In Plandome Manor two trustees have decided not to run for re-election, Jean Kukowski and John Auletto. Thus two open two-year trustee positions are being sought by four individuals: Richard Rupp, Resident's Party; Mary Lou DiIorio, Unity Party; Tony DeSousa, Unity Party; and Vahan Tanal, People's Party.

The candidates were provided questions from the Manhasset Press to serve as a framework in providing their neighbors with information about themselves. Following are their responses.

Elections in all Manhasset villages will take place on Tuesday, March 18, from noon to 9 p.m. In Plandome Manor the election will take place at the Village Hall located in the Science Museum of Long Island, 1526 Plandome Road.

-PG

I have lived in Manhasset for 25 years, Plandome Manor for 23 years and am running for the position of trustee in Plandome Manor. I am a member of the Unity Party and have never run for office before. I believe that our village needs a government that will represent all the people of the village and resolve conflicts in a way that does not involve litigation.

I have always believed in giving back to the community and have done so in many different ways: class mother at Shelter Rock for six years; co-chair of the plant committee for the SCA fair for two years; an after school religion teacher for St. Mary's church for six years; treasurer for the Village of Plandome Manor in Carlo Manganillo's administration for 6 months several years ago; and was instrumental in finding our new treasurer.

I have two children, my daughter is attending Columbia graduate school and my son is a sophomore at Cornell University.

For more than 15 years I was the controller for a family-owned business and know how to create and adhere to budgets by being cost conscious and realistic. Several years ago my husband and I sold our business, and formed a commercial real estate company. I also work at an investment management company in Manhattan for the past 2.5 years.

My goal is to try to recreate a neighborhood feeling within our community and restore the belief that conflicts can be resolved without litigation. I feel this can be accomplished through improved communication and compromise. I believe that the residents need to feel that their elected officials are listening to their needs and concerns.

One of the biggest problem the village faces is improving infrastructure in a fiscally realistic way. I feel that a comprehensive review of our infrastructure is important so that the village can evaluate, prioritize projects and plan for the short term and long term. This will also enable the village to budget these items properly and also allow the village ample time to apply for grants.

My wife Isabel and I moved to Plandome Manor in 2002. We chose Plandome Manor to raise our three children, Justin (14), Elisa (9) and Michael (7), because of all the wonderful qualities and opportunities our community offers. It has always been our intent to positively contribute to maintaining and enhancing those qualities, which attracted us.

Currently, I manage a personal real estate portfolio with domestic and international holdings. My real estate background in P&L management, multi-site operations, all phases of construction and lease negotiations affords me the ability to understand the intricacies of zoning and other related building matters. I have managed multiple commercial projects from pre-construction to 100 percent occupancy and have been successful in identifying opportunities and building lucrative strategic partnerships and affiliates. I value this experience as potentially worthy for negotiating future village matters. In addition to managing real estate, I co-managed a successful five-star restaurant, with a record of uncompromising emphasis on customer satisfaction, quality, waste reduction and cost savings, for 15 years.

Last year, I was appointed Road Commissioner, for our village. I have served in that capacity for several months. As Road Commissioner, I have done my best to address resident's concerns, audit and assess the condition of our existing road lighting. When solicited, I have provided advice to the village board on various capital expenditure projects. During this time, I negotiated a lighting maintenance contract with Anker Electric, addressing a very serious concern of light poles, which were often dark. I also negotiated a 'public works' maintenance contract with Robert Keogh, Inc., to maintain our village common areas to the village standards. I am currently, working on an infrastructure project on Grist Mill Lane that had been identified as 'in need of reconstruction' during the previous administration.

As Road Commissioner, I have attended monthly village board meetings, where it became increasingly apparent that in order to maintain the wonderful qualities and characteristics, which drew my family to our village, service to our community is required. Therefore, as candidate for village trustee from the Unity Party, I feel very strongly about representing our community as a voice of progress towards our collective future. I believe local government has the greatest direct impact on our everyday quality of life. Our village needs to elect a board that provides its residents' with the services expected in a timely, cost-effective and fair manner. As a community, we need to address and plan for growth while acknowledging the desire to maintain architectural integrity and our historical settings. I am committed to the beautification of our village, as a means of retaining its character and charm. I will address our existing infrastructure and fight any future frivolous capital projects that may arise. I will focus my attention on maintaining a financially healthy village that is prepared to deal with unforeseen emergencies and unfunded regulatory changes. It is my intent to aid the board in developing a long-term capital improvement plan that does not put unnecessary tax burdens on our residents.

If elected, I will always welcome conversation addressing any concern or need. We are a small community of neighbors, our government is very accessible and progress can be achieved while protecting and maintaining all that is dear to us. The next village board has the potential and responsibility to voice reason in its decisions, in order to protect the existing character of our community, resolve any differences and continue to lead our village in the direction its residents' desire.

I am a nine-year resident of Plandome Manor. My wife Janet, and I looked extensively for a community with good schools, a feeling of neighborhood and a safe place to raise our two children. We are both originally from Nassau, and after spending time living in Manhattan, we appreciated coming back to Long Island.

I have served for the last nine months as Plandome Manor's representative on the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, an organization of 14 municipalities whose charter is to improve the environment in this watershed region. As such, I bring to our trustees key information in the new NYSDEC Phase II Storm Water Management laws which take effect this year, and how improper management of these issues can put the village in the position of large fines from NYSDEC.

I've spent a number of terms as trustee and president for a cooperative residence in Manhattan. I graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and later received their Ichabod Washburn award for business and leadership skills.

I am a businessman who works with technology centric companies. I co-founded a firm, grew it to 135 employees and sold it. I have been involved in large and small companies, in acquiring and selling companies, and in restructuring. I have also consulted on a number of large complicated Litigations. I currently hold the position of Chief Technology Officer, of myVRM of Westbury, a company involved in the management and scheduling of Videoconferencing Systems to help eliminate travel and its effect on the environment.

I am running for Trustee of Plandome Manor because I see the need for change in approach, and a need for people in the community to get involved. I have been regularly attending the trustee meetings for over four years and I am greatly concerned about the direction of the village. We have seen a number of village officials with their own agendas, with little or no regard for the needs of the residents of the village. I'm running on the "Resident's Party" because I strongly feel that the residents of this village are under-represented by our current village government.

At the Feb. 26 meeting the proposed budget was presented. The village has now for the first time gone to the public debt market and borrowed $500,000. In addition to this debt, the village proposes taking $175,000 out of the reserve fund and raising taxes 7 percent. The borrowing was attempted in a hastily called unpublished meeting, to keep it out of public view. This is not how I expect this village government to be run.

Village spending is out of control. Much of it is poorly spent, with little regard for the value of the money. One prime example is legal fees. The fees for October-December 2007 exceeded $75,000. At this rate it will be our largest single expense, five times the amount budgeted for this year, and 30 times the amount actually spent in 2003.

The village's 2007-2008 budget is $1,334,889. Compare this with the $399,235 actually spent in 2003-2004 and you can see how out of control the village government really is.

I was told by our prior building inspector that I can't put up an American Flag without architectural drawings, a hearing before the Design Review Board and a building permit. Our code has been changed to be repressive with punitive fees and fines to pay for the salaries of building inspectors and code enforcement officers. This has pitted neighbor against neighbor as village employees use 'complaints' as their excuse to stop people from working in their own homes. We are losing our sense of community as others look upon us as a place to make a few dollars. Yet, over the past year nothing has been done to review the codes.

As a trustee I will have a fiduciary and moral responsibility to my fellow residents. We need to look at other sources of revenues, such as grants from the county and state. We need to work with neighboring villages to share services and reduce expenses. I will work to protect the character of the village, and hope to be a voice of reason and a catalyst for change. The village government must be in-touch with the needs and desires of the residents. This has been absent for far too long. I thank you for your support.

I have lived in Plandome Manor since 1994, and am running for a trustee position in the Village of Plandome Manor, and am not an incumbent.

I ran for president of the PTO of my children's elementary school, The Holy Martyrs Armenian Day School in Bayside, won and served a two-year term.

I am running to serve my neighbors and my community by helping to cut down our expenses, preserve our environment and help make our village a better place to live for our families and our children.

My wife Lisa and I have been married for 30 years. She has a Master's degree in elementary education. Our 25-year-old daughter Lara graduated from Manhasset High in 2000, received her bachelor's degree in IT and marketing from RPI and is now studying law at Pace University. Our 22-year-old son Stephen graduated from Manhasset High in 2004 and recently graduated from Syracuse University with a double major in finance and economics. I received my master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Wyoming and worked as a registered professional engineer for over 37 years in New York and New Jersey. For the last 31 years I worked for a 10,000 employee global engineering firm, most recently as senior vice president. I've worked on major civil engineering projects both in the US and overseas, including the I-95 Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore, the Panama Canal Expansion, the Palm Island Jumeirah in Dubai, the Taipei Rapid Transit System in Taiwan, the Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong, and the Bosphorus Tunnel in Istanbul. I was an adjunct professor of Civil Engineering at Columbia University from 1990 to 1996 and taught Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering sessions for the American Society of Civil Engineer's review courses for professional engineering exams. I have made numerous technical presentations in conferences and seminars in the U.S. and overseas. As of May 2007, I have been semi-retired and work as an independent consultant.

I have over 37 years of worldwide experience in the design and construction engineering of ports, harbors, tunnels, rapid transit systems, airports, highways, bridges, dams and underground structures. I have spent two years in Taipei, Taiwan as the chief geotechnical engineer for the Taipei Metro, worked on the Port of Suez in Egypt, the Brisbane Seawall in Australia, and the Central Japan International Airport in Nagoya, Japan. I was the invited keynote speaker to the 17th National Congress of the Turkish Civil and Architectural Engineering Society in 2005, in Istanbul. The subject of my presentation was "Sustainable Engineering for Immersed Tube Tunnels and Other Infrastructure." I made the same presentation later that year in New York to the United Nations NGO Committee on Human Settlements as an invited speaker. Over the years, I have authored and co-authored many technical articles and publications on diverse engineering topics. I am a member of many national and international engineering societies. I serve on the American Society of Civil Engineers' National Ports & Harbors Committee and the Harbors Navigation & Environment Committee as well as American Association of Port Authorities' Facilities Engineering Committee. I also currently serve on the Maritime Transportation Advisory Board of Rutgers University. I am dedicated to sustainable development and environmental stewardship. I served on the Plandome Manor Board of Zoning Appeals for about five years from 2000 to 2005.

If elected, I will work for the betterment of our village infrastructure and continued improvement of our quality of life in an atmosphere of good will and harmony. My professional engineering and management background and extensive worldwide experience will help me achieve that goal.

In my opinion the biggest problem the village faces is unnecessary spending and resulting financial burdens to our residents. For the first time in memory our village is borrowing heavily to pay for attorneys and lawsuits.

I will work with my fellow trustees to minimize attorney expenses, avoid unnecessary litigation, control spending and make sure that we use our tax dollars carefully and efficiently.