By Tom Jordan
Rockville Centre Mayor Eugene Murray has appointed Village Trustee Wayne Lipton as deputy mayor, replacing Chris Amato who resigned from the Board of Trustees last month.
Mr. Lipton was elected to the board in 1999 after serving eight years as the chairman of the Rockville Centre Planning Board.
"I have been very pleased with Wayne's performance on the board so far," Mayor Murray said in making the appointment. "I have observed his family life and his contributions to the community and I am very proud to have him as the deputy mayor."
As deputy mayor, Mr. Lipton will perform the mayor's duties at hearings of the Village Board or as a representative in the public when Mayor Murray is ill or otherwise unavailable.
"I am honored that Mayor Murray has chosen me to serve as deputy mayor," Mr. Lipton said this week. "I'm especially honored by Mayor Murray's confidence in me as a Village Trustee and in his trust in my performing his duties when necessary."
Mr. Lipton said his position as deputy mayor would be made easier because of the breadth of the mayor's involvement, and said he was pleased to be following in the footsteps of "so many deserving trustees to be appointed deputy mayor in the Village of Rockville Centre."
"I think Mayor Murray has been the most active political figure in the history of this village. As active a mayor as he is, filling in for him does not happen very often; but when it does, I certainly have a great role model to follow and will do my best to serve the community," he said.
Mr. Lipton has lived in the Village for 20 years with his wife Karen, an attorney and board member of the RVC Education Foundation. They have three children: Adam; Sarah, a sophomore at South Side High School; and Alex, who is entering South Side Middle School. Mr. Lipton is vice president of Central Synagogue, vice president of the RVC Guild for the Arts and president of the South Shore Symphony where he is principal cellist.
A graduate of Harvard College with a degree in biochemistry, Mr. Lipton has also studied at the University of Chicago School of Business, the Boston Architectural Center and the Juilliard School of Music.
He is self-employed as a business consultant, but for 20 years owned the Richmind Way drug stores before selling them to Revco in 1995. From 1995 to 1998 he was chief operating officer of a national physician management company.
Ms. Amato tendered her resignation in August because she is moving from Rockville Centre. She had been elected to her second term in June of 1999. Originally appointed to the board in June of 1997 and sworn in as deputy mayor in July of the same year, Ms. Amato replaced former board member and deputy mayor, Gene Yourch, immediately after he retired.
"It has been very beneficial for me to see Chris in her duties as deputy mayor," Mr. Lipton said. "She knew her role and was able to fill in for Mayor Murray quite well when called upon."
Two weeks ago, the mayor appointed attorney Jack Matthews to take Ms. Amato's place on the board and he said this week that the new board will form "an excellent working team."
Mr. Matthews is a long-time resident of Rockville Centre with a law office in the village. He previously served for ten years on the village planning board, has chaired the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee and co-chaired the village Centennial Commission. He will face an election for the remaining two years of Ms. Amato's term in June 2001.
