Supervisor candidates trade barbs at News-Review debate

Taking on questions on everything from progress at EPCAL, downtown revitalization and town finances, the three candidates for Town Supervisor made their pitches for your vote at a Riverhead News-Review sponsored debate at Polish Hall Monday night.

The candidates took credit for success where they saw fit, and often pointed a finger at their opponents on issues with a less than favorable outcome during the hour-long debate, which was moderated by News-Review editors Grant Parpan and Joseph Pinciaro.Code enforcement, Route 58 development and crime were among the other topics discussed.

Click on the page links below to read what the candidates had to say:

Mr. Coates, you were a paid advisor to the supervisor for several years. Yet now you are criticizing Mr. Walter, saying he and Ms. Giglio have been driving the town in the wrong direction for the past six years. Is it fair to say that you bear some responsibility from the town’s current state?

Anthony Coates: “I haven’t sat on the Town Board. I wrote a lot of good words for both of these folks. I’ve been greatly disappointed that they haven’t been translated into good deeds. I was excited when they took the oath of office and they said they put the town on firm footing. We have the lowest bond rating of any town in Suffolk County, and the worst credit rating. They said they were fiscal conservatives. We have the highest taxes of any town on the East End. They said they would hold the line on taxes. We have a 5 percent tax increase coming this year. So, I feel I gave advice and I feel that it didn’t wind up in tangible action that works for the people of Riverhead. Sean is been a friend, I’ve interacted with Jodi over the years. I didn’t take the stuff lately but I’m greatly disappointed.”

Ms. Giglio, you have been on the Town Board since 2010. And while you have criticized the supervisor for some of his fiscal policy, you have also had the opportunity to make amendments to the budget by gathering two or more votes. Why have you been unable to do that?

Jodi Giglio: “For the last six years that I have been on the board, I voted no on millions of dollars in spending, so I have held the line on spending. I feel I have been fiscally prudent and fiscally responsible. And so, I’m proud of that record. When it comes to garnering votes to make revisions to the budget, it’s much easier to put out a budget as a supervisor than it is as a councilperson to try and get two of the votes to change the budget. In the beginning I thought I had three votes. I had George Gabrielsen and my fellow councilman supporting a change to the budget to eliminate spending and replace the fire marshal. Fire Marshall is a matter of public safety and I though it was very important to keep the fire marshal position. So, I couldn’t support the budget. I couldn’t garner the three votes. My fellow board members felt that the town, the sponge was wrung and it was dry and there was nothing left in the budget to be cut. So I did my job over the years to vote no on spending items and to find ways to save the taxpayers money. To save you money by insisting that we put our garbage contract out to bid rather than extending the contract, witch some of my fellow board members including the supervisor wanted to do.  They said you don’t want to mess with the garbage, because people will be standing outside town hall, lined up outside of town hall. I insisted we put up a bid, that we that we revise the code, and and it saves taxpayers  — you —  $200,000 to $300,000 on your tax bill for the residential houses. I also audited and analyzed several of the aspects of town government and spending and found ways to cut back on that spending, by putting more efficient policies in place.”

Mr. Walter, last year you said you put your entire political career on the 2015 budget. Now it appears over $700,000 budgeted for revenue at EPCAL will not come through, as well as another $600K from the county. You have proposed piercing the tax cap this year. Why should taxpayers trust you to craft the 2017 and 2018 budget?

Sean Walter: “Grant that’s a good question. The bottom line is this. There are three ways to correct the town budget. I’ve listened to a lot of stuff about garbage contracts that I wasn’t gonna vote for. That had expired and we had to rebid the garbage contract. I’ve heard Mr. Coates say that we’re crafting the formulation to solve the towns budgetary woes and now he’s running away from it.  There are three ways to fix the budget. That’s it. You grow your way out, you tax your way out and you save your way out. We employed all three. We grew the economy of this town as fast as we possibly could. Some of you are running against Route 58. We are the fastest growing town in Suffolk County, but for East Hampton last year, and maybe the year before as well. This is because of the growth on Route 58. We came into office with a 12 percent budget deficit. $5.7 million. We cut the government by 10 to 12 percent.  It’s a little tough to cut any further than that, but we cut it. And the final thing is, unfortunately, we raised taxes to the end of the tax cap. Now you going to hear a lot about ‘we’re the highest taxed and the highest indebted town.’ That’s not true. Just because Mr. Coates says it over and over again, it’s not true. What we did, we employed all three mechanisms and we got to the other line and the bottom line is this: for a mere  seven dollars a month, you’re going to retain all your services and the budget is balanced. And I’m  proud of that.”

Does Riverhead have a traffic problem, and what if anything can you do about it as supervisor?

Coates: “We absolutely have a traffic problem and most of it is due to poor planning. I don’t think anyone…you’re in the news business. How many accidents do you cover a week?  How many accidents take place, fender benders, that we didn’t have a while ago? I heard the debate for the Council candidates earlier.   We were told that Route 58 was gonna solve our economic woes. We built Route 58 and we were told that we were going to be on easy street.  Instead, what’s happening? We are the most indebted town in the county. We are the highest taxed town on the East End. Route 58, while it’s made us some money, it’s also cost us a great deal. And I think that’s resulted in traffic… It’s a poorly planned place and as far as what you can do about it, you can revisit the Master Plan.  Some of it, in the future, we can get a handle on it. We are building shopping centers within shopping centers. That isn’t smart practice. The planning board has approved project after project because we we haven’t revisited the master plan to come up with a different vision for this town. In downtown, the lack of parking there is putting pressure on other roads. There’s a number of different ways you can do it. But first you have to recognize the problem.”

Giglio: “I think the traffic on Route 58 is horrendous and I avoid it at all cost. But It was the master plan that was done in 2004 and the zoning that was adopted with it. I like the master plan though, I think the Master Plan is working. I like that we have a commercial districts clustered in one area on Route 58. I voted no to extend that shopping district west of of the Long Island Expressway for a project that was proposed  across him Splish Splash.  And I voted no to extend high density housing to the east. So I think that, I drive around Riverhead and I look at the farm fields and I look at all the preserved lands we have in the Town of Riverhead.  Those lands, when we preserve them, they come off the tax rolls. We like the farmlands. We like to be able to drive down Sound Avenue and look at the vistas. And I think that makes Riverhead special. But  in order to do that,  and  to preserve those farmlands, these developers that are building on Route 58 are buying transfer of development rights credits. They are buying farm credits in order to preserve the farms and have the high density development on Route 58 between the Long Island Expressway and Route 105. So I think the way the Master Plan was done, with the transfer of development rights in order to get increased density, is working, and I think that as long as we continue to keep our areas rural that are  supposed to be rural in the MasterPlan, rather than going out and studying and spending, which is something my opponent has said he’s against but yet he’s proposing another moratorium. Which cost money. This has been operating at a town and operating at a 4 1/2 million dollar deficit and I think it’s time I don’t think it’s time to be talking about spending.”

Walter: “This is where having the sage advice and years of living in the town, as Mr. Wooten and Mr. Hubbard have, makes the difference. You folks just got here, so I’m gonna say something that you don’t understand.  When Joe Janoski was in office, you couldn’t attract anybody to Riverhead. Nobody wanted to come here. We had years and years where there was potential negative assessed valuation,  which meant your gross national product of the town was going down.  Denise Civiletti sat on that board.  It was a major problem for the town. So they came up with a plan. And the plan was Route 58. And they did what they could to attract businesses. Do you know what happened? It worked.  I’m not saying Route 58 is the panacea that solves all the problems. But it does pay 16 percent of your tax bill and without it, your taxes would be 16 percent higher. Is the traffic as good as it could be? Absolutely not. But the bottom line is, we planned for this growth. I agree with Miss Giglio, it starts at the expressway and stops at Route 105. It wasn’t a bad thing, folks and the people of this town enjoy it. It’s not like you have to go to Port Jefferson to go to Home Depot anymore.”

Coates: “Mr. Supervisor, don’t pick on my teammates. They’ve offered ideas and they’ve been activists in this community. They may not have come over on the Mayflower, but I really don’t see what that has to do with anything. Yes, Route 58 is what it is. But on the other hand, if we didn’t have all that activity, how much would we not have spent. Believe me, the town was in much better financial shape than it is now.”

Walter: “That is the most ludicrous thing that I’ve heard and you know it. You know it’s true. The town was in debt, the general fund was $5.7 million out of budget (when I took office) and this year it is balanced. Route 58 made its difference. Do you know what we have so much so many senior communities and do you know why they are where they are? Because they love being close to the shopping on Route 58 and they love being able to go to the farm fields and enjoy the vistas in the Town of Riverhead. It’s not a bad thing. We can’t build up this town by tearing it down, Mr. Coates.”

Giglio: “I’d like to say that traffic did become a problem. When the county proposed widening Route 58 and not doing acceleration and deceleration lanes, I reached out to Legislator Krupski who is our liaison to the department of public works in the county. I reached across party lines and I worked with my legislator to have the Suffolk County Department of Public Works review site plans and require cross access easements and acceleration and deceleration lanes. We weren’t getting any comments back from the Department of Public Works when we were sending them site plans on Route  58. So that’s what you need, a leader to reach across party lines.” 

Who’s to blame for the minimal progress at the town-owned land at Enterprise Park at Calverton and what will you do about it?

Giglio: “Well as a leader, I don’t like to place blame. And I do like to take some responsibility. But I can tell you that the supervisor and Tony Coates were driving the car and Mr. Coates had his hand on the steering wheel going to Albany.  They were meeting with the DEC and they were going over the plans and they were coming back to us telling us what the DEC said we could do at the enterprise Park at Calverton.  We were over budget. I voted no on overspending the budget that we had to subdivide the EPCAL. I think that working with the environmental groups is a good thing, but we were supposed to be able to develop 2,300 acres within the fence and we were chopped down to about 800 acres and that’s the plan that my opponents came back with. I feel like the taxpayers are shorted out on $1,800 worth of development or preservation, where we could’ve sold those preservation credits. We can only built on 800 acres and sold 1800 acres for hundred thousand dollars per acre. That’s a lot of money folks, that would solve a lot of our financial problems. We could’ve invested that money, and we could’ve been living off of the interest.  But that’s my plan for the future, to work forward and work with the environmental organizations and the DEC to move the map that we have now forward. And I worked on it until it’s done. I won’t stop, I will campaign, I will continue to work on that map until it’s finalized because we need to jobs, we need to development, and we need good things to come to EPCAL, that’s what I aim to provide. I will work with my board makes for you to make sure that happens.”

Walter: “First of all, Mr. Krupski wasn’t the legislator when they worked on Route 58. It was Legislator Romaine.  Second of all, going back to EPCAL, it’s the largest single commercial industrial subdivision going on in New York State right now. And it’s done, for the most part.  Think about the Heartland project up Island. It’s been going on for 10 years and we’ve been done in four years.  The single biggest thing to happen to Riverhead right now, Suffolk County and I’m gonna say New York State, is Luminati Aerospace. We, my staff, brought aerospace manufacturing back to the town of Riverhead. Back to the town of Riverhead to a parent company that eventually we will be able to go to disclose who it is, and it’s going to make your head shake. How can they have did this? An aerospace company that’s going to bring military jobs back. All you have to do is look at Daniel Preston and realize he has been a military contractor for a long time. We’re not talking about jet planes, we are talking about solar powered planes that are very large and are four to ten horse power.  Yes, the subdivision has slowed down a little bit. It has slowed down because we attracted a company that is going to have such worldwide acclaim, and I know it’s hard to believe and it sounds like pie-in-the-sky, but it’s not. The parent company is real and the project is real and we have to make sure the subdivision works perfectly for them.  Because Luminati Aerospace, that’s the future of the town. That’s what’s gonna make your house values rise.

Coates: “My head is shaking, yes. Let me tie together a few of the things they were saying here. First of all, this is a unique situation. The private citizen who doesn’t sit on the town board is responsible for everything bad that happened in this town but the two folks who sit in the town board and have for the last six years been no responsibility. Somehow this is my fault.  But the Luminati deal I hope we prosper from. I would never talk down about it. But let’s not wrap the Christmas presents yet. We don’t know anything about this company other than the fact that it was incorporated in July. We don’t know anything about this company other than the fact that it was incorporated as incorporation service in Albany shopping center. They may be backed by other folks or they may not be. They’re not saying. We don’t know. We know that they may be building a drone. We don’t know whether they gonna beat their competition to build that drone. We don’t know whether it will ever fly. Before we go too far afield, these deals tend to come up every two Octobers. Before we get too excited about this, and decide to rewrite history, let’s be realistic. Where is the fault line with the town board? With the people who’ve actually sat on the town board for the last six years and that’s part of why I’m running.”

Giglio: “I would just like to say that Mr. Coates was a paid political consultant for Mr. Walter. He gave him $1,000 a month and he was connected to his hip for the last seven years up until two months ago. As a matter fact, Mr. Walter supported Mr. Coates and encouraged him to switch parties to run against me two years ago. And that’s okay.  So what I’m saying is that we need a leader that can put all that aside and put all the tabloids aside. We need Luminit and they’re gonna be a great company and I’ll support them hundred percent. I just wish the supervisor would’ve come to the board and told us about his deals.”

Walter: “The single greatest thing that’s gonna happen to this town. I signed the non-disclosure agreement. I wish I could tell you. I know who the parent company is. It’s going to rock your world. I’m not lying. What you have to do, you’ve got to figure out who you gonna trust. They’re coming, and it’s big.”

Coates: “I hope so but again we know very little about this company and we’ve heard these deals before. So let’s find out. When you’re on the town board and you’re the supervisor you have a fiduciary responsibility to the people you represent. Any responsibility is to make the best deal for the people of Riverhead. I’m cognizant of the fact that Ray Maynard use that runway three months a year and paid about $34,000 for it. We have a proposal now and a public hearing to give the same to accompany we don’t know.”

Downtown revitalization has been a hot topic in this town for decades. What are your plans for downtown Riverhead?

Walter: “Store by store, block by block. We started back in 2010. We started with the theory of having a meeting, a downtown summit, where we brought all the stakeholders in and said listen… We’ve been planning downtown, we had master developers, we did exactly what Southampton’s been doing and they’ve been doing it for two years and God bless them. I hope it works.  It didn’t work here. And it hasn’t worked in other towns, all you have to do is look at the Ronkonkoma hub, which is getting started. We took a different approach and it’s working and I hope that if I get reelected, to continue this store by store, block by block approach. We identified businesses and we married stores with businesses. It’s been very very successful. In fact, Shelly Gordon is in contract with Georgica Green to sell 60,000 ft.² and build another 160 apartments and retail.  That was a deal that took myself, Connie Lassandro, and several others, almost 14 months to make happen. So we have the master plan and the vision, we just have to implement it.  Do you know where I learned all this? [Patchogue Mayor] Paul Pontieri.  Go to Patchogue look at Patchogue. That’s what it’s coming here. Even the stores in Patchogue are coming here.”

Coates: “I think there’s been some gain downtown. But I’m very cognizant of the fact that we are cutting ribbons in front of the same stores for the second or third time.  I think we really need to re-examine what the Master Plan is down there. Right now, what’s been proposed is these nameless, faceless, five and six story buildings.  They’re going to strain traffic and they’re going to strain sewers. We don’t have any parking there, we didn’t even, over the course of the summer,  fill in the potholes.  So, I look across the river and — we talked about building a bridge over the Southampton and everyone on our side said we don’t want them coming here. But it may be that Southampton is actually ahead of us. They put in a completely coherent plan and we are now, the same building that the supervisor talked about, at  at loggerheads over at historic district in  which Councilman Giglio posed for the pictures with Mr. Wines that. So this is really sort of the left-hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. I think we made some gains but I think we have a long way to go. I think in downtown we proposed a public market, we proposed a place to make it a vital main street and the center of arts and Congress to come together. I haven’t seen a really coherent plan. It’s just whatever comes, we’ll cut the ribbon and we’ll  take credit. And when they leave, w’ll pretend that we didn’t know who they were.”

Giglio: “One of the reasons why I ran for office is because I was proposing to build a building in downtown Riverhead.  Based on Apollo’s dreams and their plans, I put together a partnership with some great people and we built a beautiful building downtown. And that was really, with Dee Muma at the corner, the start of it. Then people started saying ‘What’s going on in Riverhead?’ and let’s go to Riverhead and put something up.  So I’m proud of it, and I am a stakeholder in downtown and I am committed to revitalization of downtown. Downtown does have a local historic district and that is what makes it unique and special. We are very lucky to have found volunteer that sit on the landmalk preservation commission that are dedicated. And we did make it a national district.  And if you’re not asking for any benefits from Housing and Urban Development department or from the state and federal government and you want to knock down the building, you can. But if you gonna ask for money from the state of federal government, there are certain guidelines they want you to follow. ..They could paint the building pink if they wanted to. It’s just a matter of us giving them incentives and encouraging them to fix up these historic structures downtown. I went to the Business improvement District a couple weeks ago and asked them to write a letter asking the town board to say that there’s a parking problem and that they would like a parking garage and they are doing that. I should have that letter sometime next week after the BID board meets again and then I plan on going to the town board to ask them to put out a request for proposal for a parking garage on town property. I’m a solution oriented person. I’m a business person.”

Walter: “I can’t wait to have a parking problem. Look at Port Jefferson. There’s a parking problem. Look at Patchogue, there is a parking problem. Find a spot in Sayville. That’s a parking problem. Do you know what? Do you want to go back to Supervisor cardinale’s ways and have a master developer in Apollo again. Then vote for Mr. Coats because that’s what he’s advocating. It’s exactly what Mr. cardinale did and failed at that he’s advocating it.  That’s what they are doing in Southampton. God bless them, I hope it works. I’m going to continue to move forward with Councilman Giglio’s parking garage and build downtown.”

Coates: “I think you’ve got to dial back and look at the overall vision. They said that anyone comes down town will come their tax-free. Tax-free to build a building downtown. There’s a sign in front of EPCAL that says you can come here tax-free. By the way, the phone number on the sign is disconnected. So is the website. They said there are no tax breaks on Route 58 but now they’re starting to give tax breaks on Route 58 again. They gave one to the Marriott Hotel, they gave one to an oncology Center, they gave one to a bowling alley. Who is going to pay the taxes in this town? The pieces in the vision have to fit together. I’m sorry they are a piece short.

Giglio: “I just like to say that I’m solution oriented. I take every opportunity when Southampton invites me to one of their meetings with their zoning or what they’re proposing on the south side. I attend these meetings with Councilman Dunleavy. We talk about those things and what we think Southampton should be. And I made a recommendation and they put a laundromat in the south side of their river. A lot of people come from the south side and walk down main street with their laundry bags and I said you need to provide for your people on the south side of the river. And I’m happy to say they did put a laundromat and made several changes to their proposed zoning based on my recommendations. So I believe in being proactive.”

How do you plan on balancing development downtown with the health of the Peconic River?

Coates: “I think again, it comes back to having a plan. All the pieces have to fit together. I think that’s where you started the debate by asking, I worked with this team and opposed this team. And it’s because I’ve seen over six years that again the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. So each project has to have sort of internally, all of the pieces of each department working together in almost an environmental impact sort of way when you are proposing a project. Conifer. Let’s look at that deal. There’s no thought out curb cut. There’s no fire protection thought out on that. it’s it’s right by the river, what is the threat it’s going to be to the river? I think that the pieces have to work together. And I’m sorry, I don’t wanna cast a negative tone, but I have to take exception to something you said, Jodi. You didn’t walk in to the BID board meeting and talk about building a parking garage and sending it out for RFP. You went to the BID board meeting and you said, ‘I know a guy, maybe we could get this guy a grant and he could build the parking garage.’ It’s in the paper that you knew a guy. I have a real problem when someone is in the permit expediting business and funded by up-island developers, as to what our downtown is going to be.

Giglio: “On the Peconic River, what I’ve done as the liaison to the Peconic Estuary Program, is found new ways to… right now, we’re getting ready to build a rain garden on the Riverfront to educate people that are situated along the waterfront, so that this can capture some of the oil in the parking lot so it doesn’t end up in the river. That project is underway and it’s fully paid for by the Peconic Estuary Program. So, I’m happy to have the support of the board on that. We’ve also done several things, working to get storm water out of the sewer drains so that when it goes through the sewage treatment plant, you don’t have all that storm water going into the sewage treatment plant. So we worked on that. I voted no on several projects that would add to the sewer district, high density development on small pieces of property that would affect the sewer district and the discharge. While our nitrogen levels may be low right now, after the construction is built, it would just add to it. I voted no to the flight boarding. Fly boarding would’ve disrupted the bottom of the river and created a problem. We had heard from a lot of environmentalists, and I listen to the people and I voted the way the people wanted to because I felt it would be detrimental to the river. So we pushed it out to the bay. So we’re doing things every day to protect the Peconic estuary and I’ll continue doing that as your supervisor.”

Walter: “This answer is going to be a little bit technical. We have a state of the art sewage treatment sewage treatment plant with sequencing batch reactors. That sewage plant is built in about 2000 10 2002. It is still by all accounts state-of-the-art. However, it’s not the best available technology. The DEC is requiring and we are building an upgrade to that sewage plant, which will allow the golf course to be watered (with treated sewer effluent). And that’s going to be a bio membrane filtration system…. That’s a 75 percent reduction in nitrogen going into the Peconic River. That sewage plant is roughly 1.4 million gallons. Yes there’s water that comes in from the storm water system although we do try to seal that out. That’s sewage treatment plant is going to make a huge difference in downtown Riverhead in terms of what we discharge . I know it’s a little sleepy, I see a couple people yawning, but that’s a big deal. A $22 million upgrade. That allows us to do the upgrade on Main Street, the Riverfront, along with upgrading all Pump stations. We are ready for that development, and do you know why? We planned it.”

Coates: “I don’t think the town planned. I think the major strides that the town made on denitrification,  and I’ll applaud that. I don’t think we planned the downtown. I think that anyone who sits in a lot of traffic near  a lot of empty stores, and imagine what happens when we fill that out. We don’t have adequate parking. It sounds like a cute cliché to say that Patchogue doesn’t have parking or Port Jefferson doesn’t have parking . It’s a problem we can head off and smart planning can do that.”

Giglio: “I just also would like to say that I put forth legislation that was supported unanimously by the Town Board to require anybody within a watershed area or within 150 feet of Peconic River or wetlands be required to upgrade their sanitary system if they are making a substantial change, like putting a second story on, or adding a kitchen or adding bedrooms. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services didn’t regulate those type of things. They are working with me. The Suffolk County Department of health services worked with me to look at this code amendment and they are reviewing those applications, which they were not before. I think that is a step in the right direction.”

Walter: We plan for the development downtown, that’s why we upgraded our sewage treatment plant and we upgraded our pump stations and fixed a lot of the piping downtown. When we build downtown and put the 500 apartments that were allowed to put in, we will have a vibrant downtown like Patchogue . It’s not going to pollute the environment, it’s going to be a very safe and clean place to be. So it was planning, and we did it.”

Is crime a problem in Riverhead? And if so, how specifically can it be dealt with?

Giglio: “I said that I would eliminate the deputy supervisor position in my office and use  that funding to hire more code enforcement. Crime is a problem. We have several overcrowded houses in town. We have police who are spending a lot of time in parking lots where drug activities are taking place. With better code enforcement and was looking at overcrowded housing, with making sure that our communities are safe and clean and that all quality-of-life issues are addressed, we will reduce crime. And the only way you can do that is by hiring more code enforcement officers and putting code enforcement under the police department so that they can work together. I think that overcrowded houses are a big problem. I think they burden the police department, the school district, the hospital and the library. We need to move in the direction of more code enforcement which will eventually cut down on crime. So, I think that it’s been a problem and it’s a problem that I’m willing to take on and tackle as a business person and a leader, and I hope you will support me as supervisor so I can move my plan forward.”

Walter: “Crime doesn’t get solved by code enforcement. I’m glad you bring this up. This is the single biggest domestic issue that we’re facing right now. Look at this, (holding political flyers put out by the Suffolk County PBA supporting Ms. Giglio)  this is what the Suffolk county PBA has brought against me to try and win  the supervisor seat. This is my friend, is a big deal. Let’s count them or maybe not, let’s just go through them. There’s $100,000 of print ads right here and I don’t even get half of them. The bottom line is that my opponent wants to sell that the Riverhead Police Department to the Suffolk County Police Department. She’ll deny it, just like she denied a lot of things over her tenure. There’s not a single person that could believe that the Suffolk County PBA, after offering me the same deal, is going to spend between $100,000 to $200,000 because they don’t like me. Crime is down Riverhead by 10 to 15%. We became an accredited police department during my tenure. We used the police department in very specific ways in downtown and Route 58 to accomplish our goals of reduction of crime. But this, my friends, this is the future if she gets elected, (waiving the political flyers) because she is bought and sold by the Suffolk County Police Department. Nobody spends this kind of money without asking for something.”

Coates: “I think if you go back to Commissioner Brattan or Mayor Giuliani, to get a handle on small crime is what matters. We do need to crack down on overcrowded housing and to enforce the code. We do need to make downtown a place that has less blight, around the train station, and looks more attractive. We need to do the things like fix potholes because that creates a basic disrespect to the downtown. I think one of the issues that this Town Board has not tackled in better than a decade is something as simple as installing security cameras downtown. They’ve talked about it but they haven’t gotten it done. Councilman Giglio has chaired the code committee and I’ve heard her say all these things, but again, and I don’t mean to keep bringing this up, but you have been on the town board for six years. I completely agree with the supervisor. This is New York, people have a keen and native sense, and you don’t get a couple hundred thousand dollars from anyone without something expected in return. I completely support the Riverhead Police Department staying the Riverhead Police Department. What do you do to solve crime? Have great response times. What do you do the soft crimes? You have people that know the neighborhoods. You have people that can get out to the community and know the community. We would lose that (under Suffolk County police).  Every battle we ever had with UpIsland, we’ve lost. We’re supposedly the county seat, but all the buildings moved up to Hauppague. We have to keep a police here intact in Riverhead.”

Giglio: “I support Riverhead Police Department and giving them the tools to do their job effectively and safely. I have never told Suffolk County that I was going to endorse Riverhead Police Department going to Suffolk County police department. As a matter fact, I can’t even do that. It would have to be a vote by the tax payers. It would have to be on the ballot and you would vote on it, not me. So let’s just put that away. I’ve said it at every debate and every chance I get.  I support Riverhead Police Department and I’m proud to have the Riverhead PBA’s endorsement. When it comes to cameras downtown, Mr. Coates, you said on the BID board for five years why didn’t you put cameras downtown?”

Walter: “There is no doubt and there should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that if  the Suffolk County PBA spends this kind of money, then somebody’s not telling the truth. Nobody spends a couple hundred thousand dollars. They are going to put a public referendum on,  they will come up and excuse, and when that happens Suffolk County PBA will spend whatever it takes to win the referendum because they believe it’s manifest destiny to take over the entire East End. This didn’t come for free.”

Coates: “Councilwoman, I don’t mean to bring up this issue, but during the primary, you said that our police cars are held together with gum. Why in your six years in the town board did you never submit a resolution to buy new police cars?”

Giglio: “We did, we bought five new police cars.”

Coates: “Well, which is it ? Police cars  held together with gum or  we have adequate police cars? If you really believe that the police cars held together with gum and you really support the Riverhead Police Department, try supporting them. Why not submit a resolution?” 

Has Route 58 been overdeveloped?

 Walter: “It’s a question that’s been asked and answered. From my perspective, if you look back at the Joe Janoski history and even before that, with Allen Smith. They planned to bring businesses to Route 58. We had a planning board, Barbara Blass was the chairwoman for a long time, and they planned to bring sensible development to Route 58 to increase the tax base because that’s what the residents of this town wanted. When I moved here 25 years ago, I had to drive all the way to Setauket to Home Depot. People wanted this. Was traffic a problem? Yes, because it’s a very popular place. Is it largely done? It is largely done. There’s only a few more vacant parcels left on Route 58 today. And I know, and Councilwoman Giglio knows about this, I’m not saying any trade secrets here. At the old Walmart shopping center, I did speak with Regal Cinemas about three weeks ago and they are still negotiating to go into that Walmart shopping center. So there’s a little bit more room, but this is the development that was planned by the town and planned by the master plan. It starts at the Expressway and stops at County Road 105. I think the folks like it and I know, while is the traffic isn’t that great,  it is a very popular place and people want to go to popular places.”

Coates: “My problem with the Route 58 and we all know that it’s over trafficked and overburden, but my biggest problem with Route 58 is economics of it. We were told that if Route 58 was built, we’re gonna increase our tax base. We’ve increased our tax base by a little bit. But the bottom line is, we don’t have a town government that lives within its means. Route 58 was supposed to make all of us well off. How did that work out? Now, at EPCAL, they’re looking to have everyone go there tax-free. Downtown they are looking to have everyone go there tax free. Who’s taking it on the chin? Who is paying the tab for this town? Look at all the police cars, it’s a strain on our services. Look at all the fire protection we have to incur. So who’s smarter? Southold, who  makes the commute to our stores and then goes home to a rural town where their taxes are significantly less than ours? They don’t have a 5 percent tax increase. So my qualm with Route  58 is the economics of it. We were told it was gonna be Nirvana and it hasn’t worked out that way. The taxpayers are taking it on the chin. We’ve got all of the blame and all of the problems and all of the policing and at the same time, we’ve got the highest tax rate in all of the county. Explain to me, like I’m a three-year-old, how Route 58 has helped us out?”

Giglio: “I like driving through and looking at the farm fields and driving north of Route 58 and seeing all the farmland and driving down Sound Avenue and seeing the venues. I think it’s a very bucolic place to be in Riverhead. Again, I support the master plan. The MasterPlan was a plan that was worked on for 4 to 5 years,  where all commercial development in the town was proposed on Route 58 and gas was five downs per gallon. I didn’t want to go to Smith Haven Mall to go shopping for my kids. I was happy to have Route 58 right around the block where I could go and get all my shopping needs taken carecare of. The people that come to the 58 are going to the farms and supporting the forms so they can remain farmed. We need those people to come here and spend money on our farms so the farms can stay there, and  so they’re not selling to overdevelopment on the farmland on the outskirts of town. I believe that keeping it isolated on Route 58 is important and I support the master plan and I don’t believe in spending anymore money on looking at Route 58 with only a few parcels that are left to be developed there. We should work with the county to get cross easements, seeking get from one shopping center to another without having to go back out onto Route 58. I think the traffic lights have been synchronized and that the ambulance workers have a button they can press. Route 58 is important to the town.”

Walter: “So Tony, I’m gonna do it as a third grader and not a three-year-old. Here is the issue and it’s a very simple one. During the 2000s when your party was in power, they spent at 7 1/2 percent. That’s 3 to 4 times the rate of inflation every year. That’s just general fund. Digging up the landfill and shipping it off Long Island. Your party, the Democrats, did that. We came in and our spending averaged a percent and a quarter  under the rate of inflation. You cannot spend 7 1/2 percent and not have some problems. And we (the Democratic administration) borrowed every dime.”

Coates: “Mr.  Supervisor, don’t give me the financial conservative lecture. We are the most indebted, highest taxed, lowest bond-rated town. When you came to office, you had $10.5 million dollars in surplus. It’s all gone. EPCAL? Six years, and no map. So spare me the “I’m a fiscal conservative” speech because it just ain’t working for this Democrat.”

How will the town be in a position financially to start paying off its looming CPF debt in coming years while building up its reserves? How will you improve the town’s financial standing?

Coates: “My background is in municipal finance. I worked as an officer in some of the largest financial firms in the world. First of all, we said in the town board debate that IDA tax giveaways are not a burden on this town. I get the economics… When that million and a half dollars that went to the Marriott that had already broken ground, that was picked up by somebody – you. I heard the town board debate. We believe strongly in accountability audit. Yes two town departments just merged and that’s a nice economy. These  folks have been on the board for six years. And if two department heads say they think we can do it better by merging and would save about $1 million over five years. It should not have come from a department head, there should be a constant examination of that. So on day one, I would create an accountability audit that would do that. The solar farm. There was a deal on the supervisors desk that would’ve created a solar farm. Everyone pooh-poohs it now, but in the meantime, that you would have brought $9 million a year over the life of a 20 year lease. We would not have had to give away our property we would’ve had $180 million dollars coming to this town. We have underperforming assets in this town and they need to be examined. And finally, daily reconciliation of the budget. I’ve go to my computer screen every day and I can see green and red when stocks are doing well or poorly. This no reason in the world the Town Board members should be kept in the dark and not know where we stand on cost overruns. Those reforms that we can act and I will do so if I’m elected.”

Giglio: “I would continue to do what I’ve been doing, which is cut their cut back on millions of dollars in spending and and voting no for $6 million bond resolutions to cover operating expenses this year. Voting no for an $18 million debt to rebuild the armory and put the police and justice court in  there. Because we simply don’t have the money right now. I think we need to hold the line on spending, which I have done, and find new and efficient ways to do things. Rather than replacing positions, it’s important to find other ways to do that and to get the job done. I support upgrading our information technology and creating efficiency throughout the departments, where the assessors office is talking to the building department and where you have to go to the assessors office and apply for a document in order to get a certificate of occupancy, so that that buildout gets on the assessment rolls right-of-way right away. I think that there’s things we can do to bring in non tax-generating revenue and making sure the developers to come to town are paying the full fee of what it costs to process their application. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing it. We should be getting back to the basic fundamentals of government should be providing. Stick with that, the fluff that goes along with that, we don’t want to raise fees but we have to. It’s costing us that much to process an application, they have to pay the fee. You should not have to. I analyzed several departments and I’ve analyze the rental permits, and (proposed) doubled the fees because that’s what it cost to process those applications. We’ve been subsidizing for years and now the resolution is on the table to double the fees for rental housing permits which by the way we doubled the fees for myself. But that’s what we need to do.”

Walter: “Could you repeat the question, i though it was a CPS question… Over the years, I figured out what it would take to solve the general funds problem and we’ve solved it. It’s balanced and if you don’t want to believe that,  you can see it in the next couple years but if we keep our spending down. But the CPS had me scratching my head because the only way to bring in more CPF  revenue is to sell more property and get the economy of the town going really strong like it was in 2004 to 2006.  As town supervisor, I can’t do that. I can’t push home sales. So we came up with something really creative. It does have its downside,  but it’s really creative. Fred Thiele is going to extend the CPF that for another 20 years. We wrote special state legislation which passed in the Senate and which will pass in the assembly,  Fred Thiele said, next year. It will allow us to refinance our CPF debt. Normally you could not  refinance CPF dead. We have to refinance it to get our debt service in line with our income. So that legislation was passed in the Senate and we’ve got all sorts of assurances to get that through Albany.”

Coates: “I heard the supervisor use the phrase that the supervisor can do nothing to push home sales. We are the only town in Suffolk County where property values are actually falling. It does me no good to say that to folks. You covered it in Northforker.  The supervisor can do a heck of a lot to push home sales. He can create the atmosphere in the community where people want to come here. They can create a budget where we are not living hand to mouth and we can actually get things done. So the supervisor can do a great deal to push home sales.”

Giglio: “When it comes to the CPF that it is money that was spent to preserve farmland’s. And I think that moving forward, having Developers come forward and buy those from in developing rights  so that we’re not spending any more money to preserve land is a good start. And I think that, sales of property in the town,  by creating and fixing quality-of-life issues, will help to improve helps home sales and also commercial sales. And then, a portion of that money is put into the CPF to pay back the debt.”

Walter: “So I stand corrected, I can do something to push home sales. This used to be known as the town that couldn’t get out of its own way and nobody wanted to come here. That’s not the town it is anymore. But Mr. Coates, just because you say it over and over again, doesn’t make it true. We are not the highest taxed town and we are not the highest indebted town. Just go look at East Hampton’s books. They’ve got more debt. But the reality is, property values in Riverhead are not falling. They are rising, not as fast as oceanfront property in East Hampton or Sound-front property in Baiting Hollow,  but they are rising. Just take a look at the stats.”

What’s your number one priority as supervisor?

Giglio: “Taxes are the number one priority. As a hard-working mother and with my husband working hard, we find it very hard to reach into a pocket year after year and pay another hundred dollars or $50. It’s becoming harder and harder to live on Long Island. So number one priority is to get taxes down and get to town on firm financial footing. The next thing is quality-of-life issues. We have houses that are falling apart, we have code enforcement that’s not going out writing tickets. We have buildings that are falling apart around town. And with our code enforcement officers, working 8:30 a.m.  to 4:30  p.m., that are reactive to phone calls to get on a daily basis rather than going down the list of overcrowding houses to investigate buildings that are crumbling.  That is an issue. That’s why I’m going to eliminate the deputy supervisor position and hire more code enforcement officers.  The EPCAL subdivision. We need the jobs. Our kids can’t live here anymore. It’s the brain drain, they have to go find somewhere else to live. I have kids that can’t afford to live here and they live in other parts of the country and the world. It’s important to get the EPCAL subdivision completed and create high-paying jobs that we lost when Grumman left. It’s important to give Riverhead Police Department the tools that they need to do their job. It’s funny that the supervisor says that Mr. Coates says things over and over again and it doesn’t make it true. It also doesn’t make it true that Jodi Giglio supports the Riverhead Police Department merging with Suffolk County, because I don’t.”

Walter: “I’m gonna start with saving the Riverhead Police Department, because nobody could believe that somebody would spend $200,000 on a campaign to get someone elected in a town they have no interest in. Right now there’s a lot of big priorities and the single biggest one is ushering in Lumenoti Aerospace. That is the future of the town. There’s no bigger company coming to Long Island then this company. So ushering them in and making them feel at home and having the subdivision work so they can prosper in a cow, is probably the number one priority for the next six months to a year. People may not believe it but they’ve already bought houses in Riverhead, and  they closed on a $3.5 million property. They are here and they’re hiring 40 to 50 engineers and CAD designers. It’s time to start creating good paying jobs and that’s the biggest thing.”

Coates: First, let me say from the previous question. East Hampton has less debt than we do. And I’ll point you today to this article. They refinanced some bonds and saved lots of money because they have a better bond ratings than we do. It’s a close call but they were able to do this because they made sound financial decisions. My number one priority is to make sound financial decisions. Can you imagine a more poorly planned place. Over the last six years, we’ve gone backwards in some of these issues. I started off by saying we’re the highest taxed and lowest bond-rated and most indebted town. That’s the exoskeleton of the town. I met with the police officers the other day. It’s your job as Town Supervisor to give them the template to get the job done. To give them the tools that they need to get the job done. We have excellent people working for this town but they’re always under the sword of Damocles that we’re broke. So my number one priority would be to get us on that from financial footing that has eluded them for the last six years.

Giglio: “Sean will say that Tony is using his platform and Tony will say he’s using his own platform, but in fact, they’re the same platforms and they have been for the last seven years that these guys were connected at the hip, putting forth the budgets and the plan for the town. It’s time for new leadership and its time for a mature business person. For once, I would like to open up the newspapers and read about all the good things that are happening in Riverhead instead of listening to these two acting like children on the constant attacks. You want to get rid of the bickering and everything else. We need to all work together and we need a leader that can do that.”

Walter: “You can’t build this town up by tearing it down. You know, intuitively, that the last six years have been in a terrible economy and positive things happened in this town. You know your town tax didn’t go up when you look at your tax bill. There’s no appreciable difference in your town tax bill. You know that crime is down, you know this town is doing well. You don’t have to go past Route 58 or downtown Main Street to see it. We used to be known as the ‘little town the couldn’t.’ You never hear that anymore. So my opponents, don’t tear the town down because you’ll never bring businesses here by tearing us down.”

Coates: “My platform is my platform and I disagree completely with you folks. You are all for the master plan, while I think it needs to be revisited.  We’re living on special permits all over this town. You think IDA tax breaks are not a problem,  I think they are. I think downtown needs a fresh start and we need to rethink what we’re doing. And Councilwoman Giglio, as far as getting along with people, I’ve watch the two of you on channel 22 for the last six years and it wasn’t exactly reruns of ‘Leave it to Beaver'”

CLOSING STATEMENTS

Coates: “I ask all of you tonight what’s new? What did you hear tonight that was different? Because I’ll tell you, I didn’t hear anything. They run this place for the last six years. What’s their record?  We are pay money per person than any town in Suffolk County. They had $10.5 million dollars in surplus the day they showed up in town hall. Now it’s all gone. We have the county’s lowest bond rating, which means we have the lowest credit rating of anytime the county. We’re the only place where, according to Northforker, property values are actually falling. EPCAL was priority number one the day they took office. I was excited to work with them the day they took office, but six years later, there’s not even a map of the subdivision there.But they love tax breaks. They love tax breaks downtown, they love them all around town, they love them at EPCAL and they love them on Route 58. They love tax breaks for everyone but you. You are going to get a 5 percent tax increase this year. The highest of any town in the county. In the real world, if someone sent you that resume, you wouldn’t even interview them for the job. But this is politics. So folks, they’ve had plenty of time to make that plan work, it just doesn’t work. To the supervisors credit, he’s resolute. He says he’ll stand by his record. God bless him. Councilwoman Giglio, on the other hand, would lead you to believe that she has been on vacation while this financial catastrophe happened. You heard it tonight. She’s talked a lot and whatever the issue, she had an answer.But in the end, where was she? She had the power? She has an equal vote to the supervisor and the actions don’t match the words. This is like a whodunit when no one is guilty. I have a different vision of what a supervisor does. I think it’s about results and I think it’s about getting the job done.”

Giglio: “I just want to say that growing up in the house that I grew up in, my father went to work every day and he worked hard. My mom stayed home. We always had someone telling us morally to go in this direction or that. It taught us the values and principles. I’m proud of that. I’m proud of the way I was brought up. I’m also proud of the fact that I was the youngest of the four kids in the house and was used to taking swats from my sisters as I am in this campaign process. As you can see, the way people campaign is usually how they govern. And if you want to see this type of governance in Riverhead, then that’s what you’re gonna get. But I’m a leader. I’m a well-respected business woman. I want to put a business mentality into government. People keep telling me I can’t do that. I can do that. I want to get our town off the ground. I will take the steering wheel away from these two and drive the car until it’s out of gas. And then I’ll fill up, and I’ll do it again. Because you know what? EPCAL is the place where we can create a high-paying jobs that we need for our kids, and we may not collect all the money upfront but we will eventually get the money I will  get good development there. I’ll make sure of it. Business people come to me every day. This town needs a leader. I hope to have your support on November 3 and I promise you can trust me. I’m a member of the community. I talk to you all. You know who I am, you bring me cards and pictures. It  makes me so proud of the relationships I’ve established in this small town where people care so much about our town. You come out to vote. He came out tonight at a debate like this. You take part in the community. And so do I. I’m a taxpayer in this town, unlike my opponent (Mr. Coates). We have to move forward as a community and bring this town together in order to do good things for this town.”

Walter: “I bring you open, honest, and effective government. JC Watts once said you are defined in your character by how you conduct yourself when nobody’s looking. I’m not gonna to get into anybody’s character. But I’m gonna say this. We worked very hard to bring this town back. So listening to everybody talk about the different things that are going on the town, realize one thing. Abe Lincoln, said, ‘you don’t change horses midstream.’ Everybody’s talking about midstream. They are saying Main Street is  better but not quite there. EPCAL is almost subdivided. But not quite there. And Luminati bought property but they’re not quite there. The budget is balanced, but we could do better. The reality is this we took a town that was in terrible financial shape, we had the EPCAL properly where bad ideas came to die. And Main Street was 80 percent vacant and we made it better. So the two people sitting to my right to tell me it was not as good as it should’ve been. But it’s better and you know it,  you feel it. Very few people look up to me and say ‘Walter, you really screwed up  this town.’ You never hear that. What I hear is, ‘this is good, but we can do better.’ So I’m happy to be part of the great things we’ve done so far and I hope you trust me to continue this process. I couldn’t fix all the problems overnight. I wish I could have. But when you inherited budgets that were 12 percent out of balance and 7 1/2 percent spending increases, there was a lot of work to be done,  with the vacancies and proposals at EPCal that whenever gonna happen. I’m happy to have moved everything forward and I look forward to your support. In the end it’s all about character. Your character defines how you act always.”