Full Transcript

Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. Today is Tuesday, October 20th, 2026. We're here for a town board meeting, but why don't we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance first? President Woski, would you lead us, please? Yes, thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone. So before we go into our general announcements, we have a very, very exciting announcement. Tonight we'd like to honor... Can we do our invocation first? Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't think he was here. There he is. He's waiting on us. I missed it. I thought he went in to change his shirt. Allow me this beautiful introduction for you, Justin. So everyone here tonight, once again, we have an invocation led by Justin Winter Sr., and he is the chaplain of the Riverhead Fire District and the associate pastor of the House of Praise. And we thank you once again for joining us. Thank you for having me here. Would you bow your heads with me? Oh, Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for this night, oh Lord. Father, we ask that you continue to be with us as we continue this meeting, oh Lord, Father, that you give them the wisdom and the knowledge, O Lord, Father, that everybody come together, O Lord. Father, we thank you for this great community that you have given us, O Lord, and continue to be with the leaders in this community, that they continue to lead us forward, O Lord. Father, we know that there's so much that needs to be done. And Father, we know that you're always ahead of us. Father, we ask you that you be with those who can make it here tonight and those who are looking through the television, O Lord, that you may let them realize that we're doing the best we can for this community. Father, we're thankful and grateful for all you've done for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Let us say amen. Amen. Justin, thank you so much for all your work within the town and the fire department, church, community. Thanks. Very proud mom sitting there. Thanks, Justin. So at this time we have a very special announcement. We have Catherine Goodale, or Katie as most people know her, outstanding athlete achievement. So just a little bit of information about Katie. Katie's parents are Hal and Emery. She grew up on her family farm. She discovered lacrosse in the second grade in her excelled at defense. She made the JV team as a seventh grader, varsity as an eighth grader, played collegiately at Syracuse University, go Big Orange, achieved several accolades as a college player, and at Syracuse University she set the single season record for most turnovers by a lacrosse player in the women's and then selected for the 2025 and 2026 U.S. Women's National Lacrosse Team. Isn't that outstanding? And she, yeah, she helped win the national team gold in 2026 World Lacrosse Championship. I think that, yeah, give her a round of applause.

And we're not done. Professionally, she signed in 2026 with the New York Charging, and she won the Women's Lacrosse League Championship. And in 2025, she was inducted into her own Riverhead Athletic Club Hall of Fame, and she's studying at Touro University to become a physician's assistant. And so we're so excited. Myself and the entire town board, thank you for coming tonight, being part of our community, and representing Riverhead. So if you'd come forward, we'd like to present you with this now. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Congratulations. Great work. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you. You got to do a picture with me. Oh, yeah. Jimmy, join us. Come on.

Thank you so much. One more with Mama Deb? Oh, she declined? We overruled her. Who's paying the college bill? I knew it had to be them. Yay! That was no... One, two, three. Smile. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you very much.

I would just like to say that Katie is such a role model for the younger generation of children going through our local schools that love to play sports, that want to be the person on the winning team and strive to do everything that they can to be involved in the community, to play as best that they can, to get good grades, and be the person that Katie Goodale is. And I'm so proud. I went to school with Katie's dad, and I've known the Goodales for a very long time. And it's so wonderful to see you here today, Katie. congratulations on all of your accomplishments. Very much. An incredible family and everything you do for our community. What a wonderful family. So thank you so much for everything you do. Everybody good? All right. So thank you again, Katie. So does anyone have any other announcements they'd like to share? I do. Okay. So I'm just going to say. You can go, Bob. Oh, you want to go first? No, no. Okay. No problem. So a lot of you have received a notice in the mail about Test Your Water. I spoke to our head of the water department, and if you look at the very bottom, it's going to say not affiliated with the EPA or any city water or county health departments. What happens, anytime there's a report of anything that goes on in a town with water, these people will send you their little water test kit, and the objective is to try to sell you some kind of water filtration system. I just want to bring that to your attention. This is not sanctioned, again, by the EPA, the Suffolk County Health Department. This is a private business looking for business based on, you know, we've had some problems with some rust and water in the Wading River. So be aware of that, okay? Thank you. I just want to follow up on that. Yeah, please do. I did receive this in the mail, and I do live in Wading River, and I wanted the town board to know about it because I don't want to create alarm. The head of our water department had come in and told us that our water is safe. He explained the circumstance. And I just want the people in Wading River not to be concerned that this is just a gimmick for someone to go out and purchase this. And it does say on the top of it, it says EPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency. I just want everyone to know this did not come from them. Thank you. Yeah, and thank you, Denise, for bringing that to our attention. thank you bruce have you got something ed come up to the mic and i know it's a little out of thing but if it only pertains to this is that right what what's it he just had something hi i'm bruce cake i don't know if it's on or not but i'm bruce kegan i live in waiting river and i just said to my wife last night that we have to get this water tested because when i draw a tub there's it seems to be colored or something or other and i said oh i'm going to contact Suffolk County Water Authority. Of course, she worked for the county. She said, Bruce, it's Riverhead Water. It's not Suffolk County. So is there a problem? You're saying it's safe to drink? Yeah, that's just, that's iron. And what they're doing, they did it all last night. They're, again, they're doing it tonight. They're flushing the system. That yellow color is iron. So it just gives you more iron. And Frank Mancini did come in last week during work session and explain this was the process and this was going to be happening as of the 18th. I did notice that in my tub as well. Does anybody else have anything? I do. We don't have anything. It's okay. Just to let everybody know in case you haven't heard, which I've been out there talking about it repetitively, Saturday, November 7th here at Town Hall from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. will be the town-wide cleanup day, so we ask everybody to come on out to Town Hall and go throughout the town. We'll give you pickers and safety vests and gloves, garbage bags, you'll get a t-shirt. We just appreciate everybody doing their part in helping to keep Riverhead from Wading River to Laurel extra clean. Thanks. Do you have to run the whole thing? Well, we do have clogging this year. This is something new that they're introducing, the Anti-Litter Committee, and that is picking up litter while jogging. So I don't know how much ground I'm going to be able to cross on that with the jogging part, but we'll try it, and I hope that it's a successful event. Hey, Joanne, do you have an announcement? Yes, I have a few. First and foremost, I'm wearing my pink to remind everybody, again, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please, everyone, there is, I'm sure, not a person out there that does not have a family member or friend that has been affected by this disease. So everyone, please have your mom, your friend, your sister, your daughter get checked. Make sure you're okay. Also, their STOP program is happening on the 24th, this weekend coming up, in the morning. The STOP program is at the yard facility. Actually, the highway department. They do it at the highway department. It's in conjunction with CAP as well. CAP does the take-back drug event also at the same facility in the morning. So if you have unwanted drugs, please don't flush them down the toilet or throw them out in the garbage. Bring them there, and they'll dispose of them. Also, the town, through our sanitation department, collects all kinds of electronics and paint cans and other things that you should not be throwing out in the garbage, so please bring it down there this Saturday morning as well, the STOP program. And lastly, the Pumpkin Smash, following up on Councilwoman Waskie, the same day, on November 7th. After you finish jogging and collecting garbage, come down with your jack-o'-lanterns from Halloween and bring them to the Young's facility and you can smash them. I believe Joe Rutt is going to have mallets so the kids can smash their pumpkins, and even, I believe, a trebuchet that he's going to have where you can launch your pumpkin. So that way you don't throw it out in the garbage, and it's also part of our Climate Smart program where it is food scraps which help us in that endeavor and not throwing that out in the garbage. So thank you. Those are all my announcements. Very good. Everything, sir? I'm good. I have one more. Okay. Go ahead. So here's a really interesting event. On November 7th, after you help the litter committee. And the pumpkins. You smash your pumpkins. It's going to be a pie-throwing contest. Yeah, you can throw them at me. So at East End Arts, right outside the building here, there's a steamroller printmaking festival. And that's going to involve, and these are huge prints, right? and so the highway department will provide the steamroller. You provide the substrate you want the steamroller to roll onto and the paint, and then you'll get your steamroller painting. So that's November 7th, 12 to 4 p.m. Thanks, Bob. Can we print money? You can print money. It's rather large money. Also on Friday, October 23rd, we have our trunk or tree that was moved due to weather. So that's at 6.30 at Stotsky Park. Also on the 24th, the very next day, we have our kids' night out and craft and movie night at the George Young Community Center. And then on October 30th, our rec department is doing the drive-in movie with Minions and Monsters at Stotsky as well. So a lot of great stuff going on through our rec department. We're excited about that. And so with that, we'll move on to correspondence and reports with Mr. Wooten. Can I just ask one thing? You can. Hold on one second, Jim. Justin, I'm just going to ask you to put all these flyers up on Channel 22, everything we've spoken about. Thank you. Okay. Well, under correspondence, we received a few letters from Jean Fallot, Martin Zanluski, Marilyn Winter Brinks, Julie Hargrave. That was a letter about IDA that was forwarded to the IDA. Jen Hartnagle, Desmond Wong, and Warren McKnight. We received two letters requesting funding in addition to the ones that were at the hearing last meeting, a butterfly effect project and the Catholic Home Health Charities. You can read the letters verbatim on the website on the agenda portion of the meeting. At the end of the agenda is published letters and they'll be there. One dealt with appraisal from Jen Hartnagle, Group for the East End. McKnight about the railroad station, again on Riverhead, and socialism, and Dennis Wong about immigration. That concludes our correspondence, and there was no reports. Thank you, Mr. Wooten. Thank you very, very much. So with that being concluded, we'll move into our opportunity for people to have comments on resolutions from the public. So if you'd like to speak on this, you have three minutes. Come up and say your name and your hamlet, and then what resolution number so we can follow along. That would be outstanding. We'll see if we have any online also.

I don't see anybody in the room. Nobody online. Warren, you are welcome to. Just tell us what resolution number it is, sir. It's the one about the... Well, wait till you get... Come on up there. We can hear you. It's the one about the Yamaha outboard motor. I'm just curious about it. It's number 960. Yeah. You want to sell it, right? I mean, the town wants to sell it, right? That's what I'm... Right? It's putting out for bid. Somebody wanted to bid for it. Yeah, we're buying it if it's out for bid. You're buying it? Yeah, if it's out for bid, we are purchasing it. Why would you buy a used Yamaha motor? What does the new one cost, and is it warrantied or what? That's a good question. So with our, the group that works on this feels like this is what they needed and this is what they have the ability to work on. And so I'm taking it that they have done their research and feel like that's the angle that they want to go on. And actually we're going to amend that resolution since everybody's looking at it. We're going to switch that date from 2018 to 2008. Theresa called up and asked if we could switch that. So if you could pull resolution 960 from your packet, but we'll do a motion to amend later. She asked that that was wrong in there. So the department that asked for that has asked for it to be that specific year and used. So they're looking for opportunities to get what they need. Okay, I see what you mean, yes. And is the small engine repair department handles that or what? Well, it would be our buildings and grounds department and what they needed. Yeah, well, in other words, it's divided. My neighbor works for the small engines or repairs the small engines and stuff. I guess they'll find out where it comes in or everything else, yeah. That's very interesting. I wish I saw a town. How much does a new one cost? I don't know. It sounds like something that you should table and question. Thank you. Well, I think they're saving the town money. that they're not looking for. Well, but the point is, if it can be repaired, you know, it's very questionable. I mean, you try to save the town money, but, you know, you should think about buying something used and without a warranty, and also you should have experts to look at the outboard motor. I mean, how much are you going to pay for this? So we will get something with very low hours on it and it'll be a good deal. Maybe run by a little old lady So we're gonna go to church on Sundays. Mr. McKnight. I can tell you that the purchasing agent did her due diligence Thank you. Thank you Based upon the very extreme Limited hours on this engine. It's a beneficial purchase to the town and Marie sometimes people purchase things and they end up not using them and they sit and store it. This is that instance. Like a little old lady would have to use it. Anne-Marie, thank you for that advice. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Warren. Thank you so much. So I don't see any online, and Warren has got an opportunity and left an opportunity here in the room, so we will begin to go through our resolutions. So our resolution number one is resolution number 930. Budget adoption of community benefit funds for an open space project. So moved. Second. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Earned? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. And Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 931. Highway Department, Capital Project number 52621, National Grid Road Restoration, Budget Adoption. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Hearn? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 932. Water District, Capital Project 82308, Well number 5-2A, Budget Adjustment. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Hearn? Yes. Rothwell? Yes, helping. Yes resolution is adopted resolution 933 order capital project number eight two three three five dash four three seven dash Four eight three Young's Avenue landfill solar project closure so moved Seconded well, please Waski yes, very few. Yes, turn. Yes Rothwell, so I just want to say to commend Councilman Kern on this particular project. So this is simply the refund of an overexpenditure of funds for the bringing water to the site. But we've taken a landfill project that was, you know, not on the tax rolls and kind of nothing happening there, and we are ready to basically turn the electric on at this site. We're bringing in a lot of money. And so this is something that Councilman Kern's worked on for the past two years. so it is going to be additional funds and resources. In addition, our residents within the town can apply for a tax break on your electric bill, so that's great news. We will also be getting a discount on the cost of town electric, which is very expensive. In addition, they're paying a one-time permit fee, and then they're paying quarterly payments, so there's a lot of great things coming out of this, and I commend you for your work. And I vote yes. Yeah, and Ken, you need to take credit for this as well, because you were on the town board at the time. We went through all the numbers, and you understood them and moved this thing forward with me, so I appreciate that. Thank you. And Halpin. Yes, sir. That resolution is adopted. Resolution number 934. Adopts Highway Department budget transfer for drainage repairs. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes, sir. resolution is adopted resolution 935 authorizes amendment number one to the 2027 preliminary budget so moved seconded vote please Bosque yes very few yes and I'm very happy that we are able to come in lower than the supervisors the reductions that we're the Republican board is now implementing are a great benefit to the town and I'm very happy to support this Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yeah, so basically what this is is there's a lot of one-time purchases, so building of grounds equipment, fire marshal equipment, a vehicle. So these are coming out of the budget from fund balance, so we'll have a resolution in January. So the equipment is going to be purchased. But last year, as a reminder to our residents, we made $4.8 million in an investment return on our fund balance revenue generated. And so with that in mind, to keep putting things in the budget would be OVERTAXING OUR RESIDENTS. SO WE'RE NOT GOING TO DO THAT. SO THIS ONE-TIME ADJUSTMENT TAKES THAT OUT OF THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET. IT WILL BE A FUND BALANCE TRANSFER IN JANUARY, THEREFORE SAVING ON THE OVERALL BUDGET. AND I THINK THROUGH AS WE READ THESE FEW AMENDMENTS, WE WENT FROM A 2.79 INCREASE IN TAXES, WE BOUGHT IT DOWN 1.79. SO IT'S A 35% CUT IN YOUR TAX SITE THIS YEAR. SO WE'RE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO LOWER THAT AND TO REACH THE BUDGET OVERALL. THANK YOU. CAN I VOTE YES? How about you? Well, since this was explained a little bit, for the first time in four years, as everyone knows, we did present a budget that does not pierce the tax cap. And when I say we, I say it because all of us were in those meetings. In fact, I added additional meetings so that every department head and liaison could have their voice heard more. The ironic thing is that most of those meetings, they included my fellow board members, oftentimes advocating for adding cost to the budgets. And tonight's resolutions, we have resolutions that decrease the SALT budget line and the resolution that decreases our equipment lines, both for highway. And our budget meeting not only was that idea argued against by Councilman Rothwell, but in fact that budget presented initially was piercing the tax cap in the highway department. And if it was not for the financial administrator, our deputy town attorney, who actually happens to be here tonight, working with us and myself looking at the line items, that budget would have come in over budget. And for number 935, we purchase this type of equipment every year. So it's not a one-time expense. There's vehicles that are purchased. this type of budgeting can come back to bite us in years ahead, which was proven in 2022 when there was no budget increase at all, resulting in 2023 needing right at $2 million to be added from fund balance, and that's a hole that we're still digging out of. And so because of that, I stand behind the budget, and I'm going to abstain from this vote. You're going to do what? He's abstaining. Abstain? That resolution is adopted. Resolution number 936. Authorizes amendment number 2 to the 2027 preliminary budget. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Rothwell? No, you skipped me. I'm sorry, I'm skipping because I'm in the middle. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes, so what this is, the CSCA workers have their contracts that stipulate what they're getting, but some of the clerical, two members within that office were not getting a cost-of-living increase, and so we amended the budget to make sure they were taking care of it, but still lowering the budget overall. So I vote yes. And Halpin? So, again, I stand behind all the decisions that we made together. We looked at those things and met with people, and we had to make tough choices. And in this instance, we need to make sure that we're helping the incoming payments, the incoming pay that people will receive. And with this one, it's very, very difficult to abstain from it, but I'm going to abstain because of the fact that I just think that there are so many people, everyone in this building deserves a raise, and so to pick that was just not where I wanted to see that money go. You have a lot of merit raises. That resolution is adopted. Resolution number 937. Authorizes amendment number 3 to the 2027 preliminary budget. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yep. As an adjustment on interest earnings so that we're not overtaxing. I vote yes. Elkin? I just want to know where this movement was when I was a taxpayer over the last few years. And I feel like this is rooted in political motivation, especially since a party has been mentioned already tonight. And so I can't stand behind this decision or the risk being taken to think beyond us as residents and to a party. So I abstain again. The resolution is adopted. Resolution 938. authorizes amendment number four to the 2027 preliminary budget so moved second vote please wasky yes very few yes turn yes well yes up in again as I said I was set in a meeting and we asked I was asked over and over again to not touch the snow contractual was told over and over again about how this is gonna be a bad winter by the person who brought this to only see it do this. So I'm confused and because of not having clarity of where you really want to be, I'm going to abstain from this as well and not put my hands on it. Okay. That resolution is adopted. Resolution 939. Authorizes amendment number five to the 2027 preliminary budget. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Lasky? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Hearn? Yes. Rothwell? What's happening here is that the street lighting budget has an enormous amount of reserves. We are putting together a project for the duck ponds. We are utilizing some of that fund balance, but even then we are way too ample in what is in the reserve balance for street lightings, and so we're amending the budget to collect less, save taxpayers money. So I vote yes. And Halpin? I think this is a risk, but I agree. We've been overtaxing street lighting for years, so yes. That resolution is adopted. Resolution number 940. Authorizes amendment to number 6 of the 2027 preliminary budget. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske? Yes. Larry Kuehl? Yes, and I'm very happy to support this. Neil had come to myself and Councilwoman Waske and asked for this dental plan. And while because of budgetary constraints we cannot increase the salaries necessarily of employees as much as we would like. This is a way to give back, to give them a better dental plan to help make up for what we can't necessarily do with salaries. So I absolutely vote yes. Curt. Yes, I would just say that I helped them with their last dental plan, move from one plan to another, which was a better plan. And this plan is a better one than the previous one, and they definitely deserve that. Absolutely. So it's a yes for me. Yes, so what happens is we are allowed to allocate funding for a better dental plan for the CSEA workers, but it's important to note that only a supervisor can amend their contract through an MOA agreement, so we are not negotiating with the CSEA workers, but as town board members, what we are doing is allocating, making certain that the finances are available should the supervisor choose to sign an amendment to work negotiations with the CSEA workers. So we support them in their endeavors, and so again, this is something that we're able to add to the budget. It's a small amount. It takes care of our CSEA workers to show our appreciation with them. And once again, even after this, we've still lowered the budget. So I vote yes. Helping. So in full disclosure, this was part of the contract that was before I came into office, and it was left open that there could be negotiation this year. I have met with the CSEA workers. We have discussed this. It was very clear to them coming in where the affordability was, met with our financial administrator, our personnel department with them, the team that we have, sat down with them, explained that, told them that it's definitely something we want to look at for 2028. But this, what you've put before us tonight, does not fully capture the cost of what you're trying to accomplish. So I think the motivation for it is there. And I think we should be working together as a board rather than saying somehow odds. It does not account for the cost to the taxpayers that will be realized by the current Delta Dental plan going up by moving employees off of it. It also leaves out two other unions as well as department heads and their non-union cohorts. So I think that that being said, I really like the idea of this. It's something that I'm learning because I came in and again, you guys didn't finalize that in the last contract with the CSCA, which I wish you would have. And so I'm going to abstain again. resolution is adopted resolution number 941 accepts donation of grateful turnout a public thank you to first responders sculpture for downtown riverhead so moved second vote please wasky absolutely thank you so much sherry for doing this um i love how you involved the residents of the town to come and help and members of the town board. You're always doing such great things for the town of Riverhead, and I sincerely appreciate all that you do and how talented you are. So I vote yes. Mary Field? Yes, thank you very much, Ms. Davis, so much. Your work is beautiful. Thank you. Jerry, what I like is that you come out of nowhere and you do something positive. You know, and there's no fight, there's no going, you know, anything. You just do it. So it's a definite yes from me. Thank you. Rothwell? As a first responder, I will say thank you for the work that you do honoring all first responders. As soon as I started telling, you know, I'm a member of the Waiting Room Fire Department, I started telling members and the officers, chiefs, fire commissioners about your project. Everybody wanted to be a part of it. And so because just by providing you with a small amount of material and you've made this magnificent sculpture to honor, it's going more importantly when to talk to members of RVAC, Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance, that you're placing it down on Heidi Bear Way. You know, that is the roadway that is named after, you know, Heidi who gave her life in the ultimate sacrifice responding to help others. And so there's so much collaborative meeting. and I thank you from Wading River Fire Department, Manneville Fire Department, Riverhead Fire Department, Jamesport Fire Department, Riverhead Volunteer. Everybody's excited and it's going to be a great celebration when we have the ribbon cutting for your project and thank you so much for what you do. It's really really a tremendous honor and thank you for and your work is just tremendous as we sit once again and glance over at that flag. It's great work. Thank you so much. How open. Voted yes. Sorry. Sherry, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you very, very much. Your husband serves on a committee. You do so much for our town. Thank you, as each of the council people have said. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes. That resolution is adopted. Resolution. See the resolution? This has an estimated value of $20,000. So thank you. That's significant.

Resolution 942. Accepts donation from the GM dealer programs for PAL football and cheerleading. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Lasky. Yes. Mayfield. Yes, thank you. Yeah, thank you, GM. That's really generous. Really appreciate it. Rothwell. We had some concerns early on about programs like this being able to move forward, and without the generosity of donations like this, it doesn't make it happen. So thank you very much for your kind donation. I vote yes. Halpin. Yes, sir. That resolution is adopted. Resolution 943. Appoints public safety dispatcher to the police department. And I just want to clarify, it was Eagle Chevrolet that gave the donation. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Alpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 944. Appoints Kerry. How do I? Begurniak. Begurniak to the Helicopter Noise Task Force. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Alpin. Yes, sir. That resolution is adopted. Resolution 945. Appoints Patricia Berry to the Helicopter Noise Task Force. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Alvin? Sir? Resolution is adopted. Resolution 946 appoints Claudette Bianco to the Helicopter Noise Task Force. Claudette is here. She has promised that all the problems will be solved. Therefore, I absolutely vote yes. So moved, I should say. Second. Vote, please. Waski? Absolutely. Good for you, Claudette. Thank you. Welcome aboard. Yes. Denise Merrifield? Yes, thank you, and thank you for participating and helping. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Uppen. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 947 reappoints John Cullen to the Helicopter Noise Task Force. So moved. John, you've been a long member of that. We really appreciate you staying on. Seconded. Vote, please. Boskey. John is a force to be reckoned with all on his own, so yes, absolutely. Barry Field. Yes, and thank you for everything you're doing to help. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. John is absolutely the leader of this committee and helps guide me, myself, to understand everything better, his tracking mechanisms, top notch. Thank you very much, John. Vote yes. And Halpin. Jeb John. Yes. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted, Resolution 948. We appoint Sid Bale to the helicopter task force. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Blaski. Sid's great, too. This is a great committee. There's some really good people on here, so I vote yes. Merrifield. Yes, and thank you, Sid, for all your civic duty that you do. Thank you. Stern. Yes, I'm just afraid they're all going to go out and get pilot's licenses. Rothwell. You know, what's great about this committee also to address is that they're throughout the town. So we have members throughout, you know, almost all Hamlets within the town. and from Waiting River to Janesport. And so we thank all of them for their participation. They do a great job. Thank you, Sid. Vote yes. And Halpin. Really good stuff. Yes, sir. We've got more to appoint. Resolution 949. Reappoints Connie Carlin to the Helicopter Noise Task Force. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waske. Absolutely. Thank you. Berryfield. Yes, thank you. Hearn. yes Rothwell thank you Connie yes and help it yes sir resolution is adopted resolution 950 ratifies the resignation of a maintenance mechanic to so moved second full please wasky yes yes yes yes yes yes yes sir resolutions adopted resolution 951 ratifies the termination of a maintenance mechanic 3 so moved Seconded. Vote, please. Waske? Yes. Berryfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 952. Amends order establishing extension number 97 of boundaries and facilities of the Riverhead Water District for Forge Road, Calvaryton, New York, at the properties known as Suffolk County Tax Map Number District 0600, Section 118, Block 5, Lots 1.1, 1.2, 2 through 11, and 12.1, Section 119, Block 2, Lots 59 through 62, and Section 139, Block 01, Lots 1 through 4. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Kowalski? Yes. Barachew? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? There's a lot of work for the water extension district, so I want to thank Frank Mancini, Anne Marie Pedenti, town attorney's office, Dawn Thomas, CDA, everybody. It takes a lot to put this together, to put together funding together and grants. So this is a great extension area, and it continues to get clean drinking water to all of our residents. So absolutely yes. Thank you. Halpin? Isn't it going to be a great day one day in Riverhead when we never have to talk about water extensions again because everybody has clean drinking water? Thanks for everybody making that happen. Absolutely, yes, sir. That resolution is adopted. Resolution 953. Authorize supervisor to sign license agreement with Bold Broadcasting's LLC, doing business as Bold Media. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Murrayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Alpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 954. authorizes the supervisor to execute an inter-municipal agreement between the town of riverhead and the riverhead central school district for purchase of salt sand mixture so moved second oh please bosky yes very few yes current yes rothwell just for clarification we are not you know giving or anything to the riverhead school district but they're reimbursing us together when we buy stuff you can save the taxpayers funding overall so they purchase what they're going to use from the Highway Department. Yes. Halpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 955. Authorizes the supervisor to execute an addendum to an agreement with Smalley Engineering PC. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes, sir. That resolution is adopted. Resolution 956. Authorizes the supervisor to execute an agreement with CSEA Local 1000 AFSCME AFL-CIO Riverhead Unit of the Suffolk County Local, number 852. So moved. Seconded. Full, please. Waske? Yes. Murrayfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Alpen? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 957. Ratifies the authorization for the supervisor to sign a consultant professional services agreement with Teresa DeFilippis. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waski. Yes. Berryfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Just can't help thinking of the godfather. Every time they thought she was out, we pull her back in. Right. So thank you very much, Patrice, for your help with all the scanning documents. Vote yes. Welcome back. Yeah, this is going a long way. She knows our system. She knows what we're looking for. She was recommended by her department head and the CDA department head to come in and do this work to make it go exponentially. And so excited about it, yes. Great. That resolution is adopted. Resolution 958. Authorize the town clerk to publish and post notice to consider a local law to amend Chapter 279 of the Riverhead Town Code entitled Taxation. So moved. I'm going to second. and I want to explain what that is. That is concerning the disabled vets. Just so they know, we have to just go to a public hearing before we can adopt the full resolution to defer, should we vote on it, deferring your tax on your domicile. Oh, please. Waski. Yes. Mayfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes, a little more details on this and with help through the Veterans Advisory Committee, always try to be out there. We've gone to VFW, American Legions, and kind of met with people and the concerns about this is for veterans with a 100% disability. And so veterans, you know, some have made the ultimate sacrifice, but those that have returned home and have damages and injuries and some, you know, sustaining through Agent Orange and many years of service in the military, we have to go to them every day and be grateful for their service. And so the governor has passed legislation and this has gone through many cycles and many changes over the past year where at one point early in the year in February it was mandatory and then later on change at a later date that towns had to opt in in order to allow this. And so we've kind of gone back and forth, you know, taking closer looks. I have to also commend legislator Chad Lennon on the Suffolk County legislator. We've had monthly meetings through the county wise veterans advisory. And this is something that all the towns are kind of uniformly coming together to take care of our veterans. And so it's a small sacrifice on our side as residents to help assist with covering the taxes for our veterans with 100 percent disability. so thank them for their service and I absolutely yes we're going to go to a public hearing and so we'll have that uh the next town board meeting in November um I believe and then um sorry next meeting in November it's scheduled for on the 5th of November so we encourage anybody to come out that I fully support this and would really like to see this to fruition so vote yes if I make one moment supervisor I'd just like to add that I too have received many I've received phone calls and letters and I do hear everyone out there. I do support this as well. Halpin. So if you have questions about this because of some of the confusion that's been kind of circulated around it whether it was mandatory or not please give us a call at 727-3200. You can dial extension 251 or the town board. Anyone would be happy to to assist you with this because you've earned this and and we owe it to you as a society. Yes. That resolution is adopted. Supervisor, may I just? Oh, sure. I just want to clarify, it doesn't change the vote. Did you say the other day that you were trying to get this on for a work session, but that the assessors were unavailable? Yeah, we had it on for work session, and she wasn't able to make it. So we can bring it back around if you have questions for it. I'd rather see it just go right to the public. Yeah, that's what we're doing. Great. Perfect. Fine. We had been asked by some of the veterans themselves. I have had constant phone calls. They called me and they were like, can we get this on work session? I said, we're going to bring it. We know we're bringing it. And they said, can we sit? We have questions. So that's why I just made that announcement that they can continue to call in. Staff's been answering those questions as fast as they can. So I know you guys have as well. So, all right. Sorry. Go ahead, Jim. Okay. Resolution was adopted. Resolution number 959. Adopts a local law to amend Chapter 289 of the Riverhead Town Code titled Vehicles, Traffic, and Parking Regulations, Article 2, Traffic Regulations. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey. Yes. Barrefield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Albin. Yes, sir. That resolution is adopted. Resolution number 960, you said there's amendment on? Yeah, we need to, so Teresa, our procurement, our purchasing director called and said that it needs to say 2008. There's two spots. In the first one up in the title. Okay. And then in the first whereas, it says used. Should I say that we moved in 2008? So I believe Council Member Merrifield, it's yours. I make a motion to amend. This is 2026-960, authorizes the town clerk to publish and post notice to bidders for a used 2018, which should now be 2008, or later Yamaha 9.9 HP outboard motor. Make a motion to amend that. Second. Vote, please. Waski? Yes, to amend. Murrayfield? Yes, to amend. Kern? Yes, to amend. Rothwell? like we're amending this just to help out Warren and say, look, we're opening up to a larger field of potential bids. Yes to amend. Hoppin? Yes, sir, to amend. That resolution is amended. All right. Now, as amended, authorizes the town clerk to publish in post notice to bidders for the used 2008 or later Yamaha 9.9 HP outboard motor. As amended. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Husky? Yes, as amended. Merrifield? Yes, as amended. Kern? Yes, as amended. Rothwell? Yes, as amended. Poppin? Yes, sir, as amended. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 961. Awards bid for installation of water main and app, I can never say this word. Pertinences. Extension number 97, Forge Road, some vote. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Sorry, you could the councilwoman read this one again

Yes, absolutely yes, yes, sir resolution is adopted resolution number 962 Please disciplinary charges so moved a second vote, please. Waski. Yes, very few. Yes, turn. Yes Yes, sir The resolution is adopted. Resolution 963. Authorizes Highway Department chargeback to Riverhead Water District for site work at the Riverhead Water District Wading River above ground storage tanks. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waske? Yes. Berryfield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Bothwell? Yes. So this project was not possible without the coordination between the Highway Department and the Water Department and to be able to use the Highway Department site. So thank you, Mike Zalewski and the entire Highway Department working so greatly along with Frank Mancini and the Water Department. So we have a new water tank up in Wading River and so the Highway Department just did extend some funds to get this project completed and so they're just being reimbursed for what they contributed and thank you very much for both divisions, Highway Department and Water Department. Yes. Halpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 964. Approve special event chapter 255 application for bold broadcasting, LLC, Riverhead Holiday Light Show. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. It's that time of year. Waskey. Yes. Berryfield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Seems early, but in Home Depot yesterday, all the Christmas trees are displayed now for the holidays. Go figure. So I vote yes. Halpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 965. Pay his bills. So moved. Seconded. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell. Yes. Halpin. Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 966. Points and assessment, clerk. So moved. Second. Vote, please. Waskey. Yes. Merrifield. Yes. Kern. Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Alpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 967. Adopts final scope for the preparation of a draft generic environmental impact statement, DGEIS, for the implementation of code amendments for the creation of the golf course GC zoning use district. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. Waskey? Yes. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 968. Accepts draft generic environmental impact statement DGEIS for the proposed golf course GC zoning use district amendments sets public review period schedules secret hearing. So moved. Seconded. Vote please. That wasn't me, was it? Waskey? Yes. That's okay. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Alvin? Yes, sir. Resolution is adopted. That concludes the business of resolutions. I'm sorry, Bob. I didn't know. There were two in a row with you. I went right down the line. No, you did a great job. I'm just disappointed that stuff like this takes like three years to get. You know, from the time we want to do it to the time we actually get to do it is like insane. Welcome to government. So with that in mind, we will move to our open comments, where it doesn't take any time. You can speak right now. We ask that it be something pertaining to town. You come up, say your name and your hamlet, and you let us do it. We have two people in line. But, yep, nope. Thanks, Warren. Did you know they directed some traffic for us? All right, buddy. Yes, sir. Hi, everybody. I'm Bruce Kagan from Waiting River. Thanks, Bruce. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to you tonight. Just a little introduction. My wife, Carolyn, and I are co-chairs of your Alternate Transportation Advisory Committee, better known as the ATC. I am here today to extend a note of congratulations to each of you and the town of Riverhead for being a progressive municipality. in the creation and the maintenance of the Vietnam Veterans Recreation Path. The Vietnam Veterans Rec Path is a nine-mile perimeter path around the former Grumman Aviation Property that was conceptualized by two ATC members, Don Hawkins and George Bartnik, over 20 years ago. The trail was finally brought to fruition and completed as a closed loop by former Councilwoman Jody Giglio. I want to extend a personal thank you to our new Parks and Recreation Supervisor Ashley Shandella, Joel Mariana of Grants and Planning, Councilman Bob Kern, and Attorney Daniel Hurley. These folks are responsible for the nuts and bolts of keeping this trail up and running on a daily basis. basis. Presently, there are three dedicated pedestrian bicycle and pedestrian trails on the North Shore of Long Island. The town of Riverhead set the example of what is possible when a high-minded local municipality works closely with Suffolk County and New York State to create a safe place for the public health and well-being of the citizens. The Port Jefferson to Setauket Greenway and the North Shore Rail to Trail were created after the Vietnam Veterans Rec Path was already opened to the public. You have set the standard by creating what I call is the jewel of the East End. Our trail is a unique safe haven from the dangerous and often deadly Suffolk County streets. I am a member of the Long Island Greenway, a proposed pedestrian and bicycle pathway connecting Manhattan to Montauk Point. The three North Shore trails that I mentioned show what is possible when local municipalities work together for the greater good. We, the town of Riverhead and the ATC, are members of the Long Island Greenway. I am a member of the planning committee with Danny Gold, who is president. We have set the example, meaning you. I'll finish up. I have presently spoken with Councilman Rothwell and Kern and Councilwoman Waski about future expansion of our trail system and they are for it. I am heartened when I read that Supervisor Jerry Halpin also is in favor of such future trail expansion. What goes on in the town of Riverhead has far-reaching impact. Thank you for being open-minded and progressive in your thinking concerning pedestrian and bicycle paths and the health and well-being of your citizens. Thank you, Bruce Kagan. Thanks, Bruce. Thank you, Bruce. Mr. Kagan, I'd just like to state that I'm in favor of it as well. Yeah, good job, Bruce. Bruce, if I can just point out to you, it's exciting that we just planted eight more veterans' trees up there to honor our veterans of service. And in the next few days, you're going to see those monuments go in. And so I think that adds a great beautification right alongside that trail, just enhancing the whole property as a whole. And thank you for the work that you do. Thanks, Bruce. We have the Men for Veterans Day coming up. I think everybody wants to say something, so we're going to start down here. I would like to add to that that I appreciate that you mentioned former Councilwoman Jody Giglio. I've spoken with now Assemblywoman Giglio over the years, And that's one of her biggest accomplishments from her early days of being an elected official. And it meant so much to her to work with everyone to get that to be successful. And here you are today. Thank you for being thankful for all that we all do to put stuff like that together. So, yeah, I think it was really great that you mentioned Jody Giglio's name. And I want to say, John, newest member on the committee, the guy does an amazing job. So thank you, John, for being on that committee. Bruce, can I have that letter to make part of the record? Denise, did you want to say something? Do you want me to have that made part of the record? Do you want to hand me that?

Okay.

And Mr. King, and I don't know if you heard me, but I'm absolutely all in favor of it as well. I'm in favor of it as well. Thank you. I know.

Thanks, Bruce. Good stuff. See you out on the trail. Yes, sir. Well, he set a good example. And the biggest thing is the reason why each of you are elected is not because you're Republican or independent. because you're very good, talented people. And we have a lot of good, talented people in this town to make this better. And I wrote this letter about the train station because they've traveled all over Long Island, and our train station is a disgrace. And I can't take pictures. I'm 82. So I called upon another talented person who you guys know is this gentleman over here. I said, please take the pictures so we could show them. So the pictures here of the peeling paint, you go to Hampton Bay, you go to South Hampton, you go all alone. What is wrong with the MTA? And we can't let them get away with this. You can't say, well, it's his property and everything else. We have to do something about this, and it's all of us, all the people, and we're going to keep on plugging, and Jody's in on it.

I'm just going to say this, and you're right, and I know I spoke to you about this, that we can't touch the building. However, what I am going to ask the attorney here, because we have been effective with the MTA in the past, the reason why we managed to get all the potholes fixed around the rails was to hold them to the fire that we were not going to assume any responsibility for any physical damage or any car damage, and they fixed it. Ann Marie, I'm going to ask you, can we send a similar letter? Because for all we know, that's lead paint is so dangerous, right? Yes. And people... I'm going to let the attorney, please. Yes, we can. In addition, you may be aware or may not, the town of Riverhead received permission and they actually removed all the litter and debris from around the tracks and from the side of the building. volunteers with donations, I don't want to name the wrong entity, did significant plantings, mulch, and the water district actually went down and did routine watering. So I think we could work on that and definitely send a letter and accomplish improvement to the exterior of the building. Yes, because, you know, the people down there, you know, you know, exactly. Paints going on ahead and everything else. And, you know, exactly. We can't, we have to, you know, you know, maybe. The town is aware. And I'm sure. Well, hopefully, we're all aware. Warren, I'll follow up with Ann Marie. Right. And we'll send something and then we'll move it down the road. Thanks, Warren. Thank you for letting us work here. May I approach? Yeah, if we I was just going to ask if we could have those pictures, so that would be good. I believe we have two online, so you can go ahead and hop over there or walk, and then we will, as soon as this gentleman's done, we'll take the first one online. He knows how to adjust the mic like that. Yes, sir. Good evening. My name is John Feldman. I'm from Wading River, and as Bob mentioned, I serve with Bruce on the Alternative Transportation Committee. The recreational trails that Bruce outlined in and around Riverhead, along with the town's extensive system of public parks, its decades-long focus on farmland and historic preservation, and prioritizing many cultural amenities we have here have created a wonderful quality of life in Riverhead. However, every new park or open space that the town looks to create, every new development, the planning board, green lights, even every rec trail which the town receives a grant to build, such as the Veterans Trail, all of these developments assume that residents and visitors will use their personal cars to reach these places. As reported in the town's 2024 comprehensive plan update, Riverhead is one of Long Island's fastest growing towns. The population has jumped 30% in just a generation and is predicted to continue expanding rapidly, as you know. We will not be able to accommodate such growth with more traffic lanes. Indeed, many residents wish to maintain the town's quiet and rural charm. During the last several months, the ATC has discussed several ways to make Riverhead easier to navigate by bicycle and on foot. And we look forward to sharing some of these ideas with the board soon. We think there are many opportunities to adapt parts of the town's existing road network into a safe place for pedestrians and cyclists who are some of our most vulnerable road users. We do, as you know, have several town, county, and state designated bike routes throughout the town, such as along the shoulder of some sections of 25A. However, that infrastructure was really only designed for serious road cyclists traveling 30 or more miles per hour. We endeavor to create safe pathways to walk and bike whether you're 8 years old or 80, whether you're going to check out a book at the library, to the farm down the road to pick peaches, or you're going all the way to Port Jeff to catch the train. I look forward to working with the board to make Riverhead an even better and safer place to live, drive, ride, and walk. Thank you. John? Appreciate it, John. That's great. Absolutely. I believe we have our first one online. If you're in the room and you'd like to speak, you can definitely start making your way over just so we are aware, but we want to bring our first Zoom participant.

Maybe.

Possibly.

All right, come on up, John, and then we'll hold that person. Sorry, Chip, you can give me the, when you're ready. John McAuliffe, Roanoke Landing and Riverhead. Two things. One is, as you may have noticed in the papers, on Saturday, No Kings had a march and rally, about 200 people there, and the emphasis was on getting people to vote early, which starts this Saturday and goes until November 1st. Also, the concern was that there are threats coming from some people in Washington that homeland security or seizing of voting machines, I mean, nobody knows what's real and what's just bluster, but there is concern that the process of elections may be more complicated this year and therefore that early voting is advised. I wanted to thank both the police department and the highway department for their assistance and the Highway Department in particular for those orange cones that are an important control mechanism, and they hold them and make them available to people in the community. I also wanted to talk a minute about Sandy Link's golf course, which I pass regularly coming down from where we live. And I particularly assume, well, 2025 is, the fall of 2025, is when the resolutions were adopted. And there's obviously a certain relationship between Sandy Links and the Republican Party because there's nothing but Republican campaign signs there, and that's fine. But the odd thing, and maybe you realized it when you approved it, but the approval included three trade shop buildings. As we've seen the construction, we've seen these buildings are quite substantial. And then there's a big sign now advertising contractor storage. Now, I don't know whether contractor storage, which is obviously for people, others to buy space or rent space in that building, is what you had in mind for trade shops. but it seems to me it's maybe an odd definition. And it's obviously the planning department was involved, the various people in the town officialdom were involved, and ultimately the board was involved. But it seems an odd use and actually disruptive to the lovely space that they're creating for the mini golf and expanding the golf course. but it just all of a sudden you have a big commercial storage operation in the middle of that. At any rate, it's just a note, and it's old history probably, but it's maybe worth paying attention and trying to understand definitions and what gets approved. John, I'm just going to say this. There's a huge demand for commercial storage. It's a very large demand. There are people that have like an electric company with four trucks, maybe somebody with a plumbing company with a couple of trucks. And keep in mind that Sandy Pond is a seasonal business. So I'm just saying there's a demand for that. But when you approved trade shops, did you anticipate commercial storage? I think that was a planning board decision. They came here in a work session. And they said they were going to put in storage, commercial storage. Let me answer your question. They came here before a work session, and they disclosed exactly what they were going to do. It is a beautiful restored recreation site, but having those buildings on hand do allow for additional income so that they can provide services like that. Okay, it just is going to be a— It was an open public work session. They commented on it. They disclosed exactly how their request to go forward. I'll try and go back and look at that work session. I was on the planning board at the time when that application came through and that was a pre-existing use for That that purpose was already there on the property and they basically in a nutshell Updated it. Mm-hmm. But you so you knew they were going to put in Outside rental commercial storage. It was for storage that was for outside not just for their own storage It was to rebuild the buildings that were there that were basically grandfathered in. I don't know if that's a problem. No, they're totally. It's the non-conforming. Yeah, they're built in totally different space than anything that was there. Again, it's an aesthetic issue, but I think the question is more whether when you said trade shops, you meant contractor storage. And sure, there's a need and there's all kinds of storage being built. But whether it should be there. Female Speaker 1 There's one word versus another word basically. But trade might mean something different to me than it does to someone else. John Aucott Okay. I'll go back and look at the work session. I'll be interested to see how explicit. And I don't want to take more time with this. Female Speaker 1 I will just say it looks beautiful over there. John Aucott It looked beautiful until they started building those two big buildings. Now it doesn't look so beautiful. And they're going to do a third one. Female Speaker 1 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. John Aucott Thank you, John, for your time. And you're passionate. Here comes our Claudette. And then we're after Claudette. We have three on line now. Claudette Bianco-Bading-Hallow, I just want to say two things. Thank you for your support. I hope I become an asset to the committee. I don't have any experience, and I'm not going to get a pilot's license. You're not going to be a pilot? Oh, no. Come on, Claudette. I don't think you'd like that. But I do find the topic interesting, and we all have the problems. So if I could be of any help, I'm happy to do it. Number two, are any of you aware of what happened up at Crown Recycling today? There were sheriff's cars, DEC, lots of activity. I'm aware. My office was contacted by questions, and then we reached out, and so we're waiting to hear back exactly all of the details, so I can't. But, yes, we're aware. Can you give us a hint? Because I live about a half a mile around the corner. Yeah, I'll give you, so what happened is the Suffolk County Health Department went over to do soil testing and other testing. And the sheriff's, you know, basically were there to escort them over there. Yeah, lights. And how long this is going to go on for, I do not know. I've heard that there's some questions about test wells, et cetera, et cetera. So to be continued. That's good. I'm grateful for the help because they didn't test it when it happened so like it's too late now but I'm glad they're doing the testing too late I know I just mean they should have done it when it happened the air as well thank you but I have to commend you since you joined the task force about 20 minutes ago and we voted you in I have yet to hear a helicopter you're doing great they're scared you watch out careful what you wish for thanks claudette i believe we have three online so we're gonna try that again give that a back up the zoom here we go there we are who's that oh cool who's that can you hear sir yep again uh desmond waugh raves park uh supervisor halpin and councilman Rothwell, you have both relied on state law and police practices to defend the town's response to immigration enforcement. At the October 15th forum, neither of you directly answered whether the town should adopt a response plan. To update my letter in tonight's packet, I have since seen Mr. Howard's October 9th appeal determinations describing his office's legal review role. And Chief Frost has also answered some police questions. But after months of direct requests, basic questions about the civilian procedure remain unanswered. What are the civilian employees instructed to do before admitting immigration agents to non-public town areas? who is the designated contact, how are the judicial warrants or court orders verified before access. Simply repeating that state law is sufficient does not show how safeguards operate or address the reported concerns of residents. Newsday has reported children fearing family separation and advocates warning that enforcement fears deter people from seeking protection from abuse. Leaving families uncertain about the safeguards they can rely on is unacceptable. Every member of the board and the town attorney's office share a responsibility for implementing and explaining them. Tonight, please give us a date for a public work session with the board, town attorney, Chief Frost, OLA, and residents. Release relevant documents beforehand and explain existing safeguards. Please seriously consider adopting OLA's proposed public safety laws. Identify alternatives that you support and explain specific objections to provisions you oppose and then publish decisions responsible officials and completion dates. I'll be submitting the complete record including the town's responses to the Attorney General's Office of Immigration Trust, which can independently investigate compliance and seek corrective action where warranted. The town board must begin its own public review without waiting for a response to that. With the final scheduled debate tomorrow, residents will assess your answers and commitments. You both already hold office and can act tonight. If you decline a public work session, explain why. Citing state law has not answered these implementation questions or justified declining public review. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I believe we have our next one online. If there's anybody else in the room that would like to speak, if you just make your way to the wall, just so we're aware, that would be awesome. Thank you. We'll do this one, and then we'll go back to in-the-room comments. I believe Chip is giving me the hi sound.

Can you hear me? I can, yes, ma'am. Can you hear us? Yep, I can. Okay, you're good to go. Hi, Allison Matway, Waiting River. over the years I've noticed that each meeting of this town board begins with a Christian prayer. As such, shouldn't the members of the town board practice what they preach? The Bible suggests they should. Otherwise, are they not hypocrites? Welcoming others, regardless of their background or nationality, is a central theme in the Bible. Many Bible verses urge people to embrace those who are different and to extend kindness to the marginalized. They describe the importance of caring for the immigrants in our communities. For instance, Matthew 25, 35. I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Mark 12, 31. Love your neighbor as yourself. Deuteronomy 27, 19. Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner. Those are just a few examples of what's in the Bible and the suggestions that it gives on how we should be treating the stranger, the immigrants in our communities. So I ask you, don't you think that to truly practice what you preach, at a minimum, you should meet with your constituents and have an open and honest dialogue about how to keep everyone in Riverhead safe, regardless of their immigration status? Considering the OLA public safety law or a comparable law that you come up with is a really good place to start. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. I believe there's somebody that's online would like to go. Nope, nobody in the room. You guys had all moved over there. Yep, go ahead. Anybody? We're going to wait. Warren, you've already gone, so we're going to have them go. Go ahead. Hi, I'm not shy. My name is Kelsey Gilmore-Fuderal, and I'm a legislative attorney for Best Friends Animal Society. I actually live in South Carolina. So I'm not a resident, And I appreciate the opportunity to address you all for just a moment tonight. Best Friends is going to be your new neighbor here on Long Island. We're building a new facility in the Oyster Bay area. The intent of the facility is to help implement some of the new animal shelter regulations that came from the state of New York. It will serve as a sort of back of the house support system for our adoption center in Soho but also will be helping as many shelters and rescues as we can in your community and across the island. So I sent y'all an email and just wanted to let you know that we're here to be a resource, a good neighbor for you and anything that I can do to respond to animal sheltering in your districts, I'm more than happy to help. You guys have a no kill shelter. So congratulations for that. You guys are doing a great job with the animal services. I've got a little bit of information that if I may pass it up to the clerk, I'll pass around and send around as a PDF and I appreciate your and attention thank you thank you very much thank you thank you for email the work you do appreciate it thank you absolutely sure did you want to go thank you so much hi I'm Sherry Davis the artist that created grateful turnout and I just wanted to come up oh sorry and I just wanted to come up and thank the entire town board for approving the resolution I can't thank you enough for all your support and help and donations. It means a lot, not just to me, but to the entire community. And I also, there are so many other people involved that I'd love to thank. Don Thomas, Carissa Collins, Devin Higgins, Debbie Borkowski, Wendy Weiss from East End Arts, Mark Aladef, Ken Testa, Dave Sobrowski, and I'm sure there's a million other people that are involved in making this project happen for Riverhead. and I'm deeply appreciative and I'm honored to be able to do this for the community. So thank you again. Thanks, Sherry. Thank you. Good job, Sherry. You're awesome. Sherry, what's next? I'll be letting you know. I have a plan. I believe we have one online. There we are.

MR. Good evening. Ron Hariri of AQUABAG. To begin with, I'd like to thank Councilman Rothwell for working so hard, along with the other members of the Board, to introduce amendments which would decrease the tax hike that all of us are facing in an increasingly challenging economic time. I'd also note that for the past good part of a year, I've been pestering the supervisor and the board about the closing of the sale to the town's no-bid master developer. and we know that the closing, which the supervisor insisted was imminent, did not occur. And the supervisor said he was fine with the fact that an extension of the closing was granted. But what is not fine to me and what should not be fine to the board is that at an IDA presentation, the same no-bid master developer told the IDA members that he did not have a financial commitment to move forward and also indicated that his other IDA-supported project has seen a dramatic decrease in business over the past several years. What troubles me is that the last board had allowed this individual to be selected as master developer without any public review of his finances. And given these admissions during the IDA presentation, I would strongly urge the board, and I would note a very positive accomplishment by Councilman Warquell, who in working on the budget enlisted the support of his outside financial advisors to give some ideas. But before you proceed to closing with so many moving parts in this downtown revitalization project. You allow the public to weigh in on Petrocelli's financial condition before you commit to yet another project. And I'd like to also thank Councilman Rothwell and Joanne Waskey as well for taking the time to reach out to me to discuss my concerns about a weed delivery operation coming to the historic main road in Aquabog. I know that Councilman Rothwell, you have made an investment in the North Fork with your horse farm. I wish you a lot of luck. But I, again, want to thank you for taking the time to review the issues that I've raised because I just do not see how some type of intensive cannabis delivery operation on this historic corridor fits in. and again thank you again and keep up the good work on trying to trying to keep the town in good financial stead thank you thank you sir for your comments i think that's our last one online i didn't know if we had anybody else in the room yes sir mr warren we're going to let you close that out our public comment time period thank you sir and then we're I'm going to move it to our CDA. One gentleman was concerned about the fear that's in his town. I realized that the most activity on the east end by ice is done in Riverhead. And I really realized that the United States in 1944, FDR put forth the Four Freedoms. and it was adopted by the United Nations. And those freedoms are basically freedom of speech, that's what we hear, freedom of worship. You know, that's why you can go to church to play bingo. Freedom of want, you know, food, clothing, and shelter. But our Haitian population, our Hispanic population, is afraid. And if you don't believe me, go down to 1333 Main Street, the Guatemalan Council. Speak to them. Speak to everybody. Again, our Riverhead police, which you both agree, are doing a fantastic job. But we cannot, the preamble of the Constitution says, and everything says, we the people, not the police. We can't say we the police in order to form a perfect union. We the police. We have to establish a committee of safety. Broad thing. We're not moderating the police. The police work so hard. They have the body cameras. They have the bulletproof vests and everything else. And they have to do so many jobs. They need our help. You need our help. Every one of you here, We've got to reach out to all of us. And it's shameful that, you know, what's being done to the Hispanic people and the Haitian people in this country and in Riverhead, I urge you to, you know, to investigate farther and go down and visit the council. And let's get the four freedoms to everybody. Thank you. Thanks, Warren. I think we have a last minute add, sir, if you'd like to speak. And then Don, if you're ready for the CDA. Just pull the mic up for us. Just your name and your hamlet. Sure. Good evening. My name is Brian Carroll. I'm from Riverhead. I do have two questions. The first question is with respect to the town's fund balance policy was last revised in 2011 and established a 15% minimum. Does the board intend to adopt the policy to establish clear guidance for appropriate fund levels now as it relates to its current levels? And then the other question I have is will the supervisor forego a salary increase again in 2020, excuse me, 27 as a part of the town's broader effort to reduce spending? Thank you. So as far as the first question, if you would submit that in writing to us, we can get back to you. But the second question I can answer personally, no, I will not be, I've addressed that on multiple occasions, I will not be increasing the salary back. I'll leave it at where it was for this year. And I will also not be taking the fringe benefit, which did increase this year because that gets a cost of living raise every year. It's been in there. I wasn't aware of it when I came into office, and so I will not be accepting that again. So with that, I can answer your question. I don't think we have any comments. I'd like to take a motion to move into our closest meeting, move into our CDA meeting. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Good evening, everyone. We have a small agenda tonight with no resolution, so we would be accepting open comments on CDA matters only to start, if there are any.

No one online? Sir, if you'd like to go. John McAuliffe, Rowan Oak Landing. I would be, was very pleased to, at the last meeting you adopted, I think it was the last meeting you adopted a resolution on the Science Center of requesting proposals. Was this a CDA matters? Yeah, CDA. We did not do that at a CDA meeting, though. That was at a general board meeting? Yeah, yeah, but it had to do with CDA business, right? No, sir. Unfortunately, no, that was a general town business. Yep. Okay, since it had to do with the town square, I assumed it fell within the CDA. All right, well, so you don't want to. The point was simply. No, sir. I was being complimentary. No, sir, we're just going to hold the. Yeah, sure, that's great. All right, well, then let me go on to what is clearly CDA, which is the other side of the square, the hotel. That is CDA business? No, sir. No, sir, it's not. That's not CDA business? No, sir. No, they procure grants for it, unless it pertains to one of the grants specifically. But if you're talking about where it is in the action of where it's at with their site plan or something, that would be General Town Board. I'm sorry, again? All right, I had understood that this was CDA or I would have brought this up earlier. okay well we have another one in two weeks that's the I mean the basic question is is where things stand on the movement yeah as if it doesn't yeah Emory can you if it doesn't have news yeah right so the hotel project that is independent from the town square improvements so if you want to address it next CDA meeting rather next board meeting by all means I would have sworn we talked about the hotel within the context of CDA but your memory is is better at any rate the question is simply where we are well we're not gonna just we would prefer you do it at the proper time well hold this to this meeting unfortunately that's the way those boundaries are all right it seems is a fairly artificial boundary, but that's up to you. One's a CDA meeting, one's a town board meeting. Do you have a CDA issue, Warren?

Just to be clear, the Community Development Agency is a public authority that's established by New York State law that allows a town to purchase property or own property and to do urban renewal projects, and the town can buy and sell property. So if it's the grants themselves are not CDAs, they're really community development department activities that we do on behalf of the town board. The community development agency really is kind of strictly limited to the EPCAL property in terms of owning that. The community development agency does own that property. the town board is also the board of the Community Development Agency. I'd like to comment on community development downtown, and one sound way it can be done. Is it all right? Go ahead, try it. Let's hear what you have to say, and then we'll see. Okay. Basically, I've noticed over the years that the Hispanic community buys from the Hispanic community. But the point is this. If we could get the vacant department store down there to... Warren, this... No, it's not the time. Because I held John to it, so I don't hold you to it. That would be more of an open comment during a regular board meeting. That's okay. I understand. Thank you for understanding as well, too. So thank you so, so much. Sorry about that, gentlemen. If you want, I'm sure Don will meet with you and help you to understand those and be able to come back with those. We always want to hear your comments. Yeah, absolutely. Looks like there's no other comments, so we can entertain a motion to close the meeting, and I need a motion and a second. So moved. Second. Okay. Waskey? Yes. Everybody is excited. Merrifield? Yes. Kern? Yes. Rothwell? Yes. Halpin? Yes, ma'am. Okay. CDA meeting is closed until next month. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Meeting is closed. Thank you very much, staff. Greg, you did a great job tonight. Thank you. Eric, you were a little quiet.

Thank you.