After four months, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena had three of her seven recommendations appointed to the town’s Board of Ethics during last Thursday’s Town Board meeting.
Dr. Isma Chaudry, who is a current holdover from the previous administration, will finish her new term on Dec. 31, 2023. Chaudry had previously been serving on an expired term. Westbury/New Cassel NAACP President Robin Bolling and Chabad of Mineola Rabbi Anchelle Perl are each taking a vacant spot on the board and will serve until Dec. 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
DeSena’s four other recommendations—Derek Chan, president of Greater Hudson Financial; Robert Reilly, former assistant dean at Fordham University’s School of Law; Melissa Slobin, speech language pathologist for Manhasset Public Schools; and Francisco Vazquez, senior counsel to Norton Rose Fullbright—did not get appointed by the end of the meeting.
For a brief moment, Vazquez was appointed to the board following a vote from Councilwoman Mariann Dalimonte that gave the three Republicans DeSena, David Adhami and Dennis Walsh the majority but later re-opened the resolution on Vazquez’s appointment.
Dalimonte said that she “voted in error” after asking for and receiving an answer from Town Attorney John Chiara.
Dalimonte said she was under the impression that Vazquez would be appointed to the board and take up a vacant term. But after speaking with Chiara and Deputy Supervisor Joseph Scalero during a brief recess, she learned that he would take the term of current Chair Joseph Sciame.
“After speaking with the deputy supervisor, I realized I actually replaced someone who did not want to be replaced, so this is no indication against Mr. Vazquez’s character,” Dalimonte said. “I make a motion to reconsider.”
Following the re-opened vote, Vazquez was rejected by the board after a 4-3 vote along party lines.
DeSena, who jokingly said the Democrats have “to get their votes straight,” had minutes before said that Dalimonte was “re-coached” into changing her vote.
Dalimonte refuted the claim by saying she misunderstood the answer given by Chiara and got further clarification following the vote. The councilwoman added it was “confusing” that DeSena would support Vazquez’s approval because she believed that the supervisor wanted Sciame on the committee.
“From what I’m hearing is that you wanted him [Sciame] to remain on the committee, so I don’t know why you would put someone in this position,” Dalimonte said. “That’s even more confusing. My mistake is taking someone off that you want on the committee, so I’m fixing it for everyone.”
Right now, the town’s Board of Ethics is made up of Bolling, Chaudry, Perl, Sciame, Richard Kestenbaum, Bette Leong, Hon. Richard Kestenbaum, Rev. Charles Vogeley and Rabbi Robert Widom. Widom and Vogeley are currently inactive members of the board, according to town officials.
Of those seven, only Bolling, Chaudry and Perl are serving on defined terms. The remaining four are serving unexpired terms and can be removed at any time, which Walsh alluded to during the meeting.
“In my opinion, we have an Ethics Board that is beholden to the majority,” Walsh said.
