In a highly contested race, Camillo Giannattassio was elected this week as the newest mayor of Massapequa Park and Robert Wilcox and Joseph Pinto were elected as village trustees.

Giannattasio, who ran as a member of the Front Street Party, ran against Deputy Mayor Scott Wiss, a member of the Village Integrity Party and Rocco L. Dionisio, Jr., of the Working Class Party for the position of mayor. In the Tuesday election, Giannattassio received 1,363 votes to Wiss' 1,023 votes and Dionisio's 222 votes.

Wilcox, Front Street Party candidate, received the most votes for trustee, with 1,237 but the Village Integrity Party candidate, Pinto's, 1,161 votes were enough to secure him the second open trustee seat. Failing to be elected trustee, but only 11 votes behind Pinto, was former mayor and Front Street Party candidate, Robert Thompson who received 1,150 votes. Also failing to secure a trustee position was Harry Jacobson of the Village Integrity Party, who was appointed to the board only six weeks ago when the village board was depleted to three members when Lucy Agovino and Marvin Guberman suddenly resigned. Jacobson received 1,125 votes while Bruce Farco and Daniel J. Scarisbrick, both of the Working Class Party, received just over two hundred votes each. Farco received 247 votes and Scarisbrick received 223.

Giannattassio will be replacing Mayor George Nussbaum, who decided, after 14 years serving as village mayor, not to run for re-election. The two trustee positions opened up when Agovino and Guberman decided to retire. Both former trustees suddenly chose not to finish their terms. Guberman vacated his seat on the board as of Jan. 31 and Agovino, who had originally stated her intention to run for re-election, resigned as of Feb. 8, leaving both seats empty until Nussbaum appointed Jacobson. The April 5 reorganization meeting, when the new board is installed, will be the first time since Agovino and Guberman resigned that all five board positions will be filled.

A resident of the village for 42 years, Giannattasio has been a practicing attorney in the Massapequa area since 1976. He was a village trustee from 1981-85, was deputy mayor in 1982 and 1984, was counsel to the board of zoning appeals from 1980-81 and served as attorney to the planning commission from 1977-79 and 1998-99. Prior to the election Giannattasio stated, "What I do best is being a good lawyer and being a good lawyer to me is solving problems for your clients. I think government at this level is problem solving for the residents and that's what I do best. That's what I have been doing for the last 25 years."

Pinto is currently serving as a member of the Village Planning Commission and is employed as a controller for a construction management and engineering firm in Syosset. When asked how he felt about his election he replied, "I'm glad it's over with. It was a tiring last couple of months but I'm very proud to be chosen by my fellow residents to serve them."

Wilcox, who has been on the zoning board of appeals since 1984, has been a resident of Massapequa Park for 48 years. He is a decorated World War II Navy veteran, a retired sales executive and manager with a large wholesale office supply company and is active in many aspects of the village.

Prior to the election each of the candidates spoke of their plans for the village and Giannattasio, Pinto, and Wilcox will have the opportunity to put those plans in motion following their induction.