Northampton Town Tidbits
By Supervisor Linda Kemper
Visit us at www.townofnorthampton.com
E-MAIL: nhpton1@frontiernet.net
BLIGHT AND PROPERTY MAINTENANCE LAW UPDATE
In spite of all of the snow on the ground as a result of the February 14th blizzard, which covers a majority of the Property Maintenance Law’s violations, we have experienced our first court case.
Well beyond the 30 days given to comply in the warning letter, and prior to any snow hindering clean-up efforts, tickets were issued for refusal to comply with the Law.
On March 8th, Kenneth Slaybaugh Jr., of Route 30, appeared before Judge Farquhar to answer to charges on violations of several sections of the Property Maintenance Law enacted in November.
Mr. Slaybaugh requested a Public Defender, and the Court assigned a lawyer to defend him.
A trial date has been set for April 5th in Town Court. As the wheels of Justice and the Legal System turn, the Town is now forced to obtain a lawyer to prosecute the case. We believe that an adjournment by the Public Defender will be requested, in order for the “Discovery” phase to take place. We remain confident that we have a strong case to present to the Court. This property continues to be the cause of the most number of complaints received from the public.
After the Law was enacted, several warning letters were sent out to property owners who were in violation, giving them a 30-day notice to comply. While we anticipated having to issue several tickets to owners refusing to comply, we were very pleased to not have to take this action for most. Numerous other property owners have cleaned up on their own without notices being sent to them. We will continue to thank those owners for taking the initiative to clean-up.
Everyone wins with this co-operative effort of taking pride in what our community looks like.
The Town Officials listened to the public and took a strong stand by enacting a Law that could be enforced in the Courts with the “teeth” that was needed. We did our job and will continue to do so, it’s now in the hands of the Courts to enforce.
The snow cover now is a problem in enforcing our Maintenance Laws and hinders any effort a property owner might make in “cleaning up”. Once the ground is clear, we will be making a concerted effort to work through complaints received concerning violators.
SACANDAGA PARK WATER AND SEWER DISTRICT PROJECT UPDATE
We previously had reported that the Town was awarded $200,000 by the former Governor for the replacement of sanitary sewer lines in the Sacandaga Park to correct inflow and infiltration issues with some of the 100-year-old lines. This grant was a portion of $8 million awarded to North Country Adirondack communities to implement water quality projects that will provide needed infrastructure improvements and is being administered by the DEC. This is a problem that has existed for many years and we are aggressively working on a work plan to resolve the issues. While we are operating within DEC discharge permit regulations, we are currently treating groundwater entering through the deteriorated pipes, as well as wastewater. Therefore, the sewer plant is not running as efficiently as it could be, making it more costly to operate.
We have been working closely with the Environmental Facilities Corp., DEC, and Rural Waters for several months on testing lines and collecting any existing records on the old system. We have spent a great deal of time on trying to clearly define district boundaries based on old records and poor maps, as well as trying to reconstruct and understand the background of a system which was originally owned by the old FJ&G Railroad and the Sacandaga Park Residents before the Town took it over. With the help of the Fulton County Planning Dept., we have produced what we believe to be the most accurate and complete maps ever done of the water and sewer districts, the location of the lines within these Districts and the most problematic areas clearly defined. As a result of this work, we have also discovered many errors that existed in the inaccurate water and sewer records on users within the Districts that had not updated or taxed, in some cases for several years. We are working on correcting any errors, which will result in a more equitable distribution of the costs associated with the operation and maintenance of the systems.
A request for proposal (RFP) for the engineering work and plans had been sent to 21 Engineering firms in January. Eight firms responded by the February 22nd deadline with their proposals and estimated costs. A Committee was formed to work on reviewing the proposals. We extensively evaluated each company’s proposal and ranked each one according to a list of criteria. The Committee chose the top four Engineering firms to be interviewed by the full Town Board and the other agencies involved on March 30th. We plan to have a firm picked for preliminary plans soon, and the work-plan and proposals to be submitted in order to meet the upcoming grant cycles. We are extremely grateful for the grant awarded by the Governor, which will give us a huge jumpstart on the work that needs to be done, and to the folks from the State that have been,
and continue to be, a tremendous help to the Town in providing the assistance we need for this process. We will keep you informed as we progress and begin the public hearings process.
REPLACEMENT OF LIGHTS
The Town has requested that National Grid replace the existing Mercury Vapor street lights with more cost efficient High Pressure Sodium lights. The change in lighting will be of no cost to the Town.
NOTES:
Our Town Board minutes are available on the web site.
UPCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS
-March 27th and April 3rd, Informational Presentation on Global Warming, 7:00 pm, NCS
-March 28th, HRBRRD Rules & Regs Committee 6:30-8:30 pm, Bradt Building
-April 3rd, Town ZBA Public Hearings 7:00 pm, Bradt Building
-April 4th, HRBRRD Rules & Regs Committee 6:30-8:30 pm, Mayfield Town Hall
-April 11th, HRBRRD Rules & Regs Committee 6:30-8:30 pm, Edinburg
-April 12th, Town Planning Board 7:00 pm, Bradt Building
-April 14th, “Step-It-Up” Walk from Northville School to Broadalbin 9:00 am
-April 18th, Town Board Meeting 7:00 pm, Bradt Building
-April 25th, HRBRRD Rules & Regs Committee 6:30-8:30 pm, Bradt Building
-April 28th, Scout Troop 55 Pancake Dinner, 4-7 pm, Methodist Church