Lessons learned: Midway point for Mayor Donna Koch brings optimism about the future

A balance between Norman Rockwell charm and simplicity, and a buzzing village of progress. That’s the line Northport Village Mayor Donna Koch is trying to walk as she leads a community of residents of all ages and values, with varying ideas about what makes for the best quality of life, into the future.  

With her two-year mark as mayor approaching, and a Village election that could soon change faces and dynamics on the board, Koch sat with the Journal for a look back at how she started her leadership role and what she has set out to accomplish. 

Everything is a process
Koch was elected mayor in 2022 and since that time, has started several major projects, including the development of an updated comprehensive plan; Main Street revitalization project (that will include new meters, lamp posts, trees and sidewalks); revamped basketball court and bathrooms in Cow Harbor Park; phase two of dock repairs (which will focus on the middle section of the dock); expansion of sewer connections into the pit and an additional denitrification filter at the sewer plant to improve capacity; rain garden installations around the Village; and new drainage to reduce stormwater runoff. 

“Everything is a process,” she said – it all takes time and planning. 

There doesn’t seem to be a dull moment for Koch, with new Village projects constantly beginning and ending, personal critiques of her work, and an element of social networking that comes with the role, something she didn’t quite expect. 

“I enjoy being mayor,” she said. “Even with all the controversy and negativeness, I try to look past it and just work for the betterment of the Village.” She said every decision she’s made in the last two years has been in the best interest of the Village: “I came in after being clerk for over 20 years, but I still had a lot to learn.”

Being mayor, she said, isn’t a 9 to 5 job, but a full-time job. “There’s a lot of work,” she said. “It doesn’t have a pause button, it doesn’t have a stop button, it doesn’t have an ‘I need a break’ button. It just continues, but I enjoy it.”

Evolving perspectives
Beyond learning about the daily operations of the Village, Koch said she has grown in her perspectives of people and projects within the community, including with fellow board members and local groups. 

“Two years ago, I didn’t know Meghan and I totally respect her,” the mayor said of her now deputy mayor, Meghan Dolan. “I love her expertise and her demeanor at board meetings. I’ve learned a lot from Meghan.”

She also mentioned nonprofit organization Northport Native Garden Initiative (NNGI), admitting that she couldn’t even remember the group’s name during Meet the Candidates Night two years ago. Today, she values the initiative’s work and understands its importance. “I’ve learned who they are, what they do, and what they bring to the plate. I’ve learned to respect them,” she said. 

Her growth as a mayor, Koch said, has come from her willingness to stay open-minded. She said that during her mayorship, she’s learned to listen, take people’s concerns seriously, and try to work with the board, which hasn’t always been easy. Generally, the mayor and the trustees all want the same thing, she said – to maintain a certain way of life for people who were born and raised in the Village, or moved here for all it has to offer. 

What people expect from the Village, Koch said, is that “camaraderie, quaintness, security, and the feeling of being safe where they are.” 

“Some people want to continue that Norman Rockwell feel that I was raised with, and some people think we have to move on from that, and that if you think we’re Norman Rockwell, you have blinders on,” the mayor said. Koch loves the old America qualities of Northport Village, but understands there are many young families moving into the community who want that small-town feel with a sense of growth. “I always say that on Family Fun Night, when I come down with my kids, I really don’t know anybody. But these young families, they know everybody. And I just think that’s so cool, and that’s what we want to continue.”

How the Village moves forward while keeping that balance between tradition and progress is a challenge for Koch and the board, she said. Not only are they tasked with maintaining quality of life for several generations of Northporters, but they’re tackling modern-day issues like climate change, an increase in coastal surges and erosion, pollution in the harbor, and more. 

Koch’s goals as mayor are rooted in maintaining a life that she herself has enjoyed, from her childhood into adulthood. It was that connection to Northport, after working as Village clerk for 20 years, that drove her to run for mayor – a title she spent much of her adult life working under, until she was forced to retire after a disagreement with former mayor Damon McMullen.

“On my own”
“When I was let go in October 2020, I said that I’d run for mayor and this group of people took me in, wined and dined me, said ‘You’re our person, we need you and the Village did you wrong,” Koch told the Journal. This group, she said, also threw their support behind Joe Sabia and promised Koch that if they joined forces during the campaign, Sabia would do “whatever you need him to do” when she became mayor. 

Ernest Pucillo, a friend of Sabia’s, also joined the campaign and promised his support of Koch, she said. According to Koch, they sat together at Pucillo’s kitchen table and he assured her, if they were both elected, that he too would do whatever she needed to succeed.

Koch said that leading up to the 2022 election, the three candidates and small group of supporters (many of whom frequently attend and speak at Village board meetings) would get together once a week to strategize. They had mock Meet the Candidates Night and made phone calls to residents while sitting at Koch’s kitchen table. 

Koch, Sabia and Pucillo would go on to win the election, filling a majority of the board. 

“We won and it was great. We were very happy. And then came the first organizational meeting, where I didn’t do what they wanted me to, and it’s been a slippery slope ever since,” Koch said. 

According to the mayor, the group that helped her get elected had specific demands for her and the two trustees. The group wanted to see five Village employees fired: the clerk, attorney, treasurer, administrator and assistant to the mayor. 

“I didn’t fire everyone,” Koch said. 

While Koch did remove attorney Stuart Besen and treasurer Leonard Marchese (the clerk, Amy Grady, resigned the day after the election), she kept Assistant to the Mayor Don Tesoriero and Village Administrator Roland Buzard, waiting to better understand their roles and work before making a decision. She said that later, she learned how important they are to the Village, whether it be their roles in grant writing, performing inspections, or working with departments to maintain operations. 

Since that first meeting, Koch said, she had no support from Sabia, Pucillo, or the group of supporters who worked on her campaign. Eventually, they all turned against her. “And it’s been one crazy meeting after another,” she said. 

Some friends stood by her, but most “turned their backs,” which was hurtful, Koch said. “I thought, ‘Okay, I’m on my own.’” When the divisions first began, very soon after she stepped into the role of mayor, Koch said she went through a period of depression. “All my people, my friends, they just left,” she said. But she soon realized that, while she was sorry to lose their friendships, they weren't based on anything solid.

Koch believes that her group of once-supporters is focused on maintaining power and didn’t like the mayor making her own decisions. “They think that they know how to run this Village; they think that they know what’s best,” Koch said. “They want control.” She said she “drank their Kool-Aid” at first, but when she made a decision they didn’t like, there was “no more tea, no more lunch, no more nothing.” 

The group also feels a sense of power over the Village employees, Koch believes, and have ridiculed her for the friendships she has made with many of them over her 20-year career as clerk. “They don’t think that any trustee, supervisor or mayor should be friends with ‘these people,’ should like ‘these people,’ or give them a birthday gift,” Koch said. 

The mayor maintains that Village employees, many of whom have been in their positions for a very long time, are the people she wants to be around most. 

A dysfunctional board
Although the Village currently has several major projects underway, many of which will improve issues related to drainage, harbor health, and the functionality of downtown Main Street, the board is largely perceived as dysfunctional in the press and on social media platforms, sentiments reiterated again during public participation at meetings. 

Koch said that trustees Pucillo and Sabia, who almost always vote together on the board, have used any opportunity to make her look like a weak mayor, from calling several media outlets (including News12) to report on the closed justice court, to filing a report against the Village with the DEC and calling Cow Harbor Park a potential “superfund site” to Newsday. 

Conversations held in executive sessions are often shared with the public, Koch said, going against New York State law, which has created conflicts among Village staff, and stories are half-told to put blame on the mayor for Village challenges, such as the court closure.

“Any way that they can blow me up, they do. Anything that they think I’m doing wrong, they will bring it out,” she said.  

Koch also noted a connection between Sabia and Pucillo, and the people she once called friends, who use public participation during Village board meetings to double down on attacks toward the mayor. “You’ll see that they get up and all have their written directions: ‘You talk about this, you talk about that,’ and [Sabia] tells them everything,” she said.

She said that a vote for Pucillo later this month is really just another vote for Sabia. “Two years later – no – I don’t support Ernie,” Koch said, confirming that she’s lost trust in both trustees. 

Looking ahead
For the upcoming Village election on March 19, Koch is supporting incumbent Dave Weber and longtime Village resident Rich Boziwick in the race to fill two available seats on the board.

She said that Boziwick is highly respected in the Village for his work on the planning board and as director of the Great Cow Harbor 10K Run. “He knows Village politics and knows what it takes to be successful in running the day-to-day operations of the Village,” she said, adding that Boziwick will bring decorum to the board.

Koch said that Trustee Weber has a strong commitment to the Village. “Dave brings a lot to the table,” she said. Although Koch and Weber competed for the mayorship two years ago, and are likely both vying for that same position in 2026, they have learned to work together. “He respects my position, and that’s huge. There are members of the board that don’t respect me, and they also don’t respect my position. Dave knows that I’m the mayor and he respects the position of mayor,” she said.

“The thing about Dave has always been, if he says he’s going to do something, he does it. And if he says he’s not going to do something, he doesn’t do it. He’s been constant with that,” she said.

With the LWRP (local waterfront revitalization program) in the works, as well as plans to dredge the harbor in partnership with the Town of Huntington, and implement green infrastructure to improve the health of the harbor, Weber will be a major asset to the board in the future, Koch said. “That’s our jewel down there,” she said of the harbor. She believes the board will benefit from Weber’s expertise when completing these waterfront projects.

“I have to worry about the Village today and for the next two years, and right now, Dave and Rich are our answer,” Koch said.

Optimistic and excited
Koch is hopeful about the future of Northport Village, and the board that helps run it. She said that when things get tough, she plays with her granddaughters, who bring her joy, and focuses on her work. There’s no shortage of projects to plan and complete, each going through its own unique process for its own unique purpose.

As she reaches the midway point of her term, Mayor Koch remains excited to take on the work ahead, with knowledge, understanding and a fresh perspective. “I’ve learned, I’ve grown,” she said.

The mayor hopes we as a Village can, too.