History

All Commissioners of Jericho Water District

The first meeting of the Jericho Water District Board of Commissioners was July 10, 1923.

Commissioners Time Period Years Served
Frank J. Tappen 7/10/23 – 7/05/32 9 Years
Albert M. Bayles 7/10/23 – 7/03/31 8 Years
Peter Rothman 7/10/23 – 12/31/33 10.5 Years
William Kennedy 7/03/31 – 12/31/33 2.5 Years
Howard P. Kreutzer 7/12/32 – 5/07/68 35 Years, 10 Months
William G. Underhill 1/04/34 – 4/10/34 3 Months
Harold J. Simonson 1/04/34 – 1/27/58 24 Years
James H. Vernon 5/29/34 – 9/13/47 13 Years, 3 Months
Frank B. Gray 9/13/47 – 7/01/57 9 Years, 10 Months
Charles Kiel, Jr. 1/30/58 – 9/30/70 12 Years, 10 Months
Edward P. Bracken, Jr. 7/01/57 – 2/28/90 32 Years, 8 Months
Kenneth J. Dunne 11/17/70 – 11/01/91 21 Years
Nicholas J. Bartilucci 06/07/68 – 7/17/16 48 Years, 1 Month
Anthony J. Cincotta 3/01/90 – 1/18/17 26 Years, 10 Months
Gerry P. Rooney 1/01/92 – 12/31/03 11 Years
Thomas A. Abbate 1/1/04 – present
James Asmus 1/1/17 – present
Patricia Beckerle 5/3/17 – present

A Brief History of Jericho Water District

  • The District’s first headquarters in East Norwich.

    The District’s official “birthday” is July 3, 1923.

  • The District’s first Headquarters was located on Northern Boulevard in East Norwich.
  • The first two Jericho Water District wells were drilled on property that the District owned on Motts Cove Road and Scudders Lane. They have since been capped and the land has been sold.
  • Aside from the two wells, the first two major contracts were for the construction of the one-million-gallon water storage tank located on Wheatley Road, and the approximately three miles of fourteen-inch universal cast iron water main installed between the tank and the new wells. The cost of constructing the Wheatley Tank in 1923/1924 was approximately $79,800.
  • The District continued to grow in an easterly direction with the next water storage tank installed on the property that would eventually become the District’s Headquarters in Syosset. The tank was constructed in 1930/1932 for approximately $159,980.
  • Jericho Tank – Merry Lane, Jericho

    The next tank that was erected was the Jericho Tank, constructed in 1953/1954, at a cost of approximately $305,000.

  • The biggest surge in new accounts came in the 1950s and early 1960s. This was when a major portion of Syosset and Jericho were being developed.
  • In 1962, due to the widening of Northern Boulevard, a substantial portion of the District Headquarters property in East Norwich was used for the highway and the old Headquarters building was demolished. The Commissioners selected the Convent Road site in Syosset for the new Jericho Water District Headquarters. On April 9, 1963, the first Board Meeting was held at the new District Headquarters on Convent Road.
  • The new Wheatley Tank, which will hold 1.5-million gallons, began construction in 2018. Learn about this project here.