Friday, August 23, 2019
Vol. 95, No.47
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Discord on Board over police hiring, promotions
A GREAT SEASON
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Garden City’s “B” Swim Team has had a great summer, winning three of five dual meets and coming in third in the championships. Above, Coach Caity Bianchi with her 8 & unders, Alex Eschmann, Fiona Gibson, Piece Harrington & Maya Setiadi. See page 51.
Board turns down Nursery School’s request for lease extension BY RIKKI N. MASSAND The Cathedral Nursery School now can see a light at the end of the tunnel for its 17-year tenure on village property at the cottages at St. Paul’s campus, with plans to move announced last week. In mid-2021 the nursery program plans to be in a brand
new building at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Paul in Hempstead. However, one last attempt to reach a stable transition phase over the course of the next two school years turned into a point-counterpoint dialogue for residents, school representation and the Village Board of Trustees last week.
During the Garden City Village Board of Trustees meeting on August 15th resident Teresa McAuliffe announced the new location for the school, but said the move would not be able to take place by the end of school year 2019-2020. The license agreement with the Village of Garden City to rent See page 41
A rare show of discord among the Village Board of Trustees at its August 15 meeting resulted in contested votes on promotions within the Garden City Police Department, due to the pending retirement of the veteran Inspector Michael Doyle, scheduled for September 28. With Doyle’s absence looming, Police Commissioner Kenneth Jackson had provided two recommended agenda items for Board approval on August 15. The first was to install a new GCPD recruit, which would increase the staffing from 52 to 53, “in order to maintain a 52-officer contingent.” Because the next class at the Nassau County Police Academy begins for September/October, Jackson wants there to be a provision for the village to hire a police recruit and have them immediately join that cohort. The next round of the police academy for Nassau would be in spring 2020, over six months away. For the police recruit request, the Village Board’s voted six in favor and two opposed. Trustees Brian Daughney and Colleen Foley voted against the measure. A second GCPD item proposed by Jackson, which was also precipitated by Doyle’s retirement was to promote one current sergeant to lieutenant and one officer up to the sergeant rank (to take effect on Doyle’s date of retirement). It was noted on the Board’s agenda that these two promotions in September would not have an impact to the adopted and approved 2019-2020 “final Police Budget”. Again Daughney and Foley voted against that item, as did Trustee Stephen Makrinos. The rest of the Village Board voted in favor as the promotions were approved, 5 to 3. Deputy Mayor Robert Bolebruch commented that the officers of the Garden City Police put their lives on the line for the village every single day at work. “In the world that we live in and you have a traffic stop or a truck that goes out of control or any type of crazy situation, every day officers handle this. We have to be fiscally responsible to our residents as we are the trustees. But I am not about to change our police force, which is considered one of the best in America, to wait for our consultants’ report that we may or may not follow in part or in whole without a discussion or See page 16
The story of Garden City’s flag and symbols PAGE 44 Bricks vs. asphalt at Nassau Blvd. LIRR station PAGE 3