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Two appointed to fill vacancies on Southold boards

The Southold Town Board last Tuesday officially filled vacancies on both the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals.

Mary Eisenstein was chosen to replace William Cremers, who retired in September and died last month.

“I’m very pleased to be on the planning board,” she said, but declined to comment further.

On the Democratic line, Ms. Eisenstein has run for the town board in the past two elections but had been unsuccessful. In 2013, she lost by 513 votes; in 2017 she lost by 34 votes.

In spite of her party affiliation, the Republican Town Board picked her for the opening on the Planning Board.

“Mary has run competitive races in the past as a candidate for a Town board position,” Supervisor Scott Russell said in an email. “It tells us that the community wants to see her involved in Town Hall decision making. We agreed.”

Mr. Russell said at least 25 people applied for the vacant spot.

Ms. Eisenstein has lived in Mattituck for over 25 years and founded the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association, and also served as its president.

Robert Lenhart was appointed by the Town Board to fill a vacant ZBA position. He brings with him 25 years of construction experience and has served on the town’s Deer Management Task Force.

“I still wanted to use all my experience from construction and now I’m sitting on the other side of the counter,” Mr. Lenhart said.

He has lived in the The Town of Southold for the past 18 years and said he looks forward to putting his 25 years of construction knowledge to use on the Zoning Board.

Both appointees were voted in unanimously by the board with no discussion. At the close of the meeting, Councilman Jim Dinizio thanked everyone for applying.

“It was long overdue and I just want to thank everyone for submitting their resume and taking the time to come to town hall for the interview process,” he said at the meeting. “They’ll do the job well.”

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