Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
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Friday, June 14, 2019
Vol. 68, No. 24
REVITALIZING DOWNTOWNS
NATIONAL GRID HALTS PERMITS
GOP DELAYS ASSESSMENT PHASE-IN VOTE
PAGES 35-38
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Gillen calls for investigation of HR contract Hempstead supervisor alleges ‘corruption tax’ amounts to $886K BY TOM M CC A RT HY Town of Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen is calling for an investigation into a contract signed by a former town commissioner and for a current commissioner to resign. “Our job is to protect the taxpayers of the town, not fill the pockets of the politically connected,” she said. At a news conference on Monday, Gillen said that the town corruption tax, which she described as taxpayer money diverted from helping the unemployed and given to “political patronage,” was a total of $886,000. The news conference came after a report by Newsday that in 2017 Ana-Maria Hurtado, then the commissioner of Hempstead’s Department of Occupational Resources, signed a two-year contract with Alcott HR. The contract provided for extra staff, and Hurtado joined the company after retiring in July
2017. Hurtado and two other former town employees, Scott Surkis and Edward Kenny, now work at the company. Gillen is adamant about taking a stand against the contract, writing on Facebook on Monday, “My job is to protect the taxpayers of this Town and as long I’m in this office, that’s exactly what I’ll do.” Gillen’s office said that Gregory Becker, the current commissioner for the Department of Occupational Resources, extended the contract with Alcott in September 2018 until June 30, 2021. “Commissioner Becker has displayed gross mismanagement, ignoring my office’s multiple directives to bring the department in line with federal funding and failing to provide any tangible documentation relating to the procurement process surrounding the contract in question,” Gillen said at the news conference. She called on Becker to resign. Continued on Page 57
PHOTO BY BILLY FITZPATRICK
The Village of Mineola held its sixth Portugal Day Parade on Sunday, the final day of this year’s Mineola Portuguese Feast and Carnival weekend.
Celebrating Portuguese pride at Mineola parade BY B I L LY F I T Z PAT R I C K
and beyond celebrated their heritage. The Village of Mineola held Floats decorated in red and its sixth Portugal Day Parade on green flooded the streets of the final day of this year’s MineMineola Sunday as Portuguese- ola Portuguese Feast and CarniAmericans from Long Island val weekend, which began last
Friday. Marchers in the parade gathered at Mineola Memorial Park, with the route beginning on the corner of Saville Road and Jericho Turnpike next to Chaminade High School. The Continued on Page 57
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