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APPROVED Minutes of the April 1, 2014 Meeting of the Asharoken Board of Trustees

 Incorporated Village of Asharoken

Board of Trustees Regular Meeting

Public Hearing

Held on Tuesday

April 1st, 2014 7:30 P.M

At the Northport Power Plant

Approximate Attendance (25)

                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Officers Present:

Greg Letica, Mayor

Pam Pierce, Deputy Mayor

Melvin Ettinger, Trustee

Laura Burke, Trustee

Ian Jablonski, Trustee

 

Officials & Appointees Present:

Nancy Rittenhouse, Village Clerk

Bruce Migatz, Village Attorney

Emily Hayes, Treasurer

Ray Mahdesian, Officer- in- Charge

Barry Bradley, Sanitation Operator

Bill Raisch, Emergency Manager

Marty Cohen, Conservation of the Environment

Joe Affrunti, Harbormaster

 

The Pledge of Allegiance was said.

Proof of publication was made.

 

Deputy Mayor Pierce made a motion to approve the regular board minutes for March 4th, 2014, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.

 

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Deputy Mayor Pierce made a motion to approve the work session minutes for March 11th, 2014, seconded by Trustee Burke.

 

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Public Hearing legal notice was read by village clerk, Nancy Rittenhouse

Mayor Letica opened up the public hearing for the village budget for fiscal year end 5/31/2015.

Mayor Letica gave an overview of the proposed budget. He noted that the tax increase is 1.5%, this tax increase is the lowest tax increase since 2005.  The tax levy falls below the New York State tax cap.  He discussed several of the increases and decreases to the proposed budget compared to last year’s budget.

 

During the public hearing on the budget we received fourteen public comments.

 

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

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

The second public hearing legal notice on the IMA was read by village clerk, Nancy Rittenhouse.

Mayor Letica opened up the public hearing to discuss the Inter-Municipal Agreement with the Town of Huntington, Village of Northport and Village of Asharoken.

 

During the public hearing on the IMA we received ten public comments.

 

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

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Mayors Report:

Mayor Letica reported, “The village received more good financial news regarding village hall this month.  Asharoken was awarded a $50,000 SAM grant.  This brings our total grant amount for village hall to $77,000.  I would like to thank Senator Carl Marcellino for his assistance in getting the village this grant as well as Nancy Rittenhouse; village clerk was the driving force to getting this grant approved.  Village Hall continues to move forward. I expect that the bid package and final news from FEMA should both occur shortly.  On March 25th, Deputy Mayor Pam Pierce, Village Attoneny Bruce Migatz and I met with the NYSDEC and the ACOE.  The NYSDEC is working on getting all of the needed deeds and surveys and will be getting back to the village when they have compiled this information.  The ACOE is making some adjustments to their initial preliminary design and the village is awaiting a completed preliminary design.  Several people have asked about milestone dates.  I have been informed that the items on the schedule are all being worked on simultaneously.  They are not looking at these items individually, but as part of the whole project.  The ACOE and NYSDEC assure me that they are progressing, but new ideas need to be incorporated so they are behind in the schedule.  The time should be made up on the back end of the schedule, so at this point they are not concerned that the end dates will change.

I met with two paving contractors as well as one highway engineer to discuss re-paving Asharoken Avenue from Bevin Road to Eaton’s Neck property line.  Once the village has all of the data in hand we will look at it and decide how to go forward. Road striping is expected to occur after the paving.

I wrote a letter of support to State Senators Marcellino and Flanagan, as well as Assemblymen Raia and Lippanuci encouraging them to support Senator Lavalle’s amendment to the state budget.  The amendment asks LIPA to evaluate re-powering National Grid prior to building new facilities.  In conjunction the Town of Huntington has offered not to raise the assessment of the power plant if it is re-powered.  This could be a win-win for Huntington and National Grid and keep our tax base stable. I would like to thank Andy Giffin for setting up a drop off box at village hall to collect shoes for the “Soles 4 Souls” program with the Rotary Club.  We also received a check from NYMIR in the amount of $2460 which is interest we received from our initial capital investment and we will receive a duplicate check next year as well.

 

Trustees:

Deputy Mayor Pierce reported that she attended two meetings with the NYSDEC and ACOE. She attended the work session on March 11th.  She reviewed the proposed budget, the IMA, the hazard mitigation plan, the board minutes and the vouchers for the month of March.

 

Trustee Ettinger reported that he attended the March 11th work session.  On March 12th he attended the community meeting for the new village hall.  On March 14th he assisted the plumber to connect the new generator and wrote a new procedure for the new generator.  He met with a security company for specifications for the new village hall.  On March 27th he attended the monthly court session. On April 9th he participated in a conference call with Congressman Israel, Mayor Letica and Village Clerk, Nancy Rittenhouse.  He reviewed the monthly vouchers.

 

Trustee Burke, reported that she worked on the Asharoken Newsletter with Joan Hauser.  She reviewed the monthly vouchers and the proposed budget for fiscal year 5/31/2015.  She noted that she is working on completing the resident email list in order to inform as many residents as possible of updates from the village.

 

Trustee Jablonski, reported on the Suffolk County Water Authority project.  He noted that after many attempts SCWA will not move the meter that was requested of them.  He noted that he met with two engineering firms to seek suggestions on the shoulder area by Bevin Road and Asharoken Avenue.  They will provide estimates for high level scope of work mainly of rough water magnitude and an estimate of their engineering services. He noted that he participated in the work session held on March 11th and reviewed the vouchers.

 

Sanitation: Sanitation Operator, Barry Bradley reported on Big Blue which is running well.  Trash pick-up was 24.47tons, Co-mingle was 2.10 tons and News and Cardboard was 4.19 tons, totaling 30.76 tons.

 

Conservation of the Environment: Marty Cohen inquired about the village’s littering code and recommended installing signs by the Morgan Estate.

 

Emergency Manager: Bill Rasich thanked the officials for reviewing the Emergency Plan and he also discussed the next table top exercise on a mass causality event.

 

Harbormaster: Joe Affrunti noted that the 2014 Marine schedule has been completed and the Jet Ski buoys will be installed in May.

 

Treasurer: Treasurer Emily Hayes reported that the Village has received all of the outstanding real estate tax amounts for the fiscal year end 5/31/14.  The total of the vouchers for the month of March were $31,705.91. A separate resolution to approve the vouchers and related budget transfers will be made.

 

Officer-In- Charge:  Officer-In-Charge Ray Mahdesian reported that the two new police vehicles have been placed in service.  Officers completed in-service training on the use of deadly physical force provided by Suffolk County Police Department Academy.

 

Village Attorney:  Village Attorney Bruce Migatz noted that the Zoning Board met on March 10th, to hear applicant George Murn at 317 Asharoken Avenue for a front yard set-back variance for steps to a front yard porch, the board granted the variance. The next item was a BZA article78. The motion was made to dismiss and is being submitted to the court.

 

Superintendent of Buildings: Doug Adil was not present.

 

Planning Board:  No report this month.

 

Resolutions:

 

Resolution (2014-29) Be It Resolved, that the Village Board approves the budget transfers for the month of March 2014.

 

Deputy Mayor Pierce made a motion to approve, seconded by Mayor Letica.

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2014-30) Be It Resolved, that the Village Board does hereby approve the vouchers for the month of March 2014 in the amount of $31,705.91.

 

Trustee Ettinger made a motion to approve, seconded by Trustee Jablonski.

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2014-31) Be It Resolved that the Village Board does hereby authorize the mayor to sign the Inter-municipal Agreement between Northport Village, Asharoken Village and the Town of Huntington.

 

Trustee Ettinger made a motion to approve, seconded by Deputy Mayor Pierce.

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2014-32) Be It Resolved that the Village Board does hereby approve the Village budget for fiscal year end 5/31/2015.

 

Deputy Mayor Pierce made a motion to approve, seconded by Trustee Jablonski.

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2014-33) Be It Resolved that the Village Board does hereby authorize the mayor to sign the Operation Shield contract for 2014, subject to the village attorney’s review as to form.

 

Trustee Ettinger made a motion to approve, seconded by Deputy Mayor Pierce.

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2014-34) Be It Resolved that the Village Board does hereby approve the scheduling of a public hearing on Tuesday, May 6th, 2014 to discuss the annual storm water report.

 

Deputy Mayor Pierce made a motion to approve, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Resolution (2014-35) Be It Resolved that the Village Board does hereby appoint the following election inspectors; Denise DeAcetis as Chairperson, Marian Milliken, John Witte and Hillary Candelora.

 

Mayor Letica made a motion to approve, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Mayor Letica made a motion to go into public session, seconded by Deputy Mayor Pierce.

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

Public Session:

Mayor Letica opened up the meeting to public session.

During public session thirteen comments/inquiries were communicated to the Board.

Comments that were brought to the Board’s attention were the following:

1.       Inquiry on the Beach Restoration Project and milestone dates.

2.       Comment was made on the Duck Island Dredging projects and possibly using the clean spoils to be placed on Asharoken Beach.

3.       Inquiry was made about the public access points for the beach restoration project.

4.       Comment on the release of a preliminary plan from the ACOE and comment on the plan itself.

5.       Inquiry on the time frame of the Beach Restoration project.

6.       Village Attorney commented that dealing with the NYSDEC is very difficult, many regulations exist within the agency, but my experience shows that eventually these projects get accomplished.

7.       Comment was made to make sure the board reaches out to Congressman Israel’s office on this project.

8.       Mayor Letica noted that Senator Schumer pointed out that the Asharoken Beach Restoration is part of the Sandy bill and that we are the first project to move forward from the Sandy bill funding.

9.       Comment was made about doing a fundraiser for the politicians involved.

10.   Inquiry was made on the fire alarm system and for which building.

11.   Inquiry on who purchased the tax liens.

12.   Inquiry on the building inspectors report.

13.   Comment on flushing out Duck Island Harbor.

 

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

 

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

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

Trustee Jablonski                                            AYE

Trustee Ettinger                                              AYE

Trustee Burke                                                  AYE

Deputy Mayor Pierce                                    AYE

Mayor Letica                                                     AYE

Motioned Carried.

 

        The April 1st, 2014 Board meeting of the Board of Trustees was adjourned at approximately 9:45 pm.

                Signed: _____________________________________________

                Nancy Rittenhouse, Village Clerk