Hempstead Town supervisor candidate Joe Scianablo sues over John Ferretti's appointment to the post

The Democratic candidate for Hempstead Town supervisor on Monday sued the town and several of its officials for allegedly violating New York State's Open Meetings Law when the town board appointed a new supervisor and gave an undisclosed job to the former supervisor on Aug. 5.

“Supervisor Don Clavin didn’t just resign the other day, he walked into a back-door secret room and handed John Ferretti the job,” Joseph Scianablo, a former Queens County prosecutor and U.S. Marine veteran, said at a news conference in front of the state courthouse in Mineola on Monday morning. “And that’s not all that happened, he handed himself a taxpayer-funded ‘golden parachute.’”

There was no immediate response from Clavin through attempts to reach town spokesman Brian Devine. On Monday afternoon, Devine said that he hadn’t seen the lawsuit but provided an emailed statement that called it a “publicity stunt.”

At the Aug. 5 meeting, Clavin, a Republican, suddenly resigned as town supervisor. Town officials later said Clavin was then appointed by the Hempstead Town Board to work in the town department of planning and economic development with an undisclosed salary and an undisclosed title. However, no mention of Clavin’s new job was made by the town board, nor did it appear in any publicly available documents posted on the town’s website. Minutes later, the town board appointed the Republican Ferretti, an attorney and former Nassau County legislator, to replace Clavin as town supervisor. Town officials have refused to say what Clavin's job title is or how much he is being paid. 

Scianablo’s lawsuit alleges that the town’s failure to give prior notice of the appointments violated state Open Meetings Law. State law imposes requirements on municipalities and other governmental agencies to make records publicly available for actions that are scheduled for public discussion, at least 24 hours before a meeting. The law generally requires such records to be posted online and to also be provided upon request. 

The lawsuit seeks to nullify Ferretti's appointment and to require Ferretti, Clavin, Town Clerk Kate Murray and the five Republican members of the town board participate in a training session on Open Meetings Law.

The lawsuit alleges that town officials knew in advance that Clavin would resign and get a new job and that Ferretti would be appointed, and thus were covered under the Open Meetings Law’s requirements to make them publicly available in advance.

Ferretti last week told Newsday that Clavin had made a decision to resign at least two days in advance of the Aug. 5 meeting. 

Devine, in the emailed statement, said, “Supervisor Ferretti's appointment was made in complete accordance with the law. This is a silly and disingenuous maneuver that will cost taxpayers money as a result of Scianablo's frivolous lawsuit."

Judge-ordered Open Meetings Law trainings are rare. In 2017, the Oyster Bay Town Board was ordered to participate in a training after a judge ruled it had violated the law.

On Monday, the Hempstead case was assigned to New York State Supreme Court Judge Lisa Cairo. Cairo is the daughter of Joseph Cairo, chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee.