Deirdre Dolan is urging the New Hyde Park Fire Department to put agendas online before meetings after the board created a policy that restricts public comment during open meetings to items on the agenda.
“One has to wonder what the motivation of certain board members was,” Dolan wrote in a letter to the editor to Blank Slate Media. “The board’s startling move continues to show its incompetence through its failure to collectively understand the need for transparency at these open meetings to protect the district residents and taxpayers.”
Deirdre Dolan is the daughter of Michael Dolan Sr. and sister of Michael Dolan Jr., two New Hyde Park firefighters whom Judge Joseph Bianco recently awarded $625,000 in damages following a federal lawsuit against the department.
In December, Bianco upheld a jury’s decision in March that found the department responsible for malicious prosecution and abuse of process.
The ruling came after a five-year dispute; the Dolans filed the case in October 2013 following a wrongful arrest for stealing smoke detectors from their firehouse in 2012.
Deirdre Dolan wrote that the board announced this new policy following her public statement on Jan. 2 updating the board and public about her family members’ case.
The policy, which Deirdre Dolan supplied a copy of to a reporter, states that “the board will not entertain comment on fire department matters from members of the fire department at board meetings.”
The policy goes on to state that members must “follow the chain of command and go through their company officers and the office of the Chief.”
The policy also states that the board will not entertain comment on fire district matters from paid employees of the district.
The policy also states rules for public comment the board will listen to, including that speakers “confine themselves to matters stated in the agenda.”
All four commissioners and the chairman voted in favor of the policy and it was adopted.
Deirdre Dolan wrote in her letter that the agenda is often not available until minutes before the meeting begins, thus “the board has effectively foreclosed any public comment.”
Dolan wrote that five years ago she went door to door with a petition that currently has 512 signatures asking the board to place the minutes online.
“That is a pretty commanding public response,” she wrote. “Yet, to this day, this district fails to keep up with the ever-changing needs of the public and technology.”
Efforts to reach the New Hyde Park Fire Department were unavailing.
