Over the past five months, Nassau County has gone through some majors shifts. Whether it be the COVID pandemic changing how our world operates, the economy taking a hit, education being restructured, things have changed. The County Executive brings a detailed discussion on the state of the county.
Q: What are the top three obstacles that you and your team have identified and how are they being handled?
A: “Number one there is the health crisis and we’ve been through the horrible surge of the spring. I don’t think any of us will ever forget that. We’ve seen since we started reopening back in the beginning of phase one, we’ve seen our hospitalizations decrease, we’ve seen our infections rate decrease while businesses continue to open up… I think our residents, and our businesses, our health department have all handled it really, really well. Now of course, you have the economic crisis, with businesses shut down. While so many of our businesses have opened, many still cannot. For instance, catering halls, bowling alleys, gyms. All of these businesses that employ people that generate revenue, can’t open. They don’t know when they can open and that economic uncertainty is very troubling for so many people. That brings me to our third challenge, the budget here in Nassau County. 40 percent of our revenue for our budget comes from sales tax. So, we are facing hundreds of millions of dollars in deficit. Specifically 750 million dollars for the last 18 months, for the last half of 2020 and all of 2021. I’m making a full court press for revenue recovery from the federal government. We just have to really fight to get the revenue recovery that we really need, having been at the epicenter of this crisis.”
Q: Are you satisfied with the plans that Nassau County school districts have in place for reopening this fall?
A: “I just did a call with our superintendents of our schools and I am assured that our 56 school districts have worked really hard to come up with the best plan for their community. As a public school parent myself, I know that our parents, our teachers, our children are all looking forward to getting back to some kind of normal again and getting back to the routine of school. They’re working with our health department, they are obviously working with the state to do everything they can to ensure a safe reopening.”
Q: What do you say to the parents that are fearful of their children going back to school?
A: “I fully understand and can relate… There is still a lot we don’t know about this virus and I understand that people are afraid. I also understand that a lot of school districts are providing an ability to do all-remote so I hope that they will explore that with their district. I’m sure that their home district will work with them to make sure that child gets the education they deserve.”
Q: How do we make sure reopening schools is the best decision for our county?
A: “The number one priority of local government and my number one priority is the health and safety of our residents. You’re going to find with parents, and I have spoken to tons of parents, the full spectrum. From kids need to go back full time five days of the week, to keep the schools closed, to let them continue remote learning. Then you’re going to find people somewhere in the middle who are looking for a hybrid model. They [the school districts] have to take a lot into account when it comes to transportation, lunch, little kids, recess and scheduling, and then with the older kids having to deal with sports and band and AP classes. There’s so much that goes into this. A lot of thought. A lot of time, a lot of strategizing. So, they are putting together detailed plans. Each is going to be a little bit different.”
Q: Are you concerned about a resurgence of the pandemic this coming fall/winter? How can we prevent this from happening?
A: “We’ve found a lot of our new positive cases are young people who’ve been going to graduation parties and things like that and folks who are coming out of state. So, we have to be really diligent and vigilant and remember social distancing. Remember that the mask works. Those two things that helped us begin to reopen in the first place. We’ve come too far to backslide now. We know what we have to do. Our residents understand common sense and by and large people are really doing it. So let’s just keep it going. Nobody can afford a resurgence of this. Our economy can’t afford it. Our schools certainly can’t handle it. Common sense. Easy things. Social distancing, washing hands. Simple, easy, not complicated.”
Q: What do you have to say for those who are not wearing masks and not practicing social distancing?
A: “If you feel that you are going to be out and you are going to be within six feet from people, I want you to think serious about putting on that mask. If we want our businesses to be able to thrive again. If we want to make sure that we are protecting our loved ones and ourselves then it’s a simple thing you can do to respect yourself and the people in your community.”
Q: For those students with disabilities, how is the county making sure they are being given the resources they need?
A: “It depends on the case and it depends on the family. I mean, some of our special education children really miss out on a lot when they’re not in school, with specialized teachers to help them develop. Especially the little kids with speech and things like that. They need that interaction. The zoom call might not work for them. There are many different kinds of disabilities, many different kinds of vulnerabilities and there are so many different ways of dealing with them.”
Q: How has it been for you navigating the county through a pandemic?
A: “Well, you never know what you sign up for when you take a job and you just deal with it. You handle it. I made sure I was in constant communication with our hospital executives to make sure they got what they need. My team was singularly focused on flattening the curve. We have a wonderful health department. Dr. Larry Eisenstein, who’s the Health Commissioner [Nassau County DOH] happens to be an infectious disease specialist. So, that certainly came in handy. He and his team have been fantastic. So, you just handle the problems as they come. You try to help people as you possibly can, and you know this year with sharks and storms and COVID and everything else we had to deal with, I feel like we’re just about ready for anything.”
Q: What sort of message would you give to county residents who are scared with everything going on right now?
A: “Just take the problem, take the day, one at a time. Recognizing that there are some things that you can’t control. You can control things like wearing a mask and social distancing. These are things you can do to make yourself feel better and more confident and also will make a difference. Sometimes it’s the small things that make all the difference.”
Q: How does it feel being a woman in politics, especially when people sometimes doubt women?
A: “I’m the first female county executive on Long Island, and when I was running for office, I rarely brought attention to that fact because I didn’t want that to be the reason people voted for me. I wanted it to be on the merits. I have to say, now that I am in the job, I’m very proud that I am the first woman to have this job. I hope to pave the way for young women and girls to look to this a see, [maybe they don’t want to be county executive] you know what, she’s received a leadership position, maybe I can do the same if I really put my heart and soul into it. That is something that makes me very, very proud.”
Q: Just because of how grand the scheme of the pandemic is, did you ever doubt yourself on thinking that maybe I can’t handle this or it’s too big a job for someone like me?
A: “I didn’t have time or the luxury for self-doubt. We just had too much to do, too much to focus on. I didn’t take any time to think hmm can I do this? We just had to tackle each day as it came and each problem as it came and that was my focus. We just take it day by day.”
Q: Any words of hope for our residents during these tumultuous times?
A: “I would say, to our residents, you, we, have brought down our numbers while reopening society. That should give us a lot of confidence, a lot of optimism to know that we can continue doing it, if we just continue to use that common sense we’ve exhibited these past several months. We can do this.”
Q: Do you think there is any reason in particular for the success so far of NYS and Long Island in tackling COVID 19, while other states are still in the thick of it?
A: “Part of it is that this surge came upon us so fast and furious and we were the first people to experience it in the country. It hit us like a title wave. I mean the shutdown, the businesses, everything, it all happened so quickly, the schools. So, we knew early on to take this very, very seriously. We all knew we had to do everything we can to get the numbers down. Sometimes I would say in my head at press briefings, ‘I hope people and the rest of the country are looking at us and seeing what we’re doing so they don’t have to go through this themselves. Some did, some didn’t. I think it has to do with the fact that it came on us so quickly, that we had to deal with it. Our residents and our businesses responded very quickly. Our leaders responded quickly and our residents continue to use common sense. I think it’s all of those elements.
