February 23, 2016
ARKPORT, NY – The Arkport village board met Tuesday night in a make-up session from last week’s snowstorm. Code enforcement officer Bill Rusby noted in his report that vacant housing is getting to be a problem for him and an eyesore for the village. “These houses become abandoned by owners, the banks take over and our hands are tied for years,” Rusby said. Village mayor Charlie Flanders added that he wished he could deal with it like Hornell, Rochester and other cities where after a certain period the village gains ownership and can then tear them down and either sell the lots or rebuild.
Department of Public Works head Bob Mauro suggested that the village purchase new Christmas decorations for the village streets because the old ones are well beyond their lifespan and they were purchased used. Flanders and the board agreed and suggested that the money saved in snow removal could be used for it. Since the winter is not over it will be discussed at a later date.
Mauro also said that some village residents wanted NYSEG to remove trees on their property that supported electrical cables and was told NYSEG does not remove trees anymore. They will drop and relocate cables but tree removal is the responsibility of the homeowner.
Book center head Cathy Smith was happy to report that the Canisteo Library and the Arkport Book Center received a grant from the Steuben Finger Lakes Art Council for $1,000 to be used for their summer reading programs. Each library will receive $500.
The board also set the date for two budget public hearings. The first will be March 16th at 7pm and the second April 6th at 7pm. Next month’s regular board meeting will be March 8th at 7pm with an organizational meeting starting 6pm.
