HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-08/02/1995-FI 252
SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD
FISHERS -ISLAND
-` August 2, 1995
1 :30 P.M.
A Regular Meeting of the Southold Town Board was held on
Wednesday, August 2; 1995,at Fishers Island, New York. Supervisor
Wickham opened the meeting at 1 :30 P.M. , with the Pledge of Allegiance to
the Flag.
Present: Supervisor Thomas H. Wickham
Councilwoman Alice J. Hussie
Councilman Joseph L. Townsend, Jr.
Councilwoman Ruth D. Oliva
Justice Louisa P. Evans
Town Clerk Judith T. Terry
Town Attorney Laury L. Dowd
Absent: Councilman Joseph J . Lizewski
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: It's my pleasure at the meeting here on Fishers
Island to take advantage ' of the ge6erosity of the Fishers Island Ferry
District; who provided the transportation that makes it possible for lots of
officials from the . State, the County, the Town, and other jurisdictions to
come visit Fishers Island -for this particular meeting. I have a partial list
of people here. I don't have a complete list, and I'm afraid I •wouldn't be
very good at remembering everybody, so I'm just going to take the first
crack at it, and some of you afterwards wish to introduce additional people
on your staff, feel free to do that, when you have a chance. First of all,
it's a distinct pleasure to have with .us today, Alexander Treadwell, the
New York State Secretary of State, and his staff. Sandy, I know you're
here somewhere. He went out to look at one of the issues, that we're going
to be talking about today. I don't know that we have a Secretary of State
here before, and it's a great pleasure for me, and I know that for many of
you here on Fishers Island. He brought with him Will Powers, and George
Stafford from his staff. It's always a pleasure to have Pat Acampora
here, Assemblywoman up in Albany. Pat, there she is. There are so many
people that we'll have to give applause to, that I think our hands are all
going to be chapped by the. time we're finished, so let's go on meeting, and
we'll have applause at the end. for everybody. John Kreutz, who
represents the County Executive's Office. I also see Scott Harris, who
represents the Legislature's Office. Scott, it's nice to see you. We have
Jean Segall from Senator LaValle's Office, Bart Howe from the
Department of Transportation, Regional Office in Hauppauge. We have
Mary Fallon, Director of Suffolk Office of Citizen Affairs. There's Mary
with the red cap on, and Bob Stanonis, Suffolk County Department for the
Aging. . Several of the New. York officers we have with us the Regional
Director of .New York Department of Environmental Conservation , Ray
Cowan and a number of his staff members. Ray has been very helpful to
us, and I know to many of the people here, dealing with solid waste issues,
and other environmental areas.. Lou C.harella, New York DEC Bureau of
Marine Habitat, Doug McKay, Department of Ag and Markets of the
State, John Flannigan, New York State Department of Ag and Markets,
too, Steven Costa, representing the Commissioner of Suffolk County
Department of Health Services. Paul Pontura is Department of Health
AUGUST 2, 1995 253
Services, Drinking Water Bureas. Stephn Jones is here as Director of
Suffolk County Department . of Planning, and I might add in addition to
Stephen, there are a number of people here from the Suffolk County
Planning Commission, and we'll have an opportunity to meet all of them later
on at the end of the Town .Board's. meeting. Don Eversall if the Chair of
the Suffolk County Planning Commission, and we'd like to bring on the
Planning Comission after our meeting to explain a little bit to the people
of the island here, what the Suffolk County Planning Commission does, and
ho.�v it conducts it's business, and what _it's purposes are, and so on. We
have Carrie Lechtecter• Assistant D.A., for Jim Catterson. She's here
today representing Jim Catterson's Office. We Fred Daniels, Deputy
Commissioner of Suffolk County Fire 'and Rescue and Peter Hackett, the
newly installed Suffolk County EMS, Emergency Medical Services, Director.
We also have a number' of invited guest today, and it's a great pleasure for
me to introduce, and. -it's a great pleasure for me to introduce, I don't seem
to be able to fix my. eyes on people' today, it's a great pleasure, if I can
find them to introduce a fellow Supervisor from another island, very similar
to Fishers Island, only -a little bit bigger, and that's Hoot Sherman. Is he
around, or is he out looking at the water, too? Hoot is the Supervisor of
Shelter Island, a town of. about 2,000 year-round residents, which as I think
most of you know is just off the coast of Greenport in Peconic Bay. I'm
pleased he is here, because I think there are some points in commonality
between Fishers Island, and Shelter Island. He'll be here, and we'll have
some comments later on. We have Gary Kelly representing Northeast Utilities.
Some of you - know Gary better than I do. There he is in the back.
Northeast Utilities has been a significant player in helping us develop an
emergency evacuation plan for Fishers Island. We have several other people.
Before going on to that; I'd like to introduce my colleagues from Southold
Town. Apart from myself we have with us today five of the six members of
our Town Board. Joe Lizewski was unable to be with us today, but on my
right is Alice Hussie, a Councilperson from the rest of the town. On my
left is Ruth Oliva. 'I think many of you know Ruth. She's also the Deputy
Supervisor. We have Louisa` Evans, also a Justice, who I'm sure is very well
known to you, probably known to you than to us. Joe Townsend, a former
Mayor of Greenport, and an active participant on our Town Board, and next
to Joe is our Town Attorney, Laury Dowd. So, we are the people .on the
Town Council of the Town of Southold. In addition to the Town Council we,
have a number of people here from other Boards, and I see ranging in the
back there the Planning Board, led *by the Chair Dick Ward, who is sitting
there in a striped shirt. On his right is Ben Orlowski, former Chair. On
his left is the newest member of the Board, Bill Cremers, and Ken
Edwards, of course. In addition to the' Planning Board we have the Zoning
Board, the Chair Gerry Goehringer, also, Serve Doyan, whom I saw a
few minutes ago, and . Lydia Tortora, who ,is the member of the Zoning
Board, also newly installed. Lydia is a former newspaper person, so I can't
imagine better credentials for somebody for somebody to dig into matters,
and get the facts, than a former newspaper person. We have Judy Terry on
my right, the Town Clerk, and we have a number of other people here. I'll
have to refer to my notes to be ' sure I don't skip people. Our Highway
Superintendent, Ray Jacobs, who some of you met. He's done a lot of work
on the island. He's not , able to be here today. Jamie Richter is the Town
Engineer. He's here, and has already spent a good part of the morning
looking at engineering' problems, that the town is dealing with. We have our
Solid Waste Coordinator Jim Bunchuck, and his foreman Ed Capobianco. I
guess Jim is also looking at the Metal Dump, which we'll have some comments
about in awhile. Our Community Development manager is Jim McMahon,
Director. There's Jim in the corner. I think you know Jim. He's the guy
that helped put the tennis courts in shape a couple of years ago. Venetia
McKeighan is the Director of our Human Resource Center, and is
responsible for the EISEP Aides, and others that are active here, and on
the Long Island portion of town. The Police Department, I don't see the
Chief, but our Lieutenant if here, Joe Conway. There are other people
with him. One of them is the head of our Public Dispatch System, and that's
John Raynor. John will - be here, and, he'll be able_ to talk to us a little
bit about Emergency Preparedness, and the E911 Systems, that are in place.
Town Trustees, Bill' Albertson's name is here, although I'm not sure I see
him the audience. In addition to the Trustees we have a Justice Court, and
I don't see any of our Justices,.either, except for Louisa, who is a Justice,
as well as a Town Board member. Assessors, we have two Assessors with
us, the Chair of the Assessor is Scott Russell, and sitting next to him is
Bob Scott. I guess the two best dressed people here in the audience. The
254 AUGUST 2, 1995
... .,
Board of Assessment Review, which reviews assessment, and considers
grievances, and what not, John Sullivan may, or may not be among us
today. I didn't see him. ' The Building Department, I see Tom Fischer. Tom
is our head Building Inspector, and I think many of you have met him,
when you've had building inspections, and applying for building permits.
Lauren Grant is the Administrative Assistant in my office, who helped put
together some of these. plans. Lauren is in the back, and there are other
_people, that I have very unfortunately and inadvertently overlooked. If not,
I'll' just proceed with. the' program. We'll have a chance later on to talk to
some of these people, and, to have a sense of the services, that they're
providing, the public officials, in the- town. The normal plan in my
experience, when the Town Board has '-it's annual meeting on Fishers Island,
is we go through the tintroductions, and then there's discussion with our
issues that may be of interest to Fishers Island people, and we don't really
take 'up any significant ,issue of business. Today we have one issue of
business, that I think is, .significant, and it's timely. The Town of
Southold, as many ..of -.ydu know, has been involved with the Cross Sound
Ferry Inc. to br,ing Cross Sound Ferry in for Site Plan . Review of some of
their properties in Orient, properties, that relate to their ferry handling.
Our Town Attorney has handled the legal end of' that issue for last couple of
weeks, and the last time the Town Board met, we considered and thought
seriously, ' her handing off that responsibility to some outside legal
counsel. I wish to bring to the Board today a resolution to engage_ that
outside legal counsel. We're doing, it on Fishers Island, not because
Fishers Island is so used to ferries, and knows what ferry traffic is all
about, but because it's timely, and it's quite important that we take this
action sooner than later,', since there are breaking points, virtually every
few days, in this matter. So, consequently, I would like to propose this for
consideration of the Town Board at this time, the one, and as far as I
know, the only resolution--on. our agenda for today.
I .-Moved by Supervisor Wickham, seconded by Councilwoman Oliva, it was
RESOLVED that the Town. Board of the Town of Southold hereby engages
the services. of .' Francis, J. Yakaboski; as Special Counsel to the Town in
litigation involving the -Planning Board, at the following billing rates: for
partners $175.00 per hour, for associates $125.00 per hour, and for legal
assistance $80.00 per hour.
1 .-Vote of the Town Board: Aye's: Justice Evans, Councilwoman Oliva,
Councilman. Townsend, Councilwoman Hussie, Supervisor Wickham.
This resolution was duly ADOPTED.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: 'At many of our Board meetings in' Southold our
resolution sometimes turn to as „many as thirty or forty resolutions. A lot
of them are perfunctorily,, but some of them are rather critical policy type
resolutions, too. In the' last year` and a half we have 'occasionally had what
we call, Supervisor's briefing, which is an opportunity for the Supervisor
to make a few comments,. as to the 'direction that things are taking in the
Town, issues to relate to the Town Board as a whole. It's an opportunity
for me to bring the Board up to date with issues, that the Board should
have some knowledge of,' but necessarily require a vote. I'd like to take
this opportunity for a brief, I hope, Supervisor's briefing. As I mention
this I've already seen one person in the audience, that I neglected to
introduce a few moments ago. So, this Supervisor's briefing is going to
touch as several different topics. It's not going to bring an indepth
discussion of any one of them. Maybe., the way to get started is to remind
people, that recently the Board adopted a resolution that called for _, the
establishment of an Ethic Board, and an Ethics Code for the Town of
Southold. This is a . stronger system of looking at protecting the ethical
resposibilities of Board members, and other public officials in the town.
We have one member of''that three person Ethics Board with us today, and
that's Mrs. Blanche Katz. So, she's here today. There are three, or four,
things I'd like to talk about very briefly this afternoon before it's sort
of a sort of open question and answer series. After my comments if any of
the other Board members wish to make some comments, they have the floor
and the opportunity to do, that. First of all, just a .word or two about. the
clean-up' of the Metal Dump. You recall the last time. we met here a year
ago, Jim Bunchuck was just walking in here with the blue hat in his-
hand, and we took a look at the Metal Dump; and after, I guess, eighteen
months or so of struggling' with the finances, and the arrangements, and the
contracts, put out a bid to clean .up the Metal Dump entirely. That ,means .to_
reclaim it, to take all the stuff out, of the Metal Dump, to get it off the
AUGUST 2, 1995 255
island, and clean up the whole place into just a bunker, just a blank open
bunker. We prepared those bid specifications. We went to bid, and the Town
Board has accepted the winning bidder to do that job. In fact, it could be
underway right now, but the ferry schedule back and forth during the
summer just did not seem like the appropriate time to put a lot of junk on
the ferry to get it out of 'here; so we've asked the contractor to wait until
after Labor Day to start that job. It should take a couple of months, and
that whole thing should be finished. It will cost the Town on the order of
$275,000., and .I think that whole system is in place. We've already awarded
the bid to the corporation. One � little piece of left over business
associated with that. What's going to happen to that bunker after it's
cleaned? There's a potential danger there. A huge open pit, there looks to
me like quite drop in the concrete encasement there. Some of you may have
some good ideas on that score. I would welcome those of you who want to,
or have an interest in, it; to put together your ideas, as how you would like
to finish off this project? What kind of protection would you like to see
our there? Is there... any historic purpose an empty bunker could be put to?
Give us your recommendations. Whether the Town will have the money to do
it all is a very different question, but at least we'd like to know what
people here, how you'd like. to handle it,' what you would like to see done
with that bunker after it's emptied. A couple of comments on the emergency
911, and the other plans, John Raynor is here, just several things, I'm
sure you do know that Fishers Island no longer has this voice forwarding
system for emergency calls, that formerly was. Fishers Island is now
hooked up with the Enhanced 911 telephone service. Fishers Island calls are
handled exactly the same way with the same switches, . and the same gear,
and the same efficiency, as E911 calls throughout the Town of Southold.
might add the Town of Southold is ahead of most all the other towns on
Long Island in the technology, and the precision, and speed of response on
E911 calls. This system that has been put in here on Fishers Island costs
the Town about, something on the order of $20,000., which is about the
same cost as what the Town is paying for the Long Island portion of the
Town's E911 service. So, it's working. It's been budgeted. I intend to put
it in the next year's budget, and I. think it is an important asset for the
people here. I think it's . an important asset for the people here. I think
it's worked well. I don't see any particular problems with it. You may know
that my title among other things is an .Emergency Preparedness Manager or
Coordinator. John Raynor sitting there is my Deputy for the Long Island
"Portion of the town. Alan Thibodeau from Fishers Island is the Deputy for
Fishers Island. So, both Alan and John have been working closely on
various plans dealing with disasters. There are two kinds of disasters to
worry about. The first is a disaster relating to a hurricane, or a major
winter storm. We recently had planning exercise. Alan came over, and John,
we had a planning exercise to deal with a hurricane or an emergency
evacuation that might be required for that nature, electrical outages, major
parts of the island being flooded,' how. to deal with that. Alan and John are
developing plans for evacuation from, local' low lying areas, and how to deal
with that both here and on the Long Island portion. There's a second one,
and that is how to deal with ' problems of a nuclear disaster from
Connecticut. We have with us tonight Gary Kelly from the Northeast
Utilities, and John and Alan, and others, who have been working on those
plans. That, also, calls for a major evacuation, if there were a serious
incident from Millstone. That could happen. It's very unlikely, and I'm not
here to even talk about the possibility of it, except to say that at some
stage Fishers Island needs to have a updated evacuation plan. Gary, John,
Alan and the State of New York, and the State of Connecticut are all for the
first time working together. There is cohesiveness of interest. People are
finally sitting down, focusing of the problem, getting themselves together
to come up with one straight .forward single plan. If you .have any input, or
comments, or suggestions, as to how that plan should look, I suggest you
talk to Alan, or Louisa Evans here, who also is a Coordinator, helping with
it, but Alan Thibodeau if the key person. He is your Deputy Emergency
Management Coordinator. ' Okay, what else do have for today? I wanted to
talk just a little bit about tax, rates in relation to open space. You all
know, perhaps, that .last November the Town Board, Town of Southold, put
on the ballot a resolution to preserve open space by financing at, i
believe, 1 .76 million dollars additional acquisitions under the Farmland
Preservation Program. At a time, when the Town voted strongly for
conservative leadership at both the National and State level, the Town also
voted convincingly for a preservation effort to basically committing us,
taxpayers, to additional support to acquire Farmland Development rights. I
2 5 .6 AUGUST 2, 1995
think you know how Farmland Development Rights work. Very briefly, if
land is valued at say, just take a number, say $15,000.. an acre, and if for
agricultural purposes it's worth say, half of that, $7,500. , then the
development value of that land .is $7,500. The program enables the Town to
acquire development potential but not the underlined fee title of that land.
Why is that in our interest, and why did the voters of the Town vote
overwhelmingly for it, at the same time of the elections of last year. There
are two, or three reasons f_or it, but, I just_ wanted to. just mention today,
that the protection of open space, and preservation of a rural quality to
the town, both the Long Island portion, and the Fishers Island portion, I
think is very important to this Town, and I think it's important, not just
because it's a way of' life, it's a quality of life issue, and it looks nice,
and because some of .us are. farmers. It's important for tax reasons, tax
reasons that _ ultimately;, will benefit ' all of us. Studies have shown
repeatedly that land, k that is not developed, land that is retained in an
open space, costs less in services, . than the dollars generated in taxes.
Alternatively, land that is developed, land that goes into houses, and
developing, and .whatnot, although there is a greater tax revenue from those
properties, the cost of providing town services to those properties is
disproportionately higher' still. So, I know the people on Fishers -Island
have not seen the acquisitions here on the island for Farmland Preservation
Program, or for very much open space. •1 guess no Open Space acquisitions
yet. I understand, and we had some discussions about that this afternoon,
we understand the value of finding some of those parcels here. But, I
wanted to leave with you this afternoon the message' that even if there
aren't direct benefits to the island, in terms of . the land being acquired
here, there will still be 'ta'k benefits to you, as well as to us, on the rest
of the town, because land that is preserved helps keep down the overall tax
rates indefinitely, and not just for one year. It will help keep down the
trend of taxes over a long period of time. This is important to me, and the
rest of the Board, :because as some of• you may know the Town Board of the
Town of Southold last year adopted a resolution, that essentially committed
us, as a Board, to adopting budgets, that will result in taxes, that will
not increase by anything'; greater than the cost of living. In other words,
we'll . try to keep flat taxes, and if they do have to increase, okay, we
could adopt a tax increase 'up to, but not exceeding the rate of inflation,
which is on the order of, I guess, about 3% this year. So, that our little
contribution to try to . keep a lid on taxes, and I believe that - the
--preservation of farmland, and open space purchases,. in a long run are a
critical key tool to keep , that lid on taxes. Finally, there another issue to
deal with taxes, and also quality of life, that I'd like to mention briefly,
and that has to do with Suffolk County, and the proposal to establish a new
county called Peconic County. I'm not quite sure how Fishers Island fits
into Peconic County, but; I'd, .like to bring you up to date with a discussion
so far about Peconic County. Peconic County is an idea, that has been
around for a long, long 'time. It, involves basically the five east end towns
from Riverhead on east, Riverhead, 'Southampton, Easthampton, on the
North Fork, Southold and Shelter Island in the middle. It's been around for
a long time, but the key question people have asked is, hey, what is the
tax consequence going to, be. It's one thing to say we're in favor of home
rule, we're in favor our own county, that sort of reflects our life style,
and what we want to .see. But, if it's going to kill us in taxes we're going
to have to take a pretty hard look at it. Last year with the help of the
State, New York State contributed half the money of a $100,000. economic,
or fiscal feasibility study to address exactly that question. Some key
economists, and public administrative people, got in, were given the job of
assessing precisely what impact would the establishment of a new county,
Peconic County, have on' taxes. Each of the towns paid their proportional
share of the other $50,000. That study was finished just recently. I was
revised and updated just a week or so ago'. I want to .share with you very
briefly the outcome of that study. First of all, the study investigated how
Peconic County would be structured, what kind of staff it would have for
each of the departments. There are various questions that. . assumptions
that went in the study, that made it possible to cross things out. It was
proposed to continue the sales tax at, exactly the same rate for comparison
purposes for Suffolk County. 'At the end ' of the day, when all of that study
was done, and basically complete, the study points to a major savings in
property taxes spent for' County purposes. The savings, that was. originally
assumed to be on the order of 150, and now looks like it's 30 to 40o savings
over the County portion of our property taxes. Now, County portion is not
the biggest portion. I think you all know that the school taxes is the
AUGUST 2, 1995
biggest portion, the Town takes a major bite, and I think the County comes
next. This Peconic County, if in fact it were to occur, there's lots of ifs,
and it isn't clear to me ' the 'political route to creating it even if there
were a clear majority interest . in it. You all know that Staten Island is
currently undergoing a . lot of the same kinds of questions that Peconic
County is. If it does happen, it looks to the best assessment that has been
made so far, the most ' rigorous, careful, financial feasibility study there
will .be a savings on the order of 30 to 40o in the County portion. of our
property taxes. So, ..it is an issue that I don't think is going to go away.
There will be hearings about it. I hope there will be a hearing held here on
Fishers Island in the coming months to discuss: further the possibility of
Peconic County. There's- lots more I can say, but I think I'd like to turn
over the next item to ' the Thames River dredging project, a project that I
think is quite close to ,many of you here, and I think the best way to
introduce the subject is to say, that this is something that many people
from Fishers Island will not let ,.us forget. The Town Board of the Town of
Southold about three months ago passed a resolution calling upon the
Department of the .Navy, the Department of Defense, to cease and desist all
of it's planning to ,dump . the spoil .in the location that they designated,
calling on them to find .another location,, that is much further from Fishers
Island, if they insist on carrying out this project. We've asked for
officials in the State of New York to help us to make those representations
with the Department of Defense, and to date there has been some
discussion, and some back and forth on it, but it's really an issue that is
not directly in the jurisdiction of the town. We're fortunate here today to
have with us the Secretary of State Sandy Treadwell. He was out
inspecting things, when I tried to introduce him some ten or fifteen minutes
ago, and I think perhaps the best thing to do would be to turn the
microphone over to him, and let him ,explain the status of the discussions,
the little trip he made this morning to look at alternative sites, and the
state of play.
ALEXANDER TREADWELL: This is a very pleasant change from Albany.
It's nice to be here today. ' I'm here with Will Powers, the Deputy Secretary
of State for the State of New York, with George Stafford Director of our
Coastal Management Program. We're all happy to be here with you. It's a
hot day. I'll be extremely brief. As you all know the U.S. Navy has
proposed dredging contaminated sediment from the Thames River - at the
submarine base in Groton, and disposing of the dredged spoil at a Long
Island .Sound disposal site located within one and a half miles from this
beautiful island. The Department of State has the authority under the Costal
Zone Management Act to say, yes, or no, to Federal activities' effecting New
York coastal areas. The *Department told 'the Navy that we would review the
proposed dredging and disposal. The Navy however has responded that it's
proposed dredged disposal, .quote, .:will not effect coastal resources of the
State of New York, end quote. We: disagree with the U.S. Navy. This
morning we took a boat right out to the dump site, and nearby us suddenly
appeared a submarine. I'm sure this was a coincidence. We're not paranoid,
but we're pursuing every avenue available to us to make sure that the
disposal will not affect the people, and natural resources of our State, and
the Town of Southold in particular. Thank you all.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: 'Ray, do you, 'want to add anything to that?
RAY COWAN: I don't know whether I can add too much to what the
Secretary of State just said. We, too, my aides are also reviewing all the
data that's been generated, proposed data that's been generated for the
dredging, and at this point in time we agree with the Secretary that there
are probably other alternatives, that may be appropriate. We will be coming
forward with some sort of analysis in a couple of weeks.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: Thank you. Ray, are looking at actual options or
alternatives?
RAY COWAN: Actually I learned of one today, that I thought was very
intriguing, that John brought to my, attention. Maybe he wants to explain.
What seems to be the most common sense thing to do.
JOHN THATCHER: John Thatcher from the Fishers Island Conservancy, and
yes, there are answers to your question. There are several very intriguing
alternatives available, and time is of the essence here. We're trying to
258 AUGUST 2, 1995
study them, and evaluate, .them. One of .them, probably the one with the
most promise is for the Navy to use for the disposal are two piers that
exist at the Naval Underwater Sound Base. Those are huge piers. They can
very easily accommodate th.e Sea Wolf. Even one pier would be sufficient for
two subs on each side,. The third sub would always be on patrol I presume.
There's forty feet of water already dredged on the north side of the pier,
and I believe any dredging needed would be at an absolute minimum. Now,
this is kind of intriguing, because this is Navy property right now as we
speak. The facilities for;' docking very large ships are already there.
They're already in place, and it has a very interesting strategic advantage
in the fact that it's . below the Cold Star Bridge. People have been
increasingly worried that the Naval Base above the Cold Star Bridge would
vulnerable to a terrorist bomb on the 195 highway,. or the railroad bridge
across the Thames River; so that we feel from a National security point of
view, and from just ak home porting point of view, this suggestion has real
merit. Any cost involved would, I think, be offset by the creation of
additional jobs in Southeast Connecticut area, and I believe, we're going to
look at this long, and hard, and propose it, I think, too. The Chiefs of
both Connecticut, and New York, there are other methods. available. Another
one is when you dredge something out of' a river bottom basically 80a of it
is water, ,and the Navy Environmental Impact Statement originally suggested
that this would cost $88,000,000., which made it far too-expensive, but your
Conservancy has been in .contact with engineers in Massachusetts, who work
for companies that do 'this, and they're most recent bid in writing is
$15,000,000. That's a long way from eighty-eight, and strangely enough the
State of Connecticut hasn't appropriated $15,000,000 to do this thing, and I
think all of you are familiar with the. advantages of, the New Haven dumping
over New London,. if it is put in the water. New London, as you know
Peter, you sail there all ,the time, very fast tides, depths, and heavy storm
wave possibilities. The New Haven site is twice as large, deeper, and well
over six miles off shore, ' and it's over thirteen miles from the nearest Long
Island beach. I mentioned three examples, just to give you some example- of
what we're working - on. .quickly, because this has to move very, very fast.
Time is certainly of' the essence. As I was telling the Secretary of State
just a few short minutes ago, we'd like to get something in the works, a
proposal that both Governors could consider within a week or two. I hope
that answered your question.
--SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: Thank you, John. I might just add that this issue
of the spoilage, and where it's placed, is of some importance.. to the Long
Island portion of the Town, too. It has the potential to impact the shores
of the. North Fork as Well. _Are there any other comments on this Thames
dredging project? If not I'm open to any other issues of concern to the
people of Fishers Island. Are there arty other comments, that people would
like to raise?
SPEEDY METTLER: My name is Speedy Mettler. I'm the past President
of the Fishers Island Civic Association. Presently I'm Director of the
Fishers Island Conservancy for the specific purpose which I am about, to
address. Many of us on Fishers Island, are very concerned about the fishing
trawlers, that are dragging in our surrounding waters. They appear to be
seining everything in waters, and certainly depleting the bait fish, and the
sport fish, including the' -small striped bass, which are presently protected.
I would like to have following question, I assume that these should be
directed to the DEC. Who issues these. permits to the trawlers? How many
are issued each year in each of these three states, that surround our water,
that is New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island? What is the exact
wording of the permit, ' because we would like to know exactly what can be
taken, and what can not. be taken? Is there any way that we can eliminate
the regular trawlers from. 'this area the same way they seem to be eliminated
from Peconic Bay? Who is responsible for the enforcement of the regulations
about_ which fish can be taken, and are these regulations really being
enforced? I ask this question, because since there are three states that are
are being violated. It's very easy to 'say, well, we can't do anything,
because'. they're under Rhode Island, they're under Connecticut, they fish
here, they fish there. They drag it on. I'd like to know frankly how many
boats have been boarded in the last year, and how many trawlers, or
dredgers have really. been. checked out? I. guess the main question is, what
can we do on Fishers Island to try, and improve the . situation, either to
eliminate all the trawlers,' or make sure the regulations under which they
operate are being enforced', because I'm not sure that is taking place.
AUGUST 2, 1995 259
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: I think the first thing to try to answer those
series of questions is to find out where the jurisdiction lies.
RAY COWAN: Actually one of my people just told me that might be an
interesting use for' the gun bunkers, that you have all in the hills up here.
I try to anticipate what questions might come up today, and I brought quite
a few staff with me. I don't have the appropriate staff to answer all those
questions, but I do have Captain Richard Otterstadt here with me today,
who is our law .enforcement captain, who I think can at least address the law
enforcement issues, and then we'll be glad to get back to the gentleman with
answers on the other one.
CAPTAIN RICHARD OTTERSTA,DT: I have a series of questions here,
that Speedy Mettler had asked just a minute ago. I'll try to give you
folks some idea about .what the State does about this issue. However, before
I do that, what I would like to do is just to help you folks get a better
focus on marine resource, and fishery management in New York State with
the various fish that we have here. New York State is a member of the
Atlantic States Fishes Council, together both on Federal, and State, and
coastal basis. We collectively are managing all of the different species of
marine fish that we have today, fluke, flounder, bluefish, striped bass
(tape change) to effectively manage it for the maximum benefit of both
recreational and commercial fisherman. In New York State has for the last
couple of . years now, developed, or is in the process of developing
management plans for each different fish, each different species. Those
management plans include management, approaches such as, quotas, annual
quotas, for commercial . .takes, as well as recreational take. It includes
minimum sizes. It includes closed and open seasons, licenses, limitations,
available licences, and so on, so that if a particular species is down a
number, the commercial quotas, and recreational quotas, that would be
permitted to be taken in -any one year would be substantially low, and there
could be in fact limited entry. If the fish is restored, obviously the
regulations are going to be more liberal to allow the recreation and
commercial to enjoy the abundance of that resource. Hopefully I gave you a
little bit of a focus on how we approach this issue. Let me answer the
questions here, and then we'll 'go from there. Who would respond to these
trawlers? New York State issues commercial fishery permits to New York
State residents, commercial fishery residents, and non-residents who states
offer reciprocal commercial fishing opportunities for our residents in their
waters. How many of these licenses are issued each year? I don't know that
answer. However, if Speedy and somebody else would like a specific
number, I will obtain that information, and I will report- that specific
number back to you. What is the exact wording of the permits? The permits
are essentially, and I don.'t know the exact wording verbatim, however the
permits allow a licensed individual , to engage in that commercial activity,
such activities following the varios u rules and restrictions that are placed
upon the licensee. Those rules and `regulations can vary for each individual
species of fish. We have net description. The net mesh must be minimum
sizes for specific fish to allow the undersized fish, inferior fish to pass
through that net as it's being dragged through the column of water. We.
have as I mentioned season size limits, and so on. The question is, there a
way to eliminate these trawlers? My experience, a law enforcement factor,
is that trawlers close to -shore creates a social problem. It's a social
conflict problem. I don't know as it's a detrimental. resource problem where
it's all close to the beach is having any greater impact on any particular
species of fish, than elsewhere. More often than not way up west trawlers
restrictions on distances from shore have been enacted because of social
conflicts, where recreational boaters, that were fishing off the beach had
incidents with commercial fisherman, or commercial fisherman their presence
was undesirable for recreational bathers, or boats, or whatever. So, is
there any way we can eliminate those trawlers? I think people that might
favor that need to weight that with what is a real concern, and a legitimate
problem here, versus what may be perceived. Who is responsible for
enforcing these regulations about which these fish can be seined? The New
York State . Environmental Conservation Police are the primary enforcement
agency for the New York Environmental Conservation Law, and Fisheries
Laws, and my officers patrol the East End of Long Island here periodically
to check these resident and non-resident commercial fishermen,, fishermen
and lobstermen, for compliance with our .various laws. We can get out to
the degree that I would like us to, to be very honest with you, and that is
only because we have limited staff, and we have a multitude of
260 AUGUST 2, 1995
responsibilities, that go, on beyond marine resource and fisheries
management. Are these regulations being enforced? To the best of our
ability they are, and when we do sent a boat out there, a large patrol boat
that we have, that we purchased back in 197 specifically to address the open
waters of the east end of Long Island, and Fishers Island, a forty-two
footer does come out, with . a staff of officers to check these various
commercial fishing boats ''for compliance'. What can we do to protect these
sport fisherman? Probably to demand more enforcement time from my
department, to lobby, and , demand more attention from the State Legislature
to help the DEC protect 'the resource we need to do our job. To kind of
give you a prospective on Long Island State Law Enforcement in the mid
'70s, we had a staff of 29 officers for all of Long Island, Nassau, and
Suffolk Counties. Two decades later, there are 24 of us, so we have five
less than we did twenty years ago, and our enforcement responsibilities are
growing. -So, we could use a, little bit of, help, but we do the best we can.
We tend to adjust the squeaky wheel, so if Speedy and some of these folks,
that would like to see us'- spend a little more time out here, to insure these
non-resident commercial draggers are complying with our laws, so that only
a fair number of fish are - being taken, and your share of the recreational
catch is there for you, '-we'll do the best we can. . Now, I'll address the
specific questions from the audience.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Do you think we'll have a hunting season for
Cormorant?
CAPTAIN RICHARD OTTERSTADT: Sir, I'm not a wildlife manager, and I
know Cormorant is perceived as a nuisance by many recreational boaters,
however from my sport hunting prospective it is probably a not very tasty
bird, so it may not do well' with our sport hunters, who only hunt to eat
the game as well. So, there may not be much of a desire for us sport
hunters to shoot them.
RAY COWAN: As a point of information. I have Steve Lawrence here who
is a wildlife biologist.
STEVE LAWRENCE: I do know that the Federal people, Federal agents, do
kill Cormorant. That's something up in the Northeastern United States, up
in Maine, and so forth, *so maybe addressing that question directly to the
Federal government may help you. If you call our- office,, we can certainly
provide you with the rest of information. The Animal Damage Control Office
in New Jersey, they need to hear about the problem out here. It is
growing. It is a growing. problem. They do have agents that go out and
gun them. They get paid to do it. Somebody's got to do it.
JOE ANDERSON: Joe Anderson. .I'm with the Civic . Association. If you look
at our island here, you'll . see it's- a especial shape. It's not a round shape,
which is a defined shore area. At has an enormous amount of coastal line for
a small island, which to 'me means that it is disproportionate to be getting
any of those fish. No doubt on Lorig Island you have some protection, some
buffer zones where you simply can't drag. Is there a possibility of creating
some sort buffer around the island?
CAPTAIN RICHARD OTTERSTADT: Again, just as an enforcement
prospective what I mentioned to Speedy Mettler was if there's concern
about rights to establish: some kind of restricted area around parts, or all
of the island, for commercial fishing vessels, they should discuss their
concerns with our Division of Marine Resources at the Setauket office.
Gordon Culven is the director of the Division of Resources, and then work
with the local legislators, your State' legislators. That's a valid issue for
your needs.
BILL RIDGWAY: Bill Ridgway. When you go. out, and check the
trawlers, do you find many violations?
CAPTAIN RICHARD .OTTERSTADT: No. The trawlers have too much to
lose to be always breaking the law. They're going to try to beat the system
certainly. Up west on Long. Island we do find unlicensed trawlers coming in
the creek ports, and some of the other ports. The fish they caught outside
of New York, possibly, and they don't have a non-resident landing permit,
and they need the bucks; and they try to sneak in real quick to unload, we
catch them, we cite them, but it's not a common occurrence to catch an
AUGUST 2, 1995 261
unlicensed trawler." As far as undersized fish, again, they face a lose of
license, so unless there's a great profit to be made, I would think they
would try to within most compliance with law, so they can continue their
business..
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: I'd like to 'introduce George Prios, who's with
the County Executive's Office. I should have introduced him before. George
would you like to make a comment.
GEORGE PRIOS: Last week one the bills dealt with this, and as a result
we've looked into some of the fisheries. There's about 1,500 commercial
licences are issued in 193, 194 according to Sea Grant, and he signed a new
bill, that would put a 'moratorium on -the issuance of any further commercial
licenses. Although New York's own commercial people saw the influx of out
of stators in there, and felt that there was a lot of harvesting done, so
the way the law reads now, the only people who will be able to get licences,
those they currently have them, and any people in New York State who are
retiring might give them to their family members. A father is retiring, and
wants to pass it on to his ' son, ' he can do that, but for the next year and a
half there will be a moratorium in effect, as result of the bill.
JOHN THATCHER: Can I make one comment, again? John Thatcher, the
Conservancy. There are some -real problems here, which Speedy Mettler
has addressed, and 1 notice that Gordon Coleman has finally realized that
there is a shortage of blackfish, which we've known for ten years, or
more. The problem is when you set a quota limit per day, per individual,
there's one on bluefish currently, there's one on blackfish, . it's ten.
Gee, it's been a couple - of' years since I've caught ten bluefish in a day.
Try three or four per individual per day. That's plenty to restore a
species, and I would say to you this, that certain bait fish, particularly
bunkers, are very. rare in these parts. They used to be very plentiful.
There is a reason why they are very rare. Because certain draggers from
New York State have the ability to harvest them, and sell them to the
Russians, which 1 understand is used for fertilizer, and those permits
should be examined .very carefully, because the one I saw a few years ago
had in it a .little codicil, if. you will, a little paragraph or clause, that
a commercial fisherman could also keep the bi-catch. Well, when you're
talking about . bunker, - and mayhaven, and herring, the bi-catch is
usually striped bass, and I always felt very uneasy about that.
CAPTAIN RICHARD OTTER.STADT: Okay, let me address that. The law
right now as currently written does not allow bi-catch. You' can not take
commercial , striped bass right now. The regs have a very limited
bi-catch, so a dragger if they're fishing the eastern waters of Long
Island, and then catch a striped bass, it's supposed to go back in the
water. There is -no bi-catch, and. even if there was, they would still have
to abide by the commercial quotas.
JOHN THATCHER: I saw the permit myself, so I know it's there. That
word, that they were allowed to keep the bi-catch.
CAPTAIN RICHARD OTTERSTADT: How long ago was this?
JOHN THATCHER: 1987.
CAPTAIN RICHARD OTTERSTADT:' The regs are changed every year.
We're constantly typing them in order to do a more effective job of
eliminating loopholes, and to further protect the fish, while still allowing
the maximum harvest that we' can allow.
JOHN THATCHER: If I could conclude, sir. We'd love to see more of you
out here. All it takes is one boarding, and the word spreads. Four, or five
on Long Island, four or. ,five. in Connecticut, all it takes is one, and
someday your problem is solved.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: Would anyone else like to address the Board today?
CHERRY . RAFFERTY: I'm Cherry Rafferty. I'm with the Conservancy.
This is just off the cuff. I heard about we might possibly be part of the
Peconic Bay group. I happen to think very highly of their regulations, and
the ones that might .be involved with it. I was just wondering, we are part
262 AUGUST 2, 1995
of the Critical Environmental Area, and that's never been accepted by the
Town of Southold, but' the County of Southold has. Now, would we go in
with the Peconic Bay regulations, and if this is on the ground floor, or
just beginning, I'd like to see Fishers Island have more say . in the
regulations, that will eventually be adopted. For example, I'd like to see
FIDCO, and Conservancy, and, also, the Civic Association very much
involved. We do have land problems over here, and so far I'm happy to hear
about fishing, but this is something that might happen to be helped by
checking with Peconic Bay regulations. I'm not sure, but I'd like to have-
more part in our decision on this. Thank you.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: . Thank you. Would anyone like to address the
question of a Critical Environmental Area for all of Fishers Island? I don't
see any of our Trustees. It's my understanding that all of Fishers Island
is part of the Critical Environmental Area.
JOHN THATCHER: ... I might clear that up a little bit. That is absolutely
correct. All of Fishers Island is part of the Critical Environmental Area.
That is however a County matter. The Town Board of Southold sitting in
front of me now has never .addressed that 'issue, and I think it is a comfort
zone issue. In other words, many of us here on Fishers Island would feel
more comfortable, if the Town adopted the identical legislation that the
County has so far past.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: Thank you. We take a look at that. Maybe
somebody could be that in the nature of a motion, or nature of
recommendation that comes to the Board. for us to take up. I don't recall.
having seen it, as a specific recommendation. Anybody else like to address
the Town Board of the Town of Southold on .matters of interest to Fishers
Island?
LESLIE GOSS: Good afternoon. I'm Leslie Goss, Fishers Island Civic
Association, current President. Just to address Cherry's comments of a
moment ago, the Civic Association while putting together it's 1994 growth
plan did trip over the issue of better coordination between Town and County
officials, and when it to came to recognizing Fishers Island, we'll be
delighted to help you set up whatever procedures, or communications, that
need to be established to get that up and running. , A Town resolution
--recognizing Fishers Island as` a CEA would probably. be a start. As you're
preparing for your budget' for next .years, we have a couple of items here
on the island, that there is committees of the Civic Association, and other
organizations, that they have come up with. As you know, the Civic
Association has a senior committee, and last year we contributed $4,000 as a
grant to the Town of Southold to establish the position of Senior
Coordinator, we had Frank Gillian fill that position here on the island
for the Town, and we're hoping that as the Town does it's budget for next
year, particularly in Human Resources Department, Vi McKeighan, . that she
works at providing to maintain that position, because it's very important to
us here. It's been very successful. The, other thing that will be before you,
as the year on, is we've been working Ruth Oliva, and Laury Dowd, and
we'll be working Valarie Scopaz on a Harbor Management Plan for Fishers
Island, and getting that incorporated into a Local Waterfront Revitalization
Plan, that you all are' putting together, and the committee in doing business
has incurred very small expenses, administration expenses, but one of the
ideas, that come up in the plan, that was presented to you, is establishing
a Harbor Management Fund for , Fishers Island, so that all money that is
generated here is spent .here. I know that's a touchy issue for the Town,
but we do have costs whether it's paying our Bay Constables, or
administrative costs for the committee operation. We hope that is addressed
in the budget, I guess from the Chief of Police is . where that comes from,
and the Bay Constable Don Dezenkowski. So, we'll put a proposal
beforehand, that you will -eventually see. Very briefly, the tennis courts,
believe it or not, have a' big crack in them already, so we're going to need
to have those recovered, and I know that the island people's project was
interested in establishing .a fence around them as well, and I'll speak to
Jim McMahan, and hopefully he'll talk to other people in the town that
need to know about this.. But we love those tennis courts, and it was just
such heroic time when we ;got them covered last time, that we want to keep
them covered. Also, the thing that we noticed, many of the residents here
noticed, is the sidewalk repair issue going on, and that was long needed,
and we'd like to commend. you in initiating that effort, and say that we have
AUGUST 2, 1995
263
i< f .
a long way to go, so we hope' that we see more of that in the future.
Southold Town is looking, at, the benefits and consequences of looking at with
a bunch of other towns on the North Fork to form Peconic County. This
issue presents itself on Fishers. Island every now and then, and every
couple of years we -think about incorporating, or partial incorporation, and
we try to do studies here, that will give us an indication of whether it's
fine to do something like that. ''In particular as the town is facing sort of
inflating police budgets, beginning to look at maybe your own electric
company, or for instance your Land Preservation efforts, there is a big
constant change for the town, and Fishers Island,' in some cases, benefits
tremendously, as you outlined, Tom, by ' keeping taxes lowered. But for the
most part we do little, -and the Land Preservation in particular. Fishers
Island does have a couple over here, that you might want to keep as open
space, and we contributed probably since 1983, when it was put on the
ballot, over a half al. million dollars to the town for your efforts, and I
hope that we identify our parcels here, that we might be able to come to the
town for some level of property, not for a million dollars, but we ask for
something, although it won't go into the budget this year. I think that's
all. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: • If there are no other comments I might just turn
quickly to the Town ; Board, if any one on the Board wishes to make a
comment. Yes, sir?
JOHN CLAVIN: My name is John 'Clavin. I'm a retired taxpayer on
Fishers Island. I'd like to discuss just for one moment the subject which
you've all heard for fifteen years at least, and that's the garbage problem
on Fishers Island. For years we've pleaded with the Board to give us some
relief with the fact that we're paying for ;our own garbage district. We have
a tax district, which right now is 45 cents for a thousand compared to the
fact that we pay $.1 .27 for the total town taxes. We got one third more for
our garbage district. For fifteen years we've heard that you're going to do
something about it. Judy Terry sat through every one of those meetings
with Bill Pell, with Frank Murphy, and Scott Harris. Everybody is going
to do something, and finally two years ago, I guess, after our Garbage
District got a lawyer, you finally decided that you would establish a
district on Fishers Island, and another district in the town, and we would
be relieved of those taxes.. Now, I was distressed to read Louisa Evans'
report in the Civic Association, that said that we do not have to pay for
the fines of the DEC. Remember we didn't argue with the DEC. We closed
our plant. We built our transfer station. We bought our equipment, shipping
equipment and so forth, all out of our tax dollars. But, Louisa said there
was a heated debate on .the law as to whether we should pay part of those
fines. I have just two questions for the Board. Who on the Board would
think that after all these years that Fishers Island should be burdened with
anything to do with Landfill operation on the town, including all the
operation of it, the paying off, the bond for all the equipment up there, the
fines, the geo water study, whatever they call it. All of those things,
including capping, of, course, how could anyone on the Board think that we
should pay that after all of these years, the fact that we're paying one
third more in taxes. Secondly,, can you assure us that none of those
expenses I referred to, which would have to do directly with the landfill in
Cutchogue, will be burdened on Fishers Island, including the bonding, the
legal fees, all of those things? That ,someone will allocate that expense and
say, that doesn't belong to . Fishers Island, that belongs to our Garbage
District.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: Thank you, John. I just have .two quick comments,
and then maybe I'd like to canvass the Board, and be sure of the facts on
this. The . first comment • .is, this Town Board has had lots of heated
exchanges on almost anything. We have a Board with lots of independent
points of view, and we often get into heated exchanges that don't really
lead to policy, and so the fact that there is an exchange on something to me
reflects different people, making different comments, but is not a
reflection of policy. My second comment is on a day, that the whole Town
Board is here on. Fishers Island, you're not going to find a lot of us out
here saying that we think all of these costs ought to be dumped on Fishers
Island. Let me just canvass, Louisa, you could probably remind us as to the
status, the facts as to the costs that are. .?
2 6 4 AUGUST 2, 1995
JUSTICE EVANS: There' was some discussion on the Board about Fishers
Island being responsible as far as the Whole Town Budget for the penalties
and fines from the Southold Landfill, the Cutchogue Landfill, because it was
litigation, that was begun before the separate garbage district forms.
Luckily, the Board came to the conclusion that Fishers Island would not be
responsible for that. So, we are not paying, that it's paid by their
separate garbage district. When the separate garbage district was originally
formed for the Cutchogue Landfill they did not give that district the
ability to bond, so they ,were.-.unable to finance any of their expenses. The. -
Town Attorney, along with the Town Accountant, and the Town Board work
out a system where basically he thinks the equipment that's being used at
the Cutchogue has .been bonded for, is being leased from the Whole Town,
so in essence Fishers Island is not paying for it, because it's a Solid
Waste District in Southold,- that leases it from the Town, and that's just
paying off the cost of the equipment. I know for years here, that there has
been debate about how.we've been paying for the Cutchogue Landfill, and -_-
paying our own garbage district taxes. Joe Townsend once pointed out to
me, that, yes, we were :paying into their landfill, but we were also getting
benefits from that, In that they've had a sand mine operation there, and
that money that they made from that will go back into the Whole Town
Budget. So, we were getting the advantage of money coming in, as well as
having to pay money, and -to have pay for it. So, not that I'm agreeing that
we should have been paying for their Landfill, but we were getting the
benefit at one point, when they still had the sand-mining operations going
on.
COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND:, Since I made my point, I'm one member, I
probably have more longevity on the Board, with the exception of Judy
Terry, in terms of relation to the Town in office, as Mayor of Greenport, so
I'm aware of some of the costs of operation. Our Landfill through the early
'80's was pretty much of a wash. The cost per ton was almost negligible. We
buried it. We sold the sand, 'that was dug out to make room for it, and it
ended up going on our roads, and we didn't . have to buy ' Highway
Department sand. We paid off equipment with that, and so forth. So, in
terms of what Fishers Island was paying for I think it was probably very
little. In addition before. the special district the Town did contribute to
the other landfill, that you had, that we're now paying for out of the Whole
Town Budget, I might, point out, you know, some $270,000. So .it would
appear given the cost of the Aandfill now, that it would be a real burden if
Fishers Island 'were to pay for that. It, °is equitable that you have your own
district, and we pay for It out of our district, but up until that time I
don't think it costs the taxpayers of. ' Fishers Island very much at all, and
not having really looked at the numbers carefully it might have even saved
Fishers Island taxpayers some money to benefit- in what were the advantages
of operating a landfill in, ,those .days. I don't know., if it makes you feel
better, but it might.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM.: I'd like to try to draw this part of the meeting to a
close. We have a special opportunity today to have a brief meeting of the
Suffolk County Planning Commission.. Before doing that I would just like to
turn to the any of the Board members, that would like to make a comment?
COUNCILMAN HUSSIE: I'm very pleased to be here again for the fourth
year in your part of Eden that you have. Every time I come here I'm
reminded of my terrific faux pas, that the Metal Dump was going to be
done in two weeks. That now is wrong. It was two years, and I'm very
pleased that it is done.. To just add to all of this garbage, and the
Cutchogue Landfill situation, if you recall when we signed the contract
with, or agreement 1 guess it was, with the Fishers Island Garbage District,
which was the contact which was to end in December,'93, ' it was that one of
the parts was that Fishers Island would not be responsible for any
litigation that might arrive, or any fines that were going to come from
that. I just want to 'assure you, Mr. Clavin, and anybody else that's
interested, that the fines have been paid out $200,000 so far this year by
funds from the Southold 'Solid Waste District. It's nice to be here.
COUNCILWOMAN OLIVA: I'd just like to say, hello, to everybody out here.
It's always been such a. pleasure to come here, and work with many of you
over a number of years, and hope to be doing so in' the future, and I'm just
so glad that your Metal Dump is going to be finally taken care of. It's been
a long time. Thanks so much, and it's so good to see you.
AUGUST 2, 1995 26 5
JUSTICE EVANS: I just wanted to extend thanks to Charlie Stapina,
and Tom Dorset, and the school ,.in general, for helping us set up in here,
and letting us use the, building. I want to thank everyone for coming here,
because I'm happy to be here, because this is where I'm from, and it's nice
that everyone has come over here. So, I thank you all for being here,
and thank everyone for their help.
COUNCILMAN TOWNSEND! I'd like ' to echo their sentiments. It's always
great to be here. I come over from . time to time by boat, and try to keep
from getting shot, you know, get off, go to the movies, and I really enjoy
it. You have a wonderful,• wonderful spot.
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM:' This afternoon we had an opportunity -.to, vis.it,.with
the Suffolk County Planning Commission
RAY COWAN: I want to tell you about the settlement that we've arrived at
with respect to that --oil spill we had here a little while back?
CARRIE LECHTECTER: A, couple of years. ago the (unintelligible, did not
come to the microphone.) .
SUPERVISOR WICKHAM: That's an opportunity we don't often get. I'm open
to a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Moved by Councilwoman Oliva, seconded by Councilwoman Hussie, it was
RESOLVED that the Town Board meeting be and hereby is adjourned at
2:55 P.M.
Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Justice Evans, Councilwoman Oliva,
Councilman Townsend, Councilwoman Hussie, Councilman Lizewski,
Supervisor Wickham.
This resolution was duly ADOPTED.
Judit T. Terry
Southold Town Cler