The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

• Code Enforcement Officer Resigns

• CSEA to Represent Highway Department Employees

• Judge Kirby Would Still Like to Move Town Court Downstairs

• Parks Damaged by Motorized Vehicles

Frank Slycord, Peru’s Code Enforcement Officer (CEO), has resigned and a replacement is being sought. Town Supervisor Peter Glushko informed the public of Slycord’s decision at the Monday, March 14, 2016 Town Board meeting. Supervisor Glushko did not state the reason for Slycord’s action. He stated, “We are working through the formality of getting his resignation in writing.” Slycord succeeded CEO Paul Blaine on May 2, 2011. Slycord’s successor will be hired through normal civil service procedures.

The Board voted to hire Peru resident Stephen Imhoff as part-time/interim CEO. Imhoff, who works full-time as Town of Plattsburgh Code Enforcement Officer, will assist Peru when he isn’t working in Plattsburgh. He assisted the town for no charge during the Blaine-Slycord transition. During this transition he will be paid $50 an hour. CEO Secretary Kayla Martin’s work hours will be adjusted to coincide with Imhoff’s.

Supervisor Glushko reminded the Board that the code enforcement office would be busy in the next few months. Rulfs Orchard has still not received a building permit to construct a new 9,900 sq. ft. roadside stand and an application to constrict a free-standing Dunkin’ Donuts adjacent to Langley Insurance is pending.

The Board voted to recognize the Civil Service Employees Association as the exclusive representative of Peru Town Highway employees (with the exception of the Highway Superintendent). Five of the seven Highway Department employees petition the Board for CSEA recognition on December 10, 2015. The Board denied petition on January 15, 2016 and referred the matter to the New York State Public Employees Relations Board, which determined that the employee’s petition was in order. The Board has hired the Plattsburgh law firm Stafford, Owens, Piller, Kelleher & Trombley, PLLC to be its labor relations representative.

Near the end of Monday’s meeting Town Court Judge James Kirby addressed the Board. He stated, “I would still like to move Town Court to the basement.” Kirby described a recent incident when an inmate being arraigned became so unruly that he had to be moved out of the courtroom and into Kirby’s office. Kirby was concerned that a rowdy incident could spill out into the people in or near the courtroom. He added, “My office space is maxed out. We have the third largest workload in Clinton County and we’re 106^th out of 1,600 courts in New York State. Every other local court has its own court room except us.” Kirby also said that Clinton County Sheriff David Favro likes the basement location.

The Board members did not respond to Kirby’s statements (Counselor Donald McBrayer was excused from the meeting). Moving the court downstairs was vigorously debated in 2014. The Board decided against the move citing renovation costs and not wanting to relocate the Town Historian’s office. In 2014, Historian Ron Allen was vocal in his opposition to moving his documents and historical displays into the main floor office the Town Court staff currently occupies. The Peru JECO Food Shelf also operates in the Town Hall basement.

Motorized vehicles are damaging Peru’s parks. In the past several days, a vehicle damaged the grass field at Heyworth/Mason Park and one or more motorized vehicles ripped up turf at Sullivan Park. Supervisor Glushko said more severe damage would be suffered if vandalism continues after the ground thaws. The Board discussed asking for more State Police patrols and reinstalling the gate at Sullivan Park that was taken down when the ice rink was built.