Residents of Manorhaven will head to the polls Oct. 3 to determine how long the village mayor will get to stay in office.
Under the referendum, voters will decide if the term for Manorhaven’s mayor will be doubled from two years to four. The vote will be held at Village Hall from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. If passed, the new term length would go into effect after the mayoral election in June of next year.
“I feel that if the term is four years, it gives [the mayor] the opportunity to come in and learn the ropes and enact the agenda,” said Manorhaven Mayor Jim Avena. “For continuity sake, for projects like redoing the roads and sewers, having four years to do it would be easier.”
Avena originally got his wish earlier in the summer. A resolution was passed by the Board of Trustees 4-0 in June to extend the mayoral term, but outcry from the community led the board to rescind the measure in late July.
The board revisited the issue a month later, and decided to leave the issue up to voters by scheduling the referendum.
Rudy Santo, a resident of Manorhaven for 40 years, protested the board’s resolution.
“You’re telling me that five people are going to make the change?” Santo said. “What bothered me is that they never asked the residents how they were feeling” about changing the term length.
He has since been rallying local residents to oppose the measure. He said he believes that two-year terms keep mayors responsive to the electorate
“Every two years the person in charge has to say, ‘This is what I’m doing, how can I help you?'” he said. “That’s very beneficial to the voters who get a chance to express their feelings.”
Plus, Santo added, the two-year terms have been around since 1930. Why change it?
It would indeed put Manorhaven outside the norm for Port Washington. The villages of Baxter Estates, Port Washington North and Sands Point all have two-year terms. But Avena pointed out that the mayors in those town often run unopposed and thus have little need to focus on elections.
Manorhaven, on the other hand, has had several contentious elections for mayor. Avena is currently in the midst of his first term, which he won by defeating former mayor Gary Pagano.
The elections “stir a lot of emotion in the village, it becomes really fierce,” Avena said. “I think for continuity and tranquility it would be better to pick the right candidate for four years and give them the opportunity to do their job.”
