Opinion: There are critical irons in the fire

Dear Editor,

After a long cold winter, most of us find ourselves busy for a while. Catching up, in order to eventually relax and enjoy summertime activities is an Owego tradition. 

Village government has a lot of work to do in a short time, if they are ever to relax. A handful of the more critical “irons in the fire” are, in order of timeliness. 

1) Determining the location of a new DPW building, purchasing, planning and eventually executing the plan, in order to accept $3 million from FEMA. The location decision has a deadline of May1. 

2) With the retirement of code officer James (Itchy) Mead, the Trustees and mayor need to fill the position soon, as the spring is always the busiest time for construction applications. 

3) The presentation by Fire Chief Gavin on Monday evening indicated that a solution to the disappearance of our “golden egg” (the Sweet Fund) is possible. It will require a good deal of work, cooperation and sensitive attention to detail to come out right. This needs to be completed by August 

4) They must agree on a budget. 

5) Then there is the ongoing Sewer Department upgrade, complex and expensive. 

Add to this formidable list the fact that the previous Village Board voluntarily took on the job of enforcing the laws governing our large Historic District. The new law (Local Law #5 of 2017) requires requests for changes in the District to be made primarily by the code officer. But, there is no training for historic preservation as part of the required knowledge base of a code officer in New York. 

We are fortunate to have a competent and helpful County Government, who has agreed to vet applicants to be certain we only interview candidates who can do the job. So we need to indicate to the County that the new hire should be trained in historic preservation. It is either that, or we must train him/her, at our expense. The CLG coordinator at the NYS SHPO has provided me with a set of training modules developed by the State of Maryland’s SHPO that he recommended for their ease of use and completeness.

Another decision is pending. There are at least two applications for significant changes in the District (replacement windows) that are to come before the Trustees on Tuesday evening, May 1, at the next meeting of the Board of Trustees. This is not what was envisioned when the law was written, but the committee that was to “streamline” the preservation activities, consisting of five people, currently is comprised of one.

There are wrinkles already evident in this scenario. The Trustees have no training in historic preservation. The only time the new law has been used, it resulted in an improper outcome, one that needs fixing. One Trustee, due to recusal on the subject of the new preservation law, may not participate in discussions regarding it, and may not vote. (The cause for recusal is outstanding.) As things are evolving, this situation could easily result in any number of three to three votes, with no applications being granted. 

This list of decisions that can be made only by elected officials, and of the effort required to approach them informed and ready, should be understood in context. The mayor and trustees are part time positions paying $5,000 and $2,400 per year, respectively. How much can we demand of them? How much of their time, energy and attention can they possibly be required to devote? How much study? And, how long can we reasonably expect residents to wait for informed decisions on their rehabilitation projects?

Wouldn’t a better solution be to turn the Historic District back to a trained (by the SHPO), dedicated (and volunteer) commission such as the one that existed for the quarter century ending Thanksgiving week of 2017. The one that managed to approve between 90 and 95 percent of ALL of the applications it reviewed? 

The new law does not intend to be any less stringent, thoughtful or deliberate in protecting the details of Owego’s architectural heritage. (Just read it. The law, and the Design Guidelines referring to window details can be found on the Village website.)

The decision-making body is the main feature that changed. We managed to take something that worked well, required (and maintained) conscientious and educated personnel and made it into something that appears to have been set up to fail.

The Village has many challenges and even more opportunities that require the complete attention and focus of the mayor and trustees. 

Rescind LL#5 and reinstate Chapter 126. Make all our lives easier, not more difficult.

Sincerely,

Mark Trabucco 

Owego, N.Y.