Oyster Bay might make councilmembers as department liaisons

The Oyster Bay Town Board is considering making councilmembers liaisons to town departments to increase their involvement in the government, town officials said.

The details of the proposal are still being worked out, including whether it would be informal or potentially added to the town code, according to Councilman Anthony Macagnone, who has spearheaded the idea.

Under the proposal “town board members will be liaisons to departments, meet up with department heads and share with the rest of the board what’s going on,” Macagnone said in an interview.

He said having board members serve as liaisons would give them a more “hands on” approach to governance and allow them to make more informed decisions.

“People want us to be more accountable,” Macagnone said. He said the idea grew out of the last election where Town Supervisor John Venditto won reelection by 99 votes and members of the all-Republican board saw their margins of victory shrink dramatically.

Town spokeswoman Marta Kane said Venditto supported the liaison idea.

In January, now former Commissioner of Planning and Development Frederick Ippolito pleaded guilty to federal income tax evasion. Restaurateur Harendra Singh, who was awarded lengthy and lucrative concessions deals with the town, is in jail awaiting a federal trial for charges that included bribing an Oyster Bay official to obtain $20 million loan guarantees from the town.

And this year the town lost its Moody’s Investors Service credit rating after failing to file audited financial reports for 2014 due to a software problem.

Councilman Joseph Pinto said he supports the change and said he expects to be a liaison to the Comptroller’s office due to his professional background as a certified public accountant.

Councilwoman Rebecca Alesia said government is constantly evolving and new ideas should be tried.

“Anything that increases communication between the departments and the board is good,” Alesia said.

Other councilmembers either declined to comment or did not return calls.

The liaison idea was tried and later abandoned in Islip Town by former supervisor Thomas Croci.

Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies, said the proposal shows that the board has heard voter dissatisfaction.

“The more that the councilmembers know about the government agenies that they’re overseeing, the better they can do their jobs and ... the more confidence that voters will have in them,” Levy said.