Town of Hempstead Town Clerk

The Island Now

Town of Hempstead Town Clerk

Description:

Candidates (choose 1):

Sylvia A. Cabana

Party: DEM

Biographical Info:

Campaign Web Site: https://www.cabanaforclerk.com

Campaign Email: cabanaforclerk2019@gmail.com

City/Town of Residence: Garden City, New York

Prior Civic Service: Practicing immigration attorney, PTA member.

Questions:

Q: What, if anything, would you do to improve the convenience and efficiency of the town clerk’s office?

A: As Town Clerk I have made significant improvements for the convenience and efficiency of the town clerk’s office by installing credit card machines which expedite obtaining parking permits, licenses and all other clerk services. We perform destination weddings. FOILS can now be requested online instead of waiting in person at Town Hall. I have instituted Fast Forward Fridays allowing veterans and seniors to access clerk’s services with no wait time. In addition to our regular Passport service at Town Hall, I have obtained special approvals from the U.S. Department of State allowing several of the Town parks to become Certified Passport Acceptance facilities. This has enabled residents to get their passports at various locations throughout the Town of Hempstead. In order to accommodate our Spanish speaking residents, I have translated applications and documents into Spanish and have required each department to have dedicated Spanish speaking staff members available at all times.

Q: If elected, how would you go about streamlining the operations of the town clerk’s office?

A: One of my top priorities in streamlining the operations of the clerk’s office would be to digitize the Town Board agenda/calendar for all Town Board meetings with a program which is used by 53 municipalities throughout New York State which includes the New York City council, Town of North Hempstead and Rockville Centre. This will save time & paper and free up staffers, and most importantly, make the entire Town Board Meeting process transparent and enable information to be easily searchable and accessible to citizens with one click. I would expand all off-site services such as the Child Safety fingerprint/photo program, Senior ID card which contains emergency contact information and provide ‘stickerless’ parking permits by using license plate scanners. I will also have more weekend services available at more Town parks and facilities so that the Town’s families and residents can seamlessly access all of the Town Clerk’s services and programs right in their own neighborhoods.

Kate Murray

Party: REP, CON, IND, TRP

Photo provided by the League of Women Voters
Biographical Info:

Campaign Phone: (516) 731-3827

Campaign Email: Kpmurray5965@gmail.com

City/Town of Residence: Levittown, Town of Hempstead

Prior Civic Service: 1995-1998 NYS Assistant Attorney General; 1998-2001 NYS Assembly; 2002-2003 Hempstead Town Clerk; 2003-2015 Hempstead Town Supervisor

Questions:

Q: What, if anything, would you do to improve the convenience and efficiency of the town clerk’s office?

A: As the first elected woman Town Clerk, I know that this office is the nerve center for town governance, and the efficiency of records retrieval and access to services for residents is extremely critical. I implemented the passport program for the first time in 2002; since then it has become one of the busiest, most successful passport centers in the country and, as my opponent has said, “the gold standard.” I was also the first to bring commuter parking sticker services to the commuters at the train stations instead of making residents come to town hall or retrieve parking passes by mail. I was also the first Town Clerk to bring child safety fingerprinting services for parents and their children into the communities where they live instead of forcing parents to come with their children to Town Hall. Upon my second election as Town Clerk, I will follow the paradigm that I have established at the TOH in bringing more and varied services to the residents where they live to bring maximum ease to our time-stretched residents.

Q: If elected, how would you go about streamlining the operations of the town clerk’s office?

A: As I did the first time that I was elected Town Clerk in 2002, I will conduct a top to bottom analysis of every function and operation in the Town Clerk’s office. Based upon the results, I will consult with our hard-working staff for their input and create a plan for improving the delivery of services to our residents while streamlining the operations. For example, the ordering and distribution of commuter parking passes was unduly delayed in 2019 because of inefficiencies; that process will be revamped under my watch. When I first implemented the mobile town hall commuter operation in 2002, I determined to make life easier by bringing the service to our commuters at the train stations where they travel. In my review of operations, I will determine what other services may be delivered to the residents where they live. I will also investigate the online publication of notices and other vital information to determine whether sensitive information is being protected properly. In this era of cyber hacking, certain security aspects of TOH online publications are woefully inadequate and are placing members of the public in vulnerable positions. Both governmental and private information is

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