A new Suffolk County law requiring retailers to charge 5 cents for each paper or plastic bag they provide to shoppers has local residents and lawmakers offering up a wide range of opinions.
Tag: Legislature
With one bill — the Campaign Finance Reform Act — already before the Suffolk Legislature and aimed at corruption in the county’s electoral process, a group of Suffolk legislators led by Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) is putting together another measure that would set up an office to investigate corruption, fraud and waste in Suffolk government and protect whisteblowers.
With money corrupting the democratic process becoming a major issue in the United States, Suffolk Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) has introduced a bill to limit campaign contributions from county contractors and public employee unions.
The Greenport Village Board is pressing on with a plan to charge the North Ferry Company a per-car fee for its Greenport-Shelter Island traffic.
The Riverhead Health Center will become the last of eight county-run health clinics to be handed over to a private entity after the county Legislature voted on Tuesday to partner with a Westchester nonprofit. READ
Neal Lewis (second from right) presents a proposed county Climate Action Plan at Tuesday’s meeting. (Credit: Paul Squire)
In an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Suffolk County is hoping an incentive for business and homeowners to improve their buildings will help spur upgrades on outdated structures.
A low-cost, long-term financing program to help cover the costs of those upgrades was pitched on Monday as a means to help finance them.
The county’s tick committee said more resources are needed to combat tick-borne illness. (Cyndi Murray photo)
Suffolk County’s newly formed tick advisory committee wants the county to hire new full-time employees to comprehensively combat tick-borne illnesses. (more…)
Tick committee members meeting in Riverside at its first meeting in July. (Credit: Cyndi Murray)
It seems as though the county’s tick committee will get more time to sink their teeth into the tick problem.
After learning at its first meeting in July that it might only have one or two meetings to help develop a plan for Suffolk County to stem the tide of a growing presence of tick-borne illnesses, the county legislature’s Tick Control Advisory Committee may be around for another year, at least.
A resolution was approved on Monday by the county’s Public Works, Transportation and Energy Committee extending its life until Suffolk’s 2016 Annual Vector Control Plan is adopted next fall. It now requires support from the full body after passing the committee unanimously.
“It was only meant to make suggestions early on,” said Deputy Presiding Officer Jay Schneiderman (I-Montuak), the South Fork legislator who co-sponsored the legislation creating the committee. “But now the committee is expanding somewhat to have a little bit more of an ongoing role while a plan is being implemented.”
The tick problem on the East End came to a head over the past year most publicly in the form of a debate over whether or not a $225,000 deer cull was the right move to help trip the deer herd. Leaders said before, during and after the cull — which reported killing just 192 of the county’s 25,000 – 36,000 deer — that a comprehensive approach toward trimming the herd would be key in combating Lyme Disease and the presence of ticks in the county.
Dr. John Rasweiler, a Southold Town resident who is on the committee, said at the committee’s first meeting at the end of July that after hearing what was expected of it, its original set of expectations simply wouldn’t fit with the timeline given.
“I understand the head of vector control is under some pressure to come up with a plan … by mid-September. He has to prepare some sort of report but I think that is asking a lot from the committee,” he said at the time. “I think even for the committee to narrow down to a series of serious recommendations, that is a pretty tight schedule.”
Mr. Rasweiler — a member of Southold’s deer management committee who has submitted opinion pieces to The Suffolk Times on the topic himself — said on Monday afternoon that giving the committee an extension was undoubtedly the right call.
“It’s probably necessary becasue were dealing with some very complex issues, and anybody who thought we were going to have this all wrapped up by this time was dreaming,” he said. “It’s better to do the job properly than in haste.”
By this time next year, the committee could have another set of tasks on its hands, so it could be given another goal or extension. Time will tell, Mr. Schneiderman said.
“The narrow respect which it was formed for — to guide the division to develop a plan — I don’t think they are going to need to do that forever. Maybe another year is enough, and then it can do other things — research better diagnostic tools, research into a cure — whatever that might be — or look at ways to improve public education.”
Tick committee members meeting in Riverside on Wednesday. (Credit: Cyndi Murray)
Suffolk County’s newly formed tick advisory committee was thrown a curveball during its first meeting Wednesday when members learned they might only have a month and half to continue their work.
The 12-member panel has been tasked with helping the county’s vector control division establish a plan to reduce tick-borne diseases across the county. Following the meeting, however, it was learned that that legislation creating the group calls it to be disbanded in October, when vector control is expected to submit a recommendation report to the county. (more…)
Legislation has passed both houses of the New York State legislature that would prioritize non-lethal methods of killing free-ranging mute swans. (Credit: Vera Chinese)
It looks like the swans won’t be killed. Or at least if they are killed, it will now come as a last resort.
Legislation has passed both houses of the state Legislature that would prioritize non-lethal methods of controlling the free-ranging mute swan population.
The measure comes less than six months after the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation announced that it wanted every mute swan in the state killed or captured by the year 2025. (more…)