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S idewalk plow can’t do it all, Mayor says
While the Granville Village Board handed out compliments Monday night for the performance of the Department of Public Works during this difficult and snowy winter, an appeal was made to residents to keep up their sidewalk duties.
Resident Ernie Woods said he had to walk in the street numerous times on his way to the meeting that night when sidewalks were at times piled high with snow.
Mayor Jay Niles said that while he, too, waits until the sidewalk plow comes through before finishing up his own sidewalk, he reminded those in the audience they are responsible for keeping their walks open for the public.
“It’s still the responsibility of the homeowner. The (sidewalk) plow can’t get everything; people have to do the rest on their own,” Niles said.
DPW Superintendent Dan Williams said the sidewalk plow is now a sidewalk snowblower and as a result, the trip around the village’s sidewalks now takes about three times longer to complete one circuit. Due to the depth of the snow the machine has been fitted with a snowblower attachment.
Further complicating the situation for the DPW, however, is the same issue making snow removal difficult for every Granville resident – there’s simply no place left to put the snow.
Williams said the lack of places to push, plow or shovel the snow causes a problem for the sidewalk machine because he will not let his driver chew into piles placed in the walkways by residents. They simply have no way of knowing what is in such a snow pile and risk damaging the machine. “I understand it’s been tough finding places, but we’re not going to do that,” he said.
In other news Niles asked board members if they wanted to consider offering a reward for information leading to the return of the pineapple for the Veterans Park fountain. The board declined to do so.
“I don’t want to be known as the guy who offered a reward for a lead pineapple,” Trustee Frank Caruso said. Niles said the village will rely on the police force to locate the missing item.
The board passed a pair of local laws Monday night after hearing no members of the public speak during comment periods that started the meeting. The first local law made some changes to the village zoning law, part of an update program, and the second law updated fines relating to the village dog laws.
A parking issue raised by a North Street resident brought another issue to the attention of the board. Niles said in looking into a no-parking zone for a portion of North Street up to Broadview Terrace, officials found the zone already existed – the signs had simply gone missing. The DPW will be replacing the signs.
The composting site shared by Fort Edward, Lake George and Granville continues to work on the problems found at the Kingsbury location. Putting on his wastewater treatment hat, Williams said the group recently agreed to generate an RFP or request for proposals from engineering firms. The request will be for an evaluation of the facility to determine exactly what upgrades it requires to operate correctly after years of neglect. Williams said the result of the evaluation will give the group hard data to use when making decisions about the facility’s future.
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