By Jeff Lipton
Chester Cafasso, 77, of Hewlett won re-election to a sixth, five-year term as one of five commissioners on the sanitary district's Board of Commissioners. He has been serving as a commissioner since 1977, and most recently as the chairman of the board. He beat Steven Greenblatt, 52, of Cedarhurst, by a vote count of 990 to 379, in a race that saw Cafasso challenged for the first time in his 25 years on the board.
It went well for us, Cafasso said of the election. I'm happy with the support I received and the vote of confidence I've been given.
The election was held Monday, July 8, between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. at Sanitary District One headquarters, One Bay Boulevard in Inwood. District One covers all of the Five Towns, and a tiny part of the unincorporated areas of Lynbrook and Valley Stream, servicing about 30,000 residential and commercial customers for garbage pickup. The board makes all crucial decisions involving day-to-day operations in the sanitary district, including decisions on the budget and equipment.
Contested elections in Sanitary District One are uncommon and Cafasso expressed surprise he was facing a challenge because he said sanitation operations in the district were running smoothly.
I feel confident because our district is doing a good job, said Cafasso in the days before the election. I don't know the reason for the opposition. The district has been running well. Everybody seems to be happy.
Cafasso said his top priority was to maintain rear-yard pickup and to keep the district's 6.4 percent sanitation tax rate the lowest in the Town of Hempstead.
I'm very happy the constituents want what we've had
