Barbara Peebles is always working on something.
Whether she is in her full-time role as clerk/treasurer for the Village of Plandome or one of the several Glen Cove boards and committees she is on, the odds are Peebles is doing something for her community.
With a background in corporate America, Peebles said she found her passion in public service when she became deputy mayor for the City of Glen Cove.
Peebles grew up in Muttontown, L.I., with her nine other siblings who all attended Catholic schools growing up.
“I’m 100% proud of the fact that I’m very faith-based in everything I do,” Peebles said.
Peebles said she and her family are members of St. Patrick’s parish in Glen Cove.
After she graduated from high school, Peebles attended Providence College, a Catholic university, where she studied business.
She would go on to spend over 20 years working for American Express, a company for which she had many kind words.
Peebles began in the company’s travel division and was an avid traveler across her many roles.
“I’ve probably been to Europe 25 times,” she said. “I was there when the Berlin Wall came down.” Peebles also said she has traveled to Brazil, Australia, Japan, but Scotland may be her favorite destination.
“No matter what, we were traveling for business.”
Peebles said she loved the corporate life. “I always worked my butt off, and I always tried to do the best,” Peebles said. “I didn’t act just like a corporate soldier.”
On 9/11, 11 employees who previously worked under Peebles in the travel division were killed during the attacks.
Peebles said she had previously worked at the World Financial Center but was on Wall Street that day.
The company was hit hard after 9/11, and Peebles said she was laid off for a year with compensation while American Express rearranged its departments.
With this extra time on her hands, she got to work on paperwork for a significant life step. “My husband and I adopted the most precious baby on the planet,” Peebles said.
“I was able to do all the paperwork, all the emotional soul searching to finally complete the miracle of this adoption.”
Peebles said she became very involved with fundraising for All Saints Regional Catholic School in Glen Cove, which her daughter attended.
It was through fundraising for the school that she met Reggie Spinello, who donated money to All Saints.
The two met over coffee and Spinello asked her to be his deputy mayor if he won his race for mayor of Glen Cove.
Peebles accepted and joined Spinello’s administration when he was elected mayor in 2013.
She said her time as deputy mayor was the best work experience she has had in her career. “Once you’re doing public service, for me I could never go back to corporate,” Peebles said.
Peebles said it’s corny, but, “There’s something so meaningful in doing things for your community vs. a shareholder.”
Her role as deputy mayor was very similar to what she did at American Express, overseeing and getting involved with every facet of the company. “I felt 100% comfortable because it was exactly what I was doing,” she said.
Peebles also served as the executive director of Glen Cove’s Industry Development Association while she was deputy mayor.
She said the biggest challenge she faced in Glen Cove was opposition from residents over development.
In 2017, Spinello lost re-election by one vote, and Peebles had to find another job. She said it was a bit of a surprise to her that “the most qualified people don’t always win” in politics.
In 2018, Peebles started her role as clerk/treasurer for the Village of Plandome. “I honestly thought, ‘I’m gonna be bored. I’m gonna be unchallenged,’” Peebles said.
But “little by little I realized that it’s still gonna be able to engage me,” she said.
Peebles said it was a significant change going from managing all the departments for a city of over 27,000 people to working for a village of fewer than 2,000 people.
Although the village was primarily residential, she said she found there were still many complexities that she was eager to learn about.
Plandome has a fire department, village court, and water department. “There’s so much to dig into,” Peebles said.
She said she is always looking for things to upgrade with strong support from the board of trustees. “The mayor we have right now is absolutely forward-thinking.”
And Peebles also said she is always looking for ways to save money. “I act like I live in Plandome because I don’t like to raise taxes.”
A major part of the job is applying for grants Peebles said. Grant funds mostly go toward the fire department, IT, beautification, and safety.
Right now, Peebles is working to upgrade all the village’s IT systems and automate different village tasks.
“Here I am eight years later, and there’s still always something new and different,” she said.
Peebles was not done with Glen Cove, however. She ran for city council as a Republican in 2021 and won by a single vote in a full circle moment.
Peebles said the Plandome Board of Trustees was fully supportive of her running and contributed to her campaign.
Business development was the primary focus of her campaign, Peebles said. “I prided myself on really trying to smooth the path for [investors] to make entry into Glen Cove easier.”
Peebles said she was very involved with the business community on Long Island. “I would proactively go to associations and meetings for businesses to tell them what’s going on in Glen Cove.”
In 2023, Peebles lost re-election, but she continues to serve on the zoning board, beautification commission and special events committee.
She also did not rule out running for office again.
But no matter what job Peebles is working, she said she plans to be committed to it.
“Whenever I do anything, I’m all in,” she said.
