Floral Park officials, including trustees and the village justice, thanked village residents Monday night during the annual re-organization meeting.
Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald, Deputy Mayor Lynn Pombonyo and Trustee Frank Chiara were each re-elected to two-year terms during the March 21 village elections while Village Justice Douglas Hayden was re-elected to a four-year term.
“Floral Park is known for many things, including continuously being one of the top villages in New York,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s truly the residents that make this a great place to live and raise a family.
Fitzgerald, who has been a Floral Park resident since 1999, was first 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.
The mayor thanked his fellow members of the board, village staff and predecessors Kevin Greene, Thomas Tweedy and Dominick Longobardi.
“It is humbling to be elected by such an exceptional group of people and be able to represent them in the village,” Fitzgerald said.
Pombonyo, who was first elected to the board in 2014, previously served as the superintendent for the Floral Park-Bellerose school district.
The deputy mayor also thanked residents for their support in both the election and volunteering for different village boards, which also had their appointments announced Monday night.
“Thank you to the volunteers who served on these boards and used your passion, creative thinking and collective wisdom for this very special place we call Floral Park,” Pombonyo said.
Chiara, a chief detective investigator in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for over 35 years, was elected to his first term as a trustee in 2017 and has been a Floral Park resident for over two decades.
“It’s an honor to be one of your trustees and serve with as dedicated a team up here,” Chiara said. “We are a strong team and serve our community very well.”
Hayden, a lifelong village resident and former Nassau County assistant district attorney, has served as village justice since 1999. His father, Thomas, served as mayor from 1983 to 1987. Professionally, he works at Garden City-based Wright Insurance Group as president.
“I want to thank everyone for the opportunity to support me, it’s been my privilege to be your judge for the last 24 years,” Hayden said. “We have a great staff, associate justice and we are truly a team that we believe does the right thing on behalf of the village each and every day.”
