Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell released his $42.9 million tentative 2016 budget on Wednesday. It includes replacing a retiring police officer and hiring a code enforcement officer.

The supervisor’s proposed spending plan includes a .7 percent reduction in overall spending next year, and an estimated .54 percent tax levy increase for local taxpayers.

[Scroll down to read the tentative budget]

“The budget is fiscally sound and I am sure it’s more than adequate to cover our needs in 2016,” he said. “The budget I am presenting includes projections based on historic expectations and does not include unrealistic expectations.”

The town is expected to hire one full-time police officer to fill a position vacated by retirement.

Mr. Russell said he had to decline Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley’s request to hire four additional officers due to the state’s property tax cap of .73 percent — the lowest since its inception in 2012.

“We had a request for four more police officers and requests for more full-time employees in other departments,” Mr. Russell said in an interview Tuesday. “The town has to look at that and say, ‘Well, can we afford to hire more people?’”

The Town Board hired eight new officers last year, with a total of 52 officers, an increase Mr. Russell believes is the largest in the town’s history.

Chief Flatley said he submitted the request for additional officers not to grow his department beyond its usual size, but to preempt a handful of retirements he expects in 2016.

“We’re expecting at least three openings before the end of the year,” he said. “Each spot I requested was for a replacement officers, not for new officers.”

The timeline for adding a new officer is long — 16 months from the decision to hire to that officer’s first day on the beat, Chief Flatley said — so he wanted to get ahead of the curve and begin planning now to avoid a manpower shortage like he had last year.

“I don’t want to let those gaps start to generate,” he said. “This is more like preventative maintenance.”

Although overall spending will decrease, the budget also allows for the hiring of a few positions, including a full-time code enforcement officer to enforce fire codes, a part-time youth bureau director and a part-time wildlife management coordinator.

In addition, Mr. Russell included a $250,000 infrastructure bond, which will focus on stormwater drainage and flood control.

At a special meeting Friday, the supervisor submitted his budget to the town board. They will examine it in the coming weeks, and then a public hearing will be held in October or November to discuss the budget.

clisinski@timesreview.com

Southold Town 2016 Tentative Budget Announcement

Southold Town 2016 Tentative Budget Statistics

The Suffolk Times will host a pair of public debates tonight, Thursday, Oct. 15, featuring candidates for Southold Town supervisor and Town Board.

The two-hour event will be held at 7 p.m. at Peconic Landing in Greenport. Executive editor Grant Parpan and editor Joseph Pinciaro will serve as co-moderators.

Questions have been prepared by newspaper staff and readers who suggested topics in advance of the event. Each candidate will be afforded time to respond to every question and to each other.

The first hour of the event will feature candidates for Town Board, including incumbent Republicans Jill Doherty and Bill Ruland, along with Democratic challengers Albie de Kerillis and Debbie O’Kane. In the second hour, Republican Town Supervisor Scott Russell and Democratic challenger Damon Rallis will field questions from the moderators.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Photo Credit: Tom Woodward, flickr

The two candidates for Southold Town Supervisor faced off in person for the first time Thursday night.

And the Democratic challenger came out swinging.

In the roughly hour-long debate at Peconic Landing, Democratic candidate and town building department employee Damon Rallis peppered incumbent Republican Supervisor Scott Russell with frequent attacks on his leadership and management skills, and accused Mr. Russell’s administration of playing favorites based on political party.

Mr. Russell vehemently denied that allegation and responded in kind, pointing out his fiscal record with the town and combined efforts with nearby municipalities, while also bringing up his opponent’s spotty attendance at community forums.

The debate, sponsored by The Suffolk Times and moderated by editors Grant Parpan and Joseph Pinciaro, focused on many of the hot-button issues of the past year — including traffic concerns, helicopter noise, water quality improvement and justice court reform in the wake of a theft scandal — with a crowd that applauded and even laughed as the candidates traded barbs.

Read below for the candidate’s responses to each question of the debate in their own words. Some answers have been condensed:

Question: Eighteen months ago, the Town Board authorized spending $36,000 on an audit of its Justice Court system after it was learned that a now-former clerk had stolen more than $230,000 from the town’s bail fund. To date, the findings of this audit have not been released. Should the public be concerned about that?

Damon Rallis: Absolutely. I don’t think there should be any question … The Town Board was made aware of discrepancies along the way, but we didn’t look into it. A few years went by and a lot of money was stolen. We have an audit from the comptroller that was published last year that found numerous instances of mismanagement in the way we handle money and in the way we handle time in Town Hall. We have a very expensive time management system in Town Hall. It cost us $156,000. That’s your money and we’re not using that system to the best of its ability … We work with the honor system. You know what happens when we use the honor system: $256,000 gets stolen from Justice Court.

Scott Russell: The ongoing justice court audit was the result of the scandalism of a previous clerk. It’s a mess that everybody has every right to be concerned [about]. This [audit] goes back far beyond three years. It doesn’t necessarily mean [more] criminal behavior, but certainly accounts that just simply weren’t managed well, weren’t handled well and frankly weren’t overseen well … The town actually doesn’t have the unilateral right to go and get the records from the judge … Actually New York State didn’t find inappropriate behavior. What the state audit did was it made recommendations … They didn’t say our time record keeping system is bad,  in fact their findings found no discrepancies. We basically have three different time systems and they recommended all departments go on one.

Q: Many different uses have been discussed for the school and recreation center on Peconic Lane. The Justice Court is also crunched for space. Do you believe the town is best utilizing its buildings and what improvements might you offer?

Russell: We’ve done some independent investigations and evaluations of our existing infrastructure … But we’ve done a lot of capital projects over the last decade. We’re in the process of updating that infrastructure. People should keep in mind we built a new animal shelter for $3 million. We built a new transfer station at $3 million. We bought a Peconic school and renovated it for a little over $1 million. We put in a fuel management system and fuel depot for $1.5 million. We have a maintenance garage on line to be built this year for $3 million. Our priority after that should be justice court.

Rallis: Yes, this Town Board has made some improvements. I don’t think it’s safe yet. It’s a zoo in there. In that lobby, you have people coming to pay their taxes and you have people that are coming in to be processed and go in front of a judge. A court officer quit — that’s why we’re addressing this now — a court officer quit because he feared for his own safety. In 2008, The Suffolk Times ran two consecutive articles about the fact that the justice court was unsafe. And my opponent at that time was quoted as saying I want to make safety in justice court and Town Hall a priority. Fast forward to 2014, a guy quits because he doesn’t feel safe … It’s groundhog day all over again. When it takes six years to address a priority, we have a problem.

Russell: In 2009 I wanted to make justice court a priority, the problem was, we all recall, we hit an economic buzzsaw in 2010. Southold couldn’t pay its existing bills, let alone new ones … Personally I would have made a justice court priority over a maintenance facility, but we have huge investments in the garage … However, he’s right. We could have done more to make the building safer. The letter of resignation from the court officer was a point well taken and the town responded.

Rallis: There was grant funding available to at least put in some sort of metal detector. It should have been some sort of priority. Again, if that’s a priority that’s something we should have addressed in 2008 not in 2014 when a good employee has to leave because [he] feared for [his life].

Q: What ideas do you have to keep younger residents from leaving Southold Town and how might you as a Town Supervisor get them more civically engaged?

Rallis: The number one problem we have here in Southold Town is the lack of affordable housing … [In] three terms in office, this administration has failed to put forth a reasonable affordable housing solution. Other communities across Long Island, across the country have answered the call to create affordable housing for their workforce. In my opinion it comes down to a lack of leadership … You hold a lot of forums about affordable housing and we all sit down and discuss it and we all agree … but no one’s rolling up their sleeves and coming up with a plan for the big picture.

Russell: Affordable housing is a very important issue. I’m glad my opponent finally embraces it. We’ve had affordable housing seminars. He hasn’t showed up to any. He hasn’t gone to the affordable housing advisory commission and suggested ideas he says he has … they’ve been meeting monthly. He has yet to go … I think he forgets that the Cottages was built while I was supervisor.

You need to engage the students early. The first thing I did as supervisor was create a youth bureau. We have students coming in. We have students doing environmental projects.

Rallis: My opponent likes to point out all the meetings I don’t go to. I’m not the supervisor yet. He’s tried this angle a few times. A measure of someone’s involvement in the community is not how many Town Board meetings they attend … I’m out there. I’ve got my finger on the community.

Russell: It’s a communitywide problem that’s going to require communitywide solutions.

Q: How do you balance the town’s needs to preserve land with the need for jobs?

Russell: I created an economic advisory commission … This group is very good at promoting small business, promoting self-employed people … The reality is Google isn’t coming to coming to Southold Town. We don’t need retail. We don’t need per diem jobs. What we need is meaningful employment that’s going to provide career opportunities for people … It hasn’t been easy but we haven’t stopped trying.

Rallis: I have to agree with Scott. We’re not going to survive on retail jobs … We’re losing jobs here. Lewis Marine closing is another example … I still have a problem with the fact that the supervisor believes that we have these forums, and if you want to have a voice, you need to come out here and speak or too bad. We can do more, we can do better. It takes leadership to bring people into town. We’re not in the business of marketing for these property owners, but maybe we should be.

Russell: We talk about having these roundtable discussion that’s exactly what these forums are … The rock throwing has to stop. I think we’re all working towards a common goal.

Rallis: When the housing advisory committee is saying you’re not providing us with the leadership we need, maybe we have a problem.

Q: Where do you stand on the issue of a plastic bag ban?

Rallis: I support the plastic bag ban as an environmentalist, as a human being, as a guy who uses reusable bags. I don’t understand what’s so hard about drafting legislation, holding a public hearing and then voting for it. If I’m elected town supervisor I’m only one voice on the town board, lets face it, but what’s the harm in bringing it to the public? My opponent has stalled on that for a year.

Russell: Evidently my opponent’s opinion on this has evolved because a year ago, he ridiculed the town for having the forum and said it was silly to talk about this because it was unenforceable. I want bags to disappear from the landscape. I think the county is in a better position to do something meaningful about it. I think that if at least we took Riverhead off the table, I would be the first to support a ban.

Rallis: Yes, a year ago, I said a plastic bag ban isn’t going to work because you’re not enforcing your existing codes. And let’s face it, people’s opinions can change. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s about listening to the community and talking to people out there. And that’s what I do.

Russell: Getting community input is important. A nice way of doing that is hosting forums. [applause] I work for this community … I have a business community that’s having a hard time struggling to compete with the corporate giants to the west … I think there are better ways to do away with single use plastic bags.

Q: There has been discussion recently of creating a part-time wildlife manager in town to help address the deer problem. What might this person accomplish and what other steps need to be taken?

Russell: The first thing they’re going to do is work with our land preservation committee… But we can do more. We can expand our inventory of hunting areas in our town.

Rallis: What we need to do with the wildlife manager is ensure that that employee is properly trained, that expectations and goals are spelled out that the individual is monitored and that those goals are met … We’ve dropped the ball on similar positions. Look at code enforcement. This administration has ignored advice from experts when it comes to code enforcement this administration has provided minimal training when it comes to code enforcement staff and it’s failed to follow its own policies and procedures … We have to hire them based on qualifications as well, not who they’re related to in Town Hall and not what their political party. [applause]

Russell: We are going to have a clearly defined role for the management officer who will be reporting directly to the Town Board. The credentials, I agree with. In fact, it’s a civil service position and civil service spells out what the criteria and qualifications are before you fill the position … I’m not aware of us not following policies and procedures. I’m certainly not aware of the town hiring people based on political affiliation. Most employees are actually civil service list. The town doesn’t have discretion. Damon raises this issue a lot. It was a Republican Town Board that hired Damon.It was a Republican Town Board that moved Damon into code enforcement at his request. The Republican Town Board changed the title just to hire him and it was a Republican Town Board that negotiated with his union when we moved him back to his old job to make sure the salary stayed the same. I don’t see the partisanship.

Rallis: Actually my salary didn’t stay the same, but that doesn’t bother me. It was a Republican Town Board that hired me. If we want to get into this discussion, yeah, I brought it up. [Laughter] Look, I was a Republican. The Republicans love to walk around and say that I used to be a Republican. Let me tell you something about Southold Town, about growing up in Southold Town, about being born in Southold Town. The first thing you’re told by your parents: you better register Republican if you want a job out here. [applause]  You better register Republican if you want to run a business out here. If someone comes up to me in Town Hall and says “You know, I really want this promotion. I switched my party affiliation. That makes me sick.”

Russell: I wasn’t a registered Republican when I was first nominated when I ran for office.

Q: This summer we saw numerous fish kills in the Peconic Estuary. What do you see as Southold Town’s role in solving regional water quality problems?

Rallis: I support the efforts being made by Suffolk County to look into alternative systems but these systems are expensive … The time to act is now. All the East End towns are dealing with this … We have to stop passing the buck in some situations and saying this is a county situation … If you’re going to build a 124-unit subdivision development in my community under my administration then you’re going to be held to the highest standard.

Russell: Southold has shown a leadership role here. I am actually meeting with East End supervisors and Legislator Krupski. We’re trying to form an East End septic district. Suffolk County finally, slowly but surely, is starting to recognize alternative treatment systems. Most of Southold’s septic issues are residential. Currently none of the alternative systems are permitted, but in the near future they’re going to be.

Rallis: I’m glad to hear that.

Q: The town takes in a significant amount of revenue from beach stickers, yet some bathrooms and the beaches themselves are in poor condition. Any plans on upgrading facilities and/or beaches?

Russell: Beaches are overused to the point of being abused. We partner with community pride programs. We work hand in hand with them … The volunteerism in this town is astounding. We can probably expand that even more by creating a volunteer corps.

Rallis: Some of the beaches do have bathrooms… and they’re often locked when you need them or they’re not very clean. I tend to agree with my opponent … We do have a very strong group of volunteers there.

Russell: What we do is try to maintain them. We have a very responsive [Department of Public Works] … We can’t have someone there 8 hours a day.

Rallis: Absolutely.

Q: Each year roads are getting busier and busier it seems. How can you address concerns residents have over traffic and road safety?

Rallis: I really like the idea that my running mate Debbie O’Kane has been talking about looking … to entice maybe some sort of public transit, non-profit privately funded [entity]. I imagine something coming out from Tanger running out to Orient on a regular basis with corporate sponsorship. Traffic is a problem. Traffic is a nightmare … We do need these people to come out here. One of the things I got really concerned about is by passing this short term rental ban, in my opinion you’re putting more cars on the road … That’s not going to solve our traffic problem.

Russell: I don’t know that I can tie short term rentals into the discussion [laughter]. Southold Town is part of the East End Transportation Council. We’re a robust member there. We actually partially funded a study a few years ago from a think tank in Washington … they identified how we can create our own East End rail … This East End rail transit authority would require that the MTA cede its assets and the income it produces from the East End … it’s a tremendous tremendous piggy bank for the MTA and they don’t have to provide anything back in services. That’s not going to happen overnight. What we do in the meantime is smaller initiatives. We stop hair-brained schemes to bring 18-wheelers across the ferry. We tried some traffic calming measure. I know it was somewhat unpopular to ban special road events during the busy season but the fact of the matter is it wasn’t making our problem better, it made our problem worse.

Q: Do you believe the current Town Board has made prudent fiscal decisions?

Russell: Of course we do. We run a very tight fiscal ship. We had our bond rating increased last year. It’s the highest bond rating we’ve ever had. We keep our debt profile managable. Certainly there are some expenditures over the years that we cold have done better at, but that’s like any government. I think one of the cornerstones of this administration and the board I work with is fiscal responsibility. I think we have a better fiscal record than just about any municipality on Long Island. We’ve weathered a very difficult financial storm just about six years ago and I think we came through with flying colors. [applause]

Rallis: It’s true we have a healthy fund balance, strong bond rating keeps us under the tax cap … We look good on paper, but how is Town Hall being managed. To the best of my knowledge … this administration has held just two department head meetings in calendar year 2015 … No one inside Town Hall is offering leadership or guidance. That’s the role of a town supervisor.

Russell: The department head meetings are basically used to deal with common issues, common challenges. The department heads and I have very good communication on a daily basis. Most of the issues they face are unique to their office so they need to be dealt with one-on-one with them. Some of those common issues get resolved in a department head meeting, but having or not having department head meetings is no reflection on leadership.

Rallis: I disagree. I think if you’re managing a business, you should be meeting with your managing staff once a month. We used to do that …  I do find it odd that our two department head meetings, one was right after the alleged theft inside of justice court and the other was right around the time the justice court officer quit because of security. Are we gathering together to put out fires. Maybe we should be gathering together once a month so that these fires don’t start [applause].

Closing statements:

Rallis: We’ve sat here tonight and heard about specific issues. We agree on most things. We agree that helicopter noise is an issue, we agree that plastic bags should go away. We agree that we want to do the best …. My opponent and I are vying for a job and that is the job of town supervisor and I believe the role of a town supervisor is to manage the day to day operations of Town Hall … Politics? Favoritism? It really has no place inside Southold Town … We need some balance and I’d like to bring that balance if you’d give me your vote November 3.

Russell: I’ve been here for 10 years. I’m going to say basically “this is my record” and “this is what I’d like to continue to do,” and that’s basically to continue to run the town in a tight fiscal manner. Having a town that’s healthy financially makes everything else possible. We have a very progressive environmental program … My opponent once said that needs a government that’s proactive, not reactive. Not necessarily. We need a government that’s both. We need a government that’s proactive that has vision, which is what we embody in the continued work on the comprehensive master pan. But we also need a government that can respond to challenges as they arise. We had a challenge this past year with historic churches going on the market. Southold Town Board came together with a new piece of legislation promoting the protection of these structures. It’s those types of things that come at you that you didn’t see two or three years ago … The agricultural industry is undergoing a lot of changes. It has new needs. Higher production, less land. We need a town that has policies, procedures and town code that are able to adapt to those needs of that vitally important industry … Southold is celebrating its 375th anniversary this year. Southold is sustainable … Nobody needs to come in to save the town from itself. We’re doing fine. I know people are saying we need change. Change into what?

According to its most recent quarterly statement, Facebook has about 1.3 billion active users. Twitter’s website touts 316 million monthly users. About 500 million tweets are sent daily worldwide.

The digital footprints of Southold Town and Greenport Village consist principally of documents posted online, videos of past meetings and, most recently, a mechanism that enables residents to file formal complaints with the town online. These are all useful, and steps in the right direction, but the use of social media as a vehicle to get things done through government is rather limited on the North Fork.

Of the 23 elected officials now serving in Southold and Greenport, only two can really be considered “active” in using social media to encourage conversation about current local issues and events.

Neither the town nor the village has an official Facebook page. The Village of Greenport has an “official Twitter account,” though it’s used sporadically — a total of 88 times, to be exact, between August 2014 and the end of July. Southold Town does not have a Twitter account.

Greenport Village Trustee Doug Roberts maintains a public Facebook page and Trustee Mary Bess Phillips operates the closed group “Let’s Talk Village of Greenport,” which users need permission to access.

Local leaders should take note of the dialogue exchanged there: Residents raise topics that concern them and put them out for discussion or seek answers directly from elected officials, whose job it is to respond. Conversations ensue and, in some cases, that leads to action.

Granted, questions about area’s long-term future aren’t being solved on a daily basis, but discussion has addressed topics ranging from the controversial short-term rental issue to more mundane “kitchen table” concerns: reporting a pothole or a clarifying procedures for permit applications.

“But Joe,” you say. “What you just described has been taking place in person for hundreds and hundreds of years. Julius Caesar didn’t need Facebook. Thomas Jefferson didn’t tweet. Why should that be any different for our elected officials?”

I wouldn’t argue that social media should ever replace good old-fashioned face-to-face conversation. And trustees Roberts and Phillips have told me they don’t either. But in the world we live in today, where so many people are connected to so many platforms that allow conversations to occur, why wouldn’t local government want to embrace whatever it can to connect with the people it serves?

We cover town meetings, but attendance is flat at many of them. Some people are simply unable to attend due to work or family constraints; others likely don’t even know they’re happening. Sure, the town and village websites have that information, but can’t there be a more proactive way to get information in front of people, through their smartphones or computers?

I recently read an article about a town in southern Spain called “The Incredible Jun: The Town that Runs on Social Media.” If residents of Jun have a code complaint, they send tweets to the mayor and the code enforcer, who are also on social media. The highway department crew tweets back to the person who complained about the pothole after it’s filled in. The entire town staff is on Twitter and, since everything is out in the open, people know when valid complaints aren’t responded to and how long they take to address.

Now, I’m not calling for the entire town and village staff to open Twitter accounts today and follow the example of Jun, which itself is still a work in progress. But it’s a novel approach that I think we can learn from locally and should at least consider to spur a conversation.

And for the record, I see it in my own industry as well as in government. Nowadays, conversations are taking place more often on social media and less often in our Letters to the Editor section. And we plan to revise our op-ed page to reflect that.

Government should consider responding similarly. Southold Supervisor Scott Russell — who is active in online comments sections, though typically only to address factual issues in stories or readers’ comments — points out that determining who actually runs the government’s social media then becomes the next question. But even for basic emergencies, if the town and village could communicate information to residents more efficiently through social media, couldn’t that be considered a win/win? And more effective uses could be determined from there.

It may seem like I’m making an argument for government to find a reason to avoid the press, long considered “the gatekeeper” of information disseminated to the public. But in the digital age, that model has been disrupted. Elected leaders and their constituents can connect so easily today that all we can do is responsibly guide a conversation for our audience on both sides.

The question is, though, is government having a conversation with the public?

Joseph Pinciaro is editor of The Suffolk Times. You can reach him at 298-3200, ext. 238 or follow him on Twitter @cjpinch.

Photo Credit: Jason Howie, flickr

This past harsh winter took its toll on the Southold Town highway department budget.

The coffers are now totally empty, said superintendent Vincent Orlando.

“We’re out of funding to continue to pave roads as of today,” Mr. Orlando told the Town Board at a work session Tuesday. And yet, Peconic Bay Boulevard remains a mess and roads across town need work before this winter’s cycle of snow and freezing temperatures causes more damage.

To pay for last-minute road repairs before winter arrives, the board is expected to vote tonight to free up $250,000 from its roughly $5.7 million in highway department reserves.

“This is what the fund is for,” said councilman James Dinizio.

The cost wasn’t a total surprise to the board. In March, Mr. Orlando alerted members that the winter had done significant damage to the town’s roads, far more than the town had budgeted to fix.

“It was the perfect condition to destroy roads,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting. Some roads in Orient and East Marion were down to bare dirt by the time spring came this past year.

Mr. Orlando has applied for a $250,000 grant for next year’s repaving projects, but that wouldn’t address the work that still needs to be done this fall. He said the department only has a few weeks left to get the remaining paving done before it becomes too cold.

“We can’t leave the town in disarray,” he said.

The highway department would need about $300,000 to $400,000 to finish all the work, but Mr. Orlando said he believes he’ll be able to “squeak by” on $250,000. Injecting reserve money into the budget is a “tarnished silver bullet” that will help the department get through the rest of this year, Mr. Orlando said.

Town Supervisor Scott Russell said the town will recoup the reserves money over the next few years by setting extra money aside in future budgets.

But the town’s quick fix this year will barely make a dent in the roughly $5 million of overall road repairs the town still needs.

Looking forward, Mr. Russell said the Town Board may consider setting up a bond to cover some additional road work. The regular highway department budget each year could cover the rest.

psquire@timesreview.com

Scott Russell.

Moments into a Suffolk Times debate between Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell and Democratic hopeful Damon Rallis earlier this month, it became clear the challenger was not afraid to take the gloves off in the ring with the incumbent.

Mr. Rallis was responding to a question about an audit of the Southold Town Justice Court that was ordered after a court clerk stole more than $230,000 from the town’s bail fund. It’s the biggest scandal in recent town history and, depending on where you place the blame, the largest pockmark on the supervisor’s decade-long record.

Mr. Rallis, rightfully, came out swinging.

“We work with the honor system. You know what happens when we use the honor system: $256,000 gets stolen from Justice Court,” Mr. Rallis stated with authority.

It set the tone for the remainder of the debate, where the challenger took frequent, aggressive shots at his opponent’s record.

There was one problem with Mr. Rallis’ approach: Mr. Russell was comfortable defending his record and he spent much of the next hour outlining the many accomplishments of his four terms in office.

It’s one thing to rip Mr. Russell over what happened at the Justice Court — even if he maintains that the blame lies elsewhere. It’s something else to attack him on the subject of the town’s finances, for example.

By questioning why it’s taken six years for the town to begin improving safety conditions in the Justice Court, Mr. Russell was able to remind Mr. Rallis that the economy has forced local governments to slow progress that becomes too costly. Despite a shaky economy, the supervisor pointed out throughout the evening, the town has paid down debt to improve its bond rating while keeping tax increases to a minimum.

“I think we have a better fiscal record than just about any municipality on Long Island,” Mr. Russell said.

Long before this year’s supervisor race became official, the two candidates made it clear to anyone paying attention to online message boards and social media that they’d had a rift. Mr. Rallis, a town employee, and Mr. Russell have had several contentious back-and-forth debates over the years that have been hard not to notice.

As a candidate, Mr. Rallis continues to come off like a disgruntled employee enjoying any opportunity he gets to throw verbal jabs at his boss.

“No one inside Town Hall is offering leadership or guidance,” stated Mr. Rallis, who labeled Mr. Russell a partisan and a poor manager who rarely gets all of his department heads together.

The points the challenger makes fall flat if you believe the public is satisfied with the general direction at Town Hall, where, as the leader of a one-party Town Board, Mr. Russell clearly sets the tone.

The board has spent much of the supervisor’s current four-year term proactively addressing quality of life issues like short-term rentals, noise complaints and deer management. The town has also continued to make land preservation a priority.

While every municipality has its share of disgruntled citizens, they appear few and far between in Southold.

Mr. Rallis’ campaign failed to offer much in terms of ideas for how to fix Town Hall — and that’s probably because it isn’t exactly broken.

We do agree that Mr. Russell shares the blame for the Justice Court thefts, even if he does not. And his falling asleep at a Town Board meeting and flipping a town-owned vehicle earlier this year were definitely causes for concern (though Mr. Rallis didn’t even raise those issues during his campaign).

While Mr. Rallis would have you believe the town is in need of a change in leadership, we believe Southold has been well served with Mr. Russell as its supervisor. He deserves another term.

Tuesday is Election Day nationwide and voters in Southold Town will be asked to choose a supervisor, two council members, two trustees, a town justice and assessor.

Click on the page numbers or links below for a closer look at what’s on the ballot:

Town Supervisor candidates: Damon Rallis and Scott Russell

Town Board candidates: Albie de Kerillis, Jill Doherty, Debra O’Kane and William Ruland

Town Trustee candidates: David Bergen, Glenn Goldsmith, Matthew Kapell and A. Nicholas Krupski

Town Justice candidates: William Goggins and Brian Hughes

Town Assessor candidates: Richard Caggiano and Linda Sledjeski Goldsmith

Tuesday is Election Day nationwide and voters in Southold Town will be asked to choose a supervisor, two council members, two trustees, a town justice and assessor. They’ll also pick a county executive and legislator.

Click on the links below for this year’s The Suffolk Times endorsements:

Town Supervisor: Scott Russell

Town Board: Jill Doherty and William Ruland

Town Trustee: David Bergen and A. Nicholas Krupski

Town Justice: Brian Hughes

Town Assessor: Richard Caggiano

County Legislator: Albert Krupski

County Executive: Steve Bellone

The challengers seeking seats on the Southold Town Board this Election Day centered their campaigns around the idea that there’s a need for change in a town where all five board members have been elected with Republican support. Don’t vote for the status quo, they urged.

The three incumbents running for re-election countered with a platform of fiscal responsibility and community and environmental preservation.

When all the votes were counted Tuesday, it appeared the public opted to keep things the same for at least two more years.

Incumbent Supervisor Scott Russell was elected to a fourth term over Democratic challenger Damon Rallis, 3,906 to 2,131.

Despite winning with 65 percent of the vote, it was Mr. Russell’s slimmest margin of victory in a re-election campaign, and he thanked his supporters for their help earning him a new four-year term.

“You get behind a candidate and you support him 100 percent of the way,” he said to the Republicans gathered on Election Day at the Soundview restaurant in Greenport. “I can’t thank you enough.”

Mr. Russell, who was first elected to the town’s top post in 2005 after serving more than a decade on the Board of Assessors, said he’ll work to earn the trust voters placed in him during his next term.

Mr. Russell, 51, of Cutchogue called it a “good competitive race on both sides.”

Mr. Rallis, 41, of Mattituck noted that, despite losing, he was proud to have put up a fight and run a “clean campaign.”

“I sent a text to my kid: ‘God’s got a different plan. I’ll figure that out tomorrow,’” he said, adding that he looks forward to spending more time with his family while continuing to hold the Town Board accountable for its actions.

Candidates Damon Rallis and Debra O’Kane took over a reporter’s computer for a moment to look at results. (Credit: Chris Lisinski)

Town Democratic Committee chairman Art Tillman called losing the supervisor race a disappointment, but added that “if we can beat [the Republicans] in two out of seven races, that’s pretty good,” referring to apparent victories for justice and one Trustee seat.

In the race for Town Council, incumbent Republicans Jill Doherty and William Ruland won by large margins over Democratic challengers Albie de Kerillis and Debra O’Kane. Ms. Doherty, 51, of New Suffolk, secured 32 percent of the vote; Mr. Ruland, 67, of Mattituck, received 30 percent; and Mr. DeKerillis, 48, of East Marion, and Ms. O’Kane, 59, of Orient, each had support from about 19 percent of voters.

Assessor Richard Caggiano, 66, of Southold was elected to a second term with 60 percent of the vote against Democratic candidate Linda Goldsmith, 65, of East Marion.

Tax receiver George Sullivan, 71, of Southold won, having run unopposed for a new four-year term. He has held his position for 19 years over two separate stints in office.

With about 6,600 residents casting votes, including absentee ballots, voter turnout was about the same as it was during Mr. Russell’s 2011 re-election campaign, but was down by about 900 votes from the last town election in 2013. Townwide enrollment is down by about 400 registered voters from two years ago.

Top caption: Town Supervisor Scott Russell waves to supporters Tuesday night. (Credit: Paul Squire)

gparpan@timesreview.com

Following a trend within Suffolk County, Southold’s town police are generally paid about 30 percent more than the state average for town police, according to data released this week by Albany think tank The Empire Center.

In 2014, the average salary for a Southold Police Department officer was $125,018, making it roughly a third higher than the the statewide average of $90,554 for a town police department officer. Southold’s town employees were also paid more in general than other areas with an average salary of $48,062, compared to the state average for town employees of $39,435.

On the North Fork and in Suffolk County, average police salaries were substantially higher than the state average, according to data from The Empire Center.

Those figures follow a larger trend since Long Island is one of the most affluent parts of the state, according to The Empire Center’s figures. Suffolk and Nassau County police officers have received attention for their large salaries, though in recent years Suffolk has slightly altered its system.

“Long Island police officers dominated the list of highest-paid local government employees outside New York City in 2014,” the Empire Center’s report stated. “Thirty-one of the 50 highest-paid local government employees were police officers on Long Island, including 24 Nassau County police officers.”

The average salary for Southold’s town employees was sixth highest out of 13 Long Island towns, and the average salary for its police was second highest out of the five East End towns, all of which have their own departments.

How town employee salaries on the North Fork stack up against the rest of Long Island. (Graphic by Chris Lisinski)

David Gamberg, superintendent of the Southold and Greenport School Districts, was the highest-paid public employee in town at $249,109, according to The Empire Center’s SeeThroughNY database. Police Chief Martin Flatley’s salary was listed at $197,494, while Supervisor Scott Russell’s salary is $97,327.

The Empire Center used pay data reported to the New York State and Local Retirement System between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. In its report, the organization noted figures listed do not include benefits such as health insurance or pension contributions, “which can add 35 percent or more to the cost for taxpayers.” 

Interestingly, Shelter Island’s town employees were the second-lowest paid among Long Island townships at an average salary of $42,187 while its 10 police officers were the highest paid among the five East End towns at an average salary of $131,362.

In Riverhead, town employee and police salaries were slightly lower than Southold at $46,537 and $119,326, respectively.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter was paid $122,508 — about $25,000 per year more than his counterpart on the North Fork — according to SeeThroughNY. Police Chief David Hegermiller was paid $219,237 and Nancy Carney, superintendent of the Riverhead School District, was paid $232,892.

clisinski@timesreview.com

With the new year comes several changes to Southold Town government, including the swearing in of three newly elected officials.

Town Justice Brian Hughes and Trustees Nick Krupski and Glenn Goldsmith took their oaths of office alongside several incumbents at a swearing-in ceremony at the Peconic Community Center Monday morning. 

“It’s definitely really, really exciting,” Mr. Krupski said. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”

Mr. Krupski, a Democrat, received the most votes in the four-way race for two Trustee positions in the November general election. His father, Legislator Al Krupski, was a Town Trustee and Town Board member for 20 years prior to become a county legislator.

Speaking after the ceremony, Supervisor Scott Russell praised those who were inaugurated with him this morning.

“It’s a great group of people, some great new faces,” said Mr. Russell, who begins his fourth term in the position.

The three new elected officials, who were sworn in by State Supreme Court Justice William Condon, all shared a sense of excitement regarding the future of Southold Town and their role in shaping it.

“I’m excited to work with everyone in the town, it’s a great group of people,” Mr. Goldsmith said. “I’m looking forward to continuing my work with the marine industry and protecting the marine environment.”

On Election Day, Mr. Goldsmith was losing to incumbent Trustee Dave Bergen by five votes. After absentee ballots were counted, Mr. Goldsmith received another 24 votes, giving him a 19-vote win.

“I’m proud to represent the people of Southold and I appreciate the people voting,” he said. “Mine was really close, so every vote counts. I hope to justify the confidence the people placed in me.”

Mr. Hughes received the largest cheers and applause from the crowded room after taking his oath, and he said he’s “anxious to start” his new job, taking over for 20-year judge Rudolph Bruer. Mr.Hughes said he has been working with Justice Court staff for about a month, which helped him transition.

Also inaugurated were Town Assessor Richard Caggiano, who begins his first full four-year term after being elected in a 2013 special election, Councilman William Ruland, Councilwoman Jill Doherty, Receiver of Taxes George Sullivan and Mr. Russell.

In a brief speech following the oaths of office, Mr. Russell spoke of the work to be done now that campaign season is over.

“After each election I said in the past, and I’ll say it again, is that no elected official is given a mandate,” he said. “What we’re given is the trust, the faith and the confidence of the public to do a good job.”

“Now the campaign is over for all of us and the hard work begins,” he continued. “I know the people up on this stage with me are going to work hard to do the business of this community and recognize that every action we take, every action we don’t take, has a consequence and has an impact on people’s lives.”

Caption: Town Justice Brian Hughes is sworn in by State Supreme Court Justice William Condon Monday.

nsmith@timesreview.com

The North Fork was spared the worst of a winter storm that wreaked havoc on other parts of Long Island Saturday.
Southold Town officials reported about 12 inches of snow across town and said no serious flooding plagued the area.

“Southold fared much better than the towns up west,” Supervisor Scott Russell said in an email Sunday. “It was a dangerous storm, but people stayed home like they were asked to and the clean up was smoother because of it.

“Western Long Island got a blizzard. Southold got a snowstorm and came through it fine.”

Highway Superintendent Vincent Orlando reported no road closures, adding that town highway crews plowed non-stop from about 8 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday. About half the crew remained on the roadways to drop salt and sand Sunday morning.

“They did an amazing job,” Mr. Orlando said of his crew. “It was a long day. It just slowly snowed all day, but they plowed straight through and once it finally stopped snowing they were able to catch up in the overnight hours.”

Mr. Orlando said some minor flowing occurred around parts of Skunk Lane and North Bayview Road, but nothing that required anyone to be evacuated from their homes.

Mr. Russell remarked at how quickly PSEG was able to restore outages Saturday.

At 7 a.m., Governor Andrew Cuomo lifted a driving ban that had been in effect since 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Long Island Rail Road is still working on clearing its tracks but service is expected to resume in time for the Monday morning commute.

Caption: Snow dunes in New Suffolk. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder)

gparpan@timesreview.com

Since 2010, Southold Town has paid a combined $1.5 million to two police officers who have been unable to serve after sustaining injuries in the line of duty, town officials said.

State law requires Southold to pay full salaries to the two officers for the duration of their injury-induced absences. Now, however, town officials are concerned that inefficiencies in the state system have allowed those costs to build up for too long and have even prevented the police department from operating at full strength.

“You have $1.5 million-plus of tax-free money being paid with no benefit of having someone actively working for the town,” Supervisor Scott Russell said. “It’s a tremendous burden.”

One of the officers had logged 14 years with the department at the time of his injury in November 2010. The other had seven years on the force when he was hurt in June 2012. Both have been receiving full salary and benefits packages, including annual raises, ever since, according to documents provided by Mr. Russell. The supervisor also noted that their incomes during that time has been tax-free. A spreadsheet listed the overall cost through last year as $1,545,383.06. The total amount paid to the officers in 2015 alone came to just over $364,000.

When an officer is injured in the line of duty, section 207-c of the state General Municipal Law requires the town to pay the “full amount of his regular salary or wages until his disability arising therefrom has ceased.” The town must also pay the costs of any related medical treatments.

One of the officers was injured in a motor vehicle accident and the other was hurt while investigating a crash, Police Chief Martin Flatley said.

However, if an officer is injured to such an extent that he or she is unable to return to work — even for “light duty” — the officer, police chief or town supervisor can apply for an “accidental disability retirement allowance” through the state comptroller’s office, thereby shifting the bulk of the costs onto the state. If that happens, the state pays each officer one-half of his or her final salary plus an annual amount determined by the officer’s contributions into the retirement system, according to section 363-c of the state Retirement and Social Security Law.

Mr. Russell said the town finally decided to submit an application for disability retirement on one officer’s behalf in the summer of 2014, roughly four years after his injury. During that time, doctors attempted to determine whether he could someday return to work.

The other officer decided on his own to apply around the same time, according to the supervisor.

One of the problems with the system, Mr. Russell said, is that it takes so long to examine injuries, especially because after a disability retirement application is submitted, the state then performs its own analysis.

“It takes years just to arrive at a conclusion,” he said. “These questions have already been settled at the local level … but when it goes to New York State, it goes through a whole new review process.”

A spokesperson for the state comptroller’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Russell and Chief Flatley both lamented the state review process as the second half of the problem — in the 18 months since both applications were submitted, the town still has not received an answer, even though Mr. Russell calls every few months to check in.

“The process of the NYS Retirement System determining their eligibility for retirement is extremely slow and very frustrating for us,” Chief Flatley wrote in an email. “The entire time these officers have been out of work, they have been collecting full salaries, and as important, they account for two slots on our manpower allotment that cannot be filled until they are retired, and their salaries cleared from payroll.”

Both Mr. Russell and Chief Flatley said their concerns are not unique to Southold, either; Mr. Russell said other towns have similar problems and Chief Flatley said other chiefs told him they’ve experienced a lengthy waiting period for such applications.

The two also said these disability costs have negatively affected both town and police department budgets. Mr. Russell linked it to his decision in September not to hire four additional officers Chief Flatley had requested.

“This has left us two officers short for this extended period of time,” Chief Flatley wrote. “This has definitely handcuffed our ability to have a full complement of officers to serve our community.”

The supervisor plans to meet with local state legislators to discuss his concerns and to call for legislative reform to ameliorate the process. (Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo was not available for comment.)

“We need meaningful reform,” Mr. Russell said. “A system like this simply can’t stay in place. It costs the taxpayers way too much money.”

He said the officers deserve to be cared for, but called for reform to ensure that the town is not waiting — and paying — excessively while the next step is determined.

“Officers who are legitimately injured in the line of duty ought to have financial security knowing their pay will continue until the disability is addressed,” he said. “[But] those needs as an officer need to be balanced against the right of taxpayers to have their money directed to costs that are associated with employees that are performing service for the town.”

clisinski@timesreview.com

Those with long overdue parking tickets in Southold Town may have a chance this spring to pay them off without facing additional late penalties.

During Tuesday’s Town Board work session, Justice Court Director Leanne Reilly proposed a parking amnesty program, which would allow people who have received tickets to pay the base fine — without any late fees — while bringing a substantial amount of money into the town.

“It definitely brings in revenue,” Ms. Reilly said at the meeting. “It is something that we should think about doing.”

Between 2007 and 2015, the town issued 882 parking tickets that still have not been paid. Because of that, the town is owed more than $65,000 in base fines and an additional $84,000 in late penalties, Ms. Reilly told the Town Board.

Supporters argue that if the town offered a month of amnesty during which late fees were waived, people would have an incentive to pay back the base fine before the town takes other action. In doing so, the town would still make a substantial sum of money — or at least more than it is making from sitting and waiting for someone to decide to pay the full ticket and late fee, she said.

“We should try to get that money back,” said Councilman James Dinizio Jr. “It’s our money.”

Other opinions varied during the meeting. Councilman Bob Ghosio said the program might “reward the wrong people,” while Councilman Bill Ruland described it as a “prudent” method to close out many of the ticket cases, while bringing money into the town.

Supervisor Scott Russell suggested running the program from May 1 to June 1, but no formal resolution has been drafted.

Caption: Justice Court Director Leanne Reilly discusses her proposed plan with the Southold Town Board.

clisinski@timesreview.com

Suffolk County lawmakers and local environmentalists are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject the U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers’ latest plan for disposing of dredged materials in Long Island Sound.

The Corps approved its Dredged Material Management Plan Jan. 11. The next step is to present the final draft to Mr. Cuomo for approval.

The controversial plan is the Corps’ response to a 2005 mandate from New York and Connecticut aimed at phasing out the practice of dumping dredged materials into Long Island Sound. Local dredge dumping sites include Cornfield Shoals, just north of Greenport, and another near New London, west of Fishers Island.

The plan calls for about 53 million cubic yards of dredge spoils — which opponents say could contain toxic materials such as mercury, lead, PCBs and pesticides — to be dumped into the Sound over the next 30 years.

[Scroll down for an infograph illustrating the debate]

County Legislator Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue) attended a press conference Feb. 23 in Hauppauge with several legislators and environmentalists to voice his opposition to the proposal, describing the latest version of the plan as “clearly a case of putting the needs of a few above the health of the Sound.”

“It’s unfortunate the Army Corps’ plan allows for the continued disposal of potentially harmful materials into the Long Island Sound, despite the strong objections across the board from New York’s elected officials, residents and environmental advocacy groups,” he said.

Mr. Krupski also attended a public hearing held by the Corps in September in Riverhead to state his concern that dredged materials could harm water quality in the Sound and submitted a letter signed by all 18 members of the Suffolk County Legislature opposing the plan, which he described as a “lazy and cheap way out.”

[Related story: Environmentalists, lawmakers blast plan to dump in LI Sound]

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said she believes the Corps has to stop using the Sound “as a dumpster” and find alternative ways to dispose of dredged materials.

“We have come very far in our efforts to protect the Sound and cannot allow this ill-conceived plan to go forward,” she said. “The Army Corps is apparently looking for cheap and easy disposal options without any consideration for the economic and environmental value of the Sound.”

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell confirmed Tuesday that a specific concern about the plan has not been addressed, although the Corps said it would be. That concern involves the suggestion that 450 acres of agricultural land in Mattituck might be a feasible location for de-watering 2 million cubic yards of dredge spoil. In September, the Corps told a Southold Town representative that this idea would be removed from the plan.

“We were all well-represented at the hearings and ignored,” Mr. Russell said. “We cannot force changes to the findings. What we can do is raise objections and consider all options on a project-by-project basis.”

[Editorial: When a public hearing goes unheard for LI Sound dump plan]

Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter said no one from the Corps reached out to his office about the proposal and he believes more discussion is needed before the plan is adopted since a lot of money and resources have gone into improving water quality in the Sound.

“If they were really serious about getting public input they wouldn’t just hold public hearings — they would sit down one-on-one with the elected officials of the towns, the county executive and state officials,” he said. “If they were really serious, they would try to meet with as many people as they can. Short of that, I think they don’t necessarily care what elected officials have to say.”

Corps program manager Steven Wolf said at the September public hearing that dredged materials must be signed off on by the Environmental Protection Agency and the state before they’re disposed of in open waters. If the material is deemed toxic, he said, a different disposal method is used.

Corps staffers who worked on the latest draft proposal also said the plan includes a scoring system to determine alternative disposal methods and locations for dredged materials, such as constructing marshlands.

The Corps is responsible for dredging areas to improve water navigation, including 31 projects in Connecticut and 17 in New York.

Top photo: The Long Island Sound in Greenport, not far from the Cornfield Shoals dredge dumping site. (Credit: Grant Parpan, file)

jnuzzo@timesreview.com

Nearly two years after initiating an audit of Southold Town’s Justice Court, the Town Board may pull the plug on it.

Supervisor Scott Russell said in an interview last week that he’ll ask fellow board members to consider suspending an outside auditing firm’s inquiry into court finances, which was ordered after a former clerk’s arrest for stealing more than $230,000 from the town bail fund. Mr. Russell said he believes the process has dragged on for too long and he wants the auditors to turn over their findings.

“The financials of the department were a mess,” Mr. Russell said. “There were so many issues — from software problems to stale accounts with old checks in them and handwritten notes. And it all spans a number of years. I’m not sure they’ll ever be done and the time is coming for the Town Board to say, ‘Give us what you got and we’ll call it a day.’ ”

The Town Board authorized $36,000 in March 2014 to hire the accounting firm Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Company to conduct the audit, just weeks after news leaked that court clerk Christine Stulsky was being investigated. Ms. Stulsky, who pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny and has since served time in jail, has already paid more than $110,000 in restitution to the town.

AVZ has not yet released details of its more intensive multi-year audit of the Justice Court, but in January it did unveil its standard annual audit of the court for 2014 — the year in which Ms. Stulsky was arrested — which included a disclaimer saying the auditors were unable to express an opinion on the bail account.

“Management has not maintained adequate internal controls relating to the collection and disbursement of bail proceeds and as a result we were unable to audit the collection, disbursement and ending balance of the activity in the bail account,” the audit reads.

In an interview last Wednesday, Mr. Russell, Town Justice William Price and Justice Court director Leanne Reilly said the auditors have continued to work on the multi-year audit with court staff, but the process has been arduous.

Mr. Price said thousands of files have been reviewed and Ms. Reilly — who was hired in the wake of the theft — added that each file contains multiple procedures. She said her staff has worked with AVZ in an attempt to ascertain where the bail money in each file ended up.

“We have to determine was the bail forfeited, was it returned?” she said. “There’s a lot of work to do on every file. I don’t really know how the auditors can make a determination on it.”

Mr. Price said town officials have learned since Ms. Stulsky’s arrest that although past audits reviewed Justice Court systems, auditors did not thoroughly examine its bail accounts, which he and former colleague Judge Rudolph Bruer — who opted not to seek re-election after 20 years on the bench — had believed was being done.

Mr. Russell added that because Ms. Stulsky, a senior clerk, managed the office for many years, she controlled a process that allowed her to handle bail money herself, making it easier for her to cover up the thefts.

“She ran a ship that manipulated the process,” he said. “She manipulated the workers that worked there and she lied to the judges.”

In December, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct dismissed a complaint alleging, based on news articles, that Mr. Price had failed to properly monitor Ms. Stulsky. The dismissal notes that he and Fishers Island Justice Louisa Evans responded to the news of Ms. Stulsky’s arrest by “reviewing existing protocols and implementing improved administrative and financial procedures to protect against such misappropriations occurring or going undetected in the future.”

Among their reforms was the December 2014 hiring of Ms. Reilly to run the Justice Court. She has since implemented a system that involves all staff members in the handling of monies received.

Mr. Russell said the town is pleased with the work the Justice Court staff has done to improve its office functions and the time has come to “move forward.”

The supervisor said he has not received additional invoices from AVZ for its ongoing audit, but he suspects the town may owe more than the original $36,000 it agreed to pay. If the Town Board agrees the time has come, he said, he’ll direct AVZ to close the audit and present its incomplete findings. The firm has told the supervisor it can prepare a draft for the March 22 meeting.

“If the mess hasn’t been unraveled yet and they’re still trying to balance out all of the books, I know myself and some of the other board members feel at this point that if we can’t figure it out, we can’t figure it out,” he said. “Let’s put an end to this.”

gparpan@timesreview.com

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell is proposing to double the limits of the town’s current zoning rules in order to increase affordable housing rental units across the North Fork.

The code currently allows developers to build up to six affordable rental units per acre. At Tuesday’s Town Board work session, Mr. Russell proposed increasing that limit to 12 units per acre.

Instead of large affordable housing complexes residents had pushed back against in the past, the supervisor also called for smaller rental housing developments no larger than 25 units scattered around the North Fork.

“Quite frankly, I believe this is more sellable to the public,” Mr. Russell said. “They’re more within scale within each of the hamlets … Nobody’s going to accept 40 or 50 units. It’s never going to fly.”

The need for affordable housing has been discussed at Southold Town Board meetings in recent years. In September, developer Paul Pawlowski withdrew his proposal to build a controversial affordable housing above retail stores on Main Road in Mattituck.

On Tuesday, Mr. Russell said the Town Board needs to start setting goals and actively working to solve the growing affordable housing crisis no the North Fork.

“At least then we have a metric or benchmark to compare ourselves to,” he said.

The supervisor made similar suggestions at the “State of Greenport Village and Southold Town” in January and said affordable housing would be a priority for the coming year.

Rona Smith, a member of the town’s Housing Advisory Commission, said during Tuesday’s work session that she believes the town should focus on encouraging more rental developments. Affordable home purchases are often too expensive for low-income residents, she added.

Ms. Smith said the Housing Advisory Commission has tried to entice developers to build in Southold and received “virtually no responses.”

High land costs are a side effect of a lack of supply due to preservation efforts, she said, adding the current town zoning code has also hindered efforts to attract affordable housing to the area.

“We almost have to see increased density to see affordable housing … but we have to tread carefully,” she said. “It’s a slippery slope, you need to be really careful.”

psquire@timesreview.com

A bill aiming to stop the federal government’s proposed sale of Plum Island to the highest bidder is expected to be approved by the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee on Thursday, opening the door for an eventual vote by the entire House, according to East End Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley).

“Plum Island is treasured by our local community,” said Mr. Zeldin, who outlined the new plan in a press conference Sunday in Riverhead. “It feels like you’re literally thousands of miles away from home when you visit. The scenery, the coastline, the wildlife right here off the coast of Long Island, is a treasure that must be protected.”

About 90 percent of the island, which has been home to a federal research lab since 1954, is undeveloped, he said, and offers “a diverse wildlife and ecosystem that is a critical habitat for migratory birds, marine mammals and rare plants.”

“We have a responsibility to protect the biodiversity found on Plum Island, including acres of shoreline and wetlands that are home to threatened species of birds, sea turtles and seals,” said Ashley Hunt-Martorano, the director of marketing and events for a non-profit group called Citizens Climate Lobby, who spoke at Sunday’s press conference.

Mr. Zeldin had proposed a bill last year to block the sale of the 840-acre property just east of  Orient Point, but that bill was never put up for a vote.

The bill will now be revised to call for the federal Government Accountability Office, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, to come up with a comprehensive plan for the future of the island.

The federal government announced in 2005 that it would shut down the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and build a new research lab in Kansas, which was expected to open in 2022.

Plum Island, owned by the federal government since 1899, would then be sold.

Mr. Zeldin says the 2008 federal law that mandates the property be sold is “flawed” and was passed without consulting with federal agencies or with local officials and communities.

The revised bill, he said, has strong bipartisan support from Long Island and Connecticut delegates in the House and the U.S. Senate.

In an attempt to prevent private development of Plum Island, Southold Town officials rezoned Plum Island in 2013 at the suggestion of then-Councilman Al Krupski, who is now a county legislator, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said.

The supervisor said he didn’t think officials were serious about selling Plum Island at the time, but Mr. Krupski did and said the town needed to do something about it.

“And I thought, who would be crazy enough to want to buy Plum Island?” Mr. Russell recalled. “Well, it was about that time that I got a call Donald Trump’s representatives. He wanted to put a golf course and resort there. And then we knew we had to take some action.”

Mr. Zeldin is seeking to stop such proposals from being considered.

“During this (study) process, there can be no steps whatsoever taken in pursuit of sale of the island,” Mr. Zeldin said at Sunday’s press conference on Reeves Beach in Riverhead, surrounded by state, county and local officials from Southold and Riverhead towns. “This plan will include possible alternative uses for the island including a transfer of ownership to another federal agency or to the state or local government, a nonprofit organization or a combination thereof, for the purpose of education, research and conservation.”

Mr. Zeldin said he has been in discussions with the offices of U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as with Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal to come up with a version of the bill in the U.S. Senate.

Both Mr. Schumer and Mr. Blumenthal have recently made public statements in opposition to the sale of Plum Island.

The Department of Homeland Security, which owns Plum Island, has already started to study alternative uses for the land, Mr. Zeldin said.

Under the proposal up for a vote on Thursday, “If that study comes back and we like it, we will support it. If we don’t like it and we need a more thorough and extensive study, the (revised) law will be triggering a GAO study that will be much more extensive than what the Department of Homeland Security is doing right now,” he said.

The Animal Disease Center on Plum Island has conducted scientific research on a variety of infectious animal-borne diseases, including foot-and-mouth disease.

Plum Island also contains “cultural, historical, ecological, and natural resources of regional and national significance,” the bill states.

That the Environmental Protection Agency appears ready to allow dumping of materials dug up from dredging in Long Island Sound didn’t come as a surprise to environmentalist Adrienne Esposito.

But the lack of any long-term plan to abandon the practice — which critics claim could harm the health of the waterway — was a “bizarre” decision, she said.

“In a perfect world they would have crafted a plan that transitions from dumping in the sound to beneficial reuse,” said Ms. Esposito, the executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “They have taken the cheap easy route out and that’s really discouraging, because the EPA is purporting to be the protectors of Long Island Sound. Now we’re learning they’re the polluters of Long Island Sound.”

Ms. Esposito is just one of the Long Island advocates criticizing the EPA’s recent conclusion, released yesterday as part of the larger plan coordinated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue to dump the dredge materials in Long Island Sound. Dredging — which in this case has occurred mostly in Connecticut harbors and rivers — is used to deepen waterways that had become clogged with silt and sand, making it easier and safer for ships to pass.

According to the EPA, dumping some of the dredge material in one part of the eastern Long Island Sound about 1 1/2 miles northwest of Fishers Island concentrates “the effects, if any, of disposal practices to small, discrete areas that have already received dredged material, and avoid distributing any effects over a larger geographic area.” The EPA also said monitoring will alert authorities if the material begins to spread.

Two other areas in Niantic Bay and near Cornfield Shoals could also be used for dredge material dumping instead of, or in addition to, the eastern Long Island Sound site.

Opponents of the plan claim the materials dug up through dredging could be toxic and may be diffused throughout the sound if the dumping continues. They advocate for reusing the non-toxic sand for beach replenishment and putting more dangerous material in old mines to fill them up.

“There should be no dumping of that material in Long Island Sound,” said Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski. “That water comes through that area at such a high velocity. It mixes.”

Mr. Krupski, who has long opposed the deal, accused the EPA of being biased, saying the regional director once worked in Connecticut and is putting their needs first. The Suffolk County Legislature has tried to influence the plan by securing the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo, but so far he hasn’t weighed in on the plan.

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said he hasn’t reviewed the latest EPA documents yet, but said the town would “stand in stark opposition” to dumping in Long Island Sound.

The EPA has scheduled two meetings on the North Fork on May 25 for public comment. The first will be held at the Suffolk County Community College Culinary Arts Center on East Main Street in Riverhead from 1 to 3 p.m. A later meeting will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Mattituck-Laurel Library in Mattituck.

Both Mr. Russell and Mr. Krupski said they plan to attend the meetings, and Ms. Esposito vowed to continue fighting the plan.

“We already testified on this ad nauseum,” she said. “Dumping in Long Island Sound is archaic and the damaging practice should be stopped. The EPA should know better.”

Photo Caption: A view of Long Island Sound from Greenport. (Credit: Grant Parpan, file)

psquire@timesreview.com

Should contractors be required to obtain licenses from Southold Town in order to do business locally?

That’s a question Supervisor Scott Russell would like addressed, since his office has received complaints of a lack of enforcement from Suffolk County, which currently issues contractor licenses.

During the Town Board’s Tuesday work session, Mr. Russell said contractors feel they aren’t able to compete with “ad hoc landscapers” and that they have described such unlicensed operations as “unfair competition.”

“We talked about this a couple of years ago and decided we didn’t want to get involved with another administrative review,” the supervisor explained. “But at the same time, if Suffolk County is not going to do its job, then we might want to start talking about the issue and figuring out how we can address it.”

Mr. Russell said he would also like the Town Board to explore the feasibility of requiring licenses when a dumpster is used at a residential property, since many homeowners reportedly fail to shield them and place them either too close to a neighbor’s property or in the town’s right of way. Town attorney Bill Duffy said he would provide the Town Board with dumpster permit examples from other towns.

As for contractors, Mr. Russell said another reason to require a license at the local level is that he believes most out-of-town businesses aren’t familiar with Southold Town code.

Councilwoman Jill Doherty said she believes there are similar problems with marine contractors and suggested the Town Board also look into requiring them to obtain a local license before doing business within the town.

Mr. Russell agreed that requiring licenses for both types of businesses should be looked into. He suggested the Town Board review East Hampton’s contractor license code as an example in order to start the discussion.

When reached for comment after Tuesday’s work session, Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue) said the town hadn’t reached out to him about the issue. He said he would address the county’s Consumer Affairs Department on Wednesday about the town’s concerns.

“Local control is better control,” Mr. Krupski said. “If this is something he [Mr. Russell] feels the town would benefit from, then I’d be willing to look into it and work with him.”

jnuzzo@timesreview.com

Photo: From right, town attorney Bill Duffy with Town Board members Jim Dinizio and Bob Ghosio at Tuesday’s work session. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo)