Full Transcript

Thank you.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, sir, very, very much. Great job, Bob. Thank you so much. Does anyone have any announcements this morning? Yes. Remind everyone that this is National Donor Month. Please, everyone, consider either filling out the card. It starts with donating once you pass or being a living donor. There's people in need of kidneys, 100,000 people a day. 100,000 people in the United States need one currently. So everyone consider being a living donor. For that, it's a great feeling to be able to help save someone's life. Also, I wanted to remind everyone that the composting, online on the town's website, you can purchase composters and rain barrels. And being that... I think, when was Earth Day? Was that? Wednesday. This is a great time to think about that in the spring. Purchase that online, and you can pick them up at the Young's Avenue facility on June 13th between 9 and 2 p.m. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. I would just like to remind everybody, for those that don't know, that this Saturday is our townwide spring cleanup. Come down to Town Hall between the hours of 9 and 11, and come get your pickers and your gloves, and we'll give you trash bags, and do your part to keep our community clean. So I hope to see everybody, bring your family, the kids. We do have a great showing for this event. And we will also have the Lions Club will be here, and they will be collecting electronics. So if you have an old radio or cell phone or keyboard, laptop, anything that you need to get rid of, they will take it and dispose of it for you. So, again, that's this Saturday, April 25th. Thank you, Councilman Woski. Anyone else? I'll just mention the Hometown Hero Banners have been going up. We did notice during installation we had a number of brackets that, unfortunately, are in the winter. We believe it may have been through snow plows that some of the brackets were bent. So our, I think, contestant in the building and grounds crew. And street lighting crew are out there repairing some of them. So not every banner is up yet. It is a work in progress. And they will certainly all be hanging before Memorial Day. But it's a work in progress. Awesome. Thank you very much. Go ahead. So let's not forget Saturday when the little junior Mets and Yankees and our little league team, which will start at 1030 a.m. at Stotsky Park, come see the future baseball players. And I'm going to have a little bit of a talk with them. I'm going to have a little bit of a talk with them. I'm going to just ask that, to follow up with Denise, if there's a flyer for the living donors since it's a whole month, can we put that on the flyer up on Channel 22? Thank you. Awesome. I have one other thing. I just want to mention that Saturday morning is also the polar plunge for the Special Olympics. And our PBA is partaking in that. And they raised a lot of money. And there's a lot of police officers that will be doing the. And I know that the Moose Lodge has a group that are participating in it as well. It's a great community event. So if you'd like to go down to Splish Splash Saturday morning and show your support, I know there's a lot of great people that would really appreciate that. Awesome. That's great. And then don't forget America 250, our birthday party, is coming up on the 4th of July. But leading up to that on May 1st at Suffolk Theater, 8 p.m., the Great American Bash. We did get an update. Tickets are going fast. And so. There is limited ticket supply. So definitely don't miss out on that at all. So if that's everything, thank you, everyone. We'll begin our open session with Matters Surrounding, our monthly code enforcement report with Officer Downs. So, Rich, if you want to come down and give your report. No pun intended. Come on down. Exactly. It's like the press is right. You got it. The press is wrong.

How are you guys doing? Good. How are you? Good. All right. Everybody have the code report for February and March combined report? Okay. So for the complaint investigations for the period between February 1st and March 1st, we opened up a total of 139 complaints. That's pretty good. The complaints included, but we're not limited to rental properties without permits, rental verification investigations, illegal apartments, and overconsumption. So we are

So the tickets and violations section, we issued a total of 45 in February and 94 in March. Combined total is 139. So quite busy there. You know, I wonder, I think that the complaint investigations and the tickets violation issued should be posted on our website so that people know that code is out there doing all this work. And I think it's important that they see the complaints so that if there's something in their neighborhood, right, they can look down this list here and say, I'm calling code. Sure. We could even have this report put on the website. That'd be great. There's nothing really complicated. There's nothing confidential here. So no problem. Okay. So the primary violations for the summonses and violations included accessory apartments, certificate of occupancies, stop work orders, building permits, unsafe, dangerous structures or conditions, rental occupancy permits that were required, some property maintenance violations, parking on the front lawn violations. Illegal occupancy and overcrowding swimming pool violations. And we're in the season now excavation, importation and mining violations, site plan violations, zoning use violations and street sidewalk and snow removal violations. Those are from February. So Rich, I'm just curious because I know, I mean, we normally there are some people that get so much public because I know, I mean, we normally, there are some people that get so much public attention without realizing. How many people are building without permits right now, would you say? Ramping up right now because this is the season. It's getting warmer out there, so everybody's anxious to get started. In some cases, they have building permits just pending, and they're just, you know, getting a jump on things. So we're seeing a lot of that. Okay, thanks. Yep. Appreciate it. And I know you guys did a really good job of warning people about the snow removal, so thank you for that. Yeah, I think those are moving through Justice Court now. So we'll see what happens. Victoria is up next, I think, right? I just want you to know that I have received so many complaints over the past two, three weeks particularly about Polish Town. Marcy Avenue, Hamilton, Parkway, they are complaining about the amount of garbage that's all over the town. The neighborhoods there, excessive cars, parking on lawns, it's really getting out of hand. And I am happy that we are moving forward to hiring two part-time code enforcement officers to help your department. And I really appreciate the extra work that you're putting into, you know, your daily duties that you already have on your plate. So thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. And I appreciate getting extra help, too. So that will be very helpful for us. So, Rich, another one that I'm getting is people, when they're using, when they're blowing leaves and debris, they're blowing it into the street. And, you know, your cars are passing by, and, you know, their cars are getting hit with little pebbles and stuff like that. And I know that's against the law. I don't know what the fine is. Victoria, we can explore that later. But that's an issue. And especially when highways just went through, and swept all the streets. Yeah, I know. It's historically been a problem. They're in the process of, yeah. You know, ever since the loose leaf pickup, people always just blow them out into giant piles in the street. In some cases, you'll see people fence them in, which is great, because if they blow it into the fenced area, you know, with those temporary Home Depot fencing, you can get the orange fencing, you can blow it in there. But in some cases, they just miss, and they just blow it out into the street. Yeah, that's a no-no for us. That's also identical. Yeah. It clogs up the drains eventually. I mean, there's a whole. It silts up the drains, the storm drains, yeah. I think that was, you know, I'm a motorcycle enthusiast, and it's as the weather breaks warm, everybody's getting their motorcycles out and riding, keep conscious with those leaves, as Councilman Kern said, out in the street, but also the grass clippings and so forth. It's quite dangerous, especially on larger roads like Sound Avenue, all the things where, you know, things get out there on the road, and they're very slick for motorcycles. So let's try to do our best to keep them on a curb. Yeah, absolutely. And I advise everybody. All the residents get yard waste permits because they don't even pick up grass clippings. So. Yeah. It's just even cutting the grass, just the small amount that blows out from the side, you know. Sure. Trying to, it does become very dangerous. Yeah. Is it possible, can we ask Councilor Howard if you could just come forward, do we have the resolutions in for our next meeting for our code enforcement officers and additional staff like updates that we're keeping on track with Councilwoman Zawadzki's initiatives? As well as yours. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. No, there's no resolutions in because we haven't identified the people that we're hiring yet. We put up the posting on Indeed for, yeah, for the part-time positions. Once we interview people and identify the candidates that we want to hire, then we put in the resolution to approve their hire. Okay. But it's been published in the Post and we're setting up interviews soon, right? Yes. Okay. So now's the time for interested parties to respond and to apply. So that would be good. I noticed, Rich, that it did the permits for rental properties in February of 82 and then in March it jumped up to 144. Are those accessory dwelling units or what types of rental properties are they? Well, we monitor different types of rental properties. We inspect single family homes, multiple family homes, three family homes and apartments. So in some cases you'll see a bump in the number because of the apartments. Yeah. It jumped a whole lot. Yeah. Do you have an idea? Maybe you can find out how. Yeah.

Yeah, the permits issued in February were 82, and in March, rental properties, and it has permits issued 144. So I was curious. Yeah, it's probably just that we did more inspections that month. I think so. Those appear in the lines. And buildings do go quicker through them? So the apartments, yeah, we do go through them quicker, and that will amount to more inspections. Yeah. Yeah, and we rely on the applicant to schedule the inspections, too. In some cases, we're just kind of pushing them to schedule their inspection, and a lot of times they're just late on doing that. So it's a lot of phone calls and just trying to get the applicant just to schedule the inspection. We have to follow up with them? Is there a way that we can set it? We need to discuss maybe setting something up where they get. They take some amount of time to do it. They do. It's three months, but even the three-month period, in some cases, they're lacking certain paperwork. I'll work with you on that. It's three months to pass the inspection. Three months to get one. Yeah, to get the inspection. And if you fail to pass the inspection, you have to reapply. Yeah. And we're starting to enforce that now because the rules have changed since last year, and so we're just giving people some time to get acclimated. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? Comments, questions? Okay. Thank you, both. All right. Thanks. Our next is our Matters of Shining, our monthly justice court report with our counselor. Victoria, if you'd like to come to the table, that would be awesome.

Thank you so much. Good morning. Excuse my jacket. I spilled coffee on my shirt. So does everyone have a question? Does everyone have a question? Does everyone have the charts for both comments? Okay. And just to answer the question that was pitched about ten minutes ago, the leaf blowing on the roads, that's under 237.13. That's deposits, obstructions, and encumbrances prohibited on the road. That's a $1,000 fine. You could also probably charge them under littering, 245, and that is a $1,000 fine with a $65 surcharge. Does the other one have a surcharge too? No. Let's put one on. Get right on that. I know. So February is slightly lower because we had that big snowstorm. So all of the cases that were on one of those February dates got moved to March. So as you can see, February we still did really well, but March is pretty much triple that. So we had a couple of trials. I have a bunch coming. We have one up in May. But as you can see, blight and fire marshal cases are the ones that are really bringing in the most. And a lot of them are moving very quickly, and if they're not moving, they get put on for trial. So that's really all I have unless there's particular questions about anything going on in court or what you want to see going on in court. Spot on. You're doing a good job. Thank you. The blight mitigation. Yes. Is that solely? For residential areas or does that also include blighted buildings that are on Main Street? Yeah. Okay. Most of what we see and most of what are pled in justice court are the residential homes.

Okay. Great. Thank you all so much. Thank you very much. Absolutely awesome. Our next one is matters surrounding our monthly town clerk report with our good friend Jim. That record, I think. Oh, he's good. A lot of dog licenses. I was just going to say, I just want to know about the dogs. Yeah. Actually, we had a pretty good month, actually, in March. Four requests were up a little bit, but they're being circumvented pretty quickly. Special event permits came in, as you see at the top. What does that mean? Is that 12? 12 permits come in. Dog licenses, renewables are good. Efficient licenses are starting to come in at 45 of those. Yard sale permits are starting to go out. And the big one is taxi cab renewals. Those are huge for us. My deputy is right on top of that. She took over that when she took office, and she's very good on top of that. Thank you for that, Jim. It is. It not only keeps everything up to date, but taxi cab renewals are no joke. I mean, the drivers all have to get fingerprints. They have to have a criminal history, and all that's got to be presented. It all got to go through the town attorney for even the renewables. And it's fee-based, so we were able to capture a lot of backlog with money, which was really good. So everybody's up to date on that. So every month she pulls out, see who's coming up, sends a letter, you know, next month you're going to be expired. And she does that. So it was really good. Claims, we had 13 claims come in during March. And that's just most of that was due. It was due to winter and the roadways and potholes and bent-up rims and stuff. But a lot of that had to do with state and county roads. It really didn't affect us too much. But they came in anyway just the same, and they got circulated. As you know, we have a public hearing coming up in May or May the 5th for a shellfish renewal of that code. Right now there's no fee for shellfish licenses in comparison to surrounding towns, which are more. We're going to go with $10, which is, I would like to justify it. I don't like to charge fees, just to charge fees. So we looked at material. We looked at labor. We looked at the time involved to do that, the computer work involved. So $10 seems reasonable, which would justify the fees. Right. But then you also have the bay constable out there who's checking, right, for people's permits. So I would. And that comes. Right. So that's a good thing. That could be the reason why other towns charge a little bit more, you know, because there's other. Right. You know. I'm sure. Right. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm just looking at probably the cost of toys to issue it. I understand. Maybe by not having it might be a different avenue for that. Okay. And I appreciate that. Well, yeah, thank you. Thank you, Bob. No, thank you. I mean, that's all we do is public service. It's really. So handicap permits are up. It's mostly, you know, we are where we are. Site plans are coming in. They come in every day. We just had a nice one come in, but that'll get circulated. So. And that's it. Any questions? Come on, tell me. No, sir. Come on. I need to know. Other than your shellfish, finfish. Shellfish, finfish. And I'm getting ready to go. I'm sorry for not wearing my suit and tie, which I normally always wear, but I'm heading down to Vegas this afternoon. So. Take care. Take care of some family business. For Vegas? Yeah. Renewing some gambling licenses? What are we doing? We will. You'll be in our thoughts and prayers. Yeah, going to say goodbye to a family member. So. But. Yep, you're in our thoughts and prayers. Thanks, Jim. Yeah, be safe. All right, our final report, our Matters surrounding Monthly Police Report with Chief Frost. Thank you, sir, for joining us. My order in. I'll carry it around with me. He's doing an executive session. Chief's going to order his lunch. So, it's great. All right. We'll start out with February. Pretty routine month for us. Criminal incidents were down to 100. But we'll discuss that in March. When we get to that. I mean, everything kind of stayed the same. They dropped a little, obviously. Simple assaults went down. That was a bigger category. Criminal mischief went down a little bit. Drugs and narcotic violations went down. Driving under the influence in February went up to 17. All right. So, we'll get to that. All right. We had no suspected drug overdoses in February. Just as another informational stat. That's awesome. And if you can see at page seven, just what the arrests were for. February again, as Victoria stated, we had a lot of snow. Probably kept a lot of people inside. A lot of people were out. A lot of people off the streets. So, that was definitely a good aspect of it. Still shoplifting out there. Yes. Well, we'll bring that up in March. Okay. Yeah. I was just going to ask on the February report, I noticed a big decline in revenue collected. Yes. We had an intern. Again, we're still having trouble processing alarm billing. We did speak to the water department to try to get them onto, like, the town's billing system. It just didn't work out for how we bill. Okay. So, a lot of that revenue is from alarm billing, like, false alarm billing. Okay. So, we're still trying to process that. You know, we do have an intern lined up for starting, like, next month. So, hopefully, we'll, like, during, unfortunately, we probably overwhelmed the town attorney's office during the summer. But we'll hopefully recoup a lot of that during that time period. And we're still trying to work. You know, it's because we went to a newer system. You know, that we really didn't have much input. Okay. We really didn't have much input on, you know, and does not have the alarm billing module. So, but we do it manually when we have the interns to catch up. Keith, I just, who do I talk to in terms of PAL? Somebody came up, there's sort of this junior football league. So, it's when you finish with PAL and then you can't get on to junior varsity or something. There's a group and they compete. Okay. Who do I talk to? You probably have to speak to the PAL football director. I believe it's still Mike High. I'd have to kind of check on that because those positions kind of, like, roll, you know, like, throughout. Newer people take over. I'm not really sure. He was, Mike High was in the position. He actually does, I believe, do some kind of teaching in the middle school. So, yeah, I think that would be the person. But Mike High right now. So, thank you. Okay. Oh, thank you.

leadership and that they've accomplished great tasks that's making our streets safe. But I just, he just praises how great it's been and open-minded in the unity between the county police department with our local Riverhead as well as other East End task force. So you're doing a phenomenal job on that front. Yeah, thank you, man. And with the FBI, I mean, the U.S. Marshals were involved. I mean, I was really impressed with the scope of that whole investigation and what the outcome was. A couple of other detectives had a major part in those two cases. Again, things have changed since my time. A lot of electronic work with phones, computers, et cetera, going through everything and kind of piecing everything together. But also working collaboratively with Suffolk County Police Department, Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. Suffolk County Sheriff's. Everyone has had a part in it and all the information comes together and it leads to a successful case. It was two homicides pinned to that case. One was in Riverhead back in 2000, I'm going to say 22, I believe, or early 23. Someone that was unfortunately fatally shot here. And then there was another one, I think, in the domestic Bellport area. So it was a good case. And obviously the next one. The next day we did come up with another good arrest for illegal narcotics that were possessed in the Riverhead area. Excellent. These are long, tedious investigations that you guys worked through and they just said you guys have been an open book with them and just working so closely. Yeah. So they actually, a couple of those detectives were kind of half the time detailed out. They were going up to Hoppog, to the DA's office, working there with Ray Tanner's team. And they were working on the case. And the only evidence that we actually found was that he actually made a Because with I think it was run by the district attorney's office because they're seeing an uptick in larcenies all over the place so they're actually the DA's office is being proactive and they're going to Prosecute stuff like I brought up before but they're also changing if you're trespassed from a Riverhead Home Depot and then what they used the individuals usually do they'll go to the one in You know Coram and steel and now they need a separate a separate Trespass affidavit for for that store. So they're actually came up with a different Affidavit that's going to list So once you trespass in one your trip your trespass for every store in Suffolk County for Home Depot And then they can turn it or so I you know, we trespass someone here. They go to Huntington It's you know in Suffolk County and they have this new affidavit filled out It goes to a burglary which is a felony so and then the DA's office is looking to look and they brought this to the forefront so I ! Changes a lot. He's doing a great job. He's you know, it's big help It's great because it's like detectives in the making You know, that's that they do a lot of statements They do a lot of photo spreads and you know, they often help out the patrol younger patrol force, you know Give them guidance and then maybe you know here and there take a quick statement from where we need a statement taken Where maybe you know someone newer doesn't really never have never has taken a statement before but they kind of walk them through it As like guidance as well, so All right, welcome to March What the biggest number is obviously the criminal instance jumped to 167 I Do have a breakdown of where that this came from and this is where I'm saying the crime control unit so we had a a Store On the 58 corridor changed their loss prevention tagging so The one store itself had 12 criminal incidents attached to it because of the new Merchandise tracking system. It's more like almost like GPS. I don't want to say which store it is so people but they that's why they reported so much more You know, that's bigger bigger change I did send the crime control sergeant out with his team to find out from you know We found out what the reason was based on the new tracking system as well as we did a operation with them where we were outside And an individual that has stolen Stole that day took property from the store, but he also did it three previous times In the past month so the individual got arrested that day for but then he also got the other charges dropped on him for You know the other three times all on that day We actively obviously do that with the loss prevention Departments that want to do it like not every store wants to but the ones that do we join up with them You know we pick a day, you know, and then we you know see if You know based on Numbers like they have a lot of larcenies on this day and that between this time. It's not let's just like we're going out You know, we're kind of like Fine tuning it on where when they went and where it's occurring I think you can turn larcenies into grand larcenies. Correct I Was gonna say simple assaults obviously went up we did have a couple residential facilities where They accounted for Eight of the simple assault increases I'm not gonna name the living facilities where where they are, but it's kind of common current for us So that was a pretty good, you know increase as well DWI is one up again another increase by five We had based on the arrests for the narcotics the based on that search warrant which you were talking about console Rothwell are Obviously our narcotics violations went up based on that Which great work? Yes There's nothing nothing in the uptick that is specific towards against just general General general public it's more of People you know, the simple salts are up. It's you you know Councilman, Ron Kern and I are friends. We're at a house. We get into a disagreement and I end up pushing them and You know

Yes This was a trespassing is now where we're in the stores we're constantly We're constantly hitting them with trespass affidavit. So that's what the initial that's what the initial Incident would be it would be considered a trespass And you know that again that trespass leads into possibly, you know, if the person comes back a higher level charge the uptick also Clarifies then you're getting more stores like on Route 58 that are signing on, you know To to agree for you guys to come in to prosecute where in the past maybe a store only Manager just sees it as a daily loss of revenue and now is chosen to sign on and allow you to do this Which it may appear that there's an uptick but it's rally It's really about now prosecuting crimes that will have been ongoing that you haven't had the ability to do that. Correct That's definitely a strong portion of it. Yes, and the loss prevention units in the town of Rivet they actually Thank us for our efforts. Thank the crime control officers in this and their supervisor for going out and proactively a dressing this so I Checked in the domestic incidents in March. It went up a bit. It's January 42 February 46 and 60 Nothing that I could see like I said, I had this all broken out because I knew this would come up there's nothing here that Indicates that It's something that you know, I'm trying to get just For March People were in the house more because the weather it was kind of cold Then I don't have any color correlation to report on that And near and dear to his heart councilman current year strikes are down from 9 to 1. He's been out there clearing the roads

We did have two You know again, I spoke to you guys about this suspected drug overdose We're not really sure at this point until we get a better the non-fatal We shut shocked. Sorry gave no claim to One of them twice and then the other individual once and it were 42 year old males That were that were You know a non-fatal overdose situation So do we know what the substance was? That's we're waiting for you know Drugs coming back from the lab actually takes a long time to get processed So I won't that's why I'm kind of moving away from saying yeah It's a it's a fatal because the drugs might not have been you know Been the contributing factor to the person's if the person died, right? So

Can't How much does that cost and who pays for that I don't believe we pay for it I think we get it We actually got a whole bunch from cap they donated it And I'll have to look into the other source, but I don't believe we actually pay for it I think it comes maybe comes in the county or comes from another source But I don't believe I have never seen a purchase order for an arcane that I've signed So usually the public should don't like on the hazardous waste collection days up at the highway department cap is always present there and Often they will teach you so they will spend five minutes and give you a brief class in summary on our can and you can Pick it up and you carry it. I have some in my Truck it's just in case you ever driving down and somebody on the side of the road collapse or something you can do an evaluation But cap does a brief lesson some bring it I went to the cap luncheon and they Demonstration and I actually have the little the little bag. I was just wondering you know, there's essentially the Taxpayers in some form of the way are paying for for this and A lot of it's provided to from Northwell health So it works with cap on that game medication So if you have no other question, I just want to report that the police department was We went for reaccreditation in the past couple of days three individuals three police officers, you know usually ranking officers, you know come down and You know rip our police department paperwork wise the building the building itself the maintenance of the building You know rip it down to make sure we're in compliance with 112 standards that are set forth in New York State to have a You know a an accredited law enforcement agency that sets the standards for New York law enforcement You know, I'm pleased to say that, you know, we've been told this morning that the group that was here are going to obviously Go to the council and give us the the blessing that you know that what they seem was up to standards for New York State accredited law enforcement agency, so Yeah, yes, even though it's not official yet But you know there that they are going to put us forward to say that yes that we are deserving of it. I would like to thank Dave from buildings and grounds. He did a lot of work at my my Police department painting and getting everything up up in order and obviously I would like to thank my staff Captain will Z. She's the accreditation manager for For this program. It's a big undertaking as with 112 standards and they go back five years of that standard where you need documentation for each each standard for each year. So they went all the way back to 2021 for They went all the way back to 2021 for 112 of the of the standards a lot of work. It's a full cabinet for drawers, you know packed tight You know, she definitely did a lot of work as well as you know, my administration my lieutenants and the You know supervisors and obviously the police officers that you know Go out there every day, you know with the public and you know do an excellent job I Just have one question more I don't know if it's too soon if you can't announce or what but do we have any decision on the dispatchers that were interviewed? Not yet. I'm still working on it. I'm still working out with civil service with the list And seeing one person is kind of like in a limbo right now so I should have an answer soon. So okay, well some lighter news the weather is is warming up out there We have two officers going into the motorcycle Academy. So that's great. I think County executive ed Romaine Suffolk County Police Department for giving us some loaner bikes for training so they could take the vehicle courses So we'll have a certification 24th or May 27th. It's around that day to start of it. So it's excited One weather and have a motorcycle unit rolling Great. Thank you. Good All right So in a second we'll do a first and second to enter into executive session to discuss the following First is personnel matters surrounding update on discipline of an employee with Howard matters surrounding possible change in the status of employees We'll help in Montella and Peker matters surrounding leave of absence with two employees with triple to and litigation matters surrounding update a litigation to the town of Riverhead and cat triple five with Howard may I have a motion to first a second Favor Bye everybody. Have a great day

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