As is custom each year, the mayor must appoint or reappoint village employees who are department heads or assistants to department heads. At Wednesday's board of trustees meeting, Mayor Jack M. Martins attempted to reappoint the existing department heads. However, the board's majority tabled or held off on the vote for the appointments.

Included in the mayor's reappointments were Michael Arens as village clerk, Janet Zalkin as deputy village clerk, Richard Dwyer as village treasurer, Joyce Gorycki as deputy village treasurer, Giacomo Ciccone as village auditor, Tom Rini as superintendent of public works, Ron Ciesinski as assistant superintendent of public works, Dan Whalen as superintendent of buildings, Fred Booher as water department superintendent, Charles Sleefe as library director, Valerie Passarella as clerk of justice court, Marta DeSousa as activities coordinator, Anna Athen as assistant activities coordinator, John Spellman as village attorney as well as Spellman, Rice, Schure, Gibbons, McDonough and Polizzi, LLP as special retained counsel. The list also included seven other names.

Trustee Paul Cusato, who was sworn in earlier this month, made a motion to table or not vote on the appointments since he said he was not familiar with all of the names on the list.

"I've just seen this list for the first time and some people I don't recognize," Cusato said. "I'd like to make a motion to table this until I can understand who some of these people are."

The motion was seconded by Trustee Linda Fairgrieve.

Mayor Martins explained that all of the people being proposed for appointment are the same people who currently sit in those positions. Mayor Martins said the appointments are normally done on organization night, which, this year, was held on April 7, but he purposely put it off so that the trustees could become more familiar with the employees.

"All I want is some more time to understand who these people are. Some people on this list, I don't know who they are," Cusato said.

Cusato said he didn't know who James Marsh (counsel to the planning board), Russ Burcheri (counsel to the library board), Phyllisann Kalenka (deputy prosecutor) and Anna Athen (assistant activities coordinator) are. "I need time to understand who these people are," Cusato said.

Cusato, Fairgrieve and Trustee Lou Santosus voted to table the appointments. Mayor Martins and Deputy Mayor Larry Werther voted against tabling the appointments since both wanted to reappoint those employees last Wednesday.

Mayor Martins also attempted to appoint two members to the pool/recreation board, two members and an alternate to the library board, two members to the planning board, one member to the zoning board and three members to the board of assessors. Those appointments were also tabled. Fairgrieve made the motion to table because she said she didn't know who was being replaced. "I would just like to see who is being replaced," she said.

The appointments will have to wait until May 5, which is the next time the board is scheduled to meet. In the case of the employees, if they are not reappointed, they will get to stay in their current positions. If a mayor's appointment is not ratified by the board, then the employee who currently sits in the position stays in that position.

In an effort to cover the village's expenses for village personnel to review applications before issuing permits, the mayor and the village board voted to increase the permit fees for pay phones, building permit fees and plumbing license fees. However, the board and the mayor could not settle on an increase for taxi owner's license fees.

For pay phones, the village will collect a $1,000 per pay phone for anyone wishing to put a pay phone in the village.

For building permits, the fee has been 1 percent for many years. The fee will now be 1.5 percent to cover the costs for reviewing plans. If a resident, for example, applies for a permit to put a $100,000 extension on his or her home, the filing fee would now be $1,500 as opposed to $1,000. The Village of Roslyn also raised its fee to 1.5 percent.

The board also voted to raise plumbing license fees from $25 every two years to $150 every two years for a licensed plumber to do work in the village. The fee has been $25 biannually since 1966. There are 250 to 300 licensed plumbers in the village.

"If someone is going to come to the village and ask for a license, I think it's appropriate the fee be commensurate with the amount or time and the amount of work it takes to process it," said Mayor Martins.

The board voted unanimously to increase the fees for building permits and plumbing licenses and impose a $1,000 fee on pay phones. However, when it came to raising fees for a taxi owner's license in the village, the board could not agree on a fee. There are currently 45 licenses in the village (All Island has 35, L.I. Checker Cab has nine and Young's Taxi has one). The original proposal called for raising the taxi owner's permit from $150 per year to $1,000 per year. The mayor later amended the proposal to $500 a year. The owners of All Island felt the increase was unfair. However, Mayor Martins proposed the increase because the current fee of $150 per owner' license is not covering the village's expenses. In issuing an owner's license, the village conducts a background check of the driver of the taxi for the safety of the village residents. In addition, the village monitors the cabs throughout the year. "The expenses we have with respect to the taxi licenses are significant. Not only is there a processing fee, but there is also a supervisory expense to monitor the cabs during the year," said Mayor Martins.

The mayor feels the fee should be increased to $500 to cover the expenses for issuing a license and monitoring the taxis so that the licenses can be issued and the taxi monitored without having to use taxpayer money. "The village taxpayer has been subsidizing taxi cab service in this village for years. It's time we brought [the fee] up," the mayor said.

Trustee Paul Cusato said he was opposed to the fee of $500 and suggested tabling, which is holding off on the vote to impose the fee increase, until more of a breakdown on what issuing a taxi license and monitoring taxis costs the village. "I just don't want to make a blind figure," he said.

The mayor did issue a memo to the board explaining how he arrived at the $500 fee for a taxi owner's license that included an estimate of the costs of issuing a license and monitoring cabs. "You're not going to get a black and white figure, but the bottom line on this is it's not going to cost the residents of this village one dime. What we're asking is for someone who is doing business in this village and is given a special license to do business in this village to pay $10 a week for a cab that operates 52 weeks a year," Mayor Martins said.

Trustee Lou Santosus agreed that the license fee should be raised, but wasn't sure if $500 was the right number. "I don't want to be the high priced spread where people say it's a burden to do business in Mineola," he said.

Trustee Linda Fairgrieve said she would also like to see more of a breakdown on what the village is actually spending to issue a license and monitor cabs. In the mayor's memo to the board, legal fees were included in the costs to issue a license. She said she didn't think legal fees should be part of the consideration of what the license fee should be. She suggested increasing the fee to $400 a license.

Mayor Martins said that the village should increase the fee to a level that will cover the expenses of issuing the license and maintaining the cabs so that taxpayers are not contributing to the costs and feel increasing the license fee to $500 is fair for a taxi to do business in a village that has one of the busiest Long Island Rail Road stations on Long Island. "All I'm concerned about is that we are not subsidizing a private company," he said.

Cusato made the motion to table the vote on increasing the fees until he receives more data on the request to increase the fee. "I would feel better if I saw something in black and white so if somebody questioned me, I could say this is why we made it $500 or $400 or whatever," he said.

"If we can get you any more detail, we'll try. I just don't know how much more detail you can get," Mayor Martins said.

The board then voted to table the motion. Mayor Martins said he hopes to have the matter clarified before May 1 since the mayor wants to vote on the budget by May 1.

The mayor and trustees are still waiting to hear how much contribution will be required for the New York State Pension Fund. They are hoping an answer will come from Albany before the mayor and board have to vote on the tentative budget next month.

While the owners of All Island Taxi opposed the fee increase to $500, Long Island Checker Cab owner Phil Fortuna said he favored the increase. The board may consider some type of exemption for Young's Taxi since it is not a corporation and is only one operator.

Trustee Santosus made a motion to increase the funding in the budget for the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The tentative budget called for $2,000 in the line for equipment. The corps requested $4,000 for radios and $2,000 for pagers to accommodate new members. The board voted to increase the equipment line in the budget to give MVAC an additional $4,000. Mayor Martins appointed John DaVanzo, Bob Hinck and Candi Maia to be the Centennial Committee chairpersons. The Centennial Committee will be in charge of planning the village's 100th anniversary of incorporation in 2006. Some of the ideas that have already been discussed ins a hall of fame for distinguished residents, a parade, fireworks and a centennial ball. The chairpersons want to get as many residents involved in planning the celebration as possible. Within the committee, a vast array of sub-committees will be set up involving various segments of the population. The village's building department sent out 170 notices to landlords of mixed use occupancies and multiple dwellings to notify landlords they must be in compliance with the village's rental registration laws. The 80 who have not responded may soon be receiving notices of violation, which is a notice that they are not in compliance. The Mineola Historical Society has been consulted on how the village should proceed with preserving the historical significant of the Gensel's property on Jericho Turnpike.