Mastic Beach picks first-ever village mayor, trustees

Paul Breschard, who campaigned for three years to incorporate Mastic Beach as a village, was elected as the first mayor of the South Shore community Monday.

Breschard and four trustee candidates, running as a slate called the Village Vision Team, swept five challengers.

The Village Vision Team is made up of members and allies of the group that campaigned to incorporate Mastic Beach in August. Their opponents ranged in opinions about whether incorporating the village was a wise move.

Breschard, a retired teacher, said his team's pledge to crack down on absentee landlords and code violators resonated with voters.

"People always want to know how we're going to make this a better place for their families," he said. "And that's what we're all about - making the town a better place."

Breschard defeated Frank Cappiello, who works in advertising and is president of Osprey Pointe Civic Association. Cappiello, standing next to a sign that said "Put unity back in community," said he hopes the new government listens to residents who are concerned about a tax increase.

"Let's make a village," he said.

Village Vision Team members also won all four trustee seats. The new trustees include Bill Biondi, a Mastic Beach fire commissioner; Gary D. Stiriz, who owns Stiriz Marine Service in Mastic Beach; Barbara O'Malley, a real estate lawyer, and Bob Morrow, a local union president of the Communications Workers of America.

Breschard will serve a two-year term and Biondi and Stiriz will serve two-year terms as trustees. O'Malley and Morrow won one-year trustee seats.

The seats are staggered so every seat will not come up for election every two years, village leaders have said.

Supporters of Breschard and Cappiello campaigned at the corner of Neighborhood Road and Doris Drive, near the polling place, until voting stopped at 9 p.m. The scene was similar to one at the same intersection on Aug. 31, when residents campaigned for and against incorporating.

Mastic Beach resident Chris Ricciardi said the new government's first job is to unify the residents, some of whom were skeptical of the need for a village.

"Hopefully we can all work together and get this thing going," he said.