Despite no contested races, Roslyn village elections likely to bring leadership changes

Max Zahn
Paul Peters (left) being sworn in as a trustee by Village of Roslyn Estates Mayor Jeffrey Schwartzberg. Peters is running to replace Schwartzberg as mayor.

BY MAX ZAHN AND STEPHEN ROMANO 

Roslyn residents will not find any contested elections when they go to the village polls on Tuesday, but leadership changes in Roslyn Estates and Flower Hill will shake up the composition of their respective Boards of Trustees.

Jeffrey Schwartzberg, the mayor of Roslyn Estates for the past six years, announced last month he will not run for re-election.

Trustee Paul Peters, whom Schwartzberg appointed to the Board of Trustees last May, will run for the position unopposed.

Schwartzberg said he backs Peters’ candidacy.

“I think he would do a wonderful job,” Schwartzberg said. “He is a very smart guy with high integrity. He is always talking about maintaining the beauty of the village.”

A year ago Peters replaced 73-year-old Sandy Siff, who was re-elected to the Board of Trustees with 15 write-in votes but stood by a prior decision to end his tenure as a trustee.

Peters moved from Manhasset into the village with his wife, Claire, in 2013.

Currently Roslyn Estates residents Brett Auerbach and Allan Mendels are registered to run for trustee positions being vacated by Jeffrey Lindenbaum and Rodney Khazzam.

No one is running for the seat being vacated by Peters in his elevation to mayor. 

Unless there is a write-in candidate, Peters, if he is elected mayor, will appoint someone to fill the vacant trustee seat as one of his first items of business.

Roslyn Estates Village Justice Seymour Reisman will run for re-election.

Village justice terms last four years, while mayor and trustee terms last two years.

Voting will take place on Tuesday, March 21, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Village Hall at 25 The Tulips.

“We want to make sure everybody has an opportunity to vote whether early morning or late at night,” Schwartzberg said.

Following former Mayor Elaine Phillips’ state Senate victory in November, the Flower Hill government got a new mayor, a new deputy mayor and two new trustees.

On Tuesday, five seats in the village are up for re-election and all five trustees have filed to run.

Mayor Bob McNamara, who served as deputy mayor under Phillips and has been a trustee since 2012, has filed to run for a one-year term in a special election.

When Phillips asked McNamara to be a trustee five years ago, he said, he never imagined one day being mayor.

“I actually always felt sorry for the person who was going to replace her,” he said in December. “She did a superb job and was so involved in every aspect of the village.”

Trustee Frank Genese, who was appointed to the board in December to fill McNamara’s seat, has filed to run for a two-year term.

Genese, a resident of Flower Hill for 15 years, served as an architect consultant in Munsey Park for 11 years.

Kate Hirsch, who was appointed to the board in October to replace Trustee Karen Reichenbach, who died in May, has filed to run for a one-year term in a special election.

Newly appointed Deputy Mayor Brian Herrington, who has been on the board since 2014, filed to run for a two-year term, and Trustee Jay Beber, a board member since 2015, is running for a two-year term.

Elections will take place from noon to 9 p.m. at Flower Hill Village Hall at 1 Bonnie Heights Road in Manhasset.

In Roslyn Village, Mayor John Durkin and trustees Sarah Oral and Marta Genovese will be running for re-election. As of Tuesday morning, no candidates had filed to challenge the incumbents.

Voting will take place from noon to 9 p.m. at Village Hall.

In East Hills and Roslyn Harbor there will not be any village seats up for re-election.

Share this Article