Serving New Hyde Park, North New Hyde Park, Herricks, Garden City Park, Manhasset Hills, North Hills, Floral Park
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Friday, April 20, 2018
Vol. 67, No. 16
N E W H Y D E PA R K Blank Slate Media Newspapers,
Friday, April 20, 2018
35
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COLLEGE & EDUCATION
HERRICKS ED BOARD OKS BUDGET
PBA SLAMS CURRAN ON LAWSUIT
PAGES 35-46
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18 ion • april 20, 20 tions special sect ia / litmor publica a blank slate med
Gillen sues Santino, union and town board
LITTLE SLUGGERS
Seeks to undo no-layoff clause from former supervisor’s 11th-hour deal BY R E B ECC A K L A R Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen filed a lawsuit last Wednesday against former Supervisor Anthony Santino, the town board members and the Civil Service Employees Association Local 880 to nullify a contract that prevents her from laying off employees even during a financial crisis. “My predecessor, Supervisor Santino, with one foot out of the door, unlawfully gave away the legal authority of my office to properly oversee the finances of the Town of Hempstead, effectively sabotaging the budget,” Gillen, a Democrat, said at a news conference on Thursday. In December the board, during Santino’s final meeting in charge, voted 4-3 in favor of a clause that prevented the supervisor from terminating employees for almost any reason except misconduct and incompetence. The board also passed a reso-
lution to protect individual staff members from Santino’s administration from being laid off – adding more than $2 million in unbudgeted dollars to town expenses, Gillen said. Gillen said it is imperative the court nullify this “illegal agreement and resolution” to restore fiscal responsibility to the town. “To be clear the goal of this is not to lay off hardworking town employees,” Gillen said. “This is to protect the hardworking employees and the 770,0000 residents of the Town of Hempstead, not award political patronage and at the expense of the taxpayers.” All town board members are named in the suit – including Erin King Sweeney, Bruce Blakeman and Dorothy Goosby, who voted against the matters in December. All members need to be named for the nullification to be enforceable. Sweeney, who called herself a Continued on Page 64
PHOTO BY STEPHEN TAKACS
The annual New Hyde Park Little League parade was held on Saturday. See more photos on page 22.
NHP 12-year-old faces off on NBC quiz show BY R E B ECC A K L A R
But Sebastian doesn’t just play with the blocks. He can Sebastian Lennox, a look at any building and rep12-year-old from New Hyde licate it with his sets at home. “It’s really cool actually,” he Park, said he has been playing with Legos since he was 2 years said. “It’s a lot of fun to be able to see where the strong parts old.
are, and where the weak points are.” Sebastian, a seventh-grader at Great Neck South Middle School, will be testing his knowledge about architecture, Continued on Page 64
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