Friday, July 3, 2020
Vol. 96, No.47
FOUNDED 1923
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Results That Move You
LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Laura Mullig an
Li c. R. E. Sa le sp er so n O 51 6. 30 7.9 40 6 M 51 6. 72 9.6 88 5 laura.mulliga n@elliman.co m Garden City Office O 51 6. 30 7.9 40 6
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The Half Year PAGE 8
© 2020 DOUGLA S ELLIMA N REAL ESTATE. EQUAL HOU 110 WALT WHITMA SING OPP ORT UNI N ROAD, HUN TING TY. TON STATION, NY 11746. 631.549.740 1.
Board approves additional funds for water, St. Paul’s
GRADUATION DAY
BY RIKKI MASSAND
Garden City Community Church Nursery School held a curbside graduation ceremony recently. Above, the Fruzzetti family celebrates their young graduate. See page 20 for more photos.
Board debates role in hiring BY RIKKI MASSAND
An unusual item appeared on the Village Board of Trustees June 18th agenda which, if it had been approved, could have led to the Board taking a role in all hiring decisions. The agenda contained a resolution that said, “Several Trustees have expressed the view to the Village Administrator that the Board wishes to henceforth individually approve the appointment of any and all persons to positions in Village government
(whether or not the positions for such persons were previously approved in the adopted budget). This is intended to facilitate ongoing budgetary control, and this Resolution would so direct.” Ultimately the motion was tabled and the trustees removed it from the consent calendar. But lines were drawn by several trustees on what they expect from reviewing departmental performance, the village’s budget and costs of labor. Village Administrator Ralph Suozzi commented
during his update to the Board that any potential new hires for the village would need to be brought before the Board as an agenda item at meetings, “even if the positions were approved during the budget formulation process.” “Promotions have been a longstanding thing for the last three years and new hires were questioned during the spring budget process so this resolution seeks to clarify and solidify the desires of the Board in this area,” Suozzi explained. Deputy Mayor Robert See page 42
The village tightened its belt on project cost approvals, following requests by for increased charges by contractors working on the stabilization phase at the St. Paul’s building on Stewart Avenue. The contractors had requested additional money for the repair of broken windows earlier this year as the project got underway. A new change order of $18,000 for additional labor and materials -- costs of securing St. Paul’s broken windows (window protection) -- was approved by the Village Board of Trustees on June 18. Superintendent of Public Works Joseph DiFrancisco explained the resolution of this issue, with the Board hearing from Walter Beal of CNY Group at its previous meeting. DiFrancisco noted the revision to the original change order submitted by Talty Construction Inc. The window protection change order first proposed at the Board’s April 15 meeting and tabled by the trustees would have shot the costs up from $39,400 to $75,176. But the approval of an $18,000 change order instead, roughly half the amount first sought, increases the amount of the St. Paul’s School Window Protection Bid to Talty Construction from $39,400 to $57,400. The project bid was awarded during the Board of Trustees’ January 9, 2020 meeting. The Board unanimously voted to authorize the maintenance bond of $208,555 for the rehabilitation of Village Water Well No. 9 -- DiFrancisco noted the completion of the project in June, as the bid was awarded last summer, at at original price (budgeted) of $185,000 as a capital project for 2019-2020. On August 15, 2019 at its meeting the Board then voted to increase the approved project cost to $230,000 with allocating an additional $70,875 for added labor and materials. The contractor is Woodbury Heights, New Jersey-based A. C. Schultes, Inc. Last August, DiFrancisco explained the scope of work with an increased price: “The bulk of this is due to a transfer pump that’s between Well No. 9 and the air stripping tower, and the pump failed during the well rehabilitation process. This monetary request is for the new pump and also the new program that goes along with it — it was not in the initial assessment of work for the tower. When we turned the water off from the tower we discovered that at Maria Lane, the road adjacent to the tower site, was built after the (86-yearold) tower was built so those See page 42
GCHS “Boys of Summer” to have season after all PAGES 44-45 Library begins contactless pickup service PAGE 40