Town of Cicero

The Town of Cicero board met Monday night at 7 p.m. with residents of Cicero to talk about decisions and any topics that would want to be discussed about the improvement of the town. The board included Chet Dudzinski, councilman, Michael Benn, CPA, Mark Marzullo, councilman, and Frances Kip, town supervisor.

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance lead by three of the members of the boy scout troop in Cicero. That followed by any questions that the audience had before the board began on with their agenda. William Bell, representative of NAVAC Explorers, asked if he may take the floor. Last year the explorers held a trip to St. Jude Children's Hospital to donate toys. It was explained as a great success.

"It's kids helping kids. This is a way for children to learn about volunteerism. It builds character and is enjoyable for all involved," Bell suggested. Raffles have already been started for the funding. After a moment of speaking about some more ideas such as an Easter egg hunt, the board approved.

The next speaker was Katherine Johnson from Tri State Auto. She asked if she may have an extension for fencing and planting on the land where their non salvaged cars were being kept.

"The ground would keep shifting because of the snow melting and would ruin any of our plants and would never hold the fence up. It's a real mess," explained Johnson. She also mentioned the fact that it might snow again this year and there would be more melting in that case. The board decided to push her date back to next month.

Much discussion was focused on ways to better William Park Recreation Center in Cicero. A spokeswoman, Marion Irwin, asked if they may have the walls repainted and the leaking roof fixed. They needed to reimburse the insurance company and that was approved.

The same woman spoke about the parks in the area. "We need $4,300 to rent six porta johns for surrounding parks," Irwin said. Quickly, that was approved.

The room become filled with emotional people when the topic of Camel Runne, a neighborhood in Cicero, was brought up into discussion. Four couples at the meeting rose their hands to speak about the pond discharge through a natural area onto their properties.

"The pond is overflowing into my backyard. It's disgusting and a health hazard. We've called and called to complain, but we haven't gotten any satisfaction," a resident, Winnie Jones, yelled during the confusion.

The idea over lowering the water level was mentioned. "I believe this can be done by constructing a pipe. We can contact the town engineer who deals with these problems to alleviate this flooding," Councilman Dudzinski suggested.

"Turn the pond over to the town and we will construct a way to stop the flooding. I can assure we are concerned about this problem and will find a solution," councilman Marzullo stated. The decision about the pond was pending as of Monday night.

Town of Camillus

The Town Board Meeting was held Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the town boardroom. The Town Board had 13 issues to be approved.

The first issue was to approve the pay increase for Part-Time Police Officers to $13 per hour, to be effective Nov. 11, 2002.

"The second  item on the agenda is to approve the hiring of Bernie Cisco, as the Data Entry Clerk at the Camillus Police Department, with an hourly rate of $9.27 and 19 hours per week," said Town Clerk Wanetta Simmons. "This will be effective Nov. 12, 2002." The vote was unanimous.

They then authorized a couple of things, which were the office of the Town Clerk to advertise for the position of Part-Time Janitorial position at the Municipal Building. Also they authorized the purchase of two Tandem Axel Trucks off the New York State Contract at a price not to exceed $111,000 each for use at the Camillus Highway Department.

Lastly they authorized the final payment in the amount of $5,225 to Josall Syracuse, Inc., for the Camillus Salt Shed Project located at the Camillus Highway Department.

"The Salt Shed is finally paid off completely," said Camillus Public Works Superintendent Rodger Shrek. "It was not a major capital expenditure, but since it was one that was mandated by the state government on localities, we are glad be done with this expense. We felt we were in environmental compliance with salt run-off before, and this was just an additional state mandate."

Then the Board went on in approving such issues as the contract for the Aqueduct to Amboy Trail and Amboy Landing, The installation of fire hydrants in certain spots in the Scenic Meadows section. They then wanted to approve David Farina of Bond Schoeneck and King to mediate the police department's contract, and last to approve the $13,000 lease with New York Holdings LLC, for cellular communications installations on Oakridge Drive Water Tank and authorize a Supervisor to sign.

"The Camillus Police and the Town are not at an impasse, nor have we gone to binding arbitration," said Camillus Police Chief Brenda Frazier. "We are glad to see the town moving forward with efforts to negotiate a contract with us. However, the town should be open and honest about how much they are spending for an outside lawyer, which is paid with taxpayer dollars."

At the end of their meeting, they then had to set the date for the Camillus Municipal Building to hold a public hearing to consider the petition of Richard T. Moore to form the Ike Dixon Water District.