1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 SUFFOLK COUNTY LEGISLATURE 12 13 14 GENERAL MEETING 15 16 TENTH DAY 17 18 July 21, 2020 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 MEETING HELD AT THE 27 28 WILLIAM H. ROGERS LEGISLATURE BUILDING 29 30 IN THE ROSE Y. CARACAPPA LEGISLATIVE AUDITORIUM 31 32 725 VETERANS MEMORIAL HIGHWAY 33 34 SMITHTOWN, NEW YORK 35 36 VIA VIDEO CONFERENCING 37 38 39 40 Taken By 41 Diana Flesher & Lucia Braaten - Court Stenographers 42 43 Transcribed By 44 Diana Flesher, Lucia Braaten, Alison Mahoney & 45 Kim Castiglione - Legislative Secretary 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 * Index Included at End of Transcript 1 General Meeting - July 21, 2020 1 (*The meeting was called to order at 9:36 a.m.*) 2 3 (*The following testimony was taken by Diana Flesher - 4 Court Stenographer & was transcribed by 5 Kim Castiglione - Legislative Secretary*) 6 7 P.O. CALARCO: 8 We are going to get started here. Welcome this morning to the 9 General Meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature. Madam Clerk, 09:36AM 10 call the roll. 11 12 (*Roll call by Ms. Ellis, Clerk of the Legislature*) 13 14 LEG. KRUPSKI: 15 Here. 16 17 LEG. FLEMING: 18 Present. 19 09:36AM 20 LEG. SUNDERMAN: 21 Here. 22 23 LEG. MURATORE: 24 Here. 25 26 LEG. ANKER: 27 Here. 28 29 LEG. PICCIRILLO: 09:37AM 30 Here. 31 32 LEG. GONZALEZ: 33 (Inaudible). 34 35 MS. ELLIS: 36 Gonzalez. 37 38 LEG. GONZALEZ: 39 (Indicating) I'm here, I'm here. 09:37AM 40 41 LEG. CILMI: 42 Here. 43 44 LEG. FLOTTERON: 45 Here. 46 47 LEG. KENNEDY: 48 Here. 49 09:37AM 50 LEG. TROTTA: 51 Here. 52 53 LEG. McCAFFREY: 54 Here. 55 56 * Index Included at End of Transcript 2 General Meeting - July 21, 2020 1 LEG. RICHBERG: 2 (Not present) 3 4 LEG. BERLAND: 5 Here. 6 7 LEG. DONNELLY: 8 Here. 9 09:37AM 10 LEG. SPENCER: 11 Here. 12 13 D.P.O. HAHN: 14 Present. 15 16 P.O. CALARCO: 17 Present. 18 19 MS. ELLIS: 09:37AM 20 Seventeen. (Not Present: Legislator Richberg) 21 22 P.O. CALARCO: 23 Thank you. Welcome, everyone, to this morning's General Meeting. 24 If we could all please rise for the salute to the flag led by 25 Legislator McCaffrey. 26 27 Salutation 28 29 Okay. And at this time I would like to recognize Legislator 09:38AM 30 McCaffrey for the purpose of introducing our clergy this morning. 31 32 Invocation 33 34 LEG. McCAFFREY: 35 Thank you, Mr. Presiding Officer. At this time I'm proud to 36 introduce Deacon Ricardo Garcia, our Lady of Grace Church in West 37 Babylon. Deacon Ricardo was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. 38 He emigrated to the United States when he was 17-years-old to 39 attend the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. He graduated from the 09:38AM 40 Academy with a Bachelor's Degree in Natural Science in 1981. Upon 41 graduation, he embarked on a 39-year career in the marine insurance 42 industry, provided specialized insurance to companies engaged in 43 oil and natural gas exploration. 44 45 After a successful career and completion of the Pastoral Formation 46 Program, Deacon Ricardo entered the Permanent Diaconate Program of 47 the Diocese of Rockville Center. He studied at the Seminary of the 48 Immaculate Conception and was ordained a permanent Deacon in 2000. 49 His first assignment was to the Parish of the Holy Spirit in New 09:39AM 50 Hyde Park. 51 52 In 2007, his professional career took him to Woodlands, Texas. 53 While in Texas, he served as the Parishes of the Sacred Heart in 54 St. Anthony's of Padua for 12 years until his return to West 55 Babylon. In October last year Deacon Ricardo Garcia was assigned 56 to the Parish of our Lady of Grace in West Babylon where he serves * Index Included at End of Transcript 3 General Meeting - July 21, 2020 1 the people of God in Suffolk County today. 2 3 Deacon Ricardo was married for 38 years to his wife Kathy, who 4 recently lost her battle with ALS this past January. He has two 5 children, his son Richard and daughter Abigail, and two 6 grandchildren, Francine and Milo. 7 8 It's my pleasure to welcome Deacon Garcia to our meeting for our 9 invocation. Deacon, if you would. 10 11 DEACON RICARDO: 12 Good morning to all of you, and let us pray. 13 14 Almighty God, your son called us to come to him as he blessed us 15 lovingly. As we gather on this day, he invites all of us, 16 Legislators and the people of Suffolk County, to come together to 17 serve the needs of these vibrant towns and communities. Grant all 18 of us your divine wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, 19 perseverance, patience and grace to find ways to improve the lives 09:40AM 20 of all. 21 22 Loving God, it has been your will that these elected Legislators, 23 their staffs and those who help them carry out the responsibilities 24 being instilled with utmost care, love and consideration for all. 25 In your mercy, bless them and bless their days of service. May 26 they be attentive to the words spoken here and with listening 27 hearts and minds find pathways to achieve just and fair 28 legislations for the people of this County; that their concern {be 29 chum} when they embark to pursue noble goals in search of truth and 09:40AM 30 justice while they challenge themselves to work with each other in 31 a spirit of collaboration, support and able to lean on each other 32 to achieve the best results. 33 34 May they be always people of prayer and peace in love and service 35 for others. May their own faith guide them to seek what is best 36 and to work for what is good. May they be able to navigate through 37 unchartered areas and filled with courage, tackle the problems and 38 discover that within their God-given gifts and talents lies 39 solutions that bring unity and common ground to promote harmony, 09:41AM 40 peace and understanding to all. 41 42 May the channels of communication remain always open to listen and 43 hear their constituents and convey a sentiment of concern and care 44 that embraces the hearts of all those who look at creation trying 45 to preserve the beauty and the splendor of the land over which they 46 legislate. 47 48 May we also cherish today the gift of all those who will 49 participate in this meeting. May we all recognize their personal 09:42AM 50 value and be motivated to realize that we are important to others 51 as we acknowledge how important they are us to. May they put 52 forward thoughts and ideas filled with grace, wisdom and creativity 53 to enhance the work of this body. 54 55 56 * Index Included at End of Transcript 4 General Meeting - July 21, 2020 1 Heavenly Father, allow us to take a moment to raise our prayers in 2 support for those afflicted with the pandemic. May your healing 3 touch let them experience your presence and give them a strength 4 and hope to recover and continue to be active members of our 5 communities. Remember also those who have died from this Corona 6 Virus and open your arms that they may be embracing to you glory 7 and shower their families, relatives and friends with consolation 8 and comfort to go on living with the peace and the companionship of 9 all of us who journey with them. Glory be to God whose power 09:42AM 10 working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine if 11 we place our trust in him, and we ask this through your son, Jesus 12 Christ, amen. 13 14 (Amend said in unison) 15 16 LEG. McCAFFREY: 17 Thank you, Deacon. 18 19 DEACON RICARDO: 09:43AM 20 You're welcome. 21 22 P.O. CALARCO: 23 Thank you very much, Deacon. We appreciate you being here with us 24 this morning and those words of wisdom. 25 26 All right. At this time today we will have a moment of silence. 27 Today we remember two civil rights icons, Representative John Lewis 28 and Robert C.T. Vivian, who died Friday after dedicating their 29 lives to fight for freedom and equality. 09:43AM 30 31 John Lewis, a leading advocate for voting rights, was the last 32 surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington. A follower 33 and colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr., he was one of the 34 original 13 Freedom Riders who challenged segregated buses. In 35 1965, he lead the famous March from Selma to Montgomery to demand 36 equal voting rights for Black Americans. His fight continued when 37 he entered Congress where he served as a U.S. Representative from 38 Georgia for more than 30 years and became known as the conscience 39 of the Congress. 09:44AM 40 41 C.T. Vivian was also a Freedom Rider. He worked alongside Martin 42 Luther King, Jr., and helped found the National Christian 43 Leadership Conference, an affiliate of the Southern Christian 44 Leadership Conference, that organized sit-ins and civil rights 45 marches.