By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
The village of North Syracuse may contract with the Cohen Law Group (CLG) in an effort to maximize revenue from cable franchise agreements. At the Feb. 23 village board of trustees meeting, Mayor Gary Butterfield proposed a $13,430 contract with the firm, which specializes in handling telecommunication matters.
“Their expertise is in helping re-negotiate franchise agreements with local governments to help them secure the best revenues, in-kind benefits and legal protections,” Butterfield said.
According to Clerk/Treasurer Dianne Kufel, the village’s franchise agreement with Time Warner Cable has expired and there is no agreement with Verizon, but North Syracuse collects about $125,000 annually between both service providers.
Butterfield said the village’s desire to bring wireless internet access to its parks sparked the discussion about the cable franchise agreements.
Trustee Chuck Henry said he would like to compare the CLG proposal to other municipalities’ agreements before making a commitment. Butterfield said CLG has provided examples from other municipalities with which the law group has worked, including the cities of White Plains and Batavia. He added that one city ended up saving $40,000.
“This is something I believe we should do,” Butterfield said. “There’s probably revenue that we do not know about that they could realize.”
Village attorney Scott Chatfield said CLG has more expertise in the cable arena than he does.
“They do this day in and day out,” he said.
Chatfield added that CLG could help the village collect revenue on new telecommunications technology such as streaming video.
Henry said he is concerned about a possible “negative impact” of the agreement, asking what would happen if one of the service providers pulled out of the village. Chatfield said another provider likely would take its place.
Trustee Pat Gustafson said the dangling carrot of increased revenue is “not a guarantee.”
“If we put out $13,000 and we’re still only getting back $125,000, then they’re not getting us any more money,” she said.
Both Trustee Diane Browning and Deputy Mayor Fred Fergerson said they supported the proposal.
“I would support signing this,” Fergerson said. “The new technology could open up [opportunities]. We could get higher speeds.”
Browning said the village would at least gain more knowledge about the ins and outs of telecommunications franchise agreements.
“They know things that we don’t know at this point,” she said. “That’s the guarantee, that we might learn more.”
The board agreed to research the issue more before making a decision.
Mayor proposes addition to village hall
Also at the Feb. 23 meeting, Butterfield introduced the idea of building onto the front of the village hall to provide a conference room, a wheelchair-accessible restroom and more lobby space for the village court and the North Syracuse Police Department.
“We’re pretty cramped,” he said.
Butterfield said he consulted an architect from Harmony Architectural Associates to look at the current space and help generate ideas about an addition. He said Harmony could provide full schematics for $2,970.
“It would be my intent to be a construction manager [of the project],” said Butterfield, who owns a construction company.
Butterfield said he envisions a 30-by-16-foot or smaller addition with an entrance on either side for the police department and the village offices. He said the village could save money on the proposed addition by pursuing grants and having the department of public works handle excavation.
Police Chief Mike Crowell said the current lobby is more like a hallway and becomes crowded when multiple people come to the police department to address their issues, which creates a safety concern. He said he lacks room for a medication disposal dropbox like those available at the Cicero Police Department and in the village of Baldwinsville.
“That’s something I’d love to offer to our residents,” Crowell said. “We have a lot of elderly residents. They probably have a lot of medication … It’s not like you can just flush it.”
Trustee Henry expressed concern over the cost of an addition, especially as the village is preparing the 2017-18 budget.
“I’m not overly excited about this right now,” he said. “We passed the override for the tax cap, and I just wanted to wait and see what’s going on with the budget.”
Butterfield agreed that the board can resume discussion of the addition once the first budget projections are in.
“We don’t have to sign on a dotted line,” Butterfield said.
