Following the unveiling of their town board and town trustee candidates over the past several weeks, the Southold Town GOP has announced their complete slate of candidates for this fall’s election.
The party announced earlier in March that it is backing former Southold Town Board member and Southampton Village Building Inspector Christopher Talbot and real estate agent Nick Planamento for the Town Board.
Pictured Above: (l-r): Terri Boyle Romanelli, Chris Talbot, Pindar Damianos, Suffolk County Legislator Catherine Stark, Town Tax Assessor Charles Saunders, Ken Poliwoda, Nathan Andruski, Town Clerk Denis Noncarrow and Stephanie Hall at the March 27 campaign kick-off.
Republicans have also tapped Stephanie Hall, a clinical research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry with decades of experience volunteering on Fishers Island, for the Fishers Island Town Justice and Town Board seat currently held by Louisa Evans, the party announced just ahead of its campaign kick-off at Touch of Venice restaurant in Cutchogue March 27.
Ms. Evans, also a Republican, is stepping down from the board after serving for 30 years. Incumbent Democratic Town Board member Brian Mealy is seeking re-election, while incumbent Democratic Town Board member Greg Doroski is leaving town office to run for the Suffolk County Legislature seat currently held by Catherine Stark. The Democrats announced their candidates at a March 7 campaign kick-off.
Ms. Hall, who took four ferries in order to get to and from Fishers Island for the campaign kick-off, said she has spent 35 years as a human geneticist, and most of her career “conducting studies in Alzheimer’s, oncology and auto-immune disease for Pfizer.”
On Fishers Island, she serves as a fire commissioner, co-chair of the island’s Seagrass Management Coalition, and mentors youth with the Fishers Island Conservancy.
“I want to create positive change for a community I care deeply about,” she said, adding that she also wants to build stronger ties between Fishers Island and Southold.
“There’s a lot at stake. We’ve seen some alarming demographics changed in this town over the last several years, and because of that we now see a Town Board and a Town Hall that a lot of us do not recognize, but that gives us the opportunity of a lifetime this year,” said Republican Committee Chairman Peter Ganley at the kickoff celebration. “There is no president, no governor, no county executive, there’s not even a town supervisor on the ballot this year. There’s our local candidates. There’s our team. We have an opportunity to flip this town and put in place conservative leaders that we trust to serve Southold Town in the coming years.”
Southold Town had long been a Republican stronghold, but the balance of power in town hall has shifted to the Democrats over the past two election cycles. Mr. Mealy and Mr. Doroski were elected in 2021, while Democratic Town Supervisor Al Krupski was elected in 2023 after long-time Republican Supervisor Scott Russell declined to run again, tipping the balance of power on the six-person board in favor of the Democrats.
Councilwoman Jill Doherty and Ms. Evans are currently the only Republicans on the Town Board.
The GOP also announced in the lead-up to the kick-off that it is backing incumbent Southold Town Tax Assessor Charles Sanders. Kevin Webster is stepping down as Assessor and his spot on the GOP ticket will be filled by real estate broker Ken Poliwoda.
Mr. Sanders, a real estate agent with William Raveis in Greenport, who was recently promoted to Lt. Colonel in the New York Army National Guard, will be deployed to the Middle East beginning in June of this year, and he urged the party to work hard on its get-out-the-vote efforts in his absence.
“The demographics have changed dramatically out here,” he said. “If we loose this election and they sweep again, it’s going to be very, very difficult for us to come back. Get out and vote. Local politics is incredibly important.”
“There are two people running for Tax Assessor on the other team, and none of them have a real estate background,” he added, touting his 23 years in the industry, along with Mr. Poliwoda’s 20 years of experience. “It’s incredibly important to have some sort of background in real estate.”
“Working hard always does pay off,” said Mr. Poliwoda, who has also served in the past as a Southold Town Trustee. “If you show up early and stay in late, that’s what a successful candidate exemplifies.”
Republicans are also backing Southold Town Highway Department mechanic Greg Schlachter for Highway Superintendent.
Mr. Schlachter, who was recovering from surgery and unable to attend the kick-off, wrote a letter telling those gathered that he believes the Highway Superintendent is “one of most important jobs in this town. Keeping roads and sidewalks safe for the public and first responders is my top priority.”
Mr. Schlachter is a member of the Southold Fire Department and is well-known among local children as “Southold Santa” during the Christmas season, with more than 40 years experience as a heavy equipment operator and mechanic.
Denis Noncarrow, the incumbent Town Clerk and a former town GOP chairman, is also seeking re-election.
Town Republicans also announced their Town Trustee candidates earlier this month — Terri Boyle Romanelli, who had a long career in technology, ran a charter fishing business in Montauk and has been a volunteer for environmental and community organizations on the North Fork; Southold Baymen’s Association President Nathan Andruski and Pindar Damianos, general manager of his family’s Pindar Vineyards and a First Assistant Chief of the Southold Fire Department.
Ms. Romanelli grew up in Miller Place, before attending Stanford University and beginning a career on the west coast with Oracle, when it was still an unknown start-up. She was transferred back to New York City, where she worked downtown a couple blocks from the World Trade Center, until her “whole sales territory was blown up” on September 11, 2001. She decided to move back home to Long Island, but was shocked to see how much Miller Place had been developed and chose Mattituck to raise her family because it reminded her of the rural place she had left.
“I’ve seen what can happen when you’re not careful about how you manage your building and enforce your codes and protect the environment and protect your waterways,” she said at the kick-off. “My daughter is frightened by what’s going on with climate change and overdevelopment…. It is really important for us to do this for them.”
“I know the importance of balancing property rights with the environment,” said Mr. Damianos. “I like to say government is good with oversight but not overreach. I know the importance of keeping the North Fork as it is. I’m a common sense person. I bring the Republican values I hold into my heart. We took back DC, and now we’re going to take back our backyard.”
Mr. Andruski said over the past 30 years he has had”firsthand experienced the decline of a livelihood where you used to be able to make a damn good living. I have to work multiple jobs to support my two kids because that livelihood is no longer available in Southold Town.”
He added that water quality issues have led to many shellfish bed closures, and areas where there were 60 people making a living clamming when he was young now only have one or two baymen working on the water.
“We live on a peninsula — everything we do affects this water, and it all has an adverse effect over time,” he said.
Mr. Talbot, the town board candidate, had served on the Southold Town Board from 1010 to 2013.
“We run an efficient and effective building department,” he said of his work in Southampton Village. “Businesses, when they come in, we want to get them in and open as quickly as possible. As you know, we have short window out here to make money. We’ve been very, very effective in doing that. We make it as easy as possible for people to do the right thing.”
He said he believes Southold needs more code enforcement officers, and the town can pay for them by raising building permit fees. He added that he believes code enforcement shouldn’t be overseen by the Town Attorney’s office.
He urged attendees to pay attention to the town’s Zoning Code Update — a public review draft of the new code is expected to be released in early April.
“Everybody has to pay attention to that,” he said. “If you’ve got a particular parcel, the uses allowed in that district might change…. You have to pay attention because we are going to be facing some changes and it could affect your business.”
“I will run a clean and respectable campaign, and remain open to everyone,” he said.
Mr. Planamento, who was unable to attend the kick-off due to a prior commitment, submitted a letter of introduction read to the crowd by Mr. Ganley.
He said he moved in the year 2000 to the North Fork, where he had a great deal of family, after losing an eminent domain battle in his hometown in Westchester, opening a shop on Love Lane for several years before becoming a real estate agent, now with William Raveis. He also serves as Vice Chair of the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
“I’m a serious and committed resident of Southold, with strong local knowledge and relationships and friends that are bipartisan in nature,” he wrote. “I’m preservationist and I love our rich, shared history.”
“We are currently unrecognized by the present town board as being a tourism-based economy, and we need intelligent elected officials to create guidelines to achieve appropriate housing, preservation and open space for our natural resources,” he added.
The North Fork’s Suffolk County Legislator, Catherine Stark, who is facing a challenge this year from Mr. Doroski, was also at the kick-off. She highlighted her work to create a land preservation program for the working waterfront, which she hopes will be before the County Legislature for public hearings this summer.
“The county will buy the underlying fee, but it will always have to remain working waterfront,” she said. “If baymen don’t have a secure places to bring their boats in and offload, then we’re going to loose them.”
Mr. Noncarrow, the Town Clerk and former GOP Chairman, gave the final speech of the evening, praising the “incredible group of people who put service above self every day” who have stepped up to run for office.
“Remember what were about — god, family and country,” he said, before leading a prayer for those running for office.
“Lord, we can tell your hand is in this group,” he said. “You’ve put together a team of the right people that will serve this community and put themselves behind making this community the great community that it is, and helping all those involved, and caring for those in need.”
Election Day is Nov. 4.
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