Friday, September 16, 2016
Vol. 93, No.3
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
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Lead found in school water fountains, more results due
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND Water from drinking fountains at Garden City Middle School and Homestead School were recently found to contain lead according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen, who spoke at the September 13 at the Board of Education meeting. “Potable water” locations at Garden City Middle School as well as one drinking fountain in the new wing of Homestead School tested above the threshold level for lead, therefore indicated to have lead levels exceeding standards deemed “actionable” by state and federal environmental authorities. While the district’s choice was to shut down students’ and faculty’s access to those specific sites at its two schools effective immediately, more measures could be coming up soon as an official laboratory report has not yet been furnished covering all other potable water sites in the Garden City district. Dr. Feirsen says the district only received an email indicating “partial and preliminary results” that warned about the contamination at Homestead and the Middle School. “It’s partial because we don’t have a real report yet. We basically have an email saying there are some spots that seem to be above the criteria threshold level. We’ll get a full report from the lab as a follow up to this and we expect that within several days. In addition they tested the buildings over time. They did a couple of buildings one day and
Garden City Public Schools welcomed back over 3,800 students on September 6th. As he does every year, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen welcomed students and helped direct students at the buses as they arrived on First Day.
Board approves new deputy administrator
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND The Garden City Village Board of Trustees has approved its new secretary and deputy village administrator, appointing Joseph DiFrancisco of Floral Park to a “budgeted and existing position” in the village administration at the Thursday, September 8 meeting. The latest executive staff move comes after two additions to the finance department this summer, with approvals of Courtney Rutt Rosenblatt as
the new village auditor in July and at the August 18 Board of Trustees’ meeting, the hiring of new Deputy Village Treasurer Darcia Palmer. DiFrancisco attended the meeting and sat in the first row for the two-and-a-half hour duration, including all board discussions and a special presentation from the mayor’s committee on building code changes. His appointment as Secretary to the Board stands for the balance of the fiscal year ending on April 3, 2017.
The resolutions approved by the trustees along with his position last week set a benefits package “generally equal to those already existing for other executive staff.” Last Thursday night resident Bob Orosz read the agenda item “setting terms and conditions of employment for the position of Secretary to the Board of Trustees” and interpreted it to mean a new position was created at Village Hall. He asked about the need See page42
See page 42
Village settles water pollution case, gets payout BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
The longstanding Genesco litigation the Village of Garden City has fought since 2007 has officially been settled and at the Thursday, September 8 meeting of the Board of Trustees, the associated costs became a topic of priority. As soon as the standing-room only crowd at the meeting finished the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence, Mayor Nicholas Episcopia announced that the village received $10 million settlement in the decade-long environmental litigation which he said will cover in excess of $1 million in legal fees for Garden City’s attorneys in the case. He cautioned that the remaining amount was not a luxury bestowed on Garden City. “I want to make one thing very clear – this is not some bonanza that we can do whatever we want with $10 million. A few months ago we talked very specifically about our water tower (with a design and presentation from consultant H2M Water) which is now at the end of its See page 42
Come to the St. Joseph’s Fall Festival on Sept. 24 PAGE 8 GC Police Dept.: Back to School Safety Series PAGE 27