water district

BY BRANDON DUFFY

A tense North Hempstead Town Board meeting Tuesday night saw a vote postponed to allocate $3.1 million from the town’s general fund to the capital fund for the Manhasset Sewer Conversion Project and reappointment of one member to the town’s Board of Ethics.

The four-and-a-half-hour meeting included an hour-long discussion centered around whether or not to wait for more information from the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District or show a commitment to the project and allocate the funds now.

North Hempstead Board of Ethics Chair Joseph Sciame was also reappointed to a four-year term ending on Dec. 31, 2026. Another resolution to appoint Rachel Fox, of Port Washington, was voted down 3-3 in a party-line vote, with Democrat Councilmember Mariann Dalimonte abstaining.

The 4-3 party-line vote to postpone the resolution to the March 14 meeting followed an original vote in which Democrats abstained before motioning to both reconsider the vote and postpone it.

Postponing the resolution keeps it on the agenda and can be voted on again at any meeting, as opposed to tabling it which would need a majority vote to bring it to the floor again.

“Allocating a portion of the town’s remaining ARPA funds to leverage the existing funds that are in place for the Manhasset Sewer Conversion Project will finally push it over the line to completion,” Republican North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said at the beginning of discussions.

Democrat Councilmember Veronica Lurvey said, along with the three other members of the majority on the board, that she is a longtime supporter of the project and wants to see its completion, but wants more answers to understand the specific amount of money left to complete the project, among other things.

Last year, state Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti (D-Port Washington) and then-state Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-North Hills) secured a $5 million grant for the project.

Lurvey said Tuesday night the dis-

Photo By Brandon Duffy

trict wrote a letter to the board saying after a financial analysis, the grant would likely be sufficient to cover the installation of a low-pressure sewer main for the commercial section of Plandome Road.

“This is a good project and the ARPA funds are uniquely suited for a project like this,” Lurvey said. “But there are still many unanswered questions about the project.”

Lurvey continued that a letter was sent to the district with a list of questions to answer ahead of a Feb. 6 meeting with members of the town board. The questions, she said, relate to the overall cost and funding of the project and the costs of businesses to connect, among other things.

“I really hope we can move forward, but I don’t think we are in the position to allocate the funds right now,” Lurvey said.

Concerns about the cost of maintenance for private septic tanks have been expressed by businesses along Plandome Road, with some claiming pumps have to be examined on a weekly basis.

Continued on Page 35

DISPLAY ADVERTISING: Steven Blank 516-307-1045 x201 sblank@theisland360.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Sue Tabakin 516-307-1045 x206 stabakin@theisland360.com

First trains to run to Grand Central East Side Access in full gear after

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

The Long Island Rail Road will begin running trains into Grand Central Madison Wednesday as part of the MTA’s East Side Access Project following the postponement of the December 2022 opening that had been promised for at least five years.

The first train will leave Jamaica at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday and is expected to arrive at Grand Central Madison by 11:07 a.m., officials said.

The ride will be the culmination of the $11.1 billion project that took 15 years to construct.

“People have been riding the railroad the same way for a long, long time now,” LIRR President Catherine Rinaldi told News 12. “This is going to provide a lot of options with respect to how people travel.”

In December the Metropolitan Transit Authority canceled the muchanticipated opening of the Grand Central Madison service, citing ventilation system problems and the need to conclude testing. The news was greeted with widespread disappointment and frustration.

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said a “counteracting air flow” prevented