Councilwoman Catherine Kent will move a resolution Tuesday to nominate lifelong Riverhead resident Marylin Winter to fill the seat being vacated by Councilwoman Jodi Giglio as of midnight tonight.
Giglio was elected to the State Assembly last month and takes office in that post as of Jan. 1. She filed a resignation letter with the town clerk yesterday, effective today, and the town board is expected to vote to Tuesday to accept her resignation.
Kent brought the resolution to the town board at a work session yesterday and intends to move it forward at the upcoming regular meeting on Tuesday.
She told the other board members she was advocating appointing Winter because she thought she was “right for us at this time.”
The move was unexpected, according to other board members, who didn’t offer her any feedback publicly — but the matter of the appointment was on the board’s executive session agenda yesterday.
The Riverhead Town Republican Committee advertised for resumes from people interested in the position and the GOP screening committee interviewed 19 people.
In a phone interview after yesterday’s work session, Kent, the board’s lone Democrat, said she wanted to have input in the decision and said she thought Winter would be the best choice. “She knows the community well, is a hard worker and has good experience that would make her an excellent town board member,” Kent said.
Councilman Tim Hubbard took exception to Kent putting up the resolution without talking to any of the other board members. “I don’t think that’s right,” he said. Hubbard said he’d informed Kent of who is being considered to fill the seat.
Hubbard had previously said he would only support a registered Republican to fill Giglio’s seat, because voters chose a Republican for the seat to begin with. Winter is not registered to any political party. However, Hubbard said, Winter was among the committee’s top choices and should be considered for the Republican nomination to run for the other open council seat in the November general election.
Kent’s term is up in 2021 and should she choose to seek re-election, Winter would, ironically, be running against the town board member who sought to appoint her to the board.
Councilman Frank Beyrodt said he thought Kent’s resolution was “a little premature.”
Like Kent and Hubbard, he had praise for Winter and said he thought she’d make an excellent candidate. He said he’s known her for 20 years. “Marylin is an active community member,” Beyrodt said. “And this is a good time to have an African-American on the board,” he said.
“She is certainly in my top three,” Beyrodt said. “There were many great candidates…really well-rounded community-minded people.”
Both Hubbard and Beyrodt said they did not think the board would appoint someone to the seat as soon as Tuesday’s meeting in any case, but Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said she is hopeful the four board members will reach consensus on a candidate in time to make the appointment Tuesday.
Aguiar said she and the three council members had a productive and amicable discussion about it during the board’s executive session Thursday. It’s a difficult decision, she said, because so many good prospective candidates came forward.
“My objective is to pick a person who will represent the entire town and the taxpayers they will be serving,” Aguiar said.
Beyrodt noted today that the town board does not have to appoint anyone to fill the vacancy. It can leave the seat vacant and operate as a four-person board until voters choose Giglio’s successor in November.
However, making an appointment would give the person appointed an opportunity for visibility, increased name recognition and the ability to run as an incumbent in November, all of which are thought to build an advantage for the person appointed to fill the unexpired term.
Winter said in a phone interview today she wants to serve the people of the community and would be honored to do so as a member of the Riverhad Town Board.
Winter currently serves as a Riverhead Free Library trustee, an elected position, and is a member of the boards of East End Arts and the African-American Educational and Cultural Festival, of which she is a cofounder. She also was one of the founders of the Riverhead school district’s cross-cultural and diversity task force.
“I’m honored that Councilwoman Kent put my name forward,” Winter said.
Winter would be only the second African-American to serve on the Riverhead Town Board in the town’s 228-year history. The first, Harriet Gilliam, a Democrat, was elected in 1991 and served one four-year term. She lost her bid for a second term in an election that saw Republicans sweep all three town board seats up for grabs.
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