The Village of Roslyn Harbor is considering transferring its fire service portfolio from the two Roslyn companies to units in Glenwood.

Roslyn Harbor Major Gerson Strassberg said the village's Board of Trustees is thinking about the change due to matters of overall costs and the proximity of the fire companies' to his village.

Mayor Strassberg said there currently is "no logical reason" as to why the village is "fragmenting" into two fire companies. The current arrangement, he said, pre-dates the formation of the village itself. As a result, Roslyn Harbor officials, the mayor added, had no input on the fire company situation.

The village, Mayor Strassberg said, has done an evaluation of the fire services needed and determined that the facilities on Grove Street and Glen Head Road in Glenwood are "much closer" to Roslyn Harbor than facilities for the two Roslyn fire companies.

Roslyn Harbor held a public hearing last Thursday night to discuss the situation. Over 100 members of the two Roslyn fire companies attended to voice their support of the current setup. At the meeting, Glenwood Fire Company officials said their company had the manpower and equipment needed to serve Roslyn Harbor. The Glenwood Fire Company has over a 100 members.

Mayor Strassberg has also noted that Roslyn Rescue is planning to close its facility on Old Northern Boulevard to relocate it in Mineola. This, too, the mayor said, is a factor in the ongoing debate. (Roslyn Rescue chief Alan Schwalberg has told The Roslyn News that the fire house in question has been taken off the market and that Roslyn Rescue, at this time and in the near future, has no plans to sell the building.)

The mayor also said the BOT's "fiduciary obligations" toward local taxpayers would be another factor in any change of services. The BOT, he said, has an obligation to obtain services "equal or better" than current services all at a lower cost to Roslyn Harbor residents.

A change in services, the mayor claimed, would bring "substantial savings" to the village. As village officials and residents and fire company officials debate the issue, Mayor Strassberg said he is keeping an "open mind" toward opinions on all sides of the matter. The mayor said the Roslyn Harbor BOT would probably vote on the matter at its next public meeting, to be held Wednesday, Sept. 8.

James McCann, president of Roslyn Highlands, answered the mayor's comments in his own interview with The Roslyn News. In short, Mr. McCann said that fire companies in Roslyn, which are overwhelmingly staffed by Roslyn area residents, are best suited to protect the citizens of Roslyn Harbor.

Any change in services by Roslyn Harbor, Mr. McCann added, would not result in real savings for the village. Roslyn Harbor, he said, is bound by contract to pay an Award Services Program to Roslyn firefighters for the next 10 years.

Mr. McCann said the Roslyn fire companies, with 17 pieces of equipment including trucks and an ambulance, have both the manpower and the hardware to cover Roslyn Harbor.

In addition, 75 to 80 percent of the men in the Roslyn fire companies are Roslyn residents. Many others, Mr. McCann said, own businesses in the Roslyn area. Because of all this, it is in the best interests of fire company volunteers to try to keep operating costs down.

"If he [Mayor Strassberg] thinks something's out of line, we'd be happy to talk to him," Mr. McCann said. "We want to mediate things and work with everyone."

Meanwhile, officials for Roslyn Rescue claim that two fire houses, the one on Old Northern Boulevard and another on Glen Cove Road, are both within a quarter of a mile from Roslyn Harbor's borders.

Mr. Schwalberg said that the response time from these locations to residences in Roslyn Harbor is "much quicker" than the time achieved from fire houses in Glenwood. The Roslyn Rescue chief also said the meeting with the Roslyn Harbor BOT went well and that progress toward finding a solution acceptable to all sides was made.