Mastic Beach Village dissolution referendum set for November

Mastic Beach voters will take to the polls in November to decide the fate of their village.

The board of trustees, in a 5-0 decision Thursday night, voted to hold the referendum on the question of whether to dissolve the village on Nov. 16 at the Mastic Beach fire house.

If there is a scheduling conflict, the vote will be conducted at Village Hall. Voting hours will be from noon to 9 p.m.

Village Trustee Anne Snyder sparked a short debate during the meeting when she asked if the wording to the referendum can be changed.

The referendum read: “Shall the incorporated village of Mastic Beach be dissolved. Yes or no?”

“I would like to ask if we can change the question,” Snyder said to the other board members.

“No, you can’t,” Mayor Maura Spery responded.

“Why? ... I’d like to change the verbiage,” Snyder said.

Moments later, village attorney J. David Eldridge said, “That’s the way it’s typically done, but what did you have in mind?”

He explained that the state statute requires the referendum to contain specific language. Snyder later expressed her support for the village, which was incorporated in 2010.

“I helped to form the village, and it’s because I believed,” Synder said. “Going backward is not the answer. It never is.”

She added, however, the people who signed the petition deserve their right to vote.

One woman who attended the meeting said, “It breaks my heart on what is happening on both sides of the fence ... Let’s make this Mastic Beach great again.”