A Bittersweet Farewell

Despite his joking "countdowns" to freedom, an emotional Rob Rothschild bid farewell to a boardroom dais he's sat at for the past eight years as a village trustee and most recently as mayor.

Rothschild, a 28-year resident of Garden City, will officially pass the gavel to mayor-elect Don Brudie at the April 4 organizational meeting.

"When I was elected mayor two years ago, there was a discord on this board due to several major issues before us," he said. "My hope for the two years to follow was that this board could work as one (which obviously did not mean we would always have 100 percent agreement) but we needed to both build consensus and do so in a civil manner. My emphasis was and remains on 'civil,'" he said.

As a strong proponent of Garden City's Community Agreement form of government, Rothschild, who hails from the Estates section, thanked all Estates residents for the "faith and support" during his tenure on the board. 

He also especially thanked those Estates residents he's worked closely with over the years and trustee-elect John DeMaro, a fellow Estates resident who will be sworn in next month.

"Our initial relationship may have gotten off to a bumpy start a few years back but John stuck with his sincere desire to get involved and he worked diligently within the [property owners' association] to ultimately garner the faith and confidence of the Estates POA membership to now be the elected Estates trustee," Rothschild said, referring to his POA's nomination of DeMaro for village trustee while Rothschild was a sitting trustee several years ago. Rothschild challenged the nomination and subsequently won a run-off election to continue his reign on the board.

"I think we did get off to a bumpy start at first but at that time you ran a class campaign," DeMaro said. "I remember being at the high school and you and your wife came up to me at the end and you told me to stay involved and I'm glad I did."

Trustee Dennis Donnelly, also re-elected March 15, thanked Rothschild for his years of service. "Over the course of two years you treated everyone with dignity ... You have great leadership. I consider you a mentor in this job and most of all you were a gentleman."

Althea Robinson, executive director of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, praised Rothschild as a staunch advocate of the business community. "You have given us a tremendous amount of guidance," she said, noting the chamber's nomination of Rothschild as Garden City's 2007 Citizen of the Year.

Rothschild is aware of the difficult times that lie ahead but believes Garden City's heritage can be preserved with the "talent, motivation and experience on this board."

"The veterans on this board must lead and support our new trustee to hone the understanding of some of the issues still before this village," he said.

As he did during his opening statements upon swearing in as mayor two years ago, Rothschild again referred to an adage he read in a NY Council of Mayors (NYCOM) publication: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain."

"I think this statement summarizes the situation this board found itself in two years ago and I truly believe we learned to dance in the rain ... As I have said before, I am confident that this new board will not wait for the storm to pass," he said. "I am sure this new board of trustees will continue to dance in the rain and work diligently and again we expect, with all residents, in a 'civil' manner to support and challenge village staff to deal with all the issues before it."

Garden City's organizational meeting takes place April 4 at 8 p.m. in the village hall boardroom, where Brudie, Donnelly, fellow re-elected trustees Andrew Cavanaugh and Laurence Quinn and newcomer DeMaro will be sworn in. The public is invited to attend.