SUFFOLK COUNTY LEGISLATURE GENERAL MEETING SEVENTEENTH DAY November 16, 2010 MEETING HELD AT THE WILLIAM H. ROGERS LEGISLATURE BUILDING IN THE ROSE Y. CARACAPPA LEGISLATIVE AUDITORIUM 725 VETERANS MEMORIAL HIGHWAY SMITHTOWN, NEW YORK Verbatim Transcript Taken By: Lucia Braaten and Alison Mahoney - Court Reporters 1 [THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER AT 9:35 A.M.] P.O. LINDSAY: Okay. Mr. Clerk, could you call the roll, please? (Roll Called By Mr. Laube, Clerk) LEG. ROMAINE: (Not Present). LEG. SCHNEIDERMAN: Here. LEG. BROWNING: Here. LEG. MURATORE: Here. LEG. LOSQUADRO: (Not Present). LEG. EDDINGTON: Here. LEG. MONTANO: Here. LEG. CILMI: Here. LEG. BARRAGA: Here. LEG. KENNEDY: Here. LEG. NOWICK: Here. LEG. HORSLEY: Here. LEG. GREGORY: Here. LEG. STERN: Here. 2 LEG. D'AMARO: Here. LEG. COOPER: (Absent). D.P.O. VILORIA-FISHER: Here. P.O. LINDSAY: Here. MR. LAUBE: Fifteen. LEG. ROMAINE: Tim. MR. LAUBE: Sixteen. P.O. LINDSAY: Okay. Could everybody rise for a salute to the flag, led by Legislator Muratore. (*Salutation*) Please remain standing. We have our visiting clergy, which will be introduced by Legislator Muratore. LEG. MURATORE: Thank you, Mr. Lindsay. Good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure this morning to introduce the Reverend Ronald Stelzer. The Reverend Stelzer has pastored Our Savior Lutheran Church in Centereach since 1984. Since 1992, he has been headmaster. He currently serves as Latin teacher and head basketball coach for the school boys varsity basketball team, which plays a national schedule. The school has a large contingent of international students, as well as a diverse student body of Long Islanders. The ministry sponsors a community food pantry, drivers education, Alcohol Anonymous and Boy Scouts. Pastor Stelzer and his wife have six children, all graduates of Our Savior New American School. Pastor Stelzer has been -- was born in Kansas, raised in Indiana, earned his BA in Economics from Davidson College in North Carolina, and a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, and Master of Sacred Theology from Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne. He enjoys reading, watching FOX News, and, of course, playing golf. Reverend, please. PASTOR STELZER: Heavenly Father, gracious savior, divine counselor, we ask your presence with us and blessing upon us in this season of national Thanksgiving. We recognize with George Washington, the father of our country, that, indeed, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and to humbly implore his protection and favor. In this time of partisanship and competing agendas, we recall Benjamin Franklin calling a deeply divided Continental Congress to open each session in prayer, citing the scripture, "Unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain." 3 In this era of challenges regarding global competition and cooperation, we remember our founding fathers' National Northwest Ordinance, that schools be established for the promotion of religion, morality and knowledge for the purposes of preparing posterity to be free, Godly, good, competent and wise, and live in civility and mutual respect. In this time of recession, unemployment, underemployment, declining prosperity and increasing taxes and deficits, help us to reflect why governmental leaders of times gone by chose to put "In God We Trust" on our coins, and put "One Nation Under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance; and President Reagan's words, "If we cease to be one nation under God, we will become one nation gone under," and your word, which says, "The wicked will return to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God." In this time of threats to our national security and peace at home and abroad, we humbly ask you to protect our troops, spare our land from war, terror and civil strife from man-caused and natural calamities. May your heavenly angelic airforce guard our borders and protect our land. And if skyscrapers crumble, let us remember your promise, that the name of the lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and is safe. Give these public servants assembled here your favor and blessing, wisdom and courage and constant awareness that they are your servants and ultimately accountable to you. And, finally, in this holiday that is holy day season, give us all thankful hearts and the birth of true joy and peace through faith that God has sent his son to be our savior. Amen. P.O. LINDSAY: Thank you. If everyone could remain standing for a moment of silence for former Legislator -- actually, an original Suffolk County Legislator, Alex Proios, who served on the Suffolk County Legislature from 1972 to 1973. Alex also served as a Town of Brookhaven Councilman, and he was one of the original six members who launched the Suffolk County Off Track Betting Corporation, where he worked until he retired in 1986. He was a 64-year member of the Ronkonkoma Fire Department and had a 36-year affiliation with the Suffolk County Police Athletic League. As always, let us also remember all those men and women who put themselves in harm's way every day to protect our country. And, also, I'd like to extend our prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery to our fellow Legislator, Jon Cooper, who is recuperating from appendicitis with complications. Jon's -- just talked to him last night, he's just getting out of the hospital today, so he's on the mend. So, with that, a moment of silence. (*Moment of Silence*) Good morning, everyone. We have a busy day in front of us and we have a few proclamations to give out. First up is Legislator Cilmi for the purpose of a proclamation. I've been just told, along with Legislator Legislator Montano. LEG. CILMI: Thank you very much, Mr. Presiding Officer and colleagues. If we could ask Christopher and Nicholas to join us at the podium. You know, one of the -- one of the most rewarding things that we have an opportunity to do as Legislators is to thank the youth in our communities when they do extraordinary things. And these two young men took it upon themselves, sometime in early October or in September, to come up with an idea to collect new and used Halloween costumes for children who couldn't afford to buy them themselves. So Legislator Montano and I helped these boys in that effort by having collection 4 points in our District Offices. And as a result of their effort, not only in our offices but throughout their communities, they were able to collect literally hundreds of Halloween costumes for young children throughout these communities that Legislator Montano and I serve. So we, both of us, want to applaud both of these young men for their efforts, for their thoughtfulness and caring for those in the community who are less fortunate than they, and we offer our sincerest congratulations with hopes for both of you in your future. Both of you are an inspiration to all of us. And congratulations, my best. Rick, did do you want -- LEG. MONTANO: Sure. (*Applause*) LEG. MONTANO: Mr. Presiding Officer -- oh, that's right, the button. Mr. Presiding Officer, my colleagues in the Legislature, guests that are here today, and particularly these two young men and their family, as Legislator Cilmi said, you know, in these times, when things are very bad, we don't realize that there are a lot of families that are going without basic necessities in other parts of other fringes, and these two young men stepped forward and helped in this effort. And Legislator Cilmi and I wanted to congratulate Nicholas Oviedo Torres and Christopher Skurka for their efforts. And, as Legislator Cilmi said, we had donations that were received in our office and, quite frankly, it was overwhelming. These young men deserve your applause and your appreciation. And I think Nicholas has been here before the Legislature. I think he spoke before the Legislature; you probably all remember him. He's an excellent baseball player. And I asked him what he wants to do. He wants to be a Major League player when he grows up. So we wish him the best. We wish the two of you congratulations. Congratulations to your parents. You're a real tribute to the young men and women in Suffolk County. Congratulations. (*Applause*) P.O. LINDSAY: Legislator Montano, do you want me to skip over you? You have another proc, right? LEG. MONTANO: If you want to do that now, we can do that now. P.O. LINDSAY: Okay. Why don't you do it now, all right? MR. CHRISTOPHER SKURKA: Hi. Good morning. I would like to thank everyone that was involved in the costume drive, and a special thanks to Legislator Tom Cilmi for awarding me with this great honor, and to the Principal of my school, Mr. Fallon, for all the support he gave me. I would also like to thank the people who donated costumes to the drive, my family, especially my my mom and dad, and the Torres family, for making this all possible. Thank you. (*Applause*) MR. NICHOLAS OVIEDO-TORRES: I would just like to take a moment and thank a few people who have made the 2010 Halloween costume drive possible. The costume drive would not have been possible without the support of our parents. I would liket o thank my mom and Mrs. Skurka for taking Chris and I all around Suffolk County, collecting donated costumes, and then sitting with us and separating and labeling them, 5 which, let me tell you, is not an easy job.