SENATOR FLANAGAN SPONSORS EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS MEETINGS

In an effort to help residents prepare for emergencies, Senator John Flanagan (2nd Senate District) recently joined with a number of public agencies to host three community preparedness seminars.  The three seminars, which offered residents helpful tips and information, were held at the Kings Park Fire Department, the Lake Ronkonkoma Fire Department and the Half Hollow Hollow Hills Library in Dix Hills.

 The meetings were arranged by Senator Flanagan’s office to provide those in attendance with useful tips for preparing for and recovering from both natural and man-made emergencies. The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services’,Office of Emergency Management, led by Regional Director Ted Fisch, opened the informational meetings by providing the community with an overview of the organization’s statewide coordination efforts.  This included an overview of the state’s role in tracking oncoming storms and working with other agencies to prepare for any emergency.

The agency’s presentation was complemented at each meeting by representatives from the Long Island Power Authority, the Suffolk County Red Cross, and the Suffolk County Office of Emergency Management.

As with SEMO, each agency’s representative provided those in attendance with an overview of their role in emergencies and helpful tips on emergency preparation.

While each presenter provided the audience with specific information about their organization’s role, they also provided the audience with an outline of how they work together. Some of the key ideas that were discussed by the presenters included:

      * How to prepare an emergency preparedness kit for your home in case you are forced to “shelter in place” without electricity, heat or water fora number of days.  According to the experts at the seminar, if a severe emergency were to impact our area, residents should expect to be on their own for approximately three days;

     * How to prepare a “GO” bag and implement a family communications plan in case you need to leave your home as a storm approaches or in its immediate aftermath;

     * How and when to evacuate safely and how to find information about open shelters since the opening of shelters is contingent on the type of emergency facing the area.  According to the officials at the meeting, since some shelters are designed for hurricanes while others are designated for other emergencies, it is essential that residents check with Suffolk County to determine which shelters are open.  Residents can find out the open locations of shelters by visiting the County web site at suffolkcountyny.gov and searching for emergency shelters or by calling the Suffolk County Office of Emergency Management at 631-852-4900; and

     * How to care for vital personal information to make recovering from emergencies easier.

  “These meetings are a great way to get essential information to the public before our region faces an emergency and I thank all the organizations for their assistance.  I hope that everyone who attended one of these meetings will put the tips provided to good use for their family’s safety,” stated Senator Flanagan.  “It is clear that being prepared is the best defense in case of an emergency and that working together will be a key to our joint recovery.”

 Any resident who was unable to attend the meetings but who would still like the information provided should visit www.senatorflanagan.com and click on the Emergency Preparedness link on the home page to access useful information and important links.  This site includes important preparedness tips, links to key emergency organizations and a full description of the essentials for a home supply kit.

Residents may also call Senator Flanagan’s office at 631-361-2154 for printed copies of the informational brochures and other materials that were available at the meeting.

Town Parks Department Makes A Splash

By Erica Jackson

On any given day of the summer, local kids can be found cooling off at the Town of Smithtown’s splash park at Hoyt Farm in Commack.  Parents sit in the shade as their children frolic though a maze of sprinklers that spit and dump water.  The park has become so popular that the Town of Smithtown has decided to construct two more similar parks.

“We found we needed splash parks at the other ends of town,” said Chuck Barrett, deputy director of the town’s park department.  

The first of the new splash parks is located on the grounds of the Nesconset Armory, which will also soon be home to the new Nesconset Library. The splash park, says Barrett, has been up and running now for about a month.

The new splash park sits among several sports fields, a playground, a roller hockey rink, and skateboard area. While the new splash park is not as large as the one at Hoyt Farm or has as many structures that dump water, it still brings in the kids, says Barrett.

According to Barrett, the town opted not to replicate the Hoyt Farm splash pad at Nesconset because of a fear of vandalism.  Barrett explained that Hoyt Farm is “more secure” than the Nesconset park.  Aside from being fenced in, Hoyt Farm also houses a tenant who keeps watch over the grounds.

Still, the Nesconset splash pad cost the town $45,000.  Funded through the parks department budget, the splash park was constructed by the town’s parks department employees with the splash mechanisms purchased from a Missouri-based aquatics company. 

The park itself, said Barrett uses 180 gallons of water a minute at full-capasity. However, the park is equipped with mechanisms that only release water when children press them, setting off a sequence of water splashes.  While the water can not be reused without a filtering system, Barrett said is sent though a piping system to irrigate a portion of the grounds at the park.

The same is expected to be done at the town’s third water park, which is currently being constructed in Moriches Road in St. James.  That park will be ready for next summer and will be similar to the Nesconset splash pad.  The cost for that park is expected to me the same as the Nesconset Park — $45,000.

Aside from the splash pad, the St. James park also features new synthetic fields that the town purchased for $650,000.  The fields says Barrett, require no town maintenance are are expected to last long past their 8-year warranty period.

“All the school districts are starting to install the synthetic fields as well,” said Barrett.  “While it is a substantial cost in the long run there is no maintenance.”  Especially on the soccer fields, noted Barrett. Those fields, he said, require constant maintenance.

In other park news, the town, in conjunction with the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce, recently constructed a new pocket park in Kings Park. It features pavers, benches and a kiosk.  “People can now sit down and enjoy the town with friends,” said Barrett.  In addition, the town recently installed a playground at the former St. Anthony property on St. Johnland Road.  Barrett does not expect that much more will be added to that park, he said, “We are limited to what we can do there because it was purchased as open space.”

Chris Cox Campaign Out-Raises Both Republican Opponents

Smithtown, NY —  The latest FEC Pre-Primary filings are proof positive that the negative campaigns directed against Chris Cox, the real conservative Republican in the NY-1 House race, have failed to stop his growing momentum with less than two weeks to Primary Day.

The Chris Cox campaign raised $103,136 for the filing period, nearly double that of his closest competitor, Randolph Altschuler.

On the heels of a resounding legal victory paving the way for Chris Cox to gain the Conservative Party line via a grass-roots Opportunity to Ballot primary, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings demonstrate that Team Cox is gaining not just volunteers and committed voters, but their hard-earned financial support.

“We definitely have the resources to wage a winning fight for both the Republican and Conservative nominations,” declared Cox.

 “We will win this race on the issues,” Cox continued.  “Victory this year has never been about matching, dollar-for-dollar, the special interest money received by the liberal incumbent, nor my opponent’s fortune that was amassed by sending American jobs overseas.  Nevertheless, I am gratified by all the contributions, small and large, that continue to pour into our campaign by voters seeking a conservative leader they can trust.” 

Republicans, Conservatives, and patriots in the Tea Party movement, including the Suffolk County 9-12 Project and the Conservative Society for Action, are uniting to ensure the defeat of liberal incumbent Rep. Timothy Bishop, a man out of step with the overburdened taxpayers of Long Island.

“I will be an Ambassador for job creation on Long Island and Suffolk County’s toughest defender in our Nation’s capital,” said Cox.

Motorcycle Accident on Indian Head Road Kills 21 year old

Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are investigating a motorcycle crash that killed a 21-year-old Lake Grove man.

 Richard Anzalone was operating a 2008 Suzuki motorcycle southbound on Indian Head Road when he hit a curb and lost control of the vehicle in front of 2 Indian Head Road, Commack, at approximately 11:45 p.m. on September 2.  Anzalone, who was travelling at a high rate of speed, was ejected from the motorcycle and was found in the parking lot of Christ the King Church, located at 2 Indian Head Road, Commack.Anzalone, of 20 Mosby Drive, was transported via Suffolk County Police helicopter to Stony Brook University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The motorcycle was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing.

Friendship clouds bid process - Town Of Smithtown

by David Winzelberg

“Hi Jesse, he’s not in yet.”

That’s Marlene Wolke answering the phone at the supervisor’s office in Smithtown on a recent morning.

Wolke was referring to her boss, Patrick Vecchio, and she was speaking to Jesse DeAlmeida, who with his brother Al owns Nesconset-based Jadeco Construction, one of the town’s most prolific vendors.

No surprise that Wolke, like many employees in town hall, is on a first name basis with DeAlmeida. He’s spent a lot of time there, and with the longtime Republican supervisor himself, in town offices and on the golf course, at restaurants and at each other’s homes.

Vecchio has also been a guest at DeAlmeida’s condominium in Florida.

“That has nothing to do with his bidding for jobs,” Vecchio told Long Island Business News. “I’ve been friends with him for 30 years.”

Cementing a relationship

Friendship aside, Jadeco has virtually owned the sidewalk and curb work in Smithtown for at least the last decade, according to records obtained by LIBN through a Freedom of Information Law request.

Between 2004 and 2009, Smithtown put out four contracts to bid for handicapped-accessible ramps, curbs and sidewalks totaling about $2 million. Not only did Jadeco win all of those bids, but it subsequently billed the town more than $15.5 million for concrete work done during that time.

The cost difference? The bids were for “requirement contracts,” which allow a vendor to supply its services on an “as needed basis,” according to Smithtown purchasing director Joe Kostecki. The amount of work offered in such bids is an estimate, he said, and the town reserves the right to order more, less or none at all.

In Jadeco’s case it was always much more.

That appears to violate, or at least circumvent, the town code, which says that “all public works contracts over $20,000 shall be formally bid pursuant to General Municipal Law.”

It clearly defies the intent of the law, which was designed to eliminate favoritism and provide an even playing field for companies that want to compete for town work.

In other Long Island towns, requirement contracts are generally used for small jobs that pop up unexpectedly during the year.

“Large jobs that are planned and are in excess of $20,000 should be bid out,” said the supervisor of another Long Island town.

Though Smithtown’s code mandates that the town seek at least three bids for public works projects, Jadeco only faced one other company in winning a bid for building handicapped-accessible curb cuts and ramps in August 2004. The town board also extended Jadeco’s contracts at least three different times, avoiding putting additional sidewalk work out for bids, records show.

In fact it’s been pretty tough for any other concrete company to get work from the town of Smithtown, a reason many firms don’t bother.

“I haven’t looked for work in the town because it’s almost impossible to get in,” said Manny Dias, an owner of M&D Concrete in Selden. “They’ve got their own boys.”

Easy payment plan

Jadeco’s special relationship with the town has certainly helped the company’s cash flow. While the town code specifically instructs vendors to allow two to three weeks for approval of purchases, Jadeco usually bills the town

before it even receives a purchase order to do the job. For example, Jadeco gave the town’s highway department a $156,155 invoice dated June 22, 2007 for repairing and replacing curbs at the Hauppauge Industrial Park. The town issued the first purchase order for the work a week later, on June 29.

Smithtown comptroller Anthony Minerva admitted that it’s not supposed to work that way.

“They don’t always do what you want them to do,” Minerva said.

Although vendors usually wait at least 30 days to receive payment from the town, Jadeco routinely “hand-walks their invoices” into town hall so they can get paid on the spot, according to Minerva.

Jadeco was paid $44,196 on Nov. 3, 2004 for a town purchase order dated the same day. The company also got a check for $131,805.40 on Dec. 15 that year, which covered previous work but also a $96,453.35 town purchase order issued the same day.

Not only did Jadeco get paid quicker than other vendors, records show it never gave the town the 1 percent prompt payment discount the company promised when it successfully bid for concrete work in 2003.

Satisfied customers

Former Smithtown Councilwoman Joanne Gray said she had questioned other councilmen and department heads about Jadeco’s apparent stranglehold on the town’s concrete business.

“They told me that they were satisfied with Jadeco’s work,” Gray said.

That satisfaction totaled $11.4 million for concrete work in 2007 through 2009.

“The town has been very proactive with sidewalks,” Vecchio explained.

Asked about his firm’s domination of the town’s concrete work, Jesse DeAlmeida dismissed his friendship with the supervisor as a factor.

“It’s got nothing to do with me knowing anybody,” DeAlmeida said. “Unless I’m the low bidder I don’t get anything.”

In fact, according to the records furnished LIBN, Jadeco has never lost a bid for concrete work in Smithtown. Town records show the company was the low bidder for concrete work in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. Although the town didn’t bid out concrete work in 2006 and 2007, Jadeco’s contracts were extended and the company billed Smithtown more than $5 million in those two years.

Meanwhile, Vecchio is a frequent guest of DeAlmeida at the Smithtown Landing golf course, where they’re often spotted together on Saturday mornings. Besides vacationing at DeAlmeida’s place in Florida, Vecchio also enjoys dining with Jesse and Al at such Smithtown-area eateries as Sempre Vivolo and Casa Rustica.

Just dinner out with old friends, according to Vecchio.

“That has nothing to do as far as them bidding for work is concerned,” he said.

(Copyright 2010 Long Island Business News)