Floral Park Village Clerk Susan Walsh has retired after working with the village for 25 years.
Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald swore in Joe O’Grady as the new village clerk on Tuesday night.
Though originally born in Brooklyn, Walsh moved to Floral Park in 1968. She worked as an office manager at a local real estate office for 10 years before joining the village as secretary to the mayor and board in 1999.
“I always loved working with people, especially in the real estate industry,” Walsh said. “Hearing that there might be some job opportunities working for the village that I grew up in and raised my family in, I thought it would be a good opportunity.”
Walsh said her duties as village clerk changed every day. Throughout her 25-year tenure, she worked with seven different mayors, each of whom she said brought a distinct perspective and new goals to the village.
Fitzgerald said Walsh was extremely detail-oriented and her hard work made special events a success.
“For the 15 years I’ve known Susan, she did an exemplary job,” Fitzgerald said. “Susan added a lot of class to Floral Park in the little things that she did that a lot of people may not have noticed. We’ll surely miss her and those little touches of class that she added.”
Walsh said standout experiences from her time working with the village include both joyous and particularly somber moments. She helped plan the village’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2008 and also honored lives lost with ceremonies on 9/11 each year.
Walsh said she enjoyed her work as a public servant, especially helping put out metaphorical fires for residents. As village clerk, she was responsible for record-keeping and office and staff management. She also assisted the mayor and board of trustees.
“Coming from a large family, everybody would be talking at the same time with different conversations. [As village clerk,] I learned to be a better listener,” Walsh said.
Walsh is looking forward to some extra time with her family upon her retirement. She has a son, Rob, and daughter, Mindy, and six grandchildren, so she said she is excited to attend more lacrosse games and school concerts. But Walsh said it is a bittersweet moment, especially leaving her staff.
“I will probably miss most working with the people I work with on a daily basis, whether it was the administration staff, the police department, the fire department, the library, the recreation center, the building department and…the unsung heroes of the department of public works, because they are truly the base of our community,” Walsh said.
