HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-05/06/1980 MAY 6, 1980
05 -
SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD
MAY 6, 1980
EXECUTIVE' SESSI-ON
10: 00 A.M. - The Board members discussed work hours and pay of several
full time, part time and seasonal employees.
WORK SESSION
10: 30 A.-M'. - Elaine Weiss of the Suffolk Community Development Corp-
oration discussed the Section 8 Existing Housing Assistance Payments
Program and the Weatherization Program. All program funds are provided
by the U. S . Department of Housing and Urban Development to the N.Y. S .
Housing Finance Agency. There is a question as. to whether it might be
to late for Southold Town to join the Section 8 Program as the filing
took place in early April. There is still time- to- go into the Weather-
ization' Program since it has not been implemented yet . This program
is primarily geared toward home owners and. is basically- an insulation
program. The program is based on grants., not loans. SCDC has received
approval to use general contractors for the work and presently there
are three general contractor's in the Town of Southold who are doing
work for SCDC. --Steve Perricone, Southold, was also present at this
discussion and said he is presently doing rehabilitation work for
SCDC. Mr. Perricone said SCDC is very unbiased as- far as applications
are concerned. All jobs are handled through'iIbid and Ms . Weiss stated
they receive at least three bids from general contractors for each job .
The Board indicated they would be inclined to adopt a resolution for ,
Southold Town to become involved in the Weatherization Program provided
there would be no fiscal or administrative responsibility on the- part
of the town.
11 : 15 A.M. - Mrs. Ronnie Wacker, who. was introduced by Mr. Frank Bear,
addressed the Board concerning Robins Island. Mrs. Wacker asked the
Board to put the acquisition, of Robins Island on a referendum. When
questioned as to what type of referendum, Mrs . Wacker said it would
be to see if people are in favor of development or preservation. --
Town Attorney Tasker stated the only referendum allowable under the
law- would be to ask the people of Southold Town if they favor the
purchase of Robins Island. -=Mr. Bear referred to Section 81 of the
Town Law, citing the referendums allowed. -Town Attorney Tasker stated
that Mr. Bear, is correct, only those items as specified by law and
such. a proposition proposed by Mrs . Wacker and Mr. Bear is not included
in Section 81.--Mrs . Wacker and Mr. Bear requested the help of the Town
Board in finding a way .to ,bri.ng the matter of the preservation of Robins
Island to a referendum.
11 : 80 A.M. - .Mr. Charles Webb and Air. Fred Letson, members of the
Orient Historical Society, -requested that a committee be appointed
to oversee activities in the Orient Historical District. They would
like to make sure people don' t, change the character of the community
by changing the houses with inappropriate- additions. They would like
the machinery for such a committee established now, before changes
are made. They referred the Town Board to Riverh.ead,. Bethpage and
Oyster Bay who have such historical committees . -.-Supervisor Pell
advised he would obtain copies of the guidelines from the other areas-
and 'distribute them to- the Board members so- this -matter can move forward.
11:45 A.M. - TownBoard hearing upon the grievance, of Highway Department
employee Bruce Steward. ( It was -the request of Mr. Stewart that this
be a closed hearing. )
12: 35 P.M. - Chief Carl .Cataldo spoke to the. ,Town Board members relative
to employing six seasonal police officers to start on T•lay 24th and
work through. September lst . Chief Cataldo will set their Hours and
try to hold down the number of hours they work, thereby reducing the
charge to the town as much as possible.--Chief Cataldo also asked the
Board to consider granting Radio Operator Claude Kumjian a leave-of-
absence from his duties , as in previous years , and appointing him a
seasonal police officer. --The matter of telephones at the six beaches
was discussed.--The dog problem on Fi.shers •Island was explained by
Chief Cataldo . Justice Doyen has informed him that he suggests the
Dog Warden go to Fishers Island and round up all the dogs that are
MAY 6, 1980
running loose; he would then identify them and issue a warning. Chief
Cataldo suggests that the enforcement should come from Fishers Island
and an individual on the Island be empowered to act as a dog warden. --
Chief Cataldo has received a letter from property owners in the area
of the Horton' s Point Light House who request the development of a town
ordinance to limit the use of the beach and restrict vehicular traffic. --
The Chief has been contacted by the Southold Park District and residents
in the area of the park district property on Youngs Avenue, Southold
concerning the congregation of cars and teenagers at the park. The
Chief has tried to increase patrols and informed the Board that with
the employment of the seasonal police more attention will be given
to the area.
2:45 P.M. - Ltc. Merlon E. Wiggin addressed the Board, in conjunction
with Councilman Drum, on the subject of emergency preparedness
operations plan for Southold Town. Ltc. Wiggin has prepared a
rough draft of a plan for Southold Town which. was distributed to
the Board members.
3 : 05 P.M. - Building Inspectors George Fisher and Edward Hindermann
spoke to the Board concerning several violation cases that are, or
will be, in litigation. The Town is represented- by attorney Frank
Yakaboski in these cases . --Supervisor Pell will set up a meeting
between the Board and Mr. Yakaboski' to go over these cases. (date
set was 8: 30 A.M. , P4ay 13th. )--Mr. Fisher discussed the suggested
increase in fees for Zoning Appeals and Flood Plain Development
Permits. He said he would like to add some suggested changes for
increase in building permit fees before the Board goes to hearing
on these fee increases .
The Board discussed the repair work that must be done at the Southold
Town Beach concession before it' can be opened for the season. There
is some question as to whether the cost for repairs might outweigh
the $500 . 00. income it brings for seasonal rent .
The Board reviewed the agenda items .
7: 00 P.M - Councilmen Drum, Nickles , Murdock and Sullivan audited
the bills for the month of April.
A regular meeting of the Southold Town Board was held on Tuesday,
May 6, 1980 at the Southold Town Hall, Main Road, Southold, New
York. Supervisor Pell opened the meeting at 7:40 P.M. with the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Present : Supervisor William R. Pell, III
Councilman Henry IV. Drum -
Councilman John J. Nickles
Councilman Lawrence Murdock Jr.
Councilman George R. Sullivan
Town Clerk Judith T. Terry
Town Attorney Robert W . Tasker
Deputy Supervisor Marie Bauer Johnson
Absent : Justice Francis T. Doyen
SUPERVISOR PELL: I want to thank you all for coming out tonight
and I want to apologize for the -ten minute delay. The Board did
not breakup until around 6 : 00 o' clock today, we did not .audit the
bills so we came back at 7: 00 o' clock and ,went to work auditing the
bills and we just got done so that' s why we' re ten minutes late and
we beg your indulgence. The first order of business is the approval
of the minutes of the April 22nd meeting.
Moved by Councilman Drum,
COUNCILMAN MURDOCK: I ' ll second that, but also would 'like to
compliment our Town Clerk. For those of you who are not privileged
to have a copy of the minutes , it is 47 typewritten pages that she
had to transcribe and type,rl.as well as all the other duties of the
Town Clerk and I think it was a tremendous job and I will second
the approval.
MAY 6 , 1980 9,
RESOLVED that the April 22, 1980 minutes of the Southold Town Board
be and hereby are approved as submitted.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman' Drum, Superviosr Pell.
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
On motion of Supervisor Pell, seconded by Councilman Drum, it was
RESOLVED that the next regular meeting of the Southold Town Board
will be held at 3: 00 P.M. , Tuesday, May 20, 1980 at the Southold
Town Hall, Main Road, Southold, New York.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
REPORTS-
1 . MARIE BAUER JOHNSON, Deputy Supervisor: This month' s meeting
of the Legislature' s Safe Drinking Water Committee was concerned with
privately owned water companies, of which there is one in Southold
Town. The general opinion seems to be that these companies. are for
the most part- substandard; many have old equipment which breaks down
regularly and the often absentee owners claim that the revenues are
not sufficient to replace or repair equipment . The county would like
to have the Suffolk County Water Authority buy the water companies but
as soon as the water authority approaches the price goes up astron-
omically and there .seems to be a kind of Mexican standoff.. The Depart-
ment of Health representative on the committee has presented a proposal
for a county local law which would make it possible for the Health
Department to declare, under certain conditions, a state of emergency
and in which they would be allowed to go in, have repairs made and--
by private contractors, and bill the water company owner for reimburse-
ment and should the reimbursement not be made that would be considered
the beginning of a foreclosure procedure and the company would be
taken over by the County Water Authority. The legislature is' apparently
thinking this over and I don' t know what the outcome of that will be .
The only thing of great importance that came up was the first
results on the Temik tests were in, 500 test reports in. It was not
certain what part of the east end. they came from but the overwhelming
feeling was that they were good tests and it showed not a terribly
amount of Temik.
I would like to 'say also that I. was to a meeting of the Groundwater
Task Force, which is a state committee. The state has somewhat critical
members of the Task Force on Long Island. The state has found that
groundwater ' is a problem 'and the state is going to study it on a state-
wide basis. Of course, here on Long Island we have been concerned with
it for some time They granted that Long Island has the most: serious
problem and Long Island has been designated as the most critical area
for groundwater -problems. A good bid of the work that went on at the
meeting was organizational, however, it was planned to hold seminars
and workshops as soon as there was enough work done to- make it worth-
while. The members of the `workshop- will be- expected-:-,to do .these.
The matter of petroleum storage and related to groundwater was discussed
at some length and they seemed to be .putting all their efforts into
the design for future petroleum storage and it was great effort on my
part to summon up the courage to speak at groups like this . I pointed
out that there were problems-- the probl.ems we had out here on the
east end for cleanup after there has been damage from oil storage and
they agreed with 'ine and would add something about cleanup .in their
program.
The other thing that might be of interest to some of you is that
the State Environmental Facilities Corporation, which is- an adjunct
to the DEC is working on plans for hazardous waste storage. They are
discussing whether to have one single or two or four such hazardous
waste facilities throughout the state with transfer stations along
the way and whatever they finally decide they will have something
ready in about six years .
2. COUNCILMAN LAWRENCE MURDOCK JR. : This was a meeting I
attended run by Holzmacher, McLendon and Murrell, better known as
H2M Corporation, with the five east end towns and the DEC.. Mr.
Middleton headed the group from the DEC. It is . a preliminary report.
The purpose of Hiring Holzmach'er-McLendon was. to try and derive a
plan for five towns combined usage of solid waste. They have examined
the facility to produce steam, they have examined it in terms of
producing electricity, they have examined it to 'the point of making
compost , they' ve made pellets to� be shipped, they' ve tried pelletizing
the garbage to be shipped to other areas •to make. steam ,and: electricity
and we will have another meeting on , June. the 13th. At that time they
MAY 6, 1980
expect to be a little more specific. So far the general concensus
by H2M is that we do not have' any buildings - on the east end capable
of using the amount of steam that would be generated so they feel
that that is out . They are most- definite that they will recommend
that we produce electricity for sale to the Long Island Lighting
Company, however, we will not sell it to the Long Island Lighting
Company for anywhere near what the Long Island Lighting Company
sells it 'to us. There seems to be a little divergence in there
and on the- 13th they intend to go further. . It will be-, probably,
an expensive project . The cost of. transporting the garbage, or
the solid waste -will be probably five times as much, just to trans-
port it, as the Town of Southol-d.-now spends per ton to process it.
It is not a pleasant prospect to look forward to in terms of money
but we are forced to do it and June 13th they will give us another
pill and tell us a little more how much it is going to be.
3. SUPERVISOR, WILLIAM R. PELL III : Number 3 is a little bit
ahead of itself. This committee has' not met yet this year. I have
requested the chairman of it and his committee to sit down with me'
on May 27th and I want to go over- the present budget we are in. We
have been through four months so far. I have ideas, thinking about
next year' s budget, so I asked this -committee to meet on May 27th.
and we will meet on that day. I had hoped prior to do it to tonights
meeting but just never got around to requesting it. ('Mr. Pell was
referring to the Taxation and Finance Committee. )
4 ., Town Clerk' s monthly report .
5. Supervisor' s monthly budget report . We went over it today.
A couple of the board members just picked up a couple of errors in
it so I think it is a good thing to have a meeting with the committee
next month' and help me straighten it out, perhaps.
6 . Fishers Island monthly report .
7. The Highway Committee report .
8. The Building Inspector' s - report . There is ab-out: $600, 000
estimated cost- in new building- permits -that went out this month.
9. The Trustee' s monthly report .
10. The Bay Constable' s monthly -report .
11 . The monthly report of, Justice Tedeschi. i
12. You do not have on your agenda, but it is the Police Depart-
ment report . The Police Chief did come in today and present it to
the Town Board.
13. The monthly report from-, the-' Assessor' s Department.
14 . A verbal report by Councilman Drum and he has good news
for the people tonight . ,
. COUNCILMAN DRUM: W aterways- Committee. There is good news
and bad news as they say . The good news is that the dredge finally
arrived this afternoon about 4: 00 P. M. That ' s on the Sound side.
On the Bay side there 'is also some good news inasmuch as the New
Suffolk ramp area-- that has 'been completed.` The county did hire a
private contractor to do it and we are going to meet with the County
Waterways Department , Mr. John Guildi, the Waterways Committee, which
is John Nickles and Mr. - Murdock, on Friday and we will inspect all of
the remaining inlet entrances ' in the Bay. That is just the entrances ,
now, to determine their status. We feel that the large majority of
them have changed to an emergency status . The majority of them are
almost closed and we feel that ( it is essential that they be dredged.
However, I am not sure that this will take place immediately. Some
yes, but all of them, I just can' t-- be optomistic. Again, we will
meet with the county representative, Bill, on Friday. That completes
my reports .
SUPERVISOR PELL: Thank you very much. All of these reports
are on file with the Town Clerk. ' If anybody cares to review them,
to to the Town Clerk' s Office and request them. You can review
them there.
PUBLIC NOTICES
COUNCILMAN NICKLES :
1 ., Public hearing on May 20th, 1980 at 3:40 P.P.R. at the
Southold Town Hall; which is an amendment to the current Town
Budget relative to the use of federal revenue sharing funds.
Notice is hereby given that the TownBoard of the Town of Southold
will hold a public hearing in the Southold Town Hall, Main Road,
Southold, 'New York on the 20th of May, 1980 at 3 :40 o' clock P. M.
in the matter of the , amendment of the current town budget relative
to the use of federal revenue sharing funds as follows: By
transferring and/or reassigning the sum of . $11 , 500 from the New
MAY 6, 1980 949: ;
Suffolk Road Improvement account CF9007.4 to the Highway Safety
Improvement account which is CF9008-.4. .
2. Public hearing also, May 20th, 3':-5 at the Town Hall on a
Local Law to provide for the removal' or repair of unsafe buildings
and collapsed structures . This is quite lengthy., I wont read it,
but it is filed in the Town Clerk' s Office.
3. . New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Notice of complete application of Pierce Yacht Basin. This is a
second notice. . .At .our last meeting I think we had one f_rom' the Army
Corps . This one is from ,the. DEC. and if anyone wishes to make comments
on it they must be submitted to the DEC by May 21st , 1980 .
4. Another water project' involving a catwalk and floating dock
in Greenport . ' Applicant is Nicholas Parlamis" and he wants' to build
a pier out into Shelter Island Sound at Pipes Cove. The response
date is May 25th and you can respond to the Department' of the Mary,
New York District Corps of Engineers, All the information is in the
Town Clerk' s Office.
COMMUNICATIONS
SUPERVISOR PELL:
1 . (a) From a group of people living upf:on Long Island Sound.
The property owners request something* to be done about the beach'
.buggies riding on their private property in front of their homes on
the beach. . I have requested the ordinances from the other towns ,
Riverhead,- Southampton Towns, which have ordinances on this, to
come over to the town hall.' We did receive them today. I requested
them sometime ago but they finally: arrived today. - One arrived
yesterday and one- today.. On this- we are going to take into consider-
ation the request- we have: on` hand, the letters we have from these
folks and the other town ordinances . I am going. to refer this at
this time`,to the Beach and Park Committee along. with our attorney
to- revieW' this and make recommendations back to the Board, I hope
at the next Board meeting.- I was delayed getting the ordinances
from the other towns or I would have hoped to have. more information
on this but as I said the last ones came in today.
1. (b) During the last couple of weeks we had a bunch of young
gentlemen come in, they are standing in the back of the room there.
The beach buggy operators would- 11ke the town to provide o:r know if
there is a place. , in town that - they cari take their recreational
vehicles and ride them. I have not had a chance to sit down and
. talk with them and find .out_ go, into it more in detail. and later
on inthe meeting if any of you want to address the Town Board you
should all feel free to do 'so. Perhaps later on in the week you
could come in to the office and sit down and let me hear what you
have to say if you donl;t want to do it tonight . The gentlemen in
the near. I hope you stick around and tell all the Board what ' s on
your mind, I' like to share the problems.
2. A zoning board violation, Roberta Sinnott feels. It has
Veen turned over to the Building Department for evaluation.;
3. A letter from Pan Tech Management,'-Corporation expressing
the use of the $50, 000 for- the- library grant . whichYi_ . Southold Town
was awarded.
4. A letter we got in from the Cooperative Extension Service
saying' they ' re having w workshop on Grantsmanship. What to. Took for,
, how to apply and techniques in, applying 'for th.e different grants,
available. Later on 'in the metting. 'you will! have a -resolution -
authorizing Councilman Sullivan to attend this one day seminar -at
town expense ins Riverhead:
- 5. Had a lady come out to :town hall - one day this particular
weekend-- this particular week and request the town -if it would be
interested in. -go!ing into some sort of marketing .corporation with
this outfit . Th-ey put out 300, 000 copies of a map .of Long; Island,
tourist attraction map idea: The price of i-t is approximately $1 ,000.
It is something I never- heard of before. The deadline is like
yesterday. I brought it up-. to the board ;today. -and we have the
North Fork Promotion group working on pamphlets for Southold Town.
So what we decided to -do islet this .one go: by -this .year but send
this letter - .a
ettr t the three chamber of commerce in town. nd write back
to them and tell them next year to give us a little big more notice.
than just a couple of days. (Columbi-a Marketing Corp. )
6 . You do not have this. It is a 1e.tter which came in town
hall' 'yesterday. It was ' from Anthony Noto ; Chairman of the Suffolk
County Legislature. It :.says, "Dear Supervisor Pell: I would like
to take this opportunity -`.to -inform you 'and the Southold Town Board
that Miss Dempsey, Assistant Attorney, when speaking at your last
MAY 6 , 1980
town board meeting was not authorized to speak on behalf of the
Suffolk County Legislature. , I am asware that Miss Dempsey spoke on
,the preservation of Robins Island and has indicated that she
representated the County of Suffolk. I would like to impress
upon you once again that she was'- not authorized to. represent the
legislature at any time. Thank you for correcting the record on
this matter.' Anthony Noto, Presiding Officer, Suffolk County
Legislature. "-' We did look at' the minutes today at this and she
said in the start of her . talk, and- I wish. I had the minutes in
front of me, -Larry you brought it up, she said she was represent-
ing the county executive and County of Suffolk, I believe. I' will
ask Councilman Murdock to read that one paragraph .so we know what
she said. You had it today right at your finger tips in the board
room.
COUNCILMAN MURDOCK: It ' s ' on page 35. of the minutes . I ' ll.
read the one before; it says, 1`1!Supervisor Pell: Before I ask the
clerk to poll the board, which I will do next., we have Assistant
County Attorney here. I just had a note handed to me, I don' t
even know your name. '" " 'Patricia Dempsey, Assistant County
Attorney: I am here on behalf of the county and the county
executive. It is the county' s position that they are in full
support of this resolution and they will cooperate .with the town
in working out .an .effectuative: program of acquisition and practical
management of Robins- Island -so as to preserve it in its natural
state. '" That was Miss Dempsey' s statement and she did. not , in
fact, represent the Suffolk. County Legislature. This is the kind
of problem that- we have been running into very often both. in terms
of Robins. Island and in terms of' the".'Estuarine Sanctuary-, that
whether .it' s .official zeal;.or, what I don' t know, , but it represents
facts that are not so and it makes it very difficult to separate ,
facts from fancy.
SUPERVISOR PELL: Thank' .you: very much. At 8: 10 we' re' supposed
to have a public hearing. I sort of guessed �.._.-Iittle bit wrong,
we've got four minutes wait before we can. call- it , so I.. will go
on to resolutions until 8: 10 and then we will go back.
RESOLUTIONS
1. On motion of Councilman Drum, seconded by Councilman .P,4urdock, it was
RESOLVED that the application of Carl Frelix, Jr. and wife dated
March 28, 1980 for the renewal- of their trailer permit on property
located on private road, off north side Main Road, Mattituck, New
York, be and hereby is granted for a six month period.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan,. Councilman.
Pilurdock, ,Councilman Nickles , CouncilmanDrum, Supervisor Pell . -
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
2. On motion of Councilman Nickles, seconded by Councilman Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that pursuant to Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation
Law State Environmental- Quality Review and 6NYCRR Part 617, Section
617.10 and Chapter 44 of the Code of the Town of Sout'hold,. notice is
hereby given that the Southold Town Board, as lead agency for the
action described below, has determined that the project will not
have a significant effect- on the environment.
Description of .Action: Application of George WI. -Bornschein for a
wetland permit. ' Permission '.is requested to construct a- timber dock,
catwalk, ramp and float at his property on the east side of Oak
Street , "on Eugene' s (East) Creek, Cutchogue, New York.
The project has been determined not to have a significant
effect on the environment for the following reason:
An environmental assessment has been submitted -which indicated
that no significant adverse effect to the environment are likely to
occur should the project be implemented as planned.
Vote of the TownBoard: Ayes: Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
3. Moved by Supervisor Pell, seconded by Councilman Drum,
WHEREAS, the Salvation Army has served the people of the United
States for 100 years.
WHEREAS, its service extends to all people, regardless of race,
creed or ethnic background.
WHEREAS , its programs serve the whole individual : .m,ind, body and
soul .
WHEREAS, its methods are in- touch with the changing times .
MAY 6, 1980 1.0_ `
THEREFORE-, -I, William R. Pell III , Supervisor, do proclaim May 12-18,
1980 as National Salvation Army Week in Southold Town and urge those
who live and work in this community to' join me in recognizing the
year-round efforts of this Christian organization and its long and
honorable history in this nation.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution was- declared duly adopted-.
4. Move'd .by Councilman Drum, seconded by Councilman Murdock,
WHEREAS, through diligence and hard work in your daily living you
have set high standars for yourself, and
WHEREAS , the basis for development for your own personal code of
conduct could not provide a better guidance and will contribute to
a more meaningful life, and
WHEREAS, you will continue to be guided in your daily living by the
Scout Oath and Code,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that James' Bascomb has achieved the
highest rank in Scouting - Eagle Scout .
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: You realize of all the boys that enter scouting
only, I think, two percent obtain the rank of--Eagle Scout . We had
three boys do it from Greenport last year or this year. It ' s really
quite a thing when I think of all the boys that go into it, two
percent get there. I think the young man deserves a lot of credit
as well as his scout leaders .
On motion of Councilman Sullivan, seconded by Councilman Drum, it was
RESOLVED that a recess be called at this time, 8: 10 P.M. , for the
purpose of holding the following public hearings :
8: 10 P. M. - Hearing upon application of Richard A. Schlump for
a wetland permit .
8: 15 P.M. - Hearing upon application of Maidstone Development ,
Inc. 'for a change of zone.
8: 30 P.M. - Hearing upon application of Wayne. Associates, Inc.
for a change of zone.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles , Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution was declared duly' adopted.
Meeting reconvened at 10 : 00 P.M.
On motion of Councilman Murdock, seconded by. Councilman Drum, it was
RESOLVED that the following audited bills be and hereby are authorized
to be paid: General Fund Whole Town bills in the amount of $22 , 230. 13 ;
General Fund Part Town bills in the amount of $10, 499 . 56 ; Fishers
Island Ferry District bills in the amount of $42, 611 . 36; Federal
Revenue Sharing bills iri, the amount of $3, 135. 00; Highway_ Department
bills in the amount of $9, 258. 64; and Recreation Center bills in the
amount of $1, 740 . 00'.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, 'Couricilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
5. Moved by Councilman Drum, 'seconded by Councilman Nickles,.
WHEREAS, a proposed Local Law No. 2 - 1980 was introduced at a
meeting of this Board held on the 8th day of April, 1980, and
WHEREAS, a public he was held thereon by the Board on the
22nd day of April , 1980, at which time- all interested persons
were given an opportunity to be heard thereon,
NOW,. THEREFORE , BE IT RESOLVED that Local Law. No. 2 - 1980 be
enacted ' as follows :
LOCAL 'LAW NO'. 2 - 1980
A LOCAL LAW TO PROVIDE FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEES
The Code of the Town of Southold is hereby amended by adding
a new chapter thereto , to be Chapter 7, to readas follows :
Section 7-1 Establishment of Committees .
The Town Board, by resolution, may establish. advisory committees
for such purposes as it may deem necessary, to assist it in the
performance of its duties .
7-2 Committee Members .
The Town Board shall determine the number 'of members to. such
committees, appoint the members thereto, and designate the chair-
1-c 02. MAY 6, 1980
man thereof, Members of - the, public,_ public officials and public
employees shall be eligible to serve,- as members of such
committees. Members shall serve without compensation, and
at the pl.easure _of the Town Board.
7-3 Duties.
Committees shall perform such duties and exercise such
powers as may be specified by the Town Board. Committees
shall have no powers other than advisory.
7-4 Expenses.
Committees may incur such expenses in the performance of
their duties may be appropriated- therefor by the Town Board.
7-5 Statutory Provisions Superseded.
This chapter shall supersede, , in its application to the Town
of Southold; subdivision 17 of Section 64 of the Town Law.
7-6 This Local Law shall take effect immediately.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: - Councilman Sullivan, Councilman —
Murdock, Councilman Nickles , Councilman Drum, . Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: I did at' this time as Councilman Drum and
Murdock if they were ready to appoint. the . committee tonight and
they requested that since we did not go into it in the working
session of the board that Wb: :would contact the various people
who have been working on this .committee before the next board—
meeting- to make sure they are willing to serve and get, the approval
of the board at the next work session and then appoint -them .the next
time we- sit down .
Number 6 is whether the full time elected officials should be
covered the same as town employees with the dental and optical
p'lans ,which. is in the CSEA contract .- We will have a report on this
next- town. 'board meeting• by the Wage and Policy Committee and have
a factor cost of what it will cost the town.
Number 7 - We are advised by the town attorney. that we' do not
need this . It is already on the books . We did have a request
from the tax receiver'.s department and we will inform him that
it already is a law. We do not have to ask for a home rule
message on this.
Number -8. -. It is• a resolution asked by our justice and
endorsed. It is a proposed magistrates- association recommendation
that the fees be raised from $5. 00 to $10. 00. This law went into
effect in 1939 and it has not been updated yet and the magistrates
of the State of New York feel: it is time we have an update.
(Note: should be $5. 00 to $15.00.. )
8-.. Moved by Councilman Murdock, seconded by Councilman Drum,
WHEREAS , town and village courts- hear and determi.ne cases involving
violations of' state law, and
WHEREAS , fines: and penalties- collected -by such oourts: a,re paid to
the state in recognition of the fact that such violations are state
offenses, and
WHEREAS, in recognition of the—services'--provided by such. local courts,
the State of New York has provided in, section .99-1- of the General
Municipal Law that towns and villages shall be reimbursed for
services rendered in such cases in the amount. of $5 .00 per case, and
WHEREAS, the- amount of $5.,00 was originally set forth in the Code
of Criminal Procedure, section 740-a, by Chapter 737 of. the Laws
of 1939,. "and has: remained unchanged for the past 41 years, and
WHEREAS, the per case costs of 'the operation of local courts have
increased substantially since 1939 while nolincr.ease in reimburse-
ment by the state to local governments for court services has been
granted, :and
WHEREAS, the net result is that the burden of the said additional
cost of administering this state operation is borne by taxation
of local real property rather than ,by, general taxation,
NOW, THEREFORE., BE IT- RESOLVED that this body does hereby strongly
urge the Legislature and the Governor to act favorably on pending
legislation which would increase the amount returned to towns and
villages to $15. 00 instead of .the present inadequate $5.00 limit
as set by the present provisions of law (Senate 2397-A; Assembly
10900) , and be it further
RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be forthwith. forwarded to
the Hon. Hugh L. Carey, Governor; Hon. Warren M. Anderson, Presi-
dent Pro Tem of the Senate; Hon. Mlanfred Ohrenstein, Senate Minority
MAY 6 , 1980 103
Leader; Hon. Stanley Fink, Speaker of the Assembly; Hon. Daniel
B . Walsh, Assembly Majority Leader; Hon. James L. Emery, Assembly
Minority Leader; Hon. Jess J. - Present, Chmn: , Senate Committee on
Local Governments ; Hon. James W. McCabe, Chmn. , Assembly Committee
on Local Governments; and to the local State Senator LaValle and
Assemblyman Behan serving this area.
Vote of the Town Board: . Ayes :. Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: No. 9 is from an engineering firm to do the work
on the proposed $50, 000 grant on libraries. The Town Board felt
their fee is a little bit too high. We are not ready to approve it
at this time, we are going to do a little, I ' ll say; negotiations
with them, to ` see if we can' t come up with a little better price.
No. 10(! As you may know, the Town owe-sr:the_Village :of Greenport
$40, 000 . It ' s supposed to be paid off half this year- and half next
year. This moeny is the money we used for the Senior Citizen/Youth
building up..ori- Peconic Lane. It was money that they had allocated
to them through a federal program. We ran short, . they ave it to the
Town, released it to the Town and the Town must- repay them under an
agreement we made with them two, years ago. We are going to repay
them in inkind services through our Superintendent of- Highways. The
Board did discuss it today and we want Mr. Dean to sit down with the
Village of Greenport and come up with just what ' s what and how much
we are going to pay off. We are not ready to act on No. 10.
No. 11 . One day last week I had a group of gentlemen come in
from Plum Island Employees Association . They handed me. a petition
with 1500 names on and they' re asking the Town Board to 'pass a
resolution tonight to go on record as opposing the United States
Department of Agricul'ture' s 'plans to contract out the operations on
Plum Island. I will offer this in, the form of a motion.
11 . On motion of Supervisor Pell , seconded by Councilman 'Nickles , it was
RESOLVED. that the Town Board of the Town of Southold supports the
nearly 1500 residents of Eastern Long Island in protesting the U. S .
Department of Agriculture' s plan to contract out operations at the
Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
Vote of the, Town Board: Ayes : Councilman- Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles , Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: No. 12 we discussed at the request of the Town
Board of Appeals to go over the charges made on the various applica-
tions they make. The Town did discuss it, but we also discussed in
little more depth all the charges from the Planning Board, the Zoning
Board of Appeals and we decided to review them all -and go over them
all at once and at a later date will consider them all . So.No. 12
is out .
No. 1.3 belongs to the Department of Highway. It is an- employee
on Fishers Island in Mr. Dean' s department resigned and sent his
resignation in, we do not have. to have a resolution on it . (Note:
Peter Thibodeau) ..
No. 14.. I am going to say is good news . We have a claim, the
final bill on `Cavaliere Electrical on the building up on Peconic
Lane. This is another contractor that we are paying off. ' I think
there is two more left to. go and the building will be, ours . We
need a resolution to' pay. this' bill ,of $1, 000. 00 to Cavaliere.
14. -On motion of Councilman Nickles, seconded by Councilman 'Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that .the Town Board of the Town of Southold authorizes the
payment. of $1,000.00 to Cavaliere Electric Co. , electrical contractor
at the Senior Citizen/Youth Center, as the final payment for out-
standing items of work -completed at the Center by them.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles , Councilman Drum, Supervisor . Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: 15 and 16 is unneeded at this time . In our
agreement with Rodan Equipment it says in there that the state 's
share, this is money coming from,,the state that Rodan will be .paid
when the .state pays the Town so we do not have to have any resolution
at this .time.
MAY 6, 1980
17. ON motion of Councilman Nickles , seconded by Councilman Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that ; the Town Board o'f the Town-- of- ,Southold authorizes. the
transfer of $312. 40 from Generale Fund Whole Town Contingent A-1.990. 4
to Programs for' the. Aging A6772 .4.. . _
Vote of the Town• Board: Ayes: Councilman .Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Super'viosr Pell-.
This resolution was declared duly adopted. ' •
18. On motion of Supervisor, Pell, seconded by :Councilman Sullivan, it was
RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold set 3: 00 P. M. ,
Tuesday, June 10, 1980,. Southold Town Hall., Main Road, Southold, New
York as time and .place, for hearing. upon application of William C.
- Thompson for a- permit under the -provisions of the Wetland Ordinance
of the Town of Southold for permission to construct a timber dock,
catwalk, ramp and float at • Canoe Path on Mattituck , Creek; PTattituck,
New York.
Vote of the Town- Board: Ayes : ' Councilman Sullivan', Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles ; .Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: No. 19, I ' d like to. go into a. little
explanation on it . We .asked, today, Elaine Weiss- to . come .before
the Town Board and talk about, the Suffolk Community Development
Corporation. She talked. on two different .programs. One was 208,
what' s called 208, . the housing program. There are. 42'. people in
Southold Town who have ap.pli.e.d: to this, out.fit for aid in housing
field. The Board listened to Elaine .Weiss for probably I am going
to say a half hour. We talked about that, the pros and cons . We
also talked about winterization -program that will be set up in the
near future . We -had a contractor from town who i.s. involved in this
field, doing work for this outfit . He spoke very highly of it ..
After much discussion and debate among the Board I said I would
. introduce a resolution tonight supporting both programs. After
much debate the Board came up with the following resolution to
support only the latter..of .the two, the winterization program.
At- this time L .will ask the councelmen- to offer' it.
19 . On motion of .Councilman. Drum, ,seconded by Councilman . Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that the Town Board. of the Town of Southold become engaged
in the Suffolk Community Development Corporation' s Weatherization
Program• as •f inanced by the federal Department of Energy ,. provided
th.e Town of Southold will be, under no fiscal or administrative
responsibility, and be it -further
RESOLVED that the Suffolk Community Development Corporation submit
a letter to.. the Town of Southold relieving them of any fiscal or
administrative- responsibility before this program is undertaken in
the Town of Southold.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Counci.iman ,Nickles,, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
20. On motion of Councilman Nickles, - seconded by Councilman Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that Vincent Tirelli be and he hereby is appointed part time
Radio Operator at the Southold Town police Headquarters. -at;,l.a salary
of $4. 00 per hour, effective immediately.
Vote of the Town. Board:_ Ayes : , Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nick..les, . Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution- was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: No. 21. I am -going to offer this resolutio-
tonight but I am going to ask the Town Clerk if she will comment on
it.. We are looking at copy machines that we. have in this town hall
here. We looked at. three different machines .. We zeroed in on one
we • liked. - I asked the .Town Clerk if she would visit and see the
machine in operation. She has and the Board is ready -tonight to
offer - go out for the IBM machine. . Judy, do you have anything
to say on it?
TOWN CLERK TERRY: I feel in signing an agreement for the rental
of this machine that the Town will save money in the long run, even
though .it i:s costing ,us a slight bit more a; month than, what we are
paying now. It ;automatically duplexes and we feel that .most . of the
employees don' t take advantage of the use of the Xerox :duplexing
feature becuase you have .to take the paper. out . of the tray, adjust
the tray, in order to make one or two copies and this will .do it
automatically. That ' s one of the features. It also copies 100
copies per minute which is almost twice ,.-as fast as the Xerox machine,
MAY 6 , 1980 105..
21. On motion of Councilman Murdock, seconded by Councilman Drum, it was
RESOLVED that Supervisor William: R. Pell . III be and he hereby is
authorized And directed to sign a. rental agreement with IBM for an
IBM Series III , Model 10, 20 Bin Collator copy machine; subject to
the approval of Town Attorney .Tasker.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes.: Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles , Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
22. On motion of Councilman Nickles, seconded- byc'Councilman Drum, it was
RESOLVED that seasonal Beach Attendants be hired by the Town of
Southold at a salary of $.3. 75 per hour, and their duties be specified
by the Supervisor.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
3i4urdock, . Councilman Nickles , Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
23. On motion of Councilman Drum, seconded by. Councilman Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that the following seasonal Police Officers be hired by the
Town Board of the Town of Southold at a salary of $5. 00 per hour,
from May 24, 19-80 through September 1, 1980, including Labor Day
weekend: Michael Finnican, Martin Flatley, Patrick Sinclair, Theodore
Beebe, Jr. , Carlisle Cochran, Jr. , and Michael Fingerle.
Vote of- the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles , 'Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell.
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
COUNCILMAN MURDOCK: - All of these men, plus three others , who
have since- decide'd not to go through with this have been. attending,
this winter, • at their own'. expense and their own transportation, a
school run by 'the Suffolk County Police iDepartment for, a certification
program for part time police officers . The school -consists of exactly
half the hours and total requirement to- be a• full licensed Suffolk
County patrolman and I think their desire should be: made known to
the public and if you do happen to\ know :any of these gentlemen, I
think they wb.uld appreciate your saying thank you, becuase everybody
else in their class was paid, by the respective towns. that they
represented.
SUPERVISOR PELL: Some of these will be full time and some will
be part time. ' 'They work .weekends , 'nights, etc. among other jobs.
Item No. 24. Claude Kumjian,-. a radio 'operator .who has been
with the town for � four or five years at least, every summer in the
past he takes a leave-of-absence from his radio operator, to get
out of the: room, I guess, and go on' as a special- policeman in the
summertime. Right now we need to grant a leave-of-absence during
this period of.� •time. from May 24th to September. 15th..
24. On motion of Councilman Drum, seconded by Councilman Sullivan, it was
RESOLVED that Claude Kumjian, Radio Operator for the Southold Town
Police- Department - be and 'he h-ereby is granted a leave-of-absence from
his duties from May 24, 1980 through September 15, 1980.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution. was declared- :duly, adopted.;
SUP.ERVISOR� PELL: No.. 25., a resolution to hire :the same gentlemen
as a seasonal. `poli-ce- officer at -a salary :of $6. 23 per -hour. This is
what he makes as a radio operator and he has been doing this for five
or six years,- that is why there is A -difference in pay.
1,'25 . On motion of Councilman Murdock, seconded by Councilman .Drum, it was
RESOLVED that the Town Board :of the Town of Southold hire Claude
Kumjian as ..a Seasonal Police Officer -at a salary of $6. 23 per hour,,
from 'Alay 24, 1980 through September 15, 1980.
Vote of the Town Board: . Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
26. On motion` of-. Councilman. Drum, seconded by- Councilman Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that Councilman- George R. Sullivan be and he hereby is
authorized to attend the Grantsmanship Program at Riverhead, New York
on May 23, 1980; necessary expenses for registration, lunch and
travel to be , a legal Town charge .
Vote of the TownBoard: Ayes-: Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Dell .
mt,; v -rQriniiti nn was declared dulv adopted.
10 MAY 6 , 1980
SUPERVISOR PELL: No. 27 is something 'nobody on this. Board likes
to do but we have -an emergency. situation at Mattituck between the
Anchor Inn and the Old Mill Inn. The Town has approximately 75 foet
of bulkhead there that we own. The bulkhead is undermined and behind
I can stand down, I 'm six feet tall, stand down in the pit and can' t
see over the top of the bulkhead looking to the east. Mr. Dean has
it roped off now. . We,are ready to go out for bid for it but. we must
have money to pay for the repair. I personally do not think the
repair will be this high but we must have the money available for
this . We are setting a figure at $20, 000 to issue a bond in the
amount of $20, 000 to pay for the emergency repair: If any of you
have taken a ride up there you can see. what I say is emergency . It
is something that has to be done right away.
27. Moved by Supervisor Pell, seconded by Councilman Murdock,. .
BOND RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD, NEW YORK,
ADOPTED MAY 6, 1980, AUTHORIZING THE RECONSTRUCTION
OF BULKHEADS. AT THE END OF MILL. ROAD, - MATTITUCK, - IN
SAID TOWN, STATING THE ESTIMATED MAXIMUM COST THEREOF, ,
IS $20,000, APPROPRIATING SAID AMOUNT THEREFOR AND
AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF $20,000 SERIAL BONDS
OF SAID TOWN TO FINANCE SAID APPROPRIATION
THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD, IN--THE COUNTY OF
SUFFOLK, NEW YORK, HEREBY RESOLVES (by the favorable vote of- not-
less than two-thrids of all the members of said Board) AS FOLLOWS :
Section 1. The Town of Southold (herein called "Town" ) ,
in the County of Suffolk, New York, is hereby authorized to re-
construct `bulkheads .at the end of Mill Road, being approximately
75 feet , in Mattituck, in the Town. The estimated maximum cost
of said specific object or purpose, including preliminary costs
and costs incidental thereto and the financing thereof, is
$20', 000 , and �said amount is hereby appropriated therefor. The
plan of financing includes the 'issuance of $20, 000 serial bonds
to. finance said appropriation, and the levy of a tax upon all
the taxable real property within the Town to pay the principal
of said bonds and the interest thereon" as the same shall become
due and payable.
Section 2. Serial bonds of the Town in the principal
amount of $20, 000 are hereby authorized to be issued pursuant to
the provisions of the Local finance Law, constituting Chapter 33-a
of the Consolidated Laws of the State of New York (herein called
"Law_" ) , to finance said appropriation.
Section 3: The following additional- matters are hereby
determined and stated:
( a) The period of probable usefulness of said specific
object or purpose hereinabove described, for which said $20, 000
serial bonds herein authorized are to be issued, within the
limitations of Section 11.00 a. 22 (b) , is twenty ( 20) years , but
the maturity of the bonds shall not exceed five (5) years
(b) Current funds are not required to be provided prior to
the issuance of the serial bonds authorized pursuant to this
resolution or any bond anticipation notes issued in anticipation of
the sale of said bonds pursuant to ,the provisions of Section
107. 00 d.-• 4 , of the Law.
Section 4. Each of the bonds authorized pursuant to, this
resolution and any bond anticipation notes issued in anticipation
of said bonds, -shall contain the recital of validity prescribed
by §52.-00 of the Law and said bonds and 'any notes issued. in
anticipation of said bonds , shall be general obligations of 'the
Town, payable as to both principal and interest by a general tax
upon all the taxable real property within the Town without
limitation of rate or amount . The faith.;'and credit of the Town
are hereby irrevocably pledged to the -punctual payment of the
principal and interest on said bonds arid provision shall be '
made annually in the budget of the Town by appropriation for
( a) the amortization and redemption of the bonds to mature in each
year and (b) the payment of interest to be due and payable in
each year.
Section 5. Subject to the provisions of this resolution
and of the Law, pursuant to the provisions of H30 . 00 relative to the
authorization of the issuance of bond anticipation notes, or, the
renewals of said Notes . and of §50.00 and 0056. 00 to 60 . 00 of .the Law
the powers and duties of the Town Board relative to authorizing
bond anticipation notes and prescribing the terms, form and contents
and as to the sale and issuance of the bonds herein authorized and
MAY 6, 1980
of any bond anticipation notes issued, in anticipation of said bonds ,
and the renewals of said notes, are hereby delegated to the Supervisor,
the chief fiscal officer of the Town.
Section 6-. The validity of the bonds authorized by this
resolution and of any bond anticipation notes issued in anticipation
of said bonds, may be contested only if:
( a) such obligations are authorized for an object
or purpose for which the Town is not authorized
to expend money, or
(b) the provisions of law which should be complied
with at the date of the publication of such
resolution, are not substantially complied
with,
and an action, suit or proceeding contesting such validity is
commenced within twenty days after the date of such publication,
or
( c) such obligations are authorized in violation
of the provisions of the constitution.
Section 7 . This resolution shall take effect immediately.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
28 . On motion of Councilman Murdock, seconded by Councilman Nickles , it was
RESOLVED by the Town Board of the Town of Southold, in the County of
Suffolk, . New York, as follows :
Section l.. The Town Clerk is hereby authorized and: di.rected to
publish,,., in full, the foregoing bond. resolution„in "The Long Is,land
Traveler-Watchman., Inc. , ". a newspaper. published::h Southold, New York,
having a general circulation therein, and hereby designated as- the
official- newspaper of said Town, and in "The Suffolk Times" , a news-
paper published in Greenport, New York, together with a notice attached
in substantially the, form as prescribed by §81. 00 of the Local Finance
Law of the State of New York.
Section 2 . This resolution shall take effect immediately.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, C.ouncilmanI Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: That concludes the agenda that we have
prepared, does any Board member have anything that he wishes to
bring up? (no response) . Anybody wish to address the 'Board?
MRS,. RONNIE WACKER-, Cutchogue: When we were. here two weeks. .ago
when there was the long discussion on Robins, Island a couple of the
councilmen indicated that they felt that the majority of the people
in town were in favor of. development. Now, .a group of us who have
circulated petitions in favor of preservation of the island, - petitions
signed e by some 2400. pople, feel that the majority of the people are
in favor of preservation. - I Have heard reports in the last two weeks
from people that we' ve talked to in .town who have said that the Town
Board does not represent them.. . I would like to suggest a way for you
gentlemen to improve. ,your image as representatives of the people in
-town and that is to vote. for .a referendum s.o that ,people might indicate
whether they are in favor or opposed, to development . - Now, I under-
stand that this is a problem, . a legal problem, but Riverhead did it ,
Riverhead Town Board went ' ahead without any 'say so of anybody and
voted in favor .of nuclear power plants. and then some two years later
there. was .a referendum which was contained in a legal device. There
was, something aboutI a .beach eonneIcted with it... But .this was simply
a device to' ge.t. the 'people' s, opinion on what the town board had done.
S'o I would like to, suggest that our. counsel, could certainly find a
way through ail the legalistic jargon and If we entrust it to him
h.e would be .able to ,come up with a device that would give us a
referendum and then we would all feel better about it. If it comes
up that we are full of soup, well, okay. But on the other hand we
feel that you gentlemen are not going the way the majority of the
people would have you vote.
SUPERVISOR PELL: Thank you. Any other comments from the floor
or any -Board member wish to .address that back?
COUNCILMAN .MURDOCK:. We already addressed ,Mrs . Wacker this
.morni.ng in the work .session.
COUNCILMAN DRUM: I spoke at 'the time and said that 'from -the
people and the organizations that I have personally spoken to and
MAY 6 , 1980
spoken to 'me since' this meeting in here, that' the majority of the
people have spoken,, not- the majority of the ' people, -the people
who called me up and said, and I 'm still firmly convinced that
the. majority of the people in Southold Town, I admit there are
many of them that are the working types, I Have had 'more farmers
and more people working who said they can' t. come to 'the meeting,
and this is two weeks ago.,`' a'nd��they since have talked tome, and
I am still -convinced the majority 'of the people are in-' favor of
the owners, the limited number of homes in 'Sout.hol'd Town having
the development rights to' the interior, keeping, it in 'a watershed
and keeping each end--of the island preserved and this is their
feeling. There are many many organizations. I also said, and
I think Mr. Tasker mentioned as far as the referendum, he did not
say you could not have a''referendum. I will leave that up to Tor.
Tasker, but he said that very' loud' and clear.
MRS . WACKER': , How does the number of people 'that you 'spoke to
stack up against 2400 signatures out' of 10, 000 'voters?
COUNCILMAN DRUM: I' can say this, of your' 2400' signatures ,
many, over :50' people have -'said to me, I ' took petitions' around, I
didn' t know what I was doing, ' I did' nt' agree with it-, and now that
I know what it' s. about I don' t ,agree with it . Now these are just
50. people to me. I ,don' t know 'how. many others there are.
MRS. WACKER: It seems to me there is such a disparity. Now,
even in� this Plum Island petition here you' re cog.nizant` of' 1500
signatures opposed and this indicates a sizable proportion 'of the
people in town who .are opposed. to Plum Island going to contract.
COUNCILMAN DRUPE,: That is, an entirely different matter.. .
MRS . SHIRLEY 'CROCKER, Southold: I am just wondering how
many people in the Town of Southold?'
SUPERVISOR PELL:, How many ,all . told, residents? Approximately
20, 000. That ' s everything, youth and all . We. have 10,,000 reg-
istered voters.
PIR,S- MARTHA J. PAUL, Cut.chogue: I would like .to address .this
problem we seem, to. be having with-- The people I_' ve been speaking
to, the people that have come forward; we have many --experts come
forward, we .have editorials, we have people from California who have
called.saying that they would speak about what is happening. in
California and I believe you gentlemen when you say-, you hear people
who want development, but we hear people that want it preserved and
the only fair thing is for referendum. . I am going to suggest ,. as
you know, or ,probably know, there is going to be a meeting at my
home and we .are going .to explore .the possibility ,of referendum and
I would suggest that in two:aweeks when we have. another. Town Board
meeting we, would, come back with a report on a .referendum and then
at the working board session. we will present it to you people and
we can again look at it and,..we can discuss."it again and go along
on that . , I think. it is the only fair. thing to do. You cannot dismiss
us by. ,saying the farmers want development it just ,won' t. work. We ' re
not going to go away. We' re here and our, vote counts just as much.
As far as the 2400 .signatures , . l ' ve heard that over and over again.
This was not a legal :petition.., It was just a ,petition that we
handed. around and asked people how they felt about Robins. Island
and we' re still getting signatures coming in. But the only fair
way I can see would be , for. a referendum . and probably ,in -November
so it won't cost the taxpayers anything.. I can' t see any objection
to it, frankly. If we do. -all the legal work and present it to you,
then the answer is either, yes ,or no,. So that is what we will do in
two weeks
MR. FRANK BEAR, Southold: At the meeting two., weeks ago, I
think Councilman Sullivan and Councilman -Drum announced their vote
against the resolution for the acquisition of, Robins Island. by the
county. They both mentioned that they couldn' t accept the resolution
in its present form. What I would like to know is what kind of form
they would accept . . Do they mean if there is some kind of amendment
to it they would be willing to go for it? We need some guidance on
what they' re thinking is, because we 'are trying to provide you with
a referendum or ,.p.etition -we would like to have something that we
feel has some general support . . Vlhat did ,you mean, in its present
form, Councilman Drum?
MAY 6, 1980
COUNCILMAN. DRUM: I believe I ' ve� mentio.ned the limited. acquisition
of the. development rights in Southold .Town of Robins Island. Accepting.
MR. BEAR: If it .is revised, would it be acceptable to you? is
that the only objection. you. had to it?
COUNCILMAN DRUM: Whereby a portion of Robins Island is the---
the owner has offered and that the. Southold Town accept, should the
Planning Board, when they get 'to that stage, I feel, that :then this
Board should accept the development rights to that portion of Robins
Island.
MR. BEAR: That has no relationship to the resolution--
COUNCILMAN DRUM: It is in a different form entirely.
MR. BEAR: It is a different resolution. For acquisition by
the County and you are talking�;,:about : acquisition of some of the
development rights, two different things. Well, what did you mean,
Mr. Sullivan, when you said it?
COUNCILMAN SULLIVAN: Well,' as you recall, I questioned .the
ability for the detail. of the county reimbursing the New Suffolk
School District for the taxes. I would like to see some more
firm on that, whether it can be done. And number two, on the ranger
patrol, I want to see the cost , what. detail, what do you expect it
to cost the people of the Town of Southold or the peopla of Suffolk
County.
MR. BEAR: If those questions are answered, would y.ou be in
favor of the resolution?
COUNCILMAN SULLIVAN: I ' d have to see what the numbers are,
whether the reimbursement of - the school district co.uld. be done. .
MR. BEAR: Then, if we can find the answers. to tha_t.,, you .would
be willing to go with the acquisition by the county?
COUNCILMAN SULLIVAN: I ' d have to see what the results would be.
MR. BEAR: You mean, if you ate satisfied with those figures?
COUNCILMAN . SULLIVAN: Perhaps; yes'.
MR. BEAR: As far as the rest of it, you. would be willing to
go with the acquisition by, the county, right?
COUNCILMAN SULLIVAN: I would like to see the whole proposal
amended to .conform with what I just said.
MR. BEAR: But you wouldn' t object to. acquisition by the county?
COUNCILMAN SULLIVAN: I said, I ' d .like to see the whole proposal .
I 'm answering your question the best I can, .okay?
MR. BEAR: That ' s one of the things that ' s bothering me, just
what you were up against and what you was. for and the only thing I
could get was the impression was that you .was just against . One thing
that was just said here a moment ago about this 1500 signatures on
this Plum Island thing. . We have almost 2500 signatures. As I said
before, this . is no secret at all , several , quite a, number of those
are not residents of the town. I think that Per. Nickles has counted
them and he. told me he came up with something like 498, .or something
like that that are not residents of the town. That -.still leaves
almost 2000. I also said in the past and this ought to be on tape,
the record is here somewhere, that some of these signatures were
students. Some of them are, we had some students here that were
talking. There is no secret about that . So let ' s. assume there -are
100 of those, there still would be somewhere between 1800-1900.. That ' s
still at least 300 more than the petitions on Plum Island so it would
seem to me that if you think that' s important for Plum Island it
also should be important also for Robins Island. We don' t get
1000% -of people signing any petition for or against anything. The
last town election something like 6400 and some people voted. Out
of the total number of 10, 000 plus that could have. Let ' s take
the 1800 signatures , that' s still a more than half of the figure
e ' U - MAY 6 , 1980
that it took to elect any of, the councilmen who were up .for election
this last election. That ' s a lot of people who 'have expressed an
opinion.. I know that Mr.. Drum is smiling here like he, has-.got the
answer better than anybody else has. The fact of the matter is,
though, Mr. Drum, that some 1800 people signed a petition which they
read; sure somebody may have phoned you, that we know. for one thing
that there were not 50 people all together circulating these.-petitions .
So 50 ' people could not have said they were 'circulating the petitions
and ,didn' t know what they were doing..
COUNCILMAN DRUM: Mr. Bear, I did not say 50 people were
circulating if I . did. I said that some of the people -had signed
the petitions and some of those had circulated the petitions.
MR'. BEAR:* ' I 'm glad you got that clear.
COUNCILMAN DRUM.: I had it entirely clear.
MR. HENRY LYTLE, Peconic: IJ.d .like' to address . a question to
Mrs . Paul . Mrs. Paul, I have a lot of -sympathy to your committee' s
desire to preserve Robins Island. But has .anyone .gone. into the
dollars and cents angle of it?. I mean, have. you started a fund over
here to try to .get three or five. million dollars together to buy
the island? .
MRS . PAUL: Well, that .is, step three or four or five. The
first thing we have to decide from the people of Southold Town,
it seems to me, whether we want to preserve the island in its
natural state. because _it is such a unique place., Or doe we want to
develop it . We have had expert testimony saying, and I think any
of us that have been building, know that there is no such thing as
limited development . . We can' t keep it contained. Once you open
Pandora' s Box there it is. Development or preservation. This is
what I am hoping to be an honest referendum, so that each person
with knowledge-- we would in -the mean time. perhaps work on an
information sheet . We have had offers to help. .us on that -because
people know what they are voting for, they just won' t take a
petition around .and_ not know what they are doing and then the
next step us funding. As we've been told over and over again by
our County Legislator .Greg Blass who has come out in favor of
preservation, there is federal money. S'o the first step ,is for us
to find out what we want t,o do with this beautiful island, do we
want to go with development which means forever developed, or do
we want- to preserve it? Does that answer your question?
MR. LYTLE: It answers the question as far as preservation
of the isl;and._, everybody wants to preserve .the island. I think
if it went to referendum right now .you, could get 75% of ,the people
to say sure, if it doesn' t cost me anything-- but if it means
adding $500 a year on to your tax ,bill or $200 a year on to your
tax bill---
(Conversation ,between Mrs . .Paul & Mr. Lytl.e. )
SUPERVISOR PELL: Councilman Nickles, would like to have a
few words .
COUNCILMAN NICKLES : . .I don ' t really know .whexe to start -_ from
listening .to :the people tonight and the comments at thw work session
and. so on. I think what we have 'to understand is we are all in favor
of preservation. I think the Town. Bbard, in voting against Bill ' s
resolution,, at least .I will .speak for. myself , I think we are. looking
at two options of preservation.. . One which would be,. as M.J. says,
total preservation and o'ne `which is' partial preservation with l.imited
development . When we were talking about ,. not to reiterate,. from two
weeks ago, the basis of one home for every fifteen acres, 28. lots,
202- acres. that would be open space, covenanted to the town, so on and
so forth. Now, I know people are saying that 'there 's some unknown
compelling reason that certain members,,.of .the Town Board. voted against
it ,, they just can ' t seem to .accept the fact that the decision d s made
on merit , I read a letter- from' Mr. Taormina at .the last Town Board
meeting .and Thursday after .this Robins Island meeting,. if you want to
call it., T got in my box a letter from Robert Flack , Commissioner of
the D.E.C. This is' a letter that was sent evidentially to the Town
Board or. Supervisor, 'but anyway it ' s to Mrs. Salzman of Mid-Atlantic
Representative of Friends of the Earth.. . He ' s responding to her letter
MAY 6, 1980 11�,
of March 3rd. I 'm not going to read the who.le "letter to you because
part of .it does deal with the estuarine snactuary which is another
matter . Down at the 'botton it says, "It was disclosed at the public
hearing that the Town of Southold is reluctant to have Robins Island
purchased by a public agency and removed fromi.the tax base . Furthermore,
the owners of Robins Island do not wish to sell their property. However,
they agreed to develop their property in a manner that would protect
water wuality, thereby precluding the need for public acquisition. The
owners, as represented by Mr. William Esseks," prepared a development
plan for the island and contacted Mr . Taormina for his reaction . Mr .
Taormina believes that the plan is an excellent one designed to protect
water quality, open space, and fish and wildlife values. The plan
subdivides 444 acres into 28 lots . The interior of the island is
desginated to remain an undeveloped watershed. Also, the north end
wetlands---" I think you are all familiar with that . One .the second
page of his letter he states in here, "I believe that considering the--
serious fiscal restraints Government has to face today, a proposal such
as this one which appears capable of preserving. the .public ' s overriding
interest of protecting both the resource and community tax base without
the expenditure of public funds is commendable and should be explored. =--"
And he goes on and concludes his letter . I think that basically this
is what I and the Town Board is looking at . How can we preserve out
resource, as he states here, and our tax base. Certainly, when we
have a country today which is ,i.almost on the brink of economic
disaster, I don 't know who all you are talking to but the people I
talk to, T talk to housewives, I talk to working people, when they
say to me, "John, we 're living hand to mouth. Another buck by taxes
go up and we 're not going to be swimming anymore we 're going to be sinking .
These are the people that I hear. They 're concerned about their
taxes, they are concerned about their loss of the tax base. Now, I
heard it said that these covenants are not permanent , that 's a matter
of legal opinion, but the people I 've been talking to feel it is and
I went into it enough to find out there is a place in East Hampton
that is a luxury home area, Georgica Pond, and this is convenanted in
the same fashion as what is proposed on Robins Island. This area has
large lots and they haven ' t had any problems maintaining the integrity
of that covenant zoning which is in excess of the Town of East Hampton ' s
Allowable zoning. In other words, in excess - of their two acres or
three acres whatever it is it, is bigger . The same as it is here in
Southold which is- one acre, we are talking about six and a half acres.
on Robins Island. I had not played the numbers game all through the
period leading up to the vote last -- two weeks ago . I never looked at
the petitions, I never intended to look at the petitions, but one of
our taxpayers looked at the petitions and he brought it to my attention
that 490 people out of the 2434 submitted were out of the town, 70
Of those 490 were from out, of the county, indeed, 84 people herei_in
Southold from the age of six years up were children and they haven ' t
proceeded any further beyond that , indeeed 15 people signed it two to
three times, indeed Mr . Pell ' s father signed it twice. What I 'm saying
is, that for three or four weeks in the press I 've been reading the
majority of the people want the acquisition of Robins Island. All I
see if 2400 names, 2500 names and they ' re saying 2500 names represent
the majority of the people and what the hell ' s the matter with the
Town Board can 't they represlent . :t,, I: reaTze,' as,- Henry Drum has-,
talked to people on. that lig�t,. pe.op.16. called me up, they put..an ad:_ in
the paper,, '"'Call your Counci"lman'', I, got ten calls., from Thursday until
8 ; 30 when the town board began meeting .this• morning.. . Two. of.'the: people
d. dn ''t even know, why they called me. 'up They called me up because
someone. told them .to call me up. Eight .o.t.h.er people, they called up,
they knew what they called up for, they made 'it very clear, ' vote this
way or we aren't going to vote for you. I feel, certainly that 's their
prerogative. "What T'm staying" i.s, that we had an editor and we have a
newspaper .Putting forth. th.at 2500 people represent the majority of the
people in .ths- town. I don 't know if .that i.s: so or not . All I know
is that the people I: talk to, I talked to people who signed that list
and I talked to people I. went to school with., worked with, that I see
every day, I: see at all kinds of functions _T go to, and they 're generally
in agreement w .th,_th.e position that I' took, which I talked to people
before I took. th.e positi.onl That ' s the botton line -- is how I perceive
how the majority of the people feel, is that they 're for limited
acquisition. They wouldn ' t be in favor of development of three or
four hundred homes- there which- would destroy the integrity of Robins
Island and then secondly, I think when Commissioner Flacke, who can
certainly say- he. has: no vested interest in this, that this plan if
commendable and should be explored further. We. can look at our -
preserve our tax base and our resources simultaneously, I don ' t see
112 MAY 6, 1980
how you can criticize the Town Board for trying to preserve the two
things which are damn important . Our tax base and our resource. If
it turns out somewhere down the line that it is going to become evident
that we can' t preserve that resource, then we ' ll have to reevaluate our
situation. We are looking at a list where 25% of the names on there
are not valid, of course, it ' s not a legal petition and Frank, as he
said, and M.J. , there might be a few out of town names on the list
but it certainly would seem a lot more substantial thatn I had surmised
by listening to what I was told.
SYLVIA PAVNICK, Mattituck: I have two things to say. One,
pertaining to Councilman Nickles talking about sinking or swimming,
I think at the meeting it was very clearly brought out that development
would cost the taxpayers more money rather than the conservation.
Second, I think that no matter what you are trying to do to justify
your position you've all lost credibility to the people of this
community and a referendum is the only solution to restore some faith
in local government . And regarding the children of six years and up
that signed that petition, I think they 're future ovters here too and
I know some of the teenagers who were here that day and they walked
out here shaking their heads unable to believe that in spite of
such an overwhelming support for an issue the elected officials of
this town seemed to ignore the will of the people and I think that
you 're obligated now to voters and non-voters alike to have a
referendum.
DOUG SHAW, Mattituck: We seem to be adamently opposed in our
opinion about who ' s in the majority in Southold Town. There is only
one way to settle that and I don ' t believe that any of you can
advance an argument against a referendum. That is a separate issue
in the question of the preservation of Robins Island and it should
be kept separate. When we discussed this issue, Mr . Drum, you came
back with your position about preservation. that is not the issue .
The issue is a referendum. I think it ' s fair, I think it ' s just and
I honestly don 't believe there is any excuse for any of you to fail
us again.
MICHAEL REESE: I would just like to say with respect .to this
referendum motion, I don 't think you are ever going to have another,
board meeting without this coming up and I think the only way you
fellows can get off the spot is to say okay, referendum. That will
give you time to marshall your arguments and give us time to marshall
ours so we don ' t have to worry about any 2000 people or babes in arms
signing petitions .
COUNCILMAN MURDOCK: I have two comments. Number one, for the
lady in the back, it was not established with fact about how much
it was going to cost the Town of Southold vis a vie this development .
It was said that in the past many other developments lead to more
expenses. And I don ' t think it ' s fair to say that because many did
that everyone will . Nobody, and believe it or not , when all of this
discussion, I don 't understand if all of you understand, there isn 't
a member of theis Town Board that has a vote on the development plan
proposed to the Town Planning Board. We do not vote on that development '
plan. So for you people to sit here and constantly say that we are
voting for development is wrong, because we have no vote for the
development . That is not a. Town Board function. We have to try very
hard to gather information and we. have t.o rely in this particular
instance on our Planning Board, the Planning Board is the one who
negotiates with the developer in terms of what is proposed and what
will be allowed- on that island. The zoning laws are in place. The
Planning Board administers the zoning laws . The Town Board adopted
teh zoning laws and that is the limit of our power . We can change
zoning laws. The second thing, for this gentlemen here, ---
MRS . PAVNICK: You are opposed to the preservation of Robins
Island.
COUNCILMAN MURDOCK: We didn ' t oppose the preservation of
Robins Island, we opposed the resolution as ..it was prepared. We
also oppose, I ' ll speak for myself as an individual, I oppose the
fact that there are no dollars and cents figures, there are no
realistic proposals. Many people come forth, and many of them are
public officials, and they espouse their personal opinion, and if
they would say it is their personal opinion and only represent that
MAY 6, 1980 1 �T
I would take no exception to it , but people come forth. to espouse
their opinion and say that the legislative body or the governmental
body that they represent feels the same way and that has never been
a fact . I have never had a fact from the legislators, I just read
a letter earlier from our legislators, that they were never in favor
of this and yet the people are out here repres:enting i:t . This is a
very difficult situation to put an elected official in. How, in all
conscience, can you say to me, at one time I should vote for a
resolution or a proposal that is not based onfact, that if anything
has an unsubstantiated claims and that because you are--,in favor of
it , and the next time I do the same thing with something you may be
opposed to, I would then be crucified because I didn 't investigate
further or I took an unsubstantiated claims.. The proposition for a
referendum, somebody just said, why don 't you have a referendum. By
law, we are elected to legislate by decision we are not allowed to
suggest a referendum, that is now a town councilman 's prerogative.
We cannot do it . We are elected to legislate.. We are not elected
that every time an issue comes. up to put it out to a referendum. That
,is our job., that is what we were elected to do, whether we do it wrong
or whether we do it not to everybody ' s best interest is a problem but
we cannot at this level initiate a referendum. We can acquiesce to
a referendum, but we cannot initiate it . Again, as we said this
morning to Mrs. Wacker, it is not proper for us to do this .
MR. REESE: I: only- wan.t to take a moment . We are- h.ere on
behalf, I. and my neighbors, of .tem o.ne under eommuni.cat ons . Since
it ' s getting late, if you would be kind enough. to postpone this 'unti.l '
Your next meeting we would be in agreement with. th.at .
SUPERVISOR, PELL: We are not going -- I did tonight -- we had
the ordinances coming in form the other towns, received them yesterday
and today, Riverhead and Southampton and one other town. T referred
this tonight to our Beach Committee which is, made :up of Chairman
Councilman Nickles, to review them along with his, committee and have
our chief of police and town attorney make recommendations back to the
Board at the next Board meeting.
MR. REESE : Mr. Nickles, i.f you need any more information on
this, just call us: and we 'll be glad to give i.t to you.
COUNCILMAN NI'CKLES : I ' ll see you after the meeting and you
can give me your number .
SUPERVLSOR PELL: Anybody else want to speak before we adjourn?
(.no response. )
On motion of Councilman Drum, seconded by Councilman Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that there being no further business to come before this
Town Board meeting adjournment be called at 11 :'00 P.M..
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
Aud&�&
th. T. Terry
Town Clerk