WP trustees address road project concerns

Richard Tedesco

The current Williston Park road repair project has been drawing mixed reviews from residents, but Village of Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said there’s been a misunderstanding about the procedures village contractor Reet Construction is following.

“There’s some concern from residents about how it’s proceeding,” Ehrbar said at Monday night’s Williston Park Board of Trustees meeting.

Reet has been repairing curbs and driveway aprons on village streets in the first phase of $2.26 million road improvement project. 

That has prompted confusion among residents who didn’t understand the company would be returning to those same streets to mill – strip the road surface – and resurface the roadways, Ehrbar said.

Ehrbar said village officials have been fielding calls from residents and explaining the process to them.

“It was never really explained that we were going to do curbs and driveways aprons and then come back to do the milling,” he said.

In the second phase of the road repair work, Ehrbar said, Reet workers apply a binder to the surface after milling the roadway in preparation for resurfacing the road.

“It’s dusty, but in the end everybody should be happy with their roads,” he said.

The Williston Park Village Board voted to award a $2.26 million bid to Reet Constructing Corp. in August as the lowest bidder on the project to repair approximately two miles of village roadways.

The village trustees voted to issue $2 million in bonds for the road repairs in July. The board is also using approximately $225,000 from the state Consolidated Highway Improvement Program for the road repairs.

In other developments:

• Ehrbar urged residents to opt in to the village’s new e-mail notification system by sending e-mails to notifications@villageofwillistonpark.org. He said the village would use the new system to transmit notifications about emergency situations as well as village events.

• In response to a resident’s question about the current status of the water rates lawsuits between the village board of East Williston and Williston Park, Ehrbar said “scheduling conflicts” have prevented officials from both boards from holding meetings recently. 

“We’ve been trying to meet and it just hasn’t happened,” Ehrbar said.

• Deputy Mayor Kevin Rynne said the annual Williston Park Ragamuffin Parade for Halloween would be stepping off from the American Legion Post at 730 Willis Ave. in Williston Park on Thursday, Oct. 31 at 6:30 p.m. The parade proceeds south on Willis Avenue to Williston Park Village Hall.

• Village Trustee Michael Uttaro said the Williston Park Fire Department has scheduled a pancake breakfast on Nov. 17 to raise funds for the Wounded Warrior Project. Wounded Warrior supports wounded military veterans returning from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

• Village Trustee Teresa Thomann said the Williston Park Public Library will be holding a workshop on the STAR program on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.

• Thomann said the Williston Park and Albertson civic associations will jointly sponsor a candidates night at Albertson Fire Department headquarters on I.U. Willets Road in Albertson on Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m.

• Former Williston Park Mayor Doreen Ehrbar said there will be a meeting of the village Neighborhood Watch in Village Hall on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 10 a.m.

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