The Skaneateles Village Board had a relatively light meeting on March 8, approving one charity event, accepting five new members to the Skaneateles Fire Department and scheduling a public hearing concerning a local business. The board also heard updates on some ongoing village business.
Arguably one of the most important updates discussed at the meeting concerned the sale of the current village hall building a 46 E. Genesee St., which has been open for viewing and purchase bidding since Feb. 13.
Dozens of interested people have toured the building during the past three weeks, and the board is hopeful that sufficient bids will be offered that a sale can move forward, Mayor Marty Hubbard said.
Bids on the building are due by 2 p.m. Monday, March 19, at village hall, at which time all bids will be publicly opened. “Bids must be here on time,” Hubbard said.
Anyone interested in hearing the bids and watching the bid opening process is invited to attend. The winning bid, if there is one, will be announced and accepted at the Thursday, March 22, regular board meeting.
The building will be sold to the highest bidder as long as the minimum reserve price, previously set by the village board but not made public, is met.
Also at the meeting:
—The board scheduled a public hearing for a critical impact permit request from Sonbyrne, Inc., concerning its building at 38 Jordan St., the back part of which houses Byrne Diary and the front of which is currently vacant. Sonbyrne, represented at the meeting by architect Robert Eggleston, is requesting that the board approve a “blanket” critical impact permit for a term of five years to allow the company to rent the vacant space to any of five types of use: professional office, office, peronsal service, medical office or retail. The public hearing was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 12.
—The board approved the request of the Community Youth in Action group (combined youth groups from Skaneateles village churches) to hold a 30 Hour Famine event in Thayer Park to raise funds for poverty relief agency World Vision. As part of the activities, the youths will create their own temporary shelters of cardboard and other materials as a way to experience poverty-stricken living conditions and to advocate for eliminating poverty to the Skaneateles community. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 28.
—The board voted to accept five new members to the Skaneateles Fire Department: Allen Bailey, Ryan Forgham, Steve Rossi, Amanda Sams and Christian Sams. Also recently added to the SFD membership roster was Joe Pratt.
—The board discussed the possibility of issuing identification badges to village employees, specifically those who have occasion to enter residents’ homes as part of their jobs, such as water department employees. They also discussed, at the behest of Trustee Mark Angellilo, assisting the PARCS organization in remaking the Austin Park playground in May by having village DPW crews do landscape grading and possibly concrete pouring. Angellilo and DPW director Bob Lotkowicz planned to meet to discuss the possibility. All members of the village board voiced their support to help with the playground project in any way the village can.
—Lotkowicz also informed the board that the new ultraviolet treatment system at the village plant is only weeks away from completion. The work, which was mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to treat unfiltered drinking water such as Skaneateles Lake, began last August and is required to be completed by the end of March.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Skaneateles Press. He can be reached at [email protected].
