by Kristina Gabalski
As of August 24, the Brockport Building/Zoning/Code Enforcement Office has been re-located back to the Village Hall at 49 State Street.
The office had been moved from the Village Hall to the Police Department to help strengthen code enforcement efforts, trustees who supported the move said.
Mayor Connie Castaneda said the office was moved back to the Village Hall as a result of the failure in June of a referendum that would have changed the supervisor of the code enforcement officer from the mayor to the police chief.
“I felt it was prudent to listen to the taxpayers,” Mayor Castaneda told the Suburban News/Hamlin-Clarkson Herald. “The move back to the main office is better for constituents. Village residents made it very clear.”
The mayor noted the code office and police department are still able to communicate with each other despite going back to being housed in separate locations.
She stated the village board never had authorization to make the move. “That was confirmed by NYCOM (New York Conference of Mayors) and the village attorney,” Mayor Castaneda said.
During his monthly report at the August 28 Village Board meeting, Code Enforcement Officer Scott Zarnstorff said the office is still working out some bugs but he is, “…. glad to be back,” at the Village Hall.
Brockport Police Chief Daniel Varrenti expressed gratitude to Zarnstorff during his report, “…. and sorrow the Code Enforcement Office has moved back to the Village Hall. Having them at the Police Department helped tremendously to communicate with each other. I hope in the future they will come back.”
Fire District/Insurance Problems
During his report, Trustee Kent Blair informed board members and the community that three people within the newly formed Brockport Fire District have told officials that their homeowners insurance was cancelled following the dissolution of the Brockport Fire Department. The fire department was dissolved in order to create the new fire district.
He said any resident facing the same situation should “reach out to one of the fire commissioners,” or Fire Chief Mike Henry to resolve the problem.
Trustee Blair noted the three homes involved were located in the southern portion of the Town of Sweden where there are no fire hydrants.
Two of the three people involved have had the problem resolved, he said.
“This has probably happened to a lot more people than we know,” Trustee Blair added.
He also warned village residents of an apparent scam in which homeowners are offered insurance for water lines. Residents are offered a policy costing $49/year that will cover them if they need repairs of corroding water lines to their houses.
Residents “… should not move forward” with purchasing any such policy, Blair warned. He said the Village Department of Public Works provides those services.
