September 16, 2022

Dear Neighbors:

I would like to remind you to please make sure that you put your trash out only on the morning of pickup. Trash cans left overnight are often spilled by animals creating a mess.

Last Sunday, I had a Black Skimmer sitting on the beach in front of my house. It is a really cool-looking bird so I thought I would share a photo of it with you. Skimmers have a much longer lower bill than their upper one. To feed, they fly along the surface of the water with their lower bill in the water picking up food. They are a little hard to see in the Village but are really a beautiful sight when feeding.

It is going to be a gorgeous weekend and I hope you have a great time.
Mayor Dr. Gregory Letica

September 9, 2022

Dear Neighbors:

Several updates that I would like to share with you...

• As I mentioned last week, Nancy Rittenhouse will be resigning as Village Clerk effective November 16th. We are excited to announce her replacement Michelle Glennon. Michelle grew up in Asharoken and is very familiar with the community. She has years of experience managing her family's construction business. She is presently a Northport-East Northport Public Library Trustee and I am confident that Michelle will do a great job for the Village. Additionally, Michelle has filled-in for Nancy and has become very familiar with the role. This past Tuesday Michelle was appointed Deputy Clerk and will be working with Nancy for the next few months.
• On August 9th, Asharoken was notified by FEMA that its application for a $1,000,000 BRIC grant for engineering and design to replace the seawall was deemed ineligible due to a lack of available funding. The Village will resubmit its request in the BRIC 2022 as soon as it is announced. The Village is still awaiting news of two Hazard Mitigation Grants each in the amount of $1,000,000 for engineering and design to replace the seawall. In addition, the request for $1,000,000 from Congressman Suozzi and the two requests from Senator Schumer in the amounts of $1,000,000 and $14,500,000 are still pending a response.
• The Village is nearing approval for two additional grants. The first is for a DASNY grant of $100,000 to pave Bevin Road sponsored by Senator Jim Gaughran. The second is for a DASNY grant for $50,000 to repair the sink hole at the seawall sponsored by NYS Assemblyman Keith Brown.
• National Grid will be placing 45,000 cubic yards of sand on the Sound side beach. I have had preliminary discussions with Joe Warren, National Grid plant manager. At this time, he believes the 45,000 cubic yards of sand will be dredged and come from an upland site. The village will be having a detailed discussion once National Grid has identified a contractor.
• The police boat has completed a full month of operation and is running well. I would like to thank Police Officer Pat Rogan for his superb marine officer training program.

Have a great weekend,
Mayor Dr. Gregory Letica

September 1, 2022

Dear Neighbors:

I am sorry to announce that Nancy Rittenhouse, the Village's terrific Clerk, has informed me that she will be resigning effective November 15th. She and her husband Paul are planning on moving out of state.

Nancy has been the glue that has held Asharoken together for the last 14 years. She started out without any experience whatsoever as a Village Clerk and through hard work, a strong desire to learn and an unparalleled work ethic became what I believe is the best Village Clerk in New York State. Nancy mastered every facet of being a clerk. Among them: running elections, organizing board meetings, preparing budgets, communicating with the residents, preparing, and running competitive bids, maintaining Village Hall, writing, and securing grants, records management, preparing minutes, overseeing the building department, responding to FOIL requests, setting up Santa and Mrs. Clauss's visits, and most importantly, interacting with everyone who came to Village Hall professionally and with a big smile. As you can appreciate, being an effective and successful Village clerk requires a diverse skill set and a mastery of every aspect of Village government. Needless to say, Nancy checked both of these boxes.

It has been an honor and a privilege to have worked side by side with Nancy over the last 10 years. She has a great feel for what's right for the Village and her excellent advice really helped me in my decision-making. Without her as the Clerk I am sure that the Village would have accomplished so much less in the last decade. I can't thank Nancy enough for all her hard work, dedication, and devotion to Asharoken. The Village really has been so incredibly fortunate to have her as its Clerk.

The Village has identified an excellent replacement and is in the final steps of bringing that person on board. As soon as everything is finalized, I will let you know.

Lastly, Linda and I would like to wish all of you a very happy Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy the last hurrah of summer!

Best Regards
Mayor Dr. Gregory Letica