Four-year supervisor term will not be put on the ballot this November

Riverhead residents won’t be voting this November on making the town supervisor’s term four years.

The Riverhead Town Board in a vote split on party lines last night rejected a measure that would have put that question on the ballot in November. The vote came following a public hearing on the proposal last night.

The three Republican members of the board, who all agreed to put the question of a four-year supervisor’s term on the ballot in November 2016, cited the outcome of that vote — a resounding “no” — in their opposition to a do-over just two years later.

All three said they personally support the concept of a longer term for the town supervisor, but each said the voters have spoken loud and clear and they would adhere to the will of the voters. The ballot proposition went down in 2016 with 65 percent of the votes cast against the measure.

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, however, indicated her vote was also influenced by her assessment of the current supervisor.

“If I was happy with the job she were doing I’d probably support this going on the ballot,” Giglio said before voting. “But I’m not, so I won’t support this.”

Will Giglio’s dissatisfaction with the incumbent prompt her to make another run for supervisor?

Giglio, in her third and final term as councilwoman — the town board in 2016 adopted a 12-year term limit for council members and supervisors — is often at odds with Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith, a Democrat who defeated four-term incumbent Republican Sean Walter last year.

The councilwoman sought the Republican supervisor nomination in 2009 and at a brokered convention agreed to run for councilwoman with Walter at the top of the ticket. Giglio, who was re-elected as councilwoman in 2013, was the Republican committee’s supervisor designee in 2015. Walter challenged her for the nomination in a Republican primary that September and Giglio won in a close contest. Walter then ran for re-election on the Conservative Party line and won. Giglio was re-elected as councilwoman last November, when Walter fell to Jens-Smith.

With a “safe” seat in 2019 — the second year of her current four-year term — there is speculation in political circles that Giglio could be a candidate for town supervisor again. While she and Jens-Smith have often gone head-to-head disagreeing on many issues, last night was the first time the veteran councilwoman publicly assessed, during a town board meeting, the job Jens-Smith has been doing as supervisor.

After last night’s meeting, Jens-Smith said questioned whether Giglio’s vote was “good government” or whether it was “actually political.”

The proposal would not have extended the term of the current office-holder but would have taken effect for the term of the person elected supervisor in 2019. Jens-Smith has not announced whether she intends to seek re-election.

Jens-Smith, joined by Councilwoman Catherine Kent, voted for the measure to put the question to the voters again.

She said a four-year supervisor’s term would be better for “long-term planning” and good government. “A two-year term is a challenge,” Jens-Smith said.

A four-year supervisor term would “give people some consistency,” Kent said. “This constant changing is not good for anybody.”

Councilman James Wooten, serving out the remaining two years of his final four-year term as council member because of the 2016 term limit law, pointed out that in 2016, the Riverhead Democratic party leader penned an op-ed stating opposition to a four-year supervisor’s term.

Riverhead Democratic Committee Chairwoman Marjorie Acevedo argued at the time that a two-year term made government more responsive to the people because it allowed a change in control of the town board every two years if the voters were not happy with the direction of the town.

“Speaking generally I’ve always supported four-year terms, but I’ve always thought the supervisor should be four years and the council members two years,” Wooten said.

“We’ve paid to put it on the ballot twice already,” Wooten said.

The question of a four-year supervisor term has actually been on the ballot three times: in 2005, 2007 and 2016. The board held a public hearing on the proposal in 2009 but there was such opposition voiced at the hearing that the board never called a vote on it.

During the hearing last night, public comment was a mixed bag of support and opposition. Linda Prizer, president of the Northville Beach Civic Association said people who have moved to Riverhead or made it their primary residence since 2016 should be given an opportunity to vote on the question.

Kathleen Berezny of Riverhead, a former Riverhead school board president and a 2009 Democratic candidate for town council, spoke against the proposal. A two-year supervisor term makes town government more responsive to the people, she said.

Ellen Hoil of Riverhead, a Democratic committee member, advocated for the change.

“I’ve spent most of my life in the political landscape,” she said. “I’ve always been involve in campaigns. I know what it takes to run for political office. With a two-year term a person immediately has to start preparing for the next election,” Hoil said. “It disturbs cohesiveness. I don’t see this as a Democrat or Republican political issue.”

Before casting his vote against the proposal, Deputy Supervisor Tim Hubbard said he believes a four-year term is necessary for the supervisor, but he would not vote to support it.

“The people have spoken time after time,” Hubbard said, “and the people have made it pretty loud and clear that they do not want a four-year term in the supervisor’s position. The people who put me here do not want a four-year term.”