Town moving on ticks

At Tuesday’s Town Board work session Supervisor Jim Dougherty said the town is taking aggressive steps to handle a recent surge in deer ticks and tick borne illnesses.

With scientific results taken from Mashomack recently revealing a certain kind of tick up 200 percent over last year and Southampton Hospital reporting Lyme disease cases spiking in June over June 2012, Mr. Dougherty and others have called the situation a ”health emergency.”

Joshua Stiller, a wildlife biologist with the New York State Department of Conservation, told the board Tuesday that the state agency was prepared to expand the deer hunting season both for recreational hunting and so-called “nuisance” hunting.

Police Chief James Read also said a special outreach to recreational hunters, whose numbers have fallen off in recent years, has kicked off and there will be a group meeting of hunters sometime after Labor Day.

Culling the deer herd on the Island is one of two approaches to reduce ticks, the other is a search for funds to install more 4-poster units, the stands that put pesticides on deer necks while they feed.

A conservative estimate counts somewhere between 35 to 50 deer per square mile in Suffolk County, with some areas hosting up to 100 deer, Mr. Stiller said.

“If you really want to get deer numbers down to where it’s going to control ticks you have to get the deer numbers very low,” Mr. Stiller said. “It’s likely to be seven to 10 deer per square mile.”

The primary method sanctioned by the DEC to reduce deer populations is recreational hunting. There are methods to help communities over run by the animals by allowing special permits, also known as nuisance licenses, issued by the DEC to individual farm owners, for example, or municipalities, who can then designate an agent to hunt outside the general hunting season.

With that in mind, the agency will allow hunting where there are gaps in the season. Bow hunting is permitted from October 1 to December 31,and firearm season begins January 6 and runs to January 31, but only on weekdays. Mr. Stiller said the gap of five days in January can be eliminated and weekend hunting will be allowed.

As for the nuisance hunt, Chief Read said February and March would be open to hunters with a special permit. After the season, with data collected, the new model will be examined and decisions made about the future of deer management on the Island, the chief said

Mr. Stiller said other options in the future could be employing U.S. Department of Agriculture sharp shooters to cull the herd, or fertility control, either in the form of chemical contraceptives or surgical sterilization of female deer. In the long run, Mr. Stiller said sterilization, especially in areas where there is not much “deer immigration,” such as Shelter Island, is an option that seems to make the most sense.

In other business, Jeff Tavoli of the town’s auditing firm, AVZ, or Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck and Company of Hauppauge, presented a completed audit of the town for 2012. New York State requires all municipalities to conduct an independent audit of their financial status annually.

Mr. Tavoli reported the “net position” of the town — the difference between all the town’s assets and liabilities — for 2012 was $21,599,894, as opposed to the 2011 net position of $21,375,502, a slight increase of about 1 percent.

According to AVG, Increases or decreases in net position may serve as a useful indicator of whether the final position of the town is improving or deteriorating.

Post employment benefit obligations were $7,129,872, a 25 percent increase over 2011.

Property taxes brought in $6,737,343 in 20102, with non-property taxes adding another $1,475,127.

During 2012 the town purchased $1,863, 334 of land from the Community Preservation Fund.

On issues aired last week about the town-owned Klenawicus airstrip, Mr. Dougherty said he had met with Jim Pugh of the Shelter Island Pilots’ Association, which is charged with maintaining the field, and all issues were being addressed.

Resident Vinnie Novak addressed the board with his concerns that Fresh Pond is polluted. Blue-green algae is in the pond, Mr. Novak said, and it is an extremely toxic environment, especially harmful to children, seniors or anyone with a low immune system. There is inadequate signage at the pond about swimming, he said.

Mr. Novak had photographs he presented to board members of the pond and said it was a stressful situation for him and especially his wife, who has stage four breast cancer.

“No one’s testing, no one’s monitoring,” Mr. Novak said. “Is the town ultimately responsible for the safety of the public?”