Litter, speeding, illegal parking — even a rumored shooting — ignited some tempers during an Island Park village board meeting last week, and one resident was escorted out of Village Hall after he squared off with a trustee.

About 40 residents turned out for the village's regular board meeting on June 17, where they raised a number of issues. But it was during an update by Nassau County police, when questions arose about the village's code enforcement officers and their responsibilities, that some tempers flared. Several audience members inquired about the role of code enforcement officers, with some saying that they are not enforcing some infractions aggressively enough, such as illegal parking, speeding through stop signs, absentee landlords who residents claim do not maintain their properties and rent illegally, litter and other issues that residents said are “ignored.”

One resident claimed to have seen a code-enforcement truck drive by her street, Deal Road, and ignore apparent parking violations in front of her home, where she said people often park illegally, despite No Parking signs. But Village Trustee Joseph Annarella explained that the vehicles are sometimes used by employees other than code-enforcement officers, who are not authorized to issue violations. Other board members said that if residents see illegal activity, including parking issues, they can always call the police, such as the Fourth Precinct's POP unit, or 911.

According to Mayor James Ruzicka, the village currently has several code enforcement officers: two part-time employees who work 10 hours per week and are responsible for issuing tickets for things like parking violations and expired registrations in the village, but are not authorized to pull motorists over or issue speeding tickets; and a part-time building inspector and an assistant building inspector, who handle inspections and can give out parking tickets as well. Another code enforcement employee was recently hired for the Sanitation Department.