The ex-supervisor of America’s largest town abruptly retired from local government last week, the day after it surfaced he’d been moved to a cushy $180,000-a-year municipal post — at a defunct department.
Don Clavin first suddenly resigned as the Town of Hempstead’s supervisor in the middle of a board meeting Aug. 5, stunning residents and political observers.
Town officials only said at the time that he had been assigned to another municipal job — refusing to spill the beans on his new position or salary.
Local Democrats claimed that Clavin, a Republican, stepped aside as supervisor to make room for another GOPer, John Ferretti, to take his place — and was rewarded with the shadowy new post.
With public pressure mounting on the Republicans to explain themselves, Hempstead higher-ups finally came clean Wednesday, revealing that Clavin had been moved to the town’s Department of Planning and Economic Development — an office that has been shuttered since 2020.
His new job title was as Community Services Representative — with him receiving the same $179,375 salary that he had as supervisor.
Then fewer than 24 hours after the town reluctantly released the information on Clavin’s new gig, the former supervisor abruptly quit again.
He resigned from his new position and retired from the town government altogether Thursday.
“I have enjoyed serving the residents of the Town of Hempstead for over two decades,” Clavin said in a statement.
“After carefully considering the many career and personal opportunities with which I am presented, I have decided to resign my current position and retire from the Town of Hempstead, effective immediately.”
Clavin is set to officially retire Sept. 12, although his pension has not been calculated yet, according to the state comptroller’s office.
Democrats including Nassau County party Chairman Jay Jacobs called Clavin’s second resignation an “admission of guilt” and his carried-over salary “a payoff for Clavin stepping down early to give Ferretti the supervisor job.
“The Republicans who do these things all of the time were caught, again, ripping off the taxpayers with a no-show, nonsensical job that didn’t need to exist in the first place that was assigned to an office that was shuttered and closed down,” Jacobs said.
Minutes after Clavin’s resignation as supervisor, Republicans on the council wasted no time voting in Ferretti, a county legislator — with him and his family already dressed up and sitting in attendance at the board meeting
But Republicans pushed back at the notion of any political shenanigans or payback, insisting Clavin’s decision to step down from both posts was his own.
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