Coates says Giglio should resign; she says ‘not a chance’
Hours after her primary opponent called for her resignation over online reports that she made alterations to her house without town approvals, Republican Riverhead Councilwoman Jodi Giglio said there’s “not a chance” she will.
“Let my record stand for itself and the taxpayers of the Town of Riverhead decide my fate as an elected official,” Ms. Giglio said in an email to the News-Review Thursday evening. “Resign? Not a chance.”
Ms. Giglio only recently got part of her Baiting Hollow home up to code, according to a story first reported on riverheadlocal.com. The house had an ingr0und swimming pool and other backyard amenities installed in 1999, and later a finished basement and second-story addition, according to the report.
A certificate of occupancy for the pool wasn’t issued until June 20 of this year. A certificate of occupancy for the finished basement was also issued in June of this year, and a CO for the addition is still outstanding, according to the report.
The RiverheadLOCAL story also detailed how Ms. Giglio’s property value had not been reassessed to reflect the work done in the basement or the second-floor addition, though the assessed value of the home was raised after the pool was installed.
When contacted by the News-Review about the report Thursday, Town Board hopeful Anthony Coates, who is challenging Ms. Giglio in a Sept. 10 Republican primary election, said he believes the councilwoman should step down from her elected office.
“The hand is caught in the cookie jar and frankly, I think she should resign,” Mr. Coates said. “This is a big thumbing your nose at every citizen of Riverhead who does pay their fees.”
Ms. Giglio said the call for resignation, and the Coates campaign in general, is all part of a “personal crusade” following her voting against his appointment to a town legislative secretary job, a position that would have had him working on getting a proposed commission to fast-track development in Albany approved.
Mr. Coates said that’s not why he’s running.
“When they didn’t give me that job I did it anyway,” Mr. Coates said, pointing to trips he made to Albany along with Supervisor Sean Walter and the recent approval of fast-track legislation by the state Legislature. “If there’s anything called a vendetta here it’s really on her. She’s the one who banned me from riding in town vehicles. She’s the one who tried to ban me from Town Hall.”
Still, Mr. Coates was quick to admit there’s no love lost on either side of what is becoming a fierce primary battle.
“There’s definitely no Christmas cards being exchanged [between us],” Mr. Coates said. “But I do think it’s important for people to know this isn’t about [a personal crusade.]
“I didn’t start off my [campaign because of] a problem with Jodi Giglio,” he said. “It’s the facts and the lies that have made me have an issue with Jodi. My campaign is about real questions of ethics with her and her conflicts of interests.”
Ms. Giglio said Friday she “never banned Mr. Coates from Town Hall or from town vehicles.”
“This is just some rhetoric from him that makes me look like someone I’m not,” she said. “It’s just him spewing lies.”
Both candidates said they don’t believe their opponent is “fit to hold office.”
