A new era in Roslyn began last Tuesday night when John Durkin, a longtime board of trustee member, was elected mayor of the village. Mr. Durkin was elected on a Clock Tower Party slate that also included Deputy Mayor Nolan Myerson and Marta Genovese, both of whom were elected to two-year terms on the BOT.

The mayor's position was open when Janet Galante, mayor of the village since 1995, decided last winter not to run for re-election. The Clock Tower Party committee soon endorsed the Durkin slate for this year's election, a move that was seconded by both the party's regular members and those of the Community Party, a political organization that came into being in 1999.

Mr. Durkin received 137 votes for the mayor's job, with exactly one write-in vote going for current BOT member, Craig Westergard. Mr. Myerson received 135 votes, while Ms. Genovese, running in her first BOT election, earned 140 votes.

After the votes were announced a little past 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20, current BOT members gathered in the Village Hall for a short meeting, that took up several local issues, including an energy program designed to help village residents and businesses, and an updated version of the village's master plan. Mr. Durkin officially becomes mayor at 12:01 p.m. on Monday, April 2. On Tuesday evening, April 3, the village will host an organization night where Mayor Galante will formally present the "keys of the village" to Mr. Durkin. The oaths of office will also be administered at that time. The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. and will be held at the Bryant Library.

Although the Clock Tower Party slate faced no opposition, the candidates did hold several public events to lay out their agenda to the voters. During the campaign, Mr. Durkin said that the biggest issues in Roslyn's immediate future included fixing the village's infrastructure, namely funding sewer, water, and roadway repairs. Promising to keep taxes "as low as possible," he said that a future BOT might use bonds and other funding sources to pay for such services.

Mr. Durkin also admitted that the age-old Stop & Shop problem might rear its head in the coming years. Because a section of the village's new zoning law was ruled invalid by a New York State court, it is even possible that Stop & Shop may come back to the village with a new supermarket proposal. The Clock Tower Party slate also said residential row housing facilities represented a plus for the village. Because they house seniors, the additional residents do not put a burden on the Roslyn School District. More importantly, such housing would bring in needed revenue to a village that has had to raise taxes three times in the past five years. The outgoing BOT unanimously agreed to allow Forest City Daly to build such residential housing on a site off Skillman Street in downtown Roslyn.