Nolan withdraws spray park resolution

Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan Tuesday withdrew a town board resolution authorizing $109,000 to design a new filtration system and spray park at Timberline Park Pool in Brentwood, after receiving word from State Sen. Lee Zeldin that he might not be able to deliver the funding a former senator had promised for the spray park.

Nolan also acknowledged the town's planning department had already hired an engineering firm to perform $25,000 worth of work on the two projects without authorization from the town board.

"A resolution should have been submitted," Nolan said, responding to questions from Councilwoman Trish Bergin Weichbrodt.

Former Sen. Caesar Trunzo (R-Brentwood) in 2008 wrote a letter of commitment to Nolan promising $500,000 for a spray park at Timberline.

The town at the time was planning to replace the pool's outdated and troublesome filtration system, parks commissioner Greg Dawson said. During the summer, its valves must be monitored and adjusted 24 hours a day to prevent the pool basement from flooding, he said.

The parks department allocated about $200,000 in 2009 to replace the filtration system, but decided to delay that project so it could be designed in coordination with the spray park, Dawson said.

The engineering firm Sidney B. Bowne & Son has billed the town $25,173.72 since December 2009 for the design of "a new interactive wading pool" at Timberline.

Town engineer Dave Janover said he did not know how much of that work was on the filtration system and how much was on the spray park.

In a letter Monday to town board members, Zeldin (R-Shirley) wrote that "it is unclear if money will be available" for the spray park and four other Islip projects for which money had been promised.

Bergin Weichbrodt, a Republican, criticized the town's expenditure on a project that it is now abandoning.

Nolan, a Democrat, called the filtration system "an emergency" and said it made sense to design both projects at once.

The town board also set a public hearing for March 8 on proposed ethics rules to eliminate conflicts of interest when town officials challenge their property tax assessments.