Students attend meeting, addressing blight, street paving, and plans for Senaca Street Park in 2023
By Syrena Lynn Carver
Resolutions passed
- Mayor to purchase 179 Madison Ave from the Land Bank. This will be a site for the next BOCES house.
- Accepted resignation of Vanessa Spitulnik from the Library Board of Directors
- Accepted the appointment of Holly Hogan to the Library Board of Directors
- Set Trick or Treat Hours for the City of Hornell, 6-8pm October 31st.
Land Bank success
The Land Bank acquires land from the County tax auction. The County pays any taxes and closing costs. Houses are usually demolished; this year Hornell has been lucky enough to have 3 demos. Mayor Buckley said, “it’s a nice feather in our [Hornell] cap.” -referring to cleaning up 3 properties this year. The three properties are: Walnut St., Madison Ave, & Hartshorne St. The mayor also said, “this program has added over a million dollars to the tax rolls.”
Street paving next week
Concerning the City Streets: Paving of the milled streets will commence this week and be finished by the end of the week. Other City projects will be in process over the winter season so that they can be started in the spring.
Finalizing the design for the new park on Seneca St.
The design is 95% finished and the bidding process will happen over the winter months so that groundbreaking can commence in the spring. Patricia Moore asked about the status of the ground pollution due to the gas stations and dry cleaners in that space years ago. City Attorney, Joe Pelych stated that the ground has passed all necessary testing. The mayor added that it will be a nice contribution to the city to have a new downtown greenspace & gathering space. Downtown will also get some new revisions but he did not go into details about this. James St. Park will have tennis courts and basketball courts redone and the baby pool will be turned into a splash pad. Lights and locker rooms will also be added to the pool area.
EMS Update
The mayor stated that EMS contracts and talks with local neighboring municipalities continue and are currently in the developing stages for working out a solution for coverage in the outer lying areas.
Absent from the meeting: Cooper, Bassage
