City Enters Contract With LKB Engineering

Dr. Maxine Mayreis appointed to Community Development Agency

The Glen Cove City Council commenced its first meeting of the year on Tuesday, Jan. 8, in the main chambers of Glen Cove City Hall. With a short agenda, the meeting was conducted swiftly, ending in about 30 minutes. Councilman Tony Jimenez was absent from the meeting.

Before getting down to business, Mayor Ralph V. Suozzi requested a moment of silence for those who have recently passed away, including Nunzio Izzo, Connie Stanco, Emily Finn, Mary Hultz and Naomi Sukman.

The council passed a resolution to enter into a contract with Lockwood, Kessler & Bartlett, Inc. for on-call engineering services in the area of solid waste management, environmental and municipal engineering, for a negotiated lump sum compensator or multiplier plus expenses. The resolution passed with a 4-1 vote; Councilman Anthony Gallo, Jr. voted no and Councilman Reggie Spinello abstained, stating, “I didn’t get to review it the way I wanted to.”

Dr. Maxine Mayreis was appointed to the Community Development Agency for a term effective Jan. 9 through Dec. 31of this year.

“Dr. Max is well-known and liked in the community, and we welcome her aboard,” said Suozzi.

Resident and Republican Committee Chairman Paul Meli was the only person from the public to address the council during the public comment period.

“Why isn’t the contract online?” he asked, also wondering why Dr. Mayreis’ name was not listed on the agenda under the appointment section. He referred to section 103 of the Public Officers (Open Meetings) Law that went into effect on Feb. 17, 2012, requiring that information to be available to the public.

The law says, “any proposed resolution, law, rule, regulation, policy or any amendment thereto, that is scheduled to be the subject of discussion by a public body during an open meeting shall be made available, upon request therefor, to the extent practicable as determined by the agency or the department, prior to or at the meeting during which the records will be discussed... If the agency in which a public body functions maintains a regularly and routinely updated website and utilizes a high-speed Internet connection, such records shall be posted on the website to the extent practicable as determined by the agency or the department, prior to the meeting.

Since the documents must be copied for council members, Meli contends there is no reason why it is not practicable to post on the website.

“We comply with the law,” said Mayor Suozzi.

Councilman Reginald Spinello added that the issue had been discussed and he had requested more information to be put onto the city’s website.

Meli also questioned the mayor about the annual water quality report, which was due on May 31, 2012, but has not yet been delivered. The city received a notice of violation in a letter dated Oct. 4, 2012, which states that the city could be penalized with fines up to $2,000 per day, per code violation, if the reports were not delivered by Oct. 31.

The mayor said he had not known the report was late until October, and then they were granted a deadline due to the hurricane. He said he did not expect the city to receive any fines for the tardiness at this point, and that the report would be sent out in the next few weeks.

The next city council meeting will be on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at City Hall.