By Danny Teigman
and increase the efficiency of executive and general session meetings, trustees and residents began offering their concerns and criticisms, leading up to a summer season vote.
Some of the proposals in the eight-page document reinforce the need for trustees to answer directly to the mayor or the village administrator, while another rule says, "all board members who receive calls from the media should direct them to the mayor or designee." If a resident raises a concern to a trustee, the document says, the complaint must be referred to the village administrator within 24 hours.
"This is just simple rules of decorum," said Village Administrator John Giordano, seeking to dispel rumors that the proposal would limit trustee power and expand his own. "If anything this document imposes more responsibilities on me."
For instance, if adopted, the proposal states that the village administrator must draft a tentative meeting agenda list at least four days before a regular board meeting. It goes on to confirm that the administrator must answer to the board and trustees.
The proposal, which, according to Giordano was first discussed during the end of former Mayor Eugene Scarpato's administration, is intended as a response to what he called the "chaos" of year's past. It's designed to correct flaws in the Lynbrook governing process, while seeking to prevent a return to the days of personal infighting and politically motivated grandstanding. The document, he said, represents an "all-star list" of similar policies adopted by other school districts and villages.
Lynbrook Mayor Brian Curran, who is strongly in favor of adopting an amended version of the draft document, was the only board member to abide by his own request made at the last village board meeting to have his first round of recommendations ready for discussion and in writing. He stressed that the media provision was not a trustee gag order and that the overall document was not a "manifesto" or "power play." His revised media clause added the sentence: "However, all board members are free to speak to the media/press on issues of media attention after the mayor or designee has done so or has declined to do so."
"I'm not trying to muzzle anyone's right to speak," Curran said.
But that was not the perception of Lois Rottenberg, a nine-year village resident who chose to stay for Monday evening's second work session. "It's very restrictive on the trustees as well as the residents," Rottenberg said. "I can no longer communicate with my elected officials."
"I don't think that people's First Amendment rights should be curtailed," Trustee Richard Clifford said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Trustee David Penso said he was disturbed by several provisions in the document, with one in particular stating that "all board requests for written information must be in writing, e-mail or fax, to include data requested, rationale of request and comments."
Penso said that if residents have the unencumbered right to request information, either through the Freedom of Information Act or a phone call to a trustee, that trustees should share that same right, equally. "I haven't gotten any positive feedback from the people I've shown this to," he added. "...If it's not broken, don't fix it."
Curran stressed that discussions are ongoing and that the proposal was not yet ready for a vote. "I wanted to start the discussion," he said. "...There is need for a procedure. ...It is not even close to being a finished document."
Comments about this story? DTeigman@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 246.
