A heated debate between the Amityville Fire Department and the Amityville Chamber of Commerce got hotter on June 19 when the Fire Council voted to oust the Chamber from department headquarters where the organization has held its monthly meetings for several years. They were hosted by the Amityville Fire Department Women’s Auxiliary, which served breakfast at the meetings and used them as a fundraiser for their organization.

Since then, however, both sides have apparently simmered down and said that they will be working together to resolve the issue.

The controversy began after the Chamber held a meeting there in May. At that meeting, Amityville Village Police Sgt. Brian Scott gave members of the Chamber a demonstration on how alcohol and drugs impair an individual’s ability to see clearly, walk and estimate accurate distances. By using a pair of specially designed glasses that mimic the impaired vision of an intoxicated subject, Scott, a former Amityville Fire Chief, showed those attending the meeting how they could not walk along a piece of tape that he had placed straight ahead of them on the firehouse floor. The demonstration was part of an anti-drunk-driving campaign sponsored by the Amityville Village Police Department.

When the tape was later lifted, however, it took up some of the polyurethane coating, damaging the floor. Chamber President Marcia Besserman said she noticed that the coating had come off in several spots and pointed it out to Scott who said he would notify the Fire Chief and resolve the matter.

Before Scott could get to Chief Juliano, however, the chief called Besserman. "He told me that the Chamber had a guest at the meeting and that ‘the guest’ had damaged the floor with the tape," said Besserman. "When I told him that ‘the guest’ was Sgt. Brian Scott, he told me that since it was the chamber’s meeting that the chamber would be responsible for paying for repairing the floor."

No estimate of the cost was given, however, Besserman said she told the Fire Chief that she did not believe that the damage was that extensive, nor that the Chamber should be responsible for it.

"We have heard that there have been problems with that floor and that in at least two other incidents the coating has come off when other people put tape down, one during a blood drive and another when a painter was working at the firehouse," said Besserman. "I don’t think that a floor should be damaged by a piece of tape."

Following that the Chamber received a letter from Roger Smith, Fire Department secretary, advising the Chamber that it can no longer conduct its monthly meetings there.

"The inability of your leadership to take any responsibility for damaging the floor in the meeting room was a deciding factor," the letter stated.

The floor, which is 1,925 square feet, was installed by Pro Restoration Inc., of Port Jefferson as part of the firehouse renovations. It was later damaged by water and restored by the company in April of this year at a cost of $8,152.38. The Village has no other records of bills for other repairs, but Fire Chief James Juliano acknowledged that the floor was similarly damaged on at least one other recent occasion during a blood drive.

"What is happening is that it takes 3 to 6 months for the finish on the floor to cure," he said. "With the humidity it can take even longer.

Juliano said that both he and Chamber officials are scheduled to meet. "We want to put this aside and do what is right for the Village at large," said Juliano.