Identify Village Inspectors
Before allowing anyone claiming to be a Village
Building Inspector to enter your home, be'sure
that he properly identifies himself by showing
you his Village Identification Card, with his
photo.
Superintendent of Buildings Louis Bello has re-cently
received complaints from homeowners that
persons calling themselves Village Inspectors
were not really connected with the Village. Mr.
Bello warns that the presence of a red and white
car or truck is not proof that the person is a
Village Building Inspector.
Protect yourself by making sure that the Inspec-tor
has the proper identification, If you have
any doubts, please call the Building Department
at Fr 8 - 'tOOO, Ext. 2M.
Handling of Electric Rate Schedule
On September 26, 1972 at its regular meeting,
the Public Service Commission approved the Vil-lage
of Freeport P.S.C. No. 8 - Electricity
Schedule to become effective with meter read-ings
after October 28, 1972.
Under this new Schedule filed in accordance with
the order of the Commission issued August 8,
1972 the majority of consumers in Service Class-ification
No. 1 (Residential) will be affected
less than 1?.- The only consumers substantially
affected are those paying the minimum charge of
$1.09 per month which is increased to Si.30 per
month.
In certain cases where customers have been over-charged
through the 9? temporary rate increase
authorized by the Commission on February 26,
1972, refunds will be made. Refunds ordered by
the Commission apply to all consumers over 2500
KWH per month in Service Classification No. 1
(Residential) and all consumers exceeding 50 KW
demand in Service Classification No. 2 (Commer-cial).
Every customer has been furnished with a sched-ule
of the ne'.v rates as required by law. Any-one
desiring more information on these new elec-tric
rates should call FR 8-4000, Ext.237 or 263.
At this joyous season, we wish the best of everything
for each and every one of you.
Mayor Robert J. Sweeney
Village Board of Trustees
Municipal Staff
Village News
A PUBLIC INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE VILLAGE OF FREEPORT
46 NORTH OCEAN AVENUE TELEPHONE FReeport 8-4000 ROBERT J. SWEENEY, MAYOR
Public Meetings On The 1st and 3rd Mondays Of The Month, At 9:00 P.M.
DECEMBER 1972
Village Moves To Cut Back Apartment Zones
the recently rezoned North Main Street strip.
The Planning Board has been directed, "to con-duct
such studies, to consult with such experts
as it deems desirable, all with the end in view
of returning a report in depth to this Board as
to how that prior balance can once again be
achieved." The vote on this Village Board mo-tion
was unanimous, 5 to 0.
The Planning Board is expected to make recom-mendations
for zoning changes which will re-duce
the areas in the Village zoned for apart-ments,
other than the North Main Street area.
In October, the Village Board directed the
Planning Board to make such studies, to help
balance the recent rezoning on North Main
Street. In that rezoning about ^5 acres were
changed from Business "B" to a special Planned
Unit Development zone which permits apartment
houses.
Mayor Sweeney said the Village Board is inter-ested
in preserving the essentially residential
character of the Village, and therefore wishes
to limit the land available for apartment de-velopment.
He said the North Main Street re-zoning
was necessary to revitalize a declining
section of the Village and now the Board, "has
decided that the village-wide balance between
apartment and residential areas should, to the
extent possible, be regained and maintained."
"Some residents," Mayor Sweeney said, "may feel
this is inconsistent, in that we rezoned to per-mit
apartments on North Main Street and now are
considering cutting back potential apartment use
in other sections of the Village. There is no
inconsistency whatsoever, because the North Main
Street rezoning was planned to solve a pressing
problem, the deterioration of an important seg-ment
of the community.
"In most of the other apartment zones there has
been virtually no apartment development in re-cent
years, and in most of these areas there is
no question of any residential neighborhood de-cline.
But, if we do not reduce the potential,
the possibility will always exist that apart-ment-
construction will get-out-of-hand, on a
village-wide basis."
As a first step in restoring this balance,
Mayor Sweeney said, a directive was given to
the Planning "Board to "study the question of re-ducing
apartments-house use in areas other than
Separate Pick-Up For Newspapers
The Freeport Commission for the Conservation of The Commission for the Conservation of the En-the
Environment has extended the program for- re- vironment hopes that Freeporters will join
cycling of newspapers to the entire Village, af- wholeheartedly in this endeavor to reduce pollu-ter
the pilot program proved successful. tion and conserve our forests.
Papers are to be securely bound and placed at
the curb for Thursday pick-ups, not prior to
6:00 P.M. Wednesday and no later than 7:00 A.M.
Thursday. Magazines and slick copy are not to
be included in the bundle.
WARNING TO SCAVENGERS: The illegal collection
of papers from curbs will be prosecuted by law,
.the Commission joted. __ -..-
__ . _ A m
Help Stamp OUI
Trustees: George H. Fairberg, Thomas J. Lovelidge, Lloyd E. Orr, William H. White
Village Clerk: Thomas DeVincenzo— Treasurer: Leonard D.B. Smith— Counsel: Oakley Gentry, Jr.
Voters Decide To Retain Part-Time Mayoralty
The Village Board arranged to put a special prop-osition
on the ballot for Election Day last month
which in effect, allowed Freeport voters to de-cide
for themselves whether or not they wanted
to change the concept of the Village's mayoralty
from a part-time position to a full-time chief
executive, effective with the next Mayor. The
voters decided, by a margin of over 5 to 1, to
retain the part-time mayoralty.
For many years this question has been debated in
Freeport and other communities, with some tax-payers
and organizations arguing that a full time
chief executive would increase governmental ef-ficiency
and save considerably more than the. -
amount of his salary. Others felt that the Vil-lage's
department heads provide adequate day-to-day
management, with the part-time Mayor and Vil-lage
Trustees giving policy directives as neces-sary.
The decision to let the people of Freeport make
the choice was not a spur of the moment decision.
It was publicly announced by the present admin-istration
early in 1971, including the intention
to have a public referendum in the general elec-tion
of November, 1972. Mayor Sweeney noted that
the time for the referendum was selected for
three reasons:
(1) So that the issue could be discussed on its
merits and not get bogged down in local politics
during a Village election (which is held in
March), when personalities and political consid-erations
would becloud the basic question.
(2) More Freeporters would have an opportunity
to vote on the referendum in November, because
presidential elections draw thousands more to
the polls "than Village elections.
(3) The November referendum was held at no cost
to the Village, whereas any special election
just for the proposition would have cost local
taxpayers thousands of dollars.
Mayor Sweeney said he and the Village Trustees
had hoped for a longer period of community dis-cussion
this year, before the referendum, but
the Village did not finally determine the prop-osition
could get on the ballot until early in
October.
"There were conflicting legal opinions," Mayor
Sweeney pointed put. "At first we were told
that, in order to get a full scale public ref-erendum
we would have to get petitions signed
by .10? of the eligible voters.
"After we set up the petitions and were actively
engaged in getting signatures we learned from
the Nassau County Board of Elections and legal
counsel that we could go directly to a public
referendum without petitions, which is what we
did."
There was also a question in the minds of some
Freeporters about the wording of the proposi-tion.
It did not mention "full time" duty by
future Mayors but only an increase in salary
from $7,000 to 530,000 annually, although a
printed extract distributed at the polls by the
Board of Elections noted that the purpose and
intent of the salary increase was to obtain a
full-time Village chief executive. Mayor Sweeney
explained that the only questions a Village is
permitted to ask in public referenda are "money"
questions. An advisory referendum is illegal.
The Village Board could not ask the voters for
their opinion on whether or not Freeport should
have a full-time Mayor. Even if the Board of
Elections had accepted such a proposition for
the ballot, which is doubtful, the resulting
vote would not be legal and binding.
The only way for the Village to get a legal ref-erendum
was to put the question as a matter of
money, i.e., the salary amount to be paid to
future Mayors.
For the same reason, the ballot could not ask
for an opinion as to whether the Village should
have a full-time Village Manager in addition to
a part-time Mayor and Board of Trustees. That,
too, would be an illegal advisory referendum.
(State law sets forth the governing body of a
Village as comprised of a Mayor and Village
Trustees).
Some Freeporters had suggested that the Village
Board consider hiring a Village Manager. Mayor
Sweeney noted that this had been thoroughly
studied in years past and rejected, because a
Village Manager would merely be one more admin-istrative
employee interposed between the Vil-lage
Board and the Department Heads,without
authority to make policy decisions. That re-sponsibility
remains with the elected officials,
in accordance with the state law.
The Mayor pointed out that on the referendum
for full-time Mayor the Village Board did not
take any position pro or con. "We did not at-tempt
to influence the electorate on this. We
did not campaign for a yes vote or a no vote.
This was not a matter of choosing one candi-date
or another. We wanted an expression of'
public opinion on the concept of a full-time
Mayor versus the additional cost of such a po-sition.
"We are glad we were able to keep our promise
to Freeport Voters to allow them to make this
decision."
Everybody Wins In Bike Safety Program
Youngsters who
participated in
the Bicycle Safety
Program jointly
sponsored by the
Village of Free-port
Police Depart-ment
and the Free^-
port Public Schools
had an opportunity
to draw for two
bikes donated by
the local Sons of
Italy lodge. Win-ners
were Eric
Henderson of East
Dean Street and
Lewelyn Smith of
East Milton Street
Representing the adults are left to right in photo: Police Chief Anthony Elar, Assistant Super-intendent
of Schools Robert Tavis, Superintendent of Schools Donald Costlow, Board of Education
President Harold Levine, Detective Frank Medaglia, Freeport P.T.A. Council President Ellen Extract,
Sons of Italy Venerable Emilio De Filippo.
Recreation Trips
FAMILY NIGHT ON ICE - The Freeport Kiwanis Club
in conjunction with the Freeport Recreation De-partment
is having its annual family night Ice
Skating on Wednesday January 3, 1973, 8:00 to
10:00 P.M. at Grant Park in Hewlett. Tickets
are $1.00 for adult or child or S't.OO per family
(any number), bus charge of $.50 per person and
rental skates are available at rink for 8.53 per
pair. Free hot chocolate, contests and Trophies.
Tickets available at Atlantic Chemists, Bayview
Pharmacy, Danziger Sporting Goods, Schultz Sport-ing
Goods, F. W. Woolworth and Freeport Recrea-tion
Department. Reservations must be made for
bus seat - call 868-0360.
SKI TRIP - ADULTS ONLY - If you have never skied
before now is the time to learn! (Free lesson for
beginners). For the intermediate and advanced
skier challenging slopes! The date is January
21, 1973. The fee of $13.00 includes transporta-tion
and lift ticket with an additional $2.00
for rental of ski equipment. The place will be
where the snow conditions are best. We will de-part
from Freeport High School at 6:00 A.M. sharp
and return about 10:00 P.M. Advance reservations
may be phoned in to Mrs. Stern - 378-4000, ext.
211. For those who need to rent equipment please
give shoe size and height when calling in reserva-tion.
Detailed flyers are available at the Free-port
Recreation Office. Limited Registration.
