North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth said there was “very little difference” in her schedule whether she is campaigning or not.
“I try to do a good job everyday whether I’m running for an election or not running for an election,” Bosworth said in an interview with Blank Slate Media. “I’m out there in the community everyday. And I have been, in my role as town supervisor, from the day I was elected.”
Bosworth, a Great Neck resident who was first elected Town Supervisor in 2013, is running against Republican candidate Anthony Bulzomi in the Nov. 3 election for town supervisor.
She said one of her main priorities has been to reduce the town’s debt without reducing services available to residents and remaining within the town’s .73% tax cap.
“It is important to me that we do reduce our debt in terms of budget items,” she said. “We are making sure that we’re using our resources in a more effective and efficient way.”
She added that last year’s budget cut debt by $20 million and this year’s budget is expected to cut another $20 million, totalling $40 million in reduced town debt during her first term in office.
Bosworth also said she would make it a top priority to address empty storefronts in several shopping districts.
“We’re looking to have more of a dialogue with our chambers and with the different areas in the town,” she said. “We need to be more involved with working together with villages or local chambers to see what we can do to promote more business, to not only make sure storefronts aren’t empty, but that we have thriving businesses that people want to shop in.”
The town currently offers “Business Buzz” features on North Hempstead Television that promote local businesses, but Bosworth said more can be done.
She also said she wanted to continue improvements to the town’s building department, a department she said she used to get “slammed” for when she first took office, but does not anymore.
“Am I going to tell you it’s fixed? No. Is it better? It really is better,” Bosworth said. “Do I want to see it improve any more? Absolutely. And that is something that remains a priority.”
The town has hired three new plan examiners and a new building commissioner since she came into office, she said, and began offering building department night hours by appointment.
Bosworth added that the town also conducts seminars informing residents on what they need to know to sell their homes and began cross-training building inspectors so they can also perform plan examiner duties.
A $1 million grant for Project Independence, Bosworth said, was one of her proudest accomplishments as town supervisor.
Project Independence offers social and nursing services for senior citizens, as well as free taxi transportation for food shopping and reduced rate taxis for transportation to medical appointments.
“That particular service is probably one of the most important things to help our seniors,” she said. “These are the people who built this town, these are the people who paid taxes here all along. These are the people who sent their kids to our schools. These are the people who worked in businesses and government and made the town of North Hempstead what it is.”
Bosworth, who spent six years as county legislator representing the 10th district and 16 years serving on the Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education, said she makes a conscious effort to bring a pad everywhere she goes to write down resident concerns and questions.
“I don’t want to hear what concerns are through a filter. I want to hear it from the people,” she said. “That all goes towards open transparency and caring about constituents and wanting to be responsive to them.”
When she was first elected, Bosworth said, she wanted to “open a transparent government.”
She added that she has “made strides” on that plan through moving the public comment portion of town board meetings to the beginning of meetings, as well as live streaming the meetings on the town’s website.
Bosworth said she should be re-elected because of her strong presence in the town as well as her dedication to serving her constituents.
“I still have a lot more to do, but I can say that I’ve been a presence in every community that is in North Hempstead,” she said. “My philosophy is ‘we are here to serve the people.’ To me, every elected official’s mantra should be ‘we are here to serve the people.’ I take that very seriously.”
