When the late Nicholas Mortensen was active in the politics of the Village of Mineola, he talked about the Town of North Hempstead having councilmatic districts.

Now, in the town's first ever election involving councilmatic districts, it is Nicholas Mortensen's son Dennis, who is the Democratic candidate, running against Republican Angelo Ferrara for the district, which covers Mineola and Williston Park among other areas.

"My father was a proponent of councilmatic districts for at least 30 years, as long as I can remember. He felt it was more of a grass roots way of governing, rather than all the power being where the votes are," said Dennis.

For 16 years, Nicholas Mortensen served on the Village of Mineola's Zoning Board. Dennis followed in his father's footsteps of public service by serving on the Mineola School District Board of Education for eight years where he tried to improve the educational quality of the community he grew up in. Among the initiatives Mortensen was involved with were bringing a universal pre-kindergarten program and formulating a plan to build a new early childhood education center on Willis Avenue.

If elected to the town's 3rd councilmatic district, Mortensen said he would work to improve services to the district. He is in favor of affordable housing, which doesn't necessarily mean low income housing, and cleaning up brownfields around schools and downtown revitalization projects to make the town a better place to live and work in.

Mortensen faces a steep challenge in Ferrara, who is a veteran of town government, having served as a councilman for four years after being elected in 1997. As a councilman, Ferrara said he focused on the financial health of the town as well as the quality of life and environmental issues.

Ferrara and his wife Pat raised five children in New Hyde Park and they now have three grandchildren. He has been and still is extremely involved in the community. For more than 17 years Ferrara managed a Merillon Little League baseball team. He is the president and the co-founder of the Greater Herricks Civic Association. Further, he is an active board member of the Sass Foundation for Cancer Research and the Dante Foundation of Nassau County.

Ferrara, the co-founder of the Greater Herricks Civic Association, member of the Mineola Lions Club, the County Seat Kiwanis Club, the Knights of Columbus, Order Sons of America New Hyde Park Cellini Lodge No. 226, is concerned with the town's current debt burden and vows to protect the integrity of the community and not allow quality of life to further erode. He said he will also work to make sure the district receives its fair share of town services and programs.

"I will protect the taxpayers' pocketbooks, protect and improve the quality of life within the town, manage town government like a business, eliminate waste and duplication of services, make town government more responsive to taxpayers, ensure open and honest town government, encourage resident participation and put the interests of the people before politics," he said.