|
|
Race for highway super gets loud
|
The race for Brookhaven Town highway superintendent this year is contentious and at times quite loud. The candidates, incumbent Democratic Superintendent John Rouse of Miller Place and Republican Nick Caracappa of Selden, met face to face in the offices of TBR Newspapers last week and displayed animosity and disrespect toward each other.
Rouse, an attorney, began by addressing why he is running for re-election.
"Highway directly affects residents every day," Rouse said. "The Highway Department had been the fuel tank for the town and county Republicans," claiming patronage and quid pro quo political contributions were the norm before his tenure. "I'm getting it where I wanted it to be," Rouse said.
"I'm a community guy," said Caracappa, "born and raised in Selden." He pointed to his service on the Middle Country Board of Education — Caracappa was appointed to a seat in 2005 and elected in his own right in 2008 — and with the Selden Centereach Little League, where he has served as vice president for the past five years. Caracappa is a 23-year employee of the Suffolk County Water Authority and is serving as president of Local 393. He said if elected he would resign his union position and leave the SCWA to be the full-time highway superintendent.
Touting his own community connections, Rouse said he played in the Three Village Little League as a boy, coached baseball and youth soccer in Port Jefferson and was formerly a religion teacher at Infant Jesus RC Church in Port Jefferson.
Rouse pointed to "shenanigans" by the newly Republican majority on the Town Board in 2008 that forced him to go back to the council midyear to request more funding for Highway. "Many outside vendors," most of whom plow roads for Brookhaven in the winter, "did not get paid til spring. I've made the Town Board accountable to Highway." He proudly reported that "2,500 roads have been paved since 2004."
"When John Rouse took office," responded Caracappa, "$38 million was the [Highway] budget. In 2009 it's $64 million. … Are we better off for all that money?" he asked. Caracappa called much of the work Rouse has overseen as superintendent "political patchwork, not really improvements." The challenger also criticized one of Rouse's first moves when he assumed the office in 2004. "John Rouse's name is on everything," he said. Rouse directed the Brookhaven Town symbol on the doors of all Highway vehicles be replaced by signs with Rouse's name and Highway's phone number on it.
As he has ever since 2004, Rouse defended the change as appropriate. "Residents can see the phone number to call," he said. Rouse then related a secretary's query to him at the time. "She said, 'If you put the number there, they'll call,'" Rouse recalled her saying with some trepidation. "That's the idea," he said he replied,
Caracappa criticized "some repaving so thin it doesn't last. It's like throwing money out the window."
The incumbent replied that "microsurfacing" is "designed to extend the life of a road." Rouse said it's the least costly of the three methods of repaving and the process "adds five years typically" to the time a roadway must be more extensively repaired, therefore stretching taxpayer money. Local residents don't always like it, he said, but budget management sometimes requires that alternative.
Caracappa displayed about a dozen photos of roadways and curbs that he said were examples of the poor condition of town roads under Rouse's tenure. In response, Rouse displayed photos of a parking lot he said was at one of the Middle Country schools, showing a broken curb and paving in disrepair, asking his opponent if this was how he would care for Brookhaven's roads.
"We've paved many parking lots" at the schools, Caracappa retorted, then noted the capital funding that generally pays for such improvements was limited by Albany. "We do the best job we can," he said.
Caracappa claimed the two largest paving vendors for Highway are Rouse's two largest contributors. The challenger said, "When you do work in house you can do more." Caracappa said he would expand the Highway workforce if elected while reducing the use of outside vendors.
Rouse said the town's Purchasing Department selects the winning bids from the town's vendors, not him, He also noted the particular vendor that Caracappa named, Glen Kazel, has been paving roads for the town "since long before I became superintendent." Rouse said doing all but the smallest paving projects in house would be far more costly because large investments would have to be made in the specialized equipment required.
"[Caracappa]'s the president of a local but I received the endorsement of CSEA and town employees," said Rouse.
"A majority" of Highway workers support Caracappa, according to the challenger.
"The Long Island Federation of Labor is endorsing me," countered Rouse.
"Roger Clayman [executive director of the federation] said it did not go to a vote," retorted Caracappa.
The discussion then devolved into a testy exchange of charges and countercharges about union support and Highway employee morale. Rouse spoke of disgruntled highway workers who may have rifled his home mailbox; Caracappa complained of "these documents just released by the Water Authority" that Rouse had no right to see. Rouse said part of his opponent's position at the SCWA was "a no-show job." Caracappa said he gets two days each week "excused time" as the union local president to tend to union business.
"You are desperate," shouted Caracappa. And to the Editorial Board: "He lies about me."
Rouse claimed his opponent has filed many workers compensation claims over his two-plus decades at the authority. Caracappa said he has "not taken one personal day."
Caracappa displayed photos of a building on Fire Island, calling it "John Rouse's love shack." The superintendent responded that the first floor garage facility was used for equipment storage and a "Davis Park civic leader requested the building be 'dressed up.'" Rouse said he has not been in the building since the improvements were made.
The candidates argued whether use of Highway vehicles and manpower was appropriate in venues such as the Rocky Point St. Patrick's Day Parade, if use on the float of flowers from the town's Ecology Center, run by the Highway Department, was a waste of taxpayer money, and whether the addition of a shower in the superintendent's office in Coram was a "lavish extension," as Caracappa described it.
Finally, summing up, Caracappa said, "I am the right man for this job. This is not a stepping stone for me." He was referring to the long-standing rumor that Rouse would like to be a judge more than highway superintendent.
Rouse closed by noting his "commitment to this job. My mind is on rebuilding Brookhaven one road at a time."
| |
|
|
|
| |
Copyright 2010
(631) 751-7744 | news@tbrnewspapers.com | www.northshoreoflongisland.com | About |
|
| |
|
