Candidate Profile: Bob Hanlon For Southold Town Board

SOUTHOLD, NY —Suffolk County residents will be hitting the polls next month to elect local representatives.

The race is on in local town and village races leading up to Election Day, which, this year, falls on Tuesday, November 5. Patch asked those running for office to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles in the days leading up to the election.

Bob Hanlon, 72, of Southold — Orient hamlet — is running for a seat on the Southold Town Board.

Also in the race for town board seats are Jill Doherty (R) Bill Ruland (R) and Sarah Nappa (D)

Hanlon's wife Jessica Frankel is a librarian. He has a BS in Psychology and an MS in Counseling, JD, Law. A retired attorney and educator, Hanlon is also past president and a current member of the Orient Association; he has served as fire commissioner for the Orient Fire District for four years and as a member of the board of trustees for the Oysterponds Historical Society.

Check out Patch's full Q&A with Bob Hanlon below:

Patch: The single most pressing issue facing our community is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Hanlon: Process: We are not anticipating the challenges we face, we are merely reacting to crises. Crisis driven government is bad government. Issues: We face destruction of our rural character through loss of our key resources — farms, neighborhoods, pristine waters. We need to stop speculator land grabs and McMansions, invasion of big agribusiness, and the neglect of our septic system.

I will mandate housing scale limitations, dramatically change the approach to creating hamlet base apartments, and implement Town initiatives to convert to advance wastewater treatments stating on day one. We need to reach out to farmers and businesses to foster their growth , not just stand in their way with moratoriums and arcane regulations.

P: What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

H: They react, I look ahead, consult with real people in the community, bring in expertise, and develop plans that consider all the consequences, not just respond to the squeaky wheel or the vested interest.

P: If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community?

H: Over 20 years of muddling along. The challenges are not being met, they are being papered over. There is no long range planning.

P: Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

H: I would invite you to look at the listings on my website of Bob in the News. Lists the issues I have been working on for years, the articles I have written.

P: What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

H: I found over $70,000 owed to the fire district in unpaid cell tower fees, I got it back with interest. I can bring good and smart fiscal management to this town.

P: The best advice ever shared with me was ...

H: "You may be wrong. Always question yourself and your convictions."

P: What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

H: How much time ya got?