Roslyn Harbor’s board meeting on Tuesday night opened with a contentious conversation between members of the board of trustees and a resident who said the board is ignoring her complaints about her neighbor’s dirty property.
“I’ve been complaining about this for a long time and nothing has been done,” resident Audrey Kerpen said during a back-and-forth discussion with board members. “I look over my property and what I see everyday is unacceptable. I have made the phone calls multiple times and nothing is still being done.”
Trustee Jeremy Rosof told Kerpen the village was addressing the issue and he would no longer discuss it issue with her.
“I can’t continue with going back and forth with you,” Rosof said. “We’ve told you we’re trying our best to get this resolved but you’re not giving us time the time to address the issue.”
Village clerk Valerie Onorato said the village has not been ignoring Kerpen’s complaints.
“We’ve definitely taken steps to address the issue but we try to be nice to every resident of the village,” she said. “We also like to give our residents the chance and time to fix whatever complaints filed against them.”
Onorato said the village was also hindered by Kerpen’s decision to remain anonymous in previous complaints.
“When she submitted the complaint, we tried to go into her yard to see what the problem was but she requested not to be identified and that has dragged on for a while until recently,” Onorato said.
Kerpen says she requested to remain anonymous because of fears of retribution.
Onorato said the neighbor was summoned to appear in court in January but was unable to for personal reasons.
“Give us sometime to address the issue,” said Deputy Mayor Louis Badolato. ‘Believe me, we’re looking into it, you just have to give us some time.”
At the meeting, village trustees also discussed a new law that would see fences in front of properties reduced to six feet with an exception to properties on high traffic roads.
