Mayor James S. Mallott is running for another four-year term as mayor of the Village of Ocean Beach and will be challenged by Village Trustee Ian Levine. Both Mallott and Levine were among the candidates for elected office who participated in the Ocean Beach Association’s (OBA) annual winter meeting on March 24, held on Zoom.
Incumbent trustees include Dawn L. Hargraves, who was named Ocean Beach deputy mayor late last summer, and Albatross restaurant co-owner and software designer Marco Arment, both of whom are also seeking reelection to four-year terms. They are being challenged by Andrew Hemingway.
In the race for Village Justice, incumbent William D. Wexler is seeking another four-year term. He is being challenged by Ali Marin Mitchell.
Mallott, who has held the office of mayor since 2010 and has run unopposed for or three four-year terms since 2014, touted his experience as Village Mayor for 16 years and as Village Trustee for 16 years prior to that.
“You know what I do,” he said. “I get the job done.”
Levine, a firefighter, EMT, and former Ocean Beach Fire Department chief, said the village is “ready for some new leadership.”
Levine, also the owner of Community Garden and Gift Centers in Ocean Beach, said the village needs to do a better job communicating with residents. If elected, he will work to reduce tax increases and make village government more efficient. Levine also vowed at the meeting to take action to recoup lost village funds, as revealed in a 2022 New York State audit.
In the race for Village Trustee, incumbents Hargraves and Arment and challenger Hemingway are competing for two seats.
Hargraves is an attorney with her own practice in Suffolk County and a single mother of two daughters.
Hargraves said that in her roles as Village Trustee and deputy mayor, she works hard for Ocean Beach residents, “showing up with my sleeves rolled up.”
“I don’t just attend,” she said. “I participate.”
Hemingway said the current Village Trustees have done “a fantastic job.”
“I am not running because I want somebody out of office,” Hemingway said.
He said he has ideas and that he’ll support whoever is elected.
In the race for Village Justice, Wexler is seeking reelection after 27 years in the role. He said he is most proud of the community service program he helped start, in which offenders have completed 1,500 hours of community service in Ocean Beach. Wexler ran unopposed for the last several terms he ran for village justice, however this year there is another contender.
Wexler’s challenger, Marin Mitchell, is a fourth-generation Ocean Beach resident who has practiced law for 30 years and is a former member of the Ocean Beach Community Fund board.
During the meeting, OBA President Maria Silsdorf announced that she is stepping aside “temporarily” from her duties as association president and that board secretary Gwen Silver was elected as acting president.
“I may be back,” Silsdorf said. “One doesn’t know.”
Silsdorf, who remains one of the association’s 13 board members, said in a phone interview that after the election, she will discuss with the association board whether she will seek to resume the presidency.
Arment, who is seeking his second term on the board, declined to participate in the winter meeting Zoom call.
In a post on the Ocean Beach Bulletin Board Facebook page, Arment said it poses a “conflict of interest” for Silsdorf to serve as association president while Levine, her husband, campaigns for or holds public office in Ocean Beach.
Arment said he would not participate in any OBA events, except as a member, while Silsdorf is president and her husband is holding or running for office.
Arment said he has expressed his concerns to the OBA board.
“It’s their organization, and they can do what they like,” he said.
Silsdorf, in a phone interview, said Arment’s decision not to participate in the winter meeting was a missed opportunity to reach more than 130 residents on the call.
Arment said he plans to participate in the association’s candidate forum scheduled for Saturday, May 23, at 10 a.m. at the Ocean Beach Community House.
As for his accomplishments during his first term, Arment said in a phone interview he’s been focused on improving access to information for village residents, including streaming broadcasts of Village Trustee meetings.
He said he’s also been focused on environmental issues, including helping pass legislation requiring homeowners to replace trees they cut down and limiting sandwich board signs in front of downtown businesses.
In other news from the March 24 meeting, several department heads and leaders of Ocean Beach civic groups discussed their plans for 2026.
The election is on Friday, June 5, at the Community House from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. In addition to in-person voting, voters can apply to the Village Clerk for an absentee ballot or, for the first time, an early ballot.
