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Vol. 30 No. 6
FEBRUARY 2 - 8, 2023
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W. Hempstead library bids to return to normal By BEN FIEBERT bfiebert@liherald.com
Tim Baker/Herald
Students lead the way to a new name Malverne High School sophomore Olivia Brown explains how she and her classmates spent nearly two years researching the history of Lindner Place. On Jan. 26, Malverne renamed the street Acorn Way, a tribute to the village’s motto, ‘Oaks from Acorns.’ Story, page 3.
The West Hempstead Public Library began 2023 hoping to bring new services and pre-pandemic in-person activities. Since a pipe in the building burst on Christmas Eve, library Director Regina Mascia and her staff have been working around the clock to get operations back to normal. Mascia said she was planning to bring some pre-Covid events back to the library later this spring, but the ruptured pipe put a damper on things. She said she hoped to soon turn that around with the installation of new equipment. With the number of books
and other items increasing in circulation since the height of the pandemic — about 200,000 items in 2022, according to Mascia — the repair work has forced delays in lots of services until further notice. “Currently, we have no computers (available) to the public,” Mascia said. “We’re waiting to have our computers replaced, which will take a few more weeks.” Library patrons can browse and take books out, but cannot use the computers to research information about any books in the library. The water not only damaged the computers but ruined severContinued on page 15
Mysterious state of emergency in Nassau may be illegal By MARK NolAN mnolan@liherald.com
Nassau County may have illegally declared a state of emergency for cybersecurity — a declaration that was not even known until revealed in a letter to a reporter by a county official. Deputy County Attor ney Gregory Kalnitsky confirmed the existence of a state of emergency in response to a request for more information on a cybersecurity contract approved by the county Legislature’s Rules Committee in December. The Herald sought basic information about the agreement, including who the contract is with, and
how much it will cost taxpayers. “The county executive and Nassau County Legislature enacted a local state of emergency with respect to the county of Nassau’s cybersecurity and information technology assets,” Kalnitsky wrote in a letter, without providing further details. State law generally requires a government body like a county legislature to announce the need of an executive session during a public meeting, provide a specific reason for such a session, and then hold a public vote on whether to allow such a session to take place. While New York state laws are a bit broad on what can be
discussed in executive session, they generally prohibit any action by formal vote that would spend public dollars. A review of the December public meeting does include an announcement of an executive session and a vote. All that was provided for its reason, however, was a control number for the cybersecurity contract the legislature was set to approve. “It is a clear violation of the open meetings law to appropriate public funds in a closed-door private meeting, if that is what occurred,” said Paul Wolf, president of the independent New York Coalition for Open Government.
“Any vote to spend taxpayer dollars — even in an emergency situation — should occur in public.” The contract came on the heels of a massive computer network hack in Suffolk County that shut down government services there temporarily, and is said to have cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
Nassau lawmakers voted unanimously to enter into executive session on Dec. 5 to discuss “E-137-22,” which was listed in the agenda as a shared services agreement between the county’s information and technology department and an unnamed vendor. After an hour of deliberation Continued on page 4