Experience Chosen at New Hyde Park, Garden City Park Fire Commissioner Votes

Candidates wielding experience as fire commissioners were the big winners in Wednesday night’s elections for both the New Hyde Park and Garden City Park fire districts.

The contentious election in the Garden City Park Fire District was between incumbent Kenneth Borchers and challenger Carl Wood, with Borchers coming out on top 318-120.

“I just want to thank everybody that supported me and believed in me, all my friends, my family, the firemen, everybody who came out and supported me,” Borchers said when reached by phone.

While absentee ballots had yet to be counted Wednesday night, in uncertified returns, Borchers ran away with votes over Wood 213-61 at the polls at the Denton Avenue School, while at the Garden City Park Fire House the returns were a bit closer, 105-59 in Borchers’s favor.

At the New Hyde Park Fire Department headquarters on Jericho Turnpike Wednesday night, the results were incredibly lopsided as out of a total of 489 votes cast, former commissioner Jim Nagy received 433. Challenger Vincent LaPorta only received 54 votes.

After the totals were read, LaPorta crossed the equipment bay to shake Nagy’s hand, saying “I’ll be up at every meeting.”

LaPorta had stated during the campaign that it was his desire to have a member of the public on the board in order to provide more oversight to matters relating to the fire department. He has been a fixture at meetings for the past several months.

“All I want to do is say, ‘thank you, New Hyde Park,” Nagy said before heading off to a celebratory party reportedly being held at Gino’s Pizzeria.

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