By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
Joyce Costigan, a Historical Society trustee, mailed more than 800 invitations to the Nassau County League of Women Voters' luncheon using the Historical Society's nonprofit postal permit, society members Mindy Warshaw and Frank McQuade charged. The league does not have nonprofit status, Warshaw said, which rendered the mailing "illegal," she said.
The nonprofit permit enables a nonprofit organization to receive a discounted rate for bulk mailing. The total cost of the mailing in question was $134.18.
"This behavior shows the arrogance and the misuse of authority and contempt for the public," Warshaw said. "It also does not portray a good role model for leadership. The use of the not-for-profit permit is illegal."
Karen Adamo, the Historical Society's president, said the matter was brought to the attention of the Board of Trustees at the Feb. 11 board meeting and has been addressed.
"In the attempt to support the Nassau County League of Women Voters, as well as the Long Beach League of Women Voters, an error was made," Adamo admitted.
While Warshaw and McQuade notified the Nassau County League and the Historical Society, the pair didn't stop there. Letters were sent to the United States and New York State League of Women Voters, the state Education Department, Long Beach Postmaster Francis O'Neill, the U.S. Postmaster General, Jack Potter, and the Long Island Consumer Affairs Postal Division.
"It's not the principle of the money," Warshaw said. "It's the principle of abuse. They have to be held accountable and pay a penalty on top of what they owe." She added that she wants to see the group's postal permit revoked.
McQuade agrees. "I want to see the money returned, and I want to let it be known that it's unacceptable," he said. "I think that it's consistent with the pattern of abuse."
Adamo said the society has always been reimbursed for such mailings by the League of Women Voters. The Historical Society and the league have jointly hosted several events in the past, she said.
"The intention always was that the Nassau County League would reimburse the Historical Society, and has done so," she said.
Adamo refutes McQuade's charges of abuse at the society, saying that "this is a small and mean-spirited group of people that have nothing better to do than to harass and try to politicize an all-volunteer organization that does only good for the community of Long Beach."
In a Feb. 12 letter to Warshaw and McQuade, CaroleAnne Shahda Geraci, president of the Nassau County League of Women Voters and a Long Beach Historical Society trustee, said the issue will be raised during the next meeting on March 1.
Geraci readily admitted that "a mistake was made," and added that "there was never intent to profit. There was never intent to defraud."
At the meeting this Saturday, Geraci will notify the entire Nassau County board that this is not a practice that should be continued. Still, Geraci said, nothing more than a mistake happened, and there "was no ulterior motive."
Meanwhile, Tom Gaynor, the United States Postal Service spokesperson, said the acting postmaster, Francis O'Neill, had contacted the Historical Society. Gaynor said O'Neill warned the group, saying that if the permit was used improperly again, the society would lose the permit. Long Beach postal clerks were told to keep a close watch on such permit use.
Roberta Fiore, past president of the Historical Society, said, "We made a justifiable error. We were being benevolent to [the League of Women Voters]."
City cleared in museum bid allegations
After a four-month investigation by the Nassau County Office of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs, the City of Long Beach has been cleared of any wrongdoing regarding the bid or award process involving the renovations of the Long Beach Historical Society building.
Allegations of improprieties surfaced last October, after the bid to renovate the Historical Society building was awarded to Matthew Adamo, husband of Karen Adamo, the society's president.
According to Crowe, Deegan, Dickerson & Benrubi, LLP, which investigated on behalf of the county's Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs office, the firm "has found that the city's actions were in compliance with all applicable law, rules and regulations."
The renovation was funded by a Community Development Block Grant, distributed by Nassau County from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. To date, Adamo has received $28,399 from the grant for work already completed. A city official said the account has funds readily available for additional work.
The bid for the restoration project was $49,500, and was originally sent out in October 2000, but went unanswered. Two additional bids were put out in April and July 2001, and Adamo was the sole bidder.
However, the investigation's findings did not put one former trustee, who filed a petition against the Historical Society on Sept. 3, at ease. While the city was cleared, that still doesn't answer most of Ronald Paganini's petition claims, he charged.
Paganini petitioned the State Board of Education to remove Karen Adamo and trustees Liz Allerhand, CaroleAnne Shahda Geraci and Roberta Fiore, citing "gross misconduct" on their part before and after the controversial bid was awarded.
"This is business," he added, "It's not personal."
It wasn't the hiring of Adamo that bothered him, Paganini said. His concern stemmed from the amount of work versus the amount of money allotted. A historical building must be restored in a proper and specific manner, he said. In the middle of construction, Paganini said, Adamo proposed changes in the project. (For example, Paganini claims, the original $20,000 paint job was changed to a $7,000 job.) The changes would cost the society more money and benefit the contractor, Paganini charged. Despite objections, he said, Adamo, Fiore, Allerhand and Geraci accepted the changes.
The changes, in Paganini' opinion, were wrong, and were made, he alleges, after Adamo began running out of money for the project.
After everything is said and done, Paganini said he would just like to either see the original work completed or have the society get its money's worth in construction.
Anger over 'canceled' election
Historical Society officials are also disputing charges made by a member that they illegally canceled an election for new officers recently.
Joseph Marron said that he expected an election to be held when he attended the Long Beach Historical Society's annual meeting last month. The meeting came and went, but the election was never held.
"There is no more effective way for elected officers of an organization to retain power than to cancel scheduled elections," Marron charged in a letter to the Herald.
According to Marron, the society's charter and bylaws require the trustees to hold an election to replace retiring trustees. During the meeting, Marron wrote, the trustees refused to allow nominations from the floor.
Adamo, Marron wrote, "then proceeded to speak about the growing membership, the increased workload due to the Society's many activities, the extensive work done by the retiring trustees, and the need to bring in 'new blood.' Sounds like clear and compelling reasons for holding an election to replace the retiring trustees!"
But Adamo charged that Marron is "totally incorrect and misinformed." Adamo said new bylaws were enacted last summer, and, she claimed, the society sent a letter 30 days prior to the meeting informing members that an election would not be held.
She said that according to the new bylaws, the society must have a minimum of six trustees but cannot have more than 13. That bylaw, she said, gives the Board of Trustees the "option" of choosing how many trustees there should be.
Adamo explained that the bylaws simply state that an election is to be held at the annual meeting -- if there is an election. It does not state that an election must be held every year, she said. Also, nominees must meet specific criteria before becoming a trustee: they must be an active member of the historical society committee, and a member for at least one year.
