Newly Re-Elected Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck Talks Glen Cove Projects, How She Fell Into Politics

GLEN COVE, NY – Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck won the City of Glen Cove mayoral race during elections on Nov. 4, and she said there is much on her agenda to help improve the city.

The win represents Panzenbeck’s sixth win out of nine races; she is serving her third term.

“No matter how many times you run for office, it’s very stressful, but the thrill of winning is wonderful,” she said. “It feels exhilarating.”

The incumbent Panzenbeck was re-elected in the mayoral race. Republican candidate Panzebeck garnered 3,846 votes or 56.24 percent, compared to 2,961 votes or 43.44 percent garnered by challenger and Democratic candidate Marsha F. Silverman.

Panzenbeck may currently be serving as Mayor of the City of Glen Cove, but she didn’t start her career in politics. She was a high school teacher in Levittown for more than three decades, teaching business, computer education, and more.

“I didn’t plan to be a teacher; I planned to be an accountant,” she said. “I did student teaching and was asked to stay. I said, ‘I’ll stay for a year,’ and then I stayed for 34 years.”

After she retired from teaching, she ran for council and served three terms as a councilwoman. Then, she lost, and people kept telling her that Glen Cove needed a mayoral candidate, Panzenbeck said.

She kept turning them down, saying, “No, no, not me," she said.

At the last minute, she said her team encouraged her — the deputy mayor asked, "Why don’t you try it?" Her husband told her, "Go for it," she said.

“So I ran for mayor and I won,” she said.

Panzenbeck said Glen Cove has always been her home — first settled there in the mid-1850s.

“I’ve lived here my entire life,” she said. “I think it's fabulous. I love improving it and showing off my improvements and making it an even better place to live than it is already.”

Panzenbeck said she appreciates so much about Glen Cove and can’t imagine living elsewhere.

The people are what help make Glen Cove special, she said, including their compassion for others with food drives, donations, and more.

“I’ve never lived anywhere but Glen Cove,” she said. “I raised my children here. There’s no place as nice as Glen Cove. Glen Covers are very generous, caring people, and very community-minded.”

When she first took office as mayor in 2022, she said she made it her team’s mission to “make Glen Cove beautiful again.”

She said she ideally wants to refurbish as much as possible, including “every one of our parks, recreational facilities, our beaches.”

As of right now, they are working on a few projects to better Glen Cove for the community.

“We’re doing a lot of work on our golf course,” she said. “And our water infrastructure is antiquated, and we have major plans for each and every one of our water facilities and our parking garages. I'm working very hard to find a home for the senior center and a recreational facility, so that will be the focus of my next two years. Sometimes infrastructure isn’t pretty, but it is so necessary.”

The mayor said that although she can’t do a lot about rents, she wants to help business owners as much as possible.

“We are here to support any new business that's looking to open— if they come in and see us, we will help them,” she said.

Regarding the community’s concern for Long Island’s water quality, she said her team has been on top of the issue.

“I have a wonderful water supervisor, and I'm going to say we've been ahead of all of those issues,” she said. “We were involved in the PFAs issue, and we've been ahead of the game. So as they keep changing the criteria for what's an acceptable level of PFAs, we've tried to stay ahead of that, and up to now, we actually have, so it's anticipating what's coming next. Our water wells are all getting major upgrades. Every one of our water systems is getting an upgrade.”

Panzenbeck said her favorite part about being mayor is simple: “I am a people person.”

She continued by saying she is proud to be part of her Glen Cove community.

“I love to be out with people and meet new people,” she said. “All the wonderful new people of all ages that I meet, from the school children up to the senior citizens. It energizes me being out in public.”

Panzenbeck is currently serving with Deputy Mayor Donna M. McNaughton on her team. She said that McNaughton is well-respected and comes from a fire department family, including her husband.

She and McNaughton are a team, she said — and during elections, she would tell people, “A vote for Pam is a vote for Donna.”

She added that her team helped support her along the way, and she appreciates her Republican Party for their support.

“We have the message right,” she said. “People do not, do not want taxes increased, and people want to see improvements in their community. They want to see improvements for people of all ages, and that's what I think we worked hard on. Everybody, as an entire big team, worked for us to achieve success.”