Dering Harbor: Trustees authorize $110,000 bond issue

The Village of Dering Harbor board unanimously approved two resolutions to issue $110,000 worth of serial bonds at its meeting on Saturday, November 20. One resolution authorizes $65,000 to finance the construction of improvements to the village’s water distribution system; the second, $55,000 for capital improvements to Village Hall —  both for a duration not to exceed 15 years.

The two projects include, respectively, interior and exterior improvements and repairs to the Village Hall building and property and the construction of a new well and installation of a generator on property the village owns across from Village Hall.

Mayor Tim Hogue reported that the next steps on the water distribution project, which follow the drilling of a test well, will be selecting an engineer, going out for bids on a “plain vanilla pump” — and choosing a vendor. The installation of a new generator is likely to be mandated by the Suffolk County Department of Health, he said.

Roof repairs and painting  at Village Hall have already been completed; the lawn was recently reseeded, the mayor said, and projects for this winter will include some interior ceiling repairs and furnishings.

The 65-foot steel flag pole has been lowered, repainted with three coats of gloss paint, and restored to its upright position. Mr. Hogue said he was pleased the pole could be salvaged rather than replaced with newer aluminum construction — “They don’t make them like that anymore,” he said.

OTHER BUSINESS

The board received plans related to a building permit application submitted by resident Mickey Kostow. The trustees agreed to wait for the building inspector’s review before the application is referred to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Although the village has received official notification that FEMA and Storm Emergency Management Office funds would be available to replace the Julia Dodd culvert, the mayor said he was still waiting for approval of the village’s request to FEMA that the proposed concrete culvert be replaced by a wooden structure. The latter would be easier to repair, better for the environment and more aesthetically pleasing.

Changing the way villages in Suffolk County conduct their elections was brought up by Mayor Hogue. The Suffolk County Village Officials Association, of which he is currently president, has been questioning the use of the new scanning machines in their election cycles next spring, given the recent problems with the scanners. There is every indication, the mayor said, that a return to the lever system will not be possible. Fire and school districts are the only groups exempt from using the new scanners, he said, but hand-counted paper ballots could be an alternative for village elections. This is not a problem for Dering Harbor, which being so small, has had a paper ballot system in place for years, but could be problematic, the mayor said, for villages with significantly larger populations.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the trustees took a brief walk to the Tropins’ property at the curve of Manhanset and Sylvester roads to look at the proposed replanting of their hedge, which has raised safety concerns given its proximity to the curve on the roadway. There have been “a number of complaints about this,” the mayor said, and the Tropins have said they will transplant the hedge immediately to conform to a 25-foot setback from the corner.

The next meeting of the board will be held on Saturday, December 18 at 10 a.m. A new schedule of meetings for the first half of 2011 will be available at that time.