Mayor-Elect Shifts From Campaign to Governance

Post-election Interview With Liz Feld

by Judy Silberstein

(March 28, 2006) It had been less than a week since Larchmont voters had swept Liz Feld and her Coalition Party slate into office, and the mayor-elect was battling a sore throat on Monday, March 2, when she sat down to discuss how she was moving from campaign to governing mode.

Mayor-elect Liz Feld addresses a packed courtroom on election night, March 22.

Perhaps her voice was raw from calling or taking calls from US Congresswoman Nita Lowey, NY Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, NY Assemblyman George Latimer, Westchester Legislator Judy Myers, County Deputy Executive Larry Schwartz (County Executive Andy Spano was in China), and New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson – and those are all Democrats. She’s had a number of conversations with Town of Mamaroneck Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe, a fellow-Republican, and hoped to reach Village of Mamaroneck Mayor Phil Trifiletti, also a Republican. “We have to do a much better job to dialogue with other levels of government, “ she said. “It’s not responsible to proceed with a go-it-alone approach.” Improving communications was a campaign goal that the mayor-elect was getting an opportunity to work on immediately.

“I do think the fact that I’ll be in the Village every day will be a big difference,” she said. Her “office hours” will be on the Chatsworth playground, the CVS parking lot, and at Bradley’s all day-long. She’ll also establish formal office hours at Village Hall, but cut back on the monthly Saturday-morning open meetings that were rarely attended by residents, she said. She was meeting and would be meeting again with Village Hall staff, heads of the departments and residents wanting to move ahead on the skate park and other issues.

Other items on her “to do” list will be unrolled starting next week. To further improve communication, efficiency and transparency, Mayor-elect Feld said she was reworking board responsibilities, providing the board with greater access to information through a weekly mayor’s briefing, and giving trustees a greater role at the public meetings. “My highest priority is to lead a board of five participating trustees where each member’s talents and expertise are put to the highest uses. That will happen from Day 1, April 3,” when the new board is sworn in.

The board will have to address the 2006-2007 budget right away (See: Larchmont's Tentative Budget Up 8.9%; Cuts Anticipated ), but Mayor-elect Feld said another immediate task is to redefine the budget process. She plans to have the current budget committee disband and establish itself as a finance committee that would help the board establish medium-range and long-term priorities, including planning for capital projects.

To address the need for more administrative support at Village Hall, a major campaign theme, “We’ll be going department by department,” she said. She plans to be “less reliant on consultants,” she commented, “My priority is to empower Denis [Brucianni, the Village Treasurer] to make many more of the day-to-day decisions that go on at Village Hall,” she said. “He’s a very talented, dedicated professional.” Because Larchmont shares Mr. Brucianni’s services with the Town of Mamaroneck, she said there will be many more conversations with him and with Supervisor O’Keeffe on this topic. Another priority is hiring a full-time engineer and scaling back on consultant engineering services, as discussed at length during the campaign.

Also, “We need to take a new look to see if we have the right level and right kind of staffing in the Building Department," said the mayor-elect. Their work “impacts the quality of life and character of the Village more than any other department,” she said.

In addition, the mayor-elect is looking forward to launching a volunteer recruitment program with the Fire Department. “The timing is perfect – there are so many new young families,” she said, adding “The Fire Department shouldn’t have to do it on their own – it’s in everyone’s interest.”

On the other hand, she said, “I respect that the Fire Chief is the chief and runs the Fire Department, and the Police Chief runs the Police Department.” With the police contract not up again until 2008, “there will be time before we have to renegotiate that,” she said, referring to another contentious issue from the campaign. “ See: “Another Historical First: Union Supporting Feld for Mayor.”

Mayor-elect Feld does not expect to be making personnel changes to Larchmont’s many committees, though some committee members supported her in the campaign and others supported her opponents. She said, “All of the people who serve are residents and taxpayers and have a right to participate” in the political process.

Future Political Alliances?

One big question: What will happen to the Coalition Party? Ms. Feld lost at the Republican caucus and won on a slate with two Democrats. Next year, Trustees Anne McAndrews (a Democrat who backed Ms. Feld for mayor) and Mike Wiener (a Republican, who backed Ken Bialo ) are up for re-election. “It remains to be seen,” said the mayor-elect. “There were so many people who said the parties don’t matter any more.” On the other hand, she said, as a Republican, she will call upon her relations with Republicans at other levels of government to help the Village. “But I also have relationships with Democrats at other levels. So it’s all about effective leadership,” she concluded.

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