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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-08/09/2022 PH 1 COUNTY OF SUFFOLK : STATE OF NEW YORK TOWN OF SOUTHOLD -------------------------------------------------- TOWN OF SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD MEETING -------------------------------------------------- Southold, New York August 9, 2022 7 : 00 P . M . B E F 0 R E : SCOTT A . RUSSELL, SUPERVISOR LOUISA P . EVANS , JUSTICE JILL DOHERTY, COUNCILWOMAN BRIAN 0 . MEALY, COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI , COUNCILMAN SARAH E . NAPPA, COUNCILWOMAN August 9, 2022 Meeting 2 PUBLIC COMMENTS SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Okay . I am going to invite anybody that would like to comment on any item, please feel free? MR . ERIC McCLURE : Good evening . If nobody else wants to go, I will jump in . I wanted to say thank you for the motion to send a letter regarding Assembly 1007 to lower the speed limit to -- to allow localities to lower speed limits to 25 miles per hour . MR . DENIS NONCARROW : What is your name, again? MR . ERIC McCLURE : I am sorry . Eric McClure , 435 Westview Drive, Mattituck . It ' s a good bill . In my daily life, I work on advocacy geared around street safety and transportation issues . You know, lower speed limits helps save lives . I believe that Bill has gone to the government for signature , and hopefully she will sign it and urge the Town consider lowering the speed limit to 25 miles an hour in August 9, 2022 Meeting 3 places where it makes sense to do that, and so forth . In my usual reason for appearing, just wanted to give you a quick update on Strong ' s Water Club . I sent all of you folks an e-mail a week or two ago regarding some pretty high readings that happened on a Wednesday night, which has been in the past a night that they did not have music . But they have scheduled Wednesday Summer barbecues , and were really loud . I called the Southold Town Police to ask them to send somebody over to turn it down . Dispatcher said, "Oh, it ' s a Wednesday . I didn ' t know they had music on Wednesday ' s . " We didn ' t either . But they were in the mid 70 ' s on some of the decibel readings , which clearly is out of code . And I did not use the phone to call Code Enforcement . I will do that next time . But it continues to be a problem. When I was surprised by the music on Wednesday night , I went to their website, and to see if they had scheduled this previously or announced August 9, 2022 Meeting 4 this previously, and found I believe in looking at their schedule, 21 live music events in July and there are 18 on the schedule for August . So a total of 39 in those two months . That is more live music events than at Jones Beach theater by about 600 . More than just about any live music venue I could find on Long Island . So I just want to understand the kind of never ending affects of their live music on the neighborhoods that I live in . Causing a lot of lost hours of peace and quiet . So thank you very much . COUNCILWOMAN SARAH NAPPA: If you ever would like to sit in on a Transportation Commission Meeting, I am sure your expertise would be well received . We might even have a vacancy . It would be helpful . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Would anybody else like to address the Town Board on any issue? BOARD ROOM : I have Jordan Silbert on Zoom. August 9, 2022 Meeting 5 MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Hey guys . Hello . Can you provide an update on the police retirement party investigation? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : We just appointed a hearing officer to pursue fact findings for specific officers for specific events that were revealed as part of the investigation . I can ' t get into details . We will sit as Judge ' s for any disciplinary proceedings moving forward . One employee was suspended . As of -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Okay . So I guess first of all , were you going to make an announcement, if I had not asked this question? Would you have made an announcement? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : That is why agendas get read in a public session . COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Yes . We approved the resolutions appointing the hearing . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Yeah . You didn ' t say what the hearing was about . August 9, 2022 Meeting 6 You said employee number 4803 . Like no one knows who employee 4803 is . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : That is the whole point of using the numbers , is a personnel matter . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : The whole point is , the question is , what can we tell the public about this party? When can we release the reports ? Like the question is , does the public have a right to know what the police party -- what happened at the police party? COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : This will be coming out as the hearings progress . We appointed the hearing officer . We ' re taking steps to move this towards resolution . Today is an important step in that, by appointing this hearing officer . Charges are going to be filed . And an employee has been suspended . MS . RANDY WADE : One employee has been suspended . How many employees are going to have a hearing that is going to be public -- private or public hearings ? I am sorry? August 9, 2022 Meeting 7 MR . JOHN BURKE : The hearings will be private . Not public hearings . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : And there is going to be three additional people that will have those hearings ? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Six in total ; right? MR . JOHN BURKE : Five in total . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Five in total . So the one person has been suspended . And how long have they been suspended for? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : We did not set a deadline . Suspended as of this evening . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Indefinitely? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Indefinitely . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Indefinitely? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : For the time being . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : So one police officer -- can we assume it ' s a police officer? MR . JOHN BURKE : No . We cannot August 9, 2022 Meeting 8 discuss who and in particular has been suspended . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : I did not ask who , I said, can we say that it was a police officer? MR . JOHN BURKE : No . We cannot discuss specificity . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Why can ' t we? MR . JOHN BURKE : Because we cannot discuss specificity the discipline of Town employees . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : I am sorry, who are you? MR . JOHN BURKE : I am John Burke . I am Acting Town Attorney . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : So were you the one in charge of the investigation taking two years? MR . JOHN BURKE : No . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Or is that your predecessor? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : The appointment of the investigator was made by the Town Board prior to Mr . Burke ' s August 9, 2022 Meeting 9 MR . JORDAN SILBERT : And who managed the investigator? Was it the prior counsel? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Prior to Mr . Burke as sitting as Acting Town Attorney -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : So it was his predecessor -- SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : -- sitting as Town Board members . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : I am sorry, can you explain that again? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : You have raised the issue in the past . The investigation took longer than it should have . Today, this evening -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : It took two years -- SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : If you ask questions . Just let me know if you want answers or not? I mean, if you want answers -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : I would like some answers in plain English . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Okay . August 9, 2022 Meeting 10 The Town Board -- the investigation was complete . It took longer than any of us wanted . It was a disappointment . However; this evening, the Town took assertive steps to address the matter by appointing hearing officer ' s to hear the case and specific of five different employees . One of whom has been suspended effectively immediately . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Indefinitely? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Effective immediately . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Okay . So there is five other people who are now going to have a hearing -- SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Yes . Five total . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : When will that hearing be conducted? MR . JOHN BURKE : They are not currently scheduled . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : It just seems like I have to pull this information out of you guys . Is there anything else that we need to know? Will the reports August 9, 2022 Meeting 11 be released when the investigation is complete? MR . JOHN BURKE : It can be -- SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Look, I believe all of the information will be -- the public will be learning as this moves forward over the next few months . I anticipate -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Over the next few months? What else -- SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : You ask questions and then you don ' t provide time for answers . So -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : I get ( inaudible ) answers . It has been over two years since this party happened . What are we doing? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : I mean in terms of dialogue . If you ' re going to ask question, I would like to answer it, if you want me to answer it . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Okay . Answer the question . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : The fact of the matter is , yes , we had an August 9, 2022 Meeting 12 investigation that took longer than any of us had wanted . We ' re very disappointed in that . However, this evening with the hearing officer ' s to sit and judgment of what their alleged actions were of five different employees . The hearing officer will present his findings to the Town Board who will sit as a Judge in making a decision based on those findings . In the meantime , we have suspend one employee . We did not put a timeframe in there . We suspended the employee immediately . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Okay . And when do you expect the hearing ' s to occur? You just said months? Do you need more months? We have done an investigation . Do you need more months to find out what happened? When is this hearing going to occur? And will you let the public know in advance when that is happening? COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : We just did the resolution about 10 minutes ago . August 9, 2022 Meeting 13 So we just hired the hearing officer . So we have to give him more than 10 minutes to contact these people -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : And beforehand, ask them, hey, when are you going to be available to do a hearing? COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : We just got all these reports today . We had an Executive Session this morning and we got this all done for tonight . So I would say that we ' re moving as quick as we can . And you have to be patient . I would ask you to respect us a little bit more respect with letting us give you the answers . This is a process that some of the process we cannot speak to because it ' s being investigated moving forward . MR . JOHN BURKE : The employees int his matter ( inaudible ) are a variable that we are not in control of . COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I can assure you from our standpoint that we would like to hold these meetings as soon as possible, but as John was just August 9, 2022 Meeting 14 saying, we ' re reliant on these employees counsel scheduling them. You know, we have instructed our attorney, our labor counsel , to hold these as soon as possible . I can assure you personally myself, I want to get these hearings over as soon as possible , and the public can get a full understanding of what is happening . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Okay . Thank you . Another question . Will you each individually commit to releasing these reports to the -- under the legal ability to do so? COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : When the process is finished, I don ' t see a problem with releasing -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : You need to say yes or no? Will you commit, each one of you, to releasing the investigative report when the process is completed? COUNCILWOMAN SARAH NAPPA: If we ' re legally able to do that, then yes , I would commit to that . August 9, 2022 Meeting 15 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : So would I . As the Supervisor has said, the challenge of us releasing this report right now, is that we are the Judge and the Jury . And there are certain things like Constitutional rights , due process , that we need to give these individuals the opportunity . You know, we have to assume they ' re innocent before they come to us for judgement . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : That ' s part of the reason I have been so upset that it took two years to have this investigation . There has been a lot of assumption of innocence over two years . And after two years , you ' re like, uh . Maybe not . It ' s been a long time to asking for answers and clarity on what happened in this party and we have not had that . That is -- COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : We ' re moving forward with that . And I hope you see with these hearings that we ' re moving forward with as a step in the right direction there . People still August 9, 2022 Meeting 16 have constitutional rights . Murderers still have -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Why do they have a constitutional right to a private hearing? Like when someone has a jury trial -- MR . JOHN BURKE : The Civil Service Law . The rights that are provided under the Civil Service Law . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : So the question then, why are we prioritizing their rights -- these police officer ' s rights over the public ' s rights to know? MR . JOHN BURKE : Because when it comes to a disciplinary hearing with respect to an employee, it ' s the employees rights and Civil Service rights that are paramount . Those are the rights when it -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Over the public ' s rights to know? MR . JOHN BURKE : They are the only rights that are operative when it comes to scheduling a hearing . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Gotcha . And August 9, 2022 Meeting 17 what about in terms of scheduling an investigation itself? Can you release that document now because that -- you know, I don ' t know if someone has a right to a document not being released? COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Well , I think there is two different ways we can look at this . One , we can release the document and impede our ability to discipline these employees . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Why does it impede their ability to discipline them? You obviously disciplined one already . COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Because we ' re the Judge and the Jury in the disciplinary hearing . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : That is just words . It doesn ' t mean anything . MR . JOHN BURKE : We -- COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : We actually had to discipline them. We ' re suspending them . And they still , you know, for sake of argument, if they go through the hearing and are found not guilty of these charges that we ' re August 9, 2022 Meeting 18 charging them with, we will need to give them back pay . But that is a risk we ' re willing to take . We think the charges warrant swift and immediate action . And we ' re taking this matter very, very seriously . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : So exactly . So you have the ability to release the report , but you ' re choosing not to . If you wanted to, you could; right? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : I am going to give an answer and I would like this to be considered the final answer this evening . Yes , the investigation took too long; however, now that it has concluded, the Town has taken assertive action to take the matter seriously . We have appointed hearing officers , who will serve as fact finders and present their case to the Town Board that sits as a Judge and a Jury of those officer ' s actions . We will ultimately determine if discipline is warranted and to what extent that discipline is warranted . That is all underway now . We will August 9, 2022 Meeting 19 release any and all information we ' re able to, as we conclude our responsibilities . We assure you, we ' re not trying to hind anything . We ' re just trying to make sure we ' re here for matters of due process . COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And that we can also discipline these employees . You know, I think that the interest here is two-fold . One is disciplining the employees and then the second is public disclosure and you know, helping reestablish the rule of law here . And I think that kind of speaks to your point , in the urgency to disclose this , but we can ' t let that urgency to disclose, impede our ability to discipline these employees . I think that is why the Board made the decision that we ' re going to move forward with the hearings . And then at the end, release all of the information we can . You know, I again, am speaking for myself and see that is vital to reestablishing the public trust here . You know, we need to have a full August 9, 2022 Meeting 20 understanding of what happened . So we can determine together, as a community, to prevent it from happening again . And I think that is the most important thing here ultimately . The intermediary step here is disciplining these employees . And we don ' t want to limit our ability to do that by, you know, premature disclosure of information that is going to taint the hearings . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : I guess I don ' t understand how it ' s going to taint the hearings to hear what happened with the investigation . What the investigator found . Clearly, that is everybody should have that information already . I don ' t get what -- I don ' t get why I need to see that information . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : We have given you quite a bit of time -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Scott -- SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : I would like to move on because we have other speakers . COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Thank August 9, 2022 Meeting 21 you, Jordan . MR . ROBERT DUNN : I am going to speak from here . They can ' t -- I am a guy from the public, just like I agree with 990 of what you said, but they cannot disclose stuff before a hearing otherwise you invalidate the hearing . The guy gets a walk . So let them do what they ' re doing . If you want to complain about the length of time , I don ' t think anybody up there is going to say it has not taken too long . The bottom line is , there is still procedures and there is still things you guys have to follow in fairness to both sides . And that is where it ' s at now . COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : And I share your frustration, Jordan . This is a very frustrating situation, but we ' re at the point where we are right now and we need to move forward with what we have before us . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Would anybody else like to address the Town Board on any matter? August 9, 2022 Meeting 22 (No Response ) . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : What I am going to ask, if anybody would like to speak, who hasn ' t had an opportunity to speak yet? (No Response ) . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Okay . Jordan has his hand up one more time . I am going to ask you to please be sasync and be brief so that we can end the meeting . I think we have given you a great deal of time . We ' re more -- I am more than happy to give you a little bit more but we ' re belaboring the same points here . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : So I appreciate it, Scott, but also from my perspective, prefer lowering the attitude level here . Given that it took two years and you told us to be patient . Wait another three minutes for someone to express some displeasure . Arguably, if people hadn ' t expressed our displeasure, the investigation would perhaps still be going on . In addition, August 9, 2022 Meeting 23 one question, is the Chief of Police , does he follow in the same civil service protections that the employees of the individual police officers ? I know in some cases management falls under different rules than labor or employees do . Does the Chief of Police fall under all of these same rules ? And either way, is there an investigation into his management of the police department as part of this process or is it just the individual Town employees who, ( inaudible ) police officer, but maybe who knows , maybe not may be a police officer . Is the Chief of Police part of that protections that we have been talking about? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : All employees are entitled to due process . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Gotcha . And can you just describe -- can you confirm or deny whether the Chief of Police is one of the five employees that is going to have a hearing against them? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : I August 9, 2022 Meeting 24 cannot . I cannot disclose the identity of the employees . That is why we use the employee numbers . They ' re all entitled to due process . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Gotcha . So the Chief of Police could be one of the people that is being investigated and there is a hearing against? That was a question, yes or no? MR . JOHN BURKE : We have already stated, we cannot and will not disclose the names or identity -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : I didn ' t say that . I said, if the Chief of Police could be one of the people that is being investigated against -- MR . JOHN BURKE : The Town is not going to confirm or deny that . I answered that question already . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Okay . Good . Guys , I appreciate all of this . I also hope you appreciate there has been lack of information for over two years on this thing . And you guys are saying, hey, we can ' t give any information . The August 9, 2022 Meeting 25 public is upset about this and there has been a lack of urgency by the people frankly sitting in suits and ties up on that dais for over two years . And people are upset . So can you be a little more understanding of the public ' s patience in this matter? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Oh, believe me . I have expressed it several times how disappointed I was -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Disappointed -- I am disappointed my kids didn ' t do the dishes . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : You ask questions but then you don ' t allow for answers . So I don ' t -- I going to appreciate everything you have to say but don ' t see the point to respond -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : I think part should show your displeasure and frustration within the way that this has worked on this Town . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Okay -- MR . JORDAN SILBERT : One last question . So obviously the Greenport August 9, 2022 Meeting 26 Police was decommissioned or whatever, at some point in the last 20 years ; right? Is that something you guys are considering at all with the Southold Town Police? SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Absolutely not . Absolutely not . MR . JORDAN SILBERT : Thank you . COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : I will make a motion to adjourn . COUNCILWOMAN SARAH NAPPA: Second . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : All in favor? COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye . COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye . COUNCILWOMAN SARAH NAPPA: Aye . COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye . JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye . SUPERVISOR SCOTT RUSSELL : Aye . (Whereupon, the, meeting concluded at this time . ) August 9, 2022 Meeting 27 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I , JESSICA DILALLO, a Court Reporter and Notary Public, for and within the State of New York, do hereby certify : THAT the above and foregoing contains a true and correct transcription of the Meeting held on August 9 , 2022 , via videoconference , and were transcribed by me . I further certify that I am not related to any of the parties to this action by blood or by marriage and that I am in no way interested in the outcome of this matter . IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 3rd day of September, 2022 . J�ssica DiLallo