Recently, the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM) met to discuss the Government Reorganization Act, which will take effect on March 21. The act allows dissolution proceedings to be organized against villages or special districts by a relatively small number of people. (The details of how this can be done are in our front page story “Changes Sought For New Law Affecting Villages”.)

This law was passed by the state legislature with remarkable speed and minimal discussion last spring. It was proposed by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, and made it through committees and was passed by both the state senate and assembly in seven business days. Unfortunately, no one thought to consult with the public about it before passing it.

While there are areas where each municipal service is provided by a different entity, in a well run Village like Garden City, the village government is responsible for just about all municipal services, such as water, garbage, road maintenance, fire and police protection. If one has a problem, it’s easy to get it resolved directly at Village Hall; and if that doesn’t satisfy, our elected officials are also easy to find.

If municipal services were taken over by the town or county, would that still be true? We think not.

Meg Morgan Norris

Publisher