Town of East Hampton
Town Council Special Meeting
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Eaton E. Smith Meeting Room – Town Hall
Minutes
Present: Chairperson Melissa Engel, Vice Chairman Thomas Cordeiro and members, Christopher Goff, Scott Minnick, John Tuttle and Susan Weintraub. Also present were Town Manager Jeffery O’Keefe, Recording Secretary Cathy Sirois, members of Boards and Commissions, citizens and members of the press.
Not Present: William Devine
Call to order: Chairperson Engel called the special meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. All stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Council/Commission Chairs Question and Answer Period:
The Council invited the Chairpersons of the Boards and Commissions that have recommended action in the Functional Assessment of Boards and Commissions to attend the meeting to answer questions from the Council.
The following recommendations were made by the Town Manager to the Council:
- Do not disband the Ethics Commission
- Combine Brownfields and Redevelopment into a new “Brownfields Redevelopment Agency”
- Restructure EDC to incorporate the Design Review Board or make Design Review Board an institutionalized function of the Town operations
- Combine the Conservation and Lake Commission into a new “Environmental Commission”
- Sunset the Streetscape Committee
- Adopt and implement all of the operational recommendations of the study
The following Commission Chairs or representatives were in attendance and answered questions from the Council:
James Scroggins, Chairman of the Ethics Commission
Peter Zawisza, Chairman of the Conservation Commission
John Ciriello, Chairman of the Lake Commission
Richard Leone, Chairman of the Economic Development Commission
Kevin Burnham, a member of the Design Review
Scott Bristol, Chairman of the Redevelopment Agency
Dan Wolfram, Chairman of the Brownfields Steering Committee
Public Remarks:
John Jordon, Vice Chairman of the Lake Commission, commented that the Lake Commission needs time to educate themselves to educate the community. He asked what other credentials the consultant has in dealing with towns with impaired lake situations.
Cindy Rooth, Economic Development Commission, commented regarding subcommittees that they should go back to the “mother” group for decisions for better communication. She is glad that Redevelopment and Brownfields are not being put with EDC. She also likes Mr. O’Keefe’s idea to include Design Review Board as a town function.
Tom Wells, Lake Commission, commented on the time involved in water sampling and in preparation for educating the public. He noted that every hour of meeting time requires 2 hours outside of the meeting. He feels that by combining the Lake Commission and Conservation Commission it will dilute the vision and it is asking too much of the volunteers.
Dan Wolfram, Brownfields Steering Committee, commented on volunteers that are displaced and the need to recognize those individuals for the work they have done. Logistics need to be thought about such as individuals being available on certain nights and times for meetings.
Irene Curtis, Lake Commission, agrees with Mr. Ciriello and Mr. Wells, that the Lake Commission and Conservation Commission each has a focus and they need to keep their focus.
Kyle Dostaler, 56 William Drive, commented that the process is long overdue but the lack of communication starts with town staff. There is a breakup in the continuity of institutional knowledge that does not get transferred when people leave commissions. He agrees with keeping the Ethics Commission, disbanding them would create a distrust of government. He commented that by combining commissions the talent is diluted. He feels the number of commissions noted in the report is inaccurate.
Laurie Wasilewski, Hog Hill Road, commented that the staff should be assessed before the volunteers. She is concerned about the funding to make the changes, such as the legal costs. She feels communication is not what it should be. Decisions will be made regardless of what she communicates her feelings as being. Also she feels there should be a focus on the characteristics of a chairperson listed in the report.
Jon March, 85 Mountainview Road, commented that the volunteers are the greatest asset. He would like to see the Council meetings taped and put on Public Access channels. He feels the Town Planner should be on hand before changes are made to the commissions. Maybe make a trial period for the proposed changes. He feels Design Review Board should be with Planning & Zoning or be part of a town board.
Mary Ann Dostaler, Redevelopment Agency, agrees with the combination of the Brownfields and Redevelopment. The town can achieve alignment without consolidation. It is a matter of leadership, communication and alignment.
Richard Leone, Economic Development Commission, likes the idea of Design Review Board becoming part of a town function. He agrees that Redevelopment and Brownfields should be combined and not be a part of EDC. He changed his mind regarding Conservation and Lake Commission, at first it seemed a good fit but he has changed his mind.
Cindy Rooth, Economic Development Commission, commented on the process of when businesses come in to town. The Building Department gives the plans to EDC to look over but sometimes EDC is skipped over.
Mary Ann Dostaler, Redevelopment Agency, commented that institutional knowledge falls through the cracks. She commented that the former Planner put together a process that was adopted by Planning & Zoning but it has never been implemented.
Peter Zawisza, Conservation Commission, several years ago the Conservation Commission put together a developmental review checklist that was sent to P&Z & IWWA but have never heard back from them. He is now required to be on the agenda to bring the checklist to light.
Cindy Rooth, Economic Development Commission, commented that EDC never heard back from P&Z regarding the Home Based Business Regulations.
Tom Wells, Lake Commission, commented that there is a frustration that Lake Commission sent recommendations to P&Z and IWWA but were never taken into consideration.
John March, 85 Mountainview Road, commented that maybe before the merger, get communication going, such as sending minutes to all commission members and definitely contact Comcast.
Patience Anderson, Conservation Commission, commented that part of the challenge with merging commissions, especially advisory commissions, how will the Council communicate their expectations of the boards such as their goals and purview. She also suggested that Council communicate to land use boards the importance of accepting the advice of the commissions as they are created to assist them.
Legal Review Discussion on Study Recommendations:
Mr. O’Keefe noted that the specific questions raised were answered by Attorney D’Aquila and are included in the information packet.
Full Discussion of Council and Possible Action:
Chairperson Engel commented that this process is about making government more efficient.
Ms. Weintraub noted her concerns about the consultant’s report regarding the benchmark comparisons. There is a need for communication, goals and objectives and visioning. She agrees with the Redevelopment and Brownfield merger but is not comfortable with the Lake Commission and Conservation Commission merger. She feels the Design Review Board should remain separate until their guidelines are in place and revisit it at a later date.
Mr. Minnick expressed his concerns about the objectivity of the consultant’s report. He noted errors in the number of commissions in the benchmark towns. He feels the basis of the results are based on skewed data. He asked why the task forces were not included in the report.
Mr. Cordeiro noted that this report and review of commissions is only the beginning. He does want to see a staff assessment, he agrees with the need for a system to transfer information when members leave commissions. He commented that even if there are errors in the report there is a need to improve our alignments. He feels the Design Review Board should be a part of the town staff alignment.
Mr. Goff agrees that Design Review should be a town function and also that Brownfields and Redevelopment should be combined. He noted that he is unsure if other boards should be combined at this point. There should be more of an emphasis on communication and a review of goals for boards and commissions.
Mr. Tuttle agrees that Design Review should be a town function. The mission is to facilitate communication, action and results. The work will still need to be done, there will still be goals for each group. The changes will not happen overnight. He agrees that the Ethics Commission should remain.
Chairperson Engel commented that there hasn’t been enough action on the Lake, not that the Lake Commission is not doing good work, but they can use additional help. It doesn’t matter to her how many commissions East Hampton has compared to other towns, but how well our commissions are operating. She feels the Conservation Commission would be a great asset to the Lake Commission. She agrees with the Redevelopment and Brownfield merger. Design Review could easily become a staff function.
Votes will be taken on these recommendations at the February 10th regular meeting agenda.
Adjournment:
A motion was made by Ms. Engel, seconded by Mr. Minnick, to adjourn the meeting at 9:25 p.m. Voted (6-0).
Respectfully submitted,
Cathy Sirois
Recording Secretary
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