Last Thursday, January 8, Brookhaven Town Clerk Kevin LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) was sworn in for a second term.
LaValle got his start on the Town Board in 2013, when he was elected to represent the Third Council District, which includes the Middle Country area. Re-elected in 2015, 2017, and 2019, LaValle never won with less than 57% of the vote.
In January 2023, due to then-Clerk Donna Lent’s (I-Blue Point) retirement, LaValle won the special election to serve out the remainder of her term. He defeated Lisa Di Santo (D-East Patchogue) 56.33% to 43.67%.
In November 2025, LaValle won the general election for a full four-year term as Clerk. He defeated perennial candidate Tricia Chiaramonte (D-Manorville) 54.82%-45.14%.
LaValle has staked his incumbency on improving public access to Town files, digitizing records, increasing transparency of new developments, bolstering the Town’s information technology (IT) sector, and barnstorming the town’s library with his mobile office hours. Moreover, LaValle’s leadership has seen Brookhaven Town become a national leader for what a Town Clerk’s office should look like, as LaValle and the Town’s IT leaders were keynote speakers at a national convention.
LaValle’s swearing-in was performed by the Honorable Timothy P. Mazzei, a Suffolk County Supreme Court Judge who also served on the Brookhaven Town Board alongside LaValle in the early 2010s. Supervisor Dan Panico (R-Center Moriches) and the Town Council were also present.
“I couldn’t ask for a better Town Board that looks at priorities in this township,” said LaValle. “I understand that having been a councilman, money is always a big thing in what we do, but you have supported this Town Clerk’s office.”
LaValle added that the Clerk’s office gives out “hundreds of thousands of permits, licenses, and certificates”, and he thanked the Clerk’s Office staff for their “professionalism.”
The ceremony was also attended by LaValle’s fiancé, Erin. LaValle quipped, “I threw out the idea that not only would I be the groom, but I’d be the officiant. That didn’t go over so well.”
LaValle then spoke of his three years thus far as the de facto “cover on the book” of Town government.
“It’s a titanic task when you look at running one of the largest clerk’s offices in the entire State of New York. We came in [in 2023] right against the blocks,” said LaValle. “We were dealing with archaic technology. The staff was doing a great job, but it was really trying to figure out, ‘how do we move forward?’”
Modernizing the Town Clerk’s office has been one of LaValle’s top priorities, he said, on top making services easier and more efficient for the near-500,000 residents that call Brookhaven home. LaValle said that leadership is the modus operandi of Town Hall.
“When new things happen, we want to be the ones here in Brookhaven that sets the trends and starts how everything else works within this state and within this county,” said LaValle. “When I got elected [in 2023], I went around to the other townships in Suffolk County, and we [Brookhaven] were way behind. It was something that really irked me initially, and we had to start changing things.”
LaValle listed some of the accomplishments of his tenure thus far, including a $6 million renovation of the Town’s records center, the online overhaul of the boat slip renewal process, and the “big push” to make Town records more accessible to people with disabilities.
“We are the first township to have a system where you can do your renewal online very easily. You don’t have to come to Town Hall anymore. You don’t have to mail it in,” said LaValle. “Simply go online and take care of what you need.”
Another staple of Town Hall matters is rezonings, which previously required in-person documentation. Now, it’s all done online.
“We learned, very simply too, that it’s not all about money and big changes,” said LaValle. “It’s all about little things like putting a QR code on our Town land use signs that residents can quickly and easily see site plan applications.”
LaValle thanked the various department heads for working with him over the last three years in moving these ambitious projects forward, particularly the scanning of hundreds of thousands of documents from the Planning Department alone.
Moving forward, LaValle reiterated his goal of “modernizing” the township, even teasing a major year-end goal.
“Our goal in the Clerk’s office by the end of this year is that a majority, if not all, of our applications, certificates, or anything that residents will need to do will be online for them to do from the convenience of their home,” said LaValle. “It’s a bold goal that we’re laying out and we’re very excited that the process is going.”
The Clerk’s office is also working with local municipalities to store those records as well, including those from fire departments and incorporated villages.
“We’re working collaboratively throughout the Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County to be able to work with other municipalities to be able to house records and get things done.”
