Mastic Beach trustees sworn in to office

Mastic Beach Trustee Gail Cappiello, the first candidate to win election to the village’s board of trustees without having an affiliation to the village’s dominant party, was sworn in to office on Tuesday.

Cappiello won election to the board in March, defeating Trustee Kenneth Olivo, a member of the 2-year-old Village Vision Team party, which dominates Village Hall.

Cappiello said her goal as trustee is to help “clean up the most blighted houses in the area,” which she said was “the goal of the village from the beginning.” Growing the downtown commercial area is also a goal, she said.

Cappiello added that village meetings have been more civil lately, a sign that the new board is willing to work together.

“We seem to be all heading in the same direction. Everybody’s open to new suggestions,” Cappiello said. “They are opening up more to the public, which is good.”

Trustee Robert Morrow was also sworn in on Tuesday. Morrow, an incumbent and a member of the Village Vision Team party, held on to his seat, while challenger Alan Chasinov, an ally of Cappiello in the Unity party, lost.