by Mike Schnitzel
Hansen, who retired June 2, worked for the village for more than 35 years.
John has demonstrated over the past few months that he is a natural for the job, said Mayor Eugene Scarpato at Monday s village board meeting, where the Board of Trustees approved Giordanos appointment by a 4-to-1 vote. He showed his expertise during his 18 years as a village clerk with Farmingdale, and helped tremendously with our budget this year.
Giordano will serve the remainder of Hansen s two-year term, to which she was appointed at the April reorganizational meeting.
The lone dissenting vote came from Trustee David Penso, who said that his vote had more to do with the boards procedures than with Giordano personally.
I am going to vote differently because we did not discuss this at all until 7:30 tonight, said Penso, who added that he found Giordano pleasant to work with and very capable.
Penso had originally opposed Giordano s hiring because he felt that Scarpato forced the issue and that the hiring process was rushed, without enough discussion among the board members. Penso also took issue with Giordanos salary, saying that while Giordano had indicated a willingness to take over Hansen s job for less pay, the board decided to give him Hansen s full salary, which, according to Lynbrooks approved 2006-07 budget, was $112,916. Scarpato said that he and other board members felt that Giordano deserved the same pay as Hansen.
As Farmingdale s village clerk, Giordano prepared 12 no-tax-increase budgets in 18 years, a tradition he hopes to continue in Lynbrook. He said this was achieved through a combination of conservative fiscal pr
actices, the development of a capital plan and an increase in grant revenues, all of which are part of his plans for Lynbrook.
What impressed me from the beginning was his philosophy that you can do more with less, said Trustee Richard Clifford.
Scarpato and other village officials have praised Giordano s grant-writing ability, with Scarpato calling him one of the best grant writers out there.
Giordano brings a wealth of experience in village government to his new job. He was Lynbrook s deputy clerk from 1980 to 1984 before moving to Farmingdale. My work there served as an inspiration for what I m doing here, he said. It gave me some ideas for the development of downtown Lynbrook.
Giordano said that a walk-through in downtown Farmingdale inspired the creation of the walk-through at Mur-Lees, which helped open up the area for pedestrians. He has cited improving the quality of life for residents as one of his priorities, and said the key to achieving that is to combine economic development with aesthetics, as exemplified by the new brick sidewalks and ornamental lighting in the Atlantic Avenue business district.
Giordano said that his transition in Lynbrook has been made easier because he knows so many people in the village government from previously living there and working at Village Hall. The friendly faces have been very helpful, he said. I would say about 50 percent of the employees here are the same as when I left.
Now a resident of Huntington, where he lives with his wife of eight months, Elizabeth, Giordano lived in Lynbrook for 37 years, moving to the village in 1960 at age 4. A residency waiver was approved so he could be hired. He said that while Lynbrook has changed with the times, his knowledge of village affairs has always been up-to-date.
I always maintained a continuity of knowledge [of village affairs], Giordano said. I had social contact with department heads and village officials, so it was almost like I never left Lynbrook.
