Low Turnout in Uncontested 2012 Mineola Election

There will still be a pair of Pauls on the for at least another two years. Deputy mayor and trustee in the village election Tuesday night, which had some of the lowest turnout in recent memory.

“Hopefully this is an indication that people are happy with the direction of the village, people are happy with the leadership and people are happy with us,” Pereira said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t improve, we’re always looking to improve,we’re always looking to do our best and we certainly, I don’t, I’m sure Paul doesn’t want to rest on our laurels, we want to continue to work for the residents of the village. I think people recognize that we are, at the end of the day whether we’re Hometown Party or New Line Party, at the end of the day we want what’s best for the village.”

Pereira, a New Line Party member, garnered 304 votes while Cusato, the lone member of the Hometown Party, had 264 ballots cast in his favor. The results are uncertified as of Tuesday night. The board will meet Wednesday night at the to certify the results.

“There’s like no political affiliation at all,” Cusato said. “There’s like one big happy family. We work together, it’s great. I’m happy to be back. I’m happy to work with Paul and the mayor and the board.”

After the results were made known, members of the village board held a post-election dinner in one of the dining rooms of along with other party members and village officials.

“I think that the fact that we’re standing here together and breaking bread and I wasn’t really on the board yet when it was a different climate, I’m certainly glad that it is this climate now where we get to sit down together and work. There’s never been any animosity between Paul and I,” Pereira said. “Paul and I have known each other long before I got involved on the board, long before he’s got involved on the board, we have probably more in common than we have that separates us. When I came on the board it was never, from my perspective – and I think I speak for Paul as well – it was never ‘us’ versus ‘them’ and it was never me versus Paul, it was from the get-go, although the climate at certain times we’ve appeared that way, I don’t think that’s the climate today.”

This will be Cusato’s fifth consecutive term on the village board and the third consecutive term for Pereira.

“What’s important here is that both Paul and I have obviously chosen to not only make our way through this community – both being graduates of – but we have chosen to raise our families here and now we have chosen a long time ago, even before we both served on the village board to give back to the community, whether it’s through the or other organizations. So this is just a continuation of I think that both of us feel very strongly about the community we live in and as a result of that we feel like we want to give back and I hope the people appreciate what we do for the village.”