Whereas the typical cold weather of the winter season usually keeps criminals home, the recent unseasonably warm weather seems to have ushered in a slight increase in local crime.

At Thursday's North and Central Merrick Civic Association meeting, Claudia Borecky, president, acknowledged the recent spike in criminal mischief in the area.

“I was just saying last year that we had a pretty safe year, relatively speaking,” she said. “Then January came and we noticed an increase in local crime.”

Nassau County police Sergeant Driscoll of the First Precinct was present at the meeting and gave an update in recent crimes in the Merrick area. Of particular interest to residents was a mysterious van stalking Merrick high school students.

“There’s been about four or five reports of what’s been described as people in a van trying to make contact with young girls,” he said. “The occupants are not forcibly trying to get them in the van, but they pull up and offer them rides.”

The van is described as having orange license plates, which Sergeant Driscoll surmised are the new retro-style New York plates. Some reports have states the van have one occupant, while others have reported two.

Sergeant Driscoll said that the most important thing both students and parents can do in such a situation is to call 911 right away.

“Most kids have been calling their parents first, or call a friend or their job, and then eventually they report it to us,” he said. “That delay greatly decreases our chances of catching them. We have a very fast response time – if you call, we can usually be there within three to four minutes.”

Discussion was also held about police cooperation with local pharmacies in regards to the recent surge in painkiller robberies. Also covered where a number of overnight thefts from neighborhood parked cars, which resulted in the loss of items such as cell phones, GPS devices, and spare change.

Legis. Dave Denenberg stopped by the meeting to give an update on the ongoing bid to publicly take over private water provider Aqua, whose high prices have come under fire by angry residents, demanding that something be done.

“For years, I’ve been telling the Town of Hempstead that they should take over the water company,” he said. “The truth is, had they taken over the New York water service 20 years ago, we’d be saving a lot of money now. After all, Jamaica Water was taken over by Southwest Nassau almost 20 years ago and they’re paying almost a third of what we’re paying.”

Both Denenberg and Civic association president Claudia Borecky had attended the recent meeting of the newly-reformed Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County (WASNEC) and Borecky in particular was pleased by the progress regarding the Aqua takeover reported there, which included news of grants from the towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay for a combined total of $75,000 and the announcement that the Water Authority had officially retained a law firm to assist their efforts.

“We really lit a fire under them, and, in turn, they responded and got things done,” she said.

However, the takeover bid hit a recent stumbling block when a court ruled to protect Aqua’s right to privacy, since they are currently a private company; information that could have been used to calculate Aqua’s fair market value is now under wraps, because the courts deemed that knowledge would give WASNEC an unfair advantage when attempting to acquire them. Instead, WASNEC is forced to conduct their own feasibility study.

In other Civic news:

• NextG cell towers and the lack of forward progress on removing several cell antennas in the Merrick community was discussed;

• Residents were updated as to the proposed permit parking at the Bellmore and Merrick LIRR stations;

• Updates on the possible sale of several Nassau County sewage treatment plants to private companies, something the Civic Association strongly opposes due to possible rate hikes and reduced services;

• Also announced was the completion of the Civic Association’s website and a membership drive to increase their ranks of community-oriented citizens.