Village of Dering Harbor
Trustees’ Meeting Minutes
August 10th, 2019, 9am

● Attendance- Betsy Morgan, Mayor, and Trustees Karen Kelsey, Patrick Parcells, Clora Kelly, Ari Benacerraf; Wayne Bruyn (Village Attorney), Victoria Weslek (Village Clerk & Treasurer); Donna Ritzmann, Meredith Jenkins, Eric Deutsch, Kirk Ressler, Craig Wood, Judith Lechmanski, Pat Castoldi, Susan Carey, Ken Walker, Brad Goldfarb, Alfredo Paredes, Dtuart Goldman, Devon Cross, Alex Jackson, Mary Walker, Stepahnie Deutsch, James Goldman
● Meeting was called to order at 9:02am
● Patrick moved and Cora seconded to approve the minutes of the July 13th meeting. All Board members voted in favor.
● The Public Hearing to hear any and all persons either for or against a local law entitled:

“Local Law amending §8-800 of the zoning law with respect to the organization of the board of appeals, training and appointment of alternate members.”

Village still had not heard from SCPC at time of meeting. Therefore a motion to adjourn and keep hearing open for all purposes until the September Trustees meeting was moved by Patrick moved and seconded by Karen. All Board members voted in favor.
● Public Hearing to hear any and all persons either for or against a local law entitled:

“Local Law amending Article X of the Zoning Law to add a new §10-105 with respect to the Chairperson of the Board of Architectural Review, training and appointment of alternate members.”

This law was revised to eliminate the training aspect that was in the original proposal. Village still had not heard from SCPC at time of meeting. Therefore a motion to adjourn and keep hearing open for all purposes until the September Trustees meeting was moved by Patrick moved and seconded by Karen. All Board members voted in favor.
● A motion to open the Public Hearing to hear any and all persons either for or against the following local law entitled:

“Local Law amending §2.11 of Local Law No. 1 of 1989 (Waterworks) to clarify the limitations of the use of village water to human consumption and sanitary purposes”

was moved by Patrick and seconded by Karen. All board members voted in favor. Patrick explained that there are some adjustments that need to be made to previous laws to adjust to how village water is managed now. Write a law that is consistent with past village laws that also addresses how it is being managed currently. Having spent more than a year on the project of helping to correct the village’s water issues, he feels it makes sense that the village start fresh and write a law that is consistent with past village laws while keeping in mind how village water will operate moving forward.
Betsy addressed some concerns some residents raised via email about water usage.
Comments/questions from audience:
Mr. Ressler asked why it is necessary to change to law if the village had a perfectly good water system before. Patrick explained that the village did not have a properly functioning water system. Now that the village has installed meters and will be entering into an agreement with SCWA to operate the village water system on a long-term basis, these things need to be incorporated into new laws that still take into consideration what was on the books before. Mr. Ressler asked the village to not add any additional unnecessary rules and regulations.
Stuart Goldman suggested the law should include language that addresses times of drought.
Betsy also brought up Brandon Rose’s point about limiting use of pesticides that might contaminate village water.
Alex Jackson suggested the village encourage residents to use collected rainwater and/or trucked in water.
Clora commented that everyone in the room is aligned with wanting to have a good water supply. She thinks everyone wants to support and protect the water supply.
A motion to close the public hearing was moved by Patrick and seconded by Clora. All board members voted in favor.
● Craig Wood, Chairman, Board of Assessors for the Town of Shelter Island, along with Judith Lechmanski and Pat Castoldi, came to explain the assessment process that the town of Shelter Island Town uses. Explained that his office routinely goes to homeower’s associations here on the island to explain the assessment process and answer questions about it. Though it has been a long time since they were invited to speak to the village- certainly before his time. They want to take a harder look at the village in terms of facts and figures and will be sending out a survey as well as going door-to-door to take updated photos of properties.
Wayne asked what the taxable status date. The town’s is March 1st. tentative tax roll gets published on May 1st. The final roll is published on July 1st. Grievance day is 3rd Tuesday in May.
Clora asked why village assessments seemed to go up across the board when the sales as a whole on Shelter Island were down. Craig explained that sales are slow but the numbers are still staying the same. Karen had a question about how they do comps considering the dirth of sales in the village. Pat explained that they use a computer program and look at other areas of Shelter Island that might be a comparable desirable area.
Alex Jackson asked about the letter their office gets from the state and whether the assessor’s office pushed back on their opinion. Craig said he didn’t disagree with what the state had to say. Basically, people had questions about how the data is collected and Craig, Judith, and Pat answered their questions. Craig commented that his office can always be contacted if anyone has any questions related to assessments.
● A motion to open old business was moved by Patrick and seconded by Clora. All Board members voted in favor
● Ways and Means:
Treasurer’s Report prepared by East End Accounting Services

a. Bank reconciliation- only thing missing is the budget-to-actual. Charlene is still working on that so that what is reported is completely accurate. The village is looking to move to Quickbooks online, which will be much more efficient. Patrick mentioned that the final reconciliation for 2018-19 FY will be ready for review next month. Karen mentioned that the village now several new reserve accounts and money in reserve and thinks it would be a good idea to make a plan for improvements that need to be made on village hall.
b. A resolution to approve the abstract/bills to be paid was moved by Karen and seconded by Clora. All Board members voted in favor.

● Water Works Report from Patrick- all of the meters are now in. Couple of outliers (Smith and Hunt) that will be looked at in the upcoming week. No real significant issues. No one is irrigating and there are no leaks that can be detected. Avg household usage- there is a disconnect between how much we are pumping versus how much is being used. SCWA was a little surprised by this discrepancy but will be looking at it in the upcoming weeks. Chlorides in the month of July were less than 60 ppm. Credits this improvement to the way the village water is managed now. Village has submitted applications with the DEC for the approval of two new wells. SCWA will be able to monitor the new wells remotely through the updates to the system that will be installed along with the new wells. Total cost to the taxpayers will be comparable to what the the village paid Hap Bowditch.
Questions from the audience: Jim Goldman asked some questions and for details about the funding. Kirk Ressler asked for detailed chloride readings from each well. Patrick provided them.
Clora clarified that the brand new meter readings have shown that for every gallon that is being pumped to houses, 2 gallons is going somewhere else. SCWA will be investigating this.
● Update on waterways issues from Clora- Derig Harbor has been mapped and the village has employed the services of www.onlinemoorings.com. The village has approved one new mooring this month.
● Working group for ARB- Stephanie Deutsch reported that they had an open meeting a few weeks ago inviting any and all residents to come and help. It was a very small turnout. She hopes the next meeting can happen on a weekend so that there can be better turnout. Emphasized that they want as much input as possible from fellow village residents.
● Status of Litigation and FOIL requests – Vicki gave an update on where she is in fulfilling the different foil requests her office has received over the last several months. She spoke with the trustees about needing to devote more concentrated time on getting to the finish line on any that have yet to be fulfilled. Karen added that even though it is the law and the village must fulfill these request, it is an administrative nightmare. Wayne was happy to report that there is no new litigation. One notice of claim for 9A Yoco Road was forwarded to the village insurance company and they assigned counsel to that.
Before moving to new business, Karen added an update from General Code and the next phase that is about to begin.
● New Business
● Appointment of Rob Ferris as Liaison to the Mayor for Public Works (upkeep on Village Hall, coordination with the Town Highway Supervisor, etc.)- purely an advisory position.
A “second set of eyes” so to speak. Moved by Ari and seconded by Clora. 4 votes in favor, 1 abstention.
Question from Ken Walker about FOIL requests led to a conversation with Kirk Ressler about speaking to Tim Hogue about the foil requests he has been submitting.
● Town to clean out drains – John Colby made village aware of drains near his house that are not draining property. Patrick investigated and reached out to town about cleaning out that drain (and all of village drains) at the same time they service the drains in the Heights at a rate $280/hour.
● A motion was made by Patrick and seconded by Karen to go into Executive Session to discuss litigation matters at 10:34am.
● A motion was made by Karen and seconded by Clora to call the meeting back in session at 12:12. All Board members voted in favor.
● A motion was made by Patrick and seconded by Karen for a resolution authorizing an appraisal for 9A Yoco Road. All Board members voted in favor.
● Date for Next Meeting – Saturday, 14th of September 2019 at 9:00 a.m.
● Motion to Adjourn was made by Ari and seconded by Karen at 12:13pm. All Board
members voted in favor.