Long Beach City Council candidates pledge reforms at forum

Six candidates running for three seats on the City Council in the Nov. 5 election pledged to restore trust in city government and address the city’s finances at Tuesday’s forum hosted by the local League of Women Voters at the Long Beach Public Library.

The forum took place on the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. More than 100 people turned out to hear from the New Wave Dems LB — Karen McInnis, Ron Paganini and Liz Treston — and the Republican bipartisan slate of incumbent Council President Anissa Moore, a Democrat, Mike Delury, also a Democrat, and Republican Lauren Doddato-Goldman.

This year’s council race comes in the midst of two criminal investigations into questionable separation payouts to employees in the 2017-18 fiscal year — including a number of non-union staff who remained on the payroll — and on the heels of a fiscal crisis, a scathing state draft audit and two consecutive tax increases.

All of the candidates emphasized the need for change at City Hall and discussed everything from improving the city’s finances to addressing concerns about water quality.

They discussed their plans to rein in spending, hold city officials accountable, keep taxes in check, increase the tax base, create a long-term economic development plan, update the city's code and charter as it relates to payouts and the budget, and move forward with recommendations made by the state comptroller's office and state's Financial Restructuring Board for Local Governments to improve the city's finances, which remain in "significant" fiscal stress.

They also pledged to explore installing parking meters in the city’s business district, one of many initiatives the candidates discussed in order to generate more revenue.

Moore, who was first elected to a four-year term in 2015 — the first African-American elected to the council — is running on the Republican line this year alongside Delury, the treasurer of the Village of East Williston, and Doddato-Goldman, a former Nassau County assistant district attorney who is currently the principal law clerk for Nassau County Court Judge Terence P. Murphy.

The Republican coalition candidates are running on a platform of reform and pledged “to hold the line on taxes, restore fiscal responsibility, transparency, accountability and civility to Long Beach City Hall.”

Moore, who was named council president in August, said that she made a commitment four years ago to not use her position on the council as a platform to run for higher office, as some other members had.

Moore said she voted against extending former City Manager Jack Schnirman’s contract in 2016 and against a $2.1 million borrowing measure to cover separation payouts to employees in the 2017-18 fiscal year after it was revealed that a number of them remained on the payroll.

“I remain committed to serve because of my love and my concern for our city,” she said. “Over the past four years I have witnessed progressive policy decisions which include supporting legislation to protect our infrastructure. I have witnessed also the lack of transparency, mismanagement, abuse of power as it relates to separation pay, and politics. I am proud to be a part of a coalition team that has pledged to not raise taxes, engage in strategic planning and work to remove the corruption and increase accountability.”

Treston, a community advocate and the chairwoman of the Long Beach Community Organizations Active in Disasters; McInnis, a financial executive; and Paganini, a retired city worker and former union leader, are running as part of a group called the New Wave Dems LB on a platform of change. Treston, McInnis and Paganini defeated incumbents Anthony Eramo and Chumi Diamond, and their running mate, Jim Mulvaney, by a wide margin in the June Democratic primary.

They said they are running to restore “integrity, trust and stability” to both City Hall and the council, and pledged to give the city a “fresh start” after what they described as years of mismanagement. McInnis said her slate is not beholden to political parties in town and are “not politicians.”

At the forum, they maintained that the current five-member council — all Democrats — has been dysfunctional and failed to address a number of ongoing issues, such as a hiring a permanent city manager, moving forward with a comprehensive plan or responding to a state draft audit after Moore, along with Council Vice President John Bendo and Councilman Scott Mandel, recently voted to rescind the city’s initial response.

McInnis said the council has not yet determined how it would respond to the audit or recoup overpayments to employees, as recommended by the state comptroller's office.

“I feel betrayed by our officials who turned a blind eye to rampant mismanagement resulting in illicit payouts and then had the gall to do nothing about — actually, still doing nothing about it,” she said. “I am confident that the New Wave Dems is the team that will make permanent, positive change in the direction of Long Beach for decades to come.”