After over a decade as the Village of Brookville’s mayor, Daniel Serota said he looks forward to another term filled with exciting developments, including the construction of Brookville’s first village hall.
“I like giving back. The biggest pleasure I have is helping people,” Serota said.
Serota has been involved in village governance for 18 years, having served on the architectural review board before taking office as mayor 12 years ago. All village board positions are voluntary and unpaid, he said.
In his time on the architectural committee, he learned that many residents and builders were limited in their constructions due to “volume restriction,” which limited the size of a home no matter how set back on a lot it was.
One of his first acts as mayor was eliminating this restriction, which he hoped would promote construction in the village. Clearly, it was successful because, ever since then, Serota said there has been a “building boom” in Brookville, which, among other benefits, has bolstered village finances.
Serota said he helped “fast-track” building permits within the village, allowing residents to make changes to their property more timely. He said that 11 homes are being built this year in the village.
One thing that Serota is especially proud of is that he has not raised taxes in the past 11 years, despite repaving 87% of the village’s roads and replacing village vehicles and facilities.
“That is my proudest achievement,” he said.
Serota said the village has approximately 3,400 residents and also houses LIU Post, NYIT, Lutheran Middle & High School, St. Paul’s Catholic Church, and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Resurrection.
“We are a busy, busy municipality,” Serota said.
Serota has always been interested in politics, having studied at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is the former president of the Nassau County Village Association.
Serota said his mayoral responsibilities account for about 60% of his day, with the other 40% going towards his real estate business. He said he is a builder—a family business—which specializes in commercial spaces like office centers, supermarkets and drugstores.
Looking ahead, Serota said he is excited for the construction of the new village hall and police headquarters, which will be built in the Brookville Nature Park.
The building will house village meeting spaces, which has never been done before. Currently, the board of trustees meets in its building inspector’s home, and the village court meets at the Brookville Reform Church.
The building will also house the village’s police, a relatively recent department, which was formed after a consortium of police, alongside surrounding villages including Upper Brookville and Old Brookville, split up.
The Brookville Police Department, which just celebrated its third year, serves Brookville, Cove Neck, Matinecock, and Mill Neck, which total over 6,000 residents.
Serota said the municipal space will help the Brookville officials and police ensure a “high quality of life” for its residents.
