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[MESSAGE JSNF-285-09]

APPROVED Minutes of the December 3rd, 2012 Meeting of the Asharoken Board of Trustees

 Incorporated Village of Asharoken

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Held on Monday

December 3rd, 2012 7:30 P.M

At the Northport American Legion Hall

Approximate Attendance (30)

 

APPROVED

Officers Present:

Greg Letica, Mayor

Pam Pierce, Deputy Mayor

Melvin Ettinger, Trustee

Laura Burke, Trustee

 

Officials & Appointees Present:

Emily Hayes, Village Treasurer

Bruce Migatz, Village Attorney

Ray Mahdesian, Officer- in- Charge

Doug Adil, Superintendent of Buildings

Tony Wenderoth, Superintendent of Highway

Avrum Golub, Superintendent of Stormwater

Marty Cohen, Conservation of the Environment

John Ross, Village Hall Expansion Committee Chair

Barry Bradley, Sanitation Operator

 

The Pledge of Allegiance was said.

 

Mayor Letica made a motion to approve the November 5th, 2012 minutes, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.

 

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Mayor’s Report:

 

Mayor Letica reports, “Approximately one month ago we were looking at the prospects of facing our second major storm in less than two weeks.  As we were meeting, a bulldozer and payloader were working to restore the dunes lost during hurricane Sandy.  These dunes were the only protection for Asharoken Avenue if we had another very high storm tide.  The work was completed in a timely fashion and the storm proved to be far less strong than was originally predicted. 

The month has been marked by a major effort to get the village cleaned up and to set the stage for moving forward.  Most of the storm debris has been removed thanks to the efforts of Barry Bradley, our village landscaper, Pat Parker, and four helpers who have been provided by the Suffolk County Department of Labor.  The four workers have cleaned the storm debris near the beach parking areas, swept the corner of Bevin Road and Asharoken Avenue and will now move on to clean out the tidal wetlands and remove sand the from the shoulder of Asharoken Avenue.

The police department and village clerk have moved into their trailers and with the exception of a few small details are fully up and running.  Many thanks to Trustee Ettinger, Paul Rittenhouse, Jeff Josephson, Brian O’Connor, Ray Mahdesian, Nancy Rittenhouse and  members of our Police Department who made this transition as smooth as it could be.

Throughout the month I was in contact by phone and mail with the offices of Governor Cuomo, Senators Gillibrand and Schumer, Congressman Israel, State Senator Marcellino, State Legislator Raia, the DEC, the ACOE and Suffolk office of emergency management.  These discussions and letters concerned federal and state funding, sand on the beach, repair of the road, rebuilding village hall, Kew Court flooding, Bevin road corner flooding and other important village issues.  Although there is nothing concrete to report the groundwork is being placed to see tangible results soon.  I also met with residents of Kew Court and with Jim Zima a resident who gave me some excellent suggestions for the repair of the dune and the Kew Court flooding. Also, I met with members of Parking 13 to discuss the condition of the Bevin Road corner”.

Sand on the beach:  Mayor Letica reported that he spoke to the Army Corps on Thursday, November 28th and was told by Eugene Brickman that the Corps has made Senator Schumer aware that they need a supplemental bill to fund our beach restoration.  They will meet with the DEC in the next 90 days and refocus on bridging the gap between the DEC and the Corps regarding dredging.  Sue Mc Cormick from the DEC wrote him and said “completion and implementation of the Feasibility Study is one of the projects they have put forward to the Governor’s office when asked for a list of coastal projects needed for mitigation of future storm damages.  He noted that they do not know how that list was perceived and where the request will go from here”.  He has stressed that without sand we are at major risk for losing the road and that the situation in Asharoken is very similar to Ocean Parkway and needs to be treated accordingly.  He noted that he spoke to Kyle Strober today who stated that Asharoken Avenue is included in the projects to be worked in response to the storm.  He will have a more detailed discussion with them tomorrow.

FEMA funding:  Mayor Letica noted that he and Village Clerk, Nancy Rittenhouse, Deputy Mayor Pierce and Trustee Ettinger met with representatives from FEMA and New York State.  He noted that they had a thorough briefing of the process to submit our claims and as of now the reimbursement split is 75/25. Presently the village has incurred costs of about $70,000 from the storm, an amount that includes the two trailers.   They also discussed any funding for village hall and were given some very helpful information from our guests from FEMA.  After we receive all of our FEMA funds we have the option of applying for mitigation grants from both FEMA and New York State.

FHWA: Mayor Letica noted that discussions with the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) have occurred indicating funding which will provide us with approximately 4000 CY’s of sand and funding to replace the dunes.  He noted that the administration is working on getting them to pay 100% of this $150,000 project as an emergency repair after the storm.  Mayor Letica has reached out to Congressman Israel. If the dune restoration is not considered an emergency repair than the village’s share would be 20%.  He noted that drawings have been produced along with an RFP to request bids to repair the undermining of Asharoken Avenue just north of house number 501.  Civil Engineers provided by FHWA have met with Tony Wenderoth and Andy Mendelsohn and subsequent to the meeting both Tony and Andy drew up the design and specification for the proposed project.  Mayor Letica noted that the village is in the process of getting back bids and expect to have the repair done soon.

Seawall Caps:  Mayor Letica noted that a preconstruction conference with the ACOE on Thursday, November 28th took place to discuss the sea wall repair.  He noted that they will be starting as early as this week to remove the remaining caps, replace them with steel caps and replace a few loose boulders.  He noted that he wrote to Sue Mc Cormick from the NYSDEC to request additional repair work to the wall but as of today we have not heard back from her.  The contractor doing the caps agreed to repair the steps to the beach at no cost to the village.

Mayor Letica noted that he met with John Ross to review a new design for Village hall which continues to get closer to our final design.  John Ross reported that the DEC has agreed to a location for the building.

 Mayor Letica reported that the village had eight tax grievances in small claims court and the court decided on granting reductions on six small claims grievances cases.  He noted that he plans to meet with the police to continue the contract negotiations.   He noted that he spoke to Mayor George Doll of Northport about our fire protection contract which expires at the end of this year.

Mayor Letica reported that the village is dealing with a multiple of large scale projects at one time: Sand on the beach, dune restoration, village hall reconstruction, Bevin Road and Kew Court flooding.  This may be one of the most challenging periods in the history of Asharoken.  He thanked Village Clerk Rittenhouse, Deputy Mayor Pierce and Trustees Ettinger and Trustee Burke for their dedication and hard work.  He noted that without them and their efforts we could not have accomplished all that we have in November.  The village is fortunate of have this group of people who are united in their desire to improve Asharoken.  Their energy and focus will get these projects done.

 Trustee Reports:

Deputy Mayor Pierce noted that there were many meetings with various governmental agencies; Federal, State, County and USACOE.  She indicated that compared to Hurricane Irene the agencies have stepped up their game.  They were very cognitive of what was going on and aware of many municipalities’ cash flow issues.  She noted that we have gotten good information and are much further along on the recovery effort in a shorter amount of time.  Deputy Mayor Pierce attended six FEMA meetings. She noted that Governor Cuomo’s office announced an emergency regulation that would shorten the period of time for the insurance company to inspect a claim to 6 business days from 15 business days.  In addition the regulation allows owners to begin repairs without waiting for an adjuster, when it comes to a public safety/heating and hot water systems. Steve Trombetti and Eric Maffei the website managers reported that during the storm cycle the hits to the website were over 2000 per day compared to 160 per day during a normal time period.  A lot of cell phone traffic occurred.  In addition, Trustee Pierce noted that Steve and Erik were affected by power outage and they relocated as soon as Asharoken Avenue was open in order to provide constant updates for our Village. She thanked them for going the extra mile.  She wished everyone a happy and hopeful holiday season and new year.

 

Trustee Ettinger reported that this was a very busy month for the village officials.  He noted that one of the things came out of it was that we all worked as a team.  He noted that because of the team effort we were able to accomplish a lot in a very short of time.  He noted that he worked for the Mayor, Police department, Village Clerk Nancy Rittenhouse and together we addressed the issues that confronted us.  He noted that Doug Adil’s mission was to relocate both departments to trailers and get them up and running immediately.  He thanked Doug Adil, Building Inspector to finding these trailers during a difficult time.  He thanked Harbormaster Joseph Affrunti for quickly supplying his company’s services to wire the trailers with electrical power.  He thanked Paul Rittenhouse to help relocate some of the equipment and old police desk to the police trailer.  He noted that within two weeks after the Hurricane both departments were up and running in the new facility.  He noted that he attended a reconstruction village hall meeting and met with a company that constructs modular homes.  He attended a meeting with FEMA and USACE.  He reviewed the monthly vouchers for November.  He gave a special thanks to the mayor and the trustees and noted that we all worked in a cohesive manner and accomplished a great deal.  He noted that Mayor Letica’s leadership helped the village get through this trying time.

 

Trustee Burke reported that she has been researching various ways to help fund the new Village Hall reconstruction project. She noted that she reviewed the vouchers for the month of November.

 

Treasurer:

Emily Hayes reported that the total dollar amount of the vouchers for the month of November was $79,242.64 and of that $79,242.64 are expenditures relating to Hurricane Sandy.

 

Officer-in Charge

Officer-in-Charge Ray Mahdesian noted that the trustees were a tremendous help to help the village moving forward the police department cannot do it alone.  He noted that he was so thankful that we were able to come out of this without harm.  He reported that the department’s primary mission was to protect life and property.  Police assistance was also required during the repair of the water main break.  He noted that the majority of time this month was moving of the police and village hall operations to the two trailers.  He thanked those who assisted in the relocation and noted that Mayor Letica provided excellent leadership in making the numerous decisions necessary to move our transition swiftly and smoothly.  Deputy Police Commissioner and Trustee Ettinger provided invaluable assistance working with us on a daily basis.  He noted that he is proud of the men in the department who spent long hours away from their families, who certainly had their own hardships without power.  He noted that no burglaries or instances of looting occurred.

 

Sanitation: Barry Bradley noted that the total pick-up for the month was 57.03 tons.  Big Blue is running well. Yard waste-4 families participated with 46 bags and 4 bundles.

 

Superintendent of Buildings Report: Doug Adil, building inspector noted that he performed a number of inspections.  He spent time meeting with homeowners looking into repairing their homes due to Hurricane Sandy.  These repairs included cracked foundations, heaved decks, water damaged materials and destroyed heating and electrical systems.

He met with two homeowners who are considering raising their homes to better cope with future flooding.  He noted that he arranged two trailers to be installed on site for village hall and police operations.

 

Superintendent of Highway:  Tony Wenderoth, Superintendent of Highway, reported that north of 501 Asharoken Avenue the roadway is undermined and proposals have been distributed for estimates.  He noted that he met with a civil engineer Carl Lund and discussed the shoulder project and also looked at the catch basin section of the Avenue.  He recommended a different grate that would catch the leaves to avoid filling up the leaching pools and also looked at changing the curbing near the catch basins as well.  He reported on the sluice by Bevin road and noted that he is researching placing Gabion baskets or maybe another material that may help secure that area.  He noted that the dune area is important area that needs to be addressed.  He noted that he met with a company that sells textile bags; they cost $360.00 a foot.  Tony Wenderoth asked Andy Mendelsohn to discuss the bag solution that could cost approximately $700,000 to install.

Andy Mendelsohn gave a presentation discussing the puddle problem at the corner of Bevin Road.  He noted that some people thought the catch basins installed on Asharoken Avenue would solve the puddle problem.  He noted that all the water run-off may not fall into the catch basins. He discussed the design to mitigate storm water run-off at the corner of Bevin Road.  He noted that toxic mayonnaise mixture of mud and oil has been found in the wetland area near Bevin Road.  Run-off from Labra and LaRosa property flows into the wetland along with run-off down the hill.  He noted that if you look closely you will find black pockets that have some type of toxic mayonnaise.  He noted that the phragmaties are suppose to take in the toxic mayonnaise and if you have too much mayonnaise than the phragmities cannot absorb it all.  He took two samples of this material and went to H2M in Melville and had the material tested.  The two samples showed petroleum hydrogen carbons and resulted in 311 parts per million.  The other sample showed 264 parts per million. He expressed his concern to the corner, and that it needs to be improved and enhanced.  He is also concerned of the Property rights of the property owners and that Parking lot 13 has received very little respect from the village.  He noted that he and Tony Wenderoth have met with several contractors to get ideas on how to deal with the situation at the corner of Bevin Road.  They met with Joe Klein Deputy Engineer services with the Town of Huntington who recommended L. K. Mclean Associates, P.C. consulting engineers.  L. K. McLean presented a proposal to provide survey, concept design work, permitting work, etc. totaling $9990.00.  The construction costs are approximately $100,000 to $150,000 that should reduce the water that puddles at the corner of Bevin and catch a majority of the pollutants that end up in the wetland area.

He noted that the samplings taken were limited and the village should get professionals to properly sample the area.  He recommended Chris Dwyer with L.K. McLean to do the sampling.  The cost would be approximately $2000, $2500.  He is recommending that the board consider spending approximately $9000.00 for this project.  

 

Stormwater Report: Superintendent of Storm Water, Avrum Golub reported Environmental Faculties Corp provides a loan program.  These are projects that are prioritized by the DEC and submitted for a possible line of credit. He discussed his concerns of illicit discharge of home hazard waste products.

He noted that this is National influenza vaccination week, especially for senior citizens they should talk to their physicians about flu vaccines against shingles.

He discussed LIPA’s Critical Care Program, and noted that the program is useless.

 

Conservation Board: No report

 

Village Hall Expansion Committee: Chairperson, John Ross reported that he met with B. Laing Associates to delineate the wetland markings.  The new line helped out re-positioning the proposed building. He noted that he met with the DEC and received preliminary approval to place the building behind the parking area.  He noted that we should receive the permit within several months.  He noted that we had a meeting to discuss modular construction, and he noted most of the companies will create a modular building based on the villages own design and today the modular structures look like a custom project.

 

Village Attorney:  Bruce Mitgatz reported on the Ackerly sub-division of a 60 ft wide beach lot sub-divided into three 20’ beach lots and was approved by the Planning Board on October 25th, 2012.  He noted that Article 78 proceeding pending challenging the Zoning Board decision in the Estate of Shulman.  He noted that the mayor reported on the small case assessment review that was held in October, the village lost eight and won two.  There was one in 2010-2011 tax year which resulted in a $1040.65 refund to the taxpayer and five proceedings for 2011-2012 resulting in a combined refund in the amount of $8919.59 and two proceedings that were not reduced by the hearing office.

 

Resolutions:

 

Resolution (2012-93) Be It Resolved, that the Village Board approves the budget transfers for the month of November 2012.

 

Motion was made by Deputy Mayor Pierce, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2012-94) Be It Resolved, that the Village Board does hereby approve the vouchers in the amount of $79,242.64 for the month of November 2012.

 

Motion was made by Deputy Mayor Pierce, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2012-95) Be It Resolved that the Village Board approves the expenditure not to exceed $2220.00 for police lockers for the Police Department.

Motion was made by Trustee Ettinger, seconded by Mayor Letica.

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2012-96) Be It Resolved that the Village Board approves the expenditure not to exceed $2139.00 for the installation of an alarm and fire system for both trailers.

Motion was made by Trustee Ettinger, Seconded by Mayor Letica.

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2012-97) Be It Resolved that the mayor of the Village Of Asharoken appoints Melvin Ettinger Police Commissioner of the Asharoken Police Department, subject to the Boards approval.

Motion was made by Mayor Letica, seconded by Trustee Burke.

Trustee Ettinger                                              Abstain

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Last year this village was torn apart by a legal case, where we had a problem with a resident possibility renting rooms in their home.  Recently, we became aware that there was an advertisement/flyer that the same resident was advertising renting rooms in their home. He noted that Bruce Mitgatz was asked to write a letter to the residents explaining the Village Code.  Mayor Letica noted that Bruce suggested that several communities have ordinances on renting your property.  This gives the village a chance to inspect prior to renting and we may want to consider this for the village.  Bruce has several samples of “ordnance rental registration”.  If a local law is passed then a Real Estate broker is required to get from the homeowner a rental registration permit from the village.  If the broker leases the property without the registration permit they may be subject to a fine.  Bruce indicated that brokers take this seriously.  He noted that he will provide samples and a draft ordinance to the board.

Mayor Letica noted that we may want to consider passing legislature to override the 2% tax cap. The Village of Northport had a public hearing in regards to this legislation.  With the consent of the board we will have our village attorney write up a proposed local law and schedule a public hearing at the February meeting if needed.

John Ross noted that the village owns the building lot across the street called the nature preserve.  He noted that the village may want to consider possibility selling it if it is allowable.

Andy Mendelsohn noted that he was led to believe that the land was given to the village from LIPA and the covenants that went along with the property may prevent the sale of the land. In addition if we receive sand from the USACE we may want to leave the land for a possible public access.

Tony Wenderoth noted that his understanding was that a municipality cannot sell waterfront property without purchasing another piece of waterfront property, per state law.

Debbie Masterson noted that she was glad that the village may possibly look into a rental registration for homes that are rented out.

 

Public Session:

A resident asked how large the nature preserve is, and it was noted that it is approximately 3 acres.

A resident noted that his neighbor expressed concern about the spray over the seawall and that it will freeze on the road, and he wanted the board to be aware of this.

A resident asked about the status with FEMA.  Mayor Letica responded that the meeting with FEMA was for specific emergency expenditures after the Hurricane Sandy. He noted that we did talk to them about the Bevin Road sluice and Kew Court and showed them photos and drove them to these areas.

The resident asked what type of action has taken place after the Bevin Road/Sluice meeting.

A resident discussed the Hazard Mitigation funding. 

A resident asked whether the area by the sluice maybe private property.

A resident asked about his deck which was damaged due to the storm. Village Attorney Bruce Migatz responded by informing the resident that if the structure was non-conforming originally then a variance would be required in order to replace the structure.

A resident asked about the Shulman property.  Village Attorney explained the decision from the ZBA, and an Article 78 proceeding was filed. Bruce Mitgatz noted that it is in litigation and papers have not been filed with the court yet

A resident noted that it was a great idea to have the sand move forward to protect the roadway.

A resident noted that a reasonable long term solution would be to dredge the sand back on the beach.

A resident discussed the importance of the elevation at the corner of Bevin Road.

Mayor Letica made a motion to close public session, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.

 

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

 

 

Mayor Letica made two announcements:

Santa will be arriving at 4pm at Village Hall on December 16th, 2012

Our next board meeting will be held on January 8th, Tuesday evening.

 

Mayor Letica made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.

 

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

        The December 3rd, 2012 meeting of the Board of Trustees was adjourned at approximately 9:30pm.

        Signed: _____________________________________________

        Nancy Rittenhouse, Village Clerk