The quiet villages of Oyster Bay Cove and Cove Neck have been involved in issues that are causing ripples.

Cove Neck had been negotiating with Oyster Bay Cove for about 10 months and after not being able to come to an agreement, decided to follow the example of the Village of Laurel Hollow and to have the Nassau County Police become the village police.

That left OBC with a $250,000 deficit and had residents concerned about their budget. When the Tuesday, March 16 Oyster Bay Cove budget meeting was canceled some residents asked why. The East Woods School, the location of the meeting, was closed because of the Monday storm, but Trustee George O'Neill offered the Doubleday Babcock Senior Center as a location. Mayor Peragine declined, saying he had already been calling people to tell them the meeting was canceled.

That day, March 16, the Village of Cove Neck was having an election. Somehow some members of the OBC village law firm was involved in that election.

Cove Neck Mayor Tom Zoller said a Newsday reporter called him saying that Mayor Peragine was questioning the village's decision to go with the Nassau County Police Department (which they voted on March 10) and saying that local residents were paying for the cheap contract Cove Neck was getting. "They already have a story and I am trying to refute it," said Mayor Zoller. "All these rumors are starting as to why OBC and CN could not reach an agreement. The reason is because of the mayor and his counsel, Richard Farley. The fact is that they are trying to undermine an agreement we are making with the county and the tactics they are taking are underhanded and nasty."

Exacerbating the conflict, a secretary from Farley, Kessler and Chetkof was a poll watcher at the elections, said Mr. Zoller. "Then Mr. Kessler, one of the attorneys showed up and had to be escorted out of the police booth because he did not have a right to be there when the votes were being tallied. They had a poll watcher already. We have never had to deal with this sort of distrust before and it is self generating."

This year more residents came out than last year for the Cove Neck election for a total vote of 130 (102 in 1998).

Both Elizabeth Roosevelt and Harold M. Kingsley, the incumbents, received 103 votes; 27 votes were cast each for the challengers - Arnold Gross and Kenneth Mango of the Cove Neck Preservative Party. Residents vote for individual trustees and the two highest vote getters win the trustee seats. The Cove Neck Preservation Party Attorney is Mr. Kessler of the law firm of Farley, Kessler and Chetkof. P.C., who are the attorneys for the Village of Oyster Bay Cove. Their platform was "Retain our Village police force."

The two villages have been in negotiation over a police contract for about 10 months. Inspector Mulvey of the Nassau County Police Department said Cove Neck approached them last summer about policing their area. "Last year we entered into a contract with Laurel Hollow and they watched to see how it went. They did a survey of residents of LH who were the local opponents to the transition and were surprised to hear they had favorable comments about the contract with the NCPD. They got more serious and we did a survey of the demographics of Cove Neck in terms of calls for service."

They determined it was a very easy community to police: it is small with about 110 residences of 330 people with only four or five roadways, and in terms of calls for service, he said, "There's probably no quieter community in the whole of Nassau and certainly non smaller so in our perspective there is no problem in policing it."

Based on their study they offered to charge the village $225,000 annually for a five-year contract.

They also offered a proposal similar to what they do in Laurel Hollow which would involve having a car dedicated to Cove Neck. "That would be $330,000 because we have to dedicate some personnel to it," he said.

Inspector Mulvey said he had talked to Mayor Peragine who is saying the rest of the residents of the area are paying for a cheaper contract for Cove Neck than they would have if they were taxed according to the district tax for police which is itemized on their tax bill.

Inspector Mulvey said they felt the charge was in keeping with the needed services. "If the circumstances change there, we would re-negotiate the contract," he said.

While Mayor Peragine said the residents of East Norwich (for instance) are supporting the residents of CN.

"I see it differently," said the inspector. "We will provide service for Cove Neck for $225,000 with no additional police officers or equipment. We will be able to provide the services 'just a blip on the screen' and at the end of the year I will have $225,000 of revenue and no expense that will be reflected in the district tax rate for the next year - so EN can see their rates reduced slightly. The police district has gotten richer by $225,000."

The bill would be $288,000 if Cove Neck came into the police district itself using the current tax rate. In the inspector's view the small size of the area and the number of calls received, make the deal. He said the county attorney needs to review the contract, then the county executive and then the legislature.

"For my view, this is in the best interests of the Police Department and the taxpayer," said the inspector.

Another benefit is that Laurel Hollow and Cove Neck are so close that they will be policed by the same department and both communities benefitting through the increased police presence, he said.

Mayor Michael Peragine is not happy about Cove Neck's decision to choose the NCPD over contracting with OBC. He said in 1993/4 CN was paying $550,000 for their private police. They joined OBC at a fee of $180,000. "Over the last five years, they have saved $2 million," he said. One of the reasons the contract was never signed was because of differing views on who is responsible for paying a contractual fee to retired police Chief Danny Lambertson. Mayor Peragine said CN owed OBC $23,900 toward the police chief's retirement package, "Instead they hired an attorney for $5,000," to try to negotiate.

Mayor Tom Zoller said his village believes that the retirement package payment should have been taken out of the fee CN paid OBC and that they do not have an obligation to pay it. "We felt the five year contract allowed for them to put money aside for that. We felt we were already paying for that," said the Mayor.

Mayor Zoller said when the contract for OBC finally came back it would have cost (in five years) in excess of $430,000 over what they will pay the county for five years. "It was a contract for a certain amount and 6 percent increase each year, and really for the same service."

Mr. Zoller said "Nassau County is not hiring more people, just re-allocating their resources. I see the $225,000 as a bonus for NC each year." He said they approached Nassau County because of the difficulty in dealing with OBC. Also, the figure initially presented was 20 percent of the cost of running the OBC PD without having any say in what kind of equipment they would buy. Recently, OBC has bought speed monitors for their roads.

Mayor Peragine said, "Imagine how difficult it was for me to plan my budget when the Mayor and Harold Kingsley didn't return my phone calls. He (Mayor Zoller) never told us he was going to Nassau County. He encouraged us to go for a grant and a new contract with the PBA. All he wanted was a fixed rate not a percentage."

Mayor Peragine said he gave CN a fixed rate in Jan. of '99. "I delivered it at midnight, several days after the PBA contract was ratified so he could have it the next night. I jumped through that hoop. He never made any mention that they were rejecting that contract. He encouraged us to expand the department. If they go to the county it will cost more, I believe, the number will not become a reality since NC will have to subsidize it."

On Monday, March 22, Mayor Peragine called to say that he had balanced his budget - in time and with no tax increase.

Mayor Peragine sent a letter to Mayor Zoller which characterized the relationship between the villages as dominated by "back-stabbing" and "prevarication," which he called "the result of a vendetta on the part of your attorney." He also sent them a bill for $51,216: $27,316 for police services through May 31 and the $23,900 contribution to former Police Chief Lambertson's retirement payout." He said if the bill wasn't paid by March 30, they would terminate their police services. He said NC said they would take over saying, "I made that call out of concern for the safety and well being of your residents, as I believe that no matter how badly your attorney has poisoned our relationship the safety and well being of those we serve must be placed above all else."

Mayor Zoller had previously said he had to call up OBC to get a bill for the January police services and wondered why they didn't send a bill for the February services at the same time.

"It is a shame things are going this way. We live in a wonderful area, why can't agreements be made. I love living here. It's a wonderful way to raise my kids. Why does this nonsense have to go on and why is Rich Farley involved in Cove Neck politics," said Mr. Zoller.