The Town of Oyster Bay honored its interns as its summer internship program nears a close.
“When you work in different fields at this stage in life, it gives you a feel for things you enjoy and maybe things you don’t want to do in life, which is important,” Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said.
The town’s summer internship began on May 29 and will continue through Aug. 6. Internships were available in many town departments, including comptroller, general services, environmental resources, inter-governmental affairs, planning & development, public information, public safety, public works/engineering, town attorney, town board and town clerk. Interns work up to 19.5 hours per week.
Saladino also gave advice to the interns, saying that they are in control of their future.
“The city of happiness is located in the state of the mind,” he said. “Seek out the things that are healthiest. Seek out the things that propel you forward, not only professionally but personally.
Councilman Steve Labriola said it is important for younger generations to pursue roles in representative government, as they will help lead residents into the future.
“We need young people to fill these roles,” he said to the group of interns.
Each intern received a certificate of achievement from the board for their service.
The board had two hearings scheduled for Tuesday’s meeting. The first was for a special use permit, where Bram Weber, the attorney representing the marketplace, invited his own two interns to sit in the front row during the hearing. He said it was important for them to see the process of an application play out in local government.
The board was also expected to hold a hearing about extending its battery energy storage system moratorium for an additional six months, but that hearing was postponed.
Deputy Town Attorney Elizabeth Faughnan requested the hearing be moved to Sept. 9. She said the attorney’s office wants to allow residents to be present for the hearing, as some residents may be on vacation during the summer.
The board voted to schedule the hearing at its meeting on June 24. The town currently has a ban on battery energy storage systems until the end of October. The new moratorium would be tacked on to the end of the current one and extend that ban through April 2026.
The public hearing had been scheduled to come less than two months into the ban that was set in place in April. The town held a public hearing on April 8, and the moratorium was officially enacted later that month.
Dozens of residents spoke at the town’s April public hearing, with nearly all of them in favor of the ban.
