Riverhead supervisor asks Southold Town Board to support unified special district election dates

Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter took a trip to Southold Tuesday morning, to discuss a new plan that would bring some unity to special election district voting days.

According to Walter, he’s been participating in Molloy College’s Energeia Partnership, which “brings local leaders to the Long Island college to help address region’s most complex social issues,” according to Molloy’s website.

Walter said he’s been taking the two-year class, and said the Energeia Partnership aims to “train business and political leaders” on how to address issues facing Long Islanders, including racism, voting, taxes — and unified special district elections.

The supervisor pointed to a Newsday article this week that reported a problem he said may never have happened if voters had their eyes open and special district elections were unified and more widely publicized.  “Two former supervisors at Hempstead Sanitary District 7 in Oceanside were paid a total of $800,000 in retirement benefits they were not entitled to on top of the six-figure salaries they also received, according to a state audit,” according to the article.

According to Walter, that article exemplified why he’s making the rounds to various villages and towns, representing Energeia. “There are over 900 special districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties,” he said.

The issue is of greater concern in Nassau County, rather than on the East End, he said. In Riverhead, Walter said, all special districts are governed by the town board, while in Southold, Mattituck has its own park district, and Fisher’s Island has its own sanitation and ferry district.

Fire and school district elections would not be included in the proposal. “I want to be very clear — nobody wants to touch the third rail of fire and school districts,” Walter said. Those, he said, have a common voting day.

But Walter believes that incidents such as the recent Hempstead controversy could be avoided if one, unified voting day were designated by New York State, giving voters a chance to take notice and turn out at the polls. The current fragmented situation, he said, has led to historically low attendance, less than five percent, at the polls for special district elections.

“We’re told that in Nassau County, some districts have voting held in people’s living rooms or kitchens. They pick the day and nobody comes out. It’s pretty egregious,” Walter said.

To that end he, and Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley have been making the rounds, talking to village and town board, urging them to ask New York State to pass a resolution similar to what was passed for school districts, Walter said. “We want to try and give the public a say in what happens,” he said.

The Riverhead Town Board, he said, passed the resolution last year; “half a dozen municipalities” have signed on, with about 20 needed before the state of New York is asked to consider the measure.

Southold Justice Louisa Evans agreed that one unified day would be “a lot more convenient.”

As it stands, Walter said that in a current year “every 10.9 business days, there’s a special election.”

Ruland said the board would discuss the concept with Supervisor Scott Russell and Councilman Jim Dinizio, who were both absent from today’s meeting.

“There’s no downside,” said Councilwoman Jill Doherty.