At a board meeting held Aug. 18, Mayor John P. Colbert came out with his latest plan to fight illegal housing - a new law.

Though this law is just in the planning stages and still must face a series of public hearings, Colbert hopes that this law will influence Mineola residents to alert authorities of anyone renting out space in their house illegally. According to the mayor, the new legislation would put the minimum fine at $1,000 for the first occurrence, and a minimum fine of $3,000 for the second occurrence within five years. Judges would also have the option of putting landlords who constantly break the law behind bars, for up to 15 days for each offense.The current law only levies a maximum fine of $250 for each offense, an amount that the mayor said doesn't make a dent in the profit landlords gain.

"We're trying to put more teeth into it," he said, adding that the higher fines would be put right back into the village to "repay" any costs needed "to go out and find illegals." The mayor also raised the fines to combat the "theft of services," since people in illegal housing use garbage and other village services that they do not pay taxes for. And in case of emergencies, subletting may cause people to be "hidden" from fire and rescue crews trying to get everyone out safely.

"We have intensified our search for the illegals," Colbert said. "We are looking for illegal occupancy, researching illegal occupancy and we've been successful this summer in finding them." The mayor hopes this new bill sends a clear message to "greedy" landlords, whom he feels make the tenants the victim, for living in conditions that could be considered worse than animals. He added that in most cases, the landlord does not even live in the residence that has the illegal occupancy, allowing him to rent out to more than one family. "We find very few owner-occupied illegal homes," he said.

The board also addressed problems with traffic, building contractors and garbage on the streets. It announced that it had hired two new ticket agents for weekends to work mainly on traffic violations. The town also plans to hire two more and a part-time code enforcement building inspector "to make it fair for everyone." Mayor Colbert explained that there is a problem in the village with contractors who work on weekends and don't follow village codes "because they feel they can get away with them."

Several residents who spoke out at the meeting complained about the parking and traffic on such main roads as Jericho Turnpike and Willis Avenue.

"(On Willis Avenue), trucks come in and they double park, cars going south have no place to go," Mineola resident Francis Lewicki said. "This is a very dangerous situation. They should not be double parking there, or eliminate parking altogether."

The mayor lauded the decrease in people putting garbage out on weekends, which is punishable with a $100 fine. He explained that the number of offenders used to hover around 40, but is now about six or seven.

Along with present issues, the board discussed their latest developments in the rebuilding of the Memorial Library. According to Village Trustee Lou Santosus, Jr., the town has approved a construction manager, and is now looking at bids. The book drop will be moved to the temporary library, located in the Village Hall parking lot, in two weeks. Santosus expects construction to begin in about four weeks. He also announced that the firehouse construction project is currently on schedule.

The only major issue brought up during the public hearing was changes to the parking lot behind Lisbon at night on Jericho Turnpike. The owner, Candida Maia, requested a special permit to construct a gate dividing her side of the parking lot from the auto repair shop next door. Her attorney, Eric Milgrim, explained that the loss of parking in the lot would be made-up by the use of the municipal lot, which is next to hers. She also received support from friends and diners, including Jack Martin. "This restaurant is located in Mineola in a part that has more parking than most," he said. The board said they would look it over, and make a decision at the next meeting.

At an earlier work session, the board approved most of the items on its agenda, except denying a peddler's license for an electronics company to auction and sell its goods on Jericho Turnpike. Deputy Mayor and Trustee Warren Brinker said that the neighbors had complained about past sales, because of graffiti and trash in the area.

"I don't think the people are being malicious," he said. "But they need to be good neighbors."