Solar panels, data centers, homecoming discussed at civic meeting

The South Country Civic Association hosted their monthly meeting on Monday, Oct. 19, at the South Country Community Ambulance building on South Country Road.

Greg Miglino Jr., chief of the South Country Ambulance Department, gave a substantial and comprehensive presentation, developed by chief of operations Joseph Craig, on the noted issues and possible roadblocks with town, county, state, and MTA jurisdiction of various problematic road crossings in the area that will be covered in a separate article due to space limitations in print.

Guest speaker, New York State Sen. Dean Murray, discussed solar panels on a state level after a community member raised concerns of about rising energy costs and how 10 years ago during the solar panel installation program from the state she and her household received $14,000 back and typically has an energy bill of under $60.

Murray said that the previous program was more to address the wariness the public had about relying on solar panels and that the initial cost to install solar panels was prohibitive.

“I don’t know if the state is anxious to throw incentives for people to do it, because the incentive is to save money,” said Murray. “Here’s the problem: Some folks have gone in a different direction with the solar panels that I completely do not agree with—we had an argument the other day at the end of session about cutting down trees for solar panels. I wanted to introduce every one of them to the Lorax.”

“You don’t cut down a tree for a solar panel and call that environmentally good.”

Murray also spoke of a partnership with Citizens Campaign for the Environment executive director Adrienne Esposito about PFAS legislation and how solar panels are coated in the harmful forever chemical (“poison” according to Murray) that accumulate in human blood and animal tissue as a rust preventative.

Of particular concern was the use of solar panels over bodies of water such as drinking reservoirs.

Finally, Murray spoke of his opposition to the accelerated timeline of the state on the electric bus mandate for school districts in New York, citing a lack of infrastructure and significant up-front costs ($300,000 to $450,000 for an electric bus versus $100,000 to $150,000 for diesel).

“You have to be realistic with this,” said Murray.

Assemblyman Joe DeStefano addressed the crowd to clarify his position on data centers, specifically the state moratorium ban that the voted against. He specified that his vote was in support of local control to decide within each municipality if data centers were feasible for their community citing that many upstate counties are interested.

“It should be local control. I already knew there was an 18-month moratorium on it [passed by the Town of Brookhaven on July 16]. Upstate people want it and if their local governments feel they should have it, they should have it,” said DeStefano. “It shouldn’t be up to me or Albany to decide what’s good for upstate. They know what’s good for upstate, I don’t.”

South Country Central School District superintendent John Dolan spoke of the loss of 22 percent of teachers and 44 percent of the administrators.

Due to the loss of administrators, Dolan praised new incoming superintendent, Dennis O’Hara, for having a strong background in curricula that will be needed to address the paucity in the specialization of the administrative staff.

“I would love this job if I were five years younger, but I would not be the right person… the person that they hired… will be able to support that side of the program that really needs support,” said Dolan. “He’s been through the ringer, unsubstantiated and unfair, but he’s still standing.”

Dolan addressed the multiple calls to Suffolk County Police Department from the high school and emphasized that the school attempts to address the incident in-house before involving the authorities.

“Just encourage people to give us a chance to help us solve it,” said Dolan.

Dolan spoke of the success of homecoming, which was different from year’s past and based on student preference. The homecoming dance was particularly well received.

“It was like small-town America. They were all dolled up, gussied up, they were all prettied up. They had a nice time. I had a nice time. I liked the beat, but I don’t understand the words,” Dolan quipped.