55.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Debra Mulé leaving village board to take seat as county legislator
Seat will be filled by appointment or special election
Initially she thought she would be able to do both. In the Nov. 30-Dec. 6 edition of the Freeport Herald Leader, 5th District County Legislator-elect Debra Mulé said she would continue her work as village trustee until further notice. Recently, however, she came to learn that she would be unable to continue in her role as village trustee once she took office as a legislator on Jan. 1.
“I will not be doing both,” she said. “I’ll be taking my position [as legislator] and resigning from the village.”
An attorney who read the Herald’s story tipped Mulé off to the County Charter’s prohibition against holding more than one elective office at a time.
Mulé was part of a Democratic slate of candidates who made history on Election Day. Laura Curran, a Democrat from Baldwin, the current 5th District legislator, was elected as Nassau’s first female county executive. Mulé will take Curran’s place in the Legislature. Also, Laura Gillen, who grew up in Baldwin and now lives in Rockville Centre, became the first Democratic Town of Hempstead supervisor in more than a century, unseating an entrenched Republican, Anthony Santino, of East Rockaway.
“It’s been a great honor to serve the village in the capacity as village trustee,” Mulé said. “I look forward to continuing to work with the village with my new job as county legislator.”
Mayor Robert Kennedy said that he and the Board of Trustees will have to review their options and take the appropriate legal action to fill Mule’s seat.
“I really don’t have an answer,” Kennedy said. “I have to investigate the legal ramifications, and there are many varying points.”
Kennedy said he needs to review the legal guidelines for appointing a successor or holding a special election. “I can’t look at 50 options,” he said. “I need to know when [Mulé] plans on leaving the ship so we can determine on how to fill her seat here. It’s obviously going to be an appointment or a special election, but it all has to do with when and how she resigns her position.”
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In the event that an appointment is required, Kennedy said, he would accept resumes from Freeporters who might be interested in joining the board of trustees. But he stressed that is to be determined.
