The Hicksville Board of Fire Commissioners, at its first meeting of 2005, voted 5 to 0 in favor of extending voting hours for the December fire commissioner elections. The change means that residents will now be able to vote from 4 to 9 p.m. Prior to the change, voting in Hicksville was from 6 to 9 p.m.

Last November, the board passed a motion not to change voting hours for the December 2004 election despite a signed petition submitted by the Briggs Neighborhood Committee requesting that voting hours be extended (See Letters to the Editor on page 16.) The over 500 residents who signed the petition were in favor of extending voting hours to 1 to 9 p.m.

According to Tony Wigdzinski, chairman of the board, the motion was brought forth at the Jan. 11 meeting. "When we voted last year not to change the hours, we said we would address it again in the new year. At that point we felt we were going to leave policy the way it was," he said. "I put it on the agenda for January because I wanted to get it on the table and off the table so that we made a decision and would not have to deal with it come September or October."

Wigdzinski added that the consensus from the board was to try 4 to 9 p.m. and see how it works out. "We will try four o'clock and see how it goes. We've had a big turnout the last two years and will see how it continues," he said. "If it needs further change, then we'll look at further change."

To do so, the Hicksville Fire District will have to revamp how the elections are run and that includes adding more poll workers in an effort to make the voting process smooth. In 2004, the district increased the number of voting booths to four, but district officials do not believe additional voting booths will be needed as a result of the expanded voting hours unless there are "four or five candidates running for one position."

While expanding the hours will accommodate local seniors who do not want to go out and vote when it is cold and dark, doing so may result in a parking issue, said Wigdzinksi. "We want people to know parking could be a problem when they come to vote," he said. "From 6 to 9 p.m., the Town of Oyster Bay parking lot cleans out because the trains are letting out. Four o'clock, and definitely if we went to one o'clock, we are faced with the same situation. Parking may not be there. They may have to look for a parking space."