Long Island briefs

SUFFOLK COUNTY

Lottery for home wastewater systems

Homeowners who want to upgrade their wastewater treatment system can enter a lottery at Suffolk County's website.

Suffolk will provide 19 advanced systems, maintain the systems for five years and monitor their effectiveness. The six different systems, donated by the manufacturers, will serve as a pilot program as the county tries to reduce nitrogen in areas that are unsewered.

Lottery applications must be submitted by Nov. 14 through the county's website, suffolkcountyny.gov, County Executive Steve Bellone announced at a news conference Wednesday.

Bellone has made reducing nitrogen, which can cause harmful algal blooms in surface water and degrade marshes, his top priority this year.

"We're attacking the problem at its source," Bellone said in front of a house under construction in Yaphank, which has a traditional septic tank system.

The systems will be monitored by the county to determine which are effective in what areas of Long Island.

By next July, that information will be used to determine which systems can be sold for general use in Suffolk County, said Walter Dawydiak, director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

He said the average advanced treatment system costs around $15,000.

Legis. Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue) said eastern Long Island has been waiting for the technology for decades. "This is for the next generation," he said.

About 70 percent of homes in Suffolk County -- 360,000 houses -- are not connected to sewers. The county has applied for state and federal grants to build sewers in more densely populated areas of Suffolk. -- DAVID SCHWARTZ

BABYLON VILLAGE

Electronic payment of fees gets the OK

Trustees at their Tuesday night board meeting formally approved an electronic payment system for taxes and fees that's been in use for about six months in Babylon Village.

Village residents can make their tax payments online but must pay fees at Village Hall, Village Clerk Pat Carley said.

The system allows village residents to pay by electronic check or with a credit card, though the check carries a $1.50 surcharge and credit cards carry a 2.45 percent surcharge.

The clerk's office has processed about 30 online tax payments and 40 in-office payments so far, she said, despite a sign on the office counter showing the surcharges for various charge amounts.

"That's the way the world is," Carley said. "People use their credit cards for everything." -- NICHOLAS SPANGLER

NEW CASSEL

'Mayor' remembered with street-naming

Maplewood Drive in New Cassel will be given the honorary name of Marvin Leon Johnson Sr. Way on Saturday in honor of the 48-year-old resident some called the "mayor" because of his community service. Johnson died of pneumonia on May 16.

The ceremony, which will include Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth and Johnson's family members, will be held at 11 a.m. at Maplewood Drive and Floral Way.

The sanitation worker also worked for Commercial Concrete Corp. and Deer Park Sand Gravel, but he always found time to mentor at-risk local young people, family members and others said.

Johnson's brother, Ivan, 43, said Tuesday he was grateful the town board enacted his suggestion to rename the street. He said Marvin loved music and used to try to keep local teens on track by teaching them how to be DJs.

Marvin was also known for his parties that honored returning military personnel and was always the first one to offer a hand when someone was in need, Ivan Johnson said.

"You don't necessarily have to be some person in high standing like a political figure to be recognized with this type of honor," Ivan Johnson said. "You can just be a really hardworking man or woman who is able to impact the community."

Bosworth described Johnson as "a wonderful role model who left a lasting imprint on the New Cassel community."

"This street renaming is a fitting way to celebrate his warm, generous nature and devotion to the neighborhood he loved so much," she said. -- LISA IRIZARRY

MASTIC BEACH

Attorney, professor named village clerk

The Mastic Beach Village Board of trustees has hired Susan Alevas as its new village clerk.

She replaces Susan Draghi, who retired last month and moved to Ohio.

Alevas, an attorney and adjunct professor for a branch of Cornell University, had become a vocal leader among village residents in recent months by quizzing trustee members on a variety of issues during public comment portions of meetings. She was hired Oct. 6.

She will be paid $70,000 for the full-time position, about the same as her predecessor, village officials said.

Alevas graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1981. She obtained a law degree from Touro School of Law in 1990.

Alevas served as clerk during Tuesday night's village meeting.

It was there that the trustee board passed two resolutions also appointing her to serve as Freedom of Information Law officer and records management officer.

-- DEON J. HAMPTON

GREAT NECK

Zoning changed in business corridor

The Village of Great Neck has changed its zoning code, condensing its business district and allowing for more second-floor residences and town houses in sections of the village.

The changes, approved at the Oct. 7 village board meeting, are to make the business corridor more "walkable," Mayor Ralph Kreitzman has said.

That district will run on Middle Neck Road, from Hicks Lane and Arrandale Avenue on the north and ending a half-mile south at Baker Hill Road.

The changes also allow for mixed-use developments on Middle Neck Road.

-- SCOTT EIDLER

DEER PARK

Grant for resource referral service

A Deer Park-based nonprofit has received a state grant that will be used to expand its resource referral service.

United Way of Long Island received $113,000 from a $1.2 million statewide grant. The money, which will be administered through the state's Office of Children and Family Services, will be used for United Way's 2-1-1 Long Island Information & Referral Service.

United Way's 2-1-1 service -- which also can be accessed by calling 888-774-7633 -- provides referrals to various community resources, such as those offering food, shelter, child care, mental health and legal services. The call center hours are Monday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, using the money from the state grant, United Way plans to expand those hours to Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

According to United Way, the 2-1-1 Long Island Information & Referral Service made more than 12,000 referrals to local organizations on Long Island in 2013. The United Way also has a 2-1-1 database available online, 211longisland.org, which includes detailed information on more than 10,000 community services.

-- DENISE M. BONILLA

GLEN COVE

Head of SCO Family of Services to leave

SCO Family of Services' executive director will step down at the end of the month, the Glen Cove-based nonprofit has announced. The organization's chief program officer, Douglas O'Dell, will take over from executive director Gail Nayowith on an interim basis while the organization searches for a permanent replacement.

Last year the organization provided social services to 60,000 people in New York City and Long Island, spending $227.9 million, according to its 2013 tax filing. Some of those services include behavioral health, foster care and adoption, and shelters for families and individuals.

"Gail decided to move on for personal reasons," SCO spokeswoman Sharman Stein said in an email. Stein said Nayowith, who headed the organization for four years, had suffered a personal loss recently and decided not to renew her contract. Nayowith is staying until the end of the month to help with the transition, Stein said.

O'Dell has been with SCO for 24 years and administers programs for adolescents in New York City and programs for children and adults with developmental disabilities in New York City and Long Island. -- TED PHILLIPS

UPTON

Talk at lab to focus on neuromagic

Susana Martinez-Conde, director of the Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, will discuss neuromagic at Brookhaven National Laboratory next Thursday.

Martinez-Conde is the co-founder of a new research field, neuromagic, which examines approaches of diagnosing autism, marketing techniques and education.

In her talk titled "Sleights of Mind" she will discuss her worldwide studies exploring magic and how its principles apply to human behavior.

Brookhaven Women in Science is sponsoring the free event, but visitors ages 16 and older must bring a photo ID.

The 4:30 p.m. gathering will be hosted at building 510A inside a large conference room in the physics department. -- DEON J. HAMPTON