Full Transcript
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Kern. Pleasure.
Councilman Rothwald, do we have somebody here for the invocation today? We do. We are honored today to have the Reverend Dr. Sean Murray from the First Congregational Church of Riverhead to lead us in our invocations. Thank you very much, Reverend. If you could come up to the podium, please. Certainly. I didn't do it. Actually, given this mouth, you know, God gave me that Irish microphone, which is really nice. And it's just great to see all the seats filled up here. As you know, over the years, that hasn't always been the case. So it's good on you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Quite a compliment. Together we pray. Good and gracious most holy God, we do give you thanks. For the benefit of our town. For a safe place to live and the comfort that we enjoy. We are mindful, O God, of the many people in need who surround us and do ask your blessing upon them. Place angels of compassion and mercy in their path and lead them to places of genuine care and concern. Holy One, as we continue to enjoy these warm days of summer-like weather, we do pray for safety on our waters and safety on our beaches. And as we look, O God, to our country fair, we pray that all will go well there and that the good folks will be safe, who arrive and enjoy themselves so we can celebrate the goodness that you've given to us. Bless us, O God. Bless these leaders in this meeting. Help us all to continue to grow together in trust and understanding and compassion. And to do well. By what? By one another and better by you. In your great name we pray. And together we say, amen. Amen. I was going to continue on, but I figured that's probably enough of a start. I was going to have to start charging. Thank you, Reverend. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, under announcements. First of all, I want to... I want to draw the public's attention to a press release that was sent out by my office last Friday in response to what was a very misleading front-page article by the Riverhead News Review about the town of Riverhead's proposed 226 tentative budget, wherein they incorrectly stated the following, a $500,000 home would see an annual increase of $2,250 a year. Absolutely not true. This is both inaccurate and misleading, as a home worth $500,000 under this budget would only see an increase of $184 a year in town taxes. Further, a home worth $735,000, which is more of an average-priced home in the town of Riverhead, would see a tax increase of about $271 a year. The home referred to in the article, would see an annual increase of $2,250. It would have a market value of $6.1 million. So the reporter mixed up the appraised value that the town uses for tax calculations versus the real market value that that house would sell for. And needless to say, we fielded some calls in the office about it, and it's most unfortunate that it came out that way, but we're just trying to get work done. Thank you. And you get word out that your taxes are not going up. Thousands of dollars on a $500,000 house. That's completely inaccurate. If I can say, I think the reporter, too, as well, from what I understand, that they acknowledged the mistake and made a correction. So it's not that we're debating it. It was inaccurate information. Well, they did. And as media does, of course, that was a front-page article on the paper. Yes. And if you want to see where the clarification is, you actually have to go back online, read the article again, and at the bottom of the article, it says clarification. So most people read it, ran with it, and they're like, my taxes are going through the roof, and it's not true. It's most unfortunate that it was presented that way, and it just goes to show you you cannot believe everything you read in the media and in the paper. Yes. Saturday, October 11th. Yes. And it's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. the Riverhead Country Fair. That is downtown Riverhead in the Main Street area, and that is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Mother Nature better be nice that day. We really need that. And on Monday, October 13th, is Columbus Day, and all town offices will be closed. They will reopen again on Tuesday, October 14th, at 8.30 in the morning. Okay, that's all I have for announcements. Board, do you have? I do have one. Okay. So October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and so I generally don't speak personally about my family, but my wife is a breast cancer survivor, so this is very important, and she's a very big advocate for the women to go and get your yearly checkup. But I'm proud she's a fighter, she's a warrior, and she's a breast cancer survivor, so I wear pink today to remind everybody, please go get checked. So thank you. Thank you. Very important. That was going to be my announcement as well. Sorry. Wearing different shades of pink today. Thank you. Maybe we won't. Joanne, Bob, anything? No. Thank you. Go ahead. I actually have, from the Recreation Department, they would like everybody to know that they are participating once again this year with the Halloween costume swap here at Town Hall. You can bring in a used costume and swap it out for one that somebody else has donated. It's a great program that they have, and everybody from the town is welcome to come on. Come on down and see what they have there. They also are participating in Repair Cafe, which will be on October 25th from 1 to 4 o'clock in the afternoon at the George Young Community Center. They're looking for volunteers, people that are handy with their hands, are able to fix jewelry, small appliance repairs. If you have a small appliance or something that needs to be fixed, you can bring it down there, and somebody will be there to help you fix it. So, again, that will be October 25th from 1 to 4 at the George Young Community Center. Thank you. And that went very well last year. There were a lot of costumes that were brought in for people to pick up and use. That was very successful. Okay. We're up to correspondence. Clerk Wooten, do we have correspondence? We had a few. We had a few letters that came in, referenced the motocross, and we had a few letters that came in that were about the !
And one letter from Eric McClure referenced the e-bikes, which was all sent around to the board to read. All those letters are on the agenda and can be seen on the website verbatim. And that concludes the correspondence. Under reports... Let me see if I can... Under reports, Riverhead Fire District sent their preliminary budget for 2026, which is on the board outside, Jamesport Fire District also sent their preliminary budget for 2026, which is on the board outside. The Building Department monthly report for September totaled $151,483. The Town Clerk monthly report for September totaled $12,563. We also received the taxes from the receiver taxes, a monthly utility report for September, at $1 million. The City of Riverhead has received a monthly utility report for September, at $1,487.15. That's a lot of utility. And that completes our reports. Okay, thank you. That brings us up to public hearings. We have one public hearing scheduled for today at 2 o'clock. It is now 2-17. And this public hearing is regarding the Zenith Building at 301 East Main Street. And I will ask Greg Bergman to come on up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 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. a five-story mixed-use addition to a previously approved four-story mixed-use building which has not been constructed the prior site plan known as the zenith building received final site plan approval from the town board on july 18 2023 that resolution approved a four-story mixed-use building on a 0.12 acre site located at 12 mcdermott avenue that approved site plan included approximately 2100 square feet of ground floor commercial space entrance lobby and utility space along with nine residential apartments on the upper floors as well as amenity space for the residents of the apartment the applicant has since purchased an adjoining property located at 301 east main street which is a 0.06 acre site located on the southeast corner of the intersection of east main street and mcdermott avenue they are now seeking to add a mixed-use addition to this building which will connect to the previously approved portion of the project via a breezeway it will leave a open an easement to allow for trash removal under the building the proposed application has been amended since it was presented to the board at work session a while back and now proposes 857 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor the applicant did incorporate two parking stalls the property is located within the parking district and they are under the code not required to provide parking that was something we had discussed at the work session it proposes a mix of six apartments on the upper floor and a two-story mixed-use building on the east main street and a two-story mixed-use building on the lower floor including five two bedrooms and one three bedroom that's the project in a nutshell we do have the applicant's architect here if the board has any questions for them or if they'd like to discuss it any further i have specific questions we talked about in the work session regarding parking so what does the town require in the total number of stalls and what are they providing the project is not required to provide any on-site parking they are providing two parking stalls what would be the recommended amount if it was located within if it was not located within the downtown parking district and they were were required to provide the full parking for the entirety of the project which again includes the previously approved portion would require 39 stalls but again because they are located within the parking district they are not required you know that's really a unfortunately a business decision on behalf of the developer you know the question of whether you're going to be able to really get tenants who can pay a market rate well there's no onsite parking nothing really proximoed to that area that's really a business decision for the applicant but i would ask any questions and further questions if the applicant's architect would like to come up and discuss that i'm going to open it up to the public and see if there's anybody from the public would like to comment public hearing Is it possible to put a... I'm wondering if it would be possible, I know you're talking about retail space within the building, and we've got a lot of retail spaces now that are empty, and we don't have a lot of parking. So I'm wondering if it would be possible to use some of that space that's been reserved for retail space as a parking underground. Martin, do you want to address that? Do I have to guess one at all? Hello. Martin Sanloski, 215 Roanoke Avenue. Hello. Hello. I'm Martin Sanloski, 215 Roanoke Avenue, Riverhead. The configuration of the property is very small, so you could not fit legal parking with the circulation requirements on the property. However, the property has a cross-access easement that it must maintain to the adjacent property. And actually, the first floor was bigger on the original submission, and what we were able to do is, since we had the cross-access easement, which is a drive-through, we were able to reduce the footage. So we were able to reduce the footage of the first floor and pull those two spaces into that location. So that's how we gained the two spaces. I have a question, Mr. Sanloski. The parking garage would actually help your tenants in the future, correct? They may be able to purchase maybe some spots in the garage for their residence, right? I mean, it could. That would be up to my client. Obviously, that will help. Do we have any other comments from anybody in the public? No. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. We would love to hear from anyone. Is it possible to require or request, no, require the people who rent the apartments or condos, whatever they are, to not park in the public parking lots? Because we already have that problem further down Main Street where people can't go to the restaurants because the people who live in the apartments above Bowie 1, et cetera, are using the public parking lots. And if you're going to restrict the public parking even further with the advent of the town square, there's not going to be anywhere for anybody to park if the residents take up all the spaces. Can you require they not use the public parking lots? We cannot require anybody to not use the public parking lot, but certain parking stalls are code painted in different colors that allow two-hour parking, three-, four-hour parking, and no overnight parking. So if they were to park, say it's an apartment person and they needed to park for overnight, they would have to go to a parking stall that would be colored white and it wouldn't have any time restriction on it. And those are usually further back from the Main Street area. Right. First Street, Second Street, something like that. Right. Okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Any other questions? Nobody online? Okay. All right. We will continue to plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea ! plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea plea Do we have anybody here who would like to comment on any resolution? Comment on any resolution? Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Kathy McGraw from Northville. I would just like to thank you for getting the Monroe balancing test resolution completed and hopefully voted on today. I think it's really critical that the town have performed this prior to the Suffolk County Water Authority. Nobody likes litigation, but there'll probably be litigation because I doubt the Water Authority is going to reach the same conclusions we reach. And having this done in advance and being as excellent as it is. I just want to say thank you. Thank you, Kathy. With Suffolk County Water Authority wanting to do their own Monroe balancing test, it's kind of like letting the fox run the hen house, if you will. We're pretty sure we know how that's going to turn out. But I think we're very comfortable in how we presented it and our findings. Good afternoon. Barbara Glass, Jamesport. I too would like to comment on resolution 860. I want to commend everyone who worked on it because it's a terrific, very thorough resolution. I think it says what it really needs to say. So congratulations to anyone who had a hand in that. And I also think strategically it was very important to have it done prior to the commencement of their hearings. So great job. Thank you very much. Mrs. Blass, you are aware for the public that the balancing test is going to take place Thursday night? Thursday. Yes, I am. I plan to be there. But thank you for the reminder. Thanks. A lot of that thanks goes to Jeffrey Seaman who was instrumental in helping us with this project and with putting the balancing test together and the write-up and along with our town attorney's office and our planning department. So thank you all very much. And you wouldn't really hear about it, but a lot of time and effort was put into having this move forward. It's something that the town is taking extremely seriously. And I think it's a great thing. And we're in constant discussion over it. So I'm happy to see this resolution in our packet today. Agreed. Any other comments on any resolutions? Nobody online? Okay. Clerk, would you mind reading the resolutions? Yes. Resolution number one, which is number 807. Water District Capital Project number 82516. Budget adoption for Washville. 1535 Old Country Road. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskie. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 808. Gratifies budget adjustment for the removal of unsafe structure, Chapter 217, Article 4, 4017 Street, Wading River, New York. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskie. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 809. Gratifies budget adjustment for the removal of unsafe structure, Chapter 217, Article 4, 39 Pie Lane, Jamesport, New York. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskie. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 811. Gratifies budget adjustment for the removal of unsafe structure, Chapter 217, Article 4, 207, Article 4, 19, and 19. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskie. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 811. Reversal of budget adoption for the removal of weeds, yard waste, litter, garbage, refuse, rubbish upon the premises known as 262, Holden, and Waiting River, New York. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskie. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 811. Reversal of budget adoption for the removal of weeds, yard waste, litter, garbage, refuse, rubbish upon the premises known as 262, Holst Avenue, Waiting River, New York. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskie. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 812. Authorizes removal of fixed assets. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskie. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 813. Reversal of budget adoption for the removal of weeds, yard waste, dirt, garbage, refuse, rubbish upon the premises known as 262, Holst Avenue, Waiting River, New York. Resissä. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 814. Amends fire prevention fee for burn permit. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskie. Yes. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. R. Yes. building plans examiner so moved seconded vote please waski yes very field yes welcome aboard turn yes yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 819 appoints maintenance mechanic to so moved second vote please waski yes very field yes kern yes yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 820 ratifies the appointment of a call in park attendant to Rick to the Recreation Department so moved seconded vote please waski yes very field yes turn yes Rothwell yes yes resolution is adopted resolution number 821 ratifies the reclassification of a heavy equipment operator to construction equipment operator so moved second vote please waski yes very field yes turn yes Rothwell yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 822 ratifies the reclassification of an automotive equipment operator to heavy equipment operator so moved seconded vote please waski yes very few yes turn yes yes yes yes resolution is adopted resolution 823 ratifies the resignation of a network and system specialist to so moved second vote please waski yes very field yes turn yes well yes Hubbard yes resolution is adopted resolution 824 ratifies the resignation of a groundskeeper to so moved seconded vote please waski yes very field yes turn yes Rothwell yes sick and sick sick and sick sick and sick sick and sick sick and sick sick and sick sick and sick sick and sick Broadcasting, LLC. Riverheads Holiday Light Show. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 827. Approve special event chapter 255 application for Main Street Agency and Associates, LLC, Halloween Fest. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 828. Authorizes designated alcohol service vendors to serve alcohol at the Town of Riverheads 2025 Halloween Fest. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 829. Designates alcohol service vendors to serve alcohol at the 2025 Riverhead Country Fair Street Festival and authorizes the supervisor to execute a license agreement with designated alcohol service vendors and Riverhead Townscape Incorporated. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 830. Ratifies the authorization for the supervisor to execute a stipulation with Local 1000 AFSCME AFL CIO Rev. Ed. Unit of the Suffolk Local 3852. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 831. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 832. Ratifies the authorization for the supervisor to execute a license agreement with the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce to utilize a portion of the Riverhead Town Hall. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 833. Authorizes the supervisor to execute an extension of license agreement with Ademco, Inc. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 834. Ratify its authorization with the supervisor. The supervisor is to sign an agreement with the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce for the use of the Town Square for a movie and ice cream event. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. I've never said no to ice cream. Yes. I know that. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 835. Ratifies the authorization for the supervisor to execute a license agreement with Riverhead Business Improvement District Management Association. So moved. Second. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 836. Ratifies the authorization of the supervisor to execute an agreement with Goodman Marks Associates, Inc. to conduct an appraisal. So moved. Second. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Waske. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Waske. Yes. Waske. Yes. Waske. Yes. Waske. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Waske. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Barryford. Yes. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. Barryford. I'll authorize the town attorney to retain special counsel for perfection of an appeal. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 839. Authorizes the application for funding to Empire State Development through the Long Island Forward Housing Project to conduct a market study. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 840. Acceptance of Bulletproof Vest Grant. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 841. Adopts a local law to amend Chapter 289 of the Riverhead Town Code titled Vehicles, Traffic and Parking Regulations, Article 4, Parking, Standing, and Stopping. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 842. Adopts a local law to amend Chapter 289 of the Riverhead Town Code titled Vehicles, Traffic and Parking Regulations, Article 1, Terminology. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 843. Yeah. So what I'd like to do is to make a motion to table this.
Go ahead. Yes. Make a motion to table this resolution? Yes. Okay. Second. Is there a second? Yes. So I'll second it. I just agree with Councilman Kern just that I'd like to send this over to the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee, well, just to take a look at it. I know that a lot of them are using e-bikes for recreation and just want to make sure that we're doing the correct things and that we've taken into all accountability. There really wasn't a lot of discussion during the public hearing. So I just want to make sure the word is out and we're doing the right thing. So, yes. I'd. Yeah. This is also going to go to the Alternative Transportation Committee. Let it be known, though, in here, we did not, were not descriptive in identifying that handicapped electric bikes are allowed at Venture Park. So we're going to clean up the language. So. Okay. Motion made to table and seconded? Yes. Correct. I got the. Rob Kern made the motion and Ken Rothwell seconded it. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Kern? Yes, to table. Rothwell? Yes, to table. Hubbard? Yes, to table. Motion is tabled.
Resolution 844. I'd also, at this time, this is a similar piece of legislation. I ask that this be tabled as well and make a motion to table this. Second. Okay. Waskey? Yes, to table. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Kern? Yes, to table. Rothwell? Yes, to table. Hubbard? Yes. Resolution is tabled. Resolution 845. Authorizes the town clerk to publish and post notice for public hearing regarding handicapped handicapped handicapped handicapped handicapped handicapped handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic handic hearing regarding U.S. HUD Community Development Block Grant, the CDBG 2026 fund. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 846. Authorizes the town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for construction of prefabricated building for the highway department. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 847. Awards bid for street lighting materials for the riverfront. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 848. Awards bid for disposal of town-generated construction and demolition materials. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 849. Awards bid for Dow Flake Extra 83-87% Calcium Chloride or Equal. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution. is adopted. Resolution 850. Awards bid for polymer mixing system for the Rivad sewer district. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 851. Awards bid for replacement of large meters for the Riverhead water district. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 852. Rescinds award an awards bid for award number 17, annual construction contract. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 853. Authorizes purchase of dump truck for highway department so moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. $331,000 for one dump truck. Yes. The bargain. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 854. Standardizes vector vacuum truck and authorizes purchase for the town of Riverhead Highway Department. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 855. Authorizes reduction of performance security for overlook homes major subdivision. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 856. Bond resolution for the town of Riverhead, New York. Adopted October 7th, 2025. Authorizing the issuance of bonds and appropriations of $6,500,000. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. This is for the Justice Court. The new Justice Courts. Yes.
Kern. Yes. This will be a state-of-the-art Justice Court with two courts in the old town hall. So moved. I mean, second, yes. And third. And fourth. I'll take that as a yes. Rothwell. I just want to say that the town is being extremely fiscally responsible for this project, but also keep in mind that they are obligated by the state of New York court system that designates how it is to be constructed and the format which really, you know, imposes certain conditions to build the Justice Court in which we have to follow to have it legalized. So it is a lot of money, but we are getting our Justice Court the proper facilities that it finally needs. So I vote yes. And Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 857.
Amends conditions of resolution 2023-751 Cardmouth Bay. Special permit. So moved. We skipped one. Did I? Yes, 857. 51. Oh, I have 57 and 51. Oh, I have 57 and 51. Oh, I have 57 and 51. Oh, I have 57 and 51. Oh, I have 57 and 51. Oh, I have 57 and 51. Oh, I have 57 and 51. Oh, I have 57 and 51. Okay, sorry. 857 authorizes the demolition of 30 McDermott Avenue, Riverhead, New York. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Mosky. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Bothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 858. Amends conditions of resolution 2023-751 Cardmouth Bay. Special permit. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Mosky. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. And they are not going to have catering at this site. I know that was something that had come up at the hearing. Kern. Yes. Bothwell. Yes. Hubbard. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 859. Hayes bill. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Mosky. Yes. ! Mosky. Yes. Yes. Yes. Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local Local and FTL shall not be immune from Riverhead town zoning and land use laws, codes, and or regulations. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Hubbard. I inadvertently left out Frank Mancini when I mentioned all the people that worked very hard on this. So, Frank, thank you for your participation also. And I absolutely vote yes. Resolution is adopted. We have one more coming off the roof. Yes. Okay. We still have to take some. I have, Mr. Supervisor, I have a resolution that I'd like to call off the floor. Okay. And so move. Authorizes the town clerk to publish and post a public notice to consider adopting a local law to override the tax levy limit established by and set forth in Article II, Section 3C of the General Municipal Law and to consider adoption of the 2026 preliminary budget for the town of Riverhead. I'd like to make a motion to move that off the floor. Call that to the floor. Before we do that, I think we would like to open this up for public comment. We have to call the resolution off the floor. And then once it's off the floor, then it can be subject to public comment. But before we do that, I just want to tell the board that this resolution was supposed to be in the packet. And my office just didn't get it in by the end of the day. Yesterday. So I apologize for that. And what it is intended to do is, as we typically do, have public hearings on the local law to override the cap and the preliminary budget. Those will be according to the resolution on November 6th. And adopting this today allows us to publish it in next week's news review, giving the appropriate notice for the public hearings. Okay. Thank you. So I've moved it. I'm making a motion to move it. To call it off the floor. Okay. Second? Mm-hmm. Okay. Bosque? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hubbard? Yes. Take it off the floor. Resolution is off the floor. Now I will open it up for public comment. Come on up to the microphone.
From anybody that would like to comment on this resolution. Not on a resolution. Okay. You'll have time in a little bit. Okay. Just on this resolution.
We can. Jeanette, would you mind just addressing this quick in regards to the tax limit and how we went over the cap by 4.63%? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. We can talk to it. So, yes, we are proposing to pierce the cap. It's very difficult to stay within the cap. During the budget presentation, during a work session recently, we went over the increases that we went over. It's primarily due to contractual salary increases and payroll taxes related to those, as well as New York State retirement rates. New York State retirement went up 1.1 million from last year's budget to this year's budget, budget, which is a huge part of our increase this year. In addition to that, we are anticipating increases in health insurance as well. And we have some debt service that we had to increase for the Justice Court renovations. Those are the majority of the increases. There's a lot smaller increases, everything less than like 50,000. That offset the deductions that you mentioned as well recently, which were the reduction in the vehicle expenditures and equipment, I believe was the other one equipment, right? Which a big part of that was the payloader that we bought last year that we don't need this year. So that's the majority of the increases. You know, as you know, we go through the budget with a fine tooth comb. We look at every single line item in the budget. We meet with every department head, every liaison on the town board for each department. So we don't take it lightly. It was it's scrutinized every single year. We look at revenues to see where we can increase our revenues. So it's a very thought out process. So we are proposing to pierce the cap mostly due to contractual increases. Essentially, that's the majority of the increase. So and above, I mean, it's impossible to stay within the cap just on contractual items alone and New York State retirement rates. So it's unfortunate. But so it's 4.63% over the cap is what we're proposing for the townwide funds, which is general fund, street lighting, parking fund and highway together. But general fund is the only one that we're piercing. They just want to say that the residents of this community are always looking for, you know, a safer community. Large expense in this budget is we have taken the time to increase our police personnel on the men and women of law enforcement do a phenomenal job. Our crime rate is down. We're responding faster to the scene, to calls, and that does come at a cost. But they are truly saving lives. And I just I'd like to say, you know, we're doing a great job. We're doing a great job. We're doing a great job. And I just I'd like to just repeat that. I've said it before. I'm proud of our police department. But it does come to course to have a safer community and to fight crime. And the programs in which they're doing has been phenomenal. And you had also did a whole work session on this, presented this all to the board for the public already. And also to comment that the largest portion of this budget is the school district, which we have no control over whatsoever. Yeah, the school district is completely separate from us. So. And the school district has a much higher percentage than the town does. Last last week in Newsday, I believe it was, it was in there were two articles on the same page, and one of them was about the town of Brookhaven's budget and right underneath was about our budget and town of Brookhaven did not have to pierce the cap. But it's very important to point out that the town of Brookhaven doesn't pay for its police services. Their police services are. Are. Complementary, if you will, through Suffolk County PD. Brookhaven does not have a water district. Their water comes in through the Suffolk County Water Authority. And these being two big operational funds for municipalities and particularly law enforcement, you can't compare apples to apples when you're looking at that. You're better off looking at smaller towns like ours, like Southampton, like East Hampton, like Shelter Island. And the comparison is much bigger. And the difference is much more credible there where it is more or less oranges to orange and apples to apples. So just an important thing to point out when people say, how did Brookhaven do it? Well, they've got almost 600,000 people and they have a much larger commercial tax base than the 36,000 people in the town of Riverhead have. And again, no police department, no water district that makes that makes a difference. So. And that's why we started to break out the increases every year related to PD versus non PD. Yeah. And I think that's a big financial difference for sure. Retirement rates, salaries, payroll taxes, all of that is significant for PD. You know, but we love our police department and everybody wants public safety for sure. So, you know, it comes at a cost, unfortunately. Right. So. Another thing that was touched upon at the work session is that the supervisor, again, this year brought in the council members to be part of the budget process. So that we could see exactly where all the money is, what the lines look like. I happen to be the liaison to the tax assessors, the fire marshal's office, the town attorney's office, human resources, and the town clerk's office. And I got to sit down and look at what those budgets look like. I was able to see that the department heads were doing everything that they could to trim any bit of fat that they could. Off of their budget. And they worked well. They were gracious. And, you know, these are our taxes also. We have to pay taxes. I don't want my taxes to go up, but I am able to physically see how that has to happen. So this is not something that was taken lightly with this board. The supervisor was very passionate about the budget. He wants to make sure that, you know, the residents are. As protected as they are because, you know, money is money and we're all trying to do our best for the residents of the town. I would like to address one other thing too, because I've seen a lot of comments on Facebook about using fund balance. So I do want to make that clear to everybody. Yes, you can use fund balance to balance your budget. And we are using fund balance because a couple of years ago, one of the supervisors put in a $2 million fund balance allocation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. have these huge revenues coming in over your expenditures every year where you're consistently building up fund balance every year, it's very easy to deplete that. And in times like this and going forward, we're not going to have that excess that sometimes in the past we've had. So it's great to say to use fund balance to balance your budget. It's not practical. It's not planning wisely to do that for your future. And we have a lot of expenditures coming up that in lieu of keep raising debt, I would prefer to use fund balance for those projects or to pay down debt as it comes due. So I think you need to plan for those things, and that's why we're not just saying let's balance the budget with $5 million more of fund balance. That would be reckless and careless to do that. So that's what I think. John Aucott, M.D.: Fund balance is there for, so to speak, the rainy day emergency. We've been blessed that we have not had any significant hurricanes and other things that have come through here. And when those things, you know, the detriment that could happen. It could happen to a town in the circumstance such as a serious, you know, category hurricane. You need to have that money in fund balance to do restorations at the time. So I'm an advocate of not really touching that. David M. Well, part of this year's budget also, just on what you spoke, we are paying back $500,000 back to the general fund from my predecessor when she borrowed $2 million out of the general budget or the general, yeah, the general fund. That's got to be paid back. So doing it in increments like this, we had to add another $500,000 into the budget just for that payback. Mary Jo Bang, M.D.: Right. So instead of using $2 million for a fund balance in one year, you can't just take $2 million back in the next year. John Aucott, M.D.: Right. Mary Jo Bang, M.D.: You'll kill the residents. John Aucott, M.D.: Absolutely. Mary Jo Bang, M.D.: So you have to slowly chip away at it. But that adds up to be anywhere from $6 to $10 million over a five to 10 year period. So that's what we're dealing with. John Aucott, M.D.: So, Councilman Rothwell, do you know, when the Brookhaven landfill is going to close? Is it next year? John Aucott, M.D.: I believe it was extended, but I don't have the dates. John Aucott, M.D.: The last I heard was the end of 27. John Aucott, M.D.: Okay. Because I think it's important for our residents. What does the town of Brookhaven get from that landfill? John Aucott, M.D.: Financially wise? John Aucott, M.D.: Yeah. John Aucott, M.D.: It's a significant portion of their budget, but I don't have the exact dollar amount. John Aucott, M.D.: It's, from what I understand, it's into the millions. That's why it's easier for them to balance. John Aucott, M.D.: Yeah. John Aucott, M.D.: That's their budget. We don't have that. Okay. John Aucott, M.D.: It's a significant source of revenue that we don't have. John Aucott, M.D.: Yeah. John Aucott, M.D.: Yes. They're also cutting their zoo, I think, next year, and cutting back on that expenditure. The ecology center, I think, in Holtzville. So there's ways that they are able to cut also that we probably can't, so. John Aucott, M.D.: It's also, again, as the supervisor mentioned earlier about having county police there. So that falls under their county budget, not under their town budget. And then, you know, in addition, it's sometimes it's easier to spread out certain expenses over 660,000 residents as opposed to 33,000 residents. You know, it's more direct impact here. And we do now have 100 police officers in the town of Riverhead. And that's a wonderful thing for us to have. But with those 100 police officers, you have more equipment. You have to provide vehicles for them. The salaries, it's a lot. But they're definitely making a change. They have a great presence in town to piggyback on the what you were saying, Councilman Rothwell. These are good things. And unfortunately, they come with a cost. And we just have to persevere and get through it. John Aucott, M.D.: And I commend the police department. This would, and Captain Wilsley is here, but worked on grants and getting for the funding for the cameras and other grants as well. But then there's the sheer cost of the storage of the data from the cameras that then falls back on us, you know, to put a significant amount of money, and then the police department decides just for the storage capabilities. So people don't see that as a direct, you know, impact in terms of numbers of police officers and equipment. But the storage data is astronomically expensive. And the cameras are necessary in today's day and age. Technology is all around you. You go to a trial, the jurors want to see. They want to see video of an incident. And if you don't have it, it tends to make it appear as though you're trying to hide something or don't want the public to see something. So the cameras are necessary for the public. I also commend the police department with this chief. We have foot patrols in downtown. The merchants at the Chamber of Commerce are always thanking the chief and the officers that are doing foot patrol and coming in and checking. You don't have that. If you're in the Suffolk County Police District, you don't have foot patrols on your main streets. They're insecticars. And you have much more of a presence of a hometown with Riverhead than you would if you had the Suffolk County Police Department here. And again, I commend the Suffolk County Police Department, but it is a whole different type of police department than what we have here. And I think what we have here is much better. John F. Jeanette, thank you very much and your staff, because I've visited with you numerous times over the last month going over this. One of the things that I did unearth was that working with John is the county budget has gone up a little over 1% to us. Thank you. And you're doing a great job. John F. Jeanette, Sure. Okay, getting back to the resolution, we agreed to take it off the floor, I believe, and we opened it up for comments. Is there anybody else who would like to comment on this resolution? Anybody? Nobody online either? Okay. So now we will take this, we took it off the floor to open it up. We all agreed to it. So now let's vote on this resolution. John F. Jeanette, I move it in second. John F. Jeanette, I move this resolution. Again, authorizing the town clerk to publish in post a public notice to consider adopting a local law to override the tax levy limit established by and set forth in Article 2, Section 3C of the General Municipal Law and to consider adoption of the 2026 preliminary budget for the town of Riverhead. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. John F. Jeanette, Yes. Warren McKnight, Riverhead. It's a matter of public knowledge, if you check with the Board of Elections and Riverhead Local, that the voter turnout is constantly getting less each year. And if we don't have, as Teddy Roosevelt said, if we don't have democracy, it's not a spectator sport. And if you don't have enough people participating, as one lady said about the, Ben Franklin said, you know, and it came out from adopting the Constitution, they said, we have a republic, if it could last, it's not easy. And I was thinking of some ways, and it's going to take a long time, but if you could work with the Board of Education, start with the young people, and you, to get more civics, and education, and also, to quote Mother Teresa, when his debates come up here, if you could learn not to judge much, and so you could love the other people that are wanting your jobs, you know. So, but the biggest thing is, it has to be done because our, you know, and it could be done here, because it has to be in grassroots. And you could set an example, you know, set an example for the rest of the country, and the rest of, to get, you know, with the Board of Education, and, you know, with the assembly people, all we have, and the state senator, get, you know, a good civics program, and tell the youngsters, educate them about what's happening in town, you know, everything here, maybe have them come down to, you know, what's happening in the city. Kids from high school come down, mandatory, and they have to sit through a town board meeting. I mean, otherwise, people are going to be indifferent, and we won't have a democracy. It's that simple, you know. Thank you for your listening. Thank you, Warren.
Afternoon again. Claudia Bianco, Bading Hollow. At the town board meeting on September 16th, the President of the Greater Calverton Civic Association requested that correspondence received by the town indicate on the agenda whether it's from a resident or non-resident. The visceral reaction of the town clerk and some board members was disconcerting. The clerk even stated he wasn't going to investigate every letter. Mr. Howard even realized that she was only asking if you could notate the residency if known, and the request was actually a very valid one. The court's decision was to notate the residency if known, and the request was actually a very valid suggestion. An application has been submitted to develop a motor cross track on River Road on land which is zoned agricultural and requires the removal of 120,000 cubic feet of sand in order for the project to be funded. The potential for environmental damage is worrisome at best and will detrimentally impact the neighboring homes and businesses. Seventy-three letters were received regarding this application on the agenda of September 16th. Of these, 61 did not indicate any address, 11 were non-residents, and only one was from a resident of Riverhead. For the agenda of today, 47 letters were received, 33 did not indicate any address, 13 were non-residents, and again, only one was from a resident. That makes a total of two residents in support of the development. Without identifying whether correspondence is from a resident or non-resident, leaves open the possibility that non-residents are weighing in on what development is approved in our town, and the sheer number of letters could potentially sway the vote of a board member. Your lack of addressing this matter gives tacit approval to that possibility. I urge you to reconsider and require the residency of any correspondence you receive to be noted to whether it comes from a resident or not, or just someone who would like to see an activity developed in our town at the expense of taxpayers. It's really not a big ask. It's already required when anybody steps up to the podium to speak. It just may enlighten your decision-making. Thank you. Thank you, Claudette. If I could just respond. Every correspondence that I get, and it's not that I won't tell you where they come from. I don't know where it comes from. Every single correspondence that comes to my office, which is a plethora over this motocross, is printed verbatim. You see exactly what I see. I understand. So I don't always know. That's why I always say it's regional. It's regional in an area. And of course, the motocross sport is a regional sport. It's not a local sport. But so it's not that I blatantly say I'm not going to do it. I can't. You see exactly what I see. You made it abundantly. You made it abundantly clear you were not going to investigate, Mr. Wooten. You were adamant about it. No, I was not adamant about it. I don't know why you say that. Go back and watch the video, because I have many times. I don't know why you say that. I don't want to debate with you. I recorded the video. My point is, if they are not residents of Riverhead, they have a right to their opinion. But 50 letters, 63 letters, that's a lot of letters supporting a project, a development, but it's not the majority of residents in Riverhead, and they're getting a lot of weight in your decision making. And I don't think that's fair to residents. The letter, I just wanted to point out to the public, the letter that I get is printed verbatim. I understand. I didn't say it wasn't. That's how I got the calculations that I used. But I can't ignore the letters if they don't come from Riverhead. But the same way that you came up with your calculations of where those letters are coming from, I would hope that you would think that I'm smart enough. I think the board is smart enough to be able to do the same calculations and realize that the majority of them are not. I absolutely do think you are smart enough. I just think it would be easier when people look at the letters and to see a huge number of letters, but truly, it is not representative of the town of Riverhead. Thank you. Ma'am, if I don't see an address, I'm assuming they're not from this town. That's what I assumed as well, but I just marked them as non-indicating because I don't know where they're from. Thank you. Thank you, Claudette. I'm supposed to do it. Okay. I can't ignore them. We have two people online after Mrs. McGraw. Kathy McGraw, Northville again. I'd like to second what Claudette said, and maybe you should consider requiring an address in all correspondence. And if there isn't an address, return the letter. Maybe even put it on the website. That all submissions, all letters to the town board need to be accompanied by an address. Because it makes infinite sense if you're caring about the residents, which you say you are, and I believe you are, that when you make decisions, you then have that information. So that's just something to think about. The other thing I'd like to ask about is the progress on Patriot about do you have any idea yet how many kids, how many cubic feet have been removed, cubic yards have been removed, and whether the Suffolk County Health Department has made a report on its testing. Any info on that? It's about 4,400 cubic yards removed so far. And Suffolk County Department of Health has not given us an update on the testing. But that was just completed last week. Is there a lot still there? I think there's about a third of it left, give or take. CHAIR BUERKLE. Okay. It sounds like it's a lot more than the 3,000 cubic yards we thought was there. MR. Well, so when the DEC measures it, they measure up to, they measure, their 3,000 is year to year. Okay. So they're allowed 3,024 and then 3,020, I'm sorry, 2024 and 2025. So it looks like the calculations they gave us on the DEC report are substantially underreported. But, you know, I think it's a good thing. And I think that from our perspective, the amount, the volume of material made no matter in the first place because it all needed to leave. So that's in process and hopefully should be done by the end of next week, maybe briefly into the following week. CHAIR BUERKLE. Thank you. And very quickly, I watched the work session in which the proposed legislation on golf cottages was discussed. And I just have a question because it's my understanding that the comp plan is the plan that the residents and the town have agreed to for future development, what this town is going to be like. And that plan says golf cottages 600 square feet. And two or three of you at that work session said, oh, no, they need to be 1,200 square feet. And it seems to me that the time to talk about that was when we were doing the comp plan, not afterwards. I'm sure people will weigh in on it when we have the legislation come before us. But I'm just interested as to why that wasn't raised when we were doing the comp plan. If you have any thoughts on that. CHAIR BAILET. Thank you, Kathy. We have two people online. Okay. I have two people online. CHAIR BAILET. Thank you.
I have two people online. I'm waiting online also. We'll take one of them, then I'll take you, then we'll take the other. Okay.
Can't hear you, John. Got it. From Rowan Osein landing. Good afternoon. On this last discussion of the mass mobilization of letters, I think one thing you could do is ask the originator, the person who is doing this project, to plea as he is asking people and giving them the form to send in that he asks them to indicate, not necessarily their street address, but what town they're from, what township. I think it also would be worth considering an automatic response from your office that when you got letters that went to people that said, in order to be published, we must have a source, where you live, what town you live in. And that could probably be done easily in the software. The main couple of other things. I would join in the previous applause for your water balancing project and note that, I mean, I won't be here Thursday because I have to go to Memorial in the city, but Wednesday night at six, there is going to be a similar hearing in South Hold, and I'll go to that. And I think it's important to have, as many bodies in the room to reinforce the fact that these communities, neither South Hold nor Riverhead really want this. Second, the planning board approved HK Ventures, as Ms. Waski knows, and the board knows from a previous meeting. I think it's of serious concern that the principal in HK Ventures is accused of relationship to the Russian mafia and being a channel for, investments from the Russian mafia. So I hope that you pay very close attention. I also think that it's a horrible project just on its own content of a major warehousing operation, but that's a different issue. The town clerk, when he mentioned the non-organized letters, did not mention Alison Matwe, had a letter, expressing concern about the town square hotel project. So I would note that, and also hope that that topic will come up in the public, the only public forum where all of the candidates for town board and the supervisor will be speaking. And I hope that will be a topic that comes up that, so we get some sense of if there's a difference of opinion about what ought to happen with the, with the hotel and in the town square, and that since there isn't the date yet set for the closing of the demolition, that you be prepared to, if listen to what the voters want, on election day.
So I, that's it. I also would be useful to know, given this pressure campaign on the motor cross, I know from printed accounts, that you've been very skeptical that it's really a sand mining project, which is not a new phenomenon in Riverhead. But I, how do you see that coming before the public and the board and, where people who have doubts about it can actually express them or where the, the proposal, people making the project proposal will have to defend it in public. Thank you, John. Ma'am. And I'm vertically challenged, so can you hear me? You can move it to that. Okay. All right. So I actually did send you a letter with my name and my address. I'm Dwan Zabroski from River Road, Calverton. I'm here at the Saginaw City Hotel. I'm here to talk about the ! I'm here to talk about the, the, I'm here at the suggestion of my attorney, Mr. Arnot. I have forwarded to the town supervisor and council persons my September 3rd complaint against the Riverhead town highway department, to which we have had, inexplicably, zero response. The unacceptable misconduct detailed in my complaint has now been compounded with the complete mismanagement of my complaint. To state in my complaint that Superintendent Zieleski seemed sincere, was to give him, in good faith, the extreme benefit of the doubt. I hoped that by striking a civil and conciliatory tone, I might be able to obtain greater cooperation. I am now quite disabused of that notion. I'm sorry, did you need a moment? No, I'm fine. Oh good. Thank you. Superintendent Zaleski absolutely failed to inspire confidence at our August 26th meeting. He was defensive, patronizing, and condescending. He also displayed an odd lack of professionalism, indicating that he was overwhelmed by the complicated paving required of his department and complaining of the difficulty of his office. This is not a simple matter of isolated misconduct, but a complex matter of rampant misconduct compounded by incompetent management and poor leadership. As I stated to Superintendent Zaleski in my front yard that ugly Tuesday, I am concerned that other residents not be abused in the ways that I have been. I am also very concerned for Ryan Nameless's passenger-slash-coworker and probably other coworkers who have undoubtedly been subjected to the hostile and abusive workplace environment I have witnessed in real time. In addition to the names requested in my complaint, I will require accountability from those involved. I will also require assurances that updated training will be provided and that bad practices will be reviewed and reformed. I suggest beginning with name tags and anger management. An apology would be nice, but she with low expectations is rarely disappointed, and my expectations at this point are admittedly very, very low. In addition to filing a complaint with CSEA, I am prepared to raise awareness of this misconduct and mismanagement leading up to Superintendent Zaleski's strangely unopposed upcoming re-election effort. My husband and I are convinced that I cannot be alone in my experience of mistreatment. I am also convinced that the responsibility of the Department of Justice is to ensure that the
Department of Justice is in the hands of the people who have committed the crimes committed. I am also convinced that the Department of Justice is in the hands of the people who have committed the crimes committed. We have somebody online, two people on time. Okay, let's take one. Do you want that letter made for you?
Hello there, this is Takwi Turchin. Are you able to hear me? Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. So wearing my North Fork Environmental Council hat, I'm their land use coordinator for Riverhead, I wanted to make two comments. One is a thank you to Ms. Waski for announcing the repair cafe that will happen on October 25th. North Fork Environmental Council spearheaded the notion of a repair cafe and Riverhead has come through multiple occasions making it happen. And we're very appreciative of that. It's a neat thing to go to. You can get stuff fixed. You can watch and see how somebody fixes it. Or you can just simply have a conversation with someone. The Halloween costumes I hear are going to be in abundance. So thank you. And also a thank you for passing Resolution 860 on the Monroe balancing test to happen this Thursday at the library. On the proposed Suffolk County Water Authority water pipeline. Very important piece of legislation. And Riverhead, as I can see it, we're doing as much as possible to make sure that our zoning is respected. And my thanks go out to all the individuals on staff and on our town board who are making sure that that happens. There's an expense involved with all of this that we're going through. Not because it's our project, but because we have to respond to SCWA. And in the future, we'll be able to do that. We'll be able to do that. And in the future, from here, I'm hoping that we are keeping track of those costs. And if there's any way for us to recoup them from Suffolk County Water Authority or any entity, because we've had to go through this. And we're still going to have to put more hours in. Appreciate it if you kept that as a thought for the future. So switching hats and wearing my Cal civic president hat. I want to agree with the previous suggestions. Speakers have mentioned today on how letters to the clerk can be labeled to assist the town board and the public. Thank you for considering them. And my last is a thank you to town attorney Howard for prompt e-mail responses to my multiple requests on patriot. It is sometimes on the daily. And I appreciate not only the details that are in it, but also the promptness, because that does determine how I get information out to our civic representatives. Ms. how I get information out to our civic and what information I'm bringing to Mr. Howard and how it's relevant. The underestimated amounts on the material on Patriot property has hurt residents. I'm not sure where that responsibility lands. It seems it's the DEC squarely on their shoulders, but I could be wrong. It is hurting the residents right now. They're going through the exact same nightmare in reverse, so the same health hazards are happening for them. It's wonderful that there's an end in sight. We just really want to push that the suffering is really hurting people's health and also their quality of enjoying their lives in their properties. And thanks very much. Thank you, Takwe. We have one more online.
Hi, can you hear me? Yes. We can hear you, Colleen. Hi. I just wanted to bring up, this time of the year as residents and taxpayers, we sacrifice a lot, especially with the traffic on a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our residents. We sacrifice a lot of our and cones in front of Jamesport Biscuit Company on the south side of the road. And they've also put up signs that there's no parking. As a resident taxpayer, I've been here for probably over 30 years, parking has always been allowed on the south side of the road in front of that facility. It helps seniors get out and not have to cross the road who can't make it to the crosswalk down the street. And it also is helpful to people with small children, families to get their kids into the place. We should all, like myself, be supporting local businesses. And I think that we should be utilizing our police force in a better manner, especially when I look at the budget line items. Instead of putting cones there, we should be allowing parking and supporting our local businesses. I'm very confused why you're putting the cones there. I know that the traffic has become crazy on the main road, on every road out here. But like I said, we need to support our local businesses. And I'd like you guys to look at taking them out. For their benefit.
Thank you. Thank you, Colleen.
Warren McKnight again. I went to the debate. You guys didn't show up at the, I'm not blaming you or anything else. It's just what it is. You have your reasons. They have their reasons. But the meeting house, first of all, the signs, the chief of police there, it's, you know, prevents accidents. The roads in Riverhead are centuries old. They'll prevent the horses from crashing into things. So the road, you know, just like on Roanoke Avenue, and then it changes into Peconic Avenue, it's the same thing here. And with all the pumpkin people and everything going out, those signs, I believe, should be there, especially on the weekends, as far as that goes. Now, I'm handicapped. I went to see these, you know, the debate there. There is not one handicapped place and that's in a meeting house right there. Not one and there's no parking all around and I don't want to blame anybody, but I addressed the civic association. They looked at me if I was, you know, and I didn't even know it was handicapped.
ramp there around the corner. They never told me about that. I'm not criticizing them, but we have to be more available for people with special needs. And they also said, well, how come you didn't go across with the Jamesport Meeting House there? Why don't you go to plenty of handicapped spaces? Well, they charge a higher fee, they said right there. I don't know what's happening, but I think people have to be more, you know, you got two handicapped spaces, I'm jumping around, down at Muggs on Main and where Wedge McCall is, used to be one. You had one in front of the old post office, two, and you got a bench there. So I think this situation should be remedied, you know, because you have to rule. These meetings should be open to everybody, you know, and it's a meeting house, so we should have at least one handicapped thing there, and maybe a sign saying handicap ramp, because I didn't see it at nighttime, and nobody told me about it, and nobody opened it up for me. So that's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you, Warren.
Claudia Bianco again. Thank you all, and Mr. Howard, especially you, for, like Takri said, the communication has been rampant lately, and the signs that you put up on Young's Avenue about no parking and no idling, they are fantastic. Haven't seen a truck over there, except what's coming and going from Patriot, but nobody's parking on that road, and they are great. Thank you very much for listening to us. Appreciate it. Thank you, Claudette. We have one more in line?
Yes, who it's going to be?
Shocking. Shocking. Who's that? Good afternoon. Ron Hervey of Aquabog. Thank you for clarifying the amount of this year's tax increase, Mr. Howard, but to be specific, in the past two years, you have increased taxes in our town by over 15%. That comes after the town has pierced the tax cap for at least the past four years, and I have read a report that during your tenure on the town board, either as supervisor or as a councilman, taxes in Riverhead have increased by over 50%. One of my major subjects of criticism is the massive amounts spent on the Rothwell hockey rink, which includes something like a million dollars for toilets, 150 or 160 thousand dollars a year for electricity. I was privileged to meet Councilman Kern, where he made a presentation at a local function, where he alluded to possibly renegotiating the license agreement regarding the hockey rink to be more fair and equitable to provide some return to the town that has financed this. Could you tell us, Mr. Kern, what your understanding is as to the possibility of having the town recover some aspects of the expenses it has incurred for this project, which, at least according to multiple reports, seems to benefit out-of-towners as opposed to the few people from Riverhead that actually partake of this facility. I have no comment, Ron. Is that your comment, Ron? It's my question. Yeah, but this is open for comments, Ron. You seem to have a problem with comment and question and inquisition. This is for your open comments. So my comment is, it would appear to me, as much as I appreciate Mr. Rothwell's love for the New York Islander, it seems this is an inequitable use of town resources to benefit others. Is there a way for at least the town, the taxpayers that have funded this project, to recover anything? Mr. Kern said he can't answer it, but perhaps someone else on the board can determine whether there's an equitable solution to giving something back to the town for this facility. If you can't answer it, you're welcome to take the fifth, as you often do, Mr. Supervisor. Thank you for your comment, Ron. Anybody else online? I will just say that the taxpayers did not fund the building of the ice rink. The building of the ice rink was monies raised by Peconic Hockey Foundation. It's a $2.2 million project that was at $0 to taxpayers' expense. We did a resolution some time ago to accept that ice rink as a gift. We do contribute $150,000 a year towards the electricity for the ongoing maintenance, just as though we hire people to cut the grass at our baseball fields and maintain our parking lots. It's part of an all-or-expensive project of having parks and recreations involved. In addition, when you refer to the project for the bathrooms, that is a project that every walker, runner, biker, pickleball player, dog park player that participates in, and baseball programs that are out there, they all utilize that restroom. I'm proud of the restroom project there. That has been a long time coming and during COVID that park was a saviour for so many people who had no place to go and interior recreation places were shut down and closed. That park has been full on a regular basis and I think the restrooms are an incredible amenity to that park and I think the residents certainly appreciate that as well. Thank you. I just want to say that Saturday, I was lucky enough to get my lucky enough to be up there. First of all, there was a line at the bathroom. The line was people standing with bikes that were using the bike trail. There were quite a few people inside the ice arena, but the line to use the bathroom was people either bikes on a kickstand or holding their bike up while they were waiting to go in the bathroom. What you said is 100 percent correct. Those bathrooms are for everybody to use up there. Second thing I just want to quickly address is the ice rink itself. I assure you that the gentleman who was just talking has probably never stepped foot inside the ice rink. He's never gone there to see the kids and the youth programs from our town that are playing hockey up there. It is a fantastic amenity for the town of Riverhead. It was a gift of over $3 million. A gift. Given to us and for us to pay until they start to turn a profit, $150,000 in electricity, that far, the benefit of having that rink there far outweighs that $150,000 and the bathrooms, like we said, that's a moot point. That's use by everybody. It was a fantastic event up there. They've had numerous fantastic events up there. The place is always packed. You go by there, there's cars. All hours of the night. of the night, people playing hockey, people skating. And I have not been on the ice yet, but I understand at the end of this year they may be doing the lines when they break the ice down. They do that once a year that they're going to put the lines on for curling. And curling sounds like my speed on ice. I would still probably wear a helmet, to be honest with you, but there's a lot of good things that go on up there. And so many people from Riverhead, but not just Riverhead, the local area, and they're coming out here and they're buying lunch in the delis and everything else. That is a great amenity. And I've said this before, that that amenity, the few people that like to use that as a negative thing, very similar to back in the day with East Creek Marina. When the town took over the marina down there and the state gave them the boat ramp down there, there was problems. There was pushback from residents saying, hey, you're just catering to a certain few, which in a sense is somewhat true because not everybody has a boat. But that's been a fantastic amenity. It's been a fantastic thing for our residents. Our residents are on a waiting list every year to get a spot there because so many people want to use it. So many of our residents want to use it. And it's a clean dock. It's nicely maintained and it's much less expensive than the other ones. We're sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick and sick But these are good things, and these are what help. These things help the town prosper in the long run and at the end of the day. And I'm very proud of every one of those items that we've done, and I certainly thank you for all your efforts in making this happen because we've been talking to them for really decades. The talk was before I even came on as a councilman to get a hockey rink here. And to me it's a huge access or just a beautiful thing for the town to have, and our residents are using the heck out of it. So enough said. I actually have friends that have a son, Riverhead residents, and he was trying to find his way into what kind of sport he wanted to play. Baseball wasn't for him. Soccer didn't like it. And then Peconic hockey came. And they were like, let's try it. He loves it. When I see his parents, they're like, thank God for this hockey rink because he's part of the team. He loves going there. He's excited to come out of school and have somewhere to go to be able to skate and be with his peers. That's what it's really about at the end of the day. Enough with the mudslinging on this. This is a good thing for our community, and we're very, very lucky to have it. And thank you, Councilman Rothwell, for bringing this to Riverhead. I'd like to, oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Just to say, and every kid gets to play. Sometimes there's a cost to purchasing equipment. Peconic hockey has a great system set up where if any child can't afford to play, they'll provide, you know, the older kids turn in some of their equipment that's used and it's cleaned and processed so that if anybody wants to come down, they want to play hockey and they don't have the funding, they're going to get on the ice, and they're going to get the equipment. They need it and it's going to be provided to you. That's part of the foundation's work, that it's for everyone, for every kid, all ages, all sizes, regardless of finances. You want to play, we're going to get you on the ice to play. I just wanted to add, too, that the recreation department went through the town. We offer free skates for sometimes during the holidays or vacations and such with the kids, and that's the most important thing to me, that kids have somewhere to go that's healthy and safe, and it's all about getting involved and getting out there with other kids, and I think it's a tremendous thing. It's a tremendous amenity, and not just for little kids, for adults, for older groups that have hockey teams, right? The seniors are out there during the week on the ice on public skating time during the day. It's great. Places we can have to help our residents go and have fun, and the other day we were in there, it was 80 degrees, 85 degrees outside. It was nice to be in there. A place to hang out. It was. It was. And these are the things that you just don't hear about. I just want to add about the bathrooms because the liaison, to the alternative transportation committee, and I can tell you now, they are ecstatic that there are bathrooms, and the people that are using the bike trail are ecstatic that there are bathrooms there. Right. They're not inside the hockey rink. No. The skating rink. No, no. They're outside. Because people think it was done for the hockey rink, and that's not the case. Well, if that was the case, it would have been done inside. Yeah. Yeah, if it was, yeah, right. Warren, you've got to come up to the mic, though, otherwise the people at home can't hear you. You've got to bring your banjo next time. Tuba, baritone. Well, I have a nephew that plays hockey, and it's very addictive. And the biggest thing they have to remember is if they get too many concussions, you know, and then they still want to play. I read a story in the Reader's Digest that a guy had a heart attack. He had a soft. Like a softball league, you know, you don't get paid. He was on it. He had a heart attack, and his heart stopped beating, and he revived. And a month later, he was back. So hockey is very addictive. They love it, you know what I mean? But just make them aware, you know, and all the parents are. Just like with rough tackle, it's the same thing, you know what I mean? So I just wanted to bring that up because I care about the kids. We all do. And, you know, what are you going to do? You're going to tell the kid not to play hockey, you know? Right. Okay. But it's more than hockey. It's figure skating. It's public skating. It's teen nights out there. It's the teens putting the phones down for a while and hanging out with their friends and going to the rinks, and they play the music, and they've got a light show and everything. It's a great place to hang out, and it gets teens to put those phones down and have some fun together. Well, my 49-year-old daughter and her husband went ice skating there a few weeks ago, and they had a wonderful age, you know? It was great to hear that, you know? Thank you. But the other stuff, the hockey, I'm just worried about that. Like football, you know what I mean? Well, there's plenty of safety equipment. Yes. Okay.
Okay. I'd like to make a motion to close the town board meeting. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Town board meeting is closed. People have a great weekend. Country Fair downtown, don't forget that. Mother Nature will co-operate. I promise. And we do have the Halloween Fest on October 25th. I forgot to mention that earlier. So that's Saturday. So be on the lookout for more information.