By Hannah Mudry
In 2001, 2002 and 2003, Village of Hempstead officials submitted charter proposals to become a city to New York State. Each time, the effort failed to pass the State Legislature. Twenty-two years later, Hempstead’s City Charter Advisory Commission is preparing plans to try again.
Village officials said they decided to pursue city recognition because the community could receive a larger share of state aid. New York State, however, has not approved of a new city since 1942, when the City of Rye was established in upstate Westchester County.
The current makeup of the State Legislature, though, may work in Hempstead’s favor this time, according to one commission member. James Garner, the Hempstead Village mayor from 1988 to 2005, was a Republican. The new charter will pass because of “the Democratic [state] government,” said Supreme Mathematics, the commission member.
Democrats currently control both houses of the State Legislature and the governor’s mansion. Mayor Waylen Hobbs Jr., a Democrat, was elected in 2021, in part, on a promise to form a city charter committee.
Ian McKay, a lifelong Hempstead resident, joined the commission three years ago. “A bunch of people were saying, ‘What if [the village was a city]?’” said McKay. “. . . I thought, let me join and let me see.”
McKay now is on the 11-member commission that meets on the second Thursday of each month to discuss. At the September meeting, the committee began drafting a summary of the 11 articles found in the proposed charter. The 68-page charter was also sent to attorneys and outside consultants for editing.
The process of drafting the charter began two years ago. The structure of the government was completed in September 2023, which was among the most critical aspect of the articles, officials said. The new government would include a city council and mayor, said commission member William Miller.
If and when the village were to become a city, elected leaders would remain in place, with the village mayor becoming the city mayor and the village board becoming the city council. “The roles of each position will change, but the person would not,” Miller said.
Community support for a city must be demonstrated for the charter to pass.
“The next steps will be the most difficult,” Miller said. “There has to be some support and you have to be able to documentarily prove that the majority of the residents are in agreement. You have to be able to provide that to the Senate, so they can see there is wide support.”
The last two steps in the process go hand in hand for this reason. As the community outreach begins, the committee must communicate with lawyers and consultants to finalize the charter draft.
Another critical step is reaching out to school boards and other village committees to gather their input. “They’re all going to be asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’” said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.
The commission’s next meeting will be Oct. 9 at the Hempstead Village Hall. The session will be an open forum, attended by the mayor and trustees, at which residents will be able to offer their feedback.
Commission members hope to have a charter summary before the meeting because “no one will read [the full document] except for the council,” Miller said. “The summary will allow readers to key in on the important articles.”
