No One on The Ballot in Stamford Village

STAMFORD  – There are no candidates on the ballot in the village of Stamford to fill a four-year trustee seat. Incumbent Trustee Darran Hanway does not seek re-election and no one has filed a petition to appear on the ballot. The trustee seat will be decided by write-in ballots with the village election set for Wednesday, March 18 from noon to 9 p.m. in the Stamford Village Hall Board Room, at 84 Main St.,

Nominating petitions need to be filed by Feb. 10, according to Village Clerk Jamison Hanway. This is the second trustee seat that will be filled by write-in votes in two years. 

Hanway announced last month to a full house of village board meeting attendees that he was not running and that someone in the room needed to step up and run for the trustee seat. At that meeting revenue, trustees expanded the pool from which they can appoint members to the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board, due to difficulty finding people to fill those boards.

At Tuesday's meeting, Mayor Robert Schneider reported on the meeting of the mayors in the county, saying they were looking to have a unified presence  in asking the county to share sales tax revenues with the villages. He said they had been shut out of the county finance committee meetings and  seek to petition the public to support sharing 12.5 percent of the revenue with the villages. In the case of Stamford, Schneider said it would be about $50,000. He believes the county can afford it, saying they have 200 million in excess dollars.

Doug Murphy asked about the status of the River Street culvert. He was told the project is on hold as the grant will no longer cover the scope of the work since the state Office of Historic Preservation became involved. The project cost has increased by $250,000 beyond the original $1.1 million grant through Bridge NY.

Trustee Jim Kopp reported that a meeting with the towns of Harpersfield and Stamford resulted in an agreement to help rebuild the village-owned roadway to the top of Mount Utsayantha. "I was blown away by the cooperation of the three municipalities to get this done.

The fire tower on Mount Utsayantha has been listed in the Fire Tower Challenge. It will be listed as tourism statewide. He said a letter of permission for stewardship has been received and a booklet created for the stewards and outreach. Laurie Rankin of the Forest Fire Lookout Association will talk about the fire towers in New York State, with a focus on Mount Utsayantha on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. in The Hobart Exchange, 40 Cornell Ave. in Hobart. The NYSFFA is also seeking volunteers (stewards) to guide visitors on weekends over the summer season. Information on volunteering is available at www.nysffla.org.

A lease of communications space on Mount Utsayantha to the New York State Police was tabled until next month.

Trustees agreed to send a letter to Hoffman Excavating regarding use of a fire hydrant that they will not be able to use water until the invoice for tapping into the hydrant is paid.

Trustees also approved the tax foreclosure list, described as a long list for unpaid taxes.

The village crew has been busy plowing and sanding and fixing frozen service lines and water mains. Sully DeMarco publicly thanked the crew for their work at 94 Main St. on Tuesday morning. "I would like to express my appreciation to the crew for solving my problem at 94 Main St."

Department of Public Works Superintendent Jesse Calia said he has fixed the heat at the Churchill building again and ran down the list of frozen problems due to the weather. The crew has also been repairing equipment. He warned there is a salt shortage again this year and if the village runs out, they will be using sand, which will be messy. 

Trustees moved into an executive session to discuss legal action.

The next village meeting will be held March 17.