Gardella, Haye Are Unopposed In Sag Harbor Village Race

Only two candidates, incumbents Tom Gardella and Ed Haye, have filed petitions for the two openings on the Sag Harbor Village Board in the June 21 election.

Gardella, a plumbing contractor and former chief of the Sag Harbor Fire Department, is seeking his third two-year term.

Gardella said he looked forward to the village taking concrete action to address the affordable housing crisis, pointing out that he challenged the board to do so at Mayor Jim Larocca’s first meeting last year. The board is currently considering three measures to encourage more affordable housing, which it could adopt as early as June.

Gardella said he generally supports the Peconic Jitney passenger ferry proposal, which the board will also address at next month’s meeting.

“I remember the last time, a lot of the same issues came up,” he said, referring to a 2012 pilot run. “It turned out the ferry had little impact.”

Gardella pledged to listen to what the public has to say when the board holds its hearing. “I’m an on-the-ground, facts type of guy,” he said.

Looking forward, Gardella said his major focus in the coming year will be in working with H2M Architects & Engineers, which was recently hired to begin planning for what is expected to be a multi-million-dollar redevelopment of the village property on Brick Kiln Road and Columbia Street. The parcel is currently home to the firehouse and several ancillary buildings used by the department, the ambulance headquarters and village highway department.

The existing buildings need major upgrades, and the village is weighing ways it can put the entire parcel to more efficient use.

Gardella added that with major utility work having been completed, the village needs to devote resources to repaving roads and repairing sidewalks and curbs as well as taking steps to beautify its streets.

Haye, a vice president and chief regulatory counsel for American Waterworks Inc., the country’s largest water utility, was appointed to fill the last year of Larocca’s unexpired term as a Village Board member when he won the mayoral race.

Haye said he looked forward to completing the affordable housing legislation currently on the board’s agenda as well as taking additional measures to encourage even more affordable housing.

Also on the immediate agenda is helping Mashashimuet Park and the Sag Harbor School District finalize a long-term deal to provide upgrades to the park’s facilities through a bond floated by the school district.

Haye said in the next year the Village Board expects to create a capital plan to address village infrastructure needs and a financial plan to determine how that work will be paid for.

Among the first projects on the list, he said, has to be upgrading the sewage treatment plant, expanding its reach, and improving the village’s arcane stormwater system, which currently sends untreated runoff directly to the bay.

Another major project is the plan to create a more efficient village operations center at the firehouse property, and yet another is a long-term plan to upgrade the aging Municipal Building.

After a year in office, Haye said he has enjoyed working with the mayor and the board and pointed out that the village has a staff of “really dedicated employees” who do their best for the village.

“I want to make sure they have the tools and the resources they need to do the job for the long term,” he said.