Division of Natural Resources
February 26, 2009 by joanna · 4 Comments
Resolution Withdrawn Feb 3rd 2009:
WHEREAS the Town Board of the Town of Southold strives to further the goal of management and conservation of the precious natural resources of the Town, and it is therefore
RESOLVED that the Town Board hereby establishes a Division of Natural Resources, within the Planning Department, and it is further
RESOLVED that the goal of the Division of Natural Resources is to assist every level of Town government with the management and protection of the Town’s natural resources and achieve a greater level of inter-governmental cooperation and cohesiveness regarding key natural resource management issues to better serve the citizens of Southold; and it is further
RESOLVED that the Division of Natural Resources shall operate in conformance with the guidelines set forth in the document entitled “Recommendations on the Formation and Structure of The Town of Southold Division of Environment and Natural Resources”, and is further
RESOLVED that all departments of the Town shall consult with the Division of Natural Resources on natural resource issues before them, in accordance with the procedures to be established by the Division; and it is further
RESOLVED that the Town Board appoints Mark Terry and Scott Hilary to the Division of Natural Resources, within the Planning Department.
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The Town Board did not have enough support from it’s own members to pass this Resolution earlier in the month, which would have created a Division of Natural Resources within the Planning Department. A second attempt this week also failed and the matter was referred for “private discussions” on Friday. What’s all this about?
Empire Building
SoutholdVOICE has obtained a copy of the document entitled “Recommendations on the Formation and Structure of the Town of Southold Division of Environment and Natural Resources”, which sets out the Mission Statement as providing “professional and technical assistance to the Town Board, Planning Board, ZBA, Trustees, Land Preservation, Building Dept., applicants and other internal and external departments, committees and agencies.” The goal is to assist at every level of Town government with the management and protection of the Town’s natural resources.
Wow, that must take an army of at least 18 people to accomplish? Not so! Apparently this “budget neutral” plan can be absorbed by the Planning Department as part of their normal work load, lead by Mark Terry and Scott Hilary. Really? One can’t help wondering about the weight of their current workload if they can so easily absorb these extra duties within their current budgets.
We requested an electronic copy of their recommendations Wednesday, but Mr. Terry’s email bounced with an “Out of Office” reply until the 27th and Scott Hilary had not yet responded to our request by posting time. So in the meantime, here’s a scanned version of the print out for your review. Click here.
We understand the matter has now been referred for “private discussions” on Friday. Who is invited, or can anyone go?
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Flickr photo courtesy of: Clairity
We know these two guys are good, but really, that list of duties doesn’t look to me like anything that can be achieved by two full timers. And these two full timers already on the payroll, seem to be overwhelmed in their current agendas. How could they possibly take on anything else? Their Dock on the Bay Moratorium was for 90 days so they could prepare a basis for a resolution to “stop the impending build out of docks on the bay.” That expired with no finished product, so the Town Board enacted another 90 day extension which also expired in February with still no finished product. So after a half a year and who knows how much taxpayer dollars spent, on this one part time project, the Town Board must now take all the stuff they have put on the peconic bay chart and write a law banning docks that (as I mentioned last July) no one wants to build anyway. How many applications for these 654 potential docks are before the Town Trustees? NONE. Not in July and not in March after the moratorium expired for the second time. NONE.
So these same two workerbees are going to achieve all these goals to direct all the agencies in how to process applications effeciently and foster interdepartment cooperation? I don’t think so. These folks don’t do that. They keep their work secret to try to maintain CONTROL. They don’t share unless you submit a FOIL request! Until all the Town departments want to roll over and give up their responsibilities and become subserviant to the all wise and knowing Division of Natural Resources (did that name come from the Group for the South Fork? sounds like it …) We should thank our lucky stars that we have three Town Board members astute enough to understand the implications such a creation would do to the governance of the Town and the increased costs to the taxpayer. As a taxpayer, I am grateful to Al Krupski, Vincent Orlando and Bill Ruland for standing up and refusing to be bullied by the spokespeople (some paid) who try to scare the board into giving up department and board independence and to take away from the taxpayer, the legal right to apply for a permit. Thank you Councilmen, for standing up to the obvious increased costs of our town govenment that would result from this department. While every family and business is cutting back and doing without, you at least stopped the spread of this added layer of control that is unneeded. You alone remembered that these people are already supposed to be working for the best interests of the taxpayers, why create a fiefdom?
And now for the prediction: This isn’t a “dead issue” as widely reported. No, that isn’t how it works. This was “dead” Feb 3rd, and “dead” again Feb 24th. You can rest assured that the lobbyists and town employees who are pushing this won’t go away. Some are paid and actually get grant money (read your taxpayer dollars from the State and Suffolk Co) to “help the town” create ways to make us all more subservient and less free. Our problem as taxpayers is that the new culture of dependence has created the new growth industry:government and it’s attendant lobbyists. As taxpayers all we want is freedom and quiet enjoyment, but we have to fight for it and stand up like Al Krupski, Vincent Orland, and Bill Ruland. I suggest you send them a note of thanks or tell them at the next Town Board meeting.
speaking for myself as always,
John Kramer
Mark Terry has been an employee in search of a job for some time now. I can think of no business where the employee gets to suggest what his job will be.
However, the fact that Mr. Terry was allow to devote any amount of time to this proposal is not his fault and he is not the only employee in town hall in search of direction.
For instance. the Suffolk Times recently had a picture on two town employees claiming responsibility of the deer hunting program they started. While this is a noble cause I can not help but wonder how much it cost in wages and benefits to kill those five deer.
I know, I know, I know,”but these are good and faithfull employees” Yes, they are, but perhaps they need some direction as to what is the most efficient use of their time. Maybe a clue to the extent of this problem in town hall can be found in the statement that Scott Russell made in your March addition on page two. He seemed appalled about Mr. Kramer’s treatment by his town planner but offered no remedy.
And the world turns round and round.
Jim Dinizio
Wow! I didn’t know that everyone was wandering around Town Hall so aimlessly. Actually, I do not think that Mark is looking for a job. He has had one there since Josh Horton hired him in 2002. As the LWRP coordinator, he was well-suited to develop a plan for a division of natural resources. You need to remember that the LWRP was passed in the 11th hour of the previous Supervisors term and implementation was not considered. This was an effort to address that. Further, it was a work that had contributions and input from ALL departments, including the ZBA which Jim used to sit on. We started with the duties of Marks job and then tried to identify the ‘overlap” with other departments. For example, the previous Board hired an ‘Environmental Tech.” (anybody remember Heather) at approx. 65,000 a year for what was essentially a part-time job. This made no fiscal sense when we could have Mark do the work. There are other aspects that we tried to address and it amazes me that there were people who adamantly opposed it and people who blindly supported it and neither group demonstrated any understanding of it. The Deer hunt was organized by three people : Jeff Standish, Albert Krupski and myself. It was well received by hunters, farmers and just about everyone tired of the over-population of deer and were glad to see the Town take action. The success will grow each year and the only real obstacle was the DEC’s unwillingness to change deer tagging requirements. We will keep at it though. I do not see the additional cost at all as Jim suggests since these are employeed people and Jeff serves as deputy commissioner of DPW,( a title given to him by the Supervisor prior to me) and he easily incorporated this new assignment into his workload. On the issue of my being ‘appalled’, actually after I read that, I contacted Mark the next day and told him that the dock info was part of a public presentation at work session and should not be subject to FOIL. To my knowledge, he complied and provided it to anyone who requested it. Further, I recently told John Betsch (from this organization) to simply contact me directly if he needs information or is having difficulty getting his requests met. What part of that action do you not see as a remedy? I will be glad to provide a break down on employee costs and hours for any program taken up at the request of the Town Board or myself and, no, you do not need to file a FOIL. Regards, Scott.
I’ll stand by my comments concerming the town employees and point out to Scott Russell that Mr. Kramers treatment by that town hall employee was neither exceptional nor respectful. Mr. Kraemer simply asked for a document that was probably thrown out by many of the participants of the meeting he missed. The town employee should have simply went to the waste paper basket, picked out a copy, and gave it to him. Instead he received the usual town hall treatment.
Shouldn’t a person that wants to be the head of his own department know if a FOIA request is needed or or not? Isn’t this basic stuff? I worked in town hall for 20 years and I can tell you from experiance that the problem is not with the employees, it is with the management, Mr Russell’s last few sentences speaks volumes with respect to this as his remedy is he will run down the piece of paper for Mr Kreamer next time. I really don’t want my supervisor spending his time micro-managing employees that should know better.
Jim Dinizio