(Editors note: The candidates for Town of North Hempstead Clerk were given a series of questions to answer with a limit of 500 words for their total response.

Questions included request for a short biography, any public service/community activist positions held or elections run in, and if elected, what post served. Also, what experience, including work-related experiences or public service experience, prepared the individual for public office. The candidates were asked why they were running and what they would propose if elected.

Jessica Ferrara is the Republican candidate and Leslie Gross is the Democratic candidate running for re-election.)

Born in Mineola, I grew up observing my parents, middle school teacher and human resources executive, while they juggled family, work and community service. Ever mindful of what my parents taught me about hard work and the value of a dollar, I also worked part-time jobs while attending high school. In my senior year, I had two part-time jobs and still managed to graduate with honors. I attended SUNY at Old Westbury and achieved high grades and a Bachelor of Science degree, while working full-time.

My prior employer gave me responsibility for archiving various property title records. While working for an insurance adjuster, I initiated and created an employee handbook for the E-Cabinet Archival System. As an advocate for the environment, I will work toward my goal of a paperless town clerk's office, so that trees will not be cut and buildings will not be built to create and store permanent records.

I believe that everyone needs to give back to their community in some way. I have worked on various recycling projects and helped teens in crisis. By running for town clerk, I hope to set an example for young people, who have dreamed of getting involved in government. "All politics is local." I believe that my running for this office will impact the every day lives of our residents more than if I ran for a higher office. Although the town board makes policy decisions, I believe that the building department records need an independent eye and should be under the auspices of the town clerk.

My family has old roots in Mineola and New Hyde Park. The Collins family's homestead is now La Marmite Restaurant and the Wicks family's pre-Revolutionary war farmhouse was razed to make room for single-family homes on Herricks Road. My great-grandfather was one of the five professional men who founded the Sons of Italy in America. Pharmacist Ludovico Ferrara wanted everyone to recognize the Italian people for the significant contributions they were making to America.

As your neighbor in Roslyn Heights, I am employed as an account manager for a nationwide, personnel agency. As a fellow property taxpayer, I know how important it is to hold the line on spending, so that town residents are not taxed out of their homes. I join the taxpayers in their petition to abolish annual reassessment of property in Nassau County.

I do not agree with the consolidation of special districts. We chose to live in Nassau County because we enjoy a suburban lifestyle. A consolidation of our special water, fire or school districts would take away local control and only save money in the short run. Before long the cumbersome consolidated districts would be as unresponsive and top-heavy as the City of New York, which cannot afford to pay their new teachers and police officers a decent wage. Don't let Nassau County become the 6th Borough. Vote for Jessica Ferrara and all of Row "B" on Nov. 6.

Leslie Gross was appointed as North Hempstead Town Clerk in April of 2007. Since her appointment, she has taken an active role in assuming the vast responsibilities of her office; whether marrying happy couples, issuing birth certificates to all the babies born at North Shore/LIJ, or ensuring all of our four-legged friends have dog licenses.

Prior to taking office, Gross served for two years as the town's first executive director of the Business and Tourism Development Corporation. She worked closely with our elected officials and local business owners to promote economic development which increased revenue to our local business. Gross spearheaded such projects as the annual "Bar Beach Family Fest" (an end-of-summer day at the beach that was attended by over 10,000 residents this past year), "North Hempstead Day" (an educational outreach program that works with elementary schools to teach the important history of our town) and "Winter Wonderland" (a holiday extravaganza) at Clark Botanic Garden.

Gross has served as an associate trustee of North Shore/LIJ Health System for many years. She is also the past president of the Rotary Club of Great Neck, and serves on the board of the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Gross recently attended the Cornell Municipal Clerk's Institute, and was elected president of the Institute's Class of 2009. "I believe it is my responsibility to immerse myself in my position and further my education so I can best perform my duties," she said. Gross has already pioneered a number of modernization initiatives in the clerk's office. She began a program offering extended hours on Wednesday evenings so working people can obtain important documents without having to take a day off from work. "My philosophy as a public servant is to make the town clerk's office user-friendly and accessible to the community we serve. In 2007 so few of us live lives where we can take time in the middle of the day to run errands. In my personal commitment to support our working families, I extended hours to help move government into the 21st century," she said.

Gross is running on the Democratic, Working Families and the Independence party lines. She has been endorsed by the Long Island Federation of Labor, CSEA Local 830, and all of the Law Enforcement unions in Nassau County. She is one of only 174 democratic candidates nationwide to receive an Eleanor Roosevelt "Legacy" campaign grant this year.

Gross and her husband, Howard, have been married for 33 years, and have lived in Manhasset, Flower Hill for over 27 years. Their two sons, Brian and Adam both graduated from Schreiber High School in Port Washington and the University of Michigan. Brian, a vice president of Lehman Brothers, is married to Danielle and they have a son, Jacob. Adam is an MBA student at Wharton Business School, and will be married next summer.

Gross received her M.S. degree from Northwestern University in Education of the Hearing Impaired and her B.S. degree in speech pathology & audiology from Ohio University.