Board interviewed applicants for Brown’s replacement

Correction: In the original post of this story, Councilman Ed Brown’s term was inaccurately reported. The person to replace him will serve one year, for the third year of Mr. Brown’s four-year term. There will be an election in November 2016 for what would have been Mr. Brown’s fourth year.

Four people are choosing who will take Councilman Ed Brown’s place on the Town Board.

Nine candidates have applied through the Town Clerk’s office and have been interviewed over the last two weeks by Supervisor Jim Dougherty, Councilman Paul Shepherd, Councilwoman Chris Lewis and Councilman-elect Jim Colligan. They are now in the process of selecting Mr. Brown’s replacement on the board.

The applicants are Dan Fokine, Emory Breiner, Glenn Waddington, Mary Dudley, Cathy Ann Kenny, Mary Kanarvogel, Ian Weslek, Amber Williams and Marcus Kaasik.

The appointed candidate will serve out the third year of Mr. Brown’s term four-year term, running from January 1 through December 31, 2016, and there will be an election in November 2016 for what would have been Mr. Brown’s fourth year.

Interviews concluded Tuesday and Mr. Dougherty said he and his colleagues had begun discussions on a choice on Wednesday morning.

In August, citing personal commitments, Mr. Brown tendered his resignation to take effect January 1. He would have been up for re-election in November 2016.

Mr. Brown and Councilman Peter Reich, who will retire as of January 1, have not been involved in the selection process.

“We’re hoping it will be unanimous,” Mr. Dougherty said about the selection of a new board member. A formal vote will take place at the first Town Board meeting in January, but the supervisor said the choice of the board should be made known before then.

Speaking off the record, one person involved in the process said a series of seven questions have been formally asked of the candidates in the closed door, face-to-face interviews. One topic all applicants agreed on is that water quality is the prime issue that the Town Board must face in 2016.

Members weighing their decision said all applicants have interviewed strongly and, as Ms. Lewis said, “we couldn’t make a mistake” in choosing anyone from the pool of applicants.

Mr. Dougherty was on the record before the process began to have young Islanders, plus more women, come forward seeking the post. “I’m delighted that younger women have applied,” Mr. Dougherty said. “We’ll give serious consideration to them.”

Someone close to the process, speaking off the record, said one consideration should be that an applicant have lengthy ties to the Island. “People complain about infrastructure who have never seen the old Highway Department barn,” the person said.

The process has had a difficult side for Mr. Shepherd. “In one sense this is an endorsement,” he said, aware that the applicant selected can run for office in less than a year with all the advantages of name recognition and incumbency.

“You don’t have to be warriors,” Mr. Shepherd said, adding that although he was looking at candidates for their thoughtfulness on issues, he also “wanted to see some fight.”

Another consideration for Mr. Shepherd was, if possible, to replace Mr. Brown with someone who would represent the councilman’s constituency, which Mr. Shepherd described as the “working people of the Island. They’ve re-elected Eddie many times.”