Following six hours of public hearings, protests by CSEA union members and representatives, attendance and input from dozens of residents of Glen Cove as well as the tabling of the issue on Dec. 11, Mayor Ralph V. Suozzi called a special meeting of the Glen Cove City Council for Tuesday, Dec.18 consisting of one agenda item up for vote: "Resolution authorizing the transfer of the Glen Cove Sewer Treatment Plant (Proposed by Mayor Suozzi)."

The email notification was received by the Record Pilot at 3:55 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 17 and posted on the city website at about the same time. Word quickly spread through the community, as evidenced by the slew of emails and telephone calls from residents to the editor's office that followed the city's announcement. The last-minute meeting was attended by approximately 50 people.

The business took a mere 10 minutes, with Mayor Suozzi making a motion, seconded by Councilman Nick DiLeo, to proceed with the transfer. The vote was 6-1, with Councilman Mike Norman casting the singular nay vote.

As soon as the mayor asked for the council to be polled, residents began to call out from the audience, asking to be recognized and allowed to speak. The mayor continued with the business at hand, then concluded and adjourned the meeting. At once the audience erupted in comments ranging from a simple "boo" to remarks that the proceedings were "despicable and undemocratic." Maureen Tracy took to the microphone to state her hope that the manner in which the meeting was held would be reported to all city residents. Janet Blatt said, "Democracy died in Glen Cove tonight. We barely had a functioning democracy at public meetings for many years and the mayor just put the nail in the coffin."

Attendees were vehement in their opinion that the public should have been allowed to speak, but according to Mayor Suozzi, it is at the discretion of the administration to allow or disallow public comments at special meetings. He said that the matter of the sewer transfer has been covered extensively for months in Newsday and the local papers, through press releases, at city council meetings and, most recently, the public hearings of the two prior weeks. There was no point in the public reiterating their views for another three hours before the vote, he said, when the council was ready to vote. He added that for the most part, the same people had spoken at the two hearings, and that "many have their own agendas, either political, personal or financial. I have the good of the city at heart." He said he based his decision to transfer the sewage treatment facility on conversations with government officials, as well as with private companies that are in the waste treatment business. In addition, he said, he insisted there be an "escape clause" in the agreement, allowing the city six months to explore other options and back out of the deal should a better option come along. "We had four options," the mayor said: to leave things as they are, to increase current sewer rates, to tax residents or to privatize the facility. The agreement with the county, he said, was the best possible solution to some of the city's fiscal woes.

Former Republican candidate for mayor Reggie Spinello stated, "Regardless of what your position might be on the sewer transfer, the actions of our mayor are inexcusable. To not allow the people an opportunity to speak serves no purpose but to fuel the fire of mistrust. At the very least the residents should have been allowed to voice their opinions again on Tuesday night. This gives more credence to the theory that the sewer transfer deal was a done deal prior to the November election. Open government? You decide!"

Former independent mayoral candidate Bob Benazzi said, "I am disappointed in the mayor's performance. Whether consolidation makes sense or not, citizens should have been given some explanation as to why he feels it makes sense. It begs the question of whether the city is being run out of Mineola. It is just inexcusable to not provide the citizens of Glen Cove with an explanation as to why this consolidation works and why it makes sense."

A number of residents remarked that the behavior of Mayor Suozzi mirrored actions of his predecessor, former Mayor Mary Ann Holzkamp, who had been accused of passing a zoning change for the waterfront on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, because not many residents were in attendance due to the holidays. "Ralph Suozzi campaigned on a platform of open government, and here is he doing the same thing he was so critical of," said one resident. "He should be ashamed of himself. He should know better." Another resident stated his impression that when the council tabled the vote, it would be for longer than one week.

In addition to the rage and disappointment generated by the method in which the vote was taken, many citizens were dissatisfied by the decision itself. Kevin Monahan remarked that he believed the transfer to be a win for the county and a loss for the city. Marty Cook commented that part of the reason the county was so happy to take over Glen Cove's sewer system was the exceptional condition the facility is in, a statement made by Nassau County Commissioner of Public Works Ray Ribiero. "This is the thanks we get for all those years of keeping the facility in excellent repair," said Mr. Cook with a shake of his head.

John Shepherd, president of CSEA Local 882, said the union was disappointed that the city decided to sell its plant to the county as "the union feels home rule on municipal services is always the best way to go." However, he added he was pleased that he received a guarantee in writing from Mayor Suozzi that no employees would be hurt by the transfer. "Doug Gary will continue to keep his salary and title as a city employee and will be the city liaison to the county. For as long as he wishes to work for Glen Cove, the city will not remove his title from the rolls. Nothing will change for other DPW workers."

According to Mayor Suozzi, the time to sell the sewer treatment facility is now, because it can no longer fiscally sustain itself. Historically, the system has never been profitable, said the mayor, but the loss has not previously been identified because incorporation into the water fund has kept it afloat. With the loss of Photocircuits and Konica, two of the city's largest water customers, the sewer system no longer had its fluid benefactor upon which to rely.

City Controller Sal Lombardi stated that the sewer fund was not included in the 2008 budget, based on a Nassau County study of consolidation, and the fact that the City of Glen Cove had been approached about consolidation. With the loss of Photocircuits and Konica, he said, the city would need $4.4 million next year to sustain sewer costs. As the city currently generates $800 in high-end commercial use, it would need to generate $3.6 million to cover the shortfall. That would mean a sewer tax to residents of $533 per household starting January 2008.

Mr. Ribeiro attended both public hearings. At the first, he likened the Nassau County Sewage Treatment Plants, which service 85 percent of the county, to "the Costco" of plants and Glen Cove as a "mom and pop" operation, citing the county's handling of hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage per day compared with the city's 3 million gallons; the county's operating budget of $175 million, including an expenditure of $25 million in upgrades, to Glen Cove's lack of sewer funds; and the county's group of engineers and workers to Glen Cove's small staff.

Much of his emphasis was placed on the fact that four municipalities were considering consolidation, and of the four, Glen Cove was the only plant due to remain open as a sewage treatment facility, due in part to its superior condition and upkeep. Other municipalities the county is looking to consolidate include the City of Long Beach, Lawrence and Cedarhurst, all of which would work as pumping stations. At the present time, Cedarhurst alone has signed with the county, while the others plan to vote at a later date.

Mr. Ribeiro stated that the county had done extensive research and an appraisal of the city's sewage treatment plant, which the county stated was $30 million. The county would take over the city's $6 million debt service for the facility. At the Dec. 4 meeting, the city had not had the facility evaluated.

However, at the continuation of the public hearing on Dec. 11, a representative of Gannet Fleming Engineering, a firm hired by the city to appraise the plant, was on hand to give his report. He stated that the firm found the value of the facility to be $52 million. The county and city negotiated to $44 million, from which would be subtracted the city's debt service and $7 million in repair and replacement. The net value was determined to be $28 million. For that, the residents of the City of Glen Cove will pay no sewer tax for 15 years. A number of residents expressed dissatisfaction that the city was not receiving any money in the transaction.

Following the vote, Councilwoman Joan Meehan said she was pleased with the transfer, as she believes the county can, in fact, do a better job of maintaining the sewer system, and that Glen Cove is too small a city for the responsibility.

Councilman Nick DiLeo said that by voting in favor of the transfer, he believed he was making a decision that was fiscally sound, thereby doing what he was elected to do. "My responsibility to the citizens of Glen Cove is to protect them from further deficit and debt and work to stabilize the tax base," he said. "If someone had come in to the meeting with a check in hand, my vote might have been different," he said, but that, he said, would not and did not happen. He said the council had done its due diligence and he expressed satisfaction with the escape clause in the agreement.

Councilman Tim Tenke said he believes the deal to be "a good deal for the City of Glen Cove...not a great deal, but a good deal." The agreement will require the county to take on any costs of maintenance, repair and upgrades and, he said, it is better to transfer assets from municipality to municipality, rather than to the private sector. He said he was not willing to increase the "overtaxed citizens of Glen Cove with another $533 a year." He was also pleased that no employees would be adversely affected, as well as with the escape clause.

For Councilman Mike Norman, who did not seek re-election after serving 14 years on the city council, his vote against the consolidation had to do mainly with the fact that he felt a lot of questions had not yet been answered sufficiently for him to vote yes, despite the fact that, he said, "I have always thought the concept of consolidation has the potential to be good government combined with economic efficiency." However, without answers at the time the vote was called, he felt compelled to vote no.

As to the special meeting being called just one week after the vote to table the issue, Mayor Suozzi said that once he left the meeting, he rethought his decision and felt he had not done the best thing for the people of Glen Cove. "I was elected to make decisions," he said, "and I owed it to the 26,000 residents of the city," not just the ones who were in attendance at the public hearings, to go ahead with the decision he said he knew to be correct. And, he added, there is the escape clause.