by Mike Schnitzel
For the first time in 37 years, Carol Hansen will not be pulling into the parking lot and walking up the steps of Village Hall for a day of work. That was slated to happen for the last time on Friday, when Hansen was planning to wrap up her tenure as the village's administrator and clerk/treasurer in her corner office with the view of the busy intersection of Merrick Road and Peninsula Boulevard.
Mary Ann Hughes, who has worked for the village for 23 years, is one of many people who will be sad to see Hansen go. "She always worked for the betterment of the village no matter what," said Hughes. "She's fair, loyal, and has high integrity. She sees every job through to the end."
The village board honored Hansen with a plaque for her years of service at its regular meeting on May 22.
"I could always rely on Carol Hansen, whether I liked it or not, to set me straight," said Mayor Eugene Scarpato. "Politics was never in her head. She always did what was right [for the village]."
Many have noted Hansen's ability to stay above the political fray, but she says that was just part of her job. "How can you get involved [politically] and do your job properly?" she wondered out loud. "The village clerk is by law the election officer, and I can't be the election officer if I become involved."
One thing Hansen has been very involved in is the Lynbrook community, which has been her home for nearly her entire life. "I grew up here, I raised children here and I love it here," she said. "Except for the first six years I was married and lived in Valley Stream, I've always lived here."
She plans to continue her community involvement, helping out with the village's annual winter celebration and participating on the Character Counts committee, which was established recently and is part of a nationwide program to create better, more involved communities. "That's one thing I've worked for in Lynbrook," said Hansen. "This is not a neighborhood, it's a community."
She has also signed up to be a Brownie leader, so she can spend more time with children.
According to Hansen, it was time for her to retire. "I'm looking forward to it," she said with a big smile, adding that she wants to spend more time with her grandchildren, and that she and her daughter are planning a trip to Italy in October.
Hansen said that seeing her co-workers day-in and day-out will be the part of her job that she misses most. "We get along well -- we plan trips together," she said. "One of the things I will always remember is the help I got when I broke my wrist two or three years ago and couldn't drive to work. Colleagues would drive me, bring food to my home and help me do things that I couldn't do by myself."
Hansen started working for the village as a page at the Lynbrook library. She got a job as a statistician at the American Petroleum Institute after getting an accounting degree from Hofstra, and then had two children -- Donna, who is married and lives in Florida, and Bill, who is married and lives in Queens -- and took a break from working to raise them with her husband.
She returned to village work as a bookkeeper with the library before moving over to Village Hall, where she started as a senior account clerk and worked her way up to deputy treasurer, and then to clerk/treasurer in 1992. Hansen said that her goal was to one day be the treasurer of a small to midsize corporation. Then, she recalled, "I was sitting at my desk one day, and I realized that I already had my dream job, because the village is like a midsize corporation. It was one of those aha moments."
As village administrator and clerk/treasurer, Hansen was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the village, dealing with personnel matters and budget oversight. As of press time, no replacement had been named by village officials.
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
