At the last meeting of the Williston Park Village it was announced that the village has rejected the parking alternative proposed by LaPalma, to park cars at Cedarhurst Paper, in order to open its planned party room on the top floor. The village attorney Richard Reers will issue an official message from the village when he returns from vacation.

During the open portion of the meeting a village resident presented the village board with a collection of more than 500 signatures protesting the installation of cell towers in the village.

Mayor Ludwig Odierna explained over and over again that as of now he has no information to disseminate to the residents. He said that as soon as he has any concrete information regarding cell towers he will call an open meeting of village residents to get their input.

Residents, however, were not satisfied with his explanation and even one said that she had heard, from a "reliable source" that cell towers in the village were a "done deal."

No matter how stronly the mayor and the trustees said that was not true and that nothing will be decided until an open meeting with the residents is held, the residents one after another got up to protest the installation of cell towers stating that they were a danger to the residents and mostly to the children. Even though Mayor Odierna and the trustees stressed that they have not received any information regarding the installation of cell towers, the residents continued voicing their objections to them.

The conversations ended with the mayor, once again, promising all residents that as soon as information is available he will hold a village hearing for the purpose of discussing cell phone towers.

Trustee Ann Marie Smith announced that every year the Village of Williston Park holds a project called "Operation Santa." Anyone wanting to have gifts delivered by Santa to their children on Christmas Eve needs to contact village hall and from 6 to 8 p.m. they may expect a "Visit from Santa."

This year the village is trying something different. Just call village hall at 746-2193 and give your name, address and telephone number stating you want to participate. And, instead of having presents dropped off at the village and then having to sort out all those presents at village hall, this year folks who want to participate in "Operation Santa" need only have their gifts either on their porch, or in a location near the front door and easily found, so that Santa merely has to arrive, pick up the gift and deliver it to the child or children at that residence.

In this way it is hoped that much of the confusion is avoided. However, volunteers are needed, so anyone interested in helping may contact village hall by calling at 746-2193.

Trustee Kevin Dunn announced that Williston Park Village Justice Reardon collected $10,960 in fines. He also thanked the Historic Committee for all the work they did in reading the many essays for the Official for a Day Contest. He also announced that a number of anonymous letters have been received and he said they can't be answered if there are no names on them.

Trustee Crista Mills made everyone smile by announcing that there were only 207 days until the pool would reopen. She also thanked Nassau County Village Clerk Maureen O'Connell for holding such a successful flu shot program. She also announced that a Holiday Victorian Tea would be held at the library on Nov. 30.

Mayor Odierna thanked all those in the Department of Public Works for their aggressive tree-trimming program. As a result, he said, during the recent storm there was no power outage in the village.

The public works department also announced that there has been a new roof put on Well No. 2 and that the highway department is in the midst of the leaf collection and to please bag the leaves and put them on the curb.

A resident complained that after the road reconstruction of Willis Avenue some of the debris of the blacktop from the construction clogged the storm drains. The drains have been since emptied, but he said that debris is still sitting on the sidewalk and in some cases it has been thrown back into the drain. The mayor said the problem will be addressed.

Another resident said that she was concerned about the renovation of the condos on Willis Avenue. She said that they have greatly improved the looks of the avenue, but was afraid that if new folks start moving into the condos that there will not be enough parking. Since the footprint of the condos has not changed, Williston Park Village Clerk Walter Moloughney said that the parking restrictions will not change and that there is parking underneath that complex.

A resident complained about the deliveries made to the Jeans store on Willis Avenue and about the garbage the store is generating. It will be addressed by the building inspector.

The meeting was finally adjourned close to 11 p.m. The next village board meeting will be held on Dec. 18 at 8 p.m. at Williston Park Village Hall.