Hastings Democratic Committee
VOTE DEMOCRATIC
Mayor Nicola Armacost
Niki has served as Mayor since 2019 and before that as Village Trustee for nine years. She has lived in Hastings since 2002 with her husband, Tim, and sons Zak and Cole, who each attended the Hastings schools.
Both as Mayor and Trustee, her focus has been on village finances. She led efforts to keep taxes low, increase revenue through grants, build a solid reserve fund and improve financial transparency. She has championed responsible investments in our village infrastructure, from accelerating road and sidewalk repairs, to creating an earmarked reserve fund for our parks. She has also been a champion of sustainability, promoting energy efficiency and stewardship of our natural resources. Under her tenure Hastings-on-Hudson adopted the New York Stretch Energy Code, expanded access to energy efficiency through Open C-PACE financing, passed a Low-Embodied Carbon Concrete Resolution, invested in EVs, alternative fuel infrastructure and resiliency planning, promoted “buy local” initiatives and dedicated more than 85% of municipal-owned open space as parkland. Under Niki’s leadership, Hastings-on-Hudson is currently the highest-ranking Climate Smart Community (CSC) in New York State.
Niki is a member of the Executive Committee and the Treasurer of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association (WMOA), where she Co-Chairs the Sustainability and Housing Sub-Committees. She is also a member of the Environment, Energy and Technology and the Women’s Advisory Committee of the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM).
Niki has been active in the Hastings community, working with the Cub and Boy Scouts, the Take Me to the River music festival, the Hastings Education Foundation and the Hasting Co-op Nursery School.
Niki is Founder and Managing Director of Arc Finance, Ltd., a not-for-profit organization that finances clean energy and water in the developing world. She is also an advisor to a number of solar companies and microfinance organizations that work in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
She holds a BA from the University of Toronto (Canada), an LLB from Queen’s College Law School (Canada) and an LLM from Osgood Hall Law School (Canada).
Trustee Tom Drake
Tom has served as a Village Trustee for the past two years. He is a true son of Hastings: he was born in St. John’s Hospital; grew up in Hastings; and married Hastings native Julia DiSalvo. They now live in Tom’s childhood home with their three children: Joseph, Grace and Timothy.
Tom is currently working as an emergency management consultant for school districts after twenty-three years in law enforcement. Tom retired from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office where he was tasked with investigating public corruption, organized crime, economic crimes, and dignitary protection. Other assignments included SWAT and performing as a member of the NYPD Band (playing saxophone). In addition, Tom is a seasoned instructor who has taught everything from cultural awareness and basic recruit training to officer survival and firearms. Tom also served his country honorably in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman.
Tom has enjoyed working with his fellow Trustees, the Mayor, and other village employees on a wide array of issues affecting the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson. Tom most recently volunteered to be a Trustee Liaison to the Comprehensive Plan/Local Waterfront Revitalization Program. Over the past two years, Tom has worked on important issues including environmental protection and advocacy, improving Village infrastructure, and repairing and improving the Chemka Pool and its surrounding area following Hurricane Ida.
Tom’s background includes a long history of volunteerism. He has been a member of the Riverview Manor Fire Company for more than 25 years, and has served as Captain of both that engine company and the Hastings Ambulance Corps. Tom is a Past Commander of the Admiral Farragut American Legion Post 1195 and is a member of the Hastings Little League Board.
Tom holds a BS from Excelsior College and an MPA from Pennsylvania State University.
Trustee Morgen Fleisig
Morgen grew up in upstate New York and moved to Hastings with his wife, Margie, in 2014. Morgen has practiced architecture for nearly 30 years, designing homes, office towers, hospitals and museums. He enjoys collaborating with experts and craftsmen from all fields, and recently completed an ambitious project with a large multidisciplinary team at WarnerMedia’s headquarters as part of the extensive Hudson Yards revitalization project.
Morgen earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College, and master’s degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and New York University.
Morgen is passionate about the waterfront and its potential. He served on the Waterfront Rezoning Committee and helped craft the plan to achieve village consensus in this on-going effort.
Morgen approaches each issue with the core principle that we should leave it better than we found it, whether it be ensuring the new Ravensdale Bridge will be a fitting village gateway, finding ways to maintain our village character and manage traffic while still supporting growth, or making certain the Police and Fire Departments and all our other government services have the tools and support they need to succeed.
Trustee Mary Lambert
Mary was born and raised in New York City. She and her husband Nils moved to Hastings in 2004, when their eldest daughter was one. She and Nils, and their three daughters, have called Hastings their home for sixteen years.
Mary has worked for over 20 years in technology and media, specializing in marketing, business development, and general administration. She has been the Executive Director of the Weeden Family Foundation, specializing in biodiversity preservation, and has held senior management roles at Google, Opera Software, Lucent Technologies, and at Volta Charging, the country’s most utilized electric vehicle (EV) charging network. Currently she has her own marketing consulting business, Closed Loop Consultants.
Mary has been active in the community for many years, serving on the Hastings Conservation Commission and the Hastings PTSA. She was a co-founder of the Hastings Girls on the Run program.
Mary was appointed to the Board in January of 2020 and has focused much of her time on sustainability issues. She is passionate about protecting the remarkable parks and open spaces of Hastings; to preserving its unique character; building a strong, safe, and resilient downtown; and to helping Hastings mitigate and adapt to climate change. She served as the Chair of the Climate Smart Communities Task Force, which has completed projects such as a Village Natural Resources Inventory, a Climate Vulnerability Assessment, and a Heat Emergency Plan, which have allowed the Village to obtain silver status as part of the Climate Smart Communities program.
She holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
Trustee Georgia Lopez
Georgia and her husband, Joe, married in Hastings in 2003 and fell in love with the village. They officially moved to Hastings in 2008 along with their son, and welcomed a daughter in 2011. Georgia works in the e-commerce technology space helping startups achieve growth.
In 2016, Georgia started Hastings RISE with a small group of residents to open up conversations around race and social equity in the community. This led to her appointment to the board of trustees in 2017; she was elected to the board in 2018. Georgia has dedicated herself to improving the quality of life for Hastings residents. She is addressing complex traffic and pedestrian issues in the village by supporting the Downtown Working Group; the PTSA traffic safety committee, which was formed to make the school zone safer; the Ravensdale Avenue bridge project; the Route 9 project; and is dedicated to executing the recommendations of the former Transportation Working Group.
Additionally, Georgia is the board liaison with the Downtown Advocate, creating events that are talked about across Westchester. She also works closely with our Police Department and the Graham School to ensure that all residents of our village are heard.
Village Justice Peter Kolbert
Peter has served as the Associate Village Justice since 2020 and as Village Justice since July of 2023, following the passing of Judge Joseph DiSalvo. Peter and his wife Veronica have lived in Hastings since 1992, raising three sons here, who all graduated from our public schools. Peter has been actively involved in village life, having volunteered for the Hastings Coop Nursery school, the Hastings Education Foundation, and as ethics officer for the Village.
Peter practiced law initially in public service as an Assistant Corporation Counsel representing The City of New York as well as many New York City entities, divisions, and departments. In private practice for more than twenty years Peter represented some of New York’s premier hospitals, hospital systems, and medical professionals. For the last 14 years, as Senior Vice President of Healthcare Risk Advisors, Peter has worked with many New York hospital systems advising them on Insurance, Risk and Litigation Management issues.
As an attorney Peter has appeared in Village, State and Federal court, trying more than two hundred cases involving numerous areas of the law. Peter has extensive experience in Civil, Criminal, Landlord-Tenant, Municipal as well as Insurance Law.
Judge Kolbert is devoted to using the law as a tool to ensure that all individuals are treated fairly, ethically, and in accordance with the law. To accomplish this goal, he steadfastly believes our court must work to ensure that it possesses a thoughtful and complete understanding of the facts in dispute in each matter. Moreover, Judge Kolbert is committed to treating all adolescents who appear in Village court with sensitivity to promote the proper outcome.
Judge Kolbert fundamentally recognizes that our Village court must reflect our values as a community, should be well run and be accessible to all.
Peter is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts & Brooklyn Law School, and is admitted to practice before the New York Bar.