Unity Party sweeps Island Park election

From left, Matthew Paccione, Michael McGinty and Joseph Annarella.

Courtesy Theresa Balsamo

Michael McGinty

Courtesy Unity Party

Joseph Annarella

Courtesy Unity Party

Matthew Paccione

Courtesy Unity Party

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In the first contested election in the Village of Island Park since 1990, the Unity Party swept the Voice Party to take the mayoralty and two seats on the Board of Trustees.

Mayor-elect Michael McGinty led the count with 660 votes, while Glenn Ingoglia, president of the Island Park Chamber of Commerce, had 382. Trustees-elect Matthew Paccione and Joseph Annarella had 612 and 594 votes, respectively, while Voice Party candidates Laura Hassett and Columbia Ciccimarro collected 430 and 407.

Jeffrey Kuhlman, the Unity Party candidate for village judge, won re-election in an uncontested race.

The victory ensures the Unity Party another two years of control of village government, which began in 1966.

The newness of the election process in Island Park was evident at the village’s temporary village hall, where inspectors tallying the vote began reading the names of absentee voters and their choices aloud, before becoming aware of their mistake halfway through the process and thereafter limiting their announcements to the names of the candidates.

For McGinty, the focus was on moving forward. “We’ve hit the ground running,” he said. “We’re trying to work. We’ve met with National Grid, we’ve met with the railroad, that kind of thing. There’s a lot to do.”

Although the mayor-elect will not take office until April 7, he has already gotten to work, meeting with retiring Mayor James Ruzicka and Annarella and Paccione to discuss what he calls a “hierarchy of value” — a set of plans making explicit the issues that need to be addressed and outlining a priorities list for addressing them.

“Joe Annarella, Matt Paccione and I are going to meet with [Trustees] Irene Naudus and Steve D’Esposito to see what’s in the hopper specifically, and we’ll take it a step at the time,” McGinty said. “The mayor and I have spoken to the railroad about the drainage on Nassau Lane. Paccione and I have spoken about Nassau Road. National Grid was down here about working with us a little bit on the beach.”