For the first time in eight years, residents in North Hempstead will have a new town supervisor come January.

The two candidates ready to square off are Wayne Wink, who has held several elected offices over the past 20 years, and Jen DeSena, who has never run for elected office before.

Both are running for the vacant post of North Hempstead town supervisor.

DeSena, who is the executive director of the Manhasset Coalition Against Substance Abuse, is a registered Democrat who is running on the Republican line. She calls herself a centrist who would focus on people, not party.

"I want to bring a culture of cooperation where the town board and the supervisor work together for the residents and businesses," says DeSena. "I'm working for them, not for a political party and not for myself."

Democrat Wink is a former town councilman, county legislator and the current town clerk.

"I think in these very uncertain times, experience and ability matter. We know how a government works. We know what it takes to run a government," says Wink. "The town is in great fiscal condition. We're AAA bond rated, we've had balanced budgets for years and years now."

DeSena says many of the complaints she's hearing from voters have to do with the town's Building Department.

All the Main Streets have empty stores. Some of them have a tenant who has leased it," says DeSena. "They're just trying to open, and it often takes two years to open a business. Not many businesses can afford that."

Wink also says the town's Building Department needs fixing.

"We can provide online services so that people can see when their application came in, what the process is and when they're going to get a response," says Wink.

Republicans dominated virtually every level of local government in Nassau County for decades but lost the town supervisor office in North Hempstead in 1989.