The committee formed by the Estates and East Property Owners' Associations, which are sponsoring the opinion poll and survey regarding the future of the St. Paul's property, announced that it has finalized the rules for the conduct of the survey and is making a final push to have as much Garden City Village resident participation as possible. The Survey Committee is co chaired by survey commissioners Walter McKenna from the East POA and Kathleen Auro from the Estates POA and the committee includes the Presidents of both POA groups and other volunteers.

The poll, being held at the Fieldhouse facility at St. Paul's, will take place on Tuesday, December 2, 2008, between the hours of 1 p.m. and 9 p.m.

According to the committee, the format and rules for the conduct and tally of the poll will be substantially similar to the rules usually followed in public elections. The committee stated that its goal is to have as many people take part in the survey as possible, and although some guidelines and rules are necessary to maintain order and validity, the rules are designed to be flexible and to allow all who want to participate the chance to do so. All residents of the Village are encouraged to participate.

The Committee expressed the hope that even though the St. Paul's issue has caused many heated arguments at the POA and Village Board of Trustees meetings, and in the local papers, residents on every side of the issue will conduct themselves with class, restraint, decorum and respect for the right of others to participate in the survey. To that end, no politicking will be allowed at the St. Paul's site of the survey and Village police will be present to help direct traffic flow and maintain decorum.

The committee announced the following rules:

•To be allowed to cast your "vote" you must be 18 years old. That means that you must have been born by December 2, 1990 to participate.

•To vote you must bring proper identification which states that your residence is the Village of Garden City. Acceptable identification or proof of residency includes:

Valid driver's license or learner's permit

Passport

Other government issued identification

•The Committee will be relying on the Nassau County Board of Elections lists to help establish residency. In the event that your name does not appear on the Nassau County election list, you will still be allowed to vote using a paper ballot, assuming you can establish residence in the Village. If you do not have an official government type i.d., bring at least one recent utility bill (such as cable, electric or the like) which is not more than 60 days old which reflects your name and address, or a Village tax bill.

•No persons will be allowed to bring placards espousing a particular position to the St. Paul's site, and no signs, tee shirts or similar "politicking" will be allowed anywhere on the St. Paul's site. Persons violating these rules will not be allowed to participate and will be asked to leave the premises. Any persons disrupting the poll may be asked to leave by the Committee co-chairs.

•The tally of the survey from the machines and the paper ballots will be concluded after the closing of the polls at 9:00 p.m. by the co-chairs, the 2 presidents of the 2 POAs and the inspectors of election. Results will be provided to the Village Board of Trustees, local papers and will be posted on the website for the East POA as soon as possible following the conclusion. The East POA website is www.gcepoa.org. If the Estates POA website is finalized in time the results will also be published on it.

•Anyone in line at 9 p.m. will be allowed to vote. The Committee co chairs will decide the end of the line. The proper time will be based on the watch of the co-chairs. Residents will not be allowed to linger in the registration or polling area after voting.

•There will be 10 standard "voting" machines utilized for the poll obtained form the Nassau County Board of Elections. Paper ballots will also be utilized.

•Monitors will be present to help with traffic flow and to assist with the sign in process and polling machines. Persons will not be allowed to obtain information from the monitors regarding the results or whether other residents have voted.

•The Survey Committee co-chairs may institute such other rules as may be necessary in their discretion, at the time of the survey.