O’Side Sanitation gathers for contentious meeting

Posted

The Town of Hempstead Sanitation District No. 7 held another contentious meeting on Oct. 17. Tensions ran high both between board members and the crowd of roughly 30 townspeople. Voices were raised and people walked out as disputes between the board and sanitation workers boiled over into public view.

Commissioner Pat Doherty said he was upset with what he perceived as an attack on him in the contents of a letter from Chairman Ed Scharfberg that was printed in the Sept. 29 issue of the Herald. In the letter, Scharfberg disputes aspects of the 2017 budget submitted by commissioners John Mannone and Doherty as being fiscally unsound. Among them was a $7,500 increase in commissioners fees, which Scharfberg claimed he does not or has never taken. Doherty said he found it “offensive” that Scharfberg would suggest he wanted an increase in commissioners fees for himself. Scharfberg responded by saying he never intended it as a personal attack.

Scharfberg did question why commissioners Mannone and Doherty did not submit their budget plan to the auditors for review. Mannone responded saying he did not want to spend more money on auditors on what he thought was a fiscally sound budget proposal.

Continuing the board’s dispute over the 2017 budget, which passed three to two at the board’s Sept. 8 meeting, where four proposed budgets were considered, Treasurer Douglas Hernandez was upset that the audited budget that ultimately passed was entitled the “Treasurers Budget.” He claims that the agreed upon budget was put together through collaboration between board members and that its title unfairly put the blame for the unpopular budget squarely in his lap. Commissioner Mannone conceded that the title of the budget was an oversight and that Treasurer Hernandez was correct.

The proceedings temporarily quieted down as Chairman Scharfberg announced a collaboration with the Best Buddies program at the Oceanside Middle and High Schools to help children with disabilities. The chairman also announced that they were accepting a bid for a new recycling truck from Freightliner for roughly $112,000. Commissioner Mannone suggested it might be better to finance the truck instead of buying it outright. Scharfberg agreed to table the vote on the truck to look at financing options.

After the truck discussion, contractor H2M gave a presentation on status of the sanitation office back lot renovation. Chairman Scharfberg recused himself because he is currently an employee of H2M.Representatives from H2M announced that they had found 100 to 300 cubic yards of material contaminated with lead and mercury. Since it was not classified as a spill H2M will remove the contaminated soil and are considering where it will be disposed of.

After brief discussions on other pieces of unfinished business, the meeting became heated again with a tense discussion involving the role of district attorney Jared Kasschau. Commissioner Mannone questioned the Harris Beach attorney’s role. Kasschau clarified that he represents the district itself and that, “the scope of my services are outlined in the engagement letter.”

Following that tense exchange, the board addressed the thorny issue of providing state domestic partnership insurance coverage for sanitation employees. Commissioner Doherty was enthusiastic about the prospect of providing the coverage and pushed for a vote on the issue. Chairman Scharfberg was hesitant, saying that even thought he would like to provide the coverage, the board is under no obligation to recognize state regulations in this case and that he would like to more thoroughly look at the costs involved in providing the insurance. Vice Chairman Thomas Lanning questioned what would happen to the insurance when domestic partners broke up. These statements drew angry shouts from the crowd and at one point a sanitation worker walked out of the meeting.

A representative from the Local 854 Teamster’s Union gave the union’s official endorsement of the domestic partnership coverage. Retired Oceanside sanitation worker Joseph Samoles, who is a plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit against members of the board, used this opportunity to question the board’s decision of buying new trucks while not providing, “living wages” to sanitation workers. He was asked to leave by Chairman Scharfberg for speaking out of order and walked out of the room. Ultimately, Commissioner Mannone conceded that it might be best to table the vote for now until the financials were more thoroughly worked out.

Chairman Scharfberg reiterated his stance that the board cannot arbitrarily give raises, however he did say that the board would look at the workers’ contract in the coming months and try to address salary issues. The eight-year contract was signed in 2011.