Last month the Village of Massapequa Park's board of trustees appointed four new members to its planning commission, but John Bianco, the chairman of the commission, says that the old members were not legally terminated.

The dispute began back in March when village Mayor George Nussbaum received legal advice from an attorney that members of a village planning commission must reside within the village. The advice was given in reference to Article 12 of the New York State General Municipal Code.

The law states that "one of the members of any such commission may reside outside of such village."

Nussbaum had received information that four of the commissions members, Herbert Heller, Donald Mortensen, Ronald Hiscock, and Michael Fabrizio, were no longer residents of the village. The village then sent letters to the four members stating that certificates of residency must be signed or else their positions would be vacated. The letter stated: "Pursuant to law, members of the Planning Commission must reside within the village or their position is vacated."

And according to Nussbaum, the village was acting in accordance with the law when it dismissed the four members.

Following the action by the village, Camillo Giannattasio, an attorney for the planning commission, wrote to village attorney Robert Leff declaring that the village was not acting under any New York State mandate. Giannattasio wrote: "The residency requirement is only a prerequisite for appointment and does not confer a right of removal if a member becomes a non-resident during his term."

"I appointed them originally and I thought they were good people and they served the village well," said Nussbaum.

Bianco said that the four members should have been allowed to serve out the remainder of their terms. But at the May 18 public meeting, the village appointed Gail Klubnick, Jessie Jacobson, Joseph Pinto and Larry Wasserstein to replace the four ousted members.

The terms that are to be served out by the four new appointees include two terms for 10months and two terms for 22 months.

Nussbaum added that the village was just acting in compliance with state law. At the public meeting, Leff stated that the village was obligated to dismiss the four members. "Any action taken by the planning commission would be void. The village does not have a choice here."

But Bianco says that the law allows the four members to serve out the remainder of their terms and that the village acted improperly when dismissing them. "They could have just let the term expire and not make a fuss of it, but they chose not to."

Nussbaum said that the situation has been resolved. "There is no problem there at all, it's all working itself out," and of the meeting he added, "It was a night of their expressing their points and I was abiding by state law."

But Bianco differs. He says that the village made the appointments for political purposes, rather then professional experience. "These people are being appointed by the board of trustees without knowing their background except that they're politically involved."

And, he added that some residents would like to see political consequences befall the village board. "I've spoken to people who are as upset as I am and are willing to support any slate of candidates that come up in the next election if they're willing to support good government."