Town Hall Notes: Cost Overruns on Stimulus Project Exceed $70k

A representative of the engineering company designing a for which local officials won federal stimulus money over two and a half years ago announced to the Town Board that increased regulation of federal funds has resulted in more than $70,000 in cost overruns.

Vincent Corrado, of Dunn Engineering, that "because of the increased level of analysis, we needed to bring in an environmental consulting firm," that firm being Stony Brook-based EEA, Inc.

Environmental analyses must be performed to see which permits the town needs to get from the State Department of Environmental Conservation, the conduit through which the federal dollars are flowing.

"With scrutiny of things like the Bridge to Nowhere, the feds have put more control over their money," Corrado said at Thursday morning's work session. "They're not giving it out willy-nilly."

Up to the town, Corrado said, is to determine whether or not those environmental studies are reimbursable with the grant money it was awarded through the stimulus funding.

In addition to the studies the town will still have to pay for the DEC permits which may be required following the analyses.

Walter added that should the funds not be reimbursable, the amount to pay for the studies and permits would likely have to be cut from the project.

"The Town of Riverhead is not in the position to spend another $100,000," he said. "If we need to scale the project back, we need to scale the project back."

Recreation Department Looking to Add Online Payment System

Recreation Department Superintendent Ray Coyne said with the added revenue his department is seeing this year, he's looking to add an online payment system for users of the rec department's programs.

After attempting to put the quarterly booklet of program offerings online last year, the department saw a drop in participation, "way over 50 percent," he said. Though if residents can receive their booklets through the mail, and pay online, Coyne said he believes participation will continue to rise.

Coyne said that after going out to bid, the cost of installing the system would be roughly $18,000. In addition, the town will purchase a dedicated server - estimated to cost $3,000 - to separate the recreation department payment system from the town's internal, existing server. Lastly, an annual support fee of $4,500 would cover glitches and upgrades to the payment system.

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio suggested before signing anything, the town look into "piggy-backing" from Suffolk County's online payment system for recreational programs, which Coyne said he would look into.

Highway Department to Clean up Sump Pumps

With roughly 75 sump pumps around town that "haven't been cleaned in years," Highway Department Superintendent Gio Woodson asked the Town Board to consider using $250,000 in general fund reserves to start the process of cleaning them up.

Supervisor Sean Walter agreed that the process should be started, though he was hesitant to give a yes or no without first consulting the town's financial administrator.

"Maybe if the town agrees to release a certain number in reserves, we could do five to 10 sumps a year," Walter suggested.

Woodson said that after doing some homework, it could cost the town $5,000 to $6,000 to clean a sump, however costs could escalate up to $25,000 for hidden and overgrown sumps.

Woodson added that he has roughly $2 million in his own fund's reserves, though, "I have other priorities too. I have to keep so much in there, and this is a team effort."