MICA OFFICERS in ATTENDANCE: First Vice President Denise Arnold, Treasurer Larry Mazza, Secretary Gail Lynch-Bailey. THOSE WHO SIGNED IN: Jack Stinton, Chris Hanley, Betsey Martinez, Fred Steinmann, Irene Steinmann, Al Schick, Maryann Schick, Harold Bachmann, Brett Bachmann, Margaret Malloy, Lea Van Lane, Phil Reany, Marsha Belford (BNL). ALSO ATTENDING: Ira Brickman
I. The meeting was CALLED TO ORDER at 7:12 p.m.
II. The PLEDGE of ALLEGIANCE was recited.
III. The February meeting MINUTES were read and accepted on a motion by Mrs. Martinez.
IV. The TREASURER’S REPORT listed $654.19 in checking; $3179.03 in savings. Treasurer Mazza and President Talbot visited Astoria Federal Savings Bank and updated the MICA accounts so that more modern statements will now be forthcoming.
V. CORRESPONDENCE: Received: various SC civil service announcements; TOB Planning Bd Agenda for 3/23; BNL Flyover Deer Survey notice for week of 3/23; Longwood BOE Community Forum on 3/26; TOB Brookhaven Cleanup on 4/18; Sent: letter to TOB planning in advance of 3/23 hearing re: Victorian Estates, expressing MICA’s wish that developer David Scro and TOB work together.
Questions: Mrs. Arnold on why MICA is not opposing Victorian Estates – letter was result of debate and vote at MICA’s February meeting; members on status of various projects presented to MICA and why everything takes so long – Mr. Brickman explained the lengthy procedures required by various levels of government and cited the example of Avalon at Coram Pond wherein the developer successfully sued the TOB and thus completed the current less-than-ideal project.
VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Reminder: Special Election for TOB Supervisor: Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 6 am – 9 pm.
MICA site for April 18th town-wide cleanup – three suggestions: Rte. 21 north of the fork up to Whiskey Rd.(near horse farm); parcel opposite King Kullen (technically SC Park land); area on Middle Country Rd leading up to Birchwood entrance; President Talbot will consult w/MI Fire Police to ascertain which would be safest location and members will be notified at April 16th MICA meeting. Question on litter: why aren’t there any trash cans around town, at bus stops, etc? Answer may be need to chain them down. Let’s ask TOB.
Caithness Community Grant Update: Mrs. Lynch-Bailey reviewed the evolving process for funding projects and gave a comparison of distribution maps, showing MI’s share to be much smaller than originally forecast; good news: the Freedom Walk/War Memorial at Bartlett Pond Park will receive $70,000 for its completion from Caithness via a TOB resolution on 2/26/09.
VII. NEW BUSINESS
WalMart in East Patchogue – ABCO is protesting this proposal due in part to its controversial citing near Brookhaven Hospital; TOB Planning Board will issue a positive declaration for this project on 3/23, triggering an EIS; future hearing dates to be announced.
Longwood Day – MICA will participate on Saturday, May 16 at Longwood High School; volunteers needed to staff info table.
Middle Island Post Office announces curtailed operating hours as of 4/18; will close at 5 p.m. weekdays, were open till 7 p.m.
VIII. COMMITTEE REPORTS
Nominating Committee – Mrs. Lynch-Bailey read aloud the duties of officers and distributed nominating forms to MICA members.
Membership Committee – Margaret Malloy elected Membership Chairperson; MICA’s purpose and by-laws will be added to our website; members have through tonight to pay dues before next month’s election meeting. To ensure the election’s integrity, new members may not vote and must wait until after the election’s completion to pay dues in April.
IX. GUEST SPEAKER: Marsha Belford, Brookhaven National Lab – opened in 1947, BNL is a very highly valued research facility comprised of 5,265 acres, 600 staff scientists, 2700 other employees, and 4,000 visiting researchers carrying a $3million payroll and contributing $30 million to the LI economy. Owned by the US Department of Energy, BNL is a GOCO (govt owned, contractor operated) whose 2 major users are SUNY at Stony Brook and Battelle, an international research organization in Ohio. Among its diverse studies in atomic energy and national security, nuclear weaponry and non-proliferation, medical and life sciences, BNL boasts six Nobel Prize winners in 60 years, five in physics and one in chemistry. Its researchers co-discovered the principle of circular particle acceleration, linked increased salt intake to hypertension and mapped quarks and gluons to extract clean energy from them via the relativistic heavy ion collider. Newly confirmed DOE Secretary and Nobel Laureate Stephen Chu is helping to advance BNL’s newest project, the National Synchotron Light Source II, the most powerful light source in the world, 10,000 times brighter than NSLSI, which currently operates at BNL. This is a $1 billion stimulus-funded, shovel-ready project whose groundbreaking President Obama may attend. NSLSII will create 1,000 jobs, with about 400 remaining on site after completion. Built upon WWI’s Camp Upton, BNL has an intriguing history with facilities originally intended for a WWII rehab hospital. In the late 1990s, a tritium leak and soil contamination required extensive and ongoing remediation. Residents can learn more on a Summer Sunday tour or at www.bnl.gov/community. Member questions: weather station – originally to monitor reactor releases, Dopler operates there now via National Weather Service; NSLSII – online by 2015, maybe sooner; cleanup – progressing well and will continue for 75 years w/no health concerns for residents; deer population – annual count program to track and possibly cull numbers of very tame animals who flee to BNL property whenever new construction begins nearby.
X. The meeting was ADJOURNED at 8:42 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, –Gail Lynch-Bailey, Secretary