By Stacey Altherr
For Bill Holst, this will not be his first time at the Smithtown political rodeo.
Democratic candidate for Smithtown Town Supervisor Bill Holst Holst, a 65-year-old Nesconset resident, was a Suffolk County legislator serving the Smithtown area from 1997 to 1999, first winning a special election and then a complete term. He was also an assistant town attorney, and served as president of both the school board and local chamber of commerce.
He ran for the supervisor seat in 2005, beaten, as many Democrats before and after him, by the seemingly immovable Patrick Vecchio, who has been town supervisor for 30 years and garnished 55 percent of the vote that year to Holst’s 28 percent.
This time could be different, Holst said, calling this year a “tremendous opportunity.”
Vecchio may not even have the nomination, after coming up 39 votes short against Councilman Edward Wehrheim with absentee ballots left to count. If Wehrheim takes the nomination, Holst said, the incumbent councilman will have to answer to his work so far on the town board.
“If he loses, and I run against Wehrheim, my chances are very good,” Holst said. “He acts like he suddenly found his voice, but where was he the last 14 years?”
Holst is running with two other Democrats on his ticket: Patty Stoddard, a retired teacher involved in Nesconset community matters, and Amy Fortunato, a local businesswoman, on the Smithtown Forward line. The team is also running on the Working Families and Women’s Equality party lines.
Holst’s roots in the town run deep. Noting he is an 11th generation descendent from Smithtown Founder Richard Smythe, Holst graduated from Smithtown High School in 1970 and from New York University in 1974, after which he served in the U.S. Army from 1975-78. He received a law degree from St. John’s University in 1982. His two adult children also reside in the town.
An assistant Suffolk County attorney since 2004, he was also once town attorney in Smithtown serving from 1987-88.
During his time as Suffolk County Legislator, Holst pushed for revitalization of the county’s downtown districts, which in Smithtown, has been a source of contention.
“I actually went around to different parts of the Island, and did presentations,” Holst said of his efforts, adding that government officials in communities such as Patchogue, Bay Shore, and Northport have created thriving downtowns.
“They really embraced the whole idea of downtown revitalization… but in my own hometown, it is pretty indifferent.”
Among his other concerns is how the town board handles its agendas for public meetings, including adding items at the last minute that have big financial implications, for instance, that are often surprises to board members. He gave as an example the paving of Lake Avenue.
It often is the case with development, he noted, where ideas are thrown out at meetings and then abandoned, saying that the “whole dynamic” is that a developer presents an idea, the town board approves it, the public learns about it from there and has issues with it, and then “the town acts like it never happened.”
“There is a better chance of it happening if everyone is in the loop,” he said. “I pointed out, why not give the public an opportunity to speak on it?” he said of the public meetings. “It’s not tailored to solving any problems. In fact, it creates them.” Holst would advocate for citizen committees to look at these bigger town issues, he said.
He also wants a healthy discussion on term limits. “People are very amendable to the idea to the concept of term limits,” he said.
The vote for town supervisor, town council, and other elected town officials will be Tuesday, Nov. 7.