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| Foley: State of Town a State of Reform
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Foley: State of Town a State of Reform
Supervisor Outlines Achievements, Goals, Including CPF
MARCH 6, 2007, FARMINGVILLE, NY--Brookhaven Town Supervisor Brian X. Foley outlined a long list of achievements in his first year in office, and outlined an ambitious set of goals for the coming year in his State of the Town address today at Town Hall in Farmingville.
The Supervisor described the State of the Town as a “State of Reform.”
“Simply put, the Town of Brookhaven is in a State of Reform,” Supervisor Foley said. “In our first year, we brought forward an historic reform agenda. We made great strides in fulfilling the public’s mandate to clean up government and safeguard our tax-dollars.
“We delivered an honest budget that put our finances on the road to recovery. We are protecting our environment, preserving open space, and working to halt sprawl while promoting thoughtful well-planned development. We are implementing a no-nonsense approach to enforcing our town codes that is producing real results. And we are bringing smart government reforms to Brookhaven that have already saved millions of taxpayer dollars while improving services.
“This first year has been a whirlwind of reform, replacing stagnation with progress, and asking the tough questions in order to produce results.”
The Supervisor enumerated a long list of accomplishments (see accompanying documents for a full list), including the institution of ServiceStat, reforming the Building Department, and increasing code enforcements efforts to address quality of life issues.
On the environmental front, Supervisor Foley said that with unanimous bipartisan support his administration had saved an unprecedented amount of open space and farmland, over 1,000 acres. But now with the 2004 $100 million bond act entirely expended or committed, a new funding source for the “next generation of open space funding” is needed, Supervisor Foley said.
Supervisor Foley said that “next generation” of funding would come through a Community Preservation Fund. He announced that a task force is working to draw up the specific CPF proposal that will be put on the ballot this November. The task force includes members of environmental, civic and business groups, as well as governmental leaders, and its aim is to bring all stakeholders to the table to draw up a CPF proposal that would have strong bipartisan support.
“The vision of Supervisor Foley and the Town Board to implement a CPF is critical to the future of land preservation in the Town of Brookhaven,” said Josh Horton, chairman of the League of Conservation Voters of Suffolk County. “His bipartisan approach to a CPF will lead to its success.”
The other initiatives the Supervisor outlined for the coming year are outlined in the documents accompanying this release.
“The reforms that Brian Foley has been pursuing to make government more effective and accountable are vital for the future of Brookhaven,” said Congressman Tim Bishop. “I look forward to continuing to work with Brian to make sure that government,whether local or national, serves the people. That is a priority that Brian and I both share.”
“I am proud to be working together with Supervisor Brian Foley as a partner in reform," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. “Supervisor Foley has things moving in the right direction on the major issues that are confronting the citizens of Brookhaven today, and has laid out an ambitious- and achievable - vision for the future.”
“Supervisor Foley has done an excellent job of tackling the challenges presented to him when he took office,” said Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco. “He has effectively changed the way that Brookhaven Town government operates.”
“We have made exciting progress in the past year in reforming Brookhaven Town government, and we have many exciting initiatives planned for the coming year,” said Supervisor Foley. “We are in a State of Reform, reform that will bring better service and open, honest and responsive government to the people and restore the good name of the Town of Brookhaven.”
“I'm proud to have been a part of saving taxpayers money and time through reforms such as competitive bidding of our town's insurance needs and instituting the new resident hotline and ServiceStat ‘data driven’ management of our town,” said Town Councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld. “These are stellar examples of what we meant when we promised reform of town hall. Our insurance reform is projected to save taxpayers nearly $7.9 million from 2006 to 2008 and with the new Constituent Response System and ServiceStat we expect a quantifiable streamlining of the response time and quality of the town's response to our residents concerns.”
“This year we have made great strides in preserving important parcels of open space, stopping the destructive march of suburban sprawl, and creating mixed use pedestrian oriented centers,” said Councilwoman Connie Kepert. “The future holds great promise for continuing that important work.”
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Office of the Supervisor
One Independence Hill • Farmingville • NY 11738 • Phone (631) 451-6955 • Fax (631) 451-6677 |
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Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 (Archive on Monday, December 31, 2007)
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