Friday, August 30, 2019
Vol. 95, No.48
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Police officer injured PAGE 6 n Happy 106th b’day! PAGE 28
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NYS agency: Board conference calls may violate law
A NEW YEAR
BY MEG MORGAN NORRIS
The Garden City Jewish Center Religious School is gearing up for the new year. Above, students in 2018 pose before the sukkah they decorated for the festival of Sukkot. See pages 30-31.
$92K attorneys fees for ADA suit BY MEG MORGAN NORRIS
The Village of Garden City spent $92,278 in legal fees and costs defending itself in a lawsuit which sought to have the village designate three on-street parking spaces for the disabled. The case was settled one year after being filed, before it went to trial. According to documents received by the Garden City News under the Freedom of Information Law, between August 2018 and June 2019 the
law firm of Bee Ready Fishbein Hatter & Donovan billed the village $44,250 in fees and costs. That firm is headed by the village’s designated counsel, Peter Bee, who is a former mayor of Garden City. In addition, in May 2019 the Village hired Seyfarth Shaw LLP, a firm that specializes in Americans with Disabilities law. During May and June Seyfarth Shaw billed the Village $48,028 in fees and costs. The Village also spent $11,000 in 2017 on an study of the acces-
sibility of the downtown parking areas by the engineering firm VHB. The lawsuit was filed by Garden City resident Gerry Kelly, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Kelly had requested that the village designate three on-street parking spaces for the disabled with paint and signs, but that request was denied by the village in January 2018. Kelly’s suit noted that while there are handicapped parking spaces in the 7N and 7S municSee page 33
In the fifteen month period between January 2018 and March 2019 the Garden City Board of Trustees held at least seventeen private conference calls that included the entire Board of Trustees, a practice which New York State says may violate the state’s Open Meetings Law. An investigation by the Garden City News over the past eight months found that the Board has held frequent conference calls often just days before its regularly scheduled public meetings. According to an opinion released by the New York State Committee on Open Government at the request of the Garden City News, “The OML is intended to provide the public with the right to observe the performance of public officials in their deliberations. That intent cannot be realized if members of a public body conduct business by telephone.” Village Attorney Peter Bee released the following response on behalf of the Board of Trustees about the Commitee’s opinion: “While the Garden City Board of Trustees does not intend to engage in ‘point-by-point’ debate with a local News Editor whose legitimate goal is to enhance the sale of newspapers, the Board of Trustees is gratified that the recent Advisory Opinion of the See page 33
4% raise for schools superintendent BY MEG MORGAN NORRIS
At its August 13th meeting, the Garden City School Board granted a 4% raise to the Superintendent of Schools Kusum Sinha. At the meeting, the Board announced that there was an
amendment to the superintendent’s contract, but did not disclose what the amendment entailed. The amendment was obtained by the Garden City News through a Freedom of Information request. See page 44
The Rat Pack comes to Friday Night Promenade PAGE 44 School safety to be topic at Traffic Commission PAGE 3