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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-08/17/1977-FI290 SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD August 1~7, 1977 A regular meeting of the Southold Town Board was held on Wednesday,. August 17, 1977 at the Fishers Island School, Fishers Island, New York, Deputy Supervisor Demarest opened the meeting at 1:00 P.M. with the following present: Deputy Supervisor Louis M. Demarest Councilman ~ames H. Rich, Jr. Councilman James Homan Justice Martin. Surer Justice Francais~T. Doyen Town Attorney Robert W. Tasker Town Clerk Judith T. Terry Absent: Supervisor Albert M. Martocchia Deputy Supervisor Demarest expressed the Board's pleasure in being on Fishers Island. He Stated that Supervisor Martocchia has been in the hospital-for two weeks~, but is now home-and fully:,expects to be back°to work within the next two or three weeks. On motion of Councilman Rich~ seconded by Councilman Homan, it was~ RESOLVED that the minutes of the Southold Town Board meeting held on August 9, 1977 be and they hereby are approved as submitted. Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Deputy Supervisor Demarest, Councilman Rich, Councilman Homart, Justice Suter, Justice Doyen. This resolution was declared, duly adopted. On motion of Justice Suter, seconded by Justice Doyen, it was RESOLVED that the next regular meeting of the Southold Town Board will be held at 3:00 P.M., Thursday, August 25, 1977 at the Sout~old Town Hall, Main Road, Southold, New York. Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Deputy Supervisor Demarest, Councilman Rich, Councilman Homan, Justice Suter, Justice Doyen. This resolution was declared duly adopted. On motion of Councilman Rich, seconded by Justice Suter, it was RESOLVEE that $9.00 be and hereb~ is authorized to be transferred from Part-Town Surplus to B1910.4, Unallocated Insurance. Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: Deputy Supervisor Demarest, Councilman Rich, Councilman Homart, Justice Suter, Justice Doyen. This resolution was declared duly adopted. On motion of Councilman Rich, seconded by Councilman Homan, it was RESOLVED that $1,050.60 be and hereby is authorized to be transferred from Whole-Town Surplus to A1420.4, Contractual Attorney's Fees. Vote of the Town Board: Ayes:- DePuty Supervisor Demarest, Councilman Rich, Councilman Homan, Justice Suter, Justice Doyen. This resolution was declared duly adopted. 291 On motion of Councilman Homan, seconded by Councilman Rich, it was RESOLVED that Deputy Supervisor Demarest be and he hereby is authorized to contract with Xerox for two model 660 copy machines. Vote of the Town Board: Ayes: D~puty Supervisor Demarest,. Councilman Rich, Councilman Homan, Justice Suter, Justice Doyen. This resolution was declared duly adopted. Deputy Supervisor Demarest stated that the Town has not yet approved the proposed sewer district in the Fort area, as they are waiting for a performance bond which they will have to havebefore it can be approved~ Deputy Supervisor Demarest introduced, the following individuals who made the boat trip to Fishers Island: Town Board members, Town Clerk, Highway Superintendent Raymond C. Dean Edward W. Fox, Chairman, Board of Assessors Henry Raynor, .Planning ,Board Frank Coyle, Planning Board Frederick Gordon, Planning Board Muriel Brush, Secretary~ Planning Board Howard Terry, Building ~3Inspector George Fisher, Building Inspector Robert W. Gillispie, Jr:., Chairman,Board of Appeals Robert Bergen, Board of Appeals Robert Villa, Suffolk County Health Department Barney Evans, Suffolk County Department of Public Works Mr. Glass, New York S~ate Department of Transportation 3 Reporters from - The..Suffolk~_Times, Long Island Traveler, ......... _Suffolk Life Deputy Supervisor Demarest explained thatMrs. Joyce_Burland, Suffolk County Legislator, has been invited, but. called this morning saying her.-mother, had been taken-.ill on-Nantucket and would be going there rather than Fishers Island, and regretted very much she couldn't be here. Deputy Supervisor Demarest stated he would begin the question and asnwer porkion of the meeting with a letter received from the Fishers Island~ Civi~ Association, Inc., John P. Gaillard, President.--They ask ~for a breakdown of town accounting~on revenues and expenditures which~he has with h~m~ Later if anyone wishes to 'ask any specific questions about it he Will try to answer. He has from the Kighway Superintendent a breakdown of what the Highway Department spent on Fishers Island in 1976. and so far in 1977. In 19~6 there wa~ a total of slightly ove~-$38.000.00 spent. So far this year they have spent approximately $36,000.00. Part of that was the road work they did under contract. The-contract was.for 13~900 sq. yds. of a slurry emulsion which they. have.tr-ied on some roads in Southold Town. It was done on Fishers Island to see how it would hold up, and the total cost was $49.05,, a total of $8,210.50. and it ~s included in the expenses quoted~before. If it wo~ks out. quite.likely more will be done.~ This price ~s cheaper than Mr. Dean ca~ do by bringing his crew over. The Civic, Association also asked that thei~ purposes were for making application for any of the properties that were made available on Fishers Island by the General Services Administration. The Town's p~ime purpose as far as the housing was concerned was to possibly have housing so the. ferry ~i~trict could house a cr~w so one of the boats could stay at Fishers Island over night rather than Connecticut The warehous~ was for possible use for recreation and possible storage. The question regarding property assessments will be answered~by Mr. Fox-'later. - - - On the matter Of actual use report on how revenue sharing funds been used~---up to now the Town has used $18,588.15 for police personnel; $30,000.00 for police cars;-$2,725.00 as additional aid to the libraries in town--this eventUa~lly will be $5,000.00 $116,738.65 has been spent on, the new town ha-ll. A total of $168.0~51.80 There is in the hhecking account, Revenue Sharing Funds, $1,639.31 and $~3,324..00 in the savings account. They also wanted to know how much is allotted to the Town each hear---the Town gets approximately 433,000. to $34,000. each quarter. · ~ ~ .~ . ~ . · ~· . r The Civic Association asked how-much 'money is involved in the-HUD~ grant to the Senior-Citizen -Teen Center.---The total involved<is $170,000 which initially $23,000 has been received to purchase a piece of property., whist has been done. The second year allotment was $52,000 which has been received,-and at the-request of HUD, some time ago5 an archi.tect Has h'ired-to design a building. Subsequent- ly the federal government changed rules, a~d the $935~.000 the town was supposed to get-in the thTJd year gra~ to, complete the center has ~ow been held up for two reas.ons: They are. throwing-two programs together, one is oontingent upon particiapation in the other. There has to be 50 units of low income housing i~ the county that are ~ occupied. Once this is done we ar~-p~-st step number one. The second step is that the-Town Board p~ss a res61tui6n stating they will bot use-moning or-any other ordinance~·-to impede-or hinder the establishment Of t~w income multiple,'dwet~ings in the Town of Southold. ~eputy Supervisor Demarest has hold HUD, and feels ~e spea.ks for the Board, that is-is very unlikely such-a:reso%ution-would be passsd. I{ would be unlawful as it would be granting zoning without a hearing. Mr. Bar~es of ~the County 's~ated-~he type of low income housing they are thinking of is perhaps aPartments- wi~-h as-ma~y as four bedrooms which would rent for $600.00 p~r month for low income people~' Wh~t would happen is the person would only. be required to pay as rent one quarter of-his income'and the federal gover~ment'wo~ld~make u~'~ the balance., tt l~oks like tie Town-is over a barrel,. We~have $70,000 bo build a senior cltize~-youth center and i-t does ~0t :1oo~ as though we will be able to get funding for the~balanceof i~. ~ We will either have to raise the money ourselves to finish it or possib~ly not even build it. So far UUD has stated they do not want the money back that they given to the Town, but that remains t0~ be Seen. Deputy S~pervisor Demarest made'an attempt to, get someone from the Medical Examiner's Office but was'~bable to, so the question regardin~ medical problems on the Island he cannot answer. There was a question ab6ut the public-boat landing in the Cove a~: = West Harbor, the possibility of dredging. Justice Doyen and-someone from the highways department have looked at i% and feel it would not br feasible. -Justice Doyen is attempting to find out whether-the Navy wii1 allow the use of their ramekin Silver Eel -Cove. tf they do at least ~the residents wilt have a place to launch a bo~t. There was a question about per capita student costs. Deputy SuperViSor Demarest was' unab~ tp get spmeone from the Department of Educahi0n and his only observation is that the Fishers Island student costs~are high, $8,000 to $9,000 per student. The student costs on the mainland ame not nearly as high as that, but in looking over the tax rates for the different districts, Fishers Island is still one of the lowest in the Town. Greenport'd rate is-ne~rly~$16-~00 per hundred and all of the other ones are above $10.00. Fishers Island's rate was below $10.00~'--- Deputy Supervisor Demarest was asked to. elaborate '- on that statement, Which he did.---He was the~. asked to justify the excessive cost on Fishers Island.---He stated that is a matter Of the number of students, if there were twice or three ~times as man~-students on Pishers Island the costs would be no greater than they are now. The pla~t would'-probabty-educate three or four times as many. students as they have, but they have to have teachers to teach possibly only_ten students,_ but the same. teacher would still be hired to teach 30 or 40 students. There are not many students, but Fishers Island still must have the school, the teachers, the plant, for the few students they have.---A member of the Fishers Island Board of Education elaborated~ on ~t'he relative.costs; whereby on a fixed budget the amoun~ would be the same whether there were 50 or 100 students, but the cost per student would be the variable. The civic Association asked for an explanatien of how federal, county or town ~ttands regulations affect the island.---It is a complicated matter. Deputy Supervisor Demarest has just recently recieved the. N~w York S~b~e Department of ~nvironmental~Conservation WetlandslLand Use Regulations. These are the regulations which take the place of the moratorium where permission was required to do any- thing within 300 ft. of the wetland or shore. As to what areas it applies to, he did not know, as they have not yet received the maps which delineate the wetlands. Deputy Supervisor Demarest stated, in getting back to what the town has done~on Fishers Island,.~%hey have provide-d~a Bosto~ Whaler for-.thS:-use.~of~the~..co~sta~les and the State Police. Slurry has been placed on a mile or road; they have provided more signs on the roads when requested.; provided the island with a pickup of~no~-garbage refuse; installed bouys as requested; installed a pa~ telaphone recording service for the police and constables.---Also, as requested, he brought a list of the county and town officials. Mr. John Gaillard, President of the ~ishers Island Civic Association, Inc. asked Highway Superintendent Dean a question relative to the amount of money spent on Fishers Island roads, namely-the $36,000 spent this year. Therea-son he p6sed the question, is that in the leaflet accompanying the annual t~x bill there is r~eference to' high- ways~ 1, 2, 3, 4, which is meaningless to Fishers Island. He wondered if thei~ roads.were includedamoung~th~se items,.~and ~f~not, where did. the $36,000-spent here come from, the general town fund?--Deputy Supervisor Demarest stated~thst it comes out the the Highway budget. Item 1 takes in resurfacing, any.work the~men do~on-the roads, general upkeep,~ salaries, benefits. Item 2 is an item for bridges, and that item has remained exactly the same for over 24 years~ Item 3 is- new machinery, repairs, and parts. Last year they spent $2,079.98 on that item. This year so far th-ey have spent Bpproximately $3,000. Item ~ is snow removal and had a to%~l last year of approximately $3,000, and this year it ~s a little'over $7,000. Last winter they had ~hire help to plow snow and ~h~t. is .paid at-a sta~e fixed rate for ~he size Of ~the trUck.---Mr~. Gaillard stated the reason for his question ab~ut'~highway expenditures'was.the par~ of~ those highway expenses that Fishers~ Island paid in. taxes' this past year was $58',000 and~it-.'was just~ stated thsy got ba~k~.$36,000.---Deputy~$uperv~sor Demarest Stated there are other items~which could, be-~charged agairst Fishers ~Is~and; ~terical~-help, Mr. Dean's salary,'-equipment that~has been used and brought to Fishers Is~nd, a lot of intangible items that are impossible to be pulled o~ of the budget. He pointed out.that he lives in Orient and-there are less miles of.~town roads there than Fishers Island, and they pay about the same amount of hi~hway~taxes as-Fishers Island. It'doesn't seem possible that individual hamlets-can get back exactly what is~Daid in by taxes. (Considerable discussion continued on~ the subject of Fishers Island highway taxes.) .... The~president~of the Fishers Is~nd~Library asked about the annual allotment to-~the ~ibraries as we~t as revenue~sha~ing funds. . ~ Mr. Gaitlard spo~e abeut~.~the~supplus government proper~ty, indicating that he beli~ved~the school was in the process for~fiting for those same housing units, who has priority?---Deputy Supervisor Demarest stated the town h~d~-no objection.to the school..making~application. 293 and if the town acquired 'it 'they would make it available to the school. Justice Doyen, in reply to the quest-ion about snow removal this winter after the problems they had last year, stated the b-est solution to the-problem would be'to ge~ their own snow plow fixed and have the snow removal program revert'back to the operation of the town with town employees. A truck will be available on Fishers Island within the next two months. The-question was asked, whether the?analysis of budget- figures~'brought over to the island and presented~ to Mr% Gai'llard, contained a break- down'of,~xpenditures-for Fishers Is~and.-~-Deputy Supervisor Dema~est stated ~hat as-far-as the total town budget ih re-Nation to expenditares on Fishers Isl,and it ~'is almost impossible to break it down. The-whole town budget can ,be submitted, but which-expenditures ~e partly~ charged to Fishers Island is almost an impossibility.' There are zoning costs, which are distributed throughout the town, it wouldn't be fair to cha~ge the cost of the two b~ard members Who-tive on-Fishers Island, just to Fishers Island., it is-a whole, town-cha~ge,-it wouldn't-be-fair to charge the e.ost -of t-ransportation-.just, to Fishers-Island because-they have a unique situation. It would be- like trying to-d-ivide- up th-e budget to say how much is spent xn each individual hamlet o,f the-town.--- The name, of the certifLed public ac¢ounb (Elaine Kaldor),wa-s requested. Mrs. Kelsey of the Is~and~People-'s"-~roject asked, as~ she stated, for the fifth year, when the town is going to provide another tennis court. They only,have one, recreational ,facility~ which is-tennis courts,' and everyone wants to use it. Mrs-. Kelsey-s~ated ~hat every year for the past fe~ years Supervisor M~rtocchia-has promised them another tennis court, but there has been no success.---Justice Doyen stated he has discussed the matter with-Mrs. Jensen and with the Supervisor, and he said when such time, as someone would-come up with a detaiked estimate and plan for exactly what, is wanted and the-cost, but until then the matter cannot be resolved until they know what the cost would be to the town.---A member of the school board stated that-last fall they did come up with some figures and facts ~and gave them to-Supervisor MartocChia.---Deputy Supervisor De~arest stated he wou~d-talk tD Supervisor Martocch~a-about- it. ~ Mr. Ma'rio Zanghetti -spoke-about s'ehool taxes and wha't,'the ~st-ated mandat-es,~ asking whethe~-.due to Fishers Island's loca-t, ion-and ~size, is there any way they could get a special dispensation-to change the taw?---Deputy Supervisor Demarest- stated the only thing-would- be to talk to the State-Education Department and-State Legislator to determine whether, they could, get a bigger share of-state aid.--- The President of the Fishers Island Board of ~ducation-sta%ed %ha~ they have called upend.the New York St-ate, Education Department to do a survey on the school to determine future feas~ib&lity and alternatives. (Considerable-discu'ssion relative to State regulations f'or-schoo~s-~ and school taxes.) The question was;asked why, when Mr~ Dean zs-the Superintendent of Public Works, he doesn't go over to Fishers Island to determi-ne what is needed in ~the way-Of recreation?-~--Deputy -Super'visor Demarest stated~that Mr., Dean is not the recreation di-rector,-in' fact, the town does'not have a recreation director. As far as town funded recreation areas, the only area on the mainland is a little league ballpark in Mattituck, and except for funding a limited amount of money to the little leagues and two slo pitch softball leagues, the remainder of the to,Tn recreation money goes to the schools for the recreation programs they have in the summer. Of course, there are beaches and lifeguards and a,ttendants. If Fishers-I.sland had a public beach they could designate a certain area to be used by the public and furnish lifeguards and attendants and install sanitary facilities, which are required by the Health Department, Vat,gUS; questions were asked:of Mr. Edward Fox, Chairman, Board of A~sessors, .... such as %grm of assessor, status of Board of Assessment Review. .... Whether the Board of Assessment Review proceedings were priva~ of.public?---public. When the findings of the Board would be arrived at?--They should be in the mail any day now,----Manner of A.$,sessment, 100% assessment should be carried 9ut throughout ~he- town rat~er than piece-meal. Outside consultants should be brought in.---Mr. Fox stated the Board of assessors are not empowered to sp~Dd ~oney in such a manner, that would be up to the Town Board.--- Deputy Supervisor Demarest stated that the town may very well be mandated to hire such consultants and reassess the town at 100% ~alue., which will cost between ¼ to ~ million. What generally happens ~n 100 % assessed valuation is that 1/3 of the assessments go down, 1/3 go up, and 1/3 remain as they are.--Manner of assessment was discussed; tyep of improvements, construction of the home.--- Mr. Gaillard invited the Town Board and other town officials to a reception at the legion post immediately following the meeting at which.time individuals may speak directly to the people from the mainland With individual questions. : ' Mr. Gaillard stated that at his request Justice Doyen had asked in June that a copy of the 1977-78 assessment roll be made available for Fishers Island.--Mr. Fox stated the first t~ roll comes out is the tentative tax roll and is made up by the 1st of July and includes all changes from the assessor's workbooks. This year the computer company was .delayed and the assessors still do not have the tentative roll, b~t will by September 1st. After the tentative roll is reviewed the final assessment roll ~s prepared and carries the amount of %axes in dollars and cents and will be available in November. At that time c copy Will be supplied to the Fishers Island residents.--Mr. Gaillard asked Mr. Fox if it is his understanding with the state set equalization rate at 12% plus, that each taxpayer may multiply by 8 his assessed valuation and reach the theoretical-market value of his property?--- Mr. Fox stated the State Board of Equalization and Assessment has always said the equalization rate should never be used on any one assessment, it is not for that purpose. However in a legal case a couple of years ago a judge said he would allow the 12%. Mr. Fox stated taat in most cases it would be between 8 and 10 times. (Considerable discussion on tax assessments continued.) Deputy Supervisor Demarest was asked to comment on mosquito control, or lack of it, on Fishers Island.---Deputy Supervisor Demarest stated it is a county matter and for years one of the commissioners came to Fishers Island.---Justice Doyen stated that in the beginning of July he received a few requests concerning the mosquito control program which could possibly be helpful to Fishers Island if there were such a thing. Because of the requests be contacted County Legislator Mrs. Burla. nd and she immediately contacted Vector Control Office who forwarded immediately machinery to be used for mosquito control in the nature of a fogging machine, the same as Mr. Gada used to use, and Justice Doyen worked out a program with the Supervisor and the best they could come up with was a machine was available should an infestation of mosquitoes become bad enough, and the machine could be mounted ~n the small town truck which has been pr~ep~ed to carr~ it. The Vector Control did supply them with 50 gallons of insecticide and the Supervisor authorized Fishers Island to purchase hea~ing oil for the purpose of mixing with the ~nsecticide for a fogging operation. To date, with the dry summer they have had, today is the first indication he has had there has been anh problem with mosquitoes on Fishers Island. (Mosquito control over the pa~ years was discussed.) The question was asked, whether the Planning Board meeting held earlier in the afternoon, was a public meeting and advertised?--- Voce-Chairman Henry Raynor, Southold Town Planning Board stated that the meeting was a public meeting and advertised in the Suffolk Times and New London Day.--An ema'lier meeting held at the Fire House was an information meeting, which was also open to the public, and notice was posted on the Island. Mr. Gada ~spoke about the meeting held rela~tive to th~ sewer district. He said~it was agr. eed then that ~the-distr-i~ct would be conditio~a'l.--- Deputy Supervisor Demarest :said-~it~0ul'd-be-created on the condition- they could get funds ~from thee federal government tO take care of'their disposal plan~ts.-~-Before anything can be done it woui'd "have before.-the. Town ::Boar~-and be-:voted oh?--~If 'the- ~own~ Board go~e~ ':~l~ng and cr. ea%es 'the..d~is. trict, even~on, a conditional basis,-:the condition would..be that.,they g. et- the funding. Then. the distridt:wou:l'd building ~the pta~t-: If ~.~they don~"~t' get the' money the. :d~istr~c:t' wou~ld' be disolved. - ............ ' ...... "'~ Deputy SuperviSor Demarest :thanked ~veryone - f'or attending the meet'in-g, and expressed his pleasure-on behalf 'of the local officials at-being on Fishers ~s-land. - On motion of Justice Doyen, seconded by Councilman Homan, it was RESOLVED that-there being no fu-rthe~ business to come be~or-e-this town board'meet~ng~-~djournment be:-~lt~d at 2:3-5 P.M'; Vote of %h~ To~n Board:~Ayes: Deputy Supervisor D~marest, Councilman Rich, Councilman Homan, Justice-S~er~, Justice Doyen.' ..... ' ..... This resolution was declared duly adopted. ~udith :T.-Ter~ry ~ ,--'T6wn Clerk ~ L/