Full Transcript
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Good and gracious God, we settle our hearts into your spirit and we give you thanks for the blessing of this season of beauty and bounty, the time together, and for visions of good things to come. Only one, we ask your blessing. Most particularly upon Jerry as he begins to live. He begins his term as our town supervisor. Bless him and guide him and bless all our council people and those of our town who continue to serve us all so well. Bless them with insight, a clear understanding of what's true and right and good for the well-being of all. Bless us, O God, and lead us in your ways of peace. In your great name we pray and together we say amen. Amen. Thank you, Reverend. Absolutely. And so before we get into the meat of the issues, I just would like to ask if any of the council members have any announcements today? I do. Yay. Okay. So the town of Riverhead is participating in America 250, the celebration of America. This is something that's being held. This is something that's being done nationwide and we're very excited to be a part of it as well. We are going to have several events that will be going on. And the first that we are announcing is a red, white, and blue ball, which will be held on Friday, January 23rd from 6 to 9 at the Sea Star Ballroom, which is over at the Aquarium. Tickets are available. They're for sale. You can find more information by either using the QR code that you can see up on the screen right now. It's also running on our social media, Instagram. You can also find information on the website. It's very exciting. We want everybody, we encourage you to wear red, white, and blue to the event or if you'd like to dress in a certain time period, that would be fantastic. We'll have a contest for that. There will be food and dancing and just a lot of engagement within people from the community and even outside the community. I've had people contact me from other towns that are looking to come to this event. So it's going to be a very exciting time. Again, that's January 23rd at the Sea Star Ballroom. It's exciting. I know I'll be there. I know Councilman Kern said many times throughout the last year he's an American. And I think it's our opportunity to do that. I think it's our opportunity to shine on this thing. So I'm excited. I do it on a daily basis. Thank you. Are you going to go into song? No, I was going to do something. You have an announcement as well? Oh, yeah, please. Thank you. So at the last town board meeting, I said that the HUD money comes from Suffolk County. It actually comes from the federal government. This is in regards to the $75,000 grant. It's going to the Vail. So I just wanted to correct, you know, be correct on that. The county, you know, the HUD money goes to the county. The county then, you know, gives it to the towns. So thank you. Thank you for clarifying that. Hi, Supervisor. Thank you. I'd just like to, again, I mentioned it at the work session, but just to reiterate how proud I am of our town attorney's office. They had a phenomenal victory this last week to help our taxpayers. And go after landlords that are illegally renting to multiple individuals in residential neighborhoods. Be on notice. We will come after you. Councilwoman Waskie had a nice presentation, and now I'm talking about being tough. But the fact of the matter is, if you would, town attorney Howard, if you'd just let the public know what a great victory we won the other day in court, December 31st. Yeah, absolutely. This was a motion that was decided in our favor. On an application for contempt. We'd previously obtained an injunctive relief from the Supreme Court for a property that was renting without rental permits, had illegal alterations to the interior, and was significantly over occupied. We got that injunctive relief. The defendant continued to violate the order. So we submitted this application for contempt. We received $1,000 in fines. That are payable under an application for contempt. That is the maximum. But we were also, my office was directed to submit in evidentiary form an itemized bill for fees and other costs incurred by the town in enforcing the court's order and pursuing this matter. So Deputy Town Attorney Victoria Pilo is working on that and will be prepared to present that on January 13th at what the court has scheduled for a sentencing hearing. And we'll be there. We'll be there. We'll be there. 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 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 this contempt violation, correct? Correct. The judge's order did set forth incarceration as a possible result of a failure to purge their contempt. And these are substantial fees that the town normally incurs in trying to rid ourselves of these types of landlords, so it's a great victory that the court's allowing us to recoup the monies that we put out by town employees to go investigate the matter. Thank you. It's also, I appreciate you pointing that out, it's also been exhausting for our police department as well as our first responders responding to that particular location, so hopefully that will free up some of our first responders and our law enforcement personnel as well. Absolutely, absolutely. It's a win-win for the people even existing there for safety. Thanks. Do you also have an announcement? So I do. We bring great tidings. So we had a meeting once again this morning. We periodically do meet Supervisor with RBAC, and we had created some time ago a donation committee, and we have been reaching out to different philanthropist residents and so forth. Many residents within the town of Riverhead that are served by RBAC have received letters in the mail asking for donations and support for our new ambulance building to be built. And as of this morning, we currently have collected up to, we're at $6.4 million towards new buildings. So we have raised a large substantial amount of money, so I'll give you a high five on that one. Yeah, that's awesome. It's been very exciting. We did, as you know, at one of the last town board meetings, we did put out to hire a construction manager, so we expect that to be completed by the end of this month. We do expect next month that the contract go out to select a builder as well for the specifications to put out an RFP for the building. Construction company to construction will be a module unit. RBAC will be coming in just to kind of give everybody an update overall on the procedures and how they're moving forward. But this committee has worked tirelessly, and we expect this project to be in the potential range between an $8 million and $9 million project. Okay. So we're at almost $6.5 million right now. The balance will be paid through ambulance billing and the services that RBAC provides. And so therefore, we are looking at building this new RBAC facility, which is 20 years in the waiting, at no taxpayer expense. And so that's, I think it's an incredible achievement. I just, I can't thank Andy Mitchell and the team that we've put together, and Garrett, the president of RBAC. They've just been amazing. Everybody's worked so hard on it, and we're just making great progress. So we expect to put out the building. We're going to put out the bid for the construction company next month. That's awesome. Good things are happening for RBAC. That's outstanding. That's outstanding. Thank you all for your announcements. And I believe with that, I will turn it over to our town clerk, Mr. Wooten, to review correspondence and report figures for us. Yes. On the correspondence, we received five letters actually from three entities, one from Warren McKnight, talking about general rights as a nation, I believe. The second one was from Andy Buckwalter. Thank you. And the third one was from the parking district advisory committee, which is a reference to a motocross facility and the positives that it would have in the community. And three letters from the parking district advisory committee with suggestions that they'd like to see implemented. Those have all been circulated to the board as well as put on the website for those to read. Under reports, we received the tax receivers total tax collection out of this December 19th at $9,026,061.76. 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. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. completes all of our reports thank you so much so eloquently done and uh jim we just want to thank you amazingly and does anyone have any comments on the resolutions
john mccullough from rolling woods roanoke landing happy new year to everybody and welcome to you jen our new supervisor um this is actually about a whole bunch of resolutions 29 to 36 which is the appointments resolutions and i think it would be helpful to get some understanding where these come from what the process has been that brings them to us right now um there was the new supervisor involved in choosing these steps to take was i don't think it was on the last work session when i looked at the agenda how do we come up with a process and i'm raising it without any objection to these particular individuals i don't know most of them but i am noting that if you look down that list and then if you look up the office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office I would like some clarity about how these names come before us at this point as a resolution. And then second, whether the new supervisor and the board will make some effort, as had been promised by the previous supervisor, to try to increase the diversity, the representativity of these entities in the town government. Do you want to go first? Yes, sir, John. Most of these are reappointments to positions that are current members of the planning board and the zoning board. They have been carefully watched over their previous terms. I support all of them. I think they've done a phenomenal job, so I think their work speaks for itself. But in addition, this was brought up in our executive session, where we do have an open discussion about appointments, and we do take questions. We do have a question and answer from other board members, as well as the supervisor did participate in those hearings as well. But based on their prior work, they are all extremely qualified. They do an excellent job, and I know that's what we want going forward. We want excellent work. Do we want to have diversity on the boards? Absolutely. But I think in this particular case, these are members that are currently serving the town, and they're doing a phenomenal job, and we want to stay on the right path. Yes, I was part of that process. Mr. McCullough? Yes, I was part of that process. And I appreciate your comments. And being part of that process, I actually asked for this to be here for the first 45, but I do believe in all of these names that are here, and I've been to their meetings, and I've listened, and they've shown no reason to retract and to replace at this time. And we have so many things before us, and we have, as everyone sitting in this room and watching at home knows, we have a tremendous amount of touchy and interesting topics that are ahead of us here for 2026. And so I felt like for these areas, it would be important that we kept some congruency in those areas for now. So, you know, I'm very happy with who we have. Anybody else? Thank you, John. Mr. McKnight? Warren McKnight, Riverhead. Resolution 23 authorizes Eagle Scout Project. I think this is very important. Over the years, I've seen the job. Over the years, I've seen the different Eagle Scouts projects, and it makes my heart glad to see these projects in Riverhead. Does anybody know what this Eagle Scout Project is or what's going to happen? Yes. From Troop 94 in Wading River? Yes, it says in the resolution he's going to do a kiosk at Park Carter, Carter Park, I believe it is. Which park? Carter. Sound Avenue Nature Preserve? Nature Preserve. Okay. Yeah, this comes from the Northern Space Committee. And the kiosk is going to do what? The kids are going to build the Eagle Scouts are going to do it, yes. Okay. And it's going to give information and stuff? Yes. Okay. And one of my favorite places in town is Polish Town Civic Association. How come they gave so much money? Does anybody know why they like us? I guess I don't like the town. Well, we're very extremely thankful that they did donate that money, and I know the relationship that this town has had with that association for years dates back, and I believe it's always been something that we've continued, and we are so thankful for what they've done. Well, that's a good reason to have fairs, Polish Town Fair. And we had a Hispanic fair. Maybe we can get them to give some money, too, on Main Street. I saw it the other time. It's going to be a brave new world here. Thank you. Well, they also do a great job, and to me, I've always seen the Polish Fair as more as a tourist event that not just goes to help the Civic Association, but it helps all the vendors, the shops, downtown restaurants, retail associations by bringing people in. So we very much want to have that yearly event that I think a donation like this certainly helps to go towards covering the cost of police and so forth on the event as well to make sure that the events are continued. Thank you. And I think that's the reason why we continue on going each year. Thank you for telling us that. So it's a little bit of a give back to help some of the costs the town takes. Anyone else from the audience? Anyone online on Zoom? Do we have any comments on resolutions on Zoom? I do not see any of that from the back. So I will ask our town clerk if you would please move along with our resolutions. Okay. Starting with 2026. How about resolution number one? Set salaries of elected officials for the year 2026. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskie? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Albin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number two. Mm-hmm. You got to read it first. Yeah. Set salaries of general town employees for the year 2026. Second. Second. Local office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office office also on page 21 the i want to wait give everybody a second there uh the assistant superintendent of recreation from 85 000 to 81 000 the first one will be because david cody coming in uh that was a a raise that was going to be given to the person that was sitting in that seat and he's not going to be receiving that um and then secondly uh with the assistant superintendent that was not a budgeted amount uh from last year's budget and so i'd like to ask that we hold to uh the budget set forth that that uh that request came in uh at the end of the year and so i would appreciate staying at that suppose that's 81 000 even uh yes i believe so from correct okay so the motion to amend needs to be do you want to make those motions together do you want to do them individually um !
! ! right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right let's do them together and then if if not we'll come back and do them individually there you go okay right all right we can do it that way first you want the motion to amend right so yes so the motion to amend now needs to be seconded okay i seconded it we didn't make the motion did you i thought you did so i'll make a motion i'll make a motion to man you moved the resolution now there's a motion to amend the resolution the resolution the the motion to amend the resolution has been seconded now there needs to be a vote on the proposed amendment the amendment being the dollar changes to legislative aid and deputy recreation superintendent absolutely so i'd like to call for a vote uh since it's been first and second all right vote on the amendment uh waski yes unfortunately the budget was already set so this is what needs to be done very few yes yes for the same reasons yeah for the same reasons that the councilwoman stated rothwell yes and halpin uh yes and because the fact that the same stated reasons both of these people are outstanding i think everyone here agrees absolutely okay so now as amended all right so now the the the resolution having been amended uh by adoption of the amendment now the resolution needs to be moved again as amended so just to get fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed fixed
! Just to point out, because I appreciate that, just for full clarity, that you yourself have not chosen to take the salary that was put into the budget this year. But just for full disclosure, when you said that the officer supervisor was going to be $8,000 less in terms of your salary and so forth, but there are salary increases for other members of the supervisor's staff, which came out to about $8,000. So now it would be a little bit less when you're adjusting. Well, they were. So, yeah, they were really spending. Just letting you know, we're spending the same amount as we did last year. So that's right. Coming to the budget. So they were budgeted. But just to clarify, it's not that the officer supervisor is not, in fact, $8,000 less. It's still an increase in from last year's cost. Not less from 2025, but less than budgeted for 2026. Correct. Yep. Absolutely. Just for clarity. Sure. Sure. No problem. So do we have a motion? I'll read it. Now as amended? Yeah. Yes. Set salaries of general town employees for the year 2026 as amended. So moved. Seconded. Waskey. Yes, as amended. Marysville. Yes, as amended. Kern. Yes, as amended. Othwell. Yes, as amended. And Hubbard. I mean, Halpin. Yes, as amended. Yeah, with age. Sorry. That's okay. All right. Who's on first? Resolution is adopted. As amended. Resolution number three. Set salaries of the highway department for the year 2026. So moved. Seconded. I'll vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Marysville. Yes. Kern. Yes. Othwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number four. Set salaries of police officers for the year of 2026. So moved. Seconded. I'll vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Marysville. Yes. Kern. Yes. Othwell. Yes. Halpin. Absolutely. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number five. Set salaries of sewer scavenger waste district for the year 2026. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Marysville. Yes. Kern. Yes. Othwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number six. Set salaries of street lighting district for the year 2026. Yes. Waskey. Yes. Marysville. Yes. Kern. Yes. Othwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number seven. Set salaries of the water district for the year 2026. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Marysville. Yes. Kern. Yes. Othwell. Yes. Hubbard. I mean, Halpin. Yes. One more and I get a cup of coffee. Yeah, you weren't kidding. I got a cup of my own. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number eight. Set salaries of various boards for the year 2026. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Marysville. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number nine. Set salaries for 2026 call-in and seasonal recreation personnel. So moved. Seconded. Waskey. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Othwell. Yes. 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 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 Vote please then, I guess. The table. The table? Mm-hmm. Sorry. Am I doing this properly, Jim? Yes, you made a motion to table the resolution and you had a second? Yes, sir. Yes. Okay. Rothwell seconded. Waske? Yes, to table. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Kern? Yes, to table. Rothwell? Yes, to table. Halpin? Yes, to table. Okay. That has been voted. Chosen. Okay. Resolution number 10. Re-hire and set salaries for various call on recreation personnel for 2026. I think we're going to table this for the same reason. Yes, sir. We're not budgeted this way so I'll make a motion to table. Seconded. Vote please. Okay. Rothwell seconded. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Rothwell seconded. Chosen. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Chosen. Okay. Rothwell seconded. Chosen. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Chosen. Okay. Rothwell seconded. Chosen. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Chosen. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Turned. Yes, to table. Rothwell? Yes, to table. Hoffman? Yes, to table. The resolution is tabled. Resolution number 11. Appoints financial advisor. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Chosen. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Rothwell seconded. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Chosen. Merrifield? Yes, to table. Rothwell seconded. Merrifield? Merrifield? Yes, to table. Chosen. Yes. Waske? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 12. Appoints a water treatment plant operator trainee. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 14. I am. Thank you. Ratifies the appointment of a wastewater treatment plant operator. So moved. Second. Waske? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 14. I am. Please. Thank you. Ratifies the appointment of a wastewater treatment plant operator. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 15. Amends, corrects, Resolution 2025-981, appointing Deputy Highway Superintendent. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Waske? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. !
Rothwell? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 18. Budget transfer for 2025 legal fees. So moved. Seconded. I would like to have Counselor explain this for everyone. It would be very helpful. Sure. So, the first thing is that the these represent legal fees in connection with the even year election law matter that the town board voted to join last year with about eight different municipalities. These are legal fees that were outside the typical budget. And they represent the town of Riverhead's contribution to the commencement of this case. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. And going forward, we're hoping that there's no more legal costs with this. I have had, yeah, conversations with counsel. I expect further fees to be mitigated. Thank you. Thank you for the explanation. May I have a vote, please? Yes. Waske? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 19. Budget adjustment for the final demolition costs of 39 Pye Lane, James C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. and C. Waskey? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hennin-Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 21. Approved to a district request for change order number 2 related to the Class A biosolids upgrade project. So moved. Second. Foe, please. Waskey? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 22. Authorizes the removal of fixed assets. So moved. Seconded. Foe, please. Waskey? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hennin-Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 23. Authorizes Eagle Scout project. So moved. Seconded. Foe, please. Waskey? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hennin-Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 24. Accepts donation from Polish Town Civic Association. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Thank you very much. Murrayfield? Yes. Thank you. Kern? Yes. Thank you. Rothwell? Yes. Thank you. Hennin-Halpin? Thank you and yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 25. Authorizes the attendance at the 2026 Annual Meeting and Training School held by the Association of Towns from February 15th to the 18th, 2026. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. I abstain because it's regarding me. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Safe travels, Councilwoman. Yes. Hennin-Halpin? Yes. Hope to join you. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 26. Authorization for one police department employee to attend a training. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hennin-Halpin? I'm excited that we're going to continue to train our officers in this way. So yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 27. Ratifies the authorization for the police department employees to attend a training. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Hennin-Halpin? Again, this is exciting training. If you're watching at home, this is going to be a difference maker. So yes. Resolution number 27. Is adopted. Resolution number 27. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just quickly. Councillor, wanted to say something? Yes. This is in connection with the HAZMAT team that our fire marshal's office is putting together. And they are several of the police officers are also volunteer firemen. And so they volunteered to join this HAZMAT team. And so this is training that is paid for entirely by FEMA. So it'll get those police officers trained to assist with this HAZMAT team that we're putting together. It's also to point out that if we had non-police officers participating, we would have to cover the cost of insurance to cover their protection. So being that they are Riverhead Town police officers, they are already covered and insured. And that was the reason why one first and all thank you for police officers volunteering in their own time to volunteer firefighters and first responders. But just so they know, like others may have felt that they were left out of this process is because of the fact that they were not in the right place. Right. So, the police officers as town employees are covered by insurance policy. And that's how they were selected by the fire marshal's office. Great. Thanks. That was great dialogue. Thank you. Resolution number 28. Authorizes attendance at seminar by fire marshal. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Turn? Yes. Rockwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 30. I get your name wrong, but re-appoints Ralph Gazzillo to serve as Vice Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Riverhead. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 30. I get your name wrong, but re-appoints Ralph Gazzillo to serve as Vice Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Riverhead. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waski. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Thank you, Judge. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Alpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 31. Reappoints Otto Whitmire to serve as chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Riverhead. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Thank you. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. And Hubbard. Ah, that's a cup of coffee. That's three. Free cup of coffee. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That's okay. Sorry. Resolution is adopted. No reason to apologize. Resolution 32. Reappoints Edward Deniseski to serve as chairman of the Planning Board of the Town of Riverhead. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski. Yes. Ed does an excellent job. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Definite yes. Rothwell. Absolutely yes. Alpin. 100% yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 33. Reappoints John Hogan to serve as vice chairman of the Planning Board of the Town of Riverhead. So moved. Easy there, Bob. Second. I wanted to harmonize. Second. Vote, please. Waski. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Thank you, John. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. And Alpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution. 34. Reappoints Daniel Siew曲 as member to the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town of Riverhead. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. And Alpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 35. Reappoints Joseph Baer as member of the Town of Riverhead Planning Board. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. And Halpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 35. Reappoints Joseph Baer as member of the Town of Riverhead Planning Board. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes, sir. vote please Boski yes very few yes Kern yes Rothwell yes and help oh yes sir resolution is adopted resolution 36 reappoints legal representation for the zoning Board of Appeals so moved second it vote please Boski yes Murray field yes Kern yes yes and help yes resolution is adopted resolution 37 appoints bond council so moved second a vote please Boski yes very few yes Kern yes yes and help yes sir resolution is adopted resolution 38 a point approves the retirement of a heavy equipment operators so moved seconded I'll vote please Boski thank you for all the years that you've been here Jimmy you've always done a great job thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you great job enjoy your retirement yes Mary field yes enjoy your retirement Kern yes Rothwell best wishes thank you for your service yes and helping oh yes sir good luck resolution is adopted resolution 39 accepts the retirement of a police sergeant so moved back in a vote please Boski good luck to you and your retirement John yes very few yes Yes. Congratulations, Sergeant Vail. Kern? Yes. Best of luck. Rothwell? Yeah, John. Enjoy your retirement. Best wishes ahead. Yes. And Halpin? Glad you're not leaving our town. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 40. Accepts the retirement of a public safety dispatcher, so moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski? We hate to see you go, Debbie. Thanks for everything over the years that you've done for the department. Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Best wishes in retirement. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Best wishes. Thank you for your service. Yes. And Halpin? Good luck. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 41. Ratifies the resignation of a maintenance mechanic three, so moved. Second. Vote, please. Waski? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 42. Ratifies the resignation of an automotive equipment operator, so moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 43. Ratifies the approval of an unpaid leave of absence, so moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 44. Authorizes the supervisor to execute memorandum of understanding with the County of Suffolk and Suffolk County Sheriff related to flock safety cameras, so moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waski? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes. Otherwise, would曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o and R曲o Authorizes supervisor to execute an agreement with assistant recreation superintendent 1. So I'd like to make a motion to amend this. And so on page 179 of that packet, we are going to change this from the 184, right, 185 to 181, 181 please. I'll second it. This is consistent with what we've already done. Yes, sir. Vote, please, on the amendment. There was a second on it? Yes, Bob. Okay, Waskie? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes, to amend. Kern? Yes, to amend. Rothwell? Yes, to amend. Halpin? Yes, to amend. Okay, the resolution has been amended. Can we read it again? Yeah, can we read it again? Authorizes supervisor to execute an agreement with assistant recreation superintendent 1. As amended. So moved. Seconded. As amended. Vote, please. Waskie? Yes, as amended. Murrayfield? Yes, as amended. Kern? Yes, as amended. Rothwell? Yes, as amended. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution, as amended, has been adopted. Resolution 47. Authorizes the supervisor to execute an agreement with network and systems administrator. So moved. Seconded. Waskie? Yes, as amended. Kern? Yes, as amended. Rothwell? Yes, as amended. Halpin? Yes, sir. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskie? Yes, as amended. Murrayfield? Yes, as amended. Kern? Yes, as amended. Rothwell? Yes, as amended. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution has been adopted. Resolution 48. Authorizes the filing of an application for New York State assistance from the Household Hazardous Waste, HHW, State Assistance Program and signing of the associated state contract under the appropriate laws of New York State. So moved. Seconded. Waskie? Yes, as amended. Kern? Yes, as amended. Rothwell? Yes, as amended. Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 49. Authorizes the town clerk to post in public notice of public hearing to amend Town Code Chapter 301, Article 1, entitled Title, Purpose, Definitions and Interpretation. So moved. Seconded. I'll have a vote, please. Yes. Waskie? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 50. Authorizes town clerk to post in public notice of public hearing to amend Town Code Chapter 301, Article 1, entitled Title, Purpose, Definitions and Interpretation. So moved. I believe it's Article 42. Article 42. You said Article 1. Just second as to Article 42. Good catch. Hang on. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hang on. I think the Councilman is reading the wrong resolution. Yeah. Sounds like he's reading the one from just before. Oh. 50? I knew it sounded familiar. Authorizes town clerk to post in public notice of public hearing to amend Town Code Chapter 301, Article, what was that today's? 42. Oh, 42. 42. 46. Okay. Titled, Transfer of Development Rights. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Thank you, Councilor. You're welcome. Sounds like deja vu. Okay. Thank you. Ya deja vu. Was��曲?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Ya�롬?" Rothwell? Be the luck of the Irish, yes. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 52. Adopts 2026 donations policy. So moved. Seconded. I am extremely excited about this because I think it brings a lot of clarity to us. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 53. Adopts 2026 investment policy. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 54. Ratifies the authorization of a grant application. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Absolutely, yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 55. Pays bills. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 56. Ratifies the appointment of a part-time code enforcement officer. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. And welcome aboard. Rothwell? Yes. And hope to get her to full-time soon. Yes. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 57. Ratifies the termination of an employee. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. I'm sorry to see you go, Joanne. I wish you all the best. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Just a clarification. Yes. I'm sorry to see you go, Joanne. I wish you all the best. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Just a clarification. Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
I just wanted to clarify, Joanne has been absolutely awesome for the Town of Riverhead for a number of years. She's done a phenomenal job. The Town Board today is not terminating her in terms of any actions in which she's done. She serves at the term and the authorization of the supervisor's office. So as the supervisors may change over the years, the supervisor incoming has an opportunity to choose the staffing of his or her choice. And so that's just an appointed position that always follows the election of the supervisor. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Otherwise, it would be fixed without being fixed. Sadly, because of following again, the supervisor does have the authority to select his or her staff, so I vote, regrettably, yes, but it's just the terms of the agreement in that position. And Halpin. Yes, I appreciate all of you saying that, and Joanne, we do wish you the best of luck, and my answer is yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 58. Acknowledges appointment of David Cote, legislative aide to town supervisor, and sets terms and conditions of employment so moved. Seconded. There's been an amendment, too? No, it's correct in this part. Okay. Waskie. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Hearn. Yes. Huckwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 59. Acknowledges appointment of Chief of Staff Berkowski. Yes. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskie. Of course, yes. Merrifield. Yes, absolutely. Hearn. Yes. Rothwell. You say, welcome aboard? Yes. And Halpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. That concludes, oh, there is one more, sorry. No, same one. There we have it. Resolution 60. Acknowledges appointment of Deputy Sir David Cote, legislative aide to town supervisor, and sets terms and conditions of employment so moved. Seconded. Yes. Acknowledges appointment of David Cote, legislative aide to town supervisor, and sets terms and conditions of employment so moved. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Hearn. Yes. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Hearn. Well, thank you, Jim, very much. This concludes the resolutions part of our segment today. And so at this point, I would love to open it up to public comments. As you come to the microphone, we'd just like to remind you that this is a comment section. And so if we don't respond, it's not because we think anything ill of what you're saying, but we are trying to just absorb that and listen and make that. And we also do have department heads in the room, which we're so thankful for, for those that are here today, to make sure that if we don't have an answer and they do, that they would come up and be able to respond to you. So with that, I'd like to open the floor to those in the room before we go to Zoom. Does anyone in the room have open for comment on anything? Just approach the microphone.
I like what you said. If you could just go ahead again, Warren, as we know you, make sure everybody online knows you. Okay. Councilman Bob Kerr. Warren, just your name? Warren McKnight Riverhead. Thank you, sir. Bob Kerr did two important things this year, which was the housing crisis. You stressed we need, you know, you brought that about, and also identity theft, right? I mean, these are the things that affect people every day. And you have the least power, but we have a housing crisis here. Where are these people going to go that can't live in these houses anymore? What's going to, I mean, it's, we can't, I don't know how we're going to solve it, but maybe we could get help from, like you said, John Wesley Village, where we get more places like that who will go according to income. These are the things that, you know, I'm concerned about. And I know a gentleman who has worked for the county as a, and he's a big man. He's a big man. of Welfare and also HEAP and everything else, very intelligent man. He almost, and he has, lives in a gated community in Riverhead. He almost got his identity stolen and he's a smart individual. I mean, we got to educate all of us more on this and I appreciate Mr. Halpin's, Mr. Kern's initiative on this. And the second thing that disturbs me and I don't want any comments on this, but I want everybody to think hard. There's a new law that you have to, three of you were elected and you got to get reelected again or something? What is this? The law is only that I will have to run again this year. But you are correct, there is a law for that. That's okay. We'll have to get reelected. Yeah, at some point. But the point is this. This is the point I want to make. Yes, sir. This is a very important point. You went against odds. You fought hard. You fought hard. You fought hard. You fought hard. You fought hard. You had a lot of help and you won by a small margin. What if the Republican town committee would be nice enough to give you a chance to complete your term without having to run again so you could do a much, much better job than if you had to say I could do anything better than you. No, you can't. Yes, you can, you know. So that I hope. And I don't want, I want you all to think about it. And if we do that, for some reason, and the same thing with, yeah, yeah. If we do that, we'll send a message to everybody. And maybe we'll have more people at this town board meeting. And maybe we'll have more participation in government. And I like Tim. I voted for him. But if, I'm voting for you next time because you deserve a chance. But just so you know, Martin, we can't circumnavigate around the government. And I'm not going to be the governor and the state legislator who sets the terms of office. Yes. But the point is if the committees don't nominate us or nominate, there used to be a thing called the Wilson-Bakula. I don't know if they have that anymore. Where you could take a person who's not a Republican and he could run on that party. That would be a wonderful gesture. I think that's what Jerry did on the Democrat line, Warren. Yeah, but he also could do it on a Republican line. Everybody on that line. Because he deserves a chance. And we really need. You know, the Constitution, I carry it with me. We really need to realize that we can't have career politicians. And we need a two-party system. And our founding fathers said the jobs are only temporary. You know, we have to move on. So those are the important things. I mean, a one-party system is not good. And thank heavens there's somebody who's different. I really think it's important. And that's my point. And that's my comment. Thank you. Thank you, Warren. We really appreciate your passion for our town and its people. Thanks. Anybody else in the room that would like to speak?
John McAuliffe, Rolling Woods, Riverhead. I want to come back to my earlier comment because I note that there was no response to the broader. And I think that's a principled question, which is the underrepresentivity of these boards and committees. And I just hope that it will be part of the new supervisor's agenda to figure out a better way to make appointments to these groups. That having something listed with due notice on the town website rather than going through an external personnel or staffing. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. And I think that's a good point. committees and boards that it was grossly unrepresentative in terms of ethnic and racial groups, but also in terms of the gender balance. So I just hope that that's among the many tasks that you and the board set to yourself to find a better way to actually solicit applications and then to have a process that makes a real effort to bring the representativity of the town into these groups. Because we know, especially these boards, but also the other committees, that the boards are the ones that really do the nitty-gritty work on things like the marijuana plantation or the location of the new marijuana store or the big issues that happened about the DeSound Avenue resorts. I mean, these groups don't get a lot of attention during the actual debate over issues unless somebody has generated a lot of momentum. But it's also a question of whether the people sitting on the other side of the podium bring different kinds of experiences and perspectives to the decision-making process. Thank you. John? Yeah. I just want to point out that these boards are not the only ones that are going to be involved in the decision-making process. These were reappointments. There wasn't any vacancy that was... No, no. I'm acknowledging. I'm not And with all due respect, I am the prior chairwoman of the planning board. Right. So there is diversity there. That was a position that I sought out. I knew that there was going to be a vacancy on there because of my professional experience, understanding, you know, land and being in real estate. And I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. Because being in real estate, I was given that opportunity fairly. If anybody sees that there's a vacancy available, they are more than able to come down, give a resume, explain why they would like to be a part of that board. Nobody is being, you know, shunned away. It's an equal opportunity for everybody. But that illustrates the problem. If anybody sees there's a vacancy, the problem is Making known to people who are not living and breathing the internal structures of Riverhead. Believe me, I wasn't living and breathing it. You came out of the Republican committee and you had a long history in Riverhead politics, so you were not a naive in this process. I'm just saying that a real serious effort needs to be made. I'm not sure what the actual makeup of the planning board is now, but the point is if you look at all of the boards, if you look at all of the committees, and you look at the population in Riverhead, it is not reflective of that population. And these are the groups. It's not just a question of professional expertise. That's important, but it's a reflection of people's gut sense of where they want their neighborhood, their community to go, their town to go. So I think it's just an area. Where some effort could be productive. And I know Tim did intend to do that, and I don't know how much change there actually happened during his tenure. But I think that, and he kept referring to someone who was a classmate of his who lived outside of Riverhead. I just wish that there'd be a systematic effort to make sure that these committees and boards were more reflective of the. I'll also comment on that. That. There's a number of committees in which I am liaison to like the Veterans Committee and the Hispanic Development Committee, which meets here today at five o'clock. But they have openings on those committees and they've been continuing an opening on committees. So anybody of any cultural background, race, religion, color, creed can join those committees and participate in them. And there are open vacancies available. So if somebody, anybody wants to come forward to participate on these committees to help guide the town in future endeavors, there are vacancies and, and the town. Clerk can have, you know, you can reach out to the town clerk's office to participate in any one of those committees. All the committees are listed on their website. And throughout the year, we do get emails and contacts of people looking to join those committees and they're all welcome. And those committees are also open to the public where you can come in and sit down and view, listen and participate. I know on all of the committees in which I'm liaison to, we're open up to everybody. So we don't, it's not a closed session or meetings. So I encourage anybody within the community to come forward and join those committees. Maybe it's a mechanical question that on the town board website, there should be a page which says. There is a page on the website. That's, no, no, no, that says these are available positions on committees and boards. And this is the process through which you apply to become a member of one of these committees and boards. All the meetings are listed on a town website. And I know the meetings are listed. And anybody can come and attend those meetings and express interest to join. John, I want to. That's different. I want to say thank you so much for your passion for the people in the town of Riverhead. And you definitely pointed out one thing specifically that Councilwoman Waskie said. You had said that she was on the inside looking out and that anybody, people would be available. And while I understand your language in picking up on that, if I was to sit here and go back and forth about language, I could pick up on you said a better way. And I know that that's not really what you mean, that it's being done. 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. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. And so we are doing that and there are availabilities and there's always a way to see it differently. But I would say, you know, thank you for your passion. And it is duly noted. And we are constantly always looking to excel in those areas. I know to speak into people, they've told me, oh, I've been asked, but how much time do I have? So thank you for your time today. Thank you for coming to do this. And I really appreciate it. Thanks. Do you guys have a comment? Nope. Anybody? Okay. I believe we have two online unless anybody else in the room has one. All right. Let's dial up that first one.
It's always my favorite part of the meeting when I'm sitting out there.
I'm waiting to see who it is. Yeah. I always want to say, who can it be now? Kathy McGraw. So. Hi, Kathy McGraw from Northville. Happy New Year to you all. And welcome, Mr. Halpin, as our new town supervisor. My comment is about two resolutions that were just passed, which were involved with fairly substantive issues. And an otherwise. And I think that's a really controversial agenda. And I feel like having read the resolutions that I kind of feel like you have snookered the people of Riverhead. The resolutions I'm talking about are 49 and 50. And they authorize the town clerk to post and publish notice of two public hearings on proposed zoning changes. But neither resolution nor the public notices they adopt specify what the zoning changes are about. Resolution 49 and its public notice says it's an amendment to Chapter 301, Article 1 of the Town Code titled Titles, Purposes, Definitions, and Interpretations. It says nothing more than that. As that article, Article 1 of the Zoning Code, contains more than 250 definitions, how is the public to know what this change is really about? Likewise, Resolution 50 and its public notice says... Kathy, if I could just stop you there for a second just to help you to understand the first one. I want to take those item by item if possible. Yeah. It is in the packet that was attached. Yes. So it is there in the packet. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. Is that... It is in the packet. What I'm talking about is if you read the resolution itself, if you go through the agenda, if you are thinking about coming to town hall, you look at the agenda, you read the resolutions, and the name of this resolution doesn't tell you much. In order to find out what this resolution is about, as a member of the public, you have to scroll through 250 pages of the agenda. And find the actual resolution where there is an attachment to the resolution. And that attachment to the resolution does in fact tell you that Resolution 49 is an amendment to some definitions. It amends standard golf course, and it adds a definition which is golf cottages. Yes. 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. 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. And every one of the public hearing notices that goes in the papers indicates what the intention of the change is. The public notices that are attached to these two resolutions don't do that. You didn't talk when you passed these resolutions. You didn't say what they're about. You just passed the resolution. No one listening to this town board meeting would have any idea that what this is about is adding golf course cottages, which are recommended in the town comp plan update, but changes what the comp plan update recommended. It recommended one golf course cottage per home. And it recommended a total of a standard golf course of 600 feet each, square feet. This proposed change is for 1,200 square feet, doubling the size of the golf cottages. I'm not here to discuss the content. I'm just here to point out that the way this was done gives absolutely no notice to the public. Unless they scrutinize this agenda, they would have no way of knowing what the public hearings that you have now set for, I think it's January 16th, what they're going to be about. And I think that's unfair to the public. Okay, I'm going to ask her. I have nothing against golf courses. I just think this is unfair to the public. I hear you. I understand your point. And I'd just like our counselor to speak on that. Thank you, Mr. Supervisor. I tend. To take. I acknowledge Ms. McGraw's point. I think in this instance, the text of the proposed change should be published together with the notice. Okay. And I think that the text of the change should be similarly posted together with the notice. Thank you, Ms. McGraw. To that point, we either have to publish the entirety of the text or we have to include in the notice a description of what the code. Change is. This doesn't provide the typical sentence or two explanation of what the code change is. So in this instance, the entirety of the text should be published. Yep. Thank you. I really appreciate that change. But I'm really kind of upset about this because I feel like this was snuck in by the mover of this resolution, Mr. Rothwell, and the mover of the next resolution, Mr. Kern. This just seems like it's being slipped in to avoid controversy over something that could be controversial. And so I thank you, Counselor, for making the change. I think it's really important. And I appreciate your giving notice to the public. Ms. McGraw, just for the record, the people that moved the motion and seconded the motions are drawn at random by the town clerk's office. Yeah. There's no specific about who put forth. And the board votes. As a whole. So these are not particular ones that I specifically put. Who proposed this resolution? Planning. I can tell you when I get the package, whether it is going to be 50 resolutions or 60 resolutions, it starts off with a voting rotation. And it's always Rothwell, Kern, Kern, Merrifield, Merrifield, Waskie, Waskie. So it's just by random. If you're number one, you're going to be RK. If you're number five, you're going to be KM. So it's by random. It's not any just because they made the motion doesn't mean that they made the adoption or that they wrote. I get you. I guess I'm harking back to having watched a work session in which the subject of golf cottages came up. I think you're absolutely right. And I think the verbiage will be changed on the notice. But this this resolution was calling for a public hearing, subsequent public hearing. So it's just the start of a process. It's not it's not the adoption. Right. Mr. McGraw. I totally understand. We can change the language to if you'd like and and the public notice, go ahead and ratify it at the next town board meeting. If you like it so that we could just make a commit to have the proper language in there as well. I think counselor is saying that that would be a recommendation on both. Is that correct? On forty nine and fifty. Yeah, we can do we can do both ways. We can amend the I mean, the notice has to be published. And if this public hearing is going to be held on the 21st, you're going to need to be in the Thursday. He says it's got to go. Yeah, it's got to. It's got to go. And this Thursday's. Yeah. So then. Yeah. So I would just recommend doing the publishing the entirety of the text and posting the entirety of the text. And I think that that's very clear. No, we do it. We don't need to do a motion on that. The general rule on an amendment to a local law is that you either provide the explanation or publish the entirety of the text. So if we publish the entirety of the text, we've satisfied the requirements. Sure. And we I really appreciate. I believe everyone here does. And that's what open government. It's about. That's why we have these comments sections. I would just say that always, as I said in my inauguration speech, it's going to be a little clunky at first, probably for me as I read through those things. And so I appreciate allowing us to, as I said, fail forward and have the intent that I can tell you that every resolution in here I went over and scrutinized and nothing was snuck in, which I understand the thought process there. But I can say that as far as I know. But thank you so much for looking out for. And again, your passion for the town and the people is much appreciated. So I appreciate it very much. Thank you for making the change. All right. Anyone else? Oh, we have a couple more online, right?
Oh, boy. Mr. Herrier there. You should stop by there for dinner. There you are. Mr. He's Ron. Her area of aqua bog. First, I'd like to congratulate our new supervisor. Mr. Herrier. Mr. Herrier. Who displayed a special sensitivity to the dramatically increased tax burden our taxpayers have experienced over the past several years. And I commend our new supervisor for his determination not to accept or actually to cut back his salary dramatically. And I would call upon your colleagues on the town board, including council members, Waski and Merrifield, current Rothwell to do you one better and reduce their salaries as well. I know that Councilwoman Waski had previously not taken a raise, and I know that both Mr. Rothwell and Councilwoman Waski have. And I know that Councilman Waski has. Successful businesses and Ms. Merrifield receives a handsome pension for years of service at the district attorney. So I would call upon them today to make that commitment in the spirit of the fact that Riverhead is among the poorest and most taxed towns on all of Long Island. And as you now are. The chief financial officer of our town, Mr. Supervisor. I'd like to highlight some egregious examples of what I view as massive waste and inappropriate expenditures of taxpayer funds. Um, now, while I appreciate the hockey rink, um, was one of the few things the town was able to accomplish over the. Past few years. It adds insult to injury to hit taxpayers with years of increases above the tax cap and eight or 9% tax increases over the past two years of paying the rinks electricity charges of somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 or 175,000 of years and. A hundred and sixty or hundred seventy five thousand of years. And a hundred and sixty. And a hundred and sixty five thousand dollars or more. For bathrooms mostly. Um, at least according to the wonderful expose provided by Denise civiletti. Um, in Riverhead local mostly used by people. And rich kids from South Hampton or elsewhere. I would urge the town to look at. The financials and in addition to those payments. The last set of financials I saw. Indicated that the management. Of this rank. Built on the towns land. Um, with contributions by building and trap and. And grounds employees. Pay themselves somewhere in the neighborhood of three quarters of a million dollars. That should not be on the back. On the backs of our taxpayers. Um, and although I. Respect our police. I think it is absolutely outrageous. That our chief makes as much or more. With a hundred unit, a hundred person force. As the police commissioner of the city of New York. With a force of $35,000. Uh, with a 35,000 officers. Um, I think you need to look more closely. At the deployment over time. And I think you also need to consider. That right now we have this about the same number of police officers. That are in the town of South Hampton. And we have a population of. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. About. that you allow me to speak on these matters of significance, especially since you've had very few speakers today. But a bullet point, as chief financial officer, you need to consider the town square giveaway where no financials were publicly available for the town's citizens to review. And I think you need to ask the hard questions where we've continued to get nothing but runarounds from Dawn Thomas. How much will the taxpayers of our town be forced to subsidize a private hotel project for a Hilton Hotel for Mr. Petrucelli? You have an obligation to review that. And I would urge you to get the right answers to make the financials public before you actually convey this property. Thank you. And I'm happy to provide you with my concerns. Thank you, sir. I really appreciate you helping us. I did extend you. I double the amount of time. So thank you. But I just, I know there's other people that would like to speak as well. Thank you, sir. I'm just going to comment a little bit because this seems to be an ongoing thing. Just want to make it very clear that through private donations, private fundraising, over $2.2 million was raised and the ice rink was built at $0 of taxpayer money. It was all through private funding. The bathrooms were partially due to grants and other opportunities. But the bathrooms serve our runners, our workers, our bikers, our pickleball players, our baseball players and the dog park. It is one of the most popular parks. And I began that initiative before we even had Connick Hockey come forward to build an ice rink. It was during the pandemic. And there were countless people over there that people attending our parks were going across the street to Calverton National Cemetery to use their restroom facilities. Restroom facilities were a dire need for a park that was honoring our veterans. And I'm proud that we got restroom facilities there. And everything we do has maintenance. So what do we think we pay to have our baseball fields, the grasses cut and lined and the lights and the fencing? We maintain our parks. And yes, it does come at a fee. But I will always be grateful for a gift that was given to the town of Riverhead. And that is an incredible project. And it's not just about ice hockey. It's figure skating. We have senior skating. We have the kids are phenomenal on the evenings and Friday nights and Saturdays. They come out and to skate in the ice rink. And you know what? Anything to get our kids off the iPhones and get out there and do a little physical activity out there I think is great for all of them. And I'm proud of that project. So as much as that Mr. Harre would like to attack me on that, I think it's a great project. It's been great for the town. And we do pay high taxes. And we do everything we can sitting up here. Every member of the board does whatever we can to keep taxes down. But we are entitled to certain amenities in the town that makes Riverhead so wonderful and so special. We want to maintain it. We want to maintain our town parks. So we need to pay for electric. We need to cut the grass. We need to line the fields and fix the bathrooms and restore and keep our parks. We just went out and through funding we just restored Baybury Park and Wading River. These are all projects that need to be ongoing. That's what amenities in a town. That's what makes Riverhead so beautiful, so unique. And for a small town, we do the best we can. And I cannot thank the CDA for getting continuous grants to allow us to keep functioning and moving forward in doing these projects. And so our school taxes are extremely high. And we don't have any say in that matter of what goes on. But with a few amenities in town, it makes Riverhead a much more beautiful, wonderful place for family. Yes, sir. John Radigan, Riverhead. I'd like to address the previous speaker. We all know that Riverhead is taxed very high. And we all know that things cost money, like bathrooms. You know, we have to pay for the water. We have to pay for the water. We have to pay for the water. We have to pay for the public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public at the Stop and Shop doing food drives. We just had a successful food drive at the Peconic Ice Hockey Rink. We now have your Riverhead resident discount that you now get at the hockey rink as compared to getting it here at Town Hall. We have a youth night. We have an event every August in which we had veteran sled hockey leagues play. To say that this is a place for rich kids from Southampton is grossly uninformed. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Thank you for your passion for the town and the people. We recently just had the New York Islanders come out there, and I can't tell you there were hundreds of kids in the parking lot that got to get pictures with the players and autographs and meet them. Islanders are still playing hockey? Yeah, they do. They're in and out of first place. Come on, Jim, get with the program. But, I mean, here they came out and said, like, what's the point of this? What it was for them to be present with the youth in our community and to, I mean, interact with them. I mean, it was the first time kids got to meet Matt Schaefer, who's a phenomenal in the NHL, and sat down and went over his contract right here in Riverhead, in Calverton, to get him on the Islanders for his first game. It's phenomenal what takes place, but that's what's building leadership amongst our youth and our kids and gives them a safe place to go. And it... Again, it just... It's an enhancement of the overall quality of life here in Riverhead, having options. So we're going to get curling up and going, too, because maybe some less contact stuff, but figure skating has been working out phenomenal over there. And, again, seniors, youth, it's all there. Supervisor Halpin, I don't know if you were in attendance, but several months ago we had a similar discussion, and I spoke about family, friends of ours that have a son in the town. I remember Riverhead that tried football, that tried baseball, that tried soccer. It just wasn't his thing. His parents brought him to Peconic Hockey, to the ice rink, and he joined the hockey team, and he is so successful at what he's doing now. He's part of the team. It saved him. And people don't realize this is something for the kids. When it said get them off... Councilman Rothwell said get the kids off of the iPad, off the iPods, off the iPods, off the iPods, off the iPods, off the iPods, off the iPods, off the iPods, off the iPods, off the iPods, these kids need something to do, and to constantly harp at the negative aspect of the ice rink is not justified. It's really disheartening to witness that, because it is a very, very good thing for our community. Thank you for all that you did, Councilman, to make that a reality. I'll just point out one other thing that people may not be aware of, that everyone gets to play. The Peconic Hockey Foundation, if any, they ask all, as the kids grow older and they grow up higher, they save and they turn in some of their gear, which they've purchased, and they have a facility in which they're storing things, so if anybody doesn't have enough money to play or to register, they have gear that is donated to them so that everyone plays. It's not a rich kid's sport. We'll do what we can. I know growing up and playing, yes, equipment can be expensive, but if any kid can't afford it, Peconic Hockey is there to provide it to them. We provide them with all the necessary equipment to play. Every kid gets to play. Yes, sir. Justin Porter, brief question. Just if you could just say, you're Hamlet. You're Hamlet. You're Hamlet you're from? I'm from the town of Riverhead, Roanoke Avenue. That's Riverhead. Thank you. Yes. So just a quick question. I've heard rumors that a YMCA might be in the planning, or it has been like discussed for maybe decades. Yes. Yeah. Actually, it is, it's still in the planning stage. It is moving forward. Yeah. And there's some state legislation that part of it is passed, waiting for the next piece, and then it will really pick up momentum. And I'm expecting by the end of this month that the momentum will pick up. But yes, we meet. There's a monthly. There's a monthly meeting with a group of people that are involved with the YMCA and the community. So that is moving forward. Will that be targeted for downtown Riverhead? Right now, it's the armory is the building that it's. The armory? Yep. Route 58. Right. Route 58. This way, it's really close to, you know, I mean, they want it in a place where the population, majority of the population, has no problem getting to. Okay. And it benefits the school because the school is close by. And there is a big senior community over in that area as well. So it's better accessible for them. We want a pool. We want to make sure it has a pool. We want to make sure it has a pool, especially for seniors, to be able to swim for exercise that maybe people can't go out and jog. That'll have to be added, right? There's no pool in the armory. No. But the YMCA. No, we just, we're looking, we're looking to raise this in the neighborhood and that will happen, you know, soon enough. I would say in the upcoming months. It's going to be about a $27 million project, roughly. So it's happening. I've spent three years on this. I'm not going to let it fail, period. Great. Councilman Kern has worked very hard on that. But just to clarify, I don't think it was, is that the use of an armory has to be changed through the state legislator. So it's not just about, oh, we want it there. It's about changing legislation on the state level, allowing YMCA to be placed in an armory, which was protected. I see. So she's changing the use and Bob has worked tirelessly on that project. The assembly has passed a bill. We're waiting for the Senate, which should happen, I think, the end of this month. And then we're good to go continuing what we're doing. Thank you for your question, sir. Thank you. Thank you for your time. And they're excited about coming here. Yes, ma'am. Oh, boy. Denise Civility. For anyone that didn't know. I'm writing. I'm writing. I'm writing this down. No, all I want to say is I was actually looking through our website for coverage of Pecanic Hockey. We never did any story that, as Mr. Harari characterized it, as an expose on how it's rich kids in Southampton using Pecanic Hockey. That didn't happen. We never even, never wrote an editorial that I can think of. So I don't know where he's getting that, but he's mischaracterizing our coverage. And I just wanted to set the record straight. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. I didn't recall that story either, but that's okay. Hockey, if you go on a computer, you'll see it's a very rough sport. And a lot of young people have, you know, physical damage and brain damage. And, you know, really, it's, you know, we should, you know, we should do something about it. We should do something about it. You know, we should find a way to fix it. You know, we should find a way to fix it. You know, we should find a way to fix it. Yes, it's true. Go, Google. Not all hockey is contact, so there's noncontact. Oh, what is this, noncontact? I don't know anybody that's having brain things. No, what's that? It's not accurate. Is this noncontact? Do you have some more? Some is contact, some is not. Okay. There's all different levels of play. You know, but I know a number of kids who've been really injured and bad and they can't think right and they can't move their shoulders and stuff like that and are only 18 years old, you know. Like it happened riding a bike. Well, it happens more with hockey. Hockey happens a lot with the teeth, too. And the other thing is... Never lost a tooth, Warren. See, look at my smile. It's all there. The other thing is golf cottages, and we're having golf cottages, and we have a housing crisis in Riverhead. I don't get the idea. You know, people could go on a golf cottage and play golf, or people were sleeping with cardboard and sleeping bags behind the shopping centers. We have a housing crisis. I'm not saying you can solve everything else, but this sounds extreme. You know what I mean? Well, Mr. McKnight, we're not doing that. Someone's bringing that forward to us. We do understand your compassion for those people, and this is just setting the hearing for that. So if you would like to come back to the day of the hearing. Exactly. I think we don't need that. Yes, that's my comment. If you'd like to make those points at the hearing, I think that would probably be best served. Thanks for putting up with me. Okay. No, you're fine. Okay, bye-bye. Are we online? Anyone? Just so I have a reference. Okay, go ahead. Hi, John Radigan again, Riverhead. Welcome back. If everybody notices my hat, my hat is USA Hockey. As much as I like to be patriotic, that is also the governing body of hockey and how it is played. They set the guidelines, and currently, in any youth hockey league, 15 and under, no body checking is allowed. Full. Face covering is a must at all times. And now there is a requirement for a neck guard because we had an incident. A youth hockey player, you know, was killed. His jugular vein was caught when he caught an inadvertent ice skate in his neck. So now, and I know Westfall Arena is very tough with that. They make sure all players are in the full proper equipment, full face covering, neck guards, and for 15 and under, no body checking is allowed. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. That's a shame. I believe that concludes every part of it. I would just like to say before I ask for a first and second to close our meeting, as I said the day that I was inaugurated, we could look for the negative in everything, and that is understandable because we are New Yorkers. But I would say to encourage each and every one of us to begin to look around our town like we always do and see the absolute beauty in it and see together how we can encourage everyone outside of Riverhead to know how absolutely amazing this town is. So may I have a first and second to close our meeting? I make a motion. Seconded. So please vote. Waskey? Yes. Ershield? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Open? Yes, sir. This concludes our meeting, you guys.