Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Higgins. Ms. Higgins, I'm so glad that was quite a reaction. The crowd's going wild. Okay. We have an invocation. Ken? Yes, we do. I apologize. Someone's here. I think there's someone. So we have Reverend Janet Wright is with us, an interfaith minister. And Reverend, if you would come forward to lead us in a nice invocation this morning, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for coming out in the rain. Thank you for the opportunity. You're welcome. I'm going to leave my coat and hat on because I'm so chilled I can't stand up.

Mr. Supervisor, Council, citizens of Riverhead, New York, thank you for the opportunity to open this with an invocation. Let us be in prayer. Thank you. Holy and loving God of many names, we thank you for our surroundings here in Riverhead, the river, the bay, and farmland. We thank you for our human government that makes our society possible. We thank you for the administration and services of justice, safety, education, recreation, health, and well-being that comes to us through our town government. We give thanks for the privilege and ability of our community and citizens and businesses to pay taxes so we have a share and a say in this governance. We thank you for the opportunity to be here today. We ask that you guide our elected officials by your spirit within them as their vision, planning, and decision-making affects not only them and their families, but all of us together. We pray that the resolutions today for new employees will give them humility, wisdom, and courage to work together to make Riverhead Town the best it can be. We pray for our newly elected town supervisor as he prepares the state of the town to be given next Tuesday evening here at Town Hall. We ask your blessing upon this council and all the citizens of this town. We are gathered here as you have placed us all together in this town. At this time and space, may we be a blessing for each other. As a Christian, I pray in that name, yet in this room we know we have many ways of knowing you. And so we ask this blessing by whatever way or name we call you in great confidence that you hear and love us all. May it be so. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Reverend. Thank you. That was beautiful. That was very nice. Okay, we have a couple of announcements today. First one you may be aware of already. The Long Island Railroad is performing road maintenance today at the railroad crossing on Osborne Avenue until 10 o'clock tonight. Thank God. So plan accordingly. That has been a pretty bouncy ride there. So they're working on the crossing and hopefully some of you will be able to get there. And we're hoping that you will be able to get there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have a reminder to residents that next Tuesday, April 9th, at 11 o'clock, right here in the boardroom, I will deliver my first State of the Town address. It will be my 100th day in office, and residents are invited to attend in person, although space is limited to the size of the room, or virtually via the Channel 22 link on the town website. The event will also be aired on Channel 22. So, third and finally, I have, I just want to take a moment to update the public on the latest with respect to any possible code change regarding agritourism. The planning staff and the town attorney's office have worked diligently with members of the local farming community, whether that be folks on the Farmland Preservation Committee or the Agricultural Advisorial Committee, in attempts to land on what might be an appropriate balance between preserving the agricultural heritage of our state, and the area, and allowing for development in the form of agritourism inns and resorts. To date, that balance remains a source of ongoing discussion and debate, and quite frankly, it remains to be seen whether the perfect balance exists. I remain open to further discussion, but defer to stakeholders of our local farming community as to whether this is possible, and we will keep the public updated. Councilman Rothwell, do you have anything you might want to add to that, since you've worked diligently on this? Councillor fist. The work has been intense by our planning department. They've done a great job along with our town attorney staff. I really appreciate the Agricultural Advisory Committee, the Farmland Preservation Committee. They have spent countless hours on this. The idea of this legislation was really to engage developers to have to work with local farming. The initial effort was put forth to provide an opportunity for farmers to sell TDRs. And so the idea of this legislation is to put an influx of money to our farming community to have a 70-30 split where 70% of a project in its development would be farmed in the soil farms and 30% could be development. I think it has incredible advantages to assist farmers. It's one of many tools in which farmers will have. But until the farming community feels that this is, you know, more to precision, I want to know that it overly helps our farming community and weighs more on the farming community than any type of development hand. And so with that in mind, until we can come to perhaps some type of amicable future in this legislation that everyone can sit down and go, this is in the best interest. You know, we're not building large-scale hotels on Sound Avenue. I want to preserve and protect the, not just the historical values of it, but also the, the beautification of it. And no one wants to see, you know, Maersk trailers stacked high, you know, doing hydroponics and other things. I think we want to keep the historical heritage of Sound Avenue and its beautification. So I think we have a little bit of work to ensure that that is in fact the case. If this legislation moves forward, we're going to continue to work and we'll give you a progress update as we go forward. Thank you. Anybody else? No, I would just say that I agree with the, with the Councilman. And I think that having liaison to the Ag Advisory Committee, I can't believe how close this is. And I thought for sure this would happen. I wake up today and it would be resolved. So I'm going to do everything I can to see this happen because I think it's a really great thing for TDRs, preserving farmland and helping farming in general. Okay. Thank you. Um, Town Clerk Wooten. Hi. Correspondents and reports please. Can I do one more announcement? One more announcement. I'm sorry. So in an effort to always thank our local volunteers, the Town of Riverhead, the ice rink, um, our Peconic ice rink over at Veterans Memorial Park, we'll be having a first responders night. And so first responders along with their families are invited to come to the ice rink on Saturday, April 13th from 6 to 8 p.m. So we invite members of our Riverhead Fire Department, Janesport Fire Department, Manneville Fire Department, Wading River Fire Department, and of course, RVAC. So we invite them all to come down, bring their families and to just have a nice, great family night. And thank you for all your volunteers all year long. We look forward to doing events like this in the future. So come on down, skate and join us for some good music and lights. Actually, it's a good night to go because if I fall down and bust open my coconut, I got plenty of help there to assist me right on the spot. Surrounded by EMTs and firefighters. Yeah, I like that. I like that. Okay. Please join us and spread the word. Thank you, volunteers. Thank you. Jim? Thank you to the volunteers. Correspondence and reports? Yes. Under correspondence, we received several letters over the last two weeks, various subjects, charter school, agritourism, a few on the comp plan and one on just a general letter on traffic signals and timing on 58. All those letters can be seen not only part of the agenda on the website, but also in the town clerk section under correspondence. You can read them. You can read all those letters verbatim. Under reports, we have the total tax collection as of March 20th, 2024 is $95,700,000. And then a week later on the 27th, it was $95,850,000. Just petty change compared to the Powerball. Yes. Yeah. And that concludes our reports and correspondence. Okay. That brings us up to public hearings. Today, we have one public hearing regarding Chapter 301, and it's regarding the Pine Barrens Overlay District. That's Article 41. And I'm going to ask Mr. Matt Charters from our planning department to please come up. Good afternoon, everyone. Start it off. Yes. So as the supervisor correctly outlined, this is Article 41 of our zoning code, Pine Barrens Overlay, just to take this back to 10,000 feet. This is zoning code amendments being done in response to amendments to the comprehensive, you know, the zoning code. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. land use plan for the Pine Barrens better known as the club which was adopted by the Central Pine Barrens Commission last April originally we had a deadline of April of this year to make these changes as a participating municipality so this is something that we have to do that deadlines since moved we're a little bit ahead of schedule here in Riverhead which is a good thing to make those changes so the deadline is now in June to adopt if you look at the code it's a little dense a lot of it is really clarification to existing policies that the Pine Barrens do just to make things more clear on the second page you'll see a clearing chart that's a real big change you can see in the compatible growth area those numbers did come down and that's to reflect current zoning so that's why you see 35% instead of I believe 52 other than that it's really just administrative changes that like I said we have to do to remain in compliance with with the club it was somewhat of an onerous task because this is you know essentially like we're doing our comprehensive plan update that's what the Pine Barrens did as well so you're taking a policy document and trying to turn it into code with that being said Pine Barrens staff has reviewed our code changes they find it acceptable this is on with the Suffolk County Planning Commission at tomorrow's meeting which I'll be present at and we have a draft recommendation to approve the legislation at their meeting too so that's really it unless the board has specific questions or the public I'm happy to answer it but like I said this is something that you know we need to do anybody have any questions well Matt and thank you for going over this with me yeah for the people watching Matt the Pine Barrens is compromised of people from the town of Riverhead the town of Brookhaven town of Southampton and the county of Suffolk and the state as well yeah and the state as well and it's there's a commission it's put together and you and I happen to be on that board as representatives of Riverhead because we own properties or there are properties in the Pine Barrens within our township so yeah for the sole protection for the protection of the sole source aquifer that's within the Pine Barrens that's why it was developed so it's New York State law correct very good thank you sir you're welcome do I have anybody with any questions from the audience do we have anybody online with any questions none okay all right the public hearing I would make a motion to close it here at our level but we will keep it open for written comment at the clerk's office until April 12 2024 at 4 30 p.m. so moved okay moving on second motion move it on you made motion I know I was just humor I just try to throw me off okay you did it okay before we go on to resolutions we're going to open up for any comments regarding the resolutions if anybody has any comments regarding resolutions I see we have some online why don't we go ahead and close the meeting and take what we have online first grace also can't hear you Mike you're muted Mike you're muted Mike you're muted Mike you're muted Mike you're muted Mike yeah good afternoon Mike for we walk can you hear me we can now Mike yes good afternoon I did not mean to get on now I've been having trouble getting access to the zoom room and just got transferred to IT so forgive me I'll stay on mute and I'll speak during the public comments thank you very much okay you're welcome do we have anybody else online you're welcome nobody online and nobody from the audience oh I'm sorry grace come on up okay that's how did I miss that this is red Oh grace with Calverton resolution 332 about the senior advisory about the senior advisory about the senior advisory

that I know on Roanoke Avenue, borders, it's where the developmentally challenged people are. They have a food pantry in there for the public every Friday from 12 to three. And I didn't notice it on the list. Okay. Because I have a master sheet of them. And, the other one was, it was to do with, I can't remember the head title right now, but it showed that the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Wading River, they listed the gathering in. That hasn't been gathered in about seven years. That stopped when the newer priest came in. And, I don't know his name, but. Okay. It was, it ceased. And it was quite a few years before the pandemic. So. We'll try to get those corrections. Somebody may be thinking to go down there on a Sunday for it. And it's not gonna be there. All right. We'll try to get to those. If they haven't gone to print, we may be able to correct that. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Thanks Grace. Do we have anybody else in the audience who'd like to make a comment? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. not seeing anybody I would ask town clerk Wooten to please read the resolutions okay we'll start with resolution number 287 appoints a call in recreation specialist to the recreation department so moved second vote please Waskie yes Merrifield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution adopted resolution 288 points a call on recreation leader to the recreation department so moved seconded vote please Waskie yes Merrifield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution accepted resolution 289 appoints an office assistant so moved seconded vote please Waskie yes Merrifield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes congratulations Marissa resolution carried resolution 290 appoints a call in senior recreation leader to the recreation department so moved seconded vote please Waskie yes Marissa resolution carried resolution 292 appoints a call in senior recreation leader to the recreation department so moved seconded vote please Waskie yes Merrifield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 291 ratifies the appointment of a groundskeeper to so moved second vote please Waskie yes Merrifield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 292 ratifies a provisional appointment of a second vote please Waskie yes Kern yes Rothwell yes fist fist fist Operator 1B, so moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Congratulations to Daniel Keller. Resolution carried. Resolution 293. Ratifies and accepts the resignation of a traffic control specialist. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Seconded. Resolution carried. Resolution 294. Ratifies a leave of absence. Tunk pro-tunk. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. I'm sorry. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 295. Terminates a LOA and ratifies the reappointment of part-time police officers to active duty status. So moved. Second. Yes. Waske. Yes. I would just like to congratulate Jordan Stromski. She's a really great girl and I'm really happy to see all three of them on, but especially Jordan. I'll second that. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. This is three part-time police officers that completed, successfully completed the police academy. They recently graduated and now we're going to be adding them to duty. So moved. Seconded. Yes. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 296. So moved. Seconded. Yes. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 297. So moved. Seconded. Yes. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 298. Sewer Capital Project Number 81903-1201 Ostrander Avenue Sewer Extension Closure. So moved. Seconded. Yes. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Yes. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Sorry, got ahead of myself. Resolution has carried. Resolution 299. Sewer Capital Project Number 20042, EPCAL Sewer Upgrade Closure. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 301. Water Capital Project 8230, I'm sorry, 82316-15, Bay Avenue Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 301. Water Capital Project 8230, I'm sorry, 82316-15, Bay Avenue Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 302. Water Capital Project Number 3, I'm sorry, 82305-809, West Main Street Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution has carried. Resolution 304. Water Capital Project Number 82208-420 East Main Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution has carried. Resolution 304. Water Capital Project Number 82208-420 East Main Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution has passed. Resolution 305. Water Capital Project Number 82206 Riverhead Charter School Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 306. Water Capital Project Number 82208-420 East Main Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. Moderator. yes rothwell yes hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 308 water capital project number 821 22 406 osborne avenue closure so moved seconded vote please waski yes merrifield yes kern yes rothwell yes hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 309 water capital project 82121 6278 route 25a closure so moved seconded vote please waski yes merrifield yes kern yes rothwell yes who's it up to hubbard oh that's me that's you yeah that's it resolution carried resolution 310 water capital project number eight two one one two the shipyard closure so moved seconded vote please yes island water park emergency access road budget transfer so moved second book please waski yes merrifield yes kern yes rothwell yes hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 312. capital project number 72 3223 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 crown 19 Capital Project 819-02, Reeves Beach Sanitary System Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 314. Capital Project number 72002, Railroad Avenue Urban Renewal Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 315. Capital Project number 71802, CFA Parking Lot Implementation Closure. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 316. Capital Project number 71801, EPCAL Bike Path Closure. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 317. Secret determination for First Street Park and Garage pre-construction activities. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution carried. Resolution 318. Approved, sir. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. application for Jamesport Fire Department for the fireman's annual bizarre carnival and fundraiser so moved seconded vote please waski yes it's my favorite week of the year I love it Maryfield yes they have great fireworks yeah Kern yes Rothwell yes covered yes resolution carried resolution 319 approved special event chapter 255 applicant for East End Arts community mosaic festival so moved I'm just gonna say before I second that this is an amazing event and everybody should come second vote please waski yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes covered yes resolution carried resolution 320 authorizes the chief of police to execute an agreement with Riverhead community awareness program Inc so moved seconded vote please waski yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes covered yes resolution carried resolution 321 ratifies the authorization of the supervisor to exec to execute a license agreement with Suffolk County Council of Boy Scouts of America to utilize runway at up Cal so moved second vote please waski yes Maryfield yes Kern yes Rothwell this is the boxcar Derby that's a long way to go 10,000 some of yes and Howard yes resolution is carried resolution 322 authorizes the supervisor to execute an inter municipal agreement with Suffolk County so moved seconded vote please waski yes Maryfield yes fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist for supervisor to execute a license agreement with scramble ink to utilize runway at EPC al so moved seconded vote please wasky yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 325 authorizes the town supervisor to execute a retainer agreement with bowls and Vigilotti PLLC so moved seconded vote please wasky yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 326 authorizes the town attorney to execute a retainer agreement with Smith Finkelstein Lundberg Eisler and Yakub Aski LLP so moved second vote please wasky yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 327 extends bid for annual fire and security alarm contract so moved second vote please wasky yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes Hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 328 authorizes town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for veterans Memorial Park sanitary system so moved seconded vote please wasky yes Murrayfield yes yes Kern yes yes !

resolution carry resolution 3 29 authorizes the rainer group pe and lsplc to perform surveying services in the riverhead downtown area so moved second vote please waski yes murrayfield yes kern yes rothwell yes hubbard yes resolution carried resolution 330. yes fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist fist covered yes resolution carried resolution 332 approved senior citizen advisory committee documents and authorizes printing and distribution so moved seconded please waski yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes yes resolution carried resolution 333 authorizes Whiteman Osterman and Hannah LLP to retain appraisal economic Inc to provide valuation services in connection with a real property tax law article 7 proceeding so moved seconded vote please waski yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes yes resolution carried resolution 333 bill 335 approved senior citizen advisory committee documents and authorizes printing and distribution so moved seconded please waski yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes Rothwell yes covered yes resolution 335 provisionally appoints an account clerk so moved second vote please waski yes Murrayfield yes Kern yes approved senior citizen advisory committee documents and authorizes printing and distribution so moved fistambly yes Yes. Public. Yes. Motion carried. And that concludes the resolution. Do you want to do all the Water Capital Project ones over now that Frank is here? Yeah, now that Frank is here, we should do all of them. Come on, Frank. Come up and read them off. He's a busy guy. Okay. We've completed all the resolutions for today. Now we're going to open it up to comments from the public on any matter. Comments from the public on any matter. Good afternoon, honorable members of the Riverhead Town Board. My name is Pilar Moyamansara, and I'm the Executive Director of a tiny but mighty HUD-certified housing counseling agency that is dedicated to provide assistance to homeowners who are Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. tenants who are at risk of evictions. I am here today to bring awareness to the devastating impact that foreclosures are having on our community and to share some concerning statistics with you. As of now, our community has been heavily affected by foreclosures as evidenced by the following numbers. Current foreclosed homes listings for sale or auction is 80. And homes with recorded mortgage liens in foreclosure process in our community, 357. These numbers represent real families and individuals who are facing the risk of losing their homes, which can have far-reaching consequences on their well-being and stability. Foreclosure not only affects the homeowners directly involved, but also has ripple effects on the entire community, including decreased property values and the loss of property. I also want to take this opportunity to introduce our Housing Health Foreclosure Prevention Program. Our services are free of charge and we provide assistance in English, Spanish, French and Haitian Creole. We have a flyer that contains important information about our program and I kindly request that the town board members to please share these flyers with your constituents. Lourdes from my office who is here today will be emailing you our flyer. Our goal is to ensure that everyone in need knows that they can call us for help. Furthermore, I urge the town board to collaborate with organizations like Housing Health Inc. in developing comprehensive solutions to address this pressing issue. We believe that with collective effort and strategic planning, we can mitigate the impact of foreclosures and support our residents in maintaining stable housing. In conclusion, I thank you for your attention and for considering the well-being of our residents and I look forward to continuing our dialogue and working together to create a more resilient and thriving community for all. Here is our flyer, which will be emailed to everyone. We are funded by the New York State Attorney General's Office, so I'm not here asking for funding. I'm just here on behalf of Housing Health rolling out the flyer. Thank you. Moderator Moderator Moderator ! Moderator ! Moderator !

! with each one of you. Thank you. Dilar, before you leave, I have a question. You said there is 80 homes currently in foreclosure, and there was at risk 157. Did I get that right? Dilar Dilari. 357. I thought I had that wrong. Okay, thank you. Those are staggering numbers. Yeah, that's. Oh, absolutely, and this is reminding me of, some of you may remember, when the real estate downturn of the market of 2007, 2008, and 2009, this is how we started. Our goal is to prevent foreclosures, to prevent watered-up properties, right? That's like our main goal, and obviously provide housing stability to individuals and families. Dilar, before you leave, is these numbers just Riverhead, or is this something? It's the town, no, this is the town of Riverhead. Just the town of Riverhead. Just the town of Riverhead. All right, thank you. I'll be happy to share my numbers from the town of Islington. Okay. And the town of Slip or the town of Honey. No, it's across the board. Yeah. Yes. I just wanted to state that as a result of the 2008 situation, there has been radical change with foreclosure laws in New York State, with real property laws, and there is a great deal of involvement by the courts in mitigation to help homeowners not lose their homes. I know there are extensive programs, and I just advise everybody, not as an attorney, but as a councilwoman, to be aware that those programs do exist out there for homeowners so that they don't go into foreclosure. Absolutely. So our housing counselors work together with pro bono attorneys, whether attorneys from National Suffolk Law Services or from Toro Law Center. We work with several pro bono legal services. But I guess if we are able to prevent a mortgage to go into that 90-day, the 90-day delinquency, that will prevent the foreclosure. So our goal is really to try to prevent it, to go into foreclosure, once it goes into foreclosure, we can still help the homeowners, but we have to work together hand to hand with pro bono legal services, which we do. We had our office here at 573 Roanoke. We work together with Episcopalian Church, but unfortunately the church, as you know, the church closed. So we are looking to see if we are able to get another location, but in the meantime, we come here as needed for face-to-face support. So if there is a problem, if there is a problem with the management, we can help you with that. So thank you for all the help. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And we will do our best to promote what you send to us and we can get it out to our constituents. So we appreciate the information. Thank you. Thank you for that. I am actually meeting with them after this. Oh, perfect. Perfect. Very good. Very good. Okay. Do we have anybody else who would like to make a comment? meeting without you John McAuliffe from Rolling Woods and in this instance speaking on behalf of that Cal watch a couple of weeks ago the work session of the board enthusiastically received a proposal for an RV park and a hundred acre man-made lake in Epco Epco watch and others in the community were afraid that the new board was following in the bipartisan tradition of its predecessors that had approved the concepts ranging from ski mountains to the Luminati and and cat or projects but we understand that second thoughts have happened and that there is this idea is dead in the water we're very grateful about that in part I gather because there was some suspicion that the real goal was sand mining operation which according to our calculations would have generated a gross revenue of a hundred and thirty million dollars from that much land that much sand nevertheless the reason I'm I'm here today I mean at first is to celebrate those second thoughts and and I think the wisdom of people on the board but also that were concerned about process that we're surprised that such a proposal made it to a work session in a space that literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally is that it should move forward on the subdivisions, probably the 50-lot subdivision that needs to get approval of the DEC and finalize that so that whatever goes forward is within an approved context. This is all obviously the ability of the town to act on doing something with the land is frustrated by the Jermasians' suit, and we're hoping that you will succeed when you make your response and the courts look at it to have that thrown out, but we could be in a several-year holding pattern. But during that time frame, we hope that we will not lose the opportunity to finish the subdivision process. But the other is this is something that the supervisor spoke to both during the campaign and afterwards, that he was going to create a committee or a commissioning, and that would be responsible for looking at, in a comprehensive way, at the land at EPCAL, of figuring out with the 1,600 acres, 600 of which are really for us to develop, what would bring long-term benefit of environmentally sustainable jobs and not-for-profits, maybe the charter school. I mean, there's lots of ideas that are floating out there, and I think we hope that you will approve such a committee or commission, and that you will appoint a broad range of people from the community to be part of it. Business, labor, civics, and EPCAL Watch itself would like to be part of that, because we think that this is an opportunity, again, because of the holding pattern, where you really can open up a process and find out what the kinds of ideas people have in the community and get reaction at the idea stage rather than after somebody has developed a comprehensive proposal. One of our members that I forwarded on to the supervisor had an idea based on European experience of creating a village for people with Alzheimer's, and this has been done successfully in Europe that's devoted to with all the support facilities to creating a more normal environment for people to finish their lives. But that's just one idea. I mean, there's also been ideas that we should look at whether or not to put in land-based turbines or more solar or entertainment centers that would serve the whole East End. I mean, many, many ideas are floating, and I think that's a good point. And what we just appeal for is that you create this committee and nothing come onto the floor of the work session or the board without it going within a comprehensive approach and a very seriously vetted process. Thank you very much. John, take a little bit of exception to your first part of the comments about what we did and what we had presented in regards to the RV park. Thank you. I think that's a good point. You can't really have your cake and eat it too. You cry, cry, cry that we do things behind closed doors. Then when we bring things to the table here, as soon as we get it and make it open in public, you admonish us for that. So you can't have the best of both worlds. I've opened up the transparency of our government tremendously, more so than I've ever seen it done before. And we get conceptual plans that come in all the time. Some are kooky plans. Some are not. But we felt obligated to present to the public what was presented to us. So I'm sorry if you find fault with that, but I'm going to continue to do that and continue to keep an open and transparent government going. Well, are you going to create the commission? I mean, I agree with that, Tim, but- John, I had the conversation with you many times about the commission. And we're not doing anything with the commission short of the several people that we meet on a regular basis. And we've been meeting since January. And we will continue to do that. While we are in litigation, we are not going to form a commission or a big committee until we have a better idea of where we know litigation is going. That will not be done. And I have told you this a number of times. Yeah, but there's nothing inherently in contradiction between litigation and creating a commission. And an informal group is not the same thing as a public group. Again, Tim, I don't disagree with making it public. My group that I have is representative of the town, and I trust these people. They're involved in this. They work very hard to follow government and follow things. And they will be part of the bigger group when the bigger group comes on. But your worry about EPCAL and some of the writings you sent to me about wanting, you think a casino could go there. And even as noble as an effort to put a village of people with dementia there, our purpose for EPCAL and our mission is going to be for providing jobs with living wages and tax base that the town can win something from. Some of these projects you're mentioning have no bearing whatsoever to create income for the town or bring people into the town. A casino would be the last thing on my mind that I would ever put there. And it makes me laugh because you were one accusing the Germasians of wanting to put a casino there back in the early days. And now you're touting that you think it should be a casino. It's a job. Tim Gunn. I'm touting. Hang on, hang on. Okay. It's hard for me to follow where you're coming from sometimes. I don't quite understand. Where I'm coming from is there needs to be an open process. The issue of the casino had to do with the fact that the Germasians would be doing it on their basis. I think the town should consider, given the history of the Shinnecock people in the east end of Long Island should give serious consideration as to whether that is what the plot of theambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambambamb first or first you need to have a process which really comes up with a comprehensive plan you have to seek proposals within that comprehensive plan not just respond to somebody coming in with a bright or not so bright idea that it's not a question of making it public it's just a question of what the stage is and while I know many of the people that are involved in this consultative group it's a personal consultative group it's not a public fully responsible body which is I think what you need and again you can ask mr. Howard but I think there's no contradiction between a commission looking at how we want to use the land and the fact that we're still in that we will be in this but nobody said that there's a contradiction between that it's a common-sense move that why would we put a committee together when this very well could so we don't lose the year or two may I finish make sure that this may in fact be tied up for years so I'm gonna string along a bunch of people on a commission when we can't do a thing with the property I'm not gonna waste people's time John I'm not gonna do that when we get a more when we get a clearer picture as to what's going on with the litigation that will be the time to put that committee together the full committee but we are currently working and I but it's the Foley's waiting to talk and I hope he he refers to it because he's part of the group we're working with just sitting idle can light you may think it is it's not by any means so we are looking we are betting we are looking at things and we're still moving along but to put this big commission together I'm not gonna waste a bunch of people's time until we have a better idea where we are legally with this property supervisor if I can also add to it though mr. McCullough we're not sitting idle because we got a 35 thousand dollar matching grants we're investing $70,000 in a sports complex study up there and and that commission they've come out they've explored the grounds they've explored other components within our communities checking out where our local water parks are and our hotel complexes are and that's all the things that we can do while we're in the litigation time we can do studies so we are actively preparing so that when we have a decision with our litigation that we are ready to move forward but that's that's and that's a big component up there and I think that that that to me is gonna be a great component because it's gonna provide top-notch jobs and it's not gonna provide the traffic damages and and and the potential environmental impacts things like that and it's gonna provide amenities in our town if we can in fact about that but we're gonna let them do their job we're gonna let them come back and do a presentation to us in the board when their study is completed but I think that's been an excellent step on in in the right direction so we're actively looking into our future there so for you to say we're not doing anything wrong Can you clarify whether that land is within the 2,400 acres that have been frozen or is it outside of it's a mix it's a mix yeah from Veterans Memorial Park headed south yeah okay now I'm I heard that at one of your previous meetings and it sounds like a very interesting idea a positive idea but my point is that there needs to be a look at the whole comprehensive look at all of the land and the public discussion of how it ought to be used this could well be part of it there could be I know that the industrial core is the first component to give us guidance if they came back and said this is a wrong town wrong area no-go then we know how to re-approach it right but if they come back and be like you got access to ferries you got access to main arteries and roadways and and you have developers that are willing to put the mills in it gives us guidance on on how to move forward but we're doing that but we don't have a context for it and the point that I'd also make is that that the it's a question you know we don't know what will happen on this litigation if we're lucky the judges will look at it and you know two months say that's nonsense and toss it out if we're not lucky we're gonna be involved with several years but we ought to be using the that time to think about what the best uses of the land are and involved with the land is a question that we need to think about and we need to think about the best uses of the land are and involved people involve people not just in Calverton but from all over the town to figure out what would serve the long-term interests of doing that through means of grants we're doing it well it's not happening in it doesn't include you so I'm sorry if you know it's not involving public discussion from Epco watch but that's what your basis of your complaint is it includes people who have knowledge about the property we have concerns about the property and it's not the big Commission yet when the big Commission is put together you'll be the first to know and that I'm sorry John can I add something you know I get people I do I don't know about the other board members you know almost I'm gonna say weekly or bi-weekly basis that have all kinds of thoughts and ideas they're not waiting for a commission to express those thoughts or ideas and to it to talk about what the supervisors said we're looking for good paying jobs we're looking for sustainable businesses and I've had at least five that probably if this what we weren't in litigation would have already started and they're all good but you know these people are not on a commission they get on the phone or they send an email you have that ability to what do you know what are you waiting for Commission to express your thoughts or your ideas well we know that the the

You know, that's a very mind's eye view of developing 600 acres. I'm just going to be, you know, think about it. You know, you're going to put a commission together, determine, well, this is what we want. You know, we want people that are going to want to come here. You know, we have to entertain those people. I'm not going to pretend to say, oh, here's a great plant for 600 acres. I'd be a moron, you know, myself. You do requests for proposals. Once you know what you want to use the land for, then you can put that out publicly. But some people are already coming. And you're in charge of it. My point is some people over the past six months or more have already come and said they wanted to do things. I don't want to debate this. I just, you don't need a commission to express your thoughts. That's all I'm going to say. Nobody else, you know, I get emails and phone calls. We're done with due time, John. I've told you this over and over again. And I've extended your time tremendously here. So thank you for your comments. And I'd like to move on and see if somebody else has comments they'd like to come up and make. Or do we have anybody online for comments? We do. Okay. We'll take somebody from online.

Yeah, good afternoon. Mike Foley, Reese Park. Can you hear me okay? Yes, we can, Mike. Loud and clear. You know, Tim, you took a little bit of my thunder on your response. To what I consider is a disingenuous comment by John McAuliffe. John McAuliffe knows that there are people at the civic level, people that are environmentalists, people that know process as good or better than any planning board members sitting right now, that are involved in looking at EPCOW holistically and in anticipation of beating Triple Five. You haven't said we're not going to do it. You haven't said we're not going to do anything, Tim. You've actually said let's work in anticipation of getting this frivolous lawsuit dismissed and work towards the better good of the town and the county. And as my good friend Mark Haldner says, the bio region. You're looking at environmental habitat protection, and you're looking at the best possible use of the developable land once it is identified. And I know that there are people. On your staff that are looking at that right now. But again, from a call to say that this needs to be an open process. And then the criticize the fact that you had a concept broader to work session. That that was wrong. I don't know what he wants either, Tim. I know this. I know you've had an open mic with him. I know that you've done more open this town up than any supervisor in my lifetime. And I know that. I know you're just getting started. So let me say this for the civic members that know what you're doing. Thank you. I want to thank you for doing it. I want you to do your best to ignore those who go to the microphone because they don't have a seat at the table. Because not everybody can get a seat at the table. Everybody gets a seat at the table at election time. And maybe if John wants to run this town, he should run for office. And we'll see just how many fans he has. But I'll say it again. Thanks for everything you're doing. I look forward to our next conversation when I come back into New York in late April and early May. And onward we move. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Do we have anybody else? Nobody online? Okay. I just have one quick thing I wanted to mention is I had a meeting earlier today with a representative from PSEG. And I learned something that I thought was really cool and I didn't know anything about it. But apparently PSEG has installed over a million what they call smart meters on people's houses over the past umpteen years. And you'll know if you have a smart meter on your house because if you check the electrical meter, it will be reading in digital. So if it's in digital, you have a smart meter. PSEG has a program where you can sign up with them. And that smart meter can read when you're using your electronic device. And what it means is you can use it during what they call the peak hours. The peak hours I believe he said were from 7 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon. That's when you pay the highest amount for electricity. From 3 p.m. to and don't hold me to these numbers but I think he said 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. or thereabouts. It's what they call an off peak hour. And then from 7 p.m. to the following morning it's called a super off peak hour. I'm not sure if you've heard of that. It's a super off peak hour. So what it allows is it allows you to if you have an electric car and you're charging your car, you're going to charge it from 10 o'clock at night to in the morning when the lowest rate of electricity is. If you have a dishwasher like I do with a timer on it, you're going to set your dishwasher to run after 10 o'clock at night when the lowest rate of electricity is. And you can program so many other things in your house to bring down the electric rate because you're paying and during the super efficient time, you pay pennies on the kilowatt as opposed to if you're running it from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. We also invited them to come in and do a work session maybe to explain it to the public a little better than I have. But I just found that super interesting because I know we pay such a high kilowatt rate on Long Island for electricity. This could save a lot of people a lot of money. And we said, you know, can we promote this? And they said absolutely by all means. He said most people don't understand this but we are actually in the business to save people's lives. We are in the business to save people money. To help them make their homes more energy efficient and help them save or stop using as much electricity. So he said promote it all you want and hopefully we'll have them come in and give a full readout on this whole situation. But you can check with PSAG. You can go online and check this program out if you have that digital meter which I'm sure almost everybody does. You can get some savings, some pretty substantial savings if you use it properly. I just wanted to throw that out there for all our residents. Board members, do you guys have anything to add? No, but now I'm going to have to do laundry at 3 a.m. Set a timer on your, I just got a new washing machine and it's programmable from my telephone. Wow. So you can do it whenever. And I said, you know, I'm in bed by 930 at night. I'm not going to wait until 10 o'clock to put something on. But these things are timed. Like your car charger certainly can work on the time as to when you set it to come on and charge your car. Same with your dishwasher and the lock. So you can do a lot of modern appliances. My dryer has Wi-Fi and I don't know why. Now you know. My dryer heats my house, I think, all winter long. I don't know why. But anyway, good way to save money. Just wanted to pass it on to you. Nobody has anything else? I appreciate everybody coming out on this rainy day and visiting with us. And that's it for our board meeting. So we're adjourned. Motion to adjourn? So moved. Second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Motion is adjourned. Thank you all.