Candidates

Mary grew up in Garden City, and in 1998, moved back with her husband to raise their family here. Mary has lived in Garden City for a total of 44 years, and her three children; Emily, Matt and Caroline all graduated from Garden City High School, the youngest graduating in 2020.

After graduating from Garden City High School, Mary attended the University of Virginia and graduated with a B.A. degree, then went on to attend St. John’s University School of Law, where she served as Publications Editor of the Journal of Legal Commentary and graduated with a J.D. degree.

Following law school, Mary served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert G. Mahoney of the United States Department of Labor and then as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York and worked in private practice handling litigation matters. Since 2012, Mary has served as an Administrative Law Judge for the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, where she presides over hearings addressing all issues related to workers’ compensation cases.

Mary’s volunteer work in the Village began at the Garden City Nursery School including serving as President. As Mary’s children grew up, she was both an assistant and head coach of her daughters’ lacrosse teams for many years. Mary was also a soccer coach; a Girl Scout leader, and a CCD teacher at St. Anne’s.

Michael grew up in the Western Section of Garden City, attended the Garden City public schools, and graduated from Garden City High School. Upon graduation, Michael attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy, graduating with a BS in Marine Engineering and a commission in the US Naval Reserve. Shortly after graduation, Michael was selected to train with the US National Men’s Team Handball Team in Colorado Springs, CO, and later participated in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. After working for an engineering firm in NY for several years, and becoming a NYS licensed Professional Engineer, Michael attended New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and earned an MBA in finance. Michael is currently a Managing Director at Webster Bank, and has previously worked at GE Capital and Capital One where he gained extensive experience underwriting leveraged finance, project finance, and equipment finance transactions.

Like many people who have grown up in Garden City, Michael recognizes what a unique and special place it is. Michael grew up going to Tullamore Park and the Garden City Pool every day during the summers, both institutions that have helped to foster fond memories and lifelong friendships for countless village kids, and he wanted to offer his family the same great experiences that he remembered. In 2001, Michael and his wife moved back to the village and have raised their three boys here.

In the 22 years since, Michael has volunteered, in various capacities, in the youth sports programs in town. Michael coached for 10 yrs in the Thunder Football, and Garden City Youth Lacrosse programs. Michael also served as President of the Garden City Youth Lacrosse program for five years. Having spent many hours on the athletic fields at St Paul’s coaching against neighboring towns, Michael has been told numerous times, by visitors, how lucky we are to live in a town that has such a great facility.

Michael has known current Trustees Terry Digan and Tom O’Brien for more than 35 years, Mary Flanagan for 15 years, and Larry Marciano for 10 years, and he has greatly admired their commitment to the village and what they have accomplished during their time on the BOT. Most recently, the efforts of Trustees Flanagan and Marciano to reach out to the residents near the Country Life Press Station to get their input on the future of the aging Country Life Press Train Station structure demonstrated that commitment. It is this type of concern and outreach that Michael feels is critical to keeping Garden City residents informed and that Michael would be committed to.

Michael was excited to join a group that was passionate about making sure that Garden City remained the kind of place many of us grew up in and moved back to to raise our families. Emphasizing transparency and open communication, FABGC is an organization that has been intent on making sure the residents have their voices heard.

The position of Trustee is a serious one, and the decision to participate in local government is one that Michael has given much consideration. The time and effort that is required to do the job well is not to be underestimated, and the rewards for the time and effort expended are not always evident, but, if elected, Michael would commit to transparent processes, to putting best efforts toward to find pragmatic solutions, and encouraging Garden City’s residents to take ownership of the future of St. Paul’s.

Bruce Chester is an Insurance Professional with 45 years’ experience. After graduating from Villanova University in 1975, Mr. Chester started his career working for The Travelers Insurance Co. in New York City. After several years Bruce joined The Chester Insurance Agency in Carle Place and Bruce became its President in 1990.

Chester Agency sold all forms of insurance; auto, home and business. Running a business is never easy, running a profitable one is even harder. Mr. Chester operated this business profitably by carefully managing expenses and operating within budget.

Having insured several municipalities, including fire departments, water districts, volunteer ambulance corp., school districts and country clubs, Bruce has seen numerous lawsuits that can arise related to these entities, and strongly believes in minimizing any Village’s risks. Mr. Chester does not write any insurance for the Village of Garden City, and will NOT, if elected to the Board of Trustees. However, Bruce looks forward to providing advice to the Village from his decades of experience.

Mr. Chester has been involved in several Professional organizations, including the Tri County Insurance Agents Association. This Association consists of over 400 Independent Insurance agents throughout Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau. Bruce served as a Board member from 1995-2006 and served as President in 2004-2005. This involved lobbying with local state and federal elected officials concerning insurance issues. Bruce was chosen as “Insurance Person of the Year” in 2008 by Tri-County. He also received the Insurance Executive of the year award from the Downstate Insurance Council in 2014. In 2017, Bruce merged the Chester Insurance Agency into the Dooley, Deremer, Orr and Arkin Agency and is currently working in Garden City.

Bruce Chester has been involved in numerous civic, service and religious organizations during his career. He served as President of the Westbury-Carle Place Kiwanis Club, and was a 35 year member of the Carle Place Civic Association, lecturing on various insurance topics at their meetings. He is currently a member of the Lions Club, a club that raised over $500,000 in the past few years to help the blind.

Bruce is currently serving as the Grand Knight of Corpus Christi Council #2502 and is responsible for the finances of this Catholic men’s organization. He has been a member of St Joseph’s parish in Garden City since moving here in 1998.

Bruce and his wife Patti, a CPA, have lived on 220 Kensington Road for over 22 years. They have raised 4 children; Katie, Daniel, Christine and Lizzie, all who have gone through the excellent Garden City School system. Three have graduated from Georgetown University and one graduated from Boston College. The youngest, a brand new nurse treated COVID patients on ventilators, this past spring.

Having had 4 children, Bruce and Patti were at various sports venues watching them play soccer, lacrosse, wrestling and volleyball. Bruce coached GC Centennial Soccer for many years.

Bruce, an avid college basketball fan, has attended in person all 3 Villanova NCAA championship games.

Bruce moved to Garden City for the excellent schools and the beauty of the Village. That beauty has been destroyed by the Third Track Construction. Mr. Chester became involved after the beautiful trees at the end of Kensington Road were ripped down. A number of trees were on Village Property and the LIRR ripped them down anyway. Bruce and a neighbor, who had worked for the LIRR for many years, met with representatives of 3rd Track Constructors in September of 2019. They were told that trees would be replanted by the spring of 2020. Instead of trees, they planted 100 foot poles, upsetting a good number of Northern Estates residents. There was little help from the representatives of both the Estates POA and the BOT. It was very frustrating attending meetings both live, and remotely, and getting nowhere. The Group REVAMP( REsident Voters Against Monster Poles) was formed as a result of the lack of engagement by a previous BOT. Bruce was a founding member.

A near lifelong resident of Garden City, Richard was just 18 years of age when he was introduced to his future wife and lifelong resident, Jeanne Savoldy Williams. A few years after they were married, they moved into the Village and have been residents since.

Richard will bring to the role, diverse interests and experiences. He has recently volunteered for the Village Business Development Committee to propose creative collaboration between residents and the commercial/non profit sector. Early in his career, he was engaged in the Marine and Aviation insurance industry in both large claims and as an internal auditing role. Later, had roles as an officer at both Citi Corp and Chase Manhattan. At Chase, Richard was involved in foreign money transactions tasks. At Citi, he had an expanding role crafting their credit card operations where he led a large team as that industry so very rapidly evolved. Later, he gained experience leading private firms involved in energy marketing and hospitality services serving corporate and individual clients. Currently, Richard helps manage a family business in Corporate Event planning crafting Meetings, Incentives and Events throughout North America and the Caribbean for a national and global clientele. Throughout his business career, Richard has developed and managed organizations ranging from 10 to 1,000 employees.

To the role of Trustee, he will offer a consultative nature, an inquisitive, problem-solving mind, and an eagerness to do the very best on behalf of every resident. In that regard, he considers relationship building and listening among his best traits as well as a commitment to the future of the village. Richard is an avid reader, enjoy classic movies, family events, traveling, and meeting new people in many places.

Richard graduated with a Bachelor of Science from St John’s University where he also received his Juris Doctorate. Admitted to the New York Bar, throughout the years Richard has provided pro-bono legal services to residents of Garden City, Nassau, Suffolk, and NYC.

On a personal basis, Jeanne and Richard raised their five children in Garden City. They attended St. Joseph’s School, Locust, Stewart School, the Middle and High School. Richard’s children played on school, town and traveling teams for Lax, Field Hockey, Basketball and Track and Field. Married, with children of their own, his entire immediate family live in the Village at their homes in the Estates and Eastern sections