Traffic on Oakwood Road in Huntington. Newsday file photo
By Tim Healy
tim.healy@newsday.com
Huntington’s town board will hold a public hearing next month on a new law to create a Department of Transportation and Traffic Safety.
The department would have three divisions under one director, combining traffic and transportation workers from the town’s engineering department, Huntington Area Rapid Transit System employees, and staff from the town’s street lighting department, according to Fran Evans, chief of staff for Town Supervisor Frank Petrone.
“There were different people in different departments that were working on these kinds of issues,” Evans said, “and the idea is to put it all under one director of traffic and transportation to have it better coordinated. So the people that were doing these functions in other jobs will be in that department and then we’ll be hiring a director to oversee the whole department.”
Evans said the town did not yet have a candidate for director.
“It’s not going to happen before the New Year,” Evans said of the new department. “We’re going to be looking at it a little more closely before the New Year, seeing exactly what the qualifications are . . . and hopefully start screening some candidates.”
The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 7. To see the resolution introduced last week detailing the new department, click here.