Rockville Centre mayor shuffles village administration positions

“The status quo is no longer working. We need new, progressive thinking in order to make Rockville Centre run more efficiently and effectively,” said Mayor Francis Murray. To that end he announced a number of organizational changes to village operations on Monday, including a search for a replacement for Village Administrator Frank Quigley.

Quigley, who has had the job since 2008, will be offered another, as yet undetermined, position, according to village spokesman Jeff Kluewer.

While a search for a new administrator is under way, Comptroller Michael Schussheim will take on the role of interim administrator. He has done so twice before, after the departures of Village Administrators Ron Wasson and Anthony Cancellieri.

Murray also appointed Cancellieri, who is a vice president of a lobbying and consulting firm established by former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, as a governmental management consultant. Cancellieri’s job will be to review Rockville Centre’s operating departments and finances and to develop a village planning document.

“I feel privileged to assist the mayor in any way I can during these difficult times for local government,” Cancellieri said in a press release.

In other changes announced this week, the village Water Department is now under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Works, and Harry Weed has been named DPW superintendent. John Thorp, first assistant chief of the Fire Department, is the DPW’s new deputy superintendent.

Anthony Iannone, the former Water Department superintendent, left the position in March. Former DPW Superintendent Tom Cardile now works in the village’s Engineering Department.