Residents of the Village of Old Westbury re-elected three candidates in uncontested elections on Tuesday, including Mayor Fred Carillo.
Votes were counted at 238 for Carillo with five write-ins, 230 for Trustee Marina Chimerine with one write-in, and 232 for Trustee Edward Novick with one write-in. Chimerine served on the board as public works commissioner, and Novick as budget officer.
“It’s a validation of the hard work I put in, and to get the approval and support of the trustees is a wonderful thing to achieve,” Carillo said.
Even though the 73-year-old mayor says he has a lot of energy, working out three days a week and keeping up with supplements, this will likely be his last term.
But for his last stretch Carillo said he plans to use his institutional experience to continue to improve the village. Projects will fix seven roadways this year, and will continue until every road in the village is resurfaced. Carillo said he and the board were able to plan this within budget and with no tax increase.
Carillo said he’s been a resident since 1949, and he appreciates the acknowledgment from the people in the village.
“I just get a tremendous amount of gratification from getting things done,” Carillo said.
The results follow last year’s surprising election outcome, when Chimerine, Cory Baker and Leslie Fastenberg unseated three incumbents seeking re-election.
Chimerine and Baker ran under the group New Voice for Old Westbury, defeating sitting trustees Harvey Simpson and Christopher Sauvigne.
Write-in candidate Fastenberg initially had four votes fewer than incumbent Andrew Weinberg, but went to the state Supreme Court when residents complained they had trouble using the voting machines. Weinberg’s attorney, Steve Schlesinger, said the courts did not have jurisdiction over the contested election results, since Weinberg was already sworn in after the original tally. Eventually, the court ruled that Weinberg shouldn’t have been sworn in at all if the election was still under review.
The review resulted in a tie between the two candidates and gave jurisdiction to the state election board to determine a winner. A runoff election was scheduled and Fastenberg won with 497 votes to Weinberg’s 440.
“The thing a year ago, we weren’t notified about the disenchantment,” Carillo said. “The write-in blindsided us.”
Carillo said he plans to maintain transparency on his board and plans to keep an ear out for all resident concerns.
Chimerine and Novick were unavailable to comment about the election results.
