In Hempstead, the dog didn't bark about the Sands contract

To crib from Sherlock Holmes, it seems odd there was no fuss about Hempstead Town Attorney Joe Ra's daughter having her wedding reception this summer at the Sands in Lido Beach despite controversy over the town-owned catering hall.


Town Supervisor Laura Gillen, a Democrat, held a news conference in October, blasting Dover Sands Inc. for not having an official contract with the town.  She said the company, operated by Butch Yamali as part of his Dover Group, had hosted weddings and other events at the Sands through an “verbal or oral" agreement with the town since 2011.




 “There is nothing in place protecting the town and the town taxpayers from potential liability at this facility should anything occur,” Gillen said, according to reports about her news conference.

A Yamali spokesman told reporters that Dover has a valid operating contract but declined to produce it.

At the news conference Gillen said the Sands had hosted eight events in 2018 and four in 2019.

“To be absolutely clear, it is illegal under New York state law to authorize a deal such as this one without a properly executed contract,” Gillen said, “and without a public vote, ” according to the LiHerald.

Gillen ordered Yamali to cease future operations at the Sands.

She didn't mention that one of the four events in  2019 was the wedding reception for Ra's daughter Jillian and her husband Jonathan Duchnowski. See invoice below.


Ra is the longtime Republican Franklin Square Executive leader and an ally of Nassau Republican Chairman Joseph Cairo, from North Valley Stream.

Newsday said federal investigators had subpoenaed Hempstead for Dover records in August after reporting that Yamali owed more than a half-million dollars in rent on the town-owned Malibu Beach club, which he also operates.



On Monday, Laura Gillen told Newsday she turned over handwritten notes from a parks department file to federal and state authorities. Those notes, which date as far back as six years ago, reference the lack of a town contract at the Sands.

It was not clear who wrote the notes but Newsday reported one dated Oct. 17, 2013 was written on a letterhead that read "From the Desk of Phillip R. Brookmeyer," who is counsel to the town parks department.

One of the notes mentioned the lack of a Sands contract "suggests appearance of conflict of interest/gross incompetence."



Yet the Town attorney allowed his daughter to book her wedding at the Sands?

Joe Ra did not return a request for comment Tuesday.

Gillen lost her bid for re-election last month to Town Tax Receiver Don Clavin, a Republican who takes office Jan. 1.

But Gillen had emphasized during a candidate's forum before the election that she works with town Republicans.

"I work with the Republican chief of staff. I work with the Republican town attorney. I work with the Republican majority lawyer. I work with their staff. And we all get along fine," she said, according to a videotape of the event.



When asked why Gillen didn't mention the Republican town attorney's apparent conflict of interest at the Sands news conference, Town Spokesman Michael Fricchione said, "Supervisor Gillen has ordered the vendor to cease future operations at Sands and is soliciting ideas from the public on revitalizing the site into something meaningful for the community."

He added, "Supervisor Gillen has referred this matter to law enforcement, along with the Town’s outside counsel that the Board hired in order to avoid conflicts of interest.