As the April 26 meeting of the Farmingdale Village Board of Trustees commenced, Village Clerk John Giordano introduced Deputy Village Clerk Barbara Canonico. Giordano announced to residents that he "is not going to be around forever."

"I have been delegating a lot of responsibility to her," Giordano said. "Barbara is doing a fine job."

At the end of May, Giordano will be leaving his position after 18 years as village clerk. Canonico will procure his duties until a replacement is found.

The board continued on tending to business as normal. Residents of Thomas Powell Boulevard applied for a permit to hold a block party on Aug. 6. The board tabled the issue for a future meeting after learning a large portion of cut-through streets would be affected that day.

"We're talking about Hamilton, Roxbury, Cooper, Arthur and Tulane here," Village Trustee Tom Langon said. "I think we should speak to the residents and see if we can shorten this."

Mayor George Graf then officially swore in Trustee Ted Dorfmeister. Dorfmeister won a run-off election in March to serve a one-year term. Other appointments included:

Name	Position	Term
Joseph Rachiele	Deputy Mayor	1 Year
David Nostrand	Zoning Board of Appeals Member	5 Years
Frank DeStefano	Planning Board Chairperson	1 Year
Michael Kelly	Board of Fire Commissioners Chairperson	1 Year
Kenneth Tortoso, Sr.	Board of Fire Commissioners Member	5 Years
Gregory W. Carman	Village Attorney	1 Year
Thomas Sabellico	Village Prosecutor	1 Year
Robert Kirk	Deputy Village Prosecutor	1 Year
Barbara Canonico	Deputy Records Management Officer	1 Year
Rob Craig	Superintendent of Building Department	1 Year
Fred Zamparelle	Superintendent of Public Works	1 Year

Two commercial properties on Fulton Street - Scoops and McDonalds - requested a building permit for sidewalk table and a facelift, respectively. While, a residence on Thomas Powell Boulevard has filed for a permit to build a rear addition/deck.

"I believe all three are in order and should be approved," newly appointed Building Department Superintendent Ron Craig said.

The board unanimously approved all three building permits and went on to approve the 2005/2006 village budget of $6,475,015. This is the total operating budget for both the general and water funds. Including the proposed capital fund, the total budget is $9,287,015. Trustee Dr. Benjamin Giminaro, however, opposed it, citing high health insurance expenses included in the budget as his reason.

Trustee Ted Dorfmeister and Deputy Mayor Joe Rachiele noted that they elected not to accept health insurance benefits offered to the village officials; however Trustee Dr. Giminaro did.

The Dale Drive extensions were up next on the agenda. Allegedly, the current administration is dealing with a situation that was not approved by the prior board, but was allowed to proceed. According to Village Attorney Greg Carman, the Planning Board under the previous administration approved Dale Drive I, however the board of trustees of this administration approved Dale Drive II.

"Dale Drive I was done exclusively under the prior board of trustees," Carman later told the Farmingdale Observer. "Everything was backwards, so we started asking questions. It led to us discovering that they [developers] never appeared before the [prior] board of trustees and never filed their performance bonds with the village."

With Dale Drive II being approved there is no longer a need for a cul-de-sac on Dale Drive I and therefore, revised site plans for Dale Drive I must now be submitted to Nassau County for approval.

"Whatever is submitted to the county should reflect what you are going to do," Carman told the developer/landowner at the meeting.

"Nobody will be getting c of o's until this is straightened out," Craig added.

The road still needs to be completed and the developers from Dale Drive I and Dale Drive II need to decide this. The road will then be dedicated to the village. When a road is dedicated to a municipality, that developer has to post a bond with the village so that if there is any settlement or problems with the road, the village has money on hand to go back to the bonding agent for money to make repairs. The Dale Drive I developers are concerned about road access and money they have paid for the bond.

"They are concerned that their new road would be damaged if it were used to allow heavy equipment to cross it," Carman explained.

Village officials are currently in the process of meeting with both the developers of Dale Drive I and Dale Drive II in order to come up with a resolution.

After meeting in executive session, the board resumed the meeting to address current litigation and employee relation issues. They ratified a civil claim between the Village of Farmingdale, the office of the District Attorney of Nassau County and Joseph M. Trudden.

"It states that upon the village's receipt of $22,123.02, the Village of Farmingdale will settle its civil claim for $63,000.00 against Mr. Trudden for funds misappropriated through the use of his village issued credit card by entering into a general release," Village Attorney Greg Carman read at the meeting.

The board continued on to dissolve/eliminate three laborer positions in the Department of Public Works. According to Mayor Graf these changes were made for "cost efficiency reasons."

"The approximate cost savings to the village is $175,000," Mayor Graf explained. "This money will be redistributed."

The next board of trustees meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. For more information contact Farmingdale Village Hall at 249-0093.