Larry Werther, a former Mineola trustee who briefly served as mayor and is running for the top spot again, said Monday night that the village’s current downtown revitalization plan is overdeveloping Mineola.
His fellow Mineola My Home Party candidates, Regis and Cristi Gallet, compared their vision for downtown Mineola to the villages of Garden City and Huntington, during a debate at the Mineola Middle School, hosted by the Mineola American.
The trio faces three current board members, Mayor Scott Strauss, seeking his fourth term as mayor, Trustee Dennis Walsh, seeking his third term, and Trustee George Durham, seeking his fourth term. Strauss, Walsh and Durham are running on the New Line Party ticket.
Werther was previously elected as a trustee as part of the New Line Party in 2003, and served as deputy mayor under then-Mayor Jack Martins.
Werther served out the rest of Martins’ term in 2011, when Martins was elected to state Senate.
Werther lost his spot on the board when Durham and Walsh beat him in a three-way race in 2013.
Werther and the Gallets said the large apartment buildings either being built or recently finished downtown are overdeveloping the village and making it look like a New York City borough – which isn’t the vision they have for Mineola.
Cristi Gallet said she would like the village to be more similar to Garden City’s downtown, with local shops and restaurants.
She said the large apartment buildings are even blocking the sunlight.
Werther said the buildings should not have been given tax breaks from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency.
Strauss said the spots where many of the buildings were built were not on the tax roll before.
The village now gets money from them that it would not have had before, he said.
The Gallets, who own and operate the Recovery Room bar and grill located at 214 Station Plaza North, said the village should be helping small businesses, not big developers.
Walsh said if the buildings had not been built, the sites would likely have been taken over by NYU Langone rather than going to small businesses.
The medical organization has stated that it plans to spend $1 billion on the Winthrop hospital campus in the next 10 years, Walsh said.
He added that any property the medical center takes over would pay zero taxes to the schools or village.
The Gallets are a married couple who own a business and home in Mineola.
Cristi Gallet said as local small-business owners they have “their feet on the ground,” and know about issues facing local businesses.
They also said that they, along with Werther, would not accept the salary for the positions if elected.
The mayor earns $29,000 a year for a four-year term. The trustees earn $14,500 a year for a four-year term.
That money instead will be put back into the village to spend on projects, they said.
The Gallets’ business might require them have to abstain from certain votes if elected to the village board, Durham said.
Their bar might cause them to have a conflict of interest against certain applicants, Durham said.
Two trustees unable to vote would add a burden on the applicant, Durham said.
In an interview after the debate, Regis Gallet, who is also a sergeant in the Mineola auxiliary police, told Blank Slate Media it shouldn’t be an issue.
He said he and his wife are “completely unbiased.”
“Frankly, there’s three other trustees, so if a small district of business wouldn’t be appropriate for me and my wife to vote on it wouldn’t hamper the village,” Gallet said.
He also said trustees have conflicts of interest in other ways.
He noted that Strauss is a firefighter and voted on approving new trucks for the department.
During the debate Walsh said the Gallets and Werther also broke state campaign laws.
According to a Freedom of Information request Walsh filed, a copy of which he shared with Blank Slate Media, the Gallets and Werther are in violation of New York State law for not filing campaign finance disclosures.
According to the response to the request, there are no records of financial disclosure from the Mineola My Home Party or its candidates received before March 12.
Village Clerk Joe Scalero said the first filing date is 32 days before the election, which would have been Feb. 16. The second is 11 days before, which would have been March 9.
There is a third filing date 27 days after the election.
During the debate, the Gallets said they did not file because they did not accept any donations.
Harpers Ferry, a Long Island-based Irish folk band, lists a Mineola My Home Party fundraiser as a past event on the band’s website.
The event was held at the Recovery Room Bar, which the Gallets own, on March 1, according to the Harpers Ferry website.
Werther said in an interview after the debate that a couple of dozen people showed up, but the party did not take any donations and is 100 percent financed by the candidates.
Werther also said he wasn’t aware of having to file campaign financial disclosures, but is currently doing so.
Another issue raised during the debate was water quality.
Werther said that according to a Newsday article there is a carcinogen, 1,4-dioxane, in Mineola water.
Strauss said it is found in trace amounts and noted that it is an issue across the island, not just the village.
Strauss also said there is currently no approved treatment solution by the Environmental Protection Agency or New York State Department of Health.
When a solution comes out of the testing phase, “lord knows we’re going to get it here in Mineola, too,” Strauss said.
“I drink the water, too, so do my kids, so do my family,” Strauss said. “So why would I take the chance and jeopardize our own public safety, something I drink and you drink, it just boggles the mind.”
He added that “our water is safe … drink up.”
Strauss, Walsh and Durham also all noted the village board’s ability to keep increases in village taxes low in the last few years.
There has been no increase in the last two years, Walsh said.
