While Hicksville's civic leaders have not made a decision for or against incorporation at this time, they are researching and weighing the pros and cons of village government. In an effort to provide the community with more detailed information, the NorthWest Civic Association's Sept. 19 meeting, which took place at the William P. Bennett Community Center, focused on the topic: "What Would Incorporation Mean for Hicksville?"

In an attempt to get as much information as possible about village government, the civic association invited Warren Tackenberg, former mayor of New Hyde Park and current executive director of the Nassau County Village Officials Association, as guest speaker.

According to Tackenberg, there are currently 554 villages in New York State with 96 on Long Island alone, including 64 in Nassau County. Each village has a mayor and board of trustees who reside within the incorporated area and are elected by fellow residents. While there must be at least 500 people for a village to be implemented, the maximum size of a village may vary and sections of a community may or may not wish to incorporate.

Each village is different, said Tackenberg; some choose to opt out of county or town services and have their own pools, libraries, water and fire districts, and police, electric or sanitation departments while others choose to utilize the services they already receive from the town or county. Those who opt out of services, such as police and sanitation, would pay reduced county and town taxes, respectively, but costs of providing such services "in house" would be included in village taxes. Therefore, should Hicksville choose to incorporate it can also choose what services it does and doesn't want to include.

"I am not here to say 'you should be a village.'" Only you can decide that among yourselves," Tackenberg told the 30-plus residents in attendance for the meeting before explaining, in detail, the various aspects of village government.

Currently, the NorthWest Civic Association's Incorporation Committee, a focus group comprised of six community leaders, has been gathering information on all aspects of village government. As of press time, the group includes Val Pakaluk, president of the Hicksville Community Council; Linda Quackenbush, vice president of the NorthWest Civic Association; Henry Goessmann, president of the Hicksville Gardens Civic Association; Greg Yatzyshyn, trustee of the NorthWest Civic Association; Karl Schweitzer, commissioner of the Hicksville Water District; and Subodh Batra, chairman of the incorporation committee. The goal is to have a 30-member focus group that will look, in depth, into the pros and cons of incorporation.

"We would like to form a diversified group with specialties in different areas," said Anthony Sorvillo, president of the NorthWest Civic Association., adding, "No decisions have been made at this time. Right now we are not taking a stand that we should or shouldn't. Right now we are researching the pros and cons."

Batra agreed, saying, "At present we have no position or stand in favor of or against incorporation; that is what we want to know from the residents." He added that prospective questions need to be answered before a formal, detailed presentation is made to the community. "[The Sept. 19] meeting was an attempt to capture those questions. Now we will start working on collecting all the information and data. We will summarize it and then convert it to a layman's language, but still be prepared to go into minute details," Batra said.

As for the first meeting, Batra said he believes it was a success. "I was not looking for the numbers, but the quality of the questions that people would be asking. And I think we have a good feel of what questions are," he said. "Our guest speaker ... [the] Honorable Warren Tackenberg ... presented a very good scenario of what an incorporated village can and cannot do. His opinions prompted all the questions, that we wanted to hear."

According to a 34-year resident of Hicksville, it is too soon to say whether incorporation would or would not be the best step for the community to take. "I am on the fence because I don't know too much about it. It might be a good idea today, but we don't know about tomorrow," she said.

Sorvillo said the issue of whether or not Hicksville should incorporate arose from feelings of being ignored by the Town of Oyster Bay, particularly when it comes to two specific issues: the asphalt plants on West John Street and the proposed Costco on the corner of Charlotte Avenue. "The town is not enforcing codes for the asphalt plants and the quality of life up here is terrible because of it," Sorvillo said. "We can't even get the Town of Oyster Bay to fine [the asphalt plants] let alone close them down like they have promised year after year."

In regard to Costco, Sorvillo said, the town has ignored their concerns that construction of the store would increase traffic and create safety hazards at an already busy and congested intersection. "That's what started us looking into incorporation. The Town of Oyster Bay takes a stand and accepts the traffic studies that the applicants prepare," said Sorvillo. "The quality of life [in Hicksville] is terrible because of these things. As a last resort, we thought maybe incorporating might be the way to go."