New Hyde Park trustees had high praise for the work of Ruth Kernan, secretary to the village planning board, on the eve of her retirement at Tuesday night’s village board meeting.
New Hyde Park Deputy Mayor Robert Lofaro said during her nine years with the village, Kernan had taken its Buildings Department “from being disorganized to being very organized” in issuing building permits.
He said her organizational skills, which included putting all department records on computer, enabled the village board to make Thomas Gannon superintendent of both the village Buildings Department and the Department of Public Works. Those jobs were previously separate positions.
“This is a person who’s not only given residents good service, but she’s helped us save money as well,” Lofaro said.
Village Trustee Lawrence Montreuil, village board liaison to the Buildings Department, said Kernan’s organizational skills had been a “tremendous help” to that department.
“I know I’ve made some pretty crazy document requests and you’ve always provided them,” Montreuil said.
Kernan thanked Montreuil for always treating her “very professionally” and thanked Gannon for his support in a job she never planned to keep as long as she did.
“When I took the position, I thought I would be here for two years and then I’d be off on my merry way,” she said. “But it turned into nine years.”
Kernan, who is set to take retirement at the end of the month, said she would miss interacting with the residents.
“I loved everyone who walked through the door,” she said.
In other developments:
• Lofaro praised the work of Janet Bevers, coordinator for the New Hyde Park Street Fair, for her efforts in helping to organize last Saturday’s street fair on Jericho Turnpike.
“Most folks don’t realize how much is involved in a street fair with 20,000 people,” he said.
He also thanked Village Clerk Kate Hillman and Gannon for their efforts, particularly praising the DPW for cleaning up and reopening Jericho at day’s end.
“It’s pretty awesome how these guys have got this thing down to a science,” Lofaro said.
• Lofaro said the village is “moving along” with the current phase of its local road improvement project and reported the state Department of Transportation is repairing curbs on Jericho Turnpike in the first stage of thast repaving project.
He said curb work on south 12th Street had been completed and work was now beginning on 10th Street and 11th Street.
Engineering consultants Dvirka & Bartilucci is overseeing the project to make sure the work being done is according to village code, he said.
Westbury-based Roadwork Ahead is doing the construction work on the village road improvement project, a $1.3 million project. The board is issuing bonds to cover the cost.
• Residents expressed concerns about the continuing problem of noise from low-flying helicopters.
Lofaro said he thought alternate commercial helicopter routes along the north and south shores of Long Island would alleviate the problem of heavy helicopter traffic on a central east-west course that follows the Long Island Rail Road main line.
“We were under the impression that the FAA had implemented new paths over the water and the main line would be abandoned, but that doesn’t seem to be the case,” Lofaro said.
He suggested that residents complain to their federal representatives and ask them what they’re doing about the problem.
Resident Steven Sewell said he had recently called Sen. Charles Schumer’s office and was told their office could not regulate the Federal Aviation Authority.
