Stamford To Look At Building Permit Fees

STAMFORD  –   Stamford Town Board members approved a resolution to support the Association of Towns' Bill of Rights to the state and will review the town's building permit fees to make increases where needed.

The Bill of Rights resolution supports home rule over state mandates and seeks to protect the power of home rule, saying local townships have a better idea of the laws and regulations required to protect its residents and protects the power of local towns to make their own laws; relief from unfunded mandates and stopping the state from forcing towns to pay for programs without providing the money (unfunded mandates); modernize public notices by allowing towns to post public notices online instead of using expensive local newspapers and to promote a stronger state-local partnership by treating towns as equal partners rather than just  administrative arms of the state.

Cameras needed to livestream Stamford Town Board meetings were expected to arrive late last week, to allow town of Stamford to begin recording meetings, according to Supervisor John Kosier. It is something he has been working on since the beginning of the year. As for an audit of the town books, he's having trouble finding firms that do municipal audits.

"I have contacted several auditing firms," said Kosier. "I am awaiting on return calls from at least five. Many do not do municipal audits. I am now contacting firms in the Albany area. I will keep working on it. I would like an audit done too."

Highway Superintendent Dan Miglianti reported that due to the lack of the proper size stone the town may not get its paving done this summer. . "We have been ditching, but paving might not happen if we can't get the stone," he reported. The crews have also been doing grader patching and he is hopeful the permit to work on the Foote Hollow Road Bridge will be issued to allow that project to move forward. He is also seeking an application to build a bridge on Decker Road through the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation Service.

He said equipment has been working good, however, he is short one crew member for a death in the family. 

Code Enforcement Officer Tomi Tompkins was present as requested by a resident last month to have monthly reports. He said he currently caught up on his permits but did say the town does need to update the fee schedule for permits. It has not been updated, he said, since he took office in 2008. "It definitely needs to be looked at and new fees developed," he said. He will make copies of the current rate sheet for the board to review and will include rate sheets from some of the other towns for comparison. "Thing are going well. I have 29 open permits to date," he said. He noted that all renovation, including roofs, now require a building permit, as do repairs to porches. "The state law requires a permit even to replace the material on your roof."

Board members moved into an executive session to discuss personnel and said no action would result from the session.

The next town board meeting will be held August 12.