USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 25
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 25
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The Commission then, after discussion, decided that there should be a County Executive and a County Budget. These decisions covered a series of meetings and heated debates.
As to the Office of County Executive, it was argued that such an officer would be the target of every complaint, rightfully and wrongfully, and that any dominant political organization sponsoring such a new office would become vulnerable at elections. It was also argued that the County Executive would be accused of situations, in various areas and governmental subdivisions to which the charter would fall heir and with which the county and county officials had had nothing to do nor any say. It was further argued that the County Executive would be complained against by citizens because of griev- ances real or imaginary and would also be complained against by officials or employees of the county government or other governments within the county area.
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Against these arguments were offered the following :- The office of County Executive would provide every voter, county-wide, an opportunity to approve or disapprove of county policy by giving him the chance to vote for or against the nominee for this office; that without such an office the voters would never have an opportunity to approve or to disapprove county governmental policy; such an office would assist in developing a "county-consciousness"; such an office was stated to be the first step recommended by keen observers in the field of municipal government for county reform.
It may be noted in passing that the Hon. Alfred E. Smith as Governor of the State of New York in his legislative message of 1936 recommended such an office.
Then, a member of the Commission spoke for a County Manager to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors. The debates became heated. A vote was taken on the question: Shall there be a County Executive elected County-wide? The result was a tie of 7 to 7. The chairman thereupon cast a vote to break the tie. This decided the question in favor of the County Executive and the Commissioners addressed themselves to the next item of business, the proposed County Budget.
There was substantial unanimity among the members of the Com- mission that the county had no "budget" and that the "tax levy" and "expenses" were each erroneously referred to as a "budget".
It was pointed out that when departments, institutions and agencies requested appropriations to be made by the Board of Supervisors that these should be made according to a county plan or policy; that they should be reviewed by one having a power of veto and a power to disapprove or reduce or change a specific item pro- posed for expenditure by such department, institution or agency of the county. Much emphasis was placed upon the specific items.
In support of the argument for a veto or other action upon specific items, the dilemma in the Federal Government was used as illustration to this effect. It was stated that when the Federal Congress adopted a very important bill, a rider appropriating money for a specific purpose might be attached to such important bill; that when such important bill was submitted to the President for signature, he did not have the power to disapprove the rider; he could only approve or disapprove the very important bill with the rider attached and that if he had the power to approve the important bill and disapprove the rider, he might effect economies which he could not otherwise effect.
It was argued that there was no such veto for County expenses; it was argued that such a veto power, if vested in the County Execu- tive, would assist him in protecting the taxpayer's pocketbook. Finally, it was stated in the commission that students of government and many individuals well versed in political science long have con- mented upon the lack of an executive head in County Government generally and upon a lack of a County Budget as such and under the County Executive control.
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One Commissioner said that the County Executive if given such duties and powers would be blamed by employees and others for not getting enough for them and at the same time would be blamed by the taxpayers for not reducing taxes enough. This Commissioner has been proven a prophet.
An outline for the Charter was thus determined upon, including a mandatory re-assessment program to distribute fairly the costs of government. Then this was followed by writing the specific pro- visions for the outline agreed upon. The meetings of the Commission were held in the meeting and conference rooms of the Board of Supervisors, and Mr. Charles F. Strohson of Lynbrook, Clerk of the Board, supervised the arrangements and observed, in effect, that from the number of pencils and pads of paper being used the Commis- sioners must have been doing a lot of writing.
The Charter Commission was ready to submit to the State Legislature, at Albany in January of 1936, a copy of a proposed charter for Nassau County. The so-called Fearon Amendment to the State Constitution was adopted by the voters of the State in November 1935, effective as of January 1, 1936. This amendment to the State Constitution authorized certain transfers of functions of government to the county and also provided for the submission of these to the voters of a county where such transfers were proposed. The Governor in his Annual Message to the members of the Legislature of the State of New York on January 1, 1936, stressed the necessity for modern- izing county governments. Nassau County was ready with a proposed charter and without loss of time submitted the proposed charter to the New York State Legislature of 1936. This action was not hasty because the commission diligently had been preparing the proposed charter during the prior year. The voters of Nassau County in November of 1936, the same year, approved the proposed charter.
During the Fall of 1936 the Commission had a Committee to educate the voters concerning the charter. This Committee supplied speakers. One speaker appeared at a meeting, only to find the sirens of fire engines blasting the air alongside the meeting place; at another time, no chair was available for the charter speaker upon the platform so he usurped the chair of the presiding officer of that meeting, whereupon another chair was placed upon the platform. At still another time the speaker, upon arriving at his destination, learned that twelve other speakers were scheduled to speak before him; this would have had him speaking after the listeners had gone to bed. However, the late Hon. Theodore Roosevelt (General, World War II) of Oyster Bay, was the first speaker of the evening and, learning of the "other" speakers, he introduced the Charter speaker after he, himself, had been introduced as the first speaker.
"True and False" teams were organized under the leadership of Mrs. Genesta Strong of Manhasset, now the first Assembly Woman elected to the New York State Assembly from Nassau County. These teams studied the Charter and then competed before public audiences which in turn were educated upon the Charter provisions.
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IV. GETTING READY FOR THE NEW CHARTER
The new charter was to become effective on January 1, 1938. The elective County Officials to take office on that date were to be elected during the prior November of 1937. These events took place.
The author in the meantime, as Chairman of the Nassau County Board of Supervisors, addressed that Board on August 20, 1937, concerning the preparatory work for the effective date of the Charter and on his motion a resolution was adopted by the County Board of Supervisors on August 23, 1937, creating the Board of Super- visors-Charter Organization Bureau, of which Hon. Theodore Bedell, Jr., of Freeport, the County Comptroller, acted as Chairman. Mr. Bedell arranged for three key men in his office to participate in the work of this Bureau. They were: Mr. Fred Powell of Hempstead, Mr. Clifford Schenck of Great Neck and Mr. William Smith of Lynbrook.
It was then decided to retain a lawyer to give his entire time to the Bureau. Henry J. A. Collins, Esq., a resident of Seaford, and for more than thirteen years associated with Hon. Samuel Seabury in the practice of law, was appointed pursuant to a resolution spon- sored by the author and adopted by the Board of Supervisors to be a Special Deputy County Attorney assigned to the Charter Organiza- tion Bureau. Judge Seabury granted him a leave of absence which was to become permanent. He had taken an active part in the work of the Charter Commission and his appointment was made at the author's request by the Hon. James L. Dowsey, of Manhasset, then County Attorney.
The Bureau was assisted by the author obtaining the services of Dr. M. P. Catherwood of Cornell University (now Commissioner of Commerce, Department of Commerce of the State of New York) and also of Frank Moore, Esq., of Buffalo, N. Y. (now Comptroller of the State of New York), two men well informed on Town and County Government and who rendered valuable service to the Charter Organization Bureau. The services of Dr. Thomas H. Reed of the Municipal Research were likewise obtained. Conferences were held by the author as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors with the Supervisors themselves and with the personnel of the Charter Organi- zation Bureau, the Special Deputy County Attorney and the consultants.
Under date of October 8, 1937, following conferences, an analysis of the Charter was made by the author and a questionnaire presented concerning the proposed changes and, concerning the legal and practical problems arising from the proposed changes, under the new charter which was to become effective on January 1, 1938. These problems were so handled that the charter became effective on January 1, 1938, without any chaos and without inconvenience to tax- payers and residents and without payless paydays for employees. The county government began to work under the new charter.
The legal problems concerned possible conflicts between the provisions of the charter and general and special laws of the State. They also concerned interpretation of powers as these powers were
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set forth in different provisions of the charter. Practical problems concerned not only the legal problems for consolidation of such func- tions as Health, Assessment and District Courts but also the taking over from the towns, cities and villages, as the case might be, of. employees and equipment. It was realized that many of these legal problems had to be answered before January 1, 1938, and that the powers referred to had to be understood before that date. It was also realized that the transfer of employees must be considered from both the point of view of the county and of the employee concerned. As to the transfer of equipment, there had to be specific decisions regarding specific equipment.
The functions of government transferred to the county were to be henceforth paid for out of the county revenues. The county was to assume all expenses. For example, health officers and employees were to receive their salaries from the county and not from the village, city or town as the case might be; Justices of the Peace paid by the towns were to be replaced by Judges of the District Court paid by the county. The county financed the expenses and the costs of maintenance of functions transferred to it, but no revenues were transferred from any governmental unit within the county to the county government itself.
The problems received hours and hours of study and conferences and then action followed.
The original charter is to be found in Chapter 879 of the Laws of 1936, of the State of New York, and amendments, prior to its effective date, are to be found in Chapter 618 of the Laws of 1937, of the State of New York. Both laws were submitted, in the Fall of their respective years, to the voters of Nassau County and were approved by them at the polls.
Some of the transitions under the new charter required a knowl- edge beforehand of the attitude of some State Officials such as those of the New York State Civil Service Commission or of the State Health Commissioner. When a telephone call was made to a State Official at Albany one morning before 9:30 o'clock and the Charter Bureau could get no answer, Mr. Bedell, the Chairman, and Mr. Collins, Deputy County Attorney, ordered the County Airplane to be made ready and before 11 o'clock they walked into the Albany offices. This surprised the State Official. The air flight had taken less than fifty minutes. They got the answers and returned to Mineola for luncheon and then to resume the work of the Charter Organization Bureau.
A later trip was made by these two individuals to Albany, just prior to January 1, 1938, to obtain from the Civil Service Commis- sion, transcripts of civil service employees' records. The weather was severely cold and the airplane was not heated, and upon arrival at Albany neither man could hardly walk. The taxicab trip from the Albany airport to the Capitol was employed by each in rubbing his legs to restore circulation. They returned to Mineola that same cold day with a similar experience, but also with their State approval and transcript.
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The Charter Organization Bureau began its work September 27, 1937, and completed it prior to January 1, 1938. The details of this work could well be described in a three-volume edition of its own. Near its completion the individuals exhibited varying signs of fatigue, for they practically worked every day and night of each week. The forms of the fatigue, while humorous from this point of view, in no way interfered with the proper and timely completion of their task. New Year's Day fell upon a Friday; this one day gave a respite for sleep before a Sunday dress rehearsal preceding the functioning of the charter, the following day, Monday, January 1, 1938. Invita- tions to this rehearsal for the first meeting of the Board of Super- visors had been extended to citizens of the county such as Lewis Delafield, Esq., of Hewlett and Lester H. Washburn, Esq., of Great Neck, and others who attended and offered constructive comments.
As County Executive-elect the author was also occupied consider- ing appointments of department heads, of the personnel of his office and of county governmental matters. The recommendations for appointments of the heads of the departments were determined upon prior to the effective day of the charter.
V. CHANGES MADE UNDER THE CHARTER
The new charter brought into being or intensified a "County Consciousness". It lifted the vision of residents beyond their com- munities, their villages, cities and towns to the County center at Mineola. Occasions arose later when it became necessary to remind our friends that the charter did not take over all governmental func- tions and services. There remained the "two layers" of government. However, the county layer had been changed.
The charter gave Nassau County a Budget, a new Assessment Department, a new Health Department, a new Welfare Department, District Courts, Medical Examiner, some other advancements and a County Executive.
Prior to January 1, 1938, a Nassau County Budget never existed. Prior to this date the department heads made known to the Board of Supervisors the amounts of money estimated for their respective departments and these with the other expenses were added up and were loosely called "the County Budget". On the other side, the revenue side, were added up the items of revenue which the county received from the State, from other sources and as departmental income. The difference between the expenditure side and the revenue side constituted the sum of the tax levy. This tax levy was likewise erroneously called "the County Budget". "Expenses" and "tax levy" are only parts of a true budget.
The budget under the new Nassau County Charter provides the making of estimates for the several departments, institutions and agencies of the county and a review of these by the County Executive. Then there follows the preparation of a budget of broad scope which covers such items as revenues, tax levy, receipts, sinking fund, esti- mated cash balance, county business and expenses, debt service, judgments and other matters and there are set out the requirements
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for quarterly allotments for work programs for the respective depart- ments, institutions and agencies, and the mechanism for handling all items of finance. The control of expenses during a fiscal year was placed as a responsibility upon the County Executive who has the power to reconsider the allotments of monies and the work programs so as to forestall the making of expenditures in excess of income and fund balances. By exercise of this power the county does not spend more than its revenues except in abnormal instances. The power is designed to aid the County Executive in balancing the budget in acting as a safety brake for the benefit of all taxpayers and residents. Not only has the County Executive responsibilities concerning the management of the budget, but he has specific powers and duties concerning its preparation.
Prior to October 1st in each year he receives from the depart- ment head a proposed budget for that department. The County Executive has the duty to review the requests of the department head to determine whether they are in line with the general policy of the administration and to strike out any such requests which to him may appear excessive or not warranted at the time. The County Executive prepares and submits to the Board of Supervisors his proposed budget which shows in one column the amounts requested by the heads of the departments, institutions and agencies and in another column the amounts recommended by the County Executive. The Board of Supervisors is given certain powers for replacing what the County Executive strikes out or for affirming his action. In addition to these columns there are also required by the Charter parallel columns showing the actual expenses of the department for the nine months prior to the preparation of the current budget, the actual appropriation for the year prior to the ensuing budget and the actual disbursements for the entire calendar year prior to that. These parallel columns offer comparative statistics for those who desire to study the budget and afford an opportunity more intelligently to understand the affairs of County Government.
The office of County Executive was newly created. Generally, he appoints the department heads with the approval of the Board of Supervisors. He may remove a department head without such approval. These new features were intended to promote administra- tive efficiency and to make effective "county policy". He is respon- sible to the voters county-wide for the administration of the County Government.
The office of County Comptroller which existed within the county prior to the charter remained an elective office and his duties and powers were expanded. For example, the County Comptroller was given the power to examine and audit on his own motion or when" directed so to do by resolution of the Board of Supervisors, the accounts and records of any town or special district.
The Board of Supervisors of Nassau County is small in number of its personnel and the charter will keep the number small. No city incorporated after the effective date of the charter shall elect a supervisor thereof but such city shall continue, for the purpose
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of electing supervisors, to be a part of the towns or town from which such city was erected. The powers held by the former Board of Supervisors devolved upon the new Board under the new form of County Charter. The new Board also was generally evolved into a legislative body conducting its business according to a more modern procedure. The County Executive is the presiding officer, not Chair- man of the Board. The County Executive under the new charter may speak on any matter before the Board but may vote only to break a tie.
Provision was also made for a calendar practice for the Board of Supervisors and for the designation of two official newspapers to represent the two major political parties. Additional powers were given to the Board of Supervisors concerning the enactment of local laws and ordinances. The gist of the calendar practice was to provide those persons who might be interested with an opportunity of learning what was proposed for action by the Board of Super- visors. The advocates of this procedure described it as being "designed to stop fast ones". In other words, the Board would no longer conceive and adopt resolutions on the Monday upon which it met; the Board would henceforth adopt only those matters which had been heralded to the county for at least ten days prior to their adoption except in the case of an emergent matter. The author repeats this procedure did not exist prior to January 1, 1938, and it creates a right, for civic-minded residents, characteristic of the advancement in the so-called "upper layer" of County Government.
Provision was made for two official newspapers. Briefly, these two official newspapers are to represent the two political parties whose candidate for Governor received the highest number of votes in the County at the last general election in which a Governor was chosen. So far, these two parties have been Republican and Demo- cratic; the Republican members of the Board designating one official newspaper.
The responsibility for executing many of the changes in the procedure of the Board of Supervisors and in their records fell upon the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, Mr. Charles F. Strohson, a resident of Lynbrook. Mr. Strohson and the members of his staff handled the changes proposed for the Board of Supervisors and Mr. Strohson cooperated with the County Executive and the per- sonnel of his office in giving real effect to the intent of the new charter.
The office of the County Executive was new under the charter and the personnel appointed to assist the County Executive was likewise new in the official life of the County Government. Two Deputies were to be appointed. One Deputy was selected for his experience and record in law and government. He was Henry J. A. Collins, a resident for many years of Seaford, and had been associated for more than thirteen years in the practice of law with the Hon. Samuel Seabury in New York City. He was the Special Deputy County Attorney assigned to the Charter Organization Bureau as well as a member of the Charter Commission and is now the County
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Judge. The other Deputy, Hon. Raymond W. Houston, a resident of East Williston, was selected for his experience and record in welfare work and broad social problems. He had been active as an executive in social work for approximately ten years. He is now. Deputy Commissioner of Public Welfare of the State of New York. Mrs. Dallas Wilhelm, a resident of Floral Park, was appointed Secre- tary to the County Executive. Mrs. Wilhelm had a long and inten- sive experience as a law stenographer and was the Executive Stenographer over all of the stenographers, and their assignments of work, employed by the Charter Organization Bureau in arrang- ing for the transfers of governmental functions, of governmental employees and other changes under the new charter.
The immediate problem of this new office was to complete the organization of the several County Departments, agencies, institu- tions and Boards for which preparation had been made by the Charter Organization Bureau. This work was unique. There were no specific precedents as Nassau County initiated the very first County Charter within the State of New York. Nassau County was the pioneer.
Mention has been made of Hon. Theodore Bedell, Jr., County Comptroller. It should be recorded that Mr. Bedell participated in the conferences prior to the creation of the Charter Commission ; that he actively assisted in the work of the commission; that he headed the work preparatory for the new charter; that he continued his participation in the organization of the departments and in cooperating with the Office of the County Executive on and after the effective date of the charter.
Soon after the adoption of the charter the County Executive held conferences with the County Attorney and the members of the Board of Supervisors and the County Comptroller and recommended that action be taken for a recodification of all of the laws applicable to Nassau County. This was done and manuals of the Administrative Law and codes were made available. Hon. Marcus Christ of New Hyde Park, then Deputy County Attorney and now County Attorney, actively participated in this work and the services of an outstanding lawyer, Howard G. Wilson, Esq. of Lynbrook, and the members of his staff were obtained under contract. The work was consummated on June 17, 1939.
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