Village News 1975-02

              Community Development Meeting
A second public hearing on the allocation of the
J5.3 million in Community Development funds for
which the Village is qualified over the next
five years is tentatively scheduled for the
first week in March. Please consult the local
newspapers for exact date and time.
The first public hearing, held January 17, was
attended by 200 persons. The Task Force's break-down
of the volminous data culled from that meet-ing,
correspondence received by the Mayor and from
communications with civic groups, indicates that
the development of North Main Street, rehabilita-tion
of one family housing for owner-occupants,
the renovation of "the South Main Street shopping
area, and planning for future growth, particularly
in the waterfront area, are of prime concern to
the greatest number of residents.
The Freeport Association, Atlantic South Civic
Association, Concerned Neighbors, Village Beau-tification
Committee and the Freeport Board of
Education coupled the development of North Main
Street with the rehabilitation of owner-occupied
housing in the Northeast section as the top pri-ority
for the monies. Several speakers at the
Public Hearing expressed similar opinions. The
Freeport.Housing Authority gave the North Main
Street area priority after improvements to water,
sewer system and streets.
Many proponents of rehabilitated housing, for pri-vate
ownership only, including the Freeport Assoc-iation,
have indicated a wish to see such a pro-gram
also go Village-wide. Those stressing reha-bilitated
housing generally request condemnation
and demolition of obsolete structures where nec-essary
and the resale of blighted homes (foreclo-sures,
etc.) to job-holding owner-occupants within
moderate economic levels. Code enforcement, which
under the Community Development Act entities' local "
municipalities to enforce stricter codes in blighted
target areas, is also requested by many Freeporters.
A very small number of respondents suggested corv-struction
of more low-income public housing.
Those concerned with North Main Street urge general
upgrading, buffer zones and financial enticements
to attract developers willing to bring about a mix
of condominiums, offices and commercial establish-mentSo
The Freeport Chamber of Commerce and others urged
that the first priority be the downtown shopping
area along the lines of the Thabit report calling
for a pedestrian mall, new facades and increased
parking. The Chamber specified and the Freeport
Association, Atlantic South Civic Association
and the Beautification Committee requested, that
some of the costs of such renovations be borne
by the merchants and/or landlords. The Board of
Education has also indicated that some funds
should be used in this area.
The Atlantic South Civic Association, Freeport
Association and Board of Education mentioned the
waterfront area as a section which needs planning
and development of recreational aspects to at-tract
visitors.
In Village government, the Sewer and Sanitation
Commission has recommended that some funds be
used for the necessary upgrading of the municipal
incinerator, the purchase of liquid waste treat-ment
equipment and several steps to improve the
sewer system. The Environmental Commission rec-ommends
the establishment of a leaf mulching pro-gram;
the purchase or leasing of land for nature
study areas and the establishment of a fish hatch-ery
at the Sewer Plant when it discontinues oper-ations
in 1977. The Water and Light Commission
requests' two new water mains to increase service,
improvement of street lighting on several roads
and three proposals to improve functioning bet-ween
power plants and substations.
Other areas touched on by individuals speaking
at the Public Hearing or communicating with the
Mayor, include the alleviation of flooding prob-lems,
low cost loans for property rehabilitation,
an improved fire alarm system, increased health
services, improved transportation, additional
parks, a day care center, the stablization of
rents and population, and the nee'd for job op- "
portunities in the Village.
Several citizens urged the recycling of the
funds, its usage to attract other monies and
pointed out that stretched too thin, the $5.3
million over five years would have little im-pact
on community development.
The Task Force welcomes comments from all resi-dents.
Correspondence should be directed to
Chairman James Dunne at Village Hall.
Villa News
A PUBLIC INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE VILLAGE OF FREEPORT
46 NORTH OCEAN AVENUE TELEPHONE FReeport 8-4000 WILLIAM H. WHITE, MAYOR
Public Meetings On The 1st and 3rd Mondays Of The Month, At 9:00 P.M.
Helping Out Scouts FEBRUARY, 1975
Mayor William White receives his boxes of Girl Scout cookies from Melissa Green (second left) of
Junior Troop #2100 and Kathleen Cominos of Brownie Troop #2263 at the start of the annual Cookie
Drive in the Village. Joining in the presentation were Community Cookie Chairwoman Barbara Comin-os
(right) and Village Trustee Dorothy Storm who serves as Community Association Chairwoman for
the Freeport Girl Scouts.
Villag:e Election
There will be a Village Election on Tuesday,
March 18, for two positions on the Freeport
Board'of'Trustees'. ' " "
Voting will be at your usual polling place and
voting hours are from 7am to 9pm. All Freeport
residents are eligible to vote who are on the
County rolls for permanent personal registra- '
tion and who voted in the General Election (No-vember)
within the past two years.
If you are not otherwise enrolled, you may reg-ister
for the March 18 election on Saturday,-
March 1, at Village Hall from noon to 9pm. - This
registration place is for all election districts.
To qualify, a prospective voter must be: (l)
A citizen of the United States, (2) Over 18
years of age, and (3) A resident of the State
and of the Village for at least thirty (30) days
precedina the election.
Trustees: George H" Fairberg. Ralph P. Franco, Thomas J. Lovelidge, Dorothy Storm
Village Clerk: Thomas DeVincenzo Treasurer: James J. Lyons - Counsel: Oakley Gentry Jr.
Our Water Safe, Sweet Mandatory Costs Up Budget
Village Superintendent of Water Distribution Ed-ward
Voelker, in reply to recent national news-paper
and television statements questioning the
safety of the nation's drinking water, stated,
"Freeport has one of the best, if not the best,
water supply in New York State, which is borne
out by the fact that each year the Village has
been permitted by the State Department of Health
to use the water without distasteful chlorination.
In order to be permitted to enjoy sweet-tasting
water without the introduction of chlorine, Super-intendent
Voelker explained that his department
takes at least ^00 samples from the distribution
system and from each of the Village's nine, 500
to 600 feet deep wells each year, as does the
Nassau County Department of Health. All samples
are submitted for analysis to an independent lab-oratory
approved by the New York State Health De-partment.
"In addition," he said, "the U.S.
Geological Survey of the Department of Environ-mental
Conservation, as recently as.last Decem-ber,
field tested the water from all of our wells
to determine any upward trends of.detergents,
phosphates, iron and nitrates. The results from
the Agency's own laboratory showed no upward
trend."
Specifically Superintendent Voelker stated that
recent reports in the media referred to the possi-bilityiof
chlorine mixing with wastes from petro-chemical
plants which might create a cancer-pro—
Poetress At Library
Nikki Giovanni, "The Princess of Black Poetry,"
will give a reading of her works on Sunday,
March 2, 2:30pm, at the Freeport Memorial Li- .
brary. While the presentation is free, because
seating is limited to 200, tickets must be ob-tained
in advance at the Library. -
Ms. Giovanni is the author of seven volumes of
poetry and fiction including, "Black Feeling,
Black Talk, Black Judgement"; collaborated on
two others and recorded two albums. She has re-ceived
honors, awards and grants from the Ford
Foundation and the National Foundation of the
Arts. She holds honorary degrees from the Uni-versity
of Maryland and Wilberforce University
and received the National Book Award. Both
"Mademoiselle" and "Ladies Home Journal" chose
her as an "outstanding woman of the year."
ducing agent. Also mentioned was the danger of
high concentrations of detergents, phosphates,
nitrates, copper and lead found in drinking
water which was alledged to be a nation-wide
problem. "First, we have no petrochemical in-dustry
in Freeport and no chlorine in our water.
Secondly, continuous testing shows that the Vil-lage's
water supply contains no detergents,
" phosphates, copper or lead, and only minute
quantities of nitrate. The Village sewer sys-tem,
established in 1927, has prevented these
contaminants from entering our water supply."
As regards a recent television program on the
dangerous conditions created by lead house
water services in the City of Boston, Freeport's
Superintendent of Water Distribution pointed
out that lead house services have not been per-mitted
to be installed in the Village since the
mid-1950s. "In Freeport the property owner is
responsible for the maintenance of the house
water service from the Village-owned water mains
into his home. Our Department would therefore
have no record of any remaining lead house ser-vices
if any do exist. It is recommended that
owners of homes -built prior to 1935 where the
original house water service is still in oper-ation,
investigate and if a lead service line
shows on the street side of the water meter,
have the service replaced with a copper or plas-tic
line to meet the Village's water ordinances."
Stamp A Must
.Residents are again reminded that correspondence
and payments will not be forwarded to Village
Hall if there is no postage affixed. In addi-tion,
if there is no return address indicated,
the material will be sent to the dead letter of-fice.
For that reason, please make certain that you af-fix
proper postage when you return payment for
your enclosed electrical bill.
Clear Sidewalks Of Snow
Village ordinances require?, all property owners,
tenants or occupants to remove snow and ice from
the sidewalks, in front of residences, commercial
buildings or stores within 2^ hours after the
cessation of any fall of snow. Failure to do so
is in violation of the Village ordinance and will
result in a summons being issued.
Following a Public Hearing on January 6 attended
by some 60 residents, the Village Board of Trus-tees
adopted a 1975-76 municipal operating bud-get
of $10.9 million, an increase of 11? over
last year. Cost to taxpayers will be an addi-tional
$1.12 per $100 assessed vaulation. To
the owner of a home assessed at $5,000, for ex-ample,
this represents $56 per year, or $^.67
per month, increase. Owners of property as-sessed
at $10,000 will pay an additional $110 .
per year or $9.3^ per month.
Starting with department head requests which
would have brought an increase of approximately
$2.15 per $100, the Board met in 13 special
meetings devoted to the budget over a period of
two months. During evening meetings of five to
six hours and all-day Saturday sessions, they
reviewed each budget item many times, line by
line, cutting each departmental budget.
Mayor William White pointed out that approxi-mately
Si of the tax increase is either mandated
or directly reflects today's inflationary econ-omy.
"These are the realities we had to face in pre-paring
the budget: an increase in the munici-pal
employees' retirement plan from $737,000 to
$9^5,000; Social Security payments up from
$160,000 to $190,000; Workmen's Compensation up
from $1^0,000 to $197,000; the medical/hospital/
dental plans increased from $150,000 to $170,000;
and unallocated insurance coverage up $25,000.
"In addition, even with the strictest economy
measures already imposed, the cost of telephone
service in-Village Hall, just one of our munici-pal
installations, will go up $2,^00 over last
year due to rate increases. Again, just for the
Hall, we estimate our electric bill will jump
from $22,000 to $33,000. It's going to cost us
$186,936 more to keep the Village streets lighted.
Just as in the private sector, government cannot
operate without the services of the utilities
and has to bear the brunt of the increases im-posed
by them to meet their own costs.
"The government also cannot operate without per-sonnel,
personnel who in turn have to meet higher
expenses today. The salary line, excluding
fringe benefits, for police officers alone is up
$252,609 which only reflects the increase granted
in the recently signed Wt-75 Freeport Police
Benevolent Association contract. Still unknown
is the increase which undoubtedly will come about
after negotiations on the 1975-76 PBA contract
are completed. Another increase will have to be
absorbed when the 1975-76 Civil Service Employees
Association's contract covering the vast majority
of Village employees is signed.
"This year's budget, as presented to taxpayers,
was completely itemized although this is not re-quired
under the law. Organizations and individ-uals
could easily find the budget requests made
of the Board and the substanial cutting down, or
total elimination, of those requests we did in
order to hold the tax increase down as far as
possible without cutting essential services.
For example, several non-police vehicles were re-quested
by various departments. In light of our
already established drive to institute car pooling
where possible, the purchase of only one vehicle
was deemed essential. All others were eliminated
from budget requests. Similar major purchases
were held to a minimum.
"Being fully aware that salaries, along with
costly fringe benefits, account for the highest
item on the municipal budget, the Board plans to
give smaller or no salary increases to non-con-tractural
employees, such as department hegds,
rather than raising them at the same percentage
as those covered by the two contracts currently
under negotiation. The salaries of the Mayor
and Village Trustees will remain at the same
level of $7,000 and $3,500 per year, respectively,
as has been the case since.,1970. . .
"Even before this present financial crunch, sev-eral
positions in various Village departments
were phased out. More recently we eliminated
the position of Superintendent of Sanitation,
putting that responsibility directly under the
Superintendent of Public Works0 In addition, a
soon-to-retire Police Captain will not be re-placed
and the director of the Narcotics Council
was put on a part-time consultant basis, rather
than as a full-time employee. Eight positions
in Public Works have not been filled, for ex-ample."