Village trustees, justice running unopposed in upcoming election

Residents can vote Tuesday at RVC’s Rec Center from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Posted

Two village trustees and a village justice are running unopposed in Rockville Centre’s general election on Tuesday, as they each seek four-year terms.

Trustee Edward Oppenheimer, who has a long history of serving the Rockville Centre community, is completing his second term on the board, and seeks re-election.

A certified public accountant with a business in Rockville Centre since 1977, Oppenheimer has served as a firefighter for nearly four decades, and is also a former Nassau County Legislator and past president of the Rockville Centre Public Library. He was a founding trustee of the Rockville Centre Community Fund — serving as its treasurer for 25 years — and has been on the Village Planning Board and involved with the Chamber of Commerce.

Emilio Grillo, a Rockville Centre resident since 1999 who was first elected as a village trustee in 2013, seeks a second term. Prior to his current position, which includes serving as a liaison to the Department of Public Works, the Electric and Water Departments and the Citizen’s Budget Advisory Committee, he served as a deputy village attorney and village prosecutor since 2004.

The St. John’s University School of Law graduate is a litigation partner at a Garden City law firm, and worked for six years as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn. Grillo has three children who are, or have been, students in Rockville Centre schools, and has been a coach for the village’s Little League, Soccer Club and Basketball League.

Kevin McDonough, a village justice since 2009 who is also running unopposed, is, like Grillo, a partner at a Garden City law firm, which focuses on higher education, not-for-profit law, real estate, zoning and litigation.

He got his master of business administration degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and before attending Fordham University Law School, McDonough served in the U.S. Army for four years, during which he became a captain.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Nassau County Bar Association and the Nassau County Magistrate’s Association. McDonough is a past president for the Friends of Senior Services, which aids the Sandel Senior Center, as well as a board member for St. Agnes CYO.

"I encourage every resident to get out and vote this Tuesday," Mayor Francis X. Murray said. "Our elected officials make vital decisions everyday that impact the way we live. It is important that your voice be heard."

Residents are encouraged to vote at the John A. Anderson Recreation Center on North Oceanside Road from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.