Greenport Mitchell Park bulkhead repairs to begin in December

Greenport Mayor Kevin Stuessi said work will finally begin next month on the long-delayed Mitchell Park bulkhead and electrical box repairs after Trustee Mary Bess Phillips expressed frustration that it’s taken this long.

At the village’s Nov. 20, 2025 work session, Mr. Stuessi said the electrical box relocation is scheduled for December 2025, with three dock builders expected to submit quotes this week for the larger bulkhead repairs slated to begin in early 2026.

The village has $1.5 million in bonding funds available and a $3 million grant secured in 2024.

“The issue is this needs to be coordinated with pulling back all the blacktop over there as well,” said the mayor, referring to the electrical box relocation. “We’ve got a price on that. It’s not going in the water over there. That work is scheduled for next month, right after the holiday.”

But Ms. Phillips — who has been sounding the alarm about the bulkhead issues for nearly a decade — said the work should have started much sooner, particularly on relocating the failing electrical box that could cut power to the North Ferry terminal.

“There has been much concern from all of us on the visual of the wiring box pulling out from the bulkhead and getting submerged into the water,” Ms. Phillips said. “I was just under the impression that, when we passed that, this would have been one of the first things that would have been done, and we were anticipating it to be done right away.”

Ms. Phillips was referring to the three emergency resolutions that were added to the agenda and unanimously approved at the board’s Sept. 25 meeting to speed up the long-stalled repair of the bulkhead and Railroad Dock. Mr. Stuessi was absent from that meeting due to a medical appointment in Manhattan.

The first resolution was to relocate the electrical box, which provides service to the Railroad Dock, next to the transformer on the southeast corner of the museum on Third Street.

​​The second resolution forces the village to seek engineering designs and ready an application to the U.S. Department of Environmental Conservation for an emergency renewal permit for the bulkhead area between the North Ferry and Railroad Dock, and the area behind the museum.

The last initiative pushes for Mr. Stuessi, as well as the village grant writer and the village’s consultants, to secure the required paperwork in order to access the grant money.

Mr. Stuessi attributed the delay to the need for multiple groups and projects to be coordinated together. Village Treasurer Adam Brautigam said the village currently has bonding funds of $1.5 million for the bulkhead. He said he believes they should get the project underway and that they have the capital right now to get the initial project “more than just started.”

Ms. Phillips and fellow Trustee Julia Robins brought up that DEC permits are also required for the bulkhead work. Mr. Stuessi replied that this also is in the works and that the village is still allowed to do emergency work.

“There’s water, electric, asphalt and bulkhead that all have to be coordinated at the same time,” he said.

Ms. Phillips continued to express frustration over the nearly two-month delay since the emergency resolutions were passed. Mr. Stuessi said he’d take her over there to see the electrical box, which she quickly dismissed.

“I’m very aware of it, and that’s why I brought it to the board’s attention, that this is something that really should have started well before now,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m just upset that it took this long.”

The village will be “ready to start rolling into” the full bulkhead repairs early next year. The board discussed adding a resolution to its Dec. 4 agenda to change the permits needed for both projects to “emergencies.”

“I just had hoped that that situation would have been morphed a little bit sooner than it has,” Ms. Phillips said. “I believe that the board felt it was an emergency situation. As long as it’s getting moved along. It’s just a little frustrating that it’s taken us this long to get it moving.”