The Village of Farmingdale will hold elections on Tuesday, March 21. There are seven candidates vying for the two trustee positions. As with any election there is always a bevy of mailers, articles, quotes, misquotes and assorted claims and counterclaims. I have to admit that it is a bit bewildering for me to read the platforms of some of the trustee candidates. Some of their statements often cause me to wonder if maybe I missed something that happened at a recent trustee meeting. Of course, I always have the minutes from the past meetings to refresh my memory and see exactly what the board did. This current administration has made giant leaps in restoring open government and listening to the residents' needs, hopes and wishes. I am proud of what we have accomplished and I look forward to continuing our progress with the two new trustees. All the campaign rhetoric has also caused me to revisit the age-old question: when does perception become reality.? When do people start to believe the statements being made are fact and when do they start to think that that is really happening?

It seems that our code-enforcement practices have become an issue among some of the candidates. I am certainly not going to debate the subject in this column. My past column described our code enforcement team and detailed some of the changes that this administration has instituted. Hopefully it gave you an idea of why these codes are in place and why they should be enforced. Our codes are basically very similar to the other 80 or so incorporated villages on Long Island. Our fine-structure is on parity and actually on the lower end of the spectrum. It comes down to: did that person break the law or not? I can't tell you how many times I hear, "I only went in for a minute." Meanwhile the car was parked illegally and was creating a hazard. You really have to ask yourself, do you want the codes not to be enforced? Yes, sometimes there are mitigating circumstances and that's why we have a village court to decide. My administration has worked diligently to protect the welfare and safety of residents and visitors to our village. Quite frankly, the whole issue has been brought to foreground by certain candidates. The vast majority of village residents that I speak with are happy with the code-enforcement policies and appreciate what they have done to improve the quality of life and safety within our village. I urge all village residents to come out and vote on Tuesday, but before you pull the lever look carefully at the issues being raised and ask yourself what the real truth of the matter really is!