Tuesday’s swearing-in of newcomer Margaret Larsen put women in the majority on the Shelter Island Town Board for the first time in the community’s history. In keeping with tradition (and municipal obligations), the Town got organized for 2022.
Due to ongoing pandemic safety concerns, everyone attended via Zoom.
“We’ve had women before,” long-time Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar said, “but never three at one time.”
Present for the meeting were Supervisor Gerry Siller; Deputy Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams; Council Members Jim Colligan, BJ Ianfolla, and Larsen; Ogar, and Town Attorney Bob DeStefano Jr., along with clerks and members of the Town’s media team who handled streaming and managed Zoom connections, and several members of the public.
Town Justice Mary-Faith Westervelt officiated at the swearing-in of Larsen and other officials who were re-elected, including Siller, Brach-Williams, Ogar, and Assessor Pat Castoldi.
Ianfolla, another newcomer who was elected to complete the term of former Councilman Mike Bebon and joined the board in December, also was sworn in.
Highway Superintendent Brian Sherman and Receiver of Taxes Annmarie Seddio were not able to attend due to conflicting duties and will be sworn in another time.
You can watch a recording of the meeting on the Town’s YouTube Channel, or look for it on Channel 22, the Town’s public access station.
Resolutions
Members of the Town Board took turns reading resolutions into the record. All passed unanimously. The resolutions:
- 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 2021 financial reports to the Town Clerk60 days after the close of the fiscal year, with a copy to the state comptroller’s office
- Adopted $0.585/mile as mileage reimbursement rate for Town officials and employees for work-related travel
- Directed that Town employees will be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred attending traning programs and profession meetings that enhance their job skills, with attendance subject to the Supervisor’s prior approval
- Set these FIT rates — Daily, $15, Monthly, $100; Single FIT, $265/year; Family FIT, $410/year; Youth, $50/year; Full-time College Student, $100/year; and Volunteers, EMTs & Active Military, $175/year
- Set fees for workout classes at $10 per class and $55 for 10-class pass
- Set workday for elected/appointed officials at 8 hours, Highway Superintendent; 7.5 hours, Confidential Secretary to the Highway Superintendent; 7 hours for Supervisor, Town Clerk, and Deputy Town Clerks; 6 hours for Town Board, Town Justices, Board of Assessors members, Assessors, Receiver of Taxes, Town Attorney, ZBA Members, Planning Board Members, and Confidential Secretary to Supervisor
- Authorized the following eligible employees who wish to waive their rights to medical insurance coverage to be paid salary compensation instead: Jennifer Beresky, Stanley Birnbaum, Barbara Bloom, Amber Brach-Williams, Jim Colligan, Robert J. DeStefano Jr., BJ Ianfolla, Kenneth Lewis, Judith Meringer, Michael Mitchell, Shelby Mundy, Aidan Mysliborski, Annmarie Seddio, Gerard Siller and Mary-Faith Westervelt
Appointments
Also by resolution, the Town Board made these mostly part-time appointments (listed here alphabetically by title):
AAA Drivers (minibus): David Binder, and Mary Ann McGinn, $22.59 per hour
Animal Control Officer: Jenny Zahler for the year 2022 as per agreement
Bay Constables: John Mahoney and Peter Vielbig, $30/hour
Board/Committees Office Assistants: Kristina Martin Majdisova (Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board and Water Quality Improvement Advisory Board), as per 2022 budget; and Coco Lee Thuman (Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee and Waterways Management Advisory Council), as per 2022 budget
Clerks: Coco Lee Thuman (Receiver of Taxes office and provisional Assessment Clerk), as per 2022 budget, and Michelle Congdon (Justice Court), $23.50/hour
Commissioner of Public Works: Brian Sherman as per 2022 budget
Confidential Secretaries: Judy Meringer (Supervisor), 30 hours per week as per 2022 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 hours 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 Lauren Sandwald, $25/hour
Deputy Supervisor: Councilwoman Amber Brach-Williams as per 2022 budget
Detention Attendants: Arthur Bloom, Tracy Gibbs, Jose Manuel Payano Cruz, Catherine Rasmussen, and John Spinelli, first two hours or any part thereof, $100 and $20 for each additional hour; as well as Amanda Gutiw, $37.989/hour, and Beau Payne, $50.895/hour
Emergency Management Coordinator: Chief of Police James J. Read Jr.
Engineer: Joe Finora, provisional engineer as per 2022 budget
EMS Director: Jack Thilberg as per 2022 budget
Highway/Safety & Training Officer: David W. Clark
Historian: William Clark III
Maintenance Mechanic II: Tom Hashagen, $23.46/hour
Nutrition, #1 Cook: Angela Corbett, $22.77/hour
Nutrition, #2 Cook: Teddy Dempsey, $19.25/hour
Nutrition, Full-time Cook: Carl Cosby, as per 2022 budget
Nutrition, Cook: Giovanna Ketcham, $22.53/hour up to 6 hours/week
Nutrition, Dishwasher: Alison Binder, $18/hour
Physician: Dr. Joshua Potter
Recreation, Assistant Leader: Deborah Brewer, Catherine Davidson, Sarah Lewis, and Katie Potter, $21.86/hour
Recreation/FIT Aide: Deborah Brewer, Cory Cass, Peter Miedema, and Julia Weisenberg, $18.57/hour; Barbara Bloom, Kelsey Lechmanski, Katie Potter, and Lindsay Rando$18.21/hour; Trent Firestine, $17.69/hour; and Alex Binder and Sarah Lewis, $17.34/hour
Recreation/FIT Manager: Emily Kraus, as per 2022 budget
Recreation, Dance Instructor: Callie Smith, $30/session
Recreation, Specialist Instructor: Peter Miedema, $30/hour
Residential Repair Laborer: Thomas Cronin, $19.96/hour
Senior Center, Office Assistants: Karin Bennett, part-time, and Marissa Fanelli, full-time, as per 2022 budget
Senior Center, Program Supervisor: Sara Mundy, as per 2022 budget
Senior Citizens Aide II: Loretta Gillman Fanelli as per 2022 budget
Therapeutic Activities Workers: Donna Cass and Donna King, $22.59/hour
The supervisor noted that additional appointments will be made at future meetings. Due to retirements and resignations, some positions remain to be filled. Also, the Town Board has not decided whether to continue with DeStefano as Town Attorney, a two-year appointment.
The Town will post ads for open positions in the coming weeks, he said.
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, 2022, through January 8, 2023, at a cost of $1,350
- Financial Accounting Services: Cullen & Danowski, LLP, 1650 Route 112, Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776-3060 for the period of January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022, $52,100
- 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, 2022 through March 31, 2022
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 | Siller |
| Capital Planning/Grants | Brach-Williams, Colligan |
| Community Housing Board | Brach-Williams, Siller |
| Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board | Ianfolla, Siller |
| Comprehensive Plan Task Force | Ianfolla, Larsen |
| Conservation Advisory Council | Colligan |
| Contractor Review Board | Ianfolla, Larsen |
| Deer & Tick | Colligan, Siller |
| EMS | Brach-Williams |
| Ferry Study Group | Siller |
| Financial Advisory | Brach-Williams, Siller |
| FIT/Recreation | Colligan |
| Green Options | Larsen, Siller |
| Health & Wellness Alliance | Colligan |
| Highway & Public Works | Colligan, Siller |
| IT | Brach-Williams |
| Klenawicus Airfield | Brach-Williams |
| Peconic Estuary Partnership | Colligan |
| Planning Board | Larsen, Brach-Williams |
| Recycling | Siller |
| Senior Citizens | Siller, Larsen |
| Shelter Island Country Club | Colligan |
| Shoreline Access Task Force | Colligan, Siller |
| Taylor’s Island | Ianfolla, Siller |
| Transportation | Colligan |
| Water Advisory Committee | Ianfolla, Larsen |
| Water Quality Improvement | Brach-Williams |
| Waterways Management Advisory Committee | Colligan, Ianfolla |
| West Neck Water District | Brach-Williams, Larsen |
| Zoning Board of Appeals | Brach-Williams, Larsen |
Correspondence
The Town Clerk reported on correspondence received. She’d written a letter to notify the Town Board that she appointed Linda Cass and Kim Reilly as Deputy Town Clerks at 35 hours per week as per the 2022 budget.
Ogar also said the Town Board received letters of resignation from Larsen from the Planning Board and Comprehensive Plan Committee (as a member of the Town Board, she is no longer eligible to serve in those positions).
