Town Considers Using Consultants for Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans

The Town of Riverhead is considering hiring outside consultants to help lessen the load on town engineers, who must review stormwater runoff pollution plans for permits according to state regulations. Town Board members discussed charging applicants an extra fee to help pay for the consulting.

Supervisor Sean Walter said the regulations were created by the Department of Environmental Conservation, which passed the regulations down to the state who in turn charged local townships with covering the costs. Walter said he expects Governor Cuomo to "look into" lifting the responsibility back to the state. In the meantime, however, Walter said the SWPP is "a very costly program for us to run."

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio said she spoke to officials at the Town of Brookhaven to learn how they use outside consultants to help offset the extra work from SWPP regulations without having to hire more town engineers. Giglio reported the Town uses private engineers to do much of the work, leaving the town engineer to do invoice review and waiver requests.

However, Deputy Town Engineer Drew Dillingham was against the measure, saying that he and Deputy Town Attorney Dan McCormick spoke with Brookhaven officials and heard the opposite. Dillingham said the proposal would force him to check the consultants' work, adding more work for him to do.

Walter said Dillingham was misunderstanding his proposed role. "What I'm saying to you Drew is you're going to provide management oversight," he said. "Do you think I review everything you do?"

Giglio said the DEC audited Brookhaven recently and found that the consultants on the whole fulfilled the requirements. The only suggestion the EPA made was for the applicant to prepare a statement saying the SWPP meets the design criteria, which Giglio said the Town of Riverhead's proposal would already require. She added that most of the failures in SWPP regulations were on Brookhaven's town properties, not private construction.

To alleviate Dillingham's concerns over inadequate contracting, Walter suggested Dillingham hand-pick which consultant he trusted to work with. Since the contractor would be hired under a professional services agreement, a request for proposal wouldn't be required, town officials said. Dillingham quickly replied that Sidney B. Bowne & Son, LLP of Mineola would be the best choice. Walter added that a second consultant could be hired to handle subdivisions should applicants increase.

Walter said the town would "move forward once they [did] a bit more of their homework."