The Skaneateles town board took steps toward filling three vacant positions in the town government at its Sept. 19 meeting.
The board moved to appoint Adam D’Amico as the new town code enforcement officer. D’Amico, who is also the village code enforcement officer, will be paid $20 per hour as a part-time employee.
Town code enforcement officer was previously a full-time position, though it will now be part-time on a trial basis in the interest of running the town more efficiently, Councilor Steve McGlynn said.
Current code enforcement officer Debbie Williams will be retiring at the end of the year.
The board also moved to offer the position of town assessor to Linda Wright, pending state approval and contract negotiations. Wright will work part-time and be paid a yearly salary not to exceed $50,000.
Councilor Rick Keyes said that Wright’s experience doing assessments for other municipalities with waterfront and agricultural land made her a good fit for Skaneateles. Wright is also currently the assessor for the towns of Savannah, Scott, Preble and Summerhill.
The board also approved a short-term contract for retiring assessor Ron Miller for just the month of October so that he can assist Wright in transitioning into her new role. Miller’s contract is not to exceed $5.700.
He board moved to send out a request for proposal for applicants for a new town attorney. The board is asking that anyone interested in the position contact the town by Oct. 11 so they can begin to conduct interviews.
The board is currently without any official legal counsel since town attorney Patrick Sardino resigned in August to leave the area for another job.
In other business:
–McGlynn read a letter sent to the village of Skaneateles board of trustees regarding changes to the town comprehensive plan. The letter states that suggested changes to the plan, dealing with the section titled “Goals, Objectives and Action Items,” have been reviewed by the town board and (now-former) town attorney Sardino.
The letter suggests that the village and town set up a joint meeting and also seek input from the comprehensive review committee and general public.
The suggested changes were drafted in 2011 by a comprehensive plan review committee composed of community members. Their changes were mostly a result of working with a group of graduate students from the University of Notre Dame who were brought in to evaluate the plan in 2010.
The committee was chaired by Cathy Dove and included Dessa Bergen, Mike Card, Kathryn Carlson, Alan Dolmatch, Cathy Dove, Bob Eggleston, Jeff Harrop, Jessica Millman and Dave Vensel.
A sub-committee composed of Mary Sennett, John Cromp, Rick Keyes and Steve McGlynn was then given the draft and tasked with reviewing the changes and moving forward with adopting them.
The letter also states that the town intends to bring in attorney Joel Russell to help facilitate the process. Russell helped to write the original plan that was adopted in 1996 and has showed interest in assisting with the process, McGlynn said.
The town wants to schedule a joint meeting with the village board to discuss the proposed changes further. The draft has not yet been made public, though the town and village do plan to seek public input as a part of the review process as well.
–The board moved to transfer an amount not to exceed $22,000 from the water department equipment reserve fund for the purchase of commercial water meters.
–The board moved to transfer an amount not to exceed $31,500 from the transfer station equipment reserve fund for containers/compactors for the transfer station.
–The board moved to open a bid on Sept. 30 for repairs to the roof of Austin Park pavilion. The project cost no more than $45,000 and will be paid for with money from the Allyn Arena capital improvement reserve fund.
–The board also agreed to give $3,000 to assist in building a memorial in Shotwell Park to veterans of the Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
–The board voted to move its Oct. 17 meting to the following Thursday, Oct. 24, to avoid a conflict with the Skaneateles citizen of the year banquet.
Joe Genco is the editor of the Skaneateles Press. He can be reached at [email protected].
