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Johnson Controls

Pictured above, left to right: Village of Port Jefferson trustee Rebecca Kassay; trustee Lauren Sheprow; Mayor Margot Garant; Deputy Mayor Kathianne Snaden; and trustee Stan Loucks. Photos by Raymond Janis

The Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees unanimously approved the annual budget Monday evening, April 3, though appropriations weren’t top of mind for the sea of residents crowding the boardroom.

Dozens turned out to confront the board over its recent decision to extend the terms of service for village offices from two to four years — a decision it promptly reversed. Less than 90 days until village elections, the community and board instead now grapple with the competing demands of streamlining election administration and public oversight over term changes.

“We wanted to kind of say ‘sorry’ and take a giant step backward,” Mayor Margot Garant told the public.

Upon rescinding the resolution, the mayor noted the need to relieve village clerk Barbara Sakovich in administering the coming June elections, adding that neighboring municipalities have generally implemented such changes. 

“Probably the majority of other townships and municipalities — villages specifically — have their elections in March and have moved to four-year terms,” she said. “I think it’s the direction we may all agree to at some point,” but the board is “taking pause” before rendering further judgment.

Trustee Rebecca Kassay offered to begin exploring how other municipalities procedurally implemented term changes, keeping open the possibility of forming a committee to collect public input on the matter. 

“Please look probably to the next meeting if you want to get this going while everyone has it in mind,” she said, adding the board “will be talking more about the process of helping to gather resident input and really handing it to the residents to make these decisions.”

In the wake of the reversal, Deputy Mayor Kathianne Snaden and trustee Lauren Sheprow, both mayoral candidates, offered their commentary. Snaden said she had a change of opinion after learning of the high signature threshold to move the measure onto the June ballot via permissive referendum.

“It just made sense to me at the time, again, because of the ability for the residents to come forth and let us know,” she said. “After that happened and I heard from some residents — what the numbers were for them to bring forth the permissive referendum, that’s when I said that’s burdensome.”

The deputy mayor added, “We’ve had discussions, and we talked about bringing it tonight and considered rescinding and starting from scratch, giving it to you guys to say to us what you want to do.”

Sheprow raised the possibility of the village acquiring electronic voting machines ahead of the June elections. 

“What we didn’t realize when we were meeting, and it really wasn’t discussed holistically at the last meeting, was whether or not there are voting machines available to rent or purchase,” she said. “As long as they’re certified by the Suffolk County Board of Elections, we have that option available to us.”

Leaders of the recently resurrected Port Jefferson Civic Association made formal contact with the village government, exchanging introductions and outlining their organizational agenda. 

Civic president Ana Hozyainova thanked the board for rescinding the resolution for term extensions but asked for more public input over village decision-making.

“The civic association didn’t take a stance on whether it should be two or four years but really took objection to the fact that such an important issue which doesn’t have a clear-cut solution … was taken without any public debate,” she said, adding that more public deliberations over fortifying the eroding East Beach bluff could have occurred.

The board approved $0.50 increases in managed parking rates for weekdays and weekends, setting the rates at $1 per hour Monday through Thursday and $1.50 per hour Friday through Sunday.

Budget highlights

Village treasurer Denise Mordente delivered the fiscal year budget presentation, highlighting the budgetary constraints imposed by rising inflation and costs, also declining public revenues from the Long Island Power Authority through the Port Jefferson Power Station.

“The interest for our [bond anticipation notes], gasoline, heating oil, all of that ties in,” Mordente said. “We tried as best as we can to not put the burden again on the taxpayers.”

The budget increased by 7% from last year from $10.59 million to $11.37 million. However, the village drew $257,882 from its $1.8 million fund balance to minimize tax increases, Mordente explained. The village lost roughly $107,000 through the LIPA glide path agreement, with 15% and 20% increases in medical benefits and insurance, respectively.

The village committed to reductions in staff, opting against filling some vacant positions while assigning multiple titles to existing personnel. The administration also instituted a spending freeze for department heads, who stayed within their respective budgets from last year.

“The overall for our tax increase on an average house of $1,500 [assessed valuation] is $75 a year,” Mordente said. “We’re trying not to impact the way of life for our village.”

The Board of Trustees will meet again Tuesday, April 18, at 3 p.m., with scheduled presentations from Johnson Controls and the Six Acre Park Committee.

To watch the full general meeting, see video above.

Suffolk County Community College has been awarded $90,000 as part of the Johnson Controls Community College Partnership grant. Suffolk is one of 10 community colleges nationally to receive the grant award that may be renewed annually for up to four years.

“This Johnson Controls award will advance the ability of our HVAC program to train high-need, high-skills technicians for our county workforce, and to partner with area employers who need this talent,” said Dr. Edward Bonahue, President of Suffolk County Community College. “We’re very grateful to Johnson Controls for investing in community college programs that are keeping up with cutting-edge building engineering technology.”

The college will use its funding to invest in state-of-the-art training simulators and growth of a guided mentoring program featuring Johnson Controls employees supporting peer mentoring and career counseling.

The Johnson Controls grant supports efforts to expand associate degree and certificate programs in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), fire and security and digital building automation systems, all areas where the U.S. Bureau of Labor is predicting an increased need for skilled trades expertise in coming years. In general, the funding will support the purchase and development of classroom materials, learning technologies and student scholarships.

“We are excited by this opportunity,” said Sylvia A. Diaz, PhD, LMSW, executive director Suffolk Community College Foundation. “Johnson Controls’ award is transformative and aligns with our Foundation’s mission is to support student access to a superior quality education and vocational skills training by providing critical funding for students pursuing rewarding careers in the dynamic Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC/R) industry.”

“Johnson Controls is proud to build upon our significant presence in Suffolk County by partnering with Suffolk County Community College on the Community College Partnership Program. We believe the program will empower people to build life-long careers that will transform their lives and their communities,” said Grady Crosby, VP of Public Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer at Johnson Controls.“Just as smart, healthy buildings are critical to our well-being, well-educated and trained technicians are crucial to keeping our environments operating safely and efficiently. As a leader in the building industry for over a century, Johnson Controls is honored to share our expertise with the country’s leading community colleges.”

Suffolk County Community College’s Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC/R) program prepares students for rewarding and challenging positions in the ever-changing and growing HVAC/R industry by combining comprehensive, career-based courses such as system design, diagnostics, servicing and controls with real-life, hands-on training through internships and intensive laboratory sessions. The HVAC/R curriculum provides students with the credentials and experience needed to obtain immediate employment upon successful program completion.

Visit: https://www.sunysuffolk.edu/explore-academics/majors-and-programs/hvac/about.jsp for more information.

 

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Teachers and students observe the new monitors installed in district buildings to depict the effect a newly installed solar energy system is having on Miller Place’s energy consumption. Photo from MPSD

Miller Place school district is trying to do its part to reduce its carbon footprint by embracing renewable energy sources.

The district announced Sept. 17 it had completed the installation of solar panels in each of its four school buildings, which are capable of supplying the district with 1.3 megawatts of solar energy, according to a district press release. The initiative was part of the district’s ongoing energy conservation plan, which was announced in 2014 as part of an energy performance contract approved by the board of education. The system was fully operational as of the start of the 2018-19 school year earlier this month. The system is expected to save the district about $240,000 annually in energy costs, which the district plans to reallocate to other expenses and capital improvements, according to the release.

“This investment is a testament to the district’s forward-thinking financial philosophy and will help reduce the community’s carbon footprint,” Superintendent Marianne Cartisano said in a statement. “This is something to be celebrated and we are incredibly excited that this initiative has now come to fruition.”

To quantify the energy and cost savings and to add an educational component to the system, the district has installed monitors in the front lobby of each building that will show the amount of energy the solar panels are producing at any given time, the release said. In addition to depicting the number of kilowatt-hours the system has generated, the monitors will also display the system’s environmental benefits — including the amount of electricity no longer needed to power the building and the amount of carbon monoxide no longer emitted into the environment.

“Implementing solar panels was part of the board of education’s long-term strategy to reduce costs, make the district’s facilities more eco-friendly and do our part to enhance the Miller Place community,” board President Johanna Testa said in a statement. “The board of education is committed to facilitating and organizing opportunities that will improve our district’s facilities and our students’ educational experiences. The solar energy system is one that we are thrilled to announce, and we look forward to experiencing the many benefits that this energy program will provide our district and our community.”

The project will cost about $5.4 million including interest over the 18-year span of the lease agreement with Johnson Controls.

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Village Center file photo by Heidi Sutton

Let there be light.

Representatives from Johnson Controls, an energy performance contracting company, presented a plan to the Port Jefferson Village board of trustees at a meeting Tuesday that would save the village about $1.6 million on energy costs and electrical supplies over 20 years.

The project would entail providing Village Hall and the Village Center with more than 500 LED lighting upgrades, LED lighting fixtures for the village’s more than 1,100 streetlights and 60 new tennis court lights.

“We really haven’t done a lot of upgrades to the existing lighting in forever,” Mayor Margot Garant said during the meeting Tuesday. She called the proposed project “a thing of beauty.”

Dan Haffel, Johnson Controls’ liaison to the village, estimated during the presentation that the project would pay for itself in about 11 years. Port Jefferson would pay the company $1.8 million out of their energy savings — “it’s completely self-funded; there’s no out-of-pocket exposure,” Haffel said — for the consulting and improvements over the life of a 15-year contract, with an interest rate somewhere in the 2 to 3 percent range.

The agreement would come with a guarantee from Johnson Controls.

“The project is guaranteed to pay for itself in 15 years — we’ll pay the village a shortfall if there is one,” Haffel said.

Rob Rolston, the lead project manager from Johnson Controls, said it would be ideal to complete the project before winter, given the complications cold weather and winter storms could present. That would require quick movement from the village.

But the company also put forth a more conservative potential timeline as part of their presentation. If the board approved the proposal in July, fixtures and lights could be ordered by August and construction could begin in September. The job could then be completed in May 2017.

Many of the upgraded lights in Village Hall and the Village Center would incorporate motion sensors as another means to save electricity. The streetlights come with a 10-year manufacturer warranty.

Johnson Controls is a nationwide Fortune 100 company that has been in the field of performance contracting for about 30 years. They have received awards for their environmental impact and energy efficiency from entities like Newsweek and utility PSEG Long Island.

Port Jefferson school district is working on a contract with Johnson Controls for a similar project, according to Assistant Superintendent for Business Sean Leister. He called the proposed upgrades, which still require school board-approval, a “win-win” for the district for the energy and cost savings it would present in a phone interview last week.

The village board has not yet set a date to vote on the proposal.