Candidate Profile: Rona Klopman For East Hampton Trustee

East Hampton NY

03 November, 2019

11:43 AM

Description

EAST HAMPTON, NY — Suffolk County residents will be hitting the polls soon to elect local representatives. The race is on in local town and village races leading up to Election Day, which, this year, falls on Tuesday, November 5. Patch asked those running for office to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles in the days leading up to the election. Rona Klopman, of Amagansett, described herself as "wisely experienced." She is running for East Hampton Town Trustee on the Conservative, Working Families, Libertarian, and Independence lines. Her opponents are Francis Bock, Bill Taylor, Susan McGraw-Keber, Richard Drew, Benjamin Dollinger, Tim Garneau, John Aldred, Mike Martinsen, James Grimes, Susan Vorphal, David Talmage, Michael Havens, Fallon Nigro, Dell Cullum and Stephen Leste. She has two married children, four grandchildren, and three granddogs. Klopman has a Bachelors Of Science in Education, and three Masters in education, reading, and computers. She is a retired 30-year reading teacher in Jericho, Long Island. She is the current secretary of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee and secretary of the recycling and litter committee. Check out Patch's full Q&A with Rona Klopman below. Patch: The single most pressing issue facing our community is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it. Klopman: We need specific, concrete plans to ensure surface water quality and respond to the threat of coastal erosion.Words are not enough. The Deepwater Wind offshore wind farm must not be built at the expense of our local fishing industry or our beaches. P: What are the critical differences between you and the other candidate seeking this post? K: Honesty and transparency — no back door deals as is done now by this current trustee board. The board is currently run by trustee clerk and two deputy clerks and decisions are made without any board discussions. P: If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community? K: Assuring that our water quality is improved in all our water bodies. I believe in cooperation between the trustees and other governmental agencies, such as the town board and State Department of Environmental Conservation. Continuing to provide solutions through research and implementation of that research. The trustees must be independent. They are not a town board committee. But I do not approve of efforts by the town board to use the Democratic Committee to control trustee policy. P: Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform: K: Don't believe that the Gann Rd. Shellfish Hatchery should be driven by a grant proposal and not include the residents for their input. There was no legitimate process used for this project. P: What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job? K: Community activist, 11-year board watcher, 15-year member of the Amagansett Advisory Committee Chair, Vice Chair, current secretary. Keeping the character of neighborhoods in each hamlet while solving problems. P: The best advice ever shared with me was ... K: "When you get up in the morning and look in the mirror and are happy with what you see, you are doing the right thing." P: What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions? K: Open government and transparency is most important to a community. Listening to our residents' opinions on projects affecting their neighborhood is most important — i.e., Gann Rd. Shellfish Hatchery, sand mine on Middle Highway in Springs, Deep Water Wind project in Wainscott, etc.