NYMA officials will not only need to come back before the Town Board at its August 13 meeting, but in the meantime they need to report in to the town’s Building Department on ongoing repairs to the school’s fire hydrant system, and an unsafe building condition.

Different school personnel and outside consultants have been appearing before the board since last fall, when the school was cited with an unsafe building and a fire hydrant system that isn’t fully functioning. At the board’s July 9 meeting it was reported that the school had five functioning fire hydrants and three to be repaired, although, there was concern about the water pressure moving through the system.

Councilman Tim McCarty, a retired firefighter, said that he believed that “if a fire truck attached to any of these hydrants right now, it would collapse the main because the pressure is too low”.

Supervisor Josh Wojehowski told NYMA’s Jason Li “in order to open, you need to have a fire protection plan, and now is the time to make it”, meaning before students return to campus in late August.

Others agreed, and suggested school officials immediately engage with the local fire departments to make sure there is a fire safety plan in place.

“We want to keep everyone safe,” the supervisor said. “We have to know that there is a way to put out a fire on this property.”

From the audience at the ongoing public hearing at the meeting, former Supervisor Richard Randazzo said the Town Board needed to do more -- “I think the town is putting itself at risk,” he said. “You can’t keep waiting for NYMA -- they need to hire the proper professionals. There’s a lot at risk here.”