The Mineola Department of Public Works is currently trimming down infected pear trees on Willis Avenue, Superintendent of Public Works Thomas Rini said during Wednesday’s meeting.
The trees are infected with rust fungus, which causes the leaves to curl, brown and fall prematurely, Rini said.
The trees will be cut down to a nub, he said, hopefully allowing for future, healthy growth.
The village goes through this process every few years, Rini added.
Mayor Scott Strauss said residents should not be alarmed.
“We are not killing the trees folks, we are helping them live and survive,” Strauss said. “It might look a little tough for the first couple months or so, but then they start to bloom… it’s a necessary evil. It’s a good thing.”
Other municipalities are cutting the fungal trees out entirely, Rini said.
Mineola has a couple of thousand of them, according to Rini.
Rini said the department is attacking main roads first and will work it’s way into the neighborhoods.
Also during the meeting, Trustee Dennis Walsh said that Nassau County Executive Laura Curran will be the guest speaker at Tuesday’s Nassau County Village Officials Association meeting held at Westbury Manor.
The association’s president, Village of Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy, has been a strong advocate for sales taxes to be divided in a more equal way, Walsh said.
Currently, the majority of sales tax revenue goes to the town and the county, not the villages, Walsh said.
“People pay a tremendous amount of sales tax when they buy things in Mineola and it’s not returned to Mineola, it’s given to the county and to the town,” Walsh said. “But the villages get a very very small portion of that.”
Curran is in support of the plan, too, Walsh said.
The county legislators are also in support of it, which is a change because in the past they were not, Walsh said.
Also during the meeting, Sheila Rettaliata, a village resident, asked the board if a digital community calendar could be created to list all village events.
Rettaliata said there are many events and it’s hard to keep track.
Her plan is to have one sing that lists the dates, time and place as a common reference point for residents, Rettaliata said.
During the meeting the board also announced that Wednesday’s meeting will be cancelled because the only applicant that was going to be heard will not be ready to represent his case.
The applicant will be scheduled to be heard at the March 14 meeting.
