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Dougherty breaks with colleagues on resolutions

REPORTER FILE PHOTO Shelter Island Town Hall
REPORTER FILE PHOTO
Shelter Island Town Hall

Two unusual occurrences took place at the Town Board’s regular meeting Friday.

The first was two split votes from a board that almost always votes unanimously, and the other was a member discussing reasons for voting against a resolution after the votes were cast, when rules of order call for a discussion to take place before the vote.

According to Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar, there have been 972 resolutions put to a vote by the board since January 2015 with only four — until November 18 — not receiving unanimous approval.

The first split vote was 4-1 in favor of a resolution to move funds from one town account to another for repaving roads, with Supervisor Jim Dougherty the sole dissenting vote. Later in the meeting, Mr. Dougherty voted against authorizing Commissioner of Public Works Jay Card Jr. to advertise for bids on a prefabricated stainless steel restroom and materials to be placed in Volunteer Park.

On the resolution to transfer funds, Mr. Dougherty reiterated the opinions he aired at the November 15 work session, that moving $100,000 from the town’s “A Class account,” which is normally not used for operational purposes, to the Highway Roads Improvement account, is irresponsible. He noted again that roads listed by Highway Superintendent Jay Card Jr. do not need repaving and that funds from grant money promised by the state, which would be used to reimburse the town account, doesn’t have guarantees they will ever be deposited.

“Since I’ve been in office I’ve told my colleagues that I see the priorities as ticks, taxes and the aquifer,” Mr. Dougherty said. “My colleagues seem to be reversing that to roads, ticks and the aquifer. And as for taxes — watch out.”

He noted that $130,000 in the current budget is enough for road maintenance.

Councilman Paul Shepherd complemented the supervisor on expressing his points, but added, “the good news is we’re not buying candy. We’re buying roads.”

Mr. Dougherty again said there was already money budgeted for roads.

Councilman Jim Colligan made the case, which he had done just a few days earlier, that according to Cornell Local Roads Program (CLRP), study done in 2014, certain segments of Island roads are rated “fair” “poor” or “very poor.” If nothing is done to repave these roads now, Mr. Colligan said, “they will have to be rebuilt as opposed to repaved.”

Among the roads needing work now, Mr. Colligan said, based on CLRP measurements, are Menhaden Lane, Duvall Road, Hudson Avenue and Gardiners Bay Drive.

Mr. Dougherty said he had personally looked at all those roads and, with the exception of Hudson Avenue, they “are in fine shape.”

Mr. Shepherd then mentioned a point of order that a discussion should be requested before a vote and not after.

“Yeah, sure,” Mr. Dougherty said. “I’m always out of order.”

“That’s not true, Jim,” Mr. Shepherd said.

Mr. Dougherty responded that, “the Reporter will put in that you guys are terrific.”
Councilwoman Chris Lewis, noting the break in procedure on discussing a vote after it was taken, said that “you don’t diminish people you’re opposing, it’s just necessary to state your point of view, so in the future you might consider that, Jim.”

“And the others haven’t done that to me?” Mr. Dougherty asked.

“This is not the schoolyard,” Ms. Lewis said.

The discussion continued until Mr. Shepherd said, “ Mr. Supervisor, this has no substantive value.”

“I lost,” Mr. Dougherty said, laughing. “I’m a good loser.”

The supervisor’s second no vote of the day was to allow authorization by Mr. Card to seek bids for a unisex restroom in Volunteer Park. The resolution passed 4-1.

Originally proposed by Chamber of Commerce President Art Williams, who in May 2015 estimated the cost would be around $117,000, the board has seemed to be in agreement to install a facility. Suffolk County is expected to contribute $67,700 to help construct the restroom, with the Chamber contributing $30,000 and the town $20,000.

After the meeting, Mr. Dougherty said he had voted against the authorization because he had been unaware the item was on the agenda at Friday’s meeting and was taken by surprise that the board would be voting on the issue.

Ms. Lewis, who read the resolution before the vote, said after the meeting that she was baffled at the supervisor’s response. An email had gone out from Mr. Card to all board members, she said, noting that the board needed to act on the authorization expeditiously. Ms. Ogar gave Ms. Lewis a hand-written resolution, rather than one that was printed, to read into the record.

If the resolution had not been acted on at the November 18 meeting, a special meeting would have to take place at the next work session, which is not scheduled until November 29.

With the exception of Mr. Dougherty, no other board member voiced concerns about the timing of the vote.