PARK SLOPE — After a five month leave of absence, a Brooklyn community board's longtime district manager accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend will be evaluated to determine if he is still the right man for the job, the board's chairman announced Wednesday night.
Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman initially took a 60-day medical leave in May that has stretched to five months. He's scheduled to return to work Sept. 27.
Board chairman Sayar Lonial said that after consulting community boards across the city, a CB6 committee "determined the best path forward was to memorialize the proper role of the [district manager] when we created a job description for the position that should be adopted at the committee level by next week."
The announcement came at the board's Wednesday night general meeting, its first after a summer hiatus.
Hammerman, who has worked on the board since 1990 and makes $112,000 a year, took time off after he was arrested April 2 for hacking his ex-girlfriend's Uber account to follow her to the Hotel RL in Bushwick, according to court documents.
He then broke an order of protection five days later after he followed her into Park Slope bar The Gate, prosecutors said.
Hammerman turned down a June plea deal that would have forced him to admit to a violation while other more serious charges would have been dropped, his lawyer explained.
Once Hammerman returns to his job Sept. 27, CB 6's finance, personnel and law committee will sit down with him to "go over the job's responsibilities and discuss the best options for the board as a whole going forward," Lonial explained.
Lonail declined to share the criteria that will be used to review Hammerman or if the committee's judgment will ultimately impact the position.
"With that as our focal point we plan on moving forward to ensure we have the best person in the position," said Lonial. "And that the district manager best represents the actions and deliberations of Community Board 6."
But some board members took issue with the group's lack of specifics on the matter and the board's resistance to take a firm stance on Hammerman's behavior.
"I’m not comfortable with the community board not having some sort of position about how we want to proceed forward," CB6 member Josh Skaller said at the Wednesday meeting. "I think although we’d like to talk about it delicately, the community board as a whole really does need to be involved in these discussions and I would welcome a bit more information about what the process is now."
The matter is still under reviewed by the city's Law Department after the board's chairman asked officials to offer legal advice on the situation, Lonial said.
"These are profoundly sensitive matters and the committee is being being extremely deliberate on all decisions that would eventually come to the board on a vote," said Lonial.
Hammerman's lawyer did not immediately return calls for comment Thursday. Hammerman is due back in court Sept. 26.
Community Board 6 is a city advisory group covering the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, the Columbia Street Waterfront District, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook.
