North New Hyde Park’s two civic associations have scrapped plans for a merger less than a week after officers proposed them, but changes are still on the table to administratively streamline the groups.
A conversation with an attorney revealed a merger would have cost the Lakeville Estates and North Lakeville Civic Associations too much in legal and administrative fees to be worth the stated benefits of unifying the groups and boosting participation, Lakeville Estates president Bill Cutrone said.
“It’s really not worth the expense to try to pursue something like that,” Cutrone said. “Our goal is to be united and to work better for the New Hyde Park area.”
Instead, the groups may amend their respective constitutions to make them essentially identical and bring the associations “more in sync,” Lakeville Estates President Betty Leong said.
At their Jan. 20 joint meeting, the groups’ officers proposed combining their two executive boards into a single board with six positions each, Cutrone said.
To the officers, a single group could give residents of the unincorporated area more clout in advocating for themselves, give leaders more time to recruit members and made accounting easier, the presidents said.
But some at the meeting were skeptical of the idea, Leong said, saying having only one group would dilute the amount of influence two groups can have over elected officials.
Combined with the cost of amending the groups’ bylaws and constitutions filed with the state, the lack of initial support “knocked the wind out of the sails,” Cutrone said.
Marianna Wohlgemuth, a former Lakeville Estates president who’s still involved with the group, said abandoning the merger was a good decision, adding that separate groups allow the two neighborhoods to address issues particular to them.
“Even though we live in such a microcosm, we may have different concerns,” Wohlgemuth said.
Wohlgemuth praised the idea of aligning the groups’ constitutions, saying the necessary changes would be minor, such as making the number of officers on each group’s executive board.
The groups have tasked a lawyer with determining what specific changes need to be made, Cutrone said.
Both constitutions need changes, he said, because the state laws regulating civic associations have changed since they were chartered in 1941 and group records from that time are scant.
“We’re just going to update everything so that whatever laws apply today, we’re going to apply moving forward,” Cutrone said.
The two boards will discuss the alignment next month, Leong said, and present the idea to members at the joint March meeting for a possible vote.
In the meantime, the civics will continue to work on beautification projects, some of which the groups fund jointly, she said.
They are also working to boost membership by communicating through their Facebook page and newsletter, and will knock on doors to recruit when the weather warms up, Cutrone said.
“Did you get my roads cleaned up yet? That’s more important to me,” he said.
