Town board wrap-up: last meeting of 2019

Overcrowding in the Riverhead Town Justice Court office will be alleviated, at least temporarily, with a modular office to be placed in the rear of the justice court/police department building.

The board at its last meeting of the year approved a $25,000 budget transfer, moving funds from a health insurance budget line to a buildings and grounds budget line to cover the cost of materials and labor for the installation of a modular office. The town plans to lease the modular unit, Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith said.

Town justices have complained for years to the town board about inadequate space in the building the town court shares with the police department. The court’s cramped administrative office is one part of the problem described by the judges. Other serious issues with the facility include security concerns — lack of a secure area for prisoner transfer at a building entrance — lack of space for confidential attorney-client conferences, lack of a jury room and lack of a second courtroom, among others.

The court’s administrative offices have one room which provides workspace for six clerks, a separate office for the justice court director and a tiny second separate office shared by the two town justices.

Looking to address another overcrowded and inadequate town facility, the board on Dec. 17 also authorized the engineering firm H2M to prepare a schematic design for a new ambulance district facility. The current facility on Osborn Avenue is not large enough to house the district’s ambulances, requiring at least one ambulance to be parked outside. That creates problems for keeping the vehicle stocked with necessary medicine and equipment, since the vehicle is exposed to the elements.

The location for a new facility has not yet been decided, Jens-Smith said after the meeting. In addition to the ambulance district’s current site, officials have discussed possibly siting a new ambulance facility on the former state armory site, where plans have been developed — though not implemented — for a new police department headquarters and justice court complex. But to date, there has not been a board majority willing to support funding for the new public safety complex at the former armory site on Route 58.

At its Dec. 17 meeting, the board adopted amendments to the town’s special events code, tweaking previous revisions after backlash from the organizations and businesses that sponsor events subject to the permit requirements. The new amendments: relax some paperwork requirements for special events and ease deadlines for filing applications. The amendment also reduced the filing fee for a mass gathering permit application from $2,750 to $2,500 and reduced the fee for amending an already-filed application from 25% of the original fee to a flat fee of $150.

The board also approved a resolution supporting the substitution of East End Disability Associates for the Town of Riverhead as the “development partner” with Suffolk County on a 7.2-acre parcel of land near Stotzky Park, acquired by the county in 2003 for additional recreation facilities. The town, as the county’s development partner, was to improve and maintain the property as active parkland and originally planned to create soccer fields on the site. But the planned improvements were never undertaken and in 2009, the town consented to the substitution of the YMCA of Long Island as the county’s development partner for the site. The YMCA planned to develop an indoor recreation facility there, but subsequently decided against it.

East End Disability Associates plans to consolidate its two existing administrative offices — on East Main Street and at the Henry Pfeifer Community Center in Calverton — at the site, as well as develop a 40,000-square-foot facility that will house the organization’s day habilitation and recreation services ices and indoor and outdoor recreational areas that will be made available for community use.

East End Disability Associates presented their plans for the site to the town board at a work session Nov. 27, where organization representatives told town board members they had already met with county officials about the idea and the county is in favor of it.

The board also approved a local law expanding the term of office of the town supervisor from two to four years. The law is subject to a mandatory referendum and will be put up for a vote in the November 2020 election. See separate story.

In other action at its Dec. 17 meeting, the town board:

• Approved a new contract for Chief of Police David Hegermiller, whose last contract expired Dec. 31, 2015. The resolution approved by the board — the contract was not made available to the public at the time of the vote — granted 2% retroactive pay increases for the years 2016 through 2020, bringing the chief’s base salary from its current $180,792 to $199,609 for 2020. According to the resolution, Hegermiller will not receive retroactive pay for 2016, but will receive more than $33,000 in retroactive pay for 2017, 2018 and 2019.
• Accepted the retirement of longtime employees Joanne Fagan, account clerk in the town attorney’s office, Cheryl Hotchkiss, senior assessment clerk in the assessor’s office, Robert Smith, wastewater treatment plant operator in the sanitation department and Waverly Atkins, construction equipment operator in the highway department.
• Filled two vacancies in the justice court office, appointing justice court clerks Dawn Bozuhoski and Jeanne Hogan.
• Appointed two wastewater treatment plant operator trainees in the sanitation department, Alex Kirsch and Tyler Crohan.
• Appointed two automotive equipment operators in the highway department, Ryan Mitchell and Michael Tutoli.
• Appointed groundskeeper, Danny McMillon, and reappointed a temporary full-time maintenance mechanic IV, George MacIntosh in the buildings and grounds division.
• Ratified the appointment of Luke Sawaya as a call-in food service worker for seniors program.
• Appointed a second interpreter for the justice court, an on-call contract employee, Zyta Piegari.

The board also named a new member to the town’s senior citizen advisory council. Christine Livingston, who is the director of admissions at Acadia Care Center in Riverhead, was appointed to a four-year term to the volunteer committee, commencing Jan. 1.