HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-12/03/2024 PH 1
1 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK : STATE OF NEW YORK
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TOWN BOARD
4 REGULAR MEETING
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Southold, New York
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December 3 , 2024
9 7 : 00 P .M .
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15 B E F 0 R E :
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17 ALBERT KRUPSKI JR, SUPERVISOR
18 LOUISA P . EVANS , JUSTICE
19 JILL DOHERTY, COUNCILWOMAN
20 BRIAN 0 . MEALY, COUNCILMAN
21 GREG DOROSKI , COUNCILMAN
22 ANNE H . SMITH, COUNCILWOMAN
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DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 2
1 INDEX TO TESTIMONY
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3 Public Comments 3-11
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DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 3
1 PUBLIC COMMENTS
2 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : That
3 concludes the rest of the meeting . Is
4 there anyone on either on Zoom or in the
5 audience who ' d like to address the
6 Board?
7 LEROY HEYLIGER : I have a problem
8 with my hearing . I had a cochlear
9 implant , and I ' m still -- so if you ' ll
10 pardon me .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Sure .
12 LEROY HEYLIGER : The reason I ' m
13 here this evening is -- my name is LeRoy
14 Heyliger, I live in Mattituck . And I ' m
15 here on behalf of my church . I ' m a
16 Deacon in Unity Baptist Church in
17 Mattituck . And I ' m here on behalf of
18 the members of the church . And about 11
19 years ago, we had a passing of one of
20 our members , Bill -- William Bill Lynch .
21 Bill was a veteran and a very good -- I
22 knew him when he was a young boy . And
23 I ' ve come here to petition the Board to
24 consider, as other towns before us have
25 done , and other towns , Nassau and
DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 4
1 Suffolk County, to have the renaming of
2 Factory Avenue -- Not a renaming
3 actually . Because we know we can ' t
4 rename -- There ' s a street . But we can
5 make it a way, because there ' s other
6 ways other streets that are called
7 "ways " at Mattituck . In fact, Wickham
8 Avenue you have Gratten Way . All we
9 want to do is honor his -- his memory .
10 He was one of the -- at Mattituck
11 School , he was one of the Mure men . I
12 don ' t know if you remember, Bob -- Coach
13 Muir . He grew up under his tutelage .
14 And then when he graduated, he went
15 away . He enlisted, went away to war in
16 Vietnam . He ' s presently interned in
17 Bethany Cemetery in Mattituck . And
18 since his demise was in August 15, 2013 ,
19 his family turned down the offer of a
20 burial spot in Arlington National
21 Cemetery, as of his dying request was to
22 be buried in the beloved community of
23 his youth . Butch Lynch -- Butch as his
24 fellow Mattituck teammates and Coach Bob
25 Muir and assistant Mr . Kane, they dubbed
DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 5
1 him Butch . The team clinched the
2 Suffolk County soccer championship for
3 the second consecutive time and the
4 third time in four years . That ' s in
5 1957 . Sports was not the only factor in
6 his youth -- youthful endeavors . His
7 religious training here at Unity Baptist
8 Church, under the tutelage of his role
9 model and mentor, Sunday school teacher
10 Deacon Gerald Jeb Hobson . Gerald ' s
11 picture is hanging up in the hallway
12 with his father here and down -- right
13 down the hall . He would -- Gerald
14 Hobson, he was a Boy Scout leader and
15 son of the church founder, Pastor
16 Reverend Willis Hobson . And the -- Jeb
17 was the first African-American Southold
18 Town Fireman with the Packard Hose
19 Company formed in the late 1930 ' s . He
20 was a mentor for Butch . Both of their
21 pictures hang in the hallway of this
22 Town Hall and by the entryway, by the
23 Tax Collector ' s Office . Upon
24 graduation, William Lynch, like so many
25 others at the time, volunteered to serve
DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 6
1 their country with the outbreak of the
2 Vietnam War . He signed up for a
3 commitment of four years . 1959 through
4 1963 . Right out of high school . He
5 didn ' t wait to be drafted . He
6 volunteered for four years , and he
7 served honorably . Upon his honorable
8 discharge, he used the GI Bill as a
9 bootstrap to attend college at Virginia
10 University, where he and fellow
11 classmates attended the Reverend Martin
12 Luther King, Jr . Peace March in
13 Washington, D . C . It was here that
14 William was inspired to enter the world
15 of politics and government and develop
16 the motto "Make it Happen . " In 1989, he
17 successfully managed the mayoral
18 campaign of Davis Dinkins . And in 1990 ,
19 he coordinated the massive New York
20 celebration for anti-apartheid leader
21 Nelson Mandela . He later worked with
22 key political figures such as John
23 Kelly, Jesse Jackson, Hillary Clinton,
24 Walter Mondale, etcetera . It was during
25 these meetings that the New York Daily
DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 7
1 News dubbed him the "Rumpel Genius " for
2 his disheveled duds , the way he dressed .
3 He didn ' t like to get all formal . He
4 was very humble type of person . And
5 like I said, he was one of our own . And
6 this article back in September 29, 2016,
7 honoring their hometown hero . And it
8 was at this time when I started my
9 pastor of Reverend Marvin Dozier to
10 church . He started the petition to have
11 this sign put -- like they do in the
12 other towns , for local heroes . And we
13 tried numerous times before the board .
14 And it would push the side or ignored .
15 And when my pastor passed away, he asked
16 me to bear the torch to come again and
17 try, try again . And I noted the
18 Mattituck Civic Association at one time
19 had come and they got back to me and
20 said that would we like to have a tree
21 or a bush? I said the guy was an -- he
22 was a veteran . If anything, let ' s do
23 something, put his name down there at
24 the Veterans Hall . But Factory Avenue
25 was where he -- where -- Mattituck is
DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 8
1 where he grew up . Mattituck is a town
2 that he loved . And like I said, he
3 refused to be buried in Washington, D . C .
4 He wanted to be buried back here in this
5 beloved town . And so I ' ve come before
6 the Board to ask you to consider if we
7 can do this . And we would like to do it
8 this year for our Jubilee celebration,
9 like they did in Greenport . That ' s it .
10 That ' s all I have to say . Thank you .
11 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Well ,
12 thank you . Thank you . And we take the
13 naming ceremonies very seriously . And
14 you know, we don ' t take this sort of
15 thing lightly . So we are considering
16 this .
17 LEROY HEYLIGER : Okay . Thank you .
18 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Just to
19 add a historical footnote , just want to
20 add to what Deacon Heyliger said . In
21 the 90 ' s , my mom, Dorothy, helped
22 organize a "welcome home" ceremony for
23 Mr . Lynch because he was so well known .
24 So he was honored by the County
25 Executive at the time, Patrick Helpin,
DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 9
1 and by the superintendent . Everybody
2 welcomed him home in the ' 90s . So I just
3 want to go on record saying that he did
4 have quite a background and he wanted to
5 come home . And if you Google him, if
6 you go on Wikipedia, he ' s one of the
7 well-known people of our town . He ' s
8 listed as a famous person in Wikipedia .
9 So as Deacon Heyliger said, it ' s been
10 done before . It ' s been done in
11 Riverhead, where we ' re not changing the
12 name of the street . I ' m not sure if
13 this is a Transportation Committee , but
14 I just wanna be on record saying that
15 this is something that ' s within reach
16 and something reasonable, and we ought
17 to consider it . Thank you .
18 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : And I
19 would add, when I was working with the
20 Mattituck Laurel Civic Association, we
21 also honored his memory with a memorial
22 5K run and sponsored scholarships for
23 high school students who lived the life
24 of -- is it, "get it done? " His motto .
25 So kids wrote essays to get the
DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 10
1 scholarship . So he is revered in many
2 arenas .
3 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : You
4 have a question, Jill ?
5 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : -- is
6 date of the Jubilee , so we get an answer
7 from before?
8 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : What is
9 the date of the Jubilee, for the church?
10 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . The
11 Jubilee date? The Jubilee date . You
12 said the Jubilee date for the United
13 Baptist Church .
14 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : No , for
15 your church . We ' ll get it from him.
16 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All
17 right . Thank you . That ' s all right .
18 You ' re getting to get it . Next time
19 you ' ll be all ready to go .
20 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : You ' re
21 doing great . I ' m going to come ask you
22 a question after .
23 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Okay .
24 If there ' s any other comment? I don ' t
25 see any in the audience . I don ' t see
DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 11
1 any on the on the computer . Thanking
2 Justice Evans and Councilman Mealy for
3 joining us .
4 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Motion
5 to adjourn .
6 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : I ' ll
7 second that .
8 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : All in
9 favor?
10 COUNCILWOMAN JILL DOHERTY : Aye .
11 COUNCILMAN GREG DOROSKI : Aye .
12 COUNCILMAN BRIAN MEALY : Aye .
13 COUNCILWOMAN ANNE SMITH : Aye .
14 JUSTICE LOUISA EVANS : Aye .
15 SUPERVISOR AL KRUPSKI JR . : Aye .
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17 (Whereupon, the meeting concluded . )
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DECEMBER 3, 2024 REGULAR MEETING 12
1 C E R T I F I C A T I O N
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3 I , Jessica DiLallo, a Notary Public
4 for and within the State of New York,
5 do hereby certify :
6 THAT , the within transcript is a
7 true record of said Board Meeting .
8 I further certify that I am not
9 related either by blood or marriage to
10 any of the parties to this action; and
11 that I am in no way interested in the
12 outcome of this matter .
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
14 set my hand this day, December 3 , 2024 .
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17 ( Jes /- ca &allo )
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