Striving to improve the village of Cedarhurst

A lifelong Cedarhurst resident, Ronald Lanzilotta Sr., has served the village for nearly 25 years. First as a member of the Zoning Board Appeals for 14 years before being appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2001, to finish out the unexpired term of trustee John Teramo.
Elected in 2002 to complete the unexpired term, Lanzilotta, 78, is now running for his third full four-year tem as trustee. Both he and fellow board member Myrna Zisman are unopposed in the village election on Tuesday. Voting will take place at Village Hall from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“After I retired I got involved in the village and it’s a wonderful way of giving back,” said Lanzilotta, who was as a general contractor and owned a construction company. “I enjoy working with the board, it’s always a pleasure and I enjoy the various duties.”
One of those duties has been serving as a village board representative to the Nassau County Sewer Consolidation Program since 2006. The county took over operation of both Cedarhurst’s and Lawrence’s sewer treatment plants on Jan. 1. “Right now we are looking to complete this sewer consolidation and we are now finally seeing daylight at the end of the tunnel,” Lanzilotta said.

Both villages are now waiting for the transfer of moving the waste from their plants to the newly constructed Inwood pumping station. The waste will then be transported to the county’s Bay Park sewage treatment plant.
“The village will then no longer need the plant and it will be decommissioned, and we will be out of the sewer business,” said Lanzilotta, The Cedarhurst plant was built in 1932. There are 18 miles of sewage pipe running throughout the village, he said.
Lanzilotta also applies his past professional experience as chair of the village’s Architectural Review Board. He has served on the board since 2004. Lanzilotta views this board’s responsibility as being an aesthetic watchdog ensuring that structures in Cedarhurst and building signs conform to the village code. “Years back, Cedarhurst was a bedroom community and we want to keep it that way as much as we can despite all the changes,” he said.
Lanzilotta also served as a state certified code enforcement officer from 1996-’98. His construction company built schools, libraries, churches, synagogues, firehouses and other buildings.
A Five Towns Kiwanis member, he is a past president of the Inwood Buccaneers, a past board member of the Police Boys Club and a former Cedarhurst Little League coach.
He said that maintaining the cleanliness of the village along with addressing the stormwater runoff problem will be his priorities. “We strive for the betterment of the village and I hope most of our residents see that,” he said. “When we have problems we solve them as quick as possible. If we get complaints we strive to get to the bottom of them.”

Ronald Lanzilotta
Profession: Construction, retired
School: Georgia Institute of Technology
Family: Married to Edith, 54 years, five children, nine grandchildren