A committee commissioned by Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins to study the cost effectiveness of hiring an in-house village attorney met for the first time. The committee has the difficult task of issuing a report to the village board as to whether it would save the village money to have a full-time attorney rather than longtime village attorney John Spellman.

Village court associate justice Richard O'Callaghan, who is the chairman of the committee, gave the board a report on the progress of the committee. The committee, comprised of O'Callaghan, Deputy Mayor Larry Werther, Ann Hurley, Scott Strauss and John Curry, was appointed by Mayor Martins after trustees Lou Santosus and Linda Fairgrieve raised concerns about the amount of money the village was paying in attorney fees. The trustees suggested looking into having an in-house attorney to possibly save money.

The committee met for the first time and decided it would go on a fact-finding mission in order to make an intelligent recommendation to the board. The committee asked Spellman to submit a volume of documents, which go back as far as five years ago, to get an idea of the parameters of the legal work that is covered by his services and the costs of the work that is being done.

"To no one's surprise, the results indicated that current counsel is handling a myriad of different areas of the law and therefore, we would have to get someone with some expertise that could at least work on one or more of those areas of law if we are going to make the substitution," O'Callaghan said.

The associate village justice said the committee is looking for any help and information it can get from the community and any of the trustees to ascertain some of the viable avenues of legal services that the village could perhaps get for a lesser cost. After the committee's research, it may also be determined that it would be practical to retain the services of the current counsel.

"It's an issue that has to receive an awful lot of information," said O'Callaghan. "Don't hesitate to call me either at home or the village court if you have any ideas or suggestions as to what can be done."

The committee will meet again in late July at which point it hopes to have sufficient information so that the committee can decided what direction to take.

The issue of the village attorney surfaced during the heated election earlier this year. Former Mayor John P. Colbert and trustees Elizabeth A.J. Conlon, Santosus and Fairgrieve lost faith in Spellman. However, the majority of the current board including Mayor Martins, Deputy Mayor Larry Werther and Trustee Steve Franzini reappointed Spellman in May with a 3-2 majority. Santosus and Fairgrieve voted against the reappointment.

However, nobody has disputed the quality of Spellman's services, only their costs. Questions about the legal fees the village is paying out abounded only after Mayor Martins was elected. The fees haven't been raised in recent years, Spellman points out.

His firm, which services many other villages including New Hyde Park and Roslyn, handles a multitude of facets of the law. Therefore, even if the village does decide to hire its own village attorney, it may be difficult to find some with the expertise to handle the workload that a larger firm like Spellman's can handle. The village may find itself farming out some of its cases even with an in-house attorney.

However, the committee has been established to find out if the village can save money using an alternative to the current village counsel. The 1099 tax form for income to Spellman's office in 2002 from the Village of Mineola was $497,000.

In May, there were a total of 199 traffic citations (150 for traffic and 49 for parking) written by the Nassau County Police 3rd Precinct. Over the same time period, the village's top parking enforcement agent wrote 1,517 summonses. The village's summer recreation program began. The program has 325 children attending. Joseph Torritto of Emory Road appeared before the board to inquire about the application of his music organization, "The Romeos" to use a room in village hall to practice. The village board wants to make sure the noise of the group would not disrupt any of the other groups using village hall. Mr. Torritto politely explained that the music is pleasant to listen to and if it is found to be disrupting to anyone, the group would gladly leave. Deputy Mayor Werther suggested that since many of the group members aren't from Mineola, the group may be asked to perform some free concerts for Mineola residents. Mr. Torritto said that wouldn't be a problem.

A new resident of the village who has owned his house for just over a year on Banbury Road close to Willis Avenue and directly across from the Barraida restaurant, expressed concern about what he believed was selective enforcement of the village code. The resident explained that he recently received three parking tickets. He said his home is undergoing a renovation for not only his benefit but for the benefit of the community. In making the improvements, parking in the driveway became impossible for four days since the driveway was being redone. Therefore, cars were parked in the street. After a neighbor complained, a village parking enforcement agent wrote a ticket to the resident's wife and friend and then came back the next day to ticket his wife's car again.

The resident said he would gladly pay the tickets but there were eight cars on the other side of the street that were also illegally parked that did not receive tickets. When the resident left for the meeting on Wednesday evening, he said there were 17 cars parked illegally on his side of the street and the other side of the street was packed with cars. He also reported that his wife's car was clipped by people going in and out of the restaurant parking lot. He also said his kids can't cross the street because there is so much traffic caused by the restaurant.

The resident also said that he can't sleep past 6:15 a.m. because every morning, a delivery truck or garbage truck or both come in to either make a delivery or collect garbage.

The resident also said there is a problem with the noise at night from the parking lot. The night before July 4, fireworks were being set off in the parking lot.

Banbury Road has been an area that resident John Carroll has long been complaining about. Since the popular Portuguese restaurant opened, Mr. Carroll has raised concerns ranging from smoke emitted from the establishment to the odor of the cooking.

Mr. Carroll has also complained about trucks making deliveries down the block and parking. Mr. Carroll said garbage is picked up from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and also alluded to fireworks being set off by the employees of the restaurant at 11:40 p.m. Mr. Carroll said the quality of life changed dramatically when the restaurant opened. "The quality of life has gone to hell," he said. "It's just frustrating. We knew we needed change. We voted in change. I want to see the codes enforced."

A resident raised concerns about noise levels early in the morming from people working. The resident suggested having an ordinance whereby construction or landscaping work cannot start until a certain hour in the day and perhaps even having a sleep-in day on Sunday so that residents can sleep late without having to worry about being awakened up by noise. Mr. Spellman said he would look into possible time regulations.

A resident of Lincoln Road expressed concern over what has been happening in the area. He said he has been living in Mineola for about six years. Since the police booth has been gone from the corner of Lincoln and Willis Avenue because of the construction of a new school, the neighborhood has been going downhill again, the resident said.

The resident also made the board aware of a garbage problem on the side of 137 Lincoln Avenue. He said there was a pressure treated lumber box that was infested with rats. He called the Nassau County Board of Health and the box was removed. However, the garbage keeps on piling up.

The resident also expressed concern over people hanging out on the corner drinking beer. He also said he has been finding drug paraphernalia on the street. He said he has also witnessed drug deals and on one occasion called the police. However, nothing was done. "I don't feel there's any quality of life enforcement by Nassau County Police," said the resident. "They are quick to pull you over if you are going two miles over the speed limit, but they're not really quick to stop on that street when there's a bunch of people standing on the corner drinking."

The resident also said the gang activity has increased. He said he has been finding MS-13 graffiti in the neighborhood and also up and down Mineola Boulevard. The resident said that women in the neighborhood have complained that they don't feel safe.

The resident also complained of the mess in front of Anna's Deli from Lincoln Avenue to Grant. "None of the stores there clean up," he said. "I would just like to see some type of enforcement before I'm forced to sell my house and leave."

Linda Doell of Emory Road suggested having a community forum at village hall with the village officials, residents and a representative from the Nassau County 3rd Precinct. The village's water department reported that loads of cooking grease has been found in the sewer pipes on the south side of East Jericho Turnpike between Elm Place and Roslyn Road. The grease is apparently causing stoppages in the pipes. A remedy of the situation is to make sure establishments are disposing of grease the proper way and make sure the grease traps are working properly.