The villages of East Williston and Williston Park met separately on Thursday in the former’s Village Hall to discuss the ongoing water rates dispute that’s resulted in two lawsuits, rowdy public hearings and resident outcry. Officials say the talks were productive and that “progress is being made.”
The debate has been so contentious, it led to East Williston proposing a $7 million water supply plan if a settlement with Williston Park is not reached. But officials say the discussion yesterday proved worthwhile.
“Last night our village met with the Village of Williston Park to negotiate a fair settlement to our water dispute,” the Village of East Williston Board of Trustees said in a letter.
The two boards convened in executive session at 7:30 p.m. in opposite rooms. From there, two members each from the East Williston and Williston Park boards met with legal counsel to discuss the water rates, while the other trustees waited in closed session to avoid a quorum.
“We can’t say anything that was discussed,” Williston Park village attorney James Bradley said in Village Hall after one round of meetings. “Proceedings are going on and the full boards are in executive session in separate rooms.”
Both village boards originally planned to meet together, but according to Committee on Open Government Executive Director Robert Freeman, the meeting would have violated the Open Meetings Law of 1977.
“There’s a confusing headline in Newsday today, implying [the villages] did not go forward with their scheduled meeting regarding resolution of our water issue,” East Williston Deputy Mayor Bonnie Parente said. “The meeting did take place, but in a different format than originally planned. In an abundance of caution and to not run afoul of the Open Meetings Law, our quorum boards met in separate rooms in executive session.
Freeman confirmed the separated format did not obstruct the law. “If only two members of either or both boards meet to discuss the matter, because two would be less than a quorum, the Open Meetings Law would not apply,” he said in an email.
East Williston said in the letter that they would continue to explore other water supply options while negotiating with Williston Park.
“We were contacted immediately after our Nov. 13 water information meeting by a private water company,” the East Williston letter said. “One which we previously met with several years ago, who, now that we have well permits “in hand,” is interested in building and operating an East Williston water supply system.”
The meeting is part of a longstanding argument over water rates imposed on East Williston for the last four years. Williston Park, who provides water to East Williston, has raised the price of water twice in the past three years. In 2011, water rates increased from $2.99 per thousand gallons to $3.83. That was followed with an increase to $4.33.
East Williston filed two lawsuits against Williston Park after the increases. In July 2014, a New York State Appellate Court found in favor of East Williston in the first lawsuit, stating that Williston Park should have held a public hearing before enacting the first increase. However, the court ruled in favor of Williston Park in the second lawsuit, saying they were within its right to raise the water rates in 2012.
In September, a judge ordered East Williston to pay $600,000 in payments withheld during the arguments, including interest accrued. East Williston has paid at least $239,000 to date.
