001East Hampton Town Board, we are live. >> Thank you, Jason. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the East Hampton Town Board work session of Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. Michael, if you could please read the roll call. >> Council member Flight present. Deputy Supervisor Lee >> present. >> Council member Rogers >> present. >> Council member Calder Pedmont >> present. >> Supervisor Burke Gonzalez >> present. If we could all please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So this morning we we opened our meeting with public comment. We ask if you're uh want to address the board to please kindly keep your comments to three minutes.
002Uh and then we have eight topics. Um we're going to be discussing bids, a new litter action committee campaign. We're going to be doing public safety 2025 accomplishments and 2026 goals, ebike safety, NOX boxes, taxexempt ADU after hearing discussion, the town lane sculpture park update, and the water quality technical advisory committee recommendations that will be followed by liaison reports and resolutions. So, first we'll start with public portion. Michael, no one signed up. Is there anyone in the room that would like to address the board? Jason, is there anyone on the line? >> Yes, we have two callers. Let me go and get them on the air. >> Beautiful. Thank you. >> Hello, caller at ending 8764. You're on the air. >> Good morning. This is David Buddha. I'm calling with regard to the uh work
003session and topic uh the of the after hearing discussion about the public hearing that was held on April the 16th to create a new a uh partial tax exemption for newly created ADUs. I'm going to point out a what I consider to be a stark anomaly. Um, it seems that somewhere along the way someone got it in someone's head that this state enabling legislation for newly created ADUs could somehow be perverted and twisted to encompass providing a partial exemption for the newly created affordable multiple residences. the affordable multiple residence which the town has created um by legislation that was adopted on uh February 10th is not an ADU. Some people call the AMRS or affordable multiple residents a super ADU. I hate to be using all these acronyms, but that's the way it goes. Um
004they're not ADUs. They don't fall within the definition of ADUs as as created and authorized by the town zoning code. It finally dawned on me that the reason why there are certain um loose provisions in the town legislation is because it was intended by someone to try to stretch the state enabling legislation to allow a partial exemption for a newly created uh affordable multiple residence. It simply is not the case. It was never intended and of course you cannot create your own town uh tax exemptions that are not authorized by state enabling legislation. It's interesting to note that on the same day that the state created the legal provision that allows you to grant partial exemptions for ADUs, they considered another in a separate section of the same law which was a I think a
005budget reconciliation law. um they created a separate exemption for newly created or converted rentable rental multiple dwellings. Now those were for large scale. They sort of maybe apply to what the town is now creating and authorizing as a affordable multiple residence. But the point it is made that it's a separate animal. It's a separate category of ex tax exemption and you cannot stretch the law locally to create to create an exemption for something that the state has not authorized and enabled you to do so. So I'd ask you to again to reconsider. I went through the uh let's call it the legislative history of this discussion the the earlier memos that Mr. reality wrote in January and I do see that there was a mention of trying to uh create this exemption that would apply
006both to ADUs and to units in the affordable multiple residence zone. I don't think you have the power to do that. I don't think it's wise to try to do that. I think they're separate animals and you're trying to mix apples and oranges and you're going to get um egg on your face if you try to do that. Thank you. >> Thank you, David. Jason, if you could put the next caller through. >> Absolutely. >> Caller ending 3872. You're on the air. Hello. >> Oh, yes. Good morning. Um, Martin Drew, uh, Springs. Yes. Um, I'm hoping the board, I don't care who this applies to, whoever would like to answer this for me, could you please give us an update about what's going on at Rita Cantina in Springs? Apparently, the police uh Sergeant NMO
007went out of his way to tell us the other night when we called in again about the continuing problems there. Uh that the town has negotiated some sort of settlement with regards to the parking. So, uh couldn't get that when I foiled it. Uh Mr. Hansen, your town clerk, told us uh doesn't have those records. So, uh, I was hoping someone can confirm or deny, uh, if that's a reality down there because last I heard we were tied up in some, uh, article 78 lawsuit and there was some stay on the property. So, uh, where are we with that? Could uh, I would ask I guess Mr. Ian Calder Pedmont as our liaison to update us. So, uh, I guess I'd ask him. Mr. Pedmont, sir, could you update us about that situation, please? We
008will do that offline. Martin, you we one of the board members or town attorneys will reach out to you about your your question. >> No, no, no. That's the reason I called in to participate in these work sessions. I don't need you guys to escape to another room and uh try to answer me or tell me that you're going to answer me and you don't. So, uh I'm going to participate in all these meetings and we're going to participate until we get some real solutions, some real answers. So, Mr. Piedmont, I know your colleague, Mr. Mrs. Gonzalez, doesn't answer public questions, so I'm asking you, sir, directly, do you follow those same guidelines in uh being our councilman, or are you going to ask me to go offline as well? >> I certainly follow the
009supervisor's lead in terms of procedure. There's no settlement that I know of, but I'll follow up with you after the meeting. >> All right. Well, great. That would be uh that'd be awesome. It seems I still have a minute 20 here. So, I'll uh continue on if you don't mind with my comments. So, I just want you all to know that I've been in contact with the district attorney's office. I'm still waiting from a for detective uh Wood to contact me about my allegations and suspicions about what's been going on there for the last four years. So, just want to remind you all while I have a little time. There's uh second stop work order. Uh as far as I know it, a certificate of occupancy has not been issued. Uh, I would like to
010disagree with Mr. Piedmont when he tried to tell me with the town attorney that it was lawfully existing. I don't know where you two come up with that determination. And uh, the only certificate of occupancy is from 2005. So, it's almost I guess the word they use college is laughable or is it laudable? I'm confused. But anyway, if you guys could update us accordingly, uh, maybe each of you could respond in writing. I have notified each one of you in writing about the ongoing problems and then uh I guess I could reply to them accordingly and we'll go from there. Been five years, you know, we need some help. >> Thank you, Martin. Jason, is there anyone else on the line? >> We have no other callers. >> Great. So, we are going to move
011on now to our topics. And first up is bids. Welcome, Lisa. >> How are you? >> We don't get to see you here too often. >> I have a a long list. >> Okay, hold on. So, on the acceptance, we have EH26019, which is the surf rake for the parks and wreck. That's going to H Barber and Suns in the amount of 83,29110 less a $13,000 trade in. The next one is we're accepting eh [clears throat] excuse me 26-010 that's the on call window repair and replacement that goes to Ronald Webb Builder LLC. We're going to also accept a proposal from Lantech per the sp per the sports courts and resurfacing contract at the Steven Hanss path for the picklebar courts and the basketball courts in the amount of $787,17525. We'll be extending EH24-014 envelopes
012and business cards. that goes to Rididgewood Press, Czechomatic and Concept Print. Also extending EH24-017, which is the printing of miscellaneous forms that also goes to Rididgewood Press. And we'll be extending the HVAC services, which is our um contract that we have with SAG Harbor Village as well, which is eh/sag24-091. and that goes to Best Climate Control. We will be rejecting unfortunately EH26-00009, which is the Steven Han Pass concession. >> That's the second time we've gone out for it. And it's funny because I ran into some moms over the weekend and they're dying to have a food truck there because the kids are eating Mr. Softy for dinner. [laughter] >> I know. So maybe maybe we'll go third times a charm. Maybe we'll try it again. >> [laughter] >> Um, we're also rejecting EH26-018, which is
013the printing of miscellaneous forms, and we'll be noticing the printing of miscellaneous forms again, the purchase and delivery of a personal watercraft, uh, rolloff containers for sanitation, and then next week, that'll be in this week's STAR, and then next week, we're going to be noticing the Fort Hill Cemetery internments and maintenance contract because that is expired as of this year. >> Great. Any other questions for Lisa? >> We're good. All right, enjoy your day everyone. Thank you. >> Okay, so >> so next up we have the uh the litter action committee is going to give us uh an update and share their new litter campaign and introduce their newest member. [laughter] Yes. Thank you for allowing the litter action committee to present our concepts and could you just move that a little >> plans for
014a potential uh litter campaign. When surveyed over 90% of Americans feel that litter is a problem. And I have a feeling if we were to survey residents and visitors to East Hampton, they would say the same thing. [gasps] Why? Because it's ugly. It presents potential hazards to people and to wildlife. It shows disrespect and disregard for our town, its people, and its laws. >> Maybe I just have to look over here because it triggers. [laughter] >> As long as you move the microphone with you so that Yeah, >> we can pick you up on the LTV. >> We'll do. >> So, this is the problem. It's no surprise. We see this all over. Next slide, please. And where this comes from is people tossing their trash on streets, on town properties, in parking lots, on
015trails, frankly, almost everywhere. On beaches, almost everywhere. Next slide, please. This is becoming an increasing problem. We're finding uh for some reason after the snowstorm, this behavior of leaving bags of waste around is a problem. Next slide. >> So Chris, I just want to ask, so people are taking the bags that we supply at the beaches, but then they're >> they're leaving them. >> They're picking it up the poop up and but leaving >> leaving the bags. We we see those all over. Yeah. I we talk about that at East Hampton CAC, particularly at Sammy's Beach. They leave the bags where the >> trash can once was. Exactly. >> Correct. >> This is another problem. Household trash is put into overflowing trash cans. >> Next slide, please. The problem of covered andor unsecured loads continues
016to be a problem. If you look at trash that we pick up, a lot of it is boxes, bags of trash, uh wrappings from construction sites, etc., etc. And in fact, I was behind a truck on Springs Fireplace Road loaded with tires and tires flew off the truck. Thankfully, it didn't cause an accident, but this problem is definitely one that continues. Next. So the litter committee in the past three years has focused on messaging. Next slide. So to address these problems, the tossing issue, we have signage. So this is our don't toss signage. Next, cover and secure your load. It's the law. This is posted at the East Hampton Recycling Center. And there's a sign in Montalk next. And we focused a lot of our time on this one. See it and pick it up.
017We've hosted or participated in dozens and dozens and dozens of pickups. Next slide. We formed partnerships with different groups. In this case, this is the East Hampton Sportsman's Alliance, which has um uh sponsored a number of pickups. The next one will be this Saturday at Gerard Drive. And particularly as outdoors people, they see um the damage it does uh to wildlife. Next slide, please. We've joined in the um national cleanup day and in fact East Hampton has designated to coincide with that the third Saturday of every year as East Hampton cleanup day and typically in the spring we've held no fling spring pickups and events to bring awareness to this problem. Uh next slide please. So what if everyone picked up just one piece of litter is certainly one message. What if they didn't throw
018it out of their car? What if they covered and secured their loads? We'd have no litter problem. So, how to get that message forward? We came up with a litter campaign. And we thought of the fact that in the past other litter campaigns have had an image. And all of us remember the Native American with the tear coming down his face. That was very powerful. Later Johnson with the blue blue bell flowers and the highway and not litter but Smokeoky the bear as sort of this image. So next slide. Here's Sam and here's Sam. [clears throat] You can see he's a very calm dog. [gasps] So Sam is our motto or our our excuse me our our mascot, excuse me. And uh our our what we're trying to do here is not message with words.
019We're trying to get people to go to the town um maybe website, but certainly Facebook, Instagram with videos, with short, we all have short attention spans these days, so we're trying to keep them as short as we can. Uh using SAM as our way to message, don't trash East Hampton, which is our tagline. So what has been suggested is that we start with three videos that are available and every week add another one. So here are just two. I hope they play of Sam in action. >> Okay. And let me go and play them out and give me a second. And uh we'll hold up everybody. >> Whoops. >> Hold up. And it's just giving me a bit of an issue on this. Let me just go back. >> All right. And [music] So I
020think the message part of the message is [music] Sam can do it. >> We all can. >> Yeah, that's we looking to put messages at the end. But anyway, now this one was directed and [music] produced by Francisco Vasquez. You remember Francisco? >> And his age now? >> He's now 14. >> So he's a pro now. >> He's a pro at the pro level. On that note, I'll begin the play. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Okay. So, I think you get the gist. We're looking to have some that are shorter, funnier, you know, animated, whatever. But that's our goal. Next slide, please. >> All right. Just share the screen one more time and you should be good to go. Next, we would t we would end each video with our tagline and potentially another message,
021just some sort of one of our three, don't toss, etc., etc. So, that's the goal. We have plans that we can now add um like I'm a member of Sam's team. Businesses can become involved. We're partnering with ARF. Um, after this possibly add Sam and friends, so have other dogs involved. It can go on and on. Could be cats. This is >> We could [laughter] do cats. We could do whatever. But here's Sam, if you don't mind, just >> I don't know. Let's see where you can pick Sam up on the cameras. If you, Amber, you want to stop the share? >> Thank you. Thank you, Amber. >> Let's see. Give me a second. I'm zooming out. >> [snorts] >> And of course with Sam is Jamie Becker. >> Um who's who is Sam's human
022friend. And um I just hope that folks, you know, it's humorous that we have this message and we're hoping to appeal to your sense of humor certainly, but the issue of litter and the impacts that it has on the town both to the environment and natural resources to the to the viewshed of of a place where people want to come and the impacts to the cost of taking up the litter um is intense and certainly if Sam can figure it out, we can too. And the appeal for me is for everyone to please think about keep this image in your heads and think about picking up your poop bags on the beach. It's not enough to bag it. You have to take it and and if there's not a can, stick it in your trunk
023and take it home and get rid of it there. somebody and as you could see all the folks that you saw picking up besides town staff that we we pay and and have um programs the M talk as well that all of us are paying for financially. Um all of the people that you see in these videos volunteer their time and go up and down all of our roads and into our behind our restaurants and behind takeout places and spend their Saturdays and and days picking up your trash. And I and I really feel like that's wonderful on your own part, but very wrong thought process to think that it's okay for a bunch of volunteers or town staff to go up and do it. So, I'm really asking everyone at this moment before you
024throw out something, throw it out on on our town to please think about your actions and just take it home with you or just find a garbage pail. They're they're everywhere. Um, and be conscious. We can be more conscious of our consumption and our waste as well. And that's a message we share with everyone. You don't see a lot of folks uh, animals throwing out garbage. It is it is our thing, our blight that we're putting on um, our town. So, I hope everyone gets the message and takes that extra second to think about what you're doing. Um, and and please don't trash East Hampton. And I want to really recognize all of you for going out and, you know, besides all the work you're doing on messaging and everything, the fact that you go
025out as much as you do and actually physically pick up the garbage is uh is really something that should be commended. Well, I just would like to share we have many people who stop us all the time and tell us that they do the same thing. How embarrassed they are by this problem, how angered they are by this problem. Um, and uh it's not just us. So, yeah, it's it's a it's a huge issue that we can easily take. This is one we don't have to have studies and plans and have public hearings. we can all make this change immediately today. So, I hope that you will. Chris, would you give a a time uh where people will be meeting on Saturday for the next cleanup >> for the Gerard Drive pickup? It's at 10:00
026at the point at the end of Gerard Drive, and we'll [clears throat] then spread out to different areas, including town properties, which often are the worst because they're parking lots. And that's >> Yeah. And this winter was brutal. uh when the snow disappeared, the amount of garbage that we're seeing everywhere is is really major. >> Uh so please do your part. We can all take care of this as a community. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, please step up, Jamie. >> To the to the >> to the microphone. Just short. >> And this is Jamie Becker. Sam Sam's human. I was just going to say since doing this it's really interesting but um and if everyone can just tell different businesses about this because the highway department or bistrian or mickey's we've done some videos or
027with them so that will come but I I'll go and do it with them if they um are you know if they want to do it just keep doing the videos and keep pushing it in. It doesn't take very long to do it and I hope LTV they're helping now so that they can put the videos together. But if you can think of any companies that would be interested to keep the videos going and then just let me know and I'll just go over. It takes like a half an hour for them to figure stuff out. >> Thank you so much. Thank I I would highly recommend uh discussing with the buildings and grounds department in particularly Quasi Frasier who who is the head of our uh sanitation department that does all the refuge pickup
028in our outside areas. I've had a conversation with him about two weeks ago. Uh household trash in the areas of bagged areas and the furthest reaches that we have. If it's Gerard Springs Fireplace Road, I was a complaintant down there. Russell, you know that one on there. You see rat poison in there. You see stuff and it just fills up all over the place. Aliwide Brook Road. Uh the pack in pack out is something that will work if you change habits. But that household trash from either individuals that don't use sanitation or that are using short-term rentals potentially. >> I've seen that. >> It's terrible. >> The car comes up, they go >> it's it's stuffs. I saw a policeman soon afterwards and I told him >> and he said he can't do anything unless
029he sees them do it. >> Right. >> We we'll continue to work work on that cuz we you'd be surprised what gets left in those household trash bins. Either way, it's one of my largest pet peeves. Um I was a complaintant on a cause and which someone left their bank statement with their name on it and they challenged me and they actually wanted to go to federal court and in the end they just paid the $100 fine. and you don't see it as much there anymore. >> I think also finding is really important that it doesn't get done. >> Correct. E either way that that is something because what that does it fills up the trash cans and then individuals that might be going there with their poop bag or their simple coffee cup or
030the bacon egg and cheese wrapper doesn't have the space and the a 55gallon can gets filled up pretty quickly after a weekend in some of these locations that are further out. So I appreciate everything yourself and the committee are doing. I look forward to helping yourself and Kate even more. So, thank you for your help and you too, Sam. [laughter] >> Thank you. And I know you folks have met with Patrick Duren's, our public information officer. So, you know, we're looking forward to putting these videos up uh on social media. Bob, did you want to come to the podium? >> You have to go to the podium, please. [laughter] >> Bob Brody for the clerk. >> Hi, I'm Bob Brody. You might know my wife. Um anyway, so we need to use more sticks, not
031just carrots. We need to have penalties that are posted, penalties that are followed through that we it took a long time to change the law from you know to cover as opposed to you just I forget what the right word was but secure. But there's not enough tickets being handed out at at the dump or the dumps. If it was if there were more tickets being handed out, I believe there would be the word would get out. You know, nobody wants to pay a ticket. So, I I really think that we really need to use more sticks, not just carrots. Um, also if we could possibly strategically place garbage cans, this would have to be something the town board would have to discuss. But we just cleaned up pepperonis and in the parking lot over
032there was really a mess. Some of the employees came up to us and said that their boss had just talked about it and they have one garbage can out there. They do, but maybe the town has extra garbage cans that could be put in public. It's not public, but it's private places that the owner of the places would be responsible for the carding and emptying. Maybe that can help. And um there there could there should be more education on the carry in and carry out. Either people don't want to pay attention, which is very probable, or they don't understand what the heck it is. And that may be the reason, part of the reason that they're not following it. Anyway, thank you for listening to us and thank you for your time. >> Okay. >>
033Thanks, Bob. And thank you for all you do, Bob. In my liaison report, I'm going to talk about the East Hampton Seag Harbor CAC. And when we close every meeting, the committee decides what day that month they're going to pick up garbage along uh Springs Fireplace Road. And I know Bob, you're always the one asking the question, what Saturday and Sunday are we going to do this month? and I'm grateful for all that you folks are doing to keep East Hampton clean. Um, so any other comments, questions or >> Yeah, look, I I mean this is one for me that's a social contract. Okay, you drop letter, you pick it up. I mean that that's that's straightforward piece. I I I think you know I've talked about this in the past you know like I'll
034be very frank with you me as a person like even in my own personal business I'm not someone who really understands marketing and how it works um I I don't invest a lot in it personally you know social messaging I think it obviously does work because you know companies spend fortunes doing it but um I agree I think enforcement here is is something I I I also said last time look I I think there's pressure that needs to happen from above at the federal level that more of the packaging needs to be biodegradable because it's human nature and accidents do happen that you know as as we exist we create waste some of it does fall by the wayside I I think there's a stage of this town where we as a town board really
035need to revisit the concept of look we are a tourist destination how this town looks is it goes handinhand with people's desire to visit here and if we believe litter has become that much of a problem then we need to be investing in positions that actually pick up this litter in problematic areas more and more. Um I I I would prefer a situation where individuals are doing this themselves. Um but it's it's that fine balance. I I I think that you know what we're seeing out there is for me at least that it's it's getting more and more problematic. It's it's not working as it currently is. The education piece, it's been going on for years, great adverts, but people are creating more and more litter. Um, if we truly kind of are looking to
036protect the environment we have out here, I I I think we should really consider like creating some of those positions, you know, formally or informally in in partnership with other organizations to get the litter out of the environment. >> Thank you, Tom. All right. Thank you for coming in today and please thank Sam Jamie. [laughter] I hope he gets a treat after this. Uh so next up we have our public safety the 2025 accomplishments and 2026 goals and uh Chief Michael Sorlo is here to talk about the town police department. Welcome Chief. >> Good morning. >> Goal number one for 26 will be to increase litter enforcement. >> Sam can I just do want to touch on that very quickly though. We get a lot of complaints and one of the things we really see
037is these remote areas that are not that easy for us to frequent as as much as we would like. Um, we do try to do some follow-up investigations, particularly when there are household garbage left behind. What our patrol officers typically seem to notice and what the feedback we get. A large amount of this trash is uh the labor workforce who are transient and are not living here but they work here and they go to the takeout restaurants, the delies, the the you know all the gas stations and get food and they tend to just dump the stuff wherever they're sitting eating. It happens a lot. That's a large amount of litter we see. It's at when they go to work at someone's house, they'll park off to the side of the road and dump their
038garbage in the woods. Those are a lot of things we're trying to work on seeing if we can keep track of a little better, but that's a lot of the litter that we see along the roadways. Um, the other piece with the beach, we need a little bit more public information and knowledge about the uh bags for the waste. People think they're biodegradable. >> Yeah, >> I've heard it. People think that I just picked it up. It's the plastic bag is biodegradable. I'll just leave it here. It'll be gone in whatever. So, that's a big reason why a lot of people leave those those trash bags behind on the beach with the excrement in them. So, it's just a little thing to piece that together as we move forward and we we will continue to
039work in conjunction with code enforcement on uncovered loads and do some directed enforcement in those areas as well. >> Thank you so much. >> Of course. So, on to our review of 2025. Um again, I just I reiterate our mission statement. Uh, the mission of the East Hampton Town Police Department shall be to protect and serve the people of the town of East Hampton while enhancing their quality of life through proactive community policing with fair and equitable treatment for all people. Um, I hope that our annual interactions with you as a board and through the press continue to reflect those values and the focus of what we do to try to help work with the community. Um, our 2025 accomplishments. Before I get into the specific goals, I want to recognize our police officer of
040the year for 2025, which was officer Nicole Fiero. Um, she led our department in arrests and DWI enforcement. Had a tremendous year. Um, many other officers also performed um outstanding acts of professionalism and dedicated service throughout the year as well. That's included in our annual report. Um our 2025 accomplishments uh our first goal was to continue to expand the use of technology to enhance patrol operation effectiveness. Um we in we implemented the use of both vehicle and bodywn camera technology to include auto tagging features. We updated drone technology and capabilities by adding uh improved equipment and expanding drone personnel assignments to incorporate both dive team and ESU teams members that work with the drones. Uh goal number two was to develop more police officers as training instructors, field training officers, and specialized unit team members.
041We assigned multiple personnel to training where both instructor development and field training certifications were received, allowing for expanded internal training opportunities with both current and future officers. We filled existing vacancies in our drone and ESU teams, um including a new certified paramedic. >> Why don't you just say what the ESU team is? emergency services unit team, which is the emergency response unit team that does barricaded subjects, uh response to high high-risisk, high threat situations, uh serves, uh warrants, things like that. It's a it's a combined unit that works in conjunction with East Hampton Village Police and Sag Arbor Village Police, and we all support each other and work together through that cooperative uh team. And they train once a month. They train several times a year for three or four days. They go upstate New
042York to get their New York State Tactical Officer Association training certifications. Uh it's high level um really technical tactical stuff that they do and they're really excellent at it. >> So, and Chief, could you share uh how drones have you Oh, sure. >> how that has worked with your investigations. >> Yeah. Dr. uh drones just continue to to become more and more important to our operations. They they provide an overhead view of a scene. um they assist us in search for missing persons. We've had several cases that we worked along with the fire department. We had some brush fires that popped up on that peak stretch. They were able to get the drone up very quickly, help pinpoint where the active locations were and help the fire department get to them as quickly as possible.
043Also to continue to monitor them after the situation, we've been able to work in conjunction with multiple town departments um with regards to, you know, conditions during storms. um the building that went down off of Lazy Point. We were able to keep track of how that was deteriorating and what this the current conditions were. And um you know, we actually even have internal drones. We we've had a a couple of cases where instead of, you know, hitting a door and sending the ESU team in to go to see if we may have a barricaded subject, we were able to actually get the drone inside and have it navigate the uh the hallways, passageways, and and get a a good interior view of what was actually going on inside that location. Really increases officer safety, minimizes
044risk. Um provides a lot of good data and visuals for case preparation, court preparation, just continue to advance. We have thermal imaging, nighttime drones. Um, it's really uh very positive steps for us as operational efficiency. Big big technology improvements. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Goal three was to increase department training and crime prevention and community relations for department personnel while improving programs and services to provided to the community in both these areas. Several department uh personnel received a multi-day training from the Department of Criminal Justice Services and Crime Prevention, specifically environmental design and assessment. Initial assessments were conducted by trained personnel at Spring School and helped uh improve their safety plans and site plans. Uh we expanded department school resource officer program to include a first-line supervisor and certified two
045additional officers uh while filling a vacancy of a retired um personnel associated with the program. So we continue to expand our footprint in the schools, get more officers involved on more shifts, have more officers trained as school resource officers, which really supplements our juvenile aid bureau activity in handling juvenile cases. So uh goal four is to continue to host our civilian police academy. We had another successful class last year and we're on our third right now. This year it gets ready to graduate next Wednesday. Phenomenal program, great feedback. uh Lieutenant Salvera and uh Tyranny do a great job coordinating the curriculum, bringing in all the instructors and it's been a tremendous um sharing experience with members of our community to both learn from them what their perceptions are in our policing and our activities and
046help share with them what we do, how we train, what our goals and mission are. It's been great. So, several uh department ongoing projects. Um, on the next slide, we continue to work through our taking over our 91 911 primary call answering. Uh, our emergency communications dispatch room is in its final days of completion before it's ready to open. There's punch list items. uh records management system and computer AED dispatch system implementation, townwide communication system upgrades and expansion, our training center upgrades and instructor development and Lexipole uh rules and procedures and accreditation upgrades. All ongoing projects managed by different staff members, personnel, all improving the efficiency of the way our department provides services to the community. Um we move into some of our key statistics. Um, just an interesting note, it won't really be reflected
047on these slides, but in our official report, there was several areas that showed a spike in crime reporting. There wasn't actually a spike in crime reporting. Our records management system um separates out the way the uh reports are generated and now includes all charges on a case instead of the highest level charge. So in other words, if we had a felony crim mischief, we might not have the criminal chess pass or the harassment associated with that in our the way it was reported. Now all the charges associated are populating. So we're getting a little bit more in-depth look at everything that's reported during the event of a case. So it did show some spikes in a few areas. We didn't have a spike in crime. We had a spike in how it's being reported. So
048we're trying to make sure we clear that up with people so they don't think we've gotten this explosion of a certain type of activity. That's not what's happened. So, if you take a look at our enforcement stats, um we had 460 arrests, 130 33 DWI arrests, 324 vehicle [clears throat] and traffic arrests, 151 penal law arrests, and wrote 4,311 parking summones. Uh if you go to our 2025 emergency response statistics, um we handled 777 um motor vehicle accidents. And it's interesting to note if you compare to 24 and 20 23, it's not a statistical significant, but it's continuing a downward trend overall. I know it doesn't feel that way when you're out driving on the roads, but our numbers have really held steady and they've continued to decline over the past 10 years. We were
049up at about a thousand accidents. We hovered in the 900s, we're down to 777. So, it is an improvement. We do feel that a lot of the traffic safety projects that have been going on within the township, reconfiguring some of the intersections, lowering some speed limits, changing some of the directionals, and our increased enforcement efforts all combined together continue to help calm some of what's going on out there, even if it doesn't appear that way on a regular basis. Um, we handled 1881 medical aid cases, 1788 911 hang-up calls, 1522 alarms, and 91 calls involving emotionally disturbed persons, which are extremely challenging and can take quite a bit of our resources, training, patience, safety, etc., and are very important to us and how we handle in dealing with those kind of cases within community. Uh,
050the next slide goes to our quality of life complaint statistics. Commercial noise continues to hold steady. It's about the same number of calls every year now since CO ended. We get somewhere in the area of 75. Um that's just it seems to be the normal course of business for the commercial areas that experience um noise complaints, you know, through their regular weekend activities. Residential noise 554 continues to hold steady, declines slightly. uh 282 parking complaints, 428 complaints about town code violations, and 26 speed enforcement requests. Interesting to note, the town code complaints get divided out amongst the police department code enforcement and marine patrol, but they all come in through us and are are logged through our system. So, that's why they're all there. Um the next slide, some of our reporting statistics. Um total
051calls for service, 17,442. We're actually at a like a 7-year low in total overall events, which is uh interesting to note, but again, it's not stat statistically significant. It's still holding in that range of about 18,000 calls for service per year. Um, in handling those calls, we had six use of force reports completed. Uh, one officer was injured. Um, we received seven civilian complaints and we received 19 ICE detainers of which zero of those individuals were held. Um, we've been including this on our annual report for almost 10 years now. And the reason I like to just get out in front of that and mention it particularly in a public forum is there's a lot of miscommunication and misinformation about there out there about what a detainer is and what municipal police force can actually
052do with a detainer. Uh detainer is a notification that comes in during the arrest processing that there is a request to possibly hold somebody on a immigration violation. It is not a warrant. It's not signed by a judge. Uh we have no authority based on 2017 case law and New York State Attorney General's guidance to detain or hold somebody on that. So we list how many we get. We really have no authority to hold on that. That's not a policy decision. That's not a sanctuary rule. It's state case law and it's AG guidance. So, I just want to get out in front of that and explain that. Uh, moving on, I wanted to go through a few of our just to highlight. You'll see in our annual report, we we have reports from our community
053relations and specialized units. Um, we do a lot of training, put a lot of time and effort into inter interacting and engaging with the community in ways that are not just strictly vehicle and traffic law and responding to complaints. We try to have a positive impact within the community, provide training and interactions in many different ways. We obviously have our school resource and DARE officers, the citizens police academy, the retreat uh community response team, youth mental health and health and substance abuse task force. We have child safety seat installation unit. We do drug take deck takeback days with uh boxes located at numerous facilities around the township. We participate in the Latino advisory committee. We help run the townwide heartsaver CPR and AED training program. We do interactive crime prevention presentations for seniors in the
054schools on things ranging from ebikes, bicycle safety to scams and fraud alerts and things like that. uh our specialized units as I mentioned we have our emergency services unit, our unmanned aerial systems unit, our dive team, our motor vehicle collision investigation unit. We have motorcycle unit, police bike patrol unit, um the heartsaver AED program training, school resource officers, detective division and police property room. a lot of individualized training, um, a lot of time expended outside of patrol, um, on areas that are actually very important to the public safety community. >> Chief, could you just talk about the motor vehicle collision investigation unit because I know that last week or two weeks ago, we had to close down 27. >> Sure. So, there are state mandates uh, for the full accident reconstruction of a of an
055accident scene. if there's significant uh property damage, if there's what would be termed serious physical injury, impairment um or death and or there is a commercial motor vehicle involved and serious injuries to one of the people involved. We're mandated by the state to conduct an accident reconstruction. Um there is a I want to say a 4-week training class that's broken up into three different cycles. Um, it's extensive, it's in-depth, it's technical, there's a lot of math involved. Um, there's a lot of equipment use involved. And our detectives and several patrol officers and one of the lieutenants, uh, we have six members right now that are fully trained. And it takes several hours to complete that investigation properly. The equipment used is essentially like civil engineering where they plot the points of where the accident occurred,
056the shape of the roadway, any other uh obstacles or obstructions or things that were involved in the accident where the where one vehicle may have ended after the uh initial impact. Ton of points of data that I can't get completely into, but it's extremely important that it's done properly, particularly when it's dealing with serious physical injury or death. Um, so it does take a significant amount of time and effort. We work in conjunction. Our officers went out uh and assisted the village with their case that they had about a month or so ago. Um and you know that it's it's an area of expertise that takes a significant amount of routine training and maintenance to be proficient with the equipment and also takes a teamwork effort of our detectives and the officers to do it
057properly. This is how they come up with the estimate of the speed of the vehicles involved, the point of contact, any other aggravating factors, things like that. It's extremely important especially in in serious injury and death cases. So, >> and you actually the one on on Nap Peak was serious injury and there was a commercial vehicle. >> Yeah. So, in conjunction with that, we work with Suffach County Police and their motor carrier unit comes out and does an inspection on the commercial motor vehicle as well. They're specifically trained in looking at the oversized commercial vehicles and the the brakes and, you know, all the equipment that goes into that that their expertise is uh needed for those kind of things. So, >> thank you. >> Yep. Um, very briefly, our goals for 2026. Goal one
058is to continue expanded uses and imple implementation of updated technology, specifically information sharing and real-time translation services. Goal two is to expand community outreach and awareness efforts. Goal three is to fill all uniform staffing positions created through expected retirements and personnel expansion. Thank you to the three extra places that were put in the budget for this year. It continues to allow us to grow and meet the demands. We're currently working with Suff County Civil Service going through the hiring process as we speak with an upcoming academy class andor some previously certified officers. We're hoping to get some support here as we head into the summer. >> Are they looking to do an August? >> I believe so. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> But there's also some uh other officers either with part-time experience or other former
059law enforcement that we're working through interviewing that we may be able to to bring in sooner. So, we're going through that now. And goal four is to efficient uh implement efficiency upgrades and training opportunities related to our dispatching services. With what we've taken on and and the new responsibilities that we have, we're just constantly looking for ways to improve the services, the training, our work with the uh fire districts. Uh we we meet regularly. Just as a quick update, we've met regularly with Seg Harbor um village, their fire and ambulance several times, and we're going over ways to improve and make sure we're meeting their demands and continue training and reviewing every call that goes out by supervisors to uh review protocols and procedures and make sure we keep getting better at it every day.
060So, if anyone has any specific questions, that's it. I'll let I'll let the next public safety group jump up. >> Anyone have questions for the chief? >> No, just comment. I mean, chief, thank you guys for and girls for everything you guys do. You see the the best of this town and also the worst and um it takes its toll on everyone and it's it's an incredible role that these individuals feel. It's greatly appreciated by >> Thank you very much. I appreciate that guys. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, next up is Marine Patrol. >> Our Chief Harbor Master Tim Treadwell, you're up. >> Thank you. Good morning. >> Good morning. Is it still morning? Oh, it's still morning. >> Um, it is still morning. >> Okay. >> So, the um mission of
061the marine patrol is of course to ensure the public safety on our beaches and waterways of which we have a lot of fortunately in this town and to enforce all regulations uh pertaining um and enforce all regulations pertaining to public safety on our beaches and waterways. These include um town ordinance as well as New York State Navigation Law as well as New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Law. Um so uh some highlights of uh our our goals. Um I believe that we provided very effective law enforcement um with the focus on safety, education, and compliance. And that's backed up in our stats for the year. We did over uh 200 boating safety compliance inspections. Um we instructed five boers safety classes, which is a record. We've never uh instructed that many. That was u
062uh due to the new New York State Bana's law. Uh so a lot of people got their boater safety certificates for the first time. Even people that are veterans on the water have been boating for 30 years. And a lot of those individuals actually told me um that they didn't think that [snorts] they would learn anything in the class, but that they did and they were glad that they took the class. So that was good. Um and um we uh did about 1500 calls for service. Of course, uh the nine search and rescue cases are also very important along with the um along with the uh boer safety and the safety inspections. Um, and we assisted uh 37 persons and 22 vessels on the water. So, I need to say that that uh that that
063that this season was successful due to a very dedicated staff that I have of harbor masters, uh, six full-time harbor masters, 10 park, I'm sorry, six full-time harvesters and 10 part-time harbor masters, as well as two marine maintenance mechanics. So, it's a group effort. Uh, and everybody work together very well. Um and then of course I also uh you know it wouldn't have been as successful without the assistance of other departments that we work with regularly, buildings and grounds, parks, the lifeguards and of course uh the support of the town board you know goes a long way to make our operation successful and we appreciate it. Um so uh I basically touched on that. Um I won't read it all uh line by line, but there is uh you know the other big thing that
064we accomplished was we uh um this was our we're going now into our second season where we're using the open gov system to manage our docks and our moorings. And I really think that that has really improved the efficiency of that. It gives us more um um interpersonal contact with the with the uh residents that have boats and moorings and and it it allows us to be more handson when it comes to that. Um uh we also have uh really sort of streamlined the waiting list so we have a much better perspective of you know where we stand on the waiting list now and who's on the waiting list and better recordkeeping in my opinion. Um so uh we look forward to that going forward. This uh this year particularly everybody that had already done
065it last year was really happy with it. The first year there was some growing pains, you know, uploading documents and stuff to the online system, but now that seems to really have um improved. Um we work really closely with the lifeguards and with uh East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue. We do drills with them regularly. um you know uh uh we uh you know we would be at a loss without them assisting us. Um next so uh as far as goals go um I uh I'm really looking forward to increasing my full-time staff. I'm hoping that we can um get some coverage out on the beaches later as well as get more boats underway. Um, you know, there's uh there's still a fair amount of boat traffic. It has it has sort of thinned out somewhat
066since COVID. It seems like during CO everybody bought a boat. Um, but it does uh but but there's certainly a need for us to be out there on patrol as much as possible. Um, >> I wonder what with the with the cost of fuel if you >> Well, I we we think that's going to be a factor, Kathy. That's absolutely right. somebody else. I was just having a conversation about that, right? Um so, so we'll see how that works. Uh you know, maybe maybe more people will be buying sailboats now. I [laughter] don't know. So, uh I I also hope, uh this season to also um work and do more drills with other agencies other than Ocean Rescue and the lifeguards, like do some drills with Sag Harbor Marine Patrol, do more drills with the
067Coast Guard. Sometimes it's a staffing thing and a time thing and it's always not easy to put together. But uh but I really hope that we can do more of that because then when when a real situation occurs, we all have that training and know how to work with the other agencies so much better. So it's very important that we continue to strive to accomplish that. Um the other uh the other things that the board has been great help in is we've made some town code changes. Some stuff's just little stuff in the wording to make the code more clear. you know, some stuff I believe is important for safety. Um, so I appreciate your support on those town code changes. Um, one big one was just something simple like having everybody that leaves a
068paddle craft on the beach to have an identification mark on it. So that serves two purposes. If it's not supposed to be there, we can contact that individual and not go through the process of impounding it. but also if it washes up on the beach and you know we don't know if that person who owns it is missing there's contact information so that we don't have to launch a search and rescue case uh needlessly. Um so so that's all really really good stuff. Um next >> and how are we do we need to do some social media around that Tim to educate >> yes we are going to do that. I'm going to work with Patrick on that. Um and and I'm going to get on that shortly. Uh and work with Patrick on that.
069So that all goes out. Uh I'm not sure that it's codified yet. I have to double check on that as well, but we can certainly still start to get the word out. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And uh that'll be really helpful to us because we you know a lot of times you know people they leave particularly their paddlecraft on the beaches and we work with the trustees. I forgot to mention them and we do a lot of work with it and they um you know and so so you know we'll impound and some of these vessels and it's a lot of work to do that a lot of paperwork and then the individuals have to come and get them out of impound and then they get a ticket and then they have to go to
070court and you know it'd be a lot easier if we could just make a phone call and tell them to get their craft off the beach. Yes. >> Anyways, um >> you said craft, right? >> Their their craft. Yes, that's what he said. That is what I said. >> That's what I heard. [laughter] I heard craft. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> We were talking about the other thing earlier with dogs. >> Yeah. Right. Well, there's that, too. And that that honestly is also one of my pet peeves, you know. I mean, we were just the other day when we were down at ditch >> and I just don't understand it. And then the people that that dump their residential garbage in the cans, too, is just uh really um you know, just really bad for everyone.
071Um, see, I think I pretty much covered all of our goals and I think I covered all of our accomplishments. Um, of course, training, you know, training is always something that I want my staff to to have, whether it's, like I said, inter agency training with other departments or or specific boat operation training and and stuff like that. We continue to do that. the East End Marine Law Enforcement Task Force, which we're a member of, um, schedules a lot of that training for the different agencies on Long Island, and we participate in all of that. Happily, >> I think that's Is there another slide? That's it. >> That's it. >> Anyone have questions? >> Thank you. No, no, great. Great job. You do you also operate the fireboat for the town in partnership with the
072districts or No. Is that >> Yes. So, so we uh so, so that's a joint operation. So, we use it as a patrol boat, but there's members of the Montalk Fire Department that are authorized to use it for rapid response. So, those are all seasoned boat captains. They've all been checked off on the boat. They and um and and they know how to operate the fire pump. Um, we're actually working on replacing the fire pump that's in that now, but temporarily we have a P6 pump, which is a portable pump, uh, which the Coast Guard uses, um, you know, which is also effective. So, so, so that is ongoing. And also the Springs Fire Department also, um, you know, utilizes a boat in ThreeM Harbor that we have, Marine 6. Marine 2 is Monttoque, Marine
0736 is Springs. Gotcha. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, now we're up to fire marshall's presentation. Chief Fire Marshall Buzzy Brown, come on down. >> Okay, officially the good afternoon. >> Okay, good afternoon, Buzzy. >> Officially. >> Okay, let's start it off. We'll start with our mission statement. Um mission statement uh the mission of the fire marshall's office to prevent reduced incidents of fire and increasing awareness and knowledge of both the residents and business owners um with respect to fire safety by ensuring compliance with the New York State fire code um applicable codes of New York as well as the codes of East Hampton. Um, our mission is accomplished through the fire prevention, education, compliance, inspections, and fire investigations. Um, we actively participate in our community and
074strive to effectively utilize all of our resources made available and provide safety and excellent customer service to all the citizens in East Hampton. Okay, next slide. Our accomplishments. Um our first goal um was to continue the enforcement of uh our nighttime inspections where we go out to the nightclubs, restaurants, and we look for fire code violations, safety violations, and overcrowding. Um for the 2025 season, we were um we recorded 1624 inspections um just exceeding our goal of 1,600. So, we we actually accomplished a little bit more than what our goal set out to be, which is really good. Um, and that's due to our now staffing. We're fully staffed. Um, next goals, uh, next seasonal meetings, update meetings, um, to share information, increase cooperation between the fire marshals, town PD, code enforcement, marine patrol, town
075attorneys, building department, all of our town departments. Um those two goals that I have next are pretty much the same. Um we have our annual meetings that that we continue throughout the year. Um and then in the summertime we step those meetings up to every week and um that cooperation between the departments is just it's so important and it keeps us all on the same page and we work so much better together now that we have these meetings. Um in the past they were few and far between years ago and now this is a really good accomplishment that we're doing. Okay. Um next go next slide I believe accomplishments and goals continued um continued um enforcement and conducting of ADA and readily achievable inspections and building uh review and site plan reviews for ADA. Um
076we're able to identify multiple ADA deficiencies and um several of our submitted plans throughout the year um and remediate those deficiencies. Um we we search or we review building plans and we review the site plans and we try to catch all those deficiencies before they even get to construction. Um, next goal is focused on uh the code of the town of East Hampton and New York State mandated safety inspections. Um, we went from 5, I'm sorry, went from 630 commercial inspections in the year 1922 up to 1715 um last year. So again, with this increased staffing that we have, we are getting into a lot more places. We're getting into more regularly. Um, and what this does is, um, we're not out there doing it more regularly or getting going out there to get people.
077We're out there to help people. Um, business owners are all taxpayers. You're paying us for service to come in and make sure your buildings are safe. There are no violations and that you are more protected from a latigious society. So, we're not just there looking for things to try to get people. We're there to help you. We're here to increase your safety and reduce your liabilities. Um within those increased fire safety inspections, the goal is increase the number of hotel motel or multi multiple tenants tenant occupancies. And again, due to the increase in staffing, um we've gone from 163 total inspections to 463 last year. Uh, and again, getting into these places, I can't stress it enough, getting into them on more, you know, annual basis and getting in there, it lessens the the violations
078that we find each year and it just makes everything more safe. >> Buzz, you go into every hotel room. Is that how it works? >> Um, we don't always go into every hotel room. Sometimes we'll get there and there will be some that are, you know, actually occupied. So, we'll do random. Got it. >> Go random and we take note of that. So then the following years we don't double up on the ones we missed or don't don't miss the ones again that were occupied. [clears throat] Okay. Um 20 26 goals. Um first goal is to continue the pace of um the nighttime assembly occupancies, the checks at night of the of the bars and the nightclubs, restaurants. Um again um the numbers we put up last few seasons are are uh really good. I'm
079really happy with it. I want to continue that. I continued that goal. Um, code enforcement meetings and the operations uh between again the fire marshals, code enforcement, PD, building department, town attorneys, and planning. It's just so important that we keep doing these and that's that's always going to be a goal going forward and we're going to keep on doing that. ADA, same thing there. We're going to keep up our inspections on the ADA commercial buildings, uh, site plan reviews and the building building reviews. Um, this is, you know, always has been an ongoing important task and we take it very seriously and, um, we will keep on focusing on that as we move forward. Um, continue to focus on the code of the town of East Hampton and again our New York mandated safety fire
080inspections. Um again we went from 960 to 17 uh 1715 and 25 and again with a new staffing we can keep I'm sure we're going to keep those numbers up and may even exceed those which were quite high. Um and then within the scope of again multif family dwellings or the hotel motel um we still want to increase that number um and get into those even more often than we're doing now um and keep pace with those inspections about >> questions. >> Thank you folks. >> Yeah, I'll kick off on this one. I mean I I before I joined the town board and you know your department became my leis department. I I my interactions with through my business and you know as I've been on the board learning about what your department does has
081been really really interesting because there's so much more than just the commercial inspections. You know that there's visiting the scenes of fires to kind of do your own investigations as to causes and future concepts prevention. Um the concept that our fire marshals have to live within a certain distance of the town to be able to respond respond in a timely manner to those things. Um there's a reason why your group is under the public safety umbrella. Um it's as important as PD. Um you know my question for you is you what challenges do you see for your department kind of coming forward in the next year, next five years. Um I think keeping the guys focused on getting trained on moving their education forward. Um there's so much changing. There's um we we always have
082um the [clears throat] continued education as far as code compliance. We have the 24 hours of inservice training there. As fire investigators, we have to do 12 hours of tested um training during the year as well as 24 hours of investigations that we have to as hazmat team members. We also have to go and get that certification which is a 40 to 60 hour class to start with and then we have to keep that training up which I believe is 16 hours continuing education per year. We're also peace officers where we went through the peace officer academy. We have to keep all that up also. So it's it's a challenge to you know keep up all the training keep up all the inspections as it is I know for all our departments because it's it's
083it's a lot of statemandated things that we have to do. Great. Buzzy, I don't think you even touched on the tent inspections that you do. And have you been able to I know the schools their curriculum is getting, you know, more and more packed with what they need to do for state education, but department, but have [clears throat] you had an opportunity to get in to the schools in the last year or so? >> We have not. We have not been able to get into there. Um, we've been trying to revamp everything so that we can get in there. Um, some of the instances we've found with our old program is it's been out of service for so long that all the old materials that we based it on are now outdated. They're not even
084selling the support materials that we used to give out and hand out with the program. Um, and it's it's it's a job to just revamping and some of the new standards also that they've changed on us. Um, one of the interesting things were that they recommend we do not teach stop, drop, and roll. >> Really? >> They said that's if when you start teaching that in that in that instant, >> the kids focus on that so much they forget about everything else you teach them and they learn it in school already that teaching them and that's like one of the basics things they already know. I was very surprised to hear that, but it was it kind of made a little bit of sense >> because you'll see the kids when they come in, you'll
085tell them to do some of the other skills and they're stop, dropping, and roll when you're trying to get them to do other things. So, they they they focus on that. >> That's just something. So maybe we could use 26 to like build up and figure out what materials we need to move forward and for 27 we could get back in the into the schools because I I know that that's having been on the school board and and >> yeah, >> how important that training was and that you brought it, you know, they were climbing through windows with that hat, you know what I mean? It was like very tactile and it sunk in with >> it got it got a little bit to the point where they were because of all the other demands.
086us out. >> Yeah, that's the problem. >> But we'll we'll stay on that. >> Thank you. >> I'm going to save my comments after all of you speak and speak to you as a group. >> Thanks, buzzing. >> Sounds good. All right, we're up to ordinance enforcement and then you actually you've got a double header. You have ordinance enforcement, Russell, and animal control. Yep. >> Well, welcome. >> Good afternoon, Russell. >> All right. Uh so our mission statement with ordinance um ordinance enforcement department enforces all town codes and resolutions including but not limited to health, safety, housing, zoning, environmental noise, lighting and permits. Our mission is to protect, preserve, support the health, safety, welfare, and overall quality of life of East Hampton Town residents through education, promotion, voluntary compliance, enforcement of the town code of
087East Hampton and New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code. [laughter] Our 2025 accomplishments. In 2025, we successfully navigated the new open gov system that we merged into from govern uh with little to no delay. Complaints were open and addressed in a timely manner. Despite periods of being short staffed um short staffed and navigating three changes in departmental leadership within a single year, our department successfully maintained it normal case load approximately 1,700 cases we had last year uh without disruption or workflow of the workflow or daily operations. Continued education and patrolling helped spread awareness of uncovered loads, gas leaf blowers regulations, and there has been a significant decrease in tickets issued for the gas leaf blowers. This past summer, we were actually about 60 tickets less um issued. And then there's goals for 2026.
088Uh a couple goals we have. We had uh we're trying to do a housing initiative. Primary focus is to enhance public safety by addressing overcrowding, identifying potential hazards including smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors are properly installed and functioning, identifying and mitigating electrical hazards or abatements, identifying illegal apartments or structures uh on the properties. It's not to go there and try to, you know, convict someone or, you know, write them a ticket for a violation. It's more for a safety approach. Um, continuing to work with the building department by assisting with the updated CFOs, uh, certificate of occupancies and helping with the backlog is a goal for us for 2026. Um, continue proactive education and enforcement to further increase the reduction of short-term rentals and illegal housing, uh, and apartment rentals. uh possibly to work with
089the rental software company to help determine properties with ongoing violations is a goal for 2026 as well. Uh improve interdep departmental coordination and enforcement efficiency by strengthening collaboration with departments such as building department, natural resources planning, highway, town attorneys, town board, and town supervisor to ensure consistent and efficient enforcement of the town and state codes. Um, so that's all the goals that we have set for 2026. I'm sure there'll be a few more added to that as we go. You know, the uncovered loads, the littering, you know, that we were talking about earlier with the litter action committee is definitely on our radar. >> I know you just did an education program on uncovered loads at the uh recycling center not long ago. You you you guys were there. >> Yeah. So, we consistently uh
090we try when we have some we don't have much downtime, but if we have a moment where we have a half hour, I try to get the guys and girls to go to the town recycling center. Uh we started off by giving out warnings to people in the beginning of the season because it was a rough winter. A lot of people had a lot of debris to go to the dump and you can see it start to fill up down there as well. Um you know, but now we're writing tickets. I believe we're past 20 tickets that we've written for uncover loads. Um there's seven of us in our department, you know, so with some of us focusing on the cos and others on art studio inspections that we're actually doing this year as well.
091Um there's not much time to spend at the dump, but we do make our, you know, presence there by spending some time and writing tickets and educating people. We're also trying to monitor the power lines or other deadend areas that people are constantly dumping, you know, debris, whether it's litter, >> garbage, or recyclable debris like uh grass clippings or leaves. So, we actually caught someone dumping on the power lines about a week ago uh in the act and we had them clean it all up. It was either clean it up or get a ticket. So, they they cleaned it all up. >> Uh and it was actually coming from Southampton because it was over by Townline Road. >> Yeah. So, it wasn't even our resident dumping on East Hampton Town property. >> So, good job.
092>> Do you guys have any questions on for the ordinance part or? >> No. I've talked to you about one of my pet peeves is, you know, commercial commercial yard signs. >> Yeah. >> That go up for businesses out here. Soft washer stuff. I know you're being very proactive on that. >> Yeah, we took appreciate it's a whack-a-mole situation. >> Four or five of those signs down. Yeah, >> there were we had a complaint last week in Wayne Scott and I went and personally took those signs down. I was actually in the area. So, they put them high enough up we have to go in the back of the pickup to uh remove it. So, >> yeah, I appreciate your effort, you know, on the >> Yeah, we'll be uh, you know, that's another thing.
093We'll be, you know, monitoring that and picking up those signs as we see them. >> Thanks. >> Yeah. And I'm trying to let everybody talk first, but I just want to also point out all of the I mean, the idea that you're, you know, public safety [clears throat] isn't a job. uh as I've learned from dealing and working with all of you, it's a dedication and uh it's really a special person that takes on this role. You're usually not meeting people in the best of circumstances no matter what your role is here and your jobs are, but uh you you do it with a a really good sense of care for the community um even for the violators. Um and it's really greatly appreciated. I can talk about how I feel about you all day,
094but I hear this all day long from our community residents, whether it be on the beaches or, you know, people upset about town codes or or working um with anything. It's always and the the letters I see in the papers thanking people for the response that they had to an emergency directly calling all of you out is incredible for the work that you do. But what I will mention right here, and none of you talk about it, is all the unseen things that you do on top of all the things that are seen that you do. Uh like uh the the work that PD Marine Patrol does on the special events committee, the hours dedicated weekly to make sure that these events are safe. Um the amount of um time that we rely on you
095for your expertise in your areas to guide the rest of the committee that don't have these expertise. and that goes for a fire for fire marshall as well is is really greatly appreciated and and highly necessary uh for us to make good decisions um and what we do. Um and also Russell, you alluded to it, but you know your what people don't know is if we go out for an RFP um you alluded to the short-term rentals which will be coming back soon with recommendation to the town board. your time on that um is is inval. It can't be calculated because the input that we get from people working in the field to make the best selections even for vendors that we're going to use is really greatly appreciated and we couldn't do the work
096without you. >> So I I couldn't get through all of you, but I just wanted to thank you for all that you do. >> No, thank you. I appreciate it. Um, so I'm going to move on to animal controls, uh, accomplishments for 2025. [clears throat] Uh, all dogs impounded thus far were either claimed, uh, by the owner or placed with a rescue. No dogs were euthanized. >> Thank goodness. >> Um, we participated in two rabbi clinics held by East Hampton Veterary Group offering dog licensing. Um, I believe there's another one coming up soon. >> Yes, I'm going to mention it. It's May 17th. Uh, and I'll talk about it in my le liazison report. Yeah, I'll make sure Heather notifies Patrick Duren so we can >> Yeah, that's great. >> You know, put a posting
097on the Facebook page. Uh, we located a very scared ARF dog named Felipe who had save who had been saved from a puppy mill escaped from his adoptive owners. Uh, had since been readopted. Um, worked with Suffach County DA's beast unit on a welfare neglect case regarding a French bulldog with an untreated facial tumor. Uh and then we also assisted East Hampton PD with an abandoned a dog abandonment case uh and the owner was arrested uh from East Hampton PD. So those were the accomplishments for 2025. And then the goals for animal control. Uh maintain and increase routine patrols and ensure consistent completion of daily activity reports. expand public outreach efforts to better inform residents about local ordinances, licensing requirements, and available resources such as affordable vaccination clinics, spay and neuter programs. Continue efforts to
098keep animal surrender rates and human humane euthanization numbers low. Implement the capability [clears throat] to accept credit card payments for dog empowerment, boarding fees, and licensing to improve convenience and efficiency. transition to a more efficient, modern reporting system to replace the outdated FileMaker program and improve report generation and data management. So, those are the goals for 2026. I also believe uh in June there's a uh a town hall. They're doing like a um workforce seminar or something. Uh >> yeah, a job fair. >> Yeah, job fair. Uh so I reached out to Heather to see if she can come to that as well. Um, so we'll be attendance to that. >> Beautiful. And what we didn't mention is that we've been doing outreach. Well, David's been doing it with the Montalk Chamber that we've got.
099I guess it's >> this Thursday. This Thursday, one o'clock at the Montalk Library public safety meeting that we do in conjunction with the Montalk Chamber just prior to the season for chamber uh uh members and also business owners in Montalk to come meet uh the town of East Hampton and all our department heads and some elected officials so we can all prepare and work collaboratively for the upcoming season so we all can have a safe and enjoyable summer season. >> Right. And we did it for the East Hampton Chamber last Wednesday. We met in this room and we had a good turnout from folks from East Hampton and I think there's seven public safety folks that came plus town attorney and it was it was very helpful and I know it was appreciated. So >>
100yeah, it's good just to get everyone on the same page for the summer. >> We [clears throat] prefer voluntary compliance. We don't want to have to write anyone or ruin people's summer per se, you know, we want >> for sure. >> Safety and public safety is number one. So, >> anything else? >> Thank you. Thank you, Russell. >> Okay. So, we're grateful. It's just hard to believe that we're in May and we're about to kick off the season. You counting the days down. What have we got? >> Oh, my next softball game. [laughter] >> All right. So, next we're going to hear from Captain Gregory Martin. uh on ebike safety because this has been a hot topic. I know in David's Monttok CAC and my East Hampton Sag Harbor CAC and PD has been doing
101a lot of outreach on this. So Greg, we're appreciative that you're here today. >> Of course. Good afternoon. No problem. Um, yeah, we just wanted to bring to everyone's attention more or less a public public awareness campaign we've been ongoing or that has been ongoing for the past several years, but uh it's been updated slightly this year [clears throat] uh revolving around ebikes. So, we wanted to make sure that information is out there and uh we're going to continue with that as uh the season progresses into next year where I'm sure there'll be law changes that we'll have to address as well. Um, all right. So, I do have a PowerPoint here and we'll get through some of the educational stuff [clears throat] quickly. Um, ebikes, it's a brief definition on the top here. Uh,
102according to New York State, ebike laws, an electric bike is a bike with fully working pedals that is no wider than 36 in and contains an electric motor that is no more powerful than 750 watts. Um, so they more or less broke down this ebike into three classes as far as a definition. Class one, to sum it up briefly, is with pedals, has electric power assist while you're pedaling. Can only go 20 m hour. Class 2 the same, but can provide power without pedaling. Only goes 20 m hour, 20 mph max. And class 3 is the same as class 2, but can go up to 25 miles per hour. Um the exception with class 3 is that it's only uh only authorized in a city with a population of a million or more. So that
103narrows it down to only New York City. They're not authorized within our jurisdiction or anywhere outside of New York City. So that with those uh I guess class labels or manufacturer labels that are supposed to be indicating of that class. Um all these bikes have to have them on them. Um whether or not you're renting a bike or selling a bike or you own the bike, it should have that class sticker label on it. Uh the slides will show them. Um so that's it for what defines it. Anything outside of that, so anything without pedals that has electric power, anything that goes faster than what's noted here in essence is an unregistered motor vehicle. Um or is going to be treated as such as far as enforcement's concerned. We do see a lot of what
104people consider to possibly be ebikes which is simply looks like a little mini dirt bike fully electric powered with pegs no pedals that that's in essence an unregistered motor vehicle. So depending upon speed and power you might also need a motorcycle license to operate something like that. So the we just want to make sure the public understands that uh outside of those classifications I just labeled off. It's not an author authorized vehicle to be on the road, please. Um, all right. A few questions going through that are common questions we see and have uh voted to us. Kind of touched on the first one here. Are ebike and e- scooters considered motor vehicles? No. Now, again, I say no as long as they're within those classifications. That's uh all this is according to for the
105most part the uh New York State vehicle and traffic law. um which I'll touch on in the next slide here. The laws that apply and more so the reason why I'm here right now because some of this has changed primarily and when this initially came out it was a New York state vehicle and traffic law. I uh noted some of this primary sections there and how they apply to ebikes. More recently being just this year, Suffach County implemented a new code which mirrors a lot of the vehicle and traffic law, but they did restrict some specific uh sections. Um we as a Easttown Police Department can enforce the Suffach County code and that is actively enforceable right now. So, some of the primary and I noted them here on the slide, some of the primary
106regulations that they did touch on with the county code, a helmet required for all riders. So, with the VTL, the New York State VTL, it was simply 16 and 17 year olds. Suffach County now is everyone uh minimum rider age 16. So, anyone 15 and under is not authorized to operate ebikes. No sidewalk riding anywhere in Suffach County. Uh New York State has a very similar >> vehicle and traffic law section that mirrors that as we do with the local town code. [clears throat] Uh ebikes may not be used on roads posted with limits above 30 miles an hour. So anything below that they're authorized to be utilized on and police now can enforce reckless riding, impaired operation and fleeing of an [snorts] officer. So the New York State vehicle traffic law does touch on
107impaired operation. There's an element of that where you have to be involved in a in a motor vehicle accident for that to take effect. The new county code has an element of that where that's not necessarily needed. Um, in addition to that, they have a reckless riding section which uh is more or less revolving around doing wheelies or zigzagging, things of that nature, and fleeing of an officer. So, if an officer is trying to properly stop you, um, and you flee, you could be held accountable with a county code fine. Uh, all right. Easttown Code is obviously listed on there because we do have the code section 95, which revolves around our implementation of ebikes and how we could use them locally, which is more so not to be utilized on the sidewalks. All right,
108a few more questions. How old do I have to be to ride an ebike? We touched on that. No one under the age of 16. Um, this question comes to a lot. Who gets a summon issue to an operative media bike or e scooter under the age of 16? That uh that is more or less a New York State VTL regulated situation where if the parent or guardian is present, someone who's over the age of 18, they could be issued this summon. Locally, what we've been doing recently is more or less stopping these juveniles, if you will, and contacting parents and making them come to the location and turning that bike over to them. So, if we see pattern problems or if they are involved in other situations, whether it be crimes or something of
109that nature, then obviously there'll be different course of action. But for the basic uh enforcement of the rule and juveniles on the ebikes, that's how we've been taking the action thus far. As far as the public awareness, and I'll touch on a little more as we go along, but we've been putting out information, flyers, all this educational stuff we're talking about now to all the schools or superintendents who distribute it to all the parents. Obviously, there's a a large degree of juveniles, I guess you could say, in the school systems that utilize these. Understood. So, that information is out to them. Um, next slide. Some of the more questions here. Class ebikes legal outside of the city of New York. I'm sorry, class three ebikes. Um, so again, it the answer is no. It just
110more or less gives a breakdown of the law as to how it reads with why they're not legal as a class 3 ebike outside of New York City. Is an operator of a bike required to yield the rightway to pedestrian to a pedestrian? Yes. So, more or less the pedestrians would have the rightway. The bike still have to follow the basic vehicle and traffic laws of the road, rules of the road. Uh, is an operator of any bike required to ride single file on the roadway? Yes. New York state vehicle and traffic law. Can I ride, and again, we touched on this a little bit. Can I ride an ebike or e scooter while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs? Uh, the answer is no. The initial law covering that was the New York
111State VTL. Uh, again, there's an element of that. We have to be involved in motor vehicle accident. Suffach County, their new code, they've updated that where that element of being involved in an accident doesn't necessarily apply. Um, maximum allowable speed of an e scooter. So, a lot of this also u takes into account e scooters. Um, but the maximum speed for an e- scooter is 15 miles hour. And again, the maximum allowable speed for an ebike dependent upon class, class one and two is 20 m an hour. Class three obviously we talked about that not authorized here 25 uh required to wear a helmet t touched on that also with the New York state BTL it's it is yes 16 and 17 outside of that now with Suffach County's new law it is everyone um
112sidewalks I'm cruising right through these but sidewalks are off limits >> with ebikes specifically um the next slide if you go through would just be our section 95 part of our local town code that touches on that. As far as the town code, um there's been ongoing discussions and they will continue about any amendments or changes that could possibly mirror uh the county andor expand on that. So, right now, we're really putting forward the effort to get this information out there. Like I said, we are not only going and sending this information to schools, we're going to the schools. We're having discussions. We're doing uh educational classes on this. are hosting those. Um, we have had our officers go through the business districts, East Hampton, Amigansit, Malkque, handing out flyers, handing out the information, educating
113people while also enforcing some of these uh rules and regulations when we're seeing them. But we we already kicked this off this year. We've been doing this actively. We try to get ahead of the season because we know the issues that we have. Um, and again, we're simply asking compliance, you know, voluntary compliance, it goes a long way. people operating within those parameters should have no issues. Just be safe on them. You know, if you're not drawing attention to yourself with the reckless driving, everything should be fine because that's in essence normally where those issues arise with the accidents and such. Um, so the next flyer is our is our departmental English and Spanish I'm sorry, the next PowerPoint slide is our departmental English and Spanish flyers that we've been distributing to the schools that
114I just discussed. Um, again, these these have been amended somewhat for the county law that was implemented recently, but they were very similar last year with a a couple amendments that we've been uh distributing. The community is well aware. We've had a lot of people, that's where a lot of these questions stem from that come in that we've been answering, getting the information out there. That's that's the biggest thing we're trying to do right now. >> Great. Thank you, Captain. Questions? >> Yeah, I mean, maybe I'll go last in this one because I'm I'm an active eiker and I I have Captain and I have had much back and forth on this. >> No, this is like I said, this is um I don't want to say early stages. the county implementing this new local
115code, you know, brought to light some other opportunities for us to possibly visit and implement our own code amendments or just enact new code revolving around this. And these discussions are expected and ongoing and will be for some time. It's not something that happens overnight. But as far as enforcement andor regulation, you know, we we uh go with the laws that are on the books for now. Yeah, I I think it's important to start this program because, you know, um ebikes have a use. Um and especially for folks that can't afford a car, it could be the an easier way of transportation. We see people riding bicycles in the middle of the winter and every weather here. So, we know that there are folks um that could maybe benefit from a mini bike, but the
116safety points are are have to be critically involved. What I am surprised about and I didn't know about was about the operation on roadways with speed limits over 30 miles an hour and I I was a little surprised about that because you can ride a bike right on any road. So I didn't quite I don't that I didn't even know about. So the education process is is really important. >> Yeah. The the power and technology that's involved with an ebike and how it differentiates from a bicycle and the way the laws are written. >> Yeah. I've seen a person riding an ebike on a sidewalk at got to be 20 miles an hour easily. >> It's crazy to do that. You know, >> it really is a challenge because when I talk about these classifications,
117we're automatically categorizing every bike we see as somebody that's abiding the law of those classifications, the one, two, and three max of 20 m hour. It's not always the case. You know, there's there's manufacturers that aren't abiding by that and making these available and go rather they have the power and abilities to >> Yeah. Going 20 20 on a sidewalk is not is even just doing 20. Yes. >> I mean, that's super dangerous and it it should be definitely >> it's a balancing act. We're all well aware. Believe me. It's it's it's such a useful tool to people like you said trying to get to and from work. They they're Nobody's Nobody's denying that. Absolutely. I completely agree. >> Yeah. put the helmet to >> offering that to uh persons as a as a secondary
118option to a motor vehicle, an actual car. I completely agree. It's just balancing the safety versus >> Yeah, that's I think the safety uh >> data that we collect and how things progress and how the technology advances. It's it's difficult to >> No, no, I think the safety rules are really important um as this becomes more of a technology that people are going to avail of for sure. Um, and I appreciate the the education component that you're doing because people don't know. >> Exactly. And we we're not looking to go out there and enforce these things when one, they're brand new, and two, it's it's it's blatantly obvious a lot of people aren't aware. >> No, not aware. I mean, how many people would get one for their kid, you know? >> Oh, of course.
119And a lot of parents have come to us and said that we bought them for them not even realizing there was these laws in place. So again, that's another element of when we interact with these juveniles in the street for whatever purpose that may be that brought our attention to them. You know, we're getting parents down there for the the idea of I guess inconvenience them. This is your punishment, but here's the information. Yeah. And that's all we're doing right now for the most part unless there's again some other element at play. But >> you know, bringing the attention and the enlightenment and the education to the parents, >> whether it be through the school system because they are very good at disseminating that information. The schools, they're a home run. getting to interact with
120the parents real time is is rather beneficial. >> Yeah, thank you for the for all this because it's I I'm checking off things I had no idea of. >> And again, this is a brief little overview. We could sit here all day and discuss in-depth law. >> No, on ebikes, but >> I I think uh letting people know what the code is now. >> Yeah. No, put it out there. Please review it, look at it more thoroughly, and it's there's a lot of information out there. >> And if people have a problem with the code, that's where they should go. to their their county legislators and have that discussion. So >> yeah, look >> for you. I think >> this is like an evolving process like we talked about and things get implemented and then
121we have discussions and see what's best for the community and we we continue down that path. >> Thank you. Anyone else have any comments? I I will say that I know Tommy you wanted to go at the end. Um, this came up again in the East Hampton Sag Harbor CAC and they're very grateful we've that we've got foot patrol now out there educating businesses and folks on the street. It's it's been noticed on North Main Street. that's where uh their focus has been. Um just sharing anecdotally that part of their concern is apparently the dry cleaner on North Main Street has had to replace his glass door twice >> because someone on an ebike, you know, the door opened up and they ran into it. So, it's just obviously it's we're in the education phase
122and they were really grateful that you guys have are out there. >> Some of these laws have been intact for a little while. We we do enforce them. You know, there is that always that element of ignorance of the law. You got to be careful there, but we really do try to get the information out. You know, we are going to enforcement enforce some of these things, but something like that like riding on the sidewalk, that's been out for some time. It's part of the New York state law. It's part of the local law that we implemented and now the county has also implemented. So, you can't utilize them on the sidewalks. >> Right. >> Common sense. >> Yeah. >> Tom, did you want >> Yeah. So, um, we've had meetings. I mean, there's it's
123it's got some interesting history here. Um, I think one thing that's really important to be open about is that yes, it's about safety, but there's not data here. When we ask for a stop sign, you know, we want to know how many accidents there have been in an area and what's the kind of the data behind it. the data behind Ebakes is is relatively thin because they haven't one existed that long and and two like the the ability to report on them at a state level is is being kind of inconsistent. Um if you do look at traffic data for New York State as a whole, ebikes um are not the area of concern. Um it's actually drivers over 70 um is is the predominant kind of area where they're seeing like a spike in
124anything in terms of traffic data. Um, so I I just think there's a slight concern here that we're only listening to a certain proportion of the population as it regards ebikes. I mean, CAC's typically are made up of um our older residents. I mean, we do have a large elder residents out here, but when you talk to some of the parents, some of the kids out here who are using ebikes, there are concerns out there that some of this is overly restrictive and, you know, goes back to how skateboarders were treated, you know, 20, 30 years ago. Um, kind of vaguely criminalized an activity that actually got children outside and, you know, now we we're building these amazing skate parks out here. So, um I I think that when it comes down to safety, yes,
125I'm behind it. There's some aspects of this law that just don't line up for safety with me. Um the inability of ebike riders to go on roads where the speed limit is above 30 mph is complex. We as a town do have the ability to change it under state law. The Suffach County law that's passed somewhat kind of confuses it. We'll need to get opinion from our town attorney. But, you know, the the issue is if we do allow it, does it open the town to liability? That goes back to what infrastructure investments we might be willing to make within our uh infrastructure to allow for ebikes and bikes generally. Um, typically speaking, where we have roads above 30 miles an hour, we have existing cycle path lanes uh within the right of way that
126would fit county and state needs for what a bike lane would to be to avoid that um liability. So, the potential for us to allow people to ride ebikes on those roads where the speed limit is above 30 mph is a possibility. Is it the right thing to do? Um, from my perspective, yes. I think it fits with our stated goals as a town, comprehensive plan. Uh it addresses some of the most pressing needs we have out here, which is, you know, getting cars off the road. Um I mean, how many vehicles do we see in the trade parade where it's one person in a car? I mean, just general vehicles. If you can reduce the number of single travelers in cars and get people onto ebikes, that is only a good thing. Um as
127it goes back to safety, there's some inconsistencies here. Um, listen, I I get passed on my ebike frequently by people on racing bikes who, you know, those guys can do 30 miles an hour. There's no requirement in any of the state or county laws for them to be wearing helmets. Um, so ebikes, yes, helmets, regular bikes, no helmets. We should actually have code that requires helmets for all bike riders in this town. It's it's a public safety thing, and that's that's kind of laws I do think we can kind of go forward on. Um, so I just I do have some strong reservations about that one specific element of the law because, you know, you do hear from a lot of people that's how they commute. A car is expensive. It requires insurance. It requires
128registration. You know, for people who are struggling to make it out here, um, enforcing, you know, them to take that other means of transport imposes costs on them. And if there's not a real bank of safety data that's demanding that, I just question why we're doing it. >> Yeah. As far as data, I can touch on that a little bit. Um, this is so new and the New York State mandated method to report motor vehicle accidents specifically only recently uh amended that report that is done by all New York State Police agencies or agencies that document motor vehicle accidents with a tab or a column specific for ebikes. There's always just bicycles general. So that data is skewed and it's skewed because it's so new. um now that it is implemented as we move forward
129the data will be more accurate specific to ebikes and how that applies but um no all fair points again open to discussion and and moving forward with this it's difficult because the infrastructure townwide is also like like uh Councilman Flight said it's not necessarily um easy for bike operators on all roadways you know so commuting the way you're discussing in lie of a vehicle is great but you need the infrastructure there to be ble to do that. >> Yeah. That's interesting because I read this I didn't I didn't realize that we potentially had an option to have a more permissive local law than state or county law. Um you know I'm also open-minded about being able to use them on roads that are over 30 mph just because I think you need to to get
130certain places. Um so I won't ask you now Jake, but I would love to hear you know what whether we even have the ability to you know change that at a town level. But >> does a town have any roads over 30 miles per hour if that's under our control? Not county or state. >> We'd have to look into that. I don't everyone >> off the top of my head I can't think of it. >> Oh, thanks. I think anything that's over 30 is a county or state road. >> Yeah, but what I'm what I was assuming was that if it was in town, you know, town juris, you know, jurisdiction, even if it's a state road, that we would make the law about that. I don't know. But would just love to. >> So
131whether we enforce the law, >> right? But if maybe if you're right, if it if it's up to the I mean, I don't think they they'll make their own laws for their roads, but I don't know. So would love to get a >> I mean look it's something of a discussion on that level be coordination with the town attorney suffer county especially with the county and the state to some degree having implemented these codes and laws specifically to a speed limit set you know those discussions would have to be had >> it would be interesting to find out what the county based their new codes on >> yeah the state I think it's new technology I think it's you know it's listen when you have new tech be it or these vehicles you you there's
132a reason why you might want to overregulate at the start. Um >> I would just like to know why. No, I agree. >> What you know that's an assumption, but I would like to know, you know, they they came up with new codes where what was their basis? Did they have data? I don't know. >> But yeah, I I can understand. Um I mean, I would be in favor of definitely making everybody who rides a bike wear a helmet. I think it's again, a lot of these things are common sense. Um but uh yeah, I mean um I appreciate the concern for the community. Absolutely. >> Good. >> All right. Thank you guys. Thank you. >> Thank you, Captain. >> Thanks. >> All right. We're back to our chief fire marshal, Buzzy Brown, to talk
133about knockboxes. >> Knock boxes, which I didn't know what they were. You go back one slide, David. >> Okay, >> there we go. >> All right. I'm here to talk about now um emergency access systems key boxes or as they're known as NOX boxes. Okay. >> Um slide. Um basically this is the code of the town of East Hampton. it. We take it from the state code where it tells us that we may enact a law or code that says that we have to provide or someone with a professional alarm system has to provide a key access box to the fire department in case of emergencies. Um basically the purpose of article provide means of emergency access buildings fire suppression equipment fire alarm equipment and information specified by the fire marshall. Okay, next slide. Um
134what's required a key lock box. Um and what we're looking for is a UL listed box or container um approved by the fire department. Right now there's um one brand out there. It's called Knox KOX. Um that is the industry standard and what is accepted in East Hampton right now is the Knox box system. Okay. Um who is required to have them? All commercial premises that have an alarm system um that is operated um or monitored by an [clears throat] alarm company. Um, if you have that type of system, um, you have to have a Knox box on your building. Um, all new residential construction and existing residential construction for which a building permit is issued or renewed subsequent um, expansion of a residence shall comply with these requirements. As of right now, um residents,
135you know, your home family, if you go out and you have an alarm system put in, um right now you are not required to have a NOX box. It's only if you are under new construction or if you have a uh building permit for your home where you're adding these type of systems or part of it is is going on. Um I highly recommend that you have one whether or not it's new construction or not. Um and we'll get into that why we have them. Okay. um inside the key box or the Knox box. And the reason why we have them is um if you have your alarm system goes off in the middle of the night and the fire department comes to check to see if there's a fire, if you're away, if you're
136not at home, um the fire department can't necessarily get into your home because it's locked up. So, in the past, all they've done is they've looked around, see if they could find smoke or any uh signs of fire, look through the windows possibly. And what has happened is in the past people have done it. The fire department's gone, showed up, can't see any smoke or fire. They'd leave and clear the scene and then half hour, hour later, the place is on fire. Um, now with these locked boxes or these locked cylinders, um, they're like a little vault that goes onto the side of the house or building. Go to the next slide. Um and what we do is um these Knox boxes will hold the keys to the house, any keys inside the buildings or
137businesses so that the firemen can get access to any room or any area in the buildings. Um the key is in a locked box also in their vehicles. It's in a vault. So the firemen aren't just carrying around a bunch of keys to get into the Knox box. when they respond to an alarm, they have to punch in a code in their vehicle vault to pull that key out, it gets registered when it was taken out, when it where it was used, and then when it's put back in, so there's no issue of who had that key, when they used it. Okay? And also the location of these Knox boxes where we want them. Um, it's this example here, and it shows we give it a a spot. We say we want it within 3
138ft of the front door. no lower than five feet, no higher than six feet. Now, if there's for some reason you can't put your Knox box within that area, um you would have to reach out to the fire department for a suitable location or one that they would agree on. Um but the reason why we want them in this one area is so that they're all consistent and we're not looking around for different locks boxes or where they might be. And again, if there's a reason why, if it's a glass panel or some reason architecturally that you can't put one right there, um, reach out to your local fire department and they will come up with a location with you. Okay, next slide. Knox Box again, which I said that is the that's the brand
139name. Next slide shows you a little picture of the Knox box and what it is. is that small little vault on that that that's usually my typical [snorts] scenario what we see is a smaller vault that will hold several keys, two or three keys and whatever note or or alarm codes that you may have to put in there for the fire department when they access your building. Um and again the fire department is the only one with those keys and they are keyed specifically to your district. East Hampton, Amigansit, Mtok, each one has a different key for their fire district. So East Hampton's key cannot open up MTalks. Malkque cannot open Amigansit. So only the specific chiefs can open those boxes. Um again, next slide. Typical knockbox. Next slide. Um shows you multiple applications. Um
140some buildings um like next door 300 panigo we have multiple tenants. So we have a little bit bigger of a box or a little bit bigger of a Knox box that will hold multiple keys and will hold multiple notes and instructions for the different tenants to get in there. And again, what this does, it's going to save you money from the fire department showing up and not being able to access your house and god forbid there be a fire because they have to leave or they're going to knock your door down and cause a lot of damage to get into the house. Um, these these boxes good solution. [clears throat] And any questions? >> Just I mean, thank you for doing this, David. Like I I think one of the reasons we we wanted to
141do this presentation is that we've heard from the fire chiefs that you know there's some misunderstanding from some of the commercial operators as to if they're required to have one but also like not having the right key in the Noxbox when there is a situation. So you know part of the discussion we as a board are kind of looking at with David is you know for the fire marshall's office to have the ability to carry Noxbox keys as well. So when they do their annual inspections, this could be part of the check that they potentially do on the commercial establishments, just ensure that that access is there. I mean, beyond property damage is there's public safety issues as well here. God forbid someone's in the building. Um, you know, in that situation, you need to
142get in fast. Um, so having the Knox box is is key. Um, the cost of them last I I installed one a few years ago in one of my properties. It's about $450. I don't think it's changed that much. Um, replacing your door will cost you thousands of dollars. you know, so worthwhile investment. >> Yeah. Um, yeah, you bring up, you know, the good points as to, you know, it's going to save you the money. It's going to have, you know, give the fire department instant access to get into your house. It's going to save save them time, stop that fire from spreading or getting worse or getting them in there. Um, they work really great. And again, as Tom said, we are in the process of getting the the keys to each of the
143district. We're going to put the vaults in our keys, uh, vaults in our vehicles, so that we can go when we do our commercial inspections, we'll be using, we'll only be doing the commercial side of it, not the residential. But what what we can do is then m help them maintain it. When we go there, um, we can open them, ensure that the keys are there, that the that any notes are there. Um, we already have our first key. We have a key for amans. They've already Knox has already responded. the fire departments are applying to Knox to have them give us the key so that we're allowed to carry the key also. And again, we'll um one of the issues we're finding in Montalk too is because of more of that salt air and
144salt weather that some of those boxes if they're not getting open regularly, they're rusting and freezing up. So then when there is an incident, the fire department can't get into them. So I I can see us carrying an animal can of WD40 when we go do this. But um that will that will be important thing for us to do I believe moving forward. >> Good idea. >> Dave, what about gates? >> I think keys are gates. >> Yes. Um they make the same exact It's the same exact key. It's a Knox key. Um and we can require that. Um, the other thing that we do with gates too is there is a siren sensor that they put on some of them that uh emergency vehicles come up, hit the siren for a certain amount of
145time, 15 to 20 seconds, and that will set the alarm off to open the gates. But if they don't have that, we we require the Knox key. And it's it's the same exact key as the Knox box that opens actually open a gate. >> That's in the code. It's required in residential and commercial. >> Yes. Um they can have there's certain there's two different methods. They can have the key unlock key right there at the gate like when you open a key code or um on the actual piston that opens the gate they'll put a a pad lock on there which is a NOX pad lock which is the same key to unlock that pad lock and then it disengages that the hydraulic piston so they can open the gate. So there's three different methods
146that we'll use for gates. >> Thank you. Thanks, buddy. >> Thank you. Okay. All right. So, we spent the morning talking about public safety and now we're going to switch gears and we have our special counsel here for housing, Ed Reality, to reality to talk about the taxexempt ADU. Uh, after hearing discussion, welcome Ed. >> Good afternoon. Good afternoon. >> So, uh, to put this in context, um, on April 16th, the town board had a public hearing under proposed local law that would would implement the provisions of real property tax law 421P, which authorizes municipalities to uh, adopt a law granting real property tax exemptions for newly created ADUs. Uh in brief, that exemption would apply to the increase in the assessed value of uh a property resulting from the construction of an ADU uh
147up to $200,000 in additional market value. So that's what the hearing was about. There was one comment at the hearing. Uh no other comments. Uh [clears throat] I would make a general point. U there are several comments, but a general point about the entire picture. the the comments that were made at the public hearing uh need to be addressed in the sense that uh this this is simply a tax exemption that we were passing. Didn't create new laws about ADUs or or or other uses of property. Didn't change any of those provisions. It simply says the assessor can grant a tax exemption for newly created new residential units. That's all. Um, their first comment was the exemption is inconsistent with and contrary to the town code ADU rules limiting ADUs to one person per or
148one per property. That was the first comment. The state law that created this exemption expressly provides that the exemption is available to residents for the creation of one or more, this is a quote from the state law, one or more additional residential units on the same parcel as the pre-existing residential building, the the principal building. So to address the comment, sorry, um it doesn't limit it to one per person. The state law specifically says you can have one or more. The town code section which is our accessory dwelling unit uh provision uh has a limit of one new unit per property. but it was intentionally not included in this uh tax exemption law because the exemption also has application to the town's new affordable multiple residence law which re was recently passed as well [snorts]
149which allows for more than one additional unit on a residential site. Uh the second comment was the legislative intent section of the local law should be amended to the should be amended to state that only ADUs that fully comply with 2551163 again the accessory dwelling unit law uh are eligible for this exemption. First of all the legislative intent is not enforcable law just to be clear. Um but to add to that, uh the state law and the proposed local law enabling the state law is applicable to situations other than that specifically set forth in the ADU section of the town code again uh to the affordable multiple residence law. So you to address the comment that uh it should be amended to state that it only applies to ADUs, it doesn't. It applies to affordable
150multiple residences as well. Um, compliance with the town code is required by the proposed local law. Uh, doesn't need to be in the legislative intent. An application cannot be made for the tax exemption under the new tax exemption provisions unless a certificate of occupancy is issued to that homeowner for the ATU or the multiple residences. Additionally, section 38 of the new proposed code states that no exemption shall be granted to a property where there is a violation of any local municipal C code or local law, [clears throat] excuse me. Uh the proposed local law directly addresses the situation where a property is no longer being used for residential purposes. The exact language of 421P, the state law, alleged by the commenter at the public hearing as being ignored in the local law, was virtually restated
151verbatim in the proposed local law, which says in our our new proposed local law, if a building granted an exemption pursuant to this article, ceases to be used primarily for residential purposes or title thereto is transferred to other than the heirs and distributes of the owner, the exemption granted shall cease. um all the protections built into the town's ADU and affordable multiple residents local law in addition to the fact that you have to get a permit for either uh an ADU or affordable multiple residence from the town housing office u for both for either use uh further serves to enforce the proper use of this particular rental dwelling whether it's an ADU or the AMR or something else that we do for to add houses that this law could be applicable able to um for
152the proper allowance of the tax exemption. So the it again it doesn't change all the other local laws that that are in place, the requirements for eligibility, the requirements for getting permits, the requirements for the housing office permit that the tax exemption has nothing to do with that. It merely wards that tax exemption if it's a new uh a newly created one after this if it's passed by the town board. Um, the town code provisions regarding ADUs and affordable multiple residences do not permit rentals for a duration of less than one year without town board permission. That's in both those sections of the code as well. Comment [clears throat] three, the state law provides that the property quote must be used primarily for residential purposes, which to my mind, this is quoting the comment, means
153that the property must be occupied by the owner. Um, there's no single definition of the word residential in real property tax law as it's a very broadly used term in state law, all sorts of areas of state law. Um throughout New York law, the unqualified term residential encompasses a wide variety of housing types. Single family, multif family, high-rise apartment buildings, owner occupied, rental units, condominiums, and co-ops. When the state legislature intends to impose a specific limitation, such as restricting a benefit to a particular type of residential occupancy, it does so expressly. It states it. But for example, in the in the uh star exemption of the tax law, it's specifically limited to a primary residence. It doesn't just say residential. Um there's no reasonable interpretation in common law or the legal context under which the
154term residential is limited to meaning occupied by the owner. Um, moreover, the instructions to the tax exemption application that were also quoted by the commenter, uh, that the property must have been added, well, the the the instructions say the property must have been added to a residential building that was designed and occupied exclusively for residential purposes by not more than two families. So, uh, clearly the application in the state law wasn't anticipating that it had to be owner occupied. And there's nothing there in the state law or the application that indicates that it has to be. Um, comment four, state law provides that the property cannot be used for income producing purposes. Again, the fact that it allows for two family dwelling on the state law allows for two family dwelling kind of implies to
155me that you can have some income from that otherwise you're offering free rental. Um, it it's just illogical. I don't know how else to address that comment. >> Um, uh, there's no limitation anywhere in the state law 421P or the Department of Taxation and Finance application instructions on the amount of income that may be derived from either a single family or two family dwell residence, which is the principal building. It imposes no income restrictions on either the owner or the principal residence or any tenant as a condition of eligibility for the exemption. Nothing in the state statute, even implied or expressed, suggests that a principal resident may not generate income. On the contrary, the state's express inclusion of two family residences as eligible properties indicates that income producing uses is contemplated and permitted by the
156state law. Um, addition, there's the the pending ADU regulations that are before the board now for consideration. Um, no longer require that the principal residence be occupied full-time by the owner. In fact, if you pass that, you'll be able to rent it. So, that's consistent with the state law and the tax exemption. And those, if passed, the new ADU rules will still apply to this tax exemption as well because you you can have income producing property. Um the proposed local law fails to state the above uh aspects of the state law and everything we just talked about he reiterated at the end. I don't think I need to repeat everything we just said. Um the proposed local law merely makes available to residents of the town of East Hampton a tax exemption that can only
157be created by the state. State towns municipalities are not permitted to create taxes or tax exemptions. They have to be created by the state. the state legislature and governor decided to allow exemptions for new ADUs and other multiple residences. Uh and the town has to follow those dictates. So you don't have an option there uh to ensure that the full substance and requirements of the state statute apply here in the town of East Hampton in the proposed local law. It incorporates the state law by reference. Section 33 of the proposed local law uh says that the exemption provided under this article is authorized and shall be implemented pursuant to the terms of state law section 421P. Uh section 35 of the proposed local law says that the town assessor's office shall approve, implement, and revoke
158421P exemption status in accordance with this article and the terms of New York State Real Property Tax Law 421P as applicable. No other responses to those comments. >> Well, thank you, Ed. Um, you know, I'm as I first of all, thank you for your your thorough work on this and for all that you've done for um, housing in East Hampton. You've been been really great to work with and and incredibly helpful. Um, as I said when this was introduced, I support this law. I support giving the maximum tax exemption we can because I think ADUs are really an important piece of the puzzle of solving our affordable housing uh, crisis. So, I support this um, going forward for sure. Um, I also appreciate that we can extend it to affordable multi residents. I think that
159that's another tool in our toolkit to address affordable housing needs. And if we're able to give somebody a tax incentive to to help contribute to a solution that the town needs, um I'm 100% in favor of that. I do have just one question though. In in that first comment, you quote to residences for the creation of one or more additional residential dwelling units on the same parcel as a pre-existing residential building. Um I'm sorry that I didn't ask this before the meeting. And I'm just sort of catching it as you were speaking. Um, does that mean that only an ADU that was added, like if somebody builds a new house with an ADU, do they not get an exemption there? >> My reading of this is you have to have a house there in the
160first place. Yes. >> Okay. Yeah. >> So, I don't think that changes the law. We'll just need to talk speak you, I think you've, you know, you've written it correctly. We'll just need to make sure that we work with the assessors and that's my liaison to, you know, to apply it properly. >> Yeah. I mean that in other words if someone wanted to build a new house and an eight simultaneous they can do that under the other parts of the code but they can't get a tax >> there's no tax exemption and similarly if somebody were to build a to multip affordable multiple residence that was ex you know existing as in itself that wouldn't apply but if they built an affordable multi residence behind an existing residence it would apply >> right that's how
161I'm reading the state s >> great so I'll just thanks for that clarification um and again sorry I didn't didn't sort of ask it earlier but I'll make sure that the assessors if this goes through that they know that nuance. >> Yeah. And and the instructions actually quote that as well, the application. >> Great. >> Thank you. Um I fully support uh this law. I think that you've only added to my uh reasons for supporting by your clarifications and I'm I'm happy that you you answered questions that were asked. Uh the the taxes that we're allowed to exempt does not include school taxes. The schools that that's a separate entity. So we're talking about town taxes. And I think any ability to um incentivize um ADUs through a tax break, and I know that it
162it's not permanent, um is very helpful. Um I had a friend that just did an addition to their house. I don't even know if people realize what happens when they get a CO in the town that that goes to the assessor's office and then there's a new assessment. Uh because that person called me and said, "Hey, is there a townwide assessment? Why did I get this? I have no idea." So, um it's really important to have your type of clarifications and have folks understand that if you do put an addition or something else uh that increases your property value, there's an assessment component you should think about too. But I fully support and I thank you for your clarifications >> which is make but I wonder would it be helpful to like kind of turn
163your memos into like some kind of FAQ for the website for the housing uh office if there's >> you know it it's it is can be a little nuanced obviously some folks misinterpreted what the um what we could do um maybe that might not be a bad idea. Well, I think it's a great idea and I think that generally speaking, in fact, Ed and I were just talking about this yesterday. Um, we have a lot of different programs that can be confusing. Um, you know, there were different ADU support, you know, with the CDLI. Um, I I think we want to I want to start an initiative to really clarify that and simplify it and get it out there for public information and perhaps even hold, you know, um a symposium or an event outside
164of a town board meeting where we can invite people to sort of explain the different >> um affordable housing opportunities we've we're legislating because I think you're right. I think people don't always know. So, >> Yeah. I think for the website um >> yeah I think that's one thing we talked about with the ADU committee which is like beyond support for this as we kind of roll out all these changes with ADUs that are coming be it the financing options the change in square footage doing a more dedicated ADO page that has these FAQs on really takes people through the application process um who can who can't what the requirements are because I think it's it's getting more and more attention and I think you know guiding people through it easily you the fact, you
165know, how it's streamlined within the building permit process, you know, what we've done to kind of really move this forward as a housing initiative. I think, you know, that would be a good page update we can kind of bring forward. >> Yeah. And it's funny because it came up in my Latino advisory committee meeting on Saturday morning. I was going to do it in my liazison report where they're looking to put together a affordable housing subcommittee and they were talking about doing videos and they were this is something that they we could be doing just mini videos on too. Um, but I think in English and Spanish, right? So, >> I'll work with Ed and and the housing department on this. I think I think the difficulty is is that you want to keep it
166simple enough so people understand the opportunities generally, but then lead them to a place that gets into those details because if we write all the details down, >> Yeah. >> it's going to be so dense that it'll be hard to So, this is a it'll be a project, but um I think it's a great idea and something I'll work on. >> Thank you. >> Oh, thank you. So I think so before you go, so we're ready to put this on. >> Can this be on for Thursday for adoption? >> No, we have to do secret on this. >> Okay. >> Yeah. There's no planning or anything. You don't have to send it to the county or anything, but uh you do have to do secret. >> Okay. >> I will work with that in advance
167as quickly as we can. >> All right. Great. >> All right. Thank you. >> And Ed works very quick, so that that's a good news. >> Beautiful. All right. We're cruising right along here. Uh, and now we've got Andy Gates here to make a presentation on the Town Lane Sculpture Park, uh, to give us an update on where things stand there. Welcome, Andy. >> Good afternoon. [laughter] >> Thank you for joining us today. >> Um, okay, so just giving you a quick update on the U Town Lane Park upgrades plans. Um just to recap, the uh property is about 5 acres known as Townlane Park. Um we acquired this property in 2005 with CPF funds and the Sasson Sulfur Foundation retained maintenance responsibility of the sculptures on the grounds. The town's land acquisition and management
168department has maintained the meadow by annual or as needed mowing. [snorts] Um, proposed improvements to the park which are to be donated by the Sulfur Foundation at no cost to the town include driveway improvements, addition of a parking area, ADA compliant pathways, benches, and native plantings. [snorts] Um, parking will accommodate seven vehicles, including one handicap space. The wide paths will increase user access and minimize exposure to ticks on the property. Um, suffer foundations contractors are expected to begin vegetation removal for the uh parking area this month as long as all their paperwork is in place. In June, one of the sculptures is intended to be removed from the park um for restoration purposes. In July, driveway and pathway preparation and base is expected to begin. And then by September, the restored sculpture should be back
169in place at the park and benches will be put in place. Um, this map shows just a general cons uh just a a concept of what it would look like. You can see the access on the lower portion of the map where the sevencar parking lot will be put in place. Um, so we're hoping to get started. Hope they're hoping to get started sometime this month. Like I said, as long as all the paperwork is set in place. >> Okay. So, um, we're going to need a resolution obviously, right, to accept the donation? >> Yes. Um, Scott's working on that. >> Great. >> That'll be coming to you soon. >> There any other comments? Oh, the layout looks really good, Andy? >> No, no, I don't have any comments. I I met with uh the
170Sofur Foundation representatives specifically looking at long-term maintenance of the vegetative plan. Uh I think the plan right now is potentially see what the first plantings are and how they do with deer brows. >> Slide more so >> deer brows in the area. >> Uh how they might do in the area because it's a little area in there add some more uh under you know supervision and collaboration with land management. But overall, um, I think it's still a very good plan that they're presenting. >> And as I said, the, uh, the meadow area is mowed annually by our department. So plantings that they're going to do probably will be minimal and native plantings, hopefully some deer resistant things, and uh, we'll go from there. Like >> and the the ADA walkway, what is that going to
171be? What's that? Um they're looking at uh like an oil and stone I think is what they they landed on or they pressed uh gravel. This could be pressed gravel to oil or over asphalt >> over as what it is. >> Right. We have some initially some concerns with that because at times um there could be seeds that get into press into stone that vegetation can grow on it unlike with some of our other multi-use pads which are much easier of um maintenance. But overall it's attractive and they're ready to help maintain for certain period of time. Yeah, I look forward to it myself. I think it will be a great um way to bring people into the park and uh increase user experience. >> Yeah, I I it's it's beautiful park. I mean the
172deer interaction there is huge. Like I have I got covered in ticks when I kind of went off off the beaten track in there. Um so having a path that you know really does provide separation from that environment I think is critical here. Um I I think it's and it's going to I think will encourage use of the park too. So, >> all right. >> Thanks, Andy. >> Thank you. >> Okay, Melissa, welcome. >> Thanks for joining us today. >> Good afternoon. Made it to your under agenda. [laughter] Um, so I'm Melissa McCarron. I'm a principal environmental analyst in the natural resources department and I'm here making the recommendations for the 2026 request for applications for water quality grant awards on behalf of the water quality technical advisory committee as their coordinator. Sorry about that.
173Um so the water quality technical advisory committee puts out this request for applications or we call it the RFA one to two times per year um to receive applications for grant requests with enough detail in order to make comparisons and prioritize projects. Um so we noticed this round in December of last year and it was due February 16th. Um we had approximately $1.75 million set aside for these grants. um the town and the water quality committee do a thorough review of every application that comes in. We received nine applications this round. Seven are being recommended today and two are not being recommended. So this is a summary of all the applications we received this round. Um all the ones in blue are going to be discussed in detail and these are the ones being recommended.
174Um so the first three are actually reapplications. We've seen these before and they're all septic upgrades. So, I'll get into those in a minute. Um, we had two new large scale installs come in with the Treecape condo units and an upgrade proposed at Roadside Rita, um, which is the former best pizza location in Napig. Um, we have one proposed new injectionbased permeable reactive barrier at Wayne Scott Pond. um and a proposed long-term monitoring project of the existing permeable reactive barrier that the town actually installed in Echabonic um back in 2016. They also proposed an enhanced wetland restoration um but the water quality committee is only recommending the long-term monitoring at this time. And then the two not being recommended um one was from the Neneva Beach Property Owners Association for Neighborhood Rain Gardens and Road
175Rideways. The committee had some concerns over the cost benefit of the project, long-term maintenance and effectiveness of the methods. So that's why that's not being recommended today. And then Clear Bays Environmental proposed a multi-phase project to reduce groundwater nitrogen inputs to Pondane Pond and Swan Pond. Um so and this one was deemed ineligible because it's not currently linked to a water quality improvement. Um so we can't really fund feasibility studies >> because that this just when we updated the plan allowed them to apply. Correct. >> Um yes, but in order to so we do fund monitoring um but it needs to have kind of like an end goal. So we don't know what the goal is here. So if they did a little bit of upfront just baseline monitoring to be able to come up
176with a this is what we're looking to do more um then it would be >> so eligible >> do a little bit more homework and then come back for the next round. >> Yeah. >> So we'll get back to them and give them some feedback. >> Is that similarly the case with the enhanced wetland restoration design? are we like why not do the >> um that was uh the committee didn't feel that the site that was identified for that was really appropriate for that method of treatment. So maybe a different project would be more suitable for that site. Um but doing kind of like a a shoreline stabilization with significant plantings there just didn't seem like it was going to be effective and um actually work out. So they questioned that. >> So they so
177they could come back next time with a with a >> Yeah. alter their their project or maybe work with the committee, get a little bit more feedback on something that would work. >> Um so [sighs and gasps] uh this is the funding tier guide for our wastewater projects only. Um we did do an update to this in 2026. So just I highlighted the relevant categories for today. Um so that would be for the modified existing multifamily high density residences. Previously the awards were calculated based on the flow of the site and now it's uh the same as our commercial properties which is um justified installation costs only. For properties located within the water protection district, they're eligible for 65% of those installation costs. And if they're outside of the water protection district, it's 50%. And
178then commercial properties were previously capped at $200,000 grants and now they're capped at $300,000. So those were the changes that we made for this year. Um just a quick review of the scoring criteria of how the committee uh considers different projects. So we have it's a little small in here so I'm not sure if you can really read it but um we have series of mandatory criteria which are based on the CPF law. So that includes the project has to have a measurable water quality improvement. Benefits need to exceed 5 years. Project can't be required by a consent order stipulation agreement or order of consent. Has to be demonstrated technology so it's proven to work. Um they have to demonstrate uh property ownership. Project has to be feasible and they can't have violations. And then
179we go into the actual scoring criteria. Um it's heavily weighted on the water quality components. So that's like 50% of the score. And then we look at cost factors um that's 10% and then project readiness and goals is uh 27 and a half% and then maintenance monitoring and evaluation criteria just makes up the rest. So we use this to compare different projects to each other. Next slide. Okay. So I'm going to get into the recommended projects now. Um so the first one we saw last year it's for 151 North Main Street in East Hampton. Um they were recommended by the water quality committee last year but they withdrew because the award was not uh significant enough. Um so that's part of the reason why the committee reconsidered the wastewater um ranking criteria for figuring out
180how much to award per project. So they reapplied given that those changes were made. Um, so this is an upgrade of a conventional septic system for a multif family home. It's a two family, five-bedroom residence with 600 gallons per day of flow. It falls under the other other single family home standards for the county. So they pretty much are required to meet the commercial standards and that's why we um made those changes to to ma more match how commercial properties are calculated. Um so this is a reduction of a point source in the hook pond wershed. It's actually located outside of the water protection district. Um, so they're only eligible for 50% of the installation costs, but it is in an area with shallow groundwater. And um, this area does contribute significant runoff to the
181Hook Pond wershed at Methodist Lane. So the the committee, even though it's not in our priority area, saw it as a priority project. Um, so they're eligible for $35,216 and the committee is recommending that. And do you think that's enough money to to incent? >> I did speak with the applicant last year and they basically said that they would need to get at least 50% to move forward. So, um I'll have a conversation with them after this, but it should be enough of an incentive. We recommended last year only just over 20,000. So, there's $15,000 more. Uh this is just the site plan for that project. um showing the system would be located in the back of the property. It's pretty limited space. Um they do need leeching galleys because it's shallow groundwater. Um and
182they did need to make the system itself traffic rated to go under the parking area. Next slide. Uh so the next application is another relication from the nappy camping club uh located on Crescent Boulevard for a community um IIA system to serve 39 trailers and this would be replacing 25 existing cess poolools on the property. This project's kind of a long time coming. They've been working on this for several years. So I think this is the third time we've seen it. Um but it's definitely improved over time. It's a high flow voluntary upgrade. Their design flow is over 8,000 gallons per day and they're using a best fit flow based on their actual water use. So, it's 5,700 gallons per day. Um, by installing the new system, we would expect a reduction in nitrogen load
183of over 700 lb of nitrogen per year to Nap Harbor. It is it in the 0ero to2ear groundwater travel time. So, it's high ranking. They requested a little over $800,000 and they'd be eligible for a grant of $469,430 which is 65% of the installation costs. So this is what's being recommended. Next slide. And this just shows the site plan of where they're proposing the new system as well as an aerial just to kind of show the proximity to Nappy Carver. It's it's really right on top of it. Um, so this is a high priority for the water quality committee. Next slide. So this is another or last relication. Um, this is from DNR realy group 28 Mstone Park Springs operating as Rita Cantina. I think this is the third time this one's come in. Um,
184they applied for commercial IIA septic upgrade. It is in a priority area within the two zero to two-year groundwater travel time to Sunset Cove and 3M Harbor, which is an area that does have water quality concerns and um algae blooms in recent years. Um the restaurant flow is a little over 2,000 gallons per day. The system is actually already installed. Um so they applied when they originally applied they were eligible. Um so this has just been a rollover. Um so the committee is recommending from purely a uh the merits as a water quality improvement project to um award $70,38 which would be 65% of their installation costs. Um and then this would be um after audited to ensure that the property is in compliance with town co before they'd be eligible for the award. Um,
185and this is just the site plan. So, they did install a commercial system for the restaurant as well as residential for an on-site um, apartment upstairs. Two different systems. Um, and then this is just showing the proximity to uh, 3M Harbor there. Next slide. Um, so our first [sighs] new application for 2026. Um, this is a proposal to upgrade the on-site septic system serving Tescape Condominium Homeowners Association 11B. We did get um section 11A last year. Um, they're totally different ownerships. Um, it's three systems serving several condo units each. So, it's eight buildings, four units in each, 32 condos. Um, pretty significant amount. It's six Fuji Clean IAS with a flow of 9600 um, gallons per day. So the expected nitrogen reduction to Thrill Harbor would be over 1,200 pounds per year which is significant
186in they are located in the water protection district within the 2 to 10 year groundwater travel time to the harbor and builds on some town efforts um to improve the head of the harbor in this area. So they got a 92 out of 100. Um they requested over 600 or around $650,000. They're eligible for 65% of the install cost, which is $416,280, which is the recommendation from the committee. >> Has the 11A has that been installed? >> Hasn't been installed yet. They um I believe just got their permits, so they're moving forward. Great. And I did ask if there would be some uh cost savings if they were to be able to install them at the same time, but based on I think having completely different homeowners associations and the timing is this one hasn't
187really gotten started yet, it wouldn't really work out, but it's good idea. [laughter] Um so this just shows the aerial of the properties that this encompasses as well as how uh close to 3M Harbor this project project would be. Um and then the the site plans with the um IA systems. Next slide. Uh the next application is another commercial IIA upgrade. Um was submitted by the property owner as the applicant which is Marina Basarelia LLC. Um which would be um it's the proposed location for Roadside Rita. Um, it's an upgrade of an on-site failed system at uh 295 Montalk Highway, which is the former best pizza. They have a flow of 3,900 gallons per day and grandfathered at 120 seats. They're proposing a Norico hydrokinetic IIA system. Uh, the total nitrogen reduction to Napi Harbor
188would be a little over 500 pounds per year. [snorts] Um, this is in the 0 to 10 year groundwater travel time to NPI Harbor. and would incentivize an upgrade in a priority area of a failed septic system. So, they got a 93 out of 100. Um, the total cost of the project is a little over $700,000. Uh, I believe they're are aware of our restrictions, so they requested 300,000 and that's what they're eligible for. Um, so that's what the committee is recommending. >> You've been waiting for this one, everyone. >> Yeah, this one's needed. Next slide. So, this shows the site plan of what they're proposing to do and then an aerial kind of showing the proximity to Nappy Harbor as well as you can see the wetlands um in between should be um you
189know a good one to get in the ground. Uh, next project is from the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology and it's the installation of a 250 foot um injection based permeable reactive barrier to treat nitrogen uh between 20 and or 10 and 20 ft below ground um located at they're proposing at 66 Wayne Scott Main Street which is the recently acquired town CPF property. The goal is to target and remove legacy nitrogen and groundwater before it enters Wayne Scott Pond. The Center for Clean Water Technology did do some initial testing before they submitted this application last year and found between 4 and 15 milligrams per liter of nitrogen in the groundwater, which is pretty high. Um, so that's why they're looking to do this project. They're aiming to reduce 130 pounds of
190legacy groundwater nitrate annually. Uh the load reduction uh target set through the SA county subwaterhed wastewater plan is 63% for Wayne Scott Pond. 60% of that load is from agriculture. So um we can't really address that by just upgrading sanitary systems. We need to have other methods in order to to meet that goal. Um so this [clears throat] is a reduction of groundwater inputs to Wayne Scott Pond, a priority water body which suffers from regular harmful algolooms annually. Um to date we haven't been able to fund a CPF water quality project in this water uh water body. Um but now that we have this public access through 66 Wayne Scott Maine um it's feasible now. So this scored an 89 out of 100. They requested $39,529 and that's the recommendation from the committee. >> Just
191quick question on this one because the the 67% from agriculture groundwater. Just looking at Dr. Goer's reports on that pond, >> it's slightly different to that number. Can you just explain what's driving that? >> Um, so the the goal was set by the Suffach County Subwatered Management Plan. So it could be that's based on modeled data. um through the county program and I believe Dr. Goldber was involved in that process but um CDM Smith did all the modeling for the county and I'm not sure what data Dr. Goldbar's work is based on. Um it could have been I'm not sure if he was looking at nitrate bacteria. Um >> yeah know I think it was the water quality was due to more sedimentation and septic systems around the area. >> There was not reports of
192agriculture in that his analysis. So I'm just it's just interesting seeing that there. Yeah, I'd have to look at it a little bit further to to come to a conclusion, but he he also probably was looking at phosphorus a lot in Wingscott Pond because it is um you know a closed off water body. It's not brackish. >> Just to piggyback off that a little bit, is there a way to differentiate between agricultural fertilizers and residential because pres, you know, presumably there's a lot of lawn fertilizers as well that would I think show up in the same way. >> I'm not sure. Uh, I think there would need to be a further analysis of maybe like dating the nitrogen. I'm not really sure. Um, cuz they're just looking at nitrate, which is the soluble form of
193nitrogen that's, you know, usable by plants for feeding harmful algolooms. Um, so I think the goal really is to just reduce the nitrogen rather than try to >> figure out who's at fault. Um and I think combination of doing some groundwater treatment as well as some education is kind of the way to get there and and see um how this evolves. And I Dr. >> just for the residents is I just give a shout out to the septic uh rebate program where you can doing the county, the state and the town put in a new system at very little cost if any to to them. We have an ability you can apply for that through natural resources. I'll just shut that up for the residents [laughter] >> and just so this is on the town
194piece of property where the barrier will be going in. >> Yes. >> And just Jake, I mean just >> if the property had been landmarked, would we have had more challenges in doing this? >> I don't know off the top of my head I have to research. >> Yeah. To to this point, we really haven't had the opportunity to do anything. >> It's a great opportunity. It's really >> a big part of the reason for this purchase for me was to that pond is in such dire shape. >> Yeah. >> Need to do something. >> Yeah, it's great. >> So they these um the blue locations are where they did some monitoring last year and the red um indication is where they're proposing to do the PRB. So groundwater flow is kind of the southeasterly
195direction. So, this is the only place they can really site the PRB on this property to actually >> [snorts] >> um target the groundwater coming into the pond. >> Otherwise, they'd miss it. >> So, interesting. Next slide. And then this is the last project being recommended today. Um this is from Clear Bays Environmental for long-term monitoring of a previously installed permeable reactive barrier at Pussy's Pond in Akabana Harbor. This was installed in 2016. Uh it was a town project. Um it's actually one of the first projects I worked on when I got hired. Can't believe it's been 10 years. Um it was a wood chip based permeable reactive barrier. The town worked with Cornell Cooperative Extension at the time. Um Ron Paulson, who's the lead of Clear Bays, actually was the lead on this project
196when he was at Cornell. Um they tested different wood chip types to determine which was the most effective. So they looked at oak, pine, and then a combination of maple and cherry. Um the average nitrate reduction was 82% from the initial testing and they found that the maple and cherry was the most effective. The thought was maybe that the higher sugar content or something in the the wood chips had an impact, but maybe that the pine, which was lower performing initially, might have a longer lifespan. Um so that's something that they want to look at here with the long-term monitoring. There hasn't been any monitoring in the past five years. The goal is to determine uh the long-term efficacy of the existing remedial activities in this area and assess if we need to do more
197work, if we need to amplify this PRB or extend it to capture the plume of uh nitrogen coming in from the residential areas um upgrade. They're proposing overall 128 samples over 3 years. This includes 30 points to be sampled in the PRB, five surface water stations, and seven poor water stations. It's a water quality improvement to groundwater at the shoreline of Aabonic. Um it got an 83 out of 100, and they're requesting uh $49,750. So that was the the recommendation from the committee. Um so this is a lowcost monitoring of remedial activities in an area where heavy focus has been placed on improvements of various types. So the comparison of the 2016 water quality data that was collected from the pond to current levels can indicate overall trends in water quality impacts of all the
198work that we've done. Next slide. So it's a little dark um but this area shows uh Pussy's Pond and then the sampling locations. So the dark blue along the [snorts] shoreline is the permeable reactive barrier stations. The light blue is the surface water points and then the red dots are the pore water stations. Anybody that doesn't know what pore water is, it's the at the groundwater um saltwater interface at the the subsurface. So um it's really capturing the groundwater nitrogen that's coming in to the water body. Um it's using specialized equipment that's patented. So only this company can really do this. to get that poor water. Next slide. And this is showing the location of the permeable reactive barriers. Um it was actually two different meth methods that they used at the time. We did
199a wood chip trench which the wood chips were in um burlap bags and and placed in um the subsurface as well as they used these plastic conicles that were filled with the different types of wood chips with um sampling points throughout. And then the upland area was actually a subject of fragmitees removal. Um both of these projects were completed in 2016 by the town. Um so this is just a summary of the recommended projects. The total award uh recommendations if all make it through public hearing and are um approved by the town board would be uh 1.65 million. Um the next step would be to set up the public hearing. I would be ready to submit the notices for the 7th if that works for the board or we can push it a [clears throat]
200little later. Um so then the public hearings would be on the 21st. And we're not currently proposing um a round two for 2026 based on available funds. >> So this is just the one round. Yeah. Yeah. >> Just on on the clear bay one, sorry to kind of reiterate the point just the the reedation plan that they're kind of looking at. Is that tied into the prior removal of the fragmitees in the area or >> for the >> Yeah, >> the last project. It was actually um not in that area. It was for the um outlet of Pussy's Pond adjacent to Springs General Store. It's the the that the that bank. So, they were partnering with the Springs General Store to do an enhanced shoreline restoration there. But the uh committee members didn't think it
201was a suitable site for that method. >> So, I I'll start off as lays into the water quality technical advisory committee. I want to thank you. So, we want to thank the chairman, Billy Hayjack, and all the other members and including all the staff of the town for their review on these projects then, too. Um, I'm just going to go through my list here. Um, I hope it's enough of incentive on the North Main Street one. I would support that. Nbe Camping Club. I believe there's tremendous uh benefit there. And if we add in also what's happening at the the other one at Roadside Rita or whatever uh it's going to be now um that's that's two [snorts] locations in that area including the old um Sirills that was upgraded recently. So many of those
202now uh we're start and and across the street at um >> uh Driftwood >> Driftwood uh one one of the hotels we're starting to see just as we've seen on Lake M talk now maybe some other areas we're starting to see the area of Net Peak Harbor which is still one of the jewels of the Bconic estuary starting to encapsulate more commercial establishments with largecale denrification projects. So, I think that's part of the setification that we looked at as a town board to increase the funding loads into that. Also, as we can continue to go, I hope to see more of those. Um, I'm I'm still on my position for uh the 28 Mstone Park. I don't support funding projects that already been installed. Uh that's same as my position in the past. at the
203treecape on there at 11B on the treecape. I think that for it comes if there's if it's $416,000 at 32 units is $13,000 a unit on there. That's actually less than if they were single and separate unique >> structures on there. So I think that's a great bang for the buck on there then too. And again to get into that area the of the uh of the headarters at Thrma Harbor in that location there's been a lot of progress. I agree with that. uh or I talked about Rita uh sorry the roadside one on NPI as long as that goes up to the ZBA determination there is a ZBA determination on that property I believe that some of the outdoor seating might be on top or near where there's current or septic system is is
204here including outdoor noise on that so we got to make sure that that comp uh uh that's completed also >> okay >> and the other two as far as Wayne Scott Pond I agree with the rest of my town board members here I think part of the impetus for the purchase of the $56 million property was to look forward to this next project. I just want to make sure the design of this project doesn't uh doesn't inhibit any future use of the land as far as the design and the location which I don't think it does. >> Yeah, we did bring that up. So, we interviewed um Center for Clean Water Technology. I'm sorry. What? >> It's underground. The >> pro subsurface um Yes. [clears throat] Correct. Um, so they basically would, um, drill a
205core, fill it with wood chips, and it would grade, you wouldn't see anything. Um, they would need to have some sampling points. Um, but they said they were flexible with um, working with the town on that. Maybe if they needed to move it maybe a little closer to the pond to be outside of any activity or proposed use of that parcel, they'd be willing to do that. >> Yeah. And and I look forward to hearing more property owners around that pond to come in for their own septic upgrades of their houses then too. It' be nice to know what percentage of those houses are in that location. >> Targeted outreach we could do. >> Correct. And uh as far as clear bays on there, uh I think this comes back to I always talk about
206long-term maintenance. If we were good for five years but hasn't been monitored for five years out of 10ear project on there, that doesn't help the long-term goals of the town. So providing that long-term maidens or review that we're doing here, I think is only appropriate with the funding on there because now that we're now uh funding the uh the testing and the monitoring on there, we're going to see what type of curve we get and hopefully it's a downward trend of nitrogen loading into our subsurface waters, sorry, our surface waters and subsurface waters. So I support all those and I thank you again and to the supervisor, thank you for putting this on this time frame because I know it was a little bit of a rush. Shouldn't it also get improved because of the
207the septic upgrade at the school? So would that >> So that's that actually comes in on the other side of the pond. Um but yeah, the school has um upgraded. We have a permeable reactive barrier at the Springs General Store site. They the Springs General Store got a grant um last year or the year before for an IIA upgrade. We the town has upgraded the Springs Library. We awarded Ashwa Hall. be awarded Springs Presbyterian Church. So, pretty much that whole area right around the pond has been upgraded. The two adjacent property owners as well, residential upgrades. >> Yeah, they're starting to see large blocks and that takes time to be able to do that and sometimes it takes more than one term of an administration to do that. I think what that's what the supervisor
208is seeing here. Same thing with the Pathfinder coming on Thursday. to get these blocks together taste consistency in government and that's what I thank the supervisor for providing >> and we have monitoring data from 2015 and 2016 in the pond so comparing that to now would be very interesting to see >> with all those projects that have been in the ground rain gardens that we've installed things like that >> um right the rain garden right there by this blacksmith shop >> I'm not a fan of that one [laughter] >> it's there. >> Yeah. >> It's more of a bio spill, I guess, at this point. >> Yes. Well, yeah. >> It's hard to grow >> plantings. We had my minute come in there. It was so not >> I noticed that in a lot of
209like the the Springs Fireplace road. I do know that people mowed the plants down. uh which doesn't help the rain garden when you remove the beneficial plants, but it doesn't seem like >> I I have to see more actual success on rain gardens >> um for what we have here for native. >> Yeah, >> you're starting to see the Soides a little bit. If you go down by Soides Road, >> we just did maintenance. >> Yeah, we've had to repl plant that one a couple times because there's so much water flow that goes down there and they put some rip wrap in there to stop the water flow. But you're starting to see the natural irises come in there a little bit. Uh if if you sort of see actually what it's looking like it's
210looking like the rest of the nature preserve that's there. >> Uh but we implant but it took a little bit to be able to do. >> We had those rain bombs right and >> it was devastating washed out everything. >> But we're learning as we go. [laughter] >> I agree with uh David's recommendations. I also I'm you know the re the the 28 Maidstone Park. Um I I don't know if they're in compliance. I I don't know David your position on um if you just talk to me about your position on reimbursement. >> Sure. So last time I believe that this didn't move forward because they weren't in compliance on there. I think that was the majority of the board. For myself it's a it's a project that's installed. They should get the grant funding
211award uh prior to installation. Um, >> is that something we can do with code? >> It's more policy. This is the policy. >> So, when they originally applied, um, they were eligible. If they had not previously applied, like if this was their first time, they wouldn't be eligible. So, that's something that be considered. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Say that again. So basically the the committee based on our seasonality of our community um made a policy that the septic system if they installed before they applied would have had to be installed basically between rounds. They couldn't install it and then three years later apply for a grant. Um so they basically installed last spring. They applied last or two years ago I think spring. Um and they were eligible. But if they had never applied before
212and applied just now with their system installed being two years ago, we wouldn't have considered them. >> But are they in compliance? >> That's a question. [laughter] >> But no, but no project. >> I mean, could you give me a memo on if they're in compliance or not before I can support? >> We could. It's going to depend on two things. one um confirmation with code enforcement and second there is or are the pending um two Supreme Court cases which we are waiting on >> and part of the R the RFQ and the application clearly states that no project can be awarded or move ahead without town compliance of of all regulations regulatory boards and such. So they, you know, they wouldn't be able to be if the if the board is looks favorable on
213awarding the funds to this applicant, they still have to prove that they're in compliance on there. This is more looking at it as um the water quality benefit for myself. I'm just it's just my my >> Sunset Cove my sticking point. >> That's Yeah, that's the water quality committee was purely looking at it from a water quality. >> Sunset Cove is >> But we've had public hearings for them to award this, didn't we? I think it got pulled before it got we didn't we didn't hear it because they weren't in compliance. So because this has been and >> the Supreme Court actions have been going on for several years. Mhm. >> So from my perspective, I wouldn't want to hear it right now because yeah, until there's compliance, [clears throat] it's there's really from me
214there's no discussion. There's a conversation to be had here. >> And there could be a policy that they need to be in compliance at the date of when they did the project if that would clarify. >> Yeah. So we we'll need to fine-tune that. Um >> Okay. And then what was your point on the um the roadside Rita? Because that's easier to say than Marina's. >> Yeah, that's the property owner. >> Yeah. No. Um no, I I'm very knowledgeable of that property that there is zoning board determinations on that property. That would just have to be reviewed. Okay. uh as part as of this it probably might have h had already been done but I know that that's no that's that's a known zoning board determination for their current septic system >> there were conditions
215>> they were in complaints um but that might have been two months ago when I was looking >> the conditions of their approval I mean that's what you're talking about >> yeah the same with >> termination there's conditions of approval >> of course same with any any of these projects I just wanted to make sure that one because I know I've heard in the past about that uh I'm I'm acutely aware of the situation there with the zoning board determination. >> Okay. Yeah, I will look into it with TL. >> Yeah, I I um I think I share the opinion. I mean, I think look, if if Rita is in compliance, I have I personally don't have an issue giving it retroactive um given the history of how it took to install it and look,
216we've achieved a goal of reducing the water nit. I think the more encourage people to do that, the better. um with the property um the Rita roadside I I mean that place has been so notorious for the septic like bubbling up um the for that commercial building to operate it has to have an applicable system that works so um you know as in how ZBA rules you know I I'm supportive of that >> oh so I apologize so it's already it has a CBA ter determination maybe like 20 years ago and there just it just Yeah, you just have to be clients with that that determination. >> Mhm. >> Ian, did you >> Yeah, I I agree. I support all the recommendations. I think the only the outlier is um is Rita Cantina and and
217Maidstone. Um I'm okay with I think retroactively if if they knew it was a plan and they wanted to make a deadline. This is a little bit messier because they are not in compliance with with town, you know, site plan decisions right now. I know that they're challenging that because they don't believe that that decision was legal. Um, but I don't think I think it's I think Kathy was right that we shouldn't hear it at this time. I want to keep an open mind about going back because if it turns out they were to win that case against the town, it would be hard to fault them for, you know, exercising their right. But, um, you know, geez, two years after with sort of legal back and forth, it's getting harder to right >> be
218supportive. Although I also agree with Tom that we have to keep our focus on water quality. Um, but in this case, it's already in. >> Yeah. So I think from my perspective I would want we're going to do separate hearing notices. We started doing that about that. >> Um and I agree with David on the 151 North Main Street, the Nap Camping Club, uh Treecape. I think maybe we hold off noticing Roadside Rita and just so there's time to review that ZBA determination >> and then um >> I I wouldn't I would I >> You want to hear it? I would hear it. You would hear it and then >> I would I would hear it because if they're not in compliance, they they take it anyway. We just don't approve it. >> All right.
219Then then >> we don't sign the contract >> and they're not operating right now. >> Yeah. >> Right. Although there's Yeah. vehicles parked there. Um Wayne Scott Pond and then the uh the Aabonic Harbor. >> Okay. So notice all of them um put the >> with the exception of >> seventh. >> Yeah. With the exception of 28 maid stump park. And then if it comes to light that they're later in compliance within this calendar year, they could be heard at that time >> for well, we'll have to have a Yeah, we'll have to have a discussion whether we retroactively award them $70,000. >> All right. Beautiful. >> History of the day. Roadside Rita was actually the original uh NEP train station. It's a train stop. >> Wow. I didn't know that. [snorts] >> Boom. >>
220You're welcome, Jake. I know you're asking. You were thinking about that, weren't you, sir? >> Thank you. >> All right. Thanks, Melissa. >> You will be jealous. >> Thank you, David, for manning the powerpoints today. We're grateful for you for doing that. Okay, we're up to what time is it now? 2 o'clock. We're up to liazison reports. >> I shall make this quick. Um Amagance, Citizens Advisory Committee is meeting next Monday, 6:30 p.m. at the school library. Uh human services, if we could bring up the flyer if possible, Jason. Um, I also just want to announce that Zumba is cancelled for next Wednesday, May 6th. Um, hopefully the flower comes up. There's a technology talks u series taking place. Uh, this is something Dian Patricio, who who leads that department, is implementing just to help
221residents um both with um how to use technology more effectively in their lives, but also how to address the growing concerns of um cyber crime um and avoiding scams. So, it's an ongoing program that's taking place. um this month's topic top topics um you know that they'll be covering in there online bill payments, cleaning up your email inbox, staying connected with family and online bill payments, learning new tricks, cleaning your inbox, organizing photos, apps to simplify your life, video communication, stay safe and healthy, phone and PC general info, security tips, cyber scams, safety security settings and health apps. Um sanitation um we are installing the rebar um at the sanitation leanto uh in preparation for concrete which is hopefully being poured this week. Um, Eastn Fire Commissioners, there's a meeting uh this evening. Um, I've
222also been in discussion through the commission the chiefs with Paul Mara who's a Suffach County EMS coordinator just to understand kind of timing uh for work for them and the commissioners with regards to you know discussing the future of EMS on the east end. um wildlife management advisory committee um said some back and forth um coming out of the last meeting we had um there was discussion that you know as we move forward with this project the first step likely and the use of the funds will be to conduct a survey of the deer population. Um there's been some back and forth on this. um you know based on the fact that look we we have evident um significant evidence to kind of show deer overpopulation in the town be it from um the destruction
223of habitat ecosystems car impacts etc. Um, so you know there's discussion should we move forward without the deer count at the start. I think you know the purpose of the deer count at the start is for us to begin consistent monitoring of the deer population so we really have a measured assessment of how any interventions we might take are impacting the deer population. So, it's something that um we've been working with the um state parks department on uh defining methodology and identifying what we might want in terms of an RFP for that to take place. Um then lastly, business committee. Uh there's a memo submitted to the members of the town board. Um I'll paraphrase this mostly, but it's um focuses around a few things with regards to concerns um within the building department. um
224wanting to get some understanding of addressing staff gaps uh explorations of alternative support um reducing the backlog by separating legacy and new applications and evaluating policy changes CFO requirements um setting clear performance goals you know what is the correct turnaround that we should be looking for uh with defined timelines of when we're going to see those improvements um and then improving transparency through public dashboards and monthly reporting application status metrics uh leveraging open gov 2.0 0 with public training and better data reporting capabilities and then just increasing our accountability as a town board. Um you know as to how and when we're going to fix this. Um I I'll say that from the committee's perspective it was not majority opinion. It was a 53 split with two abings. Um the key reason for that um
225was discussion as to like should the town pursue the policy of repealing or changing the CFO law. Um that's where the dissension came. Um so it's it's one where you know there's there's obviously varying full thoughts on how we address that going forward. I think the key piece coming from the business committee is that we have to start reporting how many cos we're putting out on a monthly basis versus how many permits we've got coming in. How how many transactions are we actually getting through versus what's coming in in how we're addressing this. Um so that public reporting is is really being requested. Um and then the last thing requested in there is um for the chief building inspector uh and Kate Pos if possible to come to the next business committee meeting on the
22620th and just kind of discuss these options. >> Yeah, I I can't speak for the chief building inspector and I just want to note any time taken away from what he's doing reduces the time to clear up the backlog, but I'm happy to attend. >> So I I we could just um I asked Becky earlier because I talked to Rich this morning. So, I mean, we've hired at this year five new positions, right? We hired Jennifer Lapen as the account clerk, Larry Zimmerman started as a building plans examiner. Uh Cynthia Schneider started as senior office assistant, Charmaine Daniels started as an office assistant yesterday. Uh we're going to be having a resolution on to hire another buildings plans examiner. So, we'll have both those positions filled. And earlier today, I met with um a potential
227candidate to be our Spanish-sp speakaking building inspector. So, we're just waiting on approval from civil service and then that resolution can go on. And um you know, >> and I would just add that um if I may, I would just add it would be probably beneficial to listen to the express sessions where uh Kathy and and Rich outlined uh remote offices and other goals that we >> Yeah. No, the committee committee did review that. We provided minutes to them. I think that was actually something that came back which was kudos to to the express for doing that public work session. But that is something the committee members feel like we should be doing at town hall because this is such a major issue. It shouldn't be something people have to get tickets to kind of
228go and ask those questions to hear it. They can listen to it, >> right? to ask the questions and to give the public the opportunity generally to speak to this issue because it's become so widely impacting um you know to the point I mean the building department falls under public safety we didn't have them today talking about stuff I I think it's it's one of those issues that it would be healthy for us to you know allow members of the public to come in and hear their concerns >> we have public comment five times a month right and our doors are all always open so people can come and make an appointment with any one of us at at any point. Um, and also, you know, if you recall, express sessions happened a week after
229we learned that two staff members, you know, that there was a DA's investigation. So, for for 18 months, we weren't really free to speak about all of, you know, all of this. So it all just kind of, you know, the timing was actually impeccable that, you know, the the news broke of the DA's investigation and we had a long form, you know, uh, opportunity, which I was very grateful for to the Express News Group to be able to give us that forum to be able to have, you know, this frank discussion uh, among, you know, >> and I was just referring to the amount of uh, suggestions, the goals that we have stated uh time frames, we have stated um consistency, predictability um as we rebuild that department from those uh uh incidences that happened.
230And I'll just reiterate the stress that um a DA's investigation and that type of incident h had on the staff who again I want to thank the the long-term staff members because living through that was was quite difficult and timeconuming on their part. But yes, every suggestion is great and I'm happy to attend on uh the 20th. That's that's the Zoom link you sent me. >> Yes. >> I didn't know what that was. Okay, great. I have to respond. >> Okay, David. >> Y Okay. Uh the Montalk CAC uh changed from last night. Our meeting is tonight at 6 o'clock. Uh that was to accommodate my daughter my my desire to go to my daughter's softball game. So, I appreciate everyone and they were all good with that. Uh as far as uh uh letting
231everyone know, we uh we met with the contractor that will be reinstalling removing sand from the parking lot to Dis Plains Beach and then also putting sand back on the beach uh in the dune system there. That work is scheduled to begin the week of May 11th and will take up to about two weeks to do weather depending. Uh more information to come on there. I'll let the continue to let the board know. Uh the Westlake boat ramp is substantially complete and being used. Uh last things going up there is some signage and also areas of no parking for turnaround areas that might be closer to the water as uh the uh individual users that might might be used to what was there in the past have to get used to what's there now. But
232overall it looks great and uh uh hopefully everyone understands that the water quality benefit uh they were just have to uh supersedes a little bit of the challenges of the first couple times of putting in your boat. But overall I want to thank everyone for that project. I believe that we also got $100,000 for that project from the county then too. So thank you madam supervisor. uh at Stephenhan's path. Uh the parking areas, I believe they're actually paving today for the for the parking areas, which give us about another 60 plus new parking spots. Uh if not, it's going to be maybe tomorrow rain, but they're they're prepping and preparing for that. Uh what I want to let everyone know on that one is that we're not immune to the this what happens at the
233federal government level out here. And the reason why I say in our annual paving contracts that we have for certain tonnage of asphalt which is a petroleum based product right now uh it's in our contracts that if by market rate they go up and down it's going to go up. So we'll be paying more for the asphalt for this project based on what the petroleum and the and the uh the cost of asphalt is right now based on the petroleum. And I can only say that's based on some of the decisions of the federal government right now. So we are seeing that it's not a huge thing, but it is a way that it's it's affecting us locally. Uh on to the better things as you heard from Lisa Velc today. Uh we will be
234looking to install the pickleball courts and basketball courts at Stephen Hans path. Uh I would like to try to get that on and hopefully maybe schedule even for uh uh a ceremony groundbreaking on that in the next couple weeks on there. Uh but overall uh that project came far under underneath our estimates which is good news. Also happening today at the Oak Grove se at Oakrove Cemetery on on um on Windmill Avenue and Megan they uh our contract contractors are installing the roadways for that there. It is another step towards the expansion of that cemetery. I think the first time the town's expanded the cemetery in decades uh besides um Fort Hill Cemetery on there. This is a complete expansion. Uh surveying is going to have to be next and then hopefully we get close
235to our offering plan bringing that back to the town board when we get closer to that. Um at the Westlake commercial fishing dock, uh a decision has been all the wood has been procured. the decision has been made to finish the landside work of that that project and then also at the T do which is an emergency slip on the end. We will not be working during the summertime during the middle of that uh that area the contractor uh uh the reason why it's just too much interference with the commercial fishing fleet at this time but all the wood has been procured and all the slip holders have been noticed on that also. David, I was at the dock, I guess, a week or so ago. Yeah. And there's so much more parking now. Yeah.
236Since that project was done. I mean, it's >> what? Yeah. >> Fix the drainage issue that was down there. It's great. >> It's so Thank you. Yeah. I think the project's working out well there. And another another part about that is that uh the town board uh four years ago, we gave a location for the commercial fish industry to uh rent gear storage space. So, a lot of the gears that was being stored in those parking areas, we're mucking up the the the drainage systems. Uh, and now since that works, that's been moved over. There's more parking. I think we're going to do a little bit of uh some street landscaping down there also then, too. So, uh yeah. So, that's good. That's all good news. So, that's moving ahead there, too. Uh let's see
237here. Um last thing in talking with uh Steve Lynch also, uh they're going to get they're preparing for the line striping. And there's going to be a lot of line striping, not just on the highways, but also in some of our beach road ends. So, please be aware of freshly marked line striping that will be upcoming. Typically, line striping happens in the middle of the night. Uh, but sometimes at our road ends might be in the morning then, too. That's upcoming as we prepare for summer season. And that's all I have. >> Thank you, David Kate. >> Yes. Um, I'll start with the Wayne Scott met last Saturday in person. uh they reviewed the and had a discussion about the uh HMMH presentation on the airport. Um they talked about um the um uh uh
238the recommendations of uh that they would like to see brought forward. Um and they'll be sending in a letter of what they support. Um the topic of stop sign, a stop sign came up again uh because uh thanks to uh you Kathy, the speed limits were lowered on two of the main issue roads there, which is Wayne Scott Northwest Road and Wayne Scott Main Street, Wayne Scott Stone Road, sorry, and Wayne Scott Main Street. Michael, you distracted me. [laughter] And uh and uh so the they had uh la at our last meeting, the one before this one via Zoom, they had uh uh Lieutenant Powers there talking about um some data that the police department had collected. And they'd like to come back with a stop sign and recommendation one for Northwest uh road, the
239intersection of Northwest Road and uh Stone Road, Wayne Scott Northwest Road and Wayne Scott Stone Road. And uh I'd like some guidance on how to proceed with that recommendation. Um and um that was the largest topic of discussion was that stop sign is that intersection has a to to the residents they feel like there's a visibility issue there. Um and it's the the long the long way from the highway down northwest road. Uh I'm sorry, Stone Road, which is kind of a still remains a place where there's uh speeding. Um the um uh the next uh our RFP committee for the uh short-term rental technology solution completed their review of the um uh folks who submitted uh last uh two days ago with a uh Zoom meeting with the top two um uh respondents and
240we'll be making a recommendation to the town board next week. Um and uh on Sunday I I um went to the Killer Lawns um uh presentation or discussion that Perfect Earth at Wina Vangal put on at Guild Hall. It was very interesting and uh it had to do with the health effects, the human health effects. There were doctors on the panel talking about the health effects of pesticide use uh on us as well as the environment. And uh I look forward to the sustainability committee coming forth with their recommendations uh and education about sustainable landscaping. And right now I'll stop there. That's all I have. >> All right. Beautiful. Ian >> uh Jason, would you mind bringing up those aerials that that Chelsea sent over to you? >> Copy that. Just give me a second
241to do that. >> Thank you very much. Um so Jason's bringing up some aerials. There are two properties in Springs. Um the Seal Downs property and the Nancy Kelly Preserve. They've both been uh by resolution named nature preserves. Um there's just one more step in the process which is to add them to the list in the code which would require a public hearing. Um I would like to complete that process. Uh here is the first photo of Nancy Kelly preserve and can you go to the next one please? >> Seals. >> Um also here and then the last one is sealed downs. So I um you know again we've already named them by resolution nature preserves. I would just like to schedule a public hearing to complete that process. Um, and I'm planning on noticing
242that on Thursday. Thank you, Jason. Um, the Maidstone playground, uh, construction project is underway, is still anticipated. That'll be completed by Memorial Day, which is very exciting. That was a long time in the making and, uh, I think it's coming along nicely. Um, the Springs Park mugwart remediation. Remember, there's a donation of services from the Long Island Conservancy to help remove some mugwart, which is a really nasty invasive weed, and try to reestablish native uh meadow grasses and wild flowers. It'll be a small area. Um, but it's free to us because it's been donated. Uh, and that's exciting because I think one of the main there's a lot of invasive species in that park, but the mug wart um is quite problematic. And so, if we can sort of have a proof of concept through
243this donate donated service, I think that would be a great thing for for the park long term. that could start as early as tomorrow. Um, weather dependent. So, um, just be aware if you're using that park that there might be some activity going on. The, um, property management committee will meet Wednesday, tomorrow at 4:30 in this room. Of course, that's open to the public as always. Uh, I also just want to touch on the bids today. Uh, Lisa Valich mentioned that there was a windows bid put out there, and that's a really big deal to me personally. the Springs Library and other historic windows around town are in rough shape and it's been very hard to find qualified people to, you know, through New York State rules to to actually replace them. And so there's
244a few windows there that need to be replaced quite badly. Uh, I want to thank uh Becky Jeanie, our outside engineer, Matt Jedlika, for, you know, creating a bid to get somebody under contract for when we have these one-off windows that need to be replaced in, you know, the proper historic way that we now have somebody we can just call and hire. So, I look forward to that contract being completed and and moving on the Springs Library window replacement. And that's all I have. >> All right. Thank you, Ian. So, the Latino Advisory Committee met last Saturday at 8 a.m. and some of the things we talked about included uh their support for the local law chapter 211 public safety and accountability. And we went on to discuss the composition of the task force. If
245you recall that legislation has 12 members and three exeicio members. So, we went through each category and uh they made their suggestions and I will be bringing back a recommendation in the next few weeks. Um they also are considering starting an affordable housing subcommittee and we brainstorm potential videos that we could produce including building trust with the police, human services and transportation, ebikes, town recreation programs and summer camp and just other general information related to the town. I also shared with them that one of um the youth advocate members of the LAC, John Lopez, is going to be um an intern in uh my office uh this summer. He starts May 12th and he is going to be going to be working three days a week. You'll see him at our meetings and he and
246Patrick are going to be working on the video project and John is bilingual and we'll be reviewing the website as well to see where we need um additional documents translated because he's a tremendous um translator too. Um the East Hampton Sag Harbor CAC met last night. Uh some of the old business we discussed were the ebikes. I think I talked about it when Captain um Martin was here. We also talked some new business topics. One was the concerns of speeding on long lane, particularly now that the speed limit was reduced from 40 to 30. So, I'm going to reach out to PD. Uh I'm sure they've been putting signs out there, but um you know, the neighbors uh were concerned about the the speed and being um passed on that road. Also came up modifi
247I have to I had to look this up. modified exhaust assemblies that create a loud popping noise on deceleration. They wanted to know what the town could do. Um it's a little bit different than jack breaking. So this is for, you know, people's personal cars. So um Jake, I need to have a conversation because they found some state legislation. So maybe, you know, you could take have somebody in your office look into it. We also had a conversation about affordable housing in general as well as the um potential acquisition of 549 and 550 Wayne's got Northwest Road which is on for Thursday. Um, we had a couple of homeowners that live behind the neighborhood house attend and they voiced their concerns regarding the project most um plans for that property. And I believe they're going
248to come back again to another meeting and we also said that we should invite um project most to a future meeting to educate the CAC about their plans. It's been a couple of years and those plans have evolved over time. Uh Thursday night, I'm going to have several resolutions on to hire engineers for five airport projects. These were discussed when um we had a presentation back in at a work session in February and then again when Jim Brundage made his 2026 goals presentation. So we're going to be hiring um MLAN to do three projects related to the fuel farm. Uh we have to do improvements to the control panel. We need to repitch the tank and we need to install a permanent generator there. And then we're going to be hiring JKL uh which are
249airport specific um engineers um to do the runway 1028 joint and crack sealing and repair and the repaving of 1634. Uh we put on social media and I just wanted to announce today that there's an elevated risk for fire spread. Suffach County has issued an elevated risk statement uh due to dry and windy conditions and the New York State burn ban remains in effect through May 14th. So we just ask folks to you know use common sense uh when uh doing any kind of um burning or anything in their you know at their homes. Uh um we probably have seen in the news that there's a possible Long Island Railroad strike. Uh yesterday uh the town administrator Becky Hansen and public information officer Patrick Dur was on a call with Long Island Railroad officials that
250they had with municipalities acknowledging that union talks continue. However, they are not ready to approve any agreements. If the union chooses to strike, the earliest they could do that would be midnight May 16th. We have advised department heads to begin thinking about possible remote work for any affected employees or flex time if it's requested. And the Long Island Railroad are going to be giving us continuing updates. I believe they're going to be holding a meeting every day next week for town officials. Uh there was I guess um Russell brought this up. So Emily Fiser uh our you know new human resources director has spoken to civil service and the town is going to be hosting a job fair on Saturday, June 6th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the main meeting room here at
251town hall. We will be promoting that on social media. Suffach County Department of Civil Service will be on site along with HR uh staff. We've also got representatives from the police department. Russell mentioned that um Heather was going to come from animal control and Emily has sent out invitations to highway sanitation, recreation and building to see who um wants to send representatives. And then I wanted to mention uh I guess when everybody came in, you've noticed that um volunteers have been busy over the weekend and Monday bringing our pollinator gardens, you know, waking them up and there's been pruning. There's been edging. So, you know, you know, spring has sprung that we're going to be that and we just so grateful for Change Hampton for all the energy and effort and volunteer hours they put
252into making town hall look so beautiful and also, you know, help the bees. Uh lastly, we have a big meeting Thursday night. We have 10 public hearings. Uh we start with the public safety and accountability law. Then we've got public hearings on the Pathfinder acquisition. Then the acquisition >> 134 Second House Road, >> right? I'm sorry. 134 Second House Road where Pathfinder is now. Um we also for for acquisition for property for housing at 549550 Wayne's got Northwest Road and then there's a number number of other affordable housing uh public hearings and um from what I'm hearing there's going to be a lot of folks in attendance, a lot of folks on on the line. Uh so that'll be for u Matt and Jason to handle. But um I just want to just ask folks,
253I'm hoping people will be respectful and they will, as I always say, kindly keep their comments to three minutes. If folks have, you know, more detail they want to provide to the board, the best way to do that is to send an email to our our clerk mansen at eampny.gov and Michael will distribute it to board members and it will be part of the official record. So uh that's what I have for my liazison report and we can move on to I think we have a handful of resolutions today. It's >> my pleasure to offer resolution 2026 719. This is authorize the payment of prior invoices to call ahead corporations invoices dates and the amounts listed below. >> Second. All in favor? >> I 720 is a temporary advance of funds for the whole a
254fund. This is the budget office directed to advance $232 to $400 from the whole fund capital fund for the project completion of the necessary renovations. This will be for the Montalk Playhouse. >> Second. All in favor? >> I have resolution uh 2026 uh 721. It's approval of various special events. Uh this is for the arts at Duck Creek. I uh there's quite a number of them. this uh the way Duck Creek comes to the uh special events committee because they do full season of uh art exhibits and music ex exhibits. They put all of their applications in in one time um so that we can evaluate the whole season. So uh what's listed below uh is the entire uh art center at Duck Creek uh season for art and for music. >> Second. >> All
255in favor? I >> resolution 722 is the another approval of various special events in May and June 2026. Uh one is the showcase of electrical leaf blowers technology by change Hampton at town hall on Saturday June uh I'm sorry May 16th 11:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. Next is the Springs Farmers Markets uh Saturdays uh throughout the season to September. The next is uh for the MAK Chamber of Commerce, MTalk's 2026 Farmers Market at the Montalk Green. Again, a whole series of dates. Uh the um Association of Ampute Surfers, AMP Sururf Learn to Surf Clinic is is uh by the beach access at by near um Bounce Beach, which is a business in Montalk. Uh that's on Saturday uh May 13th from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 pm. The Montalkus Historic Historical Society Beacon of Hope 4th
256annual 5K runwalk is happening Friday uh May 20th 8:00 a.m. to uh 8 8:00 a.m. to 8 uh 10:00 a.m. the MA talk artist association art show at the green and this is also on the montalk and it shouldn't say village green because it is just the montalk green that's uh happening um May 26 through uh May 28th 12 to 5 each day. Uh, next is Longhouse Reserve for their Longhouse 2026 summer benefit Utopia annual fundraiser. That's happening on Saturday, uh, May 27th, 5:45 p.m. Mon. Uh, and then finally, the MTOK Chamber of Commerce 2026 concerts on the Green on the Green happening every Monday through the season 6 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I resolution 723. is to authorize a payment of a 2026 property owners association fee
257for 20 Dorset Road in the amount of $380. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Resolution 724. This to authorize attendance for the New York State Assessors Association meeting for Jill Massa and the expenses will be covered for $35 plus the cost of the ferry. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Resolution 725. This is to authorize Mckissak appraisal continuing education online totaling 14 hours for Joe Massa and the cost is $36720. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Resolution 726. This is a budget modification for the Office of Housing and Community Development to increase the budget line for appropriated unreserved surplus in the amount of $175,000 and increase the budget line for subcontractor costs in the amount of $100,000 and increase the budget line for outside professionals in
258the amount of $75,000. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I like to make a motion to go in executive session for CPF, litigation, advice of counsel, contracts, personnel, and personnel. >> Second. So there's no CPF and we have public safety. Oh, there will be. Yes. >> Okay. >> And public safety. >> Public safety.