Julie Reyes takes reins at Community Board 8

There is new leadership at the top of Community Board 8, and it’s coming from Julie Reyes.

The Realtor and longtime board member moves into the top spot, replacing Laura Spalter, who was termed out after three years. The move was made official during last week’s full board meeting held at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.

The vote was unanimous.

“It will be an honor to follow in your footsteps,” Reyes told Spalter. “And you know I’ll be looking for guidance, of course.”

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz thanked Spalter for her time as chair — years that weren’t particularly easy, considering there was a pandemic going on for most of it. He also thanks Spalter for  25 years of board service. Councilman Eric Dinowitz, the state lawmaker’s son and himself a former board member, also shared his gratitude for Spalter, having first met her when he was a “little kid” and not old enough to be on the community board.

Spalter, who once ran for the school board when it was an elected position, has been on the board since 1994. She took over as vice chair in 2018 after Paul Ellis stepped down under then-chair Rosemary Ginty.

The position is typically a launching point for someone who is in line to take over as board chair, but Spalter wasn’t just handed the keys. In the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic, another prolific board member — Sergio Villaverde — threw his hat into the ring, seeking to lead the board instead.

She had to campaign for the position through videoconferencing, when the most extreme lockdown conditions were just starting to be lifted across the city.

“I’m very problem-solving oriented,” Spalter said at the time. “I live for that. If I can help a (committee) chair in that capacity because of my own experience, my years of experience, I’ll jump to do that.”

But Villaverde, who at the time was chair of the board’s economic development committee, told those looking to put together a nominating slate he was more interested in focusing on the future than the past.

“My philosophy in leadership from my experience as a military leader and as a business leader … is that being a leader is being a servant,” Villaverde said at the time. “I try to never make it ‘The Sergio Show.’”

Villaverde retired from the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve after 32 years, finishing his tenure as a commander. He’s now a family law attorney based in Kingsbridge Heights.

It was the first time since 2014 board members had a chance to choose between more than one candidate for chair. This time around, however, Reyes had no challengers. And Villaverde was not a challenger, but instead voted in as part of the leadership as vice chair.

“Until I became chair, I had no idea the number of constituent problems this board deals with daily and solves,” Spalter told the board in her farewell remarks as leader.

“I’m overwhelmed with how well, how much we do. I look forward to assisting the new leadership with a smooth transition anywhere I can, and I’m just delighted to be part of this board and to continue to be a part of this board.”

Margaret Della was voted in as secretary, while Scott Krompinger became the treasurer.

Reyes will have her work cut out for her from the very beginning. A number of committees — aging, environment and sanitation, and housing — lack chairs, and it will take some work to fill them. One other committee — health, hospitals and social services — was initially left vacant, but Robert Kaplan was nominated for the spot by Omar Murray, and then unanimously approved by the board.

As far as the other committees are concerned, chairs for the coming year are:

• David Gellman for the budget committee
• Nicholas Fazio for the economic development committee
• Sylvia Alexander for the education, libraries and cultural affairs committee
• Charles Moerdler for the land use committee
• Martin Wolpoff for the laws, rules and ethics committee
• Debra Travis for the parks and recreation committee
• Edward Green for the public safety committee
• Kelly Buford for the traffic and transportation committee
• Julia Gomez for the youth committee
• Bob Bender for the Special Committee on Hudson River Greenway
• Margaret Della on Special Committee on Racial Equity
• Sergio Villaverde for the Special Committee on Veterans Services

Other board members include Constance Barnes-Watson, Christopher Calhoun, Lee Chong, Sebastian Chittilappilly, Ingrid DeLeon, Margaret Donato, Moses Esema, Robert Fanuzzi, Steve Froot, Rosemary Ginty, Rhashida Hilliard, Robert Jacklosky, Rita Pochter Lowe, Theodore Morris, Omar Murray, Georgia Santiago, Ramdat Singh, Laura Spalter, and Leona Teten,

For positions that are still vacant, the board plans to put together another election in September.

Reyes, a popular real estate professional, was part of the committee that helped select Farrah Kule Rubin as the new CB8 district manager this past spring.