Election upset in Munsey

Bill San Antonio

Frank DeMento led a slate of challengers to defeat Village of Munsey Park Mayor Harry Nicolaides and trustees Al Jaronczyk and Sheila Brennan on Tuesday in an election day marked by heavy turnout,

DeMento defeated Nicolaides, an incumbent of 17 years, 391 votes to 310.

And trustee candidates Sean Haggerty and Patrick Hance defeated Jaronczyk and Brennan, earning the People for a Better Munsey Park ticket a clean sweep of the election.

Haggerty defeated Jaronczyk, 392-294, and Hance defeated Brennan 406-286.

The only other contested election this year took place in the Village of Flower Hill, where the Flower Hill ticket of incumbents Tab Hauser and Robert McNamara and newcomer Eileen Mills were each elected to trustee positions.

McNamara, who was appointed trustee after Avery Ryan stepped down after selling her home, earned 207 votes, the most of any candidate. 

The trio defeated the challenger, Roy Nelson of the Civic Party, who works as a physician in the village and has served on the Port Washington School Board.

Mills, an English teacher at Paul D. Schreiber High School, received 183 votes, while Hauser earned 164.

Haggerty said that with a combined voter turnout of 45 people in each of the last two years in Munsey Park, he was pleasantly surprised with the overall voter turnout. 

“I couldn’t be happier that we had over 700 people vote,” Haggerty said. “That’s an amazing number, and it just goes to show how both parties got people involved and that’s the most important thing in local politics and local elections.”

Village Clerk Barbara Miller said the voter turnout was surprising.

“It was a steady flow the whole day,” she said. “We must have had 55 voters in the first hour. We’re lucky if we get 25 the entire day.”

Voting took place from noon to 9 p.m. at Munsey Park’s Village Hall, a day after a snowstorm and subsequent rains hit Long Island.

The challengers ran on a platform that sought to simplify village code and speed the process of passing tree-removal and building permits, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. 

“I think there’s a lot of people excited to see some change in the village,” Haggerty said. “We’re thankful for the mayor and the other trustee’s service. They put a lot of time and energy in and we’re thankful for them.”

Nicolaides, a licensed architect since 1980 and Munsey Park resident for 27 years, was elected mayor in 1996 and had been on the Board of Trustees since 1993. Jaronczyk had been a trustee since 1999 and Brennan has served the position for the last eight years.

DeMento works as a vice president and counsel at XL Reinsurance America and serves on the board of directors at ROM Reinsurance Management Co., Inc. and the Association of Insurance and Reinsurance run-off companies. 

Haggerty has worked in the financial industry for past 18 years in institutional equity sales and trading, capital markets and consulting. Hance is the COO of Corporate Lending at Citigroup.

The Village of Plandome re-elected its mayor, Lloyd Williams, who received 83 votes. Plandome resident Rob Saville received two write-in votes for the position, and Chas. Hon and Bob Carpenter each received one write-in vote.

Incumbent Trustee Judith Bode was re-elected with 79 votes and Katie Saville received 88 votes in her election to the trustee spot left by the departing Ed Henderson. Resident Roger Goodwin received one wwrite-in vote.

Village Justice James Kiley was re-elected with 89 votes.

In Plandome Heights, incumbent trustees Lawrence Bourguet and Norman Taylor were each re-elected as well as Village Justice Cye Ross.

 Daniel Cataldo was officially elected to the trustee position vacated by the departing Don Parker, who stepped down after serving two terms.

While Plandome Manor held a board of trustees meeting last night, its mayor, Barbara Donno, and trustees Matthew Clinton and Irwin Klein were each re-elected to office on the Action Party ticket.

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