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Charles Lefkowitz

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Crew members excavate a trench in Huntington to install 4,600 feet of new ductile iron water main. Photo courtesy Suffolk County Water Authority

By Samantha Rutt

In a bid to enhance water service reliability and meet the growing demands of its customers, the Suffolk County Water Authority has embarked on a substantial water main replacement project in Huntington. The project, currently underway near West Main Street, involves replacing over 4,600 feet of old, undersized water main with a larger ductile water main.

The new 12-inch main is poised to significantly improve water flow in the system, allowing SCWA to deliver a more dependable and efficient service to its customers in the area. SCWA Chairman Charles Lefkowitz emphasized the importance of maintaining the integrity of the water main system, particularly during the winter, which experiences the highest incidence of water main breaks. 

“During the winter, we see the busiest time of the year for water main breaks. Being proactive and replacing aging infrastructure ensures that we can reliably serve our customers with high-quality water without interruption,” Lefkowitz said in a statement. 

He explained the proactive approach of replacing aging infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted access to high-quality water for customers.

“Our water main system is one of the most important parts of our infrastructure, making it crucial for SCWA to ensure its structural integrity,” Lefkowitz said.

The significance of this project is amplified by its location in one of Huntington’s busiest areas. West Main Street, a bustling thoroughfare that hosts numerous businesses, restaurants, residences and the renowned Paramount theater, attracts many visitors daily. Ensuring a robust water distribution infrastructure in this area is essential in minimizing the risk of main breaks and water service disruptions.

“The part of Huntington in which this project is taking place is one of the village’s busiest areas, making this project especially important to our residents,” Lefkowitz explained.

The project, which is expected to be completed by mid-February, aligns with SCWA’s commitment to providing water that can be trusted and service that can be relied upon. It reflects the authority’s dedication to modernizing infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of its customers while ensuring the continued prosperity of Huntington’s vibrant community.

Residents and businesses alike can look forward to a more resilient water system that supports the thriving energy of West Main Street and SCWA’s ongoing efforts to deliver water service to the Huntington community.

As the project progresses, SCWA plans to continue to keep the community informed about any developments or potential disruptions, prioritizing transparency and collaboration throughout the process.

For more information and updates on the water main replacement project, residents are encouraged to visit SCWA’s official website (www.scwa.com) or contact their local SCWA office.

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Suffolk County Water Authority Board Chair Charles Lefkowitz, at podium, urges residents to adjust their watering patterns. Photo by Raymond Janis

By Raymond Janis

[email protected]

Tucked away on 5th Avenue in Bay Shore, just south of Sunrise Highway, lies the heart of the Suffolk County Water Authority’s operations.

Data streams into this control center around the clock, funneling information from each of the water authority’s myriad wells and pumps from Melville to Montauk. Amid these summer months, that data indicates Suffolk residents are overloading the system through excessive water consumption.

SCWA officials held a press conference at this site Thursday, July 13, sending a singular message to Suffolk County residents: Conserve water.

“We’re pleading to the public at this point to conserve,” said Charles Lefkowitz, chair of the SCWA Board. “We need all the residents to participate in these conservation efforts.”

Lefkowitz attributes the problems with overpumping primarily to irresponsible irrigation practices. “It starts with the irrigation systems,” he said. “Lawns do not need to be watered every single day.”

Joe Pokorny, deputy CEO for operations at SCWA, indicated that county residents are pumping 500,000 gallons per minute during peak irrigation periods during this summer season. By contrast, peak levels are around 100,000 gallons per minute during non-irrigation months.

“This time of year, people are using about five times as much water during the peak as they would in the off period,” he said.

He added that if residents en masse do not begin to curtail their water consumption, they may begin to experience issues with water pressure. This phenomenon impacts those on the East End most markedly.

“When demand outstrips supply, our tank levels fall,” the deputy CEO noted. “When our tank levels fall, the pressures in our system go down. And if the pressure in your water system goes down, the people that are irrigating are not going to get much irrigation on their lawns at all.”

To counteract these challenges, SCWA is encouraging residents to adopt an odd-even watering pattern, that is, irrigating their lawns every other day. 

“This will theoretically divide up the water usage by half,” Pokorny indicated. “That will then allow more people to water during those periods … and they will have green lawns as a result.”

But the problems associated with overconsumption continue beyond the front lawn. With too much stress on the tanks and diminished water pressure, there could be public safety repercussions as well.

“If firefighters need to fight a fire and a water tank is low, that means there’s less water available for fighting fires,” he added.

Along with the odd-even irrigation schedule, Lefkowitz implored residents to avoid watering during the peak hours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The SCWA Board chair also announced that it has instituted up to $250 per year in “water credits” for residents who use rain sensors, irrigation timers, leak detection and compliant faucet heads.

To learn about SCWA’s water credits program, visit www.scwa.com.

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The Suffolk County Legislature has appointed John M. Porchia, III of Wading River to the Board of the Suffolk County Water Authority. The unanimous vote came at the June 6 general meeting of the Legislature. He will serve the remainder of a five-year term that expires on May 28th, 2027. The seat was vacated by Charles Lefkowitz when he was appointed as Chairman of the SCWA Board.

“I am honored to be chosen by the Legislature to serve in this important position and am excited to get to work, serving the customers,” said Porchia. “We live in a great place that I am proud to call my home. We need to keep Suffolk County affordable for everyone and maintaining the already very low rates on our water bills is a part of that. I also know there are huge tasks ahead for SCWA to keep our water free of contaminants and protect our aquifer for future generations. I plan to bring my experience and knowledge to help tackle those challenges.”

Porchia is a practicing personal injury attorney with 20 years of experience. He specializes in motor vehicles accident, premise liability and job site accidents. 

“John is going to bring an important perspective to the SCWA Board with his extensive experience,” said SCWA Chairman Lefkowitz. “He has a record of success throughout his professional career, and I am confident he will bring that skill with him to SCWA. I look forward to seeing his contributions to the organization.”

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Matt Cohen

The Three Village Chamber of Commerce will welcome Matt Cohen, President and CEO of Long Island Association (LIA) as the speaker of the upcoming luncheon at the Three Village Inn, 150 Main St., Stony Brook on Nov. 17 at noon. Registration for this event is required — $35 prepaid, $40 at the door.

This is the first time Cohen will be speaking before a Chamber of Commerce and their members in his role as President & CEO. The Three Village Chamber has invited the following surrounding chambers—St. James, Miller Place, Smithtown, Port Jefferson, Terryville—and their members to attend the event as he discusses the current economic view for small businesses.

Cohen will discuss how the LIA supports small businesses as they continue to navigate impacts from the pandemic, including sharing resources like grants and loans, holding workshops, providing information on New York State and Federal policies, and holding joint webinars with experts. Cohen will also talk about the LIA’s vision as we head into 2022 and take questions from small business owners to learn more about their current challenges and successes.

“We are pleased that Matt Cohen has chosen us as the first chamber to discuss their expanding programs,” said Charles Lefkowitz, President of Three Village Chamber. To register for the luncheon, visit the events section of the Three Village Chamber website, www.3vchamber.com.

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Jane Taylor, third from left, with some of her fellow board of trustee members at the Sept. 26 Three Village Chamber of Commerce meeting. Pictured with Taylor is John Tsunis, Michael Ardolino, Colette Frey-Bitzas, Elizabeth Miastkowski, Gloria Rocchio, Charles Lefkowitz, Andy Polan, Ron LaVita, Leah Dunaief, Billy Williams, Carmine Inserra and the Hon. Howard Bergson, who swore in the members. Photo from Three Village Chamber of Commerce

The Three Village Chamber of Commerce welcomed a new executive director at the beginning of September.

Town of Brookhaven Supervisor congratulates Jane Taylor on being chosen as Three Village Chamber of Commerce Member of the Year in June. Photo from Town of Brookhaven

Jane Taylor, who retired in June as assistant head of The Stony Brook School, has taken on the leadership role. The position has been vacant since David Woods’ retirement last year. Taylor has been involved with the chamber for 20 years and a member of the board for more than five. In June, she was named Three Village Chamber of Commerce Member of the Year.

Charles Lefkowitz, first vice president of the chamber, said Taylor is the “last part of the puzzle for the reorganization of the chamber.” Over the last few years, he said the chamber has been undergoing a reorganization that has included planning events 12 months in advance and changing how they arrange networking activities to allow for more mingling.

“Jane Taylor is an outstanding selection for the executive director for the Three Village chamber, and she comes with a wealth of community involvement and knowledge of the Three Village area,” Lefkowitz said.

Taylor’s association with the organization came about when she first started at The Stony Brook School. She said she felt it was vital to network with community members to talk about issues and connect with local vendors.

“I felt it was an organization that was committed to the community and was something that was built on the importance of developing relationships,” she said.

When Taylor, who grew up in Pittsburgh, first moved to the Three Village area with her husband, Robert, 45 years ago, she started working at the school as a physical education teacher and coach. Taylor said when she started she was able to connect with the local athletic communities including Ward Melville and Port Jefferson.

“The local business community is one of the key elements that make a community healthy and vibrant.”

— Jane Taylor

“I realized that people really cared about this place and wanted me to be successful even though we were competing against these schools,” she said.

Taylor said her new responsibilities as executive director of the chamber include working with the board identifying goals for the coming year, making sure the e-newsletter is posted, building membership, visiting businesses and not-for-profits in the community, maintaining communication and “whatever needs to be done.”

She said she feels local businesses play an important role in communities, covering everything from when a baseball team needs a sponsor to who is hosting the Christmas parade.

“The local business community is one of the key elements that make a community healthy and vibrant,” she said, adding that she looks forward to helping local businesses grow.

Taylor lives with her husband in Stony Brook, has two grown children and two grandchildren. She said she has learned to juggle a lot in the past and looks forward to her new responsibilities.

“You just take what’s in front of you, put one foot in front of the other and assume the goodwill of everybody,” Taylor said.

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Charles Lefkowitz, right, one of the co-founders of the Setauket Harbor Task Force, presents an award to state Assemblyman Steve Englebright, center, along with George Hoffman, left, another founding member of the task force. Photo by Maria Hoffman

By Anthony Frasca

When he noticed there were issues with the cleanliness of Setauket Harbor, Charles Lefkowitz took matters into his own hands. A founding member of the Setauket Harbor Task Force, Lefkowitz has become an advocate for attention to the harbor.

“Nobody was doing anything and it was just deteriorating until Charlie and a bunch of us got together and said this harbor needs a group of people that will start advocating for its improvement,” said George Hoffman, also a founding member of the task force and a vice president of the Three Village Civic Association.

By forming the task force to call attention to the issues regarding the cleanliness of the harbor, such as roadway runoff, the group was able to procure a $1 million dollar grant in state funding with the help of state Senator John Flanagan (R-East Northport). The task force was also appointed to the Long Island Sound Study, a cooperative multistate effort to improve the water quality of Long Island Sound, in existence since 1985.

“As a founding member of the Setauket Harbor Task Force he has involved himself from the very beginning,” said state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), who has attended numerous task force meetings. “He has made time out of his very busy schedule to attend meetings, sometimes in the middle of a workday. He very often offers some of the most sage advice around the table. This is worth noting and saying thank you to Charlie for being part of the individual glue that holds our community together. It speaks to a level of sincerity of love of the community and serves as an example of what it means to be a community leader.”

Once an elected official in the Town of Brookhaven, Lefkowitz continues to involve himself with numerous community issues and advocacy groups in addition to the task force.

“He’s a former town councilman and his involvement in our community and to our town continues,” Englebright said. “If anything he is even more effective now because he is unshackled from politics, and he is able to express his commitment to making our community even better.”

“The subtle side of Charlie is that he is the owner of the Stop & Shop [shopping center] on Route 25A, and I’ve seen him outside pulling weeds out of the flower beds. That’s an indication of the level of detail he’s willing to invest himself in.”

— Steve Englebright

Hoffman said Lefkowitz is vice president of the Three Village Chamber of Commerce and has reinvigorated the chamber by recruiting new people, broadening the chamber’s focus and making it more representative locally.

“Charlie is responsible for reinventing the chamber of commerce,” Hoffman said. “He is a driving force in keeping the group together and focused.”

Lefkowitz was also involved in the community visioning committees for the re-examination of the zoning along the Route 25A corridor in the Three Village area. Drivers along the state road in the vicinity of the Ridgeway Plaza Shopping Center can sometimes see Lefkowitz tending to the flower beds that are planted every spring.

“The subtle side of Charlie is that he is the owner of the Stop & Shop [shopping center] on Route 25A, and I’ve seen him outside pulling weeds out of the flower beds,” Englebright said. “That’s an indication of the level of detail he’s willing to invest himself in.”

Lefkowitz’s influence also extends beyond the Three Village area, according to Hoffman.

“He is a visionary on land use issues especially upper Port Jefferson in terms of its commercial viability,” Hoffman said. “He is also an advocate for electrification of the Port Jefferson branch of the Long Island Rail Road. He focuses on how to make it happen and for the first time we are seeing progress.”

Brookhaven Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) said she has worked on various projects with Lefkowitz, and he is currently working with the town on implementing aspects of the Port Jefferson Station Commercial Hub Study on some of his properties.

“As a former councilman, chamber vice president, business owner and resident, Charlie has a unique perspective of our community,” Cartright said. “Charlie’s knowledge of real estate and of the history of the Three Village area was a valuable addition to the community forums my office held while working on the Route 25A-Three Village area corridor community visioning report this past year. The award of Person of the Year is well deserved by Charlie, and I look forward to seeing him continue to work with residents on community projects.”

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Three Village Chamber of Commerce executive director, David Woods, has been a member of the organization for nearly 10 years. Photo from David Woods

By Jenna Lennon

During his time with the Three Village Chamber of Commerce, executive director David Woods is most proud of the new signs welcoming people to the Three Villages and Stony Brook University, placed around the community and  along Nicolls Road.

“Before they went up, I can remember, for example, one of the former directors of the university hospital was talking at one of the chamber meetings, and he said that it had taken him an hour and a half to get from the airport to the university,” Woods said in a phone interview.

The former university hospital director flew into the airport in Islip, just twenty or so minutes from Stony Brook, but he drove around for another hour trying to find the university and its community, according to Woods.

“One of the things that I never would have thought of is putting up a sign like that because in the days where I first came to the community to work for the university, there was a sort of invisible fence between the campus and the community,” Woods said. “There would have been opposition. And those beautiful signs have helped a lot.”

Now after nearly 10 years with the chamber, Woods is retiring on June 30 at the end of the organization’s fiscal year.

Charles Lefkowitz, vice president of the Three Village Chamber of Commerce, worked with Woods nearly his entire time with the chamber.

Woods has “a unique style and passion to bring the business community together. He was never afraid to try something new or even borderline what would be deemed outrageous,” Lefkowitz said.

Woods started with the chamber after retiring from the “regular work world” and having just finished his novel “Buffalo Snow Day” — “a sort of comic novel about Buffalo turning into Aspen.”

Woods spent 17 years as assistant to the president at Stony Brook University. For 20 years after that, he worked in Manhattan “in marketing communications as secretary of the New York City Press Club, the Deadline Club, doing things like introducing the hit board game Pictionary and then an unknown new radio talk show host, now for better or worse a household name, Rush Limbaugh.”

When the chamber needed a manager, they called Woods.

“It was, still is, a great job because we were sitting here like ships passing in the night, our historic community on one side of the railroad tracks, Stony Brook University making new history on the other side and convergence clearly needed,” Woods said. “Since then, leaders on both sides of the tracks have been bringing our two worlds together and doing a lot of it at the monthly chamber meetings.”

Andy Polan, chamber president alongside Woods for the last four years said Woods’ “historical knowledge of the community is pretty amazing from the university to the local history.”

Polan is looking to fill the vacancy with someone who is outgoing, social media-savvy and “interested in developing the chamber to grow to our next level.”

Woods and his wife, Desiree, are taking some time off to go upstate to his hometown of Dunkirk on Lake Erie with their daughter and granddaughter for a family reunion.

Woods will keep in contact with the chamber and continue to support the new director for the upcoming 18th annual chamber beach barbecue, a networking event in July.

For now, Lefkowitz will miss Woods’ “smile and grin at the other side of the table.”

Interested applicants for the executive director position with the Three Village Chamber of Commerce should send their resumes to [email protected].

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