Two former town board members, a former school board member, a current school board member and four past candidates for town board or school board.
The pool of prospective candidates interested in appointment to the Riverhead Town Board seat being vacated by Jodi Giglio is large. A screening committee of the Riverhead Town Republican committee spent more than six hours at the VFW hall Saturday interviewing 18 people who submitted resumes seeking the appointment, said screening committee co-chairman Victor Prusinowski.
The screening committee interviewed Christopher Beattie, Brian Connelly, Theodore Davis, John Dunleavy, Isabelle Gonzalez, Raymond Guido, Robert Hartmann, Robert Kern, Gregory Meyer, Stephanie Ranghelli, Kenneth Rothwell, Yolanda Thompson, Dianne Tucci, William Van Helmond, Joann Waski, Marylin Banks Winter, James Wooten and Jeff Zeigler.
“We were honored that a diverse cross-section of our community
representing the best of Riverhead showed interest in serving our community,” screening committee co-chairs Prusinowski and John Hogan said in a press release.
Should the town board choose to fill the soon-to-be vacant seat of Jodi Gigilo in January, the committee will forward several names for their consideration, the party representatives said.
Giglio, in her fourth term as Riverhead Town council member, was elected in November to represent the Second Assembly District in the New York State Assembly.
Whether or not the town board appoints someone to fill the vacancy, two town board seats will be up for grabs in the next general election: the seats currently held by Giglio and Councilmember Catherine Kent, the board’s lone Democrat. Voters will also choose a town supervisor next year. Incumbent Supervisor Yvette Aguiar, who is finishing the first year of her first two-year term, said she will decide whether to seek re-election after the New Year.
Riverhead Democratic Committee Chairperson Marjorie Acevedo said if the town board needs to fill the vacancy before next November’s election, it should seek to hold a special election.
“The people elected Jodi to the seat and the people should elect her successor,” Acevedo said.
The Riverhead Republican Committee asks anyone interested in running for local public office in 2021 to send a resume to riverhead.gop@gmail.com.
Editor’s note: This story was amended post-publication to add the comments of the Riverhead Town Democratic Committee chairperson.
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