New Hyde Park Village Board Creates New Zoning Board Secretary Post

The New Hyde Park Village Board held a brief meeting Tuesday evening at the village hall discussing a variety of local issues including the creation of a new position with the village’s zoning board of appeals.

During a public hearing before the regular meeting, trustee Robert Lofaro explained that the village’s zoning board of appeals had never had a secretary, necessitating the meeting in order to amend the village’s local law and municipal code to appoint a secretary.

“We have adopted this law and we now established a zoning board secretary,” Lofaro said following the unanimous vote.

The new secretarial position is an appointed one which will be voted on yearly in April.

“We do not have the person for this title as of yet,” Lofaro said, “however, now the zoning board can look to appoint one.”

According to the New Hyde Park Village Clerk Cathryn Hillmann, the request for a zoning board secretary must first go in front of Nassau County Civil Service for approval, which can take up to 2 months for a decision.

“It then goes back to the village board for a final approval and to determine how much will be in the budget for either a full-time or part-time secretary,” she said. “We don’t know yet if the hiring for this position will come from within or if we will be hiring from a submission of resumes.”

There was also no mention of an exact amount of salary the person would receive, but would be consistent with civil service requirements.

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Residential Issues

During the board’s public portion of the meeting, resident Frank Guarino complained about “fast” parking meters and taxi cabs that are taking up too many spaces on the streets.

“Some taxis are parking without a voucher and taking up several spaces,” he said.

The deputy mayor replied by saying that there is no selective enforcement within the village and if taxi cabs have a voucher that can be viewed then it is legal for them to park.

“This has been a chronic complaint, but if a voucher is displayed between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. then everything is fine,” Lofaro said. “But a ticket can be issued if no voucher is seen. Sometimes meters run fast and we are looking into that, but our goal is compliance not revenue.”

Another resident questioned if a specific list of what is and is not recyclable could be included in the village newsletter, the next edition of which is .

Village superintendent of public works Thomas Gannon said there is one thing that is always unacceptable for recycling – “Glossy magazines do not belong in the recyclable bin.”

Lofaro noted that he puts all his plastic together to be recycled, including newspapers.

Starting in June, village board meetings will only be held once a month throughout September.

The next meeting of the New Hyde Park Village Board will be on Tuesday, June 19 at 8 p.m. at the .