Saddle Rock Mayor J. Leonard Samansky was sworn in as president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association last Wednesday evening, Aug. 15, at the GNVOA annual dinner at Melville Hall, the Officers' Club, at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point. Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph J. Kreitzman was sworn in as vice president, and Harriet Surks, trustee of the Village of Russell Gardens, was sworn in for another term as treasurer.

The GNVOA officers are chosen by a vote among the peninsula's nine mayors ---Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman, Village of Great Neck Estates Mayor David Fox, Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender, Kensington Mayor Bonnie Golub, Kings Point Mayor Michael Kalnick, Lake Success Mayor Ronald Cooper, Russell Gardens Mayor Steven Kirschner, Saddle Rock Mayor J. Leonard Samansky, and Thomaston Mayor Robert Stern.

The new GNVOA officers were sworn in by out-going GNVOA President Bonnie Golub, mayor of Kensington.

Following the installation ceremony, Mayor Samansky issued the following statement to the crowd of local public officials and dignitaries:

"Thank you for permitting me, together with Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman, vice president, and Harriet Surks, trustee of the Village of Russell Gardens, treasurer, to serve the entire Great Neck community as the officers of the Great Neck Village Officials Association.

"Please allow me to introduce a newcomer to Great Neck, the new commissioner of the Sixth Precinct Inspector Steven Williams.

"I recognize that this is basically a social event, but allow me a couple of minutes to make some observations.

"There are many serious issues facing our community at large, which this administration will address and work towards resolving. Among them are:

"Assisting our volunteer fire services and their members in continuing to assure a sound and bright future of services.

"Emergency preparedness.

"TV cable competition.

"Lessening helicopter over-flights.

"Assuring that our necessary services and resources, including water and sewer, are protected.

"Whether or not each of our municipalities is a direct participant, we must work together to protect our school and library systems, as well as our recreation facilities, including our Great Neck parks.

"When we work together we can perform magic, and we have.

"There is a new political buzz word that is being bandied about - the word is 'consolidation.'

"To those who posture imposing the effects of that word on our community for the sake of sounding politically correct, they must be aware that Great Neck is already together, and that we are a model to be followed, not interfered with for the sake of political rhetoric or scoring points for the mere purpose of shifting our tax dollars to other entities at the expense of service and taxpayer control. We love our community and each of us takes great individual pride in our respective villages. We have worked hard to make Great Neck 'great.' We intend to keep it that way for the benefit of our residents and businesses.

"May I, on behalf of us all, wish our past president, Bonnie Golub, and her family good health and good luck in the future, and our thanks to her for her efforts.

"Thank you and enjoy the evening."

The Great Neck Record will continue to provide coverage of the GNVOA monthly meetings to keep the public apprised of any crucial information and to provide Record readers interesting news from public officials and local community leaders.