By Dan Acton, Alfred Town Supervisor
MACE, Northland, and ARP
The town board is considering using a consortium for code enforcement and to that end they listened to a presentation by Municipal Association for Code Enforcement referred to as MACE. This organization is comprised of fourteen towns in Allegany County headquartered in the Town of Caneadea. They have three code enforcement officers that provide code enforcement for those towns. The possible benefit to the town would be code work at a lower cost. The board had many questions for the representatives of MACE and a lengthy discussion ensured. The board decided more consideration was necessary before making a decision on this matter.
Our solar code enforcement officer Shawn Grasby zoomed into the meeting to update us on the Northland Power solar project that is planned for the area around McAndrews Road. If this project goes forward the developer will enter a PILOT that benefits the school district, town, and county and a Host Community Agreement for the benefit of the town. Additionally, there will be funds available to support community groups. We expect to learn more about this funding as this process moves forward.
We also learned that Northland Power is planning to hold an open house for the public at the Alfred Station Fire Company. This is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday June 22, 2022. More on this as it becomes available.
Lastly the board resolved to use a portion of our American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to pave the parking lot. This pavement, which will cover from Shaw Road to the end of the truck garage, will eliminate the ruts and mud community members encounter when they come to the town building.