Water Authority of North Shore finally receives state funding: What comes next?

You guys have to get ahead of them, whether it be a half-step or a full-step.”

Agatha Nadel, Glen Head

We are very, very pleased to announce that, through discussions with the state budget process . . . we have received and can confirm that we have our $2 million funding in the bank account.”

James Versocki, board member, Water Authority of North Shore

The Water Authority of North Shore has finally received $2 million in state funding that will allow it to begin establishing operations and take a more active role to municipalize the North Shore water district, which serves 4 million residents across six municipalities.

“We are very, very pleased to announce that, through discussions with the state budget process . . . that we have received and can confirm that we have our $2 million funding in the bank account,” James Versocki, Sea Cliff village trustee and the village’s representative in the organization, said. “It’s been a year since we first met, (and) we’ve been a little hamstrung in our abilities to take next steps, but now we have the funding in place to take next steps, and we’re very excited to do that and share that with you.”

The news was announced at the water authority’s May 31 meeting, following months of anticipation. The initial plan was for the authority to receive $1 million per year for two years.

Versocki and the other board members explained that, thanks to the work of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislators who represent the North Shore communities, they were instead able to receive the $2 million as a lump sum. The board added that Hochul managed to include the money for the authority in the state budget, which helped streamline the process.

Despite that, there was a slightly comical delay in the money’s arrival. It was a “the- check’s-in-the- mail” situation as the governor’s office initially sent the money as a single check, which did not arrive for 10 days, prompting the office to wire the money directly. The day the wire went through was — of course — the day the check finally arrived at Sea Cliff Village Hall.

With the money in hand, the water authority can focus its efforts on fleshing out the organization and beginning to hire employees. The board will begin setting up payments to the Suffolk County Water Authority, which has been working closely with WANS in the preliminary process of running the board.

Now that funding is in place, the water authority will also organize its website. The website has been up for several months, but without a digital specialist, WANS has been unable to post key information about the water authority’s meeting schedule, the names of the board members or any information about how they plan to go about running the water district.

The water authority will also begin putting out a request for proposal to hire an appraisal company, which will be selected by the next water authority meeting at the end of July. The appraisal company will appraise the section of the water district that WANS is seeking to take over from Liberty.

Timothy Hopkins, the representative from the Suffolk County Water Authority, who has been working with WANS for the last six months, walked the board through important aspects of setting up the water authority. In addition, Hopkins emphasized the importance of hiring an auditor as soon as possible, and recommended temporarily using SCWA’s external auditor.

“(SCWA is) just starting our auditing process, and that goes on all summer long,” Hopkins explained. “Obviously it won’t be anything like that for the Water Authority of North Shore, but since (SCWA is) managing your finances we could have that as a logical outlet.”

Several water district residents attended the meeting, and expressed excitement at the opportunity that the water authority can finally municipalize the water district.

Agatha Nadel, a Glen Head resident and long-time member of the fight to municipalize the water district, spoke during public comment and encouraged the board members to move quickly, as she believes Liberty will quickly seek to discredit the new water authority.

“You guys have to get ahead of them, whether it be a half-step or a full-step,” Nadel said. “Let me tell you, when this vote comes, they’re going to be on this community. They’re going to do mailers, they’re going to do TV ads, and there’s going to be negative advertising.”