At the outset of the last meeting of the Williston Park Village Board many of the department heads were sworn in for the new year by Williston Park Mayor Lud Odierna, including: Julie Kain, deputy village clerk; Debbie Kramer, deputy treasurer; Ursula Odierna, court clerk; Vivian Lew, office assistant. Also sworn in: Robert Muldowney, architectural review board and finance committee; Joe Ganiro, tax assessor; Michael Kelly, alternate on zoning board; Keith Bunnell, superintendent of public works; Valerie McGarry, library board; Kevin Kiley, prosecutor.

Budgets were then reviewed in the following departments: the Williston Park Fire Department, the Library, the Department of Public Works and the Auxiliary Police.

Each department outlined, in detail, their exact needs for the coming year and each was introduced by Williston Park Village Clerk/Treasurer Walter Moloughney.

Williston Park Fire Department Chief James Smith said that the total budget the department is asking for is $367 435, which amounts to a $16,000 increase over last year's budget of $351,335.

He said a lot of people don't realize that the fire department is what everyone's insurance rates are based on. He then read the definition from the ISO, the Insurance Services Office, which is an independent underwriting organization, that analyses risks for insurance companies; analyzes hydro-flow pressure, location of stations, sub-stations, as well as other criteria. The lower the number the better and Chief Smith said that the Williston Park rating is a three. He said that means the residences and the commercial businesses are paying a lower rate.

Smith continued, "The other criteria they do look at is the community served, population, square mileage, if we provide EMS, which is the ambulance service, which we do, building use policies, the number of fire stations. The number of volunteers - we have 90 and our maximum is 105. Number of interior firefighters - we have 85, number of engines - we have two. Number of ladder trucks - we have one and one heavy rescue truck. Number of ambulances - we have two. Number of other vehicles-we have the chief's vehicle and a utility vehicle. Number of working fires - this year we have had three. Total number of alarms - 126.

"Annually the men put in about 5,300 hours of service which includes calls and training. They are required to keep up their training. Also, after 9/11 they are required to train with National Incident Management Course where the men have a chance to interact with outside agencies such as KeySpan, parks, highways and the police department.

"Further, we need to keep up the maintenance of the equipment. The two engines are 12 years old and their life expectancy is 20 years, so as they get older they need more work. We are all taxpayers. The three chiefs and the entire counsel try to keep the taxes down.

One audience member wanted to know if the chief's vehicle was leased and he was told yes, for 39 months.

Mayor Lud Odierna introduced Stephanie Stanton the Williston Park library director, and reminded the audience members that she would be leaving at the end of May. He said, "We are sad to see her go. She has done a wonderful job and because of all her work the Williston Park Library has one of the highest rankings."

Stanton said, "The village board, a couple of months ago, approved for the first time, that the library could hire a full-time library director. So because of that we have an increased salary. So, when preparing our budget we thought of it as an austerity budget to keep the rate down. However, we aren't able to include the salary of the director because at this time we don't know what it will be.

"However, we have asked for an increase of $4,475, which does not include salaries. The staff is getting a 4 percent raise that was negotiated by the village; we have a new librarian who will be working on Saturday.

"There are a couple of areas that will have increases but most of the operating budget will remain the same. The audio line is going up from $300 to $400 and that's because of a new system called the Playaway. These books come in an MP3 format but cannot be deleted or overwritten. They are relatively inexpensive from $35 to $50 apiece. We would like to slowly introduce these to our Young Adult patrons and see how they circulate. They are the newest technology in books.

"The service charges line has been increased by $1,000 to offset the charges of borrowing and lending books to other libraries. The cost has increased for this service by 7 percent over three years.

"There is a slight increase in the line for supplies of $200. We have decreased the telephone line by $100 and the publicity line by $100 to balance this increase.

"Stanton explained that the travel line has been increased by $375 to reflect the change in mileage instituted by the village. It changed from $.26 a mile to $.445 a mile. The new amount will pay for approximately the same number of miles as budgeted last year.

"The library is a member of the Nassau Library System and is funded by the state, but they are no longer able to adequately fund all their services to libraries. So, for the third year in a row, they have asked for assistance. At this time, Williston Park's contribution is placed at $915. This money will be used to help subsidize the book delivery system, which we cannot operate without. Also, included in this line are reimbursement costs for lost books, service calls for repair of the printers, computers and other equipment. The cost of a service call is now about $124 an hour for technical equipment."

At the end of her presentation, Clerk Moloughney thanked her for her complete report and for her years of service.

Manny Monseratis is the head of the Auxiliary Police. However, Williston Park Auxiliary Police Lt. Joe Camisa gave the report. He said, "The biggest increase we have is that of $10,000 which is the cost of 10 protective bulletproof vests that every other auxiliary unit has in New York City and in Suffolk County. To offset these charges we are working with the village to apply for a grant.

"We just purchased a new car. It still has to be striped, detailed and we had to have all our equipment installed. The total charge for that was $4,600.

"We are a unit of six men and we just got four new recruits. In order to set up each recruit with the necessary equipment and uniform, costs are $480 with a total of $1,920.

"Office supplies total about $1,000 and car maintenance last year was about $900. But the year before it was $1,700. We have two older cars that are in desperate need of tires and chains for the winter so the total car maintenance is $2800.

"The Inspection Dinner we have once-a-year and the board is invited and that charge is $1500.

"Miscellaneous charges are $500 and we do request a one-time charge of a Dell Desktop computer. Our total budget is $20,970 and that includes the charges for the 10 vests."

Deputy Mayor Saporita wanted to know how much was in the fund balance to offset the charges and Clerk Moloughney said it was less than $9,000. Moloughney added, "The amazing part of this is they are part of the Nassau County Police, yet they receive nothing from them."

Lt. Camisa said, "However, the unit has to give hours back to the county. He said the village hours last year were 60 hours, county events were 72 hours and village court were nine one-half hours and administrative work, which it takes to run the unit, is 26 hours - with a total number of 166 hours, which is a lot for just six men.

A resident said he felt the decals to identify the auxiliary cars would be a good idea.

Lt. Camisa said, "The new car will definitely be marked so that it can be identified. He added, "We have problems with the radios and it takes a long, long time to get."

Mayor Odierna thanked Lt. Camisa for his service and for his report. Then he asked Moloughney to do the introduction to the public works budget.

Moloughney said, "Sixty percent of our budget pays for public works." He then introduced the Williston Park Superintendent of Public Works Keith Burnell.

Burnell said, "I'm going to skip through most of the lines. I'm going to only highlight the lines in the budget that have gone up or down considerably. Everything is pretty much the same as last year, which was the same as the year before.

"I'm going to start with the Central Garage. The building has some structural damage where it was hit some years ago. We addressed part of the building a few years ago and now we are addressing the front of the building. I have an estimate to combine the two doors in the front into one big door, since the trucks are very tight coming in and out. We would remove the center column and that is a $20,000 estimate of repairs. So, I'm requesting on that line go to $25,000; $20,000 for the door and repairs and $5,000 for normal building maintenance.

"Next line is for $1,000 which is for sign maintenance and air compressor and other small items, which has never been funded.

"Moving to highway equipment, we are reducing this line from $15, 000 to $3,500 and this will cover our normal replacement equipment of chain saws, ropes for the tree guys and equipment for landscaping including brooms, shovels, etc. For the remainder of the money we are hoping to get about $40,000 to $45,000 worth of CHIPS money, which is Capitol Highway money we get from the state every year and we are hoping to put that toward the replacement of our roller which is about 30-plus years old and is too light for the condition of our roads as far as compacting our asphalt. Also, we would like to get a hot box to allow us to make proper road repairs instead of the cold patches that the village has used in the past.

"Snow Equipment Maintenance - we have one plow that was damaged during the last ice storm. I have an estimate to buy a new plow for $8,000. That plow is on a 1990 dump truck and is 19 years old and has been welded and re-welded over the years and it doesn't pay to put any more money into it. We have a normal line of $3,000 for blades, etc. and that would bring that line to a total of $11,000.

"The next item is Street Light Maintenance - last year we were budgeted at $12,600 for a contract with an electrical contractor. Since January the village employees have been doing the work so we have been able to reduce the line to $4,800 for bulbs and miscellaneous that we do ourselves. So we have been able to reduce that line.

"Off-Street Parking -I am requesting $2,000 be put into that line which will be for striping paint for stop signs around town; $1,500 for the firehouse parking lot. When they tore down B-D, we were able to salvage the guardrail that was around that property so we are going to install that in that location. All we have to do is buy posts for about $1,500.

"Sanitation Equipment - we have four garbage trucks and our newest are 1996 and they are used every day and the older trucks are from'81 and '86 and they are both getting very expensive to repair. It costs about $55,000 a year to keep these trucks running. So if we could purchase two new trucks we could drop the maintenance line down to $36,000. If we don't buy new trucks, then we are requesting $75,000. We have actual estimates of the work the trucks need. We have really gone too long a time to replace those trucks.

"Also, under the sanitation line we receive constant requests for recycling buckets, which the village has never done anything about. Therefore, I have requested $4,000 to put in that line to purchase 25-gallon recyclables, the orange pail, a little taller and we can also sell them.

"Street Cleaning - we have two sweepers, the newest is 11 years old and the older one is some 20 plus years. We spend well over $22, 000 a year on this equipment. I have recommended that we drop the $20,000 service charge on this line to $4,400 with the understanding that we purchase one new Pelican Sweeper. It is the cheapest design and it cost about $147,000. But, it has a five-year warranty, bumper to bumper, and so for five years you pay nothing.

"The last thing is the Shade Tree line - $5,000 to $15,000 doesn't go all that far to remove the really big trees. We pay a stump grinder man to come in and grind up all the stumps we can't handle and that costs about $500 at a time."

Deputy Mayor Saporita said that a lot of Keith's comments are included in the long-term plan for the village, which should be available to the village residents in about two months.

One resident wanted to know the cost of the recycling buckets and Burnell said he thinks they will be about $20 a pail. The same resident also said that the clear plastic bags are useful for yard waste and Burnell agreed and said that the village pays about $50 a ton for yard waste, as opposed to $80 for regular garbage.

One resident wanted to know if the business community is being encouraged to recycle, especially the restaurants and suggested that they could be apprised that they would save money in taxes if they recycled.

A resident wanted to know if in light of all the mechanical repairs that are needed does the village have any mechanics on payroll and were told by Burnell that they do not. Burnell, "We are attempting to work with the guys on our staff to do simple maintenance. There is work we can do ourselves and there are things we cannot."

Walter Moloughney said that the village will have at least three more budget meetings and then it will be presented to the public.

A resident wanted to know what is being done with the traffic pattern on Hillside Avenue. Mayor Odierna said that the board is working on setting up a meeting to discuss the problems on Hillside Avenue.

Dean Pol owns Riverbay Restaurant at 700 Willis Avenue, Williston Park. He said he was not a resident of Williston Park, but has been conducting business in the village for 28 years. He said, "I pay $20,000 in school taxes and $18,000 in village taxes and over $10,000 for water and sewer. I gladly support the Williston Park Fire Department, I have sponsored a Little League team in Williston Park for as long as I can remember and I have even contributed to the new clock on Willis Avenue. Yet, I am often treated as an intruder. I not only conduct my business in Williston Park, but I also own the property it sits on. The well being of Williston Park is as much in my interest as anyone living here. Whenever asked, I have been more than willing to do what has been asked of me whether it be cleaning up the property, the fence, I have been more than willing to be cooperative. For 20 years I have been able to park cars on the Blue Chip property and I paid for the insurance on that property so that I could do that. When Don, from Blue Chip, sold out to Gary, he chose not to allow me to park on his property, which is his privilege. Not very neighborly, but his privilege. It has come to my attention that there is a movement among village officials to open the curb cut on Willis Avenue for traffic and the Town of North Hempstead would rather have it closed for good. The mere suggestion would prevent the parking lot from accommodating more cars and we would have more cars parking on the street which would result in complaints from neighbors due to the elimination of street parking availability."

Pol continued, "Riverbay, LaPalma and St. Aidan's Church are what I believe to be Williston Park icons. Ask anyone outside the village about Williston Park and they will surely mention one of these three. This village should be as proud of Riverbay as I am proud of being here. I only ask the village to be as supportive of Riverbay and all the businesses and work closely with all of us. I am a little emotional because I consider myself a neighbor and I have been hearing a lot of things. I hear that Riverbay is causing traffic problems and perhaps it is, but Terry (Collins) has come down explained this to me."

Deputy Mayor Ron Saporita said, "Thank you for coming down and we would like to meet with you in the near future and see if some of these problems can be worked out."

Pol said, "I welcome the opportunity."

Chamber President Maura Clancy commented that there should be representatives of the business community on both the parking committee and on the five-year plan and the board suggested that she be on both committees and she agreed.

The meeting finally ended and the next board meeting will be on May 21 at 8 p.m. at the Williston Park Village Hall, Willis Avenue, Williston Park.