Letters

As a candidate for the Southampton Town Council in this November’s election, I’d like to introduce myself to your readers.

I’ve lived in Southampton for the majority of my adult life, working, raising my children and marrying here.

I originally moved to Southampton to take a management position at Hampton Jitney. As a vice president at the Jitney, I helped it grow from a small business into one of the most successful companies on the East End. While working there, I also served as president of the Southampton Chamber of Commerce and on the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce board, and was appointed by the Town Board to the Southampton Town Comprehensive Plan Committee and the Business Advisory Council. In my free time, I coached youth soccer and Little League.

In 2005, I was appointed Southampton Town’s director of transportation and traffic safety. In that position, I served as executive director of the Southampton Town Transportation Commission and as chair of the East End Transportation Council. I also served as the town’s first sustainability coordinator and first fleet manager.

During my tenure at the town, I was involved in a variety of regional and town projects, including the planning and implementation of traffic safety and transportation initiatives. Completing these projects called for collaboration with residents, town departments, other municipalities, agencies, and officials at the county and state.

Two of the projects I led were implementation of the process to lower speed limits on about 25 town roads, and launching the South Fork Commuter Connection train and bus service. The SFCC is a time- and money-saving transportation option for workers, which takes hundreds of cars off the road every day now — and with future Long Island Rail Road improvements will take many more vehicles off our roads.

I resigned from my town position in 2021 and was then asked to continue to assist the town by consulting on transportation-related matters. I most recently served as co-chair of the 2024 Town Traffic Safety and Mitigation Task Force.

I also serve on the Town Planning Board, having been appointed to that position in 2022.

As a Town Board member, I would continue to serve our community by combining my experience and ideas with my ability to listen, understand and act in the best interests of our community.

Tom Neely

Sag Harbor