Letters to the Editor

All voted ‘aye’

To the Editor:

I must take exception to a letter to the editor in which Village Trustee Fran Lenahan stated — among his other misstatements — that “the term limit law that was in place for decades was repealed in 2005 by Deputy Mayor Richard Meagher” (“Supports term limits,” Dec. 16-22). This letter repeats his campaign theme that I singlehandedly was the cause of that action.

It is correct that a repeal of a 1968 term limit law did take place in 2005, but it was the unanimous decision of the five-person board then in place: Mayor Joseph Carrigan, myself as deputy mayor, and trustees Ed Sieban, Bruno Romano and Irene Villacci. Noting that the issue had been under study for more than two years, then-mayor Carrigan was quoted as saying “And the more we thought about it, we began to believe we should eliminate term limits and leave the decision up to the voters. If the people don’t think you’re doing a good job, then they can just vote you out of office.”

Trustee Bruno Romano read a statement which said, in part, “With many of the New York state villages without term limits, it is about time that East Rockaway update their local law to abolish term limits.”

I read a statement, saying in part “… discussion with my colleagues and review of research from the village attorney and from NYCOM have suggested to me that term limits at the village level are unnecessary, virtually unknown at the village level, and redundant … to the best of our knowledge, only one other village in Nassau County, Great Neck Estates, has term limits. Overwhelmingly, term limits are not used in New York villages to artificially force turnover. Village elections instead determine how many terms elected officials can serve.”

At the conclusion of the hearing in 2005, Irene Villacci made a motion to adopt the local law, which was seconded by Trustee Romano. The motion passed, and all voted ‘aye.’

Richard J. Meagher
Deputy Mayor
East Rockaway

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Lenahan has his vote

To the Editor:

Outrageous is an understatement. After his almost three decades in office, it’s shocking to see how Deputy Mayor Richard Meagher thinks our tax dollars should be spent.