Gerard Losquadro new highway superintendent, Derek Skuzenski public safety commissioner in N. Hempstead

The North Hempstead town board voted Tuesday to hire two new top officials, including a highway superintendent, w ho will be the sixth person to hold the position since 2016.

 Gerard Losquadro, 66, of Albertson, was appointed as the highway superintendent and will earn $160,000 a year. Derek Skuzenski, 34, of Albertson, was appointed as the commissioner of public safety at an annual salary of $140,000.

“Both of these men bring with them decades of experience serving in a variety of different roles, and each has spent many years of service working in and for our town,” Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said in a statement.

Losquadro has more than four decades of experience in the highway and construction fields, including 35 years with North Hempstead as a highway construction supervisor before serving as the superintendent for a private construction company. Most recently, he worked in security operations at NYU Langone, according to the town.

“I spent three and a half decades in the highway department here, and coming back as superintendent is a real full-circle moment for me,” Losquadro said in a statement. “I look forward to making our local highways run smoothly and safely for our many busy neighbors.”

Losquadro’s appointment was approved 4-2 with two Democrats on the board voting against him. Councilman Robert Troiano, a Democrat, was absent from the meeting.

Democrats Christine Liu and Mariann Dalimonte thanked outgoing Superintendent Douglas Schlaefer for his more than 30 years of service to the town before voting against the resolution to hire Losquadro.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve known the superintendent to be nothing but professional, attentive in his role and I did not see a need for a change in the superintendent,” Liu said at the meeting.

Losquadro will be the sixth person to hold the position since former Superintendent Thomas Tiernan resigned in 2016.

In May 2022, a Democratic majority on the board in a 4-3 vote fired acting Highway Superintendent Harry Weed, who was hired in April 2021 to succeed Richard Baker.

Baker resigned abruptly in July 2019, four months after taking the job.

The appointment of Schlaefer, 60, of Port Washington, was passed 4-3 by the Democratic majority in 2022. At the meeting, a resolution to appoint Losquadro was withdrawn.

Derek Skuzenski, 34, of Albertson, was appointed as commissioner of public safety. He succeeds Shawn Brown, whose employment was terminated in January shortly after Republicans gained a majority of the town board.

Skuzenski worked with the New York City Sheriff's Office for over a decade, rising to borough chief, according to the town. He now serves as vice president of the Roslyn Highlands Fire Department and works as an adjunct professor at St. Joseph’s University of New York.

“I am very ecstatic at the opportunity and look forward to grow the department of public safety and provide better services for residents,” Skuzenski said.