Two Incumbents Among Four Vying for Mt. Pleasant Town Board

The race for the Mount Pleasant Town Board is heating up as three Republicans are seeking the party’s nomination for two council seats while a Democrat recently announced he was entering the fray.

Former three-term councilman Thomas Sialiano is challenging incumbents Denis McCarthy and Laurie Smalley for the Republican nomination. Four years ago, the town’s GOP committee endorsed McCarthy and Smalley over Sialiano.

The committee is scheduled to nominate its candidates this Wednesday.

The lone Democrat in the race so far is Nathaniel Smith, who is running for one of the council openings.

So far, no one has announced a candidacy to take on Republican Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi.

McCarthy, finishing his first four-year term, said he was motivated to run for re-election because there are many good things underway in Mount Pleasant.

“There’s a renaissance happening in this town,” said McCarthy, 48, who formerly served on the planning board for four years.

An engineer at Bronx Community College, McCarthy said his professional background, which includes project management, and planning board experience would help the town board make the best decisions on projects proposed for Mount Pleasant, including the North 60 biomedical complex in Valhalla.

He said he is looking forward to seeing additional business development in town so the commercial tax base can be increased to hold property taxes in check. Updating the town’s Comprehensive Plan for the first time since 1970 is also a priority.

“That’s an initiative that I truly believe in,” McCarthy said.

Like McCarthy, Smalley is in her first term on the town board. In recent years, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and New York Medical College has expanded its facilities and North 60 would be “a project that’s not only good for Mount Pleasant, it’s good for the area,” Smalley said.

“I think we’re on the precipice of something really good here in Mount Pleasant. We’re moving forward,” she said.

Smalley, 60, a supervising public health nurse employed by Westchester County, said she wants to encourage development of more housing for millennials and seniors who want to downsize.

She said one of her strengths as a councilwoman is being able to listen to concerns of residents and town employees, including the police department. The town board has provided the police with adequate staffing, vehicles and equipment during the past four years, an important consideration, Smalley said.

Furthermore, she is the town board’s liaison to the parks and recreation department.

“It really is one of the premier parks and rec departments in the county,” Smalley said.

Some of her professional responsibilities include being in charge of grant programs and overseeing the Healthy Neighborhoods program, which helps improve and maintain the personal health and environmental living conditions of residents in certain neighborhoods, particularly those who are living in older housing stock.

A message for Sialiano was not returned last week.

Unlike the Republican candidates, Smith, 48, has never run for public office. He said it is unhealthy that the town board has been dominated by Republicans for so many years.

He said he also chose to run this year out of concern over “where we are as a country” since President Donald Trump took office.

While Smith said he wasn’t prepared yet to lay out a platform of specific issues, he mentioned that his 20 years as a psychotherapist and clinical social worker has given him the skills to work well with others. He has a private practice in town.

He also opposes the state’s tax cap. The cap “seems to signify a lack of trust” in municipal and school district officials, Smith said.

Fulgenzi, 63, who became supervisor after Joan Maybury retired in October 2014, said he will be running for re-election in November because there is more to be accomplished.

“There’s so much we have going on here that are very important advances that we’re making,” he said. “There are a lot of things I want to see completed.”

Some of the issues Fulgenzi said he wanted to address over the next two years include improving the town’s commercial areas and upgrading the roads and town hall.