Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth and the Town Board approved a contract with Port Washington Animal Hospital, which will be part of a new program to accept “vouchers” issued by the Town for spay and neutering services of feral cats. These vouchers, which are paid for by the Town, would allow a resident to bring a feral cat in need of this surgery to the Port Washington Animal Hospital. This service is intended to supplement the Town’s TNR program, which already provides a free TNR or, Trap-Neuter-Return, program which holds a free spay/neuter clinic at the animal shelter once a month.
The Port Washington Animal Hospital will be providing reduced-cost spay/neuter and vaccination for feral cats. The hospital was awarded the contract following a competitive bid process.
The Town will pay the $80 fee for a voucher, which can then be used by a resident who traps a feral cat and brings it to the Port Washington Animal Hospital for neutering services. The Town’s Animal Shelter staff will loan any resident a humane trap to capture a feral cat.
“The Town is most concerned with reducing the feral cat population and we believe that this voucher program will allow us to do so much more,” said Supervisor Bosworth. “We are grateful to our many caring residents who voluntarily assist with our TNR program and to the staff at our Town Animal Shelter. Our TNR program will be greatly enhanced by working with the Port Washington Animal Hospital and the new voucher program.”
The Town Board also approved contracts with Phillip Ross Industries of Melville, New York for $959,500 for upgrades to the Harbor Hills Park pool in Great Neck; and approved a $339,900 contract with Aquatics Dynamics, Inc. of Coram, New York for pool improvements at Martin “Bunky” Reid Park pool in New Cassel.
The Town Board also approved to suspend parking meter regulations from Dec. 9 through and including Jan. 1 on Port Washington Boulevard, Main Street, Irma Avenue, South Maryland Avenue, and Carlton Avenue. The parking meters will be covered with red bags to encourage holiday shopping in town.
In other business:
The Town Board also approved a new local law banning the intentional release of balloons and an amendment to Town Traffic Code that would prohibit the covering or coating of car license plates in any manner that would conceal or obscure them and make them unreadable for License Plate Readers (LPR). The Town uses LPR in the Port Washington Parking District; accepted a gift of $1,100 for the purchase of commemorative benches at Mary Jane Davies and Blumenfeld Park by the Kyra Franchetti Foundation; and $1,100 for a commemorative bench at the Town Dock by the Millhaven family; Extended agreements for services in connection with Project Independence for respite care, grandparenting respite services, and with Rebuilding Long Island for minor home repairs for P.I. members.
The Board also approved a slate of changes to the operation of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) to make the board’s business more transparent and accessible to residents. Changes include prominently posting the upcoming agenda on the Town’s website, emailing the agenda to anyone who signs up, scheduling several meetings each year in the evenings (Starting in 2020), live-streaming the meetings, making legal notices more comprehensible and adding additional noticing requirements.
The Town Board also set a date for a hearing to consider establishing a 35 mph speed limit on the east and west sides of Shelter Rock Road, south of Northern Boulevard. The hearing is set for Dec. 17.
The last board meeting of the year will be on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. at 220 Plandome Road in Manhasset.
