GIANNA VOLPE PHOTO | South Fork Assemblyman Fred Thiele.

South Fork Assemblyman Fred Thiele (I-Sag Harbor) thinks it makes sense for Shelter Island to be joined to his South Fork assembly district but not the North Fork.

He called this week for the legislative panel redrawing the state’s Assembly and Senate districts to abandon its plan to group Southold and Shelter Island with Southampton and East Hampton, leaving Riverhead as the westernmost town in Assemblyman Dan Losquodro’s district.

Mr. Losquodro currently represents Shelter Island and Southold as well as Riverhead and parts of Brookhaven Town. Southold officials and Mr. Losquadro(R-Shoreham) have led the charge to keep the North Fork district contiguous.

Mr. Losquodro held a press conference urging residents to keep the district intact at Southold Town Hall two weeks ago and spoke against the proposed change at a LATFOR meeting in Hauppauge Feb. 9.

Mr. Thiele joined the opposition to the redistricting plan this week. “I have enjoyed working with Southold Town government through the years,” he said in a press release on Wednesday, “including the Peconic Bay Estuary Program, the Community Preservation Fund, Five Town Rural Transit, Peconic County, the East End Supervisors
and Mayors Association, and the repeal of the MTA payroll tax and the saltwater fishing license.”

“I would enthusiastically represent them in Albany. However, the state should not compound its failure to utilize an independent, non-partisan redistricting process by ignoring home rule. The final plan must accurately reflect the will of the public. The most important function of any elected official is to listen. Therefore, I have urged the task force
to modify the plan.”

Mr. Thiele called on the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research (LATFOR) to redraw its proposal so that the South Fork district include Shelter Island, East Hampton and Southampton and a southern portion of Brookhaven, while the North Fork district would include Southold, Riverhead and a northern portion of Brookhaven.

Mr. Thiele said “it was clear from public hearings and comments that there was strong sentiment in Southold to be part of the Brookhaven/North Fork District.”

LATFOR is expecting to present revised maps to the public within a few weeks, in order to have the new district lines in place for this year’s election.