Also: LCSD referendum passes
By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
The Cicero Town Board voted Dec. 12 to pay some bills for the new highway garage. Don Snyder, a member of the highway garage building committee, updated the board and residents on the construction progress.
Snyder said the builders required a laydown area to protect steel from the weather. Upon preparing the site for the required stone and fabric, the builders discovered that the electrical contractor, Knapp Electric, did not appropriately backfill its trenches. JBS Dirt was called in to redo the work and billed $10,000 for the over-excavation and $3,873.71 for the trench repair. Knapp Electric will credit the town for the trench repair.
Snyder also explained the payment of $1,283,037.70 to Building Innovation Group, an expense included in the existing bond.
“You probably will not see another number like that on this job,” Snyder said.
Snyder said steel accounts for the majority of the bill from Building Innovation Group at $1,067,000. He said the rest of the steel frame for the garage was set to be complete by the end of the week.
The town also paid Building Innovation Group $31,735 to install seven additional 2-foot diameter caissons with reinforcing, anchor bolts and rebar so the town can expand a storage lean-to in the future.
More government news
Also in local government:
• LCSD capital project: Voters in the Liverpool Central School District have approved Phase Three of the district’s long-range facilities plan. The Dec. 11 referendum passed with 458 yes votes and 193 no votes.
The district asked voters to approve $45.3 million in spending, almost $6 million more than the original price tag of $39.5 million, which was approved in 2016.
Phase Three includes renovations at Liverpool High School, improvements at the transportation center on Long Branch Road and replacement of the roof at Wetzel Road Elementary.
• North Syracuse village board: The Dec. 27 meeting of the North Syracuse Village Board of Trustees has changed venues. Instead of the usual location of the North Syracuse Community Center, the meeting will take place at 4:30 p.m. at Village Hall, 600 South Bay Road.
• “Swatting” scare: The Clay Town Hall went into lockdown last Friday, Dec. 14, after reports of a possible shooting on McNamara Drive.
The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office closed Route 31 between Morgan Road and Henry Clay Boulevard for about two hours after receiving a 911 call from a man who claimed he had killed his girlfriend.
“Contact was eventually made with the homeowners of the residence, who quickly came out and cooperated with deputies,” Sgt. Jon Seeber said in a release. “After interviewing the homeowners, deputies determined that the incident was a ‘swatting’ call, or when someone makes a prank call to 911 in hopes of sending a large contingent of armed law enforcement officers to particular address, typically to harass and frighten the occupants.”
OCSO continues to investigate the incident.
