WPCNR MILESTONES. By John F. Bailey. December 13, 2009 UPDATED Midnight December 14, 2009: Paul Wood, the city’s Executive Officer died Saturday evening at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey where he was being treated from complications related to a long illness. Mayor Joseph Delfino, in a statement released Sunday evening, said, “I can never thank him enough for the contribution he made to the Renaissance of the City of White Plains. He will be sorely missed.”
Paul Wood, City Executive Officer, December 2006.
1959-2009
Mr. Wood, in a familiar pose at Common Council Meeting, December 2008
Wood, 50, worked for the city from 1999 up to his death, starting as an assistant to George Gretsas, the previous Executive Officer in the Delfino Administration. Mr. Wood began his career with the city as a press spokesperson handling media inquiries then moving more deeply into city policy making with Mr. Gretsas. When Gretsas left to take a position as City Manager with Fort Lauderdale in 2004, Wood was appointed Executive Officer by Mayor Joseph Delfino, replacing Gretsas in July 2004 and since that time Wood has been the man behind the scenes, managing the day-to-day decision-making at city hall with the Mayor since the Gretsas departure.
Mr. Wood with Melissa Lopez, (left) City Director of Economic Development, Coordinator of Public Information, and Yajaira Suarez, Graphics Technician, at his 50th birthday party, February, 2009. Photo, Courtesy, the Mayor’s Office.
Wood began his career as a reporter in New Jersey where he covered Mr. Gretsas when Gretsas ran for the school board in a local community (believed to be Park Ridge) and won at the age of 21. Gretsas brought Wood to White Plains when the Mayor appointed Gretsas Executive Officer when Mayor Delfino defeated Bill Brown in 1997 to win Delfino’s first term as Mayor in White Plains. Wood was responsible for the upgrading of city publications and public relations positioning of the city as Westchester’s “Renaissance City” when the City Center and the Ritz-Carlton were brought to White Plains in 2003 and 2006.
Mr. Wood, left, with John Ioris of the White Plains Performing Arts Center Foundation and Susan Garofalo, of the Mayor’s Office, celebrating Mr. Wood’s 50th birthday ten months ago. Photo, Courtesy, The Mayor’s Office.
In obituary information released Sunday evening by Melissa Lopez of the Mayor’s Office, Mr. Wood is described as the implementor of Mayor Delfino’s Smart Growth Program, which is credited with lowering the city’s building vacancy rate, from 34% to 10% and helping to orchestrate the nuts and bolts of the development of Cappeli Enterprises City Center and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel complex.
This reporter can tell you he worked extremely hard, late into the evenings and articulated city positions on controversial matters very cleverly and delivered statements known for their bluntness in dealing with Common Council opposition to Mayor Delfino’s policies. He delighted in exposing Common Council public reversals of previously agreed-upon positions with the Mayor without mercy, and extreme irony. He rarely took any vacations of excessive length.
This reporter often enjoyed Mr. Wood’s sense of humor about the adversarial relationship between the press and himself. He had the ability to laugh at himself, be mad as hell at you one moment then laugh at your joke the next. He could take a ribbing, and was not as sensitive as typical press officers have a tendency to be. He never took things personally and was the consummate aide-de-camp to Mr. Gretsas and the Mayor. You could not have a more loyal or dedicated and trusty sidekick than Paul Wood.
Most recently Mr. Wood negotiated the contracts for the police and fire unions which the Common Council rejected, only to have upheld just last week by the binding arbitration arbitrator, Alan Vianti. Wood had predicted that the aribitration procedure would award the very amount the common council had rejected last December (2008,3.75% and 4%), which is exactly what happened.
Mr. Wood was the son of Owen and Kathleen Wood of New Bedford, Massachusetts, born February 13, 1959. Mr. Wood graduated from The New School, and worked as a reporter for Community Life newspaper in Westwood, New Jersey, before becoming politically active.
In 1994, he was press secretary for Edward Hyne in his bid for Bergen County, New Jersey County Executive. He joined the City of White Plains in 1999 as Director of Economic Development and was appointed acting Executive Officer in 2004.
This reporter remembers Mr. Wood talking about his coaching his sons in basketball as late as last summer and how enthusiastic he was in talking about the experience to me. He was very active in Allendale’s Department of Recreation, volunteering as a basketball coach.
He is survived by his wife, the former Valerie Pannullo of Allendale, N.J., and his four sons, Ryan, 28 of Plymouth, Massachussetts, and Jerry, Michael and Matthew of Allendale, New Jersey. Mr. Wood’s brother, Peter Wood resides in Florida. Ryan Wood was at his father’s bedside when he passed away, and is beloved by his three younger brothers, according to a family friend.
White Plains Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti, described Mr. Wood, as running the day-to-day operations of the city since 2005. He said Wood was “always very level-headed. Any time emergencies or crises came up he was always calm and very analytical in approaching the problem. He was a gentleman to work with, and I enjoyed working on problems with him.”
The family asks, to please send tributes, memories and condolences to www.VanEmburghSneider.com.
