BY BENJAMIN MANDILE
In late March, Acting Queens Borough President Sharon Lee announced that terms for 2020 community board appointees have been postponed by two months.
Current community board members with terms that ended March 31 will serve an additional 60 days in accordance with the New York City Charter.
“Members shall serve until their successors are appointed but no member may serve more than 60 days after the expiration of his or her original term unless reappointed by the borough president…,” according to local law.
The 2020 term will now begin on May 31, rather than the original date of April 1, and will last through March 31, 2022.
A spokesperson for the Queens Borough President’s office told QNS that community board terms have not been extended in this manner in its recent memory.
The office received 501 applicants, which included 246 applications from people who had never previously served on a Queens community board and 255 from people with prior experience or who were re-applying at the end of their 2020 term by the March 13 deadline.
Lee announced a six-week extension in February for the application deadline for appointees, which originally was set for January 31 to “ensure that the pool of applicants is as robust as possible.”
Community board members are appointed by the borough president, with half of the appointments being recommended by City Council members representing their respective community districts.
New York City has 59 community boards — including 14 in Queens — which hold monthly membership meetings, hearings and issue recommendations about the city budget, municipal service deliveries and other issues that impact their communities.
Each board has up to 50 workers, who do not receive salaries while serving a two-year term.
