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Dear Village Resident:
On behalf of myself and the Board of Trustees, we wish you a happy and healthy New Year. 2023 was a busy year for the Village of Matinecock and the Village Board. Below are some oflast year's activities and accomplishments.
Our newly formed Brookville Police Department has proven to be a smashing success. The consortium of the 4 villages - Brookville, Cove N eek, Mill N eek works well in a congenial and complementary relationship. Under the leadership of Chief of Police Ken Lack, we have an excellent force of young, energetic and highly trained police officers, who are expert at community policing. Over the past year, the Brookville Police Department has been active in protecting us. They have responded to:
- 554 Alarm calls -182 Auto accidents - 227 Aided cases
- 855 Traffic tickets issued - 13 Arrests - 41 Vehicles impounded
- Over 100,000 miles driven patrolling our villages.
Thanks to their efforts, we have enjoyed an extremely low crime rate.
The Brookville Police Department is keeping up with the times. All the Brookville Police Department officers are now wearing body cameras, which are an invaluable risk management tool. In addition, the Department received a $130,000 grant which allowed for the purchase and installation of 36 license plate readers, that will be monitoring all points of entrance and exit in our four villages. These readers will help in law enforcement and prevention of crime.
On December 20, 2023, the First Annual Brookville Police Department Awards Ceremony was held at Mill Neck Manor. Officers were recognized for their bravery and lifesaving efforts over the past year. It was a privilege to be part of the ceremony honoring these deserving officers.
I am enclosing a memo Chief Lack prepared of common-sense actions to keep your home safe from burglars [Memo can be found by clicking here]. Most importantly, remember to lock your cars and take your key fobs with you. Car theft continues to be an issue and this simple action is the easiest way of preventing it.
After 17 years of devoted professional service, our Building Inspector Karl Bicknese has retired. We thank him for his many years of dedicated service and wish him well in his retirement. We have been fortunate to hire Jon Babinski to fill the position of Village Building Inspector. Jon is a certified building inspector, architect, and retired New York City firefighter. He is extremely knowledgeable and personable. He will be working with Laurie Dooney, who continues as our part-time building department clerk. Both Jon and Laurie will continue working from our Building Department office at 147 Forest Avenue, Locust Valley (the Humes & Wagner building). They can be contacted at (516) 801-6525 or by email at [email protected].
To improve the efficiency of the building department, we are planning on digitizing our past and current building department files and records to make them more accessible.
At our December meeting, the Board of Trustees renewed our Fire Protection Contract with the Locust Valley Fire Department. The department has provided excellent protection and kept its operating cost under a 2% budget increase.
The Village continues to be in excellent financial condition. A recent audit confirmed the sound management of the Village finances by the Board of Trustees. As a result, there was no increase in the Village tax rate for the current fiscal year.
The Locust Valley Water District pump station at Duck Pond Road and Wellington Road is being rebuilt. The renovation was required to accommodate new filtration equipment that is mandated by NYS DEC regulation to maintain drinking water quality for District customers. The Water District has been most cooperative in working with the Village on the design and aesthetic of the structure to have it serve the district's purpose, but also to be compatible with our Village.
The Village Board continues its efforts to not only maintain our Village infrastructure, but also to beautify our Village. A sprinkler system was installed to the triangle on Planting Fields Road along with additional curbing to protect the triangle.
We continue to address various issues with not only our Village Roads, but with Nassau County Roads within our Village.
- The Village does a quarterly trash pickup of all roads in the Village including County Roads.
- Planting Fields Road in the Village was completely re-paved and striped.
- Drainage issues on Underhill Road and Eyre Lane were addressed with the installation of additional dry wells and cleaning out of the existing ones.
- To improve safety for cars on Oyster Bay Road and those leaving the Coffin Woods Nature Sanctuary, a mirror was installed to allow drivers to see oncoming traffic at the LIRR trestle.
- After two years of requests and petitions, we were successful in having a stop sign installed at the intersection of Town Cocks and Buckram Roads. I would like to thank Oyster Bay Supervisor Joe Saladino, Assistant County Executive Joseph Muscarella and NC Department of Public Works Supervisor Ken Arnold for their assistance in this endeavor.
Several new Village laws were added to the Village Code. These include:
- Filming - codifies the permissible hours of commercial filming, regulations of vehicles, equipment and personnel and applicable fees.
- Prohibits commercial traffic on Planting Fields Road unless it is for pickup or delivery for a Planting Fields Road resident.
- For further information on all Village regulations and laws, please visit the Village website. (http://www.matinecockvillage.org)
I want to thank the many residents who give freely of their time and expertise to serve on our Village boards and committees. We are deeply indebted to them.
I would also like to thank Dodds & Eder for planting and maintaining our Village triangles. The firm donates the material and labor that truly enhances our Village.
Sincerely,
Mayor Kenneth J. Goodman and Board of Trustees
Inc. Village of Matinecock
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