City of Long Beach workers and Nassau County Municipal Employees Local 882
officers proudly stand on the Reynolds Channel dock that CSEA members built.
From left, City of Long Beach Unit members Mike King, Kyle Kielkowski, Patrick
Matthews and James Guerin; City of Long Beach Unit Treasurer Sean O’Neill,
Nassau County Municipal Employees Local President John Shepherd, Nassau
County Municipal Employees Local Treasurer John Mooney and Nassau County
Municipal Employees Local Executive Vice President Ted Forker.
LONG BEACH — CSEA City of Long Beach Unit members recently built an emergency dock that will decrease the response time for emergency responders near Reynolds Channel.
The new dock, a joint project by the City of Long Beach and Town of Hempstead, will allow police and fire departments to have their boats and other emergency equipment in the water and ready to respond to emergencies. Previously, responders were forced to bring the equipment from a land base and drive to a nearby dock.
“Now, the police and the fire department can launch their boats from here instead of having to go down to the old boat ramp, which should save them about 15 minutes,” said CSEA City of Long Beach member Kyle Kielkowski.
The dock was fully completed through in-house labor; a City of Long Beach crew took about three weeks to complete the project.
The use of town workers also helped to save the City of Long Beach taxpayers money by keeping the labor in-house. Had a private contractor been used, the price to build the dock could have easily doubled.
“We really wanted to get this project done before Memorial Day,” said City of Long Beach Maintenance Superintendent Thomas Canner. “We knew that people would be in Reynolds Channel fishing, boating and jet skiing during the holiday weekend.”
“Specifically, for the City of Long Beach, this dock is huge because instead of having to launch their boat, they [emergency responders]can have their boat in the water and deployment is that much quicker,” said CSEA City of Long Beach Unit member James Guerin.
Members were also pleased with the fellowship that occurred between municipalities.
“I thought it was great to see the different municipalities come together for a common goal,” said CSEA City of Long Beach Unit member Mike King.
The dock will be equally useful during the winter, when many residents hunt ducks.
Proof of CSEA members integral contributions to the city can be found through their work on the dock and throughout the rest of the city.
“Our members are the heart and soul of this community and the reason why this city works,” said Nassau County Municipal Employees Local President John Shepherd. “Proof of that is the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. If it weren’t for us, this entire area would still be a giant sand dune.”
— Wendi Bowie
