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Arkport talks Hometown Heroes

April 13, 2022
By Jasmine Willis

ARKPORT, NY — The village board held a public hearing, organizational meeting, and regular meeting to talk about several items on April 12.

The public hearing discussed the general and water fund budgets. The general fund budgets total income is $449,428. The water fund budgets total income is $456,340. The tax rate for the June 2022 taxes will be $5.06 per 1,000 valuations. The budgets were approved after the hearing.

The annual organizational meeting established the appointed members and information for the 2022-23 official year. The village board made several resolutions; approving the treasurer to make designated payments, designations for funds, village members to attend any meetings that benefit the village interests, establishing a payment of 58 cents for milage reimbursements on village employees, and setting all the appropriate meetings and holidays for the upcoming year.

During the regular board meeting several items were discussed involving water meters, town rent, and the upcoming Hometown Heroes.

Logan Sliter, Arkport Department of Public Works superintendent asked for approval on purchasing 20 new water meters to replace old ones in the system. The village board approved his request.

“We have the parks all clean for the spring. We be reaching out to those who need water meters replaced with an insert to save some time. We have been replacing water meters with the inventory we had left. I replaced about 14 water meters, but there are still seven that need to be done. We need to order more water meters to get this done,” he said.

With the new water meter system there are some that are no longer working. The old meters run out after 15 years. The new water meters will work with the new system and software. There was discussion about the crossing guard situation at Arkport Central School. It was decided that they will contact the school about this matter, and have agreed to continue with the service for the rest of the school year. The topic has become a big one for the school and village boards. Arkport Mayor George Prete is concerned about the children that need to use the crossing guard for safety reasons, and whether it would be safer for them to take the bus.

On other topics concerning the Arkport Central School it was determined that they need to start paying for the water used at in the athletic field for the concession stand. It appears the school has been using the water for free the whole time at the soccer field. Emily Story of Arkport American Legion is handling the Hometown Heroes display coming next month. She discussed what to do with the 104 banners once they arrive. The village board approved the banners being placed and taken down for the first year.

“We have several volunteers that would be willing to help install and take down the banners if that is what the village decides. We just need to know the length of time they are approved to be on display. We can make these banners last about 10 years if we take them down in the fall. We will clean them up and store them at the legion,” she said.

Sliter added that it takes more time and money for the village to take them down. He has never placed the banners before, and will let the legion know the cost. It was also determined that the legion would help with the cost of installation and labor.

“We have the volunteers to do whatever it takes. We want to do whatever is best for the community. We can get some donations to help with the cost. We want to send thank you notes out to everyone and let them know what the village decides to do,” Story said.

The village board is still waiting to hear about the new agreement from Hornellsville Town Board to pay the rent on the building. Former Arkport Mayor Tom Dugo said he wanted to talk to the town board tonight, but it was determined it would make everyone anxious to leave the meeting. Arkport Trustee Mike Brewer and Arkport Trustee Ezra Geist will request a meeting with the town about this agreement shortly.

“We have waited for the town to come up with something, but they haven’t done that yet. Ezra and I will go up and talk with them,” Brewer said. “This is controversial since they paid it without any problems for almost 30 years. We were told we would have storage in the town building, but that never happened. We need to get some results on this agreement and see a copy of the old agreement letter. We need to find out why they aren’t paying it now.”

Sliter added the shared services agreement allows the village to use equipment and have access to the salt barn. Both the town and village also provide plowing services.

Dugo said it is strange to have them complain now about paying $3,000 a year to use the building.

Some investigation needs to be done at 4 Addison Street since the owner wants to build an addition without a permit. There is also investigation into 8191 Lisman Lane to determine if there is an illegal well on the premises, or if they are not properly being billed for village water.
Sliter said the added usage of water was never caught on the meter. It is illegal to have a personal water source such as a well without village and water officials’ approval. Sliter will give the owner a 24-hour notice to come and investigate the water situation on the property.

On other news involving the water funds the mediation was a huge success and giant milestone in the water project to approve the contracts.

The next village board meeting is scheduled for May 17 at 7 p.m.


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