By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- Two members of the Board of Trustees have asked for a proposal to lower building permit application fees on higher-end projects such as a new home on Drumlin Drive valued at $1.2 million.

The board will take up the question of capping one category of building permit fees at its meeting Tuesday.

If it is approved, it will save the builder of the new home on Drumlin Drive $8,800 in permit fees.

Code Enforcement Officer Greg Thompson said that Trustee Steve Warr and Mayor Ron Tischler asked him to examine the established residential building permit fee to see if it could be lowered.

“They asked me to propose a possible fee adjustment in an attempt to be a little more construction-friendly,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he has put forward a proposal for the board’s consideration that would cap residential building permit fees at $800.

Village Administrator Everett Basford said that the request is for a new home construction plan valued at $1.2 million.

Thompson said the application is for a lot on Drumlin Drive. The permit application was filed in the name of the “Rosenthal estate.”

Basford said the project originates with a man who wants to build a new house for his elderly parent.

The current charges are a minimum fee of $40 plus $8 per thousand dollars of estimated building cost above $5,000 with no cap on the total fee. Under the current fee structure, the building permit fee would be $9,600. If the reduction is approved, the fee for that project would be $800, a reduction of $8,800.

The meeting Tuesday will begin at 2:30 with a hearing on a provision to remove arrangements for the Potsdam Public Library that are outdated since the library has associated with the North Country Library Association, according to Basford.

Chapter 23 of the local law includes requirements that the village pay a share of unemployment insurance premiums, which the library association is now managing.

It also calls for the village to provide accounting, bookkeeping, janitorial and related services to the library free of charge.

Since the library’s joining the association, the village now has a contract to provide those services for a fee, but the local law is still on the books.

A second hearing to start at 2:45 is to hear comments on the village’s arts micro-enterprise project.

The regular meeting begins at 3 p.m. for an agenda of what appears to be mostly routine matters such as approving funds for police training, awarding of contracts for work at Potsdam Municipal Airport, appointing a dispatcher at the Potsdam Police Department, and paying some bills.