Town council candidates square off in Jamesport debate Thursday night

Riverhead town board candidates faced off in the first debate of the election season since the Republican slate was set by a party primary Sept. 10.

The debate was hosted by the Jamesport-South Jamesport Civic Association at the Jamesport Meeting House and filled the pews of the oldest public building on the North Fork. It was the first of two debates planned by the civic group this month. The second, for the three supervisor candidates, is scheduled for Sept. 30 at 7 p.m., also at the Meeting House.

Moderator Georgette Keller, a longtime civic association officer, questioned the candidates on issues ranging from the “tone” of government at Riverhead Town Hall and the ability of the town board to work together to town finances, economic development and land preservation.

Councilman James Wooten, the only incumbent among the four candidates and a member of a Republican-majority board since 2008, defended his record and by extension the record of the all-Republican administration he’s been part of since Supervisor Sean Walter and his challenger in this year’s election, Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, took office in 2010.

Are three cops on a five-person board too many?
Like his running mate and fellow retired Riverhead police officer Tim Hubbard, Wooten argued that his experience as a cop on the beat is valuable to him as a councilman.

“I don’t think anyone knows a community better than a police officer,” Wooten said. “You see the ups and downs, the goods and bads.”

Both rebuffed concerns about the town board having three retired Riverhead policemen on it.

“The town board needs more diversity,” Democratic candidate Laura Jens-Smith said. “People with different life experiences and different job experiences look at things from different points of view,” Jens-Smith, a nurse who lives in Laurel and is a member of the Mattituck-Cutchogue school board.

“Every police officer is different,” Wooten said. “I did things to better the community and I’m proud of being a police officer.” He said being on the police force and being on the town board are both “about community service.”

Hubbard: ‘We’re different people’
“We may have had the same career, but we’re different people,” Hubbard said. “I’m my own person.”

Democratic candidate Neil Krupnick stressed his business background and his ability to effectively advocate for a cause, though he said he knows how to compromise and would have no problem serving as a minority board member should that be his fate after the election returns are in. “I can get along with others,” he said.

Krupnick, who serves as president of Northville Beach Civic Association, chided the current board for failing to fill the role of watchdog on behalf of the community.

“Why does it always have to be the civic associations protecting the townspeople?” He asked. “If it wasn’t for the civics, we’d have a nuclear power plant here, we’d have a refinery here, we’d have a gas distribution center. This building would be a 7-Eleven,” Krupnick said.

“We need a town board that’s going to look out for the community and make sure we preserve our quality of life,” Krupnick said.

Wooten: ‘That’s insulting’
Wooten took exception to how his challenger cast the board. “We’re not ignoring the public or asleep at the wheel,” he said. “I think that’s insulting and derogatory. We all got elected by the people. We do a good job and I just think that’s insulting.”

Answering criticism about the controversial land-clearing at the Costco site on Route 58, Wooten admitted, “I got caught with my pants down on that one.” He said the board took steps to remediate the situation, including withholding the certificate of occupancy and enacting a code revision to prevent lot-line to lot-line land clearing from happening again.

“As always a lot of laws are closing the gate after the horse got out,” Wooten said.

Krupnick: Developers ‘have played this town for chumps’
“The town has to get smarter about dealing with developers,” Krupnick argued. “People have come in here and honestly have played this town for chumps all too often,” Krupnick said.

Jens-Smith emphasized the town should be more forceful about holding people accountable when they violate the law, or when mistakes are made by officials.

Hubbard agreed. “There has to be some accountability for mistakes,” he said.

“I’m not 100 percent familiar with it,” he said referring to the Costco controversy. “I would need to investigate it to find out where the ball was dropped, but someone should be held accountable. It deeply affected the quality of life for people living in the mobile home park behind it, who were suddenly exposed to a massive shopping center.”

Jens-Smith: Putting personality over issues
Jens-Smith faulted the current board for putting “personality into play” over functions and issues. “It has stymied us — on downtown, on EPCAL, on the master plan. It’s time this board work together,” she said.

Wooten said he “couldn’t disagree more” with Jens-Smith.

“The town is definitely moving forward, despite a snapshot over the last few months of what you think is this dysfunctional board. We’re not dysfunctional,” Wooten said. “Maybe on camera people can seem… but I tell you we do talk to one another and we do move in the right direction. I couldn’t disagree more.”

Hubbard said he has the ability to work with all people because he is easy to get along with, level-headed and brings “a sense of calmness to situations that sometimes get very volatile,” he said. “I think in the past we’ve had a little bit of that on the board. We need to simmer things down and check the egos at the door,” Hubbard said. “It’s not about personalities. It’s about the betterment of the Town of Riverhead.”

Wooten responded to a question about the town’s financial woes by noting that they began “long before” his tenure on the board but worsened after the economic collapse in 2008.

Wooten on lack of budget votes: always a ‘gotcha moment’
Asked why he allowed budgets to become final “by default” — a question referring to the current board’s failure to adopt a budget in four of the past five years, allowing instead the supervisor’s tentative budget to become the final budget — the two-term councilman said it was not neglect.

“I went over Sean’s budget and we went over other people’s budgets they had proposed and because there was always an angst and there was always some divisiveness on the board — there always seemed to be a gotcha moment sometimes,” Wooten said.

“I met with department heads with Sean’s budget and they told me they could live with the numbers. It was a sound budget. I felt that calling for a vote knowing that Sean probably had myself and another vote — it would just set the stage for more of that bantering back and forth and I didn’t feel that the numbers that were presented were real on the alternative budget,” he said.

“So I let it go by default, just so I didn’t set the table for more of this, ‘Oh all they do is fight and go back and forth.’”

“Jim, I’m sorry but if there’s any time you’re going to fight on the town board it should be over the budget,” Jens-Smith shot back. “It’s the number one priority. If you’re going to have a disagreement, that’s the one place where you should have it,” she said.

Hubbard: Walter should have raised taxes ‘a teeny bit’
Hubbard said that in his view, “If I’m not happy with the supervisor’s budget I damn well better have my own budget to put forward to the people of the town. If you don’t they you back the supervisor on the budget,” he said.

He criticized the incumbent supervisor’s reliance on reserves to balance the budget and avoid tax increases.

“Our reserves are nearly depleted now and that creates a problem,” Hubbard said. “Now there’s going to be a tax increase coming up. Unfortunately, if he had used less out of reserves over the years, and maybe raised taxes a teeny bit, then we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now.”

Krupnick reminded his fellow council candidates that the town supervisor “is not a dictator,” and has just one vote out of five on the board. “To blame Sean for everything is really disingenuous.”

His running mate, Jens-Smith, said the board should be setting policy parameters for boards like the Industrial Development Agency, to prevent it from allowing tax breaks for development on Route 58, for example, citing the benefits package approved recently for Browning Hotel Properties for the development of a second hotel next to the Hilton Garden Inn.

Hubbard takes a pass: ‘What are you talking about?’
At times questions posed by the moderator Keller, who has been a regular critic of the town board, planning board and ZBA, took on the tone of a debate participant rather than moderator. After one wide-raging statement by Keller that spanned more than three-and-a-half minutes, touching on topics from the work performance of outside vendors and things being done without proper permits to a lack of follow-through by the town board and public apathy, Republican candidate Tim Hubbard said he would “pass” on responding.

“What are you talking about?” Hubbard asked Keller midway through her statement. After Keller attempted to explain and asked, “Is that a little more clear?” Hubbard replied, “Absolutely not,” drawing scattered laughter from the audience.

“I mean, what is your question?” Hubbard asked. Keller tried again, but Hubbard then decided to demur.

“This is now about 12 questions,” he said. “I’m going to pass on this at this point,” he declared, to loud applause and a few cheers from the audience.

The debate format consisted of one question directed at each candidate, allowing him or her two minutes to answer and then allowing the others one minute each to respond. After those four questions were asked and answered, the moderator posed three “general” questions, which all four candidates were asked to answer. Then each candidate was allowed a two-minute closing statement.

Refreshments followed the discussion, to allow the candidates to interact one-on-one with residents who turned out for the event.

Next Wednesday, the civic will host a debate for the three supervisor candidates in the same venue. That debate will be moderated by civic association member and Save Main Road activist Larry Simms.

Neither incumbent supervisor Sean Walter nor his Republican challenger Jodi Giglio attended last night’s debate. Giglio’s mother passed away Wednesday night and the councilwoman was preparing to leave for California for the funeral. Democratic candidate Anthony Coates was in attendance. (Incumbent councilmen John Dunleavy and George Gabrielsen also did not attend last night.)

Peeker: Still on the ballot, but not ‘actively’ campaigning
Bob Peeker, who lost the Republican primary vote to Wooten, said in an interview Wednesday he would not be able to attend the debate, though he was invited to participate. While he lost the Republican line, Peeker remains on the ballot on the Conservative line as well as on a third-party line called the Reform Party. He has no way to get off the ballot, he said, but is not actively campaigning for office.

Prior to the start of the council candidates debate, candidates for town clerk, tax receiver and tax assessor were accorded an opportunity to introduce themselves and speak to the audience for two minutes each.

Town Clerk Diane Wilhelm and Receiver of Taxes Laurie Zaneski are both running unopposed for re-election.

Incumbent assessor Mason Haas (R) and challenger Gregory Fischer (D) also attended and spoke. Incumbent assessor Paul Leszczynski did not attend the forum.