East Williston resident Raffaela Dunne recently managed to secure a seat on the Village of East Williston’s board of trustees during the village’s election last month. Dunne snagged 233 votes while her opponent James Reichman received 174 votes. Deputy Mayor Bonnie Parente, who ran uncontested for the mayoral seat, received 324 votes while incumbent trustee James Iannone received 244 votes.
“When the election results were read, I was relieved and very grateful to everyone who helped me campaign and who voted for me and especially for Mayor Tanner and incoming Mayor Parente for having confidence in me and providing me with opportunities to become involved with village issues,” said Dunne, who currently works for a boutique real estate development advisory company in Manhattan.
By way of background, Dunne has lived within the East Williston School District since 1996, first on Roselle Street in Mineola and then on Steeple Lane in Roslyn Heights. While always being part of the larger school community, she envied the small community vibe of those residing in the incorporated village and moved to East Williston in 2006.
Dunne believes that her civil engineering background, along with her work experience in planning, can help the current board of trustees with technical municipal issues such as water quality, traffic and development.
Newly elected mayor Bonnie Parente assigned Dunne to serve as the board liaison with the planning and zoning boards, the beautification committee and with the East Williston Little League, which encompasses the areas where her background is most relevant.
“I want to congratulate Deputy Mayor Parente on her election to mayor and trustee James Iannone on his reelection,” said Dunne. “I want to thank the residents of East Williston for entrusting me with the opportunity to serve them and let them know that I will work my hardest to help Mayor Parente and the village trustees to keep our community special.”
Since moving to East Williston, Dunne has also been involved in a variety of roles. Her first role was with the Teen Safety Committee that was formed almost 10 years ago because of issues the village was experiencing with teenagers congregating on the Village Green and other issues with younger children being chased or harassed.
“As a result of several of the ideas from the Teen Safety Committee, I was asked to become a liaison with the recreation committee, who work tirelessly to develop and implement village events,” said Dunne. “I became a member of the recreation committee and have participated ever since.”
