Paul Peters, of Roslyn Estates, first encountered the Board of Trustees on a flyer near his home.
He said at the time he thought the meeting notice, posted directly onto a telephone pole, could look better.
“I got a display case that seals against weather, and I put the display case up” on the pole, he said.
The board “liked it and approved an expenditure to get more,” he added. “Sometimes it’s better to show someone than to describe it.”
The display cases, now arrayed on telephone poles throughout the village, were the first initiative forwarded by Peters, who joined the Board of Trustees two years later.
In March, after a year on the Board, Peters will run unopposed for the mayoral seat being vacated by Jeffrey Schwartzberg.
“I’m so grateful to be here,” he said. “I want to do my part.”
Peters moved to Roslyn Estates with his wife Clare three years ago, after he retired from work as a substitute math teacher at Manhasset High School.
He had lived in Munsey Park for 40 years.
He soon began regularly attending Roslyn Estates Board of Trustees meetings because he “really enjoyed the way the board was run, and its incredibly efficient, caring and dedicated people.”
“I like to get involved,” he added.
Last March, Trustee Sandy Siff, 73, 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.
Village code called for Schwartzberg to appoint a replacement.
“Jeff decided he wanted me to be more deeply involved,” Peters said.
He said the village’s ongoing road improvement program is its biggest accomplishment over his year on the board.
“We interviewed engineers and helped determine which roads were most in need and how to finance them,” he said. “It was educational as well as rewarding.”
The Board of Trustees approved a $650,000 dollar bond last month to pay for the road improvements, which Peters said will be completed by the end of the summer.
Asked why he wanted to take the next step and run for mayor, Peters said, “I didn’t.”
When he heard that Schwartzberg was not running for re-election, he assumed Deputy Mayor Jeffrey Lindenbaum would take his place.
After Lindenbaum passed on running, Peters didn’t think he could say “no,” he said.
He said his priority as mayor is “to make sure we have an ongoing capital program so that we don’t have to do bonds in the years to come.”
“It’s a balancing act trying to fund projects you know the village needs and yet not make the tax burden on residents oppressive,” he added.
He said he would like to be mayor “for as long as I can manage it” if it’s “what people in the village want.”
For now, he’s focused on picking up knowledge from his predecessor.
“My first goal is to learn as much as I can from Jeff,” he said.
Voting will take place on Tuesday, March 21, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Village Hall at 25 The Tulips.
