Home News Local News Four vie for two Greenport trustee seats

Four vie for two Greenport trustee seats

File photo: Denise Civiletti

Four candidates will vie for the two open trustee seats on the Greenport Village Board. Incumbents Mary Bess Phillips and Julia Robins are seeking re-election to new four-year terms, while two newcomers, Paul Kreiling and Mary L. Given, are running.

Phillips, Robins, Kreiling and Given filed nominating petitions with the village clerk, who serves as the election office, before yesterday’s deadline. The election will be held March 21.

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Kreiling, a sailing instructor and owner of Easterly Sailing, has lived in Greenport on and off for over 25 years and plans to focus his campaign on the harbor.

“I’m running under the ‘Harbor Party’ ticket,” he said in an interview today. “The water is a whole dimension that Greenport has used as a resource but hasn’t really respected. What’s actually going on with the harbor?  I don’t know anybody who’s done studies on the water or the quality of water. I think our waterfront needs more local access. We have a wonderful marina that makes a lot of money for us, but we should be able to use it. I’m all about making the village just a little bit better,” he said.

Given is a member of the village planning board since last April and prior to that had been a member of the housing preservation commission. Known to many as Lucy, she works at Ratsey Construction in Greenport. She did not return phone calls seeking comment by presstime.

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Phillips, owner of Alice’s Fish Market in Greenport, is seeking election to a third term. She is seeking re-election to continue the work that’s been done on the light plant, the sewer plant and the roads, she said in an interview today. She is also committed to helping the village work out the changing housing market.

“We’re a community but also a destination and years ago the code was changed to deal with the times to avoid having all the housing going to all second home owners. I think we need to work towards becoming a community again, looking at the code that the zoning board and the planning board are struggling with and dealing with housing. Communities change and the code needs to change,” Phillips said.  “We need to really look at bringing in the younger people to live within the village and the code needs to be reviewed.”

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Robins is seeking a second term of office. She was a building contractor before taking a sales position with Albertson Realty.

As the board’s utilities liaison, she said, “I have spent countless hours learning about municipal public power. I am passionate about my participation in meetings and conferences with N.Y. Association of Public Power.” She is also liaison to the village BID and carousel committee and was co-chairperson of the Tall Ships Festival.

“I care about the quality of life in the village, and think that we should put our resources into to what we do well,” Robins said. “I am a big proponent of infrastructure, our roads and sidewalks — the things that people notice every day.”

SoutholdLOCAL and The Suffolk Times will co-host a candidates debate on Monday, March 13 at 7 p.m. at Floyd Memorial Library.

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Katharine is a writer and photographer who has lived on the North Fork for nearly 40 years, except for three-plus years in Hong Kong a decade ago, working for the actor Jackie Chan. She lives in Cutchogue. Email Katharine