Port Washington water commissioner Brandon Kurz loses reelection bid

Port Washington Water Pollution Control District Commissioner Brandon Kurz lost his reelection bid Tuesday to challenger Joseph D’Alonzo, the district confirmed.

D’Alonzo, president of Cow Bay Contracting, received 947 votes to Kurz’s 303.

"I think this election was about how we want our politics look like locally," D'Alonzo said in a statement over text. "Local politics should be about serving your community, not dividing it."

Kurz did not provide a statement through Todd Steckler, his Oceanside-based attorney. 

Kurz's defeat caps what has been a contentious year for the district, centered around Kurz's dispute with the district's other two commissioners, Arduino Marinelli and Melanie Cassens.

Marinelli and Cassens have accused Kurz, the former executive director of the Port Washington Police Athletic League, for harboring a conflict of interest given that the league plays its games at Sunset Park, which is owned by the district.

Kurz stepped down in July and assumed the role of volunteer executive director, he told Newsday. He has countered that Marinelli and Cassens have wrongly accused him of the conflict to distract from his contention that they are seeking to transfer the park to the Town of North Hempstead.

Marinelli told Newsday the district has discussed a possible transfer to the town, but not since 2023. North Hempstead spokesperson Kevin Higgins previously told Newsday the town has no interest in the park.

In July, the district passed a series of resolutions calling for Kurz to provide written proof showing he had met three demands: that he was no longer receiving compensation from PAL; that he had "disgorged" all revenue received from PAL; and that he would "refrain" from all discussions and votes related to the park and the league.

Kurz, a district commissioner since 2023, refused to meet the demands, Marinelli and Cassens said.

Attorneys for Marinelli and Cassens in October filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court's appellate division to have Kurz removed as commissioner. 

Then, in November, Kurz was removed from the ballot after Giovanna DiFiore, the district's election officer, determined he had not received the 25 signatures required on his petition for office. Kurz had submitted a petition with 33 signatures, but DiFore ruled that only 12 signatures on the ballot were valid.

Kurz then sued DiFore, as well as D'Alonzo, who had made the challenge to Kurz's ballot, in state Supreme Court. Nassau Supreme Court Justice Erica L. Prager ruled on Dec. 1 that D'Alonzo's challenge had not been served properly — D'Alonzo had not used "overnight mail" as is required by state law — and three days later the district reversed course and permitted Kurz to appear on the ballot.

The commissioners serve staggered three-year terms. D'Alonzo will take office in January. 

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.