Alex Salomon steps down as Hewlett Bay Park mayor

After 25 years of serving as a village official in Hewlett Bay Park, Mayor Alex Salomon has stepped down.

“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the residents of Hewlett Bay Park and I am grateful for the trust and support during my tenure,” Salomon wrote in his resignation letter on Jan. 30, which was effective on that date. “The renovation of my new home in Boca Raton has been completed and I am repositioning my life to south Florida.”

Salomon, 65, came to the United States from his native Ukraine in 1974, and has been a village resident since 1996. He was a village trustee from 1999 to 2004, deputy mayor from 2004 to 2022 and mayor since 2022.

“I like to participate in life — I’m not a passive observer,” he said, explaining his involvement in village government. “If things go well, you’re happy. If things go bad, you won’t complain, because you’re part of it.”

Salomon said that when he was elected mayor, Hewlett Bay Park did not need fixing.

“It’s a beautiful place to live — great town, great people. It needed to be preserved,” he said. “I didn’t run for office because there was a radical change that needed to be made. It was rather the opposite. It was, let’s make sure we preserve what we have here, a beautiful community.”

Hewlett Bay Park is nestled between the villages of Hewlett Neck and Hewlett Harbor. The population is currently just under 460, according to World Population Review. The village’s median age was 41, and there was a median household income of over $200,000 in 2021, according to City-Data.com.

Along with preserving the park-like character of the community and maintaining tranquility, Salomon was grateful for the strides the village made in improving Willow Pond, on Everit Avenue, he said.

“A few years ago, it looked horrible — we had all kinds of algae — and now it’s back restored and it’s beautiful,” he said recently of the cleaned-up site, which is home to a rare bird species, the roseate spoonbill. “We attracted people from everywhere, and what was great was that they came with equipment, and that equipment was cameras.”

Salomon said he was also happy with the addition of a social media team and the automation of village systems to keep up with the times.

Village Trustee Renee Zylberberg said she was disappointed to hear the news of his resignation.

“He’s just been such an awesome, supportive mayor,” Zylberberg said. “He’s very inclusive. He has a lot of patience.”

Salomon began working as an accountant at 19 in 1978 for KPMG and has run his own accounting firm, Salomon & Company, in East Rockaway since 1985. He also served as chairman of the State Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Taxation of Individuals Committee, and continues to be an active member.

“To me, I’m living the American dream, to be honest,” he said, “coming from a small town in Ukraine, living in Hewlett Bay Park, being the mayor of Hewlett Bay Park and having a business. I mean, it can’t really get much better than that.”

While Salomon will be spending more time in Florida, he will still keep his home in Hewlett Bay Park, and plans to spend summers here with his three local children and three grandchildren.

Hewlett Bay Park Deputy Mayor Antonio Oliviero will take over Salomon’s duties, and plans to run for the position in the June election.

“It has been a great pleasure and honor to have been able to work side by side with Alex to make many improvements to our community,” Oliviero said in a statement. “Alex will not only be missed as mayor, but as a close and personal friend as well.”