The Town Board authorized the supervisor to execute an agreement with consulting company Lexipol to pay for police training services, at the cost of $4,903.80, at a regular board meeting on Tuesday.
Acting police department chief James Ginas said at Tuesday’s work session that there are more than 580 training topics available through the program, including deescalation, officer wellness, suicide prevention for law enforcement and leadership and management training. Lt. Scott Latham has identified more than 60 hours so far that would be relevant to the Southold police department, he said.
The online program would also help the department meet requirements for sexual harassment training, hazmat and confined spaces, blood borne pathogens and use of force training. The program would let the department provide monthly reports to the Town Board, which also acts as police commissioners, on the training and progress of officers, and “in-house trainers” could download lesson plans to teach in a classroom format.
Mr. Ginas emphasized that Lexipol training is based on “case law and best practices,” and is regularly updated. He said “logging into the system” would only be available to police employees, although the catalog with course descriptions would be available to the community implementation committee.
Parking
In the wake of complaints, the Town Board has scheduled a public hearing for Nov. 15 at 4:30 to further limit parking in some residential areas.
Parking will now be prohibited on both sides of Horton’s Lane, “from the intersection with Majors Path West, then south to the right hand side of the town beach parking lot entrance,” according to a resolution.
At a work session on Tuesday, Councilwoman Sarah Nappa presented several requests from residents made to the town Transportation Commission, including a request for no parking on the east side of Horton’s Lane.
The Town Board also discussed no parking on Duck Pond Road in Cutchogue, north of the private driveway, and parking by permit at Stirling Eastern Shores in Greenport. The community owns the road and beach at Stirling Eastern Shores, according to Ms. Nappa, where people have been parking to access county land and use the beach.
Conservation easement hearing
The Town of Southold has set a public hearing for Oct. 18 at 4:30 to acquire a conservation easement on approximately 0.48 acres from the Peconic Land Trust, Inc. at 6480 Soundview Avenue, Southold.
The easement will preserve the parcel, located within the R-80 zoning district, in perpetuity. Acquisition costs will be covered with land preservation department funding.