Mayoka Clashes With Town Board Dems

Huntington Town Councilman Mark Mayoka made good on his promise to propose a resolution closing the day laborer hiring site on Depot Road in Huntington Station.

That is, his promise to re-propose the resolution.

On May 4, the Town Board voted to send a letter to the Family Service League, which for the past three years has run the site under contract with the town, stating that the town could "no longer justify funding for the site."

As reported on Huntington Patch, several residents then stated that, despite the message of the letter, they really would like to see the site closed by resolution and urged the members to allow Mayoka to submit one to the agenda.

"All of us in Huntington Station thank you for [closing the site]. It was a noble experiment," said Matt Harris. "All I ask is that you offer a resolution to close it."

Supervisor Frank Petrone said that the board did not want to set a precedent that a resolution was necessary for every contract they elected to cancel. He noted they would be forced to do so for dozens every month.

"It takes a contract that's expired and has us vote on things that are expired, which means we would be doing this for about 50 resolutions just about monthly," Petrone said.

Hence, the board declined to offer a second to the resolution.

Councilman Mark Cuthbertson said that, in addition to the resolution being unnecessary, Mayoka had submitted it very late — at 9:18 a.m. the day of the meeting — and didn't follow the proper procedures that include allowing the appropriate departments to review the information. Mayoka said they as a board had no adopted new procedures since he was elected so there really weren't any in place.

Following the meeting, Mayoka said that he would propose the resolution again for the board's May 17 agenda because he felt it is a "safeguard" necessary because "the non-renewal of the current contract between Family Service League and the Town of Huntington signed by Frank Petrone and re-issued every six months will lapse on June 30, 2010" and he "fears there are other plans in the works for the a future site."

The resolution did appear on Monday's agenda. However,  Town Clerk Jo-Ann Raia declared the resolution a failure as the motion did not receive a second from any other board members.

"I offer Resolution 286, which provides for the orderly close of the labor-ready site and rescinds the budget authority to fund the labor ready site for the balance of the 2012 calendar year," Mayoka said.

The board did not respond.

"I wish that my colleagues offered constructive suggestions instead of remaining silent," Mayoka said.

Councilman Cuthbertson broke the silence.

"Your colleagues have told you based on the town attorney's memo that such a resolution is not necessary and would create a precedent where any contract that was terminated would need a resolution and is not a precedent your colleagues want to start," he said.

"Were not looking to start such a precedent," Mayoka said.  "What this resolution does is it overrides Resolution 2010-4, passed on January 12, 2010, which clearly provided that the labor-ready site is funded for the entire 2010 calendar year and once you pass a resolution you need another resolution to amend, and to change and conform a prior resolution and that's what this resolution does. It returns unspent money and puts it in a lockbox, a term used many years earlier by Steve Israel, so it can't be used to offset overspending in other areas."

Supervisor Petrone said that the money would automtically go in to the reserve fund.

"The term, first of all, lockbox, we consider that a reserve fund and when a contract is expired if there is additional dollars left it goes automatically in to the reserve fund," Petrone said. "We did a letter and the letter states that this board is going to close that site on the expiration of the contract. The other areas of the resolution where there are problems repeatedly with this resolution is that it calls for the orderly closing of this site by our general services. We don't orderly close it. We don't own it. Family Service League will begin to officially start to downsize that facility so it's orderly closed by the end of the contract."

Petrone said the letter is as binding as a resolution, perhaps more so.

Mayoka said he disagreed.

"The town attorney indicated to me that the letter was in fact a thank you letter and in no way a letter of termination the letter also clearly implies that the site may remain intact and may be moved in doors.  If the site doesn't work outdoors you don't need to have it moved indoors," he said.

Petrone asked Town Attorney John Leo to respond to the contents of the letter to the Family Service League.

"I resonded, first of all, in a memo that was confidential to Mr. Mayoka and shouldn't be spoken of in public on questions that he asked about law, which raises serious issues in my mind," Leo said. "Secondly, the letter is the letter we give in other times and places when we are going to end a contract. In that same memo, I stated unequivocally that the contract would end June 30 of this year."

Mayoka's aide Marin Brosniak noted that since Mayoka is considered the "client" in the relationship with Leo, he did not breach confidentiality privileges.

Mayoka then offered a second resolution, Resolution 2010-287,  for the town to "be proactive and to direct a five percent reduction in the Town of Huntington's 2010 general fund budget and to require that all budget requests for the 2011 budget are not to exceed 95 percent of 2010 budget appropriations."

This motion did not obtain a second, either.

"No second. Resolution failed," Raia said.