Three Republicans Compete for Two Spots in Southeast Council Primary

The June 27 Republican primary in Southeast will see three candidates squaring off for their party’s nomination for the Southeast Town Board.

Councilman John O’Connor is running for a second four-year term while fellow incumbent Edwin Alvarez has decided against running after have served three terms since first elected in 2012.

Joining O’Connor on the ballot are challengers Wendy Lewis and Alessandro Mazzotta.

Wendy Lewis

Although this is Lewis’ first political run, she has been highly involved in the community. A lifelong Southeast resident, Lewis and her husband, Scott, have raised five children, two of whom are grown adults. Her parents live on Brewster Hill.

“I’m running because I’m very involved in this town,” Lewis said. “I feel it’s important for the community to work together. Our elected officials have done a great job but there is some room for improvement.”

Lewis serves on the town’s Planning/Architectural Review Board and had also been on the Board of Assessment Review. She would like to see a more active partnership between the town and the Village of Brewster.

“I’d like to see the town bring sponsored events to the village, especially ones that celebrate our kids,” she said. “Even though the Village of Brewster is a separate government, we all pay Southeast taxes. We are lacking the opportunity to come together as a town.”

Smart development has always been important to Lewis.

“But we also have to respect the beautiful open space we want to maintain,” she said. “We have to honor that while bringing in revenue but without creating a negative impact on the open space that we have here.”

Lewis said she was fully committed to running for election.

“I love this town and I believe being on the board will have a positive impact,” Lewis remarked. “I’m still raising my children here and I’m invested in the success of this town.”

 

Alessandro Mazzotta

Mazzotta has lived in Southeast for over 40 years. He and his wife, Kirsten, have two children, ages seven and 11. He is an attorney who was the director for the Putnam County Purchasing Department for 15 years and has recently started working as director of procurement at Fordham University.

“My experience lends itself very well to town government,” he said. “You typically don’t get a town board member who has that level of insight into the day-to-day activity of government.”

Mazzotta said his past experience has given him expertise in government law, public work projects and bidding laws, among other areas.

“My background is very much about process and so much of government is process based,” Mazzotta said. “Making processes more efficient is what I can bring to the table. There’s always room for improvement. “

As a parent of two young children Mazzotta said he’d like to see more opportunities for children created by the Recreation Department.

“We need to have more activities for our kids along with creating that nice hometown feel here for our families,” he said.

 

John O’Connor

O’Connor, who moved to Southeast in 2014, holds a master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in emergency and disaster management. He and his wife, Miwa, have three children from eight to 13 years old, all enrolled in the Brewster School District.

A big issue for O’Connor is the lack of a sewer district along Route 22 and I-684.
“All the businesses along that corridor are at their maximum capacity for their septic systems,” O’Connor said. “If we tap grant monies to finance a new sewer and wastewater treatment (facility), it will attract better quality businesses and residents.”

O’Connor is a proponent of ProSwing’s Brewster Yards project. The parcel would join the recently-approved 933,100-square-foot distribution center off Route 312 on Pugsley Road.

“I’d like to see that come to fruition,” O’Connor said. “It’s important to attract good businesses.”

Keeping property taxes down while continuing to provide services is an ongoing challenge.

“I’ve been on the (council) team over the past few years and we have tried to be fiscally conservative, and last year were able to have a negative 2 percent budget,” he said. “Keeping property taxes down is something I take seriously as a council member and a taxpayer myself.”

O’Connor has been certified by the New York Association of Towns, a three-year program into how various municipal posts function, including that of supervisor, the town justices, zoning, planning and code enforcement.

“The program gave me more insight and I am now well-rounded in my knowledge as to how town government operates,” he said.

O’Connor has served as chairman of the Putnam County Safety Committee since 2014, and has been a member of the county’s Traffic Safety Board since 2015. He is the vice chair of the Putnam County Local Emergency Planning Committee and is one of the founding members of the Putnam County Technical Rescue Team.

He has previously served the Town of Southeast as a part-time fire inspector and has been with the emergency services community throughout the Lower Hudson Valley for the past 30 years.