they don't complete that work, there is an extension fee. I think it's $50. Long story short, we break down who's doing the work on our end, receiving the paperwork, doing the... inspections, mostly my deputy. That total one single road opening permit comes out to about $435. In labor? In labor. So raising the fee from $200 to $300, I think, is a step forward. Again, we're trying to bring the town... We are 24 years into the next century. Just trying to bring us up to par a little more. It's still very... How do you say? Easy for the people applying for these permits. Especially the residents, business owners. Never even had one single complaint. Usually we were told, wow, you get the permits within the next day with my department. Yeah. Yep. So as you can see on the paper that Mike provided, he has estimated the time that it takes to do all of these activities that he's described. And he's... So for Margaret, which is his secretary, could spend three to five hours on a permit at a rate of $55.18 an hour. And then he's calculated the deputy would spend around three hours at $88.81 per hour. So that's where the total projected amount comes from. Remember, a road opening permit could take place anywhere within this town. The town... It goes from Dogwood Lane and Waiting River to Laura Lane and Janesport. There's travel time, inspections. Sometimes we communicate with the person doing the job, waiting for them, meet us here. So I ask that $300, I think, is very fair for the road opening permit. Based upon your information, it seems like you have a lot more applications for this this year alone. Yes. Compared to last year. So far. So even when I was deputy... I was handling the road opening permits. And then as I became the elected superintendent, it just keeps going up and up. The town is growing more and more. Of these empty lots are being built on more and more construction. Yeah. We're just moving forward as a town. So I think we should just keep up to speed with the growth. Can I ask one question, Mike? If somebody does work on their driveway... Or plants a tree too close to the road or whatever... What is the fine for not getting a road opening permit? So the fine as of right now was double the permit fee. I think the fine should be $500.

Because... And I shouldn't even say double. The fine was $200, which would make the total fee $400, which would be double. So it's... A lot of people... And I'm glad if this is on film... Or whatever. Publicized or even unaware that they need this permit. And a lot of times, more often than not, you know, we don't really go after people. Just come in, do the permit. We know you didn't know. It's only been a week or two, whatever. But I think we have in there a suggested fine to be $500. I'm looking it up. Yeah. Okay. But right now we're just seeking approval to do a publish and post to have a public hearing on... On the increase in the fee. This is going to be just for, like, small things. What about something that's continuous? If Cablevision is going to run the length of a town road, how are the fees calculated with that? This seems more like just like a driveway access. So I believe another town attorney, Anne-Marie Predente, upgraded that portion where if any larger scale work, Cablevision... I believe this... I think this is just talk of a water main going through our town where it would encumber more than 250 feet or whatever. I think what we decided then there is we require curb-to-curb restoration. The permit fee would be the same. It would be per road. Like, let's just say Cablevision is running cable line down road A, B, and C. I can do $200. Hopefully $300 per road. But the restoration of the work, I wouldn't say a bond is X amount. It would be required curb-to-curb restoration. And that's advantageous for the town. Go ahead. Well, no. I agree with raising these fees and so forth. But my concern is that if a private entity or something wants to run the distance of Sound Avenue, for example, it's going to put new cable lines in. Cable company is going to come in. So you're saying that the bond is going to cover basically resurfacing that entire road for the entire length of it? Yes. Like from one side to the other. So that goes into the bond of it. Curb-to-curb restoration. But then even when they do all that, they're still only paying $300? Yeah. How do you... I understand that. It seems like it should be a higher amount if we're going, you know, 1,000 feet down a roadway or something like that. I personally feel that if they restore our roads curb-to-curb, over, I believe it's 200 feet or 250 feet, that's fantastic. Okay. It protects us. And I even have one-on-one dealings with some of our major utilities like National Grid. They do cooperate with us. They're bonded through the town. They do pay all permits fees. But I don't allow them to do the square, square, square. I have a verbal commitment with them. I want the entire lane restored. Okay. And I actually had helped them do that on Main Street, asking for that. Where you're not driving all over this checkerboard, I want an entire continuous, a strip of lane restored. But there is, and you can triple-check me, Anne Marie upgraded this, over 250 feet or whatever that number is, it is, on a town level, required curb-to-curb. Okay. Okay. So, restoration. Okay. I did find the section for the penalty section. And it says, a fine shall not exceed $500. Okay. So, that's the penalty. Yeah. Okay. Which means the judge could say it's $50. Zero to $500. Yeah. And we need to fix that. Okay. We will. Okay. Any questions, anybody? No. Okay. Next up, we have, well, we'll keep you guys up to date. Okay. We'll keep you guys right here now, because we, that's for you, too. Matters surrounding change to Chapter 269, shopping cart removal fees with Kern, Zaleski, and Saru. Okay. Do you need these back? I think I fixed them. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Okay. So, we're back? Yeah. Some shopping carts. All right. Shopping carts. [transcription gap] I mean, is it safe to say there's perhaps a shopping cart crisis in this town? Do we not see more and more carts left abandoned in this town? My office receives calls, obviously, shopping cart here, shopping cart there. And we go pick these carts up, and I think a year ago, we developed a fee to do this work, or a penalty, if you would, to pick the carts up, charge the store owners $125. So, as you can see, the breakdown for that type of work through my department requires usually a foreman, again, secretarial work, Margaret, an hour for the foreman to pick the cart up. We return it back to the store, and there's a reason for that, or to the nearest store. Okay. And then Margaret to do the paperwork end of it, and of course, for legal, to do their paperwork end of it. That comes out to about $177, $180, just to round up. On the highway end of it, it was $125. I believe we're asking for that to be raised to $175, correct? Yes. So, this fee was set back March 18th of 2023, or it was at work session. So, we did want to, obviously, because of the costs, we landed at $175, because it pretty much balances out the cost. We didn't want to go too much higher than that, because what was discussed at the work session in 2023, is that these shopping carts cost the store owner about $400. $400 to $600. Right. So, if we, you know, went for something like $500, then the store owner is just going to buy a new cart, and it's not going to solve the problem. So, we wanted to keep it just high enough to cover the cost of recovery, but just low enough that we aren't compounding and adding more carts. Right. Which makes sense, because the taxpayers should not be supplementing this problem. Right. So, your costs are covered. And the reason why we just don't keep them and throw them out, most, if not all, shopping carts today are plastic. The all-steel from... Hills or wherever, those carts are non-existent. So, to dispose of plastic carts would cost us money. If it was an entire metal cart that could put them in the metal dumpster, it would be its weight in iron, which isn't much. But to dispose of plastic carts, or carts that aren't metal, would be a cost to the town. So, it's simpler for us just to pick the carts up, do fill out the affidavit, and return the carts back to the store. And I'd just like to increase that $50 from $125 to $175. And the breakdown of that cost is there as well. Mike, I'm just going to let you and Victoria let you know. As of, I think, two days ago, code went out to, I think it was 12 retail stores that have shopping carts. They've given them 25 days to do geofencing on their carts. Yeah. So, hopefully... That will really... It would really help if somehow the stores could contain the carts. Make them less easier just to take, wheel down the road, and abandon all over this town. I don't send two guys every day patrolling the town just looking for carts. I have other responsibilities I have to do with the highway. Right now, we're at a call-in. I have other jobs. [transcription gap] because I believe they all have those systems in them that when the cart gets a certain distance from the store, the wheels lock up on them. So I will say this, speaking factually, I think Home Depot may have been first to comply with containing them. We are seeing less and less Home Depot ones. So that method is proven to work. If they can put that geo track or the wheel lock. So the geo fencing was every store was put on notice when this was passed in April of last year, and I believe it was effective immediately or maybe effective within 30 days, but now we're a year and a half after that. So every store should be well on notice about this by now. So it's good that code is out because this shouldn't be anything new to the stores. They should have done it a long time ago. If we can prevent it from happening, the last thing we want to do is go around billing, charting, picking carts up, just keep them contained to the store. But it is litter in a sense. I believe it's litter and I believe it's theft. It's also theft. And I think that's one of the things that is you, does the highway department anyway, communicating to the police department where you're finding this stuff? I see them left all the time at the bus stop at Tangramore. And you know, they use the shopping cart to go from Walmart all the way over there. And then they leave everything in there. And when the bus arrives, they take all the packages out and off they go. But they're outside the property, so it's theft. Yes. I think that it would be nice if you could generate, at least to our police department, where you're finding them, if it seems to be in specific locations like bus stops and so forth, to provide that. And I think we can step up patrol too. But my question to you is that when you're finding it, so you locate the cart and you bill them for basically returning the cart, for picking it up and returning it back to them, what happens when you notice on that cart that it doesn't have the locking device? Because I've been to Home Depot, and I've seen them right away with the locking device. And I said to myself, ah, this is Councilman Kern's law right here. Look, they stepped it up. They got it locked up. But I've also recently seen that not all the carts do. So now they're pulling out older carts that don't have them. Right. And so how can we separate? We do keep track of the actual store, the cart, and you can code, maybe can identify if these stores have those devices. Could we implement a separate fine? In other words, that if the cart is picked up and it doesn't have the locking device, it's not a lockable device. There is a subsection. I think it's 269-6. Yes. So there is a subsection, and that's what I had recommended, that code just snaps a picture of all four wheels so that you can see that it's not on any of the four. Then we have our photo as evidence, and then it's kind of an open and shut case because it's showing that the security device is not on there at the time. But then there should be two tickets, one for violating and not having the locking device in place, and a second one for returning the cart, which would be payable to highway. Yeah, you could do both. I wouldn't want to see that if it's followed up in both manners. That's a good idea. Also, to the councilman's point, Mike, you guys should be taking pictures of the wheels. Just take a picture so we can show no lock. Now you're getting two points. That would help. So that part of the enforcement, if that's not a problem. If code is taking those pictures, would that work? Yeah. I mean, if you have them in your yard, I mean, or if you have them at the location, you know, work it out. As long as it makes its way to my packet for court. Yeah. Victoria needs that for court. If you pick up, before you release the cart, you have code enforcement take a picture of it. If you notice it doesn't have a locking device on it. Right. And again, I would love to see the carts just be contained so it can be less and less litter, less and less theft, town will be cleaner. That's the ultimate goal. Okay. Good job, Mike. Any questions? All good? Thank you, folks. Thanks for the last question. Appreciate it. No, you're welcome. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. We're going to jump a little bit out of order on this next one, because I got people that have to go. We're going to do matters surrounding recommendations for community preservation fund with Prudente, DePolla, and Thomas. Thank you. [transcription gap] We're going to do matters surrounding recommendations for community preservation fund with Prudente, DePolla, and Thomas. Good morning. [transcription gap] Good morning. [transcription gap] the right job so I'll be very direct try to be brief not you I know I know I know so as the town board is where Riverhead is located within the Peconic Bay region pursuant to town law 64 e transfers of property real property shares or stocks relating to real property within the town are subject to a 2% transfer tax these funds are referred to as community preservation funds pursuant to town law 64 e subsection 5 when the town seeks to fund any project with community preservation funds you have to have an advisory board and you have to have a project plan existing currently we have the open space committee who gives recommendations for purchase using community preservation funds for open space and the farmland committee for agricultural preservation we did not in our project and our project plan was updated in August of 2021 most recently that plan did not include or provide for water quality or pollution prevention projects if you'll recall the last town board meeting we had a public hearing creating a water quality and pollution prevention advisory committee with respect to expenditure of community preservation funds this step now amendment to the project plan and its details is required under town law 64 e subsection 6 to add it to the project plan and that's what this aims to do I'll note for you that I worked with Dawn Frank and Jeanette Onnit and truthfully we've been working on these things for months but notably Dawn could speak and highlight just a few of the projects because we could be here a very long time and Jeanette can highlight the community preservation fund bond indebtedness so the financial calculations that you see in the plan were actually worked through and vetted through on more than one occasion to make sure that whenever we fund a project using community preservation fund we do so and respect the fact that we have to maintain a certain amount to repay that bond indebtedness while two years ago we had our highest year in collection of CPF it fluctuates every year and you can't bank on that and right now interest rates are high we're not collecting the monies that we did two years ago so you can see drop again that's it in a nutshell Dawn you want to highlight one or two I just would you know we we've submitted a number of grant applications for water projects so whether they might be well treatment plant or well treatment well head treatment so we have two of those and then we have a bunch of water district extensions although I don't think we're looking to use the CPF for the extensions but we each one of those grants have a different type of grant so we can bond those but but I think this is an opportunity for us to sort of patch those holes in the funding so as much as we've gotten I think you're on million and in water grants in the last few years you know we have some shortage some of the grants could be fully funded but you know we've got to make sure that we're doing what we can to make sure that we're doing what we can to make sure that we're doing what we can to make sure that we're doing what we can to make sure that we're doing what we can 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so on the taxpayers we have to pay the interest on the bonds so there are actually and doing if I say it it'll highlight it there are two projects that we are almost fully funding so we don't need a lot of money and that is Forge Road and River Road correct so but if you look at the mathematical calculations in the project plan you know Jeanette and we could assure the board yeah sure so right now as of 12 31 23 the fund balance in CPF is 18.7 million so well it's a lot of money every year the transfer tax amount changes from what we collect depending on real estate sales so we never want to overestimate that so and we always want to make sure we pay the debt service so the debt service is a very important part of the project and it's a very important part of the project 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 point two million and we have four point three basically available but then we would take a reserve of ten percent of that money just to set it aside for future uses for CPF so that we don't deplete the complete you know the annual revenues completely after debt service so we would be left with roughly about three three point five million available to use based on the prior years analysis so we'll always be a year behind looking at it to use towards the next year is limit from water pollution and water quality depending on the projects that come up now and I would just tag on to Amory's point that the the engineering that we have to do to get the grant in the first place you can't be covered retroactively by the grant so in I would give it like the extension 94 rates well that actually doesn't well River Road is approximately I think our Robin estimate is five hundred thousand yeah for the Forge Road is engineering is about five hundred thousand for Forge Road and that's basically what would be our match right so I mean we've really tailored the project plan to be very protective and not overspend or delete or even put us close to at risk of not being able to meet that it's a set parameter and we went over the calculation several times modified it so we're being conservative but clean water obviously councilman Rothwell spearhead headed the water quality committee the supervisor and all the members of the board have been a hundred percent supportive of providing those residents we still have more grant work to go for the project and we're still working on that and we're still working on that for instance on Middle Road you know we have some funding but not enough under this project plan to trigger CPF it's too great an amount right it requires 50% grant funding in order to consider it to use CPF bonus so there's some protection to the fund that way yeah you feel 10% is enough to hold out but if there's a housing market it just fails I mean I mean I'm just trying to play devil's advocate a little bit we do have a fund balance of 18 million right now so that's why I'm confident I mean there is a decent sized fund balance in there already I don't anticipate that when we project forward we project forward 3.5 million of transfer tax to the town but honestly it's been way higher than that which is a good thing we never want to plan for that high so I mean it could come down but if I if I looked historically back I would have been a little bit more confident that we would have a good deal but I don't even know 3.5 might have been the lowest we've been you know in years so and I don't even know if it's been that low to be quite honest with you I think two years ago our highest was 9 yeah no we plan out like one year ahead like when if numbers projections don't come out I mean we adjust next year each year we adjust accordingly and per project you know so it's a constant check valve yeah at least we're not sitting like this for a year. So it's a constant check valve. Yeah. So we're not sitting like this. We're just sitting like this 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so But we're really ready to go on two. Because we have a good community development agency that applies for these grants. Well, it's a combination of everything. So we're really ready to go on two, correct? Yeah, we're ready to go. Well, one's already underway, right? So then we're, yeah, we got a couple more. 97 is Forge Road. That's getting ready to go. And then once we get the engineering done for 95, that'll be ready to go. And it's just that these are tremendous costs. And they're not covered by the grants. And all the grants, as you know, most of them have matches. And so that's our skin in the game. And how we pay for that is important. Yeah, and these technical aspects, they can't be done in-house. I mean, they're very technical. Yeah, it's literal engineering. It's construction drawings. It's how deep is the dirt. Oh, yeah. You know, all of that. Where does it go? What about the right-of-way? It's very complicated. That's it? Okay. Great. Very good. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, ladies. Okay, and my favorite one on today's list, the Anti-Bias Task Force and the Chamber of Commerce Matters Surrounding Food Unites Restaurant Week event with Mark McLaughlin and Liz O'Shaughnessy. Come on up.

It mentions food. You have my attention. Yes. That's your favorite. Thank you.

Well, first, I'd like to thank our town board and town supervisor for having us here today. I would like to say thank you. Supervisor Tim Hubbard, Councilwoman Joanne Waski, Councilman Ken Rothwell, Councilman Denise Merfield, and Councilman Bob Karn for the opportunity to speak today and announce this exciting collaboration between the Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force and the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce. On our new initiative, Food Unites, this project highlights our town's diverse restaurants, celebrates our cultural richness, and supports local businesses in our town. Our goal is to amplify unity by bringing community together through food, culture, while shining a light on Riverhead's vibrant and diverse culinary scene. I extend my gratitude to Riverhead, to our Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force members and our liaisons, the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce, and most importantly to our town of Riverhead and the town board for your support. I would also like to express our thanks to the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce for helping secure a grant to provide talent to the venues, and a special thank you to all the restaurants and venues that are participating. For more details, visit Riverhead.com. Thank you. [transcription gap] and participate in restaurants please visit RiverheadChamber.com. One of our highlights is our week Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday lunch special from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Suffolk County Culinary School Tuesday September 24th. Now no pun intended Fat Tuesday but I'm looking forward to that. Again thank you to our town Riverhead for your continued support. Together we look forward to making Food Unites a success for all of Riverhead. I love the idea of Fat Tuesday and that's I understand they're gonna have gumbo or yeah. Gumbo and some New Orleans treats. Yep. Yeah so I want to definitely thank our former liaison Kenneth Rothwell. He was the first one that I brought to his attention with the Enterprise Task Force and our committee members. Thank you. We voted on it and we passed him you know and our new liaison for helping us you know move forward with it this year. I just look at it as a unification of our restaurants and also a great opportunity to show the town of Riverhead what happens with two organizations come together and work together. The idea the basic idea this is for Riverhead residents to get out or anybody to get out and enjoy food from different cultures and it's a week-long event it's the 25th September 23rd through September 29th and if you go to RiverheadChamber.com you'll have a list of all the restaurants that are participating in this. The one you mentioned at the Suffolk Culinary is a lunch on Fat Tuesday but the other ones are running this for the entire week I understand. Yeah well so we've left it up to the restaurants. Right. We're not trying to impose anything on them. We're trying to support them and help them and drive new patrons new clients there and make it fun. You know the theme of the focus on a ethnic food will support whatever type of entertainment you hire. I want to say thank you to Legislator Stark for securing that grant the chamber applied for and this is how we're utilizing it this year. So each restaurant if you go and look at Riverhead Chamber and when I tell you I'm updating it daily it's daily because people are coming on board. Every time I make a phone call or pop into one of these places Cafe Victoria you mentioned Food Unites 10% off your entire order whether it's takeaway coffee, ground coffee or desserts. So we're leaving it up to the restaurants to determine what works for them and so some of them are lunches. Hotel Indigo Bistro 72 is going to do a jazz brunch so that's kind of a special you know event for them and they've got some amazing entertainment but yeah we really want to encourage people to get out and maybe try a restaurant that they haven't before. So we're doing the marketing, again thank you so much to the town because really I feel the support you've you know been promoting it. Riverhead Local, yeah it's exciting because the enthusiasm is there and I just I see it growing from here. One of the important things too with the task force on our pamphlets it says to create experiences to bring people together. So when we bring this together we have our pamphlets ready and set to hand out to all those people participating knowing that they could get viable information should they need it. So we're bringing people together for of course a culinary experience with the Chamber but also using this valuable opportunity to inform people about special needs should they need it through the Anti-Bias Task Force here at Riverhead. It's one of the things that Mark and I talked about last year when we were formulating this idea and you've done great and thank you for getting it to the finish line. Thank you for coming right on board with them. But we said you know one of the things we were just generally conversation was that food brings literally people to the table. So I think that's a great way to start. We want to bring people to the table but we want it to be an educational experience as well. So sometimes if you're simply going for Spanish cuisine maybe it's that light Spanish music in the background that kind of educates and the type of music and you're listening to while you're enjoying a culinary experience educates us all. I grew up and we would never miss the Scottish games in Old Westbury Gardens every year but it's like we went there and everybody had to get online at 9 a.m. because the Scottish pies were going to be out in a short period of time. But the whole idea of the whole event was that you know you learned all about the Scottish culture. So we're going to be able to bring people to the table. And so that's one of the things that we talked about early on last year and it's the same thing. So these different restaurants have very different cultural backgrounds and ideas and that we hope that it's not just you know an incredible experience on your palate but also that whether it be the music in the background or a chef explaining to some of the things and how it comes about and to learn that cultural so that we all become. Rib-Ed is so deeply diversified and in cultural values that we have here and this is a great way to share them. And to kind of spread through the palate. Bring in food on the table. So we hope it's more. We hope it's an educational and learning experience that when it comes to these restaurants you know so that it's not you know. Yeah just in touch with that in Central Beach Eats, Chef Marco he created a whole Sicilian experience. Yeah so just to tell you. He's also a trailblazer when it comes to introducing culture and we're looking forward to all the restaurants doing the same. I can see him walking around explaining the things that's before you and how you're going to do it. There and what it's all about. And it's history behind it. That's what we want. It becomes more than just a food experience. An educational learning experience. Even from the Jamaican Champage restaurant. She could tell people about her beef patties and oxtails. Curry. And kudos to you know. The restaurants that are really have shown a lot of enthusiasm. Because some of them are going out of their typical menu and creating something new. I saw that. Yes. You wouldn't expect to get a certain cultured food at. a certain restaurant and they are they're doing that that's really good yeah north world chocolate he's um doing middle eastern so he's going to have falafels and mint tea and uh yeah his uh he's booking his talent as we speak so stay tuned for that yeah mazalman japanese you know yeah yes yeah that's the part i think is great that there's going to be entertainment as well the music because that goes hand in hand with the food right culture that's fantastic and again we leave it up to them but uh we'd like to see the music spread out through the week so people like all of us can hit you know a different place it's not all on one night neither and that seems to be happening organically so um yeah it's their participants have been really enthusiastic and and fun to work with awesome looking forward to it yes riverheadchamber.com and you can see the listing of everybody there and you're updating it on a regular basis good stuff mark said next month the uh bias test boss is going to launch a um workout campaign to reduce calories and fit shape after yeah okay i think you'll have less participation based on my part excellent thank you folks very much and uh can't wait okay let's get everybody out there thank you thanks thank you sir

no no that's that's okay that takes care of all our that the restaurants are not paying to be involved uh that it's open to any any eatery in riverhead right the one caveat is to be a chamber member in order for us to pay for the entertainment that grant that we received okay so thank you uh five thousand dollars that's the omnibus perfect okay that takes care of all our matters for open session we're going to move on to resolutions devin if you wouldn't mind coming up sure off the resolutions if the board's ready we'll get right to it okay resolution number one sewer district capital project number eight two two two six cranberry street closure capital uh number two capital project number three two two one eight budget adjustment that's the final phase of the security cameras downtown which the board recalls we were we were originally going to farm out to a right company and then our folks in-house realized that it was something that that they could accomplish themselves so it was a big savings to the town i just want to mention too that the chief was mentioning last night supervisor that um the cameras that we have in downtown helped solve a homicide just recently oh yeah i know i i'm yep and it's been more than that homicide it's helped out too they've been very uh they've been invaluable to the pd down there actually so the folks in street lighting and it uh collaborated on this and and made that happen for us so that's great so thank you to them resolution number three pd budget transfer for pd vehicles arpa number four pd budget transfer we have to buy new police cars resolution number five ambulance district fun budget transfer a fun balance transfer this is for the purchase of new radios on County has gone with different radios and they're updating the radios they have, but they're also purchasing radios for all of their members because they have so many members that don't have radio contact and if they're home they don't know that there's an ambulance call so now they're going to be able to have radio contact, responding to the scenes and being able to communicate with one another. This has been a long time coming so I'm glad this is finally happening for all the EMTs and paramedics involved with RBAC. Just because timing is of the essence, a lot of people have asked why not just regular like fire department pages and Motorola that goes out there, but because of the necessity and sometimes a very swift response, cardiac arrest victims and so forth, the radio is the only way that you're going to know if anybody is in fact answering that alarm and who is going and how far out they are. So it's utilizing the equipment. It's using the equipment now to its best resource in terms of getting a provider to the scene as quickly as possible. Some people have asked why don't they just have pages like the fire department, why do they need radios because of the significance. Our chiefs have radios and they get to a scene immediately and evaluated from the fire department. RBAC you need to know in a cardiac rescue is somebody going immediately, how quick will they be there. Okay. So it's obviously problematic. It's obviously providing a better level of care and a faster response with the radios. Okay. Great. Resolution number six, ambulance district fund budget fund balance transfer, chassis and body remount. This is for the ambulance to instead of buying a whole new ambulance, they take it in and they get the box taken off. They get a new box put on. It's all updated with all the necessities that they need and it's certainly, it's still expensive. It's a lot less expensive than buying a new rig and they can do that I guess a couple times on the chassis before they actually have to get rid of the whole unit and purchase a new one. So it definitely helps save money but it gives you new equipment. In addition need to point out is that there will be a loaner. So when an ambulance is taken out of service to do a remount, the provider will give like RBAC a loaner. So we will never be down an ambulance or short an ambulance when we do the remount. So that's important to note to the general public. It takes a while to do the remount. It's a good time period to get it done. And these ambulances now are anywhere from a year and a half, two years out before the actual arrival. So we've got to buy the chassis first and then begin the remount. Okay. Great. Resolution number seven, sets fees for the recreational fall brochure. I urge everybody to check out the fall brochure. The recreation department has done another fine job putting it together and have some really cool events. The event is coming up. So I suggest everybody check it out. There's something for everybody there. Resolution number eight. Authorize his chief fire marshal to attend seminar. Resolution number nine. Authorize his attendance of fire marshal IAAI conference 2024. Get my fire marshal certified as per law. Resolution number ten. Appoints a call in recreation aid to the recreation department. Resolution. Resolution number 11 appoints a call-in recreate to the Recreation Department. Resolution number 12 appoints a call-in senior recreation leader to the Recreation Department. Resolution 13 ratifies the appointment of part-time police officers and places them on a leave of absence. We appointed three part-time police officers to attend the academy, which the chief told me starts Saturday. So this is when they go on their own time as part-timers. They don't get paid, but they go through the training, and then we hire them once they're trained and use them as part-time police officers. Big help to our department. Resolution number 14 accepts the retirement of Fire Marshal 1.

Number 15 ratifies the resignation of a principal engineering aide.

Number 16 accepts... the resignation of a water treatment plant operator 2B.

Number 17, ratifies the resignation of an automotive equipment operator. Number 18, promotes a police officer to the rank of sergeant.

Number 19, authorizes amendment number 7 of agreement with the United States Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey. Number 20, approves special event chapter 255 application for bold broadcasting Riverhead Holiday Light Show. That's the annual light show that's held up at Splish Splash. Number 21, authorizes supervisor to execute change order number 1, wellhead treatment for removal of manganese at plant number 5, contract P, plumbing construction, capital project 11, Riverhead Water District. Number 22, awards bid for well and pump testing, evaluation, reporting, and information management for Riverhead Water District. Number 23, pays the bills. Number 24, adopts a local law amending chapter 221 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled Community Preservation.

Number 25, authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice of public hearing to accept recommendations of community preservation. Number 26, designates alcohol service vendors to serve alcohol at the Riverhead Country Fair Street Festival and authorizes the supervisor to execute a license agreement with designated alcohol service vendors and Riverhead Townscape Incorporated. Number 27, authorizes the city of Riverhead County to approve the implementation of the ! Project Plan for the ! and the ! and the and the [transcription gap] Number 28, authorizes the supervisor to execute an agreement with Language Line Services, Inc. for Riverhead Justice Court. And that's it. That concludes our resolutions for today. Okay. Thank you very much, Devin. This unfortunately, people, is the end of our work session. And I'd like to make a motion. Just before we do that, supervisor, I think we've got to play that quick video. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Yep. Yes. You want to just introduce that? Yes. We have a part of our Riverhead in action. We did a, Highway Department did a beautiful video showing some of the equipment they have. And this is part of what we want to demonstrate, what goes on in the normal course of a workday. And some of the tools and stuff that our workers have to deal with and use on a daily basis. Hi. Devin. I'm Devin. I'm a

Hi. This is Tim Hubbard, supervisor of the great town of Riverhead. And you're watching Riverhead in Action, a media campaign designed to highlight the incredible work of the 350 plus employees that comprise Riverhead's 26 departments and sub-departments, town events, projects, job openings, local businesses, and other town happenings. I hope you find this informative and enjoyable.

Hello, everybody. Mike Zaleski, your highway superintendent. And today, we're getting our BACON trucks out, trying to pump down all the drains in the town, preparing for the upcoming storm system. This is one of two trucks we have, and they'll be going out shortly to suck down all the drains in the middle of this district. We'll head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head head all the dreams in the town. Hi, this is the town's tree truck and right now we're servicing it, getting it ready for any downed trees or limbs that may come down during the day or the upcoming storms. We're going over all the chainsaws, sharpening the blades, fueling everything up. This way we're fully prepared in case of any emergencies that may occur. So besides having two pumper trucks that go out mobile, we also have three portable pumps that can go out to any problems, flooding areas, flood zones, that can pump down the bad spots in the town. We have two military pumps that we've got from Military Surplus. We saved a lot of money purchasing these. One has a cover on it right now. We use old paint totes. We use old paint totes. We recycle these and make them into cover to make the equipment last longer. These two are ready. We also have a giant good wind pump. This is our largest pump. This actually pumped down Middle Road about ten years ago when we had that nine inch rainstorm. This one pump moved I don't know how many million gallons of water. We're getting all these pumps ready. We have a trailer that carries all the hoses for these pumps. Wherever we put these pumps at, we can bring the hose to these locations, lay it out, and we can move a lot of water very quickly with these pumps. So this is our line striper truck. This was actually a snow plow truck that fully rusted out and was no longer used to plow or sand the roads. We resurrected it. We removed the sander, the plow, all the snow plow equipment. And my men designed and created this. We designed and created our own line striping truck. We used this to paint the center lines and the roof. We made the body for it in the back. And we have our paint machine mounted on it. And this saved the town tens of thousands of dollars to do all this. We do all our own striping of the roads. And while we got it on film, as my men are striping, please stay off the fresh yellow paint. A lot of people like to drive in it. So I'm asking in advance, a little patience and please stay off the yellow paint. And this is actually, we're about a quarter of the way through all of our drums painting. Right now we just started August. And as you can see, we still have a ways to go. I like to get all the painting done before school starts and while it's still hot. It helps with the drying of the roads. And we do white lines too on the shoulder. And obviously you can see all the paint. But my guys took it upon themselves to make this truck. And we're very proud. And we did a lot done saving the town. Lots of money.

So this is our town's salt pile. There's approximately a thousand ton of salt in here. We apply this to the roads during the winter season, obviously. Icy conditions. Helps melt the ice on the roads. It helps us combat snow conditions. And it actually helps us plow the roads. The better the roads are for traction, the easier it is for my guys to plow. We have two salt barns. This is the largest one. And we also mix this salt with sand. And we put that in this other barn over here. And then in extreme conditions. In extreme icy conditions or in hilly areas. We'll put down a salty sand mix. And again that helps melt the ice. But it also gives vehicles and our plow trucks traction for plowing. Right now I keep a lot of winter equipment in here. It's empty just to keep it safe and out of the weather during the summer. But once winter comes around. All this winter equipment comes out. We'll put salty sand in here. Salt in the other barn. And we're always fully prepared to take care of our town roads.

So these are my largest trucks in the fleet. We have two dump trailers. Two roll offs. And two ten wheelers. These trucks are very important to us. Definitely for leaf season. All December we pretty much pick up leaves throughout this entire town. And these trucks especially in emergency situations when trees come down. They're our largest trucks. We can fit large limbs, tree trunks, etc. in them. And these are very important during emergency situations. And definitely leaf picking up season. So this is our latest drain cleaning truck. Our most newest one. We have two of these. And right now this truck is cleaning the drains on 7th Avenue. They pump all the water out. They also inject water. Fresh water inside. Cleaning out the fruits of the drain. This way it will drain water quicker and better. And this truck goes out through the entire town and does this throughout the town.

Nice job Michael. Yes. Michael how many gallons of water does this truck hold? 1,000 gallons of wastewater. Really? Yeah. Okay. Very good. Very good. Well thank you for doing that. And again we like promoting what happens with our town workers and what's going on. And so people have some idea. And that's the end of our work session today. And I'll make a motion to ask for a motion to close work session. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Work session is closed. Everybody have a great weekend. Thank you.

Thank you.