By Phil Blackwell
Whether it’s a lack of space for courtroom activity in its town hall, flooding in the basement of its police department headquarters or uneven pickup of brush at its residences, the town of Cicero has all kinds of urgent issues.
All of these concerns served as a focus of the Cicero Town Board’s Aug. 26 meeting, which immediately addressed one of these issues and left the others to be dealt with soon.
Space at Cicero Town Hall has long proved a concern, especially for attorneys and other participants in the justice court. Councilor Jonathan Karp said that this court facility had a reputation for being one of the worst in the county.
To address that problem, the board is considering moving the town’s Parks and Recreation Department headquarters to a building at Joseph F. William Memorial Park near Oneida Lake.
Even doing this, said Karp, would not solve the court’s problems. “This is a Band-Aid,” he said. “We need a permanent solution, and this is not it.”
Councilor Judy Boyke said that having several town departments move out of the main town hall affects their cohesion.
With plenty of open concerns from the entire board, it decided to table these issues and then address them again at the board’s next meeting on Sept. 9.
Of more urgent concern was the work needed at police department headquarters, where standing water in its basement keeps the department from full use of the building.
Town engineer Kate Fiorello said that to fix the basement will require at least $20,000 of work, and the board authorized Fiorello to seek quotes from local vendors for this project.
Cicero’s volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers will benefit from an amendment to town municipal law regarding its “Length of Service Award Program,” or LOSAP.
Similar to what was approved by the Clay Town Board in July, this amendment provides up to five additional points per month for these workers to make up for typical service activities and training lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Councilor Mike Becallo said this will help these volunteers earn credits toward retirement, and is a temporary measure which will last as long as New York State’s COVID-19-related emergency declaration remains active.
There was also full support given to the town opening up its bidding process for brush removal, currently with On-Site Development.
Highway Superintendent Chris Woznica said that he receives more than 20 complaints per week about brush that wasn’t removed, requiring trucks from his department to do so, adding to the cost of the operation.
Barrett Paving received approval for $129,000 for asphalt and various paving projects, while American Rock Salt Co. was approved for a $110,000 contract to provide highway salt to the town.
