Former Oyster Bay councilwoman hired as deputy town attorney

Former Republican Oyster Bay Town councilwoman Elizabeth Faughnan has been hired as a deputy town attorney at a salary of $87,500.

Faughnan began on Thursday, less than two weeks after she was fired from a $160,000-a-year job as an attorney at the Nassau Health Care Corp., which operates Nassau University Medical Center. Faughnan was one of nine people whose jobs were eliminated last month following Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s appointment of chairman George Tsunis to the corporation.

Faughnan’s election to the town board in 2005 returned the town’s elective offices to one-party rule. She served until the spring of 2013, when she resigned to work at the medical center.

Oyster Bay spokesman Brian Nevin said Monday that town board approval wasn’t required for Faughnan’s position because it’s not needed for “vacant positions that are funded at a level similar or higher than the new hire is being paid.”

Last month, deputy town attorney Donna Swanson retired suddenly. Had Swanson decided to retire five weeks earlier, she would have been eligible for a retirement incentive.