Computel to audit North Syracuse cable agreements

By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

The North Syracuse Village Board of Trustees voted March 23 to sign an agreement with Computel Consultants for an audit of the village’s cable franchise agreements and other services.

Mayor Gary Butterfield said he received “pushback” from the board on the $13,430 cost of a potential contract with the Cohen Law Group (CLG) to assist with cable franchise negotiations. Butterfield said he consulted the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) and received an email from Computel Consultants, an Earlville-based firm that reviews telecommunications, electric and natural gas bills.

There will be no upfront costs for the Computel contract. If the firm finds that the village has been overcharged, Computel’s fee will be 40 percent of the savings discovered.

“If they find we’ve been paid [properly] or overpaid, they get nada,” village attorney Scott Chatfield said. “Their fee is based on one year’s worth of what they find.”

Butterfield said he was not sure if Computel would be as knowledgeable about cable franchise agreements as CLG and said Computel’s audit “will not find necessarily new sources of revenue,” but the board agreed that the price was right.

“It’s a win-win for us,” Deputy Mayor Fred Fergerson said, adding that Computel could audit the village’s electric bill as well.

Butterfield said NYCOM pointed him in the direction of the New York Public Service Commission, which has made some recommendations for changes to the village’s agreement with Verizon.

CNYSPCA may take over dog control

In addition to the Computel agreement, the village board is reviewing some of its other contracts, including dog control and code enforcement software.

The village is considering contracting with the CNYSPCA for its dog control services. Currently, the village of North Syracuse and the town of Cicero have an agreement with the town of Clay, but that agreement only provides coverage from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. After hours and on the weekends, the North Syracuse Police Department responds to dog control calls.

“The SPCA offers similar services [to the town of Clay] and they will handle all the after-hours calls, so our police officers are not chasing dogs after hours and on weekends,” Butterfield said.

NSPD Chief Mike Crowell said the CNYSPCA’s services could be cheaper than what the village is currently paying and the agency can provide round-the-clock coverage.

“Residents have been calling after hours and getting absolutely no service,” Crowell said.

Butterfield said he would discuss the matter with Clay town officials.

Also at the March 23 meeting, the board voted to renew maintenance agreements with Williamson Law Book Company for the village’s payroll, accounting and code enforcement software.

Village Clerk/Treasurer Dianne Kufel said she has had no issues with Williamson’s support for the accounting and payroll software, but Code Enforcement Officer David Barnhart said he has had problems not only with his software but with the support and maintenance representatives.

“The support doesn’t seem to be there. The person assigned to us creates more problems than she solves,” Barnhart said.

Barnhart said the current software is a “primitive system,” but it would take a week or more to migrate the village’s data to new software.

Butterfield said the current software is reasonably priced, but the codes department has had complaints about it for a year. Kufel said one type of new software system could cost as much as $5,000, and another software used by many neighboring municipalities, Municity, could be $35,000 to $40,000.

Butterfield said he feared if the board did not renew the codes software maintenance agreement, there would be a gap in support services until the village could find new software.

“I think it’s a good insurance policy for us to renew,” he said.

The board voted to renew the software maintenance agreements at the following costs: