Brookhaven Town Clerk Donna Lent abruptly resigns after 9 years in office

Brookhaven Town Clerk Donna Lent, who led efforts to modernize her office and provide more online town services during the COVID-19 pandemic, abruptly retired Thursday after 9 years in office. 

Supervisor Edward P. Romaine announced Lent was stepping down as he opened a town board public hearing on the proposed 2023 town budget. He said Lent had done "a tremendous job" since she was first elected to the post in 2013.

Lent, 70, of Blue Point, told Newsday on Friday she plans to move soon to South Carolina, a move she and her family had planned for several years.

"Now Donna's going to have time for her family," Romaine said. "She runs a great meeting. She has a firm and fair hand. ... She is the memory of this town."

Lent, a registered Independence Party member who was elected last year to her third four-year term, said Deputy Town Clerk Lauren Thoden would succeed her. Romaine said a special election would be held to pick Lent's permanent replacement, adding he hoped to announce a date for the vote next week.

Lent left the meeting to applause from town board members, family and Brookhaven employees shortly after Romaine announced her retirement.

She credited her staff and deputy clerks for working hard to provide services amid technological changes and the challenges of the pandemic.

"It has been a pleasure and an honor to be your town clerk," she said from her seat on the podium.

Town board members praised Lent's knowledge of town government and for her role in the National Women's Political Caucus, which trains and mentors women interested in pursuing elected offices.

Republican Councilwoman Jane Bonner called Lent "an excellent role model" for women in government, and Councilman Jonathan Kornreich, a Democrat, said Lent had been a mentor to her staff "and women everywhere."

Lent began moving town services online even before the coronavirus forced Town Hall to close in March 2020. During the pandemic, she expanded online services and helped provide boxes outside town offices where residents could drop off fee payments and applications for marriage licenses and other documents.

At town board meetings, Lent was known for being a stickler for rules, often restricting speakers to strict time limits during public hearings.

"Make sure we put on the five-minute clock," Romaine joked Thursday. "They're warning me I'm going too long."

A former volunteer coach and treasurer for the Sachem Athletic Club, a youth sports program, Lent was deputy town clerk for four years under her predecessor, Patricia Eddington. Prior to Eddington becoming town clerk in 2009, Lent was Eddington's chief of staff for 9 years when Eddington was a state assemblywoman.

Ira P. Costell, a Port Jefferson Station Democrat who lost a bid to unseat Lent last year, lauded her "decency and graciousness as a competitor."

"Though we disagreed on issues at times, there was never a cross word," he told town board members before he offered comments on the proposed budget.

Brookhaven's $328.6 million tentative budget would hike property taxes by 1.92% while leaving services essentially intact. Romaine said the town board would vote on the spending plan Nov. 17.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.