The Village of Great Neck Estates Board of Trustees swore in a new member of their police force, Sean Murtagh, and appointed a new village justice, David Schaffer, during its Monday evening meeting.
Officer Sean Murtagh, 29, was sworn in by Village of Great Neck Estates Mayor Fox.
Chief of Police John C. Garbedian stood by, as well as Murtagh’s family, applauding him as he held up his badge. Murtagh begins work on Dec. 17. This will be Murtagh’s first job as a police officer.
“Congratulations to Officer Murtagh and his family, we’re honored to have him on our police force,” Fox said during the swearing in.
Schaffer, a resident of Great Neck Estates for over four decades, will replace Village Justice Steve Raymond, who resigned from his position after serving the village for almost 20 years.
“He sold his home recently, and its unfortunate that he’s resigning,” Fox said.
Schaffer is a partner in the Mineola law firm Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone, LLP and has practiced law for over 50 years. After attending Harvard Law School, Schaffer practiced on Wall Street and was senior vice president and general counsel at Avis Rent-a-Car for 17 years.
“I am very pleased to be appointed and look forward to serving the village,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer will fill the unexpired term of Raymond, which is up in March, 2013.
In other developments, the village announced the scheduling of a hearing for two local laws for their Jan. 14 meeting. The first would allow the a re-computation of eligible funds exemptions to veterans; the second will authorize the village to exceed the 2 percent tax cap.
“We never know in advance what our budget is going to be, so putting this legislation in place will give us the ability to do that,” Fox said.
The village has collected 70 cards from residents to pre-register their cell phones to report outages and receive restoration updates via text-message.
Fox urged residents to register their information to allow them to receive updates in event of future events such as Hurricane Sandy.
Further information can be found on the village Web site, which instructs residents to text REG to 695472 (my LIPA).
