In keeping with tradition (and municipal obligations), the Town of Shelter Island got organized for 2021 in a kickoff meeting held Tuesday from Town Hall. Due to pandemic restrictions on gatherings, everyone attended via Zoom.
Present for the meeting were Supervisor Gerry Siller; Deputy Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams; Councilmen Mike Bebon, Jim Colligan, and Albert Dickson; Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar, and Town Attorney Bob DeStefano Jr., along with members of the Town’s media team who handled the live-streaming and managed Zoom connections.
Town Justice Mary-Faith Westervelt joined to officiate at the swearing-in of her new colleague on the bench, Town Justice Stanley I. Birnbaum, who was elected in November.
“It is a privilege and an honor,” Birnbaum said during brief remarks in which he thanked Helen Rosenblum, who served on the Town Justice Court before him for many years. “I wish her only the best of everything.”
Supervisor Siller apologized to Birnbaum for not being able to host the traditional post-swearing-in reception, saying, “It’s been that kind of year.”
Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, whose district covers Shelter Island, also joined for the swearing-in to wish Justice Birnbaum and other Town leaders good luck in the new year.
You can watch a recording of the meeting at townhallstreams.com, or look for it on Channel 22.
Resolutions
Members of the Town Board took turns reading resolutions into the record. All were passed unanimously. Among the resolutions were some that:
- Set dates for regular meetings of the Town Board (about one per month), as well as work sessions (typically once per week on Tuesdays)
- Authorized the Supervisor to temporarily invest Town funds not needed for immediate expenditure in certificates of deposit or special time deposit accounts, designating Chase Bank and Bridgehampton National Bank as the official depositories; allowing the Supervisor and Board members to sign documents, and permitting Judy Meringer, Barbara Bloom and Shelby Mundy to make transfers of Town funds
- Appointed the members of the Town Board to serve as Town Police Commissioners
- Named the Shelter Island Reporter and Newsday the official newspapers for the purpose of posting legal notices (to qualify, a publication must circulate in print)
- Directed the Supervisor to submit 2020 financial reports to the state comptroller’s office
- Adopted $0.58/mile as mileage reimbursement rate for Town officials and employees for work-related travel
- Set these FIT rates — FIT day, $15; Single FIT, $255/year; Family FIT, $395/year; Youth, $50/year; Full-time College Student, $100/year; and Volunteers, EMTs & Active Military, $175/year
- Set workday for elected/appointed officials at 6 hours for Town Clerk, Town Board, Town Justices, Board of Assessors members, Assessors, Receiver of Taxes, Town Attorney, ZBA Members, Planning Board Members, Deputy Town Clerks, Confidential Secretary to Supervisor; at 7 hours for Supervisor; at 7.5 hours for Confidential Secretary to Highway Superintendent; and at 8 hours for Highway Superintendent
- Authorized the following eligible employees who wish to waive their rights to medical insurance coverage to be paid salary compensation instead: Mike Bebon, Jennifer Beresky, Stanley Birnbaum, Barbara Bloom, Amber Brach-Williams, Jim Colligan, Robert J. DeStefano Jr., Albert Dickson, Joe Finora, Kenneth Lewis, Judith Meringer, Michael Mitchell, Shelby Mundy, Aidan Mysliborski, and Mary-Faith Westervelt
- Directed expenditure of $10,579.70 toward a lease-purchase agreement for new Highway Department truck
Appointments
Also by resolution, the Town Board made these mostly part-time appointments (listed here alphabetically by title):
AAA Drivers (minibus): Karin Bennett, David Binder, Mary Ann McGinn, Sara Mundy, and James Polychron, $22.15 per hour
Animal Control Officer: Jenny Zahler as per 2021 budget
Bay Constables: John Mahoney and Peter Vielbig, $30/hour
Board/Committees Office Assistants: Kristina Martin Majdisova (Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Waterways Management Advisory Council, Water Advisory Committee, Media Department, and the Town Attorney); Jane Roberts (Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board, Water Quality Improvement Advisory Board, Board of Assessment Review, Conservation Advisory Council, Community Housing Board, Contractors License Review Board, and EMS Advisory Board); and Coco Lee Thuman (Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee), $23.04/hour
Clerks: Coco Lee Thuman (Provisional/Receiver of Taxes office) and Michelle Congdon (Justice Court), $23.04 per hour
Commissioner of Public Works: Brian Sherman as per 2021 budget
Confidential Secretaries: Judy Meringer (Supervisor), 30 hours per week as per 2021 budget; Debra Speeches (Highway/Public Works/Landfill), 38 hours per week as per 2021 budget
Court Officer: John Spinelli, $50/hour for the first two hour and additional hours $20/hour
Crossing Guard: Catherine Rassmussen, as per agreement
Custodians: Deborah Brewer, Linda D. Cass, Tracy Gibbs, Giovanna Ketcham, $29/hour, and Crystal Steinmuller, $28/hour
Deputy Supervisor: Councilwoman Amber Brach-Williams as per 2021 budget
Detention Attendants: Arthur Bloom, Tracy Gibbs, Jose Manuel Payano Cruz, Taylor Rando, Catherine Rasmussen, and John Spinelli, first two hours or any part thereof, $100 and $20 for each additional hour; as well as Amanda Gutiw, $36.18/hour, and Beau Payne, $49.41/hour.
Emergency Management Coordinator: Chief of Police James J. Read Jr.
EMS Director: Jack Thilberg as per 2021 budget
Highway/Safety & Training Officer: David W. Clark
Historian: William Clark III as per 2021 budget
Maintenance Mechanic II: Mark Kearns, $23.46/hour
Nutrition, #1 Cook: Angela Corbett, $22.31/hour
Nutrition, #2 Cook: Teddy Dempsey, $19.25/hour
Nutrition, Full-time Cook: Carl Cosby, as per 2021 budget
Nutrition, Cook: Giovanna Ketcham, $22.09/hour
Nutrition, Dishwasher: Alison Binder, $16.44/hour
Nutrition, Food Service Worker: Robert Andrew, $16.44/hour
Recreation, Assistant Leader: Deborah Brewer, Catherine Davidson, and Kelci McIntosh, $21.43/hour
Recreation/FIT Aide: Deborah Brewer, Peter Miedema and Julia Weisenberg, $18.21/hour; Amira Lisle, $17.68/hour; Barbara Bloom and Katie Potter, $17.85/hour; Trent Firestine, $17.34/hour; and Lindsay Rando (no hourly rate specified)
Recreation/FIT Manager: Emily Kraus, $25.71/hour
Recreation, Specialist Instructor: Callie Atkins, $30/session, and Peter Miedema, $30/hour
Residential Repair Laborer: Thomas Cronin, $19.57/hour
Senior Center, Aide: Sara Mundy as per 2021 budget
Senior Center, Clerks: David Binder and Marissa Fanelli, $19.23/hour
Senior Center, Office Assistant: Karin Bennett, $25 per hour
Senior Citizens Aide II: Loretta Gillman Fanelli as per 2021 budget
Tax Administrator & Chairman of Board of Assessors: Craig Wood, as per 2021 budget
Therapeutic Activities Workers: Donna King and Alison Binder, $22.15/hour
Contracts
The board approved the following contracts, also by resolution:
- CodeRed Emergency Service Notification: Onsolve, LLC, PO Box 865672 Orlando, Florida 32886-5672 for the period January 9, 2021, through January 8, 2022, at a cost of $1,350
- Landfill Scale Software: Creative Information Systems, 27 Lowell Street, Suite 402, Manchester NH 03101 for the scale software support and maintenance for the period January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 at a cost of $2,625
- Telephone System Servicing: Telenet NY, Inc., 115 North Richmond Avenue, Suite 1, Massapequa, New York 11758-3439; quarterly contract payment is $750 for the period January 1, 2021 through March 31, 2021
- Supervisor’s Office Copier: Authorizes supervisor to execute an agreement with Carr Business Systems, 500 Commack Road, Suite 110, Commack NY, 11725, for a period of 36 months
- Grace’s Lane Bulkhead: Authorizes supervisor to execute intermunicipal agreement with Suffolk County for future repair and maintenance and memorialize cost-sharing for this project
- Zoning/Building Inspectors Software: Software Consulting, 54 Elizabeth Street Suite 17, Red Hook, NY 12571; $1,936 deposit for software upgrade
Committee Liaisons
The Supervisor also divvied up appointments to the Board’s own standing committees and liaison assignments to the Town’s many committees and boards as follows:
| Building & Grounds | Bebon, Siller |
| Capital Planning/Grants | Brach-Williams, Colligan |
| Community Center/Youth Center | Colligan |
| Community Housing Board | Bebon, Brach-Williams |
| Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board | Dickson, Siller |
| Comprehensive Plan Task Force | Bebon, Brach-Williams, Colligan, Dickson, Siller |
| Conservation Advisory Council | Bebon, Colligan |
| Deer & Tick | Colligan, Siller |
| EMS | Brach-Williams |
| Financial Advisory | Brach-Williams, Siller |
| FIT/Recreation | Colligan |
| Green Options | Dickson, Siller |
| Highway & Public Works | Siller |
| IT | Bebon |
| Planning Board | Bebon, Brach-Williams |
| Recycling | Siller |
| Senior Citizens | Dickson, Siller |
| Shelter Island Country Club | Colligan, Dickson |
| Taylor’s Island | Brach-Williams, Siller |
| Transportation | Siller |
| Water Advisory Committee | Bebon, Dickson |
| Water Quality Improvement | Brach-Williams, Dickson |
| Waterways | Colligan, Dickson |
| Waterways Management Advisory Committee | Colligan, Dickson |
| Zoning Board of Appeals | Bebon, Brach-Williams |
