You're Fired!

To the editor:

In his report, entitled The Current Budget Problem (GC News 4/3/09), Trustee Nicholas Episcopia attempted to explain why the Board of Trustees failed to hold the line on tax increases. Although it was unintentional, he did a good job of conveying the problem facing our Village's fiscal mess: the Trustees are incapable of fulfilling their responsibility.

One needs to read no further than the third paragraph, where Mr. Episcopia writes that management can't simply cut costs. The Village is not a private sector business, as he points out. But it is a business. Millions of dollars are collected from the residents to provide them with services. Employees and outside contractors are hired and contracts are negotiated. Unfortunately, our Trustees have been far too generous in paying our out-of-town workers in the past, and are unwilling to renegotiate those terms during the economic downturn just as we all have had to do in our own businesses and personal lives. Mr. Episcopia says the Trustees can't deal with the unions and were blindsided by the downturn in the economy and in our housing market. Where have they been for the past year? By his own admission, the Board has been ineffective.

The Episcopia report is misleading. He says that the Trustees considered suggestions by the Citizens Budget Review Committee (CBRC) and other residents. But former Trustee Lamberti and the head of the CBRC say the exact opposite. The facts that are missing from his report are quite telling. Why didn't the Board institute a series of simple revenue raising actions, such as fees for the hundreds of parking spaces set aside for Adelphi University and weekend parking at Village-owned lots at LIRR stations? Why didn't they try to re-open employment contracts, as is happening everywhere? Why haven't they reduced staff by even one person? None of this is addressed in the Episcopia report.

In business and politics, a manager who fails to perform, blames the environment for his failures, and tries to hide critical information usually is fired. Unfortunately, in our Community Agreement, the Trustees and Mayor are not elected by the residents and cannot be removed from office by the taxpayers. Residents have been pushed too far. The Trustees do not represent us. The Episcopia report is an outrage. The Community Agreement violates NY State election laws and the US Constitution. We must establish a representative Village government. Please write to Attorney General Cuomo and ask him to investigate.

Joseph Hordon

Oops!

To the Editor:

Re. your lead story in the April 10 edition, "New Mayor Takes Helm To Navigate 'Unchartered Waters.'" Geez, I'd always thought the phrase was "uncharted waters." Being in waters that haven't been charted would be bad enough, but if those waters are "unchartered," I guess we're in even deeper trouble.

Ed Lansdale

Editor's Note: Ouch - it looks like we were really "at sea" with that one!

Deed Scam

To the Editor:

As the Nassau County Clerk, I am writing to caution local homeowners about mass mailings being sent urging them to purchase a "certified copy" of the deed to their home.

Homeowners should be aware that these mailings are solicitations from private companies offering to obtain a deed on the homeowner's behalf. For their service, these private companies are charging more than 1000% over Clerk's office fees. Also, residents should know that only the County Clerk's office can issue certified copies of deeds.

Please know that it is never necessary to utilize one of these companies to obtain a copy of your deed. Certified copies of deeds can always be obtained from the Clerk's office for a nominal charge. Anyone wishing to request a certified copy of the deed to their home can contact my office at 516-571-2664 for further information.

Maureen O'Connell, RN, JD

Nassau County Clerk

Trustees Off Track

To the Editor:

Many Garden City villagers, including me, thought that, after a decade and a half of fidaddling with the St. Paul's matter, our Trustees realized that they had been off track from the sentiments of the broad population. Two definitive polls, taken years apart, clarioned that message, loud and clear. We thought that there was a embarrassed realization that, all this time, they had been marching to their own music, ignoring the clear and frequent inputs of concerned citizens, and the inescapable message of failure to manage a well defined and serious problem after all those years.

Now, I'm not so sure that intuition is right.

Recently, one of our new Trustees proudly confided to the public that he is a "Preservationist." Now, if what that means is that he has an attic full of old report cards and soccer trophies, and a garage full of abandoned Schwinn balloon tired bikes, that, I'm sure, is OK with us. Unfortunately, I think he intends to apply this personal predilection, this cast of mind, if you will, to this desperately tired and tortured aforementioned controversy. He will, I guess, somehow convince us that our convictions and the lessons of these many years are wrong. That he could reach such a conclusion based on his feelings, rather than the abundant available facts, is troubling.

The new Board of Trustees' resistance to expense control inputs from Tom Lamberti and Roy Ryniker, is very puzzling. They are highly qualified professionals who have long careers working on such matters. (Paid consultants of this caliber would cost a fortune.) It is pretty clear to most of us that the free wheeling history of managing village finances will not work in the future. Any category of village expense that exceeds the CPI will have to be challenged. There is little we can do to avoid Federal, State and County tax increases, and they are on the way.

Frank Kiernan