Mastic Beach to vote on trustee seats

Mastic Beach's second election for board of trustee seats will pit two of the young village's founders against a pair of challengers who say the nascent government has lost touch with residents just 18 months since its formation.

Trustees Robert Morrow and Kenneth Olivo, who were members of the residents' group that pushed for incorporation of the village, will defend their seats against Gail Cappiello and Alan Chasinov.

Morrow and Olivo are members of the village's dominant Village Vision Team party -- named for the group that led the incorporation drive -- while Cappiello and Chasinov belong to the upstart Unity Party.

The challengers say recent events in village government -- such as the February resignation of Mayor Paul Breschard -- illustrate that disharmony has taken over village hall. But Morrow and Olivo say the village has fulfilled a promise to crack down on absentee landlords and work on a master plan for village growth.

"It's unfortunate with the mayor stepping down and what have you, but one person does not make a village," Morrow said.

Morrow, 64, is a retired Verizon employee. He and Olivo were elected to their seats in the village's first election in November 2010.

He and Olivo said the trustees' priorities are enacting a zoning plan for the village and revitalizing Neighborhood Road. The village's first attempt at a zoning code was criticized by the public -- and later shelved -- over provisions that would have created a waterfront development district.

Olivo, 54, a retired therapist with the state Office of Mental Health, said a revised zoning proposal "should reflect the needs and the wants of the community."

Cappiello, 66, is a retired former grant administrator for Stony Brook University Hospital. Her husband, Frank, ran for mayor and lost in 2010.

She said the village's emphasis on code enforcement, designed to penalize slumlords, has instead been punitive for Mastic Beach residents who have suffered from heavy fines.

"The goal was never to hurt the community," Cappiello said.

Chasinov, 56, a nature photographer, says the trustees failed to take input from residents about development, budget and code enforcement issues. He said the village needs a civilian oversight committee to review finances.

"They were going to be a government that was more accessible to the people," he said. "The reality is they were not."

The trustees are vying for two-year seats, which will go to the two candidates with the most votes.

Voting will take place March 20 from noon to 9 p.m. at the Mastic Beach Fire House, 265 Neighborhood Rd.