The Great Neck Village Officials Association welcomed Town of North Hempstead officials to its Feb. 27 meeting at Kensington Village Hall to discuss services available from town’s highway department as well as state and federal grant programs available for municipal corporations.
Superintendent of Highways Tom Tiernan and Town Grants Coordinator Tom Devaney each gave presentations describing potential rebuilding projects and potential government funds as Long Island continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy.
“Our residents want to know why they’re paying town taxes if they live in a village, and what we’ve done is bring in Tom [Tiernan] and Tom [Devaney] to go over the potential benefits from the Town of North Hempstead,” said Village of Kensington Mayor Susan Lopatkin.
Tiernan outlined the projects his department is responsible for, such as the sweeping and cleaning of North Hempstead highways, tree work, signage, pavement markings, banner design, and pothole repairs. He also provided the board with handouts listing the costs for those services as well as areas in each North Hempstead town scheduled for resurfacing through 2017.
Devaney spoke primarily about services available under the New York State Consolidated Funding application, which allows applicants to access multiple state funding sources under one resource, according to its official Web site.
Twelve state agencies with up to $750 million in resources is available under the application, with the majority of those services going toward renovating buildings and the implementation of environmentally-friendly initiatives.
Devaney also talked about FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which he said focuses on fixing flood damages and drainage systems. If accepted, the federal government would cover 75 percent of the project costs.
“People hear talk about fiscal cliffs and sequesters and think the government is just cutting funds across the board, and that’s not necessarily true,” Devaney said. “There is definitely still money available that the government will put toward these potential rebuilding projects.”
Following Tiernan and Devaney’s presentations, the board listened to presentations on Project Independence, which provides services to seniors so they can continue to live independently, as well as Project Hope, which provides counseling and public education services to Hurricane Sandy victims.
The board also discussed complaints placed to the Town’s 311 call service about noise pollution stemming from planes flying overhead from LaGuardia airport.
Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Anna Kaplan said that while the Town of North Hempstead has had meetings with the FAA and the Port Authority, the problem has not yet been fixed and no permanent solution is apparent.
The next Great Neck Village Officials Association meeting will take place April 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Greg Graziano and Bill Merklin from the Water Authority of Great Neck North are scheduled guest speakers.
