David P. Redmond is running on the Republican, Conservative and Reform party lines for clerk of the Town of North Hempstead. Redmond, 31, is an information technology consultant for small businesses on Long Island. The Mineola resident is a Chaminade High School graduate who has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Catholic University. His campaign for clerk is his first attempt at elected office. Redmond, who is single, has been a board member for the Knights of Columbus 2502 for more than five years and a volunteer member of the Mineola Fire Department since 2003. Redmond is also a member of the Chaminade Alumni Association and Irish Americans in Government. He has been a coach and adviser for the Nassau County Police Athletic League.

Redmond said North Hempstead’s elected officials have done a decent job at offering new services to residents, but they have been too slow to implement basic services to residents. He mentioned, for example, that the elevators at Michael J. Tully Park have been out of order for months. “If an elevator goes out in Manhattan, they fix it in a reasonable amount of time,” Redmond said. “[The town] has senior citizen events at Tully Park and to have a seniors group there and not have a working elevator doesn’t make sense to me.” If elected, Redmond said, he would modernize the technology used in the clerk’s office in a way that’s customer friendly and fast. “And if I can establish best practices in the clerk’s office, then we can spread that throughout the town,” Redmond said.

Incumbent Wink, 50, is running on the Democratic, Independence, Working Families, and Women’s Equality party lines and seeking a second full term as clerk. Before becoming clerk, Wink served three terms as a Nassau County legislator for the 11th District, a seat to which he was first elected in March 2007. Wink, a Uniondale High School graduate, holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hofstra University and a juris doctorate from St. John’s University. A former town councilman who served from 2002 to 2007, Wink also worked as a legislative aide and chief of staff for the late Nassau County Legis. Barbara Johnson. He was also deputy counsel to the county legislature’s Democrats from 1997 to 1999. Wink, of Roslyn, is married with a daughter.

One of the biggest issues facing the town clerk’s office is digitizing old records from each department, Wink said. While the clerk’s department has digitized thousands of old documents, he said, there’s still plenty left to convert. The building department alone continues to produce thousands of documents each year, the clerk said. The biggest holdup to completely digitizing records, Wink said, “is sheer volume and personnel.” “There’s only so many people you can hire to just go and digitize and archive records,” Wink said. “It really requires grant money and capital investment to make a dent in it.” If re-elected, Wink said he would have clerk staff continue to work on archiving documents, including town council minutes. Wink said he would also focus on two new services the clerk’s office started this year — issuing passports and e-filing death certificates. Wink said he wants to oversee the continued successful rollout of those two services in particular. “We [in the clerk’s office] had a smaller budget than my predecessor and fewer personnel, but we’ve added new services that never had before,” Wink said. “It’s been a real win-win for the most part.”