At the last meeting of the Williston Park Village Board, the board voted to accept the newly amended parking fines for the village.

The new fines were outlined by Williston Park Village Attorney Richard Reers who said, "Having postponed this hearing for two meetings, while the board conducted a comprehensive review of parking fines charged by surrounding municipalities, and while the board has met with two vendors who have made recommendations in respect to fines, after concluding all those studies and analysis we have before us a proposed law that has the following fine structures."

However, prior to outlining the fines, Reers said, "Essentially, we are going to eliminate a return date. That is the date that the ticket agent writes on the ticket that states a ticket must be answered before the village court by a certain date.

"Instead, the new law states that anyone who receives a ticket will have 15 days to answer the tickets. If you send in your money and pay your fine, the case is automatically closed. If you choose, you can request a hearing before the judge and you can send that in. Therefore, you will have 30 days to deal with the ticket.

"Basically, the original fine, in most cases, will be $50. The fine after 30 days will double and go to $100. The fine after 60 days will go to $150 and after 90 days, there will be an additional $20 surcharge and go to $170.

"All the fines are $50 except a tow-away zone which will be $75, handicapped parking $200 and in New York State there is an additional surcharge that adds a $30 fee. So in the case of a handicapped violation, it would be $200 to the village and an additional $30 payable to the State of New York.

"Parking in fire zones and by hydrants will be initially $100, abandoned vehicles will be $75, expired registrations for more than 60 days will be $75, expired inspections more than 60 days will be $75 and any other designated offense will be $50."

Attorney Reers then turned it back to Mayor Ludwig Odierna who asked the board if they had any questions and since they had none, he turned it over to the public for comments.

A resident, Maura Clancy, said she was happy the board reconsidered the amount of the fines by bringing them down from $100 to $50. She said she wanted to know the board's opinion on the village justice's comment that there was difficulty in the administration of these tickets. She said, "To have this progressive penalty just seems onerous on the village justice to administrate."

Trustee Beth Swendsen-Dowd addressed the question with the following answer, "We actually had the village justice, the village clerk and the court clerk all come in and talk to us regarding this proposal. Plus, we had representatives who either run or facilitate computerized ticket agencies come to speak with us as well. We spent about six hours on just this item and this ticket structure is the result on the basis of all those individuals who came to speak to us. The idea is that you have to answer this ticket in 30 days. We're not giving you a calendar date so we are trying to lessen burden on the court staff. We felt this was not as onerous as the other ticket structure and it takes the burden off the merchants."

Clancy wanted to know why the ticket was so complicated and Swendsen-Dowd said it really wasn't and in fact it was a whole lot simpler than before. The board then voted to adopt the new parking fee structure.

Mayor Odierna announced, "We received word from New York State Assemblyman Thomas McKevitt that the Consolidated Highways Improvement Program (CHIPS) funds has been increased again for this year, as part of the five-year capital plan. Therefore the funds this year, based on budget allocation, for the Village of Williston Park is $60,228 and we thank Assemblyman McKevitt for obtaining this money on our behalf."

The mayor went on to say, "The town current waste dispose agreement expires on April, 2010. The town recently issued a request for proposals and the process takes a year. The town is also exploring its flow control options in light of the recent Supreme Court decision supporting town control over municipal waste control. In addition to this we have broadened our recycling efforts and we would like to work with every district in the village to improve our collective recycling goals. The town held a meeting back in February to discuss these issues and our superintendent of public works was present. Remember our tipping bill was $32,000 for the Town of North Hempstead and its one of the largest fees we have to pay. Therefore, since we are coming into the grass season please put grass clippings out on Monday.

"Do not put it with household trash, because it will cost the village more money. We are recommending that you use transparent bags for the grass clippings so that our garbage men will know that it's grass clippings. If your landscaper leaves the grass clippings for you to dispose of, that's against the law.

"We will be looking at all of this more seriously because our tipping fee goes up another $10 to $15,000 during the grass cutting season. The Town of North Hempstead has requested that we hold a "Keeping It Green Cleanup Day" and Councilman Angelo Ferrara has asked that we organize this for May 17. We have called the Girl Scouts and they will be organized to participate in this project. We will work around the sump, the gazebo and possibly the parking lot by the Long Island Rail Road. We thank the Girl Scouts and they will be receiving gloves, trash bags and Earth Day T-shirts from the town. The group will meet at 9 a.m. in back of village hall.

"The library has asked to reserve the assembly room at village hall on May 22 from 5 to 9 p.m. for the Young Adult Movie Night." That motion was approved.

Village Clerk Moloughney said they are still working on the budget and they will have another public meeting at the end of the month. (The Illustrated News will report on that meeting in its next issue.)

Deputy Mayor Smith gave the police report and said that there was a burglary on Hillside Avenue, nine parking violations and 33 moving violations, 15 auto accidents and 7 injuries.

She also announced that all employees have been hired for the Williston Park pool for 2008. Applications are online and will be in the Village Green. Registration starts on May 13 and continues through May 31.

Starting on June 2 there will be a $40 late fee for pool registrations.

The first Gazebo Concert will be held on June 19 at 7 p.m. and will feature the South Shore Brass. July 9 there will be a POPS concert at Cross Street. Future concerts will be forthcoming.

Trustee Dunn reported that Village Justice Alan Reardon heard 193 cases collecting fines of $15,442 along with the New York State mandatory surcharge of $880. Judge Kevin Kiley heard 98 cases collecting fines of $7,915 together with the New York State mandatory surcharge of $770.

Trustee Darmstadt reported that the library has received a grant for a handicapped entrance. They have three bids and the other two have to be redefined. Plus, it is being researched to change the name of the library to the Carl Delvecchio Library, but the charger has to be changed.

Plus, there are two Eagle Scout projects that the boys are working on. One is to put covers over the dugouts to prevent melanoma and the other is do a warning track for the batting cage.

Deputy Mayor Smith added she feels it's very important for the youth of the area to become involved.

Trustee Swendsen-Dowd said that she has nothing to report at this time.

Mayor Odierna said, "It's not that she is doing nothing. Rather, she is very involved in many projects and we are so happy to have her on board."

Bunnell said, "The new roller is in operation and it's about four times the weight of the old one. We are in the process of doing sidewalks with the cement guys and LIPA has been doing some LIPA trees and we also had Harder in this past week doing all our stumps. That's about it."

Collins said, "For the month the annual fees we brought in from the building department is $19, 550 and that's it."

The meeting was opened to the public and a resident wanted to know who is responsible for the upkeep of the area surrounding the pool. She was told that the entire area has been cleaned up. The mayor added, "We are taking measures to prevent the vandalism that we have had in the past."

Another resident wanted to know if there was any information regarding her neighbors.

Attorney Reers said that the owner has been contacted to find out who is in the home to make sure that everyone's rights are protected.

The resident said that someone comes every week to check on the residence. She said it wasn't like a group home, but she wanted to know the situation.

Reers said they are investigating and it is not a state designated facility, but it is owned by the county and he said he would let the resident know.

Another resident, from Park Avenue, complained that steam rollers had been parked in front of his house during the Hillside Avenue project. As a result the road has sunk. Therefore, when it rains water collects and in the wintertime it turns to solid ice, because of the pitch.

Bunnell said he wasn't sure that the village could solve that problem, but he said he would make the call to the engineers Divirka and Bartilucci to see what can be done.

Clerk Moloughney said he would contact the engineers to see what they feel can be done to solve the problem.

A resident from Liberty Avenue said that three years ago he put in an above ground 15 foot pool on his property that is 4 foot deep. He said at the time he was not aware but recently he received a letter regarding the conditions he would have to abide by to keep the pool on the property. He said, "So on top of the expense of having a pool put in I received a $400 hearing and filing fee, plus there are a host of guidelines. So I need to talk to someone. Just have to know if I need a lawyer."

Attorney Reers said, "No you probably don't need a lawyer, just talk to Kerry Collins and we will work something out and try to help you."

Several more residents came before the board and each problem they presented was to be taken care by the proper party.

The meeting ended and the next regular meeting will be set for May 19 at 8 p.m. at Williston Park Village Hall, Williston Park.