Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to Tim Allen from the sewer district superintendent and his amazing staff for their quick and actual response and so excited to have him. So any other counsels? You can go swimming tomorrow. Yeah. Polar bear plunge. We actually have a polar bear plunge being planned for March for the East End Emerald Society kickoff for the parade for St. Patrick's Day. It's exciting stuff. Yeah, we got good stuff going on. There are people that go on. Yeah. In the water. So Bob, did you have another announcement? Yeah, just quickly. East End Arts is having an opening. So before the red, white and blue gala. So go there and become part of the art in your outfit. And that is January 24th, four to seven at East End Arts downtown. And I'm just going to say this. If you want to see good art, you don't have to go to New York City. They really have some amazing. Stuff. That's thinking. So 24. That's on Sunday. If you meant if you have the date, right? 24th. They have Saturday. Oh, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday. The opening reception is Saturday, January 24th. Do they have it wrong? No, sir. You're correct. Saturday, January 24th. I was wrong. I keep thinking today. Could say June again, but it is. Well, you last night meet tonight. I'm glad I'm getting my dates right. So absolutely. So anybody else have any announcements that we need to make? Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So what we'll do is we'll move to resolution. So is that correct? Oh, discussion items. I am so sorry. Open session matters surrounding our monthly police report with Chief Frost skipped right over that morning. After last night, I was trying to keep it a little longer. After last night, I wanted to microwave our meeting today. So this is going to be for two months. We didn't do November. This is a November and December's report. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. So we'll start with November. Bless you. So we had a total of 2,653 for our incidents for November. Criminal incidents are 130.

No. It's a Doc Holder. Yeah. I mean, the report is here. Absolutely. I don't know. It's great to see it trending down. That's great. Obviously, the DCJS chart on page 3 and page 4 breaks down what crimes were actually committed for this period. So obviously, shoplifting is still as trended down. But hopefully, we'll stay like that. I do want to ask how you guys want to proceed. Because I think I've been reporting on overdoses. A lot of the times, we're classifying them. First of all, there was none in November. There was no Narcan, non-fatal ODs. And there was no fatal ones. But the fatal ones, we might have to change how we report. Because a lot of... There were a lot of times when the ME report comes back, the death is actually attributed to another cause. And it's not really... It wasn't drug-related. The person had a heart disease. And, you know... So I think I'm going to make that change. If that's all right with you. It might be a little bit delayed until I actually get the actual report from the medical examiner's office on what was the cause of death. Because most of them, even though they were using some illegal substance, a lot of there's other comorbidities that caused the death. The medical examiner's usually about six months out. But it'd be nice to help with the end of the year statistics anyway. So if you can adjust them, I think it would be a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm reporting them as, you know, everyone's like, oh, that's a fatal. But, you know, like you said, four months later... ...has a car that got arrested when they drive in. They hit a pole or another car. Yep. You know. I just want to point out, I think with the shoplifting, I think the really great thing about the work you guys are doing is we continue to increase our stores. We continue to increase businesses. We continue to increase the number of stores that are open and to see the trend going the other way. Thank you. Thank you for being diligent. I mean, I think I know it's people reporting it, doing it, but that's impressive. We also, I believe we did two of them. Our crime control and our cope units actually got together with a loss prevention representatives from the various stores on 58 that wanted to participate where they came out with extra people on such a date and flooded their store. And then we were waiting. We're on the outside. So, you know, people hopefully get an idea, you know. So, if a store missed that, like if there's a new manager and they're watching today or somebody's watching home and they know somebody, is there a way they can get in touch with you to be part of that or to connect? Sure. Call 631-727-4500 extension 362. That's Lieutenant Devereaux extension. And he, you know, he'll put the people in contact. Because I know sometimes we hear from stores and they're like, oh, we have this problem. It's a great way for them to know. So, thanks. Chief. With bail reform, that's just a slap on the wrist, right? Correct. Yeah. And that's, you know, people need to know that. And I know that Ray Tierney, my understanding is if you get arrested three times shoplifting and it adds up to a certain amount, then you can file some stronger charges. Well, if they steal over $1,000, it goes to a grand lawsuit. So, that's a felony. But they're still going to get out. And we have. We've been taking a simple trespass. And then when they go back, because that removes their right and privilege to actually enter the store. So, then we actually can charge a burglary, which we have done in the past. So, that moves up to a felony. That's a good tactic because the governor is doing nothing for us. And that doesn't require any monetary amount on the burglary. Right. I think everybody realizes bail reform has to be fixed. And we'll keep putting pressure on the state. You're right. I wish everybody realized that. But I don't think they do. I mean, everybody at this table, I guess. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So, yeah. But I think that's definitely it. And we are, as far as the five of us, we'll continue to help you put pressure on the state. So, yep. Can I just ask a question? Do we have a way to parse out DWIs from motor vehicle accidents or criminal incidents? Do we have a chart that shows DWIs for the months? I thought they were. I believe. I thought so. It's on there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where? Driving while under the influence on page four. Oh, it's not on that front. No. How is that doing? For November and December. 17 in November. It's been, you know, pretty consistent. 21, 14, 17. I don't know. I have to look at Decembers when we get there. Okay. We do have an officer at DRE school, a drug recognition expert, currently. And he still has to go down to Philadelphia for a week to do observations. And, you know, get certified. So, we'll have two of them now. We have one of the best in the state that's on your force for that. Just recognizing it and keeping people safe. So, hope it keeps up the great work. Yep. All right. We can move to December.

Total incidents, 26-04. Criminal incidents, 106. That's a significant drop from even November. So, I can't take all the credit myself. It's kind of crazy. But, yeah, we're just clicking along here. You know, simple assault was down. You know, even shoplifting was down. Like, again, it was down to 24. So, that's helpful to us.

I think that that's because the stores have kind of given up. Well, certain stores actually do not call us if it's under a certain amount of money. You know, we're telling them we'll take anything. You know, but it's their internal policy because they don't want to waste the court time if it goes to trial with their people as well. You know, because a lot more trials are going on as well. So, I guess people will just, you know. Chief, do you think that a lot of this, I mean, it's really great to see everything go. It's really great to see everything going down. And I know for, God knows, over 10 years, people have been saying, we need more police, more police. I think having more police makes these. So, on the weeks in December, we had, right before Christmas, we assigned our extra cars to patrol the parking lots of the shopping plazas. So, that's, you know, obviously you can't measure how effective that was. There's no way to do it. You know, but, you know, that probably had a deterrent factor where they went someplace else, you know. But, yeah, obviously that's important, the staffing. And, you know, the return to look at the crime control unit going back and making arrests. You know, you see the crime stopper tips going out. That's usually coming from that unit where they're making arrests, you know. So, it's important. Absolutely. Again, no nonfatal. ODs and no fatal, you know, ODs in December. There was nothing. Did you want to share? I mean, we can do it later. But there's just, I mean, excellent story from the PBA. I mean, not story, but life changing, altering that you shared last night at the meeting from the PBA thing. But, you know, they saved a life. I mean, just absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, there's so many. But that, you know, there's, yeah, absolutely. Do you have any questions? I just wanted to see how we're doing overall. So. I'm super proud. You guys are doing an awesome job. Let's put that right up front. How are we doing just in terms of addressing the panhandling side of things down on Main Street, behind diggers, through the parking lot? We've still got people wandering around and it's still. We actively, obviously, arrest these individuals. They actually, you can't hold them. They go right back out. They get about probably like six to eight dockets. Actually, probably Victoria would actually know better. But we. Absolutely. We're not going to be able to do that. Call 911 and give a description. Or how do you, like, what's the best way? When I walk downtown, I tell the businesses all to call every time for every single time. So. That's what we just want to get. It's the public's help as well. So if you're parking a car and you're approached, pick up the phone, call the police, and then get right over there. That's the thing. The only way to continue is to force the deterrence. Correct. And we deal with them all the time. You know, just the level of the offense. And it's a bit less. So you're doing great, but just want to keep pushing. The level of offense is not there. And, again, it's in the courts now. You know, it's. Victoria, again, we've had multiple individuals with probably eight, ten tickets for whatever, you know, whatever it is. So. Wait, before you go, I just want you to let everybody know what's on order for downtown on the water. The life ring. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, let them know on camera. This is great. This has come up. It came up in a civic meeting. We are going to be putting out on the waterfront a few life. We're going to be putting out a lot of life rings. We're just working on getting the housing so they can stay out of the weather. And that we eventually, by the spring, hopefully up. Thank you, Chief. Yep. See that? You're amazing. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yep. Anybody else have questions? Okay. Thank you. Great job. No deer heads, huh? No way. No way. It costs a fortune for people. You know, it's driving the cost of insurance. No, I meant the hunters. You were. Oh, no. I was going to get to that. Yeah, I know. Give it to them. Give it to them. It's a shame. We're going to where the deer crossing signs aren't across. They're using the sign signals. It's amazing that cars are doing better than the hunters. I knew he was going to do that, so. All right. Thanks. See you guys. Thanks, Chief. Have a good day. Thanks, Chief. Thanks for laughing at their jokes. All right. Our next matter is our town clerk monthly report.

Morning. Happy birthday. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Rooting for Wooten. Nice to have you. Here you go. Here it is. Okay. Nothing earth-shaking for the December report. This is the wrap-up for the last year. There's really nothing outstanding on it. I did do a year-round report for myself for my own edification, and for 2025, we received almost 2,900 foils. That came through my office. So, can I ask you a question about that? Do you think there's a way for you to do some analytics on that and let us know what you want to do with that? I want people to be able to foil if they're watching. But just to let people know before they foil to kind of think about that and if there was a way for us to kind of put a dollar amount on that. You know, somewhere so people at home know like everybody wants us to save tax dollars in time and they want us to be efficient if maybe over the next couple of weeks. Would you be able to do that for us? I can look at that. I know with the new next request foil system the convenience of being home and you can can actually make your request directly to the department. That's great. It doesn't go right through me anymore. Okay. We, of course, look at it and monitor it to make sure that it went to the right people, just so it's clean. Thank you. That's a good point. So people understand it. I think knowledge, they say, it's the same on my Saturday TV the more I do. And I think the foils are great. I just think that sometimes they get, it circumvents professional people, because I think you get some professional companies that use it as a tool to do title searching, where they let us do the work instead of actually paying somebody to do the work. Well, at least it gives us a- I'm not in that category. No, you're not. You're not. But other good things for the talent group we're working on, and it might take effect as early as next week, is we got a virtual terminal, finally, through Forte, which is our credit card company, and BAS, which is my receipt company. And it looks like I can do online payments for simple things, like renewing your dog license, or maybe getting a yard sale permit, or something like that, where you can actually be all done online. We're creating an email database from that, so that renewals go out via email, and everything we've done virtually, which is wonderful, because I think it's going to eventually, I mean, there's nothing more expensive than the U.S. mail when it comes to mailing out. When you're mailing out 1,000 pieces, just like- It's a lot of money. I mean, it's just a lot, a lot of money. And it's more convenient when you're home. So, oh, I just got a reminder of my dog, and you can, you know, for $10, just do it online. Pssh. It's done. You know, so that should be up probably in the next couple weeks. We got just working out the final touches on that, so. Great. And that's about it. Well, we're looking to do something new, you know, so. Some questions. That's great, Jim. Next request, when do you, that software, when is that going to be? Next request is up and now. We just had a training. Well, it's up and running now. So, in fact, we got a computer, a laptop that's designated just for requests, and we got a little kiosk in my office. It just got put up a couple days ago. So we're waiting for IT to come put the laptop in. We're going to have self-help tips on the wall so people when they come in, they have the computer, and they can do it all right there in my office. That's smart. Just what people, you know, pay with credit card, what is the fee? Compared to the mailing. You know, we get charges. It's the same fee. We don't charge a fee for the credit card. Forte, our provider, the people that we contract with, they charge. It doesn't come off mine. It's just an additional fee that they collect. I think it's $1.84 for up to $50 or something. They use that. Yeah. But that's there, so it doesn't come off my fee. And I did have, we're looking at Showfish, like you said. We had 79 Showfish permits last year. That's about the average between 75 and 80 that we give out a year. So we're looking at maybe, there's no force associated with that as of now, but it looks like something we're going to have to look into to raise the fee for that. Thanks, Jeff. I'm just grateful the numbers are coming from the east end town so I can be fair. That's all. Yes, sir. Why are you not issuing any bingo permits? What? I want to bring back bingo. Is the fee too high? What's going on? I was playing a bingo inspector, believe it or not, to go out to these plays. Yes. John, for somebody at home. So bingo inspector. I was in churches when I was younger. Well, I got a dirty joke about what I was saying about bingo. We appreciate you not saying it. More than you know. Well, thank you. Oh, there you go. Thank you, clerk. Thank you, Mr. Wood. Thank you. Our next matter is justice court. Come on down. Appreciate you. Thank you. Any time? Counselor. Good morning. Good morning. All right. So everyone has both months? Yes, ma'am. I'm going to sound like a broken record to four of you, but for a supervisor's purposes. So the cases I cover in justice court are all of the fire marshal tickets, all of the code enforcement tickets, part of PD, and part of building. So it's a little mix. So the only part of PD that I don't cover, obviously, but the DA's office has jurisdiction over. So November we had slightly lower numbers because the justice court, which runs on Tuesday afternoons, they were closed for Election Day and for Veterans Day. So that's why we only had two dates. But for those two dates, the total was 18,370. I think it's sticking out there. Let's see. We move on to December, where December we had a much more robust total of $53,665, and we finally got some water quality surcharges. And at Councilman Rothwell's request, I calculated all of the fines and surcharges for 2025. I'll provide this. Those are the mandatory surcharges, right? Yes, the mandatory surcharges that we put into effect in the last year. So this is the first full year we have. So, as you can see, we took in, and now another disclaimer that I'm sure most of you are sick of hearing me say, this is just fines that we imposed. These are not fines that were collected. It's up to the Justice Court to track who actually comes in and pays those fines, but these are fines that were imposed by the judge, either by the judge or by the judge. Either by guilty pleas, being found guilty at trial. We had a ton of trials this last year. So our total for 2025 on fines and surcharges was $394,000. That would have been bad. It was just $394. And then the surcharge amounts for blight, that's the $11,490. That could go into your park benches, your picnic tables, those things. Again, we have to make sure that people are actually coming into Justice Court. And we're not going to be able to pay those fines because these are just potential numbers. A lot of times it's indigent people that are being fined. So they're not really going to be able to pay. Exactly. So that takes me to the next, the human, I don't know why I wrote trafficking there. It's not human trafficking. I was going to say, I didn't realize it was human trafficking. I was going to say it anyway. I said it was so rampant. I was rushing this through this morning. Sorry. It's human services surcharges. That was $8,840. That was a lot. I'm so alarmed. I read it like five times. Okay. So that's $8,840. Those, the human services charges, most of those are your, as Chief Cross had mentioned, those are your panhandling, your open alcohol, your public urination. Most of those are homeless. So the chances of them paying those fines are slim to none. So the amount that is collected on those is, I can guarantee, it's much less than what was imposed. And water quality, we don't see those too much unless, for a Supreme Court. So that's, those are my yearly totals. So the human services surcharges, I understand, as you mentioned, we will not collect global. What type of things can we use that for? So it could be for treatment, for... Could Kat get some of that money? I'll look into it. I don't see why not, but I'll definitely look into that. But again, this is just what was imposed. Okay. Yeah, I understand. And this does not cover any of the Supreme Court cases. This is just our totals for Justice Court. So if we factor those in, it would be a lot higher, obviously. Yeah, a lot of trials this year. Had a big trial win last week, but I guess I can't talk about that because... Talk about it next month. There we go. Because it's not, it's going to be in the January report. Okay. But I would like to highlight on that the judge imposed an, an, an interesting sentence. The sentence was, and I think this is going to happen a lot more often. The sentence was about $10,000 in fines. It was all the max fines for every charge he was found guilty of. And what he did was he suspended half of the sentence so that if the defendant comes into compliance, they won't have to pay it. So they'll pay the first $5,000. If they come into compliance within 60 days, they'll be relieved of the other $5,000. The idea of that is that... Yeah, that money should go toward getting your building permit. Getting your rental permits. Getting your rental permits. So it's, it's a unique way that kind of reflects, you know, what, what goes on in Supreme Court, but at the Justice Court level. That's great. And if they don't, then they got to pay the full $10,000. There's nothing we can do about that. We're happy with our Justice Department. I think our... Yeah, things have been going very smooth there. We've been really cranking some things out, so. Thank you. Yep. What happened with my favorite case? It is on for next Tuesday. That's great. I'm going to go ahead and get it. I'm going to go ahead and get it. I'm going to go ahead and get it. I'm going to go ahead and get it. You got adjourned? Yes, it did. Okay. So it's, let's say it was the 16th. It was on for, right? It was on the 13th. It got adjourned for two weeks. The attorney for one of the defendants did not show up. Oh. So it is on for final on the 27th, next Tuesday. Okay. Well, we appreciate what your entire department does, and we know it takes a, not just a time tool, but, you know, sometimes mental stuff. So thank you. Thank you for doing this and helping our town. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good job. Are there any questions, comments? Happy birthday. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. All right, I did a yearly report for code for 2025. Code Enforcement Division investigated approximately 645 complaints, and business is booming because that's 195 more than we did last year. The categories include, and I won't bore you with every single category, I'll just highlight some of the ones that we had the most cases on. We did 34 transient short-term rentals, 75 unregistered rental permit units, 34 unlawful apartments, high grass, high weeds, that's always a popular one, 69. Those property maintenance complaints that we get, garbage, litter, debris, overcrowded housing, those are 93. Unauthorized work without permits. We did 36. Zoning use violations, we did 35. Transient rentals, we did 26.

And other miscellaneous violations, we did 17. For the tickets and violations section, we issued approximately 755 violations and summonses for the year 2025. Those tickets were returnable in Justice Court. Sale for Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale property maintenance violations we did 71 no rental permits 47 residential no building permits we did 84 on the structures we did 11 the vehicles and parking stuff parking on front lawns things things like that we did 45 and zoning these violations we did 33 that's fantastic with how few people your department lose people left and right yeah we were yeah losing people getting people yeah we're getting to full staff now so we I really want that open through my administration did all of us we can make this an area focus I think this area so we appreciate that rental program another great year for that we took in 765 new applications the amount of permits that we issued for the year was 1047 the inspections that we performed even with our minimal staff we were able to get 778 inspections done how you addressing so you're not getting into everybody on a yearly permit how are you addressing that are you they getting so the permit cycle runs annually now so those permit in certain circumstances will get into a rental unit and they will fail we'll try to get in the first time through their cycle but if they fail and we don't and they don't call us back to get the inspection the schedule is the inspection they'll run into the following month I mean following year cycle so but they still have to submit a new application and get a re-inspection every year but how do we address like if there is a hundred and forty seven rental permits issued should we be inspecting 147 houses in the thousand forty seven thousand forty seven nine problems it's okay I'm just trying to figure out how do we how do we address is it a shortfall and meaning staffing or what what's the best way to address this that way yeah I mean staffing staffing's been the problem because we've been losing people but since we getting those two part-time employees they are hitting the ground running now and we should be able to address those that one of the other day yes Jim yeah yeah not to anything with your department just to pay higher pay from yeah yeah we lost them to other townships yeah Connor left for I slip but I believe now he's working for Stony Brook so he left I slip what's up and they're lucky to have them because you guys are trained them well if you're here if you're out watching your code enforcement person you come here you're gonna be trained well thank you can I ask a silly question last weekend it's your birthday she can do whatever she wants careful so last Sunday I was in town and I was going down one of the side roads and I go down this particular road almost every day but not usually on a Sunday and on so many properties there were just cars parked all over the front lawns if code sees something like that are they able to just go and knock on the door and investigate what's going on I mean you know I'm not sure if they're going to be able to just go and knock on the door and investigate what's going on I mean you know I'm not sure if they're going to be able to just go and knock on the door and investigate what's going on I mean you know I'm not sure if they're to me it was quite obvious it's a Sunday nobody's at work and I know people that that live on the street that these are their neighbors and I was like this is what they're talking about and I felt horrible you know is there a way that we could really crack down on that yeah sure I mean those this is something that we do if we're driving down or we're going to an inspection and we see something like that we are we can stop and we can knock on the door and find out what's going on with respect to the parking lot and the parking lot and the parking lot and the parking lot and the parking lot and the parking lot we did adopt two codes with respect to that a couple years ago and the recent revision of a rental code now addresses that so the rental properties have to have a survey with the driveway on it and they're not permitted to park off the driveway if I've seen the light like that I agree it's blight neighborhood light to have parked on front lawns like that it's awful yeah so that's the question is so out of these you know the summonsers and so I thought you were in. So the 645 complaints, we'll say. Yeah. What percentage is call-in by residents or physical, like, calling in and registering a complaint? Towards what percentage? Or is it your staffing that's simply, as Councilman Muskie said, traveling through the town and going, hey, I noticed this, I noticed that? But I'd kind of be very curious to see the differential of how we're doing enforcement on our own, just through Google Earth and other things and traveling through the town, as opposed to are we strictly relying on the residents to pick up the phone and file a complaint? Yeah, I get it. What we do is we put it in our system as patrol pickups. Those are those complaints that we see as an officer. So I can get those numbers for you if you'd like. I would like to see that. And I'd like to see some kind of incentive for code enforcement to be proud of. You know, issuing more violations so that we can really start cracking down on these houses because it's gotten out of control. And I know how busy your office is. Please, sincerely, I do know. But it's got to change. What I saw was just, that's not what I want for our town. And I know you don't either. We've spoken probably about it, and I think we're going to bring this back here. When we can create new revenue for our town, we want to definitely boost your department and with the officers because it's quality of life. You know, people at home, it's quality of life, everything. And so, you know, we've talked about doing different things through the weekend. Somebody spoke last night and also educating our public on how they can. But I would say to the public is everybody calls you. No one calls you happy, right? No one calls. But if you have, if you've seen our code enforcement officers do something and take care of an area, please be encouraging. Because that gives you a chance. Yeah. It goes a long way to fuel your staff. And while we may not be able to match pay all the time, if our residents help us keep people, that would be. And also understand when you call in, you know, everybody knows it's not your fault. Maybe not, you know, vomit their anger on your staff. That would be good. What I'm thinking of, and just, you know, along with Councilman Waski, is that if there's a large percentage that you're picking up on patrol, I think it validates if we're patrolling the neighborhood and then we are writing enforcements and we're writing summonses, and acting on things, I want the public then to know by expanding code enforcement, expanding the staff, it would pay for itself. This is what we did when we went into the yearly rental, you know, permits and so forth. Right? We knew that by collecting additional funding, it would actually pay for the officers themselves and have them on staff. I think it's worked out well in that sense. Yeah. Getting to the rental revenue. He's getting right there. There he is. It's coming. So, thinking on the same terms and lines, if we're seeing a large amount, like, okay, if we have three officers on the road and we produce X number, you know, can we put four officers in what we expect? Or five? Do we have somebody that's simply patrolling and visually doing visual inspections on different streets and, like, kind of mapping it off over the course of the year that we've traveled all the streets in the town of Riverhead looking for the visual things that some of us have directly called you on? Yeah, I get it. I would love to be more proactive. I mean, I can tell you my 27 years with the town of Riverhead, we only had two code enforcement officers. When I started. But the town has grown in leaps and bounds since then. Yeah. So, we've increased the numbers of code enforcement officers. We used to do a lot of patrol pickups when just myself and Officer White were out there patrolling Riverhead. But, you know, since we've become more complaint-driven, and you can see by these numbers, we get so many complaints. And sometimes you don't have enough people, the boots on the ground, to do all of those patrol pickups. It's not that we don't see them. We do if we see them. We'll document it. We'll go back and check it out. So, then you see 12 on the way to the one you're going to, right? Right. Yeah. So, we can get a little synapse, and then in the budget for next year, expand code enforcement, expand the staff, and be able to prove to the publics that it could be, in fact, self-sustaining on its own. That it's not necessarily costing more, but if we allocate more officers and we put them out there, then they'd be self-sustaining in terms of the cost of an officer. I would like to call 2026 the year of the crackdown. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. You're a very fair person. I mean, all years here, I think everybody sitting here knows that you, as the leader of this department, you're extremely fair. Yes. And so you want to work with people, but you also have safety in mind. So, thanks. Yeah. This is a line that you cross, but we try to educate everybody first before we go out there and write them all tickets. I mean, we try to – a lot of people just don't know the codes and the rules. It sounds silly, but, yeah, it's true. You know? You know, to Councilwoman Waski's point, the legislation that we did draft already to try to curtail the overcrowded housing with the number of cars you can have at a home, to try to make sure that that is not a good way to check to make sure it's not happening. I just wanted to point out, I think this is great with the number of new – the new rental permits, applications filed and the issued – permits issued. That's a direct result. It's a direct result of the new legislation that you had passed with the town attorney's office, correct? That is, and it's also in direct relation to the new OpenGov software system that we implemented. Right. It's also – Get people in compliance that had the illegal apartments. It allows us to track everything easily. Yeah. No, thank you to the town attorney's office with that legislation. Talk about your generated revenue. I know you're excited to do that. Go ahead. Well, so the generated revenue for – Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So 2025 was 407,225. Right. That's great. Just to mention that's almost double. Right. I was just going to ask in comparison to last year, right? That's great. Right. That's what warrants you getting – I want you to have more staff. Yeah. That's what I want. Yeah. Absolutely. And by creating more revenue, that's how you get there. So I don't want you – Appreciate you telling the choir. I want you to understand my philosophical viewpoint on that. Yeah. Absolutely. We've got to get more – Yeah. – court enforcement offices. We need to allocate. We need to hire more. Yeah. So that's why – You are the direct impact of all the many departments. You're the direct impact of quality of life in Riverhead and what we see now. Absolutely. Absolutely. And if you looked at the population 27 years ago and you had two people, and then now do the division now with the population, how many people should it be? But I have a question for you, Rich, because I know – so you train. These people come in. I need to know the cost, loss, or benefit. Because you're spending six months training people, right? And then we don't pay enough and they leave. So from a cost-benefit analysis, we're kind of shooting ourselves in the foot on that one. And we really need to take a hard look at that. Yes. Next question I have for you is what is the fine for when you have no building permit? If you don't know it now, I just would like you to make it up. I'm going to shoot from the hip and say it's about $500 for the first. Okay. That's a problem. So can you make a note, and we need to address that? And the next one is solid waste. If you can just – and we don't have to do this now, but I'd like you to follow up what the fine on that is. Solid waste? Yes. And whether or not we have a fine for hazardous waste. Because there's a difference. I believe they're more into the same codes of solids. We need to fix that. Yes. Because hazardous. When we've got to deal with that, it's a lot more expensive. You and I have talked about it, and to share with the council members, one of the goals I have for code enforcement is to have somebody around the clock actually here, and people keep telling me, oh, well, you know, they won't be doing anything. But if our law enforcement officers go to a home for a call or a fire department, and they go in and they see a code enforcement violation, they do have the opportunity to call our code enforcement officers, who are off duty, but they're on call. But that's a decision that the law enforcement or fire department has to make. And if someone's actually here, then they don't have to make a judgment call of bothering them. They just automatically do, and then it helps keep safety, like all the things you're talking about. So I think we're all – that's exciting. I think all of our fire chiefs – I think our fire chiefs are well aware when they see something that Rich doesn't like going out here. Yeah, we get calls. They make a pretty good judgment. They have to stay on scene. They have to stay on scene until the code enforcement officer gets there because they don't have the ability to come in. They'd have to set up an appointment and hope the people would let them back in. But if the – They can't reenter. Yep, but if the police department or fire department are there and the code enforcement officer gets there, then they're allowed to automatically – We enacted that code like two years ago. No, no, no. They're standby, but they do have to, like Denise said, they have to have permission to reenter. They can't just reenter. Not if the fire chief is on scene. Right. On scene. That's what I'm saying, on scene. So it's quick. So with the standby. You have to respond within 15 minutes. So we're there. If we get the call, we're there. We have to be able – You've gotten compliments from fire chiefs. No, it's absolutely awesome. Just more availability. That's what we want. I have one more question. What is the – Is it about a fine? Would you like it not to be? Should the taxpayers be paying? I love it. I love what you're doing. No, no, because fines are really tough to identify. So, Rich, and you don't need to tell me right now, but I'm going to ask you a question. But if you could also give me what the unlawful taxi cab fine is. Oh, all right. That's important because, you know, we charge for licenses, so we need to make – we need to – We've done a little bit since we looked at that code section. Yeah, no, I get it. We're going to get shitty on those fines. We might get four code enforcement officers. Yeah, true. The only other question I have is – A medallion. Working without a medallion. The only other question I have, Rich, is the – What is the – I'd like to – you know, just give me – you don't have to do it now, but importation mining, right? Because that could – they could be bringing in contaminated product, right? Those fines are very high. Yeah, but – Extremely. Yeah. They're, like, start at, like, $5,000 to $10,000. Okay. Yeah. All right, great. Thank you. Yeah. Yep, and so I'll finish up with Supreme Court referrals. We referred nine properties to Supreme Court, for injunctions or compliance orders due to persistent violations of the town code. And you took care of – I mean, Wading River, I believe it – Was it James – the other – there? Yeah. Yeah, James Ford. So that was great. Thank you for – again, good job. Rich, just to – not to put you on the spot, but just to ask you, if it were a perfect world, how many full-time employees do you need to be able to really go after all these code violations? I don't think you want to hear that. No, I do. I do. We want to hear it. I do want to hear it. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I do. I would say probably about 12. Okay. And how many do we have to tell the public? Five. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a problem. We need to allocate funding to your office. Yeah. Definitely. So we're all in agreement, so that's a good thing. So thank you. You can look at how many police officers are hitting the road versus how many code enforcements are hitting – and, you know, it's a different thing that they do, but the town is large. You complement each other. Yes. You know, and thank you. Thank you for – But if we're all in agreement, why don't you put out a notice to hire? See if it's self-sustaining. Why don't we talk about that on the exam? We'll talk about that. Yeah. Absolutely. We need to make it happen, but – We need to make it happen. Yeah. Definitely. Put them on commission. No, actually. I'm just thinking. I think they'll be self-sustaining. Put them on – no, that's a – yeah, that's a – No, that's not going to put them on commission. You're welcome. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Rich. Thank you, Rich. Thank you, Rich. Thank you, Rich. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. seen you before your brother was just here we're in the same shirt you two you guys always dressed as twins like that you had me first but second good morning gonna say happy birthday councilwoman the fines for building violations are thousand to three thousand for each and every offense and the fines for any violation of chapter 281 which is our taxi code is 500 for a first offense and 500 to 1500 for a second offense thank you councilman if you don't have a building permit and you come in for a building permit and you've started the work without a building permit you're gonna pay double the permit fee as well thousand to three thousand for each and every so if you're out there without a building permit come in and get one yes and then they don't just say they get a double yet it's like the double mint commercial for having started without one

then they get a ticket and then we get a permit application and then that permit fee would be doubled because we know they started without so that's mostly how that happens you know sometimes it's the other way and then but it's the same difference I don't know the split but it's probably more often coming up in the future got it because if they didn't get a ticket they probably wouldn't ever get it

okay discussing ADUs second time I gave everybody a reference guide just to go through as I move in through this revision we revised the draft directly because of concerns that the town board had during the last previous work session some of those concerns were preventing ADUs from being used as de facto two family dwellings or short term rentals strengthening owner occupancy verification and inspection authorities closing loopholes used by bad actors while preserving flexibility for legitimate homeowners clarifying coordination between ADU permits and rental permits so the overall policy intent remains unchanged the revision focuses on clarity and enforceability and alignment with existing town enforcement practices so if you like I can go over the sections that we amended I have a question last time we were here I was asking that it specifically indicate that these the time period is that in here now? the time period for which they are excess redrawing the moves it's five years no no I mean that so to show that it's not a short term rental yes we're going to jump into that we got the transient rental covered just the time period okay it's in here I think if you follow your pattern we would love to follow your thought process so 217 119 everybody has a copy of the of the copy of the law yes okay so 217 119 clarifies that the ADU law operates alongside the rental properties code only when an ADU is rented okay why the change was needed at the prior meeting concern was raised that the draft could be read as requiring all ADUs to comply with the rental code the revised language makes clear that owner occupied the rental code is not required to be used in the rental code non-rented ADUs are governed solely by chapter 217 chapter 263 which is our rental properties code applies only when ADUs are rented or offered for rent so we made that change is there any way to establish that so if I say I'm allowing my best friend to live in an ADU but I don't charge him any rent so I'm not renting it too there's no really way to govern I'm just you know believe me no it's a fair point if you have a friend we use the presumptive evidence sections of the code which I'll get into to prove that you're actually renting okay so that that's something that we do as investigators so we'll get into that we did make some changes with respect to that thank you chapter 217 120 it's our definition section we refine the definitions to reinforce the owner occupancy requirement and clearly distinguish ADUs from two family and multi-family dwellings so we've revised those definitions the key clarification is accessory dwelling units for accessory dwelling units if you look at the definition only an owner occupied property can participate in the program sorry I know that was one of your concerns Councilman Rothwald and the primary residence definition we further defined using objective indicators to determine actual occupancy is maintained in the two family and multi-family dwelling definitions we clarified to avoid overlap with ADUs and prohibit such type of units in the program so in other words you can't have a multi-family property or two family property and also have an ADU has to be an owner occupied single family dwelling unit so that's what we did great yeah and I'm sure Dawn can jump in about the need for this the need for this program you want to just quickly talk about it we have we actually have so we did a couple of things and we've been working on this for quite a while but one of the companion pieces to the legislation is the participation in New York State's ADU funding program so we partnered with Long Island Housing Partnership they are administering the program they're ready to go because they haven't Riverhead on their website already so we're waiting for this code to get adopted to kick that off and then we're also working on a first time home buyer down payment assistance program we don't have a lot of money because the funding that we're collecting is not from community preservation funds it's from our subdivision and multi-family housing 10% Long Island affordable housing Act requirement that's in the code so if you subdivide you have to provide a certain amount of either money or actual units on your project so the funding is going into an account separate account that we want to use I think by we'll have about 200,000 in there so we'll be able to provide you know 10 or a little bit more than 10 first time home buyer down payment assistance you will work with the county of Suffolk so they have a lot of money to provide for the project so we're working on that so we're working on that so we're working on that so we're working on that so we're working on that so we're working on that so we're working on that 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's it Those are the things that we're doing. And then if you are a first-time homebuyer and you want to create an ADU to make it more affordable, this program will help you. The state's offering up to $125,000. There are, you know, it's not without the programs, not without issues. You will need to get health department approval if you're adding bedrooms beyond the four that you're allowed to have on a lot. You may need to upgrade to an IA system there, which is the new requirement. The county is working on funding to assist with offsetting that cost. But I think the process is going to be a little bit of a, you know, hack through the jungle for people. So we're going to try to give them the most help they can get, you know, whatever permitting they need. Sometimes they may need to go to zoning board. They're going to have to go to health department. So it's, it's, it's a little bit of a challenge. I think it's a little bit of a challenge. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a little bit of a challenge. You know, it's, it's not without complexities. Any complexity that's involved with, you know, developing new additions to homes or whatever else you're doing. So, but we hope to be able to foster, you know, good rapport with people who come in for the program and try to guide them through it and try to help them not be frustrated and get them settled in an ADU situation as soon as humanly possible. Absolutely. Absolutely. kick that off. Does any of that funding you're talking about, does that apply to condos? Any first-time home. So if you buy, if you're a first-time homebuyer and you're going to be in an ownership situation, and the County of Suffolk will provide you with that. So the answer is yes. And then the answer would be yes. Yeah, so yeah, and we can talk about that when you're ready. There's so much exciting stuff going on. Yeah, but this is a very nice comprehensive setup that we have. We, you know, Rich in particular, Town Attorney's Office and our office worked hard on making sure that it works. You know, we can always work the kinks out if there are any that arise, but. I think you brought up the last meeting. I was not there, but you brought it up as this is really going to help our people stay in their homes. Yes. You know, and so this is really, this is wonderful. Can an aide stay in an ADU? Like if somebody who. Is working, an aide from, who works for an agency, they can stay there. Okay, just curious. All right. Good point. Yeah, that's just one of the things that I think we're addressing. Like, we all understand the cost of living is just astronomical in Long Island, but I think I can tell from personal experience that my, now my parents are in their 80s, and like when you start to look at like assisted living complexes, the cost of it is just astronomical. So it would mean them, you know, selling everything they have, putting it into it, using up any funding that's left before any government system gets in. I think the ADU unit allows somebody, you know, I would be more opt, I'll just use myself an example, to build like an ADU unit that I can have my mother there, that I can simply walk a few steps to the Jason to check on her and make sure she's okay, or check on dad, whatever it may be. And I just think that that's something that I think everybody, as we get older in life, starts to stress out and wonder like, how do I, how do I take care of mom? How do I take care of dad? And I think the ADU is a great tool that we can use. I'm not interested in the renting side of things and putting them out and bring them in for additional income, you know, but that's going to help young buyers and other things. I just seem to be on this being more focused on like our elderly. So as we go over, how do we keep them close at home? Because a lot of people don't have, like my bedrooms are full in my house. So if my mother and my father want to come in, it's like, I don't have room. You know, but and so we need to, this is a good potential tool that somebody can say, well, if they did sell a house and I had the money and I built an accessory dwelling unit, can I keep them close to home? That's what I'm just thinking. We're having Justin edit this down and send this clip to your mom now. Yep. So she knows. It's always important. She's top, mom and dad top of her list. I think for the, for the elderly in particular, being close to your family is super important. And you know, making sure that I think that, you know, part of being part of your family, you know, you're not going to be your family still and not being sort of segregated out where you to a place that only you can afford, which is maybe, you know, half hour, 45 minutes away, it makes it complicated. So for sure, it can work for a lot of different people. We hope that it does. We all intended to get this squared away and up and running. So I wanted to, if I could, I just wanted to say that I think the big key distinction here is accessory dwelling unions offer stability in neighborhoods, as opposed to short term rentals, which are hotels. And this where our legislation here is to help the homeowner and keep a neighborhood stable, that it must be more than 29 days of rental. And I wanted to just check because I see it later on on page 39 of 50 there, we talk about that not fewer than 29 days. Is there a way for us to capture if somebody goes, Oh, you know, I rented it for 29 days, but you actually see that it's every other weekend? Like, like, is there a way to capture that if somebody's, I call it getting cute neighbors will capture? Yes, maybe like getting cute where? Well, you know, I had it rented out for the month. But the turnover is like, is there a way to capture that revision that we did to chapter 263? Specifically for transient rentals? Right? So yes, so we can so if you are doing that and going, Oh, gee, the guy was supposed to stay for 30 days, but he left so I had to re rent it. Is a really interesting point, because we've looked at these Airbnb is really the commercial use of residential property. And then what happens is that it commercializes the value of that residential property and puts it even further out of reach versus this is an actual residential use of residential property. So there will be an increase in value, because the ADU exists, but it will not be based on the type of revenue that can be acquired through an Airbnb. So it's appropriate for residential neighborhoods versus Airbnb, which is not always appropriate for residents. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. Sale. My concern, and this is going back to Councilman Rothwald's point about his parents, we're in the same boat, is the tax assessment of how much of a tax assessment increase is that going to be? It's going to, I mean, put our taxes just through the roof. Well, we'd have to look at what they do now because keep in mind this program's already in effect. It's been in effect under Chapter 105. So, I mean, there's plenty of them already operating. We just restructured this law because we no longer have a board doing accessory apartments. So now it's a permitting process done through the building department. So this law was completely restructured. And then we put in more guardrails than we had before. But are there any exemptions or anything out there that could help? If you are, in fact, taking care of your parents in one of these? I think senior, you know, exemptions. But, you know, star or enhanced star. The tax bill would be in, let's say, you know, my name and, you know. It's interesting to bring that up with the state, you know, because they're supporting ADUs, right? So maybe that's something that has to be fixed on a state level. Tax abatement, yeah. We have a very knowledgeable assessor. So I'm sure that. That she can. But encouraging is the fact that we already have a couple hundred of accessory apartments. So whatever that cost is, is somehow being managed by the people who are doing it. And I'm not sure what that revenue looks like. But, you know, we have had a lot of people take. We had a cap 20 years ago. When did we adopt this? 2001 or something? Original accessory apartment code. A long time ago. We had a cap. Yeah, me and Richard were like, wow. It was like 200, I think. Yeah, we had a cap because everybody was so afraid that it was just going to be like wildfire. And everybody was going to do this. We had an amnesty program. Yeah. And nobody came forward. Right. So, you know. How many are there? What a good, horrifying time. I think it was around 200 now. Yeah, it was almost 200. We haven't hit the cap in 20 plus years. So, you know, that's why I think this will continue to pace along the way it's been. She's smart. But. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart. She's smart.

So, you know, it's a lot of different things. But this is definitely a really good move in the right direction. If we're able to do the TOD at buying, you know, a whole ownership there, that's a big deal. Yeah. Because it also, you know, gets them transportation. So you want to walk us through the rest of it because we want to make sure we don't miss that. Yeah, sure. So just really just I tried to address all the concerns that were, you know, at the last work session. And one of the concerns was the transient rental and short-term use. So in 217.121E, ADUs are especially prohibited from being used as transient short-term rentals. And we tied it in, as Eric said, to our rental code so that if we have presumptive evidence in our rental code to give us a property a transient rental, we will use those tools to prove whether or not it's being a transient rental use or not. And so that's an important guardrail that we put in. We can also revoke the permit under presumptive evidence that it's being used. So we have that tool also. We strengthened the owner occupancy requirements. As Councilman Rothwald pointed out at the last work session, there was a concern whether or not somebody would be living in Florida. And then coming back, we've strengthened that so that we can inspect both units. So we can inspect both units. If you are an owner of a... property that has an ADU, you should be able to consent to both units to be inspected. So we can put that in. I only need to touch on that, so I appreciate you doing that. I do have some owners that have, you know, obviously a home here in Riverhead and then have a home in Florida and then turn around and register their permanent address in Florida for a better tax break and consumption. How do we address that here in New York City? Well, I still own the house, but I'm back and forth. You know what I mean? It gets a little... It's a little dicey, but we strengthened the definition of primary residence so that if you're even... We've got pretty good SIT card rails in there, so this has to be your primary residence. New York City does the same thing. Yeah. So, I mean, you can have a second home. Primary residence. You can have a third home. Registered as a... Is that where they... Where you're domiciled. Riverhead or do they vote in Florida? You know what I'm saying? If you're a resident of another state, this cannot be your primary residence legally. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And they are not eligible for it. Not eligible. Correct. Thank you. So, in that definition of primary residence, we added objective factors, one of them being addressing the voter registration, driver's license, motor vehicle registration, other government-issued identification, utility usage patterns and billing records consistent with continuous residential occupancy, location where the individual customer is located, where the citizen customarily sleeps, receives mail, conducts day-to-day living activities. Those kind of factors were added in specifically for that definition to address those concerns. Thank you both. There's other municipalities... Yeah, there's a nice long point. So, that's why it was put... Yeah. Yeah. There's other municipalities in our state that they look at usage and they... If you're in their municipality at a certain amount of time and trying to pay out-of-state taxes, they actually go ahead and tax you here. Right. Yeah. So, it's good stuff. people trying to loophole. Great. The rest of it is if a rental if an ADU is rented you know we we made the requirement that they do need a rental permit and they do have to provide proof of a rental permit within 30 days of getting approval for an ADU. So if they don't supply that approval and it's being rented we can revoke the permit. And we expanded as I discussed earlier that it expanded we expanded the presumptive evidence provisions in 217.126 which includes any false certifications, any single meter misrepresentation, any use patterns that are inconsistent with the property used to be an emergency with two families as opposed to a single family with an ADU and any transient rental activity. Enforcement and revocation and civil action in 217.127 we added you know permit denial suspension and revocation. Transient use especially listed as grounds for immediate revocation. I already discussed that being repetitive now. Civil enforcement by town attorney requires a town board authorization. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else? No. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So for the next town board meeting can we put in a resolution to publish and post? Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So before we end our work session we just have one more item we'd like to take care of. If we could call our town board coordinator to the front. Happy birthday. Thank you so much. You're a very strong woman. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I didn't. I didn't think it would be for me. Yes. You were. Yes. You are. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. is the current fines for not wishing a councilwoman a happy birthday and can we increase those fines they should be pretty high happy birthday so we closing our work session and moving to go into executive session I'm hoping for all this yep first and second to move into executive session discuss the file links I was there so that's okay we're gonna do matters surrounding changes status of an employee with councilman Howard and matters surrounding change the status of two police officers with officer frost contractual will be doing matters surrounding license agreement between the town of Riverhead and LA carding experience with current and Hurley and matters surrounding contract contractual agreement for a sonographer services with pulse so can I get all in favor disagreeably to Bob all opposed

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