The villages of Great Neck, Kings Point, and Lake Success will all hold elections for uncontested incumbents seeking two-year terms Tuesday, June 21 from 12 to 9 p.m.
Running for reelection in the Village of Great Neck is Mayor Ralph Kreitzman and trustees Jeffrey Bass and Mitchell Beckerman, where the last contested election was four years ago. The election will be held at the Great Neck House at 14 Arrandale Avenue.
A 21-year Great Neck resident, Bass is seeking his third term in office.
“I love the community,” he said. “Being a trustee is my way of giving back to the community.”
Bass is the owner of Executive Strategies Group, LLC, a strategic advisor to business owners on matters affecting business growth and development, business operations, and financing. He also worked at PricewaterhouseCooper and for New York City Mayor Ed Kotch.
Bass has two kids, one grandson and “a gorgeous wife of 38 years.”
He said the biggest challenges facing the village are revitalizing Middle Neck Road and maintaining the level of service in the most cost efficient manner.
“The times we are in right now suggest that the challenges will be more formidable, but we will do everything we can to make sure we sustain the level of services for our residents,” he said.
Kreitzman has served as mayor of the Village of Great Neck for four years, and previously served as a deputy mayor for four years and trustee for six. He is a commercial real estate lawyer.
He is also vice president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association, on the executive board and is senior vice president of the Nassau County Village Officials Association, and was recently appointed to the executive board of the New York Conference of Mayors.
“We’ve accomplished a lot,” he said of his work in the Village of Great Neck. “We have begun our revitalization of Middle Neck Road, and in connection to that considered some substantial changes to our zoning.”
He said among the board’s successes are the no smoking law, a building inspection law and a village tax increase that averaged 1.2 percent over the last four years, and a village sewer tax that decreased.
“Probably the biggest single challenge is the financial challenge that we face,” he said. “We continue to have enormous unfunded mandates, pension and health insurance increases, and we obviously want to keep our taxes as low as possible and continue to provide the best service we can to our residents.”
In the Village of Kings Point running for re-election is seven term incumbent Peter Aron and Ron Horowitz, who was appointed March 2011 to fill the remainder the term vacated by former trustee Richard Sokolov. They could not be reached for comment.
“I’ve been here eight years and I haven’t had a contested election yet,” said Louis DiDomenico, clerk-treasurer for the Village of Kings Point. “It’s probably longer than eight years. They don’t get paid. That’s probably why.”
The election will be held at Village Hall at 32 Steppingstone Lane.
The Village of Lake Success will see three trustees running for reelection, Adam Hoffman, trustee since 2003, Gene Kaplan, a trustee since 2010, and David Milner, trustee since 2005, said Village Administrator Carol Pogrell. The election will be held at Village Hall at 318 Lakeville Road.
Attempts to reach trustees were unavailing.
“I don’t remember when the last contested election was,” Pogrell said.
