Editorials

Editorial: After Election Day, it’s time to work together

For a Town Board that’s been no stranger to tension and internal discord over the past five years, the results of Tuesday’s election can mean only one thing for sure: Finally, everyone can stop and take a deep breath. 

But, as all candidates who ran in Tuesday’s race would likely agree, work remains to be done in Riverhead. Plenty of it.

The voters have spoken, Town Board members can now put the campaign talk behind them and, we hope, everyone can move forward and focus their efforts on the concerns of taxpayers.

A main reason we opted not to endorse a candidate in this year’s election for supervisor was that we believe two of the candidates — sitting Supervisor Sean Walter and Councilwoman Jodi Giglio — have let their personal gripes get in the way of good policy decisions.

Mr. Walter refuses to sign a piece of legislation the councilwoman passes. Ms. Giglio proposes completely unrealistic changes to next year’s budget, penned by Mr. Walter. The bickering has been going on for years, and could be one reason why voter turnout this year was only about 35 percent, continuing a slide that began when just 47 percent of voters came out in 2005.

The fighting needs to stop — and that doesn’t need to wait until Jan. 1, 2016.

We hope both candidates can rise to the occasion in the next couple of years, put the past behind them and work together effectively to make Riverhead as good as it can be.

We shall see.