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Partisanship on hold at Town Board
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In a wide-ranging agenda at the Brookhaven Town Board meeting Tuesday night, partisanship was not entirely abandoned but at least one divisive issue was resolved.
On a resolution sponsored by Councilman Tim Mazzei (R-Blue Point) and seconded by Councilwoman Connie Kepert (D-Middle Island), the starting time for board work sessions was changed back to 1:30 pm on Thursdays. Since January 2008, when the Mazzei-led Republican majority moved the meetings to 11 am, the issue has been contentious and partisan.
Kepert is a special education teacher in the Longwood school district. Her Thursday schedule prevents her from arriving before 1:30 pm. The majority's vote to move the start time was considered by the Democratic minority a slap at Kepert, a partisan power play, or both. Mazzei contended all along that work sessions had traditionally begun at 11 am and it was the then-new Democratic majority in early 2006 that made the change. The resolution setting the 1:30 pm start time was unanimously approved Tuesday.
Quickly returning to partisan stances, two bills intended to alter Town Board procedures were considered: the first from Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) and another by Councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld (D-East Setauket). Bonner's, to "correct an oversight" in a resolution she sponsored in August 2008, was meant to permit council members to once again respond to questions from residents who address the board during its public portion. Several awkward moments have occurred at Town Board meetings since August when residents posed a particular question to the board, often to a specific council member. The board had been prohibited from responding by its newly adopted rule. The revision Tuesday passed unanimously.
Fiore-Rosenfeld sought to amend board procedures to limit the ability of council members to introduce so-called late starters — resolutions not considered at prior work sessions or made available in advance for consideration; post all resolutions online for the public's benefit prior to general meetings; and guarantee residents who have been waiting to address the board for five hours be permitted to speak, instead of being told to come back at a later date when the board reconvenes.
"We shouldn't be voting on resolutions we've never seen," Fiore-Rosenfeld told his colleagues. His bill would have required a "supermajority," five votes of the board, to permit the late addition of any measure to the agenda. Since the conservative majority has four votes, the bill would effectively require at least one Democrat to agree before a late starter could be considered. Regarding his move to permit residents to address the board no matter how late, Fiore-Rosenfeld said asking the public to come back another day was "inappropriate and wrong."
The resolution was defeated when only Democrats Fiore-Rosenfeld and Kepert voted in the affirmative.
In other actions, the Town Board appointed three new members and reappointed 11 current members to the town's Youth Board, including Chairman Paul
Ciborowski of Shoreham, Tom Cascino of Stony Brook, Alan Gustavsson of East Setauket, Patricia Richter of Setauket and Pastor Scott Kraniak of Centereach. The board also appointed 10 members of its Black History Commission, including Chairwoman Roberta Owens of Coram, Vice-Chairman Devon Maurice Daniel of Shoreham and Marie Michel of Port Jefferson Station.
And in a move likely to please some local scofflaws, and potentially increase revenue for the town, Bonner sponsored a resolution providing for a 90-day partial amnesty for overdue parking tickets. The bill will permit the Parking Violations Bureau to "accept 50 percent of any outstanding balances as payment in full for the original citation." The amnesty period is from Feb. 15 to May 15, 2009.
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