Long Beach to offer contracts to four senior managers

The Long Beach City Council has voted, 3-1, to offer contracts of up to three years to four senior administrators, a deal that has historically been reserved only for the city manager.

Councilman John Bendo voted against the proposal, saying it could “burden” future councils with administrators they did not want. Council member Tina Posterli was absent.

The council’s action came at its Dec. 6 meeting, after a public hearing. Currently, only City Manager Donna Gayden has a contract. She was hired in 2020 to help the city climb out of a deep financial hole. In November 2021, Gayden signed a new contract that extends through the end of next year.

Last month, Council President Karen McInnis appointed a committee to study a possible replacement for Gayden should she decide to leave when her current contract expires. Gayden has not indicated that she has any plans to leave.

At last week’s meeting, one attendee, Long Beach resident Eileen Hession, questioned the need for the contracts, which will be offered to Police Commissioner Ron Walsh, Comptroller Inna Reznik, Corporation Council Rich Barrios and Public Works Commissioner Joseph Febrizio.

Council member Roy Lester, who, along with McInnis and Councilwoman Liz Treston, voted for the contracts, responded: “It’s not fair for them to be fired without notice of any kind. If I were a city resident, I wouldn’t want to see anyone gotten rid of who knows the job so well.”

The terms of the contracts have not yet been made public, and Walsh, Reznik, Barrios and Febrizio will not be required to sign them.

Walsh said he would wait to see what his looked like before deciding on whether to sign it. “I’m happy with my job,” he said. “I’d like to look at the terms and conditions.”

Walsh was hired in December 2020, after serving in the Nassau County Police Department for 28 years. He needed a waiver from the New York State Civil Service Commission to allow him to work for Long Beach while continuing to collect his Nassau County pension.

Mike Delury, a former member of the Long Beach City Council, said he favored the contracts.

He noted the large number of public works projects that are under way in the city, and said he would not like to see Febrizio replaced abruptly.

Frank McQuade, a veteran lawyer in Long Beach, said he opposed the idea of contracts. “A contract is hard to break,” he said, even if the person in the position is not working out. “I see bad things coming. I’m surprised (the City Council) did it.”

Robert Kennedy, the mayor of the Village of Freeport, said that only the village’s three top police officers — the chief, the assistant chief and the deputy chief — have contracts. Kennedy, a former president of the Nassau County Village Officials Association, said that contracts for administrators are rare in New York state.

Rockville Centre mayor Francis Murray said that only the village clerk is appointed for one year. “That isn’t even a contract,” Murray said.

Bendo said he could not vote for the contract “as written.”

“We could burden a future council with people they don’t want,” he said. “I could see a less scrupulous council appointing their friends a couple of weeks before” they leave office.

Gayden said she is required to hire the administrators, who are then interviewed by the members of the City Council. “We want a cohesive team here,” she said.