The North Hempstead Town Board unanimously appointed four members to the town’s tree advisory committee Thursday night despite Republican Supervisor Jennifer DeSena calling the resolution “flawed” and saying Democratic majority members negotiated in bad faith.
“This is another example of the majority agreeing to work on this together and once they became impatient, they decided to forge ahead no matter how flawed the legislation is that they’re trying to pass,” DeSena said.
Despite her criticism of the resolution, DeSena joined the other six members of the Town Board to name the four new delegates to the tree committee.
The town board also delayed a public hearing on bipartisan legislation for the Building Department and set a hearing date to consider amendments to the town’s tree policy, which governs the planting and removal of trees and saplings in town-owned public places.
In 2021, the town amended its tree code to include a combination of town staff, a certified arborist, and seven members of the public who will provide input and advise the town board on tree-related matters.
Democratic Councilwoman Veronica Lurvey said the town board has been working toward the committee’s creation for eight months and that it will serve in an advisory role.
“This committee makes recommendations as an advisory committee, it does not set policy and it does not dictate how money is spent,” Lurvey said in response to DeSena’s comments. “When the committee is formed, it will help advise amendments to the town code.”
Responsibilities for the committee include the drafting of an annual report, ensuring the town remains a Tree City USA, recommending how funds in the Tree Preservation Fund are used in consultation with the comptroller, and providing recommendations about trees in the town, among other things.
Lurvey said in a statement to Blank Slate Media that town residents helped the board reach this point.
Each of the seven members of the town board can appoint one member to the committee.
Councilmembers Peter Zuckerman, Dennis Walsh, Veronica Lurvey and Mariann Dalimonte appointed Jonathan Cohen, Matthew Miller, Sihua Prior and Patricia Wood, respectively.
DeSena, Councilman Troiano and David Adhami currently do not have appointments on the board, although Lurvey said Troiano’s appointment will be Peter Gaffney.
Future members to the board can be appointed by a letter request to the town board, which DeSena said is a change in procedure from appointments being voted on by the town board during a public meeting.
DeSena said the board is still “working on language” for bipartisan legislation aimed at improving the Building Department before motioning to continue the public hearing at the Aug. 4 meeting.
Earlier this year, DeSena and Lurvey brought forward two different resolutions which they have since said they intend to combine when the legislation is ready.
The town board said in June that the work is not completely done, with DeSena saying last month “they represent a similar effort to accomplish the same goal of initiating reforms in our Building Department.”
The next North Hempstead Town Board meeting will be Thursday, Aug. 4.
A previous version of this story was published. It has since been updated.