Manhasset civic association presidents are not happy with the services provided by the Town of North Hempstead and, in at least once case, are considering of incorporation as a village as an alternative.
Bayview Civic Association President John Minogue said his civic has begin exploring the requirements to incorporate — a process that he said appears daunting.
“It is such a monumental task to get all the work done. With all the headaches that comes with incorporating a village, I just don’t think it’s worth it,” he said.
Minogue said the civic association has been considering the idea of incorporation for a while because he said the Town of North Hempstead is failing to fulfill its commitments to residents.
“They have done an inadequate job with traffic enforcement over the years,” Minogue said. “ And that has always been an issue without the 3rd Precinct.”
It shows that civics aren’t happy with the town, Minogue said.
Minogue said the civics’ dissatisfaction with the town prompted them to invite an attorney who specializes in village incorporation to the March meeting of the Council of Greater Manhasset Civic Associations Inc., an umbrella group for Manhasset civic associations.
Rachel Scelfo, an attorney with Certilman Balin who specializes in land use and zoning practices, spoke at lengths with civic presidents about the benefits and downsides of pursuing incorporation, Minogue said.
Scelfo, he said, told the civic leaders that to incorporate that supporters would need to get petitions for incorporation signed by at least 20 percent of residents or homeowners. The residents and homeowners must also represent at least 500 regular inhabitants and their homes must represent at least 50 percent of the assessed valuation of the property.
He told the civic presidents that 10 villages have dissolved since 2010 and one has incorporated in that same period — Village of Mastic Beach.
“I’ve lived in Manhasset for over 30 years,” Minogue said. “I came from an incorporated village in Nassau County and saw the benefits of living in one of those places.”
But a lot of people aren’t that well educated on how villages work and there are misconceptions on what can and can’t be done, he said.
“Some of these places are self contained and self governing with playgrounds and their own police,” Minogue said. “And that is the attractive thing about having one’s own village.”
Minogue said he doesn’t think going through the strenuous process and failing is worth the time.
Mastic Beach, the only village incorporated since 2010 is proposing a 150 percent hike in taxes after a $4000,000 budgeting error, according to a Newsday report.
“Even after hearing all of that and having being involved with the civics for 20 years, I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it and it’s not happening,” Minogue said.
“It’s not going to happen because it takes so much effort and it takes someone like me to convince them of the work is worth it,” Minogue added. “And people like me work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and it takes tens and hundreds of hours to get done.”
The Bayview Civic Association was founded in 1995 and has since grown to more than 100 paying members, Minogue said.
He said the civic association has led numerous initiatives in the town from building the park across Town Hall, installed street signs and trash cans around Manhasset.
“The real message out of the meeting is that different civics considering this and there are major advantages to incorporation but it hasn’t gotten that far yet and first thing was to take it to the civic association to educate their members.” Minogue said.
