Three Candidates Go Head-to-Head to Fill Two Spots
Three Stewart Manor residents are busy preparing for election — and in one case, re-election — to the Village Board of Trustees, which will be held Tuesday, March 15. The village board comprises five members — the mayor and four trustees — each of whom is elected for a four-year term. Incumbent Gerard S. Tangredi, who represents the Unity Party, James Lynch, also of the Unity Party, and Sally Martino-Fisher, who represents the Independent Party, will run against one another to fill two vacancies. Deputy Mayor/Trustee Peter Healy has opted not to run for reelection, and incumbent Tangredi is at the end of his first four-year term.
The mission of the board is to set policies for the village as well as to adopt local laws, approve budgets, set tax rates and supervise all village departments and agencies. Each of the candidates hopes to draw on his or her background to fulfill that mission, if elected.
“As a village trustee … I would make sure the revenues of our village are safely and appropriately managed in these challenging times,” said Lynch. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Albany Medical College, Lynch is a psychiatrist in Brooklyn Heights and Hempstead. He rounds out his professional life by volunteering as a baseball and softball coach in the Garden City Athletic Association as well as working as a volunteer with the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Having visited family in Stewart Manor for many years, Lynch and his wife and two children moved into the village a few years ago. If elected, “I would preserve the quality of life that drew us here. … As I expect to be living here for a long time and enjoying the services of our village, I will work to plan for, and fund, the services we hold dear,” Lynch said.
Independent Party candidate Sally Martino-Fisher hopes to leverage the various positions she has held as an employee of the City of New York, if elected to the Stewart Manor Board of Trustees. Fisher and her husband of 47 years have been residents of the village for nine years.
Most recently, Martino-Fisher worked for 18 years as a district manager in Queens, where she was responsible for a district in which 200,000 people reside. “We handled all quality of life situations for our residents,” she said. Specifically, Martino-Fisher’s office handled complaints regarding water and sewer problems, planting trees and tree maintenance, potholes, all traffic problems, sanitation pick-up, and Building Department and Health Department issues. Martino-Fisher has also served on many boards, including School Board 14 in Brooklyn and Community Planning Board 1 in Brooklyn.
If elected, Martino-Fisher plans to address high taxes and services for senior citizens. “I am committed to helping people and will continue to do so if I am elected trustee of the Village of Stewart Manor,” she said.
Incumbent Gerard S. Tangredi, along with his wife and their three children, has been a resident of Stewart Manor for 21 years. A 30-year veteran of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Tangredi has been a DEP District Supervisor for the past six years. His focus lies on road infrastructure repair, water and wastewater collections, and coordinating public works projects involving multiple agencies and utilities.
Tangredi augments his professional life with various volunteer posts. He has worked with the Nassau County EOC, Stewart Manor Fire Department, Firefighter Burn Center and PTA. Most recently, Tangredi has been a Stewart Manor village trustee and an active member of the Nassau County Village Officials Association. During his tenure as trustee, Tangredi worked closely with past and present village administrations on the renovation of the Stewart Manor Pool complex and the resolution of flooding issues throughout the village.
Tangredi seeks re-election “to see through projects that are not yet complete. We are starting to plan for future public works projects such as storm drains and roadways, which I have many years of experience in,” he said. If re-elected, Tangredi looks to “put in place a future capital plan, lower our taxes, maintain a good quality of life, and ensure the village will grow to meet the needs of the residents now and in the future.”
The voting booth will be open for all Stewart Manor residents on Tuesday, March 15, from noon until 9 p.m. at Village Hall, 120 Covert Ave.
