The Village of Flower Hill’s Board of Trustees will feature a change of leadership after its March 15 elections, with Deputy Mayor Randall Rosenbaum running unopposed for mayor.
Current Mayor Brian Herrington will run for a two-year trustee term, along with incumbents Claire Dorfman and Gary Lewandowski.
“I am excited to announce my candidacy for Mayor. Having held many different positions within the Village starting on the Zoning Board, moving to the Board of Trustees and then being appointed Deputy Mayor, I have a wealth of experience and ideas to help improve our Village,” Rosenbaum said in a statement. “I am looking forward to building on the accomplishments our team has achieved over the last few years under Mayor Brian Herrington.”
Herrington said new developments in his professional life led him to hand the reins to Rosenbaum.
“It has been an honor to serve the residents of Flower Hill as Mayor,” Herrington said. “I recently accepted a promotion from my employer which has expanded my professional responsibilities and is taking a greater toll on my time. Given my first priority is to my family, this now leaves me with an inadequate time to dedicate to the Village and has led me to the decision to take a step back from Mayor.”
Herrington was appointed mayor following the death of longtime Mayor Robert McNamara in April 2020. Following Herrington’s appointment as mayor, Dorfman was chosen to fill Herrington’s trustee position and won her first election last year for a one-year term on the board.
Herrington defeated challenger and former Trustee Kate Hirsch in the 2020 election that was postponed to September due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The elections saw Hirsch challenge the Flower Hill Party’s petition with the aim of having it thrown out, only for the Nassau County Board of Elections to rule in the party’s favor.
Hirsch then filed an ethics complaint against Flower Hill’s chief election officer, village Administrator Ronnie Shatzkamer, alleging that she was assisting the Flower Hill Party in its campaign, with both Shatzkamer and Herrington denying the allegations.
Herrington later released an email sent by Hirsch offering to drop her campaign in July in exchange for the dismissal of village staff members and the dropping of harassment charges against her.
The three incumbent trustees in the Village of Plandome Manor are not running for re-election, though Mayor Kenneth C. Riscica will be running for another two-year term.
Trustees Dianne Sheehan, Silver Ferman and Alvin Solomon did not file papers to run to retain their seats, though three newcomers did. Mary Hauck, Kristina Lobosco and Florence Musalo will each be running for one of the trustee seats on the board, all of which are for two-year terms.
The Village of Baxter Estates will have a new face on its Board of Trustees after the March 15 election, with Jeffrey Eluto running for a two-year seat on the board since Trustee Brian Reardon is not running for re-election. Trustee Alice Peckelis is running unopposed for re-election to another two-year term.
Village of Plandome Trustees Robert Broderick and James Corcoran will be running unopposed for re-election for two-year terms. Village of Plandome Manor Trustees Tony DeSousa and Patricia O’Neill will be doing the same, also unopposed for two-year terms.
Port Washington North Trustees Steven Cohen and Michael Malatino are running unopposed for re-elections to two-year terms as well.
The villages of Manorhaven and Sands Point have their elections in June. The Village of North Hills does not have any elections scheduled for this year, and efforts to reach the Village of Munsey Park for information on the elections were unavailing.
