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The four candidates in this year’s Westhampton Beach Village election come from all walks of life: Stephen Arrasate is a retired Southampton Town Police officer, Hank Tucker and Elyse Richman own local businesses, and Joan Levan is a retired Manhattan executive.
Given their varied backgrounds, it is not surprising that they have different opinions on village issues, such as a proposed religious boundary for Orthodox Jews called an eruv, and Westhampton Beach Police Chief Ray Dean’s expired contract. They also have one thing in common—a desire to secure one of two open trustee seats on the five-member Village Board.
Ms. Levan, 69, and Mr. Tucker, 48, are the incumbents and both are running as members of the Lightning Party, a name chosen in order to distance themselves from the First Hampton Party and Mayor Conrad Teller. Both Ms. Levan and Mr. Tucker ran on that party line in 2007, when both sought election for the first time.
Ms. Richman, 48, is running on the Shock Party, which is named after the three businesses she owns in Westhampton Beach: Shock, a women’s clothing store; Baby Shock, a children’s clothing store; and Shock Ice Cream, an ice cream parlor.
The fourth challenger, Mr. Arrasate, is a lifelong village resident and a member of the Westhampton Beach Architectural Review Board. He is running as a member of the Osprey Party.
Village Board members serve two-year terms and each earns
a salary of $5,710 per year. They can also receive full medical and dental benefits. Registered voters can cast their ballots on Friday, June 19, between noon and 9 p.m., at Village Hall on Mill Road.
A Westhampton Beach native already involved with multiple community groups, Mr. Arrasate said he hopes to add the hefty responsibility of being a village trustee to his demanding schedule. Mr. Arrasate, a retired Southampton Town Police officer, has served on the village’s Architectural Review Board since 2007 and said that he is prepared to relinquish that role if elected to the board of trustees.
“I like doing the ARB board,” Mr. Arrasate said, adding that Mayor Teller asked him to serve on that board in 2007. “I’ve worked on a few residences and signs and we’re trying to keep everything looking the same.”
Mr. Arrasate, the current president of the Southampton Town PAL and a member of the Westhampton Beach Fire Department for 24 years, said he has no specific projects in mind if he wins his first bid for office. Rather, he said he would work with his fellow board members to resolve divisive issues in the village.
Topping that list is the Hampton Synagogue’s withdrawn application that seeks the village’s permission to create a religious boundary in Westhampton Beach, one that would be demarcated by black plastic pipes affixed to telephone poles. The application was pulled by the synagogue in May 2008, and the synagogue has not indicated when it would refile the application.
Though he declined to state his opinion of the eruv, Mr. Arrasate said he realizes that a majority of village residents oppose the application. “I will do what the people of Westhampton Beach want,” Mr. Arrasate said, adding that he would like to do more research on the subject. “It’s not my personal opinion that counts.”
In regard to the ongoing contract negotiations involving Chief Dean, Mr. Arrasate said he would need more specifics before offering his opinion. However, he noted that Chief Dean’s total compensation, which includes a base salary of $149,624 and more than $50,000 in benefits, is on par with what other East End police chiefs make.
Mr. Arrasate is divorced and his two children—Skyler, 11, and Samantha, 9—attend the Westhampton Beach School District.
This year marks the third time that Westhampton Beach businesswoman Elyse Richman is making a bid for village trustee, even though last year’s attempt was largely derailed after her petitions were invalidated, forcing her to run as a write-in candidate.
She said she is running for trustee again because she is concerned about the current direction of the village, as both a homeowner and businesswoman. Ms. Richman has owned her Main Street business Shock for more than 20 years, and has owned Baby Shock and Shock Ice Cream for about 10 years. Her son, Maxwell, 9, attends Westhampton Beach Elementary School.
“I’m dedicated to the village,” said Ms. Richman, adding that, if elected, she would like to serve as the board’s liaison to the business district. “I want to keep the charm while, at the same time, continue the growth we need to grow and change.”
Ms. Richman, the only candidate who worships at the Hampton Synagogue, said she thinks the synagogue’s request for an eruv is a “non-issue” right now because the application has been withdrawn. She declined to give her opinion of the religious boundary.
“It has not been brought back to the village,” she said. “The two incumbents said that they wouldn’t use the eruv as an election issue.”
Ms. Richman noted that, in a prior article appearing in The Press, Mr. Tucker said he would not use the eruv to garner votes and Ms. Levan was quoted as saying that she would not discuss the issue again until the synagogue resubmitted its application to the village.
Mr. Richman is making her second official run for office; in 2005, she ran with Mayor Teller on the New Direction Party line and missed winning a seat by about two dozen votes. She attempted to run again last year but was booted from the ballot.
Regarding the police chief’s new contract, Ms. Richman said she would need more information before offering her opinion. She did say that she thinks Chief Dean’s salary is in line with the salaries earned by other local police chiefs. “You get what you pay for,” Ms. Richman said. “There’s not a lot of crime in the village.”
Ms. Richman also said she has significant experience in contract negotiations. In addition to running her three shops, Ms. Richman has been employed as a real estate agent for the past 15 years, and now works for Prudential Douglas Elliman in Westhampton Beach.
If reelected, Trustee Hank Tucker said he would work to simplify the required paperwork when property owners apply for permits from the village’s planning, zoning and architectural review boards. Mr. Tucker, who owns Holey Moses Cheesecakes in Westhampton, now serves as Village Board’s liaison to the Westhampton Beach Building Department.
“I would also like to continue to work on the design standards for the rest of the business districts for the village,” Mr. Tucker said.
In 2007, the Village Board began overhauling the municipality’s design standards for certain districts, and the legislation also included provisions that allowed for the construction of affordable housing.
Like his running mate, Mr. Tucker declined to say whether or not he supports the synagogue’s attempt to create a religious boundary in the village. However, Mr. Tucker said that, if reelected, he would continue to champion the rights of village residents to oppose the eruv. He also stressed that he would object to any attempts made by the synagogue to circumnavigate the village’s authority in the application. He said he does not want synagogue officials to try and secure the required permission from Southampton Town, Suffolk County or New York State.
“Business in the village should be dealt with in the village,” said Mr. Tucker, adding that he is aware that any vote on the application could potentially lead to litigation. “I’m prepared to fight for the will of the residents in the face of an eruv,” he said.
Mr. Tucker said he also pledges to keep spending down in the village, noting that the village budgets over the past two years have included minimal spending increases. He also explained that the board’s decision to take back almost 600 hours in compensatory time accrued by Chief Dean—a motion that was later rescinded after board members learned that they voted during an illegal executive session—was not a politically motived action. He said the board simply made a mistake while trying to correct an oversight—one that could cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.
Mr. Tucker also declined to comment on contract negotiations involving Chief Dean, noting that the village’s labor attorney is working to reach a new accord.
Mr. Tucker has been wearing an eye patch for several months as he has been receiving treatment for a disease that has attacked his eye muscles. He will eventually have surgery and expects to make a complete recovery by the fall. Mr. Tucker and his wife, Patty, have four children, Bret, 15, Molly, 13, Ben, 9, and Will, 8.
A retired business executive, Trustee Joan Levan now heads the Westhampton Beach Beautification Committee and has been focusing her efforts in recent months into opening a new village park. If reelected on Friday, Ms. Levan said she would like to continue beautifying the village that she calls home.
“First of all, I feel like I’m making a contribution to the village and want to continue doing so,” Ms. Levan said.
To that end, Ms. Levan said that one of her main contributions to date has been serving as a voice for those village residents who oppose the withdrawn eruv application. She said she has been very proactive about the issue, starting with the first time Richard Haefeli, who then served as the attorney for the Hampton Synagogue, shared the idea with the Village Board.
“I went on the computer and did my homework about it,” Ms. Levan said. “I called different people I knew who went to the synagogue.”
While Ms. Levan declined to state her personal opinion about the eruv, she said she pushed Mayor Teller to schedule a public meeting on the matter. The meeting, which was supposed to be held in the Westhampton Beach High School auditorium, never occurred because the synagogue withdrew its application.
Ms. Levan declined to comment extensively on Chief Dean and his expired contract, stating only that she thinks that the board made the right move by initially recouping almost 600 hours in compensatory time that he had accrued. The board rescinded that motion after members learned that they had held an illegal executive session. Instead, they directed the village clerk to investigate how many hours the police chief has accrued during his tenure.
She also declined to comment on ongoing negotiations with the police chief and his new contract. “The contract is in the hands of the labor attorney and Chief Dean’s attorney,” Ms. Levan said. “They’re in the middle of negotiations.”
Ms. Levan, who has been retired for about 15 years, has also been active in trying to get Waldbaum’s officials to clean up and renovate their store on Sunset Avenue. The chain angered many shoppers when it abandoned its plans to renovate the store.
Ms. Levan and her husband, Marvin, have lived in the village full-time for the past 12 years.
Joseph Shaw, Executive Editor on Jun 17, 2009