{"id":123598,"date":"2025-01-03T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com\/?p=123598"},"modified":"2025-02-06T12:46:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T17:46:43","slug":"people-of-the-year-mike-zaleski-and-riverhead-highway-department-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com\/2025\/01\/123598\/people-of-the-year-mike-zaleski-and-riverhead-highway-department-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Public Servants of the Year: Mike Zaleski and the Riverhead Highway Department"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Town Councilman Ken Rothwell heard that Riverhead Highway Department<\/a> Superintendent Mike Zaleski and his staff are being honored with Riverhead News-Review\u2019s Person\/People of the year award for 2024, he was thrilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe’s one of the hardest working elected officials on the East End of Long Island. He genuinely cares about his town, loves where he works and lives, and he wholeheartedly deserves this recognition,” he said. “But I know that Mike would not accept this alone. He would tell you that it belongs to all the employees that work with him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said the town’s highway department is exemplary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey really bust their chops out there,\u201d he said of the staff. \u201cI give those guys a lot of credit. They are out there in all conditions and everything else. And Mike does a lot with the few people he\u2019s got.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Hubbard said the highway department is constantly assisting other departments. \u201cIt\u2019s very refreshing to see \u2014 whether it\u2019s loaning equipment to another department or just going out and doing work for them that would make it a lot easier than if they tried to do it themselves with their own equipment,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trisha Yakaboski, Mr. Zaleski\u2019s friend and campaign treasurer, said his love for Riverhead is evident in everything he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe treats every street in this town like it’s the road that he or his parents live on,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen he goes running, he picks up trash. He’ll move branches out of the street.\u201d           <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The son of a Riverhead cop, Mr. Zaleski has been working for the highway department for 30 years \u2014 the last three of them, he’s been the superintendent. With a team of 40, it\u2019s second only to the police department in size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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