The Village of Williston Park and the Village of East Williston have scheduled a meeting for Thursday, Jan. 15 for both boards to discuss the rate Williston Park charges East Williston for water, a source of contention between the two villages for more than three years.
“Nothing has been set to resolve yet,” Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said. “A meeting date has been set.”
East Williston Deputy Mayor Bonnie Parente said the meeting, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. at East Williston’s Village Hall, will consist of all the members of each board including both village’s attorneys.
“We are very excited to hear that Williston Park has agreed to meet with us,” Parente said.
East Williston Mayor David Tanner said he is optimistic of the meeting between the two boards.
“I think that with both boards there we can have a free flow of ideas,” he said.
Parente said East Williston is continuing with its efforts to build its own water system along East Williston Avenue, which Tanner referred to as “plan B” for East Williston about a month ago.
“We don’t want to stop going through the process and find out Williston Park still does not want to negotiate with us,” Parente said.
Ehrbar said on Dec. 15 in an interview with the Williston Times he agreed with East Williston officials that it is the best interest of both villages to reach an agreement.
“Both sides are looking for a reasonable agreement,” Ehrbar said. “I’m hopeful that agreements can be made.”
East Williston trustees sent a letter to Williston Park trustees a month ago requesting the meeting. A week ago, Williston Park trustees accepted the invitation and on Monday announced that the two sides had agreed to a Jan. 15 meeting date.
The letter from East Williston came 12 days after a hearing to discuss a proposed $7 million well project in Devlin Park that East Williston trustees said was forced on them by Williston Park trustees’ unwillingness to negotiate with them.
“Had we not put forth the effort to come up with this plan there would be no other opportunity to negotiate,” Tanner said in an interview with the Williston Times.
The Village of Williston Park has raised the price of water to East Williston twice in the past three years.
In 2011, the Village of Williston Park board raised the price of water to East Williston from $2.99 per thousand gallons to $3.83 per thousand gallons in 2011. Williston Park followed with an increase from $3.83 per thousand gallons to $4.33 per thousand gallons in 2012.
The Village of East Williston trustees filed lawsuits against Williston Park following the two rate increases after a break down in negotiations between the two sides in which both sides blamed the other.
In early July, a state Appellate Court found in favor of East Williston in the first lawsuit, stating that Williston Park should have held a public hearing prior to imposing the first rate increase in 2011. But the court found in favor of Williston Park in the second lawsuit, stating that Williston Park was within its right to raise the water rates in 2012 to $4.33 per thousand gallons.
The Village of Williston Park sent East Williston a bill for $600,000 – $300,000 for withheld rate increase money and $300,000 for interest and penalties – following the court decision.
The Village of East Williston made a payment of $239,000 to Williston Park to cover the cost of the rate increase, minus $61,000 accrued under the price hike that the court ruled to be improper. East Williston officials also announced that Williston Park was not entitled to penalties and interest and they would fight any effort to collect them.
During the Nov. 13 hearing on the proposed village water system, East Williston trustees told residents that Williston Park would not meet to negotiate unless “negotiating penalties are put on the table.”
Williston Park Trustee Teresa Thomann said at the meeting that Williston Park has its own “plan B” as well, but said that she would be willing to facilitate meetings between the two boards to come to an agreement.
“We’re a community, we shouldn’t be adversarial,” Thomann said. “Call my cell number, send me something because I will make sure we facilitate a meeting.”
“I thought that we should have possibly facilitated a year and a half, two years ago.” Thomann added. “Unfortunately not everyone liked my idea.”
Thomann said she believed the two villages could benefit from having both boards meet together, something she said is required at this point.
“I feel that it is bigger than the 10 of us,” Thomann said of the two five-member boards. “There’s a lot at stake here and I think we owe it to our children, I think we owe it to ourselves to figure something out.”
Tanner said about a month ago that the well project is still a “plan B” for East Williston.
“Our ‘plan A’ is to reach a permanent, reasonable solution with fair prices for both village’s residents,” he said.
“We’re looking for a solution where everyone wins,” Tanner said. “Williston Park is our sister village.”
