Doug Clark came to the village board Monday June 14 to express his concern over “squatters in the outlet.”
Clark said he wanted to speak “as a resident of West Lake St., not as the creator of Doug’s Fish Fry.
“Now that I’m semi-retired,” Clark said, “I walk around the village a little more than I used to be able to, and I see some things that really seem to bother me. And I think it might even be illegal, I know it’s unfair, and it could be a liability for all the village tax payers.”
Clark referred to six boats docked in the village outlet. “There’s two right next to the Blue Water Grill, there’s three next to Kabuki, there’s one over near the [Sherwood]. And these people are using our lake, and they not paying taxes — they’re squatters, they’re just there — and if they were to fall over or drown or break a leg, this could be a liability for the whole village.”
The board wished to address Clark’s concern and pointed out that the outlet is owned by the City of Syracuse.
“We’ve asked people to move in the past, but I don’t know of any law or ordinance that, if they refuse to move the boats, we can remove them or cite them,” Perkins said.
Perkins said he would take care of the boats by next week.
“This should fall on my department and I’ll be glad to resolve it,” he said.
Members of the board reflected on Jim Rhinehart’s previous success in addressing the same issue years ago.
“This definitely has been done before, and it has been done successfully before,” said Trustee Marty Hubbard.
There was uncertainty as to how it was approached at the time.
“Rhinehart (as mayor) was involved with it and the City of Syracuse was involved with it. Whether Jim enforced it or if he went through the city and the city enforced it, I have no idea,” Mayor Green said.
