19. Kate Murray

As the first woman to be elected supervisor in Hempstead Town’s 369-year history, Kate Murray has been accomplishing a host of impressive “firsts” since she took office in 2003. Under her tenure, Hempstead became the first municipality on the Island to require carbon monoxide detectors in all places of public assembly—her response to the February 2014 tragedy at Legal Seafood in Huntington when the manager died of asphyxiation. She’s established the first renewable energy park, the largest municipal fleet of electric vehicles (77) on the Island, and the first transit-oriented housing development zone on the Island, adjacent to the West Hempstead train station. As for fiscal prudence, Murray passed three consecutive budgets with tax cuts (2012, 2013 and 2014) that Wall Street’s credit agencies rated highly. The town took a hit from Superstorm Sandy, as Murray knew full well, but she’s spearheaded Hempstead’s recovery from waiving building permit fees for affected homeowners to restoring local beaches and dunes to protecting the infrastructure. Meanwhile, she helped create the mixed-use zone for property around the Nassau Coliseum to spur development and helped The Gallery at Westbury Plaza become a bustling shopping center. With Kath Murray at the helm, Hempstead means business.