Town Board can’t agree on Plandome Rd. plans

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“ARPA refers to the Clean Water Act on what is eligible and not eligible,” Chiara said.

If approved, DeSena said business owners can get subsidized up to a certain amount to connect to the sewer, speeding things up and making sure Plandome has to only be opened up one time.

A similar method was used in Sea Clif last year, where 230 property owners were ofered up to $7,500 in county recovery funds to connect to the village’s enlarged sanitary sewer system.

Chiara clarifed the county and state received CARES Act funding, while the town did not.

During the meeting, DeSena appeared to end her battle with town Democrats over the appointment of a town comptroller, withdrawing her nomination of John Morris to the post. The appointment had been rejected by town Democrats in December.

Lurvey said she and DeSena had agreed to interview a fnalist for the position.

In December, a resolution to appoint Morris, a former Smithtown comptroller with over 15 years of municipal accounting experience, was rejected.

Morris has previously served as treasurer for the Villages of Mastic

Beach and Westbury and director of fnance for the town under Supervisor May Newburger from 1998 to 2001.

Dalimonte, a Democrat, cited a Newsday article that reported Morris was not re-hired as the Smithtown comptroller and that council member Robert Creighton said his term “didn’t work out to our satisfaction” before she voted no in December.

Morris told Newsday this week he lost his Smithtown post for political reasons.

DeSena also reported that the town has $1.2 million in deposits with Signature Bank, which was shut down by state regulators earlier this week.

“We have no reason to believe that these taxpayer funds are in jeopardy in any way, but since the story broke I have taken the proactive steps to direct our comptroller’s staf to explore our options to move the money out and into another designated depository,” DeSena said.

Signature and Silicon Valley Bank in California both had their assets seized by regulators after depositors hurried to withdraw money after fear and concerns over the banks’ health.

DeSena said getting a comptroller has been a major focus of her administration, especially in light of the near collapse of Signature Bank, in which she said the town has had a restricted reserve fund since 2010.