As a longtime elected village official and lifelong resident of the Village of Farmingdale, I would like to clarify some of the recent events that have occurred in our beautiful village.

My purpose has, and will always be, to provide and maintain the best service to improve the way of life for our residents. I believe I have fulfilled this task in association with the members of the previous village boards, with whom I worked together as a team since 1988.

An election in March 2004 resulted in the departure of the previous dedicated, sincere, hardworking, honest, progressive mayor and two trustees.

After the election the new mayor visited me at my home to seek my approval to remain as deputy mayor for the remainder of my term in office, as he valued my expertise in office and my knowledge of the village and its wonderful residents. He also stated he would retain most all the other members of the village government and probably add a few new appointments. I was re-appointed deputy mayor by Mayor Graf on April 5.

From the time the new board members took office, there has been no interaction on their part with the two senior board members on any minor or major village business. The two senior board members have been completely "shut out" of anything going on or any of the board's discussions. The mayor has been dictatorial and it's been government without representation. I believe this is not what the people of Farmingdale want or deserve.

There have been no more informative daily faxes, no telephone conferences nor regular delivery of office mail - a service provided for by the roaming village code enforcement officers - no weekly agenda sheets of upcoming events, etc.

The last contact I had with the board members was at the Centennial Parade on July 16, when the mayor was too occupied with his cell phone or with visiting governmental officials and marching to discuss any pertinent village business, although he said he would be in contact with me.

On the morning of July 27, I went to the village hall to retrieve my mail and approached the village clerk as to what was new, his answer was "nothing." That evening at 4:55 p.m. the mayor phoned me and asked if I had received the fax which explained everything. My answer was "negative." He advised me to see if there was paper in my fax machine and to check its working order. Everything was fine. He then assured me I would be getting a fax informing me of a board meeting at 9:30 a.m. on July 28 and all pertinent information would be on the fax.

I contacted Trustee Denauski to determine if she had received a fax and was told she had not received one; however, she informed me that she had been given written notice, via a fax, that she was no longer a village trustee and should return her keys, code book, etc. to village hall. She also stated she would not attend the next day's early morning meeting.

I arrived at the meeting site at 9:25 a.m. on July 28 and upon seeing the mayor I made it known that I had not yet received the fax he had spoken of the day before. The mayor told the village clerk to provide a copy of the fax to me. He responded he didn't have a copy and didn't know where one would be and proceeded to scurry about the office.

I proceeded to the meeting room and at 9:30 a.m. when a code enforcement officer provided a copy of a fax to me, which was only a notice of the meeting. At the same time the mayor, the other two board members and the prosecuting attorney, Thomas Sabellico, entered and took their places at the dais. I was then invited to join them.

Immediately after the pledge of allegiance to the flag, the mayor asked for a motion to remove me as deputy mayor to be replaced by Joseph Rachiele, and also to remove Marialyce Denauski as a trustee and replace her with Theodore Dorfmeister. Mr. Rachiele immediately made the motion, Mr. Langdon seconded it and the mayor said he would be the third man to approve the motion and stated the motion had been passed.

This was all very well orchestrated and done within seconds. Mayor Graf immediately requested a motion to approve the fire commissioner appointees which was next on the agenda. I asked if there wasn't to be a public discussion. Mayor Graf snapped, "No discussion, we will proceed with the motion!" I repeated the first motion did not have a discussion and asked for a legal opinion from Mr. Sabellico who agreed a discussion was in order but the motion to change the situation of the trustees would have to stay because it was passed. This was done over my emphatic objection.

All the other 12 appointments were handled in the same orchestrated way in a matter of less than one minute. The mayor immediately closed the meeting and everyone prepared to leave.

The entire meeting was a pre-arranged "set up," a farce, illegal, dishonest, prejudicial and an insult to the good people of Farmingdale who deserve an ethical, moral and honest representation from their elected officials.

Benjamin Giminaro,

trustee