Full Transcript

Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you, Pat. Appreciate it. Okay, before we get started with the open session, we received some really good news this week. And Dawn Thomas, the director of our CDA, hopped in her car bright and early in the morning, dark and early in the morning, I should say, and rode up to Schenectady, New York, met with the governor and was presented with a couple dollars. So we would like to have the CDA come up here and explain. And I believe we have a nice copy of the check. So bring up with us to show off because once again, our fabulous CDA has garnered some money for the downtown revitalization, including the town square and some money for the Suffolk Theater. Yeah, so you want a quick overview of the project? I know you guys are familiar with the project. As you know, the town square has multiple components. One of those components is the amphitheater project. We had only received, we had only received money for design, preliminary design, which is completed now. So we have that done, but there's still a tremendous amount more work to do and money to spend on that project. And so we applied over the summer with the board's permission for funding through New York State Empire State Development's Pro Housing Program, which the board signed onto. It gives us access to substantially more money than other communities that don't sign onto the Pro Housing Program. So we had access to, I think, $44 million extra. The governor's putting another hundred and something million into that program this year. She's, her, she actually used carrots as a prop, like real carrots as a prop in her presentation. She, rather than a stick, which she was trying to, you know, they wanted to change the zoning of the local governments and that was very poorly received. They are now using incentives to do it. And so, in order to qualify, you have to sign on, which we did. It provides funding for creative placemaking and infrastructure. That supports our housing. So, the amphitheater project is viewed as, you know, creative placemaking, support to the community where we have been providing housing and we additionally received another $200,000? Or $187,000 or something for Suffolk Theater's water infrastructure that they need for their project. And so, we'll continue to look for projects to apply for. That's also going to help us, too, with the parking garage, with the water infrastructure. I was going to say, like, I did see, on, I don't like to respond to nonsensical comments on Facebook, but there were people, you know, that were complaining that the Suffolk Theater and that water infrastructure supports many more projects downtown. So, it's not, it's an important project for the town, not just one private project. No, I know. People like to comment without knowing the facts and the truth and we're used to it. So, if we can reduce the cost of housing by providing, you know, grants for infrastructure through this program, then that cost reduction will be passed through to the residents. And so, that's what we're looking to do. So, we were awarded $1.4 million for the amphitheater project. We still need more money. We'll be looking to private and public sources for that again. So, but a great start, certainly not jump change, for sure. And so, that's our announcement. Absolutely. Well, we know we have the best CDA team around. We appreciate all that you do and the hard work because, and again, the average person doesn't know what goes into a grant. I honestly, as a councilman, I wasn't all that familiar with it, but I've learned now in talking to you and you showing me how it's quite involved. The paperwork's incredible. I mean, you come up for signatures for me all the time with stacks of paperwork. It's like, wow. I mean, you've got to sit and go through everything and it's lengthy and you have to know what you're doing and apparently you do because we seem to be getting a lot of money and that's a great thing, especially for our downtown area. Well, I'm aware too. You guys being supportive of the projects, moving them forward. Public support's also important. The people that are giving the money want to make sure that we all, you know, we've done the stakeholder discussions. We've done that preliminary work and, you know, you guys have been incredibly supportive to us too, so we really appreciate that. You guys are the most successful financial team for this town to benefit us and to carry us into the future. So you are all immensely and greatly appreciated for the way you work. Yeah. And we'll just keep giving you more projects because you're so successful. We got one right after you. We all agree it's a labor of love. We love our town. We like to work and this is great to do, so it's super rewarding. I mean, they give you a check for a million bucks. Got to hold that check up. We've got to show everybody. Can we get a nice picture with you guys and the check? Sure. Okay, great. Sure. This is one of our smaller checks, but. It's a great, it's a great gift. I imagine we won't fix it. Yeah. I don't want to be .

Very nice. Good. Thank you. Great job. Yeah, thank you guys. Thank you all.

Okay, from one exciting thing to another exciting thing, we're going to have the people from Prevent Volunteer Ambulance Corps come up and we're going to discuss the new RVVAC, RVAC building. And Councilman? Councilman Roscoe, you want to? Yeah, so we are fortunate to have some of our top volunteers here from RVAC. This is a project that has been long overdue. It might even be an attempt to keep the CDA busy. But back in 1989, the original building was built and like every other thing that has transpired over the years and as the town has grown, this is a long overdue necessity for the town. So we are, these men and women are providing life saving actions here within our town. And we as a town board and the supervisor need to always provide them with the proper tools to do that, to perform that job. So we are here today to talk about building a new ambulance building here in the town of Riverhead. This will also help us to meet requirements from the state and OSHA and other regulatory agencies. So with that in mind, I'll turn things over to our president. I think he's got a good way to explain how this project has come about and why it's such an important necessity. Derek. Thank you. First, thank you for allowing us to have the opportunity to sit before you and speak about replacing the new headquarters. As many of you know, our current headquarters was built in 1989 with the Jamesport substation prior to that in 1985. At that time, our dedicated volunteer ambulance team was responding to approximately 1,100 calls per year. Fast forward to today, our call volume has surged to an amount of 1,200 calls per year. And that's a lot of work. So we are here today to talk about building a new ambulance building here in Riverhead. We have headlet's full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full full equipment and an ambulance and first responder provided by Stony Brook University Hospital. Unfortunately, our existing facility, which has served us well in the past, is no longer sufficient. In fact, we are unable to house two of our ambulances and two first responders and trailers indoors, exposing them to the element and increasing risk of equipment failures and compromising medical integrity. Ambulances represent a significant investment, costing approximately for a new ambulance $600,000 and $360,000 for remounting, which the board has chosen to go that way as a cost-saving measure. With two of our ambulances currently sitting outside with external heating units, meaning space heaters, we face a constant worry of equipment damage, which makes remounting an old box more costly and or a blown circuit breaker because the building was never meant to have so much draw on it. One faulty heater could spell disaster, resulting in the loss of... Hundreds of thousands of dollars or thousands of dollars in medications and risking the safety of our community. Moreover, our facility, currently at 2,900 square feet, is under the scrutiny of various regulatory bodies, including New York State Part 800, OSHA, and America with Disabilities Act. We are simply unable to meet the necessary standards due to our current building's limitations. One of the most pressing challenges we face is compliance with America's Americans with Disabilities Act. We have members and members of the public with disabilities who cannot safely access our building. Our classroom space, which only allows for one means of egress, is inadequate for training our volunteers, effectively forcing us to hold classes at the new Riverhead Town Hall, which we thank you very much for allowing us to do. We are incredibly grateful to the Riverhead Town Port for facilitating our meetings with an architect and the guidance of Supervisor Hubbard and Councilman Ken Rothwell to design a 16,600 square foot building that will meet our needs. This building has no frills, just a safe and secure building with classroom, meeting rooms, bunk rooms, and bathroom offices. Today, I respectfully request that the Town Board take the necessary steps to move forward with the request for proposals, RFP process enabling us to establish a clear understanding of the project's costs, that this new facility will not only enhance our operational capabilities, but also ensure that we can continue to serve our community effectively and safely. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for your time and consideration. And we're happy to answer any questions. So, the design work went in here with obviously members of their board, but also they continuously took those plans back to their members and got meetings and shared insights. The plans have been, you know, revitalized as time goes by to make sure that we're accommodating everyone and we have all different, especially here when you have the people that are actually working and utilizing the facility on a regular basis. But volunteers come with all different backgrounds as well. And so, and everyone sharing thoughts. So I think we came together with some great work. So the committee did a great job. So we'd like to put some of the drawings up. Justin, if we could put them up on the TV. The first thing that you're looking at is the first facade of the front of the building. And so, and then we'll kind of just go step by step if anybody else wants to walk us through the process at all or need explaining. Yeah, I can walk you through the process. Yep. So, we're going to go ahead and get started. Okay. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] you yourself uh yes i'm the architect my name is todd o'connell firm is toc architects i've been working with riverhead ambulance corp now for approximately over six months going back and forth with you know different designs and making sure we accommodate all of their needs and uh those are the plans that are before you as the result of uh meeting with the uh uh the corp and uh just even before we go in like you know in the design process of this it was important the first thing we we took a good look at was the location itself and so the site that we currently have is very limited in size but i think the board unanimously agreed that it was the perfect location wanted to stay there because it really is in the heart and central location for response times and that's ultimately what they're always concerned about is response time so sometimes people say well why don't you just go to a different site different location well we don't want to change response times because they're doing a phenomenal job and so we want to stay on the same uh existing parcel of land so during construction uh there will be some difficulties for maybe a gen general time of maybe six months or so that you know the building it is a complete tear down it is too cost prohibitive to try to add on and try to you know use any type of it's better and more cost effective as we've learned to just start with a clean slate so that's kind of one of the things that we're looking at how are you going to operate during construction well there's talks with um ken rothwell here that we would maybe move next year and set up like a little makeshift camp of some trailers and it's going to be rough for the first you know for six months it's gonna it's definitely gonna be rough um but i think we you know we're gonna have to make do but i think we're gonna have to work out of trailers like our our business if we get a couple excuse me if we get a couple of double wides together um it's about the space that we have now um and it'll accommodate the only difference would be everything would be outside versus four vehicles now it would be all of them so it's going to be a little bit more of a so um we'll have to obviously pay more attention to temperatures and things like that but it's it's definitely doable it'll just be a little more work that's all right so we're going to hope and we we have not had you know talks yet with our highway superintendent but we're going to hope that we can partially use you know some of the property within within the highway yard just on a temporary basis of a location and so we'll sit down and we'll have meetings with mike and see how we can come back to fruition we do have may need to move maybe a second rig or something over jamesport right now but we're going to have to have a third location you know so we're going to have to kind of use that as well and kind of divide up they'll figure a method of how volunteers respond and to which location may be based on where the call is and so and we have to have the third location you know but so it'll be a hardship but in the end this is the right thing to do because the services that will be provided in the long run is the best and for the public part of the cost of this is going to come from monies with the insurance claims that you're now expecting so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so that you know will be battery operated and good to go but this is a great it's a long time coming we've been talking about this for a long time and now everything's starting to kind of line up so I love the design and and and what's important to me and you you hit the nail on the head it's not a Taj Mahal I have seen other ambulance headquarters around the county and some of them maybe they're very wealthy districts but to me it was a lot of overkill this is exactly what you need and you guys did not put in for all the frills and everything that you could have so I really appreciate that as I'm sure the taxpayers do also you know it's a building that a volunteer can go to their shift at midnight put their head down on a pillow and still be able to go to their job in the morning feeling rested and safe right now our building is not you know it it's not safe to go to the hospital and it's not safe to go to the hospital it's open to the public on some occasions you know someone forgets to leave shut the door on the way out to a cool the building's open so this new building has a lot of safeguards right stop if we did leave a big ambulance door open you know somebody can't just walk around the other parts of our building so it has more safety in mind than anything else the level of training that's been required in gross continuously year after year you know you don't become an EMT and a paramedic and then that's it it's this constant renewal of training constantly upgrades and to take our volunteers and to send them off to different facilities which really means that we're taking away from the RBAC building and so we're putting them further away from their spots so to be able to have trainings in-house at the facility where their aims located if they have to pause in a minute in the middle of training to go run out on a call and so forth that's where we want them to be as opposed to having to go through other places throughout the county which means in the no longer right there at headquarters so we want to keep our training rooms or conference rooms or all of that located at the facility where they're responding from and it keeps more people in-house so when we have multiple calls we're able to handle multiple calls because everybody's in house training not spread out to the county I mean could we we do thrive off of students right you know we have a lot of students currently in medical programs and this building will afford them a quiet place to study and like you said when that hall goes out they can jump on an ambulance and handle the call and come back and go back to studying right now they're they come down it's too noisy because there's no place for anybody and then they go to the library down the street and they're less likely to go on a call right now and to clarify for the public with the supervisor referring to before is that what they're really building for is the transport you know transport calls and that's that's specifically you'll bring in a patient from place of injury or location you know to the hospital and a lot of that is covered through means of insurance so they up until the work that we've been doing today they've been self-sufficient so you want want the public to know that so we're using some of that funds to hire the architect to do these plans as well so that you know part of that that funding is allocated for upgrades of equipment so we do have new ambulance that's just mandatory you have to you have to replace them they're just outdated there and then the safety factor come in so these are higher high-response vehicles that have been used so and the cost of ambulance equipment is just drastically rising on an every year basis and so we need to protect that equipment you know we've got a data that because we respond to calls on beaches and so forth but we need to know that that when we get those and that was through grant money that we we keep that equipment and we protect it we keep it indoors and when we're putting items in trailers and other places it slows the response down time to unbutton the trailer get things out get rolling we just want to be able to to go and so that's that's part of the key on that so we want to go over some of the plans a little bit we'll show i'm sorry what's the square footage of the building is six thousand the current building that we're now is sixteen six thousand in vander yeah so that's that's the that's we're at our max that's it that's that's fantastic can't go any bigger supervisor you want a set of planes to look at as they go through it well i'm yes because uh it's kind of small over there i see a squint and my arms aren't long enough to be able to read it justin you want to put the plans up on the tv for us as well

look at this by justin also as well so we wanted to provide ample parking for volunteers um handicap parking as well the entire building will be ada compliant yes still working within the same parameter so it took some uniqueness and revisions to keep on the same footprint utilizing the same site things that we'll be looking at by we're going to ask the board's permission to put together an r you know put out a resolution for an rfp to determine the overall cost 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 having a wash bay as well and how to treat any fluids and so forth that come off of ambulance, off of just even road salt and other things to a trap system. So we want to be able to keep our equipment clean and also worry about what's in the ground so that this takes that whole environmental concerns into a new level as well. When you guys, when we were in the midst of COVID, you didn't have a decontamination unit in the building and it made it very difficult for your members to come back from a call and get properly cleaned off and then chances are in the middle of that cleaning process, you had to go out on another call during that time period. I think the biggest issue there was the contaminating the entire building because there was no, once you come back from a call, you park. You park in the current base that we have. There's no decon area so you go into the building which now contaminates the entire building for everybody else. So we definitely learned a lot through COVID on what we did not have. Oh, sure. One of the biggest things, just to touch on the COVID, was the fact that we had, you had a fever. They were sending you home and they were telling you, well, at some point, they were realizing we didn't have enough personnel to answer calls and now they were ordering people back to work. The problem was is like if you still had COVID. But you may have been not symptomatic. There's no way to separate that personnel. Right. So we had, you know, half our personnel had currently still had COVID. Half didn't. But there was no place to put, okay, you guys are going to respond from over here. This side of the building, there was no way to separate them, which was a big problem because now we're just getting everybody else sick. So that was, in our opinion, the biggest thing that we realized during COVID was there was no separation of personnel. Absolutely. Correct. And the new building has a decontamination. Right. In the south end. Yeah. Shut up. Excellent. And so also just to mention just why we look at the site plan too, they do want to honor some fallen members as well. And so we know Heidi Bear and maybe perhaps others that have been. And so we'll look at like currently in front there's a small memorial. And so we want to do something a little bit more nicer in the back for them, right, to enhance that, keep that so that we're always showing a good remembrance of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. And so there'll be a place for that too on site. So we want to go page by page. Is there anything you want to add to the site plan? Well, we're just starting with the first floor here with the bays, just the bays themselves. We have three bays right now where we can store three ambulances. With this, it's going to give us five bays that are double deep. So we were able to put ten vehicles in, plus we have the contamination bay if we needed to use it for storage. So just to give you a little bit of a sense of what the site plan is, it's a lot of things. It's a lot of things. 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So there are standards that are set like OSHA. OSHA puts a distance, I believe it's like four feet between apparatuses, mandatory requirement. So just for safety, as one ambulance is rolling and there may be a crew going up on a second ambulance. Sometimes it's often you have motor vehicle accidents, you have multiple vehicles rolling out of the garage at the same time. Can I just ask a question? Just currently, is that the number of vehicles that you have? Yes. Some of them are outside. Right, my concern is, is this big enough considering all the other apartment buildings and everything that is on the downtown? So we include it for expansion and three of those vehicles are trailers. So if we needed to move the apparatus out of the trailers and put the trailers outside to expand, if we needed to expand and put the trailers outside to expand, we could do that. So we do have room for expansion. This is ideal, this is in a perfect world. But if we do start expanding and buy more apparatus that has to go inside, we're able to move some of this stuff around to make room for that. Somewhere in the future too, the possibility of maybe a Calverton area substation should be, I know we've talked about it and this will help for now, but as the town continues to grow, that may be another option we have to look at. Way down the road, yeah. We're already seeing more development on the west side of town and in response, you guys have been doing a great job getting over there, but you know. This also does not include putting anything in Jamesport. So if we needed to store something in Jamesport, we could move it out there as opposed to keeping it stored inside here. Yeah, so this has all of our rigs. Right. You gotta remember the vast territory that they're covering, you know, and so they're covering Mattoville, they're covering, when you go to the wall, they're covering the they're covering the they're covering the they're covering the water park and the ice rink and so forth. We think that that is, you know, in the area of Calverton, but that's all being covered by our back. So, yes. And the day that EPCAL gets it built out up there, it's gonna be that much more, so. And that's when we'll certainly be sitting down again considering a second substation up there, which would relieve some of these vehicles to go further west. So, and in general, you just have a dispatch room down below if you want to kind of just go over some of the things. So, yeah. You know, they put a lot of heart and soul in the best way that the dispatch room is continuously can be viewing the ambulance, what doors are open and closed, how we go in and out, how the public proceeds through it. There was a lot of thought process in this. The first floor consists of, as I mentioned, a decon room, a dispatch room, you know, it has a recreation room area, you know, for everyone. It has a nice lounge area, so, you know, so this way, the facility can be used for all purposes. And. And there are requirements by the states. So when we say recreation area. Correct. The state requires that we have gym memberships and so forth. So it's actually cost effective to have our own little facility where we could put some of our own exercise devices and so forth in there. Which is required by the state. And that's a lot more cost effective than trying to go out and buy 150 memberships to a local gym. So. And the rec room here is more. I would say. The living. living room so what we have now it's where TV sofa couches where people with more of a ready room just stand by yeah say where the members would go and sit and watch TV until the call comes out and then obviously I'm sorry in the first floor that's where we have up to you know ten days and then we also have a you know a wash bay for as well which could be used for expansion as well on the second floor we have men's and women's bunk room we have a training room so they no longer have to use the facilities have a training room would be on-site along with the fitness area and we also have on the second floor some offices as well as a conference room and really just you know everything that more of a need men's and women's bathrooms you know trying to make a space comfortable comfortable for all the volunteers the sheer cost of equipment even in training when you get the mannequins and so forth that you when you're teaching through yeah EMT school paramedic school all these devices that they have they need a place to put it it just they can't go on the garage floor anymore you know we need we need cabinets we need room to protect this expensive equipment yes okay is there a place for the to rest yes there's two bunk rooms and then set a woman's bunker with bathrooms and you know attached to the bunk room I think we've got some facades up on the screen so that's the front of the building I tried to stay within the art back colors years correct the the building is consists of just just a regular hardy plank siding which is a cement siding it's we've incorporated some stone accent to the building again we're not trying to go crazy with it we're trying to keep the building simple cost-effective you know because see on the right side where all the windows are that's obviously the office and bunk rooms and basically the bays were all to the left side now over the bay area on the second floor there was a mezzanine that will on the back half of the bay area there was a space there was a where you'll you know people are up there you could actually see down onto the bays which is a you know a nice look as well and I said it means we got to watch the top of the ambulance yeah yeah right and you know it's a metal roof on building standing seam metal roof and that's that's about it for the design of the building itself just all the different views the other doors that you'll go to the back so in case you want to bring a truck for some reason out to the back of the building you have that opportunity to do that so you can see the couple on doors overhead doors facing the back and it helps with a ventilation as well correct so multiple vehicles Ryan now you have a ventilation simply by open the back door so yeah collecting insurance has that going it's going it's going good it was a slow start right we're waiting on that dated claim we're right up had to give an update on what we collected so far to date or this year this year entity I don't have the to date numbers this year we've collected I think it's a little over a hundred thousand for the month of January so far wow so we have the potential to collect a million dollars a year basically so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so as possible to meet their needs to be most cost effective cost efficient so with the RFP you know we'll write it in such a manner just to get you know compare septic versus sewage all the basic design works and once we have a final total and we'll be having multiple meetings with our financial administrator and so Janet is here as well to add any comment but the goal would be a fundraising campaign so and and we'll decide on the method of how you know the RBAC volunteers want to go ahead whether we want naming the bays or just you know we want to put perhaps we thought maybe in the lobby where we can put plaques for those you know that contributed to the overall facility so we between fundraising efforts and between the insurance collections you know through transports you know we think this is a project that can go ahead with with a very minimal impact to the taxpayers you so we don't want people to think there they go build another building but this is this is a necessity it's required by law that you know we need to upgrade our facilities to meet all that all the requirements of today and we're going to do it with a very very limited impact to the taxpayer and when and when somebody is in stress and you and you need that that you know heart attacks other things that happen you need that ambulance you want you want the best crews which we have and the best equipment and we want to protect that equipment to respond to every scene so so even if you bought this right so you took in a million dollars that's gross what is that also that what's in that so it's the net full so twenty percent of it comes back to vehicles for the town's we have different accounts with the town that we take portions of that money to set aside for equipment so the equipment as councilman Rothwell has already stated is ridiculousness so so ridiculously expensive yeah we well I mean even not an ambulance a stretcher and an ambulance cost us $35,000 now they used to be 20,000 three years ago now cardiac monitors which all of ours are out of date now or net are now sixty one thousand dollars versus the thirty thousand that we paid the last time we bought them so and that's that's hard equipment that's not even supplies that have doubled and tripled in price so it's with the money that we're bringing in from billing it's hard to parse out how much of that is net because we're setting aside money for all of these different show different equipment so we would have to sit with the town and see exactly how it the cost of that equipment to put it in an ambulance to leave outside just doesn't make sense no of course not we're doing it with the police and with the fire marshal right now and they're losing because of the temperature differential you know it's they've had to order new equipment and I'm sure you're in the same scenario I guess where I'm going with this is that even if we bought this it's not then to the councilman's I think that service we would be able to cover yes what I'm and so that's where I'm going so that I just want to add something to is that you know this is a community effort with the ambulance you know if it wasn't for Peconic Bay Medical Center Amy Loeb you know they they do cover all of our medications so that's a huge huge savings to the taxpayers tens of thousand dollars a year you know the public should know that Peconic Bay Medical Center their hospital covers that for them so and they've also agreed to partner with us to help us with any fundraising that we want to do with them so we have supportive Amy Loeb Peconic Bay Medical Center and as well as the time board so I think right now is we've never seen a better opportunity to get done what we need to get done as far as what we need to get done. Yeah, let's get it going. With a high volume of calls, they do reach out to others. You do also have Stony Brook University Hospital does provide an ambulance in some of the busier times and so forth. They agree. But we don't want to leave them out in the parking lot. When they come and they have the same medical equipment in their vehicles, they're equally worried about. So we need to know that they have a facility, a place to put and safeguard their equipment as well while they're here on standby. They have to leave their vehicles running while they're here, especially in the cold temperatures. So their service to us is not costing the taxpayers anything. But it's costing them money because they're leaving their trucks running the whole shift because their temperature has to be at a certain. Epinephrine, the life saving for cardiac arrest, it has a temperature differential. So 10 degrees either way, the medication could be not effective. So this building is going to solve hopefully a lot of the problems. Those issues too. I think it's great. And we've got equipment as simple as glucometers for blood glucose. When they hit a certain temperature, they don't work anymore. And even with the heaters that we have inside the ambulances, when it's really cold like it was last week, the heaters can't keep up with the temperature. So we have a problem with equipment that we have to keep rotating or buying new equipment. And it's not $60,000 for a glucometer, but it does add up after a while when you have to keep replacing this stuff. And it's not just for the patients. And that's if you can get the equipment. I know with the refits for the ambulances, it's like a year and a half out. It's ridiculous. And I do want to say thank you guys. And I'll just speak on behalf of the board. This town board has probably been one of the best I've ever worked with. And speaking with Keith and Bruce, hands down, you guys have been the best. So the public should know that we have never had a good relationship with the town board until the last few years. So I appreciate it. The new town attorney that you hired, absolutely phenomenal. He's right behind you. Shout out. And Jeanette here, the new financial administrator, has been absolutely wonderful to work with. So we are ecstatic that you guys have made changes. I mean, we put in for a voucher. We get paid three days later. And we have never. I mean, it's usually months. So that, thank you. Good. Jeanette, do you want to comment? Our financial administrator, Jeanette, if you wanted to just make a comment a little bit about the new town. And then we'll talk a little bit about the process of the RFP and the financial outlook for them. Sure. So as everybody said, the next step would be to prepare a resolution to go out and do an RFP for the construction costs, including any septic or sewer issues for funding. But it's great that you guys are going to do a fundraising effort. Anything helps. So between that and all the medical billings that have been ramped up or transport billings, that will fund the majority of the construction. But it most certainly sounds like it's going to cover the debt service. So I guess the next step is really just to get the costs that, you know, accumulated for the project to see what we're dealing with. And then figure out a game plan. You know, what would the debt service be if we bonded over however long, 15 years, whatever. But we will help. But we adjust the years based on the overall costs. So whether this be a 10-year bond or a 15-year bond based on the projected revenues of our back. Yeah. Yeah. on the next contract with AARVAC with the medical billing portion, but they do set aside 20 percent for capital reserve for equipment, and we set aside money for the ambulances every year, whether it be a remount or a new, but normally we've been doing remounts because of how expensive it is to purchase new ambulances. So we've been trying to build up reserves for those as it comes along, so it's not a surprise when they come due. We've been forecasting out what years the vehicles will either need a new remount or a replacement, and also the responder vehicles as well. So that's been helpful. So I think the best part is just communication, which has been great. So if we keep the communication going, we know what we're dealing with, and we have a plan going forward. So. MR. Agreed. MR. Excellent. Very good. MR. I love supporting all of you. MR. It was exciting. MR. A long time coming. MR. Thank you. MR. I just have a question. MR. I just have a question. MR. I just have a question. I just have one question, and I know I'm going to get laughed at for this, but. MR. And you're it. I'll start that job. MR. It's okay. No. So I've seen, and I don't know how realistic or what you see in the future, but drone ambulances to get, you know, over traffic. And basically what they do is pick up somebody and get them a view. MR. I haven't seen that. We do have. MR. Can we laugh at him now? MR. That's all you want. That's okay. MR. You just put an idea in Vice President Albers' head. MR. That just costs us. MR. That's a guy that directs us to. MR. We do at RVAC, do have a drone that has search and rescue capabilities where it has thermal. When they had the wildfires this past year, we utilized it. Anytime that there's a boat issue or there's a kayak that flipped, we've already used the drone. It's really, really quick. You can cover really a lot of distance and not spend that much money on using a helicopter. So but as far as picking somebody up, not yet. MR. But the drone is not just locating the victim out on a kayak or somebody out in the bay, but it has the ability to eventually carry a life jacket out there to drop it. MR. Yeah. MR. So they have something to respond to. MR. We can buy that feature. So that's already part of it. But more importantly is that we can speak to the people. MR. Yeah. MR. But we can get close enough to them. It has a light that is almost as powerful as the one that's on the helicopter. And it can light the whole scene up. And we can speak to patients. We can't really hear them back, but we can say, Hey, we're here. We see you. We're here with you. And then once we've done that, we can say, Hey, we're here. We see you. We're here with you. And then once, you know, we can tell them, hey, in 10 minutes, the boat will be here to pick you up. So, you know, it was a good purchase. See, they laughed at me, but I'm so glad you're using the latest technology because it really works. We're actually also involved. Let's think about the size of the lithium battery to lift this body up. Come on. We've got to get real good at that. But, you know what? We'll be where we are today when we were kids growing up, right? Hey, who knew a rocket ship could actually get caught with arms, right? Way back. You know, 20 years ago, they would have said, you know, you're crazy. But in those recent wildfires in Baiting Hollow, the terrain, the land terrain was just deep crevasses and coming up now. And so it took us a while, you know, I know I was on scene, but just to maneuver and how to get the brush trucks in the right place because you start going in one direction, then you hit that end, and it's a deep terrain, like, all right, let's backtrack a little. So it's been helpful to be able to look at that. For navigation purposes as well. Yep. Fantastic. I love it. And another piece of equipment that we need to protect in a new building. Yes, sir. So I'm looking forward to it. This is exciting. It is long overdue. And I'll also say this. I thank you for your patience over all these years waiting for this day to come. We're happy it's here and the whole agency is excited about the new project. Yeah, there's so much. Yeah. Finally, the morale is starting to amp up a little bit. You know, people are starting to get excited. You know, there's still some, is it going to happen? But, you know, you guys have been great, so we're happy to get it done. I mean, like I said, this is no Taj Mahal. This is as basic as you can get to get the job done. You know, we kept that cost in mind because we knew the taxpayers are not going to, if we have to bond, that the taxpayers are not going to go for it. So, you know, we kept that in mind. And there's a social aspect. I mean, it's a social aspect. I mean, it's a social aspect to volunteer work. You know, when you have a good building, you have good, safe places to gather, to meet, to hold your meetings. It just creates an overall better work environment. And that's also one of the long-term goals here. When volunteers come here, they want to stay here because they like it here. And we've got to provide them with the equipment and the building that they need to keep those volunteers. I don't see the debt service being a problem. No, no. I don't believe it at all. At all. And number one, but I would really hope that when you go back, express to all the volunteers, because you have a lot of them, you know, how much we appreciate everything that they're doing. I'm serious. And like Councilman Rothwell said, we can change the length of the bond to accommodate the debt service. And just make it callable, you know, after eight years. And so this way, if we can pay it off early and get rid of the debt service, we can do that. Yep. That's where Jeanette comes in. Now, does the town board, I mean, you know, we were, we've been talking, we've been talking a lot with Ken Rothwell to start trying to solicit some donations from some of the people. And we would like to start doing that now that, you know, we know what we're building. We have something to show. So we'll put the RFP out. We'll determine the costs. We'll sit down with the town attorney as well and see if like what we can do, because as a government entity, how we collect donations, how it goes about, you know, and we'll talk to our financial administrator. We set up separate accounts so that when somebody does make a donation to the, to the facility, to our back, that it's specifically, we guide it to this particular structure. And so we will, we will have a next step is with the RFP. We'll, we'll sit down with both legal and financial to make sure that it's written in the most proper way. So we do it one time and we, when we get the, an option of costs and then to begin the fundraising efforts to make sure that we're meeting all the state guidelines, rules, regulations towards collecting donations and how it is applied to the facility. Thank you all for the work that you do. We appreciate it. The, the residents appreciate it. We appreciate it. We appreciate it. You guys are awesome. And let's get this rolling. Thank you guys for coming in. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. You guys do very exciting times. Excellent job. Thank you all. Did you want to keep, Oh, you guys want to keep a big set? Hey, you know, if you want to leave one, it'd be good to have in the office just for references and so forth. You got it. All right. Thank you all very much.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I'll tell you what, it's about time. It's good that this is happening. I'm really happy to see this. So just continuing with our work session, our next item on our list will be matters surrounding changes to the town board rules and procedures. Hubbard and Howard to come forward.

Good morning, Councillor. How are you? Good. I'm very good. I have to tell you, I read the first draft, made my comments, so I didn't get a chance to read this. I didn't expect this today. I sent it last night. I know. That's okay. I mean, basically, I mean, the changes I made were all key to the, you know, suggestions that I collected from the rest of the town board members. And this is just an effort to make our meetings run smoother and taking everybody into consideration. Yeah, so when I took over for Bob Cos, you know, almost four years ago now, three years ago plus, one of the things that I did want to do was do a review of the town board's rules, and I created a draft, I want to say in 2023, that was circulated. We didn't really end up moving on it, but with the new year, I thought it would be a good time to revisit it. It keeps most of the prior town board rules, but clarifies a few things. And so I'll go over some of where I've put in additions or expansions. What I crafted was clarification of the procedure for making the work session agenda. It specifically states that the department heads can contact the supervisor's office and request items to be added to the work session agenda. In the past, my office had fielded some complaints about things that should have gone to work session or were asked to go to work session, and maybe it took too long to get there or it just didn't make it onto the agenda. So that's a good thing. So part of this was put together with a mindset to create a framework to make the work sessions more substantial and increase the transparency for the public. One of the things I put in there, and this is up to the town board, is sort of a monthly report for each department head where they come in and just sort of provide an update as to relevant matters happening in their individual work sessions. So part of this was put together with a mindset to create a framework to make the work sessions more substantial and increase the transparency for the public. One of the things I put in there, and this is up to the town board, is sort of a monthly report so that they can get their 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 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 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 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 rule two it starts on page one and goes into page two. I think a lot of this we've all kind of agreed you know and working together over the last few years that a lot of it like you know when we do work sessions we need items to be forwarded to us we need to be able to post them online we need to want to give the chance for the general public to view them and so a lot of the stuff is that we've kind of all agreed to follow these kind of rules and guidelines just to but now I think by putting it in writing it just seems to make it more fair so that that that that there's a there's a written understanding so no one is upset that you know we have one item on the agenda today that we did postpone till next week just because we didn't have the proper drawings and diagrams and documents to share with the general public so this kind of clarifies a lot of that so it's no longer just you know an idea but it should be written so that that everyone understands that in order to be on this discussion for Thursday I need to submit my materials by this particular date right and it also gives the public an idea how you know how you go through the process right it sort of clarifies that for them so you know sometimes you know you hear from residents and they don't really understand how things you know work through the town board and so this particularly with the work sessions designed to you know sort of open open the window on that it includes similar to the department heads I think I put in their quarterly reports by advisory committees just to bring them in and have a dis in this is to some extent covered by the reports that the liaisons give monthly I like it yeah but I mean this this this would bring the members in and they can you know provide provide the town board with sort of their personal views on the issues they're dealing with and thoughts about how those can be how those can be addressed the the advisory committees typically are also supposed to field referrals from the town board so this would also this would also create a structure where if something is formally referred to an advisory committee by the town board they would meet and then the next work session after they have that meeting and do that discussion they would come in and report to the town board on what their advice is with respect to that issue one of the things that I really like that because I really think it's good for the committee to come up you know as a liaison yeah I could write down what they're talking about what I'm not sure is happening I don't know that comes in here but when things are discussed in the code committee that the appropriate codes go to the appropriate yeah that's that's one thing that we that we have so it we call it code committee it's really working group usually one of myself or one of my deputies someone from the building department someone from the planning department town board liaison code enforcement fire marshal kind of get together and discuss either gaps in the code or issues with enforcement that were that we're dealing with and we brainstorm drafts to circulate to the town board now sometimes those codes probably should be referred to the appropriate advisory committee so to councilman councilman Kern's point I think there should be I guess more formal recognition of how we how we process that and then once they once they reviewed it if they want to participate in the work session discussion that we ultimately have on the code proposal that can happen so I don't know how to work that in here I mean I can find a way to work that in here just I just think it's a good idea because just having head-on committees for you know 16-17 years so not having some things that have taken so long so I that have taken so long to get change you know dealing with previous town boards it's just it's frustrating and it's not productive okay so with respect to local laws I could create a rule that identifies the town hall personnel that you know regularly meet monthly how they'll brainstorm either proposed code amendments however however they come up whether their enforcement issues whether they're new state regulations whether they're just new ideas and we will include something where we make efforts to identify appropriate advisory committees and refer the proposed proposed code out to them for review yeah cuz often they're more expert in what you know they're doing absolutely yeah okay I mean if it's purely a code amendment enforcement issue I mean that's I feel comfortable that my senior town investigator can handle it I feel very comfortable with that myself let's see what else so sort of addressing decorum at town board meetings I thought was important I know some town boards have rules about signs of meetings I think Brookhaven doesn't allow them I put that in here for the board's consideration other general decorum it's not even the sign says that somebody holds something up and the person behind them can't see what's going on well it's it's it's a distraction and the way I described it in here you know what page I'm on page four it says signs are served to distract us or up to interrupt struct viewing meeting and given up and given the opportunities to speak for the town board on a variety of matters on a variety of matters the signs do not suggest substantively contribute to the business of the town board and this is specific inside the board but they want to go outside but yeah absolutely absolutely right right because I got a great sign one time and another another of the well I won't call it a failing but it's it's not really clear in the prior town board rules what what we mean by decorum it just sort of says that you're gonna be respectful in a general sense so I expanded on that and that's letter C under rule four and it relates to partisan political commentary personal impertinent slanderous or profane profane remarks directed at town board members town staff general public applicants before the town board or other invited guests and it provides the procedure that's followed when that when that happens so the person who's doing it will be you know ruled out of order and it's a and it's a warning and if it continues then that person will be removed from the meeting and it clarifies that when we have police officers here that police officer might end up assisting in removal the person if the person is refusing but it's written criticism is acceptable correct you don't need to agree with us and you have a right to them but just do it in a kind and courteous manner that's all yes hundred percent doesn't doesn't necessarily need to be kind it just needs to be uh it needs to be professional it needs it should be courteous um but it just it shouldn't it shouldn't be disrespectful on its face well yeah you have uh what you can't do is uh you have to refrain from personal impertinent slanderous profane remarks those kinds of things yeah I think that's yeah I mean really if you think that nails what we're doing we're trying to the last meeting we had with Scott's Point where we had a filled room um I had an individual call me the next day after the meeting saying that there were comments in the audience that I didn't hear up here on the dayus but that they were rude and derogatory comments made to certain individuals who were talking you know about a different position than the majority of the people here were right and that's that won't be tolerated either I mean that's it's not only directed for the board not to be you know uh board can't talk to the public like that the public can't talk to the board like that but the public can't talk to the public like that either correct and that's what we're looking to alleviate some of that just create some safe environment right to keep everybody yeah right so you know oftentimes before the town board contentious issues come up uh what we don't want is disagreements among the audience to disrupt your uh taking in testimony comments remarks regarding those issues and because when a speaker turns to the audience that engages the audience you have to you know you're here to talk to us not the audience right bottom line is we don't want people to feel intimidated to come up and speak correct people to not feel as though they're going to be heckled by other members of the audience right so that's that's what I tried to clarify there by expanding on what we mean by uh maintaining proper form with respect to comments on resolutions and all other matters we we look into what other towns do and what's required under the New York State open meetings law the town board isn't required to provide time for comment either on resolutions or general comment on any matter you know my recommendation is that we keep comment because I think it's I think the public's participation that is important uh many other towns don't do five minutes they do three minutes that's that's what I would that's what I would recommend you know that that can also be discretionary like the town board has the ability to if they want to hear more from the public or provide you bring in an expert in a field of study and you are a little more in depth and that can be and that can be sort of considered as a motion you know on the spot by the town yeah I'm going to tell you I I agree I mean there's an expert that comes in I believe that's something different but I I do know this having done this ask to time a meeting with the IDA and they allowed this one person to go over and then it just started well they they spoke longer why can't I speak longer that will be always be the discretion of the supervisor in the board okay yeah and let me just talk I just want to add on to the limit of three minutes and what it does provide is that to me you know even in the summertime we have meetings that start at six o'clock you have a lot of seniors that don't like to drive after dark and sometimes they come and they gather here and when you have certain individuals that just you know there's it's a you know it may be a a heated topic and we have a room full of people that want to speak I think it's better to give at least a chance to have a conversation with the person that's in the room and then you can talk to them and it's where mathematically if you're in the back of the room you can go right so there's there's 10 people up there they all take three minutes I'm going to be here for 30 minutes it gives a better idea and it gives a chance for at least everybody in the room to speak as opposed to I have seen when we have had public hearings or just general things where seniors in the back shake their head and they go I have to leave I can't I don't have two hours to stay here you know I need to be home I need to pick somebody up it's whatever it may be there's a better chance I'd rather give everybody a chance to speak than have a few individuals come forward longer periods of time and then in the end somebody else feels that they can't stay any longer they have to leave I don't want to give you one more oh go ahead I'm just going to say correct me if I'm wrong but we're not limiting public hearing speaking right so that is I just you mentioned that so I just want to make that clarification this is just we've looked in we've looked into that issue too and there is guidance from the Department of State Division of local governments and it it provides guidance on how to conduct public hearings um-hmm and what it suggests is if you have a heavily attended meeting, then you should consider limiting comment to three to five minutes. So that's something that the Board could implement on sort of a case-by-case basis. Or you could do it in the beginning. You can say, I'm going to do round one, and I'm going to limit it to three minutes or five minutes in a public hearing. If anybody just needs to make a three-minute comment, they can come forth and do that, and we make a commitment at the conclusion after we've gone through round one and everybody's had a chance to speak, we'll now open it up for unlinked comments. I'm going to respectfully disagree with that, and I'm going to give you a good example. I was at a public hearing years ago and advocating for one thing. I waited three and a half hours to get up to the microphone to advocate, and it was about CBG money for a group. I waited three and a half hours. People just kept rotating and coming up and coming up, and I was sitting there thinking to myself, like, they're repeating, a lot of them are repeating the same stuff. They're taking as much time as they want to take, and I think it should be at the, if there's 50 people in here. But the state, I believe the state law says you have to have, you can't limit a public hearing time. Is that correct? No, you can. You can. You can. Okay. You can. And if you decide to limit it, it should be because you have a lot of anticipated speakers. Got it. Right. And this just sort of helps keep the hearing moving. And it gives everybody the opportunity to speak. Well, and another thing that the board could consider is with respect to public hearings, or you could even do this with comments as well, but you could have a sign-in sheet where the people who want to get up and speak about a particular public hearing sign up, and then they would be called up in that area. This way you don't have a line waiting at the podium. People can stay in their seat. I'll take that. And they would be recognized formally. They get up, make their comments, go back to their seat. Next person gets called up. And that might be a more efficient and effective way to do this. That's the way the county legislation does it. When they have people, you have to fill out a little card, and then they call you. Yeah. Yeah. Take that a step further. Some towns actually have them fill out an index card with the question. So the people don't even have to come up to the microphone. The questions are all read by the clerk ahead of time. The people sign up for the question out front, and then you don't have a line or a problem at the microphone. Okay. Some towns do that also. I'm not looking to do that. I'm just putting it out there that that's how other towns might do it also. Well, and if we, especially with public hearings, if we have the sign-in sheet where the person's writing their name in Hamlet, this makes it easier for the public to see it. It makes it easier for the town clerk who's keeping the minutes, and we have the person's name. Because sometimes that just gets lost. Someone starts talking, you forget to ask them their name in their Hamlet. This way it's all right there. So our planning board typically doesn't allow or doesn't entertain comments on resolutions, or general matters through Zoom. They do accept comments via Zoom for public hearings. I think that could be, that's a recommendation that I put in here as well. I think that it keeps the meeting moving forward. If someone has something that they feel compelled to say about a particular resolution, or on a general matter, they should appear and speak at the podium in public. Okay. Otherwise, they are always free to submit written comments. I know, you know, the town clerk takes those in, she distributes them to everybody. I know that you all read them. I read them. And they become part of the record also. Right. One of the other, just a minor change with local laws, just clarifying that we would not be adopting local laws by ratification. So, when a local law, you know, you have to clear yourself, clear yourself, clear yourself, clear yourself, clear yourself, clear yourself, clear yourself, clear yourself, clear yourself, clear yourself. law you know we have our public hearing on the local law typically at the next meeting unless there's changes that are made the resolution to adopt is put up this happened once or twice in the past where we did a ratification of the local law and I didn't really think that was the correct procedure to do it so I put it in the rules that if we're going to adopt a local law it's going to be at a regular or duly called special meeting if there's a compelling reason that we need to adopt a local law immediately we can always call a special meeting I just I don't like that I don't like the optics of doing it by ratification and I think it makes I think I think it makes the it opens up arguments as to the validity of the law so that's that's why I added that in we reduced the number of votes required to call call the resolution off the floor from a university unanimous vote to three this I think helps move resolutions along because if one town board members absent we can't pull anything off the floor so this would still require a majority of the board to agree to pull something off the floor but allow you to pull something off the floor if one town board member was absent for any reason I took I just wonder about that well I guess it doesn't matter well it would still require a majority so you can get two town board members are absent you can pull the room you get it off the floor or if one of the town board members didn't think that you should then you won't be able to because you need the three remember just pulling it off the floor doesn't mean passing a resolution that means bringing it up for discussion it could still be voted down right what page you are that is on nine or ten it's under rule 14 page 10 nine page 10 resolution on the floor okay [transcription gap] so so so

and then however the town board agrees that it should work going forward so this this just sort of formalizes it it builds like I said it builds on the prior on the prior rules and most of most of the rules include include a provision that allows the town board discretion to deviate with you know meet in a particular instance with agreement of the majority of the board when was the last time I was updated the last time it was updated at leaves in 2019 and before that I believe it was in 12 okay so you know I said you know and then then the pandemic came and then zoom came and lots of things to address that just weren't work you know I'm determined to do that and I'm not sure if I can do that in the future but I consideration probably at the time the last time I was revised most town boards also have stopped using zoom all together

all right there's a lot in here the final I'm sorry there's just one other change it deals with what happens if resolutions are tabled at the end of the year it just provides that anything on the table at the end of the year is going to be withdrawn off the table it's gonna take it it's gonna be taken off the table not acted upon unless it was tabled at the meeting price up at the year so a resolution to be table for 13 months

there's a lot in here for us to digest I know we just got it a couple days ago so so you know read through it you have any questions obviously you can go to Eric and ask and we'll bring this up at a future board meeting full adoption sound like the full denture I like that so clear that's just so good no I I don't you know you you All right, next up we have matters surrounding the 2025 beach stickers for first responders and volunteers and we have Ray Coyne. Good afternoon, good morning. Good morning. This is quick. I want to fill the resolution. We do this every year to allow the local fire departments and ambulance companies a free beach sticker or a 4x4 sticker. We've been doing it since I've been here. Before I floated the resolution, I wanted to speak to the board first. Just the numbers last year, we did 172 total to the fire department and ambulances. A hundred took parking, six took boat trailer, and 66 took 4x4 and parking. So it's not a lot of stickers, but it's enough. And how they do it is the chiefs of each department have to submit a list. Of the current active firefighters, EMTs, and at that point we make sure we check their ID, check them off the list, and they get provided the sticker. It's a no-brainer for me, absolutely. It is, 100%. You've got firefighters and EMTs on your beaches. Why do we not? Why would we not give them a free pass? They're there ready to help out in an emergency. They're volunteering their time for the community. It's worked out great, and I just want to make sure this board's on board. We should probably codify this. Actually, why are we bringing it up every year? I would love that. I agree to codify. It makes absolute sense. That would be easier for us. We could put it in with the first resolution of the year. Then it saves you one time not coming here once a year. Although I love coming and hanging out with the board. All right, so we'll get over this. I was just wondering, just to expand on that a little bit. This is always great, of course, but I feel like the entire town hall staff as a whole is our eyes on you. Also throughout and around the town and stuff like that. We do have employees that work in the departments here that don't live in the town of Riverhead. But again, they're still our eyes and ears. Have we ever had a consideration to allow town workers, if I do have somebody that lives in Brookhaven or South Hole, that they can utilize this? I just feel like it is more eyes and ears. It is our staff. So when they see something down there, this is broken, this needs to be fixed, or anything else, or whatever it may be, I'm curious about what everybody else is. What's your thoughts are about that? I did bring it up. Go ahead. I spoke to Ann Marie Prudente about that. And legally it poses a problem because you're now dividing the town workers into two different groups. One that lives in the town, one that doesn't. The one that lives in the town has the benefit to use our beaches. The one who doesn't does not. So you're giving one group more of an advantage than you are the other. And she said legally that. That becomes an issue. What would be the advantage if the out-of-town person, the town employees pay for their beach? I mean for their stuff. Yes. Right. We'll just make it all the same cost. So if they all pay, if the out-of-towners pay, I would like because. I think, yeah. I was going to say, I think because the people in the town are paying the taxes that provide the amenities for the beaches. Right. The out-of-towners aren't. Right. That would be the benefit included. I did say, I understand. It's kind of silly when, even listening to myself, say it. No, but it's. It's kind of silly, but it does make sense. And from a legal standpoint, I understand it. You get one employee calling it out and forget it. Right. You got an issue on your hands. So. I didn't know if all employees could just pay the same price, utilize the same service, but we would have more eyes and ears on all the. Yeah. The parks and so forth around town to see, you know, picnic cable or something broke over the weekend and just. Yeah, that's what I'm for. I just think it's, it's probably a little bit of a risk for the town. Well, you know, we talked about. Yeah. Yeah. At one point and we need, I think we need to revisit this and maybe there's a way to come to a solution on this. Right. Is that like what South hole does where they, you can sponsor somebody. Right. And then we, we know we have limited beaches to do that at, which is pier Avenue, uh, Ion pier, excuse me, and South James port. So maybe bring that back to the rec committee and see if there isn't a creative solution to this where, you know, it doesn't cause any problems. Yeah. Bring it to the beach committee. Yeah. I'm going to see them. And those guys too. Yeah. Yeah. Beach committee. Right. Committee, capital projects, beach committee. Yeah. Bring it to the beach. Just an idea. Love those guys. Yeah. I want to see them. We brought it up. I want to see them. On our beaches, throughout our parks, roaming through the town. Cause if they, they work in town hall, they'll come here. They're more likely to stop by your office and say, Hey, this is what I saw. You know, this is what's happening. Oh, there's some research on it. See other towns do it. I'll bring it to the legal and see if we can get around it and I'll bring it back. I mean, we put rockets in space. We should be able to come up with a solution. All right. Great. Thank you. Thank you for the different things the perennials are doing. They had the skating. That's Ashley's team. Yeah. They had that yesterday. Yeah. They had that. They went to the ice rink yesterday. Yes. Uh, it was great. They, I think I had 10 or 12 that, that showed up and it's, it's slowly building. Yeah. And Peconic was, was nice enough to give us the entire rink to ourselves. Um, although we didn't ask for that. So. And they're playing Marjon. The seniors are playing Marjon. Yeah. I got to learn how to play. February. The only way I knew Marjon was to do it. I was going to go through Seinfeld when they, uh, when Estelle was playing. Jake saw puzzles also downstairs in the building for the seniors in February. Yeah. Yeah. They utilized them downstairs. Yeah. And you have bowling scheduled in February as well. Yeah. The perennials are for, for the, as we call it, the younger seniors. The ones that don't want to go to the senior center. Um, 55 and up. That's still athletic and it's starting to build up. That's Ashley's program and, and she's doing a great job. She's a, you guys do an amazing, amazing job. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. All right. Thank you. Last but not least, we have matters surrounding the amendment to fire protection operating fees. And that will be with Bob Kern and Fire Marshal Andrew Smith. Good morning. [transcription gap] All right. So last year we passed a resolution to take all the fire marshal fees out of the code and make them into a table that could be changed or amended by a town board resolution. What I'm looking to do. I'm looking to do today is to add a fee. When we did this, we didn't capture the potential for battery energy storage and solar. So the way that I would have had to calculate it would be based on square footage is what we normally do for a construction project. Doesn't really apply with these because they're outdoor installations. They are very large in size. It's not a building. So I did a little research and this is pretty much what the town of Brookhaven does also. They ran into a. Similar issue where they added these fees this year as a lot of the towns are still in a moratorium. We're not Brookhaven's not. So I talked to their fire marshal department and this is what they did. They added a construction fee specific to energy storage and solar. And they also added an annual operating fee because it's important that we get there and inspect these annually to ensure the safety of these projects. So what I'm proposing is to add the fees for the construction. And also add an annual fee so that we can issue these projects operating permits and have some oversight annually. I think that's a great idea. Absolutely. Yeah. And one of the things that Andrew heard through this, which I thought was great, and this board has talked about it. They, the town of Brookhaven, has a CPI to all their fees every year. So that we don't ever get. Yeah. [transcription gap] Yeah. Yeah. ! Yeah.

you're bringing in probably close to 300 if not more. Yeah, a little more. But if we were to attach the 3 point blah, blah, blah percent onto it, it would have amounted to an increase of $12,000 over that roughly $300,000 fee, which is something that we are looking to do in every department so we never get caught back. We haven't changed something in 20 years, 10 years, or whatever the case may be. Yeah, I mean, all our overhead and stuff goes up every year regardless, right? So it kind of falls in line with what we have to do budgetarily and things like that. Yeah, it would be nice to set an index fee and it's just done. Yeah. I'd love to see a spreadsheet where they just go, oh, there's so much town business. It's automatically January 1st, it flips over to the new. There's so many things that there's so much town business that goes on and that some of these things, they can be automatically done, they take care of themselves. Because, you know, it gets delayed one month, two months, whatever it may be, and then it's worth the loss of the project. What we were seeing is we had our fees change in probably 20-something years. So, like, if you did that every year, you would have been okay. You know, you wouldn't have lost that. You wouldn't have to do a big chunk at one time. Right. Nope. And the annual fee, I think, is great to go out and expect. Yeah, and that's important. I know it's important to the fire service that we get eyes on these things because it is a point of contention. Everybody's a little worried about it. Sure. But if we can go there. And make sure just, you know, the minimum safeguards are in place every year and update any emergency contacts, things like that. Access roads washed out, things like that, changes, growth, trees. Yep. Andrew. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you much, Andrew. Your diligence in your department is fantastic service to this town. Thank you. All right. Excellent, excellent. Okay. Okay. That ends our open session. We now have the following items on executive session. Can we do resolutions? Resolutions. Oh, I forgot about resolutions. Yes. I didn't have my paper in front of me. All right. We're going to go to resolutions now. We're going to be out of here shortly. We have a 12 o'clock call on executive session that we have to be upstairs for. Okay. Okay. If the board's ready, resolution number one, ratifies budget transfer. Okay. Number one, ratifies budget transfer for highway equipment purchases. Number two, authorizes the removal of fixed assets. Number three, authorizes employees to attend IAAI conference 2025. Number four, amends resolution 2025-94. One of the justices is going to attend a conference and the location has changed. And on the one before that, that's our fire marshals going to training up to date. Right. Yeah. Okay. Resolution five, appoints a call in park attendant to the recreation department. Number six, appoints a call in assistant recreation leader to the recreation department. Number seven, appoints a call in park attendant to the recreation department. Number eight, ratifies the rehire of call in employers to the recreation department. Number nine, appoints a part-time office assistant to the recreation department. Recreation Department. Number 10, reappoints member to Recreation Advisory Committee, Savio.

Number 11, terminates inactive employees from the Police Department. These are employees that have been on lists for, like, call-outs. Some of them are detention attendants that they call out on an as-needed basis. And these are all people that haven't responded for a very long time to call-outs or haven't submitted a resignation letter. So they're just cleaning up people that otherwise you've got to go through the list and call all these people every time, and they haven't come out in years. So they're just housekeeping that list. Okay, resolution number 12, accepts the retirement of a construction equipment operator. Number 13, accepts the retirement of a principal administrator. Number 14, authorizes submission of a letter of intent and execution of contract by the supervisor for operation and maintenance grant program to New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation, EFC. This is for Pump Out Boat. We do this every year. Number 15, authorizes Community Development Division to seek grant funding for Wesley Dean Ackley Memorial Skate Park project.

Number 16, extends bid Nunc Pro Tunc for 2023 or newer chassis, 10-foot 304 stainless steel dump body, custom low mount hitch, 10-foot stainless steel material spreader, 11-foot snowplow, and central hydraulics for the Highway Department.

Number 17, awards bid for census water meters and accessory equipment or reasonable equivalent and repair to the meter reading equipment.

Number 18, resolution calling public hearing regarding capital improvement for the proposed electrical upgrades at plant number seven, Riverhead Water District project number 16. That public hearing will take place on February 13th at 6 p.m.

Number 19, authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice to consider a local law to amend chapter 229 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled Excavation and Grading, Section 9 thereof, Fees. That public hearing will take place on February 13th. That public hearing will take place on March 4th, 2025 at 2 p.m. Number 20, authorizes supervisor to execute polling place agreement with Suffolk County Board of Elections for the use of the George Young Community Center and the Riverhead Senior Center for the 2025 and 2026 primary and general elections. There's nothing here? Town Hall? No, that's early voting at Town Hall. This is for the actual election that we always use. Thank you. Thank you. Number 21, approves special event chapter 255 application for Home Depot plant sale. Spring time's a-comin'. Number 22, ratifies the resignation of an accountant. Number 23, authorizes continued service with municipal CMS LLC for website maintenance. Yes, we're just extending the contract we have with municipal one. Our existing website provider. Our existing website while the work is being done. Thank you. That contract was going to be, it ended before we were going to be ready with the new website. So we've extended the coverage to keep the old website. To bridge that gap. To cover the gap until the new one breaks in. Right. Which hopefully folks we will have within the next six months. Right. Resolution 24, authorizes reduction of permanent security, permanent, I'm sorry, performance security for Overlook Homes major subdivision. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you so much. [transcription gap] Number 25, Grants Chapter 229, Excavation Exportation Permit for Cauliflower Square LLC, Northwest Corner of Old Country Road, Mill Road, Riverhead, New York, Suffolk County Tax Map number 600-101-1-11. And this is still at the old rate because the new rates haven't kicked in yet. Correct. Number 26, Accepts Donation of Temporary Use of Freezer Trailer for Senior Center. I want to thank Mr. Hagee. The senior center freezer went down and the compressor shot, and it's going to be a time period before the new compressor can come in and be installed. And in the meantime, we have thousands of dollars worth of food in the freezer down at the senior center. And Mr. Hagee was kind enough. He has a towable freezer unit, a 32-foot trailer that he's letting the town use during the duration of... waiting for the new compressor to come in and the work to be done on it. So thank you so much to Mr. Hagee. We really appreciate that. Yeah, thank you. It's a big help to the senior center as well because they get to eat the food on-site temporarily as opposed to alternative locations off-site they were exploring. Number 27, Ratifies the Settlement of Legal Action Against Canal House LLC, DBA Victorville-by-the-Sea, and Victor-Ozeri. Very good. Number 28, Authorizes the and the Sub américos [transcription gap] to execute agreement with interpreter for justice court, Gouley. And number 32, authorize the supervisor to execute agreement with interpreter for justice court, Espinoza. The reason is so many of them, they're all part-time, and some of them aren't available on certain days and whatnot, so we needed to have a list of people because the prior one that we had was available all the time and we couldn't find anybody full-time. All right, that closes our open session. In a moment I'll ask to close out the meeting so we can go into executive session to discuss matters under personnel, matters surrounding possible change and status of an employee. That's with Frost and Triplenteo. We have matters surrounding possible hiring of an employee, Frost. We have matters surrounding a possible leave of absence, Triplenteo. We have matters surrounding possible committee appointments, Hubbell. We have matters surrounding change in status of an employee, Howard and Triplenteo. And then under contractual, we have Richard Zuckerman, matters surrounding contractual agreements between the town of Riverhead and the PBA and SOA. That's with Hubbard and Rothwell. We have matters surrounding the sale of real property with Triplenteo, Thomas, and Hurley. And we have matters surrounding contractual agreement between the town of Riverhead and environmental facilities cooperation with Thomas, the Apollo and Dillingham. That's a lot of work. That is a lot of work out there. At the time I would like to make a motion to close open session and go into executive session. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Okay, open session is closed. We will retire to executive session. Everybody have a great weekend. I hear 50 Degrees is coming around on Monday, which sounds nice. Stay safe and stay healthy. Thank you. On a side note, Justin, thank you very much. You helped us with all the automatic drawings and getting them all situated and laid out for us today. Nice job, Bill. So I appreciate that. Thanks, Justin. Nice job, Justin. Thank you. Everybody have a great weekend. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.