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Town Board revisits extending supervisor’s term limit

It was only two years ago that Riverhead Town voters defeated a proposal to increase the town supervisor’s terms to four years as opposed to two.

That vote saw 64 percent of voters opposed to the change.

But now, the town is considering putting the issue up for referendum again.

“It’s really just for continuity,” Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith said in an interview. “All of the council seats are four years and it’s very difficult to do long-term planning with a two-year term.”

She said the town already limits all board members to 12 years in office.

The Town Board voted unanimously Tuesday to schedule an Aug. 21 public hearing on the proposed change.

In order for it to take effect, it must be approved in a public referendum.

In addition to 2016, when then-Supervisor Sean Walter pushed the four-year term, unsuccessfully, the proposal also was voted down by residents in 2007, when then-Supervisor Phil Cardinale backed the change.