Glen Cove City Council postpones vote on new member

The Glen Cove City Council voted Tuesday night to delay a vote on appointing a new council member amid uncertainty as to who can nominate a candidate.

Councilman Joseph Capobianco, a Republican, had offered a resolution that Donna McNaughton, the chairwoman of the zoning board of appeals, replace Michael Zangari, who resigned Nov. 19 for health reasons.

But Mayor Timothy Tenke, a Democrat, said language in the city charter is not clear as to whether only the mayor can nominate a council member.

City Attorney Charles McQuair issued a written opinion hours before the council meeting stating that Capobianco has a right to formally propose McNaughton, but, Tenke said in an interview after the meeting, “I just wanted to delve into this a little deeper.”

In addition, the mayor said, “I didn’t see the rush” in voting on a replacement so soon after Zangari’s resignation.

Capobianco announced his intention to nominate McNaughton during the Nov. 19 council work session, moments after City Clerk Tina Pemberton read Zangari’s resignation letter. Tenke urged Capobianco at the meeting to hold off on his nomination until after council members could discuss potential replacements during the Dec. 4 work session.

Tenke said Tuesday he hasn’t decided whether to nominate another candidate.

Tenke appointed McNaughton to chair the zoning board earlier this year and said in the interview Tuesday that, “I know Donna McNaughton. I’m a big fan of hers. I am not opposed to her.”

Capobianco voted to table his own resolution on McNaughton, saying he wanted to accommodate the mayor.

“I still think we have a great candidate in Donna McNaughton and I still think she’ll pass,” Capobianco said. He said he plans to nominate McNaughton again at the next council meeting on Dec. 11.

Capobianco said that because Zangari won election in 2017 on the Republican line, a Republican like McNaughton should replace him.

Republicans currently have a 4-2 majority on the council.

Tenke said after the meeting that he is inclined to agree with Capobianco, because of the precedent set in 2014, when then-Mayor Reginald Spinello agreed to appoint Democrat Anthony Jimenez to replace Democratic Councilman Nicholas DiLeo, who had died.

“There’s some history there,” Tenke said.

Jimenez had agreed not to seek a full term and four months after his appointment, Capobianco won election to his seat. Before proposing Jimenez, Spinello had tried but failed to appoint Capobianco to DiLeo’s seat.

Zangari is a registered Conservative. In the 2017 City Council election he received the majority of his votes as a candidate on the Republican line. At the time, Zangari was a registered Democrat — he had led the city Democratic Party until weeks before the GOP picked him to run on the Republican line — but had applied to change his party affiliation to Conservative before the election. The change did not take effect until afterward.