Being mayor should be a bonus when running for higher office. Unless of course there are some issues your constituents have with the way you run things. Here are a few things from a website called Planedomemanor.org. The site has been around since 2005 so it's not a political setup for the senate race. It's "A Resident’s Perspective."
"CONTROLLING/REDUCING VILLAGE EXPENSES:
Using quickly called meetings to hide decisions from public view, the Village has borrowed $500,000 using public bonds for the first time in Village history. In addition to this debt, the newly proposed budget calls for dipping into the reserve fund by $175,000 and increasing taxes 7%.
One example is the Stonytown road construction project. No effort was made to secure CHIPS grants for road improvement or Nassau County grants for improvements in storm drainage.
While around 1/3 of the project involved roads owned by other entities, no efforts were made to share costs with these entities before the project began. As a result, we will be paying for this project in our taxes over the next 5 years.
In 2004, the Village spent $399,235. This year the budget is $1,334,889 with increases proposed for next year. I fail to see how Mayor Donno can cite reducing expenses as an accomplishment."
"THE LEGACY OF LEGAL COSTS:
There are no accomplishments here. We have no less than 4-5 attorneys from 2 separate firms addressing legal issues that should have been settled. Legal fees for the 3 months of October- December 2007 exceeded $81,000. In 2004 our legal fees for the entire year was $22,094. Legal fees are currently the single highest category of expense for this Village. Legal expenses have drastically increased since Mayor Donno moved legal services to a company managed by her friend.
"ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT:
Many residents didn’t know that Mayor Donno moved the village office to the Higgins Law
building (Mayor Donno is a long time friend of the Higgins). This has increased the Village’s monthly expenses. Little was done to work with the Science Museum for more space, and nothing was done with Nassau County to see if any County space could be used inexpensively. We were approached by another Village to share space, and cut costs, but cutting costs are not a priority for this administration. As a result our rent has tripled on a 10 year lease on this space.
Unfortunately, important Village meetings are now ad-hoc, sometimes at the Town of North Hempstead Town Hall, and sometimes at the Science Museum. Residents can’t find meetings because they change location and are poorly announced.
We have outsourced our Village government. Our Village employees no longer need to drive through the Village to see issues. We have lost a great sense of what it means to be a Village."
"IN CONCLUSION:
As someone who supported Barbara Donno in the last election, I feel greatly let down in the past year. Her “Year in Review” letter inaccurately portrays the events of the past year and is a disservice to the residents.
Mayor Donno has moved the Village to space owned by a friend of hers. She is running Tony DeSousa and Mary Lou Diorio, good friends of hers, as candidates for Trustee.
We need Trustees with their own opinions, not ones who were picked by the Mayor to rubber stamp her actions. We need a diverse set of people with different ideas and perspectives to balance a Mayor who seems unable to control spending or accurately describe her own actions to the residents."
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5 comments:
Interesting that the owner of the website is Richard Rupp, a resident of Plandome Manor, and disgruntled loser in the past election. These comments are bias and unfounded, and when taken out of context can look wrong (the news never does that right?). It’s unfortunate to see someone who doesn’t get his way, take it out people who are trying to fix the problems that occurred under the past mayor (and the corruption that went along with it).
Barbara Donno has not stood by her platform on which she was elected Mayor of The Village of Plandome Manor.Donno has created the most corrupt distasteful government this village has ever seen, it is very sad to me a life long resident.She has instructed village personal to harass law abiding well intentioned village residents to gain fines. She is trying to boost the coffers of our little village and use this to gain higher political office. She is unresponsive to her constitutes and does not even return phone calls in a village of 200.If you do speak to her she makes empty promises.
She has been so unpleasant to work with numerous honest hardworking elected residents and village employees have quit in frustration.There is no denying this fact.
She ruined our school board using it as a platform for her own interests and those of her friends, just ask any current school board member the mess she created, they have been working years to undo her corrupt selfish actions. We do not need her type corrupting the rest of NY, it is bad enough what she has done to the Manhasset School district and The Village of Plandome Manor. DO NOT VOTE FOR HER FOR STATE SENATE. I do not currently even know who will oppose her, this is not political. I am just trying to protect others from her. I have never run for any elected position, nor intend to,I have no political agenda. I just want to warn others as to what she has done to us in Plandome Manor and Manhasset.
This site had been up prior to the past March election. It is a resident presenting an opinion shared by many in the village, with FOIL'ed documents as facts to back up the statements.
Barbara Donno has a habit of saying one thing and doing another - and spitting at anyone who reminds her of her forgotten commitments. She has been a disaster in running the Manhasset Board of Education. Her tenure as Mayor has proved the same.
We, as residents, deserve better.
Ms. Donno sent out campaign literature that was inane. She offered everything to everybody. Low taxes, more money for schools. Ms. Donno's word cannot be trusted. Her actions speak louder. When she was on the Manhasset school board, she never saw a teacher contract she could not sign, even if it overburdened and forced people out of town. Ms. Donno always appeased her union friends. This will be the first time I do not vote Republican and shame on the party for selecting such an unfit candidate.
Donno has LITTERED Plandome Road in the village of Plandome with her election signs - it's DISGRACEFUL.
I hope everyone who sees the signs decides to vote AGAINST her for her DISREGARD for our neighborhood.
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