Floral Park Mayor Thomas Tweedy is running unopposed for re-election this March, and he says his third race will also be his last.
“This will be my last term,” he said. “Then I’ll go to the land of former mayors, wherever that is.”
Tweedy, like all the members of the village’s board of trustees, is a member of the Floral Park Citizens Party, which Tweedy said has general guidelines limiting mayors to two two-year terms.
“The dynamism of turning over the mayors is very important,” he said.
Despite the rule, Tweedy said, he decided to run for a third term to see the end of several projects he started, most notably the completion of the Floral Park Pool, which is scheduled for June.
“The reason I’m continuing is that we have a pool to complete,” he said. “The pool is a tremendous asset in Floral Park.”
Tweedy, who works at an engineering construction management firm, said his professional experience makes him the right candidate to oversee the job.
“My skill set is doing projects on time and on budget, which is what I’ve been doing my whole life,” he said.
The pool, which dates back to the 1950s, required a number of renovations due to its age, he said.
Tweedy said he was first appointed as a trustee in 2001 by former Mayor Ann Corbett after he had served as the president of the Floral Park West End Civic Association.
“It’s kind of a natural ascent,” he said of his transition from the civic association to trustee.
During his next 10 years as trustee, Tweedy said, he filled a number of roles and acted as the liaison to many of the village’s departments, which he said prepared him to run for mayor in 2011.
“You are a true CEO,” he said. “You’ve worked all those positions, and it’s important to have that institutional knowledge.”
Tweedy said he grew up in Floral Park and as an adult bought a house in the village in 1981 with his wife, MaryAnn, where he still lives. He said he has two grown children, one son and one daughter.
“One of each flavor,” he said.
In addition to Tweedy, trustees Dominick Longobardi and Lynn Pombonyo and village Justice Douglas Hayden are also running unopposed. The four are running a joint campaign as members of the Floral Park Citizens Party.
Tweedy said the party is more than 80 years old and is non-partisan.
“We have both Democrats and Republicans sitting on our board,” he added.
The village will hold its election on Wednesday, March 18.
