The Helen Glannon Room of the Bryant Library was packed last Tuesday night as the Village of Roslyn held its organizational night meeting. But the evening's events were dominated by a farewell ceremony to outgoing Mayor Janet Galante, who was there to officially hand over the keys of the village to incoming Mayor John Durkin.

The evening marked the culmination of Ms. Galante's decade-long career in public service to the village. In 1991, she was appointed as a member to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Starting in 1993, Ms. Galante served one term as a board of trustee member. Then, in 1995, she was chosen by the Clock Tower Party as its nominee to become the next mayor of Roslyn. Ms. Galante then served three terms as the village's first woman mayor.

Ms. Galante received numerous proclamations and gifts from local dignitaries, including Town of North Hempstead Supervisor May Newburger. Beforehand, Ms. Galante gave her own talk, one that included a few presentations of her own. During her talk, Ms. Galante thanked the many public officials who served in her six-year tenure as mayor. She particularly singled out Lester Arstark, for his work as village liaison to the 6th Precinct, citing the addition of bicycle patrols in the village and the monitoring of trucks passing through Roslyn. Ms. Galante also thanked former and current deputy mayors, Marlene Freeman and Nolan Myerson, while wishing "all the best and congratulations" to her successor, John Durkin. "Change is seldom easy," said Ms. Galante, who is leaving politics to pursue a doctorate degree in education, "...a familiar way of life slips away, and nothing remains the same. May God grace all our turning points with patience and peace."

After her brief address, Ms. Galante was showered with a score of proclamations, including one from Rhoda Becker, a representative of Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Gulotta. May Newburger, for her part, remembered then-Mayor Galante also presenting her with a bouquet of flowers whenever she attended an event in Roslyn. And so, on this evening, the supervisor returned the favor by presenting Ms. Galante with her own bouquet. Nassau County Legislator Craig Johnson recalled that Ms. Galante was the first local politician to call him after he succeeded his late mother, Barbara Johnson, into the county legislator. He also claimed that Ms. Galante helped to make the transition to a county legislature easier for him.

Other proclamations came from the offices of State Senator Michael Balboni, plus those of State Assemblymen Tom DiNapoli and David Sidikman. Clock Tower Party officials Milton Grunwald and Ann Koppel offered their own gift. Ms. Koppel said that the village would plant a tree in the village "at a special place" in Ms. Galante's honor. Elizabeth McCloat, director of the Bryant Library gave Ms. Galante the first copy of the library's Welcome Packet for new residents to the Roslyn area. She also thanked the former mayor for helping to get a new street sign to the library installed. Other proclamations were given by the Lillian M. Pierce Senior Center and Linda Nathanson and Gary Leventhal, board of trustee members from the Village of East Hills.

The two officials cited earlier by Ms. Galante, Marlene Freeman and Nolan Myerson made the final presentations. Ms. Freeman praised Ms. Galante as "the glue that has held this wonderful village together." She listed Ms. Galante's accomplishments as hiring "great counsel" from the firm of Spellman and Walsh, seeing through the village's Master Plan, assisting in the "beautification of the business district," raising money and restoring the Clock Tower as well as planning the Grist Mill's restoration, decorating the downtown district, covering the meters (so shoppers during the Christmas season might be attracted to come to Roslyn), parades, tree plantings, concerts in the park, and "great public relations for the village." Ms. Galante, furthermore, represented the village "in ... an intelligent and dignified way" at meetings with other Nassau County mayors and among state representatives in Albany. "She figured out the obstacles," Ms. Freeman said of her former colleague, "she spent countless hours to save our village."

Nolan Myerson echoed some of the same themes, sayng Ms. Galante was "full of dedication" to the village. "I have never known a harder worker in a public official," he added. Mr. Myerson admitted that there were disagreements between Ms. Galante and both BOT members and village residents. However, they might have been "misunderstandings of what one person's goals were." Throughout it all, the "goodness of the village was foremost on the mayor's mind." Mr. Myerson also listed the coming restoration of the Roslyn Viaduct Bridge as an important issue that was resolved on Ms. Galante's watch. One final surprise came when Mr. Myerson proclaimed that the evening's date, April 3, would henceforth be known in the village as "Janet Nelson Galante Day."