Video for 7/22/13 Village Board Meeting

This blog is about the latest video brought to the public by the Citizens Campaign for Open Village Government an independent resident group of Patchogue Village citizens.  It is a videotape of the July 22nd meeting of the Patchogue Village Board of Trustees the main subject of this just a bit more than two hours of video:  new parking meter zones proposed for the village. 

This narrative will provide time lines to allow a user friendly access to that length of video. As well as I have done before there will be some additional comment about the video and the current status of the Campaign’s various projects.

If you would like instead to go directly to the video you can do so by going to the organization’s website and it will be the most current video displayed: www.patchoguevillagecitizens.com/ 

The video is presented in two parts with the first and longer part mostly devoted to the discussion about the village’s proposed metered parking plan. While over time our project has resolved any number of technical issues relating to the quality of published video we have now encountered a problem yet to be resolved with You Tube where all our videos are posted: two hour time limit for any one video. Regretfully this video had to be broken in two to get under that limit and this is an issue for us. We do want our videos to be one continuous video and we are working on a solution. In fact if there are any viewers out there who are You Tube savvy advice about this particular issue would be most welcome and should be sent to our website via email.
The good news about this video is that the new camera that we are now using continues to film without distracting audio/visual out of sync issues that we did have from time to time. It does now however record audio very crisply and sounds even in the hallway are sometimes picked up just to note. 

I was present at the meeting, filmed the video and reviewed the published video and taken together the two parts are a true representation of the events of that meeting.

To add to the information that the videos offer as has been our practice please see as well a PDF document available on our site that accompanies this video. It is a copy of what is called the “trustee packet”. This packet, obtained by a freedom of information request, contains back ground documents that normally would only be seen by Trustees when they meet. It is their package of documentation for various agenda items.
The PDF in this case does include the agenda for the meeting which can be seen as a road map for the items discussed during the night. Normally any person can find the meeting agendas by going to the village website where they are routinely posted prior to the Trustee meeting. That site can be found at: www.patchoguevillage.org

One thing I do want to say about the video content: this is the video to see if you have any questions about the parking meter plan for the village. Trustee Krieger provides an excellent overview of the Village’s immediate plan and there is also information about long range planning as well. 

Before getting into the actual time line one last issue. From time to time members of the audience, sometimes off camera, do comment and are not identified in the timeline to come. These interruptions are tolerated by the Mayor. We only film what happens and have no control over events otherwise.

Part One

Meeting begins with payment of bills Clerk Seal offering payments for approval.
In minutes and seconds

1:37 First public hearing: approval for stop sign at intersection of Price and River Avenue
4:39 Second public hearing on parking meter zones begins. Trustee Krieger offers extensive overview of the meter parking zones and as well presents an overview of various strategies the Village is considering relating to increasing parking resources in the village in the immediate future
18:02 Trustee members join in discussion with questions about the plan
25:01 Village attorney Egan offers opinion about any prior covenants stemming from past village land purchases for parking lots
29:43 Public comments begins with Deborah Kernin (and please apologies to all regarding spelling of last and first names beginning now and right to the end of the narratives for both video sections). Comments about impact on employee parking once plan is effected.
33:00 Jo Miller comments about proposed fines
35:49 Board members again enter discussion with questions
36:32 Arthur Fuccillo asks for warnings first before fining 
38:00 Vincent Canazio owner of Gino’s Pizza comments on plan
40:15 Rev. Walters comments on plan43:05 Dennis Ross comments about concerns for Church street lot
45:43 Trustee Krieger re-enters the discussion with more information about the plan
49:55 Dennis Smith, Executive Director for the BID (Business Improvement District) comments
51:49 Mayor Pontieri thanks parking committee for its help and advised again that he is hopeful that the village will be selected for a study regarding the feasibility of Tiered Parking by the LI Index. 
52:57 Thelma Green, representative from Cooper Beech Condo association comments about impact of Emporium on parking there and concerns about future impacts once meters are placed on Railroad avenue and the Church St. Lot
54:41 Public comment at the meeting closed but public comment period by the public extended by written means until 8/6/13. Issue discussion now ends at this meeting and the meeting returns to its planned agenda

Note: public comment made be made by email (and other written forms too) until 8/6/13. To do so  by email please go to the village website where a special link has been set up to allow for this: www.patchoguevillage.org

57:42 Marion Russo explains VOAD program. (Disaster assistance volunteer initiative to provide help to present disaster victims and future ones)

Now time line in hours, minutes and seconds

1:04:50 Jodi Lutwiggen, village resident, comments on the program and appeals to Board members to support the initiative
1:07:13 River Avenue sewer  extension discussed and approved
1:07:46 Mayor Pontieri offers resolution approving transfer of ownership of the Carnegie Library building from the Tritec corporation to the Village of Patchogue. This discussion also includes comments from Village attorney Egan regarding expenses relating to the preservation of the building by the village. Comments from the Mayor regarding unfinished tasks before building is permanently sited. 
1:13:57 Mayor explains use of child labor at the siteOwnership transfer is approved.
1:14:28 second resolution regarding Carnegie library presented,  and discussed  regarding subdivision of the land upon which the library will be sited. Public hearing date set for 8/26/13. 
1:16:22 BID (Business Improvement District) report presented by Executive Director Dennis Smith covering a range of topics: pending store improvements, way finder sign program, extension discussion initiated by Trustee Crean regarding possible improvements to the sidewalk area in front of Burlington Coat factory store including improved street scape, sidewalk, plantings, and lighting. 
1:29:52 Chamber of Commerce report presented by Executive Director David Kennedy subjects include: position on parking meters, Great South Bay Music festival event, St. Liberata event, Pet Parade, and revised estimates for attendance at first Alive at Five event. 
1:36:57 Trustee reports begin with Trustee Krieger who begins with a report on the Patchogue theater….Part One video ends see Part Two for continuation of his comments and the remainder of the meeting.

Part Two Timeline

Video begins with continuation of Trustee Krieger’s comments that began on Part One of the two videos for this meeting. Discussion of plans to repair roof of some note.

2:55 Trustee Keyes reports: of note repairs to bulkhead at Mulford street
3:51 Trustee Crean reports: traffic signal and traffic concerns at North Ocean avenue discussed
7:42 Trustee Ferb reports: safety concerns for New Village discussed, progress of Riverwalk condo project also discussed
8:27 Trustee Devlin reports: new traffic enforcement near Ferry noted, Shapiro Plaza improvements discussed, Art Council show discussed, ARB (Architectural Review Board) appointment presented and approved. 
11:19 Trustee Hilton reports: approved plans for Pet Parade presented and discussed. Trustee Ferb raises issues about future parade approvals and discussion. Comment about employee contributions to their health plan, approval for Liz Kelly Run for the Sun benefit
23: 30 Public Portion begins when John Bogack asks Trustee Ferb about progress towards village plan to cooperate with FEMA to reduce flood insurance premiums. His response, offer of help then made. Charles Plesh comments about traffic concerns at Highland and Wilson streets, subsequent discussion about signage to control parking issues contributing to traffic issues.

Meeting is adjourned. 

In closing several last things. One all are reminded that village residents can contact by email Village trustees and the Mayor about any issue at any time by sending emails via the Village website at: www.patchoguevillage.org

Email options can be found there by looking up elected officials listed on the site. Two, the Board will not be meeting again until late August. The next video will be about the August 26th meeting.  It will take place at 6 p.m at Village Hall, an agenda for the meeting is usually posted the Friday afternoon prior to the meeting date. Public portion at the end of the meeting and residents will have the chance to address the Board about any concerns. Feedback always welcome to do so please email our site at: www.patchoguevillagecitizens.com/