Supe Dispels Rumors She'll Take County Gig

In her second inaugural address, Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst put "persistent rumors" to rest on Tuesday that she would leave her current position to advance her career with a county position.

Throne-Holst said the rumors — that she was going to take a job in the administration of new Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone — started swirling during the campaign season, "probably as a way to cast some doubt if I was a serious or committed candidate."

Hoping the rumors would die after she won, she said they've only intensified.

"I don't normally listen to these things, but when people are stopping by my office and asking if this is true — when fellow town board members are asking me — I felt I needed to reassure people who work for the town," she said.

Messages left with Bellone's administration were not immediately returned. Throne-Holst said during her speech that "no such conversations or plans have ever taken place or are in the making."

In a separate interview, she said, "I see no reason why I wouldn't seek this office again two years from now."

In her address, the supervisor said her biggest accomplishment of her first term was righting "the well-noted fiscal mismanagement of the past," with the help of Town Comptroller Tamara Wright, the re-appointment of whom was tabled on Tuesday and will be discussed at Friday's work session. Other accomplishments she noted came in reorganization of , land use reform, and environmental efforts.

She cited economic development and job creation as an area on which she hopes to gain ground.

Throne-Holst, incumbent Councilwoman Bridget Fleming, first-term Councilwoman Christine Preston-Scalera, and others were sworn in on Tuesday morning at town hall.

In addition to the three board members, Town Justice Ed Burke was sworn in to begin his 19th year on the bench, Tax Receiver Theresa Kiernan spoke to the jam-packed room (her term began last December), and four Trustees were sworn in: Fred Havemeyer, Eric Shultz, Bill Pell and Jon Semlear. The fifth Trustee re-elected, Ed Warner Jr., was absent.