Brown calls for review of major town projects

What began as a report on bids received to lease a new street sweeper turned into a request to review all major projects the town is considering.

At Tuesday’s Town Board work session, a new sweeper seemed to be a cut and dried issue — one that board members had not questioned several weeks ago when first introduced — with Commissioner of Public Works Jay Card Jr. reporting that two bids for the sweeper had been received, one for $193,000 and the other for $197,300. Mr. Card recommended the less expensive model, as he had before. The machine has been in use as a tryout for the last several weeks.

The manufacturer’s contract calls for the new machine to be leased for five years and then purchased for $1. Several weeks ago Mr. Card gave the board several options, and it seemed the consensus would be to go with an annual payment of about $41,000. The department’s old sweeper would be sold for somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000, so the first year’s lease payment would be taken care of without dipping into highway or town funds. Also, Mr. Card said Tuesday, $20,000 of state-granted money from the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program would be used.

But Councilman Ed Brown indicated he didn’t want to make a decision at the meeting, instead asking to review all expensive projects pending before the board. These include the “screening plant” at the Recycling Center, a machine that turns vegetative material into mulch and topsoil that can then be sold by the department to the public; generators for emergency use in town buildings; upgrading and elevating certain roads prone to flooding; and mitigation work at Shell Beach.

Mr. Brown wanted a strict accounting of where the money would be coming from. “At the end of May we have 41 percent of the highway budget left,” he added.  “Jay’s presentation is good. But we as financial people have to look at this as a whole and see what we’re going to do for the year … this is like looking at the highway budget now.”

Turning back to the sweeper, some members questioned if the current machine was still viable. Mr. Card’s analysis was that it wasn’t, but Mr. Brown noted that the town had bought it for the same price as the new one four years ago. “So I wouldn’t say it was archaic,” he added.

Councilman Peter Reich and Councilman Paul Shepherd wondered if the current machine could be improved, but Mr. Card said, “We use it for a week and fix it for 24 hours. The last time it was down for a month and a half.”

Supervisor Jim Dougherty returned to the idea of looking at all major projects in one session next week.

“You have to ask me exactly what you want,” Mr. Card said, and Mr. Dougherty said to put cost, grants and other financial data on one sheet of paper on the screening plant, the generators, road elevation and Shell Beach.

“You’re doing your job, we’ve got to do our job,” Mr. Brown said.

“I’m just trying to get at exactly what you want so I’m not wasting all my time,” Mr. Card said, later adding he didn’t “want to be doing useless work.”

It was agreed that next week’s work session would continue the discussion of major projects.

Town Attorney Laury Dowd reported that a request of a federally sponsored “hazard mitigation grant” for Shell Beach won’t fly. “We still have time to put in for something,” Ms. Dowd said. “The question is, what should that something be?”

It was suggested he town apply for money to elevate Westmoreland Drive, which is prone to flooding and becomes a dangerous situation when emergency vehicles can’t access the road.

At Mr. Brown’s suggestion, the use of lumber treated with chromate copper arsenate (CCA) for docks and bulkheads was on Tuesday’s agenda. CCA treated wood for building is much less expensive than vinyl material, for example. Although not illegal here, CCA is banned in East Hampton, Southold and Southampton because of reports that the treated wood leaches toxins into the water that kill marine life.

Mr. Dougherty said he had spoken with the office of the Peconic Baykeeper and was told CCA was a harmful substance. The Baykeeper also mentioned Dr. Judith Weis of Rutgers University. “She seems to be an authority on this,” Mr. Dougherty said, adding that Dr. Weis favors banning CCA

But Councilman Peter Reich disagreed, citing a March 2000 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation investigation from that found the treated lumber is not harmful to aquatic life.

The report summarized its finding by noting: “CCA treated wood does not prevent a hazard to marine organisms when used in salt water …”

It was agreed Dr. Weis should be invited to a work session as well as discussing the DEC report.