Councilman Makes Push For Term Limits

Councilman Cook’s term limit proposal would only apply to Town Hall officials elected in 2017 or the years after.

By Connor Beach
info@longislandergroup.com

A town councilman is seeking further public opinion on his proposal to enact term limits for Town of Huntington elected officials.

Councilman Eugene Cook plans to introduce legislation calling for a limit of two, four-year terms for the positions of town supervisor, council members, clerk, receiver of taxes and highway superintendent.

“Sometimes it gets stale,” Cook said, adding that term limits “push people to do their best, 100 percent of the time.”

Cook, who was first elected in 2011, proposed similar legislation in 2013. The proposal failed then, but he said he’s hopeful the renewed effort will gain more traction, and that he’s already seen some public support.

He conducted a survey earlier this year asking residents to weigh in on term limits. Cook said around 60 emails were sent in response to the survey, and 98.07 percent of them were in favor of the proposal. He said his office also received several phone calls on the matter.

In order to move forward, Cook needs to schedule a public hearing; there’s a resolution slated to be introduced Aug. 15 that, if approved, would schedule a hearing for Set. 19.

Reactions to Cook’s proposal from his fellow board members, and other elected officials, have been mixed.

Councilwoman Tracey Edwards, who was first elected in 2013, suggested Huntington follow Suffolk’s example. Currently, the county’s elected officials can serve a maximum of three consecutive, four-year terms.

She also suggested a voter referendum on the proposal be held so that each of Huntington’s 200,000 residents would have the opportunity to weigh in.

Supervisor Frank Petrone, who was first elected to the post in 1993, said he’s not averse to term limits, but added that several components of Cook’s proposal need to be further researched and discussed.

That includes research on whether a voter referendum would be required for the proposal to be enacted. Town spokesman A.J. Carter said town officials are researching the legal aspects of the proposal.

Town Clerk Jo-Ann Raia, who was first elected in 1981 and is the longest-serving clerk in Huntington’s history, said she had only just found her footing after her first eight years in office.

“People do not understand what’s involved in this job,” Raia said. “The things I have achieved in this job could never have been done in eight years. Being town clerk is more than a full-time job.”

Both Petrone and Raia stressed the benefits of continuity in elected positions.

Each of Edwards, Petrone and Raia said they have concerns about the sample size of Cook’s survey, and whether the results were an accurate representation of public opinion.