Village of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss proposed last Wednesday changing village trustee terms from the current two years to four years.
“It’s just a good move. We’re having elections every year,” Strauss said at the regularly scheduled village board meeting. “It takes the politics out of decisions.”
Strauss said the two-year terms don’t give new trustees, or mayors, sufficient time to learn the job. He said the village also faces a financial issue with the eventual change
from lever voting machines to paper ballots and electronic scanners being mandated by the state. Use of the lever machines in local elections is permitted through the end of 2014.
Strauss said the village board would hold a public hearing on the proposal on Sept. 18.
“I want the residents’ input,” Strauss said.
Strauss said he received positive feedback when he “floated” the idea of increasing the trustee terms to four years in spring meetings he held with residents from different areas of the village.
Strauss said changing the length of term for trustees, which would require board approval, could help the village save a significant amount of money when the district is required to move from lever machines to electronic scanners in elections.
When using electronic scanners, municipalities would be required to print 10 percent more paper ballots than the number of registered voters in a municipality or school district.
Strauss said the ballots currently cost 55 cents a piece, and with approximately 12,000 registered voters in Mineola the cost would be considerable in relation to the actual number of people expected to vote.
“There’s roughly 1,000 people who vote. I have to shred the other ballots and throw them away,” said Strauss.
Strauss also said residents told him they would prefer to not be inundated with campaign mailings as often as they now receive them.
In comments after the meeting, all of the village trustees indicated support for changing the terms of office from two years to four years.
Longtime Trustee Paul Cusato said changing the length of trustees’ terms has been a subject of discussion for the past several years.
“I was always in favor of it. When you first run, you blink your eye and it’s over. You need time to acclimate to the position,” Cusato said. “I think it’s just a better flow of government.”
Cusato and Mineola Deputy Paul Pereira are up for re-election next spring.
Pereira said he doubted the proposed change would have an impact on his next term in office. But he said he favors the change for the sake of continuity and the eventual expense of the voting equipment.
“Projects take a long time. Things happen slowly in government. Two years in government is not enough time to learn,” Pereira said.
Pereira said neighboring villages, including New Hyde Park, Williston Park and East Williston all maintain four-year terms for their village trustees.
George Durham, who was recently elected to his second term in office, said much of his first term was a learning experience.
“You spend your first six months trying to catch up,” Durham said. “It took a good six months to understand the flow.”
He also said he found it “awkward” seeking financial support from his fellow residents for his second election run after asking for their support two years earlier.
Dennis Walsh, who was elected to his first term as trustee running on the New Line ticket with Strauss and Durham earlier this year, also said he favored the four-year term proposal.
“I’m in favor of it because it’s going to become very expensive not to have it,” he said.
Walsh also pointed out that many municipalities in Nassau County currently maintain four-year terms for their village trustees.
Strauss said details of how to implement the plan remain to be sorted out. As it stands now, Strauss, Durham and Walsh would stand for reelection in 2015, one year after Pereira and Cusato run for re-election.
Village officials said it would be necessary to temporarily amend the term lengths for some trustees to allowed for staggering village elections at two-year intervals.
Village Clerk Joseph Scalero said there are no term limits for trustees under village law.
