Long Island, NY-One of the first responsibilities of Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory (D-Amityville) of the Suffolk County Legislature is to make committee assignments for his colleagues. Deputy Presiding Officer Jay Schneiderman (I-Southampton) has been selected to chair the Parks and Recreation Committee while also serving on Government Operations, Personnel, Housing, and Consumer Protection; and Economic Development committees.

“I was pleased to name Deputy Presiding Officer Schneiderman to chair the Parks and Recreation committee,” said Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory. “He brings10 years of experience as a Legislator to the table, and he has a thorough knowledge of the county’s parks. During his years as chairman of the Public Works and Transportation Committee, Legislator Schneiderman sponsored important legislation to strengthen our bus service and complete critical dredging projects, and I expect him to continue his groundbreaking work as chairman of the Parks and Recreation Committee.”

The Parks and Recreation Committee has jurisdiction over the County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation while overseeing the appointments and finances of the Vanderbilt Museum. The committee also oversees County Parks, golf course initiatives, outdoor recreational activities and sports-oriented projects such as the Sports Hall of Fame. The county Parks Department manages over 46,000 acres of parkland in Suffolk County from Montauk to Huntington. Popular activities within the county parks include golfing, camping, horseback riding, swimming, hiking, fishing, boating, or visiting one of our historic sites such as the Big Duck.

Deputy Presiding Officer Schneiderman would like to promote the use of Suffolk’s parks and hopes that residents of Suffolk County will explore Long Island’s natural landscape. There are many County Parks and Nature Preserves within Legislator Schneiderman’s legislative district. These include the Dwarf Pines Plains Reserve, Cedar Point County Park, Cupsogue Beach County Park, Hubbard County Park, Indian Island County Park, Meschutt Beach County Park, Montauk County Park, Sears Bellows County Park, Shinnecock Canal County Marina and Shinnecock East County Park. Schneiderman plans to work with the department of parks to better maintain trails for hiking in order to help protect the residents of Suffolk County from tick-borne illnesses.

Last year Legislator Schneiderman sponsored legislation that lowered Suffolk’s golf fees for veterans on a trial basis. Schneiderman plans to introduce legislation to make this fee reduction permanent for veteran’s who are residents of Suffolk County. Legislator Schneiderman is also considering other discounted park fees and plans to host another Discover County Parks Day in June with half price parking at County beaches.

For the past five years, Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman has been serving as chairman of the Public Works and Transportation Committee. This committee has jurisdiction over all public works projects in Suffolk County. County projects include maintaining of county roadways, bridges, county dredging, sewer districts, county vehicles and public transportation. During his Chairmanship of the Public Works and Transportation Committee, Legislator Schneiderman oversaw the widening of County Road 39 in Southampton, the dredging of the Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton, the introduction of Sunday public bus service, and many important capital projects including the construction of 2 miles of sidewalk on Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.

“It has been a pleasure working with Commissioner Gil Anderson and Chief Engineer, Bill Hillman,” said Deputy Presiding Officer Jay Schneiderman. “The staff at the County Department of Public Works is top notch and I greatly appreciate their expertise and dedication.”