We Mark Our Ballout:Sag Harbor Village, North Haven

It’s an old adage that when voters — or newspaper editorial boards — are evaluating incumbents and challengers for elected positions, the real decision amounts to a simple question: Should the incumbents be fired?

Certainly, there are times when an elected official is doing such a poor job that he or she deserves to lose it. And other times when a challenger is so strong by comparison that it makes sense to unseat the incumbent and give the newcomer a chance.

The two competitive village races are perfect examples: Each of the candidates is well-qualified to serve and could well earn a voter’s support, and deserve it. But in our evaluation, there just isn’t enough reason to “fire” the incumbents in the race.

Chris Fiore didn’t win our endorsement two years ago, when concerns about paperwork and deadlines were raised, and a particularly heated campaign left everyone with black eyes. But his two years in office have been solid. Yes, there have been errors, and his leadership style, forged in the corporate world, has needed to be adjusted: A mayor of a small village has to be willing to listen, and his success on that front remains a work in progress. But he has won the respect of most of those who interact with him regularly and deserves credit for delivering on quality-of-life issues such as leaf blower limits, a ban on weekend construction, traffic and speeding enforcement and a tree code. And while his budget this year includes a 9 percent increase in spending, he points out that $400,000 of the roughly $2.5 million budget deals with necessary one-time expenses, including important upgrades to the village IT system.

Barbara Roberts is smart and passionate — and she should get a role in North Haven leadership to begin to put together the same kind of track record in the village as she’s had in other positions, including the Suffolk County Planning Commission. She has run an aggressive campaign — perhaps too aggressive considering a late campaign accusation that Fiore improperly used the village email system for his campaign was essentially proved unfounded. But she does have the kind of background that suits the men and women around the table at Village Hall. But — back to the initial thought — she has not made a convincing case that Fiore needs to be replaced and that she deserves to take the helm over the incumbent mayor. Maybe that will change in the future, with some accomplishments under her belt within the village borders.

In Sag Harbor, Ed Haye and Jeanne Kane are terrific public servants — as are challengers Ron Reed, who is on the Village Planning Board and Sag Harbor Board of Education, and Mary Ann Eddy, a member of the Harbor Committee. It’s something of an embarrassment of riches in the race, four men and women who represent exactly the kind of leadership that matters in Sag Harbor, which is facing long-term infrastructure problems and a need for funding to address them without overburdening village taxpayers. The current village board, under the leadership of Mayor Tom Gardella, is building momentum on a comprehensive plan for the future, while also addressing more immediate concerns around traffic, parking, water quality and development, and with playing some kind of a role in addressing the region’s critical lack of affordable housing,

In the end, while all four are great candidates, it really does just come down to the idea of political musical chairs: When the music stops, it seems like the village is well-served by Ed Haye and Jeanne Kane in their current seats, and there’s no compelling reason to change the makeup of a board that is working well together.