Paul A. Giardina

Giardina said he is concerned about groundwater quality and environmental issues. He said he would use the Community Preservation Fund exclusively for properties over the groundwater aquifer, noting that every acre preserved would purify 1.3 million gallons of water per year. Giardina said he wants to create a community septic system in downtown Montauk and would apply for EPA funding to do so. He said he wants to create a minimum of 1,000 new units of housing for seniors, the workforce and local high school graduates. To combat the opioid problem, he said he would evaluate current policies, establish mentorship programs and look into establishing an easy-access residential treatment facility.

Giardina, 68, is running on the Republican, Conservative and Reform party lines. Giardina, who lives in an unincorporated section of the town, received a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan in 1971 and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from New York University in 1973. He retired last year after 37 years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where his work included cleaning up leaks from the Brookhaven National Lab high flux beam reactor and running the agency’s radiation program. He also spent four years working for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Giardina has an environmental consulting company, Cedar Meadow Inc., and breeds racehorses. He ran the Springs General Store in the 1980s. He is married with two children.