A standing-room-only crowd of citizens, family and dignitaries watched the new council elect Hennessy as its new president, and Sofield as its new vice president. The new council gave a 3-2 advantage to the Republicans for the first time in memory. Lenny Remo and Denis Kelly made up the Democratic minority.
Another familiar Long Beach face, Denise Ford, took office as a Nassau County Legislator in a separate ceremony. Ford narrowly defeated Democrat incumbent Michael Zapson, himself a former council president.
Superintendent of the Department of Recreation Bob Carroll decided it was time for him to leave his post in late January, as he announced his resignation after 47 years with the department.
His impact is almost impossible to measure, former city manager Harold Porr III said at the time. He is recreation in Long Beach. His imprint will remain on the City of Long Beach for many, many decades. Ê
Carroll-s tenure at the department saw a dramatic increase in revenue generated by the beach park, from around $250,000 to nearly $2 million three years ago. He also gets credit for joining with the Long Island Rail Road to develop a package providing train users from the city with special rates to get to the beach. That alone, said Carroll, generates more than $250,000 a year for the city.
As expected, the position of Director of Operations for the city was unanimously eliminated by the council. The decision was the first major move by the new Republican-led council to eliminate what they perceived to be the remnants of the Democrat machine within the city.
The position, created several years ago, gave the holder many of the same powers as the city manager without any of the accountability, and was seen as political patronage for the Democratic leadership.
January also saw the resignation of Porr as city manager, and the appointment of Dr. Glen Spiritis as his replacement. Porr moved on to the city manager position in Bronxville, N.Y.
The City of Long Beach is at a serious crossroads and in dire need of a talented and energetic leader, Hennessy said. Dr. Spiritis is thoroughly familiar with our city and its government, and I am certain that he will hit the ground running. The council is confident that his leadership will move us toward a future where those we serve will reap the benefits of the efficiencies created by this new administration.
Spiritis was deputy city manager and director of planning for Long Beach in the 1980-s and was the commissioner of the Village of Hempstead-s Community Redevelopment Agency before becoming Long Beach-s city manager.
Along with a new City Council and city manager, a new corporation counsel for the city was named in January. Charles Theofan replaced William Holst, who was dismissed in December 2003.
Prior to his appointment, Theofan had represented Hennessy in a wrongful termination suit against the city which was settled in December 2003. Theofan was also appointed counsel to the Zoning Board of Appeals without accepting two salaries.
Superbowl Sunday saw the revisiting of a longtime Long Beach tradition, the Polar Bear swim. Each morning before the Superbowl, the Long Beach Polar Bear Club and anyone crazy enough to join them takes a quick dip into the frigid Atlantic Ocean. The fact that the water was icy and the sand was mixed with snow didn-t seem to bother anyone.
The swim, which is an annual fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, raised more than $60,000 and this year was dedicated to P.J. Bradley, a Long Beach police officer who died in September 2003.
February
The second month of the year started with the approval of Glen Spiritis as city manager, and the disapproval of some young swimmers of the damage to the pool roof at the recreation center.
Jackie Smith, 13, and some of her teammates from the Tigersharks, the rec center-s swim team, came forward and expressed their disappointment with reports that the pool would not be opened for as many as 18 months.
The damage, however, was not as severe as previously thought, and after changing engineering firms, the pool opened in July.
ÊThree months after announcing his pending retirement as Long Beach-s superintendent of schools, Dr. Ronald L. Friedman accepted the superintendent-s post in Great Neck.
ÊÊÊÊÊÊIn November 2003, Friedman blamed his departure from Long Beach on a quirk in the state-s retirement system that decreases the value of his pension if he works as a superintendent beyond the school year. But Great Neck, a more affluent district on Long Island-s North Shore, offered him a salary that made up for the difference.
I-m going to miss Long Beach a lot, Friedman said. After five years I-ve developed a strong comfort level here. I know the ins and outs and how to meet them. This is an easy place to feel comfortable because the people are so good.
A Long Beach man with a fondness for wigs and phony glasses was sentenced to 48 years in prison for a string of armed robberies of four Nassau County Radio Shacks during June and July 2001, Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon announced in February.
Tito Greene, 27, of 90 E. Hudson St. was convicted on four counts of second-degree robbery on Nov. 5, 2003.
He would go in wearing various disguises, Assistant D.A. Roxanne Paquette said. Different hats, dreadlocks, different glasses. He would go and get batteries, and then demand the money. Paquette added that Greene was currently serving a 41-45 year sentence for similar robberies of Radio Shacks in Queens.
The Long Beach High School boys swim team captured their sixth Nassau County championship in nine years behind three first-place finishes and a boatload of top-10 performances.
All the kids did great, said Coach Woody Davis. We might not have as many superstars as some of the other teams, but we-ve got a lot of outstanding swimmers and they came through.
the boys wrestling team got almost as far, finishing second in the Nassau County tournament, though three of the team-s members, P.J. Gillespie (96 pounds), Tom Moriarty (140) and Jose Rodriguez (145) claimed county championships in their respective weight classes. Gillespie would later finish third in the state tournament, and was named to the all-state team.
February also marked the beginning of tensions between Spiritis and the city-s workforce, tensions that would last for months. The city laid off four employees, including three from the building department, with the promise of more to come. The city is sitting on a $10 million-plus deficit right now, Spiritis said. We have to solve the problem that was handed to us.
The fired workers were members of the Civil Service Employees Association, which vowed to reinstate its workers. The Long Beach Unit of CSEA is battling to win back the jobs of employees who will be laid off this month and to prevent any more layoffs, said CSEA Executive Vice President Colleen Silvia. CSEA will leave no stone unturned in its effort to protect every member.
March
The month of March came in with a lion of a discovery by the city that there had been more than $1 million in city money spent on health insurance for more than 20 dead people and others who were ineligible for coverage, including part-time employees.
Councilman Denis Kelly said that the insurance inaccuracies were just another example of the problems the previous administration left the city with. As each day passes, we continue to uncover serious irregularities in record-keeping and financial management, he said. The utter disarray of financial records is a significant obstacle to the task of achieving solvency for this city.
The City Council passed a resolution requiring zoning board appointees to be approved by a council majority.
We didn-t think the city was moving in any direction, Council President Jim Hennessy said. The city was just a hodgepodge of different developments and variances. We have the mechanism in place to put people who are qualified and have the best interest of the city at heart [on the board]. This a campaign promise fulfilled. It creates accountability.
The Long Beach School District took possession of its fleet of 20 brand-new compressed natural gas budgets that will phase out the diesel vehicles in the fleet. The district combined a bond issue with a federal grant for the purchase. The new buses are cleaner, and most importantly, quieter.
John Skudin was named the new Chief of Lifeguards for the city-s Beach Patrol after longtime lifeguard chief Steve Kohut announced his retirement. Skudin, who is the Head Coach for the men-s and women-s swim teams at St. John-s University, teaches physical education at the Brookhaven Elementary School in East Patchogue.
John brings an exceptional level of professionalism to the job, Hennessy said. We are fortunate to have him at the held of this vital department.
Kohut called it quits after 37 years of service to the city, as well as retiring from his position as a history teacher at Oceanside High School. Kohut had been chief for 26 of those years. He brought 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week dedication, from the day the beach opened to the day it closed, said Councilman Lenny Remo.
Kohut, who was also an adjunct professor at Nassau Community College said, I-ve been teaching for 33 years, I-ve been teaching at NCC for 27 years, and I-ve been chief 26 years. That-s almost 90 years. I think that-s enough.
March marked another departure, but one that raised a few eyebrows. Citing the right of the City Council to appoint its own leadership, John H. Laffey resigned as commissioner of the Long Beach Police Department, ending a 27-month tenure that saw major crime in the city drop 26 percent. He did little to hide that his resignation came after irreconcilable tensions with the new administration boiled over. I-m allowing them the opportunity to put their team together, in the best interests of the city, Laffey said.
He was succeeded on an interim basis by Lt. Thomas Sofield, the father of the City Council-s vice president, Thomas Sofield Jr., and Laffey-s professional rival.
The resignation raised hackles among the Republican council-s adversaries, who cried nepotism. I know that this [resignation] comes after significant pressure and an ultimatum from the city manager, acting at the direction of the new Coalition members of the City Council, Kelly said in a statement. The removal of Commissioner Laffey is unacceptable and contemptible ... [and] portends the worst from this new administration: patronage, cronyism, nepotism and ultimately corruption.
This is a dark day for the city of Long Beach, said Democratic City Councilman Leonard G. Remo. When a professional with the credentials of John Laffey leaves after just 27 months, I-m concerned for the stability of the department. Especially in changing times such as these.
John Laffey is one of the best commissioners this city has ever had, Spiritis countered. There was no pressure in any form. We regret that he is leaving, but we understand the reasons he is leaving. He agrees it is important for an administrator to have his own people in confidential positions.
