Court moves to Penn Yan Village Hall next week

Village Court should be moved to the basement of the Penn Yan Village Hall by Feb. 1, but the first court date to be held in the new setting isn’t likely to be held there until Feb. 8.
While the village board discussed declaring the Maxwell Building (the home of village court for several years) surplus property at last week’s board meeting. Ultimately, the declaration was delayed on the recommendation of Village Attorney Ed Brockman.
Mayor Douglas Marchionda Jr. said that while Justice Dan Hibbard plans to have most of the court necessities moved to the Elm Street building by Feb. 1, he’d prefer to have extra time to relocate and set up the computers.

Village Court is held on Monday evenings with trials held on Wednesday evenings. Downtown merchants have complained for several years about the groups of people who gather outside the court, perhaps having a negative impact on business.
When court is in session, it’s common for shackled prisoners from the Yates County Jail to be transported in groups to the court and it’s not uncommon to see defendants conferring with attorneys in front of neighboring storefronts.

The move to the village hall will eliminate that situation from downtown.
In related business last week, the village board accepted a bid from Covert Security to install new monitors, five new cameras, and to move an existing camera in the village hall for the new court area. Some of the nearly $11,000 cost will be covered by a grant obtained by the court.
Other business at last week’s village board meeting included:

• FIRE DEPARTMENT ALARM SYSTEM: Trustee Nancy Taylor reported there have been some problems with the Gamewell fire alarm system’s function. The system, which is quite old, is connected to pull stations around the village in addition to the 911 dispatch center. Marchionda explained there have been some communication problems in the system’s connections to public systems, such as at the school buildings and hospital. The part of the system that is supposed to sound an audible alarm at the 911 dispatch center in the public safety building is not operating properly, so there are times when a fire department member has to go to the fire house to read a ticker-tape to determine the location of the alarm.

Marchionda says village officials have notified the users of the systems at the schools, hospital and other public buildings. They must take steps to ensure their alarm systems are connected to the 911 center.

“It’s not the Village of Penn Yan’s responsibility to deliver alarms to 911,” he said.

• PARKS: Trustee Michael Christensen reported the village has received a grant packet for the $80,000 Indian Pines improvement project. Most of the local match for the grant is in the form of labor. He also noted the master recreation plan is in need of revision.

• SOFTWARE: The village approved the purchase of new software to integrate the village’s financial record-keeping. Clerk-treasurer Shawna Wilber explained the new software will increase efficiencies and allow department heads to be more analytical and proactive rather than reactive. All department heads will be able to see budgets in real time and it will give the board and employees better reporting options. She said there is enough money in the existing budget to cover the over $22,000 purchase. The board unanimously agreed to transfer $25,000 to cover the expense.

• FIREHOUSE FLOOR: Taylor reported members of the fire department are concerned about risks to fire volunteers from damaged drains in the fire house floor. Director of Public Works Dick Osgood will look for options to make repairs around the deteriorating floor drains.

• LAWSUIT: Marchionda announced that the court has ruled in favor of the Village in the Town of Jerusalem’s appeal of an eariler decision by Judge Dennis Bender. The ruling requires Jerusalem to pay the village about $153,000 in sewer fees that have been withheld over a contract dispute. Marchionda says the judge’s order does not include $40,000, or about eight months worth of fees because of an error made by the village’s previous attorney. Village officials have asked to meet with Jerusalem town officials to make a presentation about the sewer contract.
“It’s been alleged... that Penn Yan refused to meet with the Town of Jerusalem. That is false. We’ve told them when they bring their account current, we will sit down and discuss anything, but that didn’t happen.”