Three Candidates Jockey for Two Seats on Carmel Town Board

By Eric Stutz

In the Town of Carmel, three candidates are seeking two town board seats: Democrat Jean Hopper and Republicans Frank Lombardi and Robert Schanil Jr.

Hopper, a political newcomer, said she began attending town board meetings several years ago.

“I became frustrated with the way I saw town business being handled,” she said on Locally Sourced, a public access TV series. “We’ve had over 20 years of one-party rule in Carmel, and I think that’s closed the door to innovation and opposing views.”

She started collecting signatures, going house to house. “I’ve met a lot of wonderful residents and voters who share the same concerns that I have,” she said.

Although some people have brought up her lack of political experience, Hopper said, “Our country was based on government for the people, by the people, and I really believe that. Our Founding Fathers as civic-minded folks wanted people to stand up – ordinary everyday folks – and serve in their government.”

“I have balanced my home budget,’ she said. “I can make a penny squeak and I’ll do the same thing for Carmel.”

She said the town board needs to stay on top of highway maintenance, which means coordinating with county and state agencies. “I’m not afraid to reach out to the county or to the state and see what needs to be done.”

Hopper said municipalities should update their master plans every 10-20 years. “We’re going on 24.”

“Without a master plan, we become wasteful with our revenue, with our money, because there’s mismanagement,” she said.

Schanil Jr. agreed about the importance of the town’s unfinished master plan, which encompasses not only the town’s physical aspects but also economic and cultural aspects, recreation, transportation and infrastructure.

“I’d like to see the master plan get done,” he said. “I’d like to see what our strengths and weaknesses are, and then decide what needs to be done immediately and what will be done in the future.”

“Taxes are always an issue, but I think we have pretty good services,” Schanil said. “The police department, the highway department, the fire department – this all costs money.”

 

 

One thing that needs to be done is to upgrade the water districts. In August, members of the Carmel Town Board decided to bond the cost of a $2.7 million project to rehabilitate nine water tanks.

“That could have been avoided, I think, as part of doing the master plan,” Schanil said. “I think things were probably overlooked at some point. The infrastructure could have been repaired a little bit earlier instead of being so dilapidated that it takes so much money now to fix it.”

“The roadways, people see it. There’s a problem, they fix it,” he said. “But they don’t really think about what’s under the ground. I think that’s an important issue.”

After two terms on the Carmel Town Board, Lombardi lost in 2017 to two fellow Republicans, Suzi McDonough and Mike Barile. In January, Councilmen John Lupinacci and Jonathan Schneider, both Republicans, announced they would not seek re-election. The Putnam County Republican Committee nominated Lombardi and Schanil to run for the two seats.

Lombardi dismissed Hopper’s comments about one-party rule.

“I believe the Republicans who have been on the town board have done a great job in keeping the town financially solvent, keeping crime down, and keeping quality-of-life issues at the forefront,” he said.

Lombardi noted that he was on the board during the last recession. “Because of the tough decisions that we made, we are one of the few local municipalities that have an Aa1 (Moody’s) bond rating,” he said, “which is a great thing for the people of Carmel.”

“We basically tripled the reserve fund, which is the town’s savings account,” he said. “It was barely $1 million when I took office. When I left in 2017 it was over $3 million.”

Lombardi agreed about the importance of updating the town’s master plan. “The master plan will determine what we want this town to look like in the future,” he said.

Since Carmel is in the New York City watershed, overseen by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, Lombardi said the town board must work with the DEP to try to get a sewer extension down Route 6 for economic development.

“That would be a significant game changer,” he said.