The following are trustee reports from the March 19 Floral Park village board meeting.

Deputy Mayor Kevin Greene reported that during February, the department issued five building permits, 23 plumbing permits, 15 electrical permits, two fence permits and 11 miscellaneous permits.

The Architectural Review Board listened to 10 cases and the Zoning Board of Appeals will be hearing three cases April 15.

Deputy Mayor Greene thanked the police department and the Department of Public Works for their quick response in securing areas and making them safe after the heavy winds and rains that hit the area March 8. As a result of the heavy winds, a very large tree was lost on Magnolia Avenue and caused a utility outage. Although many residents had their power back within two to three hours, some residents were without power until the following morning. It is important for residents to be prepared in case of a power outage. Have on hand flashlights with spare batteries and portable battery-operated radios and clocks. Deputy Mayor Greene encouraged residents to have an emergency plan in place.

He also reported that the village is hosting the 100th anniversary golf outing at the Sands Point Golf Club April 28. Anyone interested should call Sue Kerner at 326-6311.

In September 2007, the Department of Public Works was informed of a possible sinkhole at 12 Tulip Avenue. After inspecting the site, it was determined that there was basis for further investigation by the department There was concern that a possible sink hole was undermining the street and could cause a fracture in the roadway.

Tulip Avenue is a county road that is owned and maintained by the county. Therefore, the Nassau County Public Works Department was notified. KeySpan, the Water Authority of Western Nassau and Verizon were also notified as each of these utilities has piping and/or equipment under the sidewalk area. After numerous conversations and meetings at the site with the village's Public Works Department, each of the utilities, as well as Nassau County Public Works, no one would claim responsibility for the problem nor look into the source of the problem.

Fearing a collapse of the roadway and the sidewalk, the village trustees directed the Department of Public Works to examine the cause of the problem and remedy the condition without further delay. After the village contractor removed the sidewalk and opened up the area, they discovered that there were two active cesspools in use for the buildings at 12 and 14 Tulip Avenue.

On Monday and Tuesday, March 17-18, the property owner retained a licensed plumber and a certified sewer contractor to connect the buildings to the county sewer and properly abandon and backfill the area. The area has now been compacted and a temporary patch has been installed for both pedestrians and vehicular traffic. After a short period of time to allow the backfill material to fully settle, the property owner will install new sidewalks in accordance with village code.

"The actions of the Department of Public Works in this matter again illustrate the difference of a full-service village versus a large county bureaucracy. It took months to get responses from county offices, responses that were often lacking in substance or direction," Trustee Tom Tweedy said. "The actions taken by the board under the recommendation of the Department of Public Works certainly averted a serious accident as well as expedited a major problem for a business in the village."

Mayor Phil Guarnieri, on behalf of the entire board, congratulated Trustees Tweedy and Jim Rhatigan on their re-election March 18. The entire board, as well as the staff, look forward to working very closely with Tom and Jim on behalf of this great village," Mayor Guarnieri added.

On motion by Trustee Tweedy, seconded by Trustee Rhatigan and carried unanimously, Mayor Guarnieri recessed the meeting at 8:10 p.m.