X

Massena Town Council okays what could be last chapter in joint code enforcement officer affair with village

Posted 7/17/14

By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- The Town Council took what appears to be the last chapter in the ongoing Joint Code Enforcement Office affair, which has played out for over a year. On Wednesday, they …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Massena Town Council okays what could be last chapter in joint code enforcement officer affair with village

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The Town Council took what appears to be the last chapter in the ongoing Joint Code Enforcement Office affair, which has played out for over a year.

On Wednesday, they okayed a slight change to an intermunicipal agreement they had previously ratified. The village Board of Trustees gave the agreement a nod on Tuesday with the change included, so the town had to approve the change to keep up.

The item deals with billing. It says the town will collect building permit fees, and the village will bill the town.

The deal has the Massena Fire Department performing inspections in the town and village. It also allows the two governing bodies to split the joint code office secretary’s salary.

The debate escalated last year when both the town and village hired Peter Devine as joint code officer. He resigned from performing village inspections after less than a week.

He said Mayor James Hidy had it arranged so he answered to the fire department, but was under the impression it would be the opposite when he took the job. He resigned from the town in May, citing a need for more time to do his full-time job.

In the interim, the town and village had clashed over language in the intermunicipal agreement, which they okayed on Tuesday.