During my campaign last year for the position of Hicksville Fire Commissioner I was asked to sign a petition to increase the hours for voting to 1 to 9 p.m. I would not sign that petition because I felt then and I still feel the same way that 1 to 9 p.m. would be too long and not necessary. I did state on numerous occasions that I would like to see some kind of extension of the hours. I spoke to some of the commissioners and they said that this subject would be addressed in January.

I was extremely pleased to see that Chairman [Anthony] Wigdzinski made this one of his priorities on the opening agenda for the new year. I stated at that meeting that I would like to see the hours enhanced and I made a motion to extend those hours to 4 to 9 p.m. for one year to see if this extension would make a difference and help those who would like to come earlier in the day. My motion was voted favorably by all.

The board did discuss one downside to the new hours and that was the fact that parking would be a problem as the commuter lots will be full at 4 p.m. but we still wanted to afford all of our citizens the opportunity to vote a little earlier.

I applaud Chairman Wigdzinski for being a man of his word and making this issue a priority in his meeting agenda and I am very pleased to be the one ot spearhead the motion to change the hours. I promised so many that I would do this and all my fellow commissioners backed the motion and I thank them all on behalf of the citizens of Hicksville.

Harry J. Single, Jr.

Commissioner, Hicksville Fire District