Village election results: Voters choose incumbent mayors in Manorhaven and Centre Island

Voters reelected incumbent mayors over their challengers in Centre Island and Manorhaven on Tuesday, and returned a former mayor to lead Bayville, as Long Island villages held their annual elections.

In Bayville, former mayor Paul Rupp won a write-in election, capping off an unusual mayoral race in which no one officially filed to run for the seat.

Nine Long Island villages held contested mayoral or trustee races. Many villages had uncontested races for those posts.

Centre Island Mayor Walter Roll, 66, who took office last year after the death of then-Mayor Lawrence Schmidlapp, defeated challenger Ragnar Oelsner, 29. The vote tally was 98-66.

Oelsner was seeking the top post after officials there sued him over alleged illegal rentals.

Roll said Wednesday he was "pretty satisfied“ with the outcome, adding village officials "have plenty of work to do.” Roll will serve out a one-year term.

“The basis for the village existing is our code," Roll said. "The number one job is making sure that whole process is working smoothly.”

In an email to supporters on Wednesday, Oelsner congratulated Roll and said he would remain involved in village affairs.

"Over the next 12 months, I will do everything I can to both help, and ensure words are followed by actions," Oelsner wrote.

Last year, Centre Island officials alleged that Oelsner had installed shipping containers on his property and marketed them as short-term rentals on Airbnb without village approvals. Oelsner has denied the charges. 

In Manorhaven, Mayor John Popeleski won a new two-year term, defeating challenger Elan Wolf, 419-334, according to village returns. 

Here is a roundup of other contested village races:

Atlantic Beach

Douglas Garczynski and Andrew Bass won two open trustee seats, defeating Joseph A. Montilli.

Garczynski, the incumbent, garnered the most votes with 327. Bass took the other seat with 317 votes, and Montilli trailed with 171 votes.

Garczynski and Bass ran on the For Good Government party line. Montilli appeared on the Atlantic Beach Pride line.

Terms are two years.

Bellport

Incumbent trustees Nathan C. Rohrmeier and Dan Polner defeated challenger Jean-Damien Lury for two seats, each for a four-year term.

Rohrmeier drew the most votes with 406, followed by Polner with 336 and Lury with 329.

Brightwaters

Incumbent trustee Mary Del Vecchio lost her reelection bid to fellow trustee William Pitta and challenger Thomas Zepf. 

Zepf received 357 votes, village Clerk-Treasurer Nicole Rhodes said in an email. Pitta won the second seat with 333 votes. Del Vecchio was third with 275 votes.

Centre Island

In trustee races, Andrew Farren, Mark DeNatale, Carole Gutierrez and Grace Haggerty won four seats. 

DeNatale and Gutierrez, who ran on a ticket with Roll, received 116 and 92 votes, respectively, defeating challengers Ralph Romano and Linda Marra for two seats, each for one-year terms. Gutierrez's husband, Ted, is a sitting trustee.

Romano and Marra, who were on a ticket with Oelsner, received 44 and 71 votes, respectively.

Incumbents Haggerty and Farren, who also ran on Roll's ticket, received 128 votes and 96 votes respectively. They defeated challenger Alex Carciu, who ran on Oelsner's ticket and received 64 votes. The seats won by Haggerty and Farren each carry two-year terms. 

Huntington Bay

Incumbents Luan Doan and Elizabeth Richter defeated challenger Edward O'Brien Carroll for two open trustee seats, each carrying two-year terms.

Richter tallied 156 votes and Doan got 135 votes. Carroll trailed with 42 votes.

Starting next year, village officials will begin a process that will change terms of office for mayor and trustees from two to four years.

Manorhaven

In the trustees race, incumbent Monica Ildefonso was reelected along with Christine Zahn on the Manorhaven Forward Line. Zahn polled 523 votes and Ildefonso garnered 405 votes, defeating Harry Farina, with 295 votes, and Delsy Omara, with 233 votes. The terms are for two years.

Port Jefferson

Randi DeWitt and Kathianne Snaden defeated former trustee Bruce Miller for two open trustee seats, but there will be a recount in that race, a village official said.

DeWitt won the most votes with 729; Snaden defeated Miller by seven votes, 564-557. Miller requested the recount, which will occur Monday, said Village Clerk Sylvia Pirillo. The recount will be performed by the Suffolk Board of Elections, she said.

DeWitt and Snaden would replace incumbents Xena Ugrinsky and Kyle Hill, both of whom declined to seek reelection. Trustees serve two-year terms.

Russell Gardens

Trustee Lawrence Chaleff was reelected, winning one of two trustee seats. Chaleff and Robin Sherman defeated Qingtao Zhou.

Sherman won the most votes with 170, followed by Chaleff with 159 and Zhou with 120. Terms are four years.

Southampton

Southampton will hold village elections Friday. Four candidates are running for two trustee seats.

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