User:Señor Omnisciente/Jay Schneiderman



Jay H. Schneiderman (born April 9, 1962) is an American politician and businessman in Suffolk County, New York. Since his inauguration in January 2016, he has been the Town Supervisor of the Town of Southampton, the largest municipality on eastern Long Island. Previously Schneiderman was the Suffolk County Legislator for the Second Legislative District, who served from 2004 through 2015, having been first elected to the Legislature in November 2003. Facing term limits for the county legislator position, he ran for the office of Southampton Town Supervisor. He had previously served as the supervisor of the Town of East Hampton from 2000 to 2004. In the nearly four centuries since the settlement of the region, he is the only known individual to be elected to the leadership of both townships.

Education and Business Career
A Long Island native, Jay Schneiderman graduated Hauppauge High School and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from Ithaca College. This was followed by two Master of Arts degrees: one in Education from the State University of New York at State University of New York at Cortland and another in Administration from LIU Post.

In subsequent years, Schneiderman nurtured his natural passion for lifelong learning by teaching science, math, and music at both the Hampton Day School and Ross School (East Hampton, New York). During that time, he also managed his family’s business, the Breakers Motel in Montauk, which he presently co-owns with his sister, noted jewelry designer Helen Ficalora. Schneiderman later formed his own property management company, which serviced large and small Montauk resorts.

Originally constructed in the 1950s, the revitalization of the Breakers into a boutique destination began in 2017 under the creative direction of Knowlita. Working together with the sibling pair, the iconic seaside property was expanded to include 25 guest rooms, direct beach access, a café and bar, a private ocean view lounge, guest wellness programming, and poolside service.

Service in East Hampton Town Government
In 1991 Schneiderman became a member of the Town of East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals, and was appointed to its chairmanship in 1996. He served in that capacity until 1999 when he was elected to the first of two terms as East Hampton Town Supervisor. His re-election followed in 2001.

During his four years in office, Supervisor Schneiderman delivered four consecutive property tax cuts, improved employee morale, and garnered the highest municipal bond rating in New York State. From 2000 to 2004 he led the fight to preserve over 1,000 acres of East Hampton’s open space and worked closely with fellow board members to draft long-range plans for affordable housing and drinking water protection.

Service in the Suffolk County Legislature
In November 2003 Schneiderman was elected to represent the South Fork in the Suffolk County Legislature. At the time the district was comprised on the towns of East Hampton, Southampton, and portion of the hamlet of East Moriches in the Town of Brookhaven. He was returned to office five times in the elections of 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013.

Over the course of 12 years in the Legislature, Schneiderman was a member of numerous committees, including those on Government Operations, Personnel, and Housing. He was Vice Chairman of the committees on Budget and Finance, as well as Consumer Protection. In 2008 and 2009 he served as Chairman of Environment, Planning and Agriculture Committee, and was appointed to chair the Parks and Recreation Committee in 2014.

However, for most of his tenure, Schneiderman was Chairman of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, serving in that post in 2006 and 2007, and again from 2010-2013. During that time he worked to add a second, temporary eastbound lane to CR39, and then successfully added permanent lanes in both directions to break the traffic bottleneck on the region’s busiest roadway.

Other legislatively successful projects that Schneiderman sponsored include: adding ecological health as a criterion for county dredging projects, creating the Suffolk County Regional Solid Waste Management Commission, initiating Suffolk County public bus service on Sundays,   constructing new facilities at the Eastern Campus of Suffolk County Community College, and repairing the lock system of the Shinnecock Canal—the only navigation system of its kind operating on Long Island. Schneiderman’s approved legislative resolutions also secured the preservation of several thousands of acres of open space and farmland in Suffolk, the county with the largest agricultural market value in New York State until 2015.

Schneiderman served as the Legislature’s Deputy Presiding Officer from 2014 until the end of his term in December 2015. He was the Legislature’s longest-serving member at the time.

Service in Southampton Town Government
Current Suffolk County law prevents office holders from serving more than six consecutive terms, or twelve years in the same elected position. With his final term set to end on December 31, 2015, Schneiderman, by then a resident of Southampton for several years, was nominated to run for that town’s supervisor position in the November elections. Crossed endorsed by multiple parties, he won with 56.34 percent of the vote, and was re-elected in November 2017 with 62.3 percent. In May 2018, Schneiderman sought, and won, the Democratic nomination for Suffolk County Comptroller in that fall’s election against first-term Republican incumbent John Kennedy. Schneiderman was also endorsed by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. From the beginning of the campaign, Schneiderman referenced his role as the top lawmaker in both East Hampton and Southampton towns, in addition to his 12 years in Suffolk County government. “I brought both towns to a Triple A bond rating and held the line on property taxes for 18 years in public office, and will be an independent watchdog for the county,” he said.

On election night, November 6, the results were too close to call, but the incumbent narrowly edged-out Schneiderman when the absentee ballot count was completed more than weeks later. To date, it remains Schneiderman’s only electoral loss. In conceding the race, he expressed his intention to seek a third term as Southampton Town Supervisor in the 2019 elections to be held November 5. In doing so, he will run as the endorsed candidate of the Democratic, Conservative, and Working Families parties.