Three candidates are running for a single seat on the Port Washington Public Library board.
Adrienne Saur, Beth Horn and Matthew R. Straus are running for the seat of Lee Aiken, who is stepping down after serving as a trustee for over 20 years.
The League of Women Voters of Port Washington-Manhasset will host a “Meet the Candidates Night” at the Port library on Wednesday.
Saur is the founder of Kids Need Enrichment, an organization focused on bringing science and technology opportunities to Port Washington.
She previously served as president of AGATE of Port Washington and was the corresponding secretary for Daly Elementary School’s Home-School Association.
Her work prior to founding Kids Need Enrichment included training K-12, higher education students and sales professionals on adopting new technologies.
Saur has worked with the library and Port schools to run 13 STEM/STEAM events in Port Washington which she says have engaged hundreds of families in activities that promote learning.
She said she is a strong believer in lifelong learning and leveraging new technologies to enhance the learning process for both children and adults.
If elected as a trustee, she said she looks forward to working with the library’s outstanding staff, the Friends of the Library and the various advisory councils “to offer additional enriching, lifelong learning opportunities to our entire community.”
Horn currently serves as the executive director for the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy and has served as an event producer, development director and communications director for a number of Port Washington-based organizations.
In her early career, she worked on numerous Broadway productions as well as documentary and cultural news programming for Thirteen/PBS-NY. She also worked in communications at the Museum of Modern Art.
She produced the library’s World Festival in 2014. The event celebrated 35 countries and their cultural traditions and included an international art exhibit.
Horn said that if she is elected she will work tirelessly to ensure that the library can continue to be an outstanding educational resource and Port’s cultural center now.
She said she will evaluate library development in communities across the country to ensure that the library continues to have the support needed to function at its highest level and hopes to engage Port residents so that all community members reap the benefits of the library.
As a trustee, she said she will contribute all that she can to enrich people’s lives and enhance the diverse and growing community of Port Washington.
Straus was born and raised in Port Washington, where he is raising his own children.
He worked as an assistant district attorney in Nassau County, following in his father’s footsteps, and since has been in private practice with various law firms on Long Island and in Manhattan.
Straus is a trustee of the Science Museum of Long Island and volunteers often at Sousa Elementary School, which his children attend.
He said he is constantly impressed by the quality of the library facility and the staff.
He said he hopes to expand upon the diverse programs that the library already provides as well as work to maintain the vitality and quality of both the facility and its staff to preserve it as one of Port’s greatest resources.
Voting will take place on April 9 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the library’s main lobby. The vote on the budget will occur at the same time.
