Maureen Cornacchia, whose letter to the board was acknowledged on the list of General Communications at the Dec. 2 meeting, rose during the meeting to ask the board about the issue of hiring a crossing guard for the middle school. In her letter, which ran recently in the Letters to the Editor section of Garden City Life, she explained that traffic on Cherry Valley Avenue creates a dangerous situation for pedestrians trying to exit Garden City Middle School. She urged the Village to pursue engaging a crossing guard or having a member of the Garden City Police Department oversee the intersection during the times of exodus from the school.

While Cornacchia noted that she had a "nice" phone conversation with Lt. Jackson regarding the issue, she wanted clarification from Commissioner Cipullo about why officers could not serve as crossing guards during their shifts or the department could not assign an aide to the site. Cipullo commented that having an aide or an officer there every day could result in an hour of overtime at time and a half when the department is busy. He also stated that signage has been posted in the area and that the Village has begun to work on acquiring flashing lights for the crossing, although Public Works Director Mangan noted that there was a lead time on an order like this of 30 to 60 days.

Cipullo also noted that the school is considering reconfiguring the lot and that traffic activity and pedestrian traffic has diminished. Village Administrator Schoelle also noted that he is working on arranging a meeting between Trustee Peter Bee, liaison to the school district, and district officials to discuss the issue. It is Schoelle's hope to have the meeting take place this week.

Lyn Hayes also rose and spoke on the issue pointing out that while it may seem that student pedestrian traffic has diminished right now during after curricular activity time, the school theatrical production will soon be organized and students will be coming and going to rehearsals and set construction. She also asked that if Cherry Valley's traffic is being monitored, could the GCPD provide the numbers it has recorded. These numbers were not available at the meeting, but will be presented at the Dec. 16 Board of Trustees' meeting.

Another safety concern of Village residents has been the drinking water. In October it was announced that the temporary chlorination of the water had to be reinstituted. Positive samples for total coliform bacteria were obtained on Oct. 27 and can indicate a problem with the treatment or distribution system, while not necessarily harmful in themselves. The Village had been chlorinating prior to that date and had then ceased with approval from the Nassau County Health Department on Oct. 15.

Director of Public Works Robert Mangan explained at the meeting that the chlorination will be reduced from 1.5 mg per litre to 0.1 mg per liter in the distribution system, which he said will be almost imperceptible at the tap. In the Nov. 24 report by the consultant hired to help locate the problem and conduct a complete water study, it was determined that the source of the problem was a storage tank at the Garden City Country Club, which became contaminated after a rainfall. Public Works will be meeting with the county this week to discuss the termination of the chlorination. There was $8,000 approved on the agenda for the consultant on the water issue.

Also at the meeting:

*Counsel Gary Fishberg explained that tax certiorari settlements of $790,000 to the Automobile Club of New York and $42,000 of the Garden Hamilton Apartments are part of a larger problem. In 1967 the Village hired Valuation Associates to do assessments and even though these are better than the county's assessments from the 1930s, the equalization rates have dropped dramatically from 35 percent in 1967 and to 4.57 percent last year.

*$60,000 that was budgeted to replace well #12 has been transferred to replace well #15. Well #15 was determined a priority and well #12 will have to be rebudgeted in future capital planning.

*A home resolution was passed to allow state funding to allow dry cleaners to make changes necessary to meet new environmental standards.

*Mayor Hecken proposed that the new Zip Code Committee to promote 11530 for the Incorporated Village of Garden City only be headed by former Mayor Richard Benack, which was approved unanimously.