June 17, 2015 By Jackie Strawbridge
It’s the end of an era for Astoria’s community board.
At its final meeting before summer break on Tuesday, Community Board 1 said goodbye to Chairman Vinicio Donato and District Manager Lucille Hartmann after their decades of service.
Donato has been at the CB 1 helm for nearly 40 years. Hartmann has been involved with the Board for almost as long and became District Manger in 2008.
They both announced their plans to retire at the Board’s April meeting.
Borough President Melinda Katz and Councilmen Costa Constantinides and Jimmy Van Bramer stopped by the meeting to thank Donato and Hartmann for their work with CB 1, as did representatives for several other elected officials.
Hartmann said her last day in the office will be July 17; Donato will stay through the selection process for her replacement.
According to Hartmann, the new District Manager candidate pool has been narrowed to three individuals.
Board Members will have an opportunity to interview these candidates at a Board-only meeting at the end of the month.
The Board will vote on a new executive team in January. Donato said that First Vice Chairman George Stamatiades will run CB 1’s next meeting in September, where the Board will decide on interim leadership until January.
