The Town of North Hempstead board voted 4-2 along party lines to appoint Democratic town attorney John Riordan as town supervisor on Tuesday night to fill out the term of Jon Kaiman, who recently resigned the post.
“I truly believe there are two distinct roles of supervisor and deputy supervisor that have made the town run well,” said Democratic Councilman Thomas Dwyer at Tuesday night’s board meeting.
Town Deputy Supervisor Chris Senior had assumed the role of acting supervisor after Kaiman resigned on Sept. 23 to accept a post as Long Island storm recovery czar in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration.
But Democratic council members said they believed the town needed both a supervisor and a deputy supervisor.
“I believe this is a very sensitive time for us in preparing the budget,” said Democratic Councilwoman Anna Kaplan. “This job is too big for one person.”
Senior is working on preparing a final version of the 2014 town budget based on the preliminary budget submitted by Kaiman on the day he left office.
Republicans on the board opposed Riordan’s appointment.
Republican Councilwoman Dina De Giorgio questioned the move to appoint Riordan, who would be a voting member of the board as a result of his appointment by the board. As deputy supervisor who automatically succeeded Kaiman, Senior cannot vote..
“It’s unclear to me why we would need a voting supervisor at this point in the year,” De Giorgio said.
De Giorgio is running for town supervisor in the November election against Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck).
De Giorgio said she wasn’t consulted on the Riordan appointment and asked if the decision had been made by the four board Democrats on Monday night.
Senior said the four Democrats had jointly proposed putting the resolution for Riordan’s appointment on the board agenda.
Dwyer said the Democrats had met on Monday night but said they didn’t have De Giorgio’s phone number to contact her.
Republican Councilman Angelo Ferrara said he was consulted by the Democrats on Monday night. But he said he had reservations about the appointment despite the fact that he thinks “very highly” of Riordan.
“I’m a little bit cynical. The concern I have with all this is that it’s happening so fast,” Ferrara said.
He said the only two reasons he thought the Democrats would make the move would be to have a supermajority to approve a bond issue or to override the tax cap.
Democratic Councilwoman Viviana Russell said she also believed the roles of supervisor and deputy supervisor were too much for one person during the “critical time” of budget review. She told Ferrara she knows of no bond issue coming up for consideration.
Ferrara asked whether Kaiman’s proposed budget exceeded the tax cap. Senior said it did not.
Earlier in the meeting, the board voted to formally receive Kaiman’s preliminary 2014 town budget. That budget calls for a year-to year increase of 1.98 percent to $122,847,383. The tax levy would increase by 1.65 percent year-to-year – within the state’s mandated 1.66 percent increase this year – to $72,045,552.
After the vote was taken to appoint Riordan, he briefly addressed the board.
“There’s no hidden agenda and I will perform my duties to the benefit of the people in the Town of North Hempstead,” he said.
After the meeting, Riordan recalled last year’s hurricane and said it is important to have a full staff to coordinate town operations in any emergencies.
Prior to succeeding Richard Finkel as town attorney in August 2012, Riordan was a Nassau County Surrogate’s Court Judge for 10 years. He had served for seven years as Nassau County District Court judge for seven years before that.
“I’ll deal with things as they come up,” Riordan said. “Certainly I’m honored to be selected.”
