The Village of Mineola held its annual organization night on Monday, April 1, at the community center of Village Hall. During the evening, Linda Fairgrieve and Jack Martins, the victors in last month's election, were sworn in.

The evening kicked off with the Mineola Fire Department, under the direction of chief Mike DeStefano and 1st assistant chief Scott Strauss, presenting the colors.

Village of Mineola Mayor John P. Colbert acted as the master of ceremonies for the evening. The evening was held in honor of Mrs. Fairgrieve, who will serve her second consecutive two-year term on the board, Mr. Martins, who was elected of the first time and Village Court Justice John O'Shea, who was re-elected to another term. However, Judge O'Shea could not attend the ceremony because his nephew Sean Murphy was involved in an accident. Mayor Colbert announced that Judge O'Shea would be sworn in at a special meeting of the village board.

The evening afforded residents as well as board members and village employees to bid farewell to trustee Maryanne Warnecke, who stepped from the board after serving as trustee for 11 years. However, Mrs. Warnecke has said she would refocus her energy on next year's election where she could very well wind up running for office again.

The hosts for the evening were Mrs. Fairgrieve and Mr. Martins, who will serve on the board for at least another two years. For the Fairgrieve family, April 1 represented an anniversary of sorts. It was 20 years ago to the day that Judge Arthur Spatt swore in Scott Fairgrieve as a village trustee. Spatt also swore in Mrs. Fairgrieve two years ago when she was elected for the first time and Scott when he became a district court judge last year.

Judge Spatt and Judge Fairgrieve, therefore, appropriately swore in Mrs. Fairgrieve last week. He called the re-elected trustee "an outstanding, hardworking woman of great integrity and principle."

In her acceptance speech, Mrs. Fairgrieve thanked the voters and volunteers who helped during her campaign. Mrs. Fairgrieve reiterated her love for the Village of Mineola and the memories of growing up here. She vowed to keep the tax rate as low as possible while maintaining and, in some cases, improving the suburban quality of life.

Mr. Martins was sworn in by New York State Senator Michael Balboni, who pointed out that Mr. Martins, who grew up in Mineola, is the first Portuguese-American to serve on the board.

When Mrs. Warnecke announced she would not seek re-election, Mr. Martins decided to run, he said, because there are issues that affected the suburban quality of life in the village that need to be addressed. Such issues he mentioned last week include the scourge of illegal housing, flight of businesses from the downtown district and the burden of an increasing tax rate.

Mr. Martins vowed to work together with the other board members. However, he said he would maintain a separate voice on the board. "I love Mineola. I will not let you down," said Mr. Martins, who also resigned as president of the library board, where he served for four years.

The village will hold its first public meeting with its new board on Wednesday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. However, the board will meet in public for a budget hearing on Monday, April 15 at 7 p.m. and again on Wednesday, April 17 for hearings.