VILLAGE OF FREDONIA
Board wants quicker compliance in cleaning up residential property
FREDONIA — The Fredonia Village Board agreed Monday a quicker way to clean up residential property code violations should be enacted as soon as possible.
Trustee Susan Mackay brought several photos to the attention of the board showing a couch in a flower bed, trash piled up at a curb, illegally parked cars and other code violations.
Mayor Michael Sullivan suggested the village seek bids from garbage collection companies, choose one and then have the company clean up the violations in the village. The bill for the cleanup would be added to each property owner’s tax.
Village Attorney Sam Drayo said a public hearing would have to be set to make changes in how the village notifies property owners of violations. The ordinance now gives owners 10 days to clean up the violation. Trustees were in agreement this amount of time should be shortened.
Mackay said this year’s Farm Festival had some people complaining, and she wanted to make it clear the festival is operated by a private group of individuals, not the village. She said each year the group is given permission to use public land, the downtown Commons.
Mackay said she, too, was not happy with some of the things that happened, like the use of spray paint instead of chalk to designate vendor areas.
There also were illegal parking situations, she said, and the village parking lot reportedly was blocked off so some village employees could not leave it. Vendors were upset as well, she said, with various situations.
Sullivan said: “There has been some confusion. This is a good time to have a meeting to talk about what can and cannot be done on public property.”
He will try to set up a meeting with the festival committee at the board’s Sept. 15 workshop in Village Hall.
The State Court of Appeals says the Village of Fredonia has to refund some tax money to two concerns: $55,248 to the United Church Residences because of the property’s tax-exempt status and $34,589 to Green Acres residential complex as an approved tax reduction.
“There’s not much to say other than that’s what we owe them,” said Drayo.
The mayor said there will only be three ways to raise the $90,000 — borrow it, take it out of the unexpended fund balance or take it from the village budget by item reduction.
The board asked Village Administrator Rick St. George to come up with a payment proposal for the board’s next meeting, set for Sept. 8.
A bond resolution was authorized subject to a 30-day permission referendum for a total of $780,000 to renovate the Village Hall roof and other Village Hall repairs. The village has been awarded a State Historic Preservation Office grant for $175,000, which will be applied to this amount when received.
The board received one bid to replace the Village Hall boiler. It came from Gugino Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning in Fredonia in the amount of $35,852. No action was taken.
The board approved the bid of $162,315 for Phase One of the Chautauqua Street drainage improvement project. The village received funding from the state for the project. The board will wait to see if Phase One clears up the flooding on the street before the second phase is approved.
