Councilman Mark Cuthbertson was re-elected to a four-year term on the Huntington Town Board in 2009 and has served on the Huntington Town Board since January 1998. Cuthbertson has kept his pledge to put politics aside and part of a bi-partisanship government that has marked the most significant turnaround in local government on Long Island. Throughout his term, Mark Cuthbertson has voted to reduce and stabilize taxes in Huntington by working with the other members of the Town Board, to place performance over partisanship. In recent years, he has focused on the area of economic development and job creation and has used his background in real estate law to attract several major projects in the Route 110 corridor including Canon USA and Ruby's Costumes. This effort was recognized by the Long Island Business News as the Best Public Private Partnership for 2008. In addition, Cuthbertson has sponsored sweeping environmental legislation to preserve hillside areas in the Town, to promote renewable energy and to preserve open spaces.

Some of his legislative achievements include:

Financial Stability

·                     Town of Huntington continues to boast the strongest fiscal health of any municipality on Long Island, with no tax increase for 11 years in a row. The reserves are healthy, the debt is being paid down and the Town recently received one of the highest bond ratings in all of New York State, including a AAA rating from Standard & Poors.

·                     Worked with Supervisor Frank Petrone and Suffolk County to encourage Canon to develop their North and South American Regional Headquarters in Melville, NY. This project will inject nearly $459 million into the local economy, create over 6500 new jobs and will be LEED Silver Certified.

·                     Supports the Huntington Station revitalization effort. This builds on the positive momentum of the opening of Highview at Huntington, the renewal at the Big H Mall, the formation of the Huntington Station B.I.D. and the approval of a new cultural site at Northridge on New York Ave.

·                     Sponsor of the Annual Huntington Tulip Festival. The Town plants over 20,000 tulip bulbs in Heckscher Park in the Spring and when the flowers bloom, the celebration attracts more than 5,000 people. The event was based on Cuthbertson's dream to bring more family-oriented events to Huntington.

·                     Member of the Board of the Route 110 Partnership which serves as a magnet to attract businesses to the area. At the same time, the Route 110 Partnership is committed to focusing on clean energy alternatives and addressing child care needs, and it encouraging sustainable growth in the area.

·                     Supports Downtown Revitalization through Chambers of Commerce, Beautification Councils and Civic Associations utilizing grants for light posts, flags and other features to attract more business to downtown areas such as East Northport, Cold Spring Harbor, Greenlawn and Huntington Village.

·                     Sponsored landmark legislation requiring union apprenticeship programs on all residential and commercial developments under 100,000ft sq. This effort will help in the creation of a skilled, motivated trade workforce that will benefit employers by reducing turnover and enhancing public safety of the workforce by ensuring that fully trained craftsmen and women will be working on these development projects.

Environment and Open Space

·                     Supports the 1998, 2003 and 2008 Environmental Open Space and Park Improvement Bond Acts, which has enabled the Town to purchase over 200 acres of parkland including Manor Farm, Northport Knolls, Veterans Park, Mohlenhoff property, the John Coltrane Park and 20 acres at Hobart Beach. The funds also provide for the purchase of new equipment and improvements to 35 town parks, from Heckscher Park to small town parks.

·                     Initiated the earmark of $1 million in EOSPA bond money for the promotion and development of renewable energy projects in the Town of Huntington. As part of this effort, Councilman Cuthbertson created the Renewable Energy Task Force to assist in the distribution of this money.

·                     Currently sponsoring major revisions to Half Hollow Park in Melville including bocce courts, soccer fields, a golfing putting green and a playground.

·                     Worked with Councilman Stuart Besen, Suffolk County and the Peconic Land Trust in an effort to preserve Richter's Orchard, the 16-acre farm and orchard located in East Northport. In purchasing the development rights, the property will remain a working farm and orchard in perpetuity.

·                     Together with the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, initiated the Pink Flag - I Am Fed Naturally campaign, which encourages homeowners to reduce or eliminate toxic pesticides on their lawns and gardens.

·                     Encouraged organic care of Town properties. Sponsored resolution to hire a noted organic golf course consultant who is working to make the Town golf courses organic.

·                     With the overwhelming support of the environmental community, he strengthened the landmark Steep Slope Ordinance which prevented the subdivision and development of hills and steeply sloped land, unique to Long Island's north shore.

·                     Instated a moratorium on the development of private golf courses in the Town of Huntington. The moratorium is in place to that the Town can thoroughly study the impact of development on large portions of potentially environmentally sensitive land.

·                     Worked with Councilman Besen on the purchase and preservation of the Lewis Oliver Dairy in Northport, which now serves as an educational space for local school children.

Public Safety

·                     Strengthened the town's pro-active efforts to educate the community on their rights and responsibilities.

·                     Supported the accessory apartment law and raising the fines for code violations, including the Housing Enforcement Action Team (H.E.A.T) and Operation HAIL Storm (Huntington Against Illegal Landlords) - a major initiative to combat and crackdown on illegal housing and apartments throughout Huntington.

Road Improvements and Maintenance

·                     Co-sponsored the resolution to bond $1.35 million for the reconstruction of Walt Whitman Road

·                     Sponsored $2.5 million for the renovation of the Mill Dam Causeway in Centerport with Supervisor Frank Petrone.

·                     Increased funding for paving and purchase of improved road-paving equipment.

·                     Sponsored the purchase of speed machines and coordinated with the 2^nd Precinct and local school districts to use the machine as a traffic calming device near schools.

Quality of Life Issues

·                     Spearheaded the successful effort to turn away the MTA from using Greenlawn as their all night train storage and cleaning yard.

·                     Advocated for residents who are concerned with plan of Pennsylvania-based Company, PPL, to build a 300-magewatt power plant on Townline Road.

·                     Partnered with Councilwoman Glenda Jackson to create and distribute thousands of Emergency Pick-Up Point Charts to the boating community

·                     Co-Sponsored a sense resolution to the Federal Transportation Department regarding the Train Horn Rule, to request exemption from excessive train horn noise in the Huntington neighborhoods closest to train crossings.

Caring for Our Seniors

·                     Established a Senior Reassurance program in the Office Senior Services, where volunteers phone those who are shut-in to check up on them and chat a few times a week.

·                     Initiated a Senior Cell Phone Recycling program, which collects donated used cell phones to be reprogrammed to dial 911 and distributed to seniors.

Elevating Women's Services

·                     Established an Office for Women in the Department of Human Services, which now serves as a clearinghouse for a variety of interests and issues of concern to women in the Town.

·                     Sponsored a model program to open the Town Animal Shelter for the safekeeping of pets of victims of Domestic Violence. Concern for a family pet is a barrier that often prevents victims from leaving an abusive situation.

Veteran's Benefits

·                     Arranged for Veteran's Burial Benefit to be made available to the Huntington Veteran's. The benefit was lost between different levels of government for several years and now veteran's can take advantage of it through the Town's program.

·                     Supported enhancements to the Town Veteran's Plaza located at Town Hall.

Handicapped Services

·                     Funded special projects for disabled – more than $23,000 in the last three years and established the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities.

·                     Supported the Handicapped Parking Enforcement Program, which collects nearly $90,000 a year in fines by dispatching volunteers with Polaroid cameras to catch those who are using Handicapped Parking places illegally.

Emergency Responders

·                     The Firefighter/Emergency Medical Services Incentive Recruitment Enhancement (F.I.R.E.) Association was created in 2004 by Councilman Mark Cuthbertson with the intention of enhancing recruitment of firefighter and emergency medical services volunteers and to promote public awareness of the need for volunteers in our local departments. The public information outreach and marketing program to attract volunteers for Huntington's volunteer fire/ems departments has utilized print, television, a website and direct mail campaigns for this purpose and local departments have received help with their volunteer recruitment needs in the form of brochures, banners, signs and recruitment materials.

·                     Emergency Operations Center

·                     Tax Breaks for emergency responders

·                     Facilitated the donation of pet oxygen masks from the Canine Fence Corporation to all Huntington Fire Departments and annexes.

Other Achievements

·                     Councilman Mark Cuthbertson had the foresight to see more than a huge blank wall on the rear wall of the Waldbaum's building at 60 Wall Street, which overlooks the new municipal parking lot on the west side of the 200 block of New York Avenue. He initiated the Town of Huntington's Community Mural Project, which is currently underway, engaging twenty-six teen art apprentices from the Huntington Youth Bureau's Project Excel, who are working with a professional artist to create a vision of sailboats and the Huntington Lighthouse in Huntington Harbor.

·                     Hosts Annual Bocce Special Olympics event that draws dozens of families in support of this extraordinary program

·                     Coordinated with the Suffolk County SPCA to provide low cost spaying and neutering to Town of Huntington residents.

·                     Organized the family oriented Movies-On-the-Lawn program at local parks which draws hundreds of families from all over the island and has featured such movies as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Back to the Future, Grease and Spy Kids 3D with free 3D glasses. Free popcorn is donated by local businesses. Check the Town website for more information.