Community blood drive
New York Blood Centers have declared a blood emergency, their second in the last 75 days. The region’s blood supply is once again at a 1 to 3 day supply. In response, St. Catherine of Siena Hospital, 50 Route 25A, Smithtown will hold a community blood drive on Monday, Nov. 7 and Tuesday, Nov. 8 in the St. Vincent’s and St. Rafael’s Conference Rooms from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Appointments are preferred by calling 800-933-2566 but walk-ins welcomed.
By Lisa Scott
If you’re a news consumer you’ve heard a lot about how important these midterm elections are. Voter turnout is usually greatest in a presidential election year (66.8% in 2020 59.2% in 2016) but falls off at midterms (49% in 2018 and 36% in 2014). It shouldn’t, since the entire House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate is on the ballot along with many state governors and state legislatures.
Also this is the first election after many states reapportioned their districts, which has been contentious due to extreme gerrymandering (resulting in court cases, re-drawn lines, and in New York State a huge amount of confusion for voters who don’t know which congressional and state districts they now reside in). Whether you’re an occasional voter or a consistent one, what matters is that YOU VOTE. Be prepared: study the ballot and make a plan. Keep in mind the following:
• If you didn’t register to vote by Oct. 14, you cannot vote in this election.
• If you didn’t request an absentee ballot by Oct. 24, the only way you can get one now is to physically appear at the Board of Elections on or before Nov. 7 (and fill it in while you are there).
• If you’ve requested an absentee ballot, you can track it online at https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/
• Early voting is currently underway (from Oct. 29 through Nov. 6). You can vote early at any of the 27 early voting sites in Suffolk County. Hours do vary, so check before you go at https://my.lwv.org/new-york/suffolk-county.
The Suffolk County Board of Elections is still down as a result of the county’s IT department restoring systems after September’s hacking incident, but their phones are staffed. However you must vote at your assigned polling place on election day Nov. 8 — find it at https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/
Suffolk County Board of Elections trained poll workers staff the voting sites. Each position has a 2 workers — one a Republican and one a Democrat. An individual cannot unilaterally make a decision without the approval of the other party’s worker which provides balanced oversight. If you have any issue at the polls you can call the Election Protection hotline at (866) 390-2992, or the Suffolk County Board of Elections at 631-852-4500.
To find out what races and candidates are on YOUR ballot, visit the League of Women Voters’ www.Vote411.org. If you’re not familiar with the candidates you can refer to their answers to questions (which are unedited).
When you’re at the polls, “flip” your ballot to see what propositions you are being asked to vote on. All NYS voters can vote yes or no on the “Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022” proposition. (Bonds would be issued to provide moneys to make environmental improvements; these are not taxes.) The League of Women Voters supports this proposition.
There is also a Suffolk County proposition on all ballots which updates the language in the County Charter with regard to terms limits for County Executive, County Legislator and County Comptroller. Because of vague language in the original Charter Law, voting yes to this proposition would make the language clearer; that the limit of years of service for those offices is 12 years, regardless of whether 12 years are served consecutively on non-consecutively. Voting no does NOT eliminate term limits for these offices. A no vote simply means that the original Charter Law language remains unchanged.
We live in challenging times and apathy on election day is not an option for any of us. And after you’ve voted, remain engaged: stay informed and active and communicate with your elected officials.
Lisa Scott is president of the League of Women Voters of Suffolk County, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. For more information, visit https://my.lwv.org/new-york/suffolk-county or call 631-862-6860.
After a June primary, current Suffolk County Clerk Judith Pascale (R) will not be running for the position.
Republican Vincent Puleo, town clerk of Smithtown, defeated Pascale, who has served in the position since 2006, in the primary election. In November, Puleo will face Democrat Lisa Jimenez, a newcomer to running for political office.
Jimenez was unable to come into the TBR News Media office for a debate. Puleo stopped by for an in-person interview with the editorial staff, and Jimenez answered questions from the writer in a phone conversation.
Vincent Puleo
Puleo, a Nesconset native, was a bar and restaurant owner for 26 years before a turn in the insurance business and then becoming town clerk in 2005. He has been a volunteer with the Nesconset Fire Department for 50 years and is the president of the Nesconset Chamber of Commerce.
He said he feels it’s important to be community-minded regarding his current position, and he will bring that mindset to the county.
“Without community interaction, people don’t know who you are, they don’t know what you do,” he said.
The county clerk position oversees access to deeds, title searches and supreme court records. Puleo said he has priorities if he wins the election, including transparency, constituent services and making records more accessible, including online.
Puleo added that he feels Pascale has done a good job regarding transparency, and he will look to see if anything else can be done to make the process even more transparent. His aim, he said, is to make all processes smoother.
Puleo said he feels people shouldn’t have to go to the county clerk’s office in Riverhead to get a record when it could be as simple as registering on the county’s website and accessing it virtually.
He said he has obtained $350,000 grants three years in a row to digitize Smithtown records for the town itself, as well as the villages and fire departments within the township.
He said 90% of the supreme court records are digitized, and he would continue that trend. He added that unions have been concerned with records being digitized because it may eliminate employees.
“Not really, what it does is it gives you more time to service more people,” he said.
Once the county’s website is back up and running after the recent cyberattack, he said he feels improvements can be made to the site to make it more user-friendly. Before the cyberattack, title searches were already backed up, and he would like to make the process more efficient. He said first it’s important to meet with department heads to work together for the common goal.
Puleo said to avoid cyberattacks such as the one the county suffered from early in September, IT professionals need to be in charge overall of the entire county system and know what goes on in each department to ensure that everything that is imported or exported is protected. He said he understands the county is moving in that direction, which he finds encouraging.
Puleo added that he and other elected officials can advocate for the county to spend more money, and he applauds Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) for allocating $8 million toward IT measures.
The Republican candidate added it helps to have relationships with elected officials, and over the past few months he has met with every county legislator.
“It’s a situation where you need to have those people understand where you’re coming from, and they have to trust you, and you have to trust them,” Puleo said.
Lisa Jimenez
Jimenez, of Medford, has worked at the Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting for more than four decades. Before working full time for OTB, she worked as an assistant in Congressman Michael Forbes’ office (R/D-NY1).
She has been a member of Teamsters Local 237 and the AFL-CIO. The candidate also has volunteered as a catechist and at local food banks. She was active in her children’s PTA and recently was certified with Washington-based Underground Railroad which works to raise awareness about human trafficking and prevent it.
Jimenez said she feels her work experience and volunteer endeavors would be an asset to the county clerk position.
“I’m used to working with fast-paced, large groups and working with the unions,” she said. “I’ve learned how to come up with solutions quickly.”
Jimenez said she is open to learning new things.
“I’m willing to sit down and learn whatever I need to do to get the job done,” she said.
During her time with OTB, she has gone from cashier to human resources manager.
“As a manager, as a cashier, I’ve done it front and center,” Jimenez said. “It’s not below me to do the job of the cashier. My branch needs to be cleaned then I’m out there cleaning. I will make myself as accessible as possible.”
After the recent cyberattack, she said she doesn’t think the county has made the best decisions as far as improvements to minimize security issues in the past, and she would meet with IT professionals to seek better solutions for internet security.
Regarding the website in general, she said she has had issues at times navigating through the county’s website and would like to see it be more user-friendly, especially when trying to access records.
“There’s always ways to improve upon what’s already there,” she said.
Jimenez believes completely digitizing records is better for the constituents, and she doesn’t feel that all records being digitized would lead to less employees.
Jimenez said if there was room in the budget, she would like to see the county open up satellite county clerk offices so residents wouldn’t have to travel to Riverhead to get paperwork. She would also suggest the offices stay open later than usual one or two days a month to make it easier for people who work a 9-to-5 job.
She said she would look to make the office more efficient with document processing being quicker.
“I think the next thing is the turnover of the paperwork,” she said. “How can we get that? You look at any other county, the paperwork is in and out. Ours isn’t.”
She also suggested providing assistance, possibly an office liaison, for veterans or those with disabilities to make it easier for them.
Jimenez agrees that Pascale has run a transparent office.
“I think she’s done a great job all these years,” she said. “I have nothing negative to say about her or Vinny. But, I think there’s always room for improvement.”
Mount Sinai’s student government members featured the 12th edition of their “Safe Trick or Treat” celebration on Saturday, Oct. 29, drawing over 1,100 trick-or-treaters, according to student government faculty advisor Roger Cardo.
Admission was free, although donations were welcomed to cover the cost of all the candy and refreshments.
Non-perishable food items were collected to benefit local food kitchens. The students set up the night before and were in at 7 a.m. to finish setting up more than a dozen rooms, which included the Haunted Hallway, Best Buddies, the Ocean Bowl and the Balloon Room, to name a few.
Mr. Cardo credited the large turnout to word of mouth, the fliers that were circulated at the middle school, along with the efforts of more than 30 student government members, and seniors Destina Erden, Amanda Audia, Kate Rubino and Amr Ali. Fun was had by all.
— Photos by Bill Landon
While there will be two names on the ballot for New York’s 8th Assembly District, incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) and Democrat Jeanine Aponte of Hauppauge, the latter is not actively campaigning.
The district covers the Town of Smithtown and northern parts of Islip.
Fitzpatrick stopped by the TBR News Media offices recently to discuss the race with the editorial staff. He has been an assemblyman for 20 years and is running for his 11th term. Prior to being an assemblyman, he was a Town of Smithtown councilman from 1988 to 2002; he was also a financial services representative.
Cracking down on crime
“We have a problem, and something has to be done about it,” Fitzpatrick said when talking about bail-free crimes.
The assemblyman said when bail reform was first debated in the Assembly, Republicans and Democrats all agreed that something needed to be done. However, he said, the progressives were dominant, and in the end, he said he felt the police, district attorneys and judiciary members were excluded from creating the law, representatives he said were important to have at the table.
“No dangerousness was taken into consideration, and all the judges were saying this is not going to work and the DAs as well,” he said. “They did not like this.”
Fitzpatrick added there is a feeling of disappointment in Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) that she’s not pushing back, and he feels she fears that she will lose the progressive base and thinking they will “stay home and not vote.” Especially, he said, since her gubernatorial opponent, current Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY1), has been making inroads including with the Asian, Black and Latino communities.
Fitzpatrick said the Republicans’ goal in the Assembly, despite currently being in the minority, is to get to 50%.
“So that we can take away that veto-proof majority,” he said. “That forces compromise, at least forces discussion at the table, and the same in the Senate.”
Fitzpatrick said if Hochul is elected the hope is that she will move more to the center politically.
“What I fear, if the crime issue is not dealt with, and dealt with soon, you’re going to see, I think, a continued exodus of people and jobs out of the city,” he said. “We’ve had a significant loss already. I believe it will accelerate if nothing is done about it, and the concern is you’re going to have a hollowed-out New York City.”
Fitzpatrick explained it would mean the city would be left with the wealthy and the poor with the middle class leaving as well as jobs.
“You already have the challenge of getting people to come back into the office,” he said. “They like working from home. They got used to it for the past two years, but the crime issue in the subways is not helping matters.”
He said he doesn’t see New York City returning to normality until there is a handle on crime.
Gun safety
Fitzpatrick said he supports the Second Amendment. He added the Republican side in the Assembly includes members who are former military and law enforcement personnel as well as farmers.
“We have more people on our side of the aisle who can speak with authority on gun ownership, gun safety, gun training,” he said. “There’s virtually nobody on the other side of the aisle who has that kind of experience and depth of knowledge. So, we know what their agenda is. We get it. This is the world of politics. But, you know, I think whenever those debates come up, we just, we wipe the floor, hands down, but it doesn’t matter, because they have the numbers”
Regarding recent stabbing incidents in New York City, he said he believes the majority involve those with mental illnesses.
“With bail reform, you’re letting people out,” he said. “You’re not remanding people to jail. Not to serve time, but until they have their day in court. But some of these people are not well, we’ve heard this from the correction officers, we’ve heard this from the attorneys. They’re not well, but because of the new bail reform, they can’t be held and they’re let out.”
Recent migrants
He said he is unhappy with the federal administration for leaving the border open with an increase in drugs coming over, also people on the terrorist lists and gang members. He said the borders should be more secure.
“The border towns have been totally overwhelmed,” he said. “They can’t provide the services.”
He said it wasn’t a surprise that cities in the South sent migrants to sanctuary cities such as New York. The assemblyman said sending migrants back is not possible, and he believes there should be some way to give them a pathway to citizenship.
Smithtown
Along with state Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James), Fitzpatrick said he is most focused on sewer installation in Smithtown’s downtown areas. To revitalize downtowns, he said, it’s important to look to towns that have done it successfully, such as Patchogue and Farmingdale. Fitzpatrick added it’s important to pick areas near transit hubs for density building.
He didn’t support Hochul’s accessory dwelling unit proposal earlier this year. The bill would have given everyone the right to have an ADU in their home, something that wouldn’t work with cesspools on Long Island and burden school districts, he said.
“Your transit-oriented development is really the way you address the affordability issue because the price of land is so high, you lower that price with density,” he said.
Fitzpatrick gave the example of the overlay district in the Hauppauge Industrial Park and the proposed development plans for it as an example of a walkable community where people can walk to stores, restaurants and even work, something he said many people look for when searching for a home.
He said such housing will help the area to remain relevant, especially with some choosing not to move here due to the high cost of living.
Stony Brook University
For the past few years, Fitzpatrick said he’s been talking to colleagues, elected officials and students about the possibility of the State University of New York, also known as SUNY, becoming a national brand and having Stony Brook University be its flagship.
He said he would like to see the acronym SUNY be dropped and the educational institution be known as the University of New York or UNY.
He believes it needs to be rebranded to draw more students nationally.
“We are a great state university, but we’re not a national brand,” Fitzpatrick said.
He gave examples of University of Michigan, University of North Carolina and University of Alabama, and said SBU is “as good or better than any of them.”
He added he would love to see SBU among the top 10.
If SUNY can be rebranded and SBU made the flagship he said it would help the athletic department and could lead to being part of a major conference. This could mean the expansion of Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium or building a newer one closer to the Long Island Expressway or another major roadway.
He said it makes sense as SBU is near the city.
“Why don’t we take a shot and get into a major conference with the University of New York,” Fitzpatrick said. “This makes sense. I think it would be good for the entire system, and it creates a fair level of economic activity by being in a major conference.”
The Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting for OnPoint Pharmacy in Port Jefferson Station on Oct. 19.
Attendees included representatives from OnPoint Pharmacy including Sarit Roy, President; Amy Ho, VP of Operations; Luna Hai, Director of Pharmacy Operations; Stephen Georgiades, Pharmacist/IT; Nick Lella, Director of Marketing; Mike Nastro, Pharmacy Manager and Bill Burke, Pharmacy Manager along with members of the chamber, President Joy Pipe and Secretary Nancy Bradley.
Formally known as Fairview Pharmacy, the newly rebranded store is located at 4747 Nesconset Highway, Suite #10 in the Port Jefferson Commons and is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, call 631-474-7828 or visit www.onpointpharmacy.com.
The Cougars of Centereach had their hands full when they hosted Newfield, their cross-town rival, trailing 22-0 at the halftime break.
Newfield’s JJ Deliat punched in from short yardage, as did Kenny Petit-Frere, then Payne Weinhauer picked off a pass for the interception and went 43 yards for the score.
Centereach senior quarterback Riddick Drab broke the ice for the Cougars on the opening play of the third quarter, finding the endzone to remove the goose egg from the scoreboard.
Newfield receiver Dylan Smith answered back, catching an 8-yard pass from quarterback Matt Evers followed by an 11-yarder to take a commanding lead.
In this Div. II matchup on Saturday, Oct. 29, Drab scored on a 31-yard run in the 4th quarter. But that was all the Cougars could muster, falling 35-12 to conclude both teams’ 2022 campaigns.
— Photos by Bill Landon
Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel
On August 28, 1955, while visiting family in Money, Mississippi, Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old African American, was lynched for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. His assailants—the white woman’s husband and his brother—made Emmett carry a seventy-five-pound cotton gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then threw his body, tied to the cotton gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.
The brutal and brilliant Till tells the aftermath of this horrific, racially motivated murder. Under Chinonye Chukwu’s flawless direction (from a taut screenplay by Chukwu, Keith Beauchamp, and Michael Reilly), the film’s relentless two hours tell the harrowing story with unflinching rawness.
Till follows Emmett’s mother, Mamie (Danielle Deadwyler, delivering the year’s best performance), as she struggles with the inconceivable death of her son, Emmett (beautiful Jalyn Hall), and her attempt to find justice in a system stacked against her.
Till opens in Chicago to the strains of “Sincerely.” Mamie, tense but hopeful, drives Emmett to a department store, preparing him for a visit to his cousins in Mississippi. There she encounters the subtler racism of the North, a harbinger, but in no way fully a reflection, of what is to follow. Excited for the next day’s journey, the normally stuttering Emmett—endearingly called Bobo by his family—sings along with a Bosco commercial, showing how he has overcome the stammer. The simple, exquisite moment reflects a boy who has been raised with love and support by his war-widowed mother. Emmett is goofy, wide-eyed, and innocent — in short, a child trusting the world to be a good place.
Concerned by what he might encounter, Mamie warns Emmett “to be small down there.” The next day, the Black passengers move to the back cars when the train crosses into Mississippi. The next time we see Emmett, whimsical and outgoing, he is picking cotton with his cousins. They, like his mother, warn him that he should be careful. While in a general store that caters to the Black community, Emmett compliments the clerk, Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennett), telling her that she looks like a movie star. Delighted, he shows her the picture that came with his new wallet. Bryant follows him out of the shop, where he naively whistles at her with a sweet smile. Bryant chases him and his cousins away at gunpoint.
Three nights later, her husband and brother show up at the cousins’ house and drag Emmett out, also at gunpoint. Chukwu chooses not to show the torture and murder. Instead, a lit shed and Emmett’s cries are seen and heard from a distance. The choice amplifies what must have been the child’s fears in his final hours.
Mamie receives news of his kidnapping, but it is several days before his body is found and his fate is revealed. Eventually, in a slow and heart-rending process, Mamie shifts from mother-in-mourning to activist. Her first fight is to have her son brought home for burial. After seeing his mutilated body, she decides that the strongest action is to have a public viewing. When told that Emmet is in no condition to be seen, she counters that he is in just the right shape and that the whole world must see. She leans over the open casket and whispers: “You’re not just my boy anymore.”
Following this, supported by her estranged father (gentle Frankie Faison), she bravely goes South for the trial: her purpose is to confirm the body’s identity so that the defense cannot claim it was not him. Knowing the danger in testifying—that she will also be on trial—does not deter Mamie’s desire for even a modicum of justice.
In the South, as in Chicago, she encounters members of the NAACP with whom she eventually connects, most notably the Civil Rights activists and voting rights champions Medgar and Myrlie Evers (Tosin Cole and Jayme Lawson, both strong). In 1963, Medgar was assassinated in front of his wife and children.
In Till, Chukwu tells Mamie’s story through her eyes. For most of the film, she shows Deadwyler alone or singly framed, highlighting Deadwyler’s extraordinary portrayal and Mamie’s isolation. Mamie’s all-encompassing love and bottomless pain are present in the brittle silences and the primal screams. Whether sharing a moment of anguish with her fearful and guilt-ridden mother (outstanding, understated Whoopie Goldberg), confronting her cousin, Moses (conflicted and dimensional John Douglas Thompson), or silently watching Bryant hold her son during the trial, Deadwyler’s work is haunting and indelible. Watching her see the crate with Emmett’s casket taken from the train or holding his last, unfinished letter are searing moments of terrible power.
From Mamie’s entrance to the courthouse—callously patted down by a smirking guard—to the prosecuting attorney refusing to shake her hand—to Bryant’s outright perjury, the trial is a forgone conclusion. How can there be an honest application of the law when the entire jury look like the perpetrators? Or when the sheriff states it is a hoax perpetrated by the NAACP, and Emmett is in hiding? The vicious, virulent, and even casual racism looms throughout. Yet, the hate and ugliness are matched by the dignity, sensitivity, and desire for change of those surrounding and supporting Mamie.
Till is not a movie of the week, a procedural drama, or a John Grisham novel. Till is not about just one wrong verdict but thousands over years of oppression and bigotry. Any attempt to fully describe this film is difficult and feels somehow disrespectful. However, silence is never an option. It is easy to bandy the word “important” to the point where it loses weight and meaning. But Till is important—an exceptional film that must be seen.
Coda. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act makes lynching a federal hate crime. It was signed into law on March 29, 2022 … sixty-seven years after the murder of Emmett Till.
Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters.
REI, an outdoor apparel and goods store, is scheduled to open in Huntington by summer 2023, according to a news release from REI Co-op. The 21,100-square-foot store will be in the Huntington Shopping Center at 350 Walt Whitman Road.
The location will offer a wide assortment of apparel, gear and expertise for camping, cycling, running, fitness, hiking, paddling, climbing, snowsports and more. For those who adventure on two wheels, a full-service bike shop will be staffed by certified mechanics. The store will also have a ski and snowboard shop with professional tuning, waxing and repairs.
“We’ve long been interested in better serving the Long Island outdoor community and in complement to our existing Tri-State stores,” said Sean Sampson, REI regional director. “As we do in every community where the co-op has a presence, our local team will seek partnerships with nonprofits to support their efforts in protecting natural places and welcoming more people outside.”
The new store will be the fourth location in New York and seventh in the Tri-State region.
“REI is a terrific addition to our evolving line-up at Huntington Shopping Center and brings us closer to our vision of providing a dynamic mix of essential resources to the community as part of our center-wide redevelopment,” said Chris Fleming, vice president at Federal Realty. “Their brand and customer appeal aligns well with the tenants we’ll continue to unveil.”
The Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees and staff members convened for a work session on Friday, Oct. 28, tackling the various features of the local government’s communications network.
Mayor Margot Garant called the meeting as part of an ongoing effort within her administration to enhance communications between the various entities interfacing with the village government. She set the meeting’s objective. “I want us to create some priorities as a team and then find out where we’re going from here,” she said. “I want the outcomes of this meeting to be defining our priorities for the next six months.”
Centralizing the message
For Garant, effective communication starts with communicating with the general public but goes further than that end alone. She maintained the village could carry out exchanges more efficiently by modifying the existing communications framework in all its facets.
“Communication goes beyond just communicating to the residents and the public,” Garant said. “It goes to communicating internally to staff and everything else.”
Garant said she sees regular communications meetings as essential. Through these dialogues, the team can establish a basis for deciding upon important stories, producing the content and then broadcasting its message.
Deputy Mayor Kathianne Snaden identified some of her priorities. While she said the village has a highly competent staff, greater coordination between these individual units could better advance a common end.
“We have fantastic pieces and parts,” she said, yet “each one is in a silo, somewhat. There’s obviously crossover, but I think … it’s just getting them to work efficiently and overlap.”
Trustee Lauren Sheprow, the village’s communications commissioner, referred to this overlapping method as “the cascading effect — create once, publish everywhere.”
The mayor offered her agreement: “We’ve been completely disconnected, and no one knows who’s driving the bus and where the bus is going.”
Garant also discussed the need for a central chain of command, with the communications team controlling how messages get out. She stressed the need for all parties to go through this decision-making body.
“It’s directing traffic,” the mayor said. “And it’s also creating a very clear line on who they should be talking to and who is giving them the direction.”
Sheprow pitched the potential value of implementing a “global event calendar” and a “content management calendar” within the village government, enabling better organization and tracking of upcoming deadlines.
Garant also identified the need to promptly formulate a plan for circulating emergency information.
“We have the winter season coming up, and that’s usually when we have emergency-type situations,” she said. “You’re going to have a different team at the table when it comes to that. You’re going to have the fire marshal, [code enforcement] chief [Fred] Leute, the ambulance company … you have different threads, different protocols, different everything.”
A website overhaul
In the coming months, a focal point for this administration will be modernizing the village’s website. Garant explained some of the difficulties she experienced using the existing web format.
The current website has several inefficiencies, some of which were identified during the meeting. The future overhaul of the website will emphasize user-friendliness.
“The most important tool we have is our website, and right now I can’t find things on it,” Garant said. “I think that [a revamped website] will have a tremendous impact on how we operate.”
Regarding the website, Kevin Wood, the village’s director of economic development, highlighted some areas for revision. He indicated the existing platform provides too many search results, which clutter the page and overwhelm the user.
“The problems with the website are plentiful,” he said. “One of the things that drives everybody insane is that if you search for just about any topic, you’ll get [results from] 2011, 2012,” adding, “we have to change that.”
Getting the message across
Another discussion point was the matter of producing press releases. Garant argued that generating content can help spotlight prominent stories within the community.
While producing more frequent press releases can help the village get its message out, Wood added that press releases are not limited to a written format. “We should be doing 1-minute video press releases,” he said.
The director of economic development added that compiling information for press releases requires coordination between the various entities involved in a story. For example, a press release spotlighting a particular aspect of village history may require commentary from local historians, public officials and other stakeholders.
“It’s not as simple as taking an email and writing a press release,” he said. “The idea of a press release has to be collaborative.”
As the meeting ended, Garant expressed satisfaction with how much the communications team had accomplished to date. While the village continues to implement its vision for more effective internal and external communication, she expressed confidence in the group assembled. Garant said the committee is headed up by Wood and Charmaine Famularo, a staff member, with trustees Snaden and Sheprow.
“I feel confident that we have the right team, and I think it’s going to be good,” the mayor concluded.
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