Schopfer To Retire As Irvington’s Village Administrator

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Larry Schopfer in his Irvington Village Hall office--at least until October 2025

December 26, 2024

By Barrett Seaman–

The year 2025 will be the last for Larry Schopfer as a public servant. After 17 years as Village Administrator in Irvington, following more than a decade as the village’s clerk/treasurer—plus years working in the Comptroller’s office for the Town of Harrison, Schopfer will have accumulated 37-1/2 years of public service–enough to qualify him for a pension equal to 75% of his VA’s salary. At 57, he should have a lot of years to enjoy a life of comfort and a sense of satisfaction of a job well done.

Current (and former) mayor Jon Siegel praised him as “a consummate professional,” describing him as “smart, organized, patient and [someone who] cares deeply about his job.”

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Siegel’s predecessor, Brian Smith, called him “the glue holding the Village of Irvington government together. Without a partner like Larry, there’s no way I could have been mayor for twelve-plus years.”

Larry came a long way to Irvington—literally. He and his family live in Sherman, Connecticut, an hour’s commute each way without traffic, which was usually the case between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m., when he and his wife, Bernadette, a CPA with a White Plains law firm, cherished the time they had alone together in the car.

In Village Hall and around Irvington, Schopfer earned a reputation as even-handed, low key and above all, competent. He shepherded through a number of large projects that have helped define Irvington: Scenic Hudson Park, the transformation of the Burnham Building from a factory to a public library and affordable housing complex, and a series of not-very-sexy but critical flood control infrastructure projects that required seven-figure grants from the state.

“I like to be in a supporting role,” Schopfer told The Hudson Independent. “I am not political; I never got involved in that.” Happy to be in the background, he observed that “some people like to stand in front of parks or libraries and have [ribbon-cutting] ceremonies. There’s a place for that, but for me, taking a problem and breaking it down into its major components and then executing on it …are the things I look back on fondly.”

According to his bosses, he has done that well. Said Mayor Siegel: “The volume and complexity of the work done by the Village Administrator is astounding.”

Not all of Schopfer’s memories are fond. In 2005, in one of the village’s rare contested elections, the race between six-term incumbent Mayor Dennis Flood and challenger Erin Malloy came down to a dead tie, with at least one contested absentee ballot that would have tipped the vote in favor of Malloy but was rejected by the courts. Schopfer at the time was the village’s clerk and as such responsible for counting and certifying the vote. Under advice from then-village attorney Kevin Plunkett, the Board of Trustees opted to break the tie using a coin toss, resulting in a win for Flood.

As the person responsible for tabulating the vote, Schopfer was under the spotlight, including stories in the New York Times. “Larry had to be neutral and professional—and he was,” recalls Plunkett. “It was a testament to his professionalism but also his personality.”

“I followed the direction of the attorney (Plunkett),” Schopfer recalls. “I did what I thought was right [which is] what I’ve been doing my whole career.” Then he added with a wry smile: “That was the last time I updated my resume.”

The other tough time was not job-related but deeply personal. Early in his Irvington career, Schopfer got a call that his wife, who was eight months pregnant, along with their second son were in a serious automobile accident that badly injured his son and hastened the delivery of their third son that very afternoon. The second son’s recovery was extensive, and he still copes with some neurological issues. Now 25, and graduated from college, he is engaged to be married next August.

Schopfer’s tenure in the VA job has not been without some disappointments. Despite concerted efforts and various public committees assigned to tackle the matter, Irvington has to date failed to find a way to upgrade or relocate the firehouse or relocate the Public Works facility, currently occupying what would otherwise be a prime piece of real estate along South Astor Street. The last attempt to win approval for an $18.5 million bond issue that would have paid for an elaborate reshuffling of police, fire and administrative office space was decisively rejected by voters.

The Burnham Building reconfiguration notwithstanding, Schopfer feels more could have been—and should be—done to provide affordable housing in the village—particularly along the North Broadway corridor that was purposely rezoned to accommodate mixed use, including apartments for low-income tenants.

On the other hand, he holds out hope that, with state funding, the stretch of property along Astor Street across from the Metro North station will some day be reimagined to include what is referred to as “transit-oriented housing.”

In anticipation of retirement, the Schopfers have bought a house in coastal North Carolina, where they will spend more time after their youngest son graduates from high school in Connecticut. It will also be after next October, as he has agreed with the Board to give them that much time to find his replacement, which will likely be a challenge if Irvington is to find someone of Larry Schopfer’s caliber.

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