What were the biggest stories of the last year? Here are a few of our top picks:
January
Clay fifth-grader hosts annual blanket drive for the Rescue Mission
Damon “DJ” Villnave is more concerned about the cold than your typical 10-year-old.
DJ isn’t worried about himself, but the many men and women on the streets of Syracuse without a roof over their heads, stuck in the elements.
That’s why he started his annual blanket drive, DJ’s Gift of Warmth, in 2010. The effort has collected more than 750 blankets for the Rescue Mission since its inception. This year’s drive was held Jan. 6 through Jan. 31 and collected more than 500 blankets, far exceeding his goal of 300.
DJ first undertook the drive four years ago when he saw a news story on television about the Rescue Mission’s work with the homeless and the concerns about frostbite among the men living on the street.
DJ said he was grateful to the community for their support.
“Even though I’m getting all of this recognition, it is the community who deserves it because those people are the ones donating blankets,” he said.
Check back with the Star-Review for updates on DJ’s 2015 drive.
February
CFD construction referendum defeated
Voters rejected a $5.6 million referendum that would have reconstruction Cicero Fire Department Station No. 1 on Route 11.
A total of 264 people in the Cicero Fire District turned out to vote on the proposal, with 180 voting against and 84 voting in favor. The project would have made significant repairs to Station No. 1, addressing significant structural issues as well as asbestos on the second floor and numerous safety concerns for the volunteer firefighters in the department. The reconstruction would have renovated the community hall, repaved the parking lot, expanded the apparatus bays and moved them behind the station hall and parking lot so that fire apparatus wouldn’t have to pull out directly onto Route 11. The proposal would have cost taxpayers within the fire district, which covers about a one-mile radius from Station 1, about $75 per $100,000 of assessed value.
The department provides protection to the entire town, but only a small portion of that is within its fire district. Cicero also has four other fire districts (Brewerton, South Bay, North Syracuse and Bridgeport). All five also contract with the town to provide protection to the areas outside their specified district. Residents within that fire district pay taxes that help support the department. They would also have paid for the reconstruction of Station No. 1, had the referendum passed.
Cicero Fire Commissioner Jim Perrin said he believed confusion over the tax rate between the fire district and the fire protection district led to the defeat of the referendum.
“We feel this vote was not rejecting the new station or the price or size, but this turned into a vote about tax rates and the difference in the district tax rate and the protection tax rate that the town sets, which the district has no control over,” Perrin said. “[Voters kept telling us], ‘You need this station, and the price is not high, but it needs to be paid fairly by both district and protection taxpayers.’”
But the Board of Fire Commissioners has no control over the tax rate set outside the fire district.
“The down side to this is we cannot control the protection tax and what the town board gives us from that and if they raise the rate or not,” Perrin said.
March
L’pool voters approve Phase II construction referendum
Voters approved a Liverpool Central School District capital project referendum held March 20 by a margin of 959 to 641.
The $39.7 million construction project represents Phase II of the Phase I to V Long Range Facilities Plan laid out for the 2010-20 decade. The project will take on several repairs throughout the district.
First of all, the roof at Liverpool High School needs to be replaced in its entirety.
In addition, the Chestnut Hill complex is in need of significant renovations, neither building ever having seen a massive overhaul in their 50-year lives. The science rooms at Chestnut Hill Middle School don’t meet state standards for size and safety and must be upgraded. Both buildings also have roof leaks, wiring issues, poor ventilation, mildew, cold zones and multiple other issues that must be addressed for the safety and comfort of the students.
There are also a number of safety issues that need to be addressed. Under the proposal, districtwide, intruder lockset hardware, fire alarm systems and control panel hardware would be replaced, and paging, public address and two-way communications systems would be modernized.
The district will also use $917,452 of its capital reserve fund. The rest will be paid for through local taxes, amounting to $59.39 a year on a $100,000 house. Taxes will increase in the fall of 2016, when construction is expected to begin.
NSCSD settles suit over GRMS construction
The North Syracuse Central School District reached a settlement with the company that improperly installed the walls at Gillette Road Middle School when the school was renovated in 2005.
According to the settlement, the district awarded NEP Glass a contract for aluminum windows and curtainwall on Dec. 16, 2002, for a bid price of $1,146,000.
In August of 2011, the district’s architectural firm, Mossien Associates Architects, P.C., informed then-Associate Superintendent for Management Wayne Bleau that the exterior walls at the school were improperly installed.
“There were a number of different problems with the project that were addressed after construction. As they addressed each problem, they stumbled on something else,” said current Assistant Superintendent for Management Donald Keegan. “The most significant issue was that there were no brackets [in place] to reinforce the wall. That was found because we had problems with leaking and voles getting into the building, so they pulled the panels and discovered it. This happened years after the construction was completed; they realized the school wasn’t built the way it was supposed to be built.”
Because of the issue, safety glass in the exterior walls at the school has the potential to become unstable and collapse at winds of more than 75 miles an hour. The district had to implement a wind emergency plan that called for the evacuation of the building if winds exceeded 50 miles an hour. The school has closed several times in the last three years due to high winds.
The district filed suit against NEP, as well as Ashley McGraw Architects, which oversaw the project, and Harleysville Worcester Insurance Company, NEP’s insurer, in 2011. NEP filed a countersuit against the district, as well as its subcontractor, Mark Donahue, and MJD Associates of CNY, Inc., shortly thereafter. The settlement resolves all of those claims.
Separate repairs were completed to the walls in 2009.
An additional $58,919.75 will be paid to NEP once the remediation work is completed. Once the issue was discovered, the district halted payment to NEP.
NEP will complete the reconstruction between June 25 and Aug. 15, while students are on summer break, under the guidance of structural engineer David DeSutter of EFCO Corp. They are also required to provide a one-year installation warranty, while EFCO will provide a two-year warranty.
April
Complaint filed against Zambrano
According to a Cicero resident, Supervisor Jessica Zambrano has committed misconduct as a result of her relationship with the town engineer.
Robert George, an attorney who lives on Lakeshore Road, brought a complaint against the supervisor at the Cicero Town Board’s April 9 meeting. George stated that Zambrano’s romantic relationship with Douglas Wickman, the senior principal for C&S Engineering and town engineer for the town of Cicero, constitutes a conflict of interest. The two have been romantically involved since 2011 and share a residence within the town.
“During last year’s campaign, the issue was raised, but Doug Wickman said he no longer worked at C&S. He said he was retired,” George said. “However, after Jessica Zambrano was sworn in, people suspected he still did [work for the town]. He was meeting town officials at his office.”
Zambrano denied any wrongdoing, stating that she has already been absolved in the matter by a previous investigation.
“When I first realized my relationship with Doug was becoming more than casual, I asked our town attorney for an opinion of whether or not my situation would be a conflict of interest,” Zambrano said. “He reviewed the criteria for conflict of interest and researched the matter with other attorneys. The conclusion was that there is no conflict of interest because there is no direct or indirect financial benefit to me or to Doug. This conflict of interest allegation was raised with the District Attorney’s Office last year when I was running for office as supervisor. The DA’s office also found no conflict of interest. If there were to be a conflict, I would have abstained from any votes regarding the company at which Doug works on a part-time basis.”
Later this year, the town board voted to hire a new engineering firm to represent the town. The ethics board found Zambrano’s relationship with Wickman a conflict of interest.
Solar panels active in Clay
On Earth Day, April 22, the town of Clay unveiled its new 99kW solar array at Town Hall and the highway garage to reduce and stabilize energy costs. The project was launched through a partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and Warner Energy LLC, a Clay-based business that designs and develops solar project for clients nationwide.
“Renewable energy is something that not only the town should look into, but we as a country should look into,” Ulatowski said. “Fossil fuels are only going to last so long. We’re going to have to provide an alternative.”
The system unveiled in Clay is composed of 396 high-efficiency solar panels, each with a capacity of 250 watts. The solar panels and related electrical equipment convert sunlight into power which can be used to run lighting and electrical equipment within the town’s facilities.
The use of such technology is cleaner and more efficient than fossil fuels, saving not only money, but the environment, as well. Warner Energy’s Zach Dresher said it is estimated that every year, for at least the next 25 years, the clean, renewable energy generated by the system installed at Town Hall will offset the emission of roughly 45 metric tons of greenhouse gases. This is equivalent to more than 5,000 gallons of gasoline, 104 barrels of oil, the electricity usage of over five homes, or the carbon sequestered by planting 9.7 acres of pine forest.
The project will be funded through a NYSERDA grant and a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), which, according to Drescher, offers a financing solution that eliminates up-front costs to town taxpayers. Ulatowski said no local tax dollars were used to build the system, and Warner Energy will take care of all of the maintenance of the array; the town only acts as the host. The agreement signed will last for the next 20 years.
May
LCSD presents first-ever Bresnahan Book Award
Lori Bresnahan loved children’s books. It was a love she sought to instill in all of her students as an elementary school librarian for the Liverpool Central School District.
So it was only fitting that the district should honor Bresnahan with a children’s book award in her name.
The district presented the inaugural Bresnahan Book Award at a ceremony May 2 at Barnes and Noble in Clay. The award was selected by kindergarten through sixth-grade students districtwide from a collection of nominees for the Charlotte Award, a children’s book award whose winner is selected by students throughout the state.
“Two years ago, we had the opportunity to participate in judging for the Charlotte Award,” said Soule Road Elementary librarian Kay Budmen, who helped organize the competition and event. “Lori loved it because it allowed children to choose the winners. Normally, when you’re giving an award for children’s literature, it’s adults that pick the awards. With this one, children get to pick it, and Lori loved that.”
According to Barnes and Noble manager Dan Griffin, the idea for the award came from Bresnahan herself.
“This is a tradition Lori herself started,” Griffin said. “Lori was passionate about picture books, and she was eager to share that passion with her students, her colleagues and the community. When the Charlotte nominees were chosen, Lori was always the first phone call the next morning to place an order for those books. She would have her students read and vote for their favorite Charlotte Award nominee.”
Copies of the winning book will be placed on newly constructed bookshelves, all painted teal — Bresnahan’s favorite color — in every elementary and middle school library in the district. The books will be affixed with a sticker featuring Wong’s design, designating them as winners of the Bresnahan Book Award. Each shelf will include a plaque explaining who Bresnahan was and where the award came from. Every other year, the district will hold a ceremony to induct another book onto the shelf, and those books will join this year’s winner.
Garraffo said planning and executing the event has helped the district to move forward from their tragic loss.
“I think this is the place that we start [healing],” he said. “The district is healing because, as you walk the halls, kids are talking about these books, and it’s really special.”
June
Dallas admits to double murder
Justin Dallas, the 27-year-old Syracuse man accused of murdering two women in Liverpool last October, pleaded guilty on June 19 in County Court to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree assault.
Dallas was arrested on the shore of Onondaga Lake after a brief pursuit following the stabbing deaths of his estranged wife, Brandy Dallas, 24, and his former girlfriend, Samantha Rainwater, 30, on the morning of Oct. 28, at 915 Second St., in the village of Liverpool.
The assault charge was lodged because Dallas had allegedly pushed a third woman at the house down a flight of stairs.
Dallas was sentenced to 46 years to life in prison.
July
Phase I of Brewerton Revitalization Project unveiled
After eight years of waiting, the residents of Brewerton are finally seeing progress on the revitalization of the hamlet.
Town and state officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 2 to commemorate the completion of Phase I of the Brewerton Revitalization Project, which includes picnic tables, new streetlights, a 400-foot brick walkway and benches along the riverfront. The improvements cost a total of $102,400, which was made possible through matching grants to the town of Cicero, in-kind services from local businesses and town departments and donations from Brewerton residents.
The project started in 2006 under then-Supervisor Chet Dudzinski. The town has received numerous grants for the proposal, including an initial $125,000 development grant and an $800,000 grant from Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office. Town and state officials hope the redevelopment will make the riverfront hamlet a tourist attraction.
Now the town will move forward with Phase II of the project, which will include expansion of the walkway, access to the walkway, ramps, new lights and “whatever else we can squeeze out of the available money that we have,” according to current Supervisor Jessica Zambrano. The town board approved spending of $137,500, the town’s portion of a $275,000 matching grant, at its June 11 meeting to cover the improvements.
The town also plans to purchase 5451 and 5459 Bennett St., which back up to the riverfront. They’ll likely be demolished to make room for improvements.
August
Gus Macker tournament held in Cicero
From Aug. 8 to 10, basketballers from around the country descended on the town of Cicero for the fifth annual Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament.
After this year, Macker will have raised more than $100,000 for the CanTeen, helping to keep the doors open at the valuable community resource.
“That number is so impressive when you consider we are a local charity with no real marketing budget or full-time dedicated fundraisers,” organizer Julie Raddell said. “We are all volunteers that started with an idea and went wild with it. We used creativity and our passion to convince sponsors, volunteers and players to join us. It’s paid off in a big way.”
September
New library director hired
On Sept. 3 after conducting a nationwide search and interviewing three candidates, the Liverpool Public Library Board of Trustees chose Daniel Golden as the library’s new executive director.
“We have extended an offer to an individual for the director’s position,” LPL Board President Tim Dodge wrote in an email last week. Dodge declined to identify the successful candidate, but reliable sources said that Golden will accept the appointment.
“We conducted a nationwide search, received more than a dozen resumes from interested candidates, carefully reviewed those that met the minimum qualifications, and interviewed three candidates, two of them twice,” Dodge wrote. “Library staff also met with the two finalists.”
Golden will be the first man ever to lead the local library. He replaces Jean Armour Polly, who retired on April 6.
Golden is the son of Fay Golden Taylor, who served as Liverpool Public Library director for 23 years, from 1975 to 1998. She was director when the current library building at the corner of Tulip and Second streets officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 21, 1975.
Zogg Building sold
One of Liverpool’s most historic buildings, the A.V. Zogg Building at 800 Fourth St., has been sold by its current owner, the Liverpool Community Church.
Deputy Village Clerk Sandra Callahan identified the new owner as Dr. Pramote Nakornthab, a professor of political science retired from Cornell University. He is listed at LinkedIn.com as president of First Global Community College in Nongkhai, Thailand.
After 10 years of ownership, Liverpool Community Church put the building up for sale 14 months ago.
The two blocks of property bounded by Fourth, Sixth, Birch and Hickory streets was handled by the Pyramid Brokerage Co., representing Cushman & Wakefield, a New York City real-estate firm.
The 86-year-old brick building was originally constructed in 1928 to house Liverpool’s junior and senior high schools. The structure’s adjacent ball fields stretch two blocks north to Sixth Street.
The Liverpool Community Church, a Free Methodist affiliate, purchased the property in 2003 from the Liverpool Central School District, which had been housing its administrative offices there since the early 1980s. The church paid $5,000 for the property and formally pledged to make $404,000 worth of needed repairs, including a new front door, an elevator and renovated offices and classrooms.
October
Liverpool High School’s varsity football team had a spectacular season. See photo, page 9.
Farming innovator Carmen Emmi dies
Carmen Emmi Sr., noted local farmer and real estate developer, died Oct. 31 at age 82. He was the co-founder of the family farm Emmi and Sons and co-owner of Syracuse Farm Supply.
Along with his father, Antonio Emmi, and brother-in-law, Salvatore “Sam” Mangano, Carmen co-founded Emmi and Sons in the 1940s. Today, Emmi’s has farm stands in Baldwinsville and Liverpool.
“He loved the farm. His real passion was farming,” recalled Carmen’s son, Tony Emmi.
Carmen, along with his sister Marie Mangano and her husband Sam, was a developer of real estate and hotels in the area. In the 1960s, Carmen teamed up with Sam to run Syracuse Farm Supply.
During that time, he also developed a plastic mulch layer, a device that dug a trench, planted corn and covered the seed with plastic all in one step. This sped up the Emmis’ growing season for sweet corn.
“Everybody was leery of that because of the additional cost of the crop, but usually the yields make up for it,” Tony said.
November
Voters approve new Cicero FD building proposal
Taxpayers in the Cicero Fire District voted 80-32 to approve a proposal to build a $4 million fire station. The referendum, held Nov. 18, allows the fire district to sell a 4.5-acre lot to the Cicero Fire Department to make way for the new building.
With fire district residents’ approval, the fire department will tear down Station No. 1 on Brewerton Road and construct a $4 million building to replace it. The fire district will then lease the building back from the department.
Now that the vote has gone through, Cicero Fire Commissioner Jim Perrin said “the fun stuff begins.” He said the Cicero Fire Department’s building committee will meet with its lawyer and a building architect to pare down the $5.6 million plan from earlier this year to a $4 million building.
“We’re not going over that $4 million that we promised,” Perrin said, adding that the department will do “whatever it takes” to make the necessary cuts to its original plan.
December
Café at 407 celebrates five years
The Café at 407 in Liverpool celebrated its fifth anniversary with a “handmade market” on Dec. 5.
The café was founded in 2009 as a funding source for Ophelia’s Place, an organization that supports people suffering from eating disorders and their loved ones.
Mary Ellen Clausen, executive director of Ophelia’s Place and CEO of Café at 407, said the café’s “farm-to-table” approach has been very important to its mission of living local.
Clausen said the café’s new menu will cater to a variety of tastes.
“We want everything to be an experience,” Clausen said. “We’ll change it throughout the year to reflect the seasons.”
As for Café at 407’s next five years, Clausen said she’s dreaming of planting a rooftop garden and branching out into the budding world of food trucks.
Ethics board finds conflict of interest in Zambrano complaint
An ethics committee in the town of Cicero determined that the supervisor’s relationship with an employee of the former engineering firm employed by the town does constitute a conflict of interest, according to a decision issued by the committee Dec. 10.
Robert George, an attorney who lives on Lakeshore Road, brought a complaint against the supervisor at the Cicero Town Board’s April 9 meeting. George stated that Supervisor Jessica Zambrano’s romantic relationship with Douglas Wickman, the senior principal for C&S Engineering and town engineer for the town of Cicero, constitutes a conflict of interest.
The board of ethics’ opinion notes that Zambrano sought the advice of town attorney Robert Germain in 2012, but not again after she moved in with Wickman or after she was elected supervisor.
However, she did vote on the appointment of C&S Engineers as the town’s engineering firm twice as a town board member and once as supervisor after they began cohabiting.
In addition to living with the supervisor, Wickman had taken back a mortgage from Zambrano in the amount of $104,000 payable over 15 years at an interest rate of 2.85 percent per year effective in 2013 when she purchased a half-interest in his home.
The ethics committee’s decision stated that whether Zambrano benefits financially from the contract is a matter for another board with more investigative authority. But there does appear to be some impropriety.
“It is the opinion of the board of ethics that a conflict of interest was present,” the board wrote. “The municipal officer had a prohibited interest in the contract in question, which, at a minimum, should have been disclosed to the governing body in writing prior to any participation in the contract. Additionally, under the circumstances above, the municipal officer should have recused herself from participating in any respect or voting on the contract.”
