Howard to step down as deputy mayor?

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After nearly 24 years living in the village and more than five years serving as trustee and deputy mayor, Nancy Howard may be moving on.

The news came after her husband, David, recently accepted a job as CEO of Brightline — a railway transit system being developed in Florida. The new position required him to move to Miami.

Howard tentatively plans to join her husband in the coming year, but she has so far not made any official decisions on when she will be moving and what will happen to her home. Right now she is commuting to meet him. “We’ll be racking up a lot of frequent flier miles over the next few months,” she joked.

She said she wanted her daughter, Emily, to return home from college for the summer before she makes any final decisions. “I’m still 100 percent a village resident,” Howard insisted, noting that if she decides to put her house on the market it will be “later rather than sooner.”

Trustee Michael Sepe also confirmed the news. “The only up-in-the-air question is when,” he said about Howard’s decision. He did note that when the time comes “we’ll miss her dearly.”

Village Trustee Edward Oppenheimer said he didn’t disagree with her decision to hold off on setting a specific date for moving. “The reasoning she gave was very maternal,” he said about Howard waiting for her daughter to return for the summer. “I can’t say I would do it differently.”

Trustee Emilio Grillo echoed a similar sentiment: “As a parent, I can appreciate that.”

Rockville Centre will hold its general election on June 20. Trustees Oppenheimer and Grillo will be up for re-election. However, according to Tom Connelly, a spokesman at the New York State Board of Elections, if a village trustee steps down too close to the election date — either before or after — the mayor would be able to appoint an interim trustee who would then run in a special election the following year.

Although the date of Howard’s departure has not been confirmed, Mayor Francis X. Murray said he was considering a handful of candidates for the appointment. “I’ve got a few people in mind,” he commented. “I’m not going to wait and then have a fire drill. That would not be smart.”