Council OKs $5.9 Million in Improvements for Glen Cove

Citing a need to replace collapsing sea walls, decades-old floors in the fire house and battered roofs on city-owned buildings, the Glen Cove City Council approved a $5.9 million Capital Improvement Bond Tuesday.

The fire department received approval for $250,000 in improvements and $54,000 for a new vehicle for its fire chief.

"The fire house has roofing needs, and a floor upstairs that is 46 years old," Mayor Ralph Suozzi said after the meeting.

The council also gave the OK for $650,000 in "various recreation park improvements," which will include more than $300,000 of work to a collapsing sea wall at Morgan Park. The city's Parks and Recreation Department will also get money for tree replacement and rehabilitation, golf course mowers and carts, a new cart barn and a new pickup truck for the golf course.

"The sea wall, part of it collapsed back in '07, so we repaired it in '08, but the full price was a half million dollars. We only did the part that was collapsing," Suozzi explained. "[Now], it's not quite as critical, but we want to do this now."

City streets will also see a facelift with the aid of $1.2 million, a figure Suozzi said he settled on after chipping away $600,000 by postponing some projects as well as utilizing grants and state funds.

"The two roads we knocked out can wait until next year's program," Suozzi said. "I wanted to get the Glen Street improvement in there."

Suozzi added that roughly $85,000 came out of the parks department's proposed bond amount and was put into the road improvements.

The city plans to make water system improvements as well of nearly $1.4 million overall, but Suozzi said Glen Cove is awaiting $600,000 in Environmental Protection Agency funds to offset the cost of the upgrades.

Instead of waiting for the money to come in, Suozzi noted that the city will use the EPA funds to either pay back part of the bond or use it for next year. The mayor said he didn't want to delay putting the work out to bid, citing potentially higher construction costs.

"By the time I go out to bid, all the contractors are busy. Prices will go up and nothing gets started until October," he said.

Suozzi said he only wanted to spend $2.5 million on the capital improvement plan, but stressed that the city needed much more work done.

"I have needs that I can't ignore that are related to public safety," he said.