HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-12/16/2025 PH 1
1 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK : STATE OF NEW YORK
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SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD
4 REGULAR MEETING
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7 Southold, New York
8 December 16 , 2025
4 : 30 P . M .
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14 B E F 0 R E :
15
16 ALBERT KRUPSKI JR, SUPERVISOR
17 LOUISA P . EVANS , JUSTICE
18 JILL DOHERTY, COUNCILWOMAN
19 GREG DOROSKI , COUNCILMAN
20 BRIAN 0 . MEALY, COUNCILMAN
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DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
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4 Public Comments 3-42
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DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 PUBLIC COMMENTS
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So
3 would anyone like to speak on any
4 agenda item before we start the agenda?
5 Yes , ma ' am . Mary Bess Phillips , please
6 come to the microphone and identify
7 yourself .
8 MARY BESS PHILLIPS : My name is
9 Mary Bess Phillips . I live at 210
10 Atlantic Avenue , Greenport . I ' m also
11 here actually as a Village Trustee .
12 But first I would like to say,
13 Supervisor Krupski and the Town Board,
14 a resolution on the agenda for Southold
15 Town to work with Suffolk County on a
16 drinking water protection program and
17 open space project about 34 . 76 acres .
18 Recognition is due to the Supervisor
19 and Board for their commendable work on
20 this initiative . This highlights key
21 discussion topics including Community
22 Preservation Funds , water quality, and
23 disadvantaged communities .
24 Particularly following amendments to
25 the Town Law in 2016 and 2024 . The
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 Town is required to update its plan in
2 parallel with the creation of the
3 Peconic Bay Advisory Committee , which
4 is currently appearingly stalled .
5 These updates have ensured compliance
6 and address the community ' s challenging
7 needs . By keeping water quality
8 initiatives and fund allocations
9 transparent, the Town shows its
10 commitment to legal requirements and
11 residential well-being . Our mutual
12 Village and Town residents need to hear
13 and see action on the following .
14 Verification that no less than 10%
15 percent of the CPF monies set aside
16 each year spent in state-designated
17 disadvantaged communities is within the
18 Town Budget for Land Preservation for
19 the Budget Year 2025 . When the Village
20 and Town Boards meet in the next few
21 weeks , an outline of dates and goals
22 will be established to create the
23 following . Updating and creating the
24 current CPF plan to include a water
25 quality plan, including the process for
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 the Village to apply for the 10o CPF
2 monies for projects in the Village of
3 Greenport . Thank you for the
4 opportunity to speak about the example
5 of joint effort resolution between
6 Suffolk County and Southold Town, which
7 demonstrates to the Village residents
8 that we, as elected officials , can
9 accomplish much between our two
10 municipalities through a process in
11 place . Thank you very much for the
12 opportunity to speak . And I ' m actually
13 very impressed with the goals of
14 working with Suffolk County and the
15 Town .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
17 you for coming and --
18 MARY BESS PHILLIPS : Thank you .
19 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We
20 welcome your partnership . Okay . Thank
21 you .
22 Would anyone else like to address
23 any agenda items ?
24 PATRICK BRENNAN : Okay . Good
25 afternoon, Supervisor, Council Members .
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 My name is Patrick Brennan . I live at
2 620 First Street in Greenport , and I am
3 a Trustee of the Village of Greenport .
4 And I guess I ' m speaking about water
5 quality, but specifically about CPF
6 Funds , the 10% that has been designated
7 for disadvantaged communities . So I
8 know in the past the Supervisor has
9 articulated his vision and his
10 priorities for the use of the CPF
11 funds . And what I understand it to be
12 is that it prioritizes open space
13 acquisition and land preservation . And
14 I ' ve also seen that the council members
15 appear to be more or less in lockstep
16 with the Supervisor and support that
17 agenda . But I think we need to
18 recognize that this is , in some
19 respects , it ' s a political calculation,
20 right? It prioritizes one community ' s
21 needs over another community ' s needs .
22 And I think doing so requires that you
23 treat the notion of a disadvantaged
24 community as something abstract,
25 something out here , something that you
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING
1 can ignore , if you like . But in
2 reality, a disadvantaged community is
3 actually about disadvantaged people .
4 Actual people . My friends , my
5 neighbors , my Village colleagues . The
6 course of action that this Board has
7 taken today strikes me as arrogant and
8 shameful . And perhaps unlawful . No
9 one likes to hear that kind of talk .
10 It sounds like tough talk . I don ' t
11 like to hear it . I don ' t like when
12 those kind of comments are directed at
13 me . But I do believe that you all
14 serve your community because you
15 deeply, deeply care about your
16 community . I know that to be true . So
17 I hope that you can all take a step
18 back, take a deep breath, and examine
19 what it is you ' re doing, and then do
20 the right thing . You need to get on
21 board with implementing this program,
22 not as you will it to be , but as it was
23 intended to be, to effectively deploy
24 public funds to directly benefit a
25 disadvantaged community . I know you
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 can do it . I hope you have the will to
2 do it, and I look forward to working
3 with you to get it all done . Thank
4 you .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
6 you . So I would like to have everyone
7 limit their comments to any agenda
8 item . And once we get through the
9 agenda, then we ' ll take comments on any
10 other matter, including CPF .
11 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : Can I speak
12 on CPF since it ' s on the agenda? Or
13 are you with the --
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
15 it ' s sort of a, I mean, you can speak,
16 the resolution is to partner with the
17 County on a parcel for open space
18 acquisition .
19 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : As Trustee
20 Phillips came up to speak on it, if you
21 don ' t want the rest of us to speak
22 until the end of the meeting, we can
23 wait?
24 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
25 Probably better if you waited . Thank
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 you .
2 All right . So is there anyone
3 would like to speak on any agenda item
4 specifically?
5 (No Response ) .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
7 Seeing none .
8 (Whereupon, the meeting continued
9 on at this time to the Resolutions . )
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
11 right, that concludes the Regular
12 Meeting . Is there anyone who ' d like to
13 address any topic to the Board?
14 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : Good
15 evening, Mr . Supervisor, Town Board,
16 and incoming electors .
17 Congratulations . Mayor Kevin Stuessi ,
18 Village of Greenport, 420 Clark Street .
19 I stand here before you with the full
20 Board of the Village of Greenport .
21 Deputy Mayor Brennan, Trustee Phillips ,
22 Trustee Dougherty-Johnson, and Trustee
23 Robbins . Together with them, we also
24 have our Historic Preservation Chair,
25 Janice Claudio, and we also have our
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 Planning Board Chair, Trisha Amos .
2 When we ' re elected, you know, we ' re
3 presented with a lot of challenges , and
4 a lot of things come in front of us .
5 And oftentimes it ' s hard to, you know,
6 push the right thing forward . Heard
7 you, Greg, earlier talking about the
8 Zoning Update, which I ' ve served on the
9 Zoning Update Committee now for almost
10 two and a half years , and it hasn ' t
11 moved as fast as any of us would have
12 liked to have moved . You know, for the
13 two and a half years since our Board
14 came together, we worked really hard
15 with the town to try and see some money
16 from CPF come into the Village of
17 Greenport . The legislation was passed
18 31 years ago under the guidance of
19 former Assemblyman Fred Thiel . One of
20 the very first meetings that we had in
21 the Village when we brought the
22 community together, this vision for
23 Greenport series that we did in the
24 theater, we had nearly 300 people and
25 Assemblyman Thiel came and spoke to us ,
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 and was surprised because he didn ' t
2 realize that we hadn ' t seen any funds
3 from CPF . Since that time, there were
4 multiple public meetings considering
5 making changes to the CPF Law that the
6 County Legislature , those that were in
7 office , including Supervisor Krupski
8 and his -- when he was the legislator
9 still , and others from the region,
10 together with all the outgoing
11 supervisors , incoming supervisors ,
12 mayors , stakeholders all participated
13 in . Lengthy process that went through,
14 passed the State Assembly and the New
15 York State Senate . Virtually
16 unanimous . There was only one person
17 out of the entire both houses that
18 voted against it . Went in front of the
19 governor, and there were letters of
20 support from every town on the East
21 End, with the exception of Southold,
22 and every single mayor on the East End,
23 with the exception of the Mayor of
24 Dering Harbor, who none of us have met,
25 who attend the East End Mayors and
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 Supervisors meetings . I think there
2 are about 25 people that live there .
3 But there was a lot of support for it .
4 And the letters of support specifically
5 referred to the 10% for disadvantaged
6 communities , which was in there . There
7 were also, you know, multiple
8 correspondence over the course of the
9 bill and the work that was being done
10 through New York State Senate and
11 Assembly about this specific issue .
12 And Assemblyman Thiele was very clear
13 on what its purpose was and how it
14 should be utilized . And I ' ll also add
15 there was a recent interview with
16 Former Assemblyman Thiele on a podcast
17 with 27 East . And he was very clear
18 about these funds and that they should
19 be coming to Greenport and spending
20 money in Greenport . And I ' ll also add
21 that the 10% was meant to be the floor
22 of what could and should be spent . The
23 Climate Justice Act that was enacted in
24 New York State says that a minimum of
25 35% of State funds should be spent in
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 13
1 disadvantaged communities and the State
2 should target 400 . This law was signed
3 into place December 21st of last year .
4 The Town has now collected close to $13
5 million in CPF funds , whatever that
6 number is , 12 , 13 . Effectively, a
7 minimum of that needs to be spent in
8 the community of Greenport, which, as
9 Deputy Mayor Brennan said, is a
10 disadvantaged community has been .
11 There ' s great history there , and it ' s a
12 part of your community . I remember
13 stomping on the streets , you know,
14 trying to get voters out for you, Greg,
15 and for you, Brian . And it was the
16 reason I changed my voter registration
17 was because I saw something happening
18 in this community and changed my voter
19 registration to out here . And who
20 would have ever thought that I would
21 have run for office just to have a
22 conversation about getting some things
23 done? I hope this Board, and Greg, you
24 in particular, Louisa, before you
25 leave, will consider being on the right
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 14
1 side of history and saying to everybody
2 tonight that you want to push this
3 forward and make sure that the Town
4 implements the State Law . There ' s a
5 lot of things this Board is
6 considering, including the resolution
7 that you guys read in earlier in
8 regards to CPF and this land
9 acquisition on the North Road . And
10 you ' ve got another one coming up in
11 front of you too, where we ' re , as a
12 community, considering doing a
13 preservation act where we ' re going to
14 hand money to a billionaire in order to
15 build out 47 houses . Yet no community
16 housing is part of that . I question
17 that . I ' ll wait until there ' s a public
18 hearing on that . But I would ask you
19 to do the very simple thing, which is
20 the right thing, which is to start
21 spending money in the Village of
22 Greenport . We have real needs for
23 this , whether it ' s fixing drainage
24 issues down at the bottom of 5th and
25 6th Street Park, one of the most active
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 15
1 parks and beaches in the entire
2 community . The only one that doesn ' t
3 require permit in all of Southold Town
4 for folks to use . Getting sewer over
5 to Sandy Beach and the marina over off
6 of Sterling Creek, an area that I
7 wouldn ' t swim in . They have no ability
8 to put in new septic because of the
9 water table over there . We can fix
10 these things , but we need you guys to
11 work with us in order to do this . Now
12 is the time . We can ' t wait any longer .
13 Be on the right side of history and
14 make this happen now . It is the law .
15 Thank you .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
17 you for coming . And we look forward to
18 working with you on this . The governor
19 signed it without any input from
20 Southold a year ago . And we ' re working
21 towards working with you as a Village
22 on what the law means to the Town .
23 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : I would
24 just beg to differ that there was input
25 from Southold Town . The bill jacket
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 16
1 has many letters that were sent from
2 the town, including responses back from
3 Assemblyman Thiele in regards to this ,
4 in addition to public meetings . But we
5 can talk about that further .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
7 you .
8 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : And I look
9 forward to seeing your list of
10 applications because the way I see it
11 doesn ' t work where we just give you
12 100 . It has to be an application and
13 cost of that on particular projects .
14 So we don ' t just say here ' s 100 . It
15 has to be the cost of the project . So
16 we ' ve been asking for that list .
17 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : You ' ve had
18 a list for many, many months now .
19 Trustee Dougherty-Johnson has been
20 reading with Trustees or Board Member
21 Smith in regards to this .
22 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Right --
23 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : Every
24 single item that is on there qualifies
25 for CPS .
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 17
1 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : I have not
2 seen that list . They ' re still working
3 on it, and it has not become affected
4 by the list .
5 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : We ' ll be
6 glad to send it to you . It ' s been with
7 the Town now for many months , and every
8 single item on there qualifies . But
9 your plan, you have not adopted a Water
10 Quality Plan, which is required as part
11 of the 2016 legislation and must be in
12 there . And we have to have a mechanism
13 to apply . There ' s no way for us to
14 apply . We very much want to --
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : The
16 2016 legislation does not require a
17 Water Quality Plan component to the
18 CPF .
19 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : We bet to
20 differ .
21 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : It
22 enables it , but it doesn ' t require it .
23 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : It ' s listed
24 in your 2016 plan, which I ' ll also add,
25 of course , is out of date . It ' s
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 18
1 required to be updated every 5 years .
2 We ' re now approaching 10 years in
3 regards to it, but it needs to be
4 there . We feel very firm on what the
5 law says from 2016 and what we ' re
6 doing --
7 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : I just
8 wanted to clarify that it ' s not just a
9 blank check that we give to the
10 Village . It goes to a particular
11 project with details and everything
12 else .
13 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : We ' ll
14 submit tomorrow if you give us an
15 application .
16 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Well , and
17 as far as I understand, Councilman
18 Smith, who ' s not here tonight to
19 explain, she ' s been working with
20 Trustee Dougherty-Johnson to get that
21 list formulated, and we have not
22 formally received it . The Town Board
23 has not formally gotten that list . I
24 know it ' s in works , and Anne has kept
25 us up to date, but it has not been
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 19
1 presented to us .
2 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : We will
3 make certain that Trustee
4 Dougherty-Johnson sent it to the full
5 Board immediately, and would request
6 that we have a joint open and public
7 meeting because I think these things
8 need to be talked about publicly .
9 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Yeah --
10 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : That we can
11 apply, and we wish to have that
12 mechanism so we can do so and get the
13 funding for our Village .
14 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Right .
15 Supervisor Krupski sent you that e-mail
16 requesting two people from your Board
17 --
18 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : To do it
19 publicly, but we ' ll respond --
20 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We
21 can do it publicly, but we don ' t have
22 to do it at a Regular Meeting .
23 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Yeah,
24 we ' ll have a separate .
25 MAYOR KEVIN STUESSI : I think our
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 20
1 Board will make ourselves available as
2 soon as we can . We had a joint meeting
3 scheduled, which was canceled . We have
4 spent over two years working on this .
5 We would like to move this forward .
6 There ' s been a law in place for a year
7 now that the Town hasn ' t done anything
8 with . It was a public process , and
9 there is a mandate that the Town is
10 required to spend a minimum of 10% in
11 the disadvantaged community of
12 Greenport . It ' s very clear . We want
13 to work together and get it done . But
14 we need the Town to work with us .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
16 Anyone else?
17 JULIA ROBBINS : Hi , I ' m Trustee
18 Julia Robbins from the Village of
19 Greenport, 216 Moncell Place . Short,
20 sweet, I ' m calling for unity here . The
21 Village is seeking the 10% of the
22 Community Preservation Funds designated
23 for disadvantaged communities in 2024 .
24 The Village of Greenport has several
25 water quality projects that the funds
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 21
1 can be used for . We need to enter into
2 an active dialogue with the Southold
3 Town Board for the uses of these funds .
4 Although the Town Board has oversight
5 of the funds , the Village should drive
6 the discussion on their use for Village
7 projects . I hope we can begin a
8 productive dialogue that puts us on a
9 path to the intended use of the CPF
10 funds . Unity . Let ' s work together,
11 okay? That ' s all I ' m asking .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
13 you . I appreciate that .
14 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : Lily
15 Dougherty-Johnson, Village of Greenport
16 Trustee . So I just want to address , I
17 hear what Council person Dougherty is
18 saying . We understand that it ' s not a
19 blank check, and that ' s why I ' ve been
20 working with Council person Smith to
21 create a list of projects . Right now,
22 unless it was open space , there ' s no
23 way for the Greenport to apply . Unless
24 we had a parcel that was for open
25 space, because that ' s what your CPF
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 22
1 plan says . That ' s now almost 10 years
2 out of date . So that ' s something we ' ve
3 been talking about and asking for . And
4 I ' m happy to send you guys the chart ,
5 which is still a working document .
6 It ' s true . It ' s not, you know -- I
7 mean, we can keep adding to it . We can
8 keep changing things . We heard your
9 staff like in November say that, you
10 know, possibly those were not eligible
11 projects . Again, if you ' re talking
12 about your current CPF plan, sure ,
13 they ' re not eligible because they ' re
14 not all open space . Some of them would
15 be, if we had open space . But again,
16 we ' re a small village that doesn ' t
17 really have that unless we have willing
18 property owners . And that ' s not really
19 what makes the most sense in Greenport .
20 And then to go to Supervisor Krupski ' s
21 point, it does require a committee .
22 Your 2016 update, which was passed by
23 referendum of Southold Town to include
24 up to 20% of water quality as part of
25 CPF Funds , does require a committee,
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 23
1 which Council person Smith at the last
2 meeting when I spoke said, you do have
3 a committee . You have a committee that
4 talks about water quality . It ' s not
5 necessarily -- the founding document is
6 not about not your CPF plan . It ' s not
7 a Water Quality CPF Committee . So
8 there ' s no way for us to put forward a
9 water quality project or a historic
10 preservation project in a formal way .
11 We have given you a document with a
12 list of over a dozen projects that
13 could be eligible .
14 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Right , and
15 that ' s what I ' m saying . We don ' t have
16 that document .
17 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : Well ,
18 I ' m happy to share it with you, but
19 basically when we talked and when --
20 you know, when we talked and met, and
21 then when your staff talked about it ,
22 we ' re being told "no" before we even
23 have a chance . You know, we ' re being
24 told these are not really eligible .
25 This is not eligible . But that ' s
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 24
1 because you haven ' t updated your plan .
2 And we don ' t have a way . I mean, if
3 you ' re just telling us that they ' re
4 eligible before you actually put
5 together -- have a water quality
6 committee , have a water quality plan,
7 and have a process to allow those ,
8 which to me -- to us , it just looks
9 like you don ' t really want to allow
10 water quality or historic preservation,
11 which I understand . But if you ' re
12 going to use 10% , which I was going to
13 read you guys the one line because
14 that ' s been talked about a lot, and
15 it ' s short . Yeah, sorry, I had it
16 right here then . Okay . " In towns with
17 one or more disadvantaged communities ,
18 not less than 10% of the annual
19 proceeds of the fund shall be utilized
20 to benefit such disadvantaged
21 communities . " It ' s pretty clear . I
22 don ' t see how you ' re going to say that
23 not spending it in a timely manner .
24 And I guess that ' s why we ' re here and
25 why we ' re frustrated, is that it feels
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 25
1 like we ' ve been talking about this for
2 a long time and not a lot of progress
3 has been made . I ' m happy to keep
4 meeting . I ' m happy to meet in a
5 smaller group . I do think having it
6 public is a good idea . And I think
7 we ' re all happy to move it forward . We
8 just -- we don ' t want to keep meeting
9 and basically sort of being told "no"
10 in so many words .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : So
12 the quick explanation for why the Town
13 doesn ' t use in 25 years any money for
14 CPF for water quality purposes , because
15 the decision was made years ago that
16 we ' re under such development pressure .
17 The best way to preserve water quality
18 was by land preservation . You know, I
19 found out -- I brought it in to show
20 everybody today . There was an old
21 article from the newspaper, and it was
22 two Town Trustees standing by a
23 discharge pipe going into Mattituck
24 Inlet from 1998 . And the Town ' s
25 efforts to improve water quality
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 26
1 through stormwater remediation is --
2 really goes back three decades . But we
3 have not used CPF money to do so
4 because we have such a limited pot of
5 money . But it was a conscious decision
6 to use the CPF money for land
7 preservation . And this year, 2025 , we
8 used $500 , 000 for water quality and
9 road drainage and stormwater
10 mitigation . Last year, in the last, I
11 don ' t know how many years , Southold
12 Town has used $250 , 000 a year on
13 stormwater controls and stormwater
14 mitigation . So we have not ignored
15 that issue . And I ' m talking town-wide,
16 including the hamlet of Greenport .
17 Town-wide , we ' ve spent all that money
18 and dedicated the resources , full-time
19 engineer, a lot of Highway Department
20 infrastructure and personnel to
21 accomplish that . So we ' re not ignoring
22 a problem . We simply budgeted
23 differently .
24 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : You ' re
25 ignoring your constituents who voted
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 27
1 that 20o of funds could be used for
2 water quality . The people wanted to
3 see that money used for water quality .
4 And instead, you ' re using other money
5 in the Town . The other issue is we ' re
6 the Village . We pay into CPF . And we
7 just -- we want help with some of those
8 projects . That ' s what we ' re asking .
9 And, you know, to do this in December,
10 like in the holiday season, feels very
11 like, you know, like we ' re begging .
12 We ' re asking for scraps off the table
13 for these projects for a disadvantaged
14 community, which by law, that money has
15 to be spent . So, I mean, you know, we
16 can keep arguing, like, I understand
17 that you have a different, like --
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : No ,
19 that ' s an explanation of why in 2016 ,
20 and I wasn ' t even on the Board in 2016 ,
21 but I was on the Board previous . We
22 didn ' t want to spend the amount we
23 could spend on stewardship even out of
24 that money because there was so little
25 money coming in that we knew we had to .
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 28
1 Because when a parcel comes up for
2 sale, there ' s one opportunity to
3 preserve it .
4 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : I
5 understand .
6 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : And
7 so that ' s why we made those conscious
8 decisions to focus on land preservation
9 at that time and not spend it in
10 different areas .
11 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : But
12 you ' re going to have like $12 million
13 in CPF this year or something like
14 that . And to not -- again, just to not
15 spend it in a disadvantaged community,
16 which by law you have to, I just -- I
17 don ' t know how that is the choice
18 you ' re making . Just one other thing I
19 was going to say, just because it ' s
20 been scallop season, and there have
21 been hardly any scallops . And it ' s
22 made me think back of like, you know, I
23 moved out here in the 80 ' s . I was
24 little , but my family was told by like
25 old-time Greenporter ' s after certain
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 29
1 winds , what beaches to go to where you
2 could maybe pick up scallops off the
3 beach . And we used to like collect
4 mussels at low tide . And my mom got
5 sick of eating lobster because we had a
6 lobster pot . Or that ' s the story she
7 tells . And I grew up eating bluefish
8 because -- and I still love it . And
9 like that ' s the -- and I , you know, I
10 know Southold, like farmland is super
11 important . I understand that , but so
12 is our waterfront . And that ' s not just
13 in Greenport . Like that ' s an
14 experience the whole North Fork has or
15 used to have . And we ' re not going to
16 get back to like those days probably .
17 Maybe one day . But we could at least
18 be doing something . And I get you ' re
19 doing something about water quality,
20 but we could be doing more and we could
21 be doing it in a community that really
22 needs it . I think that was all I was
23 going to say . I know other people --
24 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : I
25 encourage you to get that list to us ,
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 30
1 and we will continue to work on CPF and
2 updating it . But to Al , to the
3 Supervisor ' s point , if we can come up
4 with a project, a water quality project
5 that we can help you with right now, we
6 will . But we don ' t know what those
7 projects are .
8 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : But
9 again, you also don ' t have a way for us
10 purchasing .
11 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : It doesn ' t
12 have to come from CPF . It can come out
13 of other --
14 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : Legally
15 100 of the CPF money .
16 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : We ' re
17 going to work through that .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : We
19 welcome your meeting with Councilwoman
20 Smith because that was , I think, very
21 helpful . And we ' re willing to
22 certainly meet with you, set up
23 meetings and meet with you, if you want
24 to meet your whole Board .
25 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : I would
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 31
1 also say let ' s do it as soon as
2 possible .
3 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Well ,
4 and I thought that ' s -- I guess if I
5 can add anything, I thought that was
6 the direction we were headed in . And it
7 seemed like we had gotten to the
8 position as two different Boards where
9 we were kind of talking past each other
10 a little bit . And there was a debate
11 about using the CPF money for water
12 quality or using it for this , and using
13 it for that . And I thought you and
14 Councilwoman Smith made a really good
15 effort together to start working on
16 this as a parallel path to actually
17 look at what the projects were , put
18 them on paper . I understand you put
19 them on paper . And then there was
20 going to be the next step to actually
21 convene a working group of some Village
22 folks , some Town folks to work on this .
23 And then the other important component
24 here is to look at water quality
25 projects around town . Because as a
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 32
1 town, we ' re not allowed to restrict our
2 water quality expenditures if we are ,
3 in fact, going to open them up to just
4 Greenport Village . We need to look at
5 them more broadly . And it seemed like,
6 and maybe I was mistaken here , that you
7 were making good progress in that
8 direction . I know an e-mail was sent
9 to set up some meetings , I believe, in
10 January and February . And it felt like
11 that was a step in the right direction .
12 I know our Planning, or not our Plan,
13 our Land Preservation Coordinator has
14 started to put together a schedule for
15 actually updating the plan . You know,
16 an important bit of information here is
17 that she just came on as our Land
18 Preservation Coordinator a few years
19 ago, and was working on catching up
20 with some stuff in the transition and
21 only now felt like we were ready to do
22 this . And it felt like I was at least
23 pretty optimistic with that update
24 happening alongside the work you and
25 Councilwoman Smith were doing to really
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 33
1 put us in the position that we can do
2 this . And you ' re right, we do need to
3 spend this money to the benefit of a
4 disadvantaged community, which is
5 Greenport . And that money has been set
6 aside and will be set aside . And we
7 will look to see how we ' re going to
8 spend it together . But as Councilwoman
9 Doherty points out, and as everyone
10 understands , it ' s not just a blank
11 check . Needs to be incorporated in the
12 project plan . The Town Board needs to
13 review it . We ' re all very aware of how
14 the process works . It ' s going to be
15 exactly like our land preservation
16 efforts here , where it goes to the
17 committee , the committee reviews it,
18 provides recommendations . They come to
19 the Town Board . The Town Board looks
20 at it, maybe asks for additional
21 information, and then approves it or
22 denies it based on the Town Board ' s
23 decision . But we need to put that plan
24 together . And I thank you for your
25 work that you ' ve put together . As much
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 34
1 as I ' d like to see the document now, I
2 can ' t do anything with just that
3 document now, nor can this Town Board
4 do anything just with this document
5 now . It really needs to be put into
6 the plan and done as part of this
7 overall plan update, which again, I
8 thought we were moving forward on and
9 it seemed like we were moving . I
10 understand the frustration because
11 we ' ve been having this discussion over
12 my four years on the Board .
13 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : And I
14 think that ' s the first time I ' ve ever
15 heard any one of you say we ' re putting
16 the money aside . So that -- I mean,
17 that ' s great . That ' s one of the things
18 we ' ve been asking . We ' ve also -- I
19 mean, the plan update we ' ve been
20 asking . And I agree, yes , we are
21 making progress . And I know that
22 things in government, I have learned in
23 the last few years , like take a lot
24 longer and go much slower than we would
25 all wish . But I think we just all want
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 35
1 to say, yeah, that we need to see that,
2 you know, as the year has coming to a
3 close since this legislation went into
4 effect, we just want to know that
5 that ' s where we ' re headed because
6 updating the plan, putting it
7 together -- like those are going to
8 take time too . So the sooner we get to
9 it .
10 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And we
11 were also hopeful that the Regional
12 Advisory Board would have been put
13 together . But as we ' ve seen as a Town
14 Board, just the negotiation of the
15 agreement has been a nightmare .
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : And
17 it wasn ' t Southold that held that up .
18 We were ready to sign that Regional
19 Advisory Agreement .
20 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : None of
21 that precluded like, I mean, in
22 January, you guys could have said, hey,
23 we really need to update our CPF plan .
24 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Let ' s make
25 a date for January, February meetings
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 36
1 and move forward . I think we can move
2 forward with this .
3 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : So , answer
4 the Supervisor ' s e-mail once you guys
5 know what two Trustees you want to put
6 on for the meeting, and we ' ll have
7 ours , and then we ' ll set dates for
8 January, February, and we ' ll move this
9 forward .
10 LILY DOUGHERTY-JOHNSON : Thank
11 you .
12 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
13 you . Ma ' am?
14 PATRICIA HAMMES : Hi . Thank you
15 for the opportunity to address the
16 board . My name is Patricia Hammes .
17 I ' m a resident of the Village of
18 Greenport, as well as , as was
19 previously mentioned, the Chair of the
20 Planning Board . I ' m not here in that
21 capacity . I ' m here in my capacity as a
22 resident of the Village and a resident
23 of the Town of Southold . And honestly,
24 I feel like I ' m in Groundhog Day here .
25 I don ' t mean to beat the dead horse
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 37
1 that ' s been, you know, loudly spoken
2 about . This is not, you know, I guess
3 a year or two years ago, whenever this
4 first came on my radar screen and
5 people encouraged me to come to the
6 Town Board meeting on this , I was like,
7 oh, you know, Southold, they ' re good
8 people . They ' re going to do what they
9 should do . They ' re going to make this
10 work . They ' re going to realize that,
11 you know, the Village needs to be a
12 beneficiary of some of these funds . I
13 don ' t need to add that to my list of
14 things that I harp on and I dig into .
15 And then I ' ve listened to these
16 meetings , and it ' s like the same stuff,
17 to use a soft word, over and over
18 again . And like, I don ' t understand .
19 And I don ' t even understand like why
20 the Village has to put this list
21 together . Does Mattituck put a list
22 together? Does Cutchogue put a list
23 together? Does Orient put a list
24 together? The Village should be
25 treated the same way as everybody else .
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 38
1 You guys have the responsibility for
2 administering those funds and making
3 sure that they ' re treated appropriately
4 and fairly . And now the state told you
5 got to put 10% into a disadvantaged
6 community, the only one of which is
7 Greenport . And, you know, I hear
8 things about, well , we didn ' t agree
9 with them . We didn ' t, you know -- we
10 didn ' t, that wasn ' t our view and that
11 wasn ' t our input or it was overreach .
12 Well , I ' m sorry, it ' s State Law . So
13 I ' m very glad to hear that the money is
14 being set aside . That ' s been something
15 I ' ve been asking about . That gives me
16 a little bit more confidence that we ' re
17 not just trying to play and run down
18 the clock here . But honestly, you
19 know, you need to treat us fairly and
20 equally . And this like -- we ' re going
21 to have more meetings and we ' re going
22 to have more meetings . There needs to
23 be a game plan and this needs to be
24 done . I ' m not sitting here and having
25 this conversation again in another
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 39
1 year, I hope . I really honestly -- I ' m
2 sorry . I ' m a little bit angry and I ' m
3 a little bit frustrated as a resident
4 of this Town having listened to these
5 meetings and again hearing the same
6 thing at this meeting for the most
7 part . So I really hope that you all
8 will work together and sort this out on
9 an expedited basis . And I am very
10 thankful to hear that the 10% has been
11 set aside . I understand it ' s not a
12 blank check, but it ' s also not money
13 that can go somewhere else . It
14 eventually has to go into the Village
15 and it needs to be set aside until
16 there can be an agreement on what that
17 is . Thank you for listening .
18 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
19 thank you for coming . And the Town
20 spends the CPF money in the Hamlet of
21 Greenport quite a bit . If you notice,
22 all the preservation that ' s been done
23 in the Hamlet and all the drainage work
24 that ' s been done in the Hamlet of
25 Greenport has not been CPF funded .
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 40
1 JULIA MORAN : Hi , I ' m a resident
2 of Greenport . My name is Julia Moran .
3 I ' m here in my capacity as a resident
4 of Greenport . And I ' d first like to
5 thank the Trustees of the Village of
6 Greenport for coming here . Honestly, I
7 mean, the fact that they had to come
8 here, and it seems to me , like hat in
9 hand, please give us this money, is --
10 it really, I have to tell you, it
11 shocks me . It makes me feel like
12 there ' s something broken here . There
13 needs to be money spent in Greenport .
14 I was at the Democratic Hearing Session
15 that we had, and I was talking to
16 Brian . He said, there ' s progress . And
17 I ' m listening to this , and I don ' t
18 really think there is progress . So I
19 think everything in terms of how this
20 is moving forward needs to be done
21 publicly because it looks to me like
22 Southold is comfortable with the way
23 things have been done . They have a
24 plan that hasn ' t been updated . I ' m
25 just giving you my impression as a
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 41
1 resident . I feel like Greenport is
2 getting sloughed off . Greenport is not
3 being considered . And I don ' t --
4 admit , if it ' s not water quality,
5 there ' s historic preservation, there
6 are other opportunities to use this
7 money in the village of Greenport . And
8 I guess we ' re going to have to keep
9 coming here until people do something .
10 Because it seems to me like we are
11 being stonewalled . And we pay into
12 this . And I ' m very -- very frustrated
13 at listening to people say the plan
14 isn ' t updated . We ' ll update the plan .
15 This has been a couple years . I think
16 people have been talking about updating
17 the plan . Then we hear, well , you need
18 to give us a list of projects . And I
19 hear my co-resident say, I don ' t know
20 if everyone else needs to give a list
21 of products -- but -- projects . But
22 then I hear from Lily that we ' re not
23 even eligible to submit these projects .
24 This feels like stonewalling . This has
25 to stop . This needs to get unstuck .
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 42
1 So I ' m hoping that you can do that .
2 Thank you .
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Thank
4 you .
5 Would anyone else like to speak?
6 (No Response ) .
7 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . :
8 Anybody on Zoom?
9 TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DECHANCE :
10 Mayor, I see that you have counsel with
11 you this evening . Can I suggest that
12 we have a conversation this week?
13 Thank you .
14 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
15 right . If there ' s no other business , I
16 would like to thank the Village
17 residents and the Village Board for
18 coming . I think we ' ll be hearing from
19 each other .
20 Someone would like to make a
21 motion to adjourn?
22 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I ' ll
23 make a motion to adjourn .
24 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Second .
25 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 43
1 in favor?
2 COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY : Aye .
3 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
4 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
5 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
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7 (Whereupon, the meeting was
8 adjourned . )
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DECEMBER 16, 2025 REGULAR MEETING 44
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 December 16 , 2025 .
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