The Cazenovia Town Board has approved a resolution to change the current position of town clerk from an elected office to an appointed one. The change will not become town law unless and until town voters approve the action in a referendum scheduled to be on the ballot during the November town elections.
The change was originally brought up at the board’s May 13 regular meeting, and a public hearing scheduled for the board’s June 10 regular meeting. Only one member of the public was present at the public hearing and did not speak. The board then unanimously approved the resolution changing the town clerk to an appointed position, subject to voter approval through referendum.
The board previously approved a resolution to extend the term of office for town supervisor from two to four years. That measure will also be on the November ballot as a public referendum.
The other major issue update at the board’s June 10 meeting concerned the future of the Gothic Cottage. Councilor Liz Moran said the town had received a number of responses to its Request for Qualifications from architectural and preservation firms interesting in working on the town’s project to renovate the Gothic Cottage.
The Gothic Cottage, built in 1847 as a home for Henry Ten Eyck and his wife Elizabeth, needs a total reconstruction of the interior to make it a more functional and user-friendly workplace and public meeting area. The renovation project will include exterior and surface repairs to the roof, walls and windows, as well as improved office and public meeting areas, records storage, air conditioning and heating, electrical capability and handicapped accessibility.
The town board decided in February to officially move forward with renovation plans, and issued the RFQ on April 15.
Moran said the RFQ’s the town received were all “very interesting,” and came from firms from New York City, Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse. She said she had created matrixes for board members to use when considering each application, which the board planned to do at its next scheduled work session.
The councilors will reduce the number of applications to their top three or four choices and bring those firms in for interviews in the near future, Moran said.
Also at the meeting, the board:
—Authorized the purchase of 88 benthic mats to be used in its new benthic mat rental program. The authorization included an emendation of the original plan approval because the town had to switch mat providers, which also changed the size of the mats available for rental from 12.5-by-50 feet each to 12.5-by-20 feet each. Because of the reduction in mat size, the board also purchased a greater number of mats. The weed-prevention mats, which can be used by lakeside homeowners to clear boating lanes from their docks to the middle of the lake, are currently available for rental by calling Barbara Howland at 655-9541. The cost is $50 per mat, which includes installation, removal, pickup and storage by the town.
—Approved the use of Wright Road as part of the Skanta Equine Little Moe 5K walk/run fundraiser to benefit SPCA Equine Rescue on Sept. 14.
—Approved a request from St. James church to hold its annual parish picnic on the town green on Saturday, Aug. 17.
—Authorized the town supervisor to submit an application for state community block grant funding of $156,000 on behalf of the Empire Brewing Company for its planned farmstead brewery project. The board also held a public hearing concerning the grant application on June 24.
—Approved an inter-municipal agreement to allow the town to run a boat patrol on Cazenovia Lake. In previous years the town had signed the same agreement with Madison County, which previously ran the patrols.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
