Last Thursday, Mayor Hecken appointed John Mauk as a trustee from the Estates to replace Trustee Larry Kettner who had resigned because he is moving to New Jersey.

More than 240 residents of the Estates had signed a petition urging the mayor to consider Mr. Mauk for the vacant post. After carefully reviewing his qualifications and the qualifications of Robert Rothschild, president of the Estates POA, whose name had been sent to him by the board of directors of the Estates POA, Mayor Hecken chose Mr. Mauk.

As a supporter of Mr. Mauk, I commend the mayor for his decision to appoint John Mauk to fill the unexpired term of Larry Kettner.

John Mauk is manager of Contract and Consultant Services for the World Trade Center and is responsible for overseeing the selection and use of professional and technical consulting firms that provide millions of dollars of services for the World Trade Center and for overseeing preparation, bid and award of contracts for millions of dollars of construction undertaken each year at the facility. As a member of the overall management team, Mauk helped plan and coordinate the $370 million recovery and restoration of the World Trade Center following the 1993 bombing.

John Mauk's contracting and construction expertise, as well as his experience of more than 10 years on the Village Planning Commission, is particularly needed on the board of trustees at this time as the Village of Garden City is facing the following projects:

* The expansion of Village Hall

* The revitalization of the business section, including consideration of additional parking needs.

* Plans for the maintenance of the St. Paul's historic building until a use can be found for it.

It is unfortunate that in order to place Mr. Mauk's name before the mayor, we had to resort to a petition. Under municipal law, the mayor has the sole responsibility to appoint a replacement when a vacancy occurs on the board of trustees in the middle of a term. In this case, the Estates POA Board, by submitting only one name to the mayor, was in fact controlling the process.

Trustee Larry Kettner lived in the Estates section, so in the spirit of the community agreement Mayor Hecken had asked the Estates POA to send him the names of two or three qualified candidates so he might make his selection. Although members of the Estates POA Board interviewed both Mr. Mauk and Mr. Rothschild, the Estates POA chose to send only one name, Mr. Rothschild. The mayor asked again for two or three names for his consideration. The Estates refused to comply. They cited there was recent precedent for only one name being forwarded.

It was at this time that some of us who reside in the Estates and knew of Mr. Mauk's outstanding qualifications decided to use the petition method to get his name before the mayor; and in a very short time, 244 signatures on a petition gave Mayor Hecken that choice.

Jerie Newman

Former president of the Estates POA