The Village Board purchased Duofold in the spring of 2019, and did so using and without involving the actual investors money, the residents , a.k.a taxpayers. Taxpayers own Village property, out tax dollars are used (or should be by law) to maintain the Village property, e.g. Fire and Police buildings, DPW building, Electric, water buildings, parks, monuments, etc. The taxpayers are now responsible for the safe keeping, code issues of Duofold.
But is the 5 servants up to the task? Likely not. Although 161 Otsego, was cleaned up and finally removed, to the tune of $28,000.00 of Taxpayers money, which was not recouped, for tax payers. The servants, appear based in sloppy and lacking substances minutes, have agreed to waives back taxes. Yet the home on the West end of the Village, has made no attempt to obtain, or demolish that eyesore, or even consider the safety of those neighbors.
Department Reports October 10 2018 minutes.
PROPERTY MAINTENANCE OFFICER/BUILDING CODES: • Report: There was a consensus to accept the report as submitted. • 190 East Main, 245 East State, 161 Otsego - Status of Fire Properties: PMO Carter has had no contact with the owners of these properties. PMO Carter has sent out two letters and no response from any of the owners. Mr. Vallaro’s property, located at 161 Otsego St. is being handled by his attorney because he lives out of state. PMO Carter said the next step is to condemn these three properties. • 173 Central Ave – Appearance Ticket: An appearance ticket was issued for 173 Central Ave, Mr. Rizzo’s property. Mr. Rizzo, along with a tenant and a neighbor had started to clean up the area.
And yet , according county records, the taxpayers are still owners of 161 Otsego, makes impossible to even try to sell , with out legal ownership. Servants have proven repeatedly, they can not manage our investments.
Why does this Village look of despair ? Poor budgeting for 30 plus years and running, failure of servants taking pride in OUR Village, PRIDE in their duty and obligations of representing us.
Least we forget, the falsely documented grant for the non historical Otsego Stairs, that McKinely ripped out of the peoples hands thinking she could do better!
" As we were walking, we came across a work crew doing some concrete patching. They had done a couple of small patches and, while that was curing, they were power washing some cracks and sealing them up. This wasn’t an “onstage” area—the guest area within one of the theme parks—but a walkway between two resorts, the Dolphin/Swan and the Boardwalk. I took a couple photos and then reassured them I was an engineer on vacation, not someone checking up on their work (which seemed just fine, for what it’s worth)."
" Look at those patches. One was about 12 square feet and the other about 2. That’s about 5 cubic feet of concrete—a little more than a wheelbarrow full. It’s an amount you could purchase at a local hardware store and mix together with a garden hose. No big deal.
My daughter wanted to know why I snapped that picture (especially since all my other pictures included her) and that caused us to talk about what it takes to maintain a sidewalk. Not much in terms of effort; just a commitment to doing it. Then we talked about the condition of the sidewalks in our city back home. She’s a smart kid and got it right away."
“Dad, why doesn’t our city fix the sidewalks before they fall apart?”
Why Local Governments Don’t Put Maintenance First
It was Steve Mouzon who first told me that a place needed to be lovable, that we only maintain that which we love.
Local governments suffer from a dual set of challenges when it comes to maintenance. The first is that most of what we’ve built is not lovable, at least not broadly lovable
Trustee Ron Schoonmaker, who serves as liaison to the library board, reported that the complaints the board heard recently about late-night loiterers near the library has nothing to do with the library’s Wi-Fi. Bishop said she checked the number of hits on the library’s Wi-Fi between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.; there were very few and they occurred between 11 p.m. and midnight. She said there are GPS-based games, however, that center on the area around the library.
Lester suggested an increased police presence to discourage late-night loitering in that area. Another suggestion was to post signs to prohibit loitering on library property during the overnight hours. Bishop said she could take the suggestion to the library board.
This was an issue brought up on up in November, it was a police issue then and the 2 concerned citizens should have been directed to the police department at that time
The big story is , further proof why the board intentionally deny the documents we are entitled to by law.
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Board members noted that fire department overtime for the month of November was particularly high with 124 hours of ambulance overtime and 546 hours of fire overtime. The mayor said the recent hiring of two new firefighters should reduce overtime costs.
Has the board worked yet another miracle?? This is boards failing to get grips on budgeting.
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