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Politics & Government

2 Water Districts to Pick Commissioners

Elections set for Greenlawn and South Huntington boards.

The Greenlawn and South Huntington water districts will hold elections Tuesday for seats on each district's board of commissioners. 

The Greenlawn Water District, which spans from Jericho Turnpike to past Harborfields High School  and from Lake Road to Commack Road, will be holding an election between incumbent John McLaughlin and newcomer John Clark.

The Greenlawn  district also encompasses a number of schools, including all of the Harborfields School District buildings, Elwood School District, Commack's Burr Intermediate School and Discovery Preschool.

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McLaughlin, who currently serves as chairman of the board, has been a member of the Greenlawn Water District's board of commissioners since 1996. A Greenlawn resident since 1971 and Harborfields High School graduate, McLaughlin owns his own local plumbing business, John McLaughlin Plumbing and Heating, Inc.

Clark, a lifelong Greenlawn resident and former chief administrative officer of a large, privately held corporation, J & W Seligman and Co., which was bought after he retired and is now known as Seligman Investments. Clark is retired and decided to run for election because he wants to address the increase in water usage that has occurred in Greenlawn over the past months.

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In addition, both McLaughlin and Clark said that they were dedicated to the plan to returning Greenlawn to non-chlorinated water by 2011.

"I have nearly 34 years of experience in the private sector managing projects, and also managing geographically diverse facilities. In my role as chief administrative officer of one of the largest privately held firms in the country, I managed budgets exceeding $100 million annually. My experience as chief administrative officer blends well with my desire to ensure that Greenlawn Water District remains independent. I believe this will prove invaluable to our water district residents as we plan for the future," Clark said.

Two spots on the South Huntington Water District board of commissioners are up for election as well. The district covers a large portion of Huntington Station and all of Melville, South Huntington and Cold Spring Harbor. The district spans a total of 21.7 square miles.

Dominick Feeney, who was appointed to the board after the death of commissioner George Kopp in July, is running unopposed for his seat on the board of commissioners.

Chairman of the board Paul Tonna is up for re-election. Tonna is a former Suffolk County legislator and serves as an adjunct professor of theology and religious studies at St. John's University and as vice chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Board.

Tonna is also on the board of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center, The Long Island Index and Erase Racism's College of Advisors. He is also the founding director of Empire National Bank and has been on the water district's board of commissioners since 2006.

Running against Tonna is Nick Ciappetta, who has been a member of the South Huntington Board of Education since 2004. Ciappetta also works as an attorney for the New York City Law Department. After the Board of Education received numerous complaints that the South Huntington Water District had sold a piece of  land to T-Mobile to build a cell phone tower in a residentially zoned area, Ciappetta became interested in running for a position on the board of commissioners.

If elected, Ciappetta also plans to increase the amount of information available to the public on the happenings of the water district. "The board currently holds its meetings at 11 a.m., a time when few people can attend," he said. "I want to bring more openness in terms of these meetings."

He also hopes to improve the quality of South Huntington's water.

The Greenlawn election will take place at the Greenlawn Water District office, 45 Railroad St., Greenlawn, from 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesday.

South Huntington's election will occur at both Whitman High School (North wing of cafeteria) and the King of Kings Evangelist Lutheran Church, 2601 New York Ave., Melville from 3 to 9 p.m. as well.

A photo of Feeney was not available.

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