Full Transcript

Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Today is Thursday, July 16, 2026. We're here for a work session. Before we go any further, we do as we always do, we'll stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance today. And we would like to ask if Chief Frost, if you would lead us in the pledge. 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, Chief. So we have a few announcements today. We have a birthday this week. Our deputy supervisor celebrates her birthday on Saturday, so we want to happy birthday to Devin. And we have a few other council people. Do we have any announcements today? We're just going to let the public know we are reconvening. We have a helicopter task force meeting today in the conference room on the third floor. That's going to be at 4 o'clock. It is open to the public. We do have members of our committee, but if any public wants to come in and share concerns, they're welcome to do so. You know, our office has gotten so many calls this morning from residents and the media. And so we checked. I had our deputy supervisor check, and it seems the planning board will be done about 3.30, 3.40. So I think a wise thing to do for us to be able to open it up to as many residents as possible, and Bob and Joanne, if they want to, as you said last night, is to go ahead and notice that. So it will be a public meeting today at 4. We'll move it into this room so that we can all be here and have more voices and work together to do that. So I'm really excited about that. So thank you. Thank you for making that happen. So anybody else have any other announcements this morning? I do. American Legion is having a celebration this Sunday. I believe it starts at 12 or 1 o'clock. Do you know? Anybody know the time? I can tell you right now. Yeah. Do you know? Councilman Merrifield, do you have anything today? You saved it. Just that I know the Bee Gees Tribute Band is playing at the Suffolk Theater this weekend. 1 o'clock. Okay, thank you. All right, 1 o'clock. And the paddle battle is happening at Peconic River on the 25th, and also Rise Live Car Show is happening, and our cardboard boat race on the 1st. And so, Chief Frost, are you joining me that day in my boat? So, yeah, that's exciting. Oh, yeah, so we're excited about all that. So we hope to see you at some of those events. We'll move right into our open session. We'll begin with our matters surrounding our monthly police report for May and June with Chief Frost. So come on up. Good morning everyone. Good morning.

Okay, we'll start with May. We had 3249 total incidents, of which 136 were criminal. We charged 80 individual charges through 69 arrests. Our revenues collected were down. I would like to report that we made a lot of progress with alarm billing because that's most of our revenue comes from alarm billing. my central record staff working with my administration and some IT help we actually sent out I believe approximately 170 bills this past week so hopefully in the next couple months we'll see that coming in because obviously the town attorney gets involved with some of them so that should be something progressing thank God finally So, again, just a change in our system. We lost the ability to automate billing, so they had to rework it kind of manually a little bit, but they figured everything out at this point, so we'll be able to send those out consistently now. Do you guys have anything specific for May? You know, obviously the criminal incidents were up a little from April, but it seems that there's nothing that stands out as a pattern that would be of concern that I see. I just see the domestics took a big jump. Yeah, I mean, they jump around. 85 this May and 64 this year. Yeah, there's nothing that I see that is causing it. We handle all the domestic similarity, everything gets referred to domestic violence counselors. The report gets sent in and we do follow-ups as well in the police department for certain level domestics, you know call them the uh the victim back to see if if they want anything more done that that we uh we can afford or afford to them so um that's uh that's you know it's nothing i can you know account for that rise. June. Okay.

June we had 3136 total incidents of which 127 were criminal.

We processed 106 charges against individuals and 82 arrests out of it. non-criminal incidents are three most of our incidents are non-criminal um it's the way of all police departments uh 3009 uh were non-criminal so that's you know it's a lot of you know alarms and 80 cases and you know service misses and you know such as that car accidents uh so um Great. Criminal numbers dropped a little from May to June. That's pretty much it. You guys have any questions for me? Great job, sir. I do have a question, and I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I'm just curious on the DVs again. Do you know if this has to do with any people not wishing to report or go forward because of situations with deportation? Not that I'm aware of, no. Everyone calls the police. I think the police department has fostered a good relationship with the Hispanic community. From my outreach, I go to different events. We've attended a mass at St. John's last year. Hispanic mass on Sundays we've attended that and obviously through the work of our SROs in the school you know always a positive presence for community involvement so I'll tell you that SRO program is incredible and I think our our families in our community are lucky that to see those officers in the school and I really hope the school sees the value in that and the board and everyone everyone across our community because it's not just about safety but it's bridging gaps, conversations, and all the stuff they do there. So thank you for that. That's correct. That program is very successful. And, you know, like I said, I think it puts the community that would never have a chance to interact with police to actually know them as people, which is important, not just the first time they call the police or there is an interaction, but throughout the whole school year. and they get to see the value and the person of the police, like that individual. Absolutely. The two SROs now kind of represent a good, what the whole department is. You did that. You did it over at BOCES. You went over and your team went over there and through the body shop and just amazing work. Yeah, that was great. Yeah, it's phenomenal, Bobby. Steve, I did have a question with the SROs. They are paid by the police department as police officers, correct? Yeah. And then partially paid, theoretically, by the school board, correct? Okay. Yes. That's just for the Riverhead School District. Is that accurate? Okay. We don't have SROs from Riverhead Police Department in Shoreham-Wading River School District or Eastport-South Mountain. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you. All right. I think that's really important for people to know. All right, our next report would be our Justice Court report. Hello, Ms. Pilo. Thank you so much for joining us. Good morning. Thank you very much. All right, we'll start off with May. I have copies if anyone needs. I do. You do? Okay. I didn't get one. You as well. May, you need May? I need to sleep. All right, anyone else need May? All right, glad I made time. Sorry, I might have uploaded it too late. Okay, so last year in May, we collected $29,000. As you can see, this year in May, we collected $56,000. So we have basically doubled the revenue that we brought in for Justice Court from last May to this May. That's thanks to raising the fees, raising the fines. you know prosecuting these cases having people plead showing that our cases are you know prepared for trial and having people you know plead to the charges as they come in so I'm pretty happy about that to see that much progress in a year everything else is kind of I mean we had some default judgments which I've gone over what those are people miss court two or three times they get a default judgment and it results in a lien. So that's really all I have for May, unless anyone has any questions. No, thank you. Thank you to the town attorney. I was going to say, I think there's been a lot of complicated cases that you work on, and the workload has, I mean, well aware, has greatly increased, and you're doing a phenomenal job, and we get continuous praises from Justice Court members. I appreciate that. Thank you. You're doing a great job, so thank you for what you do. Thank you. Because I know that it's been an increasing workload for you, and you just stay right at it, so thank you. And it's just you over there. Yeah. I'm just, in terms of the town attorney staff, you're the only one that goes over there and handles this. Great job. Keeps me busy. It's a good thing. Victoria, thank you for your patience over the last year and a half in working on adjusting all these fees and these fines, because it does make a difference. Yes, and we're still working at it. There's still a couple that I noticed. Possibly coming up, I'll bring up maybe raising some fines for landmark preservation offenses. That hasn't been refreshed in a while. So there's things here and there that we're still catching, but I am very happy with what we've been able to do as of lately. There have been a couple of cases in weaning weather that you've been continuously on top of, and I'm just letting you know I've gotten phone calls, emails from residents that are just saying thank you. They're following what you're doing. I appreciate that. Yes, and on that same topic, in addition to Justice Court, there are two cases that I am going to be bringing to Supreme. I'll be bringing that up to all of you, and we'll keep working on these properties from all angles because sometimes Justice Court, although it is a form of punishment for those who violate it is you know there's more that can be done so I'll keep everyone updated about the two new ones that I have that I'm gonna be working on I know it that's how we got staples parking lot paved yes yes yeah even bringing the action alone sometimes you know you don't have to go through the whole phase phase the court case but sometimes just bringing it to Supreme Court finally you know gets them to do the thing so yeah and then June is not as robust but it's still good numbers we did have a jury trial that oh yes so the only highlight for June was a case we We had a case that made it all the way to jury trial. The defendant didn't show up, so we got default judgment on close to $50,000. I mean, sorry, close to $30,000 for that. That doesn't happen too often. We'll usually go through with the trial. Anything else that anyone has questions of? We've got some jail sentences for our quality of life. blight mitigation still is our largest item because it's I know it's everyone's concern you know keeping keeping the communities clean and safe and that has been one that's that's always a big ticket item every month so they're not showing because they're afraid of you great job I don't know what the reason is I hope no one's afraid of me but I'm not in terms of going to trial against I appreciate that. So that's what I have for the last two months. Have some good stuff that's going on this month and next month, and I'll continue to report, and we'll keep moving forward. Code enforcement, we added two additional code enforcement officers part-time out there. I know they've been tackling things like how's the workload and everything. One of them actually just is going to be resigning, unfortunately. Yes. I'm such ashamed. They were doing such a great job. Yeah. But the other ones, they're writing a good amount of tickets. They're writing them very well. We're seeing results already from their presence. So it was definitely a great addition to, you know, follow through with all the complaints that come in. Fantastic. Thank you very much. Thanks, Counselor. You're awesome. Thank you, everyone. I very much appreciate it. Moving right down the list, we'll bring our lovely town clerk in for our report. Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Rutt. Good day for Craig. Yes, today. It's great. A lot of smoke in the air, though. Actually, the town clerk continues on. Like I said, it's mostly a day-to-day operation. It's all public service, so a lot of it has to deal around. Yard sale permits are up, of course. It's the summertime. Everybody wants to have a yard sale. We had some firework permits come in, of course, in July. Also, special event permits, which I think we're going to have a discussion. Other than that, what the Constitution said, I think we're going to set up a meeting with that to find out, because we're figuring out. It's a lot of work to put a special event permit together. On my staff It can be very in this so many of them that come in And I don't know whether some of them rise to actually the level of being a special permit So might just be an assembly permit or a parade permit or something like that It might not quite make it up to a special event So I want to I'm gonna talk with the Eric and that we're going to discuss that To a roundtable and find out exactly what okay to the special just because just the amount of paperwork working that time involved with it. I appreciate your department's hard work. It's going well. As you know, I have that part-time bilingual work in the office. She's absolutely the best. I mean, she's really, really pays dividends because, like, as you know, there's a large section of the community that we have a hard time talking to. And I realize you have the phone and you have all that stuff that you can do, but it's just not personal enough for me. So she comes in very, very good. She's here every morning, 8.30 to 12. So people know that they've tried to do their schedule. They know that they have somebody there to do that for them. Fantastic. And that's it. There's a couple other things that I'll bring up at the moment here when it comes to resolutions and stuff like that that things are lacking, but it's nothing to report. And that's it. Correspondence is up. but actually more up in May than it is in June so it's starting to pull down if you'll notice in your package when you go on the website I'm moving published letters to the bottom of the agendas correspondents will still be in line on the agenda to say who wrote in letters but the actual publishing of it will be at the bottom so that you don't have to it's just for aesthetics when you go to look at your resolutions you don't have to go through 80 pages and 90 pages of correspondence it'll be at the bottom under a category called published letters so created that it's just make it easier even the people that write in say boy I have to go through all that just to get to the you know the meat potatoes of the meeting so that's just something we just did aesthetically for people that's it thank you for doing that thank you for doing this excellent appreciate it thank you sir see you and you may see some packages you may see a couple of on your agendas today a couple of resolutions that aren't the titles there but there's no body there there's two we're chasing after them now okay all right thank you sir thank you very much it completes our reports and matters surrounding Suffolk County down payment assistance program with our CDA team so I believe miss Keller's here it looks like she brought a friend so Dan Thompson's gonna join us so one down to the table we're welcome thank you guys for being here and sharing with this

the County down payment assistance program is cyclic so it's looking to open again partly it says summer so we're just anticipating that that's going to be soon since we're currently in summer and we wanted to open our opportunity concurrently because they are essentially vetting all of the applications for the down payment assistance program that they offer we have workforce housing act funds that we would like to apply to eligible applicants and they would be purchasing homes in riverhead so we're just kind of trying to open up affordable opportunities for first-time homebuyers. Can you just explain that the application procedure is someone need to reside currently in Riverhead to apply for it, but it could be somebody that lives in Hoppog that wants to move to Riverhead, is that right? Okay. So it would be people looking to purchase homes in Riverhead. Those would be the people that we would be looking to offer this type of funding to. Do we know overall, like the overall funding and what's available and potentially how many applicants could be assisted? Yep. So we have $280,500, and we're looking to fund up to 10 applicants, offering them $2,8050 each because the county is currently offering up to $50,000. And their funds apply just to down payment, but ours can be applied to down payment or closing. That's really good. That's a big... Does that cover our CPF fund? Does that cover our CPF tax at the end? you know when you're purchasing the home i'm curious the county bay tax tax that's usually paid at the closing so that would be said closings that's what made me think of that anything associated with closing costs i'm sure it's kind of up to us what it covers within the purchase so what would be a threshold for someone if they wanted to apply welcome through that through our town so that they can hear it so um there are household size income limits so there's maximum maximum allowable limits I think it's up to you don't have to go to the details just letting them know that there are thresholds right yeah there are thresholds and there's also a threshold for the purchase price of the house so that actually recently was increased up to 646 K so that's good because previously had been lower and it was very difficult to find properties that fell within the allowable purchase price so that's in addition to the county providing more funds they've also increased the prices to which you can buy the home so so where would if I was a resident home if you just walk them through where would I go to find this information from us I would Google Suffolk County down payment assistance program and we'll take you directly to a website which has the application in itself we are in communication with Justin Hornung who is running part of the program and we can work in conjunction so any applications for people who are applying for purchasing homes in Riverhead we can then offer this type of assistance to them and their application will be vetted entirely through the county they're basically just passing through to us so once we receive these applications that are particular to Riverhead they're already eligible so it's really just a matter of us approving that check for them in the end if they have a question about how to fill out that application or they can contact either one of us I'm in two seven thirty two hundred extension two three seven two three seven nine three seven two three nine thank you both any other questions so much thank you absolutely awesome so with that said I believe we're gonna move right into our resolutions for today we'll have our agenda packets ready birthday supervisor deputy I know she's so happy when we announce or make a fuss but this Saturday Thank You Devin okay so if the board's ready resolution number one water district capital project number eight two five one seven summer wind farm subdivision budget adjustment Resolution number two, Sewer District Capital Project number 82613, Peconic River Hotel, 127 East Main Street, budget adoption.

Number three, ratifies acceptance of donation of life ring for Grange Bell Park. Number four, ratifies acceptance of donation from various local businesses for annual snapper tournament. Number five, authorizes financial administrator to deposit funds for road restoration project. Number six, authorizes attendance at training seminar by fire marshal. Number seven, appoints seasonal pump-out boat operator. Number eight, appoints a maintenance mechanic three with HVAC concentration. Pump out boat operator, is that the correct? These are the missing, we're at 25 now? Is that the- Oh, about the rate? Yeah. Yeah, that's my understanding, that's what it was raised to. That's what we raised it to. Yeah, just to ensure it's good. Yeah, okay, thank you. Okay, so we did number eight, we'll go to number nine. Appoints awarded treatment plant operator trainee.

Number 10, ratifies appointment of recreation superintendent sets terms and conditions of employment.

Number 11, sets planning division fees. Great, thanks. We'll get to that in just a second. Number 12, authorizes the Riverhead Police Department to apply for DHS FEMA funding to support the purchase of a high-speed rapid response patrol vessel. Number 13, acceptance of 2025 Justice Court audit. Number 14, ratifies the resignation of a part-time code enforcement officer.

Number 15, accepts the retirement of a police officer, Michael Mowdy. Number 16. This resolution is blank, and I'm told this morning that we need to pull it. So this, at the moment, will not appear in the packet next Tuesday unless the board is emailed otherwise from the relevant departments. Number 17 authorizes the town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for replacement of HVAC system at Georgian Community Center. That resolution is blank, but we have copies for the board here that were just delivered by Purchase Safe. And this, of course, will be updated on the website as well so the public can view it. Okay, so that's number 17. We'll go to 18. Ratifies authorization for town clerk to publish and post notice for public hearing for the purpose of conducting Monroe balancing test for Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps Ambulance Barn at 1111 Osborne Avenue, Riverhead, New York, Suffolk County Tax Map number 600-108-2-5. We have Planner Greg Bergman here to answer any questions or overview for the Board what that's going to entail. I'm just going to ask at the time of the hearing, so based on the public's response to it, and I'm going to ask in the interest of time at the next town board meeting at the conclusion of the Monroe balance hearing that we can close it out to keep the project moving forward. We're just looking at a time frame for our back and we want to try to have his least impact from them Having to work out of the armory during the winter months And so we just want to keep the process moving along so as opposed to keeping it open for the ten days that you know We do put that out in advance So we just you know so that the public if anybody has concerns they can obviously write it in advance or express them We'll come to the hearing but If everybody seems content and we just want to keep the process moving along as best we can I think that could be amenable as long as we see how the hearing goes. If we find that it's not contentious, which I don't know why somebody would be. So, yeah, definitely. It's an option. Resolution 19 adopts a local law to amend Chapter 301, Zoning and Land Development, to amend the town site plan review procedure and to remove fees related to certain land use applications from the town code to allow the town board to establish fees by resolution of the town board.

Resolution number 20, adopts local law to amend Chapter 105, Boards, Commissions, and Councils, Article 2, Appeals Board of Section 105-9, Filing Fees. Number 21, adopts local law to amend Chapter 219, Coastal Erosion Hazard Areas, Section 219-26, Fees for Permits and Appeals. 22. Adopts local law to amend Chapter 289 of the Riverhead Town Code, titled Vehicles, Traffic, and Parking Regulations, Article 4, Parking, Standing, and Stopping.

23. Adopts local law to amend Chapter 289-17 of the Riverhead Town Code, titled Parking Time Limited. Number 24, adopts local law to amend Chapter 295, Wetlands, Section 295-6, Application for Permit, and Section 295-10, Enforcement Penalties for Offenses. Number 25, ratifies designation of alcohol service vendor to serve alcohol at the Polge Town Street Fair and Festival, 2026. Number 26, approved special event, Chapter 255 application for Daniel Cox, Alclerol property event. Number 27, approved special event, Chapter 255 application for Protection Sports Association, PSA canine competition. So that's it for the town board resolutions, and you guys have one resolution in for the CDA meeting. that you'll also have on Tuesday. I also just want to announce I know the Deputy Town Attorney and Town Attorney Eric Howard are working on a lease agreement for RVAC, and we do intend to have that in the packet as well for next week. It's essentially a 99-year lease for RVAC, and they just have given opportunity for their legal team to kind of look things over. But again, with the building of a new structure on their property in which they are providing all of the fundings for it, we do need just to finalize a lease for them to move forward so that will be added to the packet as well next week. Good. Nobody's surprised. So just the one resolution for the CDA agenda ratifies the budget adjustment for CDA EPCA legal fees. Great. And that's it. Thank you. Devin, so in just a second we'll take a first and second to move into executive session where we'll discuss matters, personal matters, matters surrounding possible change in status of an employee with Howard Stripland Teo. Contractual matters, matters surrounding license agreement between the town of Riverhead and Bloom Child Care with Councilman Kern, Deputy Town Attorney Hurley and DiApolo. Matters surrounding contractual agreement between the town of Riverhead and Riverhead Central School District with our lead attorney, Mr. Howard. Legal matters surrounding purchase of real property with Howard and Hurley. And litigation, matters surrounding an update on litigation between the town of Riverhead and American Breeders with our lead attorney Mr. Howard. With that said, if I could have a first and second to move into executive session. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you very much. Thank you for your day.

Thank you.