A tense Glen Cove City Council meeting erupted into raised voices on Sept. 24 as a late addition to the agenda, involving salary increases for city employees, sparked a heated debate over transparency, process and respect for religious observance.
The council had been asked to vote on salary hikes for three Department of Public Works employees and one worker at the Glen Cove Senior Center. The raises had been added to the agenda the previous Friday, prompting several council members to express concern that they had not been given adequate time or documentation to evaluate the proposal.
Councilwoman Marsha Silverman, who is running for mayor against incumbent Pam Panzenbeck, voiced her frustration early in the meeting, saying she had not received performance reviews for the employees or a rationale for the raises. “I continue to not get complete information to do my job as I should,” Silverman said. “This is no way to run an organization.”
She questioned why the proposal had not been presented at the council’s pre-meeting the week before. Panzenbeck responded that she had been out of town for two days visiting family, and needed time to speak with the employees’ supervisor before adding the item to the agenda. She noted that Deputy Mayor Donna McNaughton had emailed the council about the additions on Sept. 19.
“It was an accident,” Panzenbeck said. “I made a mistake; I’m not perfect.” When Silverman pointed out that she had no opportunity to review the information over the weekend, Panzenbeck responded, “So don’t vote for it.”
That prompted Silverman to request an executive session to discuss the raises privately, citing the sensitive nature of personnel matters. The request was approved with votes by Silverman and council members Danielle Fugazy Scagliola, Kevin Maccarone and John Zozzaro.
While he voted for the closed session, Maccarone expressed confusion about the urgency, pointing out that council members had received the email about the salary increases on Friday. “It’s now Wednesday. You had plenty of time to ask these questions instead of waiting for a public forum,” he told Silverman.
Silverman responded that the 48 hours leading up to Wednesday’s meeting fell on Rosh Hashana, one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar. “I take great offense to saying I should have done work when it was the holy days,” she said. “I was in synagogue. This should have been discussed in a proper process last week, when we are obligated to do our jobs and not on a holiday, when we are in our houses of worship.”
Then Silverman asked Maccarone to retract his statement, which he refused to do. “It has nothing to do with a racist or religious remark,” he said. Silverman shot back, “The holiday ended an hour ago, at sundown tonight — just so you are aware, since clearly you’re not.”
The confrontation laid bare deeper frustrations about
how decisions on salaries are made. After the 30 minute executive session — during which raised voices could be heard by meeting attendees from a side room — the council returned and voted to approve the raises, with six in favor and Silverman abstaining.
“My abstention is not because I don’t think they should get (raises),” she said, “but because I did not receive performance reviews, additional documentation or rationale to substantiate the raise.”
Fugazy Scagliola echoed Silverman’s concerns about the lack of structure in the process. “What we have is kind of a randomness to it,” she said. “We’re relying on our supervisors that these are the guys that deserve the steps. There’s just no process in place that is sustainable to make people feel good about the work people do here, because there’s nothing to point to.”
The vote came amid longstanding complaints from city workers, many of them in the Department of Public Works. In a July 2023 article in the Herald Ralph Comitino, president of the Glen Cove Public Works CSEA union, said that the city had neglected to update its pay structure for over 30 years. He noted disparities in how workers are classified and compensated — for instance, grade-8 laborers with commercial driver’s licenses doing the work of grade-9 drivers without being paid as much as regular drivers.
At a council meeting in June 2023 council meeting union members placed a sign reading “ DPW matters too” near the dais, highlighting their role in maintaining city infrastructure despite what they claim are outdated conditions and inadequate pay. The city’s most recent labor contract, covering 2020 through 2024, was renegotiated earlier this year with the assistance of outside legal counsel, but many employees have said the changes fell short of addressing systemic issues.
The clash over salary adjustments appears to have become a flashpoint in a broader debate about city leadership, transparency and worker recognition. Though the raises have been approved, questions about how they were handled may echo well beyond this week’s meeting.
