Suffolk County legislators will again hold two weeks of committee meetings in Riverhead this year, each in the weeks prior to general meetings held in Riverhead. The week ahead brings the first round of this year’s committee meetings to Riverhead, affording East End residents a more convenient opportunity to comment on matters affecting local communities.
Among the items to be discussed in legislative committee meetings this week are:
- resolutions authorizing the acquisition for preservation of parcels along Brushes Creek in the Town of Southold (Environment, Planning and Agriculture Committee, Monday at 11 a.m.);
- a resolution authorizing an appraisal for the purchase of development rights of Baiting Hollow Meadow Farm property in the Town of Riverhead (Environment, Planning and Agriculture Committee, Monday at 11 a.m.);
- a local law establishing the Suffolk County seaweed cultivation pilot program in Peconic and Gardiners bays (Environment, Planning and Agriculture Committee, Monday at 11 a.m.)
- a resolution initiating the process for subsidizing a proposed workforce housing development (Riverview Lofts) in downtown Riverhead (Government Operations, Personnel, Housing and Information Technology, Wednesday at 10 a.m.);
- a local law amending county restrictions on outdoor restraint of pets (Public Safety, Thursday at 9:30 a.m.);
On Tuesday, Mattituck Junior-Senior High School principal Sean Petretti will give a presentation on sustainable agriculture education to the Education and Human Services Committee, which convenes at 12:30 p.m.
See below for the full committee schedule for the coming week.
The legislative committee meetings will be held in the Maxine Postal Auditorium at the Evans K. Griffing County Center, 300 Center Drive.
Until last year, the legislature had not held committee meetings in Riverhead — the formal county seat of government — for more than a decade. The change ca.m. e at the insistence of the East End’s two legislators, Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue) and Bridget Fleming (D-Noyac) — and her predecessor, Jay Schneiderman (I-Southampton) who argued that holding all committee meetings in Hauppauge prevented East End residents from fully participating in the legislative process.
“Previously, some of my constituents would have to travel for 90 minutes and up to 60 miles in one direction to speak for three minutes in the committee setting,” Krupski said last year.
The North Fork legislator first attempted to have committee meetings held in Riverhead whenever the the full legislative body was set to have its general meeting here — six of the legislatures 14 general meetings. But that plan didn’t fly on a legislature dominated by western Suffolk representatives, who cited increased costs of supporting regular committee meetings on the East End.
The legislature’s next general meeting is scheduled to be held at the Riverhead County Center on Tuesday, March 7. That meeting begins at 9:30 a.m.
The committee meeting schedule this week is as follows (click links to view agendas):
Monday, February 27
11 a.m. : Environment, Planning & Agriculture
12:30 p.m. : Seniors & Consumer Protection
2:00 p.m. : Public Works, Transportation & Energy
Tuesday, February 28
9:30 a.m. : Veterans
10:30 a.m. : Budget & Finance
12:30 p.m. : Education & Human Services
Wednesday, March 1
10 a.m. : Government Operations, Personnel, Information Technology & Housing
12:30 p.m. : Parks & Recreation
2 p.m. : Economic Development
Thursday, March 2
9:30 a.m. : Public Safety
12:30 p.m. : Ways & Means
2 p.m. : Health
The next scheduled week of legislative committee meetings is the week of Nov. 27.
