Village election preview: Mayoral, trustee votes set for Wednesday

Voters head to the polls Wednesday to decide mayoral races in the villages of Saddle Rock and Northport, as well as a handful of trustees races in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Saddle Rock will have its first new mayor in 15 years after longtime incumbent Dan Levy was knocked off the ballot. In Northport, the incumbent mayor faces off against a trustee.

The trustees race in Garden City centers on competing visions for a beloved village landmark. In Babylon, a race will determine who finishes the term of a trustee who died unexpectedly last year.

Here are the details of the contested races.

Saddle Rock

Levy and his slate were disqualified from running again after the Nassau County Board of Elections invalidated their nominating petitions. He had been mayor since 2011. The ruling sets up a battle between Kambiz Akhavan and Robert Kraus for a four-year term. 

Kraus, 66, a village trustee, has been on the board for the past 18 months. An attorney specializing in real estate and hospitality, he said he’s running to bring transparency to Village Hall.

"Right now, this village is run like a fiefdom," Kraus, a graduate of the Georgetown Law Center, said in an interview. He is running on the Together for a Better Saddle Rock Party line.

Akhavan, 46, grew up in the village and is an attorney specializing in private wealth. He is running on the Friendly Neighbors Party line. He couldn't be reached for comment. 

Four trustee candidates are seeking two seats, each with four-year terms. Joshua Rabanipour and Kousha Askari are running on the Friendly Neighbors line. Martine Alter and Vivian Kollenscher are running on the Concerned Residents of Saddle Rock line.

Sigalit Sanilevich is running unopposed for another trustee seat. 

Levy's slate was disqualified because six of the eight petition pages lacked witness signatures, which is required by state law, according to the Board of Elections.

Northport 

Mayor Donna Koch is seeking her second four-year term in the village of 7,500. She’s being challenged by trustee Joe Sabia. The annual salary is $28,348.

Koch, 65, has worked for the village for more than 20 years. Before being elected mayor in 2022, she was the village clerk and before that, deputy village clerk. She is running on the Legacy Party line.

She cites as accomplishments updating the village's comprehensive plan for the first time in 50 years and negotiating police and highway worker contracts.

"I truly love being mayor, I love all the ups and downs of it; hoping to continue the work we’ve started," Koch said.

Sabia, 69, whose four-year term as trustee ends this year and who also serves as commissioner of sanitation, ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2014. He’s the former owner of Sabia's Car Care and previously served on the Northport-East Northport school board. He is running on the Friends of the Citizen Party line. 

He said he believes some of Koch's budget decisions have lowered the quality of life for residents and questioned what he said is the "terrible" condition of some village roads and sidewalks.

"I’ve looked, listened and learned over four years, and I see the village going in the wrong direction," Sabia said. "I want to take care of our environment, clean our waters, fix our streets; I’m a fiscal conservative, so I want to look out for residents' taxes."

Koch said she runs a tight budget, keeping tax increases under the 2% state cap during her administration. "By all standards the quality of life in the Village of Northport is very good; our property values are rising and we have a fabulous, well-respected police department," she said.

Garden City

Eight candidates are vying for four trustee seats, with three incumbents seeking reelection. Trustees serve two-year terms and are unpaid.

The race is centered on competing visions for the future of the St. Paul’s School building.

The 19th century building, a symbol of the village’s history, has been in limbo for more than 30 years since the village bought it in 1993. The cost of restoring it has been a stumbling block, with estimates ranging from tens of millions of dollars to more than $100 million.

The Community Agreement Party has proposed shoring it up with modifications totaling around $10 million but leaving a full restoration to be undertaken later.

The For a Better Garden City party seeks to preserve the clock tower and portions of the structure but demolish most of the building to make way for green space and recreational uses.

"We just don't want it torn down, because it's beautiful, it's a monument, it's part of the history of our town," said Gerard Smith, of the CAP, comparing the building to a cathedral. 

Smith said saving the building and leaving restoration for later was the best way to protect village heritage without increasing taxes too much. He said demolition and new parks would be too expensive. "We can't afford to knock it down," he said.

The For a Better Garden City Party says its alternative is practical and would allow residents to enjoy the property. "You can't save the building," Thomas Brosnan of that party said. He added, "It's beyond repair and God knows how much it would cost."

With Smith on the Community Agreement Party line are incumbents Judy Courtney, Vinny Muldoon and Jessica Tai.

With Brosnan on the For A Better Garden City line are Neha Bajaj, Jo-Ann Frey and Thomas Ryan.

Babylon Village

Incumbent trustee Jeff Szabo is facing challenger Jordan Hoffman for the one year left in the four-year term. Trustees earn $7,500 per year. 

Szabo, 53, was appointed by Mayor Mary Adams in October to fill the unexpired term of Sean Goodwin, who died Sept. 2 after serving as trustee for about eight months.

Szabo, who is running on the Better Babylon Party line, has been chief executive of the Suffolk County Water Authority for 16 years and was previously deputy county executive under then-Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

Szabo said he wants to ensure the village’s downtown stays vibrant and hopes to work with businesses to "make sure that they know that Babylon is an attractive place to be."

Szabo said he is proud of his Babylon Connects initiative that brought together more than a dozen service groups last month to raise awareness of the organizations.

"We live in a great village ... what I’m trying to do with my government experience is ensure that we keep that, but also looking to the future and how we get there in a smart way."

Hoffman, 41, has been an attorney for two years at the firm Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston & Zimet LLP in Farmingdale. He previously spent nearly 20 years at Narotsky Law Group LLP in Great Neck.

Hoffman was on the board of directors for the Bay Community Ambulance Corp in Bayside, Queens, for nearly 20 years and is a lieutenant in the rescue squad of the Babylon Fire Department.

Hoffman, who is running on the Jordan Hoffman for Village Trustee line, said he was encouraged by supporters to run. "People really don’t feel they have a voice right now and they feel like they’re being ignored by the current administration," he said. “I think I can be that voice.”

He said he would advocate for more detailed meeting minutes and to record or livestream board meetings for those who can’t make it to them. "So at least you’ll have a clear, concise and accurate representation of what went on," he said.

Plandome Manor

Four candidates are seeking two trustee seats for two-year terms in the North Shore community in Nassau County. Incumbents Peter Kulka and Patricia O’Neill are facing challenges from Eric Kattan and Sanaz Sadjadi, respectively. 

Kulka declined to comment. Attempts to reach the other candidates were unsuccessful.

Newsday's Denise M. Bonilla, Joshua Needelman, Joseph Ostapiuk and Ted Phillips contributed to this story.