Floral Park Trustee Kevin Fitzgerald received 434 votes for mayor in Tuesday’s election to succeed Dominick Longobardi, who decided not to run again.
Trustees Lynn Pombonyo, who received 422 votes, and Frank Chiara, who received 416 votes, were both re-elected for two-year terms.
Pombonyo, who was first elected to the board in 2014, served as the superintendent for the Floral Park-Bellerose school district. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Seton Hall University.
Chiara, a chief investigator in the Bronx district attorney’s office, was elected to his first term as a trustee in 2017 and has been a Floral Park resident for 19 years.
Fitzgerald was appointed to the village board in 2011 and was made deputy mayor in 2016 after James Rhatigan’s death.
He first got involved in village government as a member of the Third Track Task Force, fighting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan for a third Long Island Rail Road track in the mid-2000s.
A trustee seat will be vacant with Fitzgerald now elected as mayor, and village officials said the mayor will appoint someone to that position.
Longobardi, who was first elected in 2017, said stepping down after two terms is a longstanding tradition of the Citizens Party, of which he and Fitzgerald are members.
“There are no term limits in the village, but it is a [party] tradition carried on for many years, and it’s just my time to pass the torch,” he said earlier in a phone interview. “Kevin is a great guy and I have all the confidence in the world that he will thrive in the position.”
Longobardi touted his staff and the people of Floral Park for their support and efforts to constantly improve the village over the past two terms.
“I am absolutely honored, blessed, and very thankful to be a part of this board for the past 13 years and to also leave as its mayor,” he said. “I also thank the dedicated residents of Floral Park for their ongoing efforts and participation in countless numbers of committees and organizations to help make this village a better place to live every day.”
The Village of New Hyde Park did not have results available on Wednesday.
Village Mayor Lawrence Montreuil had announced that he would not seek re-election in the election. Montreuil has served as mayor since April 2017 and his term ends March 31.
“While it has been my absolute passion and privilege to serve my New Hyde Park neighbors for 30 cumulative years, I plan to shift my attention from the important concerns of my neighbors to matters closer to home,” Montreuil said.
All of the seats on the board and the village justice are four-year terms.
Trustee Richard Coppolla did not seek re-election but Trustee Richard Pallisco was running, Montreuil said at a meeting of the village Board of Trustees on Jan. 28.
The election had a new local political party throwing its hat in the ring with endorsements from a previous village mayor.
Former New Hyde Park Mayor Dan Petruccio, who served from 2001 to 2013, endorsed the New Hyde Park Unity Party’s slate of candidates.
The candidates were Christopher Devane for mayor, Madhvi Nijjar and Arthur Savarese for the two trustee positions, and Timothy Jones for village justice.
Devane served as a village justice from 2003 to 2021.
Nijjar is a 20-year resident of the village who works in the mental health and human services fields, teaching others who aspire to work in the same profession. Nijjar earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from John Jay College before receiving a master’s in social work with a major in psychotherapy from Adelphi University.
Savarese works in marketing and sales and has served on the board for and coached local Little League teams, and Jones is a trial attorney for the Scahill Law Group in Bethpage.
According to the party’s mission statement on its website, it stands for “the principles of an open, honest, diverse and inclusive form of Village government.”
Also running for trustee in the at-large election is Bassam Khoury, who ran on the Common Sense Party line.
