PROMISES to POLICIES 4-19 -24

Promises to Policies

MESSAGE from the Mayor

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Promises to Policies!

In the spirit of keeping you informed and up-to-date about what’s going on at Village Hall, we’re issuing these status reports, as another way of helping you keep track of our progress.

In this issue, we look back on some of the major policy accomplishments and organizational changes we enacted this past winter and spotlight some of the high-profile projects and community events we carried out. We also take a look ahead at a few of the priorities and initiatives we’ll be advancing this spring.

Having the right people in the right seats is a hallmark of any successful organization. When I ran for Mayor, I promised to bring back key roles, like Senior Planner, and ensure we had the most qualified people leading our departments. I’m happy to report we’ve been fortunate in a racting high-caliber people to fill some of these important positions. Andy Freleng is now our Director of Building and Planning and Deirdre Ryan is our new full-time Senior Planner. We’ve also been very fortunate in retaining many of the dedicated administrators and sta who have been working on behalf of Village residents and taxpayers prior to this administration.

And speaking of ge ing the right people, Port Je ’s greatest asset is its residents, who are intelligent, engaged and passionate about doing what’s best for their community. Because we value your input, we created the Make a Di erence website, featuring 22 di erent volunteer commi ees, with more to come. It’s been a tremendous success so far, and there are still seats available for those who want to get involved and share their expertise. In the Making a Di erence section, we’ll feature a di erent one of these groups each quarter. is edition showcases the new Power Plant Working Group.

As always, our agenda will be informed by your priorities and concerns. Your feedback, suggestions and ideas are important to us and always welcome.

e Harborfront Park Walkway Restoration

e Park’s walkways had fallen into severe disrepair, posing a hazard for our residents and visitors, and creating a serious liability for the Village. Recognizing the necessity of replacing them sooner than later, we received an extension on a Town grant that had to be used by the end of 2023. e Park, which closed for the renovation in October, was set to reopen on January 1, 2024. But under the watchful supervision of Roger Corcella, our Value Engineer, the project not only came in under budget, but the entire park was completed exactly one month early, just in time for the Dickens Festival!  anks to this timely upgrade, we now have 8-foot-wide walkways, throughout the entire park, that are safer, smoother and ADA-compliant. We can also look forward to li le-to-no maintenance costs for at least 10 years.

ETHICS

PUBLIC SAFETY ETHICS

On January 31, 2024, the BOT adopted the replacement to Chapter 41 of the Village Code (Ethics, Code of), by a unanimous 5-0 vote. “ is update was long overdue,” said Mayor Sheprow of the Ethics Code, which was originally adopted in 1970 and amended only twice (in 1974 and 1992), since then. “It’s important that those of us who serve the Village have clearly delineated present-day guidelines we can follow, in order to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.” e revised code also provided for the creation of Port Je ’s first-ever Ethics Board. e BOT is currently in the process of reviewing applications from Village residents to fill the board’s five seats.

e proof of filing for the revised Ethics Code has been received from the NYS DOS. A Plain Language Guide to the new Code Chapter will be posted shortly.

FISCAL RESPONSIBLITY

anks to strategic budget initiatives, we will purposefully not pierce the tax cap this year, for only the second time in a decade! In fact, we will be coming in well below the amount allowed by the State.

Several Village departments have been reorganized for cost-saving e ciencies, by deploying resources from areas that interact. We also established the inaugural Budget and Finance Commi ee and created Chapter 7 of the Village Code to codify it. is new advisory group, which is spearheaded by Treasurer Stephen Ga ga, has been tasked with providing recommendations and assistance to the BOT in the preparation and review of budgets, as well as meeting with the auditors prior to adoption of the annual audit. e commi ee consists of five voting members, Willian Ga , Karl Jahnsen, CPA, Nicole Palumbo, Esq., Dr. Irene Rios-Knauf, Xena Ugrinsky and one alternate, Rene Tidwell. eir first assignment will be to review the Village Center rate schedule, which has not been updated in decades.

Harborfront Park Walkway

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

We restructured several village departments for cost-savings and greater operational e ciencies and engaged experienced people to lead them for increased productivity.

• e Parking administration has been delegated amongst the departments that work directly with respective operations. ese include the Treasurer’s o ce, Clerk’s o ce, Justice Clerk’s o ce, Planning, Public Works, and Code Enforcement.

• e role of Municipal Parking Administrator was discontinued and removed from the Village budget and payroll, saving taxpayers nearly $200,000 annually.

• e new Parking Commi ee has been installed under the auspices of the Business Improvement District.

• e Parks Department trailer, which had been situated next to the Red Barn in Kip Lee Park for many years, was relocated to the Public Works campus, at 88 North Country Road.

• e Parks Department is now operating under the auspices of the Department of Public Works and under the leadership of longtime Superintendent Steve Gallagher.

• Bi-weekly department head meetings have been initiated to foster greater collaboration and cost-saving e ciencies.

• e role of Village Prosecutor was decoupled from the Building Department for greater e ciency and to avoid the perception of any conflicts of interest.

HONORING TRADITION & HISTORY

e 27th Annual Dickens Festival

is was the first year the Greater Port Je erson Arts Council had complete autonomy over the event, a fresh approach made possible by Mayor Sheprow. In taking on the fundraising responsibilities, the Council welcomed major sponsors, such as Mather/Northwell Health, Stony Brook Medicine and Stony Brook University. is allowed them to expand the festival in ways not possible before. Arts Council President Allan Varela heard from Village employees that this was the “smoothest run festival” they’d ever seen and summed up the entire experience as “a seminal moment in building community.”

An Event to Remember

On December 12, 2023, we celebrated Home Rule, vis-a-vis the 60th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Village of Port Je erson.  e well-a ended event took place at the Village Center and showcased vintage photos, as well as a video that included reminisces from former Port Je Mayors. It also featured the Dedication of the Village Center Archive Rooms in honor of the late Ken Brady, for his immeasurable contributions to the Village’s history. “Ken worked tirelessly to preserve our history,” said Mayor Sheprow. “It’s only fi ing that we preserve his memory by naming the Archives room a er him.”

TRANSPARENCY

All BOT meeting agendas, including their supportive documentation, are now posted on the Village website days prior to each meeting, giving residents time to review them. We also post meetings for all the boards, BOT, Planning and Zoning on the website banner and social media, in the days leading up to them. Also found on the Village website (www.portje .com) are RFPs with Q&As, employment opportunities, and, for the first time, all monthly financials, financial abstracts and the annual year-end Independent Audit.

MAKING A difference

e new Power Plant Working Group was formed to explore innovative options for the future of the Port Je erson Power Plant, which is currently on a glide path to being decommissioned. In order to stave o this loss, the PPGW has been tasked with investigating some of the latest groundbreaking technologies available, with an eye to possibly repurposing the existing plant.

To that end, the PPGW hit the ground running, reaching out to major stakeholders, a formidable list that includes LIPA, National Grid, NYSERDA, Brookhaven Labs and Stony Brook University. ey have also been researching Federal and State grants and have already identified specific NYSERDA programs that could help fund initiatives they’ve been researching, like alternative mixed-use fuels and renewables.

e group, consisting of village residents, is chaired by Xena Ugrinsky, who has decades of experience in the utilities and power space. At KPMG, she was the national partner in charge of analytics, and worked with many of the nation’s top energy providers, such as Keyspan, Con Edison and PG&E. Ugrinsky sees great potential for the plant. “ ere are a lot of exciting breakthroughs in energy today, such as renewables-powered hydrogen production, which we’ll be examining. It’s my hope, we can find new strategies for the plant that will not only help protect the Village’s tax base but provide cleaner energy for our area.”

What’s Next?

One of our top priorities this spring will be to initiate a deep-dive analysis on both phases of the East Beach Blu project design, as well as the circumstances surrounding the ongoing erosion befalling the blu . On a parallel path, we plan to establish a citizen commission on erosion to look into how other Long Island communities are addressing similar issues and to help guide us on the best way forward for our Village.

We will also establish a new Steering Commi ee to look at and guide the evolution of the upland portion of the East Beach Blu , which we are a ectionately calling the Port Je erson Country Club North Campus project. Also related to East Beach, this administration will tackle the refurbishment of the planters (which serve as a highly e ective retaining wall) on the roadway down to East Beach. e working title for this initiative is “ e Beach Box Project.” Residents will have an opportunity to own their own box, designed with the guidance of Parks Department Assistant Labor Crew Leader Brian Rowe, to ensure that the Beach Box vigne es are drought, deer and otherwise resistant and resilient.

e Village will coordinate with the Conservation Advisory Council and the Conservancy to advance this initiative and the opportunities residents have to own a box of their own for the cost of the plantings. Mayor Sheprow will be the first to dedicate and own a box on behalf of the Sheprow family. Several options are available and o cial news of the Beach Box Project is forthcoming. e