Last January North Hempstead Councilwoman Doreen Banks resigned from the Town Board when newly elected County Executive Tom Suozzi named her Nassau County Parks Commissioner. Supervisor May Newburger named Tom Dwyer of East Williston to the post, with his appointment running until the next regular election, at which time he would have to run for the completion of Ms. Banks' full term, which ends in 2003.

Councilman Dwyer, a Democrat, has announced that he will run in the upcoming election on the Democratic, Working Family, Liberal and Independent lines. Tim O'Connell, a resident of Carle Place, has officially announced his candidacy on the Republican ticket.

The two men have similar backgrounds, both having grown up in the East Williston area. Both work in the financial area and both men are college graduates with MBAs. Mr. O'Connell is a graduate of St. John's University with a bachelor's degree in finance and an MBA in international finance. Today he is a senior financial advisor working at an investment firm in Garden City. Mr. Dwyer has a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an MBA from the Bernard Baruch Graduate School of Business. He is presently employed as an investment banker in a firm in Manhattan.

Mr. O'Connell and his wife, Tara, live in Carle Place with their two children, Thomas, 5, and Michael, 1. Mr. Dwyer and his wife, Melissa, live in East Williston with their children, Juliana, 7, Leah, 5, and Thomas Gabriel, born March 12, 2002.

Mr. O'Connell belongs to Corpus Christi Parish in Mineola and is a member of the Carle Place Civic Association. He is the alternate trustee to the Nassau County PAL, representing Manhasset, where he volunteers with the Manhasset PAL. He is a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick on Long Island; a member of the St. John's University Loughlin Society and a member of North Hempstead Country Club.

Mr. Dwyer serves on the North Hempstead Housing Authority, is a coach for East Williston Little League Softball, and is on the board of directors of both Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America and of Long Island and the Working Organization for Retarded Children (WORC). Currently Town Councilman Dwyer serves as the liaison to East Williston, Williston Park, Mineola, Albertson and Roslyn Heights as well as the town's representative to the ecological committee, the technology committee and the affordable housing committee.

Mr. O'Connell says that he will use his financial experience to find the most prudent way to pay off the judgment against North Hempstead by the Sumitomo Bank. He says that the environment and the need for open space should be top priorities for town government. Mr. O'Connell and the Republicans are in favor of council districts in the Town of North Hempstead. Council districts have been mandated by the courts in the Towns of Hempstead and Brookhaven.

Mr. Dwyer says that since he has been in office he has worked with Supervisor May Newburger and the other councilmen to pass legislation that will benefit North Hempstead both economically and environmentally. He is also in favor of councilmanic districts but says he is not sure how they should be implemented. "Certainly I am in favor of a referendum, in which the residents of North Hempstead can vote on the issue," he said recently.

In 2001 the North Hempstead Town Board appointed a commission to study whether the Town of North Hempstead should adopt a councilmanic district to replace its traditional at large system of electing council members. This past July the commission, chaired by Democrat Joseph Galante, reported that they were unable to reach a majority decision. The 11 members of the commission were split three ways. Four members of the commission voted to recommend that the town continue to hold its elections at large. Four members of the commission voted to recommend that the town institute councilmanic districts. A third group of three commission members voted to recommend that the town adopt a "mixed system" of governance where two members of the board would continue to be elected at large and four council members would be elected from councilmanic districts.

Despite the differing opinions, the commission voted 10-1 that the board put the issue to a referendum.

The board members, all Democrats, approved a resolution from Supervisor May Newburger to appoint election law attorney Stanley Schlein as special counsel on councilmanic districts. Schlein's job will be to sort through the legal aspects of the report and help put together a referendum. For a referendum to take place in November, the town board must approve it in September. Republicans, who could benefit from districts, called the move a delaying tactic.