Businessman turned Huntington councilman talks about campaign, plans for new year
A CEO of a company known for remodeling homes is ready to make some improvements in the Town of Huntington.
“I focused on my accomplishments. I focused on my track record and focused on what I wanted to do rather than pulling people down.”
— Sal Ferro
This campaign season Sal Ferro, CEO of Alure Home Improvements, ran for office for the first time on the Republican and Conservative lines. Two seats were up on the Huntington Town Board when current councilmen Ed Smyth (R) and Mark Cuthbertson (D) decided to run for other offices, town supervisor and county legislator, respectively. Smyth was successful, Cuthbertson was not.
Ferro said he thought about running for office before this year.
“I thought about it in the past, and I always guessed the timing wasn’t right,” he said. “And, I think everything fell into place this time, that this was my time to do so.”
The businessman ran on the same lines along with running mate David Bennardo. Ferro said the two want the same things for the town. Bennardo also happens to be his two older children’s former principal.
On election night, Ferro gathered with other area Republicans at the American Legion Huntington Post 360 in Halesite to hear the voting results. He said after all the hard work of campaigning it was a satisfying night.
“It was especially gratifying for me, because I ran my race and didn’t do some traditional things that have been done in the past in campaigning,” the councilman-elect said. “I ran a very clean race. I focused on my accomplishments. I focused on my track record and focused on what I wanted to do rather than pulling people down.”
Ferro said he and Bennardo were proud that the race was a civil one. During a debate at the TBR News Media offices, Ferro and Bennardo along with their opponents, Democrats Jennifer Hebert and Joseph Schramm, demonstrated that civility. Ferro said the first call to congratulate him was from Schramm and later Hebert also called him.
“That just kind of shows you the tone of the race, which was ‘we’re all going to work hard, and we’re all going to do the best we can to win the race, because we all feel that we’re the best candidate, but we’re going to do so on our own accomplishments,’” he said.
Ferro said when he takes office in January he would like to start working on making things more efficient in the town’s building department.
“That’s something that I made a campaign promise, that I would work on the building department,” he said. “I know that’s something that’s not going to happen overnight, but I’d like to bring some ideas to the building department, and I’d like to bring some efficiency to the department.”
“It’s one of those things where you have to balance, put in time in both jobs, and it requires a lot of work. It’s something I knew going in.”
— Sal Ferro
As for the particulars, Ferro said he’ll know that once he gets into office and meets the people involved in the department. Besides drawing from his personal business experience, the councilman-elect said he will look at other towns that have had success.
“One thing I said was I like to use some best practices from other towns,” he added. “We don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel. There are things that are working elsewhere, that have happened elsewhere and didn’t take a long time to turn some other towns around quickly.”
The businessman, who also heads up the nonprofit Ferro Foundation which helps Long Islanders in need, plans on continuing as CEO of Allure, he said, and will be able to balance his work responsibilities due to his company’s “excellent team.” He added that he has never been one to sit on the sidelines.
“It’s one of those things where you have to balance, put in time in both jobs, and it requires a lot of work,” he said. “It’s something I knew going in.”
