Q&A With Edmund Smyth, Town Of Huntington Supervisor

TOWN OF HUNTINGTON, NY — Edmund J. Smyth, the Town of Huntington supervisor, did a Q&A with Patch. Below are his full, unedited answers.

Michael DeSantis: Broadly, what are some goals you would like to accomplish as Town of
Huntington supervisor by the end of this year?

Edmund Smyth: "I have tasked my new colleague on the Town Board, Councilman Sal Ferro, with advising the Building Department to implement new procedures that will make our Building Department the envy of all Towns on Long Island. Councilman Ferro’s building industry insight and expertise will be a great asset in helping the department cut red tape and add efficiencies.

"We will continue our work from the past four years on critical infrastructure improvements,
including record funding for our roads. When I first took office as Councilman four years ago,
our infrastructure, including roads, facilities, and equipment, was crumbling after decades of
neglect. We had a water main break at Town Hall in our first four months in office that was
repaired in-house.

"The improvements we made to essential facilities, such as our Sewage Treatment Plant, are ongoing and contribute greatly to the health of our environment and community. Some of our sewer mains are over 100 years old and we are in the process of making years of repairs to the sewer system that should have been undertaken decades ago to prevent contaminants from entering our waters. Our bulkheads were failing and marinas were in need of repair for over 20 years; the improvements we have done, mostly in-house, are ongoing and have already made our waterfront facilities safer.

"We will continue this endless work to keep public facilities efficient, reliable and safe and use conservative budgeting practices to ensure the taxpayer gets their money’s worth from Town government. I’d also like to start the process on these initiatives, the plans for which will take some time to formulate, with input from stakeholders and my colleagues on the Town Board:

• Tackle multiple issues by enacting an “Apples for Apples” Green Neighborhood
  Improvement Program, giving property owner/builders an incentive to convert energy- inefficient homes into energy-efficient homes, eliminate neighborhood blight, reduce demand to develop vacant land, create jobs and reduce the burden on the taxpayer.
• Reform our Affordable Housing Code to establish an Affordable Housing Trust Fund with a down payment program to help far more people achieve homeownership.
• Implement a public-private partnership to address the parking issue in Huntington village, allowing private property owners to add their parking spaces to the metered parking system after hours.
• Formulate a strategy to deal with the impending solid waste disposal crisis."

MD: What is your New Year's Resolution for the town?

ES: "I would like to establish the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which will make homeownership a more attainable goal for many, in my first year as Supervisor."

MD: You previously told Patch that garbage management would be the biggest issue of your term. What programs do you plan on launching this year to reduce solid waste from homes and businesses, and how do you plan on preventing the cost of garbage collection from doubling?

ES: "The Brookhaven Landfill is closing in 2024. This is the only solid waste/garbage disposal site on Long Island. The next closest disposal site is in western Pennsylvania. If we don’t find an alternative, the cost of solid waste management (i.e, garbage collection) could double. While we research alternatives, we will be promoting our recycling center, our curbside dual-stream recycling collection program, and other solutions, such as composting, and reusing and recycling packaging, to help reduce the production of waste from homes and businesses. We recently shot a PSA on our dual-stream recycling program that will air on Town's TV channel and social media and we plan to do more."

MD: What measures do you plan on taking or encouraging to help Town of Huntington small businesses survive the dead of winter combined with the effects of the pandemic?

"The proper role of government is to get out of the way and let business flourish, but we need to champion policies that create the right environment for business to succeed. My “Apples for Apples” green remodeling initiative will help create jobs and the public-private parking partnership will free up parking for merchants while allowing property owners to share in metered parking revenue.

"We will continue to work closely with our Chambers and Business Improvement Districts, as we did during the initial and ongoing stages of the pandemic, to implement policies and procedures, in many cases waiving fees, to help businesses reopen and operate under strict State-imposed mandates.

"We established new procedures to reserve metered parking in front of businesses for curbside pickup, and new outdoor dining permit approvals when indoor capacity was limited, opening up Town sidewalks, road shoulders, metered parking lanes and municipal parking lots. My door is open to any small business, or resident, with ideas on how to make doing business easier in the Town of Huntington."

MD: How do you plan on tackling the issue of high taxes for Town of Huntington
residents?

ES: "Town taxes actually comprise the smallest portion of your property tax bill. We will keep taxes low using conservative budgeting practices and find new ways to streamline services, operate efficiently and reduce the burden on the taxpayer."

MD: A core aspect of your vision for your first term as town supervisor is to invest in infrastructure in the town. Now that you're supervisor, what infrastructure projects do you hope to launch in 2022?

"We will continue to make improvements to our roads, parks and public facilities, waterfront
infrastructure, our Sewage Treatment Plant, and 35 miles of sewer mains and laterals. It’s not
exciting but all of this work is so essential to keeping our environment clean and our public
facilities safe, we’re investing in the infrastructure the public has a basic expectation of being
reliable and operational.

"It was disappointing and shocking four years ago to learn how decades of mismanagement and neglect severely deteriorated critical infrastructure – regular maintenance would have been much less expensive than repairing and replacing it all now, with supply shortages and inflation sending costs skyrocketing.

"The James D. Conte Community Center construction project is about to go out to bid, the
Manor Field Spray Park, new playgrounds have been installed at the beaches and various parks
(John Walsh, Greenlawn, etc.), and new tennis courts are under construction at Heckscher Park
and soon at Terry Farrell Park."