Petersburgh Town Board Action – Town To Enforce Building Codes

by Alex Brooks
Petersburgh Town Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst said the Town needs to take some action to enforce the building codes in Town. He said it’s been three years since the first letter went out to all property owners in town warning them that building permits are required, but he said the Town is aware of buildings being put up without permits. He said the Town will begin to prosecute any unpermitted building construction begun after the first letter was sent out, which was about three years ago, in 2009. [private]The Town will ask violators to come in and take out a retroactive permit and have the building inspected to make sure it is up to code.
Krahforst said the Assistant District Attorney who prosecutes many of the cases in Town Court will not take on this kind of Town enforcement action so the Town will have to ask the Town Attorney to appear in Town Court to pursue such actions.  He will be billing the Town $180 per hour for his time to do this.
Bill Seel predicted that this initiative will prove to be similar to whacking a hornets’ nest, and it will cost the Town a lot of money, but he acknowledged that the Town needs to enforce building codes.
Krahforst said the charges for unemployment compensation levied on the Town for a part time summer employee have been reversed, after he pursued the matter and presented the facts to the appropriate person. The Town is not liable for unemployment for a part time employee. He said, “She is not entitled to unemployment compensation from what she is earning here.”
Cemetery Committee
An organizational meeting for a Cemetery Committee was held on Monday, June 11, and the Board appointed a Cemetery Committee. Town Historian Peter Schaaphok will be the Chairman, and the members include, so far, Deborah Hoffman, Jane Wesley, Callie Crisp, Pamela McDermott and Ann Crisp. The Committee is still looking for more members. If anyone is interested, he or she may contact Town Clerk Callie Crisp or Town Historian Peter Schaaphok. The first item on the Committee’s agenda is to do a survey of the cemeteries in Town, to locate and list them and gain some idea of what condition they are in. Schaaphok read some provisions of Town law which seemed to indicate that the Town government has some responsibility to take care of the old cemeteries. He would like to do further research on the status of old or abandoned cemeteries on private land as part of the Committee’s work.
Water District
Water District Committee Member Alex Brooks reported that he called Water District Superintendent Todd Stradinger again and received a message on his answering machine saying that Stradinger did not have time to meet with him to discuss water district issues. Supervisor Krahforst said he had a similar experience trying to reach Stradinger this month. Brooks remarked that the Water District Committee can’t be successful if they are not able to communicate with the Water District Superintendent and asked the Board to consider what ought to be done to deal with this problem. He said there are some pressing problems that need to be dealt with, such as the broken hydrant by Jones’ garage, and several meters that can’t be read for one reason or another, which he feels the Water District Superintendent should help to solve. There was some general discussion of Water District problems, but Bill Seel said if the discussion concerned a Town employee, it should be done in executive session, so the Board moved on to other matters.
Fire Alarms
Supervisor Krahforst said he got quotes from the company that is updating fire alarms systems in the Town buildings to do two more buildings, and the Board authorized the work. The new Bilco door has been installed on the side of the Town Hall, and Krahforst said there is no more water getting into the basement of the Town Hall. There was some talk of cleaning out the basement and turning it into usable space, but no work is planned in the immediate future.
Alternative Energy
A member of the Alternative Energy Committee spoke to the Board about the possibility of putting photovoltaic panels on a hillside by the water plant to generate electricity for pumping the water.  He asked for a year’s worth of the Water District’s electricity bills so he could determine how many kilowatts are being used and figure out the financial feasibility of a photovoltaic project. He said one problem is that although the electric company is required to buy electricity generated by residential homes, it does not have that obligation for commercial accounts and the Town is treated as a commercial account. However, he said, there is some possibility that a “net metering” requirement might be instituted, which would allow the Town to subtract from its other bills any extra kilowatts generated at the Water District site and fed back into the grid.
Other Business
Supervisor Krahforst said Rensselaer County is looking for a Town representative for the Youth Advisory Committee. Denise Church said if no one else can be found, she would be willing to volunteer, whereupon she was instantly appointed.
Supervisor Krahforst announced that Bill Shorter Sr. is the Chairman of the Town’s Ethics Committee and if anyone feels they know of ethical violations in the Town Government, they should address their concerns to Shorter.
Supervisor Krahforst said he is working on getting two 20 hour a week employees for the Town through the County Social Services agency. One would work for the Highway Department and one would work in the Library, the Town Hall and the Memorial Hall. These people would be paid by Social Services and there is no cost to the Town for their work. Krahforst said he will continue to pursue it.[/private]