Q&A: Town of Ossining Supervisor Candidates

Democratic Village of Ossining Trustee Susanne Donnelly is running against Republican Town of Ossining Councilman Peter Tripodi for the Town of Ossining supervisor position this November. The current supervisor, Democrat Catherine Borgia, , which is being vacated by Democrat Bill Burton. Republican Susan Konig the county legislature seat.

Patch interviewed both Tripodi and Donnelly regarding the supervisor race.  

Patch: In theory are you in favor of a complete town/village merger?

Tripodi: It's a concept worth looking at, but a lot of times in the town outside…taxes actually go up in this kind of scenario. So I'm reluctant to say 'let's do it' because I don't want to increase the residents of the town outside's taxes. If it comes forward after the study that it does save money and the public comes out and supports it, then I'm all for it."

Donnelly: Yes…I could see that we could do a town/village—I would lean more towards coterminous government—and done in a very business-like manor. If that does not come to fruition, then I would like to continue working on ways of sharing services to save tax dollars.

Patch: What is your gut feeling regarding the [by Briarcliff Manor].

Donnelly: I don't think in the long run that you would save tax dollars doing that.

Tripodi: It's a referendum on the town board. It hasn't dealt with specific issues for particular residents within the past couple of years.

Patch: Why are you running for supervisor?

Tripodi: There are things that I can't do as a councilman, that I can do as a supervisor…I want to create a more accountable town government. I want to serve the public.

Donnelly: I have the experience and the skills to get people to sit down together and to work out what is in the best interest of the residents of both the Town of Ossining, the Village of Ossining and the Village of Briarcliff.

Patch: Why should voters pick you over your opponent?

Donnelly: I think it's my experience—especially since I am an operational management consultant. I think that I have a proven record of fiscal restraint. I work very hard on the budgets of the village…I can help with the consolidation of operations to the best of all of our abilities."

Tripodi: My record speaks for itself. Her record speaks for itself. My record is—we had a partial tax decease this year. I still voted against it because it didn't go deep enough. There's a lot more cuts to be made.

Patch: What is the biggest problem that the Town of Ossining is facing right now?

Tripodi: The biggest problem really is finances. There's a lot of spending issues on the town side. One of the main things…is the consultants. We have an engineer consultant for the Town of Ossining who is a full-time engineer in another town at $125,000 a year. Last year as a town [of Ossining] part-time engineer he made $214,000 and the year before that he made $238,000."

Donnelly: I believe that the biggest problem that the town is facing is the fact that they are a small group—you know if you talk about the town outside—it is a smaller group than Briarcliff or Ossining. And we have to do what's right by those people, but at the same time save them tax dollars.

Patch: What type of improvements would you bring to the Town of Ossining?

Donnelly: I'd like to get together with the business owners and—especially on that North State corridor—and find out where they would like to go—and do some economic development.

Tripodi: Number one is looking at North State Road. That's a huge thing for me…and helping out businesses there.

Patch: Do you think that there is any disconnect between the new immigrants and those that have been living in the community for decades?

Tripodi: There is a disconnect. There's a big disconnect. I think a lot of it is from the language barrier. What do you do about that? There's a bunch of ways—I would love to—if I had the time and the money—I'd like to open up a nonprofit that taught English—and bridge the gap. The community is very divided right now between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking.

Donnelly: No.

Patch: What do you love about living in Ossining?

Donnelly: What I love about it is the diversity. I love the fact that my children lived and went to school in an environment, which was the real world. The real world out there is not one economic and one cultural type of person. The real world is that you have a little bit of everything.

Tripodi: I've lived here my whole life. I love the people that I've met throughout my life here. I love the scenery…I love my home—this is where I grew up.