Supervisor Phil Nolan – Oct 7 2011

Mr. Nolan made his presentation today by pointing out some changes that he made when he took the reins of Islip town government. He began to learn very quickly that there were some questionable practices that needed to be addressed.

The practice of confidential pay. These were payments that were made to public employees because they had to handle confidential information. Nolan reasoned that the job description did not make any provisions for this fact, and that the stated income was all that was needed. According to Nolan this was an excuse to favor a few people. Rescinding those payments resulted in a $625 K/ year savings.

He then attacked health plans that were paid in full for part time employees. An employee working 10 hours/ week would be entitled to a $13,000 health plan (now $18,000). That was ended.

At the same time tax revenues were plummeting. Nolan stated that he did not come into the job with the mind-set at reducing the size of government, but the economic emergency required, what sometimes, were heart breaking decisions. There were 1029 town positions when he came to the job, and now there 720. The downsizing was achieved mostly by attrition.

Technology use in the town was more like 1950 than a modern array of systems. He took on the job of bringing the towns systems into modernity. In conjunction with that effort, he made permitting a lot faster than in the past. Modern systems and the right attitude were needed to make permitting better on every level faster. There was a workers compensation revue that resulted in a savings of $6.5 million/year

Future Considerations
The future will include the hub at Ronkonkoma that fellow supervisor of Brookhaven Mark Lesko initiated. This 50 acre development promises to create an efficient transit oriented business grouping, that will employ many and be in close proximity to the airport, and the railroad.

There were some aspersions cast upon the commissioner of the airport by Mr. Nolan’s opponent, when he appeared at LIMBA.  Nolan defended Commissioner Theresa Rizutto in no uncertain terms. This insult is an affront that I take personally. "She is a professional that rose quickly in her career due to her hard work, and dedication." Then he read a few testimonials that were written by LIA president Kevin Law, LICA executive director Mark Herbst, and ABLI Executive Director Des Ryan.

Ernie Fazio