Panico, 39, of Center Moriches, seeking his fourth two-year term, is running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines. He won a special election in March 2010 to complete the unexpired term of Councilman Keith Romaine, who died in office. An alumnus of William Floyd High School, Panico received his bachelor’s degree from Stony Brook University and law degree from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. He is married and has a son.

Panico said he plans to crack down aggressively on blight and illegal housing, similar to the roughly 60 unsafe homes he’s had demolished in the past two years. “Improving the residents’ quality of life is my No. 1 priority,” he said. Panico hangs his hat on having rezoned the Moriches and Eastport areas to avoid commercial sprawl, preserving hundreds of acres of open space and revitalizing several parks in his district. He also plans to construct a spray pad feature at Shirley Beach. “There’s not a person who works harder and knows land use, zoning and planning better than I do,” Panico said.

Arthur F. Turkington, 66, of Center Moriches, is running on the Democratic and Women’s Equality party lines. Turkington graduated from New York Institute of Technology with a degree in general studies with a concentration in business. He received his master’s degree in management from Polytechnic University. He is a former member of the Society of Human Resource Management. Turkington is married, with three children.

Turkington said he wants to propose term limits for town board members and strengthen Brookhaven’s code of ethics so that only qualified applicants can be named to appointed positions, eliminating nepotism. He also wants to systematically review all town departments. “We need to do a process review of the departments in the town government to make a more efficient government and system method of operating,” Turkington said. He said he’s heard complaints of the town not being responsive to issuing permits and other basic services. Turkington wants to post all contracts and bids on the town website and disclose the relationships between those entities and town board members. “I believe that I have the ability and background to help us reform how Brookhaven Town functions,” he said.