While he came close to achieving his main goal in one four-year term, Village of East Williston Trustee Robert Vella is stepping down from the Village Board.
Saying he wants to “slow down” and spend more time with his family, Vella will not pursue re-election in this year’s March 15 village election.
His decision comes as East Williston continues to negotiate a water agreement with Williston Park while still weighing its own independent well — steps toward Vella’s primary goal of resolving the villages’ years-long dispute, he said.
“I feel that we made as much progress as we could have in the time I was there,” Vella said. “And while I’m slightly disappointed that it couldn’t be completed, I’m very confident that it won’t be long before we have a resolution one way or the other.”
Vella declined to comment on whether there were any candidates to replace him.
Vella was elected to the Village Board in March 2012, when he and Trustee Christoper Siciliano were the top vote-winners in a three-way race for two seats.
Siciliano’s seat is also up for election in March. He could not be reached for comment as of publication.
They defeated then-incumbent Trustee John Ferro, who was seeking a second term in office, in a three-way race.
Vella said he thinks it was his and Siciliano’s connection to East Williston that won them voters’ favor, as both grew up in the village and were known by many residents.
“I think we were recognized as two people who had roots in the community and who cared very deeply about the community,” said Vella, a Wheatley School graduate who moved back to East Williston in 2004.
Williston Park raised East Williston’s water rate from $2.99 per thousand gallons to $3.83 per thousand gallons in 2011, about a year before Vella’s election. East Williston filed a lawsuit disputing the increase later that year.
A second rate hike, from $3.83 to $4.33 per thousand gallons, came in August 2012, and a second lawsuit followed that December.
Since then, the villages have undergone several in-person and written negotiations in pursuit of a long-term water service agreement.
A framework for a 25-year agreement emerged in January after the Village Boards held a landmark public negotiation meeting in December.
While they’re “not at the finish line,” Vella said, the villages’ agreement on the nature of the terms is an important step.
East Williston also developed plans for its own water infrastructure last summer and revisited them at a Jan. 12 public meeting. The $7.5 million project would put two supply wells and a 100,000-gallon storage tank at Devlin Park.
At the January meeting, Vella called the water dispute “the most important issue in this village in the last quarter-century” and said the well project gave East Williston important leverage in negotiations with Williston Park.
No matter which path East Williston takes, Vella said he’s proud to have given his village two definite choices.
“Ultimately, the goal was to give our village a choice, and there I think we accomplished everything we set out to,” he said.
Village trustee candidates must file a petition with 50 signatures from residents between Feb. 2 and Feb. 9.
