Donna Koch wins mayoral race in Northport

A former village clerk is ready to take over the mayor’s seat.

Village of Northport residents voted for Donna Koch for mayor on March 15. She beat out current trustee Dave Weber Jr. for the spot, with an unofficial result of 1,015-799.

Up until 2020, Koch worked as a full-time clerk for the village for 20 years. Two years before she took on the position, she was deputy village clerk.

In a March 10 The Times of Huntington & Northport article, Koch said she decided to run after attending village board meetings. She said she felt the board rushed through meetings and found department heads had nothing to report, including the treasurer. She also felt the board was disrespectful to residents. 

“It was then I knew I wanted to run for mayor and bring this village board back to a position of respect, transparency, with open, honest, informative meetings,” Koch said.

Trustees

In addition to choosing between mayoral candidates Koch and Weber, voters selected three trustees, two for a four-year term and another for a two-year period. Mary Biunno ran unopposed for village justice.

At the end of the night, Meghan Dolan and Joseph Sabia won four-year terms with 1,034 and 982 unofficial votes respectively, and Ernest Pucillo gained the two-year seat with 880 votes.

In the March 10 article, Dolan, a litigator in both the public and private sectors, said that running for village trustee wasn’t something she ever thought she would do. The co-founder of Not In Our Town Northport, which works with the community, school administration and the police department to stand up against hate and bigotry, said her experience working in the village the last few years inspired her to run.

“In attending and speaking at the village meetings, it became clear to me that new voices — voices of women, parents and young people — are essential to continuing to make Northport Village the best it can be,” she said.

Joseph Sabia, who had an unsuccessful run for trustee three times and mayor once in the past, is the owner of Sabia’s Car Care.

He said not only as a business owner, but as someone who has been a member of the Northport Police Department and on the Northport-East Northport school board from 2011-14, he has seen a lot in the village. He also has been attending the village board meetings for 10 years.

“I’ve been living in the village for over 45 years,” he said. “I have a business here, and I live here, and I raised my family here, and after going to meetings, I realized how this place is run,” he said. “It’s very poor.”

Among the issues on the minds of
Koch, Dolan and Sabia are finances and stormwater runoff.

Pucillo could not be reached for comment. Final official vote counts were not available at press time.