Friday, April 7, 2017
Vol. 93, No.30
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Board installed PAGE 22 n Senior transportation? PAGE 3
After 12 years and some controversies, Superintendent resigns
UNDEFEATED
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND The man who has led the Garden City Public School district to great heights and some controversial decisions over the last 12 years will be stepping away from his role as superintendent of schools on July 31. Dr. Robert Feirsen, who began as superintendent here in 2005, submitted his resignation for the purpose of retirement to the school board and made an announcement at the Tuesday, April 4 board work session and 2017-2018 budget development meeting at Garden City High School. Dr. Feirsen is not leaving academia, or Long Island, as he “begins the next phase” of his professional journey at NYIT as a faculty member and director of the institute’s Program for School Leadership and Technology. On February 5, 2013, Dr. Fiersen and the Board of Education entered into an extension of his contract, with an expiration date of July 31, 2017. See page 27
The Garden City High School JV boys lacrosse team remains undefeated at 5-0 after beating Cold Spring Harbor. See pages 64-65
Millions budgeted for tank, but which design? BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
On March 16 the Village Board of Trustees heard updated information from consulting engineers H2M, as the Board was seeking a do-over of a limited presentation delivered at its February 21 meeting. The March work session on the water tower plans was an exercise in pros versus cons of two types of water tanks, a traditional and popular golf-ball-on-atee design known as pedestal spheroid or a more novel
type of tank called ‘glassfused to steel composite’ which the immediate past mayor, Nicholas Episcopia came across in discussions with colleagues from the Village Officials Association. As March ended and after the Board’s re-organization and the introduction of new Mayor Brian Daughney and two new trustees, Louis Minuto and Mark Hyer, the village has its consultants proposing to explore both options through the municipal, state-mandated bidding
process “to keep everybody (contractors) honest.” In February Joe Todaro, deputy market leader for H2M’s Water division, told the Board of Trustees the cost of ownership for a pedestal spheroid, with maintenance including repainting costs, would be a total of $10.4 million. Of that sum the structure would need $7.5 million in capital costs to be constructed. The glass-fused to steel composite would be an investment of $6.1 million of See page 28
New mayor takes seat on GC Board of Trustees BY RIKKI N. MASSAND New Garden City Mayor Brian C. Daughney welcomed over 75 residents including two dozen children to the Board of Trustees’ annual reorganization meeting at Village Hall on Monday April 3. He began a festive and fast-paced evening with remarks on the transition of village leadership and some of the strategy ahead for the village’s municipal planning. A key to Daughney’s message is the function of a board to act collectively, despite disagreements over certain decisions and analysis from time to time. “There’s no ‘I’ in Board of Trustees, we all work together. We make tough decisions and we may have arguments, but that doesn’t mean that we are not doing things that we’re supposed to do. We will change some things this year, some things that have been done for several years, and we’ll try something different. We will try new things and different things, get information out in different ways – maybe better ways, or not. We have been trying for many years to change things, change the way we think and the way we approach problems and issues. We will continue doing that as we’ve continued getting better systems, better people and better organized. It may not be flashy and may be kind of boring, but it helps keeps taxes low and keeps services coming, it See page 27
GC High School presents “Little Shop of Horrors” Historical Society museum’s license renewed PAGE 3
PAGES 56-57