Though there will not be any formally contested village mayoral and trustee races in the five Manhasset-area villages this March, new faces are seeking seats on the village boards and a few positions may be changing hands.
Within the Village of Munsey Park, incumbents Frank DeMento, Sean Haggerty and Patrick Hance have submitted petitions in advance of Tuesday’s filing deadline, but DeMento, the village’s mayor, will seek a trustee position, while Haggerty, the current deputy mayor, is running for mayor.
DeMento, Haggerty and Hance unseated longtime incumbent Mayor Harry Nicolaides and trustees Al Jaronczyk and Sheila Brennan in 2013.
In The Village of Flower Hill, new trustees Brian Herrington and Jay Beber are seeking their first full two-year terms in joining Deputy Mayor Bob McNamara on the Flower Hill Party line.
Herrington was appointed to the board in November to serve the remainder of the term vacated by former Deputy Mayor Tab Hauser, who resigned from the village board in June after moving to Glen Cove.
Beber joined the board in December to fill the trustee position vacated by Eileen Mills, who resigned in November due to family issues.
McNamara was first elected in 2013 and was previously the chairman of the village’s finance committee. He was appointed deputy mayor in December.
In Plandome Heights, newcomer Gus Panopoulos is running with incumbent trustees Daniel Cataldo and Norman Taylor on the Alliance Party for a village trustee seat.
Cataldo and Taylor are seeking re-election, while Panopoulos if elected would replace the departing Laurence Bourguet, who Plandome Heights Village Clerk Arlene Drucker said is not seeking another term.
Recently-appointed Plandome Manor Trustee James Baydar will seek his first two-year term on the board as part of an Action Party ticket that includes Mayor Barbara Donno, seven-term Trustee Matthew Clinton and Village Justice Sal Saul Kobrick.
Baydar, a former member of the village’s zoning and planning boards, was appointed to the board in September to fill the rest of the term of former Trustee Irwin Klein, who resigned in July and moved out of the village.
Mayoral and trustee positions in Plandome Manor are for two years, while village justice terms are for four years.
In the Village of Plandome, Mayor M. Lloyd Williams and trustees Katie Saville and Donald Richardson are each seeking two-year terms on the Citizen’s Party line.
