Friday, January 19, 2018
Vol. 94, No.18
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Tense meet
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WRESTLERS PIN DOWN VICTORY
Gem talk PAGE 18
Sewer repair, winter weather add to Village’s operating costs BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
As the year begins and budget presentations are on the horizon, village operations have been put to a test by some rising expenses. Mayor Brian Daughney noted the biggest emergency expense, a one-time occurrence with sewer main breaks on Whitehall Bouelvard, as a one percent hit to the annual Village of Garden City municipal operating budget of roughly $59 million this fiscal year (June 1, 2017 to May 31, 2018). With the emergency, at its January 11 meeting, the Board approved an increase to its budgeted amount for 2017-2018 “Capital Project - Sewer Repairs” from $213,913 to $293,913. The allocation also required
Garden City High School's wrestling team took second place at the Scarsdale Invitational Tournament recently. See page 50
Franklin Avenue safety in focus for Traffic Commission BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
At its January 11 meeting, the Garden City Traffic Commission considered a letter from the DoubleDay Court Condominiums requesting a look into speeding along south Franklin Avenue as well as increasing timing for the traffic light at Fourth Street and Franklin (shortening the time on Franklin it is green and increasing the timing of greens coming from Fourth Street). DoubleDay Court’s letter mentions a need to investigate excessive vehicle speeds on Franklin Avenue between Second and Sixth Streets. Pat DiMattia, the Central Property
Owners’ Association liaison to the Traffic Commission said traffic and speeding is an issue in each Garden City neighborhood. But she said the CPOA Board of Directors firmly believes there shouldn’t be any changes made to the timing of the lights at the Fourth & Franklin intersection, “they just felt it would impact all the surrounding streets, whether Third or Cedar Place or Fourth itself to Fifth and Sixth.” The CPOA suggesting leaving timing of lights as-is and focusing on police enforcement as much as possible. The POA recommendation stated for Franklin: See page 24
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a transfer of funds that was approved; $80,000 from contingency to “Capital Projects - Sewer Repairs” account. At the January 11 Board meeting, Deputy Village Administrator and Superintendent of Public Works Joseph DiFrancisco explained the processes necessary for repairs and paying for repairs to the sewer main collapse on Whitehall Boulevard just north of Stewart Avenue a week earlier. He says this sewer main along Whitehall is 112 years old, installed in 1906, and had “given Garden City our money’s worth” with that lifespan. “Garden City’s Water and Sewer Department investigated a potential problem in the manhole on the street. See page 24
Landscaping contract expanded, unions weigh costs BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
At its January 11 meeting the Village Board of Trustees approved a new contractual agreement with ConKel Landscaping of Floral Park. Kevin Ocker, the village’s department head of Recreation and Parks, discussed the extension of a new contract and expanded responsibilities for Con-Kel, “to continue and slightly expand the services they have currently provided for the village over the past two years.” He says the job the village hired the company for was primarily lawn cutting and trimming of passive green spaces and for just over 90 acres the village paid Con-Kel $1977 per acre for maintenance. With the formation of the 2017-2018 Board of Trustees’ Priorities List, the
subject of a special June 1, 2017 Board work session, the village then took a look at expanding the contract and performance. The new contract reflected an increase of roughly $200 after two years’ service. “We’ve added about 20 acres to the contract (up to 114 from 91) and also added an alternate item we are recommending to do pruning of shrubs as well. We have been very happy with the services of Con-Kel and we have reduced our manpower over the last three years by five full-time employees. We recommend the contract because it appears to be economically in the best interests of the village to get this taskwork done. We will be paying about $2100 per acre for maintenance for an See page 24
Mobility impaired committee report PAGE 14 Gilbert and Sullivan comes to Mineola PAGE 6