Trustee criticized for “bypassing official governing procedures” responds with accusations of negligence

At the November 8 Northport Village Board of Trustees meeting, Mayor Donna Koch read a statement criticizing Trustee Ernest Pucillo for actions he took independent of the board last month, including contacting New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) requesting “some testing of the soil” at Cow Harbor Park in Northport Village “so we can determine if remediation is necessary.” His response came after his review of a boring test conducted in November 2022, indicating a petrochemical odor after drilling five feet into the ground. 

Koch said that actions taken by Pucillo and other board members are “nothing short of a coup d’etat,” and that it was after a meeting with Trustees Dave Weber and Joseph Sabia in the park (an open meeting law violation, according to Koch) that Pucillo “took it upon himself” to notify the DEC and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “bypassing the official governing procedures of our Village.” 

“This action is a serious breach of our established protocols and undermines the effectiveness of our leadership team,” Koch continued. 

Pucillo responded with a prepared statement of his own, followed by lively and lengthy discourse among all board members.  

On October 24, 2023, Trustee Pucillo contacted the DEC regarding the results of a November 2022 boring test, a service approved with a resolution by all board members at their August 2022 meeting and conducted by McDonald Geoservices in Cow Harbor Park. A notation in the report indicated an odor of petrochemicals during the boring process. 

In the letter to the DEC, which included Pucillo’s title as trustee, his personal email address and his telephone number, Pucillo said he and “other members of the village board are concerned that the odor may indicate soil contamination that could be dangerous to residents and others that may frequent the park.” 

“The events of the last two weeks have been troubling, to say the least. I want to assure the public that Cow Harbor Park is safe, not a listed ‘Superfund’ and not a public health risk,” Mayor Koch said at the meeting.

“At no time did Trustee Pucillo reach out to me for a special emergency meeting to see what the entire board wanted to do moving forward,” Koch said. “I’m sure we would’ve all reviewed and evaluated how to proceed. Instead, Trustee Pucillo took away my rights, as well as other members on this board – all elected officials – for having any say on this matter.”

Koch added that Pucillo did not seek a professional opinion from Village officials or engineers before telling Newsday for an article published on October 23 that the park may be a “Superfund site” based on the boring test results. Koch said that bypassing Village procedures and protocols for communication, which she believes Pucillo did in this matter, can create confusion, inefficiency and a breakdown of trust.

Pucillo argued in a prepared statement that he had a legal obligation to contact the DEC and committed no wrongdoing by not first informing the Village board of his actions. He said that he was never privy to the boring report by McDonald Geoservices and its notation of a petrochemical odor. “As a trustee of the Village, I realized that this report could indicate hazardous materials that may have been buried at the site when the [LILCO] plant was decommissioned,” Pucillo said. “It also could indicate that hazardous materials were leaking into the subsurface and could be a danger in the future.” He noted that the DEC and EPA were not created until the early 1970s, after the former LILCO plant was taken down, and said that companies were allowed to bury hazardous materials before these agencies were established. 

“No one can tell you this site is safe, other than an agency designed to do so, and that’s the DEC,” Pucillo stated. He also said that under NYS environmental conservation law, any responsible party – including Koch – is required to make notification to appropriate agencies when they discover hazardous materials. 

"I took legal action that I was required to do because the mayor failed to do so," Pucillo stated, adding that the mayor could be held liable for neglecting to make the report herself.  Koch argued that professional Village engineers indicated that the test did not require further action and that the board relies on their expertise. 

The code Pucillo quoted, (law 613-2.4), is for underground storage tank systems (USTs) and requires under the section titled “Reporting of Suspected Leaks” that the discovery of petroleum outside of a UST system at a facility or in the surrounding area (such as the presence of free product or vapors in soils) be reported to the state’s Spill Hotline.

Out-of-service UST systems do not require the same leak detection standards as functioning UST systems when they are left empty, according to law 613-2.6. If the DEC determines that a system built before 1986 (the year regulations were developed for USTs) has potential for the release of petroleum, however, the facility owner would be required to assess the excavation zone. In her statement, Koch said that the Town of Huntington leased this park area to Northport Village in 1987, after the area’s use for park purposes was authorized by a special act in New York State and approved by the governor. “A recent meeting with the town indicated that they were not aware of any below-grade abnormalities, and no action would be required,” Koch said. 

When the Journal contacted the DEC about communications from Pucillo and plans for further inspection at Cow Harbor Park, officials confirmed that the DEC has already responded to reports of a petrochemical odor at the park. According to McDonald’s report, the odor was noted at the soil/groundwater interface in an area southeast of the existing basketball court. DEC “established that the potentially contaminated soil had not been tested in a laboratory to confirm the presence of petroleum chemicals,” officials said. 

On November 6, the DEC requested that the Town of Huntington and Village of Northport submit a limited site investigation plan by November 18 to assess soil and groundwater conditions at the site where the odor was identified. “DEC continues to closely monitor the situation to ensure all actions comply with applicable state laws and regulations that are protective of public health and the environment,” DEC officials said. 

When asked on Tuesday why the playground in Cow Harbor Park, an area also located over the demolished LILCO plant, is still open to the public, Pucillo said that there can be substances below the ground that are not immediate hazards, “but over a period of time those can cause health hazards to people.” Pucillo said that the DEC looked into this and said that “right now, they see no incidents or health problems that are occuring within the Village.” Pucillo followed up by stating that the site “could be dangerous in the future,” which is why it’s currently remaining open to the public.