Town of Huntington Candidates Debate Area's Pressing Issues
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The candidates for Huntington supervisor, town council and highway superintendent gathered at the Harborfields Public Library on Monday for a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters and the Huntington Chamber of Commerce. Long Islander News photo/Connor Beach
By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com
The candidates for Huntington town supervisor, council and highway superintendent took the stage together Monday for Meet the Candidates Night at Harborfields Public Library and debated some of the area’s most pressing issues.
The debate, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Huntington and co-sponsored by the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, drew a standing room only crowd to the library, a fact that many of the candidates acknowledged in their responses.
The forum’s moderator Lisa Scott, president of the LWV of Suffolk, asked the candidates prewritten questions as well as questions submitted from the audience.
The first set of questions were posed to the supervisor candidates, Democrat and current Councilwoman Tracey Edwards, Republican and State Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci and Independence Party member Michael Raspantini, who is running on his End Corruption in Huntington line.
Scott also asked the candidates about fees for accessory apartments, and what they would do about the many illegal apartments that were not registered with the town.
Edwards argued that accessory apartments were less problematic than apartments that are leased by absentee landlords.
“The issue really, in my mind, is more of an absentee landlord … There are some who are not doing the right thing by the community and by their tenants. One of the things I’d like to do is to do more proactive code enforcement and talking to the community leaders about the things that are going on in their neighborhoods,” Edwards said.
The debate featured several questions on the topic of development; with one question in particular Scott allowed the candidates to address the community residents and the needs of commercial developers.
Lupinacci stressed that town hall needs to be a partner to businesses looking to come into Huntington, and that areas like the 110 Corridor in Melville should be targets for development before residential neighborhoods.
“You always want to be open for business.” Lupinacci said. “You have to work along with the civic associations to bring people into the planning process, because the worst thing you want is plans to come forward where no one had dialogue.”
Scott asked the candidates in what ways they would support the Huntington Housing Authority.
“This question really relates to affordable housing which, in my opinion, I really truly believe that a large part of that is propaganda,” said Raspantini, a 36-year-old entrepreneur from Huntington.
The second stage of the debate focused on the candidates for town council, Democrat and current Councilman Mark Cuthbertson, Republican and East Northport-based lawyer James Leonick, Democrat and Huntington School Board Trustee Emily Rogan and Republican and Huntington-based lawyer Edmund Smyth.
When asked what he would focus his energy on during the first six months in office, Cuthbertson said he has the advantage already having served on the board with different groups of people and achieving many things. He added that he wants to focus on the problems he sees every day.
“Our mom and pop stores are battling amazon. We need to see how we support them, but also how retail development changes and what we do with these retail strip centers and repurpose them,” he said. “We really need to encourage more senior living areas because we have housing stock that doesn’t fit the needs of the people who live there.”
Term limits topped Leonick’s to do list for his first six months in office.
“I strongly believe in term limits,” Leonick said. “I also would like to increase the level of customer service from the town of Huntington … I think the town micro-manages many of the things that go on in [residents] lives, and I’d like to change that culture within the town starting from the top.”
Scott asked the candidates about the state of the town’s finances. Both Rogan and Smyth agreed that the overall finances of the town were generally good, but had varied responses.
Rogan said, “I think we need to be a little bit more creative in our budgeting process because in this era of the tax cap, which is not going away, I think we need to be able to find that balance between where we cut and where we bring in more money.”
Smyth said, “I think that the narrative that you are hearing about the bond rating is misleading… The fact that the town has shown a willingness to raise your taxes, and us as taxpayers have the ability to pay those raised taxes will get a AAA bond rating every time.”
Candidates for highway superintendent highlighted the fact that they each possess a different background and skill set.
John Clark, a 61-year-old Republican candidate from Greenlawn, said, “I’ve had experience running a big company … This election is about hiring a CEO for the Highway Department, which in effect is a company with a $40 million budget and 150-plus people.”
Kevin Orelli, a 66-year-old Democratic candidate from Huntington, said, “I’ve been in my own business for 35 years … I’m a professional. I’m a construction surveyor, I’m an estimator and I’m a project manager.”
Election Day is Nov. 7.
