New Year's Day 2004 was a day of changes for the Town of North Hempstead. After 10 years as supervisor of the town, May Newburger chose not to run again and she was succeeded by Great Neck attorney Jon Kaiman. Of historic significance was the swearing in of the first town board elected by councilmanic districts. Instead of four council members elected townwide, there are now six, each elected from an individual district. The change was noted by many distinguished guests at the ceremony, which was held at Clinton G. Martin Park in New Hyde Park. Among those in attendance were U. S. Senator Charles Schumer, US Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi and a host of other elected and appointed officials. In addition to Mr. Kaiman, the oath of office was administered to Rocco Iannarelli as receiver of taxes, Michelle Schimmel, town clerk, and councilmen Robert Troiano Jr., Thomas Dwyer, Angelo Ferrara, Wayne Wink Jr., Anthony D'Urso and Fred Pollack.

North Hempstead Democratic leader Joseph Galante was master of ceremonies of the program. Mr. Galante had also been chairman of the commission that investigated the issue of whether the town should change its structure to one of councilmanic districts. He congratulated his commission, the town board and his Republican counterpart Peter Cavallero for their work on the issue. "Change has come through the voting public," he said.

In his remarks, Senator Schumer said that if we ever wonder about the future of democracy we need only look at gatherings such as this swearing-in ceremony. "Ceremonies like this show the vitality of democracy," he said. County Executive Suozzi congratulated all those newly elected officials and praised Mr. Kaiman as a man of "strong ideas who knows what he believes in."

Mr. Troiano, who was elected to represent District #1, which includes Westbury, Old Westbury, New Cassel and Carle Place, was another historic "first." He is the first African American councilman in North Hempstead. He was sworn in by another African American, New York State Senate minority leader David Paterson.

Councilman Judge John Riordan, who reminded the audience that Councilman Dwyer's father, Judge Thomas Dwyer, has sworn in Riordan himself, swore in Dwyer. Judge David Sullivan gave the oath to Councilman Ferrara who said it had been an exciting year and promised the voters, "I will not let you down." Councilman Ferrara, who is the only Republican on the board, was told, in jest, by Senator Schumer, "You will be the ranking minority member on every committee."

Judge Steven Jaeger swore in Councilmen D'Urso and Wink and Judge Claire Weinberg gave the oath to Councilman Pollack.

When she administered the oath to Supervisor Kaiman, former supervisor Newburger stated, "The torch has been passed to a new generation of young leaders with new ideas and new vision."

Mr. Kaiman said that this is a "time of renewal, a moment when all is possible." He went on to thank Mrs. Newburger for the "great legacy we have inherited" and said his administration will focus on "the infrastructure, the environment and the quality of life" in North Hempstead. He acknowledged that there will be "bumps in the road," such as the problem of illegal housing but said his administration will attack them vigorously. He added that North Hempstead is fortunate to be in the districts of Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli and State Senator Michael Balboni.