Rockville Centre deputy mayor to step down

It was expected, but on Monday she made it official: Nancy Howard announced that at the end of the month, she will step down as deputy mayor of Rockville Centre.

She said a tearful farewell at a board of trustees meeting, saying that it would be her last as a village official.

Her pending resignation comes after her husband, David, accepted a job as CEO of Brightline — a railway transit system being developed in Florida — in March. Howard plans to move to Miami in June.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for my husband … and we’re very excited about it,” she told her fellow trustees, “but as you can tell from my broken voice, I love this community, and it has been a tremendous privilege to serve with this collection of people.”

“She’s been a beacon for all of us here on this board,” Trustee Emilio Grillo said. “It really leaves us with a very deep void.”

“Thank you for all you’ve done for our village,” Mayor Francis X. Murray said to Howard.

Perhaps the most heartfelt goodbye came from Trustee Michael Sepe, who recounted working with Howard for nearly six years. “We actually met on the campaign trail,” Sepe recalled. “You don’t truly get to know someone until you knock on several hundred doors, walking up and down the streets of this village together and literally, literally speaking to thousands of residents in order to get your message across.

“I noticed from that early moment on,” Sepe added, “that residents were impressed with Nancy’s warmth, her sincerity and how genuine she was in expressing her concerns for the village.”

Because Howard will leave within weeks of the village’s June 20 general election, Murray can appoint an interim trustee who would run in a special election next June. He announced that he had made a selection, but would reveal it at a later date.

Howard has lived in the village for 25 years.