By Aramis Khosronejad

The Town of Brookhaven meeting on Feb. 1 was a two-hour stint. As is traditional during these meetings, an award was presented. Zariel Macchia, a 17-year-old junior at William Floyd High School, was presented with an award for her plethora of athletic accomplishments as a runner on the school’s cross-country team. 

Following the brief ceremony, Supervisor Dan Panico (R) opened the meeting with a few words of reflection. The supervisor began by saying how “change is difficult”’ and concluded with the empathetic sentiment, “before criticizing a man, you should walk a mile in his shoes.” 

There were no reports for the board, and with that a brief period passed in which several agenda items were considered. 

For general public comments, there were two speakers, both of whom talked about environmental issues further commenting on the cleanliness of Brookhaven in regard to the environment. 

To begin the public comments was Joshua Schultzer, a senior from William Floyd High School, and he was followed was John McNamara. Panico responded to the public comment presentations, “It’s nice to see two people from clearly two different generations who want to do good for the place in which we live and the planet on which we live.”

After the public comments, some of the resolutions discussed were:

• Councilman Neil Manzella (R-Selden) presented the first resolution of 2024, which is the implementation of a street name change in place of Smith Road in Ronkonkoma in honor of Matthew “Dezy” DiStefano. He was a much loved figure who was a teacher at Sachem High School, and passed away due to cancer. 
• Resolution authorizing accepting a donation of $550 from Centereach Civic Association. 
• Resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds to improve Port Jefferson Marina for $864,103. 
• A series of 10 resolutions were discussed, all of which authorized the purchase of different properties to deal with the problem of runoff and rainwater. Panico explained that this is an ongoing problem across many districts within the town. 
• Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) declared the month of February to be American Heart Awareness Month in Brookhaven.  
• Resolution seeking to provide sand to Davis Park on Fire Island as well as other parks. Councilwoman Karen Dunne Kesnig (R-Manorville) was concerned about the large storms being experienced and the dunes that have been erased. Brookhaven has to take measures to protect Fire Island because if not, “we might not have a Fire Island.” 

For more information on this meeting, the live stream is available at: brookhavenny.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2631/media.