Villages to meet again on water issues

Noah Manskar

East Williston and Williston Park’s village boards will meet together for a second time March 3 to work toward finalizing a water-service agreement between the two villages.

Chlorination will be major focus of the discussion during the public meeting at Williston Park’s Village Hall, the villages’ mayors said.

“My goal is to get the agreement signed and resolved so everybody can move on,” Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said.

Next week’s meeting will be the first time the boards have met in person since a public negotiation in December, when they reached the terms of a 25-year agreement. They have negotiated in writing since then.

The conflict over chlorination emerged earlier this month, when East Williston trustees said Williston Park asked the village to build its own emergency chlorination system.

East Williston’s board called the request a step backward in the talks, but Ehrbar said it was a Nassau County health department requirement that the village have its own system.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, East Williston would buy water exclusively from Williston Park for 25 years, starting at the current rate of $4.33 per thousand gallons, which would be locked until June 2018.

Any future rate hikes would have to maintain the current ratio of East Williston’s rate to Williston Park’s residential rate, and East Williston officials would get to give input with Williston Park’s board before a public hearing on an increase. Both villages would continue maintaining their own water infrastructure.

Ehrbar and East Williston Mayor David Tanner previously said an agreement would be finalized by mid-February.

The second negotiation comes nearly two months after Williston Park approved a draft agreement, which contained several clauses East Williston officials said the villages didn’t discuss in December.

The clauses raised concerns among trustees and residents at a Jan. 12 public meeting, where East Williston officials also presented plans to build a $7.5 million independent water supply system at Devlin Park.

East Williston has continued to weigh its own well system and the agreement with Williston Park as “parallel paths” to resolving its water supply issues.

The two boards will meet at 7:30 p.m. March 3 in Williston Park’s Village Hall at 494 Willis Ave.

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