Petersburgh Appoints A Code Enforcement Officer

by Alex Brooks
This month the Petersburgh Town Board had a full complement of its members and a longer-than-usual six items of unfinished business. The Board appointed Doug Hull of Brunswick as its new Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer, to start work on June 1. Hull has not previously worked as a building inspector, but he has been involved with the construction business all his life and has worked for many years as an electrical inspector. He grew up in East Poestenkill, so he is very familiar with the area. Hull was present at the meeting and told the Board he intends to change the Building Inspector’s office hours from Saturday morning to Monday evening.
Although enforcement of junkyard laws was not on the agenda, Duane Nealon and Marian Wise spoke at public comment time about what they see as a wilful failure by the Town to enforce State laws concerning junkyard licensing and keeping of unregistered vehicles.
Nealon is concerned about a collection of unregistered vehicles on the property of his neighbor Curtis Main. He said there were about 60 vehicles there when he first made his complaint 16 months ago, and he estimated that about half of them were removed last spring and summer in response to Town enforcement actions. He said many of the vehicles remaining there are very close to his property line. He believes they are severely impacting the marketability of his property, and he is concerned about environmental contamination from fluids that may be leaking from the old vehicles and the possibility that these might leach onto his land.
He said, more generally, that the Town’s lack of enforcement is allowing “these types of uses” (keeping of unregistered vehicles) to expand and is deterring complaints.
Marian Wise, noting that Deputy Supervisor Peter Schaaphok had said the simple thing for Main to do would be to apply for a junkyard permit, said she had asked the Town Clerk for an application for such a permit and found that none was available. She offered to the Town Board a proposed application form which she said was approved by the Department of State.
She also began quoting things that had been said by various Town officials in support of enforcing laws against accumulation of unregistered vehicles. But Schaaphok interrupted her before she was finished, saying that her five minutes of public comment were up and the Board had heard enough on this topic and that they were well-acquainted with her views. There was a testy exchange in which Wise accused Schaaphok of “defending the violator.” After she made a few more comments she lapsed into silence, and Schaaphok asked her, “Are you finished?” She replied, “Oh, no, we’re far from finished.” Then no more was said on that topic.
Ambulance Contract
Adam Griswold was present to speak for the Ambulance Squad. The Squad has for some time been trying to work out a contract with the Town which would help the Squad to purchase a new ambulance. Griswold said they had given the Town Attorney a proposed contract back in 2008 and they haven’t heard from him. Town Attorney Kevin Engel said he was waiting for someone from the Squad to contact him to work out the contract. He gave Griswold his business card and asked someone from the Squad to call him. The Town Board budgeted $10,000 for this year to assist the Ambulance but can’t disburse any sums until a written agreement is in place. It is unclear that even with this assistance the Squad will have enough funding to order a new ambulance this year, but they are still keen to gather funds towards a future ambulance purchase.
Another matter that came up was Dave Green’s suggestion that they have the current ambulance’s electrical system looked at by a mechanic he knows to try to figure out what is going wrong with the electrical system. Green gave the mechanic’s number to Brandon deWaal, but the ambulance has not yet been taken to the mechanic in question. Green said he thought the Squad should get a proper diagnosis of what’s wrong with the electrical system before going for an extremely expensive new one. Griswold said several mechanics have tried to fix the electrical problems and no one has been successful but he was willing to give Green’s mechanic a shot at it.
Health Insurance
Word has been received from the Town’s health insurance company of an increase in premiums beginning in May. There was some discussion about how to handle it, but it ended inconclusively because the Board felt they needed to talk to the Highway Superintendent and the Town Bookkeeper, neither of whom were present.
The Shirt Factory
A falling down property in the Millyard was once again on the agenda. Schaaphok said he has been unable to reach the owner this month, but he feels the Town should move forward with demolition of the building, which is clearly in an unsafe condition. Town Attorney Kevin Engel said the Town has to make sure that it has followed the proper procedures in giving notice to the owner before going ahead with demolishing the building. He said he would research it and let Town officials know what they need to do. Some of the neighbors who were present commented that “kids are in and out of that building all the time.”
In other business:
• Pam Eggsware again requested that her property, which no longer has a house on it and never will, be removed from the Water District. Town officials said that is a difficult process and they need to research how to do it properly.
• A hearing was scheduled for next month on renewing the cable TV franchise with Charter Cable. The company is in bankruptcy, but Schaaphok says his research indicates the company is going to continue its operations and may eventually emerge from Chapter 11.
• Schaaphok said he believes the dust problem in the spring is coming primarily from the high clay content of the sand used by the Town. He said he spoke with Bill Shiland, the Highway Superintendent in Hoosick, who says on paved roads, he uses a 50-50 mix of salt and washed sand from Dailey’s, and he has few problems with dust in the spring. Schaaphok said it may be too expensive to switch to these materials but he wants to have this discussion before the Town starts buying sand for next winter. Highway Superintendent Harrison was not present, so it will wait for another time.