Something usual happened in Riverhead Town Hall yesterday. The Riverhead Town Board held a public hearing on extending the supervisor’s term of office to four years and no one had anything to
say about it.
That was unusual because whenever a four-year supervisor’s term has come up in the past, the public had plenty to say — not much of it good — and when the matter was ultimately submitted to the voters in the mandatory referendum required by law, it’s been rejected.
Board members were clearly surprised by the silence. Most of the seats in the meeting hall were filled yesterday, afternoon for the 2 p.m. meeting, but they were occupied principally by members of the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters and by former Riverhead building inspector Jim DeLucca’s students at SUNY/Farmingdale.
In 2009, there was enough opposition to the prospect of a four-year term for the town supervisor that it dissuaded the town board from approving another referendum. Referenda placed on the ballot in 2005 and 2007 failed by wide margins.
The hearing record was held open for written comment until close of business on April 15.
The town board will then decide whether or not to put it up for a public vote for the third time this century.
A second public hearing on two separate term limits proposals also drew virtually no public comment. The only speaker was the council representative for the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters, Edward Enders, who spoke in opposition to the idea of term limits.
“I’m not in favor of term limits,” Enders said. “Everybody up there was elected by the public. If the public wants you in office you should be in office. If you’re doing your job, you’re gonna get elected by the public. I don’t see a need for term limits. Let the public decide.”
The board has before it two term limits proposals. Both would limit elective office holders on the town board to 12 consecutive years.
One proposal would affect all sitting board members. The second carves out an exception that would apply only to the board’s most senior member, Councilman John Dunleavy. It says any current town board member who will have served 12 consecutive years as of Dec. 31, 2017 will not be precluded from seeking one more term of office.
The board must now discuss the proposals and decide whether to put any of them to a public referendum.
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