Friday, June 20, 2025
There are two seats up or election in this years trustee race.
The Malverne Village election will be taking place on March 18, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Voting will take place at Malverne Village Hall, 99 Church Street, Malverne NY.
The election will be uncontested with 2 candidates running for 2 positions, each with a four-year term. Lori Lang, with the Hometown Pride Party, is running for re-election, while Megan O’Rourke-Schutta with the Good Neighbors Party is running for the first time.
Q: Can you tell me about yourself?
Megan O’Rourke-Schutta: I was raised in Rockville Center and my husband grew up in Malverne, not far from where we lived now. So we moved here in 2012 and I started getting involved in the community when my son was about two years old. I joined the Moms of Malverne and I was the event planner.
I do a lot of the volunteering in the community. I’m a co-president of the school board at Our Lady of Lourdes. I am the celebrations committee chairperson.
I am a clinical social worker. I currently work in a pre-school special education. I’ve been a clinical social worker for about 10 years now. I also worked in finance for about 10 years, municipal finance.
Q: Why are you running for trustee?
O’Rourke-Schutta: I have been involved in the village for 10 years now and I just want to take it to the next level. I feel like I bring unique experience to the board, being a social worker and a woman. I believe that a diverse board is a strong board. Also being in education, I just bring a different spin or view.
Q: What experience do you bring that will make you a good trustee?
O’Rourke-Schutta: Well, I’ve worked closely with all the departments in the village through my volunteering for the past 10 years. I have worked very well with the current board through the celebrations committee and just various other volunteering opportunities I’ve been involved in.
And my relationships, relationships I already have with people, my social work background. I will listen to the residents. I think that we all want the same thing living in the village. I raise my family here as well, and it’s important to me. I’m very invested in making the village the best it can be.
Q: What will be your priorities as a trustee?
O’Rourke-Schutta: As a trustee, we want the business district downtown, the storefronts, to be filled, which the current board has done an excellent job at. We want the taxes to stay low, everybody wants that. Like I said, we’re raising our family here as well and we want it to remain safe. Our children can ride their bikes around town, we can walk around and enjoy the village, and feel like we’re safe and protected.
Q: What is one important thing voters should know about you?
O’Rourke-Schutta: One thing the voters should know about me is that I’m very invested in this village. I want to see it continue to thrive and grow, but keep the same quaintness and village vibe that we have now.
Q: Can you tell me about yourself?
Lori Lang: I am a lifelong Malverne resident. Born and raised in Malverne. I’m now raising my family here with my husband Rob, he’s a Malverne police sergeant, and we have five children, three in college and two in high school.
Q: Why are you running for trustee?
Lang: Well, I served on the board for the past two years. My background is in business administration, which is very important for this role because the village trustee works on budgets and helps with the operations of our various departments. The last two years I’ve been working as the fire commissioner and the library liaison, as well as celebrations and educational liaison.
We try to make sure our resident’s taxes help pay for all the services that they love, and also try to keep our taxes down by getting grants. I just love the village. I’ve lived here my whole life and I think my background is a perfect fit to do this role.
Q: What experience do you bring that makes you a good trustee?
Lang: I’ve worked in business administration since 1996. Almost 30 years of experience, specifically working in public relations marketing. Also in accounting, accounts receivable, payable, operations control. I think all of those things transfer over to municipality, because a lot of what we do falls under those categories as a village board and as a village trustee.
Q: What are your priorities for this upcoming term?
Lang: This board has seen a successful opening of the police station. That was a big priority for the past two years to be honest, that was a big undertaking and a big chunk of our budget. So moving forward, my priority will be getting a new apparatus for the fire department (a fire truck). It’s a long time coming and something we are already starting behind the scenes to try to figure out funding for.
The second would be considering, what does Malverne need going into the next decade? Going into 2030? Would that look like more living options? We know across Long Island housing is scarce, what can we do as a community to keep people in Malverne that want to stay here? I would say that a priority. Also keeping our businesses open and encouraging residents to support those businesses. As a board, just having partnerships with the Malverne Chamber of Commerce to make sure that we keep our downtown vital and successful.
Q: What is one important thing voters should know about you?
Lang: I think the most important thing voters should know about me is that I’m very approachable.
I run the I Love Malverne Facebook page. I know a lot of residents from that. I think most residents that know me already know that I am a phone call, a text, or an email away — and I get back to people very quickly. So when people have questions about things, I encourage them to reach out. Reach out to me directly, I am very approachable and honestly ,everyone on the board is. So if they have questions, visit our website, come to our monthly meetings on the first Wednesday of every month, or just shoot us an email, or call Village hall and leave us a message, and we’ll get back to you very quickly.
It is a part-time job, so I’m not physically in the hall daily. But I’m there several times a week, so I would just encourage residents to reach out to us.
