Serving as mayor of a Long Island village while demanding is often a part-time job. But for Paul Ehrbar retirement has allowed him to put his whole self into Williston Park.
“I’m at the village hall just about every day,” he said. “I encourage people to come in and see me. I give out my cell number. I try to be as accessible as possible.”
Ehrbar has been mayor since 2010 and was First Gentleman before that during his wife Doreen’s six-year mayoral term, which began in 2000.
“She was the best mayor the village ever had, in my mind,” Ehrbar said. He said he learned from her how to approach decisions that might upset some community members.
“You make sure you get all the facts you can, and then you make a decision and move forward,” he said. “You have to do what’s right for the village.”
Doreen is still heavily involved in the village, making the two a formidable couple in the community. Recently Doreen contributed to the village’s ecumenical prayer service, which marked the beginning of Williston Park’s centennial celebrations.
The two have lived in Williston Park for just over 50 years, moving in from Levittown in 1975. Ehrbar, originally from Great Neck, said he enjoys the sense of community and generational feel of the village.
“We still have a lot of mom-and-pop stores. People are walking to stores, shopping locally,” he said. “There are families who have been here since the ‘30s. The grandparents moved in, the kids moved in, and their kids are now moving in. It’s a great, quaint community.”
The Ehrbars’ involvement in the village extends far beyond the office of mayor. Doreen was a village trustee before being appointed mayor after Joe Connolly stepped down mid-term. She then won an election to serve a full term as mayor. Paul served as a trustee on the Herricks Board of Education in the 1990s and again in 2009, overlapping briefly with his first term as mayor.
He said that in 1996, he and the rest of the school board helped expand the Herricks Community Fund. The fund was established to raise and maintain funds for community and school district events and programs. Ehrbar still serves as the co-president.
“We have our annual carnival, which brings a good part of our revenue. We use that to support the community and different programs in the schools,” he said. “We also run the county nutrition program through the Department of Aging.”
The fund supports numerous programs, including the Herricks Players, Scouts, Youth Council, and a scholarship fund, according to its page on the Herricks School District website.
“I thought being involved in the community was beneficial,” he said. “We think it’s good to give back to the community and make the village what it is.”
Ehrbar said his involvement in the village might have been embarrassing to his three children at some point, but it was worth it to contribute to the community as a parent. Paul and Doreen raised three children, Nicole, Jude and Paul, and now have three grandchildren, Darby, Tatum and Blake.
Ehrbar spent 32 years working as a Nassau County probation supervisor. He has also spent time coaching soccer and baseball, as well as serving as chairperson of Scouting America’s (formerly Boy Scouts of America) Troop 201.
In his role as mayor, he says he focuses on accessibility and making the village work as smoothly as possible.
“Customer service is our primary goal,” he said. “It’s a happy community and a good community. We want to keep it that way. It all stems from the employees who have daily contact with the residents.”
