Three running for two Island Park seats

With Laura Risolo Hassett running against incumbent Trustees Irene Naudus and Steve D’Esposito, vying for one of their two open seats on the Board of Trustees, the Village of Island Park will have its first contested election in years.

But Hassett’s name won’t appear on the ballot.

“[The Nassau County Board of Elections] only mailed me a letter saying that I didn’t follow the election laws for Section 15,” Hassett said, referring to the section of New York state election law that governs village elections. “But they could not direct me to an exact law and [said] that it was up to interpretation.”

Though her name won’t be there, Hassett, 37, is planning to run anyway, as a write-in candidate. “I’m running because I’ve been working with the community for 10 years and I think I can contribute in a positive way to the community,” she said.

Naudus and D’Esposito are running for their second and fifth full terms, respectively. Both were initially appointed to their positions. Naudus has been a trustee for seven years, and D’Esposito for more than 20.

“I came to Island Park 37 years ago, knew nobody, moved in and met my wife, had kids, bought a house,” said D’Esposito, the village’s deputy mayor and the commissioner of public safety. “Island Park gave a lot back to me.”

Both D’Esposito and Naudus are running on the Unity Party line. Rather than form her own party, Hassett has decided to run as an independent. “I wanted the village to know that I was truly trying to work with them rather than go up against them,” she said. “So I purposefully opted not to start a party. There were people who wanted to start a party, but I felt it would create too much chaos and take away from what is really important.”

Naudus and D’Esposito have years of community involvement between them. Naudus, 49, first got involved in village affairs with her husband, Brian, trying to improve the beaches. The two volunteered and hosted volleyball for kids at the beach. She also coached her daughters, Kirsten and Laura, in the Oceanside United Soccer Club. She also has a son, Gregory.

D’Esposito, 62, has taken a leading role at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church. He served on the committee for the San Gennaro feast for many years, and works the zeppole booth with his wife, Carmen, and their sons, Anthony and Timothy. He has also been a supporter of the Cub Scouts, the Boy Scouts and the Island Park Kiwanis.

For her part, Hassett has devoted a great deal of time to volunteering in Island Park, where she was born and raised. She was a founding member and the first vice president of the Island Park Civic Association, where she worked with County Legislator Denise Ford to help secure money for a traffic study of Austin Boulevard. She helps organize and host the association’s annual Love Your Troops benefit dinner, is involved with her children’s sports teams and volunteers at the San Gennaro feast with her husband, Gerard, and her sons, Thomas and Jude.

Naudus and D’Esposito are both seeking re-election, they said, because they want to keep working to help the village. “I would like to continue on the track that we are on as far as the housing and the illegal apartments — we implemented that,” Naudus said, referring to the village’s new housing law requiring residents to register two-family homes. The process has helped remove many illegal apartments. “The code enforcement is bringing a lot of money to the village, and they’re only part-time,” she said. “And when full-timers are retiring, we’re hiring back part-time seasonal workers, which is saving the village a lot of money. And those are the things that we’ve implemented that I would like to still continue to do.”

As public safety commissioner, D’Esposito’s focus for the village’s future is on firefighters and police officers. “There’s a lot to accomplish in the village,” he said. “[I want] to keep the Fire Department going and upgrade it in many ways. The building needs some work, to make sure the vehicles are up and running. The other thing is to make sure the streets of Island Park are kept safe for the kids and the community. I want to better it any way I can.”

One of the reasons Hassett is running, she said, is because she wants to help give a voice to the segment of the village’s population that she feels the board doesn’t adequately represent. “I think the village needs a fresh perspective,” she said. “I’m young — I’m in touch with a lot of the young families in the community due to them being school-aged. I feel the existing board is not a true representation of the community. They all kind of run in the same age category and they don’t have young children.”

Village elections will be held on March 20.

The Herald will be asking the candidates questions about important topics in Island Park and publishing their responses. What do you think is important? What do you want the candidates to talk about? Send suggestions for topics or specific questions to: oceaneditor@liherald.com.