Great Neck residents of five local villages will head to the polls Tuesday to vote, with Great Neck Estates headlining elections as the community’s only contested race with two candidates vying for a trustee position.
The villages of Great Neck Plaza, Kensington, Saddle Rock and Thomaston will all hold uncontested elections featuring a variety of positions.
Great Neck Estates
The Village of Great Neck Estates will have one trustee position for a one-year term up for a vote, with incumbent Trustee Michael J. Smiley facing off against challenger Lilia Shemesh.
Smiley, a second-generation, lifelong resident of Great Neck, was appointed to the board last year. He is also the village’s representative to the Water Authority of Great Neck North, serving in that post since 2017.
He said he is seeking to be elected to his position to continue contributing positively to the village as he enjoys the responsibilities it encompasses to give back to the community.
He first became involved in the village’s community service in 2001, later joining the village’s Zoning Board in 2014. He served on the Zoning Board up until his appointment to the Board of Trustees.
“I believe in community service and giving back,” Smiley said. “And I love the community that we live in.”
Outside of the board, Smiley currently is the general manager for a national property damage restoration firm’s New York Metropolitan Area operation. He has a background in finance, operations and general management.
If re-elected, Smiley said he is looking to combat the effects of rising costs and ensure that the village stays within good financial standing and controlled taxation while maintaining village services.
He said his experience lends to the work necessary of a trustee.
“I believe I provide a skill set that is an asset to the board,” Smiley said. “We have different types of people with different backgrounds, and I believe my background is a nice fit to fill the role.”
Smiley is running under the Better Government Party.
Shemesh, who is running along the United Residents Party line, is an alternate to the village’s Zoning Board.
Efforts to solicit comment from Shemesh were unavailing.
The election will be held on March 19 from 12-9 p.m. at Village Hall, located at 4 Gateway Drive.
Great Neck Plaza
The Village of Great Neck Plaza will be holding elections for its mayor and two trustees, all of which are uncontested with just incumbents running.
Mayor Ted Rosen, Trustee Pamela Marksheid and Trustee Michael DeLuccia will be running to be re-elected for another five-year term.
Rosen was first elected to the village’s board in 1985. He served as the village’s deputy mayor from 2000 until he was elected as mayor in 2020.
Rosen said he’s running for re-election as he loves fulfilling the position and finds it to be an honor, looking to continue the village’s progress. While he said it can be a challenge, it’s one he is rising to.
“You never quite know from one day to the next what you’re going to be dealing with,” Rosen said. “But I find that to be exciting and a challenge. The real challenge is to work to make the village better on a continual basis, and that’s what we – and I speak, I think, as well for my colleagues on the board – that’s what we try to do.”
The four aspects Rosen is focused on as he faces re-election are supporting the village’s downtown, maintaining fiscal responsibility, improving infrastructure and providing basic services.
Rosen said the village has enjoyed much progress in the past few years, such as a growth in local businesses to revitalize the village’s downtown. He said he is looking to continue that progress if re-elected.
“And we think it’s good business that’s going to help the village,” Rosen said. “We’re very welcoming. We try to convey that and we try to convey to them that we want them to succeed – which is very true.”
Trustee Michael DeLuccia, an attorney, served on the village’s historic preservation commission and Zoning Board before joining the Board of Trustees, serving on both boards for three and five years, respectively.
He was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2020 and said he is seeking to continue serving in his position to stay active in helping the community grow and make sure resident voices are heard.
“My job, as I see it as a trustee, is to represent the village and to represent the people that vote for me and to listen to what the public has to say, putting politics aside and everything, but just really being a voice of the people and making sure that their wishes and desires are expressed through the Board of Trustees,” DeLuccia said.
DeLuccia echoed the goals of Mayor Ted Rosen, noting bolstering business as an initiative he seeks to continue if re-elected.
The election will be hosted on March 19 at Village Hall, located at 2 Gussack Plaza, from 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
Kensington
The Village of Kensington’s election will have three positions on the ballot: mayor and two trustees. All races are uncontested.
Mayor Susan Lopatkin will be seeking re-election to continue serving in the position she’s held for 16 years inspired by her love of politics and local governance.
“I live here, so it’s my village, too,” Lopatkin said. “What I do is for everyone and it benefits all of us and I think that is really powerful.”
Lopatkin, a 30-year resident of the village, runs her own financial management practice. Prior to assuming the position of mayor, Lopatkin also served as the chairperson of the Zoning Board and as a trustee and deputy mayor of the village.
Lopatkin said she is seeking to prolong her service as mayor to continue making a difference in her community by pursuing grants for the village, developing new leadership, implementing infrastructure improvements and fostering financial responsibility.
Trustee and Deputy Mayor Jeffrey Greener will also be seeking re-election.
Trustee Phil Bornstein will not be seeking re-election this March. Instead, Andrew Bloom, a member of the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals, will be running for the position. He does not face any challengers in the election.
Kensington will be holding its March 19 election at Village Hall, located at 2 Nassau Drive, from 12-9 p.m.
Saddle Rock
The Village of Saddle Rock will be holding an uncontested election for two trustee positions, with both incumbents running for re-election.
Trustees Arash Ganjian and Ronen Ben-Josef will be running to reclaim their seats on the board.
The election will be held from 12-9 p.m. on March 19 at Village Hall, located at 18 Masefield Way.
Thomaston
The Village of Thomaston will have two trustees on its March 19 ballot who are running in an uncontested re-election.
Trustee Aaron Halpern and Trustee Jay W. Chagrin are seeking to be re-elected for another two-year term on the village’s board. Both are on the ballot for a second term after being elected in 2022.
Halpern and Chagrin are running under the village’s Good Neighbors Party.
The March 19 election will be held at Thomaston’s Village Hall, located at 100 East Shore Road, from 12-9 p.m.
