Candidate Profile: Sarah Deonarine For Brookhaven Town Council

TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN, NY — Voters in Suffolk County will head to the polls Nov. 5 to cast their ballots for Brookhaven Town Council's 2nd District.

Voters will elect Democrat challenger Sarah Deonarine or Republican incumbent Jane Bonner. The 2nd District encompasses Mount Sinai, Miller Place, Rocky Point, Sound Beach, Shoreham, East Shoreham, Wading River and parts of Middle Island, Terryville, Coram and Ridge.

Patch reached out to both candidates to hear where they stand on important issues affecting the community.

Here are the responses for those who participated. The answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

Sarah Deonarine

• Age (as of Sept. 1, 2019): 38
• Town of Residence: Coram
• Position Sought: Brookhaven Town Council District 2
• Party Affiliation: Democrat and Working Families
• Family: Rob (husband), Nadiyah (6), Ilyahn (3), Rhys (3)
• Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?: My husband works for Brookhaven National Laboratory. I work for a quasi-governmental committee in Nassau County focused on water quality issues.
• Education: Bachelors of science in marine science biology from Southampton College/LIU, Masters of science in marine and atmospheric sciences from Stony Brook University (then Marine Sciences Research Center).
• Occupation: Marine biologist focused on policy, 12 years
• Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office: None
• Campaign Website: https://sarahdeo.com/

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

"Government accessibility, and I intend to move Town Board meetings into the evenings (7 p.m. or later), so that working families can attend them. Perhaps I'd even have Board meetings in different areas of the Town. I will hold mobile office hours around District 2. I'll openly publicize the annual organizational meeting (which sets the Town's course for the year and affects our daily lives) by all channels available to us, not just those required by law. I will streamline the permitting process by creating a task force of permitting and building department employees. I will push to openly publicize that positions are open on the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board so that residents can apply for these positions and these boards can fairly represent the needs of the people, not the campaign donors. Update the Town website so that is navigable with easy access to Town Board meeting videos and minutes. Put Town services (such as applying for permits, getting parking stickers, etc.) online and keep offices open late on designated days when residents know they can go after work. Send regular Town-wide and Council District-specific newsletters both by mail and electronically. These mailers should include information on what the Town does and how they can help residents, not just share photo opportunities."

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

"The main difference between myself and my opponent is that I am running a grassroots campaign, meaning that I am not taking any corporate donations. My opponent takes large donations (large for a Council race, anyway) from developers, including one who has harassed (my word) constituents in the District. Additionally, my opponent, at a time when the Town Board is touting their move toward renewable energy, has taken campaign donations from CAITHNESS (a natural gas-burning plant) and a petroleum company. I do not believe that big money belongs in democratic elections at any level, because it makes our elected favor the needs of their sponsors over the needs of their constituents. I will never take corporate donations.

"Another difference is that my opponent touts her environmentalism, but, based on answers given at various events, it does not seem that she knows the issues very well nor that she has done that much on the issue. It's a little unfair, since I have made the environment (in specific our estuaries) the focus of my career, but I do have a deeper understanding of the issues, and I have played pivotal roles in the following: land conservation, pushing for federal funding for water quality issues, public education and involvement on environmental issues, responding to products from the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan, developing a climate change monitoring plan for Long Island Sound, creating a Living Shorelines Guideline document, and other initiatives.

My opponent supported Proposition 1 from last November's ballot, which was a way to get term extensions (from two to four years) for the Town Board members under the guise of setting term limits. My opponent stated that this allowed the public to decide, but then never educated the public about the upcoming proposition. Additionally, if my opponent supported term limits, she would not be running again this year as she has already served 12 years. I recognize that we, as residents, are all extremely busy and it is difficult to track down information we need to make informed decisions. Therefore, I would not put a proposition on the ballot without having it fully vetted and understood by the residents."

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)?

"I feel that we have been failed by the current Town Board in the fact that our issues are not represented; instead, the Board takes positions that helps its donors. For example, my opponent took campaign contributions from CAITHNESS (as stated previously) and then voted in favor of zoning changes to allow for its development. There are several examples of this, but one I find more egregious is that my opponent took campaign contributions from a developer, who received the zoning changes he requested and then harassed constituents who stood against the development, threatening them with litigation. I don't find it acceptable for this to happen.

"I live in Coram, a hamlet broken into three council districts, so that it doesn't have a single voice. I started my campaign partly because I felt that Coram wasn't represented and over the course of the past few months, I have seen how true that is. After the 2010 census, an Independent Redistricting Board proposed new district boundaries that wouldn't have broken up Coram, but the Town Board voted them down, thus keeping Coram silent. With a new census coming up, it is critical that people get out and vote knowing that redistricting is coming."

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

"I want ethics reforms beyond what the Town Board touts that they've done. These include (some are repeated from before):

- Openly publicize the annual operational meeting where Planning and Zoning Board appointments (among other decisions) are made.
- Publish Board openings to the public and have those interested submit resumes and their qualifications.
- Set term limits for the Planning and Zoning Board members, they can currently serve in perpetuity.
- As is constitutionally allowed, prohibit campaign donations being given by members of these Boards to elected officials. At the least, require these donations be publicly disclosed during campaign years, if not more often.
- Require that Board members step down from positions of leadership in political organizations and vice versa.

"You can query anyone’s campaign finance reports on the New York State Board of Elections website at: https://www.elections.ny.gov/C...

"I encourage everyone to do so, as there is another point to my ethics reforms:

- Require that elected officials who receive campaign contributions from developers, corporations, etc which have pending cases for the Town Board’s review be publicly disclosed."

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

"Though this may be my first foray into politics, I am not new to government, policy, or to the issues. I have worked in government on environmental and other topics of concern on Long Island for over a decade. I have experience applying for grants and know of funding sources. I have a science background, which leads me to be skeptical and think cohesively and critically about information presented to me. I can review code and regulations to interpret it and to help others understand and/or find loopholes or other improvements to make it stronger. I have been working with the Town of North Hempstead for the past four years. I know how government works and I also have personal and professional connections all over Long Island as well as in Albany, Westchester County, and Connecticut.

"I am the executive director of the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, which is formed by an Inter-Municipal Agreement signed by Nassau County, the Town of North Hempstead, and 13 Villages, all of which pay annual dues. When I started in 2014, dues had not been cohesively collected since at least 2009. Paperwork was a mess and meetings rarely had a quorum. When I started, the Committee needed a new Inter-Municipal Agreement, but made it sound like a huge hurdle that would take years to accomplish. I had it written and executed in less than a year. I called Villages and attended their board meetings. I annoyed the Town Attorney, but I got it done. My favorite story from that process was that I was planning to attend a particular Village’s Board meeting one night, and that afternoon I received a call from the Village Clerk saying, 'We’ve never heard of you.' So, I had to walk into their board meeting to say, 'Hey, you’ve never heard of us, but you’re a member (and have been since 1998) and you owe dues.' They did sign the agreement and do pay their annual dues. Learning from that experience, when a new administration comes in, I reach out right away on behalf of the Committee. Through this process, the Committee now has the engagement it did not previously have. The Committee meets more times per year and almost always has a quorum. Other items I was able to get back on track:

• In 2018, the Committee completed its first water quality report in a decade.
• Information on the website was updated for the first time in five years (we are currently awaiting a contract to get the website redesigned).
• The Committee was in the newspaper more times in the past year than it had been in the five years previous.

"The Committee has now been able to focus on new projects. In the last year, we have implemented a quarterly e-newsletter. We have also secured $125,000 in State funding for a Water Quality Improvement Plan (the last was completed in 1999). The water quality monitoring program, supported by the Town, has started using new equipment. We, along with other north shore protection committees, will be receiving State funding in support of this program. 2018 was the 20th anniversary of the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, and I was able to coordinate State Comptroller [Thomas] DiNapoli attending our event (photos are posted on our Facebook page: facebook.com/manhassetbay).

"I regularly attend Long Island Sound Study Citizens Advisory Committee meetings (of which Brookhaven Town is not a member, but should be), and I am very comfortable communicating and developing working relationships with government agencies, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and the public, as this is what I have been doing for the past 12 years.

"I have also organized and run work groups (both within New York and between New York and Connecticut), wrote (with others) a plan for monitoring changes due to climate change in Long Island Sound, served on the stakeholder work group of the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan, testified before members of the New York State Assembly on water quality issues, and a whole host of other activities and accomplishments."

"Don't worry what the future will hold, just focus on today."

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

"I mostly want voters to know that it is critically important to get out and vote this year. Not only are there six positions up for election, plus judges, but in Brookhaven Town, we are deciding who will be our representatives for the next four (4) years, instead of two (2). Additionally, next year is a census year, which means redistricting will come up and, if we want to end gerrymandering and give everyone a fair say, we need to be cognizant of who we elect into office on Nov. 5.

"About me, I want people to know that I would be a good representative, because I am representative of the main demographic of District 2: a homeowner, married, working, with kids. I will also work to hear what the issues are and try to explain what can or cannot be done without being dismissive of a person's idea or problem. Electing me will end the vindictiveness that people fear from the Town — whether this is truth or paranoia — as I am not that person and accept that we are all individuals with our own ways of seeing things."