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Thank you.

Frank Conroy, South James Board. Morty Steiger, former commander of the Riverhead American Legion. Bob Rovish, commander of the American Legion. I want to thank each and every one of you. There's just a, we've gotten a lot of calls and we know it's clarified, so we just asked for you to come in and kind of explain where this legislation is. And where you feel like it's going. And thank you for doing this for everybody. So, back in January, I notified the board about a law that the governor signed on December 19th. Authorizing municipalities to opt into granting an exemption for seriously disabled veterans. The qualifications were they had to be discharged or released under honorable conditions. They had to have a qualifying condition as defined in section one of the veteran service law and received a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable. Is a discharge LGBT veteran? That's the Restoration of Valor Act where I think veterans who are LGBT were given a dishonorable discharge. But the state can't change that. But they said they would recognize that's called restoration of honor. Is considered to be permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service. Is rated 100% disabled by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Has been rated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as individually unemployable. And this is the most important part. Who is eligible for pecuniary assistance from the United States government. Or has received pecuniary assistance from the United States government. And has applied such assistance toward the acquisition or modification of a suitable housing unit with special features or movable facilities made necessary by the nature of the veteran's disability. And then it goes on to say that you become fully exempt from taxation from municipal charges and special district and special home levies. So you have to meet all the requirements. Then in... On February 13th, the governor signed an amendment to this law under Chapter 77 making it mandatory. However, it doesn't become effective until October of 2026. Basically, to clarify that... The issue is moved at this point. Yeah. So to clarify that because some towns have been passing... Legislation, you know, adopting the disability benefits for veterans. But we knew back in February that the governor said it's mandatory. So it's not necessary for any local municipality to pass any laws. You've already got it through the state. Some municipalities are still doing it. I think it's more of a photograph show to say that here we are and we support veterans and we're stepping up. But it's not an action that is necessary. Like on the... On the town's behalf. So we want... You know, I myself met with a few families that came in and asked about it and we voted the legislation because what they were bringing in was accurate. But they were bringing in legislation from the original thing. And then the governor did update that on February 13th. So everybody gets it. We've been working... I've been a representative with Chad Lennon, Legislator Chad Lennon from Suffolk County Legislator. And what they've done is we've taken a number of representatives throughout all of Suffolk County, so in all of the towns. And Legislator Lennon is doing it. And he's done an awesome job advocating to the governor's office to simplify this process because it's too much documentation by it. And they should be able to either go to the North Fork VA and have one physician fill out something to complete it and for them to review all the things to set one form. So they're trying to simplify it because it is a lengthy process in the end to actually get the full disability benefits. Well, we have 68 veterans that are 100% disabled on our system, which represents 2.9 million of assessed value. And we're trying to simplify it. We have 38 million dollars in the general market value, which is 38 million dollar market value. There's a move afoot maybe to just eliminate the pecuniary assistance. And if you're 100% disabled, you get 100% tax break. I don't know where that's going. I don't know if it would be a local option. But it's very important to note right now that it says that you have to have the pecuniary assistance to adapt your housing or to buy housing adaptable to your disability. You just can't be 100% disabled. I think that's the... I think that excludes me. That excludes most veterans. I'm 100% unemployable for post-traumatic stress. I don't know how you make a house suitable for post-traumatic stress. Correct, correct. So I would be excluded. According to the law, it says, and you have to have or be eligible for pecuniary assistance to modify or adapt your housing to accommodate your disability. Now, somebody had told me about special monthly compensation. Are you guys familiar with this term? That if you're disabled, there's all kinds of ratings for loss of eye, limb... Those ratings on the VA. Those levels of disability. Yeah. You mentioned that you have figures on veterans that might be eligible. Now, I currently get a reduction in taxes based on my combined rating, which is 70%. I've been deemed above that totally impermanent disabled. I'm still due to PTSD. And they pay me as unemployable. So your records would not show that I have a... Correct. You have to be 100% overall rating. Because there are multiple ratings. But it said total unemployable. But it said also 100%. Yes. So you have to be 100% rating. Anybody that gets a disability from the VA gets a letter every year to help facilitate anything that you may get from the town. And it specifically... It specifically says you're being paid 100% rate because you are unemployable and are considered to be totally and permanently disabled. Right. That's different. That's for employment purposes. But you have to have an overall combined rating of 100%. They're different. And we've confirmed that with the VA in Suffolk County. And we have an 800 number where veterans can ask for their overall rating and it has to be 100%. Yeah.

So greatly appreciated. But there are veterans in the Vietnam that are now beginning to see major effects from Agent R and other things that perhaps they weren't experiencing those effects when they're younger and it's very difficult to go through the documentation process to get them approved. MR. Well, we wanted to have you here because we know there's a lot of questions. And we know people that you guys represent them and yourself included. And our assessor's office is continually keeping their finger on the pulse. We sat down and she's monitoring it. And if we can come out to you, to wherever you are, and help explain it, help stand before them, and then take their concerns back to our legislatures and help them to understand where it needs to go or where it needs to be and all of the concerning factors, that's what we want to do for you. Because I know we've all received calls and we just want to make sure that we're answering those questions. So good job. MR. Thank you. MR. This, Lowell, wouldn't apply to me, but I think it's important that we show up and support those that it would help. MR. Absolutely. MR. So I think it's a great thing. You see the commercials, Wounded Warrior and all that, WMT's and stuff, that mostly young soldiers where this would really be a great assistance to them and their families. So I think it's a great thing. I just wanted to ask one other question. And this might be out of place. I don't know if it's part of this legislation. MR. Yeah. MR. Yeah. MR. Yeah. MR. Oh, thank you.

And so I think we're trying to do everything we can to cover all of our uniform personnel who are supposed to support. MR. Sure. But again, in full support of this, I hope – I'm glad it's something that had passed already. MS. Well, the other thing I want to bring out is that maybe those young guys from Iraq and Afghanistan don't own real property and they get no benefit other than maybe their monthly payment. So why doesn't the state give an income tax break to those kids or guys – if they're – I don't know, maybe they're not employable. So again, it only rewards those people that own real property and it doesn't reward those that rent. MR. Right. MS. So there's that dichotomy of who we're benefiting. And only if you had the luxury of buying property after you got out of, let's say, Vietnam, and now all of a sudden you're 100 percent, you had the ability to buy the property years ago. But now these young guys coming out don't – maybe they only rent a place. I don't know. But again, it has to be adaptable. Their home has to be adaptable, and that's the criteria. That is – it's not or. It's this, this, this, this, and this. MR. But that requirement is not fair, especially with veterans with PTSD. So you have that – this adaptable home doesn't necessarily, to me, represent what it's – MS. And it's very specific in those specificities. MR. It's not your fault. It's the VA's fault. It's tough to be 100 percent and not be 100 percent. MR. Well, if – and at this point, a lot of us that were in Vietnam, as you had mentioned, some of the problems don't show up for 25, 30, 40 years, and especially when they – one of the requirements that they throw at claimants is, well, you didn't report it within a year of discharge. But if we got discharged in 1970 – MR. Mm-hmm. MR. – it took them until 1990 to admit that Agent Orange had a bad effect on you. MR. Mm-hmm. MR. So that's way beyond the one year. MR. Of course. MR. And as we get older and older and older, you get more problems. A lot of it is related to Agent Orange. MR. And it's a shame because we do everything for 9-11 responders, and we take care of things, and it's a much easier process for those that – even volunteer veterans, who are in the military. You know, even volunteer firefighters and law enforcement personnel and military that responded to 9-11, it's a relatively easy process, you know, to gain financial assistance and help. Yet we still – with Veterans of Vietnam, in all the years, we still have not made the process easier for those that – like you say, pulmonary issues, lung problems, and so forth, many years later from Agent Orange now trying to have to prove the connection to Vietnam. MR. And PTA. MR. And PTSD wasn't a thing in 1970. MR. They never admitted it. MR. Yeah. MR. A lot of things they never admitted. They never admitted that people who were in the Navy in Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange almost as badly as the guys on the ground. And it's really only since the PACT Act that they have admitted that blue water sailors were affected. MR. Like Bob says, the environment's always changing. Like, I served Afghanistan and Iraq two tours. MR. Yeah. MR. And then I served in the Middle East. And now they just came out with a presumptive for burn pits. So I had to refile for that, but that just happened maybe a year or two ago. So the environment's constantly changing. We have to keep refiling for these things. But it seems that this – what you just mentioned, it seems like quite a bit of hurdles to jump in order to get accepted for that. MS. Exactly. It's a limited amount of veterans that get accepted for that. MS. But what it does is it makes them pretty much wholly exempt. So there's a reason why the legislature needs to look at it. And I think that's a good point. MR. Well, I think that's a good point. You know, the legislature needs to look at it and the town because, again, it's an erosion of the tax base, and everybody else pays the difference. And, you know, we have to understand that we have veterans, we have seniors, we have persons with disabilities, we have agriculture, we have got IDA. About one-third of the property, about 28 or 30 percent of the property is off the tax rolls. MR. Yeah, but our veterans have earned this. MS. Correct. MR. And deserve this. MS. Correct. MR. And should be given. MS. But they become 100 – they pay no tax. So, again, it's – it's – MR. Well, I mean, I think that's a good point. MS. Yeah. MR. But they've suffered the consequences of the sacrifice that they made in the military, and so they've earned that. So we want to make sure they get everything they're entitled to. And it is – and to clarify, it's important, it's state legislation, you know, before the governor's office and the Assembly and Senate. But Chad Lennon is trying to bring in, you know, on the county level as well as then County Executive Ed Romain and Bruce Blakeman from Nassau and Suffolk. We're trying to just raise, like, a larger tax rate. MR. Yeah. MS. And I think that's a good point. MR. Yeah. MR. And I think that's a good point. MS. Yeah. MR. And I think that's a good point. MS. Yeah. MR. county level as well as then County Executive Ed Romaine and Bruce Blakeman from Nassau and Suffolk, we're trying to just raise like a larger voice so that the governor will listen to us and make this process easier for veterans. I know that the current Secretary of Veterans Affairs, he is really on a mission to improve the relationship between the VA and the veterans. For a long, long time the VA was kind of set up as a roadblock giving out benefits and he has really made it clear. I was at a conference with him a couple of weeks ago. He's made it clear to all the VA employees that they're there to serve the veterans, not to protect the government. And... So hopefully all of these hurdles as far as getting to 100% or maybe changing that law that if you're 100% for PTSD or something that doesn't require house modifications, that you can still get some sort of a benefit. I mean, I think we all get a small benefit for a tax. Well, you get half of your rating. Yeah. Whatever your rating is, you get one half. Yeah. You know, up to a certain cap. So... Yeah, hopefully. But we, you know, we're really here just to, you know, support it and make sure that we're doing it right. We're here to support everybody who is supporting us. That's what we wanted to answer questions. There's been enough questions that have come into all of our offices. We wanted to let you know, keep this table open to you that you can come back, you know, and we want to fight, you know, all of us want to fight for you all the way up. We want to put pressure on the people above us and make sure. But thank you so much for coming and answering these questions. You've been great. Thank you guys all for coming today. Appreciate your service. Thank you for bringing us for the veterans. Thank you. Yes, absolutely. Okay. We'll see. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yep. Thank you. Yep. Bye-bye. Thanks, Tom. See you, Sandy. Okay. Thanks. Our next matter at hand is matters surrounding improvements at the George Young Community Center. And we have that with Mr. Testa, who is outstanding. Come on down. He has a report. Hopefully everybody has a copy of it. Yeah, I brought extras because I wasn't sure. Yeah, it came in a little late. Does everybody have a copy of it? I do. Yeah. You do. Okay. So as you all probably know, or do well, the heating system in the George Young Community Center was put in in 1976 when the building was converted from a schoolhouse to a community center. And when they did that, they basically put the equipment in the attic before they built the ceiling. So we have, if you look at the pictures and you flip to the back, you'll see that we have a situation where the equipment is pretty much gone. It's been a long time since we've had a building like this. Oh, yeah.

We've done everything we can to keep it running. Right now, it's only running on the backup electric resistive coils, which is really expensive. It's a heat pump, and heat pumps at certain temperatures don't perform well, like below 30 degrees, especially these older ones. So when that happens, they switch over to these giant hair dryers that are up in the attic and in the basement. That's what we've had to resort to to get through last summer, and that didn't – I mean, last winter, and that didn't quite get us all the way through. We had a pipe freeze up. So my point is that the time has come. We really don't see how we're going to get by any further. So what I did was I got – I looked around, and Theresa helped, and I found a county contract with the Southern County Department of Public Works for a contractor that does this kind of work, and we could retain them immediately. I brought them on board, and we spent some time in the attic, and we climbed around, and all of those uncertainties on how the equipment is going to get in and out of the attic resulted in increased costs, the bottom line. They proposed to take the equipment apart outside the parking lot. The units – take them apart, bring them up in the attic in small pieces, put them back together in the attic. That's like – if you read the report, it's like 60, 70 grand worth of labor. We think there's a better way to do it. I think – MR. Well, that's a possibility, and that's where I'm headed. I think we may be able to – looking at the architectural plans for the building, we may be able to close the buildings for a few weeks and open the ceiling later. MR. I think we may be able to open the ceiling one unit right over the big room and one unit over one of the smaller rooms. So that may be feasible. I may be able to just open the ceiling and open the joists and take the units down in one piece. And I may be able to find smaller units, and instead of having the system set up so there's one big unit for the big room and there's one smaller unit for the two smaller rooms, well, maybe I can break that up and put four units in there of a smaller size. That will fit through the existing opening. My point being that we have to do some evaluations of our options, and we don't have a lot of time. MR. So what if you put it in as one solid unit? I think – of course, effective, I think it's going to be – I don't think opening up the roof is going to be $50,000, $60,000 or a bit. But my other concern is dismantling these things. What kind of effect is that on the warranty? MR. Well, exactly. That's part of the problem. That's why – MR. So you took it apart in a parking lot and put it back in the big room. MR. Yeah. MR. My point is that I had – MR. Do you mean does it affect the warranties on everything? MR. I would think so. So I do not in my report recommend that option. I mean, it's the quickest – I could write a PO tomorrow. It's a lot of money. I think it's way – because of all the uncertainties, it's way overpriced because of – they're just putting contingencies in. What I'd like to recommend – it was what we did at some of the other buildings like the TAG building and when we converted the police station to natural gas. We have an outside HVAC engineer that we retained. MR. Oh, okay. MR. He's inexpensive, you know, two-man operation. They've done a lot of work for us in the past. And they basically will help me evaluate all the options, look at what it's going to cost to open the ceiling, open the roof. We'll come up with the most cost-effective option. We don't have a lot of time. We have to get this thing out to bid like April, May so we can order the equipment through the summer and get started in September and have heat for next winter. MR. I think Councilwoman Waskie could get the Jamesport Fire Department to open up that roof in about eight minutes. MR. You know, unfortunately, that roof's not that old, you know. So, you know, I think it's – MR. I think it's – MR. I think it's – MR. Oh, thank you. MR. Oh, thank you.

go above and beyond if it was just a general municipal building as far as fire dampers and smoke detectors and fresh air intake and everything and economizers that help cool the building without air conditioning on days when it's cooler outside than it is on the inside. So we'll incorporate all of those items. So what I'd like to recommend is I have $15,000 in our consulting engineering budget that we keep for just such situations and we really try to hang onto it but I think this one would be very well spent. It's $9,200. We will do a lot of the leg work with them. They're just going to look at all the equipment and come up with, do the analysis of which is the cheapest option. Get us the plans and specs that we will then incorporate into our big document. We'll go out to bid hopefully in May, have a contractor by June, get the equipment ordered and be there in September when the summer camp program is over. We'll hit it and we'll be done by December. So that's my recommendation. I think it's a great recommendation. I think it's the best way to go. I think that what we saw this winter, this building has been, we have so many buildings in our town. That need TLC and need upkeep but this one actually needs major overhaul and we can't. It's a place of our community. I'm so glad nobody was in there. There's just so many reasons why this needs to happen. We've been picking off the list. We did the daycare center, the tank building on Columbus Avenue. We put a whole new system in that building. We did the ambulance garage. Unfortunately, I think it's demolished but we've been trying to do the buildings as we go along. One of our other worst ones is the old Town Hall. Hopefully that will solve itself in the conversion to a justice court. But I think this is right now our number one priority for HVAC. I think we're lucky, the five of us, that we get the opportunity to correct this and make it right for that community and everybody. It'll be a good system and it'll be the most effective and cost effective, I assure you, and the most efficient. There was some grants applied before. I talked to Liz this morning in planning. Unfortunately, they did not get approved. The problem always being that that facility was not going to be able to get it done. So we're going to have to do it. We're going to have to do it. So the city And, you know, obviously heat was the concern during the winter, but we'd like to potentially, if necessary, during a heat spell in the summer, is a cooling center. So, like, how? Yeah, well, what we're going to do for the summer is we're going to probably put window units. And we checked, and the windows will come with their window units. We have a whole supply of them in our shop, six or eight of them, that we've used in different buildings. So we will get them cooling. There's a summer camp program. I know it's a very important program. And, again, if you look at the pictures, you'll see this system does not owe us anything. It's 1970s, you know, and I'm surprised it doesn't. I was four years old when they were putting them in. It was fascinating. It's interesting. I was just getting that oxy. You got your money's worth. I want you to guarantee us this unit's going to give us 50 years. I don't owe any more. There's no equipment that they're putting out. This building, case in point, 20 years old. But to answer your question on the schedule, what we're shooting for is if I get, if you approve this and the town attorney's office helps me get a professional service agreement, I get this process started. We're hoping to do, put the bid out mid-to-late. It's about a four-week job for the design work and evaluation. Award in June. The material will be ordered. I don't want to do anything in the summer because of the summer camp program. So we'll get the equipment ordered, get it all delivered and in place, and we'll hit the ground running right after summer camp ends in September. And we'll have more than enough time to have it done by, you know, by next winter. The only thing that worries me is always equipment availability with everything that's going on. But we'll deal with that by offering alternate manufacturers. Yeah. We'll research what's available. If something's got a six-month lead time, which we've been seeing lately, we'll find another manufacturer that has it more readily available like Rheem or somebody. Do you have any rough estimates on overall what you're looking at for this project? In the report, the one that was from the contractor off the county contract, and we spent a ton of time in there, you know, trying to come up with the summit, is 400,000 dollars. Now, I think that's way high because of a lot of the unforeseens and the taking the equipment apart, the labor in there alone. It's like 60 grand to do that. I'm going to, I'm hoping to bring this in closer to 300,000. And then, I mean, just because the units are, you know, the old units upstairs, there's no way that you have to look into outside freestanding units at all that you can just simply pipe the ductwork in as opposed to actually . We thought about that. We thought about that and we're going to look at that. The problem is that we could put package units outside, but now you're going to have ductwork coming at the back of the building, technically it's a historical building, the municipal garage assets. And then you have ductwork outside. Exposed to the weather. And there's no room between the wall in the building and the attic soffit. So we would have to come up and go through the actual roof, which can be done. But now you've got a point of potential leakage in the future. It's an option we're going to look at. But I don't like it because everything's outside. The equipment's outside in the weather. The ductwork, I mean, it's just, they take more of a beating. But municipal garage has just that kind of scenario and we're replacing those units. And they're only from the, like. Is it all the way up? Yeah. Is it all the way down and come up? Well, you'd have to go inside the building. Yeah. And then you'd be taking wall space up. It's an option, but we'd be cutting into some of the rooms, going through the floor. We're going to look at all of the options. Okay. And we're going to come up with the most cost effective. And if I get to a point where I'm going to alter the appearance of the building, I'm going to come back to you and say, here's your options. We can put them in the attic and you will never know we were there for X amount of money. Or if you don't want to spend that for Y amount less, we can do this, but you're going to have the ductwork outside. You know, the municipal garage, that's exactly what we did because it's in the inbound yard. But the ductwork is taking a beating. The units are taking a beating. We're getting ready to replace one right now. It's just been out in the weather and they do take more of a beating. We'd like to see all those options regardless. Put it before the public. That's what you said you were going to do. And I think it's great that your team is going to take this on and not just. Yeah, it's our priority. We've got to get it done for next winter. Kenny, are you looking at geothermal at all? Geothermal, you know, it's pretty. It's pretty expensive to drive all those wells in the ground. Because basically all you're doing is using groundwater to take away the heat from the unit and put it back in the ground. It's a pretty expensive thing to do. If we had a grant from the energy, the New York State Energy Office, it's something that might be worth looking at. But given the timing here, these are heat pumps, so they're almost as efficient. They're just using outside air for heating and cooling. We have gas at the building, but natural gas, that option fizzled out. With all the new code requirements for fire rating in the building, it's a place of occupancy. So we'd have to put fire sprinklers in. We'd have to fire rate the attic. The number was exorbitant. And the heat pumps are more efficient now anyway. Gas is so expensive. I'm really thinking that I am impressed by how much knowledge Councilman Rothwell has on HVAC. Maybe you could do the job. I think so. Yeah, there's, you know. Except you have to pay me prevailing wage. All right, so I'll send the proposal over to the town attorney's office, then we'll get a professional service. Awesome. It's going to be great. Thank you for your team and all your hard work. I'll get you a letter report on, you know, what we're recommending out going forward. And if you want to put it on the work system, that's fine. Yeah. We just want to discuss it amongst ourselves and that would be all. Because as I said, time is of the essence. Yeah, let's get this going. Let's do this. It's been kicked down the road long enough by past administrations. So we're, five of us are so excited. When did you say that? Past administrations? You don't replace something? It's expired. It needs to be replaced. So. So our next matter is Matters Surrounded Live on 25 with Councilwoman Waski. Yeah. And so take it away. All right. Good morning. So I brought this to the table today because I have been in contact with Diane Tucci, who did run a Live on 25 previously. She brought it back again last year and it was quite successful. I really haven't had direction on where that is going, whether we're going to have it, because we do have a lot of people who are going to be doing it. We have other events going on. I'm not sure what the budget is with the police department for manning this. I did bring those concerns to Diane and she was able to come up with a new footprint similar to the Mosaic Festival is changed this year and it's going to be on Second Street. She is able to do. Do that if need be. There was a meeting yesterday, a collaboration meeting with the bid chamber. I'm not who else was in on that meeting. The bid the chamber also in that meeting would have been. That's good. So. I used to say arts. I'm sorry. Yeah. But it's so dope. And actually we have someone here from the chamber in our in our today. So they said he come by. So. And what? Keep going. Sorry. Okay. So I was unable to attend that meeting yesterday, which was unfortunate. I had a scheduling problem and I really wanted to be there because I wanted to talk to the different agencies there. But the supervisor was there. And I don't know if you'd like to. Sure. On what was. Yeah, sure. I asked the question of that and also ask of the bid where they were because, you know, directly to one of their. There. Past presidents and people that are leading it and just said, Hey, does this really benefit our our day to day businesses? You know, how is the effect? And basically the general sense that we've gotten back is we have a lot going on this year. We have, you know, our American 250 that we're doing all the way through June. We have our cardboard boat race, which happens in August. We have the, you know, the mosaic. We have our Halloween Fest, which everyone thinks is a driver for our businesses. But they just didn't feel like alive on 25. So we are quite A lot of them said, we've talked about this on a sidebar, and we feel like it's not something that is benefiting directly all of the businesses in a way that they felt was putting the effort forth. In fact, some of them said, oh, you know, it helps the food trucks more. And while we want to be helpful to that and we want to bring people to town, we're trying to look this year, especially with the construction stuff, at what would specifically drive those individual businesses that pay taxes here that do that. So that's kind of the question I ask. I would completely disagree with that statement based on over the past years, restaurants like Digger's, it's one of the few nights that you can't get a table to go inside, and Kachina and all the other downtown restaurants, they flourish during Alive in 25. It is a great way for other breweries and institutions that are outside the street limits in other places of the town where they can come in and set up shop and advertise their product and get people to purchase items. I have never heard anybody say that it's not beneficial to the downtown businesses because I think it's something that many businesses, quite frankly, have looked over, so I'm not really sure where that's come from. That was completely surprising. I just wanted to say, too, that I thought I understood that with the Alive in 25 programs last summer that there were pub crawls after the Alive in 25 event that helped a lot of the bars. I was curious. They didn't mention that at all, Supervisor? They did not. Because that's what they did. That was something that specifically the programming was designed to do, that once the event ends at, say, what, 9 o'clock, the rest, the music and everything was going to travel to the other bars, which it did. And, Joanne, was that a success? I thought that was very successful. All the restaurants, they immediately put it through the roof. I don't think anyone was saying it. I don't think anyone in the people that were present were saying that it was unsuccessful. They were just asking and they were saying with the construction and the other things. They saw the opportunity to put the emphasis on the cardboard boat race. They saw the emphasis. And, again, it wasn't poison a question, and I asked them over and over, I want to do what's beneficial to them. In fact, I think the new person for the chamber, if it would be okay, if she would. Mariana? Yeah, would you like to come up, Mariana, and just express what was expressed there? And I am happy to do this program as long as it has those support. But, again, there's no doubt about it. The chamber, the bid, Easton Arts felt like there's some other ways that we could benefit that. So, go ahead. Yeah, so I guess what I can add as a result of the conversation that I'm hearing is basically, so when we sat together yesterday, all this was brought to my attention, and it was even said that maybe we could do a different event, you know, something that would focus more on the businesses, even if we added something else, in addition to, like, the cardboard boat race and a few other things that we have going. So, you know. As much as, I guess, Alive in 25, you know, benefits the businesses, there's a whole bunch of construction that, you know, is happening, kind of, like, takes that road out. And then, I guess, the food trucks was a thing, you know, like, kind of taking away from, like, local businesses and stuff. So, they were, you know, discussing doing different things. Some of the ideas brought up was, like, a wine and dine, you know, type of event, you know, to sort of, like, enhance, like, the local businesses as opposed to just, you know, bringing back Alive in 25. You know, just making it a little bit different for this year. Well, I would like to add to this that Diane Tucci did suggest moving Alive on 25 to Thursdays so that there's more people coming into the businesses when it's kind of an off time for them, where on a Friday or Saturday night, they're used to having traffic in, you know, their restaurants. But by doing it on a Thursday, that would bring people that necessarily, really would not be coming to downtown to help the businesses. Especially during the time of construction, you know, these businesses are going to need a little bit of, you know, an oomph, not just the cardboard boat race day. So, I have a question. This is going to, the proposal is on 2nd Street between 1 and 1, between Rowan Oak and Griffin. Vermont Mosaic is doing that. So, it would be right over here. That's Mosaic. That's not, Alive on 25 is still. Where's Alive on 25? Would it still be on Main Street? I think that Councilman Kern's bringing that up because I said that Diane had suggested, because of the construction, doing something similar to the Mosaic and having something here out on West 2nd Street and then incorporating the pub crawl afterwards to, you know, draw people to go walk downtown. Yeah, and I agree. I mean, I would never support Friday night again. Because, you know, I don't know. Just for the reasons that you said. Yeah. And it did have a negative impact on the Suffolk Theater for parking. Absolutely. That's what they all expressed across the board. Bid has said they do not want to lead Alive on 25. Chamber said they do not want to lead Alive on 25. Again, they've spoken to their constituents and they've come across with that. They really did ask that we put the focus onto the cardboard boat race. Yeah, I mean, to me, they're all different events. That's number one. Has anybody polled? All the businesses and the food trucks. I mean, 1125, though I think this is a very small stretch, usually gets 4,000 to 5,000 to 6,000 people. So the food trucks can't feed all those people. And that's why the restaurants fill up, right? Family of four are always going up and down. And we try to try this restaurant, that one. And it's based on how long the wait is and so forth. So, you know, sometimes we get a snack at the food truck. You get something to try something different. And then you finally get into Diggers or something later on. My concern is the length of this road and how big it's going to be. And the pub crawl, I don't know why it's not done for a whole month, like every Thursday night. You know, I mean, the pub crawl doesn't have to be just the night of 1125. If that's successful, I would, like, repeat that through two months on a Thursday night and really promote that. Yeah, they mentioned definitely changing the night would be, you know, maybe better if Friday was sort of, like, you know, not, you know, took away from what was already there. I personally don't see how putting it on Second Street is going to, you know, help those businesses that we're trying to help, you know. I understand with the construction, obviously. But, you know, the Second Street doesn't, I don't know. Well, if I'm being honest, Diane Tucci did actually say that she would prefer to have it on Main Street. She thought that that was a better option. And I think that's a good point. And after speaking with the police chief, he would prefer if the length of the event was shorter so that, you know, it has less of an impact for him. He has to stop at Roanoke and that people would be able to make the right to keep traffic flowing. Yeah. But the problem is it does shut off Diggers and that part of Main Street. Keep in mind also. I mean, and I've spoken to the chief about just events and Town Square and all that other stuff. The close off Main Street is between $17,000 to $19,000. And his, you know, preference in the future is to have things take place in the Town Square where he can, you know, it's condensed and it's a lot less enforcement there. But I am concerned that the length of this is not, you know, it's not going to be as long as it used to be. So I'm not saying that it's going to be as long as it used to be. I'm just saying that it's not tremendous. I don't know. You know, what I think is great is that, you know, we have all this parking here. Doing it on Main Street is tough because there's not a lot of parking for the vendors. And I've done probably 12 of those I volunteered for on Main Street. And the vendors, you know, take up a lot of parking spaces. So now you look at the people coming to visit. Yeah. It gets challenging. I just remember on social media. And so for last year, like, we got a lot of praise. And from business residents, out of towners, like, it was just, it was, Diane did a phenomenal job putting it together. In a very short period of time. And now she's back in that same crunch pattern. And I think that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I understand the potential if it's going to be more cost for police savings to stop at Roanoke Avenue and allow traffic to flow through, it might be one less intersection that we need to do. Yeah.

people to see Riverhead is rebuilding and we're a work in progress. And so with Main Street, let's fill Main Street with people. Let's give, if we do it, I think we did it two nights last year, right? We can do the same thing two nights again, give them that burst of income and energy downtown because sometimes you go on a live at 25 and you might, this restaurant's full of them, you get yourself into another place and you go, hey, I didn't realize this was here, this is great. And then you return back and you go to that and it continues in ongoing betterment for all the businesses downtown. It's much different when you walk that street as opposed to driving by in your car and then when you're walking it, you understand every boutique, every store, and you go, I didn't realize this was on Main Street, this is great. And so I'm all for promoting businesses, promoting the success. It was a great project last year, did a great job, and I really would like to see this continue going. Are you talking about Main Street, Ken, or Second Street? Main Street. Main Street. Yep, Main Street. Especially the ice cream store that's down there, Ben & Jerry's is down there, and they opened at a very difficult time, and I want to bring people there to help them succeed, and have people that don't realize that there's Ben & Jerry's on Main Street in Riverhead. It's battle of the ice creams, we can get Mexi-candy and go against Ben & Jerry's. Ice cream war. Mexi-candy has excellent ice cream as well. I think we need to sit with the bid leadership. And the chamber leadership, and I think we need to make sure that what we're hearing, and that we're doing this, and obviously every person at this table wants to support our downtown businesses, and businesses in every one of our downtowns. And I think we need to make sure that we're doing it in the way that they want it done, and that they see beneficial to their businesses. Because they pay taxes here all year, and they bring those people, and yes, and I've been to all the Live on 25s, and it's amazing, but we wanna make sure that we're doing this. And I think we need to make sure that we're doing this, and we're doing that. Not just because we've done it every year, but that it's beneficial this year as well as it can be. So I think we need to revisit this next week at work session, and have some more of those representatives available. And as I've stepped into this role, so I haven't obviously been into the businesses to have this conversation, so maybe it'll give me a week to sort of jump in there and get into some of those businesses and see what they're saying as well. Cuz I am stepping in, and as you know, it's a lot. Yeah. It's a big adjustment. Yeah, thank you for coming this morning. Yeah, no problem, definitely. And all of them, but yeah, I think this is a healthy discussion. This is what needs to happen. Yeah, this is great. I would like to take the opportunity to say that if you are a business downtown and you're watching this or you read, hopefully somebody will report this in the local paper. Get in touch with me and let me know how this affects your business. Is it a positive thing? What are the negative things? Is there something that we can change and that will help us move forward as well? Absolutely, we have to make decisions now. We do need time for planning and so forth, so we can't just keep putting ourselves together. Yeah, that was my next question actually. So what is her timeline? Do you have a, did she say anything? I think next week if we have this, because our next board meeting would be a week from after that week, so then we can do that within and get it on resolution. Yeah, okay. We could probably include her in the next work session. Okay. So that way, conversation can be had and we can nail it down whether it's a go or a no. She was willing to be here today and I suggested that maybe this is a conversation that we all just have to have with the public input. So. Thanks, thanks for stopping, thanks for being here. And again, like Joanne said, Joanne is our bid representative, so our liaison, so make sure you reach out to her. Yeah, thank you. Absolutely. Our next matter at hand was put on the agenda matters surrounding the Long Island Science Center with myself and Councilwoman Maryfield. We asked the Long Island Science Center to be here to update us on where they are on their main street project. But unfortunately, they confirmed that they could be here and then said that they could not be here any longer. And so we'll be re-inviting them next week and every week until they give us an update because we need to make sure that we're staying on top of that. As we reactivate our downtown. Well, Supervisor, if I may, I'd like to make a statement with regard to that. We've asked the science center to be at work session today to address their failure to fulfill their promises that they made to the taxpayers and the business owners in downtown a year ago. Last April in 2025, the town board, they came to a town board work session. And we were at the point of last April, 2025, that we had a decision to re-invite our downtown. And we did.

At least ten times, the representative that appeared before this work session told us that they would be open for business in the summer of 2025. We all had extreme reservations about that, but they kept insisting that they would be open for business summer 2025. In fact, it wasn't just the town board that they made these representations. By speaking to us at the work session, they made those representations to all of our taxpayers and all of our downtown businesses. What has that building been? It started in 2019. It was purchased by Mr. Larry Oxman. From 2019 until today, that building has never opened as a science center. That's very unfortunate because we would have loved, loved, I don't mean to speak for everybody else on the board. We would have loved to have seen that science center fulfill its mission. Unfortunately for us, we relied on those representations because we all felt that if they didn't get up and going right then and there, that this was not going to be coming in line at the same time as the rest of the town square development. I look back at articles that were written in 2022 and in 2024 where the science center was supposed to be an activation center. It was supposed to be an activation center. It was supposed to be an activation for our town square. And our town square is a downtown revitalization program that we received many, many grants for. But to be a successful town square, it was always necessary for an activation. And that science center has not, unfortunately, has not become that. Instead, the building has sat for seven years now, not virtually paying no taxes. The science center [transcription gap] tax rolls as a not-for-profit entity basically tax-free if they had actually been an ongoing business that was a commercial business that was not a not-for-profit they would have owed the town approximately three hundred and forty thousand dollars in taxes now that's tax money that our taxpayers need and the business owners downtown in the town square in the downtown area they need business they don't need a vacant blighted building that deters customers from coming to our downtown and I'm very disappointed in them that they did not appear today because I know for a fact supervisor that they were looking for a meeting to speak to you individually and I find it offensive that they didn't want to come in and speak to the town board and address their failures to us because as we sit here today a year later for when they came in in April of 2025 you ! still have no opening of that building we have no opening in sight in fact they don't even have building permits for that building even today I would have loved it to be a science center but it was a dream that is not going to come to fruition at that location and that's the key problem that location is very important to the survival or the economic development of our town square for our visitors for our customers for all of our taxpayers and I think the important thing to remember about this whole thing is the hotel is on one side the science center was supposed to be on the other side and in the center the town owns the town square the town square is the drainage for the hotel the town square would also have to be the drainage for the science center if we have we do not have a building going forward there the pavers will be set in the town square and that would all have to be ripped up again after the eventually eventually the science center if ever came into fruition that would all have to be dug up at our taxpayers expense so that the proper drainage could be put in they have so many problems going on right now first of all they've never come forward to prepare contracts for any easements to put the drainage in the town square they have not come forward with any plan for streetscapes they have to put the utilities down underground on Main Street they don't have a flood mitigation plan and the most concerning part to me is that they have mechanics liens on that building right now there was someone that did some work to the tune of $13,000 a mere $13,000 and they did not pay that contractor to the point that he's put a lien on that property i have severe doubts i i have i have absolutely no hope that that science center will ever come to fruition in the time schedule that we needed to for the activation of our town square and i just want to make it clear i absolutely want a family-friendly venue down there and i'm sure we can find something else to come into that location but i don't feel that with the current pace from 2019 to 2026 that building's sitting vacant and blighted it will ever come online in the time period it's supposed to and i'm extremely disappointed that no one from that entire board could come in to address these concerns we have because i relied on those assurances from them that they would have this up and running and that's why i didn't vote to proceed with condemnation and as a result of them not being present as a result of all of their inactivity from 2019 to now 2026 i can't see us holding on waiting for this dream and that's what i feel it is at this point a dream that that's ever going to happen in the town square and i feel my responsibility to our town's taxpayers and the businesses down there we're speaking about the downtown businesses a moment ago and what helps their livelihoods we need to move on and i wish them luck at another location i think it would be a wonderful place if it ever comes to be but not at that town square and i would i would ask that special counsel go forward with all the procedures for the condemnation proceeding and that's the statement i wanted to make i'm extremely disappointed that they couldn't even take the time not any of them to come in here and speak to us about this and lastly i want to just address um supervisor it says that on the on the agenda for today um that lucy barnes was supposed to come in and it says that you and i have requested that the town square be moved to the town square and that's what we're going to do and that's what we're going to do and that's what we're going to do and that's what we're going to be Larry Oxman and he put forth this set of plans that was phenomenal to say the least it seemed to be evident at that time that we were building the air and space museum of a Washington style museum right here in a local downtown and it was phenomenal the drawings design work it was everything that Riverhead wanted to create the ultimate activation space that was down there and and the support behind it from the town board at the time the community was was was 100 percent um it just seemed then immediately right after that silence kind of came about and for three years we've sat from that point in absolute silence where no additional plans were coming forth on no no revised designs nothing and we continue to try to engage with them through all of the meetings that we had and the development of the town square it just fell silent and it seemed to be financial reasons that that nothing was you know that without the proper finances put in place it was a project that wasn't going to come to fruition I firmly believe in the science center and wish that they could come forth you know they had the idea of philanthropists stepping up and others but I have not seen a single fundraiser out there in the general public I haven't seen you know any means we have a million dollar grant that I believe is is coming up for expiration in June what I have seen is a building in which they purchase for a small amount of money and I've seen um it's been on and off on the market over the last few years and the potential to sell it I think that has been utilized more as a real the science center has used it as a realtor holding company figuring that the town is going to build the town square and invest all this money so that in the end we have a vacant building that's next next to the town square that they can eventually sell off to somebody else and I think that's a really important thing that we're going to be looking at and I just I've never seen any real proposals when we discuss condemnation it wasn't about putting an end to the science center in any way shape or form it was a motivation attempt to bring them forth because what still remains and and will remain if we don't take action from my perspective was all about the safety concerns this board must provide safe passage for people within that town square traveling on main street the facade of the building is separating there are cracks in the foundation we have pictures it is full of mold and other materials so as ventilation wind carries through that building um there was infestation of vermin and other things that around there there is sewage of flooding that comes out the back here we are building and investing taxpayer money along with incredible grants we received to create the ultimate downtown project and we're not addressing um the component that sits adjacent to all of it and so for safety concerns for public health concerns I encourage the science center now more than ever if you're going to do this step forward submit your plans and begin the activation they were here they revised their plans to make it a much more affordable project um we wanted them to have um access and entrance and exit ways into the town square because we're trying to create that flow from people going that are gathering inside the sound square and entering the town square and the children's area the plan works but if they don't participate and they don't you know step up and money's expiring and mechanics lean they're all the signs like how long do we sit idle and say I don't think it's going to happen and I don't think they're going to have the funding you know we reached out to the science center early on to kind of talk about what their things were when you call the science center it's closed I mean they're they're they own a building downtown and they're renting space up at the Tangram wall I want the Tangram wall to be successful and if that's you know where they can be successful but they're not open the only way that they're open to is if you schedule a class trip to somebody that specifically comes in there so I don't even want that mon that that module to come downtown and and I don't want to even if they rebuild the building I don't want it to sit locked up and say we're only going to open up for a class trip we need an activation space down there but more importantly I'm concerned when we look through pictures and we've put these out to the general public before there are severe health department concerns in there with mold there are separations in in the facades in the foundation God forbid we fill the town square and families are gathering and there's something shears off that building and comes down you're smiling and laughing it's not it's a serious thing that I'm telling you that it's a smile it's not laughing but it's it's it is serious because God forbid something happens down there we're responsible for not taking action so not taking action makes a statement in itself and so we I want the Science Center I we've pleaded with them to come forth but if they're not going to and they're not going to do this then we have a moral and a legal responsibility to protect the residents of town at some point we have to take action I think that point in time is now yeah I I think that's why they were called here today and I'm sorry that my general demeanor of smiling is offensive uh but if you were with the Science Center again we're asking them to come in next week they have uh they will be on the work session again to explain themselves and we will be moving forward with what we need to do uh to make that happen and to make the downtown Activation Center a possible as a team of five and so I'm looking forward to doing that and again thank you for presenting those pictures and your passion for both of it and I know Denise and I have talked about it and we've shared that that you have done everything you could Denise to continue to communicate to them uh you know where they need to be and so I appreciate that across the world thank you so much actually um Councilwoman Mary Field had asked to move forward with the demolition of the building and I second that the condemnation yes yes so do you not want to have them back next week to to sit here I don't need them back and I would ask Councilman Rothwell too I I mean we have to at some point take action I I would certainly be open to one last final call of like come in and tell us what you're doing what is there if you intend to go forward if you are simply a real realtor you know real estate Holdings company and you're waiting for the town square to build then say it and put it out there and maybe put it up for sale now and let somebody else come in and be part of the activation space because we are investing taxpayer dollars into that town square and it needs to connect to that building and so the projects need to coincide with each other so time is running out because we've got shovels in the ground now we are actively begun build our town square and their silence speaks volumes so if they're not going to come in here next week and they're not going to put forth their plans then it's time to move on to somebody else only because I will not agree that it needs that it's going to remain there as a closed building as a health concern as it would so then then we will take the unnecessary action that we need to do to move it forward I just think that they've had all that and they got that at the 11th hour last year and it's a full year I'd ask everyone April 10 2025 watch that video a full year later and still no action just talk and the fact that they don't even have a building permit in says to me they are not planning on moving forward on this thing anytime soon at all I think time's up so I think that our next board meeting is in two weeks and so we can continue to move forward with the action we can prepare those things we can have them at the table next week and they can make the decisions that they're going to make they've obviously made those by their their action or the budget that we areheading areheading table next week and they can make the decisions that they're going to make they've obviously made those by their their action or inaction that they've had it to this point and so we can continue to move forward we can give them the opportunity to speak on if they are the building owners so that we can extend them that that opportunity and we can continue to move forward in the way that we feel appropriate i will say to both councilwoman waski councilwoman merrifield that at the next town board meeting i will be your third vote to move forward you know with the condemnation if there is no response here and so this is now their hour to come forth to decide what they want to do if they are going to do a project it is time to open up the lines of communication and come forth but without that we need to address the safety concerns and i'll be there to support your emotions but that's exactly what we did a year ago yeah i agree it was a year ago so what more can they come in and say we're going to be open in a month we're going to be open in two months and not looking at the way this building looks i think the i think the public and i think the public and i think the public and i think the public and i think the public and i think

but when you're given the opportunity if you sincerely believe that you are going to be able to complete your project that you are so passionate about and you cannot find anyone to come and show up to address the board when you've been requested after being idle doing nothing for over a year when you promised to be open in the summer of 2025 and we're stuck looking at a blighted building downtown that is unsafe i i really see no need to to meet with them i i don't want to i don't i don't at this point i don't think there's anything they're going to say that we can rely on that's my point good let's hear it let's hear when they come here they have nothing to say they have nothing to say and it's a done deal so sounds good it sounds like we have a plan and i agree with moving forward and we need to to make take action in this area so um so i think that unless someone says something on that specific matter uh i think that ends our open session and we'll move into our executive session where we have a contractual matter surrounding the change of contractual agreement between the town of riverhead and environmental facilities corp with prudente diapolo and alan from our sewer district so with that in mind we will be closing and adjourning our our work session for today can i have a motion to adjourn so move second all in favor all right so moved goodbye

thank you