The Homeowner's Party slate swept the election held on Tuesday, June 17 at North Hills Village Hall. Marvin Natiss won the mayor's race with 830 votes, defeating Jack Berr of the Village party, a trustee who retired from fashion sales, by 547 votes. Natiss is senior partner of his family's Roslyn Heights law practice and resigned as village justice to run for mayor.

Natiss' running mates included Dennis Sgambati (797 votes), a trustee and building renovation contractor, and Marvin Rothenberg (803 votes), a trustee retired from the construction business, who will both be serving four-year terms. Phyllis Lentini (735 votes), the widow of late mayor John Lentini, has won the two-year trustee seat. Sigmund Semon (735 votes), an attorney who is a partner at a Woodbury law practice, will serve as village justice. The newly elected officials will take office on Monday, July 7.

Mayor-elect Natiss will succeed outgoing mayor Stanley Rosenfeld of the Village Party. However, Natiss shares Rosenfeld's opposition to construction on the 17-acres on the South Service Road of the Long Island Expressway between New Hyde Park and Shelter Rock Roads, primarily owned by the Greater New York Conference of Seventh Day Adventists. Officials have been approached by a Manhattan development group interested in building a hotel on the property.

A June 19 article in Newsday reported that in initial, informal talks with the Village of North Hills, South Service Partners LLC, a group of real estate developers made up of Manhattan-based Midtown Equities and Florida-based Samuel & Co., discussed building a 10- to 12- story Ritz-Carlton hotel of about 250 rooms, and condominium units on the property. However Rosenfeld said that a survey of residents showed that "we're not interested."

"We campaigned for two and a half months against having this sort of building in North Hills," Natiss said. "The Ritz-Carlton is a great establishment but we don't believe a high-rise building belongs in the village. North Hills is a high-end residential community. We intend to keep our commitment to the community."

While he can make no official decisions on this matter yet, Natiss has wasted no time taking action as mayor-elect. He has had several meetings with the village attorney and the village administrator to get updates on pending issues, as well as the present mayor and deputy mayor; he has also set up a meeting with the department of transportation.

Furthermore, Natiss intends to make one of his campaign promises a reality by cutting the full-time mayoral salary of $89,500 to less than $50,000. "I've already met with village trustees and confirmed [the salary change] with them," he said.