Biography:

Personal background

Rich Nicolello is a life-long resident of New Hyde Park. He and his wife Susan have two children, Kathleen and Patrick.

Legislative Service

In November 2009, Rich Nicolello elected to an eighth term as Legislator representing the 9th Legislative District. Legislator Nicolello serves as the Chair of the Legislature’s Finance Committee. He is also Vice Chair of the Economic & Community Development & Labor Committee, and serves as a member of the Budget Review Committee, Planning, Development & the Environment Committee and Towns, Villages & Cities Committee.

Rich Nicolello has been a member of the Nassau County Legislature since the inception of the Legislature in 1996. He was the first Chair of the Legislature's Committee on Planning, Development and the Environment and helped establish a true committee system for the first time in Nassau government. As Planning Committee Chair, he helped oversee the County’s first ever Comprehensive Master Plan and Open Space Plan.

Legislative Record

Legislator Nicolello has supported measures to reform County government so that it provides quality services to the taxpayers in the most business-like and cost-effective manner possible. Among other things, Legislator Nicolello has sponsored and supported laws to:

• Repeal the regressive 2.5% Home Energy Tax.
• Expand tax exemptions for seniors, the disabled and firefighters to the maximum amount allowed by law.
• Require the County to prepare an economic and financial impact statement for every new proposed law.
• Prohibit sex offenders from establishing a residence within 1000 feet of a school or 500 feet of a playground.
• Establish Nassau County’s Environmental Bond Program which provided $150 million in funding to preserve open space, protect drinking water and upgrade deteriorating parks.
• Require the county to purchase 25% of its energy from nonpolluting, renewable, green sources by 2010; require compliance with LEED standards for county capital projects of more than $1 million; limit the time that non-emergency vehicles may idle to no more than 3 minutes; require that the county motor vehicle fleet be increasingly comprised of vehicles equipped to use ultra low sulfur diesel.
• Protect our young people, including a law that makes it illegal for minors to possess dangerous razor-blade like "box-cutters."

Legislator Nicolello was one of only four Legislators who voted against the ill conceived property tax reassessment, which cost the county $60 million in contracting fees and failed to fix a broken assessment system. He has advocated comprehensive reform of Nassau’s assessment system, which costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars per year for refunds and debt service.

Legislator Nicolello has obtained more than $1.5 million in community revitalization funds and environmental grants for the communities of the 9th Legislative District. He is working along side community leaders to fight the LIRR’s third track project, and to oppose the consolidation plan, which seeks to dissolve our most effective governments – including our villages.

Community Involvement

Legislator Nicolello is active in numerous community organizations and activities, including:

• Member and past president of the New Hyde Park – Floral Park Kiwanis Club.
• Member, Mineola Lions Club.
• Member, Cellini Lodge (Order Sons of Italy in America).
• Associate Director, Irish-Americans in Government.
• 3d Degree Member, Knights of Columbus, NHP Council.
• Member, Notre Dame Parish.
• Member, Elks Club, NHP Lodge.
• Former coach, Wildcats Soccer Club.
• Member, NHP Memorial High School Dad’s Club.
• Member, Parks Civic Association.
• Member, New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce.
• Member, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.
• Co-Chair, American Committee on Italian Migration
• Member-at-Large, Shelter Rock District, Theodore Roosevelt Council, Boy Scouts of America.
• Honorary Policy Committee Member – Jewish Advisory Network for Security on Long Island.
• Member of numerous professional organizations, including the Nassau County Bar Association and Columbian Lawyers' Association (the professional association of Italian-American attorneys).

Education

Mr. Nicolello received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and Politics (Magna cum Laude) from St. John's University. He received his Juris Doctor from Fordham Law School. He is a member of the Alumni Associations of Fordham Law School and St. John's University.

Professional Experience

Rich Nicolello has been a practicing attorney since 1986. He is associated with the law firm of Congdon, Flaherty, O'Callaghan, Reid, Donlon, Travis & Fishlinger. He concentrates in the area of insurance law. Legislator Nicolello served as the Counsel to the Board of Education of the NHP - GCP School District from 1987-2009. Mr. Nicolello is admitted to the New York State Bar, as well as the Federal District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts. He is also a member of the Nassau County Bar Association.