When the Village of Mineola passed a rental registration law requiring landlords of mixed use dwellings such as structures with stores and apartments above them and multiple dwellings such as apartment building to register rental units with the village, it did so for safety reasons.

Dwellings that contain overcrowding or safety hazards not only put the tenants at risk, but also the village's emergency service personnel. Currently, the village's building department is in the process of conducting inspections of the rental dwellings and giving summonses to those that are not cooperating with the law.

As of June 11, the village's building department sent out 125 compliance letters indicating what the owners of rental dwellings would have to do to comply. The 125 letters represent 170 properties in the village, according to superintendent of building for the village Dan Whalen.

By June 11, the building department received 81 returns with the appropriate application and fee. The building department collected $50,000 by way of the rental registration law. There had been no response to approximately 40 of the letters. As a result, the building department sent a notice of violation to those who did not respond, indicated that they had another 15 days to comply or contact the building department.

As of June 11, 38 summonses had been issued for non-compliance.

Mr. Whalen said that out of the 81 returns, 25 or 26 properties have been inspected and approved. Those properties will then get a permit which is good for two years. The others are to be inspected.

Mr. Whalen said there were some concerns with some of the other dwellings that were inspected. Such concerns that were found in some of the dwellings included no or inoperable smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors, burglar bars on windows, some apartments in mixed use occupancies had lower hallways and/or the staircase was used as storage area. "Just all the kinds of things you would be concerned about if you were in there as a cop, fireman, medic or even a tenant," Mr. Whalen said.

In the application process, a landlord is required to divulge how many rental units exist in a given dwelling. When the village's building department personnel is inspecting a premises, it can tell if the correct amount of units exist in a dwelling. Mr. Whalen said that New York State Building Code as well as the Village of Mineola Municipal Code requires a certain amount of floor area for an occupant. Code also requires a certain amount of egress paths exist in a given dwelling. "That's where we have some of our problems," Mr. Whalen said.

Other problems that were found included some dwellings that were divided into multiple units, which, Mr. Whalen said, are now being taken down.

A discussion took place on how the village's building department should take complaints from taxpayers. Currently, building department superintendent Dan Whalen said the building department follows up on every form of complaint including anonymous letters and phone calls.

But what can sometimes happen is the building department can get caught up in a neighbor dispute where neighbors are calling the building department on each other's potential violations.

The village board may need to adopt a policy whereby complaints would not be anonymous. This way, the building department has a point of reference in investigating a complaint. However, there could also be a downside. Residents may be less willing to register a complaint if they have to attach their name to it.

However, there could be a way to have a resident sign a complaint form and make that form confidential.

The village settled tax grievances for the 2003-2004 tax year. The settlements concern property owners who have challenged their assessments with the belief that they paid more taxes than they should have. The village settled 33 cases and agreed to return $729,117 in settlements. The 2004-2005 budget contains $700,000 for tax certiorari settlements. Therefore, the village will use $29,117 from contingency to pay for the settlements. There was some discussion on a campaign mailing sent out by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy. The piece indicated all of the places in the 4th Congressional District that have been helped by the congresswoman. The piece indicated Mineola as the location of the Nassau County Seat, where $12 million was secured to combat gang violence. Mayor Martins wanted to make it clear that the Village of Mineola received none of that money and was concerned that the perception is that there is a lot of gang violence in Mineola. It was in fact Nassau County that had received the funds. Resident Dan Murphy wants the village to proceed with a plan for a swim team that would compete against other teams in Nassau County. This was an idea that has been talked about for a few years. Mayor Martins reported that the pool/recreation board is looking for someone to put the team together and set up a schedule.

Resident Vincent Lupinacci indicated that there is a problem with cars parking in a no standing zone on the southwest corner of McKinley Parkway and Jericho Turnpike. This creates an unsafe condition for cars wishing to exit McKinley Parkway onto Jericho.

Mr. Lupinacci also urged the village to maintain the American flags located on Jericho Turpike.

In an unrelated incident, a resident of McKinley Parkway applied to a handicap parking space, which was granted by the village board. In the time before the application was granted and the space was installed by the village, the resident passed away. The space was then installed. Mayor Martins said the village didn't know the resident had passed away and urged residents that if they know of a situation where something like that happens to please let the village know. Obviously, the village feels badly that the space was installed after the resident had passed.

A resident expressed some concern that Chaminade High School may be renting out its football field to other organizations. The resident is concerned about what having outside organizations will do to the parking in the area.

The resident also urged the village to take a look at the Chaminade building being built on the north side of Jericho Turnpike between Emory Road and Foch Boulevard since it is not in the same footprint as the previous structure that was located there.

There was a discussion on the village's loss of assessed valuation, which causes taxes to go up. Next year, the village is again expecting a decrease in assessed valuation. One reason is properties coming off the tax roll because of various purchases and projects.

Chaminade High School, which is a non taxable entity, purchased the Koeppel Ford property, causing it to come off the tax roll. The village will be losing tax revenue from the Kozy Shack property and Allied property among other properties for the Roslyn Road grade crossing elimination project and the KeySpan Building came off the tax roll as a result of the intermodal center project since the MTA is purchasing the KeySpan Building.

Mayor Martins explained that the village is looking for new avenues for revenue streams to combat the loss of assessed valuation so that the taxpayers will be burdened as little as possible.

Deputy Mayor Larry Werther, the village board's liaison to the Mineola Chamber of Commerce, and chamber president Carmela Bernacchio are exploring the possibility of the village having a fall street fair.