Huntington Notebook: Lawsuit Settlement; Pension Waiver

The Huntington Town Board agreed this week to settle a personal injury lawsuit filed against the town for $18,450. 

A notice of claim was submitted on behalf of Hayden Joyce, an infant, by his mother Wendy Joyce, on Sept. 2, 2011, for unspecified injures.

According to the settlement agreement unanimously approved at a Town Board meeting Wednesday, "the town attorney determined it to be in the town's best interest to settle the matter for strategic purposes with no admission of liability."

Also at the Town Hall meeting, the Town Board approved a resolution granting a pension waiver to Huntington Director of Public Safety Kenneth Lindahl to be employed by the town without suspension of pension benefits earned as a retiree of the New York City Police Department.

"A formal recruitment effort for the position of director of public safety did not produce any other qualified, non-retired persons," according to the unanimously approved resolution.

Other actions by the Town Board this week:

• Appointed Ed McEvoy, Janine Seifert and Mark McAteer as members of the Public Art Advisory Committee.
• Agreed to dedicate and name Softball Field No. 1 at Mill Damn Park in honor the Huntington Softball Hall of Fame.
• Authorized Tom Mangan and David Schoenberg to serve as volunteers in the Handicapped Parking Enforcement Program.
• Authorized the Town of Huntington to sponsor a children's Halloween Parade On Oct. 31 on Gerard and Wall Streets.
• Amended Town Code to prohibit conversion of one-family dwellings to two-family, unless one of the units is owner-occupied.  
• Amended Town Code to make it a misdemeanor for anyone convicted of illegal use of recreational vehicles. The Board also scheduled an Oct. 11 public hearing on a proposed amendment to Town Code that would limit the operation of recreational vehicles on private property and the hours they could be operated within 200 feet of a dwelling.
• Authorized the supervisor to sign any necessary agreements involved in the revised plans to construct a Veterans Community Center in Northport and the apply to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for federal funds that might be available for the project.
• Authorized the execution of a contract of sale and appropriated funding necessary for the acquisition of a one-acre portion of the Rohberg property in Ft. Salonga for use as passive parkland. The acquisition will also provide a small parking area to access trails into the Makamah Nature Preserve that adjoin the Jerome Ambro Memorial Wetlands Preserve and the Fuchs Pond Preserve. The estimated $350,000 cost of the acquisition will come from the EOSPA Reserve Fund.
• Approved the sale of 0.26 sanitary flow credits from the Town Density Rights Bank to the Station Sports Family Fun Center being constructed on Depot Road in Huntington Station. The sale price is yet to be determined. The Town currently holds 10 unrestricted credits in the Density Rights Bank.
• Designated Nov. 26 as Small Business Saturday in the Town Huntington.
• Appointed Mark McAteer as chair of the Public Art Advisory Board, appointed Janine Seifert as a member and reappointed Ed McEvoy as a member.

Public hearings scheduled for Oct. 11 at 6 p.m.:

• Preliminary annual operating and capital budgets.
• Assessment roll for the Huntington Sewer District.
• Assessment roll for the Centerport Sewer District.
• Consideration of a amendment to a local law regarding recreational use vehicles on private property.
• Consideration of the acquisition of Columbia Street Park addition.