The election for the position of mayor and two trustees in the Village of Great Neck Plaza headlines the six village elections spanned throughout the peninsula on March 18.
Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender will not run for re-election according to filings submitted to the village.
Celender began serving on the Board of Trustees in 1984 and was elected mayor in 2000. Efforts to reach Celender for comment in regards to not running for re-election were unavailing.
The race to fill her position as mayor of Great Neck Plaza features both a new and familiar face.
Village Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen is running for mayor, and Trustee Pam Marksheid and Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Michael Deluccia for trustee on the United Residents Party line.
Rosen has served on the board since 1985, while Marksheid was elected in 2008.
Great Neck resident Leonard Katz is running for mayor on a write-in campaign along with residents Siu Long Au (Alex) and Robert Farajollah for trustee positions.
The Revive Great Neck Party has laid out four objectives if elected: revitalizing the town, removing useless regulation, providing more information to residents and setting term limits for officials.
As of last week, the petitions for the Revive Great Neck Plaza Party were rejected by the Nassau County Board of Elections citing the petitions had the wrong election date and changes to the date after the petition was signed.
Katz acknowledged the errors, but blamed the incorrect election date on Village Clerk-Treasurer Patricia O’Byrne, who he said gave him the wrong date “in early January.”
O’Byrne denied she had provided Katz with the wrong date. She said she initially corrected Katz on the date of the election.
Responding to Katz’s claim, Great Neck Plaza Village Attorney Richard Gabriele said Sunday Katz was fully to blame for filing election petitions with the wrong date of the election, leading to their disqualification.
Gabriele presented petitions from the Revive Great Neck Plaza Party signed on Jan. 4. The petitions show an “8” written over the originally printed “9” on the election date.
Katz admitted he amended the election date on the petitions “sometime in late January” when he claims he first found out the correct election date from O’Byrne.
He continued to maintain that O’Bryrne gave him the wrong date of the election after Gabriele’s email was shared with him.
Katz said the Revive Great Neck Plaza Party will continue its campaign against the United Residents Party on a write-in basis, despite the disqualification of his party’s petitions.
Residents can cast their ballot at Village Hall, located at 2 Gussack Plaza. Polls will be open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.
In the Village of Great Neck Estates, Trustees Lanny Oppenheim and Howard Hershenhorn are running unopposed for re-election on the Better Government Party line.
Hershenhorn began serving on the board in 2008 and Oppenheim began serving on the board in 2011.
Residents can cast their ballots at Village Hall at 4 Gateway Dr. between the hours of noon and 9 p.m.
In the Village of Kensington, Mayor Susan Lopatkin, Deputy Mayor Phillip Bornstein and Trustee Jeffrey Greener are all running for re-election unopposed.
Lopatkin began serving on the board in 2008, while Bornstein and Greener have served on the board since 2012.
The three are running on the Kensington Preservation Party line.
Residents can cast their ballot at Village Hall, located at 2 Nassau Dr. Polls will open at noon and close at 9 p.m.
In the Village of Thomaston, incumbent Trustees To-On Pang and James Sharkey are running unopposed for re-election on the Good Neighbors Party line.
Sharkey began serving on the board in 2010 and Pang began in 2012.
Residents can vote at Village Hall, located at 100 East Shore Road, between the hours of noon and 9 p.m.
In the Village of Saddle Rock, Trustees Manny Alani and Ronen Ben-Josef are running uncontested races for two trustee positions after the retirement of Kamran Barelli.
Ben-Josef won an uncontested race for Alani’s seat in 2018 after Alani did not file papers to run. Village Clerk Hinda Goldman said Alani has served on the board “off and on” for the last 15 years.
Residents can cast their ballots at Village Hall at 18 Masefield Way between the hours of noon and 7 p.m.
In the Village of Russell Gardens, Trustees Lawrence Chaleff and Matthew Ellis will run unopposed for re-election on the Evergreen Party line.
Residents can cast their ballots at Village Hall, located at 6 Tain Dr. Polls will be open from noon until 9 p.m.
Ellis began on the board in 2012, while Chaleff was appointed as deputy mayor this past year.
The villages of Great Neck, Lake Success and Kings Point all have June 16 elections.
