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Friday, August 16, 2019
Vol. 7, No. 33
FALL HOME & GARDEN
SCARAMUCCI TURNS AGAINST TRUMP
HUNDREDS SUE FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE
PAGES 29-36
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
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Biz permits delayed by too few marshals
R O S LY N O N I C E
BY R O S E W E L D ON
Only 17 available to inspect new businesses across Nassau County BY J E S S I C A PA R K S Just 17 fire marshals are assigned to review the plans and conduct inspections of hundreds of new businesses across Nassau County, causing a major delay in openings, according to union representatives. Staffing counts obtained from the county identified 57 uniformed marshals and 37 support staff members for a total of 94 full-time employees in the fire marshal’s office. However, union representatives contend that the office only has 56 uniformed marshals and six support staff members. Fire marshals conduct plan reviews and inspections for businesses that are soon to open. A delay in an inspection typically results in a delay in the business’s opening. If the office had higher levels of uniformed marshals and support staff, businesses wouldn’t have to wait as long for an inspection, which is currently four to eight weeks, union representatives said.
In a previous statement, Christine Geed, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s director of communications, said that the office has been identified as one that needs more staffing, but the county cannot simply return to “pre-recession levels of staffing.” As staffing levels dwindled over the years – which union representatives described as mostly gradual due to attrition, except for a 2017 buyout when 12 employees left at once – the office’s ability to keep up with inspections and plan reviews has lessened, resulting in longer response times. “It is a constant struggle after we lose people through attrition,” Michael Strong, CSEA Local 830 union president for the fire marshal’s office and division supervisor, said. “We never get that number back.” Mike Mastrangelo, fire marshal and president of the Fire Marshal Benevolent Association, said that at its worst, the office’s response Continued on Page 50
Dogs OK’d in Gerry Pond Park
PHOTO COURTESY OF LORI MARINO
Roslyn’s Isabella Marino, 11, figure skates at the State Games in Virginia last week. Marino was one of two medalists from the area at the event. See story on page 2.
Town of North Hempstead officials passed an ordinance to allow dogs in Roslyn’s Gerry Pond Park at the most recent Town Board meeting last week. The ordinance amends Parks Ordinance No. 1 from 2016, adding Gerry Pond Park to other sites where dogs are permitted with regulation, including North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington, Mary Jane Davies Green in Manhasset and Michael J. Tully Park in New Hyde Park. Since Gerry Pond Park was not one of the listed parks in the original ordinance, residents were not allowed to walk their dogs in the area. As one of the several Town of North Hempstead parks not cited in the first ordinance, the park was held to a rule in the ordinance that “dogs are not allowed in parks other than those designated by the Commissioner [of the Department of Parks and Recreation].” Under the 2016 ordinance, residents who now enter Gerry Pond Park are limited to three dogs per handler, are required to pick up their dogs’ waste, and must leash their dogs at all times, among other rules. The addition was well received by Town Supervisor Judy Bosworth. “I look forward to welcoming our four-legged residents to Gerry Pond Park,” Bosworth said at the Aug. 6 meeting.
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