Employee assistance program considered
Southold Town Hall Notes
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Karen McLaughlin would like to take a "proactive approach" to help town employees with problems at work.
The director of the Senior Center for the Town of Southold suggested implementing an employee assistance program to the Town Board during a work session on Tuesday. EAPs, usually offered in conjunction with health insurance, help deal with substance abuse issues and personal/emotional problems that may negatively impact an employee's performance. They also offer referrals to additional sources.
"If you don't deal with it," Ms. McLaughlin said, "it gets worse."
The particular program she's looking at would cost the town $4.30 per month, per employee, equaling $17,000 per year. Councilman Tom Wickham wondered if the pricing could be restructured per referral.
"What if very few use it?" he asked.
Ms. McLaughlin responded that a proactive method is always better than a reactive one to prevent losing a good long-term employee who might be a little troubled.
n Suggested modular justice court
Town Engineer Jamie Richter and Bill Price asked the board to help fund a $7,800 project to price out a plan for a modular justice court to be placed near the town hall building. Justices have had to arraign people haphazardly for years now at various places like the Peconic Rec Center and Town Hall itself, and it's getting out of hand.
"It's an accident waiting to happen," Mr. Price said, referring to the lack of security and the uneasy cohabitation of defendants and civilians.
Mr. Wickham was the only one to hesitate giving support, stating that once the plan is set and ready to go, the Town Board will say, "We might as well do it." He suggested looking at other towns to see what they've done. Councilman Al Krupski mentioned a justice building he'd seen in Amityville, combining police and courts. Mr. Price liked the idea of consolidation, but he said Southold operates differently than other towns.
"We're busier than Amityville," he said. "We're smaller, but we're busier."
n ARC under fire
Southold's Architectural Review Committee came under fire for micromanagement during the work session. Councilman Bill Ruland said that its guidelines should follow common sense and decency, and things like banning certain exterior colors for new buildings goes beyond that.
"If you're opening up a John Deere store, you're going to have a green roof," he said. "As a businessman, I would go to another town."
n Shorter jetty at Goldsmith Inlet?
At the town hall meeting two weeks ago, Peconic Sound Shores resident Peter Teranova pleaded with the board to rescind its resolution to shorten a jetty of the Goldsmith Inlet, calling the board's study "misleading at best and most likely blatantly false."
"Stop wasting your money on consultants and studies," he said. Money will be "better spent somewhere else or nowhere at all."
Mr. Teranova made a second appearance at Tuesday night's meeting, reiterating his concerns. He asked the board why it still plans to shorten the jetty.
"My understanding is that a 33 percent reduction would do no real harm to the west side and would stabilize the beach to the east," Mr. Wickham responded.
Mr. Teranova said that the only reason the jetty was built in 1964 was to protect the homes west of the inlet and was still convinced that and amount taken away would, eventually, result in major property damage.
Mr. Russell invited Mr. Teranova to present his argument and evidence to the board at a later date and in a different setting than an official regular board meeting.
n Speeding on Factory Avenue
A church group requested that the board look into reducing the speed limit from 35 to 20 on Factory Avenue. Mr. Krupski said the problem with speeders isn't the speed limit, it's lack of speed enforcement.
"It's a problem on every side street," he said.
n Road repairs
Jim McMahon, Southold Town's director of public works, wondered how "crazy to get" with fixing a private road near Corey Creek, the state of which is nearly impassable due to potholes, according to Melissa Spiro, Southold Town land preservation coordinator. Mr. McMahon said that it is the town's duty to make sure emergency vehicles can get through, but Supervisor Scott Russell questioned how bad the road really is for the few seasonal residents that use it.
He said he hesitates to use taxpayer money to "make a road more pleasurable to drive on for five home owners for three months."
eschultz@timesreview.com
The Dredge Report: update
Beach Erosion Mitigation and Restoration Task Force met for the first time Monday night to divvy up duties in regard to the possible purchase of a dredge for Southold Town.
The town formed the group in late July to address "any and all other means available to restore or refurbish eroding beaches, natural barriers and buffers." Councilman Al Kruski, the Town Board liaison for the task force, said the group divided into three, focusing on economic viability, environmental benefits and drawbacks, and permitting challenges with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the N.Y. Department of State and the state's Department of Environmental Conservation.
They will meet at Town Hall to hash out these permit issues on Monday, Sept. 8. Call 765-1800 for more information.
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