Berger elected as new GNWPCD commish, Tina Stellato re-elected for parks

1
Berger elected as new GNWPCD commish, Tina Stellato re-elected for parks
Mark Berger has been elected as Great Neck's newest Water Pollution Control District commissioner at Tuesday's election. (Photo courtesy of Mark Berger)

Great Neck will be seeing a new Water Pollution Control District commissioner in town Mark Berger after his win at the polls Tuesday night, beating out Robert “Bob” Welner.

But with a new face will remain some familiar ones, including incumbent Great Neck Park Commissioner Tina Stellato, who defeated challenger Gordon Charlop,and Mark Sauvigne, incumbent commissioner for the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire and Water District.

The Great Neck Park District administration was unable to provide Blank Slate with the voting numbers of the election but confirmed that Stellato did win.

According to election results provided by Charlop, Stellato received 1,580 votes, or 69% of the total and Charlop received 710 votes, or 31% of the total.

Charlop said he lost in three of the four park districts, securing a win in District 4 with 186 total votes compared to Stellato’s 93 votes. He said that in machine votes he received about 47% of the votes and about 7% of the absentee votes.

According to the numbers provided by Charlop, Stellato secured her win by receiving 52% of the machine votes and about 92% of the absentee ballots, receiving 861 absentee votes.

Stellato, a former employee of the district and nearly 20-year resident of Great Neck, was elected to the Park District’s Board of Commissioners in 2017 and will begin her third term in the new year.

Two new candidates were the sole competitors in the race for Great Neck’s Water Pollution Control District commissioner, with Berger and Welner vying for the position.

Berger, who was endorsed by the outgoing commissioner, secured the win with 347 out of 573 votes, enough for 60.5%. Welner trailed behind by 121 votes, receiving 226 votes.

Berger has been a resident of Great Neck since 2010. He is a public interest attorney, currently supervising a team of 50 attorneys, support staff and paralegals.

He previously told Blank Slate the three reasons that motivated his bid for Great Neck’s water pollution control district commissioner: a desire to give back to his community, his passion for environmental protection and his legal and managerial experience.

Berger and Welner raced to fill one of the seats to be left by long-term Water Pollution Control District Commissioner Jerry Landsberg, who is retiring from the board after 16 years of service.

Incumbent commissioner for the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire and Water District Sauvigne also secured re-election Tuesday in his uncontested race.

Sauvigne had 348 total votes out of 361 cast. The other 13 were for write-in candidates, according to Manhasset-Lakeville.

He will serve alongside Commissioners Steve Flynn and Brian Morris–who is up for re-election next year.

The Manhasset-Lakeville Fire and Water District takes in all of Manhasset except for Plandome, half of Great Neck and some of northern New Hyde Park.

Though the board oversees both the fire and water districts, which cover the same geographic area, the two are technically independent of each other.

The fire district has a $9.7 million budget next year and the water district has a $11.2 million budget, according to the North Hempstead 2024 budget.

The Manhasset-Lakeville Water District serves approximately 45,000 customers who use 7.4 million gallons of water a day within the service area of 10.2 square miles, according to the water district’s website.

Eighteen wells at 13 locations provide water to Manhasset and portions of Great Neck and North New Hyde Park.

Sauvigne, who was first elected in 2014, also serves as Manhasset Park District treasurer alongside Weigand.

District residents in October voted to approve a $10 million bond to build a new ambulance unit building in Lake Success.

The vote ended a years-long search to move the 40-person ambulance unit out of the department’s Company No. 3 firehouse in Great Neck, where it shared a space since 1988.

No posts to display

1 COMMENT

  1. This article contains some factual errors.

    Mark Berger was elected Great Neck WATER POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT commissioner, NOT Water Commissioner. Jerry Landsberg retired from the Water Pollution Control District. He was never the Water Commissioner.

    Mark Sauvigne is a Fire and Water Commissioner.

    The Water Commissioner is responsible for what comes out of your faucet.
    The Water Pollution Control District is responsible for what comes out of your toilet.

    Please correct the errors in this article.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here