For weeks, tensions have been escalating as candidates took to Facebook to comment on a wide range of issues before a Greenport debated hosted by village business owner Rena Wilhelm at the United Methodist Church last night. But despite some concerns that the event could become contentious, the night, which generated a packed house, was marked by overall civility.
Four candidates vying for two open seats on the Greenport Village Board, incumbent David Murray, businessman Doug Roberts, Greenport High School teacher and coach Jack Martilotta and former Greenport utilities director William Swiskey Jr. answered a series of questions on issues ranging from the controversial electric plant upgrade, use of Mitchell park, snow removal, parking, and whether or not the public should be able to speak at village board meetings.
The debate lasted just under three hours.
During opening statements, candidates gave a brief overview of their platforms. Murray said he’s a small business owner who moved his design/build business to Main Street last year so that constituents could come sit down and share their thoughts with him. He’s got two children in the local school system and has lived in the village for 14 years.
“I have the target on my back here tonight,” he said. “Let it begin.”
Roberts said the village is at a crossroads and his goal is to “being ideals back” and to “shine a light on what’s happening. I want our meetings to not involve name calling.” He added that he plans to institute two public comment periods at meetings. “This government needs to do a better job of listening to folks,” he said. “This kind of thing needs to stop. I will not sit silently. I don’t care if it’s the mayor or Darth Vader, I will stand up for your right to speak at meetings.”
Martilotta said in his work at the high school, he spends a “lot of time and effort making sure our young people ae able to go out into the world and they do — someplace else. I want my kids to be able to stay here.”
He added that he is actively a YMCA in the village, and said many times throughout the evening that he’d like to see long-range, big picture plans for Greenport’s future.
A lifelong resident, Swiskey said the village is faced with some “very real” issues such as crumbling roads, a utility upgrade that’s “over budget” and not working, and no policy for Mitchell Park in place after four years. “Even the simplest thing requires a study,” he said.
Health benefits
The first question posed for candidates involved whether or not they planned to take health benefits from the village.
“I do take them and I’m not ashamed,” Murray said. “We do a lot of work for the what is close to a $10 million business. We make decisions on the electric plant, the sewer, the marina. We take care of a lot of things, and there’s a lot of liability put on ourselves, a lot we could be sued for personally.”
Roberts said he believed the answer was simple. “Would you rather fix these crumbling old roads or would you rather give four people in town free health care?” he asked. “We can’t afford this, folks. I’m not running for this office to line my pockets or get free benefits. I don’t have any vendetta. It’s not about what you can do for me, it’s about what I can do for you.”
Martilotta, who was closely aligned with Roberts throughout the evening on his platform, said he would not take benefits and said the funds were better used to fix infrastructure.
Swiskey added, “It’s like a friend of mine says. If you put on a uniform, you’re supposed to serve it, not take from it.”
Transparency
Candidates also discussed transparency in government. Martilotta reiterated his believe that an “overarching goal, a vision,” was needed. “We’re making disjointed decisions that aren’t necessarily connected to decisions we make last week.”
He added that with three small children, he did not have time for Freedom of Information Law requests and felt public information should readily be available on the website.
Martilotta emphasized that shared services with Southold Town on its website and possibly with code enforcement could yield positive results and cut costs in Greenport.
Swiskey said he’s the “FOIL guy” and said it takes an average of 28 days to get a response to a FOIL request form the village.
Murray countered that if the information is readily available, “they will give it to you quickly.” He said sometimes information isn’t available and that’s why the 28 days is given as an option. Southold has a larger staff than Greenport; he commended village staff, who work “extremely hard,” he said.
Swiskey said Greenport staff has increased since he worked for the village and yet, “You can’t get information. You can insult me all you want but something is wrong here.”
Roberts said village employees work hard but are under the direction of mayor and board. He said lately when he’s asked to FOIL information, he’s been told he’ll receive a response on March 19, the day after the election.
Appointments
On the issue of the mayor appointing members to planning and zoning boards, Martilotta said a clear vision and purpose is needed. “Then you would have planning and zoning working in concert with the village board. If that existed we could keep people on the same page.”
Swiskey believes the village board should be able to interview candidates before they are “rubber stamped” by the mayor.
Murray said he believed Mayor David Nyce has done a “very good job of picking the members of the board, a very difficult task to do in this village. It’s difficult to find quality candidates.” While he said having the board interview candidates, he said one concern is that “hopefully, that wouldn’t scare people off these boards. They’re hard to fill sometimes.”
Murray added that he serves on the code committee with Nyce and Trustee Mary Bess Phillips and said none of the candidates ever asked him a question. “I moved my office to the village for the people. We are all very communicative. Come talk to us, ask us any questions you want. I’m not holding anything back.”
“Just not during a public meeting on the third Monday of every month,” Roberts said.
Roberts said people in the village are “disenchanted”. He said meetings must be run more professionally and the public as well as officials have to follow the rules. He thinks “new blood, new vision” is needed for the boards and said he agreed the village board should ratify appointees.
Power plant
On the power plant, Swiskey said the situation is “a mess,” with a new transformer village officials can’t keep online.
“Upgrading this power plant was never going to be an easy challenge,” Murray said, adding that new Village Administrator Paul Pallas was a “phenomenal find. The power plant is running well and we’re excited for Phase 2 in another month. Our power plant is on a great track, to take it to the next century. It does work now, regardless of what Bill might be saying.”
“We need to stop thinking in terms of the power plant Bill managed,” Robert said, adding that the village to look to the New York State Energy and Development Authority for grants, with a focus on renewable energy.
Martilotta agreed renewable power was critical; both Murray and Swiskey said solar power was pricey.
“I think it’s good to have the power plant in town but at what point do we spend enough money on the power plant that it negatively impacts us?” Martilotta asked.
All candidates also discussed the Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan.
Roads and infrastructure
On the issue of roads and infrastructure, Roberts said, “Safety is a big issue for me. We have to hold landlords accountable.” He blasted the code enforcement officer for “putting notes on elderly people’s doors” asking them to move their cars. Rather than paying for health care for trustees, those funds should be used to fix the roads, he said.
‘The roads and curbs are in terrible shape. My kids get seasick when I’m pushing them around. If there’s no money we have to be creative,” Martilotta said, suggesting a grant writer. “How do we maintain the roads for the next five to ten years? It has to be fixed.”
The deteriorating roads, Swiskey said, have been “ignored for eight years.” He suggested charging $1 per vehicle for every car on the North Ferry heading to Greenport.
Murray said the village is in great financial shape after financing funds to extend the debt to 2014; the village now has a very high Moody’s rating. “Very few municipalities have even close to that,” he said. “We’re in wonderful shape to borrow, it puts us in position for the next step.”
He added that roads are “bad” but said grants take a long time to secure.
Revenue
Revenue generators can be found in shared services, Martilotta said.
Swiskey echoed his belief that the village should stop paying for village trustee health benefits.
Murray said he’s worked hard to increase revenue, including an electric upgrade on the east pier that brings i $75,000 to $100,000 each year. He also said while he has pitched the idea for a rate increase at Mitchell Marina, marina manager Jeff Goubeaud said he’d like to keep the rates steady for a year. Last year, the marina wasn’t full, Murray said. “We want to get the big boats,” he said. He added that the carousel brings in $200,000 per year.
“I’m a revenue guy,” Roberts said. “I don’t like to hear we’re not considering a price raise” for the marina and said he didn’t like a non-elected village employee to have that much input into decisions. “We need to be clear about who was elected to run this place. We can’t let the tail wag the dog.”
He also agreed in raising the rates on the ferry and said he was prepared to head to Albany to “fight this battle.”
Peconic Landing
Roberts brought up the issue of a recent sewer hookup for Peconic Landing that has sparked outrage among some residents who feel the village lost possible revenue; he added that the village almost “gave away the west pier” to the North Ferry.
Murray said, of the potential deal with the ferry, “We nixed it quick. The west pier was never a deal, not even close to being made.”
Roberts said if it wasn’t a deal, “Why all the secrets?” and applauded Deputy Mayor George Hubbard for discussing the issue publicly at a meeting. “It was a breath of fresh air,” he said. Transparency, he said, will “kill paranoia and stop the conspiracy theorists.”
Roberts also discussed the possible outsourcing of running Mitchell Marina.
Sparks flew on the issue of Peconic Landing. When asked if the public had a right to know of ongoing negotiations, Murray said, “No, I don’t. There are some things we do as a village board, with legal counsel” such as contract negotiations, that we can’t leak out until deals are done.” Those negotiations, he said, have to be done privately.
The Peconic Landing deal, he said, was “a hell of a deal for us.” Had the village asked for $1.5 milion, they could have been sued, and said while Peconic Landing asked that they pay $150,000 less, the village said no.
Peconic Landing, he added, employees “more people in this area than anyone,” donates to schools, to the village, and paid for a new ballfied. “They’re a wonderful organization,” he said. For the other candidates to say they want to “go in and muscle arm them, do you think that’s a good business decision?”
“You just heard it. You’ve got a choice in this election,” Roberts said. “This is a pay to play” situation, adding that sewers were the village’s “most valuable asset. This is an economic consideration. It’s supply and demand. We have the supply. No one else does. This is not about strong-arming. It’s business, not emotional.”
Roberts added that Peconic Landing could build their own sewers.
Martilotta said while Peconic Landing is a good neighbor, the issue of long range planning is critical. “There is only a finite amount of capacity and it will never go up.” He added that the village does not “work at the behest of Southold Town. We need to think about what is most important to us.”
“David, who do you work for?” Swiskey asked, adding that potential revenue from the sewerage was “cut in half”. It’s almost mind-boggling.” He also said the village had lost $720,000 and asked why the village board, with crumbling infrastructure, would subsidize e a multi-million dollar corporation.
Roberts suggested the village might possibly explore annexation.
Tall Ships
Candidates also discussed the upcoming Tall Ships event. Roberts said while he and his kids are excited for the event, event, the July 4 weekend was not the ideal time, with the village overrun with visitors on “crumbling roads”. No budget information is available about the event, he said.
“I need to see a business plan,” he said. “Where is the money?”
Martilotta said while his kids were “all fired up” he believes the event is straining village resources and said he needs to know what the expected return would be for money spent.
Swiskey said the taxpayers’ money would be spent with no guarantees. He said while the July 4 weekend was the only day the Hermione was coming, perhaps other Tall Ships could have come during other months.
During the the last Tall Ships event, Murray said the ships came on Memorial Day. “Memorial Day three years ago was the biggest event this village has ever seen,” he said, adding that in order to sell tickets, a number of ships must come. Last time, $150,000 in tickets was sold; this year, the hope is for $200,000.
Roberts said the village lost money on the event; Murray said the village made $15,000.
“You’d better pray it doesn’t rain,” Swiskey said.
Other topics discussed included “selective code enforcement,” permits, economic development, and parking.
Parking
Murray reminded that the village worked hard on the issue of meters, only to have the public voice their fierce opposition. “We were ready to rock and roll, we had bonding. All the businesses came yelling and screaming. We did study after study and came up with parking meter system that we researched for a year and half. We had it ready to go, and no one wanted it.” Parking, he said, “is an issue, and nothing we will solve right here.”
Roberts said, parking was the”hardest issue” in the village and said parking for residents and the elderly should be protected. He also said he has a plan that could see a few prime parking spots near Claudio’s returned to the village.
Some parking lots, such parking from the railroad dock, could be utilized if they didn’t “look like the surface of the moon,” Martilotta said. He also suggested using the parking by the school during summer months. “We need to start thinking out of the box.”
Swiskey said signs should not have been removed and added that munimeters would end up being an issue for the year-round residents.
Short-term rentals
On the issue of airbnb.com and short term rentals, Roberts said he did not want to “overlegislate and take money out of neighbors’ hands”, while Martilotta said the intent of the law was to keep people in their homes, not create commercial enterprises. Swiskey maintained the issue revolves around safety concerns and said the properties are not held to the same standards as B & Bs in terms of fire alarms and fire escapes. “You don’t want to see a child taken out in a body bag,” he said.
Murray said the issue has been put out to the public for comment and said perhaps registration of the properties is a good idea. He said state legislation is likely “coming down the pipeline because New York City has big problems with short-term rentals. As for B & Bs e said the answer is not as simple as just allowing B & Bs to have more rooms due to health department issues.
Mitchell Park
With a moratorium still in place on issuing mass public assembly permits for Mitchell Park, Martilotta said he thought Roberts had a good idea — allowing educational and cultural events to take place in the park for free. “They drive business,” he said. “I’m not saying host rock concerts in the park, that’s crazy,” but said events for kids would be a great idea.
Swiskey said a policy could be developed in less than 90 days and said he welcomed public discourse and not comments sent to the board and never discussed in a public forum. “It’s not rocket science,” he said.
The moratorium exists for an events that are not village-sponsored, Murray said, adding the village would sponsor events for children. He said he believes the park is not commercial entity and feels money should not be made other than from the marina, carousel and ice rink. “The park is public land and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Roberts applauded Hubbard for telling the board to do their homework and come back with ideas. He said he’d like to see school groups performing; parents would come and spend money in the village.
The candidates also discussed snow removal.
Election Day will be held on March 18, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., with voting at the Third Street Firehouse.
SoutholdLOCAL will host a debate for mayoral candidates Deputy Mayor George Hubbard, Jr. and local business owner Zuleyha Lillis, along with trustee candidates. The debate will take place at the Floyd Memorial Library on Friday, March 13, from 6 to 8 p.m.
