New Hyde Park Village Board Notebook: December 4

The New Hyde Park Village Board of Trustees held a meeting on Tuesday, December 4. Here are some things you may have missed.

2012 Road Improvement Project

• A resident questioned the village’s road paving schedule, specifically inquiring about South Fifth Street.
• “It’s up towards the top of the list as is First Avenue. There are a couple of blocks that now have moved into sort of the top spot,” deputy mayor Robert Lofaro said, noting Plaza Avenue was also on the list, estimating that it may be done within the next 5 years. “We’re aware of it, if it were up to us we would have had every street paved, we’re trying to work within our budgetary constraints.”
• Mayor Daniel Petruccio added that “we’re just chipping away at all this.”
• Lofaro noted that South Fifth is a double-wide street where one half was paved and the other was not.
• As of December 4, road crews have reportedly finished paving the top coat on all the streets as part of the 2012 road improvement project with line striping and punch-lists left to complete.
• “The hurricane set us back pretty dramatically,” Lofaro said.

Moody’s Bond Rating

• The village participated in a conference call on December 5 with Moody’s who will rate the village’s bonds for the 2012 road improvement project.
• The total cost of the project is about $1.3 million. 
• “We’re hoping obviously that we get the highest bond rating possible,” Lofaro said.
• The village received a AA- rating last time for the road improvement bonds.
• The rating agency will be reportedly asking about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the village, the state-imposed tax cap, the labor agreement with the CSEA that expires in May of 2014 and cash flow as well as year-end projections and department incomes. “I think we have a good story to tell financially,” Lofaro said. “This board has been very conservative.”

Streetlights

• A resident reported that the streetlight at Second Avenue and South Fifth Street is out as well as one located at Jericho Turnpike and Ingraham Lane.
• “I think there’s just so many lights out, we’re just going to go out an inventory them all and try to get it done,” Lofaro said, noting that the department of public works had recently installed the holiday lights for the chamber of commerce on December 4.
• He also noted there is no light on Jericho Turnpike and Lakeville Road. “There’s no streetlight up there,” he said. “We have a couple of those spots down by the old GC Volkswagon on Cherry Lane there’s another spot and on the other side as well. For some reason there’s no electric even though the pole is there, there’s no electric to feed the street lamp. You figure that out.”
• Trustee Lawrence Montreuil reported that the village’s electric bill was up $400 from the previous month.
• “That’s LIPA,” Lofaro quipped.

Wounded Warrior Fundraiser

• Trustee Montreuil encouraged all residents to attend a “Pride for Patty” fundraiser honoring Patricia Vollmer, a New Hyde Park resident deployed in Afghanistan as a member of the Screaming Eagles.
• The fundraiser is on December 15 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Park Place Restaurant at 41 Covert Ave. in Floral Park.
• Admission is $45, which includes open bar and appetizers and proceeds go towards the Wounded Warrior project.

Downed Tree Accounting

• Trustee Donald Barbieri thanked both Montreuil and Lofaro for their accounting of all the downed trees and branches in need of removal and their status following Hurricane Sandy, placing a spreadsheet on the village’s website.
• “It’s incredible the way that they did this on our behalf and marked each one as it was repaired and each tree as it’s been fixed,” Barbieri said. “Thank you guys very much for your effort.”

Other Board News

• The village’s new garbage truck is due to be delivered in about a week. The transmission was blown on one of the village recycling trucks, requiring an emergency repair. “They did take a beating with the hurricane and everything else,” Lofaro said of the recycling trucks.
• The deputy mayor thanked the beautification committee for their work decorating the village in time for the annual Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, singling out Rich Pallisco.
• Barbieri said that he had received an email from the state department of transportation indicating they are “all but at the finish line” in completing a project that would involve the installation of more brick pavers at corners, site furniture and planted medians along Jericho Turnpike. The project would begin in early spring 2013 and has primarily been funded through grants at the federal, state and county level.
• The building department issued 26 permits in November as well as four fence permits.
• The village board accepted the audits of the outside village court audit from June 1, 2011 to May 31, 2012 fiscal year and the outside village audit from June 1, 2011 to May 31, 2012 fiscal year.
• The auditor is scheduled to present the audit findings on December 18.
• The village will be hosting a performance of “Toy Camp” on December 15 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the WIlliam Guild Theater at village hall. Tickets are available at village hall.
• The board will honor former editor of the Nassau Illustrated newspaper Maggi Whitely at the December 18 meeting for her 27 years of service at the weekly paper. “We ask residents, friends and folks to please come two weeks from now when we have the privilege of honoring Maggi Whitely,” Lofaro said.

The next meeting of the New Hyde Park Village Board is on December 18 at 8 p.m. at the village hall.