HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-08/20/1980-FI SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD
FISHERS ISLAND
August 20, 1980
WORK SESSION
The Town Board and Town Attorney Tasker met at 11 :45 A.M. with Mr.
A. John Gada to discuss Mr. Gada' s letter of August 9, 1980 relative
to alleged violations of the airport lease agreement by Richard Grebe .
The Board then made a visual inspection of the Fishers Island Airport .
A regular meeting of the Southold Town Board was held at 1 : 00 P .M. ,
Wednesday, August 20, 1980 at the Fishers Island School , Fishers
Island, New York. Supervisor Pell opened the meeting with the Pledge
of Allegiance to the Flag.
Present :
Supervisor William R. Pell III
Councilman Henry W. 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: What I would like to do , and I should have done it
before, we have agendas made up. I would like, perhaps, to pass these
out . It will take a minute to do this, and maybe--just pass them back.
They say how we are going to conduct the meeting today and what is on
the schedule for it . The first ;.item will be to inform you that the
next Town Board meeting will be August 26th at 3 : 00 P.M. in the Town
Hall . The next item I would like to do is introduce the guests we
have with the Town Board today and I will ask each person I introduce
to stand up and tell you, in ten words or less, their responsibilities
If it is Consumer Affairs Commissioner.,: he can tell you a little bit
what his responsibilities to the Island folks as well as the mainland
folks are and later on you can ask them anything you want . They all
have name tags on . '.You can see who they are or who they represent .
I hope I don; t leave anybody out.
JOAN RINDE, Suffolk County Offuce for the Aging: I 'm director of the
Nutrition Programs in Suffolk County for the elderly. We serve 1500
hot meals a day. We have-._17 nutirition sites . The last one we opened
was in Shinnecock Reservation. I am here today renewing some acquaintances
I have with senior citizens that I met in Greenport Nutrition site early
this spring. I would like to look at several facilities on Fishers
Island in the hopes that we can start a small nutrition program for
the residents of Fishers island. Thank you.
TERRY TRIFARI , Governor Carey' s Office: I work with Judith Hope who
is the governor 's special assistant for Long Island. Unfortunately
Judith couldn; t be here today . We function primarily as a liaison
with Suffolk County and the governor ' s office and interstate agencies.
I will be glad to discuss any problems .
SUPERVISOR PELL: She.',s the one who 1 will assure, before the day is
up, to talk to Dr . Haase about your Landmark School so the governor will
. AUGUST 20, 1980
have direct input on this Landmark School you are trying to get here.
JOHN GUILDI , Suffolk county Department of Public Works, Division of
Waterways : (Mr. Guildi was making an inspection of an inlet to
determine whether it should be dredged. )
GEORGE MEYER, Personnel Officer, Suffolk County Department of Civil
Service : We are responsible for the employment procedures of all
jurisdictions in the County of Suffolk.. All towns, village, and
school districts .
EDWARD R. HINES, Chief Deputy, Suffolk County Clerk 's Office : The
Suffolk County Clerk' s Office is responsible for keeping all the
records pertaining to real property, deeds, leases, etc. Also clerk ,
to the courts, County Supreme Court, and all the records. We have
jurisdiction over the naturalization and passport offices as well
as the administrative end of the Motor Vehicle Department .
EVERET MCNAB, Commissioner, Suffolk county Board of Elections: I'm
one of the commissions in the Board of Elections. Should you have
any questions pertaining to election matters I will be glad to ass-st
you after the meeting. Thank you.
SHERMAN GLASS, New York State Department of Transportation:. I 'm here
to represent our Regional Director Mr . Austin Emery. I handle aviation
in the Region 10 of the district which is. Nassau and Suffolk County.
That ' s my primary duties . I came over here the first time in April
1975, met with the Corp of Engineer men. That was to get the harbor
work done here and lay the new dolphins . That finally went under
contract and construction started, as you know, on July 5th we had
our preconstruction and the contractor moved in in 1977 and the last
of that work was finished up in May of 1978 . We are trying to do
something about the airport and it will be .in the Executive Budget
for this coming year . It will not be done within this construction
season .
SCOTT HARRIS, Aide to Legislator Gregory Blass : I 'm here representing
Greg Blass, as Bill said. Unfortunately he couldn' t be. here today
because he ' s on his honeymoon. He just got married on Saturday. Our
office represents the first Legislative Di.s,tri.ct out of 18 in Suffolk.
Basically helps introduce legislation for everyone in the five eastern
towns, including Fishers Island. If there is anything we can do to
help, please don 't hesitate to call our office. Thank you.
OLIVER SCHEPER, Suffolk County Department of Health. Services: Our
department offers a variety of services . I think the ones that
probably touches most of the people are inspection services for
restaurants and lodging facilities; the inspections of sewage, what
have you. Pat Baker, one of our employees- is- here today and handles
a whole belt of services, public health Pat , would you
stand please so everyone knows you, you are one of our important
people here . Also with us today is from our department is Joe
Sanzone operating the Bureau of Vector. Control which deals with.
mosquitoes and we 've -'already talked to you about that problem.
I also had somebody talk to me about putting in a septic tank today.
Any of those kind of problems see me after the meeting. Our department.
also, by the way, offers services in mental health and drug abuse
service and a variety of personal health care services . So anything
touching on health in any way can talk to me after the meeting.
SUPERVISOR PELL: Right next to him I had a fellow from Vector
Control, Joe Sanzone. And now, Joe, I have been asked several times-
about your outfit over here every time I come here and somebody
over here last time said they have some way to take care of the
mosquitoes; they hope to get it developed eventually. I hope that
person will contact you today. Joe, stand up and say a few words,
please
JOSEPH SANZONE,S.uperintendent, Suffolk County Bureau of Vector Control :
As you 've heard we are in the process now of reestablishing--and we have
offered the project to the Town of Southold.
RON SEGERTY, Assistant Commissioner, representing Commissioner Melton,
Department of Motor Vehicles, State of New York: The Department , of
course, is in charge of licensing motor vehicles for the State of New
AUGUST 20, 1980 323
York. Motor boats and licensing the drivers .
SUPERVISOR PELL: Ron, one thing I was asked about your outfit when
I was here last time to the Civic Association, was when New York
State goes into this pollution control on automobiles and you have
to have it tested by a garage, the garage has to have $12 , 000 worth
of equipment , or something, how are the folks on Fishers Island, if
nobody wants to invest that money, going to get to the mainland to
have it done . Something I hope somebody will contact you later on
and go in depth because I 've been drilled on it .
MR. SEGARTY: I 've heard the question several times .
SUPERVISOR PELL: I hope you have the answer when they talk to you.
KENNETH A. ROSENBLUM; Commissioner, .[Depa.rtment of Consumer Affairs
Suffolk County: Supervisor Pell, members of the Town Board, I 'd like
to thank you for having me down here this lovely day and I 'm sure I
speak for the rest of the boat load from the Town of Southold. It was
a lovely trip and thank you very much for having us out . I am the
Commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Consumer Affairs
and I am also an attorney and I don ' t think I 've said anything in
ten words before . The Suffolk County Department of Consumers Affairs
handles, of course, the claims about deceptive practices, false
advertising and any area of consumer dissatisfaction. But two important
areas that we also cover, as far as Fishers Island is concerned, is
we include the Department of Weights and Measures which is responsible
for checking all the gas pumps, the oil truck meters and scales any'
where in Suffolk County. We also have a licensing division, which
so far as Fishers Island is concerned, is responsible for making sure
anyone who does electric work, plumbing work, home appliance repair
work or buying or selling precious metals has a Suffolk County license .
Any complaints about those trades should also be directed to the
Department of Consumer Affairs. Thank you.
THOMAS J. RYAN, Director, Suffolk County Real Property Tax Service
Agency : Our responsibilities are one, to maintain the tax maps in
a current status upon receipt of conveyance from the County Clerk,
and to advise the 39 assesisng jurisdictions as well as taxpayers
of assessment administration procedures as well as current laws .
Thank you.
FRANK RHINOW, representing Patrick Henry, Suffolk County District
Attorney: We are in charge of prosecuting of crimes and special
investiagtions throughout the County of Suffolk. This morning after
a consulaton with the troopers who are assigned here on this island,
I understand that you are in pretty good shape from a:.criminal point
of view. You have very very few problems over here . Thank you.
SUPERVISOR PELL: I think that from the smiles on the faces, some
people might have a little bit of a difference of opinion, but
considering what ' s crime and what ' s juvenile.
FRED THIEL, Counsel to New York State Assemblyman John Behan : Our
responsibility is to act upon state legislation and I will be happy to
answer questions on state legislation or anyone having problems with
state agencies or anything like that . You have one bill that relates
to Fishers Island, Fishers Island School District, the Landmark School
legislation is pending in Albany. If you have any questions, I will be
happy to answer them after the meeting.
SUPERVISOR PELL: Also today supposedct.oabe::_wit.h,c.�is .Ken. LaValle
'(New-,,York State Senator) , but Ken LaValle is holding a meeting in
Riverhead on Coastal Zone Management and his staff is with him and
it is a very important meeting and I want to apologize for KenLaValle
not being here .
JOSEPH CAPUTO, Suffolk County Comptroller : I am the elected County
Comptr.ol.ler of Suffolk. County. which. is a four year term of office
Suffolk County� h.as: a current operating. budget- of $7.11, 000,.000 .for.
the year 1980 and' ho: bill or paycheck, no bill gets paid or paycheck.
gets issued without my approval .
BILL BRINKMAN; Aide to United States Congressman William Carney : So
far as I can tell I 'm probably the only representative of the federal
:4 AUGUST 20 , 1980
government here wha;ch_ leaves me a 5-light' edge as- to. what my responsi-
bilities are . Anyone who is concerend about any problems they have
with the IRS, Social Security or _Veteran ' s Administration or any other
government agency, please see me after the meeting. Bi.11''s down. in
Washington doing the job you elected him to- do two years ago . He can 't
be with us and asked me to express his compliments to you and thanks
for inviting his representative, myself , and all of us here today to
be with you, enjoy your Island and I ' ll talk to you later on. Thank you.
MAJOR J.A. KALJIAN, Troop Commander, N.Y.S . Police, Troop L: Glad
to be here and if there any problems or questions we will be glad
to answer them.
SUPERVISOR PELL: I hope that people will feel free to call on
you while you are here as much as they feel free to call my off.i.ce
asking how to get in touch with you. I 'm sure you will have some .
questions .
SUPERVISOR PELL introduced the following:
Southold Town Justice Frederick Tedeschi.
_Southold Town Trustee Henry Smith
Southold Town Conservation Advisory Council Cha7.i�man.Frank.
Cichanowicz
Southold Town Fire Commissioner and Planning Board member
Bennett Orlowski.
Southold Town Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Charles
Grigonis., Jr .
Southold Town Zoning Board of Appeals member Serge Doyen, Jr ..
Southold Town Assessor Charles Watts
Southold Town Bookkeeper Betty Wells
Southold Town Historian Magdaline Goodrich.
Southold Town Building Inspector Edward Hindermann
Southold Town Board of Appeals member Gerald Goehringer
SUPERVISOR PELL: In case you call Town Hall and I: m, never sitting
in my chair, I do get out of it and move around the county, the
state or the federal, the person who occupies my chair when I am
not there is my Deputy Marie Johnson .
So much for the introductions, if I left anybody out , I apologize.
And for the rest of you I hope that the remarks that were made dial
not bore you. I hope they were informative .
REPORTS
SUPERVISOR PELL: The way your town government works: .thi.s- .year, we
have committees. Every Councilman is assigned to a committee in charge
of . I will ask each Councilman to get up and tell you the committee
they are assigned to, their responsibilities and in cane anything else.
they want to say. I will call Councilman Drum first.
COUNCILMAN HENRY W. DRUML Good afternoon. Very briefly, I chair the
Inland Waterways Committee which does include, of course your water-
ways here. Your channels that mghtneed _dxEdgng:. :;We 'have received
one request that the channel, Goose Island Channel be dredged. Mr.
Guildi whi is a county engineer, we had gone out and looked at it and
we went back to take another look at it . This will be one of the
projects, one of the requests that we have had from you hereon the
Island that we will take a look at for .consideration possibly the '
latter part of this year or early next year. Thank. you.
COUNCILMAN JOHN J. NICKLES : Good afternoon . I'm chairman of Parks
and Beach Committee for the Town of Southold. Tt i.s: my understanding
that the beaches over here are operated by the Ferry- District so it
really doesn 't come under the purview of our committee. I will just .
briefly tell you what is going on over in the Town of Southold because
of various problems in the operation of beaches and beach vehicles,
THE Town is in the process now of reviewing a proposed beach code
which would control the use of the beaches and the vehicles on those
beaches . Of course, anybody that ' s involved with. the operation of
beaches here would like to consult with us, I would be more than glad
to speak with you know, after the meeting or some time in the future.
I 'm also involved with the Highway Department . In essence .the Highway
Department is the final review on a filed subdivision after the engineers,
Town Engineers and the Planning Board reviewed and inspected new roads
that are intended to be Town or private roads in the Town of Southold
they come before our Committee for final review, because .when something
goes wrong with the roads, they floor , it always seems to be the Town
Board ' s problem. We have kind of a final say when we make our
AUGUST 20 , 1980 32:5
recommendations. to the balance of the Board for their approval . I 'm
sure later on you are going to hear a report from Councilman Murdock
on the dump. Most of the Town Board went with him to view the .dump
and I must say your garbage looks in better shape than us .
COUNCILMAN LAWRENCE MURDOCK, JR: . Good- afternoon. As you have heard
I 'm in charge of our Disposal Area Committee . It is rather difficult
to get people to say disposal area.�instead of dump. The remarkable
difference here--I had to climb a fence, of course, to get into
yours, but I did climb the fence and go in and look at it. We on,
I ' ll call i.t the mainland, even though we 're an island, we have
thousands of seagulls and you have a lot of crows . I don ' t follow
why you- don 't have seagulls, completely surrounded by water, and we
have crows with the land, but it seems to work that way . Of course,
my bid problem, as is the problem for all of us is what we are going
to do with our disposal areas and I 'm very honestly hoping that .the
New York Department of Environmental Control forgets Fishers Island
is part of New York. State . They have delineated very very expensive
projects for all of us in terms of our disposal areas and hopefully,
as I say, they will forget that Fishers Island does belong to New
York State. Also, one of my jobs is negotiating the Civil Service
contracts . Mr. Nickles and Mr.. Drum do the PBA and George Sullivan
and myself do the CSEA and it is a pleasure to be here .
SUPERVISOR PELL: And I do both with them.
COUNCILMAN GEORGE R. SULLIVAN: I 'm Chairman of the Taxation and
Finance Committee. I guess, since I 'm a Certified Public Accountant
this fell into my purview. I also sit on the CSEA Committee and
Highway Committee as well . I have a report here that I would like
to read which is the Taxation and Finance Committee report which
-I would also read at Town Board. The reason I 'm reading it is to--
we have the County. Comptroller here and he might be able to give us
some input on it . Two items that were covered in the Taxation and
Finance Committee . The Committee met on August 12, 1980 and in
attendance was myself as Chairman, Councilman Murdock, as well as
William Price of McMann Price Agency and Allan Dickerson and Bob
McCarthy of the Roy Reeve Agency. Also in attendance was Mr .
William Mullen who had prepared analysis of the Town 's insurance
policies . The purpose of the meeting was for Mr . Mullen to review
the comments prepared by the two insurance agencies and he will
formally reply to ,them by letter . We also recommended for the
review of the Town' s policies for updating and review, trying to
analyze the insurance policies of the Town to see if we can save
any money. We also recommended that Mr . Stephen Guido of Hamilton
Stone, Inc. give a presentation to the Town Board. Mr . Guido ' s firm
of management consultants have done work with Suffolk County and
several municipalities in the area of payroll . Namely in the area
of Social Security wages which have been incorrectly reported. The
firm has been able to recoup $300, 000 for the County, I believe and
several thousand dollars for other towns . Their fee is based solely
on recovery of the taxes that have been overpaid. Mr . Guido gave a
formal presentation at the Board ' s executive meeting and it is the
Committee ' s recommendation thatthe firm be hired subject to the
contract--his contract being reviewed by the Town Attorney. Joe,
could you comment on that , if you would?
COUNTY COMPTROLLER CAPUTO: Mr . Guido and his firm, as you reflected
earlier , have been able to recover for us, both the employees of
Suffolk County and Suffolk County itself a total of $300, 000 which
is shared equally by county and the employees who work for the county.
A quirk in the FICA law, Social Security whereby some of the payments
that are made to retirement people or people who are out on sick leave
are not subject to FICA contributions . Therefore we have made that
saving and we have adjusted our records. The good thing about it is
that the firm if the firm does not deliver for the town they will not
be charged anything except out of pocket expenses, or that ' s how the
contract was with Suffolk' County.
COUNCILMAN SULLIVAN: . It was through the courtesy of Joe 's office
that I was made aware of this . Hopefully we can recoup some money
for the Town. Thank you.
326- AUGUST /7:20, 1980
SUPERVISOR PELL: Next report I would like to have Mr . Dean come
up here and tell us alittle bits,about the Highway Committee that
he is Superintendent of Highways . I know he has done extensive
work this year on your roads over here. We have a very nice letter
from somebody on Fishers Island complimenting him on some of the
work he has done this year . Mr. Dean.
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.
A few of the things that I promised last year I would fulfill for
this year is I promised I would resurface some of your roads which
I think I have done. I am going to do more next year . I painted
the traffic lines in the roads which I think helped a lot . I
purchased a truck that will be delivered this fall . We are going
to put a new tailgate scraper on your sanding truck for this winter .
(Mr . Dean moved to the microphone, and restated the above . ) I
promised I would resurface your roads which 'I think I 've done . We
couldn ' t do as much as I wanted because of the expensive materials .
I think we should do as much if not more next year. We painted the
traffic lines which we put out to contract to a company in Connecticut .
We purchased a truck to replace the old truck you have over here; it
should be delivered this fall . We will upgrade the snowplow and
sanding machines . I :";think that will all help a lot . I think one
of the biggest things we want to do in the coming year, I got several
calls, which isn 't really my, department , but your mosquito control .
With the help of the County Executive Peter Cohalan and Joe Sanzone
we are going to send one of our men to Hauppauge and Joe will train
that person to use the insecticide and Vector Control is going to
give you people a brand new machine next year, goffing machine, so
I think we ' ll be able to fog different roads, Town roads, at least
once a week which will help you with mosquito control . I know you
had a terrific problem with this year. That ' s one of the things .
If anybody has anything they want to ask me after the meeting, if
they have a problem, I ' ll certainly be willing to help. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR PELL: Thank you, Ray. I think if you can recall, last
year Ray Dean and I came over here once in the wintertime ." Vector
we got asked a lot about . We have tried to handle that situation
to help you out next year . You did ask,., Ray to fix some roads, put
the lines on. The Town has authorized .this to be done and they
have done it for you. I think, personally I think Ray has done
a large improvement of your situation this part year and I think,
I know, I 'm proud of it . I 'm proud when I get a letter or a phone
call from Fishers Island, folks saying--or I come over here, this
is my fifth time here this yera. I come over and say gee the
highways are coming better, they look better . The sidewalks are
being cleaned, it makes me feel proud, proud of Raymond 's department .
PUBLIC NOTICES
SUPERVISOR PELL: The Town Board received a letter on July 29th
from Congressman Carney asking us how we felt about Barrier Beach
proposal as pertaining to Fishers Island. I have asked his office
to be here today and is here to explain it to you.
BILL BRINKMAN, representing Congressman Carney : Ladies and gentlemen,
just to briefly outline to you the proposal that is before the
Congress, both houses of Congress in the next few weeks . There 's
both a House Bill which is 5981, I have some copies of it here if
you would like to go over it later on and a Senate companion bill .
Both of which pertain to the preservation of Barrier Islands. One
of which Fishers Island is and there are a number more throughout
the United States in coastal zone areas . Esentially what the bill
is supposed to do, the bills content and intent before I give you
any kind of analysis or prognosis which I can 't do until it passes,
is to limit and curtail the extent possible, further development on
barrier islands . The federal government , as you know, to a limited '
extent" on, say, beach front property, ans waterfront property, I
should day, provides grants, loans, flood insurance and other incentives
to the repair, replacement or preserviation of those properties.
Because--the cost of this repair, preservation, relocation has gotten
so extremely out of hand, financially speaking, their proposing that
further federal program extension to lands that are presently
undeveloped should not be expended. This is, for example, if you are
an individual who plans to subdtide a portion of Fishers Island on the
.beach, for example, if you are an individual who plans to subdivide 'a
portion of Fishers Island on the beach, for example assuming this bill
AUGUST 20 ,; . 1980
is passed by houses and signed, for example, no federal funds would
be available to you for this development for flood insurance. It
would not , and I want to reiterate that , would not impact upon those
presently owning developed property on any of these barrier islands .
The initial impact would be specifically and principally undeveloped
islands. Islands which are totally undeveloped. Which would mean
that , I , as a developer, for example, wanted to buy XYZ Island off
the coast of South Carolina and turn it into a subdividion with a
hundred housing lots on it , I would not be able to get any federal
monies for these projects or flood insurance for those homes . Now for
the prognosis. I talked with Washington yesterday, getting update
information about it . As I said, there are two versions, one in the
House and one in the Senate. Frankly, unless hearings are held within
the next four to five weeks chances are very good that neither of
those bills will go anywhere this year, which means they will be sent
to bed with the 96th Congress, because the 97th Congress will begin
in January. It looks like there is a 50-50 chance .of this bill going
anywhere . So where our office contacted the Town Board, Super-
visor and members of the Board and the reason that the Board members
wanted to bring this up to you today is the fact it can impact upon
Fishers Island as it can upon Shelter Island and Gardiners Island
and about 200 other islands throughout the United States and by the
way, most of those islands happen to be not in New York State, believe
it or not, but placed such as Texas, actually the Gulf Coast of Texas,
South Carolina, Georgia, and so forth. That is the prognosis, we
can 't be sure what ' s going to happen to the bill but it might have a
50-50 chance of being passed by .the House, possibly by the Senate.
If there are any questions now, briefly, I 'd be glad to entertain
them if I may. And then I would be glad to talk to anyone privately
after and get you whatever information I can. I don ' t propose to be
an expert on the subject .
COUNCILMAN NICKLES : In your remarks you have created the
impression that all of Fishers Island is to be in this proposal,
correct me if I 'm wrong. There is only one portion, and that is
the said pit over there at Beach Pond and Island Pond. According
to this map, which is a Class 3, which really is my question . Do
you happen to know what the Class 3 designation is?
MR. BRINKMAN: John, I don ' t . John ' s right . Only a certain portion
of Fishers Island is included. I 'd be glad to get that for you.
Any other questions? Thank you very much. I brought copies if you
would care to look at them later on and answer any other questions
you might have . Thank you.
SUPERVISOR PELL: As Bill and John pointed out , it is -a portion of
Fishers Island. I have the exact map here if you would like to
come up and look at it when we conclude today, feel free to do so .
It is one part of the Island.
COMMUNICATIONS
1 . SUPERVISOR PELL: When I was over here on the 25th the Civic Associa-
tion asked me to give to the Town Board a letter that was put out that
night all about your Landmark School . The Town Board is familiar
with the proposal and as I said that night, the Town Board can assist
you in any way, we would be most interested and try to be helpful .
2 . We have a letter that was sent to our county exec and I was
at the meeting that was held here with the county exec about your
lobster pot fishermen. We met that day with them. Mr. Dean was here,
myself , county exec was here, conservation and DEC was here and we
left that meeting that day saying the DEC and the conservation was
supposed to get back with information and the county exec, I 'm sorry.
As of today neither outfit are here. This is just a letter remind-
ing the county exec he promised to get us the information.
3 . The next communciation we have is from a resident from Fishers
Island complaining to the Town Board about many violations in their
eyes that is going on in Fishers Island. This the Town Board will
probably get into in the open part of the meeting . But the letter
has been received, it is on file with the Town Board and the Town
Board will look into it . It was received on August 8th into my office .
4 . Next letter, the Town Board received a copy of, is from another
resident of Fishers Island complaining about violations at the airport
AUGUST 20, 1980
As many of you know, the Town of Southold leases the airport to the
Fishers Island Ferry District . They sublease,2it with the Town Board
approval, approving the sublease contract to another individual . The
Town Board approved the contract , I 'm going to say a year ago in March,
approximately, for a five year contract . A gentleman on Fishers Island
pointed out several violations being in the lease right now. The Town
Board today did go down to the airport., did look around and we will
discuss this later on . This is our first initial contact with this.
In order to--in my way, and I have not discussed this with the Town
Board yet , maybe I should keep my mouth shut , but in my way of looking
at it , it would be that the Town Board, if they deemed violations are
there, would go to the Ferry District who has the direct lease with
the manager of the airport . This we will . evaluate in the very very
near future .
5. The next letter is a copy to the Town Board and myself, there-
fore I would say to the Town Board, in regards to the beach property
at Elizabeth Airport down here and the proposed art project .
That ' s the communications we have this week.
HEARINGS AND DECISIONS
SUPERVISOR PELL: Under hearings and decisions, at this time we have
none .
RESOLUTIONS
SUPERVISOR PELL: Resolutions, we have one that should be, must be
done today, should be done today, a transfer of funds. A transfer
of funds from Highway Item I , DR9010.8 State Retirement of $2, 249 . 32
to Highway Item I , Workmen ' s Compensation(DR9040:,:8) , . .,the.,.Same amount
$2, 249. 32 . I will look for a resolution.
COUNCILMAN SULLIVAN: Could you explain it . ?
SUPERVISOR PELL: To.. explain that , this is in the Highway account .
the Workmen ' s Compensation is a little bit short and another account
in the budget is a little bit over . We have to take it from one
line item where we overestimated and .put it into one where we
underestimated. It ' s all within the Highway Department 's budget and
these are why we are transferring the funds from one line to another
line . Any questions on that transfer of funds?
On motion of Councilman Sullivan, seconded by Councilman Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of southold transfer the
sum of $2, 249. 32 from Highway Item I , DR9010. 8 State Retirement to
Highway Item I , DR9040 .8 Workmen 's Compensation.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
.Murdock, Councilman NIckles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
SUPERVISOR PELL: That is the end of the prepared agenda. Now I
would like to ask my Councilman if they have anything they would
like to bring up? Larry? Henry? John?
COUNCILMAN NICKLES : I was just wondering whether you wanted,to
discuss the proposed new Town Law, Unsafe Buildings?
SUPERVISOR PELL: Absolutely. We have proposed law on unsafe buildings .
Councilman NIckles has been working on this and I 'm going to ask
him to tell you what it ' s all about , and you can tell them about the
Fire Code too if yOu want, John .
COUNCILMAN NICKLES : As indicated by t'he Supervisor, the Town of
Southodl has proposed a new ordinance relative to unsafe buildings
in the Town. Earlier this year, if you read the local papers, the
Traveler-Watchman, you may be aware that a Fire Code was passed in
the TOwn of Southold which also deals with unsafe buildings in terms
if there was a fire, let ' s say, in a home, and it was. partially
damaged, 507o or so, under that Fire Code are provisions to come in
amd make that building safe . In reviewing the Fire Code it had
dawned on us that in terms of unsafe builidins we do have a couple
of problems over on the North Fork, we don 't know what your problems
here, maybe you have similar type problems of abandoned buildings .
These abandoned buildings, of course, can be an attractiVe,�hazard
AUGUST 20, 1980 32
for children. So in the event we have an. unsafe building it is
possible to have, if this law does pass, which I 'm sure it will
after the first of September, that we can send the building
inspector down to the premises and issue a notice of violation
if they do not make the building safe . There are procedures
set up in the Town Code in this proposed ordinance wherein wd
can go in and make the builidng safe and/or demolish the
building, whatever is needed and if the people do not pay the Town
for the demolition of the building or those measures that werenecessary
to make it safe we can add it right to the tax rolls . This ordinance
has been dragging on a little bit because we found out towards the
end of the legislative session in Albany that Senator LaValle was
the co-sponsor of a bill in Albany to make this law a little bit
easier and they changed the enabling legislation on the state level
so we wouldn 't have to go before a supreme court justice to get these
matters resolved, they can now be resolved on a Town Board level .
I think the Supervisor ' s Office, if anybody is interested, made
copies of this proposed law- available to you..
Back to the Fire Code. That was- a thi.ng .th:at was quite a .hot
issue for a number of years in Town--no pun intended the firemen
are very interested in having it passed and through 'a lot of work
among, mostly on behalf of the fire chiefs of the Town of Southold
this new Town Board and last year ' s Town Board, we arrived at a Code
that was palatable both to the firemen and to the homeowner. Basically
it is a safe housekeeping code. We are going to have inspectors
appointed to each distr .ct .r.ecommended by the commissi.oners- of that
district . So here on Fishers Island there will bean inspector
appointed by your commissioners,. I should, say recommended to the Town
Board. The Town Board will appoint them for a one year term. He
will serve, no salary, he will only be eligible for reimbursement
for gasoline use in their automobiles. They are not going to run
around and Harass: you and come into your home unless there is some
kind of complai.nt .. If they should find a complaint, they will not
be able to serve you a summons or a violation . They' ll then have
to go to our Building Department , Mr. Hindermann and Mr. Horton
and Mr . Fi.sh.er, the Head Building Inspector, they would then come
and make th.e, inspection and issue, the violation . But basically it
is just a matter of good housekeeping in terms of your home; not
storing gasoline in your basement, theings like that and it also is
there for. the protectiohi.of our volunteer firemen so that they know
what they are going into in case there is a fire they aren ' t going
to have any unfortunate surprises . If there are any questions I am
sure the Town Board would be happy to answer them.
SUPERIVSOR PELL: Thank you. Two good points that John brought up,
the Fire Code and Unsafe Building Code . We did hold a public hearing
here in your firehouse on,,the proposed Fire Code. We had may be,
I am going to say fifteen prople show up that one day that we caem
over here. I was a Saturady afternoon and we held them throughout
the Town and we came here and had one . George, anything you want to
say?
COUNCILMAN SULLIVAN; Not at this time.
SUPERVISOR PELL. At this time the floor is open to the public of
Fishers Island. I will ask you please state your name and speak
loud so the tape recorder can pick it up and then the Town Clerk
can have it correctly in the minutes .
RON ZANGHETTI , Fishers Island: I 'd just like to know, is this the
whole Board? If not, who ' s missing, and why didn 't the Town Attorney
get up and announce his job.
SUPERVISOR PELL: All right, I will apologize for not introducing our
Town Attorney,' Mr. Tasker . My apologies, Bob. He is the legal
adi.vsor to the Town Board, your Town Planning Board, Zoning Board of
Appeals: and Trustees and whatever else we call on him for . Mr . Doyen
is not with us today, he is over in New Londin at the doctors . He
hurt his back, went to a chiropractor, or something, he was---yesterday
I spoke with him, he said everything was set and he was going to met
us at the dock at 11 : 30 today. Then I get over here and find out he
is at the doctor ' s in New London. That is why he is not here . ----
I said, who did I forget? Our Town Clerk who does. a superb job for
you. She puts out 40,, 000 transactions out of her office in a year and
I think, My apologies, Judy, our Town Clerk, your Town Clerk, Judy
3!3O AUGUST 20, 1980
Terry . I 'm going to apologize, Judy and I grew up all our lives,
we 're the same age, a half a block apart and all the people to
leave out, a neighbor .
Would anybody else like 'to address the Board?
TOM CAHSEL, President, Fishers Island Civic Association: I. had a
question for Councilman Murdock. You referred to some new regulations
by the Department of Envi.ronmerital Conservation disposal sites, could
you give us some idea of what those proposals were or are they just
preliminary at this time?
COUNCILMAN MURDOCK: The general thrust is there will be no more open
pit disposals allowed in .the Sta,te ' of New York in 1985 . They prefere
the plastic liner to prevent the leachate from going into the water
systems. The money involved isimmense . They also want the methane
gas moni.tore.d and disposed of . They have two systems that they will
accept . One is, by lining the area that is-- I can 't give you a ball-
park figure on how much it would cost but it ' s in the neighborhood of
$200, 000 just to put .a liner in. The equipment now that they have
changed that they want .the methane gas monitored, and this is passed
down from the Yederal Environmental Protection Agency who is leaning
on the Department the DEC to monitor methane. Most of the Town hasn 't
had an official report, maybe I'll leak out one number that the rest
of the Town hasn 't heard. The Supervisor and Highway Superintendent
and myself were at a meeting Monday afternoon that was done by Holzmacher,
McLendon an engineering firm that we hired as part of the .5-Town Waste
Management group.. We are all trying to solve this problem by 1985
and the five towns are the. Town of East Hampton, the Town of Southampton,
the Town of Riverhead, the Town of Shelter Island and Southold. Accord-
ing to the census we now- comprise 95, 000 people and the digure that
was given back. us as a recommended solution was only $87, 000,000 to
build a faci.li.ty to take care of our, solid waste disposal.. That is
why I made the comment, I' sincerely hope that the State of New York
forgets Fishers. I:sland is a part of New York State. One of the
recommendations given to us. by H2M pertains to the Town of Shelter
Island and roughly I consider them about- six times the size of Fishers
Island and one of the proposals was $134 . 00 a ton to take care of the
refuse on Shelter Island i.n order to satisfy,-these standards . These
aren ' t pleasant propects- but somewhere they do have to be addressed:
Very honestly I: wouldn 't know- how to address them for Fishers Island.
Because.::. ,t involves, transportation of the solid material . I strongly
suspect we will have to go into a working arrangement with the City
of New London or whatever county. would be the closest to help out if
they prevent open disposal on Fishers Island, I am concerned and I
did want to go see the disposal area so if the discussion does start
at least I know how it 's handled here and hopefully just keep fighting
for us . A stalling motion, . that 's the best we can hope for .
SUPERVISOR PELL: Who else would like to address the Board?
MARIO ZA.NGHE.TTI, Fishers Island: Can you tell me if this road that
continues on around by the bakery and back up to the Ferry District
building, i.s this a Town road? Approved by the Town? Goes down here
by the tennis courts, out to the bakery and up to the Ferry District?
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: No, it ' s not a Town road.
MR. ZANGHETTI': Never been approved by the Town . What would it take
to have the Town take it over?
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: I would have to meet the specs, be
50 ft . road-4exchange. between Mr . Zanghetti and Mr . Dean. )
MR. ZANGHETTI: The reason I ask is, there is a school here, there 's
tennis courts down there, two or three businesses down there, there 's
a bakery down there, and there is a lot of traffic and the road is bad.
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: You're going to have to get a bond to
do some of the work.. We would be really interested if you get in
touch, with us and we ' ll sit down.
ADDLE VALENTI , Fishers- Island : I ; d like to ask the Major of the
highway patrol what the lawn are regarding bicycles because it is
.terrible here. The kids are-- I assume they are supposed to ride
in the same direction as vehicles are.
AUGUST 20, 1980
3
SUPERVISOR PELL: Major, can you hear the question? The question is
on Fishers Island, as well as New York State, what are the laws on
bicyling on the road. The children here ride their bikes all over
the road and the lady is afraid of accident and what can we do to
enforce the laws?
MAJOR KALJIAN: Well , believe it or no.:t;. and you will not believe it
by looking .at the bicycle usuage, if they want to ride at night they
must have a light or reflector on the rear, they ride on the right
side of the road with the flow of traffic and it is enforcable. But
looking around here, more so on Long Island than upstate, there is
almost no compliance.
MRS. VALENTINI : Here on Fishers Island they seem to ride mostly on
the left hand side of the road instead of in the flow- of traffic
and they pay no attention to whether they are supposed to stop, look
and listen, just start off in front of you and it really is dangerous .
Some of them are very small children and it really is dangerous .
SUPERIVSOR PELL: May I make a suggestion . Perhaps, and perhaps I am
out of place, out of line in doing this, Major, maybe if a little,
I am going to say PR bicycle clinic with the young people on the
Island was held by somebody it might help the situation along these
lines .
MAJOR KALJIAN: We have in other areas, but we would like the parents
to start to teach them and then we ' ll pick up on what doesn 't seem to
work. But if you have in mind out here a bicycle safety course, it
could be arranged. If you contact the Suffolk Traffic Safety Board
who might be able to assist them.
SUPERVISOR PELL: I think our problem today is immediate and I think
the lady in the red dress is looking for something that we can do very
soon and not go through a lot of red tape.
TROOPER CAMPBELL: I. gave one earlier this summer to the Boy Scouts at
the American Legion Hall . Mrs . Sanger was there . I gave the course
and I gave them rules and regulations as far as bicycles go . Earlier
this summer .
MRS . VALENTINI : That was in May before the summer children arrived.
SUPERVISOR PELL: The lady has a point, Don, that was in May before
the summer residents arrived and summer children arrived.
TROOPER CAMPBELL: We could run another one . We would have to run
one actually in July or August .
SUPERVISOR PELL: Good point . Thank you very much mam, and thank you
Don.
ANN MORELL.:, Fishers Island: I 'd know to know, even in the day time,
like boat time, you have a lot of adults who ride in the middle of
the street . Now, that 's not legal, it it?
MAJOR KALJIAN: They do .
MRS . MORRELL: They can ride in the middle of the streets?
MAJOR KALJIAN: Unless you set aside a bicycle lane .
SUPERVISOR PELL: There are no bicycle lanes set aside. It is legal
to ride in the middle of the street on the right side with traffic,
with the flow of traffic .
MRS . MORELL: On the right side, not in the middle of the street .
(Exchange between Mrs . Morell and Trooper Kaljian. )
SUPERVISOR PELL: I do want to say this for the Major, I met with
him on Shelter Island for the first time . I contacted his office a
week or two ago about problems that you people have called my office
with or written to me on and he has been most cooperative in trying
to solve these things . I do compliment you on your effort and your
courtesy to the Town Board on the problems I have contacted you with
before and I am sure you will take care of this problem.
32 AUGUST 20 , 1980
BILL HAASE, Superintendent , Fishers=-Island School : I am going back
to that one question Mario brought out and I thought it was a very
good one . That is, the roadway which goes around the school building
down by the bakery, the old gas station area; I was under the
assumption that this was a Town road. Now, if it is not a Town road,
what can be done to make it a Town road? I didn ' t hear the answer .
SUPERVISOR PELL: Mr . Dean is going to come up here so we all can
get in on this two-way conversation we had a few minutes ago and
make it public.
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: It is not a Town road. In order to
make it a Town Road you are going to have to bring it up to Town
specifications we have within the Town. Like in a subdivision we
have curbing such as that . It is going to cost an awful lot of
money. Now, there are ways of doing it . I don 't know who owns it ,
but if somebody specific owns that road, owns that property, they
can get a ==put up a bond, we ' ll go in there and give them a figure
to build the road to the specifications and all the people in the
Town will pay for it . It will be a five year bond and everybody is
going to be assessed on it because it becomes a Town road. If the
developer wants to go in and do it himself, if the developer does
own it, he can go in and do it himself, then he has, on either side
of the road, if he owns the land. We have to settle who owns the
thing.
RON ZANGHETTI : The school or the Town must own most of it . There
is school housing, teacher housing down here and public airport down
there and that covers most of the area we are talking about .
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: That doesn ' t cover the Town, that is a
school district'.
MR. HAASE: Isn ' t a black macadam road possibly better than what we
have out here, there is no drainage, no curbing.
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: Maybe if you go down there and inspect
the road, maybe there doesn 't have to be that much work done. Maybe
a good coat of oil and tar and stuff like that would suffice, because
you do have a good base down there that was built by the government .
Sowe might as well use what we got , I don 't say go in and spend money
we don 't have but it may be`.able to be done very economically.
RON ZANGHETTI : Shortly after you were elected to the Board you came
over here for a . public civic meeting. We had a good discussion.
Mr . Doyen was there and several people, quite a few, complained
about the roads, that this slur was not working and they needed
resurfacing. You personally took my number and several other numbers
down and you were going to come back in :.the spring and get the opinion
of the Island people and go over some of the complaints we had about
the roads. and do something about it . You never did a thing. You just
came over here, and put the same old slur down and took off.
SUPERVISOR PELL: I came back the second time, I brought Mr. Dean
with me and we met in the-- up in the fire house with a group of
people . Out county executive was here. It was advertised through
Mr . Doyen that Mr. Dean, the county exec and myself was going to be
in here, over here., for input and talk about anything you wanted to
talk about , including the roads . We did come back as I said. I
brought Mr . Dean with me and we did on'.that day hit on slur. It was
talked about . As: I. said, only about fifteen people showed up.
MR. ZANGHETTI: How was it advertised?
SUPERVISOR PELL: Your Councilman Doyen was-- arranged the meeting
for us.
ALFRED HEDGE, Fishers. Island: What at Fox, that has never been done,
never been fixed.
SUPERVISOR, PELL: . Mr. Hedge is asking us about Fox Street . I believe
he means it has never been resurfaced, relined.
MR,. HEDGE: Never been resurfaced, nothing has ever been done, only
swept once a year. You go up there and see beer cans kicking around
AUGUST 20, 1980 �
the road. .
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: We ' ll take care of that .
MR: HEDGE : Another thing, why does the garbage wagon have to stop
in front of my house when there is plenty of parking room other places .
SUPERVISOR PELL: This question is, why does the garbage truck stop in
front of your house to pick up-- noi,garbage pi6ked up--
MR. HEDGE : They pick up the garbage from across the road, but
they go up and turn around and come back and park right in front of
my front door and all the juice runs out .
SUPERVISOR PELL: I have photographs of this juice runnign out in
front of your house and on the ground in front of you. Somebody, I
don 't know who , sent them to me . I have photographs of this .
MR. HEDGE: And why does Grebe have to stand in the barroom door
nad holler things at me when I go by and I 'm walking the dog?
SUPERVISOR PELL: Mr . Hedge, the Board is somewhat aware of everything
you have said, I have made them aware of some of our conversations and_.
communications we have had. I have discussed the Board the last Board
meeting had, which was two weeks ago, on recommendations that I
anticipate making to the Board on problems on Fishers Island. The
problem that you are bringing up to light now is something that I have
gave preliminary report to the Board on. I will give them my final
recommendation within the next thrity days . I hope to correct many
of the things that you and many others, and I use the word many other,
Fishers Island people have told me, called to me about, or when I have
been over h:ere:::: . Several problems along the same lines . I cannot ,
the Board cannot correct it today. They are aware of it and I do
anticipate this Board will take the necessary action to correct a lot
of them. A lot of these complaints I have got from Fishers Island are,
I am going to say, traffic, law enforcement . I have, before, as I
said, talked to the Major from the State Police about some of them.
He has been most cooperative . I have made a preliminary report to
the. Board last week. I will make a final recommendation to the Board
in September of how I will recommend to the Board to correct many
complaints as yours and other residents.
MR. HEDGE : Why don 't they widen the Town road?
SUPERVISOR PELL: I have no idea, you mean on Fox Lane again?
I have no idea, I have never considered. Raymond, have you considered
Widening.- that road?
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT DEAN: No .
SUPERVISOR PELL: This is the first time I have ever heard that
suggested, widening the road. I am sure Mr. Dean will go down there
before we leave today and look at the width of the road. I do:_not ,
and this Board--this Board is not aware of the width of the road.
We are aware of ,the problems with law enforcement on Fishers Island.
Since I 've been in office most of my complaints from Island residents
have been law enforcement complaints.
MR. HEDGE: I called for a State Trooper to come move a car and he
asked a lot of questions and said keep the car there, walk the dog
and leave the car there.
SUPERVISOR PELL: The comment was that Mrs. Hedge called the State
Police and asked them to come up and have a car removed in front of
your house or driveway, in front of your house. That was the question.
These are some of the problems we are working on.
MR. HEDGE : Grebe parks his garbage truck at night, 7 : 00 o ' clock,
up on the corner, on the sidewalk. He says he 's collecting the garbage---
the truck on the corner and I said he ' s over in the bar drinking.
SUPERVISOR PELL: The Town Board is aware and will be making
recommendations to the Town Board in September to eliminate some
of these problems or how to correct them. They are studying them
now. I did give them a preliminary report . Thank you.
J AUGUST 20, 1980
ROLAND OSWALD : I was at that meeting with you and Mr . dean in May or
June and I want to thank you both for taking care of my problem. I
had a lake in my backyard.
SUPERVISOR PELL: Thank you. We do some good when we come over hero .
Judge you got anything to say?
E . PERRY EDWARDS - former Town Justice, Fishers Island: Not that I 'm
retired.
SUPERVISOR PELL: I ' ll tell you a little tale, if I can. Many years
ago I was in Albany when they considered changing the Race Rock Line
for the first time, 1967, 68, 169, around those years . We were up
in a room and a letter was read written by your Town Justice then and
it was one of the most impressive letters that I have ever heard read ,
off at a public meeting. He done a fine job representing you on that .
We lost the line, anyway we lost the case, but it was a fine work of
penmanship. I wish I had your talent .
Anybody else wish to be heard?
TOM CASHEL: There were a few comments made by some people on the
Island and maybe we can talk about it after the meeting, as to whether
or not there are certain senior citizen services that could be
implemented on the Island but could be implemented in such a way as
the people don 't have a problem with Southold through that .
SUPERVISOR Pell : That is why Joan (Rinde) is here. She represents
Mrs. Silkworth and she would be more than willing to chat with any-
body . Everybody I have with us today have name tags on saying who
they are and who they represent. I had them introduce themselves
and state basically their responsibilities and you can zero in on
them after we break up .
There is one thing I would like to bring up now. The Town Board
apprvoed a Weatherization Program in Southold Town. That does include
Fishers Island. Basically the program is so you can, I am going to say,
insulate your home, have somebody come in, put your storm windows up
to the tune,,df about $1, 000. It has to be certified through the
Suffolk County Development Corporation. If anybody is interested in
it Marie has more information about it . I know people on, I am going
to say, the mainland, have taken advantage of this and have applied
for it . It ' s being done throughout the east end. So if you want more
information about it, talk to Marie.
Anybody else wish to say anything? If not , the motion is in
order to adjourn.
On motion of Councilman, seconded by Councilman Murdock, it was
RESOLVED that - there being no further business to come bfore this
Town Board meeting adjournment be called at 2 : 20 P.M.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes : Councilman Sullivan, Councilman
Murdock, Councilman Nickles, Councilman Drum, Supervisor Pell .
This resolution was declared duly adopted.
Judith T. ..Terry