Town of Kent Felt ‘Besieged’ by County Health Dept. Over Summer
Summer might be over and kids might be in school rather than at the beach, but that doesn’t mean some Town of Kent public officials and residents aren’t still fuming over actions taken by Putnam County’s Department of Health.
Over the month of August, Supervisor Maureen Fleming expressed frustration and exasperation in an interview, citing multiple times where the county health department either constricted or shut down swimming at beaches in the Lake Carmel District. Reasons for the closures included algae in the water, low visibility, or a slope entering the beach that was too steep.
Overall, beaches two, three, and seven were all closed at various points.
Although it was her first year on the town board, Fleming couldn’t recall the health department cracking down as much like this in past years.
“We felt very besieged by the department of health and didn’t understand why this season was different from other seasons,” Fleming said.
Fleming said she heard from multiple residents they were upset over the actions by the health department because they “expect to be able to swim” and thought the lake looked better than ever.
“Anyone that swims in a lake doesn’t expect it to be like swimming in a pool,” Fleming added.
Echoing that sentiment was councilman Paul Denbaum, who said all of the tests the department is doing now, are tests that were never done in the past. Denbaum said the town was “taken aback” because usually the Lake Carmel District has a good reputation of being in compliance.
Denbaum also added when any town official challenged the health department over closings or restrictions, department officials quickly pointed to safety as the reason why they were taking a certain action.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a change on how they’re are going to monitor the lake,” he said.
Health Department’s Robert Morris, the director of environment health, insisted the department didn’t do anything different. The problem he said, is every lake is “dynamic, they change year to year.” Other lakes in the county were also closed because of algae blooms and the New York State DEC also noted the high number of algae blooms this summer across the state.
Morris said the department is required to do one inspection a year, though the county’s department exceeds that number. The department does one pre-operational inspection and then two operational inspections each year. Safety is the top priority, Morris added.
“That’s what we are here for,” he said. “The protection of public health and that’s our utmost importance.”
Morris said when it was relayed to him communication was poor and that Fleming requested a form be sent to the town, Morris immediately drafted that form and delivered it the same day as requested and would continue to do that going forward.
Still, Denbaum made it clear next summer won’t be a repeat of this summer.
“We’re going to be prepared next year to deal with the health department,” Denbaum said. “And we’re not going to allow them to just arbitrarily run around without some type of accountability.”
