Government

Town engineers to work on Shelter Island’s stormwater runoff program

Southold Town will lend its engineers to Shelter Island to do part-time work on its stormwater runoff program, officials from both towns agreed Tuesday.

Shelter Island’s part-time engineer decided to move on and town attorney Laury Dowd, who has been handling Municipal Separate Stormwater Sewer Systems, or MS4, duties, will retire in December, said Supervisor Jim Dougherty.

Under the proposed agreement, Southold engineers Michael Collins and Jamie Richter will spend no more than 200 hours annually working on Shelter Island’s program.

“I don’t think Shelter Island at this point yet needs a full-time engineer,” Mr. Dougherty said. “I think we can satisfy our part-time needs.”

Mr. Collins said Shelter Island’s stormwater designation was made in error by the Department of Environmental Conservation and, depending on the what the town decides, he and Mr. Richter could help sort out the mistakes that led to it. Otherwise, he said, they’d help with baseline compliance as part of the stormwater program.

“It’s not going to be very much different from what we do here [in Southold] and certainly less extensive,” Mr. Collins said. “It would really be a great benefit because if we can help their program correct these mistakes, that’s going to reverberate here.”

Ms. Dowd noted that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already been calling for shared services between municipalities.

Southold Supervisor Scott Russell said the plan is a good idea and that the towns will work out the details of the new agreement. He recently attended several meetings on the possibility of shared services involving officials from different municipalities.

“Quite honestly, a lot of us in the room were already doing a lot of what [the state] wanted so it was difficult to find new things,” Mr. Russell said.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT

The Southold Town Board held a public hearing during its evening session on how to spend an estimated $50,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds. Representatives from Community Action Southold Town, The Butterfly Effect Project and Maureen’s Haven all asked for financial support. The Butterfly Effect Project, based in Riverhead, works with young girls and hopes to bring a pilot project to Southold Town.

Supervisor Scott Russell said that, just a few years ago, the town received $400,000 in block grant funds.

The board also held public hearings on an amendment to the town code for a tax exemption for Cold War veterans. The board voted unanimously in favor of that resolution but tabled action on two other public hearings. One hearing related to a proposal to require permits for boat haulers that use local ramps; the other concerned a proposal to tighten policies related to contractors working in wetland and shoreline areas.

[email protected]