Northport Mayor George Doll Won't Seek Re-election

After serving 12 years as Northport Village mayor, George Doll announced he will not be seeking re-election in March. Long Islander News photo/Janee Law

By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com

 Several Northport Village residents shared sentiments of gratitude during Tuesday evening’s trustee meeting in regards to longtime Mayor George Doll, who announced he will not seek re-election to the post.

Effie Huber said she was sorry to hear the news, and thanked Doll for his patience, hard work, and service to the community.

Doll has served as village mayor for 12 years, and was a trustee for a year before taking the reins.

He decided to step down in order to spend more time with his family, the 73-year-old said.

A Northport Village resident since 1954, Doll said he had nothing but good things to say about his time spent as mayor, calling himself part of a family with 7,000 members.

He’s most proud of the infrastructure projects the village has worked on, and the amount of grants the village was able to land over the years, Doll said.

And, he added, “the lack of controversy at meetings and in the village itself.”

The Northport Village community has been a mainstay in Doll’s life. He made a living out of Northport as an independent commercial fisherman, a craft he picked up when he was 12 years old. Along with spending more time with family, Doll said he’s also foregoing another stint as mayor so he can spend time focusing on his passion for fishing.

What he will miss most is being involved in all the village happenings, he said.

Doll added, “I never had any political aspirations or anything like that.

“I just wanted to do the right thing with common sense.”

Deputy Mayor Henry Tobin, who was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, is also not seeking re-election, according to Doll.

A pair of candidates for the soon-to-be open seats have emerged.

Current Trustee Damon McMullen said he plans to run for mayor. Meanwhile, Thomas Kehoe, a former trustee, said he plans to run for trustee.

McMullen, commissioner of police and wastewater treatment, has been a village trustee for 10 years, and said he sees the mayoral opportunity as a means to continue the work the village has done.

“We’ve done so many good things over the last 10-12 years: the village finances are doing well, we’ve got major sewer projects done, major grants, and I just want to make sure that we keep going that way,” McMullen said.

He added that trustees “still have some goals to reach. There’s a lot of things I still want to finish and we’ve just done really well so I want to keep what these guys have done going.”

As for Kehoe, he served two terms as trustee from 2006-2014. During that time, Kehoe said, he acted as police commissioner and initiated the Northport Business Development Committee.

Kehoe added that he then took time to focus on his business, K & B Seafood Inc., but opted to close it last October.

Now with more time on his hands, Kehoe said he’s eager to run again.

“I bring eight years of experience on the board, I’ve been in business for 40 years, so I understand budgeting and I understand management, and I’m good with people,” Kehoe said. “I think this group of trustees and the mayor have provided some stability and fiscal stability to the village — some of which I was involved with for eight years — and I’d like to help continue that.”

Village trustees also scheduled this year’s general election for March 20, with polls open 6 a.m.-9 p.m. at the 224 Main St. village hall.