After the appointment of North Hempstead Town Councilwoman Doreen Banks to be Nassau County Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and General Services by County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the North Hempstead Town Board chose Thomas K. Dwyer to replace her on the board. At a press conference on Jan. 17, May Newburger, North Hempstead town supervisor, introduced Mr. Dwyer and announced other significant North Hempstead appointments. Matthew J. Miner will replace Arthur Gianelli as director of operations; Bonnie Chaiken is the new town attorney and counsel to the Solid Waste Management Authority; Helen Chen is town comptroller; David Wasserman is commissioner of buildings and commissioner of planning and Gil Anderson is commissioner of public works.

Supervisor Newburger was asked why she had asked the Democratic County Committee members for North Hempstead for their input on the choice of a council member. She explained that the present appointment will only run until November at which time there will be a special election to fill Ms. Banks' position. She said that since the Democratic Party would name a candidate at that time she thought it prudent to include them in the process now. Joseph Galante, Democratic chairman of North Hempstead, said that Mr. Dwyer was chosen unanimously from eight possible candidates on the second vote.

Mr. Dwyer is senior vice president of Gates Capital Corporation, an investment banking firm specializing in public financing. He serves on the national and local boards of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the Working Organization of Retarded Children and the North Hempstead Housing Authority. He is the son of the late Thomas Dwyer, a district court judge, and Mary Dwyer. He lives with his wife, Melissa, and their two daughters in East Williston. Mr. Dwyer brings valuable financial expertise to the board, which presently is composed of attorneys Fred Pollack and Wayne Wink, engineer Tony D'Urso and Supervisor Newburger, whose career has been in public service.

Matthew Miner, 34, has been with North Hempstead since 1993 when he was named deputy executive director of the Solid Waste Management Authority. He served as deputy commissioner of public works from 1993 to 1999 and became commissioner of public works and executive director of the Solid Waste Management Authority in 2000. He will retain that latter position in addition to his role as director of operations.

Bonnie Chaikin has been serving as acting town attorney since North Hempstead attorney Howard Miller became a district court judge. She came to the town from the Nassau County attorney's office. She is a graduate of Cornell University and St. John's University Law School.

Helen Chen, town comptroller, who has been serving as acting comptroller of North Hempstead since Michael Haran resigned last summer, is the first woman to serve in that post. She has been with the town since 1996. She earned her accounting and finance degree from New York University in 1979.

David Wasserman has been North Hempstead Commissioner of Buildings since 2000. He will now add the position of commissioner of planning. In order to facilitate the change, the town's planning department will be moved to the Town Hall annex where the building department is presently located. Mr. Wasserman is an architect who graduated from Syracuse University in 1981.

Commissioner of Public Works Gil Anderson is a senior civil engineer who has been with the town since 1994; he is a New York State licensed professional engineer.