An independent candidate is hoping to unseat Riverhead Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski in the November election.
Jessica Werner, 33, of Baiting Hollow is challenging Zaleski — the Republican candidate — in the race to run the town’s Highway Department. Werner is the service manager for FMX-NYPP Plumbing-HVAC Corp. and has worked in the plumbing and heating industry for the last decade, she said.
“For me, it is really about potholes and the status of our highways and roads.” she said. Fixing traffic issues and drainage problems are also priorities, she said.
“We’re really centered on community input — speaking with our local neighbors, our friends and family, our coworkers — people that have to drive the roads every day,” she said of her campaign.
Werner grew up in East Moriches and moved to Baiting Hollow last year, she said. “I’m a proud Long Islander. I love to be here and just looking to see better for our local community,” she said.
Werner is seeking to get on the ballot this November unaffiliated with a political party and is currently circulating an independent nominating petition, she said.
“There’s Democrats, there’s Republicans — then there’s Long Islanders,” she said. “We’ve got our own little ecosystem going on here, and we have a mindset that is more about what our neighbor is doing, what your friends are doing… we all work together here, no matter what party you represent.”
Before Werner entered the race, Zaleski was running unopposed. A 31-year employee of the department, and its former deputy superintendent, Zaleski won his first term running as a Republican in 2021 and was nominated this year by the Republican Party for a second term. The Riverhead Town Democratic Committee decided against running a candidate for highway superintendent because it wanted to “concentrate our energies on the Town Board candidates,” Chairperson Laura Jens-Smith said in February.
Zaleski said he had not heard of Werner’s candidacy until asked about it by a reporter.
“This is a democracy. Anyone can run for office,” Zaleski said in a phone interview this morning.
“I’m running on my record and I would hope, if I’m doing my job right, the people would want me continue to do it,” he said.
The highway superintendent is responsible for maintaining town roads, including paving, repairing, and snow-plowing, and running the day-to-day operations of the department, which employs 40 people. It is a full-time position with a four-year term and pays an annual salary of $104,543.
-With Denise Civiletti
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