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Trustee to challenge 26-year mayor of Asharoken
Irving says her main concerns are LILCO lawsuit, erosion
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| | | By Patricia Proven | | |
May 01, 2008 | 04:53 PM
Asharoken Trustee Patricia Irving has announced her intention of challenging Mayor Bill Kelly for a two-year term in the June 17 election.
Kelly, a 35-year resident elected in 1982, has served 26 years in the position.
If Irving were to win, she would appoint somebody to replace her as trustee. She declined to name anyone she is considering but said, "There's a lot of interest for appointments."
Also up for re-election to two-year terms are Trustee Eric Fauser, who has served one full term and another year as appointee, and Bob Marks, who is in his third term. No challengers had come forward by press time. The filing deadline for candidates is May 13 at Village Hall.
Irving, first elected in 2003, said she has decided to run because "Something had to be done," she said, referring primarily to Kelly's management of the village's $20 million lawsuit filed against LILCO in 1996.
Acknowledging her previous good working relationship with the mayor, she said, "This year, I felt he was dishonest because he took it upon himself without the board's permission to ask the judge for a decision … But the board said nothing in writing."
Kelly denied her allegation, saying the board gave him permission orally to have his attorney Michael Marcus write to the administrative law judge, the Hon. Patrick Leis, in an executive session last spring. "She was there," Kelly said.
Marcus had urged Leis to make a decision, which Kelly said he considers reasonable given that it had been two years since last activity in the case. Prior, the Army Corps had reported a loss of 20,000 cubic square yards of sand per year from Asharoken beaches, and the village and residents argued that high-powered water expulsion from the Northport power plant was a major factor in that erosion.
The judge threw out the case last July, and Asharoken has since appealed.
When asked for her thoughts on the case, Irving declined to opine, stating that she has not been included on the matter.
"Bill refused to let me be involved with review of the appeal," she said.
Kelly also contradicted that claim.
"No, not at all," he said, recalling rather that she had voted against the mayor's selection of Marcus to handle the case a second time. Last fall, Irving had requested in vain that the board take time to consider other lawyers before rehiring Marcus.
"She wanted to hire a different attorney and start all over again at thousands of dollars more in cost," Kelly said. "There's 2,900 pages of testimony to review!"
When asked for her ideas on how the village might approach the appeal, Irving said: "I'm really hoping we win the appeal," and later pledged that, as mayor, "I would reach out as much as I could about erosion" with state and federal representatives "and find out how we go about getting sand on this beach."
Of late, she has advocated vocally for inter-municipal agreements in addressing water quality and erosion.
Irving added that residents also want to see Duck Island dredged and a new Village Hall, describing the current one as "dated and small" with outmoded heating and electric. "It won't hold for too long," she said.
Irving, an outspoken opponent of caucusing in the village, said she would also like to see more transparency to Asharoken governance, suggesting a regular 12-month advance schedule of work sessions, which allow for public observation only, in addition to its current public business meetings, which allow for public participation.
She declined to comment on the tentative Asharoken police contract pending its review by village attorney Laure Nolan; Kelly said the village and its police have tentatively agreed to give officers 3 percent raises.
Irving grew up with her twin and an older sister in Northport, graduated high school in 1977 and moved in 2000 to the Asharoken where her parents, Northport residents Bridget and the late Richard Herold, a legionnaire, had owned a plot for many years.
Having worked locally for 10 years as an assistant vice president of Citibank — that's where she met John, her husband of 25 years who still works for the company — Irving describes herself today as a mom who spends most of her time at home, raising her children and volunteering in the community that she considers "so
beautiful."
Irving was a board member of Northport Youth Center Soccer between 2002 and 2004, and has been continuously active in the Norwood Avenue Elementary School and Northport Middle School PTAs, at one time serving as PTA secretary. She cooperated with several community volunteers and former town Councilman Steve Israel on the Sidewalks for Safety project, which was successful in securing sidewalks and guardrails for the Norwood Avenue School roadside. She and volunteers later expanded their efforts in tandem with former Northport Mayor Roxanne Browning to replace that village's asphalt berm with sidewalks.
"It was such a danger for walkers, buses were crossing over double yellow lines to avoid hitting us," Irving said.
Her community service ethic is reflected in her family: John, a retired Greenlawn firefighter and chief; his two brothers, who work for the county as a police officer and Fire Rescue coordinator; the Irvings' daughter, Alison, 18, who has worked with the Northport High School Honor Society on ALS fundraising, and their 15-year-old son, Richard.
Regarding her experience knocking on doors, she said, "It's so refreshing," saying that it seems people appreciate her attempt to listen to their concerns and explain process.
Summing up, Irving said, "It's not my success, it's the success of this village. I can't do it without the people's help." She later added, "People don't want to get involved in a negative way. We're here for the quality of life … and we can't fix the beaches by ourselves."
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