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| Ansers to the Most Frequent Questions We've grouped the most frequent questions and answers into five sections. Scroll down to see them all. Keeping the Same Number of Town Council Members and No New Costs How many council members do we have now? Four How many will we have under the proposed change to council districts? Four Could we have more? Yes. State law would allow Huntington to have up to six districts. Such a change would require a separate ballot referendum. While we considered moving to six districts, we did not want to make a proposal that could raise government costs. Could we move to six council districts at a later date? Yes. The change to six districts could be considered at any time. That change would also require a ballot referendum. Will the change to council districts increase government expenses? No. We are not adding any new positions or costs to the Town government. The Council Members would still maintain their offices in Town Hall so there would no need for new office space. Of the four Towns on Long Island (Hempstead, North Hempstead, Brookhaven and Southold) that have switched to Council Districts, none have opened district offices or raised town expenditures because of the change. Click here to learn more. Can the change to council districts save money? Yes. Overdevelopment is a major contributor to our risings taxes, especially in our school districts. We believe that the change to council districts will reduce overdevelopment. Right now I can vote for all four Council Members, but under the District System I can only vote for one member, does that diminish my vote? No. One Council Member accountable to your district is better than four Council members not accountable to any district. Under Council Districts, each community will have a person who represents that community and will be accountable to that community. Under Council Districts, your vote will not be diluted; it will be four times more powerful. Council Districts create the bond of representation that exists at al other level of governments: we elect a person to represents us and that person is accountable to us. We vote for four Council Members now, but who represents your community? Who is accountable to your community? The at-large system may have made sense when Huntington had fewer than 30,000 residents. Today, Huntington has more than 200,000 residents and one vote in an at-large election is too diluted. Think of this. Huntington is now larger than 44 counties in New York State. We have more residents than Salt Lake City, Des Moines, Little Rock and Providence Rhode Island. We have a budget of $185.6 million. Isn’t it time we have a government structure that represents that keeps pace with our size and sophistication? That is why Newsday endorsed Council Districts in an October 30 editorial; Huntington is a modern, cosmopolitan town in many ways. It's time its form of government reflected that.” Can a single Council Member from one district hijack the Town Board? No. All Board votes require either a majority (at least a 3 – 2 vote) or a super majority (at least a 4 – 1 vote). So no one district will ever be able to block town actions. Could three districts gang up on one district? No. This has not been the experience in other Towns or municipalities that have Council Districts. The idea of “ganging up” is raised more as a scare tactic in campaigns against Council Districts. After all, the possibility exists under the at-large system that all four Council Members could ignore any one part of Town while Council Districts guarantee representation to all parts of Town. Putting the Change to Council Districts on the Ballot: Let the People Decide What has to happen to change from an at-large system to Council Districts? The change to Council Districts can only be made through a ballot referendum in which a majority of voters elect to make this change. State law refers to council districts as the “ward system.” What has to happen to put this issue on the ballot? State Law allows the Town Board to put this issue on the ballot at any time. We can also collect petitions to put the matter on the ballot for the people to decide. Will the Town Council put the matter on the ballot? So far the Town Council has chosen not to put this matter up for a vote by the people. They were asked in 2004 and again in 2005 and said no. We have asked them to put the issue on the ballot for Eleciton Day and they said no. Click here to read more. Will the Concerned Citizens of Huntington collect petition signatures to put this issue on the ballot? Yes. We want to see this change happen and we want the voters of Huntington to decide. We have a meeting set for Tuesday, March 31 at 7 p.m. at Huntington High School to kick off our petition drive. Who can sign the petition and how many signatures do we need? Any registered voter residing in the Town of Huntington can sign the petition. Signing the petition allows this issue to come to a vote before all the people and does not require the signee to vote for Council Districts. We need to collect a minimum of 3,000 signatures (5 percent of those who voted in the last election for Governor). When will we vote? We do not know yet. State Law says that the vote must occur in no fewer than 60 days and no more than 75 days from when the petitions are accepted. The law does not define the term "accpeted," so we are unsure when the 60-75 day clock will start. In the end, we do not control the timing fo the vote. We can only submit petitions to require a vote. The Town Board controls the timing of the vote. We would prefer to hold the vote on Election Day, but that is up to the Town Board. Click here to read more.
Improving Representation and Government Responsiveness Will council districts make government more responsive? Yes. By creating districts with representatives responsible for each district, those council members will be more responsive to the needs and interests of those districts. Do Council Districts Promote NIMBY-ism (“Not in My Back Yard”) and sacrifice the greater good of the Town? No. All Council Members must balance the interest of their district with the overall needs of the town. However, the district system ensures that there is someone looking out for your community. Under the at-large system, there is no guarantee that any council members take the needs and interest of your community into account. How will council districts make the Town Council more responsive? Your Town Council member will live in your district and you will know who is responsible for your district. All elected officials worry about getting re-elected and the only way for a Council Member to gain re-election will be to meet the needs and interest of your district. Don’t the Town Council Members represent me now? Yes and No. Yes, we have Town Council members who represent you, but they represent the whole town and no one district. If someone represents the whole town, how can he or she represent your community? The current Town Council can ignore your community and still get re-elected. Where do the current Town Council Members live? The four current members live in Dix Hills, Elwood, Greenlawn and East Northport. No representative lives in the western part of Town, including the Melvile, West Hills, Huntington Station, South Huntington, Huntington Village, Huntington Bay, Lyodd Harbor and Cold Spring Harbor. Would this change under Council Districts? While we do not know the lines that will be drawn, having four districts will ensure that all communities (and all school districts) have at least one person on the Town Board specifically charged with representing their interests. How would Council Districts affect our School Districts? We have eight school districts and will have four Council Members. Each Council member will represent at least one school District. That Council Member will go to Town Hall to speak on behalf of that School District and will be accountable to that school district. You can expect that the Council Member will routinely attend the School Board meetings and even PTA meetings. Will Town Council Districts Improve Constituent Services? Yes. Part of your council person’s responsibilities will be to respond to your needs. The other towns on Long Island that have moved to Council Districts have seen an improvement in constituent services. Will I ever see my Town Council Person? In a move to Council Districts, your representative will live in your district. If he or she wants to be re-elected, you will see your council member at civic, school and social functions in your district and that person will be easily accessible to you. Right now if I have a problem I can go to all four of the Town Board members, but under a District system, can I only go to my district member? No. Even under a district system you can contact any board member and expect that member to address an issue. However, under the district system, you district member will have a direct responsibility to see to your needs and the needs of your community. You will have a Town Council member who will take your call. Money and Running for Town Council How much money does it cost to run for Town Council? There is no set fee, but running for Town Council in an at-large system in a Town the size of Huntington is very expensive. Town Council members run for office every four years. So how much have the current Town Council members raised in the past four years? The New York State Board of Elections publishes the contributions and expenditures of all candidates going back to 2006. Since that time (just over three years) the four current Town Council people have reported contributions that average of $228,002 and we can expect that number to climb dramatically since two members are up for election this year. By comparison, the two losing candidates in the 2007 election raised an average of $32,053 for their races. Why does it cost so much to run for Townwide office? While all candidates will speak to local community groups and knock on some doors, Huntington is too big (200,000 people and over 100 square miles) to win a race on handshakes and shoe leather. It requires large expenditures on printing, telephones, postage and advertising. Will Town Council Districts make a difference? Yes. Running in one part of Town greatly reduces the importance of money and makes handshakes and shoe leather more important. It becomes possible to knock on a higher percentage of doors, so door-to-door campaigning becomes more vital. Mailings and advertisements become less important and the postage and telephone costs drop dramatically. With Town Council Districts, local community ties and the ability to speak to local voters becomes more important than money raised. This change makes it possible for challengers, community leaders and new voices to win election. Even with Council Districts, won’t big money still be a problem? No. Consider the experience in Brookhaven after that town switched to local districts. In one district, a local community leader – active in her PTA and civic association – ran for office. She raised just over $30,000. Her opponent, who lacked her community ties, raised $150,000 for his campaign. The community activist won because her community ties and willingness to knock on doors and shake hands at local meetings mattered more than the money raised to oppose her. What is the problem with the high cost of running for Town office? The requirement to raise large funds creates two problems. First, it creates barriers to run for Town office, making it extremely hard for community leaders, new voices and challengers to win. Incumbents start with more name recognition and have an easier time raising funds, so the at-large voting structure creates a system that makes it very hard for challengers to compete. The second problem is that the need for large amounts of fundraising gives additional leverage to large donors. While many contributors give small amounts to show their support for a candidate, many large contributors donate cash because they have a vested interest in doing business with the Town. Are Town Council Members doing anything wrong in raising large sums of money? No. Under the current system it is legal and necessary to raise large sums of money and we assume that all candidates abide by the election laws in raising funds. We do not claim that any member of the Town government has engaged in improprieties. However, just as at the national level, where we worry about lobbyists and large donors having an undue influence on Congress, we need to be concerned that we have a system in Huntington that gives an undue influence to large donors. Can I see who is making donations and how the money is used by candidates? Yes. The New York State Board of Elections publishes that information at their web site. Click here to go to the financial disclosure reports: www.elections.state.ny.us/DisclosureReports.html.
How many towns on Long Island have Council Districts? Four: North Hempstead, Hempstead, Brookhaven and Southold. How hard was the change for those towns? Hempstead did it as a result of a court decision. The Brookhaven change took six years of hard work as the forces of the status quo did all they could to undermine their efforts. Mostly, the opposition forces sought to undermine the effort with new legislation in the Town Council and to challenge petitions in court. Once the matter was put to a vote, the residents approved the switch to council districts. Has it worked in those towns? Yes. While there is no single way to improve government, the change in each of those towns opened up the government, improved constituent services and lessened corruption. Where those towns were once all ruled by a single party, each now has council representatives from multiple parties. While battles still remain, those towns all report more fairness and openness. What about Brookhaven? Council Districts have worked well in Brookhaven as well as Hempstead, North Hempstead and Southold. That is why movements are afoot in Islip, Riverhead, Oyster Bay and Babylon to move to Council Districts. Listen to the people who know what is really happening in Brookhaven: · Liz Krolik, a Huntington resident and staff person to the Brookhaven Town Council, spoke at Town Hall in favor of Council Districts say they are “necessary,” and will make Huntington better just as they did Brookhaven: · County Executive Steve Levy has endorsed Council Districts for Huntington because of their success in Brookhaven. · Dr. Marsha Laufer, chairwoman of the Brookhaven Town Democratic Committee, has said, “Election wards have been great for Brookhaven.” · Richard Johannessen, a Conservative activist and one of the leaders who brought Council Districts to Brookhaven describes them as “miraculous.” · John Jay LaValle, former Republican Brookhaven Supervisor has endorsed Council Districts and has spoken in favor of Council Districts in Huntington. · Suffolk County Democratic leader Rich Schaffer, who supported Council Districts in Brookhaven, told the New York Times that the move to Council Districts is good. ‘’It gives people a better shot at getting a quick response to community problems.” Did the change to council districts raise expenses in those towns? No. None of those towns added staff or offices due to the change to a district system. In fact, eleven towns in New York State have switched to council districts and none of them opened district offices. Don’t you need a very large town to make council districts work? No. Huntington has approximately 200,000 residents (198,784 residents according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimate). Hempstead (752,613 residents) and Brookhaven (469,657) are both larger than Huntington; North Hempstead (215,818) is about the same size and Southold (20,734 residents) is a fraction of the size of Huntington. Do districts work elsewhere? Absolutely. The Suffolk County Legislature, the New York State Assembly, the New York State Senate and the House of Representatives all use a district system. Huntington is out of step with the rest of the country and all other levels of government. Council Districts in Huntington Has this been tried in Huntington before? Yes. There was a previous effort in 2005, but the referendum was not put on the ballot. Why did that effort fail? Two individuals challenged the petitions and won a decision in lower court. The organizers believed they could win on appeal, but they lacked the funds to pay for an appeal. It is worth noting that the two individuals who challenged the petitions were Town employees who were later convicted of corruption charges for selling Town jobs. Why will this effort be different? We start with a much larger and broader coalition supporting the campaign. We also live in a different time when more people are engaged in politics and determining how they want their government to represent them. We have benefitted by learning from the lessons learned in the last effort and in the Brookhaven campaign. We also have more resources to support this campaign. We believe the time has come for the council districts in Huntington.
The proposal to create Council Districts in Huntington would establish four districts in the Town and each district would elect a Town Councilmember. This change will create better and fairer representation, will ensure that all communities have an equal voice at Town Hall and will make our elected officials more responsive and accountable to residents. This change does to divide the Town and does not create any new layers of government. Here is a brief Q & A on drawing the lines: Do you know how the district lines will be drawn? No. According to State Law, the district lines will not be drawn until after the referendum passes. Who would draw the council district lines? State law provides that the bi-partisan County Board of Elections draw the district lines; however, the Town Board in Huntington has passed a home rule that gives the Town Board the authority to draw the district lines. Therefore, the Town Board will draw the council district lines. Are there guidelines that the Town Council must follow in drawing the district lines? Yes. The four districts must be substantially equal in populations. They also must be “composed of convenient and contiguous territory in as compact form as practicable.” Election law says that the lines should not split communities. Is it unusual to draw district lines? No. Every ten years we conduct a national census and as a result of that census we redraw all of our election district lines at every level of government. This does not create a problem and no one fears drawing new lines. Will this affect school districts, villages, fire districts or any existing lines? No. Huntington remains whole. We will merely draw district lines to elect our Town Council. IT does not affect school board, village, fire district or any other lines. Has this worked in other Towns? Yes. Hempstead, North Hempstead and Brookhaven all drew their district lines after the referendum passed and without difficulty. There were no legal challenges to the lines in any Town that has made this switch. What if the lines are not drawn in a fair or equitable manner? If the lines are not fair and equitable or fail to meet the legal standard, they can be challenged in court. Can the Town Council draw lines in such a way as to protect the incumbents? They can do so as long as the meet the legal requirements for drawing the council district lines. Why do the opponents say that drawing the district lines will divide the Town? They are trying to sow fear and confusion. The district lines will not divide the Town. They do not break up anything and do not create any new layers of government. The district lines will simply enable us to elect a Town Council member who represents and is accountable to people in that district.
How can I get involved? We have many ways you can help. You can do as little or as much as you would like. Make sure you sign up online or at a meeting so we can let you know about meetings and activities. You can always check the web site to see what’s happening or send an email to info@ConcernedCitizensofHuntington.com . What activities can I join? There are many activities. You can start by talking to your neighbors and friends to let them know about the campaign and to spread the word about council districts. That one-on-one contact is the most important way of getting the word out. What about meetings? We would love it if you could host or organize a meeting. You could host a meeting in your home or organize one in your community. If you are active in a local organization, say your civic association or a fraternal organization, you can speak to that group or arrange for us to send a speaker to that group. What about phone work? As we move into the later phases of the campaign, particularly once the referendum is set, we will start a phone bank effort. At that time we will need places to make calls, help in organizing phone banks and help in making calls. What about door-to-door canvassing? Yes, we will need that help too once the ballot referendum is set.
Who can join the Concerned Citizens of Huntington? Anyone interested in reforming the structure of the Huntington Town Council can join. What do I have to do to join? Click here or go to the tab that says "Join Us" and complete the online form to give us your contact information and we will let you know about everything going on. You can also call Mark at 631-425-9217 or Dennis at 631-423-0620. Is this just a political effort by a party out of power trying to unseat a party in power? No. Our effort is non-partisan and we are not endorsing or opposing any candidates or elected officials. The Democrats control all four seats on the Town Board, is this an effort to unseat Democrats? No. The Concerned Citizens is a non-partisan group and is not working to oppose or re-elect the current Town Board members. Our organization is not speaking against individual elected officials or any political party. Instead, we speak in favor of a more representative form of government that better represents our communities and residents. Our membership includes members of all political parties, including Democrats, and we were brought together not to help or hurt any one political party, but to change the structure of government. Is the Concerned Citizens of Huntington a front for any one political group? No. The Concerned Citizens is a non-partisan group and does not favor or oppose any political party. Our membership includes Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Progressives, members of the Working Families, Green and Independence parties and unaffiliated voters. We draw our membership from all corners of the Town and all walks of life. While we accept the endorsement and support of political organizations, we do not work to aid or abet any political party. Is the Concerned Citizens of Huntington a platform for organizers to run for Town Council? No. The leaders of this effort have pledged not to run for the Town Council or Supervisor if the referendum succeeds so that we can demonstrate that this campaign is aimed at better Town government, not personal advancement. The current temporary co-coordinators are Mark X. Cronin and Dennis Garetano and both have pledged not to run for Town office. Would the current Town Board members be able to run for re-election? Yes. Each member could run in his or her district. The Concerned Citizens of Huntington is not trying to unseat the current Town Board members; we simply want to change the system we use to elect Council Members. We have four incorporated villages in the Town (Ashroken, Huntington Bay, Lloyd Harbor and Northport), how are they affected by the council district systems? Residents of the villages currently vote for council members and will continue to do so. While they receive some services through the village and zoning derives from the village, they are residents of the Town at large and have similar concerns and interest in issues of the town. After all, Town taxes and development affect all of us. Each of the four villages will be part of a council district. | |
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