As the search for a new village manager continues, a temporary replacement may come internally in order to keep the post operating on an interim basis, according to village of Mamaroneck officials.
According to Mayor Norman Rosenblum, a Republican, in order to ensure a “smooth transition” with the village’s administrative helm—which will be vacated by current Village Manager Richard Slingerland on April 1—the role will be filled temporarily by someone “in house.”
While Rosenlbum declined to say who exactly that replacement would be, the closest staffer in the administrative hierarchy would be Assistant Village Manager Dan Sarnoff.
Slingerland is leaving Mamaroneck to accept a similar position with the village of Tarrytown. His resignation comes in the wake of an initiative by Board Democrats to audit his performance in the role; a review process that has since been scrapped.
According to Trustee Keith Waitt, a Democrat, the village received 27 applications for the village manager opening and has narrowed those options down to nine potential candidates. He said the Board of Trustees will conduct another round of interviews on March 24.
Waitt acknowledged that until a final decision is made, current staff may be required to fill in the gaps in the village administration for the time being.
Though the process of vetting a new village manager has moved forward mostly unabated, a concurrent search for a new village attorney, according to trustees on both sides of the political aisle, has riled some tensions on the board.
Rosenblum, who said he “disagrees” with the process of seeking a new attorney to replace current Village Attorney Charles Goldberger, characterized the decision to seek an attorney and manager simultaneously as shortsighted.
“I strongly felt this to be negative; the fact that we are taking the top administrator and legal advisors at the same time,” he said, “resulting in no transition whatsoever.”
According to Waitt, Rosenblum has consistently advocated for keeping Goldberger—who has filled the role as village attorney since 2012—despite a push by board Democrats to shake the position up.
Rosenblum said he plans to make a public statement regarding the process—which is currently being debated behind closed doors due to ongoing contract negotiations—at an upcoming public meeting on March 27; a date trustees indicated may coincide with a final decision on the new attorney.
According to Waitt, a reconfiguring of village government comes as part of a “hands-on” approach by the new majority of board Democrats, which took office in December 2016.
The decision to seek a new attorney, in particular, comes after a successful push by Democrats this past election year to transition the power of appointment of the village attorney from the mayor to a majority of the trustees. Democrats on the village board hold a 3-2 voting majority.
“The appointment by the board of a village attorney rather than by the mayor is in accordance with the mandate we received from voters in the referendum in November,” Waitt said.
That initiative passed comfortably in a public referendum vote on Election Day. In response, it was the subject of a short-lived lawsuit by Rosenblum, which was then thrown out of court by a judge less than a month after it was filed.
According to Trustee Leon Potok, a Democrat, while the search for village manager has yielded a bevy of eager candidates, a request for a new village attorney has seen less than a dozen.
Rosenblum told the Review that the final candidates for attorney have been narrowed down to about five possible options.
A decision on a new village attorney will likely be made before the end of the month, while the hiring of a village manager may take a month or more.
