The East Williston Village Board is awaiting assistance from New York State Department of Transportation to clean up the debris in the village remaining from the recent storms.
At Monday night’s village board meeting, village Trustee Christopher Siciliano said the state DOT will provide the village with contracting crews to clean up the debris and bill the work to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“Hopefully next week, we’ll start cleaning up the streets,” Siciliano said.
East Williston Mayor David Tanner said the village garbage contractor, De Jana, is picking up smaller debris in bundles of tree limbs four feet long. Siciliano said residents should put debris on the curb for pick-up
“We don’t want anyone to throw debris in the street,” Siciliano said.
East Williston Deputy Mayor Bonnie Parente said she had attended a meeting of village officials with FEMA representatives and had filed a notice of claim. She said the federal agency will pay at least 75 percent of the village’s costs related to costs incurred from effects of the storms. The additional 25 percent may be covered by the state, she said.
“These things are underway right now,” she said, adding that the losses are still be calculated.
East Williston Mayor David Tanner led the other village trustees in praising the work of the village Department of Public Works and its volunteer fire department.
“We obviously couldn’t have gotten through this without their help, particularly the fire department,” he said.
A full meeting room of residents attending the meeting applauded as Tanner lauded the efforts of the DPW workers and the volunteer firemen.
“I don’t think the DPW and the fire department could do more than they did,” said village Trustee Robert Vella Jr.
Parente reported the fire department responded to 66 calls during the hurricane and the day after, including 58 fire calls and five emergency medical service calls. She said the East Williston Fire Department also had sent trucks to assist the disabled Long Beach Fire Department and had helped fight a fire in a laundromat there on Sunday night.
Parente said the village had seen a “spectacular response from a small fire department” during the crisis.
East Williston Fire Department Chief Patrick Theodore said volunteers from neighboring departments have been manning trucks sent to Long Beach along with East Williston volunteers. He said the village is covered for any emergencies while the fire department is lending assistance to the South Shore.
Tanner also expressed the board’s consensus in slamming the response from the Long Island Power Authority during and after the hurricane.
“Regarding LIPA, the performance was unacceptable,” Tanner said.
He said he had worked through Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office to make contact with LIPA, but was unsatisfied with the results. He said he also monitored activity at the area substations and tracked the locations of three LIPA crews dispatched to the village to ensure they remained at work there.
Tanner noted that contractor crews from Texas, Wake Forrest and Pennsylvania had all been at work in the village.
An emergency generator was put in place at the fire department a week before the hurricane struck, he said, and plans are underway to link the generator to the Village Hall.
Tanner said a contractor had been brought in to survey damage to village sidewalks and provide an estimate on the work needed to be done. He said he thought the sidewalks could be repaired within two weeks.
Vella said the village administration’s one shortcoming during the hurricane was its inability to keep residents informed of what was going on.
“We could have done better in communicating with the residents,” he said.
To remedy that, residents will be receiving postcards requesting contact information, including cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses to facilitate emergency communications in the future, he said.
One resident suggested the use of sound trucks, but Vella said a sound truck would likely have been manned by a fireman who could have been helping clear trees from the streets. Another resident asked why the DPW couldn’t help clear trees on residents’ property, but Vella said the village simply doesn’t have the resources to do that.
“We just don’t have infrastructure that Williston Park or Mineola has,” he said.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
