Bellport residents took up almost every seat at the Community Center Monday night, not only to learn about the village’s tentative budget, but also about the draft South Country Caterer License Agreement.

It was announced that the board vote on the draft license extension was tabled for the April 24 meeting. But village attorney Dave Moran gave a detailed presentation on it that lasted about 20 minutes.

“This negotiation was spearheaded by Bob Rosenberg in May 2015. South Country Caterers reached out to extend the lease,” Moran said.

South Country Caterers is an arm of the Irish Coffee Pub. There are four more years on their original contract, which expires in 2027. The draft license agreement proposes extending the agreement to a 25-year lease with certain stipulations: a 3 percent increase every year with all building repairs done by the caterer, inside and out. That includes a new roof.

Moran addressed comments that appeared on Facebook, including that the draft license agreement should have been made public earlier.

“There is no legal municipal law requiring that this draft should be made public. But this board thought it prudent to put it out to review.” The draft was displayed in Village Hall on Monday, March 20, through March 24.

“Why are we doing this now? Because [the process] started eight years ago and if there’s four years left on the current contract, guess what we would not have?” Moran said, explaining that the board hired legal counsel (Vinny Messina) to review the lease, who advised the board about its rights. “That process is voluminous,” he said.

One of the recommendations, he said, is that you can’t have a golf outing without a caterer. “That takes it out of the alienation process as well,” he said. “

He continued, “We were told, ‘What’s the hurry?’ It was eight years of hard work.”

Moran detailed the trajectory. “That took a year and a half [from the beginning] and in 2017, it went to the Budget and Fiscal Policy Commission,” he said. “They gave it back in 2018. This document sets the ground rules for the license in its entirety. It came from recommendations from the commission.”

In 2019, COVID hit. “Had COVID not happened, we probably would have been done already.  We needed time for [the caterer] to get back on their feet.”

The commission report said the industry standard has to do with expenses based on actual revenue. “The commission recommended a 3 percent increase is sufficient,” he said.

Regarding the draft agreement, the tenant would pay for all capital improvements, upgrades and repairs. “The village did do a survey of the structure,” Moran said.

“The quality of their catering events was top notch,” he said. “Not a single person on social media has said we need to get rid of this caterer.”

If the license agreement is put out to bid, he said, the village risks losing the caterer, which books events two to three years ahead of time; guarantees wouldn’t necessarily come from the lowest bidder to take on capital improvements, he said.

“It’s a revocable license,” Moran emphasized.

In an earlier interview, mayor Ray Fell said the draft license agreement takes the village and taxpayers out of the repairs inside. “We know it needs a new roof at [about $300-350,000],” he said. “The heating is three-quarters heated by gas, one-quarter by oil, and at some point you have to convert to all gas or renovate the oil burner. The electrical has to be looked at and they’ve asked us if we would allow solar panels. Before they do that, the roof needs to be inspected, then a decision can be made. At the end of the license, they are paying a half million in rent over 24 years, and if they take over maintenance and repairs it may cost them $1 million; it’s $1 million the taxpayers don’t have to pay.”

Residents had already signed onto an Advance Letter to the Editor.

There was public comment with applause after each speaker. Among the several who came up were the following:

Leslie O’Connor was first up. O’Connor is a former trustee.

“In 2015, at that time, the Budget and Fiscal Policy Committee rejected that proposal,” she said. “There was another review in 2018. I would like to state that we valued greatly Mike Foster and the Budget and Fiscal Policy Committee. I would urge this board to delay the vote until the final document can be done and sent to the Budget and Fiscal Policy Committee.” O’Connor thanked the board for delaying the vote and for Moran’s presentation.

Mike Foster, chairman of the Budget and Fiscal Policy Committee, said the committee had changed over 20 major points. “We haven’t seen it or studied it [since then],” Foster said. “I suspect we’d agree on a lot of what’s in it [now]. We are a friend of the village and would be happy to look at it and be prepared to help.”

Jay Diamond, a member of the Budget and Fiscal Policy Committee, said, “This was an extremely bad process,” adding, “you didn’t reach out to us.”

Peter Schulte said, “I appreciate the job you do and (the leaps and bounds you take),” he said. But he questioned that a new administration would be taking over in 60 days. “It’s almost a breach of term limits,” he said. “It’s not normal to press forward. It’s normal to leave it for the next mayor.”

Fell answered some of the comments the day after the meeting. “The Budget and Fiscal Policy Committee did give us a report on the license agreement,” he said. “Their main function was to give recommendations regarding bonding, bond anticipation notes, and working with banks, and they did a great job with getting them. They recommended the 3 percent increase and the maintenance and repairs of the building.”

Would the draft license be up for vote on April 24?

“I haven’t sat with the board yet, so I have no idea how they feel about the proposal moving forward,” he said. “Every board member except one was willing to move forward, but with 140 people showing up last night, they wanted to digest what they said, and that’s what we’ll do.

“I personally think it’s in the best interest of the village to go forward with this. There’s no tax dollar expense for maintaining and repairing the building, and they would pay us rent for the length of the contract. They know they will put $1 million in the building.”

As for the public comments, “Every decision I’ve made is in the best interest of the residents and the taxpayer. Not everyone will agree with that.”