While presumably there to conduct the business of the village, the Manorhaven board meeting deteriorated into repeated shouting matches between the trustees, between trustees and members of the public and between the village attorney and a resident.
From the get-go, it was a bizarre evening. Residents and trustees arriving before 7:25 p.m., for the 7:30 p.m. meeting found the doors to village hall locked.
Once the meeting began, the locked doors were questioned by attendees. Village Clerk Leslie Gross said that trustee Kevin Gately Jr. had questioned if the village was violating the open meetings law by having trustees in the building before the meeting began. Gately insisted that he never said there was an actual violation, just what could possibly be construed as the appearance of a violation, Mayor Giovanna Giunta ordered the doors to remain closed until 7:25 p.m. She defended her action as the only way to eliminate any question of impropriety.
Trustees Priscilla von Roeschlaub and Gately, both elected in June on the Residents Party ticket, then seemed bent on turning the meeting into a row over the lack of financial information presented to the board by Gross. von Roeschlaub insisted she hasn’t received a financial report since she took office in July and had no idea of money coming in to the village. She said she keeps requesting a flow chart of money coming in
and going out.
Gross, throwing up her hands, exclaimed, “I can’t win,” saying that she had just given a report stating that more than $790,000 had come in to the village in reimbursements and an additional $275,000 in grant money. The report was included in the package distributed to the trustees and the public.
In response to a question from the Port News, Mayor Giovanna Giunta said the trustees receive quarterly profit and loss statements, as
well as year-to-date budget figures. She also said that Gross would arrange for all the trustees to meet with the accountants.
Meanwhile, Giunta and Deputy Mayor Lucretia Steele appeared intent on skewering perennial candidate Jim Avena for what they characterized as excessive Freedom of Information (FOIL) requests, accusing him of costing the village thousands of dollars.
The discussion got so heated that a shouting match ensued. Von Roeschlaub, Gately and Trustee Rita Di Lucia loudly objected to Avena being named at a public meeting. Giunta shouted over them saying, “He (Avena) brought it on himself by accusing the village of being nonresponsive to FOIL requests.”
Steele added: “Mr. Avena has given the village more FOIL requests than all the 6,500 residents combined.” Gately shouted “that doesn’t mean they are a large number.”
Next up was a resolution to issue a bond for $104,000 to pay the litigants in lawsuits brought against the village for improperly raising taxes disproportionately on one class of taxpayers, business owners. The village now has to return the money. While the resolution passed, von Rauslaub abstained after reading a prepared statement that said, “We collected taxes we shouldn’t have collected and spent the money and now we need to borrow the money and pay interest. This is like borrowing on your credit card.”
Village Attorney James Toner said the board had been ill advised by prior council and had acted in good faith in coming to a speedy settlement of the suits.
During the public comment period, Avena noted that he had told the board from the beginning that disproportionately raising the tax rate on one class of taxpayer is illegal.
Also during public comments, Patrick Gibson accused the board of violating municipal law by enlarging the Board of Zoning Appeals to seven members from five. Toner shouted over him that he did not know what he was talking about. Toner said statutes allows villages and municipalities to change in number and size of any of their boards.
Gibson would not leave the podium until Giunta threatened to have him removed with a nod to Nassau County police officers in the back of the room.
Obviously, the meeting showed the honeymoon phase of the new board in Manorhaven is over.
Gately and von Roeschlaub are in the minority on the board. While Giunta welcomed them warmly in July after an ugly campaign and all professed a desire to work together for the benefit of the village, the trustees and members of the public seem to be posturing for the next election in June, when DiLucia and Steele are up for re-election.
After the meeting, Giunta said, “I think if there was one constant that you heard over and over at the meeting was the frustration voiced by village staff, our village attorney, accountants and several board members that village time and taxpayer money are constantly and needlessly being re-directed to respond to false allegations by one resident, Jim Avena. There is no justification for this. We are responsible to over 6,500 residents. They are deserving of having our time and efforts not be misdirected by one person, but spent on their behalf. I hope in the future the two new members of the board will choose to join us in a cooperative spirit to make sure that everyone of our residents’ best interests are being served.”
