Trustee Clavin-Higgins resigns

Trustee Virginia Clavin-Higgins resigned from Valley Stream’s board of trustees on Dec. 30, citing consideration of “other career possibilities.”

Looking back on her slightly more than four years as a trustee, Clavin-Higgins said she learned that governing is a challenging balancing act.

“I think that it has made me very in tune to the cost of doing business,” she said. “I’d love to do so much more, but how much can you raise taxes on dual income families? You just try to be as innovative as possible to give them the most bang for their buck.”

Clavin-Higgins currently works as the principal law clerk to Nassau County Court Judge Christopher Quinn. She previously worked for the Department of Education in the Office for Civil Rights in Washington, D.C., and was a Nassau County assistant district attorney for six years.

She was appointed to fill a vacancy on the village board in October 2011 before winning election to a full four-year term in March 2012. Her decision to get involved with local government was partly due to the fact that her mother, Rosanna Clavin, was elected as Valley Stream’s first female board member in 1983. “I knew how proud she was of achievements [on the board] and I thought to myself, I’d like that, too,’” Clavin-Higgins said. “My parents are people who have been [in the village] for generations and love it.”

Mayor Ed Fare said he would appoint a replacement for Clavin-Higgins’s seat at the board’s meeting this Monday. The seat is open in the village election in March, when trustee John Tufarelli will run for re-election. Former Village Justice Robert Bogle’s position will also be filled by appointment on Monday, and will be open in March.