Between processing applications and enforcing village codes, Superintendent for Buildings for the Village of Mineola Dan Whalen has been a busy man. The well qualified Whalen is approaching a year on the job since starting last September. He hit the ground running and hasn't stopped since.

His duties these days include processing building applications. There are many of them since weather is conducive to building and interest rates are low so that some businesses and residents have decided to make improvement to their buildings. In the month of June alone, the building department issued 56 separate permits, which generated almost $45,000 in permit fees. Construction costs during the month were estimated to be over $3.2 million.

But processing permits in an expedient manner isn't the only focus of the building department. Mr. Whalen and his staff have been committed to enforcing the code of the village and investigating complaints. Included in the code is the ever present problem of illegal housing. However, Mayor Jack M. Martins, the board of trustees and the building department have taken an active role in the enforcement of illegal housing as well as other building code violations.

Consider that in the month of May 2003, the village collected $15,900 in fines for building code violations. In June 2003, fines collected for building code violations amounted to $10,595 and in last month amounted to $31,345 for a total of $57,840 for the three month period. By comparison, in all of 2002, the village collected $48,385.

"We're pursuing it quite vigorously," said Mr. Whalen of illegal use of building violations.

With less than a year under his belt in Mineola, Mr. Whalen speaks as though he is a well seasoned veteran. In a village as busy as Mineola, he has had to be.

Mr. Whalen's chief goal is to bring an element of professionalism to the building department. He acknowledges that his job isn't to be an adversary to residents and business owners. In fact, he views his job as serving the taxpayers of Mineola. Part of that service is processing applications, inspection of construction projects, investigating complaints and being accountable to the residents of the village by enforcing the codes with no special treatment for any citizen or business owner.

Each March, when the village election surfaces, illegal housing is always a hot topic as its presence creates a burden for other taxpayers, not to mention that illegal housing also brings into question issues of safety.

This past election was no different. There was a notion during the campaign for mayor that since Jack Martins, a lawyer with his own practice in Mineola, had defended landlords of illegal dwellings, he would be soft on illegal housing as mayor.

Martins was elected and so far, Mr. Whalen believes that the notion that the mayor would be soft on illegal housing is unfounded. "It's not true," he said.

In fact, Whalen said Mayor Martins has been anything but soft on illegal housing. "I assure you that the mayor is committed to this," he said.

"The orders we have are to enforce fully and there are no exceptions. Everybody gets treated the same way," said Village Attorney John Spellman.

Mr. Whalen has also been anything but soft on illegal housing. Mayor Martins fully compliments the building superintendent for "stepping up" on the issue.

Mr. Spellman said that he has seen fines increase as well as the number of summonses issued and attributes a lot of it to Mr. Whalen. "He gets right on cases," Mr. Spellman said. "There seems to be a real focus on getting immediate response to complaints with immediate results as best we can. Wherever there is a quality of life complaint, we try to address it immediately. That's under the watchful leadership of Dan Whalen."

While the problem may never be fully eradicated, the village has taken on a strategy of hitting landlords of illegal occupancies where they feel it the most - in their wallets.

"One message that is clear is that illegal housing is not going to be tolerated. You will pay. It will not be cost effective. We will hit you as hard are we possibly can as a deterrent," said Mayor Martins. "You can't just pay lip service to fighting illegal housing. You can't just go out there and say you are aggressively fighting illegal housing and doing everything you can and yet give somebody a fine for $250."

Take 291 White Road for instance. The house received national attention in May after three suspects were arrested in a computer scam during which one suspect was arrested for rape. The total fines promised to the village for that address alone amounted to $13,500.

In addition, the prosecution of illegal housing violations has also been modified. Cases aren't languishing on the calendar but rather are put through the system in an expedient manner. After arraignments, the judge is available the day of conference so that fines can be paid on the spot or a trial date is set.

"Either pay the fine or let's go to trial," said Mr. Spellman. "It's firm and fair and across the board. That's the approach we take."

Mr. Whalen has been successful in providing the village's prosecution with sufficient enough efforts to warrant a conviction. "The superintendent of buildings is giving us strong cases. If we go in there with weak evidence, it's hard to beat people over the head. When you are in there and say let's go to trial because we know we can win this, you can hold out for a lot more money. The way in which cases are prepared for the prosecutors has improved dramatically based on the superintendent of buildings' plan of attack," Mr. Spellman said.

Mr. Whalen said he has received the full support of Mayor Martins and the village board and credits his staff for helping to make the department run efficiently.

Mr. Whalen still believes the efficiency of the building department can be improved and looks forward to the challenge of making it run better and with a certain level of professionalism.

With the leadership of the building department appearing solid, the village can only hope it remains that way. It seems as though the Village of Mineola goes through building superintendents more often than it gets cell phone antennae applications. Mr. Whalen said he has no intention of leaving and the hope is the building department can make an even greater difference in the quality of life of village residents.