Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. And I've asked our Rev. Fire Chief if you would lead us in the pledge today. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much. And with that, we will hop right into our first discussion item, which is the Rev. George Dupree and Councilman Ken Rothwell regarding the installation of... So the piece poll. So, George, if you would like to come forward. That would be fantastic. So just for the general public in the background, this is something we did. Have a seat, Jonas. We discussed a little bit last year, and I think we're ready now. It's time to come to fruition in terms of selecting a location and a placement within the town of Riverhead. But just to kind of update everybody, if you want to just give a little synapse of the project itself. Okay, so the piece poll is a poll. It's like a four by four, about seven feet tall. It has usually four languages on it on each side. And what is interpreted as may peace prevail on earth. And normally what will be done is that you'll pick the prevalent languages of the community. And so it'll be, let's say, English, Polish, Spanish, whatever else is picked on all four sides. And it will be that. It does have a little rotary logo on it because it is a rotary initiative. And that's it. So. What we're looking to do is to see, we'd like to see about placing it on someplace that would be town property rather than some kind of a private entity. And then it would be in a place where we'd have some visibility. And what I was personally thinking, because I looked at different things, had some different feedback from people. And I think somewhere along the river walk would be great. That's not going to be disturbed probably during all the construction that's going to be going on. And it's a spot. It'll get a. A nice amount of visibility for the initiative. And as well, of course, Rotary would like to get a little bit of a, you know, a pitch with regard to that. But that's basically what it is. I do have a couple of pictures of the one that was placed on the South hold property, the town hall there. I looked at our town hall like at the entryway and there's not really a lot of spot for it, especially with the memorial, the statue there. I was thinking that in the front of the building, the true front of the building, I was wondering. Yeah. Over there. Yeah. By the trees. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. the Stotsky Park was talked about, up at the Veterans Park, a lot of different places for it. So that would really be a matter of, I guess, discussion among the board to see what they feel would be. I agree with downtown. I mean, I think along the Riverwalk there, and there is actually a spot there. I can't think of it right off, but it would be a good place. There's a lot of traffic down there. Yeah, I mean, that's just kind of. I think it would go down at the Riverwalk, and then maybe as the town square comes to its fruition over the next two years, then you might meet with you and Rotary if there's a more prominent spot for it in the town square, but at least during the construction, at least we don't hold off on the initiative. Right, and that was the thought that I had, that because it's not like a big monument, it doesn't take a lot of construction, I'm sure, to be able to place it. And I guess that would have to be something discussed. The town would probably want to be taking care of that, but I think it's really not much more than having some kind of a footnote. Putting underneath it and dig a hole and put it in there. And to be able to say, well, maybe there would be a more appropriate spot for it. So that's what we're looking to be able to do. Absolutely. And that's what I'm bringing you here. And I'm not bringing South Toll into it to say, well, they did it, you've got to do it, but a little bit. I think. I just have a visual. Yeah, well, you can see what it is. So you can see, you know, it gives the idea of the size of it. Like I said, it's about seven feet tall. That's a good picture. I think. It would be. Right, this is the whole thing. This gives the folks at home a chance to see it. If we put it just like that. Oh, okay. Fantastic for everybody at home. Yeah. So I think it would be good to consider that we have, you know, a large Spanish community as well as Polish community. So maybe, you know, as well as English. So we'll contemplate perhaps maybe the fourth language. Yeah, the fourth language would be up for. I don't necessarily have a suggestion on it, but. Have you done it at all in Braille? Have they done any Braille ones? They do have Braille option. You can put a Braille piece on it as well. What happens is that apparently, I don't know if you can see it here or not, but there's little parts that they make attachments for, and one of them is in Braille. It would be nice to have that. Yeah. Yeah. They're on the side right there. And the footprint, like you said, is small. Yeah. You know. So that's great. This is, can you bring something like this every work session? Something easy. And something fun. Appealing. There you go. So that's my presentation. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready? installation of it you know certainly we've got volunteers we can also building grounds help you just let us know whatever help you may need and okay so we would our next step would be to order it and I think it takes around eight weeks for us to get it and um you know then we would be able to finalize the placement if if that would be up to the town board yeah we just go over the languages because are you including Ukraine and that could be one too because that's not only a prominent one but it's also a sentimental one you know because of what's going on so that could be the four of them sure you know and we're such a unique community is if we place multiples of these and we you know find a language that's not represented in the first one we could definitely take care of that right yeah yeah I mean they do make them with eight languages but it gets to be a little bit you know tight I think and on top of it then you know we have to think of a whole bunch more languages to be able to do and a fantastic problem to have in our community that we have so much diversity right well that's and that's and that does represent our community you know uh because I just want to also while you're here just to um thank you very much for the work to what we mean and which Rotary does for a town or community most recently also the family you know Rotary has uh made a donation also to RVAC to help you know build a new ambulance facility but it's the constant work that you do year round everywhere assisting doctors overseas and just the programs that you do are phenomenal so I just want to know how grateful we all are for the work that Rotary does thank you I just want to say too thank you that I mentioned it yesterday when we met with everybody from Rotary thank you so much for participating in the half shell for habitat yeah the environmental program it's the volunteers from the Rotary Club that collect the used Oyster shells and bring them to the yard waste facility thank you so much we couldn't do this without you guys appreciate it very much well it's our pleasure and the motto of Rotary is service above self so we believe it's a it's a service you know organization worldwide but also in our community in all the different ways in which we can just be a benefit thank you okay thank you so much thanks George all right so I will I will get going on placing the order and then we can be in discussion maybe not so formally but uh as far as placement and with that and I think the idea of the Ukrainian language is great as well that could cover the four I just want to make sure we're covering you know everybody in the town that's all because if if it's if the words are smaller you know the letters are smart excuse me at least everybody's represented yeah that's more important than how big the letters are right yeah so the as you can see from the picture the four you know sides of it it gives a pretty prominent visibility for the for the the wording of it okay thanks George thank you absolutely I'm sorry I'm sorry yeah he does he's another one yeah let's says you give our IT department so all right I can do it for you it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it well for two years. So finally I said I'm going to do it. Excellent. Okay bye-bye everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. And our next discussion item is the reduction of years and service needed to qualify for the real estate taxes for first responders in the town of Riverhead with Mr. Rothwell. Would you like to invite our? Yes so we do have representatives here. We have a waiting River Fire Commissioner Greg Meyer and we have Fire Commissioners from the Riverhead Fire Department and our Chiefs of Department from Riverhead Fire Department. Come on up gentlemen. So please come on up. I think we should be playing the theme song well-dressed men as they come up. Awesome.

That's right. The long straw. Oh the long straw. There you go. So we greatly appreciate you gentlemen for coming down today taking the time out of your work day and so forth and so thank you first and foremost also just note I have been communicating openly with RBAC as well and I also spoke to Matt Hadoff from the Jamesport Fire Department as well and we did reach out to Manaville so we're just trying to keep everybody but the goal here really is to do what we can from the town board's position to help with retention of volunteers within the fire service and so one of the options the state of New York has given us is to reduce from five years down we could select it I think my recommendations go to two years. Okay. So we're going to go to the next slide please. Okay. So we're going to go to the next slide please. So we're going to go to the next slide please. And the idea is that after a member is in the fire department or RBAC for a period of at least two years they would then qualify for a 10% property tax reduction on their services so sometimes people have concerns about wait they're giving tax breaks to people what happens but the idea with the turnaround of the savings in which our volunteers provide to our services on a regular basis if we ever had to go to pay departments and so forth the cost would be much higher. So we're going to go to the next slide please. Okay. So we're going to go to the next slide. So we're going to go to the next slide. We desperately rely on the volunteers within our town, and the men and women put their lives in jeopardy all the time, and so this is just a way to say thank you as well. And so we wanted to just kind of get some insight, some different perspectives, so it's nice that from Riverhead we're here and so forth just to see if you guys had comments and questions or concerns and to make sure that we're heading in the right direction to do everything we can from a town board perspective to help our local fire departments and volunteers. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Timothy Murphy. I'm a commissioner with the Riverhead Fire District. Thanks, Tim. We support this. This past year, the Riverhead Fire Department responded to numerous newsworthy events, right? Crown Fire, right? Don't want one of them. Bell's Farm, right? So, right? The vast majority of our incidents you never heard about. That's time that our firefighters are taken away from their families, from their jobs, from their families, from their families. Right? So, anything we can do to reduce the tax liability on them is a benefit to us, right? Because that's more time that if the guy doesn't have to make more money to pay more taxes, then we have more time for more firefighters, right? Which helps the community. Very good point. Right. So, that's what we're trying to do. And to the councilman's point, and I know like a couple years ago we had spoken about I think there was 125 fire departments in Suffolk County. Right. Right. Right. Right. Something. 109 I think now. 109. Okay. So, and if it ever came down to where the tax, you know, the volunteers, it's very hard to get volunteers. Yes. And, you know, at some point, do citizens have to start paying like they do in New York City? What that would do to their taxes would go through the roof. And I certainly appreciate everything you guys do. And women. I know on the district level, and John can back me up. Sorry. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. What would be the difference? Yeah. Frank? We see that things have changed in terms of the volunteer fire service in terms of the requirements to be a volunteer. It's not about just I signed up, I came down for the local meeting or responded to the scene. It's the taking Firefighter 1, taking the classes, the majority of that. It's usually almost in the entirety of the entire year to go through the fire academy to be certified to get your Firefighter 1 certificate as well as our EMTs now. Generally we did classes here where we started them in September and we expect another graduating class at the end of April. But it's a long amount. It's about continuing then and then that's just becoming a firefighter but then it's doing rescue squad classes and dive classes and just there's so many different aspects of it to be certified. I think that within two years, if somebody has put that much effort into it, it's going to take a lot of time and certification and hours into these classes to get that. I think at that point you can say that this person is intending to dedicate a long period of time in the fire service. It's not just that we're signing up on Monday and we're getting a discount on Friday. The two years is where most of the firefighters and EMT personnel I think are younger generation that's coming in and they're the ones that are starting out and just getting married and purchasing a house. Why make them wait five years before they can get any type of benefits? So let's help the younger generation as soon as we can. I just wanted to ask, that was good lead in for what I was wanting to ask the chief about. Who pays for all those courses that the candidate? So I'm just curious when do you break even with these people in the sense that if you're paying for all of these courses, how long does it take for you to recoup that money with this candidate? You know, I think it depends. I think it depends. It's kind of hard to put a number on that because depending on the individual how often they respond, what level they take. So you take the chief here, right? The chief has went through the ranks. He spends a lot of time, you know, seven years as a chief. That's putting a lot more effort in it. So we got our money's worth out of him. No, I just mean with the candidates. I'm just asking with the candidates. How long does it take for them to be able to get out and go on calls? So when a firefighter comes in, just to add some stuff I was going to tack on to Mr. Rothwell. A firefighter, a person comes in and gets an application, his training starts. He's not what we call an interior firefighter. Initially he's not even allowed on the vehicles. He goes to Suffolk County Fire Academy for Firefighter I. That's a college level course. He goes, he attends the fire academy. He goes to the fire academy. He goes to the fire academy. He attends class once a week, either online or in person. He has a quiz. He has a homework assignment. If they're online, they make sure they ask questions to individuals if they think someone's idle. So they have one instructor teaching, another instructor on a computer and they'll say, Murphy looks like he's idle. Let me ask him a question and see if he's paying attention. And then they do a hands-on portion. So at the end of the day, they're doing a 110-hour course. That's just so they can walk through the door and they can have a conversation with us. Because then their training really starts. That does not give them a Riverhead Fire Department education or a Janesport Fire Department education or a Wading River Fire Department education. That's so he knows when I ask for a K-12 saw, they know what it is. Or I want an inch and three-quarter line, they know what that is. That's just for the foundation. I think it's far. It's far. I guess I'm just asking what your pay is. You really never really recoup. You recoup it. It depends on how much time the person itself puts into it. Some people will never recruit. Most, you'll ... It's kind of a hard number. One way to look at it, we can use the example of the fire in Wading River at the pizza place. That was what we call a great stop. You guys, everybody always smiles when they get a great stop, right? Because when you look about how much did we pay for training and so forth, but how much did you just save? You were saying it's likeай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай for forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай for forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай forай for honored people for pulling people out of burning buildings. We've saved lives. So there's no measure of dollars in terms of the tanker fire a couple years ago, right? I just want to say, I admire and I thank you all very much for all of your service with the town. That's not the question I'm asking. I'm just asking what it costs the fire department to put an individual through all of this, and how many years does it take for you to get them to be able to get on a truck and go? I'm looking at it as a yes. If I can enter, I can add a little bit more too, because we're a little different in Wading River than Riverhead, because we run fire and EMS. I'm sure if RVAC was here, they'd probably chime in with this. We also throw in EMT training. So yeah, you can go for your firefighter one, which 110 hours, I actually think it's a little bit more than that. 150 to 160 hours. Now let's tack on, if you want to be part of the rescue, or EMS only. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. We require you to also do EMT. The same way. Before you can actually come in. I mean, you can come in and help. You know. Lift a stretcher. But before you can actually start doing things. That's just more training. Your question. Is a great question. But it's really hard to say. Well it's going to cost us. You know. 2,500 for an EMT class. or it's going to cost us X amount for a firefighter one. I can tell you it's going to cost us, you know, $600 for a Class A uniform, bunker gears. What is that, about five? I think Denise was trying to show the community through watching this the value of this tax break that you guys need. And that's what I feel, and Kim was doing as well, so you're exactly right. It's the continued education. Being a person who grew up in a fire chief's home, I can tell you I haven't fought a fire in probably 15 years, you know, in any of that stuff. But that's what you give these men and women in our community is a life. When there's an accident, when something happens, you know that your sons are in this. It's lifetime, and you all see it. And it's invaluable, and this is an easy win for our community, and we're so thankful for it. I mean, absolutely, everything you do. You know, you guys, I would like you, before you leave, I would like for you to say, because it's being televised, how people can actually sign up to volunteer. Because not only do we need it, but, you know, it's really easy if they go to whatever avenue you want them to use, whether it's your website or come and see you, because we need those in your lifeline. To answer your question, it takes about a year. So we get to get narrowed down. How you get the value out of the person, you never really do, depending. Because the chief's put a lot more time in than I have. So you got your money's worth out. You may not have gotten your money's worth out of me yet, right? I think we did. Right? So the point being is, it takes about a year, because not only do they have to do that, then they have to go through our training, where then we want everyone to be an interior firefighter, meaning they can wear an SCBA, actually go in the building, fight the fire, rescue the people. And once they get this break, if they don't stay firemen, it's my understanding they can't continue to get this time. I've had, Councilman Rothwell and I have asked our town assessor to come and just to sit with us just for a second, so we can come up. And that way, if we could just explain this so that people, the men and women that serve with you. The fire department's NARVAC do provide a list to the assessor's office of eligible members each year. That way it's just to explain what they need to do to come in. I just want the public to know that. It's not like somebody says, oh, I'll be a fireman, do it for a year, get the tax break, and then I leave and I keep the tax break. I want people to understand they can't gain this system. Five years they usually leave because of taxes and everything else. Five years is the number. And we have a point system, too, where if you don't make your points, you end up getting rejected. And I was going to. You're out of the department. You don't have to put your time in. You're out. Yeah, I was going to bring that up because you get points for every fire that you respond to, right? So the minimum you have to make. Exactly. But also I'll say just when you're talking about finances, just from a different perspective than the fire departments as well as like ARVAC, for example, we started medical billing with them a few years ago. And so now when a volunteer is up there and a volunteer is working for ARVAC as well as it will apply for Weeding River, and they're doing that run over to the hospital and so forth. EMS course recovery, sir. EMS course recovery. So with that medical billing, they're not paying. There's overflow for ARVAC. There's over 6,000 calls. So they do have Stony Brook University Hospital that runs calls for them as well. But the more volunteers they have, then the more medical billing that they're doing directly from themselves. Which ultimately helps ARVAC and helps the taxpayer in the town. And I believe that you could also speak to help Weeding River residents as well, keeping costs down. EMS course recovery has been unbelievably helpful for us. We've been able to take that money and actually follow the rules to where it's used. The money we get back goes back into our EMS in one way or another, whichever way you decide. We've used it for... to go towards salaries, purchase... We just recently purchased some new EMS first responder vehicles. We're, I think in February, about next month, we have a brand new ambulance coming that paid for that. As soon as that comes in, we're sending one of our other ambulances out to get a refurbish. Stretchers, $30,000 today. Yeah. We bought all new stretchers, all of our 12 leads, our AEDs. That's all things that came back to us that we were able to not take out of our general budget. So the EMS course recovery bill has been huge for us in Weeding River. And I'm sure, you know, everybody else that has the opportunity to use it and do it. Since we brought you here, would you just help us to the people watching just to know what the deadline, like when they need to file and how they would come to your office and just... Well, the district would have to submit their... They would have to submit their list to us. There's a supplemental list that goes out and you would need to identify your two to four year guys and girls. We also ask you to identify the five to 19 and then 20 and over. The people that are 20 and over get it for life. The ones that are five to 19, if they stop serving. I assume you're talking about LOSAP. The LOSAP points to whether they are on your list. That's how you qualify them? No, we get to keep people in the department. We have to have them... We make them... LOSAP, then points. Points just keep them on the department. LOSAP keeps them in graces with here. Right. Right, because you don't want just knife and forkers, as I understand the term was, a knife and forker to be actively serving. There's an application online. It's a 466-A that you can download or you can pick some up before you leave. And if you're going to notify your members, you can ask them to fill that out before March 1st. It has to be in our office before March 1st. And the local law has to be... Steps to be... Public hearing, you have to notice it. You have to have a public hearing. You have to adopt the local law, and then it'll take effect this coming December. So the steps we need to do now is that at our next town board meetings, we are going to, with the support of the board, pass a resolution to hold a public hearing. The public hearing could be held at the first meeting in February, general, because we are changing local law, local town code. And then after the public hearing being the first meeting in March... February, the second meeting in February, we can adopt the local law to change it. And therefore, the goal is this needs to be filed before March 1st with the state. File? To amend our local law before March 1st so that they become eligible. They have to file the application with us. It has to be up to the Secretary of State, I imagine. And I don't know if our town attorney wants to chime in on anything, make sure that everything upstate is accurate. But then with that in mind, then by March 1st, we're going to have a public hearing. Okay. And then by March 1st, we have everything established in the town local code, and then you guys would provide a list as of March 1st. And then this becomes effective for the 2020, so it's next year's property taxes that become effective as. This coming year's taxes. Yep. To the bill that comes out in December. 2627 tax bill. I just had one other request. If they ordered it, because I'm sorry, I don't... Go ahead. I'm not dealing with volunteer fire importance. That's okay. But if they get this, right, for anyone who gets this, they'd still have to be a firefighter or something. Right. So, I'm sorry. If they get this, they'd still have to be a firefighter in Riverhead, right? They can't say, I live in Riverhead, but now I'm going to work for Brookhaven Volunteer Fire, right? If they... No, then they'd have to... There's a change in the law. Oh, okay. And... That's only after 20 years. No, there's a change in the law that... I don't want to give them the tax break here. You can opt in if you serve a neighboring county, city, town, village, or something like that. It was done to help out upstate New York. Yeah. So, they've changed that part of the law for that. That's okay. I don't want to give them the tax break here. I don't want to give them the tax break. That's okay. They can't say, I'm going to serve a neighborhood, city, town, village, or something like that. It was done to help out upstate New York. Yeah. So, they've changed that part of the law for that. The Ducksburg District is the only district that opted into that. I'm not sure how it works for us either because I know we cover three towns. So, we cover the Riverhead Fire District. They have to live in this town to get the exemption in this town. In this town. But I'm saying we could actually have a member that's in the Riverhead Fire District but lives in the town of Brookhaven. But that wouldn't affect Riverhead Town. Right. Right. Right. It would affect Brookhaven. Right. But Brookhaven would have to... Do their own thing. that's in the revet fire district but lives in the town of brookhaven but that wouldn't affect river at town no right brookhaven would have to do their own thing i just wanted to make sure that if you're going to get the break on the riverhead taxes you're going to work for the fire departments so we're split in half in waiting river so i can tell you that whatever you guys choose to do that's going to help our um our volunteers that live specifically in the town of riverhead our volunteers that live in the town of brookhaven of brookhaven town honors our um our letters how councilman rothwell was just saying we'll have to hand things in and you know you signed away we do the same thing we just send it to brookhaven town these are the residents of brookhaven town that are or in waiting river fire you can say that the law is very vague it says neighboring it doesn't say adjoining so southampton is not adjoining us in any way shape or form so so i can speak for my own personal thing i spent 20 years in the southampton fire department and i was never eligible for any type of tax break here in riverhead because riverhead waiting river was always my residency but i volunteered because i worked in southampton and spent all my days and time nights out there but after 20 after 20 years the state said okay once you served any department in the state of new york for a period of 20 years you then you know so after 20 years of service i became eligible but that's a local option and the town and the county opted in the school district did not so everything that is being passed generally is local option so riverhead town did opt to do that for anybody who comes from another jurisdiction if they have 20 years we get the letter from the district saying that they have 20 years of service and then they can get it on county and town but not school no school opted into that so that's their choice uh but we we love you guys and so we think it's great and uh you know it's it's i mean fantastic great any comments counselor did you have i was just gonna say that under chapter 279 of the town code already deals with all of our exemptions so in order to accomplish this it would be a pretty simple straightforward amendment to a subsection of section 29 chapter 279 um not really anything more than changing five years to two years sounds great you guys look like you might have more than two years in already i think it's great incentive for the um newcomers that have been on to your point i believe the count's been you said you know that you have first-time home buyers you know out there and um to give them incentive to want to stay because a lot of a lot of time is spent with them with you guys you know um so i think this is a very good thing for me yes um as you guys know we had a lot of fire this year know we had a lot of fires this year. We had fire department 11 working structure fires. We're second for the top in Suffolk County. We also did 1456 only fire course in Riverhead. Our guys been working extremely hard this year to put out the fires. As you guys seen it, it was all over the news. We had a big, one of the biggest fires I think in Riverhead with the ground sanitation and then the big bonfire that we had where we saved animals. So it was a very good job done by the guys. But my point here is that the more guys we get and we can give something back to them, they work a lot harder and make our life easier. So I know expensive going high and living in Riverhead, it's a high cost, but people are moving here. So if we can get people who are dedicated to help others, I think this town will be protected a lot more and we have more volunteers that will help us. And I think if we give something back to them, it will help them to be, you know, make us better and be a little bit in favor of them and they will come out to a lot of things and help out. If we give a little bit back, people will appreciate that and they will work harder. And I think it's a little bit of a move. Well, I just want to make sure that we have it in the law that they're going to be working on Riverhead fires, Wading River, all the town of Riverhead fires. That's all. I just want to make sure that it's clear that if you get this tax exemption that you're not going to be working for... Also to answer your question, I know how Wading River and other departments are, but in Riverhead we also have a probationary period. So when a guy comes in here within a year, he has to fill out everything. And if he's good, he has to hang around. The reason we were asking for two years is that after two years, they will stick out more. And then when they move out, unfortunately, if the other towns approve it, then they can go since they've been here two years. But that's how you get people inside. You get them... The other thing is that a good part about this is the recruitment. If people have something like that, we can get more members in. And I know everybody on the east end is kind of struggling. So if they see something like that, it'd be very beneficial to our town and everything else that's going on. All right, let's go through the part... Did you want to say something else? Yeah. So my first question is how much time do we have? Because I know you guys have a full agenda here, but I would love to have more conversation about what we can do for volunteers. This is great, what you guys are doing. And let me just start off with this. Sure. I'm going to go ahead and start. Sure. I'm going to go ahead and start off. I'm a fire commissioner. I'm not a volunteer. I'm somebody from the public that ran for office. I used to be a volunteer years ago. So I really have no skin in the game personally. Not that that's a good or bad thing, but I'm here because I really want to do the best thing I can for all of the volunteers. So as great as this is, it's a great start. Absolutely. It's not enough. Not at all. What I see the volunteers do, and we can talk about their hours of training that's needed just for them to become proficient in their craft, to be trusted by the guy that's sitting or the girl that's sitting next to them, that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's so much more. There's meetings, there's drills, there's three o'clock in the morning, your pager going off. Yeah. You know it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's that my volunteers is to do as much as I can and I have ideas it's some people think I'm crazy but I've got a lot more ideas of what I think we can use to help them as great as a start this is I think it's honestly just me I don't I don't think it's enough we would love to have you come in and I know definitely do that if you'd like to schedule I would love to do that I have some ideas I think people accept them and others will think about the totally out of my mind or push you know kick the can down the road a little or somebody else's office but I think there's a lot more that can be done you know there's I could speak personally I have my son just got married and wanted to buy a house in the town of Riverhead somewhere and couldn't ended up getting a job in the city of Riverhead and I couldn't get a job in the city of Riverhead buying a house in Rocky Point okay so what's the difference between I'll just leave this what's the difference between a six hundred thousand dollar house in the town of Riverhead or six hundred thousand dollar house in the town of Brookhaven Texas 81 tax $18,000 difference just on the Peconic County tax which is you know whatever it's called there's so many ideas I have but I don't I'm sure you guys have an agenda that i don't want to take up but you know i'm here every day and i promise to listen and i think every person on this board what you're offering up to me no i would love i i agree i would love to see you know send the list the commissioner maya has been you've been great in terms of advocating for the fire members yeah the department protecting them and that's part of the one of those things as this commissioners do is is um you know making sure that uh proper apparatus is proper safety protocols and the equipment is in place because the firefighters can't fight the fire without the proper equipment so you guys do a great job and advocating and then the chiefs i i can't commend riverhead fire department as well as we whoever james portman will um i've been on many scenes and watching and you guys are meticulous well organized and like you know and and uh you do phenomenal work and like to see the stops that have been made over the years it's it's just over commendable so great work and thank you for in the paso fire for containing that in the one shop thank you very much that was just not losing the whole strip that was great that's the value of volunteers because they're home they're quick and they're ready to respond just uh just to add to that we only started with 13 uh volunteers from waiting river for that call at that time in the morning excuse me in the morning before all our mutual aid showed up to help and that was once again a lot of training went in to where the individuals that you know responded were well trained and competent at their but you know that that takes time and effort and money and family sacrifice and um like i said i'll just leave it off as this is a great thing um to help the volunteers i i mean personally there's tippity iceberg i think we can do so much more so much more so i'd love to ask you before you leave here in the building today not just call back and make an appointment i'd love for you to go up to the third floor and see david and make an appointment and i would love to sit down with you Anybody, I mean, only two at a time, but we'd love to sit with you and listen. And, you know, I think ideas, you know, somebody one day said put water in a bottle, and all of us were like, that's crazy, they want to buy it, and here we are drinking. Yeah, that's fine. It's great stuff. I have all the time in the world. I'm retired. I have a new Kelowna. It's called House Fire. My biggest thing that's been fixed now is just getting through the intersection at Edwards and 25 to get here. There we go. That's a little smoother right now. If I just get the asphalt paved, then I won't have to worry about hitting the bathroom because my bladder's bouncing around. Is that road just horrible? You did good. You wrote letters to us, and we submitted them to the state, and they said they were reducing it from it wasn't scheduled to 17. They were supposed to do it in 15, but then that whole project got held up on Edwards Avenue and delayed it. So, yeah, I believe the repaving is coming shortly. Spring, spring, spring, spring. So thanks for advocating on that as well. I'll catch you next week. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you. You want to say where you can join, Chief? How you can join? That's where we're going. We're not leaving. A lot of departments, you can join in whenever. We did a few different things in Riverhead. You can come into the headquarters, pick up an application, or you can just go directly online. We're at Fire District. You can also go on our Facebook and click on the Fire District from the Facebook. It brings you to a page. On the left-hand side, it says join us. Okay. So you can go in person, on your website, or on Facebook. All the clickety-clicks. And the website is Riverhead Fire District. Riverheadfiredistrict.org. .org. .org. All right. That's awesome. Wading River? Wading River. We have signs all around. We've been doing a real big push for recruitment over the last few years. It's been a great help. And I'm not too sure if you can come in person to the firehouse. I'm sure you can. We probably have something hanging. But what's been successful for us is you go to WadingRiverFD.org. And you click on that. And there's a big thing that says how to join or join here. You click on that. And we have a video to watch. I think it's a five-minute video. You watch that to see if it's something you might be interested in. And if you continue after that, you fill out the information. We have a membership committee that then contacts you. You go through an interview process for that. And if you seem to be able to agree to some of the qualifications and time and commitments and all that, it goes to the membership. And then it comes to us commissioners. And we approve it. You know, there's background checks, all that other stuff. But it goes pretty smooth now. Yeah, for sure. Thank you, gentlemen. That's awesome. We look forward to it. And every sign-up. Sign up. If you're at home and you're like, I got to get involved, do this. It helps your community. It's amazing. So, yeah. Thank you for your time. Thank you, everyone. I appreciate you coming out. Thank you very much. Well, that is outstanding. And we just keep every work session like this every week for the rest of the week. For the rest of the lifetime, right? So. Am I going third floor? Third floor, yes, sir. Yep. Yep. Our next last discussion item, I guess I should say, involves our town attorney. Harry Coward, if you'd like to come up. You're going to be speaking about the Board of Elections. From the Board of Elections. Yes. All right. So, good morning. Good morning. My office was contacted by the Suffolk County Board of Elections. They are getting new . They're going to be doing a lot of work on the voting machines. And so what they'd like to do is set up time with this town and they're going to all the other towns as well to give demonstrations to interested voters to come in. They'll show them how they'll walk through the machines with them, give them a tutorial of how to work it. So we have two things. They would like to do a site visit to the building between sometime next week and the middle of February to determine the location that they want to do this. Okay. So, assuming the board is amenable to allowing this, I would get in touch with probably Dave Zebrowski in buildings and grounds to identify the right place for them to do this. I'm assuming we'll just do it where we typically do the early voting in the basement. And then could we either, would they be interested in doing it like in a work session or at least have like a Riverhead in action, could all videotape it and put it on Channel 22 that people could watch it and like. Yeah. I think that's a good question. I think that's a great idea. I can, we can see if it would be amenable to that. I can't imagine it wouldn't be since they want to get, you know, sort of this information out there about how the machines work. From. Are they going back to paper ballots? I believe these new machines are going to be all like touch screen electronic. I think. Yeah. No hanging chats. No hanging chats. No filling in the dots. No filling in the dots. No check marks, no X's, no circles, no none of that. I think if there's any way we can help with that. Yeah. I think if we can help with the Board of Elections. Okay. I guess that would be great. Yeah. And the video is really smart because as you get closer to the election, you can run it at a certain time every single day or at night, whatever, so people know that, you know, you can, if they have any questions. If they allow us to record it, the demonstration, we can put it up on our own website with people who play it at any time. Yeah. As you approach elections. Yeah. So, you know, once they do the site visit, identify the area that they want to do this, between middle of February and the end of February, they can go to the website and they can go to the website and they can go to the website and they can go to the website and they can go to the website. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. All right. Well, okay, everyone. This concludes our discussion items. In just a second, I'd like to ask for first and second to close our open session and go into executive session. And before we do that, I'd just like to talk about what we're going to do. We're doing contractual matters surrounding contractual agreement between Skip Barber Driving School in the town of Riverhead with Deputy Town Attorney Hurley. Matters surrounding the contractual agreement between Racetrack Not Street in the town of Riverhead with Town Attorney Howard and personal matters, personnel matters surrounding conditions for employees with Town Attorney Howard and financial administrator. And matters surrounding hiring of an employee. And matters surrounding hiring of an employee with Town Attorney Howard. So with that included, may I have a first and a second to close our open session or to enter into executive session? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Yeah. We opposed. We just sit here.

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