The Suffolk County Legislature voted unanimously today to appoint current Suffolk County Water Authority Board Member James F. Gaughran as Chairman. Gaughran will serve the remaining three years of his five-year term as Chairman. He will be replacing retiring SCWA Chairman Michael LoGrande, who has been chairman for the last 20 years.
James Gaughran, who is an attorney in private practice, has held a number of public sector appointments over the years including service as counsel to the Huntington Community Development Agency and the Village of Northport. From 1984 to 1987 he was an elected member of the Huntington Town Board, which included service as a Commissioner of the Dix Hills Water District. From 1988 to 1993 he was an elected member of the Suffolk County Legislature, representing the 17th District, during which time the Legislature aggressively supported and funded the Suffolk County Drinking Water Protection Program.
“I am grateful and humbled by this appointment. I want to thank Presiding Officer William Lindsay and the members of the Suffolk County Legislature for their bi-partisan support. I will do my utmost to live up to their vote of confidence in me,” said Gaughran. “Michael LoGrande made the Water Authority perhaps one of the greatest water agencies in the country. I want to continue on that path.”
“James Gaughran has served on the Board for 2 years and he knows that the Water Authority is probably the most important service to 1.2 million Suffolk citizens. He knows it’s all about people and their health and safety,” said retiring Chairman Michael LoGrande. “Jim also knows we have a fully professional staff dedicated to maintaining one of the finest systems in the United States. He will make a good chairman. I congratulate him and wish him the very best.”
“Jim is a very experienced individual,” said Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer William J. Lindsay. “As a former legislator who introduced important environmental laws that have done much to protect Suffolk’s drinking water, he will be an excellent leader for the Water Authority.”
In addition, the legislature appointed Errol D. Toulon Jr. to a five-year term on the board. “I am honored to have been selected to serve as a board member and I am looking forward to working with the other members in serving the residents of Suffolk County,” said Toulon.