Town Board Meetings

How to Participate:

Town Board Meeting

There are three opportunities for public input at a typical Riverhead Town Board meeting: public hearings, public comment on resolutions being voted upon, and public comment on any and all business.

Public Hearings

Public hearings take place towards the beginning of the meeting. All those who wish to contribute are sworn in before addressing the Board from the podium. After the Town, and/or an involved third party briefly describes the issue or makes a formal presentation, the public can speak. Unlike in some other towns, the Riverhead Town Board’s custom (at the time of this writing) is to have dialogue with residents during their comments. This can be quite constructive but it can also be disruptive and even contentious. If you would like to make your comments uninterrupted you can ask the Town Board to let you do so.

Try to limit your remarks to those directly related to the issue at hand. Comments on other topics should be saved for later in the meeting. As long as you are on topic your remarks may range from emotional pleas, to suggestions for improvements, to quasi-legal arguments for, or against a proposed measure. (You may bring an attorney to represent your interests.) You should maintain a reasonable level of respect in speaking with officials and responding to other testifying members of the public to which you may be responding (you may speak more than once).

Depending on the nature of your remarks, you may want to do some research in advance of the hearing. Consider preparing a script if the issue is particularly complex or sensitive—of if you anticipate that it might become the subject of a future action, such as litigation.

The Supervisor will announce how long the hearing will be left open for public comment at the end of the hearing. It is normally 10 days. During this period you can submit comments to the Town Board through the Town Clerk. See contact information for the Town Board and the Town Clerk on the next blog page:

Town Board and Contact Information.

Town Board meetings are taped in their entirety, broadcast on Cablevision and minutes are taken for the public record and later posted on the Town Board Minutes & Agenda page.

Public Comments on Resolutions

After the public hearings are over, anyone can comment on any resolution scheduled to be voted upon. Although most resolutions will appear on the official agenda, the Town Board often takes additional resolutions “off the floor.” These resolutions range from the mundane, to emergency related, to politically sensitive and unpopular. If you are concerned about a specific resolution that is not on the official agenda, ask the Board about the resolutions coming off the floor so you can comment on them if you so choose.

Although this is rather late stage to address an issue, last minute comments have occasionally resulted in the tabling of resolutions and often result in changes to resolutions. The latter happens most often when the comment points out an error in a resolution. You might also want to speak in order to draw attention to an issue or get certain statements into the public record. For tips on research, preparation and protocol, read the Public Hearings write-up.

Public Comment on Any Business

At the very end of the meeting, you can address and engage the Town Board on just about any topic related to Riverhead. You can thank them for a prior action. You can call them on something you think they’ve done (or might do) that you believe is not in the public’s best interest. You can make a suggestion for a new policy or law. As always, just try to keep it civil and to the point.

Technically, each member of the public has five minutes to comment but the Riverhead Town custom is to allow people to speak longer, until it becomes overlong or unpleasant (at the Board’s discretion.)