Incorporated Village of Asharoken
Board of Trustees Regular Meeting
Held on Monday
November 5th, 2012 7:30 P.M
At the Northport American Legion Hall
Approximate Attendance (37)
Officers Present:
Greg Letica, Mayor
Pam Pierce, Deputy Mayor
Joseph Catanzano, Trustee
Melvin Ettinger, Trustee
Laura Burke, Trustee
Officials & Appointees Present:
Nancy Rittenhouse, Village Clerk
Emily Hayes, Village Treasurer
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
Bill Raisch, Emergency Manager
Barry Bradley, Sanitation Operator
The Pledge of Allegiance was said.
Mayor Letica made a motion to approve the October 1st, 2012 minutes, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.
Trustee Catanzano Abstain
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Mayor Letica made a motion to approve the October 12th, 2012 Special Board minutes, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.
Trustee Catanzano Abstain
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Mayor Letica made a motion to approve the November 2nd, 2012 Emergency Meeting minutes, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.
Trustee Catanzano Abstain
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Mayor’s Report:
Mayor Letica noted that it has been a surreal month in Asharoken. He reports, “At our last meeting the Board was discussing putting up deer warning signs on Bevin Road and today we are discussing putting the village back together. My heart goes out to all of our residents that suffered damage from a unique and historic storm that hit the village on Monday, Oct 29th. A combination of an astronomical high tide and a relentless northeast wind, gusting to 94 mph at the Eaton’s Neck Coast Guard Station, led to a flooding high tide which damaged homes and village hall. Asharoken Avenue was inundated in the vicinity of Beach Plum Road and Village Hall. The storm fortunately began to accelerate in the early afternoon and the winds shifted to the east southeast at around 8 PM. This shift most likely prevented major structural damage to homes on the Long Island Sound of the Asharoken Ave. As a community, we fared far better than many others and in some way should consider ourselves lucky. I know that this is no consolation to those who have the daunting task of putting their homes and lives back in one piece, but no one was injured and a year from now this will only be a bad memory.
Preparation for a storm of this type dates back to December 1992 when a similar event occurred. Many lessons were learned from that event and were applied this week. In August, Bill Raisch, the Emergency Management Director for Asharoken, organized a meeting with representatives from LIPA, Town of Huntington, Northport and Eaton’s Neck FDs, US Coast Guard and others. This meeting set the stage for dealing with this storm effectively. One major point stressed was the need to get telephone poles off the ground and out of the way to open the road as quickly as possible. This planning allowed us to have the road opened at noon on the 30th, as compared to 2-3 days in 1992.
By Friday October 27th it became obvious that Sandy was going to be trouble. I participated in conference calls with Suffolk County Emergency Management and LIPA. On the 28th the situation really changed. An emergency conference call with SCOEM as held at 10:15AM and an updated weather forecast predicting a much more serious storm was offered. Mandatory evacuations were advised for all Cat 1 Hurricane zones. A meeting with the Mayors of Northport, Huntington Bay, Lloyd Harbor, Asharoken and the Town of Huntington was hastily organized. Bill Raisch joined me at that meeting. At that time, I decided that a strongly advised evacuation noticed would be sent out by phone using Huntington’s Code Red alert system. Additionally, the same message was on the Village sign. We pre-positioned a pay loader at Northport Fire house as well as Eaton’s Neck Fire house. Also, busses were stationed to help evacuate people if needed, and a 2 1/2 ton truck capable of going through deep water was placed at the Northport Fire House. I called many of our elderly residents to see what their plans were and to see if they were staying at least we would know if they were home. Nancy Rittenhouse, our Village Clerk prepared the clerk’s office for flooding by lifting all computers and other objects off the floor and taking out all lower file cabinet drawers. We coordinated with National Grid to be able to use their large pump if needed. Some personal home preparations followed and unfortunately it was now game on.
Monday the 30th dawned grey and raw and the weather deteriorated by the hour. The noon tide was high but not extraordinary. The waves breaking over the seawall were epic. Our police did an amazing job keeping the road open for as long as possible. By late afternoon the situation had severely deteriorated and the wind had become ferocious. Power lines were being detached from the poles in several places, one pole snapped and a beach deck was blown from the beach across the road onto a fence and part of a residents roof was peeled back. The earlier 94 mph gust may have been the culprit. It was clearly unsafe to be out, maybe the first time I have ever felt that way living here. Recognizing that the wires and poles could easily start to come down we began to have discussions with LIPA to facilitate de-energizing our electricity to allow rapid post storm cleanup.
At about 7PM my stepson Dan and I went to the police booth to check on the de-energizing and when we returned the wind had finally shifted and began to gradually die down. Unfortunately, the tide, still 4 hours from high, was extraordinarily high. A recheck with the police around 9 revealed that village hall was being flooded and that the police cars were being moved to the Sound View Boat ramp. The situation was clearly deteriorating. After a brief nap, I got out of bed at 1:30 AM to access the situation. I was unable to reach the police booth due to the flooding at Beach Plum Road so I turned around and drove down the strip to the dune stretch to ascertain the amount of damage. I walked on a sand covered road from Rickman’s to Smith. Most of the poles were still up, although the dunes had been pushed across the road into the beach lot parking areas. I was optimistic that a fairly quick clean up were possible. At 6am I was on the phone with Officer Josephson who filled me in on the progress to open the road. He spoke to Joe Wetzel from LIPA who reported that the power was de-energized. By sunrise, the Eaton’s Neck Fire Department was cutting up the downed poles and moving the wires off the road. The pay loader followed from Eaton’s Neck and the road had one working lane by noon. A second bob cat assisted in the clean up. During the day I checked on numerous residents.
Wednesday was a day to open up the road to two lanes, fill in the large wash out of sand on the beach lots next to the sea wall, clear fallen trees andchecked Cove road and Kew Court, which was unfortunately severely flooded. Three pieces of Floating Dock were also pushed to the side on Bevin Road to allow access to emergency vehicles. By now, traffic was flowing well and some sense of normalcy began to set in.
On Thursday I checked South Harbor and Clam Shell Lane, and walked the beach up at the plant side of the strip. These homes suffered a fair amount of water damage. I met with Superintendent Petrone, Supervisor Bellone and the Huntington Town Board for a brief tour of the village. We opened up the floor of the clerk’s office at village hall to discover severe flooding below. I also spoke to the DEC who advised that we could get a blanket DEC permit to fix storm damage. The village is in the process of doing so. Garbage pickup resumed today. Lindley Paving Co. was hired to patch the portion of the asphalt that needed repair by the sea wall.
On Friday, the paving project was completed. I checked the sea wall and appraised the beach up to the lighthouse. A special board meeting was held to discuss village hall, approve the acquisition of two trailers to relocate the clerk and the police, waive the noise ordinance for the weekend, set up new meeting site and polling location.
Finally over the weekend, I arranged to have the remaining wires in the Dune area removed to allow for the dunes to be put back commencing on Monday. This process was hastened due to an impending Nor ‘Easter.
Throughout this period I was in contact with LIPA, National Grid, Town of Huntington and anyone else that could offer us assistance and get the village put back together. Helping in much of this process was Bill Raisch.
Mayor Letica then summarized where the Village stood and what further work needed to be completed. He continued:
· “Some parts of the village are without power and I am working to get that restored. The same is true for cable and phone.
· Dune replacement: The sand was being transferred back to form a dune today and may continue into tomorrow for completion. LIPA and Cablevision removed their wires and Verizon asked us to move theirs and work around it.
· Road: The road is generally fine. There was no noticeable displacement of any sections and the road was driven over by multiple extremely heavy vehicles without any issues. Some asphalt on the shoulder will need to be replaced. A small section of the road opposite the sea wall has been undermined to a depth of about 2 feet. A plan to fix this area has been created by Tony Wenderoth, Andy Mendelsohn and Doug Adil. This will take place after the electric wires are replaced and the underground cable is de energized.
· Bevin Road Corner: Parking Lot 13 area was severely washed out and has a several foot drop at the shoulder. The village will have the washed out sand put back and the corner will also be regraded and cleaned up.
· Village Hall: The clerk and police will be relocated to trailers due to the flooding of village hall. The floor of the clerk’s office was ripped out to reveal flooding and other debris that I would rather not describe. The village is going ahead to make a new village hall a reality. We will pursue fund raising from our residents as well as other options such as bonding, FEMA and government grants. A plan has been drawn up by John Ross and the reconstruction committee. We will move ahead with working drawings and decide if on site construction or offsite prefabricated construction is preferred. We will work with the county and state to expedite our permitting process, and look for a prevailing wage waiver if possible.
· Debris removal: The village will have our landscaper take away debris from the storm. Please place them curbside. This will be a multiday process so please be patient.
· FEMA Aid: The village will provide numbers to residents to allow them to apply for FEMA aid.
· Voting will be held tomorrow at the Eaton’s Neck Fire House.
· I will be reaching out to Federal, State and County officials in the next week to explain our needs to see what types of assistance is needed.
· Sea wall: Many of the remaining caps came off the wall and are littered throughout the village. The removal of the 19 loose caps earlier clearly minimized this mess and the danger they posed to motorists. Based on this, I will do all I can to get the corps to reimburse us for the cost of the cap removal. The wall and the steps did suffer some damage and I will arrange for the Corps to re evaluate the wall and possible expand the scope of the repair project which was supposed to have begun any day now.
· The Holiday Party was postponed and the organizing committee is working on a new date.
· Much of what was accomplished this week by the village was due to a group of volunteers and neighboring governments. Many thanks to Mel Ettinger and Bill Raisch who were here every step of the way and almost every hour of the day, supervising and providing sage guidance. Bill spent almost 48 hours away from home and slept in his car. Trustee Ettinger was on site at the road clearing, and miraculously popped up everywhere else help was needed. Trustees Pam Pierce and Laura Burke were also deeply involved in the entire reconstruction effort. Village Clerk Nancy Rittenhouse was a dynamo, preserving computers and other village documents, pulling up soaked carpet, supervising moving of furniture in her office and working to keep our government running in the chaos of a pummeled village hall. Amazing job. Treasurer Emily Hayes was also seen hauling stuff out of the office and took her computer home with her to work on the vouchers. Our police department, led by Officer- in- Charge Ray Mahdesian put in countless hours keeping us safe, the road up and controlled and answering many residents’ questions. Ray provided much thoughtful advice during this ordeal and he deserves much credit. Barry Bradley picked up an enormous amount of trash by himself on Thursday, and went out for more on Friday. Doug Adil, our Building Inspector was there for residents throughout. Tony Wenderoth and Andy Mendelsohn put in much time supervising road clean up, planning road repair and filling out DEC Permits. Many people spent many hours, sometime days away from their families during this crisis and we owe them some real thanks. Steve Trombetti and Eric Maffei provided the village with continuous website updates throughout the storm, which was so valuable to our residents. Four spouses deserve a thank you for their patience, understanding and help. Joan Ettinger, great bagels, Barbara Raisch, who may have felt like a war bride, Paul Rittenhouse, who helped Pat Glennon to rip up the floor in the clerk’s office and kept the police fed, and my wife Linda who’s pasta dinner kept the police happy.”
Finally we owe thanks to: Eaton’s Neck Fire Department, Kevin O’Neill Chief, Village of Northport, George Doll Mayor, who allowed us to use their gasoline for our police cars, The Town of Huntington, Supervisor Petrone and their Highway Department, Superintendent Naughton and Emergency Management Office, headed by Betty Walsh, LIPA, Cablevision and Verizon.
And lastly, a big thank you to all of the residents of Asharoken. Your patience, understanding and support motivated everyone trying to help and made it easier to accomplish what had to be done. We are an amazing community, and it really shows at a time like this.
Trustee Reports:
Deputy Mayor Pierce noted that she thanked Mayor Letica for his leadership during Hurricane Sandy. Deputy Mayor Pierce reported on the FEMA meeting she attended. She noted that material was put out for residents who need information on Individual Assistance from FEMA. She noted that she and Trustee Ettinger attended a meeting at the Town of Huntington EOC regarding re-energizing homes that had electrical issues. She also noted that the Town of Huntington indicated that at certain areas where downed trees occurred these costs may be reimbursed.
Trustee Ettinger noted that this storm has been a very trying and difficult time. He noted that he worked with the Mayor and Officer-in-Charge Mahdesian to plan for down power lines and road issues. Unfortunately the Hurricane was more severe than originally forecasted. He noted that he spent a majority of his time with the Mayor and police department, trustees, Village Clerk, Nancy Rittenhouse and Bill Raisch and many other village officials addressing the many issues and emergencies that this Hurricane caused.
He thanked Officer Mahdesian and entire police force for the job they did and long hours that they put in helping keep our village safe and secure. He noted that he knows firsthand of the multiple shifts that the police department put in. He thanked Bill Raisch for all his time, he spent securing the village. He thanked Nancy Rittenhouse, his fellow trustees and Mayor Letica facing all the problems and getting the necessary resources to fix our problems as quickly as they could. Despite the damages we incurred no injuries or fatalities related to the storm. Police and village officials were well prepared. He thanked residents for their patience and noted how many residents expressed their thanks to the village. He discussed the procedure on energizing homes and noted that if any residents who do not have power as a result of their electrical panels effected by sea water should make a note that LIPA will not restore power until they have an inspection done first to their electrical panels. He congratulated Mayor Letica for securing the resources that were needed and required to get through the storm.
Trustee Catanzano thanked Mayor Letica and Mayor Doll for allowing the Village to utilize the American Legion Hall and thanked all the volunteers in helping the village get back on track. He thanked LIPA and outside contractors for getting the residents back up and running.
Trustee Burke noted that Mayor Letica provided fantastic leadership and she noted that she is honored to work with him and all the trustees. She thanked Village Clerk, Nancy Rittenhouse for her work and thanked Paul Rittenhouse for volunteering to pump out a single mom’s basement along with the Eaton’s Neck Fire Chief.
Trustee Ettinger also thanked Paul Rittenhouse for his help with the Village Hall and relocating some of the police equipment. He noted that he appreciates his support to the village.
Treasurer:
Emily Hayes reported that the total dollar amount of the vouchers for the month of October was $133,547.79 and the major expeniture was for Fire Services paid to the Northport Fire Department for $101,686.00. Emily noted that all the vouchers were reviewed by Mayor Letica.
Officer-in Charge:
Officer-in-Charge Ray Mahdesian reported on Hurricane Sandy. He noted that the police department’s largest activity involved Hurricane Sandy. Although roads and houses were damaged, fortunately there were no reported injuries or fatalities related to this devastating storm. The police department appreciates the outstanding assistance received from Mayor Greg Letica, Deputy Police Commissioner Mel Ettinger, Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Raisch, and Village Clerk Nancy Rittenhouse. Other agencies who assisted were Northport Police Department, Suffolk County Police Department, Northport Fire Department, Eaton’s Neck Fire Department, Huntington Harbormaster, Huntington Highway Department, NYS DOT, Northport Village Highway Department, Dix Hills Fire Department, National Grid, LIPA and Parker Landscaping.
Sanitation: Barry Bradley noted that trash pick- up was 22.89 tons and comingled 2.14 tons and news and cardboard 3.68 tons for a total of 37.85 tons. Big Blue is running well. Yard waste-10 families participated with 52 bags and 0 bundles. Thursday November 1st pick-up was 12.27 tons, normal pickup would have been 3 tons, and this was all due to the storm. He noted that he was assisted by a resident Michael Turner who volunteered to help.
Emergency Management: Bill Raisch, Emergency Manager thanked everyone who assisted with the storm. He thanked the American Legion Hall members for the use of the space for the Village’s board Meeting. He noted that it is important to collect from officials and residents as to how we can have done better and be more effective. He noted that Mayor, Greg Letica was cool, calm, and provided great leadership throughout the storm. He noted that Greg was all about getting the job done and it was a sincere pleasure working with him. He noted that we will be researching various types of funding to rebuild our Village Hall. He noted it’s a great community and I am glad to be a part of it.
Superintendent of Buildings Report: Doug Adil, building inspector noted that he is available to all residents to discuss any type of damage that may have occurred at their home and help anyone who may need it. He noted that he is working with a homeowner who is considering elevating their home. He suggested reviewing where your utilities are such as furnace/boiler, and these items maybe relocated to avoid any future water damage.
Superintendent of Highway: Tony Wenderoth, Superintendent of Highway, reported that Andy Mendelsohn spent many hours compiling a DEC application for the corner of Bevin Road.
He noted that the area where the road was undermined will have to be repaired. He noted that there are several lines under that area that will need to be repaired first. The village will be getting several estimates to repair this area. He noted that he is concerned that if we have another storm the road could be potentially be undermined further and a possible loss of the road. The most important point he made was to continue to process of getting the sound dredged to replace the sand on the beach.
Stormwater Report: Superintendent Avrum Golub reported noted that on the 31st of October the DEC issued a Hurricane Sandy permit which included:
He noted that LIPA has a critical care program; you have to present a doctor’s note to LIPA for possibly fast tracking electrical hook-up.
Village Hall Expansion Committee: Chairperson, John Ross reported on the development of the Village Hall Project. He noted that he met with the DEC who instructed us to move the wetland line and we will be getting it re-flagged and put those points on the updated survey. The project is on-going and we will be moving this forward and trying to expedite this project.
Planning Board Report: Mayor Letica noted that the planning board met on October 25th and render a decision on the Beach Lot sub-division.
Duck Island Dredging: Jean Bonawandt noted that the committee provided draft letters for the Mayor to present to Legislature Spencer. She noted that according to consultants on the project the next step is to have the village submit applications to the DEC. She noted that the committee does not recommend the village to participate in the IMA; even though they support cleaning the harbor the IMA may require the asharoken residents to pay additional costs. She noted that the sand has washed over into the harbor and needs to be cleaned out.
Resolution:
Resolution (2012-87) Be It Resolved, that the Village Board approves the budget transfers for the month of October 2012.
Motion was made by Deputy Mayor Pierce, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.
Trustee Catanzano AYE
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Resolution (2012-88) Be It Resolved, that the Village Board does hereby approve the vouchers in the amount of $133,547.79 for the month of October 2012.
Motion was made by Mayor Letica, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.
Trustee Catanzano Abstain
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Resolution (2012-89) Be It Resolved that the Village Board approves the expenditure of $600 for the environmental and survey services for the proposed Village Hall.
Motion was made by Trustee Ettinger, seconded by Trustee Burke.
Trustee Catanzano AYE
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Resolution (2012-90) Be It Resolved that the Village Board does hereby approve the transfer of $600 from the building restoration Money Market Reserve Account #5059 to the Money Market Account #5018 for the payment of environmental services and survey services needed for the proposed Village Hall.
Motion was made by Mayor Letica, Seconded by Trustee Ettinger.
Trustee Catanzano AYE
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Resolution (2012-91) Be It Resolved that the Village Board does hereby waive the building permit fee for repair and/or construction work relating to damages from Hurricane Sandy for a six (6) month period, subject to the Building Inspector’s approval.
Motion was made by Trustee Ettinger, seconded by Deputy Mayor Pierce.
Trustee Catanzano AYE
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Resolution (2012-92) Be It Resolved that the Village Board does hereby waive the Trailer/Mobile Home Village ordinance for a six (6) month period needed for repairs and/or construction work related to Hurricane Sandy, a permit is required to be filed with the Village Clerk.
Motion was made by Trustee Ettiner, seconded by Trustee Burke.
Trustee Catanzano AYE
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
Public Session:
A resident noted that she was present in 1992 and she thanked Mayor Letica for being able to open the road so quickly. She also noted that Kew Court suffered a lot of damage. She noted that during the storm the waves came over on to Bevin Road, closing the road to the residents on the south end of the roadway. She noted that flooding occurred throughout Kew Court. She offered her services to spearhead this committee to help mitigate the flooding of the roadway sluice area.
Deputy Mayor Pierce noted that last year the village began looking into this project to help mitigate the flooding. She noted that it is important for all the residents to make a list of all the damages that occurred from the storm. Deputy Mayor Pierce noted that you need to prove the damages. Avrum Golub offered his services to help with Hazard Mitigation.
A resident noted that a pipe does exist under the sluice and she indicated that it must be filled with mud and possibly clogged. She also commented on how important it is to keep vegetation on the dune to keep the soil together.
Tony Wenderoth, Superintendent of Highway noted that the project at the Bevin Road sluice area was to raise the road; he noted that the village hired Harvey Stark to draw up plans. Stu Diamond who was living at the house north/east side of the sluice at that time hired an attorney to block the project, because he claimed that he owned 50% of the roadway. A new head wall was put in many years ago and the pipe which is 24” in diameter travels under the road.
A resident asked when Cablevision is coming back on.
A resident noted that the village has two major projects village hall and the dune restoration. Mayor Letica noted that we have some funding for the village hall project and Village Clerk, Nancy Rittenhouse noted that the village is working with FHWA (Federal Highway Agency) for funding to restore the dune and provide beach grass planting as well.
A resident noted that the solution on Bevin road sluice area maybe raising the road. Since three sections of dock were able to wash over and land near the sluice area.
A resident discussed the dune restoration and noted that dredging the sound is not a onetime deal it is something that has to be maintained continuously.
A resident noted that he likes the village hall; he suggested lifting the village hall.
Mayor Letica made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Trustee Ettinger.
Trustee Catanzano AYE
Trustee Ettinger AYE
Trustee Burke AYE
Deputy Mayor Pierce AYE
Mayor Letica AYE
Motioned Carried.
The November 5th, 2012 meeting of the Board of Trustees was adjourned at approximately 9:00 pm.
Signed: _____________________________________________
Nancy Rittenhouse, Village Clerk