It's a new administration in the Town of North Hempstead and Great Neck's Deena Lesser now finds herself in a brand new post in town government. Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman appointed Ms. Lesser as director of inter-municipal affairs. In her new position, Ms. Lesser will work with North Hempstead's 31 villages on all town affairs that impact on a village.

Mr. Kaiman created the post in an effort to ''increase cooperation with other municipalities ... we do not exist alone.'' And, he said, ''With her extensive experience, there is no one better to lead this initiative than Deena Lesser.''

Ms. Lesser echoed the supervisor's words, saying that Mr. Kaiman made this new appointment as he ''anticipates the need to communicate well with the villages and to work with them.'' North Hempstead has more villages than any other town in Nassau County, with 60 percent of the town's population actually living in a village. As a result, she explained that ''almost all the town does impacts on villages and vice versa.'' She added that, especially with zoning, there is an ''obvious impact on each other.''

Ms. Lesser went on to explain that the town and the villages are linked, yet they have ''never maximized the fruitful possibilities.'' She intends to ''keep the lines of communication open on all town projects that involve the villages.'' Along these lines, she noted the Gateway to Great Neck project, where the town, working with the local villages, will keep working on this pollution prevention project in the area of Watermill Lane and Great Neck Road.

In addition to jurisdiction for all of the land in the town that is not in incorporated villages, the town also owns all of the land in North Hempstead that is underwater to the mean high tide line. This, too, means definite interaction with villages with waterfront property.

Already on the job since Jan. 1, Ms. Lesser is very enthusiastic both about her work and her ''boss.'' She expects ''great things to happen'' in North Hempstead under Jon Kaiman's guidance. ''I enjoy working with Jon,'' she told the Great Neck Record in a recent interview. ''Jon is very dynamic; he's very creative and very energetic.''

Ms. Lesser was delighted to take on this new challenge and she very much looks forward to regular contact with the villages. ''The job appealed to me a great deal ... the villages and the town are real grassroots local government.'' And Deena Lesser is the first to admit that she really enjoys grassroots government.

Ms. Lesser has a rich history of involvement with local grassroots government. The former executive assistant to recently retired Town Supervisor May Newburger, Ms. Lesser is currently a commissioner of the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District. This job, which she has held since January 1998, she told the Record, is most ''interesting ... challenging with many issues.'' As for her years as May Newburger's assistant, this was a special time. ''It was a privilege to have spent those years working with May,'' she said. ''May Newburger is brilliant and really exciting to work for.''

She also served as mayor of the Village of Thomaston and was at one time on that village's planning board. Serving a term as vice president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association, she was slated to become GNVOA president, but had to turn down the position due to family illness. All along, whether mayor or representing May Newburger, Ms. Lesser is a constant at the monthly GNVOA meetings and will obviously continue in her new post.

For five years Deena Lesser also served as North Hempstead town clerk, where she was the first one to win grant money --- over $115,000 --- from the state for records management. Ms. Lesser reports that current Town Clerk Michelle Schimel is finishing the archiving, ''doing a wonderful job.'' The archives were Ms. Lesser's favorite part of the town clerk job. ''The town has incredible stuff ... patents and such,'' she said.

Also during her tenure as town clerk, Ms. Lesser found it very gratifying to have accomplished a reworking of the town taxi law, to coordinate that law with villages that also license taxis. This enables all of the licensed taxis to have the same kind of medallion, so police are able to identify unlicensed taxicabs.

Ms. Lesser's town work also extends to involvement in North Hempstead's historic society. This, she explained, is an independent entity ''with lots of support and backup from the town.'' She was also involved in a wide variety of town affairs as executive assistant to the supervisor. She chaired the supervisor's committee against family violence since its inception and she will continue to chair that committee.

At one time Ms. Lesser was also a director of the Great Neck Cable Commission. She was on the original commission and part of a subcommittee that hired current executive director, Shirley Bruno.

''With a town of this size, the villages are extremely important,'' Ms. Lesser reiterated. She knows the town, and the villages, quite well and is now committed to being sure that those villages and the town maintain an open, working relationship that benefits each and every resident in North Hempstead.