Yes, there is a R.B. trustee election next week
March 14, 2024 at 2:05 a.m.
In classic Rye Brook fashion, an uncontested election is on the docket as two incumbent trustees face no challengers in their bid to continue serving on the Village board.
Unless something unexpected happens, like a write-in campaign, Susan Epstein and David Heiser are likely to clinch the vote on Tuesday, Mar. 19, and slide into their next three-year terms on the Board of Trustees. It would be the fifth consecutive stint as a public official for Heiser, 75, and the fourth for Epstein, 62.
“This (vote) is not well known because I think we’re running unopposed,” Epstein said. In the many elections the candidates have faced, they’ve never endured opposition.
“Think about our Village,” Heiser reasoned. “For one, we’re non-partisan…”
“Which is really a beautiful thing,” Epstein chimed in.
“Two, the position is unpaid,” Heiser continued. “And three, the Village is doing really well. There are no complaints to speak of, and therefore, there’s not a great deal of impetus for people to run…There are people who aren’t necessarily enchanted by everything that happens, but for the most part, people are happy.”
Both candidates are running on the Rye Brook Together line, after gathering the 100 signatures needed for the ticket. The non-political nature of Village elections and governance is a staple, but is it healthy?
The incumbents believe it is—because non-partisan, they say, doesn’t mean there’s no exchange of different ideas.
“We don’t agree on everything, but there’s no bickering. There aren’t always 5-0 votes,” Epstein said. “We do have discussions, sometimes in some of the executive sessions, that are not always in agreement. But we respect one another. We all come from different backgrounds and expertise.”
She pointed to relatively recent hot topics where the board’s decisions were not unanimous, whether it be the speed of the gas leaf blower ban rollout or the vote to opt out of allowing cannabis dispensaries to open in Rye Brook.
Heiser, agreeing, said removing the politics means the board can have thoughtful discussions without party ideology guiding the rhetoric.
“Because we’re not partisan, we’re all trying to do what we think is best for the Village, we just don’t always agree on what is best,” he said. “But it’s never a matter of ‘I can’t agree to this because the Democrats would never do that.’”
Perhaps evident by the uncontested nature of the election, the incumbents seek another term on the Board of Trustees because it’s a role they genuinely enjoy, and there hasn’t been much interest from alternatives stepping up to the plate.
Epstein sees herself as a people person—a trustee who keeps her pulse on the community, offers an ear for residents who want to utilize their voice and is always thinking about what programs and activities the community wants. That mindset, she said, is what led to Music in the Park events, Rye Brook FIT walks and Ice Cream Friday socials in the summer.
“I feel like anything I do for Rye Brook, I have a lot of chutzpah,” she said. “It’s a neighborhood, an uber popular neighborhood. There’s so much desire to live here that not a lot of houses are turning over.”
Governance in Rye Brook, Heiser said, is all about the community-driven nature of the Village. And that’s why he says he’s been moved to serve as a trustee for all these years.
“I think it’s important to give back to your community. As long as I am capable of giving back, I will continue to run. It’s not like there’s a mad rush of people saying, ‘oh please, can I do it? Can I do it,”’ he said. “Nobody wants to do these things. It’s unpaid, and you rarely get thank yous. The best you get is nothing. But I don’t care if I ever get a thank you; it’s not why I do it. I do it because I want to give back, I find it fulfilling and I think it’s the right thing to do.”
While there are some unavoidable challenges in the mix, there isn’t much contention in the Village, particularly before the Board of Trustees. And that has made the service pleasant. But as both incumbents emphasized, that’s largely due to the Village staff.
“We are nothing without our professional staff who are very devoted to making Rye Brook as good as it is,” Epstein said, with both her and Heiser speaking particularly fondly of Village Administrator Christopher Bradbury. “They take great pride in having everything work in a fluid way.”
Priorities in the next three years
“I want to change our name to Heiserville, but I’m not getting the support, even on my board,” Heiser said of his priorities in his next term, an obvious joke from the trustee who likes to crack them often.
Though legitimate challenges do exist, Epstein said, dialing the conversation back in. And that, ultimately, must shape their priorities in the next few years.
Climate-related issues are one of the bigger problems in Rye Brook, which have no tangible solution.
“They talk about the 100-year storm, which seems to be coming every five years now,” Heiser said. “Having to send out crews to deal with snowfall and water that we’re not expecting, the overtime for police, fire and EMS, that all affects our budget. And we’re constantly trying to stay under the tax cap.”
“That’s not just a Rye Brook issue, I think many across the country are dealing with unusual weather. So, we’re trying to do what we can for our residents having these problems,” Epstein added, specifically referring to the federal buyout program that’s offering homeowners in floodplains a way out of their homes.
A more concrete priority, both candidates agreed, is to move development projects along to the best of their ability as a governing agency.
The senior living proposal at 900 King St. has been an ongoing discussion for years, Epstein said, and “we’d really love the owner of the Hilton to actually open it.” But it’s hard, she noted, because the Village is dealing with private companies.
“We’ve gotten nothing other than I think two Zoom conference calls where they gave us an outline of what they thought would be nice,” Heiser said of the Hilton property. “That was quite a while ago.”
Plans for the former Doral Arrowwood Hotel and Conference Center, however, seem to be moving along—a project making much more haste than the prior two, Epstein said confidently.
“My motivation, really, is to continue improving the lives of residents,” she continued, moving on. That’s how she believes she can make the greatest impact on the locality.
Aside from the community events she’s put much energy into, she said she’d like see a heightened emphasis on pedestrian safety in the near future—ensuring walkers, bikers and scooters are making themselves visible and observing the rules of the road.
For her, the biggest problem in the Village is at the forefront of her priorities: engagement. And if she can figure out how to address it—developing a method to expand the Village’s reach to all residents—she said she’d feel truly accomplished in her job.
“We’d really love for more people to get involved,” Epstein said. “We’d like the younger people to get involved who are just moving in, and also the older people. Anyone who wants to be a part of Rye Brook on a more granular level, we’d love them to donate their time in something.”
The lack of public participation is something Heiser also attested to. Both expressed frustration in the pulling teeth nature of trying to get residents to get involved.
Heiser sees it as an unfortunate generational gap. “I’m not objective about this, but young people don’t seem as interested in doing these kinds of things,” he said. “We keep going to the same people over and over, asking them to head this committee or do this favor. It’s just hard to get people.”
“Participate in life, that’s what I’d like to tell the residents. Participate in a way that you feel is helpful and mindful,” Epstein said. “You feel great when you donate your time or donate an idea or donate money or anything. Living in a community where if something ever happens you know you can count on your neighbors is an amazing thing. And people feel that here, so give back to the community. Be on a commission, be on an advisory committee, just do it.”
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