Former Southold Town highway superintendent Peter Harris took the podium at Tuesday night’s town board meeting to lambast his successor’s handling of the job.
Harris criticized Highway Superintendent Vincent Orlando for what he called “poor management” in executing the duties of his job.
Harris, who was elected town highway superintendent in 2001 and served through 2013, when he chose to retire, questioned how much money Orlando is spending on paving work and asked the town board how the current superintendent was deciding what to pave.
He complained that highway crews paved a road he said was not in need of paving, said the department had painted center lines in roads just before repaving them and failed to paint lines on a road after it was repaved, creating a dangerous condition.
Supervisor Scott Russell and Councilman James Dinizio came to Orlando’s defense; Orlando was not at the meeting to speak for himself.
The road Harris complained did not need resurfacing — Pine Neck at the intersection of Oaklawn — required the work due to a failing section recently laid down by the Suffolk County Water Authority over a pipe they ran, Russell said. The water authority offered to pay part of the cost of the repair, Russell told him. While it may not have needed resurfacing as badly as some other roads, it still needed it and since the water authority was paying for part of the job, it made sense to get it done now.
“In defense of the new superintendent, there seemed to be very little for him to look back on and see what was going on,” Dinizio added.
In an interview Wednesday morning, Orlando said he was perplexed by his predecessor’s criticism. Harris has not contacted him with any complaints, he said.
Orlando confirmed Russell’s account of the Oaklawn repaving in partnership with the water authority.
North Bayview was striped in error shortly before repaving, Orlando admitted. “My deputy came to me and said he forgot to tell the painting crew to skip North Bayview,” Orlando said. It was an isolated mistake, he said.
Harris’ criticism about how long it took to paint lines on Old Sound Avenue is misplaced, Orlando said. The department follows a regimen for painting lines based on what paint is being used. Crews paint all the crosswalks at once, then the yellow lines, then the white center lines, etc.
Orlando also answered the former superintendent’s complaint about a sump on Bray Avenue that has no fence around it — a vehicle floated into it during a recent storm. “It was designed that way by the town engineer,” he said.
The town has spent about $800,000 on paving projects this year, addressing paving work that officials say had been deferred for too long. Orlando said his crews are laying down asphalt rather than micro-surfacing because it is much more durable and lasts four times longer.
Orlando gave the town board a prioritized list of roads to be paved, Russell said. The highway superintendent has paved the roads on that list, he said.
Editor’s note: This article has been amended since publication to clarify the supervisor’s remarks concerning the resurfacing of Pine Neck.
