Three-Way Race Shapes Up For North Haven Mayor

For weeks, the word around North Haven has been that yet another candidate was joining the race for mayor, the first contested election for that position in 30 years. Voting will take place on June 21.

Jack Reiser, 64, a mayor from 1988 to 1994 and the son of a former mayor, made it official on Monday, May 16, when he filed his nominating petition with Village Clerk Eileen Tuohy.

Reiser is a 38-year veteran of the Sag Harbor Fire Department and a professional landscaper. His wife, Linda, who died last year, was the longtime chair of the North Haven Village Planning Board.

By Monday, Tuohy already had on hand the mayoral nominating petitions from two village trustees, Terie Diat, 61, and Chris Fiore, 75. Both retired business executives announced they wanted the job after Mayor Jeff Sander, 80, disclosed in March that he would not seek reelection. He has served four two-year terms and also served previously on the Village Board as a trustee.

Trustee Dianne Skilbred, who is the deputy mayor, and Trustee Claas Abraham also have submitted nominating petitions seeking to retain the two trustee seats up for election. Barring any surprise write-in candidates, that election will be more typical of North Haven’s recent politics: uncontested.

According to their nominating petitions, Skilbred and Fiore are running on the North Haven Party line, Mayor Sander’s ticket. Diat is running under the Community Vision Party banner, and Abraham is running on the Hog Neck Party line.

Sander said in March, after Diat and Fiore had announced their runs, that he would not endorse a candidate. “I told them I’m not going to take sides,” he said. “Both are great candidates.”

Sander introduced Fiore to public office when he appointed him to a vacant trustee position in April 2020. Five months later, Diat challenged him when he ran to keep the seat for its remaining year and won by a vote of 148-120. After the election, the board appointed Fiore to fill a vacancy on the Planning Board

In 2021, they both ran again, this time cross-endorsing each other and running unopposed for two open trustee seats on the board.

Their terms end in 2023, so if one of them loses the mayoral race, he or she will continue to serve on the board as a trustee. The mayor-elect’s empty trustee seat will be filled temporarily by a board appointment.