Greenport Village Candidates Hash Out How to Keep Business Year-Round and Improve Village Marina

Fostering year-round businesses. Fixing the village marina. How to better repair roads, develop more workforce housing and come up with ways to keep village teens active and occupied.

These were only a few issues on the table at a candidate’s forum hosted by on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the

who is running for a second term unopposed, incumbent trustee George Hubbard, Historic Preservation Commission Chairman David Murray and former trustee Bill Swiskey answered questions from Suffolk Times editor Tim Kelly and from members of an audience of about 30 people.

“I’m not one of those people who looks to the past and says, well, yeah, we could have done that better, because I think it’s a constant progression,” Nyce said when questioned on what he could improve upon in a second term. “I think we can build on what we’ve already started.”

Nyce said that, for example, once the village sewer plant is finished, the village can expand the sewer district, “thereby increasing the revenue and helping the environment by bringing houses on septic systems off of septic.”

Nyce said he also looks forward to completing a comprehensive plan for the village in order to create a platform with which to bring more businesses to the village.

“I’ve been working with business groups in to incentivize businesses to relocate here and to help businesses that are already here to stay and expand,” he said.

Hubbard suggested lowering the rent during the colder months to entice business owners to stay year-round.

“Reduce the rent in January and February and add to it in July and August when they are busy and can pay us back,” he said.

“The business community needs to define what type of town we are,” Murray said. “We have a fantastic waterfront community, but I feel that our business community is not working together properly.”

Murray suggested investing heavily into promoting Greenport over the next five years.

“Do we want people to come out and shop for one hour, or do we want them to stay here for a while?” he said.

Swiskey said he advocated reinstating parking meters to help improve parking conditions during the busy season, and Nyce said that retraining people to buy in Greenport rather that in Riverhead was top priority.

“The perception is the Greenport is more expensive that anywhere else — that’s not the case,” the mayor said. “And we’re seeing that business owners who decide to locate here are locating here to be as year-round as they can. We need to support that trend."

Hubbard was concerned with the constant state of disrepair of roads and sidewalks in the village.

“We need to get the infrastutcture of the roads repaired,” he said. “We’re constantly going back and repatching and refilling craters, when we could just take a whole section of road and take care of it. That would make it a lot easier and the road will be in good shape for the next 20 years or so.”

Murray talked of ways to make renovations on historic homes more consistent throughout the village, and the confrontational style of former trustee Bill Swiskey was also a topic for discussion.

Swiskey did not apologize for his argumentative style, citing the current economic climate.

“Let me tell you something, and I think we learned it in congress, everybody was polite to everybody and thing just went so far south,” he said. “If someone had spoken up at the time, it wouldn’t have happened that way.”

Nyce’s proposed $3 million long-term capital projects plan was also questioned. The plan includes a major overhaul of the east pier, repairs to Mitchell Park’s carousel and an expansion of on Moores Lane in order to increase the park’s revenue-drawing potential. Nyce explained how a multi-year plan will allow the village to identify grants and other funding sources if and when they become available.

“It allows us it use a portion of our own budget and to borrow and use grant money,” he said.

Swiskey questioned the wisdom of planning to spend $3 million when repairs to the east pier will cost only about $1 million, he said.

“We’re going to have to retrench with the debt that’s coming at us in two years and to get our of the debt crisis from Mitchell Park,” he said. “We’re spending millions in Mitchell Park — we’re going to have to increase revenue from the park by about $100,000 a year, and that’s just not going to happen.”

With a better marina with a more modern electrical system in place, Hubbard said that the biggest boats will come to the marina more often, stay longer, and spend the most money.

“And they need the bigger services,” he said, adding that a more comprehensive repair needs to be done to the marina and the park before a hurricane hits and the park washes away.

 “The village needs more money,” Murray said, acknowledging that he was not very familiar with the planned capital projects for the village. “I think that whatever capital project we can find that can generate the most income should be on top of the list.”

As a parent and a basketball coach, Murray added that he was concerned that the village currently has very little for teenagers to do.

“The park and the carousel are fantastic for the younger kids,” he said. “But there’s not much around for teens. I think we need another basketball court besides the one on Third Street. I think a sports court on Moores Lane next to the is a fantastic idea.”

Swiskey suggested taking a poll of what the kids would actually like to do before taking action.

“The key here is building what the kids want,” he said.

Lack of code enforcement in town and how many people to hire to take care of the problem was also on the table, as was improving relations between Greenport Village and the Town of Southold. Mayor Nyce mentioned the recent deal between the village and the town regarding the much-needed on Moores Lane.

“Open negotiations with the town are vital to us moving forward,” he said. “The village is not an island within Southold Town. and I have had an open dialogue and we are working on shared grants and services."

The three candidates for trustee are competing for two available seats on the Village Board. Voting takes place on March 15 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the on Third Street.