Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
$1
Friday, April 5, 2019
Vol. 68, No. 14
GUIDE TO SPRING
INTERFAITH GATHERING COUNTY REFUNDS AT NHP MOSQUE $150M
PAGES 41-64
PAGE 12
PAGE 6
Bonnie Parente takes reins as E.W. mayor New board sworn in; budget approved BY M AY L A N L . STUDART
PHOTO BY MAYLAN L. STUDART
Mayor Bonnie Parente is sworn in to her post while her nephew holds up her Bible and husband and son watch.
Newly elected Mayor Bonnie Parente and a new Board of Trustees were sworn in for the Village of East Williston on Monday after the previous board led by former Mayor David E. Tanner approved the 2019-20 village budget. Village Hall’s boardroom was full of new and past committee and commission members, family members and neighboring village officials who welcomed East Williston’s new administration. Outgoing Mayor Tanner and the
board approved a $2.4 million budget with no new taxes, a lesser debt load than when he took office and more interest income. “We’ve been very successful at managing our expenses,” Tanner said. “We’re fortunate enough to have people who want to come and invest in the community and like what this community represents.” Under Tanner’s tenure, East Williston’s tax rate has declined approximately 12 percent since the 2012-13 fiscal year. The largest expense items in the budget are $531,500 to service Continued on Page 87
Herricks teacher talks stalled: union BY S A M U E L GLASSER
10 months, and the negotiations have been fruitless thus far, Herricks Teachers Association PresiTeachers at the Herricks dent Nidya Degliomini said last school district have been work- Thursday. The union and the board ing without a contract for about
representatives were to meet with a fact-finder this week, but each side was to sit down separately with the mediator, she said in an interview after the Board of Education meeting last Thursday night. “In the past, board members sat in the negotiating sessions,” Degliomini said. “Now they send their lawyer and administrators,
but we want a board member sitting at the table as in the past.” She said that during the settlement of the last contract, a board member sat in and “we got it done.” Degliomini noted that the district’s other labor contracts are up for renewal, too. The administrators’ and teaching assistants’ contracts expire in June
and the contracts for nonteaching personnel, such as school bus drivers, custodians and clerical workers, are up in 2020. She was dismayed that there had been no movement on the contract for months and this was the first time in many years that the contract had not been settled by the opening of the school year. Continued on Page 88
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