Asharoken Notebook: Police Boat For Sale and More

The Board of Trustees is currently accepting sealed bids for the purchase of the Village of Asharoken 1999 Police Boat, as it

The 1999 23’ Center Console Key West Boat features open space, twin storage lockers, large hardtop to cover center console.

The engine is a 2008 V-6 Yamaha F225 4 Stroke Model F225TXR outboard engine with 250 hours.  A 1988 trailer is included. The village says the boat is in excellent condition.

The minimum bid is $10,500.00

All bids must be returned in a sealed envelope and received by Monday, March 28 by 3pm, at Asharoken Village Hall and will be opened at the Special Board Meeting scheduled for that same day at 8pm.

In other village boat news, Trustee Joe Affrunti, who also serves as harbormaster, reported that the village is awaiting its permit  from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to construct a dock behind Village Hall and police headquarters, but need one more piece of paper.

“I understand we are now going to need letter for the New York Department of State from the Town of Huntington stating that they approved the dock,” Affrunti said.

Mayor Irving said she was pleased they were getting closer to groundbreaking, so to speak. "It's important public safety," she said.

Contact the Village Clerk Nancy Rittenhouse at (631) 261-7098 or at Rittenhousevc@gmail.com for more information about bidding on the boat.

Stairs Need Repairs
Building Inspector Doug Adil noted that the village has received many requests to repair beach stairs lately.

“We are working on providing technical info so that residents have assistance determining what will work for them,” Adil said. “It provides handrail steps that meet code but don’t encroach on the roadway, because that certainly is a problem when the plow comes through and damages the stringers.”

Mayor Irving said that because the dunes are currently hollowed out, she wasn’t encouraging anyone to build new stairs right now.

“The dunes are my main concern right now,” she said. “Maybe [beach-property owners] would share until we get some stability there. If we get a storm they will breach.”

Barry Bradley, head of sanitation for the village as well as serving as deputy harbormaster, noted that at least one property has stairs that fold up and are out of the way of the snowplow in the off-season.

Mayor Irving said she thought that was a good idea.  “Not that I want to encourage the construction of new stairs at the time, however,  because, as I said, the dunes are so fragile right now,” she said.  

Catch Basins Installed
Laser Industries completed work on a catch basin project meant to prevent flooding and stormwater runoff on Asharoken Avenue.

Mayor Patricia Irving said that the village had expected to do the project in March 2010 but then the sea wall was breached that same months and that became a priority.

“I apologize there some disruption I know on roads but it will be well worth it so I think every one for patience,” she said. "It should make a huge impact on that corner by reducing flooding and stopping stormwater runoff [into Duck Island Harbor].

She noted that Village Hall received a report of a Town of Huntington vehicle removing safety cones and barrels that had been placed at the intersection there to remind motorists of soft shoulder.

“It was determined that a Mr. Thomas Boccard had them removed from our village without permission,” Mayor Irving said. Boccard is the director of general services for the town. “I asked the village attorney [Ken Savin] to send letter demanding return of the cones and releasing the village from liability in case of any injuries.”

Deputy Mayor Pete Masterson said that had been trying to coordinate installing a gas line, which currently only goes to Bevin road, as far as the third house on Bevin Road, which was recently sold.

“There are actually three houses on that property, so National Grid is going to run gas along where we were doing work before we get to the next phase,” he said. “And Laser can’t work on the catch basins in heavy rain and its supposed to rain Friday so National Grid is going to work that day.”

Mayor Irving said she did not know that no one in Eaton’s Neck is connected to gas.

"That really surprised me," she said. 

LIPA Lawsuit Counsel
Also regarding the Town of Huntington, Mayor Irving said that the Town of Huntington has not yet hired counsel.

“So I am not sure what Frank is thinking,” she said, referring to Town Supervisor Frank Petrone. 

Plover Plan
Irving said that she received an email from Chip Hamilton of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation requesting a meeting in late March regarding the piping plovers.

“We need to discuss how we’re going to move ahead for this year’s management plan,” she said.

A successful plan has much to do with whether or not the village’s annual July 4 fireworks go off.

Balancing the Village Checkbook
Trustee John Elefante reported that, upon the recommendation of its auditor, the village has enhanced its reconciliation process for its bank account by adding a secondary statement review by someone other than those who sign and issue checks.

“The Village Treasurer and Village Clerk and I felt the recommendation was a good one. So I assumed reconcilement responsibility to make sure checks issued match all info on the abstract and that the names of beneficiaries and encoding of names match. Also, a new document has also been created to confirm when this review has taken place.”

Trustee Joe Tillelli, also highway superintendent, reported that a few signs on Asharoken Avenue will need to be repaired after a “brutal winter,” he said, adding that he had noted some road damage  inadequately patched by Verizon following work by the telecommunications company.

“[Village Clerk Nancy Rittenhouse] said she spoke to them about fixing those, but going forward, the village might want to consider asking for a bond for those repairs until they’re repaired to our satisfaction," he said.

County Registry Available for Disabled, Elderly
Asharoken’s Emergency Planning Manager Bill Raisch reported that, on the mayors request, he contacted the Suffolk County Department of Emergency Management recently regarding transportation and shelter for disabled personnel within our village in the case of an emergency.

“The county has a database they maintain which essentially allows you to go on record with the nature of your disability,” Raisch said. ‘And in the event of an emergency, you have this. And having it in advance is immensely more valuable than after the fact.”

He recommended encouraging residents to register.  Call (631) 852-4900 for more information.

Reassessed
Village Attorney Ken Savin said that he had been present for the village tax grievance day Feb. 15, as had Deputy Mayor Masterson, Trustee Tilleli and Trustee Elefante. The Village Tax Assessor is John Condon. The village clerk was also in attendance.

A total of 16 grievance applications were submitted for the 20-2012 assessment rol..
 
The Board voted to deny 14 of them,  due to "insufficient supporting documentation and incomplete information," according to the minutes of the meeting.

Letters indicating the reasons for the denials were sent to the firms and property owners who submitted the grievance applications.
 
The board voted to amend the assessment and grant in part the relief requested on two grievance applications.

Coming Up:

The next regular meeting of the Asharoken Board of Trustees is scheduled for Monday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m.