Observer_1984-07-25; East Rockaway/Lynbrook Observer

              Official
Newspaper
INCORPORATED VILLAGE
East Rockaway
SCHOOL DISTRICT
INCORPORATED VILUGE
Lynbrook
SCHOOL DISTRICT
"THE GOOD NEIGHBOR NEWSPAPER " mm miimms
E . R, Public Library
477 Atlantic Ave.
East Rockaway, NY 11518
H « w l « t t P o M
Since 1967 by Mailed Subscription
Executive Offices: Seiffert Building, 2787 Long Beach Road, Oceanside, N Y 11572|
Post Office Box A, East Rockaway, N Y 11518 (516) 764-2500
"YOUR VOICE IN THE
COMMUNITY" USPS 165080
VOL. 3 2 NO. 36 Wednesday, July 2 5 , 1 9 84 25c PER COPY
Financial Crisis Forseen
Seven Months Ago The $90,000 shortfall
recently discovered by the
East Rockaway Board of
Education was actually for-seen
more than seven
months ago when educa-tional
supralies for the school
district were frozen at cur-rent
levels.
It was also disclosed that
during the period of Sep-tember,
1983 and April,
1984, the bookkeeping of
the District's funds were so
behind schedule that Super-intendent
Maiden and the
Board of Education had no
clear accounting of the Dis-t
r i c t ' s r e v e n u e s and
expenses. It was only after
several months of hard work
on the part of the part-time
business manager that the
District now employs that
t h e b o o k k e e p i n g was
brought up to date.
Provisions were believed
to be made in the recently-passed
1984-85 budget for
the $23,000 underestimation
in social security payments,
disclosed one source who
asked to remain anony-
12 YEARS OF SERVICE. Celebrating the 12th Anniver-sary
of the Nathan Hale Senior Citizen Center are, left to
right, John Labarbera, Lynbrook Mayor William Geier,
Michael Fortunato, President of the Men's Club, Lynbrook
Trustee Eugene Scarpato, John Gentile, Secretary of the*
Nathan Hale Senior Citizen Center, former Assemblyman
Dean Skelos, candidate for the New York State Senate, and
Robert Becker, Republican Executive Leader of Lynbrook
and President of the Nathan Hale Senior Citizens Center.
Lynbrook Village Board Report
Fireman's Parade Over,
Opera Goers In
by Mildred Roemer
The special June exhibit
of E.R. firemen "on parade"
in our revolving exhibit area
downstairs in the Museum
has vanished, and two high
style opera goers are in their
place. The lady's gown,
dated 1870 and one of the
Museum's prize possessions,
was donated by Mrs. Jose-phine
Blesser of Lynbrook.
It was worn by a lawyer's
wife in Brooklyn, where so
many East Rockawayites
first saw daylight. The man's
dress suit was donated by
Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman of
Oceanside. This too was
worn by a Brook lynite, a
banker. The Hoffman's also
donated a fine lady's long
skirted suit. The high hat the
man is wearing was donated
by Edmond Smith, formerly
of East Roackaway. There
are also old opera librettos
and photos of singers from
ihe "Golden Age" of Opera.
Many summer school
children have been visiting
the Museum by appoint-ment
during the week. The
Museum has hosted five dif-ferent
Elmont schools, and
one from Roosevelt so far.
The boys may miss the fire-men
on parade, but there is
the old man drawn pumper
to marvel at and the fire
gong made from the rim of a
railroad train that used to
hang on the limb of a strong
tree. In case of fire, the rim
used to be struck with a
mallet and the volunteers
would dash to their post,
even as they do today, but
with more modern appara-tus.
Mayor William Geier and
the Lynbrook Village Board
approved a new contract
between the Village and the
PBA at its meeting on Mon-day,
July 23. The new con-tract
calls for a straight
salary increase of 8.65% the
first year and 8.60% for the
following two years.
"We are very happy with
the negotiation of this con-tract"
stated Mayor Geier.
"While at first blush the
numbers may seem a bit
high, there are no increases
m fringe benefits which hide
the real costs of contracts."
Mayor Geier also explained
a new retirement system
which will save the Village
over $1,000 per officer who
decides to enter into the sys-tem.
"Overall," said the
Mayor, "this is a very fair
contract, both for the Vil-lage
and for the men."
The Board set Monday,
September 17 as the date for
a public hearing on an
amendment to the Village
Fire Code. "We are suggest-ing
some pretty sweeping
changes," advised Mayor
Geier, "so all interested per-sons
should make a point to
attend the public hearing."
Proposed changes include
mandatory smoke detectors
in multiple dwellings and
prohibiting kerosene heaters
in commerical establishments.
The recent falling of air
conditioning ducts in the
Lynbrook Library promp-ted
a lengthy discussion of
the situation. The Board
d i r e c t e d V i l l a g e C l e rk
Shuermann to order an
investigation by E.F. Hof-f
m a n C o . , w h i c h is
employed by the Village to
maintain Village properties,
to see if the- building is safe
for occupancy. Trustee
Maurfce Omstein stated that
the problem is taking an
unusually long time to be
resolved. "The ducts fell
down on July 2," he said,
"and here it is July 23 and
we're still only talking about
It. The library should have
been i n s p e c t e d imme-diately."
Mayor Geier asked
for a written report on his
desk by noon Tuesday, July
The Board put out for bid
their 1984 Road Improve-ment
Program, using funds
accumulated last year in the
amount of $69,546 and
adding that to this year's
total of $84,484. The funds
will go to repairing curbing
and streets, and the repaving
of Stewart Street from
Whitehall to Hendrickson,
as well as the intersection of
Bixley Heath and Surrey
Commons. In addition, the
Board approved a Capital
Note Renewal of $10,000
and approved the transfer of
funds within the Recreation
Department for the pur-chase
of a new vehicle. The
B o a r d t a b l e d motions
regarding floor mainte-nance,
the release-of cable
T V construction escrow,
and the matter of retaining
an insurance consultant,
who would devise a com-prehensive
plan for all the
Village's insurance needs so
that the contracts could go
out for bid.
The Board gave its appro-val
to allow the Lynbrook
(Continued on Page 12)
mous!^ However, a miscalcula-tion
necessitated its inclu-sion
in the items added to
the 1984-85 budget last
Monday night by the Board
of Education,
Several people stated that
the underestimation of
social security payments and
state aid for the 1983-84
period was the fault of John
Duenges, former Business
Manager of the East Rock-away
School District, Mr.
Duenges was discharged by
the District in December-
January of last year; he
remained on the payroll on a
"call" basis until March,
1984.
In a telephone interview
with the Observer, Mr.
Duenges criticized those
who blame him for the cur-rent
crisis. "It's easy to
blame me when I'm not
there to defend myself,"
Duenges stated. "When I left
the District, there was no
indication that there were
any financial problems
f o r t h c o m i n g , " he added.
The only area which Mr.
Duenges believed to be
behind schedule was the
computer system for the
business office, v^Wch he
thought "would be ready
sometime in January."
Only state aid expendi-tures
were handled by the
(Continued on Page 12)
Transportation Aid Clarified
T h e East R o c k a w ay
School District has not
actually lost state aid fund-ing
for transportation, as
had been stated by the Ea.st
Rockaway Board of Educa-tion
at its meeting of July 16,
The actual amount received,
$820. was less than the
$8,000 to $10,000 originally
anticipated.
The dispute arose over the
amount of penalties incurred
by the District becau.se of its
late filing. Special legisla-tion
enacted by State Sena-tor
Carol Berman and
Assemblvman Arthur Kre-mer
exempted School Dis-trict
19 from any penalities
for late filing; it was there-fore
hoped that the penalties
would be sizeable, increas-ing
the revenues that the
District would ultimately
receive.
Board President. Richard
Meagher stated at the July
16 meeting that the Board
had anticipated almost
$ 1 0 , 0 0 0 in revenue for
transportation costs, but
that we would be receiving
only $820, The $9,180 dis-crepancy
amounted to a loss
in anticipated, not actual.
revenue^.
State Senator Berman
stated that she was pleased
to be able to help the District
in this matter. She added
that it was not uncommon
for school districts to be late
in filing their state forms,
and that she frequently lends
her assiiJtance in this sort of
action.
In other matters, the
Board has not as of this time
concluded negotiations with
the teachers over their new
contract. Provisions still
must be made in the budget
to accomodate this increase.
MANY YEARS OF SERVICE. Jim Carroll (left) and Past
Commander Fred Schwartz (right) of the Howard Lathrop
Post No. 2307, now of Port Charlotte, Fla. present citation
to Past Commander Robert Tipton for thirty years continu-ous
membership in the Lynbrook V.F.W.