Cook Gains Support In Power Play

Councilman Eugene Cook, pictured in front of the Northport Power Plant in May, drummed up support from his town board colleagues to research the town’s ability to acquire the plant through eminent domain.

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

The Huntington town board approved Tuesday a resolution to consider the possibility of taking over the Northport Power Plant through eminent domain.

The resolution, sponsored by Councilman Eugene Cook and seconded by Councilman Ed Smyth, instructs the town attorney and various department heads to research the procedure for eminent domain and the legality and feasibility of the town taking over the plant.

Cook previously introduced the idea of eminent domain to the town board in May, but the idea did not have enough support at the time.

“I’ve done a lot of research on this and I believe it’s the right thing to do,” Cook said.

Cook said that LIPA’s appraisal of the 243.6-acre power plant undervalues its economic output.

“After the appraisal was submitted with the lawsuit to the judge, I realized that the price they had in there was so good that we should buy this plant,” Cook said.

The Northport Power Plant is owned by National Grid and under contract to the Long Island Power Authority.

Under that contract, LIPA pays all costs to run the plant, including property taxes and provides fuel. In exchange, the utility receives all the electricity and electric market revenues.

Smyth said LIPA recently appraised the property at $193.7 million, a valuation he called an “invitation for the town to explore the condemnation of the plant because the price is so ridiculously low.”

LIPA currently pays $80 million annually in property taxes on the property based on the town’s $3.8-billion valuation.

LIPA challenged the assessment in 2010, seeking to drastically reduce the appraised value of the property and the taxes it pays on the property.

“This is the biggest financial issue the town is facing and probably has faced in its history,” Smyth said. “I don’t want to leave any stone unturned in this lawsuit.”

The town board voted 4-1 to move forward with eminent domain research. Cook and Smyth were joined by Councilwoman Joan Cergol and Supervisor Chad Lupinacci in support of the resolution, while Councilman Mark Cuthbertson was the lone no vote.

Cuthbertson said Cook does not need a resolution to ask town officials to research eminent domain, and the resolution was creating “false hope.” He argued the town should continue to work with local state representatives and the governor to find a solution.

“I believe this resolution brings grandstanding to an Olympic level, and it makes this board look foolish,” Cuthbertson said.

Northport Village deputy mayor Tom Kehoe said he supported the resolution, calling it, “another piece of the puzzle that will put a little pressure on the utility and LIPA to come to a decision that’s good for all of us.”

Huntington, the Northport school district, LIPA and National Grid are currently involved in non-binding mediation with third-party arbitrator Marty F. Scheinman. Cook said the timing of his resolution was not indicative of the progress of those talks.

Former Staffer Charges Lupinacci Sexually Assaulted Him

Brian Finnegan, former chief of staff to now-Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci, at a press conference in Huntington Station Tuesday, details allegations of sexual assault during Lupinacci’s tenure as Assemblyman. Long Islander News Photo/Connor Beach

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

A lawsuit by a former staffer of Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci accuses the supervisor of sexual assault during his time as state assemblyman.

Attorneys representing Lupinacci’s former Chief of Staff Brian Finnegan filed the civil lawsuit just after noon on Tuesday in the state supreme court building in Central Islip.

“It was a straight up middle of the night touching, assault, battery of a very graphic sexual nature,” Manhattan-based attorney Arthur Aidala, who is representing Finnegan, said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

The lawsuit alleges that Lupinacci sexually assaulted Finnegan early in the morning of Dec. 13, 2017 when the two traveled to Albany to clear out Lupinacci’s assembly office.

The lawsuit alleges Finnegan and Lupinacci left the state assembly office around 6 p.m. and, at Lupinacci’s insistence, stopped at several bars before returning to the Albany Renaissance Hotel where the two were sharing a room.

“There was an insistence by Mr. Lupinacci that Brian share the hotel room with him because they didn’t have enough money in the budget to have two hotel rooms,” Aidala said.

The lawsuit alleges Finnegan woke up at around 2:30 a.m. “feeling as if he was being touched and observed” by Lupinacci who was “on his knees at the side of the bed.”

“This predator was able to take advantage of me to perform forcible, non-consensual and unwanted sexual acts on me in the middle of the night while I was sleeping,” Finnegan said at Tuesday’s press conference held in front of the third district court in Huntington Station.

Finnegan said he was able to “escape” the hotel room and bought an Amtrak ticket home several hours later. He said called in sick for four straight days then resigned from Lupinacci’s staff following the incident.

Chad Lupinacci, pictured during his January 2018 inauguration ceremony, is facing allegations of sexual abuse filed Tuesday by his former chief of staff. Long Islander News archives photo

“I resigned my position in the New York State Assembly and passed up on the job to be an executive assistant and a senior advisor to the supervisor of the Town of Huntington that had already been offered to me,” Finnegan said. “All my hard work was meaningless all because I was the target of a sexual predator.”

The events on Dec. 13 followed a year of “repeated pattern of abuse” by Lupinacci that included personal questions of a sexual nature, Finnegan said.

Brian Finnegan, Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci’s former chief of staff, left and his attorney Arthur Aidala make their way to a press conference in front of third district court in Huntington Station Tuesday.

Aidala said the lawsuit is seeking monetary damages for pain and suffering, as well as economic damages Finnegan suffered as a result of turning down his job offer with the supervisor’s office.

A Huntington town spokeswoman declined to comment.

Attorney Brian Griffin said in a statement late Tuesday, “These allegations are unequivocally false and completely without merit.”

Griffin called the lawsuit “an attempt at an unjust and unwarranted financial payday.” According to the attorney, no complaint was made to the state assembly regarding the alleged abuse.

“Supervisor Lupinacci denies these claims and will continue to serve the people of the Town of Huntington in the same professional and dedicated manner that he has done throughout his career in public service,” Griffin said. “He will vigorously defend himself against these false allegations.”

NOTE: This story has been edited from its original version to include response from Lupinacci’s attorney.

Community Says 'No Thanks' To Parking

Cars fill the parking lot at the Cold Spring Harbor train station where neighbors are pushing back against a proposed 150-space parking structure. Long Islander News photo/Connor Beach

By Connor Beach

cbeach@longislandergroup.com

Residents are pushing back against a proposal to build a 150-stall parking structure at the Cold Spring Harbor train station.

Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci announced in October that State Senators John Flanagan (R-East Northport) and Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) had secured over $11 million in state grants to improve parking at both the Cold Spring Harbor and Huntington LIRR train stations.

“The Cold Spring Harbor and Huntington train station parking lots and structures need serious improvements, far exceeding the town’s budget capabilities,” Lupinacci said during the October announcment.

Marcellino, who lost his re-election bid earlier this month to Jim Gaughran, secured $7.35 million from the State and Municipal Facilities Program Grant to cover the cost of the proposed parking garage at the Cold Spring Harbor station.

The town owns and maintains the current approximately 1,000-space lot at the train station, and parked cars are required to display a $75 annual resident commuter parking permit, according to town documents.

Members of the nearby Cold Spring Hills Civic Association expressed worries that adding a parking structure with 150-spots would attract additional commuters to the lot and make the already congested surrounding streets even busier.

Civic association chairwoman Gayle Snyder said the association sent a letter to the town explaining the concerns of neighboring residents.

Lupinaccci said in an interview Wednesday that the money had been allocated to improve parking at the Cold Spring Harbor train station, and the town would work “with the community and the civic association in the area to make sure that we address the parking needs.”

He said, “Before any construction occurs, before any projects are introduced we will be working with the community to make sure we achieve the goals that help out the commuters, but are also acceptable to the surrounding neighbors.”