NVS voters choose Elmont Library

The Elmont Memorial Library will continue to be the official library for North Valley Stream residents, according to unofficial results from the May 5 vote.

Elmont received 159 votes at the polls, while the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library received 64, according to Town of Hempstead spokesperson Mike Deery. 105 absentee ballots were also submitted due to a problem with at least one voting machine. After a Nassau County Board of Elections review of names and addresses, 69 ballots were deemed eligible. Those have yet to be opened and tallied, Deery said, as the town is waiting to learn if the Waldinger Library wishes to have an attorney present at that time.

But the votes tallied so far already determine the outcome.

“We are obviously very disappointed with the results,” said Mamie Eng, director of the Waldinger Library. The library would have received $450,000 to supplement its $1.2-million budget if it had won, which would have been used to bolster programs and services.

“This will keep us from expanding the services and events we offer here,” Eng said. “We will not have to make any cuts or changes to events and services we are already offering. This just means that we will not be able to hold the events we would have liked to, and may have to offer more modest or limited services than we would have been able to with the extra money.”

One of those services is the new 3-D printing program. While it will still be offered as planned, the library will have to wait to purchase more equipment.

“Right now we still just have the one printer, so we’ll be able to start the program either way,” Eng said. “We were hoping to expand that, to maybe have a second printer for use, but that is something we cannot do now.”

Roger Podell, director of the Elmont Memorial Library, which has a budget of $3.2 million, said he was glad that residents once again selected his as their home library.

“We’re very pleased with the results of the election, and we’re thrilled and excited to have five more years with our North Valley Stream patrons,” he said. “This money will be used to plan programming and events, to improve our staffing and buy new resources for our patrons to use while they are here.”

The Waldinger Library will have another shot at the designation, and the revenue that comes with it, in 2020.

“We will actively seek to become the North Valley Stream library during the next election, and I really think that we will be able to present a strong case,” Eng said. “By the time the next vote comes, we’ll be using the theater in Village Hall for events. There are a lot of demands on our funds, and we have to make a lot of tough choices. Right now, we can’t add something without having to sacrifice somewhere else, so having that extra money to add to our events and our services would really be crucial.”