Recap: Board OK’s 4-H camp races, agrees to Behr memorial

The Riverhead Town Board on Thursday unanimously approved the Survival Race 10K planned for this Saturday, and the Zombie Race scheduled for Sunday, both at the Dorothy P. Flint 4-H Camp in Baiting Hollow.

Board members also separately approved an agreement with the race promotors to provide two uniformed town police officers for traffic control at the events from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. The town will be reimbursed $3,745 for the police service.

The approval for the events went right down to the wire, as town officials had said the applications should have been submitted much earlier. The Survival Race was held at the 4H Camp last fall, and another is already scheduled for this fall. The Zombie Race, in which runners must avoid actors dressed as zombies, is new to Riverhead, but has been done elsewhere.

The Town Board also informally agreed to name a stretch of road  that runs along the Peconic River from Peconic Avenue to McDermott Avenue after Heidi Behr, a Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps member who died in a May 2005 ambulance crash in Aquebogue.

Board members and other town officials said last week the road was slated to be named for the late James Bissett, who co-owned downtown’s East End Hyatt and Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center, but Mr. Bissett’s name wasn’t mentioned.

The board also discussed applying for federal COPS grants to pay for 75 percent of the cost of hiring five new police officers. The discussion started out with officials contemplating hiring three new officers with the grant money, but officials eventually decided to try for five new officers.

The News-Review reported live from the meeting.

Click below to read our recap to find out what else happened at Thursday’s Town Board work session.

May_2,_2013_-_Agenda by rnews_review