Say Hello to the Hopefuls
Two candidates are running for one five-year term on the Montauk School Board. The open seat is being vacated by Therese Watson after 29 years. The candidates, Lee White and Honora Herlihy, both have children in the school.
Mr. White has served on the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals for 12 years. He graduated from Gettysburg College with a degree in business management and a concentration in finance and accounting. He manages properties and watches houses for Lycke Home Services. He is an assistant real estate appraiser and also works at the Harvest on Fort Pond restaurant as a food expediter and bartender.
He has two children with his partner, Mary Jo Walker — Andy, who is 5 and in kindergarten, and Jolee, who is 3.
Mr. White is running to focus attention on what he calls the unfairness of the state-imposed 2-percent cap on tax levy increases. His plan is to explore reasonable alternatives to program cuts and consolidated classes. He said he would like to be an open and approachable board member.
His opponent, Ms. Herlihy, owned the Montauk Carriage House for 10 years before selling her lease in January. She said she is running because Ms. Watson’s exit offered her the opportunity. “I have time now and my children are in this school,” she said on Tuesday after attending a school board meeting.
She is interested in school security and the safety of Montauk students. She is also concentrating on the school’s curriculum because “that’s what a school is about.”
Ms. Herlihy graduated from the State University at Cobleskill with a degree in business. She also has degrees from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City in fashion merchandising and production management. She served on the Fashion Institute’s board in 1993 and 1994. She has been a member of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors as well as a regular chamber member. For the last three years she has been a Cub Scout leader.
She is married to Gerald Herlihy and has two children, Aydin, a third grader, and Paige, who is in kindergarten. She said she has a lot to learn and looks forward to the chance to serve.
“This will consume a substantial amount of time. But right now I have the time,” she said.
The vote is on Tuesday from 2 to 8 p.m. in the school gym. The district will also be deciding the fate of an $18.7 million budget, which reflects an increase of $180,882 from this year’s, with a spending increase of 0.98 percent and a tax rate increase of 0.87 percent.