Three town races amid busy state, national elections

In a quiet year for town elections, two candidates are vying for an Oyster Bay Town Board seat, two others to be North Hempstead receiver of taxes and another pair for Shelter Island justice.

The lone town board race is in Oyster Bay, where appointed Republican incumbent Rebecca Alesia is being challenged by Democrat Donna Lee.

Alesia, 33, of Plainview, was appointed in February to fill a vacancy on the Oyster Bay Town Board after an unsuccessful run for the Nassau County Legislature last fall. A former Nassau County assistant district attorney and Oyster Bay assistant town attorney, she now maintains a private practice.

Her campaign theme is that she wants to "continue the legacy" of Supervisor John Venditto and the all-Republican board, who have "done an incredible job managing the town" fiscally and protecting the environment.

Alesia, who has worked with Hicksville residents to establish a Sunday farmers' market, said when she campaigns "people are very responsive to the message." Lee, 51, of Bayville, is a mortgage broker and past president of the Rotary Club of Oyster Bay. Her campaign theme is that in the tough economy the town should cut spending and make it easier for retirees to continue living in the area. "People are fleeing because they can't stay here," she said. "We need to decrease property taxes, and we need to support small business."

Lee said "I'm getting a very good reaction" at campaign stops and despite facing an incumbent in a Republican area, "I feel that I have a shot."In North Hempstead, there is a contest to fill a vacancy left last year when six-year tax receiver Rocco Iannarelli became a New York Power Authority vice president. Democrat Charles Berman, who was appointed to fill the post and wants to keep it, will face Republican Jeffrey Bass.

Berman, 55, of North Hills, who was appointed in January, was appointed receiver in 2003 and served for about a year. He has also been deputy clerk for the Town of Oyster Bay and assistant to the chairman of the Nassau County Board of Assessors and director of the assessment assistance division.

If elected, Berman promises to continue helping residents understand the property tax system and exemptions that can help save them money. He said he has overhauled the receiver of taxes portion of the town's website and added a catalog of property exemption information.

Bass, 61, of Great Neck, a strategic adviser to business owners, has been a Village of Great Neck trustee since 2007. He is an associate trustee for the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

If he is elected, Bass said he would "further empower the office so that the occupant serves as a watchdog for the taxpayers."

In the Shelter Island town justice race, Democrat Faith Healey is opposed by Republican Thomas A. Carr.

Healey, 57, practices law on Shelter Island and is also the executive operations manager for Brookhaven National Laboratory. She is co-chairwoman of the Community Housing Board and a trustee of the Shelter Island Historical Society.

Carr, 60, is an attorney with a private practice. He was a member of the Shelter Island Planning Board from 1997 to 2001.