Friday, September 7, 2018
Vol. 94, No.51
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
CSEA contract PAGE 3 n 50 historical homes PAGE 41
Village, fire union settle all disputes
A FINAL SPLASH
Paid firefighters union disbanded, settlements made to members BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Garden City, New York’s St. Paul’s School are proposed.” In their online bulletin, P.L.I. states that Before St. Paul’s School was listed as one of our Endangered Historic Places in 2010, Preservation Long Island worked to preserve the site in partnership with local advocates for nearly 10 years. Over this period, several ideas for historically sensitive rehabilitation were proposed. Unfortunately, village resources now appear solely dedicated to research and planning towards a project that explicitly
The five-week summer drama over the dissolution of the paid fire department by the Board of Trustees on July 25 has been resolved with the approval of a “global settlement” -- in formal terms, a stipulation agreement between the professional firefighters union and the Village of Garden City. On Tuesday night, the Board of Trustees met at the senior center on Golf Club Lane and the trustees unanimously voted to approve the agreement dated August 30, 2018. The Village’s labor counsel Chris Kurtz, of the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, explained the new agreement -- described as a global settlement with the union and 12 paid firemen as individuals -- reached in the last few days of August. “The Fire Chiefs (volunteers) will have full operational control of the village fire service going forward and paid members will have no exclusivity on any work and any apparatus. Paid members have no more right to first response in an apparatus. Prior arbitration awards involving firehouse work restrictions and/or work rules -- commonly referred to as Dienhart Donahue awards -- are null and void going forward. Fire Chiefs will have full authority over staffing, assignments and response of the village. In connection with that, for the 12 paid members of the fire department, seven who retired in August will remain retired and receive full retirement benefits payouts and health insurance in retirement. Additionally two paid members have resigned effective August 30 and they will receive separation payouts from the village, consistent with collective bargaining that was in place. Of those nine individuals (not remaining active with the fire department)
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See page 46
Friends Amelia Moran and Maddie Gebhard enjoy a final day of swimming, jumping and fun before school starts. A beautiful Labor Day filled the Garden City Pool with families enjoying the final day of summer vacation.
Preservationists criticize St. Paul's concept BY RIKKI N. MASSAND Preservation Long Island, formerly SPLIA (the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities) says it finds many faults with the concept of the sports and activity Centre at St. Paul’s for the defunct property and historic site in the heart of Garden City. St. Paul’s is one of almost 40 historic A.T. Stewart-era properties in the interior of the Village of Garden City, and it is the largest structure in Garden City which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
After she attended and asked questions about historic attributes at the initial public presentation on the the Centre at St. Paul’s concept on July 17, P.L.I.’s Preservation Director Sarah Kautz emailed The Garden City News in late August to announce a conclusion and statement from the collective board of her nonprofit group, which maintains its offices on Main Street in Cold Spring Harbor. A Facebook post from Preservation Long Island on Wednesday, August 29 announced their perspective with the following: “Municipally funded plans for destructive changes at
Marching Band members "Get Ready" for fall PAGE 58 Riding the bull at the Western Promenade PAGES 52-53