Greenburgh town attorney resigns in 'buyout'
By JOSEPH AX AND MICHAEL
G. MEANEY
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: October 16, 2004)
Greenburgh Town Attorney Susan Mancuso is resigning but will be paid $131,852 over the next 14 months to handle some town legal matters in what the town supervisor called a "buyout."
Mancuso will handle tax-challenge cases for the town under contract as a special counsel. Neither Mancuso nor town officials would discuss the reasons for her departure before the December 2005 completion of her term.
But Mancuso said yesterday, "My understanding is I was free to stay. They presented a very nice opportunity to me.
"I'm going to be doing work for the town. This gives me the opportunity to do what I would be doing anyway if I were to leave the town ... to establish my practice."
Mancuso, back in private practice, will be paid at her current rate of $113,000 a year but will work as little as 42 hours a month on town business.
Mancuso has been town attorney since 2000. She heads a staff of four other lawyers.
Deputy Town Attorney Tim Lewis will take over on an interim basis after Mancuso leaves Nov. 1.
Mancuso is the third department head to leave the town since September 2003. Comptroller Norah McAvoy left then to become Harrison schools treasurer. Her replacement, Ann Marie Berg, returned to her former post as comptroller in Eastchester after less than five months, saying only that "the style I'm used to dealing with" was not what she had found in Greenburgh.
Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said the fact that all three were women is a coincidence. Mancuso did not want to comment.
Feiner said Mancuso's departure was not connected to her clash with Assessor Gerry Iagallo this year with regard to his role as chief negotiator in the town's purchase of the new Town Hall building. Mancuso questioned Iagallo's setting estimated values for properties as assessor at the same time he was negotiating town property purchases.
Mancuso said, "I don't want to rehash the past."
The Greenburgh Town Board approved the contract Wednesday, 3-2, with Feiner and board member Steve Bass opposed.
"I'm objecting to some of the terms of the buyout," Feiner said yesterday. He would not detail them, saying the Town Board had agreed not to discuss the matter.
A resolution to remove Iagallo's negotiator role was postponed until the next meeting.
Feiner said the town had been planning to hire extra legal help anyway to handle tax-challenge cases — $85,000 was budgeted this year but not spent. There are 700 to 1,000 cases pending, Iagallo said.
Reach Joseph Ax at jax@thejournalnews.com or 914-694-5064.