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FRNCA president steps down to serve as Riverhead school board member

Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association (FRNCA) president Ron Fisher resigned from his position Monday night and announced he’ll be appointed to a vacancy on the Riverhead Board of Education.

Mr. Fisher, who’s been the civic’s president for over a year, will also resign from the Southampton Town Housing Authority. In addition, he plans to run for Southampton Town Trustee.

Mr. Fisher made his announcement at Monday night’s FRNCA meeting and he showed a school identification badge with his name on it. He’s expected to be appointed to the school board at Tuesday night’s meeting.

“I’ll be the first representative from the Flanders-Riverside-Northampton area in about 10 years,” Mr. Fisher said. “I’m really excited about it and I want to work hard for the community.”

Chrissy Prete of Flanders was the last resident from the area to serve on the school board.

The Riverhead School District — which covers the Southampton Town communities of Flanders, Riverside, Northampton and the Red Creek section of Hampton Bays — has been operating with two vacant school board seats since Ann Cotten-DeGrasse and Amelia Lantz resigned shortly after the May election.

The board had three options following the resignations: appointing people to serve until May 2018, holding a special election to fill the positions, or leaving the seats vacant until May 2018. Riverhead Police Officer Byron Perez has been named as the school board’s second appointee.

Vince Taldone, a former FRNCA president who currently serves as vice president, will now become president again.

“Ron has done an amazing job over the last year plus,” Mr. Taldone said. “He’s helped us to raise more money than we’ve ever raised to fund operations and beautification projects. We’ve given more scholarships than ever before. We’ve teamed up with more organizations than ever before. We’ve reached out to the community and we’ve got the kids playing in Ludlum Park in part due to Ron’s endless efforts.”

Mr. Taldone and Mr. Fisher both said it was necessary for Mr. Fisher to step down from the FRNCA post because the organization’s tax exempt status could be jeopardized by having a FRNCA board member in an elected position on the school board.

Former vice president Steve Schreiber was appointed to replace Mr. Taldone.

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Photo: Ron Fisher, right, has stepped down from his position as FRNCA’s president. Vince Taldone, left, will take his place. (Credit: Tim Gannon)