HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-10/21/2025 PH 1
1 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK : STATE OF NEW YORK
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TOWN BOARD
4 REGULAR MEETING
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7 Southold, New York
8 October 21 , 2025
7 : 00 P . M.
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14 B E F O R E :
15
16 ALBERT KRUPSKI JR, SUPERVISOR
17 LOUISA P . EVANS, JUSTICE
18 JILL DOHERTY, COUNCILWOMAN
19 GREG DOROSKI , COUNCILMAN
20 BRIAN O . MEALY, COUNCILMAN
21 ANNE H . SMITH, COUNCILWOMAN
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OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
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4 Public Comments 3-46
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OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 PUBLIC COMMENTS
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
3 right . Would anyone like to speak to
4 any agenda item before we start the
5 meeting? Go right ahead, sir .
6 Identify yourself, Mr . Schwartz from
7 Cutchogue, please .
8 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Congratulations
9 to Planning Director Heather Lanza, one
10 of the speakers at the 50 years of
11 SEQRA conference next month, early next
12 month . And we ' re hoping to bring back
13 some good ideas to the table .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
15 you . Yes . I see Tom Stevenson .
16 Anything on the agenda, Tom?
17 TOM STEVENSON : Yes , can you hear
18 me?
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yes .
20 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Hey,
21 Tom.
22 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Good
23 morning -- Good evening .
24 TOM STEVENSON : Good evening .
25 Yeah, Agenda Item 2025-804 , the speed
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 limit changes . As you guys know, I ' m
2 against it . I don ' t think that the
3 study that I read -- I don ' t know if
4 anyone on the Town Board actually read
5 the study versus the one page from the
6 County, but to refresh your memory,
7 since we foiled it, this was all
8 initiated by one resident in Orient,
9 the same one who got the speed limit
10 changed on the causeway in Orient . At
11 least this process , we have the chance
12 to speak because the State did not have
13 any public . They did not come to the
14 Town Board, and they went right past
15 you and changed the speed limits based
16 on the request of one person . And I
17 just don ' t think that ' s the way
18 government should work . Now, the
19 actual study did not point to speed as
20 the risk to public safety . I ' m just
21 rehashing what I said in March, the
22 March 18th meeting . 550 of the crashes
23 were because of animals , so deer .
24 Okay . By far the number one cause , not
25 speed . 30 of them were caused by
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 speed . So for the Town to reduce the
2 speed limit for people that drive these
3 roads every single day all year long,
4 this is not a seasonal speed limit .
5 This is in the middle of Winter when
6 there ' s absolutely no one on the road .
7 You want me to go -- So now going back
8 to the study, even though the
9 recommendation from the County was to
10 lower these speed limits , that ' s not
11 what the two independent -- the models
12 show in that study . So that ' s why I
13 was hoping that someone on the Town
14 Board actually read the study, because
15 it does not say that the speed limit
16 should be lower based on the road
17 conditions . It says , in most cases ,
18 leaving them as they are based on the
19 models , the two different models they
20 use . And a lot of that engineering
21 gets beyond me . So I just would urge
22 you all to vote no on this because
23 there ' s other ways to improve safety on
24 the red . And that would definitely be
25 taking out the deer . And then
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 specifically the sound view, because
2 everybody knew once you changed that
3 whole project, what was coming, they ' re
4 going to lower that speed limit down,
5 which was just like clear, wide open,
6 50 miles an hour . I know people got
7 hurt there . But right now, it ' s so
8 unsafe with three crosswalks . And I
9 don ' t know how they added two
10 crosswalks when there ' s no controlled
11 intersection there . So controlled
12 intersection means there ' s a light .
13 They ' re not supposed to be adding
14 crosswalks where there ' s not a
15 controlled to do this . Anyway, so
16 that ' s what I have to say . I would
17 vote "no" on this . I would say do not
18 send the TE-9 to the County . But I do
19 appreciate that at least they came to
20 the Town Board . But I want to just
21 reiterate the whole reason why this
22 happened was one person . And that ' s
23 not how our government should work .
24 Thank you .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 7
1 you, Tom. We will take that up when we
2 get to the resolution .
3 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Can I
4 say one thing now or should I wait?
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yeah,
6 wait until we get to the resolution .
7 Thank you .
8 Would anyone else like to address
9 any agenda item before we begin voting?
10 (No Response) .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
12 Seeing none in the audience or on Zoom.
13 (Whereupon, the meeting continued
14 on to the Resolutions at this time . )
15 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That
17 concludes our Regular Agenda . We have
18 people on Zoom, and we have people
19 here . Is there anyone who ' d like to
20 address the Board on any matter at this
21 time ?
22 ERIC MCCLURE : Good evening, Eric
23 McClure , Mattituck . I wasn ' t planning
24 to address the Board this evening and I
25 didn ' t know that the County Route 48
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 item was on the agenda, but I was
2 present at the Transportation
3 Commission meetings with the County and
4 the discussion around that . I was
5 appointed more recently to the
6 Transportation Commission . I did want
7 to note that there ' s a fair amount of
8 evidence that just reducing a speed
9 limit alone without any other kinds of
10 interventions , engineering changes ,
11 roadway design changes , has been shown
12 to reduce the number of crashes , the
13 severity of crashes . So I think
14 generally it ' s a good idea . I will
15 note that Route 48 passes a popular
16 town beach . It passes by the Halyard,
17 which gets a fair amount of pedestrian
18 traffic crossing the street there . So
19 I would urge the board to support the
20 recommendation from the County to
21 reduce the speed limits as noted . And
22 I would love to see us doing more of
23 that around the Town . So thank you .
24 Thank you .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 you .
2 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Hi , Linda
3 Goldsmith, East Marion . It seems like
4 your leaf pickup is later than usual .
5 December lst?
6 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Yes .
7 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Thank you very
8 much because my leaves tend to hang
9 around until after Thanksgiving . Yes ,
10 they are never, never a good time, I
11 have to say . So thank you for that .
12 That ' s going to be very helpful . The
13 other thing is , I think it ' s great that
14 you have people going over to East
15 Hampton . I ' m somewhat familiar with
16 their financial software and their
17 financial people . I mean, I ' m not in
18 their budget or anything, but I think
19 you may be a little behind on -- I
20 don ' t want to say behind, a little
21 behind on your software and some of
22 your procedures . So I think you ' re
23 going to learn a great deal familiar
24 with the people in the offices there,
25 and they ' re very up-to-date, I guess
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 you could say . So that ' s great .
2 And the traffic on Route 48 . So let ' s
3 start going east from Depot Lane where
4 there is no arrow so that you can turn
5 and go to church or go anywhere on
6 Depot Lane . So you sit there forever
7 and cars are flying in front of you .
8 Not a great situation . Then we can go
9 a little further . And it looks to me
10 like in five and a half miles between
11 Old North Road and main street in
12 Greenport, you ' ve changed speed limits
13 three times . By the time you ' ve
14 changed your speed limit, the city
15 limit changes again . Seems a little
16 bizarre . Okay .
17 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : I just
18 want to clarify, it ' s the County that
19 changed it .
20 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Yep --
21 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Not the
22 County .
23 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Oh, no, no, I
24 know . That ' s right . I have your
25 little motion on here . And then the
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 Halyard with the orange flags , I don ' t
2 know who planned that, but it seems to
3 me, and then of course we have that
4 wonderful circle listening to accidents
5 already . It seems to me like from
6 Depot Lane east to the ferry, it just
7 seemed like there were these projects
8 that have been done . And each of them
9 existed in a vacuum . And it would seem
10 that if they all had been planned much
11 better at the same time, you would have
12 had a better result . So before you
13 vote on this one , maybe you could talk
14 with the County and see what else they
15 are planning . Because the ferry
16 traffic, that yield sign, you might as
17 well just put a little hand waving at
18 you there because they don ' t yield to
19 anybody . And the ferry traffic is
20 especially going west . Going east once
21 in a while . I just think the whole
22 thing in that stretch of roads , which
23 probably is about 10 miles , is just
24 very poorly planned by the County . And
25 I think that because we ' re the ones
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 that have to live with it, I think that
2 it is a good idea that you table that .
3 And I think you have to ask them what
4 else they are planning to do . Just the
5 fact that going east by the Haylard,
6 the speed limit is one speed limit .
7 And going west, it ' s another, tells me
8 that the planning is lacking something,
9 a little bit of oversight . So please ,
10 before you accept any more changes ,
11 maybe the County can tell you what is ,
12 you know, what ' s next? Because like I
13 said, from Depot Lane all the way down
14 to where Route 25 , you know, where the
15 brand new circle is , it just seems to
16 me like a very, very strange way of
17 traveling on our roads . Thank you .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
19 you for that . And just to be clear,
20 the County engineers , the highway
21 engineers do evaluate those things .
22 But I think it would be good to pass
23 that on, your comments on to them. So
24 they could evaluate the speed limits
25 and the projects . And as far as the
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 circle there goes , that is a State
2 project . I don ' t believe the Town was
3 involved in the planning of that . That
4 was New York State . So you need to
5 contact your New York State
6 representatives .
7 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Well , I ' m just
8 making the point that that stretch of
9 roadway has all of these projects that
10 seem to exist independently of each
11 other . And I mean, honestly, I come
12 from Orient . I go down Bailey Avenue .
13 And I think Bailey Avenue is going to
14 see a great increase in local traffic
15 if you ' re going into Greenport because
16 you can avoid that circle area totally .
17 Thank you .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
19 you .
20 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Before
21 you go, we ' ve had a couple of --
22 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Hassett Avenue,
23 Bailey Avenue . Head down there , folks .
24 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Linda,
25 before you step back from the podium, I
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 just want to acknowledge you in an
2 important way . We ' ve had a few
3 important community forums , and BOCES
4 has come up . And I just want to thank
5 you as my BOCES colleague that you
6 fostered that expo at the Rec Center .
7 And it ' s contributing to making
8 connections to our business community .
9 And not everybody has to go to college .
10 And you ' ve been an advocate in
11 education for over 30 years . So I just
12 want to say thank you for being in the
13 forefront of that . And we have to give
14 credit when people talk about something
15 constructive that can improve our way
16 of life . And you ' ve done that for many
17 years . So I just want to thank you .
18 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Thank you . So
19 now that you left that open, I will say
20 that I know that one school increased
21 their enrollment in the Academy of
22 Applied Technology from four students
23 to 16 after the expo . Can I take
24 credit for that? I don ' t know, maybe .
25 You have to give Scott Russell credit
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 as well because he worked with me on
2 that . And 650 of our students
3 graduating from the academy are this
4 year going on to college .
5 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH :
6 Congratulations .
7 LINDA GOLDSMITH : Oh, thank you
8 for that . They ' re going on to
9 colleges . Statewide, prior to COVID,
10 it was 800 . And then we also, and you
11 can certainly feel free to come , we are
12 now doing our legislative committee is
13 back . That ' s -- I ' m chairman of that
14 committee . We ' re having different
15 speakers . Jody Giglio will be there
16 next month . After that, Scott Russell .
17 After that, hopefully, our new regent .
18 So, you know, if you want to know any
19 more about that, please contact me .
20 Thank you, Brian .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Would
22 anyone else like to address the Board?
23 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Andrew
24 Schwartz , Cutchogue . Down Pequash
25 Avenue . Speaking of Pequash Avenue, my
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 neighbor ' s house , he got a building
2 permit at the beginning of the year .
3 And he had a house move lifter come in
4 and lift it up 12 feet high and dug
5 underneath it, put in a new foundation,
6 cement walls , put the house back down
7 eight feet . So it ' s four feet . The
8 house is very close to the beach . But
9 they were given a building permit .
10 Then the Trustees were walking around
11 the neighborhood looking at what
12 another neighbor was doing and said,
13 "what ' s going on? What ' s going on?
14 Stop . Whoa, stop, stop, stop . " So the
15 house sat there . It ' s been over 50
16 years . I ' ve seen that neighbor every
17 Summer . I didn ' t see him there this
18 Summer . He couldn ' t use the house . It
19 was taped up with like caution tape all
20 over the property . Holes . It looked
21 horrible . Well , I know you don ' t
22 control the Trustees anymore , but I
23 think you have something to do with the
24 Building Department . And I only
25 mention this to ask you to please look
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 into it and find out what went wrong,
2 because that is the job of the Building
3 Department to act as a gateway . And
4 when I tried to put new windows in my
5 porch, I was told, no, I could not do
6 it without a waiver from the Trustees ,
7 who came and found that it was out of
8 their jurisdiction . But apparently we
9 need to coordinate that better . Very
10 sad what happened there this Summer .
11 Again, the Town Board doesn ' t have a
12 web page . The Town Clerk does . Denis ,
13 I ' d like to make a suggestion on your
14 web page . I noticed as I was sitting
15 here that among your many roles and
16 duties and responsibilities and rights ,
17 you neglected to, or the web page omits
18 the function of Freedom of Information
19 Officer . And I think that ' s an
20 important function . It ' s on the
21 Freedom of Information Request form,
22 but there ' s nothing about it on the web
23 page . And to clarify, the Freedom of
24 Information Officer normally operates
25 to receive Freedom of Information
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 requests for the Town, with the
2 exception of the police department, who
3 somehow have gotten to do it their way .
4 But then the officer just distributes
5 the requests to the relevant agencies
6 and departments and then transmits the
7 information back to the individuals
8 making the requests . However, there ' s
9 a lot of information missing . I made
10 some Freedom of Information requests
11 last Tuesday . Today being Tuesday, I
12 still haven ' t gotten a response . While
13 a response is not required, an
14 acknowledgement of the request and an
15 explanation of why there ' s a delay is
16 required by law . Nobody ' s going to
17 enforce the law on us . But I think
18 it ' s in our interest to have open
19 government in the town . And so I ' d
20 like to just review some of the
21 information that I ' ve noticed is
22 missing from the Planning Board . One
23 of the requests I made was for the
24 minutes of the Planning Board . But for
25 some reason, they haven ' t posted any
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 minutes since October 7th of 2024 . So
2 I know the Planning Department is busy,
3 but the Planning Board has an
4 independent responsibility to put those
5 minutes up . And if I don ' t get a good
6 answer to that FOIL, which is already
7 just barely overdue , I might have to
8 appeal that to the Town Board . And the
9 Town Board is the appellate review of
10 the FOIL requests . Now, it ' s not a
11 problem so much with the FOIL process
12 as the information just apparently
13 doesn ' t exist . Apparently nobody ' s
14 taking the minutes .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : It
16 seems unlikely that that ' s the case .
17 We ' ll try to sort that out tomorrow . I
18 know -- I ' m not disagreeing with what
19 you found there . I ' m just saying that
20 it ' s unlikely that the minutes aren ' t
21 --
22 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Well , there are
23 no minutes posted on the Laserfiche .
24 But the most recent minutes as of this
25 morning, the week after I made the
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 20
1 request, is October 7th of 2024 . But
2 they do have videos . And it may be
3 that they ' re not required to have
4 minutes anymore . Maybe all they need
5 to do is post videos . And I ' ve seen a
6 lot of this . And I am a computer
7 consultant, an office manager . I set
8 up organized law offices and other
9 medical doctors ' office . You know,
10 technology is great . Pencils is
11 technology . All kinds of technology .
12 We use a lot of computerized
13 technology . We need to use it
14 properly . Are videos a substitute for
15 minutes ? Do you think that they are?
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
17 don ' t want to give you a --
18 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : They may be
19 legally acceptable . However, the
20 problem I see is that 50 years ago,
21 when I first started coming to the town
22 here , the agendas set forth what the
23 meeting was going to be about . And
24 then the meetings followed the agendas
25 similar to the way you do . And then
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 21
1 they were transcribed into, or there
2 was minutes . And now we have videos
3 also . And I just like to give you, in
4 my humble opinion, all three are
5 important --
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
7 know we ' ve been through this before
8 with a different Town Clerk, with Betty
9 Neville , and I ' m trying to think of,
10 and maybe Denis Noncarrow is the Town
11 Clerk, you know, who ' s empowered to
12 provide that record keeping . I wonder
13 if you want to, you know --
14 TOWN CLERK DENIS NONCARROW :
15 Well , we sent the FOIL and we sent it
16 to the Town Attorney ' s Office . They
17 have not responded yet .
18 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : But Dennis is
19 not in charge of the minutes for the
20 Planning Board .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No .
22 No .
23 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : The Planning
24 Board is . However, our current
25 Planning Board -- I don ' t have my stamp
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 22
1 with me , but our current Planning Board
2 is like a rubber stamp for the Planning
3 Department . We have a good Planning
4 Department, but you are responsible for
5 what the Planning Department does . Not
6 for the Planning Board, but for the
7 Planning Department . If the Planning
8 Department is leading the Planning
9 Board around, that ' s wrong . All you
10 have to do is look to the website, and
11 you can hardly tell where the Planning
12 Board starts and the Planning
13 Department ends . The organization is a
14 polite term for mess like that, but
15 this whole town needs to get organized .
16 It will help everybody operate together
17 and get the jobs done . Some other
18 things that we ' re missing are the
19 minutes of the Planning Board, the
20 videos of the Land Preservation
21 Committee . I ' m told that, and I think
22 it was when Melissa was maybe director,
23 they decided to stop videotaping the
24 minute, the meetings . They ' re still
25 doing Zoom . They have cameras running,
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 23
1 but their cameras are run so perfectly,
2 it ' s very uncomfortable . A few months
3 ago, when some people wanted to go to
4 the meeting, they were told they were
5 not allowed to go . After consultation
6 with the Town Attorney, we were
7 permitted to attend in person, but I
8 don ' t know how many people attend in
9 person . The way that it ' s run, there ' s
10 very little on the agenda . The agenda
11 is not really followed . The minutes
12 are produced, but currently I ' m dealing
13 with a discrepancy between the minutes
14 and between the letter from the
15 Planning, the Land Preservation
16 Executive Assistant, who is the head of
17 the Land Preservation Department, which
18 is completely under your control and is
19 unfortunately apparently controlling
20 the Land Preservation Committee , which
21 is not the way it ' s supposed to work .
22 But it ' s the cart before the horse , but
23 that ' s the way it ' s working right now .
24 So her letter was in between the
25 meeting and when the minutes were
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 24
1 approved -- and there ' s a discrepancy
2 between what ' s in her letter versus
3 what is in the minutes . So the minutes
4 should prevail . But how we ' re going to
5 untangle that, I don ' t know . I think
6 we need to get more organized . So
7 that ' s the missing minutes , missing
8 videos . Two FOIL requests , which I
9 submitted today . Did you receive one
10 yet?
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No,
12 we had a Town Board working on it .
13 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Okay . And
14 you ' ve got five days to do . It ' s
15 not -- But the one that I sent to the
16 Town Board was with regards to
17 resolutions to establish committees .
18 It ' s required under town -- under the
19 law that this town created that every
20 committee have a resolution from Town
21 Board to establish that committee to
22 say what the committee does and how
23 it ' s going to work, et cetera .
24 Probably half the committees don ' t --
25 those resolutions are unavailable . The
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 25
1 woman who works in the Town Clerk ' s
2 Office that manages the Laserfiche
3 system has attempted to put in each
4 committee ' s folder the establishing
5 resolution, but many of them are
6 missing or incorrect . So we need to
7 work on that .
8 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : We are
9 working on that . That ' s a big project,
10 but we ' re working on that .
11 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Would you like
12 to tell us about what ' s happening with
13 all we have?
14 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : We
15 finished the Committee Handbook and now
16 we ' re working on a Committee Directory,
17 where we list all of the committees
18 that are populated by town residents as
19 volunteers .
20 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : I did that 10
21 years ago and I offered to help you,
22 but I haven ' t heard --
23 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : I ' m
24 sorry, I wasn ' t here then .
25 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Well , you ' re
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 26
1 here now .
2 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Right .
3 So what I ' m working on is getting the
4 committees listed and we ' re searching
5 for all of the resolutions you ' re
6 describing to be sure they ' re up to
7 date and update them as needed and make
8 sure that they ' re aligned with the
9 current Comprehensive Plan .
10 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Look forward to
11 your response to the FOIL . That one is
12 to the Town Board . The two of the
13 departments I have sent requests for
14 the subject matter lists that are
15 required to be maintained by each
16 agency for the purposes of the Freedom
17 of Information law . And those also
18 should be posted along with the on the
19 webpage of the various agencies and the
20 committees , departments , et cetera . Do
21 you understand what I ' m saying?
22 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
23 Mr . Schwartz , let me ask you just to
24 refrain from asking questions . We ' re
25 here to hear your comments .
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 27
1 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Is that right?
2 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
3 Yes .
4 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : There ' s
5 also someone on Zoom waiting to ask a
6 question or not ask a question, sorry,
7 to make a statement .
8 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : I will try to
9 wrap it up there . I think we need to
10 work on the FOIL of the SEQRA. But the
11 open government basically has two
12 branches in the State Law . It ' s the
13 Freedom of Information and also the
14 Open Meetings . Unfortunately, the Town
15 doesn ' t have an Open Meetings Officer .
16 But that might be something that the
17 Town Board might consider to establish .
18 I myself build website ' s and when you
19 build a website, there ' s two things
20 which are of utmost importance,
21 information architecture and content
22 management . I ' m not allowed to ask
23 questions , so I won ' t ask how many
24 website ' s the Town of Southold has .
25 The government of the Town of Southold
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 28
1 has probably close to a dozen different
2 website ' s right now . And yet, to my
3 knowledge, we don ' t have anybody really
4 knowledgeable about integrating them,
5 working for the town, managing them.
6 Thank you .
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
8 you .
9 Would anyone else like to address
10 the Board? Welcome Tom?
11 TOM STEVENSON : Tom Stevenson,
12 Orient . Thank you for hearing my
13 comments here . I do appreciate Ben
14 trying to put his best foot forward and
15 at least offer to help . I mean, he
16 doesn ' t have to be truly helpful . He
17 can just bring it up to you guys over
18 and over . But he ' s been a faithful
19 stalwart of this Town . And I do think
20 he does bring up some good points .
21 Like I ' ve noticed that with Ag Advisory
22 Committee, even though our meetings
23 are -- and I ' m a member for -- I don ' t
24 know, more than a decade . Our meetings
25 are videoed and they ' re posted . But in
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 29
1 the Committee Handbook, it says that
2 the committees are supposed to vote as
3 to whether their videos are up or not .
4 Ours were just put up, and then I
5 noticed some committees , their videos
6 aren ' t up . So a little inconsistent .
7 Now, the Committee Handbook, I did get
8 a copy from the Clerk ' s Office, but
9 because I could not find it on the
10 website . So I requested it from the
11 Clerk and they sent me a copy . But Ag
12 Advisory Committee hasn ' t -- we don ' t,
13 nobody on that committee knows that
14 there ' s a Committee Handbook or has
15 looked at it . I don ' t know if there ' s
16 a paper copy that some of the committee
17 members are decidedly paper analog type
18 people . It is --
19 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : It ' s
20 posted on the website under each -- the
21 committees are organized by letters of
22 the alphabet . And under each of those
23 sections the very first thing you see
24 is a link to the digital format of the
25 handbook --
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 30
1 TOM STEVENSON : In the
2 Laserfiche ?
3 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : No . On
4 the website, under committees . Yeah,
5 it ' s not the first thing you -- it ' s
6 not the first thing you see when you
7 search for committees , but when you go
8 into -- like a -- how they ' re organized
9 by alphabet it -- Lloyd put that in as
10 the very first thing you see under each
11 of those groups of letters .
12 TOM STEVENSON : Okay . Maybe at
13 some point --
14 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : It ' s a
15 start and I had asked that each
16 committee send it out in their minutes .
17 So I will re-ask for the make sure all
18 committees do that .
19 TOM STEVENSON : Okay .
20 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH :
21 Everybody has a link in the minutes .
22 TOM STEVENSON : I think it would
23 help when we talk about FOIL and public
24 information requests give a -- give --
25 an idea -- well here ' s an idea that
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 31
1 committee members should get a town
2 e-mail address and keep their e-mail
3 communications on that I think it would
4 help when it comes down to FOIL
5 requests because we all know if you
6 conduct public business on your private
7 e-mail , all of your private e-mails are
8 now subject to FOIL . And that also
9 goes to texting those would be
10 foilable, which I don ' t think people
11 want their personal cellphone text
12 Foiled . Anyway, Ag Advisory that was
13 just one topic . We still have a
14 vacancy . We ' ve had a vacancy for as
15 long as I could remember . Our last
16 meeting we were not able to have
17 quorum, and we ' re really struggling . I
18 don ' t know if the Shellfish Advisory
19 Committee, if there was any further
20 thought to maybe designating one of --
21 one or two of our nine spots to a
22 shellfishery . Someone from that
23 industry . Since we all know the
24 Shellfish Advisory Committee is
25 defunct, even though it ' s on the
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 32
1 website . Anyway, that ' s it for Ag
2 Advisory . The Oyster Ponds Board of
3 Education, I don ' t know if you guys
4 know, I ' m the President, and we sent
5 you a letter regarding Plum Island .
6 I ' ve been wanting to send this letter
7 for years and my Board sort of -- oh,
8 they ' ll never sell it or, you know, but
9 we finally got it out . So I hope you
10 all were able to receive it and read
11 it . And basically the gist is that no
12 one ' s ever asked us what we think about
13 Plum Island or we just want to seat at
14 the table in any future discussions as
15 we go forward . So thank you very much .
16 What else do I have here? Back to
17 traffic, I ' m sorry, but the unsafe
18 traffic circle in Greenport . Just to
19 let -- so that ' s a state of New York
20 project . They had one public hearing
21 for three different projects , one on
22 the South Fork, one in Riverhead, and
23 the traffic circle . It was one shot .
24 I weighed in at that meeting and I told
25 them that you should have just put a
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 33
1 regular traffic light there because
2 this is going on like two years and
3 they seem to work like once a month . I
4 just don ' t know what ' s going on with
5 them . I mean, except it ' s the state of
6 New York, but it ' s really -- I ' ve heard
7 there ' s been two accidents there
8 already . We wake up one day and all of
9 a sudden there ' s cones everywhere, no
10 signage . And if you ' ve driven by
11 there, some of the approaches to the
12 traffic circle have yield signs , but
13 they are on the wrong side of --
14 they ' re supposed to be on the left as
15 you approach the intersection . If
16 they ' re there , they ' re on the right
17 side . So, you know, I don ' t know what
18 kind of liability people are opening
19 themselves up to, but like it ' s
20 absolutely incompetent down there . I
21 don ' t know . I know Dan has a lot on
22 his plate, but maybe he could reach out
23 to his counterpart and see if they
24 could put proper signage there because,
25 you know, our school buses go through
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 34
1 there . And it ' s like the Wild West
2 there right now . People don ' t know
3 about traffic circles . And so I was
4 really shocked to see that they would
5 go ahead and all of a sudden put that
6 up . There was no actual traffic circle
7 built . It was just like cones . So it
8 really is just mishandled . So, you
9 know, I ' m not going to ask questions ,
10 but maybe Dan ' s listening . But I would
11 hope the Town could speak up, even
12 though it ' s not your direct charge on
13 that one, because there ' s a lot of
14 jurisdictions that intersect right
15 there .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
17 that ' s Tom -- That ' s a New York State
18 road and that ' s a New York State
19 project . And, you know, if we
20 didn ' t -- we weren ' t involved, as far
21 as I know, in the engineering of that,
22 certainly not involved in the
23 construction .
24 TOM STEVENSON : No, not at all .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : You
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 35
1 have to reach out to your state . We
2 have State representatives that are
3 elected that control the New York State
4 DOT, and they ' re the ones who are
5 responsible for that project . I ' m not
6 saying it ' s good or bad . I ' m just
7 saying that they ' re the ones
8 responsible, and they ' re the ones that
9 need to be contacted .
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Yeah,
11 I mean -- I ' m not the governmental
12 official on that thing . So I would
13 just be citizen . I sure could -- I
14 mean, when I ' ve tried to FOIL from the
15 state DOT in the past, I ' ve hit a dead
16 end and absolutely unhelpful . So
17 sometimes if you get someone like an
18 official from the town, they might
19 answer your phone call . Anyway, moving
20 on .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
22 we will , but it ' s like someone asking
23 me about Oyster Pond School . I ' m going
24 to say no, call Tom Stevenson . And so
25 you really need to call your state
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 36
1 representatives and get answers from
2 them if you have concerns about that .
3 TOM STEVENSON : Yeah, right .
4 Absolutely . But I mean, it would
5 probably be a Southold resident getting
6 hurt right there . So, you know, that
7 has nothing to do with it .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
9 we don ' t want anyone getting hurt .
10 TOM STEVENSON : No, that ' s
11 absolutely not . I mean, but you
12 have -- if you step it a little bit
13 west of Moore ' s Road, you have what I
14 count as five jurisdictions on that one
15 road . You have the County portion
16 where there ' s no visibility entering
17 Route 48 roadway from either side .
18 It ' s a death trap . Okay . And the
19 buses turn there , but no one can seem
20 to go and clear the thing . Then it
21 goes into a Town road . And, you know,
22 you remember how the potholes were
23 there? Because no one could figure out
24 whose jurisdiction was what goes town .
25 Then I believe it goes Village at
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 37
1 Greenport . And I ' m going to go throw
2 in Greenport School because it ' s
3 bordering Greenport School . And then
4 it ends on the south side at Route 25 ,
5 which is State . So, I mean, the
6 jurisdictions really should be able to
7 work together . That ' s all I have on
8 that . The leaf cleanups , being in
9 Orient, they either start here or end
10 here . Is there any way we could get
11 like in the middle, like Southold gets
12 every time ? Like maybe it could start
13 or end in Southold? Anyway, I ' m just
14 freewheeling here . And then the last
15 thing I have is the hiring of New York
16 City interns for $20 an hour to show us
17 what our town should look like . I
18 think that ' s an absolute waste of
19 money . I just don ' t see how a $20 an
20 hour college intern is going to be able
21 to add any benefit to our zoning
22 update, which has gone on forever .
23 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
24 Tom, this is Paul DeChance . That was a
25 rescission motion -- rescission
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 38
1 resolution . That was not adopted
2 tonight . It was rescinded tonight .
3 TOM STEVENSON : Oh, that ' s a
4 great rescission . I ' m all in favor of
5 that . Aye . So anyway, the Zoning
6 Update, I would hope the Ag Community,
7 we could, I know we ' ve been buried in
8 drafts and drafts and drafts . And I
9 was like, well , they already asked us
10 this . We already answered this . Now
11 we have another question . I feel like
12 we should come into a Work Session and
13 we could just tell the Town Board
14 directly what we think, and cut to the
15 chase since you at the end of it, the
16 Town Board has to vote on the Zoning
17 Update . So I think part of the delay
18 is that the zone -- maybe you should
19 have a -- send yourselves to a
20 conference in town here and roll up
21 your sleeves for a weekend and just
22 start tearing through the Zoning
23 Update, and make your decisions .
24 Because I think that ' s the real delay,
25 is that it comes back to the Town
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 39
1 Board . So you can have every
2 consultant and everybody else tell you
3 and have every charrette in the world,
4 but when it comes down to it, you ' re
5 elected to do this . So anyway, that ' s
6 my last comment . I do appreciate you
7 listening to me . Good night .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So
9 thank you, Tom. As far as the Zoning
10 Update goes , this is year four and we
11 are still working through it, but we
12 are still taking comments . And the
13 Board has met numerous times recently .
14 And if you look on the website, you ' ll
15 see that a number of revisions have
16 been suggested, or it ' s not adopted yet
17 because it hasn ' t been adopted, but
18 suggested from the original draft by
19 the Town Board . So we are doing --
20 TOM STEVENSON : That ' s the good
21 movement that, you know, I think we
22 need to see a little bit more of .
23 Because you ' re the ones that are
24 talking to everyone . So thank you .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 40
1 you .
2 ABIGAIL FIELD : Hi , I promise
3 it ' ll be super fast . Abigail Field in
4 Cutchogue . I just wanted to point out
5 to you guys , since you do all the
6 Zooming, that you can turn on a
7 transcription feature to your Zooms and
8 get text . And transcripts are so much
9 better than video because you can
10 keyword search in a transcript . A lot
11 of people like me can read way faster
12 than the video ever plays . So while
13 the videos are fantastic, and it ' s
14 great that you post them, if you could
15 just turn on the button that generates
16 a transcript of the video and post the
17 transcript also, that would be a
18 massive improvement in transparency .
19 And you could do this any single Zoom
20 you do . Whether or not you post the
21 video, you could post the text of the
22 video . And I think it ' s like AI done
23 or something . There might be minor
24 glitches , but it would be cheap . I
25 mean, it ' s like free basically on the
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 41
1 Zoom . And I think it ' d be super
2 helpful . So I would just encourage you
3 guys to like --
4 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : We ' ve
5 used it to help create the minutes ,
6 which has been helpful .
7 ABIGAIL FIELD : Sure . But even
8 if it ' s just like on these things that
9 don ' t, whether they have minutes or
10 they go to video only or whatever, it
11 would just be much appreciated because
12 text is actually much more
13 user-friendly than video, if what
14 you ' re looking for is , hey, I heard
15 there was housing talked about . Can I
16 stream three hours or could I keyword
17 search for the word "housing" in the
18 transcript? That ' s all I ' m saying .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Or
20 you can come in person .
21 ABIGAIL FIELD : Like I ' m doing .
22 Yes . But a lot of people do not have
23 the time . So thank you .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
25 you .
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 42
1 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE : I
2 believe that you can also just click on
3 the application . It goes right to the
4 section of the video .
5 ABIGAIL FIELD : I click on what
6 application? Zoom?
7 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
8 Whatever is on the agenda . You click
9 on the item. It goes right to that
10 point . As quick as today, yes .
11 ABIGAIL FIELD : So I would be
12 fantastic to know that . And I will try
13 playing with that . And that would be
14 great . Good to know .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : I
16 don ' t see anyone else on Zoom. Is
17 there anyone else here who would like
18 to address the Board on any matter?
19 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Be extremely
20 brief, I promise . But I was going
21 through that traffic circle, that new
22 traffic circle on the way to work, and
23 I ' m coming into the traffic circle , and
24 somebody in the circle stopped . So
25 we ' re both just stopped there . You
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 43
1 know, so what am I going to do? I go
2 in front of them . So then the next car
3 cuts right in front of me and I had to
4 stop in the traffic circle or I would
5 have been in an accident . What could
6 you do? I believe that Town of
7 Southold does concurrent jurisdiction,
8 even over New York State and Suffolk
9 County roads for at least for policing
10 purposes . And I don ' t think there ' d be
11 any problem posting a little yield
12 ahead sign, which is a frequently done
13 signage to complement the yield signs ,
14 which are right at the last minute ,
15 just before you get to the circle . In
16 addition, it would be helpful to have a
17 sign someone there -- somewhere there ,
18 to educate people that, you know,
19 you ' re telling the people coming into
20 the circle to yield, but maybe some way
21 you could also let them know that the
22 people in the circle already have the
23 right-of-way . That ' s who they ' re
24 yielding .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Go
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 44
1 ahead, Jill . I don ' t disagree with
2 that .
3 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : I go
4 several times a week towards the east
5 end, the state, the County still has
6 that big bright thing saying "circle
7 ahead . " And they have all these,
8 they ' re not completed, they ' re still
9 doing the construction of the circle .
10 So I would think that their signage
11 would get better as they ' re completing
12 the circle . And what I ' ve found out
13 recently is neighboring states , you ' re
14 supposed -- in New York State, you
15 yield going into the circle and you let
16 the person in the circle keep going .
17 Neighboring states , when you ' re in the
18 circle, you ' re supposed to yield . So
19 we have so many tourists here . I think
20 that ' s where a lot of confusion is
21 because --
22 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Or
23 they ' ve been in Ireland and it goes the
24 other way .
25 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Or it goes
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 45
1 the other way . And like some states ,
2 it does go the other way . And so I
3 think, you know --
4 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : They
5 just have manners .
6 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Yeah,
7 they ' re stopping in the circle . And
8 it ' s just -- I know in New Jersey, you
9 stop in the circle and you let the
10 people coming in go . And it ' s just --
11 I know .
12 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : There used to
13 be a light there .
14 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : But my
15 point -- but my point, no -- there used
16 to be a circle there when I was growing
17 up . It ' s the same circle . It was in
18 -- yeah, it was further in . And my
19 point is the County or the State is
20 still in construction mode . And that ' s
21 why the cones are still out . And I
22 think their proper signage will be put
23 up before they ' re done with
24 construction . But there are huge neon
25 lights saying circle ahead . So if you
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 46
1 can ' t see that, then you shouldn ' t be
2 driving .
3 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : Had a little
4 extra time tonight . So after I went
5 through the circle, I stopped and
6 walked back and picked up two of the
7 cones that had were in the middle of
8 the circle .
9 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Be
10 careful .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Be
12 careful , please .
13 ANDREW SCHWARTZ : But, you know,
14 a yield ahead sign wouldn ' t be an
15 expensive thing, and it would help to
16 train the people .
17 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
18 you . All right, seeing no other
19 comment . Do I have a motion to
20 adjourn?
21 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Yes , you
22 do . I make that motion .
23 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Second .
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
25 in favor?
OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 47
1 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Aye .
2 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
3 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
4 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
5 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
7
8 (Whereupon, the meeting was
9 adjourned . )
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OCTOBER 21, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 48
1 C E R T I F I C A T I O N
2
3 I , Jessica DiLallo, a Notary
4 Public for and within the State of New
5 York, do hereby certify :
6 THAT, the within transcript is a
7 true record of said Board Meeting .
8 I further certify that I am not
9 related either by blood or marriage to
10 any of the parties to this action; and
11 that I am in no way interested in the
12 outcome of this matter .
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have
14 hereunto set my hand this day,
15 October 21 , 2025 .
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18 (Je si 0aiLallo)
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