County Legislator William J. Lindsay was first elected in a special election on March 27, 2001 to fill the unexpired term of Steve Levy, who was elected to the New York State Assembly. An incredibly popular Legislator, Lindsay is known for providing unparalleled constituent service and getting the job done for his district. Since his special election win, he has been re-elected to the Legislature four times with wide margins.

Legislator Lindsay also quickly earned the respect of his peers in the Legislature. First elected by the body to serve as Presiding Officer in 2006, he was re-elected in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and began his fifth term in the position in January of 2010. Lindsay is only the second Legislator in Suffolk County history to be elected to a fifth term as Presiding Officer.

Presiding Officer Lindsay has a long list of legislative accomplishments on a wide range of fronts, including:

• Gaining approval of important public works projects in his district and around the County that insured the safety of our citizens.
  
  
• Supporting public health initiatives that included making it illegal for youths under 19 to buy tobacco products, funding the placement of automatic external defibrillators all across Suffolk County, supporting the addition of two Medevac helicopters and creating Joe’s Project to help families cope with the impact of suicide.
  
  
• Preserved critical open space in his district, and supported numerous initiatives to combat the pollution of our precious waters. His environmental record earned him a 100% rating from the New York League of Conservation Voters.

• Backed critical public safety initiatives including the hiring of County Police officers to replace retiring officers, various efforts to combat the heroin epidemic in Suffolk, and red light camera legislation to increase the safety of our dangerous roadways.

But in the current desperate economic times, Presiding Officer Lindsay is most proud of his central role in holding the line on general fund property taxes for five straight years. Additionally, Presiding Officer Lindsay was the key player in hammering out concessions from the County’s unions that saved the County more than $30 million in 2009 as the County struggled to close a $60 million budget shortfall. In these difficult fiscal times, his focus has been on cutting costs, trimming staff and not increasing the property tax burden County residents struggle to overcome each day.

Before being elected to public office, Legislator Lindsay was a respected leader in the labor community on Long Island. Lindsay graduated from the IBEW Local #25 state-certified Electrical Apprenticeship Program in 1967 and became a construction electrician. In 1977, he graduated from Cornell University’s Labor-Liberal Arts Program and in 1981 Bill earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the State University of New York. He followed that with a Master’s Degree in Labor Relations from New York Institute of Technology in 1984. Bill became a full-time business representative for Local #25 in 1978 and the Business Manager in 1992. He served in that position for 10 years. Bill retired from the IBEW after 40 years of service.

Bill is a native Long Islander. His family has lived on Long Island for three generations and he has lived in Holbrook with his wife, Pat for 34 years. They have three grown children, Bill Jr., Denise and Kathleen. Bill has four grandchildren; Denise’s twins, Gabriel and Daniel and Bill Jr.’s daughter, Isabella, and the newest addition, Christopher William Lindsay, born in January of 2009.