Suffolk supervisors seek exemption for municipalities from discovery law

Suffolk County supervisors are banding together to ask the state to exempt municipalities from law changes that were made as part of criminal justice reform legislation that took effect in January.

Town supervisors from Babylon, Huntington, Brookhaven and Islip gathered Thursday at Brookhaven Town Hall to publicly make their case to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

“When legislation is rushed, there are unintended consequences,” said Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter. “Municipalities here on Long Island are the victims of those unintended consequences.”

In a letter sent to Cuomo in January that was signed by all 10 of the county’s town supervisors, the officials note that changes to the process of how case information is turned over to the courts means there are no distinctions between a homicide case and a “municipal code violation for high grass.”

The problem, they said, is a new discovery requirement that names and contact information for complainants be turned over within 15 days of arraignment. Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine said it’s had a “chilling effect on code enforcement.”

“So now, if you live next to a guy that has a house with two illegal apartments and four or five unregistered vehicles and trash on the property, if you call, we are obligated by law to tell the guy next door that you called,” he said.

Islip officials said overall complaints are down 30% so far this year, from 440 to 307. This can be dangerous, Carpenter said, such as with complaints about unsecured pools.

“God forbid a kid drowns because a complaint wasn’t made because of this legislation,” she said.

The supervisors said another burdensome requirement is that after issuing a summons, a court date must be set within 20 days, meaning the entire case has to be prepared within that time frame.

“In the past that process has taken us 8 to12 weeks, and now they’re asking us to do it within 20 days,” said Brookhaven Deputy Town Attorney David Moran. “Because of the amount of work, our efficiency has plummeted.” Moran added that the number of court calendar cases has dropped to less than half.

Nassau County towns are also feeling the effect. North Hempstead officials sent their own letter on Wednesday to the governor asking for exemption, while Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said the town is “analyzing all options.” Hempstead officials did not respond to requests for comment.

State Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) and state Sen. Jim Gaughran (D-Northport) are proposing bills that would allow anonymity for those reporting local code violations, and would allow municipalities of any size to take such cases out of district court and instead have them adjudicated in-house by creating their own administrative bureau. Huntington is the only Long Island municipality among three in the state to have already established such a system, which is set to start in May.

Babylon Town is also separately pursuing state legislation introduced by Assemb. Kimberly Jean-Pierre (D-Babylon) and Sen. John Brooks (D-Seaford) to allow the town to set up a similar bureau.

In the meantime, Babylon Town officials said they will not comply with the law changes.

“I’d like to be the test case to challenge the system,” said Supervisor Rich Schaffer. 

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.