General Meeting ‐ February 5, 2013
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General Meeting ‐ February 5, 2013 SUFFOLK COUNTY LEGISLATURE GENERAL MEETING SECOND DAY February 5, 2013 Verbatim Transcript MEETING HELD AT THE WILLIAM H. ROGERS LEGISLATURE BUILDING IN THE ROSE Y. CARACAPPA LEGISLATIVE AUDITORIUM 725 VETERANS MEMORIAL HIGHWAY SMITHTOWN, NEW YORK Taken By Lucia Braaten & Alison Mahoney - Court Reporters Kim Castiglione – Legislative Secretary 1 General Meeting ‐ February 5, 2013 (The following testimony was taken by Lucia Braaten, Court Reporter & was transcribed by Kim Castiglione, Legislative Secretary) (*The meeting was called to order at 9:32 a.m.*) D.P.O. HORSLEY: Mr. Clerk, would you please call the roll? MR. LAUBE: Will do. (*Roll Called by Mr. Laube, Clerk*) LEG. KRUPSKI: Present. LEG. SCHNEIDERMAN: Here. LEG. BROWNING: Here. LEG. MURATORE: Here. LEG. HAHN: Here. LEG. ANKER: Here. LEG. CALARCO: Here. LEG. MONTANO: Here. LEG. CILMI: Here. LEG. BARRAGA: Here. LEG. KENNEDY: (Not Present) LEG. NOWICK: Here. LEG. GREGORY: Here. 2 General Meeting ‐ February 5, 2013 LEG. STERN: Here. LEG. D'AMARO: Here. LEG. SPENCER: Here. D.P.O. HORSLEY: Here. P.O. LINDSAY: (Not Present) MR. LAUBE: Sixteen. LEG. KENNEDY: Good morning, Mr. Clerk. How are you? MR. LAUBE: Seventeen (Absent: P.O. Lindsay) D.P.O. HORSLEY: Okay. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the General Meeting of February 5th, 2013. What we'd like to do to start our meeting today is, of course as we always do, salute the flag, led by Legislator Ricardo Montano. (*Salutation*) I'd like to -- the opening prayer will be given by Father Christopher Nowak from St. John of God Roman Catholic Church in Central Islip, guest of Legislator Ricardo Montano. Legislator? LEG. MONTANO: Can I use this mic? No way. Good morning, everyone. It's my honor today to welcome Father Christopher Nowak from St. John of God Roman Catholic Church in Central Islip. Father, welcome you here to the Suffolk County Legislature. Like myself, Father Nowak was born in the Bronx and he grew up in Hicksville, Long Island. He attended Catholic grade school, Holy Trinity High School, and graduated from St. John's University with a BA in psychology. Father Nowak entered formation to become a priest in 1990 and was ordained in 1997. Father Nowak served as a seminarian in Peru for his pastoral year. And in case you can see and notice my tan, I just got back from two weeks in Peru. It's a beautiful country. He graduated from Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C. Father Nowak has always seen his vocation connected to working with the economically poor and in a bilingual setting. His first assignment in the Diocese of Rockville Centre was as Associate Pastor at St. John of God, Central Islip. Father, that's also the junior high school my daughter graduated from, so we have some connections here. Father Nowak also served at St. Hugh of Lincoln in Huntington Station. The mission parish in El Cercado, Dominican Republic, and now again as pastor of Saint John of God parish. Please welcome Father Chris. 3 General Meeting ‐ February 5, 2013 (*Applause*) FATHER NOWAK: Thank you, and good morning. Let us bow our heads as we pray. Dear wise and loving God, first, let me say thank you on behalf of all who are gathered here today. Thank you for your many and abundant blessings. Thank you for life itself, for the measure of health that we need to fulfill our callings, and for your friendship. Thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work and for the honor of bearing our responsibilities. Thanks as well for the freedom to embrace you or the freedom to reject you. Thank you for loving us from your boundless and gracious nature. We pray for our Suffolk County Legislature today. I'm asking that you would graciously grant them wisdom to govern amid conflicting interests and issues of our times. Grant them a sense of welfare and the true needs of our people. Grant them a keen thirst for justice and righteousness. Grant them confidence in what is good and fitting. Grant them the ability to work together in harmony, even when there is honest disagreement. Grant them personal peace in their lives and joy in their task. It is in your most blessed name that we pray. Amen. (*"Amen" Said in Unison*) D.P.O. HORSLEY: Thank you very much, Father Chris, and thank you, Legislator Montano. In memory of -- I'd like to just take a moment of silence in memory of John Richberg, father of Legislator Aide Jason Richberg, who passed away this week. And, of course, as always, in our Moment of Silence, may we stand for those men and women who put themselves in harm's way for our freedoms, both day in and day out. A Moment of Silence. (*Moment of Silence*) Thank you, and please be seated. All righty. Moving along. It is a distinct pleasure to watch as our newly elected Legislator is sworn into office, Al Krupski. And, of course, Judy Pascale, our Suffolk Clerk, will be presiding. First of all, just quickly, on behalf of the Legislature, Al, we are honored that you are here. By the way, everybody, Al is the first farmer to be a member of the Suffolk County Legislature and we're very proud of that fact. Everybody, just give him a hand, would you? That's great. (*Applause*) Judy, thank you. Would you please preside? MS. PASCALE: I just want to assure everybody that Legislator Krupski has signed the official oath book. He signed his official card, and that is on file in my office. But today, since this is his first official Legislative meeting, we wanted to secure the oath and make sure we gave it to you again. LEG. KRUPSKI: Okay. (*Oath was Administered to Legislator Krupski by Judy Pascale*) MS. PASCALE: Congratulations. 4 General Meeting ‐ February 5, 2013 LEG. KRUPSKI: Thank you. (*Applause*) And I hope everybody feels the same way after a year. (*Laughter*) D.P.O. HORSLEY: All righty, moving along. And again, congratulations, Al. We're not only impressed with you, but I believe that you will be just wonderful for your district and this Legislature welcomes you. So, we are now moving to the proclamations that we will be presenting to various folks from across the County. I have a special request. My understanding is that because somebody is due to take off on an airplane, I'm going to ask Legislator Spencer, who will be presenting a proclamation to Capital One Bank, accepting Andrew Corrado, Long Island Market President. LEG. SPENCER: As a local bank, Capital One is committed to catalyzing economic opportunities for individuals, families and small businesses throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Through an integrated approach and community involvement known as Investing for Good, one week service initiatives are part of Capital One's bank commitment to platform which focuses on four areas that are key building blocks of economic opportunity; affordable housing, education, economic development and financial literacy. In 2012, Capital One associates served more than 192,000 hours through company sponsored volunteer activities nationwide, in which 13,500 of them were spent participating in 64 volunteer activities right here on Long Island. Associates at the 125 bank branches across Long Island have spent hundreds of hours creating financial literacy kits for local youth, tutoring and providing homework help and other educational, recreational and after school activities at the Family Service League centers. The Suffolk County Legislature welcomes the opportunity to pay a well-deserved tribute to businesses in Suffolk County who are dedicated to supporting our local community. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Capital One Bank and their associates for their selfless acts of kindness and generosity, as well as their steadfast commitment to our Long Island community. I'd like to recognize Andrew Corrado, the Long Island Market President, who will be accepting on behalf of Capital One Bank. Thank you. (*Applause*) (*Photograph Was Taken*) D.P.O. HORSLEY: Did you want to -- LEG. SPENCER: I have a second proclamation. D.P.O. HORSLEY: Okay. Legislator, while you're up, why don't you do your second proclamation, that's a great idea. 5 General Meeting ‐ February 5, 2013 LEG. SPENCER: I'd like to ask the Sourbeck Family if they would come forward, please. Since 1997, the Sourbeck Family, Cynthia, Bill and their daughters Samantha and Natalie, have worked year-round to find perfect items to include in boxes that are given to impoverished and underprivileged youth through Operation Christmas Child, an affiliate of Samaritan's Purse. Their passion and commitment to the project has affected other family members and friends. They have now everyone they know saving empty shoeboxes which are filled with small gifts such as hygiene items, school supplies, toys, and they also host work parties where handmade items are created to be included in the boxes. Beginning with four filled shoeboxes donated each year in their first eight years of participation, the number of shoeboxes in the Sourbeck Family has grown by leaps and bounds. This past Christmas they took more than 1700 boxes to a Long Island collection center to deliver to over 100 different countries, including the United States. The Suffolk County Legislature welcomes the opportunity to again pay a well-deserved tribute to their residents who do exceptional goodwill towards others. It is my distinct privilege to recognize constituents in my district, the Sourbeck Family, for their generosity, commitment and continued selfless acts of kindness. Congratulations. (*Applause*) (*Photograph Was Taken*) D.P.O. HORSLEY: Congratulations to all.