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Mostly Cloudy Rockville Centre Deputy Mayor Charles Joyce won't seek second term
Saddens colleagues with his decision
In a surprise move, Deputy Mayor Charles Joyce has announced that he will not run for a second term. He informed members of the Concerned Citizens, the party with which he ran in 2007, of his decision last Sunday. His reasons, he said, were family-related.
“I went on the board to serve the residents of the village, and I tried to do the best I could,” Joyce said. “I’m proud of our accomplishments and what we were able to achieve.”
Joyce, who will turn 65 in a few weeks, said he would continue to serve village residents as a member of the Rockville Centre Fire Department. He has recently returned to duty on a limited basis, driving ambulances and assisting on calls, since recovering from injuries he suffered when he was struck by a car on North Long Beach Road 10½ months ago while at the scene of a Fire Department emergency medical call.
“He was an excellent trustee and he will be missed in the village,” said Concerned Citizens President Mike Jewell. “Because of the impending state and county cuts in reimbursements to the village, along with the state-mandated increases in employee benefits, there will be an adverse effect on village taxes. [His] level-headed approach to solving these problems will be sorely missed by the board.”
Jewell told the Herald that he expects to announce his party’s slate of candidates for the June 21 election within a week.
Just last week, Francis X. Murray, the son of former Mayor Eugene J. Murray, announced that he would run for mayor on the Rockville Centre United Party ticket. Joyce’s wife, Jeannie, is Francis’s sister, and the former mayor and his wife, Mary Lou, live across the street from the Joyces, who have two grown sons, Charles and Joseph.
“I’m very sorry that Chuck has made the decision to leave the village board at the end of his term in June,” said Mayor Mary Bossart. “I’ve known Chuck since childhood — the young man next door who calmly guided the younger members of his family out of their home when there was a serious fire. From that beginning, I’ve never known him to deviate from doing what he believes to be the right thing even when that may be a tough or disagreeable choice.
