Shelter Island Building Inspector quits Planning Board, Comprehensive Task Force: Replacements to be named

Senior Building Inspector Reed Karen has resigned from the Planning Board and Comprehensive Plan Task Force. The announcement came at the July 1 Town Board meeting when Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar reported receiving a letter from Mr. Karen announcing the two resignations.

Because the Comp Plan Task Force requires a representative from the Planning Board, the Town Board will have to fill Mr. Karen’s seat on the Planning Board and also tap one of its members to replace Mr. Karen on the Comp Task Force.

One of Mr. Karen’s responsibilities with the Building Department writing denial letters to applicants who need Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals actions to proceed with their projects. As a Planning Board member, Mr. Karen had to recuse himself from writing memoranda for the Planning Board to avoid a conflict of interest. And since the seat he held on the Comp Plan Task Force has to be taken by a Planning Board member, he had to quit that post as well.

It was a relatively short session for the Town Board, and the last of the Friday meetings before the new schedule for both work sessions and regular Town Board meetings takes effect this month. The changed meeting schedule for Town Board meetings and work sessions is posted on the Town website under the meetings tab and the listing of discussion documents.

Basically, the plan calls for three work sessions a month on Tuesdays at 1 p.m. and a fourth on Tuesday at 3 p.m. prior to a regular meeting at 6 p.m. that evening. There are a couple of exceptions to the Tuesday sessions and they are listed.

Food truck for fireworks

The Town Board opted not to approve a request from an unidentified food truck owner to operate at Crescent Beach for a single night on July 9 when fireworks are scheduled.

The Town has no policies about one-time requests to operate on its property for a single night and decided against setting a precedent by approving the application. But it left open the possibility of revisiting the idea of such single time requests in the future.

Appointments

• Dr. James Bevilacqua will continue to serve on the Deer & Tick Committee for a term expiring June 24, 2025.

• Cody-Marie Miller was appointed to the Deer & Tick Committee for a term to expire Dec. 31, 2025. Ms. Miller replaced Alex Navarro as conservation and stewardship manager at Mashomack Preserve. Mr. Navarro was promoted by The Nature Conservancy to a post in Connecticut.

• Kim Reilly met the Civil Service requirements for provisional office assistant in the Building Department and was appointed to the post retroactive to May 24.

There were several appointments for summer lifeguards and other positions. The full list is online on the agenda for the July 1 meeting.