Politics & Government

Brookhaven Launches Mobile App Targeted at Curbing Code Violations

The app is available for both Apple and Android mobile devices.

Need to submit a town code violation tip to the Town of Brookhaven? There's an app for that.

Brookhaven officials on Tuesday unveiled a mobile app that they say will provide a new level of communication between residents and the town's law and building departments, which investigate reports of town code violations.

"This new mobile phone app provides a direct line right at your fingertips into our law and building departments so we can take swift action when a complaint is filed," supervisor Ed Romaine said. "I urge everyone to download the app and help us in the fight against those who violate our town codes.”

The Town of Brookhaven app can be accessed directly through links on the town website. It was developed in-house by the town's information technology team over the course of about six weeks, Romaine said during a Tuesday press conference at a Stony Brook Fire Department station.

Stony Brook is one of the areas most affected by the problem of illegal rental practices in the Town of Brookhaven, due to its proximity to Stony Brook University. Romaine and the rest of the town board, in conjunction with the law department, building department and the watchful eye of community activists, have been tightening and enforcing town codes to crack down on the ability of landlords to circumvent the rules.

Town councilman Dan Panico, who represents the Shirley, Mastic, Moriches and Manorville areas in the town's sixth council district, said the illegal housing issue is not just limited to the Stony Brook area. He encouraged residents across the town to use it to report town code violations they have observed in their neighborhoods.

"We're now at a point in history where we don't want this community to head downhill," Panico said. "It takes sometimes generations to turn that around."

Joseph Manzolillo, a 15-year resident of Stony Brook, said he will be using the town's new app. "It's a wonderful thing. It's a better way of communicating and getting info out sooner," he said. "Hopefully we'll get a reply back."

Matt Sabatello, a representative of the information technology department, said that users of the app will first receive an automated reply confirming the submission, then will most likely receive a more detailed reply later on from a town staff member.

The town's new app is also a portal for information such as events, directions and phone numbers. Romaine said future expansion of the app's functions are being planned to expand it beyond the current use in reporting town code violations.


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