Port Washington Villages Hold Uncontested Elections

Voters in three Port Washington villages headed to the polls this month for elections where every candidate on the ballot ran without opposition. Baxter Estates, Port Washington North, and Flower Hill each held their village elections on Wednesday, March 18, filling trustee seats and, in one case, a mayoral position.

The races may have been uncontested, but the ballots still mattered. Village elections determine who manages local services, zoning decisions, and the day-to-day concerns that affect residents most directly. Showing up, even when the outcome seems certain, is how small communities signal that local government has their attention.

In Baxter Estates, voters cast ballots at Village Hall on Main Street, with polls open from noon to 9 p.m. Trustees Alex Price and Alice M. Peckelis were both seeking two-year terms. Peckelis has been a fixture on the board for more than 15 years, a run that reflects the kind of sustained civic commitment that keeps small villages running. Price came to the board more recently, winning his first full trustee term in 2024 after serving as an alternate member on the village’s Board of Zoning and Appeals. That zoning background tends to matter in villages where development questions can define the character of a neighborhood.

Port Washington North held its election at Village Hall on Pleasant Avenue, also open from noon to 9 p.m. Trustees Steven Cohen and Michael Malatino were on the ballot, along with Village Justice Sheldon Greenbaum, who handles the local court functions that residents sometimes forget fall under village jurisdiction until they need them.

Flower Hill ran the largest slate of the three villages. Mayor Randall Rosenbaum, who has served as mayor since 2022 and came to that role after stints as deputy mayor and trustee, was seeking reelection alongside three trustees: Gary Lewandowski, Claire Dorfman, and A.J. Smith. Flower Hill’s polls opened earlier than the other two villages, running from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Village Hall on Bonnie Heights Road.

The trustee candidates in Flower Hill bring varied backgrounds to the board. Lewandowski works as an architect and principal at N2 Design+Architecture PC, a professional lens that shapes how the village thinks about building and land use. Dorfman serves as a senior manager of public policy at Amazon, experience that touches on regulatory and government affairs at a scale well beyond local zoning. Smith is a founding partner of the trial firm Baxter and Smith and has built a reputation on Long Island not just for litigation but for mentoring younger attorneys coming up through the profession.

Uncontested elections are common in village governance across Long Island, and they invite a familiar question: does it matter if nobody runs against you? For residents, the more useful frame might be whether the people holding these positions are engaged and responsive. Village trustees handle things like code enforcement, road maintenance, local permits, and the small decisions that add up to whether a neighborhood feels well-managed or neglected.

The fact that candidates like Peckelis have stayed on a village board for more than 15 years says something about the nature of this kind of public service. It rarely comes with recognition outside the community, and the work is often unglamorous. Attending meetings, reviewing applications, responding to a neighbor’s complaint about a fence that’s six inches too tall. That’s the reality of local governance.

For Port Washington’s three villages, this month’s elections were a quiet ritual. No contested races, no campaign signs dueling on front lawns, no debates. Just residents walking into their local Village Hall to confirm, in writing, that they’re paying attention to the people making decisions for their community.

The results, given the uncontested nature of the races, were never really in doubt. What the elections represent is something smaller and more durable: the basic habit of participation that keeps local government connected to the people it serves.