By Jonann Brady
The five commissioners of Sanitary District No. 2 establish the rules governing solid waste removal, recycling and code enforcement for Baldwin, Roosevelt and South Hempstead. The commissioners are paid $7,500 a year and oversee a $7.5 million budget.
The five-year seat is currently held by Thomas Forte of South Hempstead, and John Cools of Baldwin is challenging him for that seat.
Incumbent Ron Gilchrist of Roosevelt will face Linda Degen, Brian O'Connor and Ralph Rose -- all of Baldwin -- to hang on to his two-year term
Three of the current commissioners not up for reelection -- Jerry Brown, Dennis Meekins and LeRoy Roberts -- are from Baldwin. The four known challengers in the race are all from Baldwin, and both Forte and Gilchrist contend that because Baldwin has the largest population could easily capture all five seats on the board, effectively shutting out South Hempstead and Roosevelt from decision making. This, they say, is unfair, and both have made the issue a main platform of their respective campaigns.
The Baldwin challengers have responded that they are there to serve the needs of the entire district, not just Baldwin.
All of the candidates say that the sanitation board is about more than picking up garbage. Sanitation, they say, is really about preserving "quality-of-life" in the communities. Hiring and promotional practices, holding the line on taxes and code enforcement are issues the candidates have touched on.
Following are profiles of the candidates and their platforms.
(Editor's note: Because we cannot be given an official list of candidates from Sanitary District No. 2 until July 15, this roster may be incomplete. Please contact the Herald at 516-569-4000 ext. 202 if you are running for the board. We will run additional profiles in next week's issue if necessary.)
Five-Year Term Candidates
Thomas Forte
Thomas Forte of South Hempstead has served 12 years as a sanitation commissioner and is running to retain his seat for another five-year term. He currently serves as treasurer of the board and is a member of several national and state sanitation associations.
Forte is strongly in favor of preserving what he says has been for years an unofficial agreement among the towns covered by Sanitary District No. 2 that all three communities have representation on the board. Though South Hempstead makes up the smallest piece of the district, Forte says keeping a seat for the town is crucial.
"There are three taxpayer towns and there should be equal representation," he said.
Forte says that the current commission has made some very positive strides of late, including the Keep America Beautiful program, the classy cans program and the alternate side of the street parking initiative, and his goal is to keep the momentum going while trying to ease the burden to taxpayers.
"Our goal is always to keep the lowest possible tax rate and give people service in the best fashion we can," said Forte.
One way the commission does that, he said, is by limiting the hiring of full-time union employees to 38, the minimum stipulated by union contracts.
"We don't hire indiscriminately," said Forte, who added that hiring is based on seniority and work habits, not connections, as some critics of the board have charged. "I disagree that the office is politicized," he said.
Forte also criticizes what he says has been "negative campaigning" and that a recent incident in which the district supervisor, Doug Hoffman, was out of town with a district vehicle was misrepresented.
Three sanitation employees who are on-call 24 hours a day -- the supervisor, secretary of the board and the recycling coordinator -- are legally allowed to use district vehicles for personal use, and they pay taxes to use those vehicles, he said. He added that the district benefited from the rule, passed in 1992, because the vehicle use was allowed in lieu of several raises for the three positions.
"We run a tight ship," said Forte.
Until his retirement in 1988, Forte worked in the Transportation Department at Doubleday & Co. in Garden City. He and his wife, Gladys have three children and six grandchildren.
John Cools
John Cools, born and raised in Baldwin, is challenging incumbent Tom Forte for his five-year term. A former captain with the Baldwin Fire Department, Cools works as a mechanic there. From 1983 to 1988, he worked as a mechanic for Sanitary District No. 2. Cools and his wife, Susan, have three children.
Cools believes that Sanitary No. 2 operates fairly well at this point but said that sanitation is about "more than just picking up garbage" and that a new perspective is necessary.
"I would like to see a cleaner running operation," he said. "[The district] needs a fresh set of eyes to come in and work on quality-of-life issues."
Cools, 39, applauds the district's new Keep America Beautiful program and said he would like to see more programs like it. Among his ideas are having people sentenced to community service do their time picking up trash for the department and instituting an "adopt-a-corner" program where a local business or group would be responsible for keeping an area clean.
The department itself could use a fresher look, and he said he would like to see better trucks and new uniforms for employees. He would also like to make sure commercial businesses are aware of garbage pick-up rules and that those rules are enforced.
As for Forte's contention that South Hempstead needs someone from that town to represent its concerns, Cools said that anything presented to the board would be handled "fairly and equally," no matter where the problem was.
"If people call sanitation with a problem, they'll get a response," he said.
Cools, who describes himself as someone who makes things happen behind the scenes, said he spends nearly all of his time in Baldwin and surrounding areas and so is well-acquainted with the needs of the community.
"The district needs somebody behind the scenes and on the streets," he said.
Two-Year Term Candidates
Ron Gilchrist
Ron Gilchrist, an incumbent to the sanitation board from Roosevelt, is running to keep his seat for a two-year term.
Gilchrist was appointed to Sanitary District No. 2 last November after commissioner James Benjamin retired.
Gilchrist, 50, works as a project engineer for Mastercard and is vice president of the Roosevelt Chamber of Commerce and five-year president of Concerned Citizens of Roosevelt, which focuses on quality-of-life issues. He has two grown daughters.
For Gilchrist, serving as a voice for Roosevelt is his main goal in running for the board. Like Thomas Forte, the incumbent from South Hempstead, Gilchrist believes that South Hempstead and Roosevelt could easily be steamrolled off the board by Baldwin's larger voting bloc. He says, though, that could ultimately hurt Baldwin and pointed to the ongoing problems with Roosevelt's Board of Education, which was dissolved by Commissioner of Education Richard Mills this spring. If the school district itself were to be dissolved, Roosevelt students would have been enrolled in neighboring districts, such as Baldwin.
"What affects Roosevelt will eventually affect Baldwin," said Gilchrist.
Though he is relatively new to the board, Gilchrist says the current crop of commissioners work well together and he sees them as being committed to change. Gilchrist would like to see changes in the way the district hires and promotes employees.
In the past, the board has too often hired based on patronage, and he says that based on the demographics of the district, more minorities should be represented in senior positions. Currently there are no people of color in management positions, he says, but that could be corrected through attrition.
"Change doesn't happen overnight," said Gilchrist, but he is a firm believer that change will happen and Roosevelt needs to be a part of it.
"The communities should work together. We have to be concerned with our neighbors."
Linda Degen
Linda Degen of Baldwin, a medical secretary, part-time bus driver and mother of a five-year-old son, is running for a two-year term on a platform of reform.
A member of the Baldwin Community Association and the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce among other groups, Degen has been an outspoken advocate of change within Sanitary District No. 2.
While she applauds the district's newest initiatives like the Keep America Beautiful program, she believes that much more needs to be done to de-politicize the board.
"My main focus is the protection of taxpayer money and employee safety and job security," said Degen, 42.
Degen says that the commission needs to work harder to raise the morale of sanitation employees and let them know their jobs are secure. If elected, she said she would review hiring and promotional practices. Especially in the case of seasonal employment, she contends that political appointments often override seniority.
She also believes that money might be saved by eliminating some senior positions through attrition. "When a supervisor retires, the board needs to look at that position to see if its needed," she said.
The board, which is responsible for a $7.5 million budget, needs more oversight, she says. A critic of the policy which allows certain employees to use district vehicles for personal use, Degen sticks by her opinion that board needs to be more attuned to appearing wasteful.
"I still don't agree that those vehicles should be out of the district," she said. "It's not good public relations."
Degen also believes that code enforcement needs to be beefed up and that the board needs to be more open and responsive to both citizens and district employees.
Calling herself thorough and inquisitive, Degen said she has already filed Freedom of Information Act requests to research personnel and budget matters.
"I cross my t's and dot my i's. I ask questions until I get answers," she said.
Degen acknowledges that she has aired some thorny subjects to the chagrin of some other candidates and onlookers, but she is confident she can work well other board members. While she maintains she will not "cut any deals," she also said, "I can walk into that room and say, let's get to work."
According to Degen, Sanitary District No. 2 is at a crossroads. "Things are looking up and I would like to be part of that," she said.
Brian O'Connor
Baldwinite Brian O'Connor, a 30-year veteran of the Town of Hempstead's Department of Sanitation, is running for the two-year seat on the board and says his experience in the field could make him a valuable asset on the board.
O'Connor, 48, believes that "the system is working all right," and his goal as a commissioner would be to "keep the residents of the district and the workers happy."
O'Connor, who calls himself flexible and easy to work with, said that complaints should be resolved quickly and efficiently.
"It shouldn't be a complicated operation," he said.
Educating businesses and citizens would be his priority if elected.
"Littering is a big problem," he said. He suggests a newsletter spelling out the rules of garbage disposal and recycling, and he applauds programs like the Town of Hempstead's Stop Throwing Out Pollutants. "You have to have pride in where you live," he said.
Before making pronouncements on the budget or hiring practices, O'Connor said he would have to "get in and look at things and talk to the other commissioners."
He believes his greatest strength would be working well with the other board members.
"I would get in there and start the ball rolling," he said.
O'Connor and his wife Teresa have two sons.
Ralph Rose
Ralph Rose of Baldwin, a 32-year veteran of the Town of Hempstead's Sanitation Department and an 18-year veteran of the Baldwin Fire Department, says that truthfulness and accountability would be his watchwords as a sanitation commissioner. Rose, 50, is active in the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, Baldwin Bombers football and a church youth leader.
Because of its relatively small size, Rose believes that Sanitary District No. 2 could and should have the best service. "We could be the showpiece," he said.
His first order of business would be to review all district contracts. "I would want to see all the contracts to see what we're spending compared to other districts," he said. "We're not getting the best for our dollar."
Rose said that district management and the commissioners themselves should be the first to be put under the microscope. He questions the use of Ford Expedition Sport Utility Vehicles for supervisors, which he says are not economical and too "flamboyant." He also disagrees that commissioners, who are paid $7,500 a year, should be offered a benefit package, and he believes that term limits should be instituted on the board.
"We should be public servants," said Rose. "The tail shouldn't be wagging the dog."
With years of sanitation experience, Rose jokes that his middle initial "G" actually stands for garbage. Joking aside, he says that experience gives him a leg up to review waste management policies.
"I agree with [New York City Mayor Mike] Bloomberg that perhaps parts of recycling should be removed if it's not economical," he said. He added that incinerating garbage should be revisited as well.
Rose also advocates an "adopt-a-street" program and cracking down on code enforcement to clean up the streets.
The district, he said, pays a lot of taxes and deserves the best. A youth leader with the Calvary Street Church, Rose said, "If you can get 13- to 17-year-old boys to come to church on a Wednesday night, you can do anything."
Rose has run for the sanitation commission three times before and admits he may be viewed by some as a "perennial candidate," but he believes he is ready to get in and shake things up a bit on the board.
"What are they afraid of?" he asked.
