Solomon, Hwee to face off for library trustee seat

Voters will go to the polls on Monday to decide two seats on the Great Neck Library’s Board of Trustees and one seat on the library district’s Nominating Committee.
The lone contested race is for incumbent Trustee Varda Solomon’s expiring seat, which sees Solomon taking on challenger Doug Hwee.
Solomon has served on the  board for eight years, six as a trustee and two as president.
She also chairs the library’s Programming Committee.
Solomon is past president of the Hadassah Career & Working Women’s Group, as well as past treasurer of the Great Neck chapter of Hadassah.
Hwee, a New Hyde Park resident, has been a member of the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department for over seven years and is a member of the Lakeville Estates Civic Association.
He said he would like to implement more technology into the library’s operations, including upgraded computers and instructional webinars.
Hwee said one of his goals was to satisfying the needs of all the library’s patrons which ranges from people who come to check out books, surf the Internet, read and listen to ebooks and audiobooks and more.
He said that his business experiences have helped him understand “micro and macro budgeting first-hand” and that he was concerned that library employees have not had a contract in five years.
“Friendly, knowledgeable and happy workers are the foundation​ ​of our library,” Hwee said.
He also said he wanted to increase security in all of the district’s buildings to ensure the safety of children and those coming to the various branches.
“The board has done good work and I want to bring fresh ideas while staying fiscally responsible,” Hwee said.
Efforts to reach Solomon for comment were unavailing.
Rebecca Miller, a first-year candidate for the library board, is running unopposed to replace outgoing Josie Pizer, who is not running for re-election.
Miller said she moved to Great Neck one year ago and felt that serving as a library trustee was natural for her.
She previously served on the Board of Trustees of the Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport and is a co-creator and committee member of the New York Library Association’s Sustainability Initiative.
“I think that one of the ways to make a contribution where you are is to apply your expertise somehow,” Miller said.
She currently serves as the editorial director of the Library Journal and School Library Journal publications.
Miller said she also served “for a number of years” as a member of the National Book Critics Circle, an organization that “honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature,” according to its website.
She said the Great Neck Library was in an “interesting position” with the reopening of the Main Building.
“It’s an opportunity to re-engage the community with what the library could offer,” Miller said. “It has sort of set a new level of connection to the community.”
She said that once operations at the library begin to settle after the Main Building opening, she wants to look at how the library’s other three branches can be “reinvigorated.”
Miller said once her family moved to Great Neck, the first thing they did was get library cards for her children. They frequent the library’s Station Branch.
Seats on the Board of Trustees are for four-year terms beginning January 2017.
Patrick McDonnell is running unopposed for outgoing Nominating Committee member Michael Katz’s expiring trustee seat.
McDonnell, of North New Hyde Park, said he is a “heavy user” of the library and always appreciates it.
“I thought that if I could give a little back, I’d be happy to do so,” he said. “I’m taking advantage of that opportunity.”
McDonnell founded his own law practice, McDonnell Adels & Klestzick PLLC, which is located in Garden City.
He is a member of the New York State and American Bar Associations.
McDonnell said that if elected to serve on the Nominating Committee, his goal was to “find qualified people” to work for the library and to learn more about the “inner workings” of the library.
As demographics have changed and different ethnic groups have moved to the Great Neck area, he said, he was interested in having a better range of people serving the library.
“It’s a changing world,” McDonnell said. “You’ve got to adapt.”
The Nominating Committee seat is for a three-year term beginning January 2017.
Voting will take place between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. at the Station Branch, located at 26 Great Neck Road, and the Parkville Branch, located at 10 Campbell Street in New Hyde Park.
To vote in Monday’s election, voters must be at least 18 years old and either be registered with the Nassau County Board of Elections or a Great Neck Library cardholder.