Bennardo and Ferro reflect on first few months on Huntington’s Town Board

Nearly eight months into their first terms as Huntington Town Board councilmen, David Bennardo (R) and Sal Ferro (R) said they have been learning a great deal about their community and have been satisfied with recent progress on town projects.

“I really feel like we’re getting a lot of positive work done,” Ferro said. “I want to be able to serve the community, and I’m very happy with what we’re doing so far.”

When Ferro and Bennardo ran for office in November 2021, they promised to work toward creating a more nonpartisan Town Board. It’s a feat they feel has been accomplished.

Ferro said he believes while everyone may not always agree on issues, it’s important to respect “other people’s opinions and positions.”

“I think Dave and I bring that to the table in that we have tremendous respect for different opinions, and we want to have open-door policies,” he said. “Our ears have to be open to listen and work together, because we’re not going to get anything done if we’re not working together.”

Bennardo agreed and said, “We’re elected to serve the people and there’s no Republican or Democratic way to clean up snow.”

Bennardo added that sometimes there could be 10% of people on each of the extreme political sides that seem to control the argument.

“The 80% in the middle will just want the government to do something,” he said. “They’re kind of held hostage by the 10 and the 10, and so we heard that on every door we knocked on, ‘Just break the gridlock.’ So, what we’ve been able to do, really with nothing other than just listening and being open minded, was kind of create a centrist core that starts to get that we serve the people not the party, and both sides are starting to see that.”

Bennardo also credits Supervisor Ed Smyth (R) with being the “most able administrative leader he’s ever worked with” and moving Huntington in a positive direction.

Bennardo said customer service seemed to be waning in the town. When responding to issues, taking the approach of seeing residents as clients has improved town services.

Both councilmen said they believe a lot of headway has been made in the Highway Department with new superintendent Andre Sorrentino (R).

“I think our highway superintendent has been fixing more roads in seven months than we have ever done in the past,” Ferro said. “It’s just a matter of sufficient management and help and support from the council level.”

Ferro added that some infrastructure projects would take time due to the extent of the jobs, but there have been discussions about making  such projects a priority.

He said he has been impressed with the town employees, describing them as “incredibly talented people with good work ethics that really care about what they’re doing.”

Ferro, CEO and former president of Alure Home Improvements, has been using his business skills and working closely with the building department and IT personnel. They have been moving forward with implementing state-of-the-art software to convert the permit process to online and to streamline the process.

“I believe six months from now you’re going to see a whole different experience when it comes to filing a permit,” he said, adding the revised process will be revolutionary for the building department and town.

It’s a project that the town has been working on for years, and Ferro said he’s happy that he and town personnel have been able to move it forward.

Bennardo, formerly Harborfields High School principal and South Huntington superintendent, said the Town Board has been working on bringing business back to Huntington. The town had developed a reputation of being unfriendly with business, according to Bennardo, and he said that the new permit process will be more business friendly.

In addition to working on making Huntington more inviting to businesses, the two said the board is moving forward with a sewer plan and, as always, is looking at affordable housing in the area.

“We need to create an environment that’s good for business, that’s better for housing, where development starts being able to bring people to our community,” Bennardo said.

He added another issue residents have brought up and that needs to be addressed is homelessness in the area and helping those who have found themselves in the situation.