East Rockaway administrator resigns

John Mirando, East Rockaway’s village administrator for the past three years, has resigned.

“It has been a pleasure working with the whole board and the wonderful village staff,” said Mirando, who lives in Rockville Centre. “I loved working with [late Mayor] Ed Sieban. “I really didn’t want to leave — I thought I would be here until I retired. It’s a wonderful community, my home away from home.”

Mirando has accepted a job as director of the Public Works Department in Sea Cliff. He was also recently appointed to the board of directors of the Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Education Center.

One of the main reasons he is leaving, Mirando said, is because “Trustees [Fran] Lenahan and [Bruno] Romano had marching orders from their political leader not to extend my contract,” which, Mirando said, would have been renewed had Sieban been in command. He explained that he was not referring to the village’s political party, the Pride Party, nor Deputy Mayor Richard Meagher, but other parties that, he said, are really in control of the local government — the national Republican party.

He and Sieban, he said, were discussing his contract, which expired in August, in the days before Sieban died on July 3. “I proposed to the remaining trustees that I would like to stay, and Deputy Mayor Meagher was in favor of it ... but Lenahan and Bruno had no intention of extending my agreement.

“I was surprised,” Mirando added. “I enjoyed working with all of them.” And, he said, he had not taken a raise in a year and a half.

He will step down as administrator on Oct. 1 and begin his job in Sea Cliff on Oct. 4.