Local mental health and substance abuse advocate Jeffrey Stone is the newest trustee for the village of Manorhaven. He was elected into office during the village’s Tuesday election.

The Village of Manorhaven had two trustee seats up for election with three candidates running for them: Stone and incumbent Trustees Vincent Costa and Khristine Shahipour.

Both incumbents Costa and Shahipour received 207 votes. With a tie, the village was planning to go through absentee ballots to determine a winner but halted as Shahipour conceded the race.

Stone was elected with 388 votes, more than 150 votes more than the two incumbents.

Stone and Costa will serve two-year terms.

Stone is a licensed real estate agent specializing in working with older homeowners, a member of Kiwanis Club of Manhasset-Port Washington and co-founder of Project HELP Long Island.

Stone previously told Blank Slate that he hopes to bring “sunlight to what’s going on in village hall,” allowing for public involvement and discussion at board meetings that he said has been missing.

“I want to bring into focus my expertise, my experience in getting the job done and doing it right and doing it quickly,” Stone said. “I believe in actions, not words.”

He said the community work he engages in already is for community members, and he would bring that same purpose to his service on the village’s board.

He said he wants to bring transparency and initiative, establish respectful decorum, listen to community input and establish a balanced, on-time budget with sensible spending.

“That’s the way to run government – treat people with respect,” Stone said. “I’m not a magician, but I know what’s right and wrong and I bring some common sense into the equation. What comes out of it is something that could be a real beautiful thing.”

Costa, a retired UPS employee and member of the Port Washington Fire Department, is finishing his one-year term as deputy mayor which he started in July.

Former Manorhaven Trustee Rita Di Lucia said she filed a formal complaint June 8 with the New York State Comptroller’s Office requesting an investigation into an allegation that Costa fabricated his pension time-sheet documents.

Costa had previously been accused during a May 24 Board of Trustees meeting by the former Manorhaven clerk who said she had evidence he was fabricating his pension documents. Costa affirmed the accusation during the meeting.

Di Lucia said the state comptroller’s office did acknowledge her complaint but was unable to provide a timeline for their investigation due to a high level of work for their office.

Manorhaven residents also voted for the position of village justice.

Incumbent Village Justice William Bodkin was the sole candidate and won with 253 votes.

Bodkin was appointed as the village justice in February to fill a vacancy.

There were no write-in candidates for any of the Manorhaven offices up for election.

The Village of Sands Point was the only other village in Port Washington to hold an election on Tuesday.

Up for election were the positions of mayor and two trustees.

Only incumbents ran for the positions, including Mayor Peter Forman, Trustee Jeffrey Moslow and Trustee Elena Karabatos, all of whom were re-elected.

Forman received 252 votes, Moslow received 238 votes and Karabatos received 233 votes.

The village had numerous write-in candidates, including two for mayor and four for trustee. None received votes in the double digits.