Incumbents carried the night in local fire commissioner races with Richard Stein and Augie Carnevale prevailing in New Hyde Park and Garden City Park, and Andrew DeMartin gaining re-election in Manhasset-Lakeville.
Stein, a two-term incumbent, easily outdistanced candidates Anthony Vaglica and James Devane to win re-election to a five-year term. Stein drew 878 votes to 306 votes for Vaglica and 47 votes for Devane.
Three-term incumbent Carnevale trumped challenger Jerome Galluscio in a walk, 265 votes to 34 votes.
Andrew DeMartin received 334 votes to remain on the Manhasset-Lakeville Board of Commissioners, a post he had held since 2008. His closest challenger was John Nash who received 301 votes, while Daniel Ross and Joe Renta received 168 and 103 votes, respectively.
“I’m very appreciative of the people of New Hyde Park and the people who worked so hard to get me elected,” Stein said.
Stein campaigned on a record of cutting costs in the district and securing grant money for the fire district. He said his prime objective is “to keep taxes down.”
His primary opposition in the race came from Vaglica, who had been terminated by the New Hyde Park Fire Department in 2009 for misconduct. Vaglica subsequently appealed his termination in state Supreme Court, which upheld the department’s decision.
“People just didn’t want him back in this department,” Stein said.
Stein said Vaglica had said “some terrible things” to members of Stein’s family in what he characterized as a “dirty race.”
Vaglica charged Stein with improperly being active in two volunteer fire departments – New Hyde Park and Fire Island Pines – and “double dipping” for collecting length of service payments from both departments. Stein said both departments were aware of his dual membership and said he had declined length of service payments from the Fire Island department.
Vaglica said that Stein supporters had said he had been terminated for the fire department for engaging in criminal activity.
“There’s nothing criminal here,” Vaglica said in response to questions recently, admitting he had been “cursing out” the chief.
Vaglica was unavailable to comment on the election result.
New Hyde Park Fire Commissioner Michael Bonura said the vote was a clear repudiation of Vaglica. Bonura said Vaglica backed Harold Hugli when Hugli challenged Bonura in his re-election bid last year. Bonura beat Hugli convincingly, 465 votes to 253 votes.
“People don’t want him around any more,” Bonura said Vaglica, “It’s going to be a pleasure working with Ricky for the next five years.”
Bob Van Werne, the next chief of the New Hyde Park Fire Department, said he had a good working relationship with Stein and he was “pleased with the outcome.”
“They had the right man for the right post,” said New Hyde Park veteran volunteer Karl Bumeisters.
Stein, 57, served for 20 years as a deputy safety inspector for the New York City fire Department and has been a lieutenant, captain and safety officer of Active Hook & Ladder Co. 1 in New Hyde Park.
Carnevale overcame an 11th hour challenge in Garden City Park from Galluscio triumphing by a 7-to-1 margin.
“They voted for the right guy, kept the district intact and upheld the integrity of the office,” Carnevale said.
Galluscio declined to comment on the results after being informed of the vote count at the Denton Avenue School shortly after the polls closed on Tuesday night.
Carnevale, 52, has been a volunteer in the Garden City Park Fire Department for the past 34 years.
He cited his record of upholding promises he made, including eliminating the cars that had been perks for the fire commissioners. He also cited maintenance of minimal water costs in the district, along with improved equipment for Garden City Park volunteers and enhance training of those volunteers as accomplishments he had a hand in.
Carnevale also noted the continued upgrading of aging water mains and pump stations as another objective being met. He also noted the fire district’s receipt of a $1.5 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit again oil companies that had contaminated ground water in the district – currently being cleaned up by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Galluscio, who ran on a platform of making water-fire district board business more transparent, lost his license to practice law in 2007 after neglecting three cases he was handling, failing to pay an arbitration award and several instances of failing to respond to a grievance committee’s inquiries while investigating his misconduct.
He acknowledged that he didn’t contest the accusations, paid the clients back and asserted that he learned from his mistakes.
But that message apparently didn’t resonate with many voters. Neither, apparently, did his characterization of Carnevale as a “bully” who was behind the decision to use fire sirens for all emergency calls to the Garden City Park firehouses through the end of this month.
Carnevale said the fire board will have input on the issue at the end of the month-long test, which could include raising the height of the fire siren at the Denton Avenue substation to mitigate its effect on neighbors in the residential area. But he said Garden City Park Fire Department Chief William Rudnick made the decision to conduct the siren test, which is intended to boost the response rate for emergencies among the Garden City Park volunteers.
While DeMartin was pleased to return to his seat on the Manhasset-Lakeville board of commissioners, Tuesday’s election was closer than the longtime local firefighter expected.
“Anytime you have four candidates in one race, which is good for the community, it can turn out to be unpredictable,” DeMartin said. “Did I expect it to be that close? No, I expected to have a greater lead.”
In the end, however, DeMartin said that voters chose him for one main reason.
“I’ve been there three years,” he said. “We’ve got a very good track record. It’s a very good product that we serve in water. It’s a very good product that we put out in fire. The costs are still way below the surrounding districts in water and fire.”
“I think that they feel that (I am) an experience hand at least in governmental issues with the district.”
DeMartin, who is the Town of North Hempstead Commissioner of Public Safety, has served with the Great Neck Vigilant Fire Company for the past 28 years. He has served as chief of the company and as Vigilant’s chairman of the board of trustees.
Those fire fighting duties also extended to his service as chairman of the 8th Battalion and he was chairman of the Emergency Operations Center of the Nassau County 8th Battalion.
During his campaign, DeMartin said that as chairman and the senior-most member of the Manhasset-Lakeville Water and Fire District Board of Commissioners, it was important for him to remain on the board for the sake of continuity.
He is now ready to continue his work along with fellow commissioners Brian Morris and Donald O’Brien.
“We have a pretty good plan on capital spending and the infrastructure for the water district,” DeMartin said. “It’s a 100-year-old water district and we really need to focus on the distribution system.”
As for the fire district, DeMartin’s goals are not less clear.
“We need to make them financially sound,” he said. “Make sure the budget money coming in can cover the expenses for running the fire department to the degree it needs to be run. All those large-scale projects are right on course, both truck replacement and the dispatch center.”
DeMartin said he will also focus on adding more funds into the district’s capital budget so “we’re not debting the district to oblivion.”
“Now, as we can see it was a very hefty 13-percent budget increase,” he said. “We don’t predict to have those in the future.”
The Manhasset-Lakeville Fire and Water District is comprised of the villages of Russell Gardens, Thomaston, Lake Success and the southern portion of Great Neck Plaza. It also serves the villages of North Hills, Munsey Park, Plandome Manor, Plandome Heights, Flower Hill and North New Hyde Park.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204
