Southold Town Notebook: Animal Shelter, Social Networking and Pike Street Parking Lot

board members will discuss the future of the , the implementation of in the realm of local emergency management notification and the maintenance of parking lot, which is owned by the , on .

The North Fork Animal Welfare League’s contract is up for renewal

Supporters of the North Fork Animal Welfare League plan to show up in force to address the Town of Southold’s re-negotiation on the contract with the non-profit league on the operation of the Southold Town Animal Shelter.

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said that items that need to be negotiated with the animal league have nothing to do with published on North Fork Patch.

“Like any contract, there are items that need to be negotiated and there are items that are non-negotiable,” he said. “We continue to have our attorney try to negotiate. The misinformation and baseless charges that are out there such as the Town wanting to establish a ‘kill shelter’ are simple lies.”

Supervisor Russell went on to say that the Town needs to make sure that it gets the best-run shelter it can for the least amount of cost.

“This is not our shelter, and it is not the league’s shelter,” he said. “It belongs to the taxpayers. I believe that the North Fork Animal League has done an excellent job in the past, but there is a new shelter there and there are new requirements placed on us by state law. The contract we offered provides accountability not to the Town Board but to the taxpayers who pay the bills”

Social networking and emergency management in Southold Town

The local community group Southold Voice recently launched a campaign appealing tosuch as Facebook and Twitter to communicate with residents during severe winter storms. Representatives of Southold Voice will discuss options on how to get the Town more involved in advocating the use of social media in order to help inform and protect citizens during catastrophic events.

“It’s a very complex topic,” said Joanna Lane, representative of Southold Voice. “It seems that a lot of the information we want to share with them is available online. I’m not sure which way the board will want to take this, but we’ll have the initial discussion on the benefits of going online facing adverse weather conditions … It’s a very hot topic not just with the town but worldwide.”

Mattituck Park District Hopes to Renew Lease for Pike Street parking lot

Doris McGreevy, chair of the Mattituck Park District, is hoping to renew the lease for the Pike Street parking lot with Southold Town, a deal which is up for its usual 10-year renewal like it has been since 1941.

McGreevy added that she hopes the park district and the town can work together on a revitilization grant to update beautifying the parking lot and keep it safer by perhaps installing speed bumps.

“We’re hoping this will benefit the whole community,” McGreevy said.

The Southold Town Board meets on Tuesday at 9 a.m. for its work session and again at 7:30 p.m. for its regular meeting.