At about this time every year candidates emerge to run for our local special districts:  the Great Neck Park District and the Water Pollution Control District. 
Dec. 13th brings us another one of these annual exercises in unwanted surprises.  
Just like clockwork, people we’ve never seen before suddenly reach out to us to say that even though they have no experience whatsoever, we should still vote for them to take care of these important local offices.  
After the retirement this year of Deena Lesser, the long-time commissioner of the water pollution control district, it seems that only one person has declared as a candidate for the office she held along with two other commissioners. Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but it seems to me that a position requiring a high degree of scientific, hydraulic and/or engineering understanding should not be filled by anyone without that background.  
But we’re not always that lucky.  
It seems that as far as the Water Pollution Control District is concerned, voters can just stay home this year because no qualified candidate has appeared. 
Luckily, the same cannot be said for our park district.  
At least with that special district we’re lucky enough to have an incumbent park commissioner, Frank Cilluffo, who’s got a solid record to campaign on.  
With just the past two years as his parks’ experience, Commissioner Cilluffo has already proven to be someone who is prepared to do the hard work of first understanding a job and then doing it well.  
He seems to be everywhere in the park district, learning about tennis courts, fixing the lighting, improving the ball fields, learning about our local environment, supporting better camp programs, researching the need for new facilities, teaching ice hockey, and so on. 
He even threw political caution to the winds so he could entertain us with his antics as a musician (pretty good, actually). 
There doesn’t seem to be an area of park district business that Commissioner Cilluffo has not tried to learn everything he can.  
Even before he was elected two years ago, Frank had showed his serious commitment to our parks by attending two prior years of park meetings — just to learn what the issues were before he ran for office.  
This is the kind of local candidate who takes our resources seriously.  
He is obviously willing to put in the time to do his homework before he asks for our vote.  
Although Commissioner Cilluffo has been a parks’ commissioner for only two years, he has already made a difference.  
Maybe it’s because they are sort of the same age, Commissioner Cilluffo and our new parks’ Superintendent, Jason Marra, seem to have breathed new life into the kinds of programs the park district is exploring.  
So now the work load among the commissioners is more evenly divided than it was a few years ago, and that’s a good thing.  
Bob Lincoln continues to lead the park district with the kind of measured respect that we’ve become used to, and Dan Nachmanoff still plays the old philosopher.  
And  now we have the “new kid”, Frank Cilluffo, who has already earned our respect and so should be rewarded with our votes on the 13th.
Liv Markowitz
Great Neck