Monthly Archives: September 2014

work session

Sept. 24, 2014

By:  Progress for WHB

The work session had an early start this week at 5:30 p.m. to accommodate religious observances that begin tonight.

The Work-Session-Agenda began with a review of the 2013-14 Financial Report for the village.  It was recommended that an Employee Benefit Accrued Liability Reserve Fund be established for designated funds that, to date, have carried over each year as part of the operating budget.  It is a change with no financial impact, but will be in accordance with generally accepted accounting principals applicable to municipalities.  See NY State Comptroller Local Government Management Guide:  Reserve Funds.

Trustee Urban inquired whether a “Litigation Reserve Fund” could be established.  An “Insurance Reserve Fund” can be created (same thing, different name). The amount paid into this reserve fund during any fiscal year may not exceed the greater of $33,000 or 5 percent of the total budget of the fiscal year. There is no limit on the cash balance.  See Insurance Reserve Fund Gen. Muncipal Law § 6-n.

Building Inspector, Paul Houlihan, continued his storm water mitigation report to the Board of Trustees and one particularly wakeful resident, and advised that full compliance with the DEC’s requirements will be accomplished by early next week.

school_speed_limit

The Trustees discussed the school speed zone on Mill Road and the incongruity between the restricted speed in the village (by local law 15 mph, but posted at 20 mph) and the Town of Southampton portion of the zone from Oneck Road west on Mill Road to the flashing signals almost to the crest of the hill which is posted at 20 mph.  Also mentioned were the zones at the front of the high school on Lilac Road (30 mph) and on Oneck Road north of Mill Road (30 mph).

newspaperThe Mayor advised the Board that since it has designated 3 newspapers as the “official newspaper” of the village, legal notices would have to be published in all three for such notice to meet legal requirements.  (NY Times, Newsday and Southampton Press).  The Trustees will consider reducing the number of official newspapers.

There was some discussion about relocating the venue for the ice skating rink from the marina to either the municipal parking lot on Mill Road, or Glover’s Park — the pitch of the park will certainly be a consideration.

skating

The rink might not be a subject for a  Courier & Ives lithograph, but it could chase away the cabin fever when winter sets in.  DPW Superintendent, John Kearns, remarked that he had a workable substitute for a Zamboni, and while Apolo Ohno might disagree, Ohno retired last year and can take things slower.

The Trustees agreed to ruminate on these matters until the Board Meeting on October 2nd.

A motion was made to enter executive session for the purposes of discussing litigation and police personnel matters.  The public portion of the meeting was over until the conclusion of the executive session which took place at  9:20 p.m. when the meeting was adjourned.

By:  Progress for WHB

 

 

Progress

NYCOM Conference

By:  Progress for WHB

NYCOM and the Office of the State Comptroller collaborate each year to create a program known as the Fall Training School.  Approximately 400 city and village officials from across the state gather together to attend a variety of innovative training sessions specializing in municipal law, government operations, and local finance issues.

Mayor Moore was in Washington D.C. to attend her niece’s wedding this past weekend but left early on Sunday morning to get to the conference.  Deputy Mayor Palmer drove the 6 hours to the conference which is held in Lake Placid.  We need to lobby NYCOM and the State Comptroller for an off season conference to be held here in WHB! 

You only need to look at  New York Conference of Mayors – 2014 Fall Training School Tentative Agenda  to know that only a lawyer and an accountant could find this stuff exciting.  Hope its a thrill a minute Charlie and Maria!

Trustee Meeting

Sept. 4, 2014

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By:  Progress For WHB

The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m., routine matters on the agenda were addressed with dispatch and all business together with public comments was concluded by 7:40 p.m.

Not surprisingly, the public comments were largely addressed to the unsubstantiated report in the Southampton Press that village officials had discussed consolidation of police departments with the Town of Southampton.  See post under 4th estate and truth at this link.  The Mayor and each of the trustees made it clear that consolidation of the police departments was someone else’s invention.

CVSlogo

A matter of significant note was the appearance of John Bennett, Esq. of Bennett & Read Attorneys at Law, the attorney for CVS on the application it submitted to the Village Board for a Special Exception.   CVS seeks approval to operate a store (in the former bowling alley on Sunset Avenue) with floor space in excess of the square footage restrictions of the Hamlet Commercial district. CVS has requested that this out-sized use be permitted by special exception.

John Bennett

Counsel for CVS undertook to hijack the public comment section of the meeting by presenting  legal arguments concerning the application process where both his remarks and trustees’ responses could be captured on video for posterity, or some other advantage at a future date.

Counsel for CVS  remarked that it had submitted a completed application in April of this year and argued that it was time for the trustees to act.  However, the Mayor pointed out that it was only at 4:00 p.m. today that additional materials were received from the applicant as had been requested by the former village attorney.

Patricia Debenedetto

Village trustee, Patricia Debenedetto, spoke at length and took umbrage at the suggestion by Mr. Bennett that the Board of Trustees had not been diligent and could be viewed as being dilatory in its handling of the application.