Elmont wins library service vote

North Valley Stream Library Funding District voters have elected the Elmont Public Library over Valley Stream's to serve them, Hempstead Town officials said.

The contentious election, which took place May 5 and was run by the town, was confirmed by the town but has to be approved by the town board to become official.

After absentee ballots and affidavits were counted, the vote went from 150 to 210 for Elmont, and from 64 to 83 for Valley Stream.

Town officials said they have had difficulty reaching the lawyers for both sides, but they expect to have a resolution ready for the town board meeting on June 9. The results will become official when the board approves the resolution.

Elmont board vice president Patrick Nicolosi confirmed the win.

Michael Hopkins, the attorney and spokesman for the Valley Stream library, was unavailable for comment.

Valley Stream's Henry Waldinger Memorial Library had the contract for three years before Elmont won it for five years in 2010. That contract expires at the end of the year.

Both sides bid for the job for the next five years.

The election was set for April 21, but was postponed when village library officials learned that much of the voting would be in the Elmont library rather than in schools, as in previous elections. They challenged that in court and won a delay and got schools as election sites.

Hopkins had argued that "one of the bidding libraries being the election site . . . did not seem like a level playing field."

Nicolosi said residents will gain "more books, computers and DVDs. We have a 400-seat auditorium and are partnered with a theater group that performs here year around. And we have programs for everybody."