Greenport voters will pick a new town supervisor on Nov. 3, choosing between a former supervisor turned town judge and the longtime deputy supervisor who has backed the current administration's agenda. Democrat John Porreca Sr. and Republican Clayton Clark both say the town can run better — they just disagree sharply on who is to blame for months of discord on the town board.
Porreca, who served as Greenport's town supervisor from 2013 to 2015 and has spent nine and a half years as the town's judge, resigned that judgeship in June to enter the race, according to The Daily Gazette. He jumped in after a contentious June town board meeting where the board adjourned without hearing resident comments about Debbie Mausolf's firing, and he has said the board failed to listen to the public. Clark, meanwhile, is the Republican deputy town supervisor who has lived in Greenport for 50 years, served 14 years on the town board, and previously worked as the town's assessor, served on the planning board, managed the now-closed Kozel's restaurant and worked as a purchasing agent at Herrington's.
The two men offer competing accounts of how they ended up on opposite sides of the ballot. Clark has said he approached Porreca in January and again before party nominating caucuses in May, offering to support what was then only a theoretical Porreca candidacy, and that Porreca told him both times he would back the deputy supervisor instead. Porreca disputes that account, saying any such conversations would have violated his ethical obligation to remain nonpartisan as a sitting town judge. Republicans nominated Clark in late May, and town Democrats announced Porreca as their own nominee in early June.
A Board Marked by Confrontation
Greenport has endured months of town board meetings marked by confrontations and insults, and both candidates point to lingering animosity and poor communication among officials as the town's broader problem. Town engineer George Schmitt has said the town worked better before board member Jim Dolan took office in January, and Dolan reportedly clashes frequently with Supervisor Kathy Eldridge at board meetings, whom both candidates are seeking to succeed. Highway Superintendent John Mausolf has said he remains angry with Eldridge over his wife Debbie Mausolf's firing; Debbie Mausolf is now running unopposed for town clerk and tax collector.
That dysfunction played out again at October's board meeting, where residents accused officials of inaction on the long-closed Mount Merino Road, and Schmitt accused Dolan of grandstanding on the issue. Porreca has said Clark, as deputy supervisor, shares responsibility for how the board has handled major town issues. Clark has proposed holding private monthly meetings between the board and department heads, saying the smaller setting could reduce confrontation and improve coordination. Porreca has countered with his own fix: requiring every town department to report to the board at every meeting, which he says would improve transparency and let both the board and the public participate.
Mount Merino Road's Costly, Unresolved Repair
The Mount Merino Road section at 120-127 Mount Merino Road has been closed since a July 29 storm washed out the embankment beneath it, according to reporting by the same outlet. Schmitt and Mausolf have said the closure could stretch past a year, and the fix will require a costly engineering overhaul — potentially removing the damaged section, rebuilding the base and stabilizing roughly 60 feet below the road surface. Because the job will likely demand more equipment than the town has on hand, it may have to go out to bid.
Greenport Highway Superintendent John Mausolf told NEWS10 the town is looking at reopening one or possibly two lanes temporarily while permanent construction plans are developed, and he estimated the overall repair could run over $1 million. Clark has said he hopes to work with town engineer George Schmitt on shovel-ready repair plans, arguing that having designs ready could improve the town's odds of landing state grants.
Sewers, Storefronts and Dueling Economic Fixes
Both candidates named water and wastewater infrastructure as their top priority, pointing to a town sewer system that can overflow during heavy rain when stormwater infiltrates the pipes. Greenport is awaiting a study that would identify where that infiltration is occurring and recommend fixes, something both Clark and Porreca consider essential to supporting proposed commercial and residential development. Clark has said the wastewater system has the capacity to serve new buildings but needs infiltration repairs first, while Porreca backs using grant funding to pay for that work and says he would consider hiring a full-time grant writer — a proposal Clark has questioned, citing cost.
On downtown vacancies, Porreca has said empty storefronts along Fairview Avenue are hurting the town, attributing the problem mainly to skyrocketing commercial rents, including lost opportunities for a Jersey Mike's and a KFC that he says the town could have landed. His proposed fix is a volunteer resident committee that would work to retain existing businesses, attract new ones and discuss ways to lower commercial rents. Clark has emphasized his decades of local management and governance experience — from the assessor's office to the planning board — as his case for why he is ready to lead, saying that background drove his decision to run and that he is fully committed to the race.
Board Vacancies Add to the Backdrop
The supervisor race unfolds against a backdrop of unresolved vacancies on the board. Former Town Clerk Michelle Troy-Ryder resigned in May, and per the Gazette's earlier coverage, the official town clerk title must remain open until it is filled by voters in November. The board also deadlocked 2-2 on a motion to appoint Sharon Zempko as a second deputy town clerk, leaving that seat unresolved as well. That same reporting noted board member Jim Dolan was convicted in 1991 of two felonies and six misdemeanors tied to attempted bribery and impeding investigations, though an appeals court later overturned the two felony counts and two of the six misdemeanor counts.
Whoever wins on Nov. 3 will inherit a board still working through those vacancies, an expensive road repair with no clear funding plan, and a sewer system awaiting its own diagnostic study. Both Porreca and Clark agree Greenport's next supervisor will need to ease tensions, improve communication among officials and get back to addressing routine town business — the harder question voters face is which man's record and plan can actually deliver that.
