Good afternoon.  I’d like to welcome our friends, colleagues, and concerned citizens who have joined us here today to discuss the state of our town and create this new era of open, honest, and responsive government.

Together we are on a journey – our collective mission is to reclaim the good name of our town.

As your Town Supervisor, I took an oath office 100 days ago to clean up this government and save your tax-dollars.

And after the first 100 days of this historic effort, I am proud to say that the state of our town is finally undergoing long-overdue transformation…In other words, the state of the town is improving.

I have kept my promise to you  – we’re starting to reclaim the good name of our town by ushering in a culture of competence. We’re putting people before partisan politics in order to replace the culture of corruption.

We’ve literally raised the standards for leadership in this town.  In this administration, it’s not about who you know, but what you know.

Our nonpartisan and merit based hiring approach has produced an outstanding management team – including the first ever bar association president to serve as town attorney as well as a key veteran of Steve Levy’s no nonsense budget team as finance commissioner.

They were selected from a talent pool that crosses all political and partisan boundaries.

As we undertake this mission to transform Brookhaven, our size and regional significance demands that we demonstrate our leadership by drawing on best practices from around the Island, State, and Nation.

Simply put, the State of our town government must become state of the art governing.

At its best, Town Government can harness its land-use powers to protect and preserve the things we all believe in so deeply.  It can be about thoughtful stewardship of our town – where we live, work, and keep our families together.  And it can help us keep that most uniquely American promise – that quality of life can improve from generation to generation. 

My father kept that promise to me by so often fighting a lonely fight on this Town Board in the hurly burly days of the 1960s.  Together, we can keep that promise to our children as well.

At its best, Town Government can do so much – and my friends, here in Brookhaven, the best is most certainly yet to come during this administration.

Already we’ve shown that the problems that once seemed so insurmountable here in Brookhaven, are just challenges that we can conquer together. 

-They said that a town the size of Brookhaven couldn’t do better than a no-bid insurance contract.  Working as a team, we proved what all of us here already knew – bringing in the best from around the nation saves money and makes a difference.

-They said we couldn’t get run-away projects like the Mastic Pool under control.  We rolled up our sleeves, got tough on the numbers, and today the contractors are back on the job.

That’s how we’ll solve these problems – one by one, working together.

At our inauguration, I called upon those who have stopped believing in the potential of town government to believe again and participate again.

Brookhaven, over the past 100 days, you have answered our call… literally.

Calls are pouring in to report problems that have for too long gone ignored and unsolved.

As my administration was only a few days old, a constituent appeared in our office with a problem: A neighbor had installed an outdoor furnace that was so powerful that it was smoking out the neighborhood – leaving residents with headaches, sore throats, and lung conditions. For years, no in Town Hall helped. Within months, my administration obtained an injunction to stop the burning.

I’m hearing from you at Soccer openings, Chambers of Commerce, Fire Installation Dinners, little league and community events from North Shore to South, East to West, and points in between.

Thank you for your calls, your letters, and for extending your hand in friendship and encouragement.

Your support strengthens our resolve for reform, just as the laughter of children who will have open space to play in lightens even our longest days.

As we undertake this journey of transformation, I know that together we cannot fail.

What we’re up against…

But friends, we must remember that great transformations do not occur overnight.

As I’ve said many times – 45 years of corruption and mismanagement cannot be turned around in 45 days, much less 100.

But rest assured, the days of one-party government by a corrupt partisan machine are over.

Make no mistake, there will be resistance to change, both within and outside of government, there always is.

At every step on the road to reform, the ousted remnants of the machine that sullied the good name of our town are determined to prevent our progress.

Exiled and no longer able to abuse power, they have retreated to their party headquarters. As we clean up their mess, they stew on the sidelines, issuing edicts of absurdity.

-They opposed our efforts to use transparency and accountability to repair the town pension budget line, which they raided to the tune of over two million dollars.

Their party chair told News 12 that 2 million dollars of overspending in the context of our budget was insignificant. Respectfully, we strongly disagree.

-Just as the machine fought our efforts to create council districts and thereby empower our communities, they are making the same mistake again – seeking to stop us from undertaking a real effort to keep the public involved and well informed.

-And when we kept our promise to move with deliberate speed to bring in a clean slate of managers determined to overhaul the town, they lobbed partisan grenades of griping.

Those of us who sit on this town council must never forget that in November the voters spoke clearly – calling for us to come to together to reject the discredited machine and undertake a nonpartisan effort to transform our town.

We can fulfill that promise by working together to represent our council districts rather than our partisan interests.

As I’ve said before, I do not consider the issues facing our town,  from cleaning our parks to paving our roads, to be partisan issues. So let’s come together and do things the right way.


What we’ve found so far...

We have built upon the efforts of the transition team – which brought together some of the greatest minds without regard to partisan labels.

Starting immediately after Election Day, my leadership team has spent November, December and the past 100 days working around the clock – keeping our promise to gather an honest assessment of our town government.

With a fresh perspective, we’ve asked the tough questions on issue after issue:

-How can things be done better?
-What are the most innovative approaches to our problems?
-Most importantly, we’ve refused to accept answers that begin with the phrase ‘this is how it’s always been done.’

The culture of corruption that has fostered mismanagement, and stagnation throughout town hall has cost our taxpayers too much money for too long.  And we must never, ever go back.

It is our responsibility to present to you the facts – they speak for themselves.|

I. Our finances have been mismanaged over a period of years.  Revenues from our landfill and mortgage receipt taxes have allowed a culture of waste and over-spending to develop with no oversight or accountability.

-Failures to provide project management have resulted in a lack of responsibility for administering large capital projects such as the Mastic Pool and the Rose Caracappa Center.

-As a result, capital projects have for too long been delayed and plagued with cost over-runs.

An eight hundred thousand dollar project became a six million plus project – 700% over-budget.

-Many department and division heads in the past were routinely told not to worry about budget constraints – spending went unchecked.  As a result, lines in the operating budget have often run into the negative.

-Across the town, we’ve found a proliferation of overtime costs and workers assigned to perform out-of-title work, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Friends, overspending comes at a price – to our town services, our priorities, and our tax dollars.

In a time of dwindling state and federal support, past overspending and two years of forgoing over 40 million dollars in revenue will force us to make tough choices in the months ahead.

And just as Steve Levy has shown the way in cleaning up Suffolk County’s finances, we will set firm priorities to protect our taxpayers.

-Immediately, our budget must be transformed.  Brookhaven deserves a transparent budget that includes mission statements, justifications for expenditures, and reporting on how funds have been spent in previous years.

This year I will submit for approval the kind of honest budget that Brookhaven has never had and has so long deserved.

Additionally, we will be submit Brookhaven’s first ever capital budget.  Projects will have narratives, timelines, and milestones.

Already, during these first 100 days we have begun to clean up our town’s finances and save taxpayer dollars.

A. First, we strengthened internal controls to create ACCOUNTABILITY.

Soon, New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s office will begin a risk assessment of our finances, in response to our concerns about corruption and mismanagement. We look forward to working with the Comptroller to strengthen our internal controls.

Just this afternoon we learned that a team will be here on the ground next week.  Thank you Mr. Hevesi!

- We’ve brought budget discipline to Town Hall.  Departments are no longer permitted to spend more than they have - a revolutionary concept here in Brookhaven.


B. Second, we’ve moved aggressively to save tax-dollars.

-We’ve ended five decades of no-bid insurance broker fees that in the past went to the politically well connected.

In a matter of weeks we hired a new broker and saved $1.3 million in broker and coverage fees in 2006.

This could easily have been done in any prior year. But it took the Foley administration to get it done.

- We intend to save $57,000 in pre-pay discount fees by paying the Town’s 2005-2006 NYS Retirement System bill on time, unlike last year’s raid on the pension budget line.
-All purchase requisitions are now examined not only for fund availability, but for necessity. 
The days lavish of spending are over.
-In the coming weeks, we will turn our attention to the proliferation of Town-owned vehicles and cell phones – save  taxpayer dollars.

C.  Third, we’ve created a management and budget office dedicated to bringing best practices to Brookhaven town operations.

-The management office is charged with infusing this Town Government with reforms that are transparent, provide measurable results, and enshrine professional, citizen focused service delivery.
-The management office is working to implement the innovative and award winning Service Stat approach that has saved millions of dollars for municipalities around the nation.
-Service Stat is a no-nonsense approach to rooting out waste, corruption, and mismanagement and ensuring responsibility and accountability.
-Over these first hundred days we’ve heard the frustrations of department after department – outdated technology prevents them from coordinating effectively to provide services, issue permits, and enforce town codes.
-In the buildings department, issues were still being tracked on index cards.  And throughout Town Hall, old-fashioned typewriters still line the desks.
Help is on the way!

-We’ve created a Grants Working Group to aggressively seek additional state and federal support for our efforts.  We’re professionalizing our effort to seek help dealing with the local consequences of federal failures on issues like immigration, emergency management, and homeownership.

-Finally, the management office is also creating a long overdue Standard Operating Procedures manual for town employees.
- New technology and procedures are being implemented across the town. Town Clerk Pam Betheil knows what is needed to bring Brookhaven government into the 21st Century: New computer software is being implemented in the Registrar and Licensing Offices to provide more efficient record storage.

- Conversion of paper documents to e-documents is underway for all aspects of the Clerk’s Office.

- The manual accounting of daily money collection has been computerized to meet state-reporting requirements.

- And multiple computer kiosks will be provided to the public to access minutes of meetings and work sessions, as another step in the process of opening up town government. Thank you, Pam for your dedication and leadership.

II.  We are keeping our promise to empower our town workers to do their jobs free from the fear and political intimidation that pervaded the culture of corruption.

Let me be clear – the great majority of our town workers are not the problem.  Working side by side, with union leaders and the rank-and-file, we will find solutions.

As I’ve said, here’s what I expect of our town workers.  When you enter town hall each morning, always ask yourself the following two questions:

1. What can I do today for the public?
2. What can I do today to improve the operations of my department?

We’ve begun a systematic listening tour aimed at harnessing the on the ground expertise of our workforce.

I’d like to focus in on a few departments that will soon be piloting the first elements of the Service Stat Process…

Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

A. PARKS
It was only a few short months ago that with yet another indictment we learned that one of the saddest costs of the culture of corruption is the state of our town parks.
The distracted and startling incompetence of the former management of the Parks
Department has created a series of challenges:
When we took office, I asked a simple question – exactly how many parks are in Brookhaven?  Amazingly, there was no answer.
-We must locate, count, and do a basic inventory of our town parks, because it has never been done before.

-We must set priorities for systematic park maintenance, renovation and reconstruction, because it has never been done before.
-And we must complete dangling projects and control spiraling costs that have not been controlled before.
We found the Parks Department buildings and grounds in shameful shape – the yard looked like it had weathered a natural disaster – with materials and debris strewn throughout.
Our roofs leak, our recreation centers are in dire need of repair, and far too many of our parks our not accessible for our handicapped residents.
One of the obvious examples of the consequences of poor management is that sometimes the simplest tasks are difficult to achieve. Something as straightforward as replacing our park signs has become bottled up in bureaucracy.
Over a period of years, the culture of corruption created a total absence of management and accountability.
In just under 100 days, we have begun to turn things around.

-Under the new leadership of Commissioner Brian Pratt and Deputy Commissioners Matt Roccio and Bill Shilling, we reorganized work crews to provide fair distribution of labor around Town.
-All parks and facilities, not just the favored few, will receive the attention they deserve.
-We’ve empowered our workers by undertaking a comprehensive training program.
-We’ve saved thousands of dollars in out of title costs by placing workers in the job titles that they actually perform.
-Our team has created a Work Order Tracking System to deploy our equipment where it is needed and make sure the jobs gets done on time and on budget.
-And I’m proud to say that we’ve implemented a systematic Parks Inspection Program.  Together we will evaluate and score the condition of every park.

On the North Shore, the leadership of Councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld has been instrumental in moving us toward the reopening of West Meadow, as we follow up on the park’s master plan.

And in the 6th Council District, where parks have historically been in a state of utter disrepair, Councilwoman Carol Bissonette has already toured every park, marina, and playground with Deputy Parks Commission Matt Roccio to set priorities.   Great work, Council-woman Bissonette!

B. BUILDINGS

Let’s turn our attention to the State of our Buildings Department.

It was less than one year ago that the former Chief Building Inspector departed with a dizzying 61-count indictment.

As we know, we bear the costs of that corruption in wasted tax-dollars and inefficiency.

-There were legendary long lines and frustrating delays for permit applicants.

-We found no procedure for following up on expired building permits and accessory apartment CO’s. Permits are simply allowed to lapse.

-We must toughen penalties for violating building codes, and crack down when violators build without permits, while making permits easier to achieve.

One of the costs of corruption is the inattention to the most basic quality of life concerns. Brookhaven residents deserve a government that does everything possible to protect the integrity of our neighborhoods. For too long, the town has evaded its responsibility for enforcing the code fairly and uniformly throughout the town.

- Fines for serious code violations are exceedingly low,
- Precious few of our inspectors work staggered shifts to protect our residents during non-business hours,
- Too often, Departments fail to cooperate when investigating quality-of-life concerns

From now on, they will have the support they need to concentrate our town resources to enforce our codes and protect our quality of life.

Under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner Kathy Meade, we have already begun what will be a systematic overhaul to bring our Buildings Department into the 21st century.

We are updating the Q-Welcome software to shorten wait-times, making an immediate impact.

Simply put, we’re working to create the kind of customer service experience that our residents deserve.

I want to thank our brave permit examiners who have endeavored to serve the public under difficult conditions.

C. Waste Management

In the department of Waste Management, we’ve hired FIA associates as an internal auditor to prevent corruption – because data does not lie. And we’re implementing Service Stat to maximize revenue and extend the life of the landfill.

The Town is also installing a gas treatment system at the landfill to reduce odors and lessen the impact of the landfill on surrounding communities.

And together with Parks and Highway, Waste Management is undertaking a program known as Operation Sparkle and Shine, an intensive effort to focus town resources on cleaning up areas traditionally under-served by town government. For years, Beverly Sanchez complained of a filthy and rat infested lot next door to her property. Within one day of calling our office, Waste Management responded and her complaint was attended to. Beverly is here today. Thank you, Beverly, for bringing that to our attention.


D. PLANNING:

We’re going to keep our promise to use community based planning to balance open space and economic development.
-When I was growing up, Brookhaven was a town of 90,000 residents. Today, we’re nearing half a million.   And yet under current zoning, Brookhaven has the potential to grow by another 200,000.
Our long ignored master plan has not been updated since 1996.
Our residents have spoken clearly – they do not want overdevelopment and poor planning to choke us with traffic and destroy our drinking water and precious open space.
As promised, we’re opening up the planning process to public participation every step of the way.
-We’ve formed a citizens’ advisory board to help us thoughtfully select outstanding individuals for the planning and zoning boards, and to help us conduct a national search for a visionary planner while hunting for a seasoned administrator to help reform the planning process
Already, we’re seeing the results of a more open process.

Councilwoman Connie Kepert has capped a four-year effort by spearheading the passage of the comprehensive land use plan for Coram, Middle Island, and Ridge.  The adoption of this plan is the beginning of the end for suburban sprawl in Brookhaven.

Thank you Councilwoman Kepert for making an immediate impact.

In addition, the Gordon Heights community recently underwent a Visioning process, the beginning stage in an effort to provide a commercial center to the community.  Among the participants was a woman named Hazel who has waited too long for her community’s to turn to decide its own future.

As we go out and listen to the public, we’re responding to community concerns by working on our vision of recreation centers and senior citizen centers throughout every region of the town.

And we’re working on downtown revitalization projects in every area of the town, creating vibrant communities even in unincorporated villages and hamlets.  Working with Councilman Tim Mazzei and the Village of Patchogue we are finding solutions to dredging and downtown revitalization efforts.

Under the leadership of Councilwoman Carol Bissonette, the effort to revitalize Neighborhood Road is underway, with business owners like Bob Stanzoni leading the way.
-Additionally, the Montauk Highway corridor in Patchogue is being studied.
-A moratorium is anticipated on the County Road 51 corridor in Eastport/East Moriches that is under intense development pressure.
-And I have to say that I’m proud to work with Council-woman Kathleen Walsh as together we undertake an historic Visioning process in Brookhaven’s critical spine – the Middle Country Road corridor in Selden and Centereach.

E. OPEN SPACE PRESERVATION

Since January, we’ve protected over 200 acres of open space across our town. In Rocky Point, we worked with Councilman Kevin McCarrick to purchase a 30-acre property adjacent to Rocky Point State Park and acquired the historic Woodhull House in Wading River.

Historic preservation is a long ignored but critically important piece of preserving the essential character of Brookhaven.

With the leadership of Councilwoman Bissonette, we’re moving forward on purchasing the development rights to Camp Paquatuck, and we stood up for farmers, like John Kennedy, and area residents by acquiring the Plisko farm.

And by working together with Suffolk County and local villages, we’re helping taxpayers get the most land for their dollars.

Our partnership with the County has resulted in the acquisition of over 6 million dollars worth of open space.  Much more needs to be done. 

And we know that protecting open space and developing the economic base of our town are not mutually exclusive.

F. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

We’re making great strides in making Brookhaven a great place to do business and we’re pursuing new job creation strategies.

-Our economic development team has set a new aggressive pace for the Empire Zone.  We’re on track to certify half as many businesses in 2006 this year alone as the town has reviewed in its entire history.

-We’re taking a fresh approach to problem solving.  Working cooperatively with various departments we were able to find a home for two large manufacturers – a Brookhaven business with 44 employees, and another growing manufacturer boasting 90 jobs with at least another 20 plus jobs on the way.

This year our efforts will bring hundreds of new jobs to Brookhaven.

-We have created a comprehensive Business Tracking System, which will enable us to know exactly what phase a project is in.

We are working with Chambers and Civics to create a Business Improvement District in Rocky Point, and I’m happy to say that Councilman McCarrick has joined our efforts.

We are happy to report that as of today we are going after code violators in our Empire Zone and will be taking one illegal sand operation to State Supreme Court to shut it down.
There is a sacred social contract with the community that has gone unfulfilled for too long.  In the past, not enough jobs have been created for communities near the zone.

We are implementing a workforce development Plan charged with providing access to job opportunities within the Town Of Brookhaven Empire Zone. By holding job fairs in historically under-served communities, partnering with the State and County Departments of Labor, and working with Empire Zone businesses, we will connect workers seeking employment with employers seeking workers.

We know that economic development is impossible if families and their children cannot afford to live in Brookhaven.  Nowhere is partnership and cooperation more important than in the task of keeping Brookhaven families together. That is why we are working together with Suffolk County Workforce Commission and other agencies to fast-track the construction of next-generation housing.

-To truly take advantage of economic development opportunities, we’re partnering with private Business, and Village, County, State, and Federal officials to bring the full force of government and private enterprise to the task of bringing jobs and opportunity to Brookhaven.

G. HIGHWAY

Continuing the most aggressive road-resurfacing program in our Town’s history, Superintendent Rouse and his Department will shortly begin the 2006 road- resurfacing season.

And we have taken action to ensure that contractors accused of criminal impropriety will not have business with the town.

Working with County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco and myself, Superintendent Rouse is implementing a Town-wide litter cleanup campaign.

We believe that a central element to cleaning up Brookhaven and reclaiming our good name is literally cleaning our streets.  Nothing is more damaging to a community’s self-image than streets littered with garbage.

Working together, we can clean our streets and safeguard our communities.
Superintendent Rouse is beginning a comprehensive effort to partner with local Civic and Chamber groups to identify, beautify, and maintain locations on our roadways throughout the town.

III. DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

In a town of our size, dozens of programs and departments are run without much recognition, but they are nevertheless critical to serving the needs of residents.

The Animal Shelter has commenced the investigation and persecution of acts of animal cruelty, and they handled one of the most difficult cases in its history with sensitivity and professionalism.

Thanks to the leadership of Commissioner Jim LaCarrubba, Calabro Airport was the first general aviation airport to reopen following the Blizzard of 2006. Our demonstrated commitment to professionalizing airport management has led to a restoration of good relations with the Federal Aviation Administration.  Thanks to the leadership of Commissioner LaCarrubba, the FAA has released nearly $500,000 for airport maintenance, with more help on the way.

With Councilwoman Kathy Walsh’s leadership, we are working on a local law finalizing a resolution to supplement the pay of Brookhaven employees who are activated for military duty.

 Brookhaven must do much more than the bare minimum when it comes to honoring the brave men and women who choose to serve their country.
In our Division of Traffic Safety, efforts are underway to install speed indicators in school zones to make our roads safer for drivers and pedestrians.
We plan to aggressively expand the installation of these very important devices.
And under the leadership of Commissioner Kevin Cronin and Deputy Commissioner Ed Sullivan, the department of Public Safety is bringing modern technology to its task of enforcing our code, including the imminent installation of live fingerprinting technology in Town Hall.

IV. COMMUNITY

In these first 100 days to assessing and refining the mechanics of town government.

-We’ve made sweeping changes, replacing the culture of corruption with a culture of competence.
-We’re endeavoring to infuse higher expectations for ethics in Town Hall.

We will:
- convene a select working group to review ways to strengthen and improve the ethics code with best practices from the county and around the nation,
- give Brookhaven an ethics board with unprecedented credentials,
- and focus on ethics training and enforcement, inviting our District Attorney to conduct trainings.

Now that we’re on the road to establishing accountability, it’s time to take the next step in opening up town government.

The mission of my second hundred days in office will be to make Town Government more community focused.

-We’ve already sought to create a sense of community in Town Hall by empowering our town workers.

-Starting from my first day in office when I greeted town workers in our lobby, my leadership team and I have been a visible presence in Town departments, working and eating side by side with our first class workers.

-As we continue our listening tour of departments, helpful suggestions have been pouring in from public servants eager to be part of transforming our town government.

I’d like to announce that this summer, at the suggestion of Christine Schroder, we’ll be holding our first town employees family picnic.  Christine is here, and we look forward to seeing her husband Bruce, who works in the Aviation Division, and their daughter Morgan at the picnic.  Thank you Christine for your hard work, your dedication, and your ideas.

Now we must bring the voices of our communities, too long ignored, into Town Hall.

-We’re establishing an office of community relations within the Public Information Unit.

-We’re working on enhancing our website capabilities to better communicate with the public.

Working together we can fulfill the promise of council districts to bring open, honest, and responsive government to Brookhaven.

It will take a truly community oriented effort to create the Brookhaven that we all deserve – a place where our beaches and shores are clean and secure, where our parks are a place for our children to play, where our communities have a sense of place, and where we can live, work, and keep our families together.

Ladies and Gentleman, after decades of stagnation, frustration, and corruption, the state of our town is starting the process of transformation. 
Already, the state of our town is improving.

We will reclaim the good name of Brookhaven…join us in this inspired effort.
Thank you.  God bless our country.  And God bless our town.