Time change announced for Halloween Trunk N Treat in Gouverneur

by Rachel Hunter

A Halloween Trunk N Treat, sponsored and hosted by Parkstead Gouverneur, will be held on Halloween Night, Saturday, October 31, 4 to 6 p.m., at 500 Sleepy Hollow Rd., off Pooler St., Gouverneur. The event’s time was changed to allow for more Halloween fun during daylight hours.

Parkstead Gouverneur Assistant Property Manager Sean Peck (son of Carlton Peck) arrived at the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 20 and said he is looking forward to making the event big, but safe for the youth in attendance.

“We want to be involved more in the community. We are doing more things in the community. We want people to know we are here. We’re hosting Trunk N Treat, and we’re opening it up to the public because there is not a lot for kids to do – and we wanted to do something that is safe for kids.”

The Parkstead Gouverneur Trunk N Treat is open to the public. All CDC guidelines amid the COVID-19 pandemic crisis will be enforced. Everyone must wear a mask and must be six feet apart. Parents must remain with their children at all times while attending the event.

“I have purchased 300-400 masks, 400-500 gloves,” Assistant Property Manager Sean Peck said. “We are borrowing cones… what we are going to do is have everyone go as families, six feet apart, and walk down one side of the complex. We’re not going to have them run all over the complex.

“Our residents wanted to (hold Trunk N Treat). The residents will be six feet apart, handing out bagged candy or treats or something that is safe. We’re going to have the kids walk down the sidewalk, turn the corner, and back around – all on one side, all separated.

“We’ve also asked that any child who has a costume that doesn’t require a mask, to wear a mask. We’ve had a lot of excitement about it. A lot of people have contacted us about it, because there isn’t really anything else going on for Halloween. We’re going to have plenty of staff on site to ensure that families are socially distanced. Of course families can walk together, because they are a family -- but we are going to make sure the families are six feet apart.

“The type of stuff we are giving out is like Rice Krispee Treats that are already individually packaged. “We’ve all been through enough with COVID-19, and there is not really an end in sight, but I don’t want Halloween to be taken away from the kids. It’s something that is for the kids.

“Anyone who knows me and my family, everybody knows that we’re big supporters of taking care of the kids, looking after the kids. We’ve been doing the high school band awards now for, well, this would have been 56 years. This was our first year not doing it… So the fair and this town has been a part of my life since the day I was born.”

In addition, Parkstead Gouverneur will also host a Best Costume Contest. “We are asking local business to donate prizes for the costume contest,” Assistant Property Manager Peck said. “And we are also going to be taking pictures of everybody and we are going to post them on our webpage… so that people can go in and print off their kids in their costumes.”

Those who are interested in setting up a trunk are invited to call Parkstead Gouverneur at (315) 287-3163 to register. Assistant Manager Peck confirmed with the Gouverneur Tribune Press, as of press deadline this week, 12 Parkstead Gouverneur residents and four community members have agreed to pass out candy. Property Manager Stormy Cox said that hand sanitizer will be available at every station for community members.

“Obviously, we are going to have our own station set up at the front (by the leasing office), and we will be directing traffic. We are here for the community. If anyone has any questions or anything, they can come right to the office. So if you are a trunk, you are required to have hand sanitizer too.”

Parking will be plentiful, Parkstead Gouverneur officials said. All foot-traffic will be on one side of the complex, so vehicles can park throughout the complex on the other side, or in Parkstead Gouverneur’s overflow parking areas or on Pooler St. Since costumed youngsters will be walking on the sidewalk, and coned-off sections, the roadways will be available for vehicles to park.

“I don’t think it will be an issue,” Assistant Manager Sean Peck said. “We’re asking people to spread out their time. I think everyone is going to come early and then go trick-or-treating around the village (5 to 7 p.m.) since they are opening that up… We need to make sure that the parents walk with the kids. The kids aren’t going to stay six feet apart by themselves… So parents need to be with their kids throughout the complex.”

“We have a big enough property, and it is important for us to provide this for the kids,” Property Manager Stormy Cox said. “Sean has really pioneered this whole idea, and it is important. We want kids to be able to enjoy Halloween because COVID has just been tough on everybody. I think that we have the capability here to provide that for the community. There’s not really a lot of places here in Gouverneur where you have this area that you can use. It’s going to be good, and we’re going to be able to spread it out far enough.”

“It’s cool how our complex is shaped (like a backwards P). It’s not like you are going down one side, turning around, and coming back down the other. You are able to go around,” Property Manager Stormy Cox added that all vehicles will be directed around the backwards P and back out. “You have to enter and exit the same way, however, we don’t want people to turning around,” she said.

“We aren’t going to have any trunks on that side of the road,” Assistant Property Manager Sean Peck said. “When they get to Building 516… that is it, that is where the last one is going to be, and then they can just walk out to exit and to their cars if their cars are right here. On the back side of the property, where we don’t have a sidewalk, we are going to have cones set up so that cars aren’t going around anyone. The Fair has agreed to let me come over and borrow cones, signs and stuff like that… We are excited to do this for the community. We are here. We are a part of the community, and I think we are showing that we are here to help people and be in the community.”

The entire Gouverneur community is invited to attend the Trunk N Treat at Parkstead Gouverneur on Oct. 31, 4 to 6 p.m.

GCSD Superintendent of Schools Lauren French announces intent to retire

by Rachel Hunter

Lauren F. French, Superintendent of Gouverneur Central School District, has announced her intent to retire effective June 30, 2021.

Following rumors that circulated around the Gouverneur community this past week, the Gouverneur Tribune Press asked GCSD Board of Education President David Fenlong about the decision. “(Lauren French) chose to retire. The board is respecting her decision… She is going to complete the entire school year with us, and the board is going to accept her letter of retirement at our regular meeting on Oct. 19. She decided to let her school family know before it was released to the public…”

The GCSD Board of Education will accept her letter of retirement at their regular meeting on October 19, 2020. The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. from the Gouverneur Middle School cafeteria on the GCSD Wildcats page. The meeting is closed to the public (in-person) and will be conducted with social distancing, in accordance with Governor Cuomo’s suspension of Article 7 of the Public Officers Law, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting will be broadcast live on the District’s Wildcat Facebook page and the recording will be posted to that site.

Lauren French has been with the District since 1984, starting her career as a Junior High Science Teacher. She taught Biology for 15 years, until August 1999 when she was appointed as Middle School Principal. She held that position until January 1, 2012, when she took over as Superintendent of Schools.

On the evening of Tuesday, October 6, Supt. French went live on Facebook to address the rumors circulating the community about her intent to retire.

“I know over the last several week (the GCSD Board of Education) has had multiple board meetings that have had executive sessions to discuss personnel, and I understand that does create a level of concern in our community. That is not what I want people to be concerned about, so with the permission of Board President (David Fenlong), I have been able to make this public at this time. All of this work has been to accept my letter of resignation for retirement. I did not approach this easily or hastily. It has been quite a burden to think about. I knew last spring that I was reaching the time where it was important and imperative for the school to continue moving forward with, I would say, a younger person that would be able to invest the time and energy that I am not able to do to the level of perfection that I demand.

“So in March, I was getting ready to write a letter of retirement, and then COVID hit, and I thought that was pretty poor form for COVID to hit, a pandemic to hit, and the superintendent to say: “Well, folks, I am out of here.” I did not submit the letter of resignation for retirement at that time, but held on to it. Now, we’ve made it through the spring and we’ve made it through the summer, and we’ve opened up school and I feel like we’ve been quite successful with the hurdles that we have been asked to get over that I can get on with my personal plans.

“So I tendered my resignation for retirement, effective June 30, 2021. My goal will continue to be to serve this community, the scholars that we have on a day-to-day basis between now and the end of the school year. This was not a decision that was taken lightly. With COVID and with the hours of work, and I hate to say it but approaching 60 in the next month or two, I am just not able to do those tasks to the degree that matches my level of need, and the detail, keeping everyone safe weighs heavily on me.

“Sitting today with my husband, as I was entering the data remotely on all of the students who had been tested and the number of reports that we have received back of negative tests, and desegregating it by building and adding it to the state dashboard… he said, “How much time do you spend on this every day?” And I said usually it is between one and one-and-a-half hours to do it well. I don’t use that as an excuse, it’s just that what means the most to me, what really fulfills my goals as an educator and as a human being is to have direct contact with teachers and scholars.

“And I hate to say it, but this year I have had contact with one scholar in the middle school, and it was wonderful to run into him and have a conversation, get him turned around a little bit, and try to help with some of the anxiety of going into the building and wearing masks, and that meant more to me than any report that I filed or any data that I collected, or any columns that I organized was probably the 8-10 minutes of human interaction with a child in need. That’s what means the most to me.

“So to put this in a nutshell, in the next few minutes I will load the resignation letter onto Facebook so that people can see what I provided to the Board. What I am looking forward to is finishing the rest of the year, to continue to support the community. I know that I have an absolutely wonderful staff, a wonderful Board of Education, an Administrative team, and a group of scholars and they have meant the world to me.

“When I look back, having started at Gouverneur in 1966 as a kindergartener and retiring in 2021, my association with Gouverneur Central will be over 55 years. And then you start thinking about it, and you say: “Oh my goodness that is over half-a-century.” If somebody told me as a kindergartener that I would be here for a half-century, I probably would have done what I did then as a kindergartener… and that was hide under the table and wait for Mrs. Bigarel to say it was cookie time. That was my favorite call to action. So I am not leaving with hard feelings, I loved just about every day. I did tell my staff that I would put in my retirement when I didn’t love what I was doing – but that’s not the case. I absolutely love what I am doing. I just know for the time and the wear and tear that this has put on me to work at least six days per week, it’s not healthy for me. And I really want the time to enjoy the three grandchildren that I have. We were able to visit all three of them in the last three weeks… Having someone run to you and yell, “Grandma!” That has been so missing, and that’s because of school…

“I miss the presence of the scholars and the day-to-day conversations that I have with them. They have been the guiding and driving force for why I have continued to work and dedicate the better part of my life to help them forward… One of my favorite quotes that I like to use is: “I have never looked down on anyone, except to put out a hand to help them up.” And I really, truly believe that. Because I have been successful in a career and living in a community that I enjoy that it is incumbent upon me to help others to do the same thing.

“So even in retirement, while I will not be associated with the school and will not meddle in school business, I will continue to look forward to have those resources and networks and continue to help and benefit people of this community. Number one, it is the right thing to do, and it is what I want to do. It has been a wonderful opportunity. I am leaving on good terms with what I am able to accomplish as a superintendent. It was quite a haul to attempt to restructure the district… but looking at the circumstances we have right now, we have buildings that have the air quality index that they should be having. We have buildings that are safe and secure. We have buildings that are wired for the level of technology that we need to do. There’s always room to grow, but you can’t grow unless you have a solid foundation. And I really feel that for the time, that’s what I have been able to accomplish with the support of a phenomenal Board, and with the support of taxpayers in the community that have supported the requests for their children.

“So I thank you, and I will continue to invest my time and effort through June 30th to making sure that our scholars get what they need. I can’t be any more appreciative than that, so I thank members of the community and my staff, and the Board. You will see me quite busy and quite active until June 30th. And then hopefully, you will find me in my garden or with my grandbabies. So thank you and goodnight.”

An outpouring of congratulations and well-wishes for GCS Superintendent of Schools Lauren French was received at the announcement by many members of the Gouverneur community and beyond. Mrs. French’s letter of resignation due to retirement was not made public by press time on Tuesday. More information will be published once it becomes available.

For more information on the Gouverneur Central School District, visit gcsk12.org.

Gouverneur hydrants to get flushed Oct. 5-6

The following is a public service announcement from the Village of Gouverneur:

The Village of Gouverneur, Department of Public Works, wishes to inform residents that hydrant flushing will be done during the day, from 6:00 am to 3:00 pm Monday October 5, 2020 and then again from 6:00 am to 3:00 pm on Tuesday October 6, 2020.

Residents may notice a loss of water pressure and a slight discoloration of the water. While the water is safe to drink, residents are encouraged to hold off on doing white laundry.

The Village of Gouverneur Department of Public Work extends gratitude to local residents for their cooperation, and apologizes for any inconvenience the hydrant flushing may cause. If you have any further questions, you can contact the Department of Public Works at 287-0110.

Sales tax distribution a hot topic at Gouverneur village board meeting

by Rachel Hunter

St. Lawrence County Legislator District 5 Harry A. Smithers II (R-Gouverneur) gave his first in-person report to the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees on Tuesday, September 15. This was the first meeting the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees met in-person since the COVID-19 pandemic. Other meetings were open to the public via teleconference.

Legislator Smithers said the following in his report: “I was appointed to take (Former St. Lawrence County Legislator Henry Leader’s) place the first of July, so I am relatively new at this. A lot of this stuff has been kind of routine, talking about maintenance, bridges and accepting grants. A couple of unusual things being the resolutions to support law enforcement, and to oppose making law enforcement officers provide their own liability insurance.

“We haven’t really started talking about sales tax, which has been in the news. My understanding is that the first meeting between the Mayor of Ogdensburg and the County representatives is scheduled for Thursday (September 17) morning. What I know about this is what I have seen in the paper and was given to me from the Town Board, which I read over. And it piqued my interest in sales tax because I didn’t know that much about it. So I would recommend to you, if you would like to know about it… this is a very readable, understandable document that is readily available about sales tax in New York State. It is dated 2015 but not too much has changed, and if you are going to talk about that later… I do have some concerns about what has been labeled final sales tax proposal. It is kind of strange because we haven’t really started negotiating yet for next year, other than to extend current distribution of sales tax.

“The key question seems to be what people would consider a fair distribution. Different people would obviously think different amounts would be fair – What is fair to the county? What is fair to the towns? What is fair to the cities? A couple of things that might be worth talking about is the sales tax was initiated to help the County be able to meet their obligation for Medicaid, and what I have been told is that they haven’t been able to meet that until they raised the sales tax from 7 to 8 percent, back five or six years ago. Since then, the fund balance has grown a little. It sounds like a lot, but it is really a smaller portion of the overall budget… Also, I was told that when they did raise the sales tax, they lowered the property tax to give some of that back to the taxpayers.

“One concern I have is where (Ogdensburg Mayor Mike Skelly) says a separation occurs between the City and the County, the County has no obligation to distribute any sales tax revenue to the towns and villages. Whereas, this (document) says frankly the opposite. I’ll just read from page 11. It talks about the option that the City has of pre-empting, which is an option. They would see how much revenue they would generate from that.

“I am willing to listen, maybe they do deserve more. I don’t think anyone on the legislature wants to give the towns and villages, and the City less money than they get now.

“Most of the counties do share some portion of the sales tax with the cities, towns and villages. In 2015, the revenue of the 56 outside of New York City did retain all of it. The other 46 shared with the towns, villages and cities. And it says that counties with cities that pre-empt are required by state law to allocate a portion of their sales tax revenues with cities other than the pre-empting cities and towns in the county. So, I think you should have that information, and maybe you can ask (Mayor Mike Skelly) why he said that… because I don’t understand that.”

Legislator Smithers then asked the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees: “Do you have any questions for me?”

Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ron McDougall then said the following: “A couple comments. First, I am glad you are here. Do you have any report or anything? If you don’t that’s fine. So (Village of Gouverneur Clerk/Treasurer) can get you a copy of the report that (Former SLC Legislator Henry Leader) and his predecessor used to supply the Village. I am not sure what they do in DePeyster, if they get anything or not. But Henry would provide us a monthly report orally and written report. They are usually the same for the Town of Gouverneur Council and the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees… We’ll give you some help and provide you with some of the reports that Henry and before that Travis Dann used to provide to us. If you don’t have one, we understand. We don’t have to have one, it is just more paperwork, but on the other hand I listen to most of the meetings anyways… So, it’s fine. You are here.”

Legislator Smithers then said the following: “I’d just like to say on sales tax we are just getting started, we haven’t really talked about it.”

Mayor McDougall then said the following: “From my perspective, that’s troubling. You haven’t started talking about sales tax yet? There hasn’t been any executive sessions on sales tax? Nobody mentioned it last night. Nobody mentioned it a couple weeks ago… Harry, I’m not a fool. Henry was talking about sales tax since the day he took office almost, and he left because of Travis Dann. The County has had many meetings with the City of Ogdensburg, going back a year, maybe two. The County themselves has spent several years planning this… and you probably haven’t heard my argument yet. But we got three fiscal Conservative senators, very important, Betty Little, Joe Griffo, and Patty Ritchie. Sales tax was raised by 33 percent. It wasn’t 7 to 8. It went from 3 to 4. The State gets the other, the rest of the first 4. It has been that way for a long time.

“It came in with Rockefeller actually, the sales tax when it started. It was just at 1 percent and it was going to go away after a while. Well, it’s been 60 years or whatever it has been… But nevertheless, I don’t want to lecture you on sales tax. Everyone in this room has heard me talk about it before, but it has been going on and on and on. I find extraordinary that you come in here and tell me that nobody has said anything about sales tax. Just today, SLC Legislator Dan Fay who they haven’t seen in months over at the town and village office was coming in, fishing around or whatever, and he was going around and saying: “Gee, when are you guys getting together with Ogdensburg again?” And he talked about the last meeting they had and the meeting before that. Over in Potsdam, another local legislator, their legislator went around the Potsdam office, and they hadn’t seen her in quite some time. I know they probably told you what to say...”

“No, they didn’t,” Legislator Smithers said immediately.

Mayor McDougall continued: “But please don’t say it in front of Henry, who has been through this and through this and through this. I haven’t gotten over the fact that… whatever happened to him. He’s got great credibility, and the issue is sales tax. But I find it interesting that another legislator in another part of the county would approach the City of Ogdensburg, saying: “They have not treated you right.” Maybe we should go back to where we were before and everybody gets the same. That’s why Henry left office, but enough on that… I am all done.”

“But I am not. I’m not telling you something that is not true,” Legislator Smithers said.

“People talk, Harry,” Mayor McDougall said.

“And I can’t tell you what we talked about in executive session,” Legislator Smithers said. “I can tell you that we haven’t discussed anything that the Mayor of Ogdensburg has given to the County… The first meeting to talk about that is Thursday. It has been in the paper. You have talked about it, and shared what (Mayor Skelly) sent around to the towns, but that is kind of a backdoor approach to negotiation. Our current agreement is to continue the way that it has been distributed… that is what is in effect right now. So they are going to be negotiating for down the road… Yes, sales tax is ongoing, but I am not standing here telling you lies.”

Mayor McDougall then said the following: “Sales tax has been widely discussed, even if it hasn’t been with you… But anyways, I am glad you did find your way to come in tonight. It’s our first meeting… You haven’t provided you report yet, which is okay. We can help you there to know how to give a report…”

Mayor McDougall then asked Village Attorney Henry Leader: “Don’t you wish you were still county legislator? Probably not...” Attorney Leader shook his head as the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees continued to discuss the business matters before the board.

Later in the meeting, Mayor McDougall said sales tax was one topic of discussion at the SLC Conference of Mayors meeting. He also mentioned the Town Supervisors had met the week before, and one topic of discussion was sales tax. “In particular, the narrative that was put out by the City of Ogdensburg, the facts and figures behind it. I know I am being tentative but… Is that the final resolution? I don’t know. I know that the City of Ogdensburg is scrambling to go at this two ways… either so that they and the towns and villages can get a bigger percentage over the last penny in particular, as we did the first three cents, and have for years. They are also, barring the negotiations breaking down, they can pre-empt. They may go that way. I don’t think the County wants that, I’m not sure. But I don’t think they want that, and I am not sure the City of Ogdensburg wants it. But for decades the City of Ogdensburg along with the villages and towns have been joined at the hip. We negotiated together to lobby those three senators I mentioned, and also some Assembly people but the difference then was that those two senators were in the majority, and there was one Democrat Addie Jenne who was in the majority in the Assembly. We worked at that really hard, and we joined up with the county legislators, mayors and supervisors in the county… we all joined up to lobby those senators to grant a 33 1/3 percent raise in sales tax. They did that, somewhat begrudgingly, but they did that… But they also tried to do the opposite, to take more in negotiations with the City of Ogdensburg, more away from the towns and villages. So it became a stalemate. There was some Home Rule legislation that was approved earlier this year, dealing with the one-year extender. That is the situation we find ourselves in. The different mayors, village boards, town boards are left scratching their heads as well. There is going to be a meeting in a couple days with the town supervisors along with the Chairman of the Town Supervisors Association… things are happening rather quickly. And if it is possible, Harry, I apologize if I offended you. It is possible that nobody has talked to you about sales tax. But I have, and so has (Town of Gouverneur Deputy Supervisor Eldon Conklin)… Maybe the legislators don’t say anything about sales tax to you. But I’ll lend this to you: The representative of Lisbon was good enough to go to town board meeting, Dave Forsythe, and reported that what you called a little fund balance, he figures is over $34 million, and expects it to go to $40 million if things keep going… What’s the reason for that? There’s lots of reasons… He was good enough to report that to Bill Nelson and the town board. Also again, I thought it was $31 million. I listened to the audit and I thought it was $31 million. You heard the same thing as I did, probably. Anyways, they are finding money in these bad times… The other thing that certain mayors talked about and town supervisors… a lot of people are questioning: “We have a COVID problem?” Gee, what’s going on. The three percent raise to the executives… everybody voted for it, I think. When you are talking $100,000 and a 3 percent raise. “What COVID? What bad times? What is going on?” I understand contractual, but this was not a contract vote… But when you are out making $100,000 like some of these department heads are, at 3 percent, that is $3,000. When you are making $30,000, that is $900. But when you go to the store to buy the loaf of bread… it costs the same. It doesn’t matter what your income is. So anyways that is my kick at the cat…”

“I am asking for a motion to support Ogdensburg with what they have done, and what they have been doing for us for decades. They have been supporting us, and I am damn glad they are doing it, I’ll tell you. One of things I have said, and I have said in here, is that the County wants us to pay the increase in Medicaid. They are looking for towns and villages, local governments, to pay for the increase in Medicaid. That’s what is going on. So this is in negotiations… it doesn’t mean it will be the final answer.”

The Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees then voted to support the City of Ogdensburg. The Town of Gouverneur Council made a similar resolution the week before, at their monthly board meeting on Sept. 8.

When discussion was sought during the vote, Village of Gouverneur Deputy Mayor Charles Newvine said the following: “I think this is a step in the right direction. I think what Harry was trying to say was that negotiations haven’t been going on, discussions have been going on for quite some time. But the actually negotiations haven’t gone on, and they won’t until Thursday. I think this is a step in the right direction. I don’t think that the County is going to agree with this, but I think it is something that has to be said to get the negotiations to go ahead. I think we are looking at a 28 percent increase in sales tax revenue here in the Village of Gouverneur, 28 percent to the Town of Gouverneur, and 27 percent to the Town of DePeyster. And a $6.5 million loss to the County. Those are the numbers, so I think it would be hard to have all county legislators agree to that. But, like I said, it is a step in the right direction to at least get the negotiations more discussed than they have been in the last four or five years.”

The motion was received by Deputy Mayor Newvine, seconded by Village Trustee Troy Besaw. There was no further discussion. All were in favor, and the motion carried.

The next meeting of the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees will be held on Tuesday, October 20, 6 p.m., in the municipal courtroom.

Paving on village streets due Sept. 23-24

by Rachel Hunter

Paving is due to occur in the Village of Gouverneur on September 23 and 24, Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ron McDougall at the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees Sept. 15 meeting. The first street to be paved will be Grove St.

“Two days will take care of it, right (Village of Gouverneur Department of Public Works Superintendent TJ Simmons)?”

“Oh yes,” Supt. Simmons said.

On Wednesday, Sept. 16 Supt. Simmons issue the following public notice: “The Village of Gouverneur, Department of Public Works, would like to advise our motoring public that on Wednesday, September 23rd, we will be paving Grove Street (From South Gordon Street to Pooler Street). On Thursday, September 24th, we expect to be paving on East Barney Street (From Clinton Street to North Gordon Street). Work will begin at 7:00 am and continue throughout the day. Of course, inclement weather will change this schedule. During these two days, throughout the day these streets may be shut down to thru traffic and only emergency vehicles will be allowed through. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation.”

Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ron McDougall also at the village board meeting on Tuesday night reported the following: “Jaine Witherell has passed and she now has her full-fledged license. We’re very happy for her. We know it is not easy, and we appreciate somebody going after it. So that means that all three operators are now licensed.”

Supt. Simmons then provided the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees a run-down of some of the projects handled by the DPW during the month of August:

“We installed a new manhole on Bellevue St. to gain access to our sewer mains for flushing purposes,” Supt. Simmons said.

“We repaired a hydrant on East Main Street by G&R Auto that got struck by a vehicle over the weekend, and was not reported to the Gouverneur Police Department.

“We picked up Truck 16, which is our 1999 International from Vikings, after the new Proline Box was installed. They did a great job on it. They painted the frame while it was up there and stuff. It looks great.

Several days were spent marking out shutoffs for the GIS program for DANC.

Shared Service: The Village helped the Town to vac out the pump station so they could repair the pumps and floats in one of their stations. We helped the Town with the water break on the West Side, which they had many in the month of August. The Town helped us hot-patch several areas on North Gordon, East Barney, by the high school, Waid Street and John Street. We used 14 tons of blacktop to patch those areas.

“We dug up a sinkhole on East Barney by Clinton Street, and found that the catch basin pipe and basin needed to be rebuilt. We also found that sewer main was broken. We replaced the catch basin, an eight-foot section of sewer main.

“The DPW spent several weeks prepping for paving by rebuilding catch basins, manholes and replacing the boxes that needed to be repaired.”

At the conclusion of the report, Village of Gouverneur Deputy Mayor Charles Newvine asked: “The power plant – of course it is not on there, but it says that the KW produced is just 4,000. That’s kind of low, isn’t it?

Supt. Simmons responded: “It’s the flow of the river… We try to run it. Usually we start just one generator in the morning, and by 10:30, it’s down below the dam. And according to the FERC license, they would like us to maintain a minimum of two inches flowing over the dam during operation. So we haven’t been able to run it.”

Deputy Mayor Newvine then asked: “And you said that new milling machine is working pretty good, huh?”

“Yes, we received our milling machine. I picked it up at LeBerge and Curtis in Canton last Tuesday and it works amazing. Our machine handles it perfectly. It takes so much stress off the guys. We literally can do our own milling around our manholes and stuff. I think it is a great machine. It’s a nice piece of equipment.”

There were no further questions for Supt. Simmons following his report.

The next meeting of the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees is to be held on Tuesday, October 20, 6 p.m., in the municipal courtroom.

2020 census wrapping up with local canvassing

by Dan McClelland

The 2020 census officially concludes September 30 and in the weeks until then enumerators are working diligently in the North Country communities to get everyone counted by the finish line.

“September 30 is the last day that households can either self-respond, either online, over the phone or on paper and that's also the last day we'll knock on doors,” Jeff Behler, census spokesman, explained this week.

He said that when census workers go to anyone's door they always produce a photo identification, with their photo, an expiration date and the U.S. Department of Commerce water mark on it. The census is always conducted by that federal agency.

“Most carry a bag with their paper supplies in it and their smart photo, because that's how we collect the data!”

After interviewing the resident the census-takers then enter the data into their smart phone, he explained.

“They are also required to wear a mask when they are out in the public, regardless of what local restrictions may be!”

Mr. Behler stressed that mask-wearing is a requirement. “Whenever we learn of people not wearing them, we deal with those issues as we hear of them.”

He said things have gone relatively smoothly in this year's census. “There have been some issues like every census where someone points a gun at an enumerator” or makes other threats. “Some of these things typically happen every census!”

There have been some incidents in the North Country where people show up at a door and say they are with the census bureau and they don't produce the required ID.

“Now that we are door-knocking, this is when scams typically start...this is when people say: 'hey, I'm from the census bureau.'”

Mr. Behler said his agency alerts local authorities when that happens.

He said the questions on any census form are very simple. “Name, age, address, date of birth, race and ethnicity, whether or not you are of hispanic origin. We ask for a phone number, the person's sex, whether they own or rent their home and the relationship to the first person that is listed on the census form...mother, father, son, daughter.”

“Important things for people to know is we don't ask for citizenship status, for bank account information, for money, for social security numbers.” Mr. Behler said asking those questions are normally what happen if scams are underway.

“That should always raise a red flag that this is a scam” and the fake enumerator is a scammer.

If anyone feels they have been scammed or they just want to check out the process they can call the regional telephone number at (212) 8827100, he told the press.

“We'll do the leg work. We'll let you know if it's a legitimate survey. -And if it's a scam we immediately notify the local media, local law enforcement and notify all of our partners.” Those people include elected leaders, church officials, business owners, etc.

“We let everyone know there is a scam going on in their area so they can get the word out to everyone in their area,” Mr. Behler stressed.

He noted this is his third census and the numbers this time are better than in the past.

“We finished the 2010 census with a final self-response rate of 66.5%. That's one of our bench marks” of success. “That means that 33% of the people enumerated we had to go out and knock on the door to get their date.”

He explained when all numbers are tabulated, both self-responses and those who were interviewed by a census worker, they will get data from 100% of the addresses they are expected to canvass.

“Going into the 2020 census process several years ago, before we knew anything about COVID 19, we had predicted we would be at 60.5% at the time we would begin knocking on door.”

“We needed to know how many people we needed to recruit and hire and train. So we have to come up with an estimate” of self-responders.

He said that actual self-responders this time hit 63.5%- three points more than there initial estimate. “And this was before COVID.”

Asked if he was content with how everything in the census process has gone this time, Mr. Behler said he was. “I'm extremely pleased, especially with the self-response. I think we overachieved in a lot of areas. “Hiring has been excellent. We were worried after COVID struck. Would a lot of the people who applied eight months ago still be interested?

He noted initial recruiting began in October, 2018. “Some people could have applied that early.”

Mr. Behler said the start of this year's census was pushed back due to the pandemic. “The start of knocking on doors should have been May 13 and concluded July 31. But because of COVID we had to shift the start to August 9 and conclude September 30.

What type of person is a census enumerator? We asked.

Mr. Behler said it depends on the geographic area, but typically they are retired people, housewives, “any and all of the above.

He said many time the people who apply are recently retired. “This is a gig job...an eight-week job!”

“Some people just want to earn extra money. Where there are college campuses, a lot of times students apply because it's short-term employment.”

He said if his agency had been able to stick to its original schedule- May to July would have been perfect for students, since they are out of class then in the college year.

“This time we had student enumerators, but not as many as we typically would have had.”

“We had some people we hired who were no longer interested because of the schedule change or because of the COVID-19 scare itself.”

Some were genuinely concerned about meeting the public during this time and we understand that, he noted.

He said a typical enumerations takes between five and ten minutes, depending upon the number of people in the household who have to be interviewed. “On average it's five minutes for a family of four!”

One person can fill the census form out for their entire family, but everyone must be listed, he said of the process.

“We are basically taking a snap shot of the country,” who is living in America and where they live. “On April 1 2020 that's when we snap the camera.”

He said regardless of when the census form is completed, all questions relate to the April 1 date. “For example where did you live on April 1, 2020?”

Enumerators in the upstate region are paid $20 per hour.

“And the great things about these jobs are you choose the days and hours you work,” Mr. Behler stated.

“-And then we assign you work based up those choices. If you have a full-time job and just want to work for the census on evenings and weekends, you can be very successful!”

A person could easily work 20 hours a week for eight weeks and get the job done? “Absolutely,” he replied.

Why is it important that everyone gets counted in a census?

“It boils down to two things: representation. The number of seats the State of New York will have in the U.S. House of Representatives. The trend has been New York has lost seats because of population declines. While states like Texas and Florida, where populations are growing, gain Congressional seats.”

He said each state will use the census data to do their redistricting for drawing voting precincts, their school districts. He said local governments will use the data to determine boundaries for their legislative districts.

Mr. Behler said businesses typically use census data for the planning and marketing. “They want to grow where they know they will have a customer base and the abilitiy to hire employees.”

“When we talk about the distribution of federal fundings around the nation we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars each year.”

“Funding things like Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, WIC but also for fixing the nation's infrastructure: bridges, tunnels, roads, parks, community block development, etc.

Census data also determines, he said, how federal school meal grants are formulated, Title I grants, Headstart, Pel grants for college students. “One of the most things is health care, showing there are enough hospitals in communities, that there are enough beds in the hospitals, supplies they need, that there are enough fire stations, police departments, ambulances- all of those are based on formulas that will use 2020 census data.”

He explained that the 2020 census report will be a living document with statistics to guide the country for the next ten years.

“That's why it's so important to get the message out far and wide that everyone must be counted. The five minutes they take to complete the census is an investment in their futures for the next ten years.”

Mr. Behler directs the U. S. Census Bureau's New York district, one of six in the country. The New York district covers New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico.

2020 Hammond Fair canceled

by Rachel Hunter

The Hammond Fair Association has decided to cancel the 2020 Hammond Fair amid the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. This year would have been the fair’s 81st anniversary.

The Hammond Fair Association announced the cancellation following considerable discussion, and the results of an interest survey by local 4-H and FFA members and their families. Fair Secretary Joan Hadlock said the Hammond Fair Association through the interest survey received about 50 percent positive and 50 percent negative responses about holding the 2020 Hammond Fair, and so after much discussion, it was decided to cancel the fair.

The Hammond Fair Association has announced that plans are underway for next year’s Hammond Fair which will be held at the fairgrounds in Hammond. Project that 4-H and FFA members were working on the be exhibited this year will be eligible at the 2021 Hammond Fair.

Started by a local agriculture teacher in the early 1900s, the Hammond Fair features the long tradition of developing local youth’s agricultural knowledge during the two-day country fair – featuring skills contests, livestock shows, vegetable and homemaking judging, and so much more. The youth assuredly will take the opportunity to fine-tune their skills and anticipate the Hammond Fair’s return in 2021!

GCS Superintendent answers community’s concerns ahead of 2020-2021 school year

by Jessyca Cardinell

Gouverneur Central School District Superintendent of Schools Lauren French shared information pertaining to the upcoming 2020-2021 school year. Mrs. French stated there were many posts on Facebook concerning the wearing of masks by students. She felt the need to go into detail with what is being expected with mask wearing.

“Gouverneur Central School will be providing three masks,” she said. “These are three cloth masks for each scholar and also for our staff. We had also been encouraged to allow students to wear the gators because there is a higher level of comfort. We do not have a revised guidance on that from the health department but many of you may be aware that the use of gators article was published by a medical study saying they are not an effective control mechanism.

“This is just another example of where we are moving forward with very purposeful action in terms of what we know with the time. Today we find out that they may not be as safe as once understood. We will be providing masks and we will wait on additional guidance on the gaiters.” said Mrs. French, who went on to say, “I do think what’s most important is that we focus on the fact that all our actions are in accordance with our concept of trying to make spaces in our educational environments as safe as possible for our scholars and our employees.” said Mrs. French.

Mrs. French said this priority has brought up another topic that is of concern and importance.

“That is that all of our actions in cleaning of the buses, hallways, classrooms and teachers with masks and cleaning tough surfaces will not be beneficial or helpful if all of us aren’t doing our part,” she said. “All of us have to work in partnership with this and what you do at home and in the community and what our scholars do, any weak link in that chain of events or environment, will weaken what we are able to do here at school. That is something that we are taking as many precautions as we can and as I said to parents all along, I cannot guarantee the safety of your child, but we will most certainly do anything in our power and within our control in terms of cleaning, disinfecting, social distancing and health protocols,” said Mrs. French

The next topic was that many had brought up the Quarantine areas, which are being set up by Head Custodian Harold Simmons and Head Nurse Bev Martin.

“Those are in accordance with Department of Health guidelines. They have to be in a supervised area and isolated to the point we are not placing two, three or four students together and violating social distance. Please be aware of that,” said Mrs. French

Another question that has come in is asking what the protocol is for sending students home and then allowing them to return to school.

“Again, as of today, which is August 12th, the guidance that we have received is that a child that is sent home or that does have an elevated temperature needs to have medical paperwork to be able to return to school and has to have a clear COVID testing, again that’s guidance we have received from the Department of Health. People have asked, what are you going to do in terms of contacting families. We will be working with the Department of Health. I personally am not going to be made aware of Positive case unless a family member tells me or it is confirmed through the Department of Health and that’s the importance of contact tracing is so that I can say well this child was in this classroom and these are the families could have been potentially exposed. Then we will work individually with those families to make sure that all protocols are safely followed,” said Mrs. French.

“Several people asked how come we are doing the hybrid version of school where people are in for a couple of days then they are learning remotely. The reason for that, again, is we have to follow the guidelines for social distancing. When we map out our classrooms, most classrooms are not able to handle more than 12 students. We also have to take into an account a teacher being in a classroom and the potential of an aid or an additional teacher. We are actually maximizing classrooms if we are capable of having 12 students. In most cases, it will be ten and in some cases even fewer,” said Mrs. French.

Many people have also asked how the district is going to be sure about the cleanliness of the room.

“All soft touch items, upholstered furniture, stuffed teddy bears, manipulatives that are shared between and among students are going to have to be removed from the classroom. I am very proud of my teachers for coming up with solutions,” said Mrs. French, who was able to share some of those tremendous jobs done by teachers with this process.

“Mrs. Heather Delity, with our STEM is actually making individual kits for kids. This means instead of sharing gears and Legos back and forth. A student will have his or her own unique kit and be able to work with that,” said Mrs. French.

“We have talked about but I have not been able to confirm this yet with the art department, but we have talked about in the art department, students being given an art bag which would be their own pencil and drawing utensils, their paint brushes, their set of paints, their crayons, those kinds of items that you do not want to be co-mingled between students. A lot of effort has certainly gone into this. I had talked earlier about UV light on cleaning surfaces, only to find out later that schools cannot use ultraviolet radiation or ultraviolet light sources as a mechanism for cleaning these frequently handheld items,” said Mrs. French, who stated another idea of using sanitizing cupboards is not in regulation for public schools.

Mrs. French said the district is open to any other community led ideas which she said were great and had wonderful intentions behind them.

“We’re talking about hybrid learning and that hybrid meaning combination. So we are going to have face to face interactions two days a week for the majority of our scholars. Remote learning opportunities will be for the other three days. Many people have asked what does remote look like,” said Mrs. French.

“This will include a variety of things including reading tasks and writing tasks. Our teachers have actually spoken about making videos that students can observe. Teachers themselves making videos that would explain content, other assignments and things as appropriate to specifically target a standard or learning outcome we want a student to have,” said Mrs. French

She explained that most of the remote learning will be done at a different time from when the classroom learning is happening. This would help to alleviate some of the stress and confusion off of teachers and students.

There will be opportunity where the students and teachers would benefit from a simultaneous remote and classroom learning. This Mrs. French explained would be for older students. It would provide an experience much like college learning with a professor.

Mrs. French explained that there are so many different circumstances and situations which need to be looked at and which will determine the best solution for each family and each learning experience and option this coming school year.

“Our number one focus and most important aspect is to limit the amount of exposure,” she said. “We can do that by controlling the number of scholars in the building at any one time. We do that by controlling how close they are to one another in the building. We do that by controlling the amount of cleaning that takes place. We do that by controlling the presence of a mask and we do that by controlling the exchanges that potentially occur in a hallway. That is our number one task and priority to focus on. The second is to provide equable learning opportunity to all scholars.”

“In looking at our first goal which is limiting contact and limiting exposure, followed by quality instructional programming, we felt we were best able to do that with a smaller number of students with one teacher and then providing access to quality resources online that a student could manage with family at a time that is convenient to the dynamics in the special circumstances in place.

On remote learning days when a scholar is at home, we’re going to be asking scholars to check in with teachers in a variety of ways. We are asking our individual buildings to communicate that check in mechanism with the family. The reason I say this is I have heard some really exciting ideas. At the elementary, teachers mentioned to me they would like to have a group morning meeting to help with the sense of community and family we want to build.

“We’d really like on the remote days for those children to still check in with us at a synced manner. So at one time we are all on the camera seeing each other and checking in. The model at the Elementary might look different at the Middle School, where I know several teachers have spoken about their advisory to have a daily check in during advisory to continue to maintain those relationships which I’m finding right now are more important than the information. It’s the people with whom I get to meet every day. That’s more important right now is the sense of community and family that we can provide our young scholars,” said Mrs. French who stated that each school building has been asked to share those expectations with the scholars.

GCSD Board of Education discusses re-opening plan

by Jessyca Cardinell

The Gouverneur Central School District Board of Education met for their monthly meeting at the Gouverneur Central Middle School on the evening of Monday, August 3rd. Everyone was welcomed to watch the meeting via Facebook Live, a safe alternative during this confusing time of COVID-19 Pandemic

A major topic of discussion was the upcoming 2020-2021 school year, which is in the works of becoming a functioning plan to assist the Gouverneur Central School District families, staff and students.

“At this time, we are sharing Gouverneur Central School District’s reopening plan, approximately 80 pages worth of work, this was accomplished by a team of fifty-seven people with over three hundred people in the community providing input. A good thing to note is this is a working document, it’s a live document as we find out more information and collect more questions in the community. We will address those and redesign the plan with the given information we know about,” said Mrs. French

“What is very difficult is it’s like a chicken and the egg type story, do you put the plan out and then get feedback or do you get feedback first and then make the plan. So what we have done is with the 57 individuals that have volunteered to sit on this and with the comments we got from the community we are putting an initial draft and then we will be looking at feedback,” said Mrs. French as she went over the drafted item.

“The survey is basically going to be asking parents to make a commitment and that is, here is the plan we are looking at, here is the commitment we need from you. What is it and where is the disconnect? What is the connection between what your family needs and the school?” said Mrs. French. “Basically what we have done is divide the student population in half with the letters of the alphabet A-K and L-Z. There are 808 students in the first half of the alphabet and 838 students in the second portion of the alphabet. Those students will be placed in their grade appropriate classrooms. What that will enable us to do is to socially distance all of our scholars. The average classroom can hold about ten students. When you look at the elementary, I don’t want to say easy, because none of this will be particularly easy, but it will be easy for us to hold students in groups of about ten in the elementary. This enables them to be socially distanced and they will also be wearing masks during this time. Classrooms will have their encores pushed in so that students will be limited to exposure and there won’t be as many opportunities for our scholars to be mixing with different groups of children. This would mean music would be pushed in, PE will be pushed in, this way our scholars will be pretty much a group of nine or ten other students with their teacher and about one or two other push in teachers,” said Mrs. French.

She shared exciting news that meals can be served in homes, the school is looking into being able to provide meals in bags for students to be take home and enjoy.

“Another thing we’ve looked into is in order to litigate congestion in the hallways, we have designated certain doorways as UPK and Kindergarten doorway, a 1st and 2nd grade doorway and a 3rd and 4th grade doorway,” said Mrs. French.

Mrs. French shared that the bussing situation will also provide social distancing for students, as 61% of the school population uses the bus as transportation to and from school. This amounts to approximately 360, however this will be separated in half to about 160 students and separate doorways.

Mrs. French stated that students with be based in small groups, limited interaction and socially distancing int the classroom, providing a safer atmosphere. The School District will also be looking for ways to help assist families seeking childcare.

“With families coming with by the letter of their last name, the entire family will be coming into school and leaving a 1st or 2nd grader home while an older sibling is at school. That jumps to the next step which indicates we will be going back to a single bus run, students will be picked up on a single trip and they will be taken home on a single trip.” said Mrs. French, who explained why this would be more effective.

“When we looked at how much time it would take to clear a bus and clean a bus and then letting the bus sit in a resting stage while the disinfectant has time to work, which is a good chunk of time, then send that bus back out to get another bus run of students, there’s no way we could get all students into a seven hour day. It will be a single run A-K, what we are looking at is Monday and Tuesday will be A-K, Wednesday will be a remote day and Thursday and Friday will be L-Z,” said Mrs. French.

“Another thing we have indicated is we will certainly work with families who have blended families.” said Mrs. French, this would mean those families with two last names who are not in the same group would still get to attend school at the same time. This would also be helpful as families do not have to social distance on the buses.

This Mrs. French stated is the reason for the second survey, a way to get a closer look at what families need.

Mrs. French went over the various options that they are looking for feedback on, including parents who are interested in remote learning only, meaning their student would acquire attendance through a remote platform.

“We are also looking at a hybrid modeling your student is in two days a week and then three days a week with remote learning included. We are also looking at students who are self-contained and get outside serves including speech and P.T. The things that we cannot send people who provide those services to individual homes. Those students are in classes of eight or less so we can actually meet their needs here at school and again keep the environment as safe as possible,” said Mrs. French.

Mrs. French stated that is the purpose of the survey, to figure out which model of learning parents are most interested in their students receiving. Whether that be the hybrid model which includes in school learning as well as remote learning from home, or if the preferred model would be a completely remote learning experience from home.

When it comes to masks, there has been a great debate and concern about this.

“Right now, the medical opinion is that they wear their mask 100% of the time in school.” said Mrs. French, who expressed more input from the community would be really appreciated on this plan in the works.

The survey will be put out through the GCSD Wildcats Facebook Page. If there is no response from Facebook, there is a team of 20 people who will be calling families in order to ensure that there is 100 percent participation opportunity for the survey.

“I do understand it is very hard to put a survey out on Facebook because you have populations of people who do not have access to quality technology, which is why we will do a check off, the survey will be due by Friday, as it is going Live tomorrow at 11 a.m. On Friday, if we do not have a response then we will start triaging those names between the twenty people who have volunteered to collect the data. Family engagement should be very constant,” said Mrs. French, who gave Nurse Bev Martin and Harold Simmons credit for being substantial in knowledge of health and safety.

The school district is looking at hands free hand sanitizer dispensers to help with controlling and eliminating contamination. The air flow meets the safety concerns and regulations in the Middle School and Elementary, which is wonderful news. The High School needs to a closer look to make some changes.

“There are all sorts of things we are going to have to be doing in terms of taking trainings and so Bev Martin has to do hygiene and respiratory health and mask wearing.” said Mrs. French, who stated that Mrs. Martin is in fact making videos to help with education in these areas.

Parents will be asked to take their child’s temperature every morning before sending them to school as a precaution to ensure that no sick children are sent to school.

“We are purchasing three cloth masks for every teacher and every student. They will be washable so they can go home and be laundered. If a student comes to school and has forgotten their mask, they will be given a disposable mask for the day. The district is looking at ways in providing students with breaks from wearing the masks in safe manner.

Social distancing will require us to be careful of the exchange in the hallways. Students are pretty much going to be delegated to certain areas of the school.

We have no resolved lunch yet. Some of the other schools with whom I’ve spoken are actually taking the extra time and are setting up in the gymnasium and social distancing lunch that way.” said Mrs. French, who again stated these areas really need some feedback from families and staff so the school is prepared with what the community would like to see and what would make them feel comfortable. Gouverneur Elementary is looking at lunches being held in individual classrooms.

Parent pick-up is another avenue that needs to be explored.

“We are working with bussing 61% of students, we are also looking for parent commitment transport because we might actually be able to do bus runs differently,” said Mrs. French.

Mrs. French explained the concern with splitting half days with various running around from parents as they try to keep up with the differing schedules if they have multiple children who all go to different schools in the District. It could cause a lot of chaos, confusion and frustration.

Mrs. French said details like one staircase is for going up and one for going down is being looked at to lessen the possibility of contamination in the High School.

“We’ve set up restricted areas in terms of someone comes to school and doesn’t feel well. That child is set up in an isolation room. That is something we have to set up under certain perimeters. With testing we have different sources available where testing can take place. What we have to do in what order and how long. This is probably going to be one of the biggest areas in Gouverneur as far as compliance. I think it is very important that people understand why we are doing what we are doing.

Right now we are limiting when teachers and support staff can come in the building. The reason for that is, if I come into the building and I turn out to test positive for COVID, and I used the faculty lounge to do some xeroxing and I went to the bathroom and into the kitchen to get water out of the cooler and then went into my classroom; then someone later on followed some of my same patterns and touched surfaces that I may have touched, if we don’t know who’s been there, we can’t accurately trace the individuals that were there after me. It’s going to be very important that we know when people arrive at the building, are in the building and leave the building,” said Mrs. French.

Mrs. French stated that work is aggressively being done so teachers have the ability to set up their classrooms and get ready for the upcoming school year. This includes getting rid of items no longer allowed that have potential to spread the virus.

Mrs. French stated that many items will have to be thoroughly gone through including toys, calculators and items that are frequently handled and touched.

The school district is looking at UV cabinets to store items so they can be disinfected properly and used again.

Mrs. French stated that food is vital to be provided and students will be able to take home their lunch for the portion of the week they are not at school.

“Probably the biggest concern not only for teachers and administrators but for families as well is the social, emotional well-being of each scholar. This is not an easy situation to be in, so we have counseling planned, we have the trauma team and social workers. Our staff has been generating

“We are giving parents the opportunity to look at this and say to themselves, what best meets the needs of our family, our scholars and the resources we have. They will then make a commitment on the survey as that comes out. If no one responds to this survey on Facebook, we figure it would take each one of us making 78 phone calls. We know we will have a lot of good response from people,” said Mrs. French.

Mrs. French stated in conclusion,

“Do parent have a choice? Yes they do,” said Mrs. French.

She went over what had been stated previously, “Letters of the last name, A-K and L-Z in terms of what days they come in on. We will work with blended families to put in one group. We will provide transportation; however these are going to be commitments. They are not going to be opt in or opt out, we cannot do that when we have to socially distance kids,” said Mrs. French.

Mrs. French explained she really needed the Board of Education to have the opportunity to listen to the information and ask questions pertaining to the reopening of school for the 2020-2021 school year.

Mrs. Laurie Roberts, GCSD Board of Education Member, asked about those families who do not have thermometers at home and are unable to obtain one.

Mrs. French stated the school is looking into helping those families out and providing them with the thermometer to use to ensure everyone is checked daily.

The District is also required to social distance during fire drills, ensuring students stay the six feet apart. The one circumstance where this will not be necessary is in the case of a real fire. This will also be the case for shelter in place drills, the students will be socially distancing, unless there is an actual real threat.

When it comes to remote learning Mrs. French said that dependent on grade level it will look very different.

High School students will have a work level more closely related to college students, while younger grades will have less expectations on them and more interactive.

The District has been looking into a way to work with families to make the work at home less stressful than the period from March to June this past school year. Many parents were concerned it was too much busy work and Mrs. French and the staff at Gouverneur Central are looking into ways to alleviate this concern. Offering more fun and different looking models and experiences, as they now have more time to plan such learning.

As the meeting continued many areas are being discussed and looked into to make the most of this upcoming school year with the circumstances as they are. The District has many strict guidelines to follow and is doing their best execute and effective plan.

All parents are asked to participate in the survey as to give the Gouverneur Central School District a better grasp on what exactly will work the best for families and students to ensure a successful school year for all.

USDA Food Box Distribution Slated for August 6 in Gouverneur

A USDA Food Box Distribution Program will be held at the Gouverneur Community Center, 4673 State Highway 58, Gouverneur, on Thursday, August 6th, 10:00 am to 12:00 noon. The event is open to all with no registration necessary. Staff and volunteers will be present to provide curbside pick-up of family style grocery boxes. Families will receive a total of three boxes, including a box of frozen meats, a box of produce and a box of dairy products. Products will be provided while they last, and the program will end when all products have been distributed. No early arrivals please.

The USDA Food Box Distribution Program is part of the Federal COVID-19 Food Assistance Program. The program is intended to purchase surplus commodities to assist farms and food businesses while making products available for free to those suffering from the economic impacts of the pandemic. This specific event is made possible by the work of the Gouverneur Community Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County, the Gouverneur Neighborhood Center and GardenShare. Local distributors, such as Renzi Foodservice, deliver the products to non-profit partners who manage distribution to local families and individuals.

Direct questions to David Spilman, Director of the Community Center at 315-287-9144 or Patrick Ames, Executive Director of Extension, at 315-379-9192, ext. 226.

About Cornell Cooperative Extension: Cornell Cooperative Extension is an employer and educator recognized for valuing AA/EEO, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities and provided equal programs and employment opportunities.

Village board recognizes GPD’s dedicated service a month after Treyanna Summerville’s death

by Rachel Hunter

Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ron McDougall at the July 21 Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees publicly extended gratitude to the Gouverneur Police Department for its dedicated service this past month since the death of Treyanna Summerville.

“As we are all aware, we had the tragedy at 135 Rowley St. involving a death and alleged murder. A difficult situation on a number of us, whether it be the DPW or other agencies, outside agencies, recognition things that took place afterwards, some down by the high school, and vigils and marches and other things. Particularly, for the Police Department it has been a most difficult situation – far and above what many of the rest of us went through other than of course the family who lost a family member, and has one person charged, and another out on bail. Justice for Treyanna. We all want that. We want justice for all. How that comes out, I don’t know… But it was four weeks ago yesterday, and it has been difficult… Particularly to (Chief Laurina Greenhill) and the Police Department on behalf of the Village Board, I’d just like to publicly thank you, all of you.”

There were no other comments made at the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees meeting last Tuesday.

The next meeting of the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18.

Fire alarm system to be installed at Town of Gouverneur Office Building in September

by Rachel Hunter

Town of Gouverneur Supervisor Dave Spilman, Jr. at the July 14 meeting of the Town of Gouverneur Council announced that the fire alarm system will be installed at Town of Gouverneur Office Building and at the Friends 4 Pound Paws Building, starting the first week in September.

Supervisor Spilman told the town council members that Alltech Integrations, Inc. “got backed up because of COVID-19.” “Things just kind of went backwards on them,” he said.

“On that note, I met with our insurance inspector, and went through all the properties and the lift stations and pump stations last Friday, and he took a lot of pictures and updated some things. We should be getting that report soon.”

The next meeting of Town of Gouverneur Council is to be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11.

Grace Food Pantry set to re-open on June 25

by Rachel Hunter

Grace Food Pantry Founder and Christian Life Fellowship Pastor Robert LaVeck has announced the physical re-opening for the Grace Food Pantry will be on Thursday, June 25.

The Grace Food Pantry has been in operation since 1999 in the basement of the Christian Life Fellowship Church, 52 Church St., Gouverneur, under the direction of Pastor Robert LaVeck. For the past 21 years, the mission of the Grace Food Pantry has always been about more than just food – providing for the physical needs and spiritual concerns of the North Country community as well. It closed for a couple weeks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, and then began serving the North Country community on an appointment-only basis. Now, the Grace Food Pantry is look forward to re-opening its doors to the North Country community.

In order to guarantee personal distancing space in the Grace Food Pantry, a volunteer will sit outside the food pantry doors to regulate foot-traffic flow. Pastor LaVeck told the Gouverneur Tribune Press this week: “In Grace Food Pantry, masks will be worn and personal distances will be regulated,” Pastor LaVeck said. “There are hand sanitation stations every six feet.” He said there are about 15 volunteers that are eager to serve North Country residents, and that social distancing between the volunteers will not be an issue due to the tables inside the Grace Food Pantry.

Pastor LaVeck also told the Gouverneur Tribune Press that there is plenty of food and baby products available. Due to weekly supply trips to receive donations from the United Way in Watertown, Pastor LaVeck said there is plenty of baby food, diapers, wet wipes, and more for local families in need.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the Grace Food Pantry was meeting the needs of anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 people each month. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic crisis Pastor LaVeck said that the Grace Food Pantry has received several generous contributions from local businesses, nonprofit agencies, and community members to assist in their mission. But help is still needed. For more information on how to donate, call Pastor LaVeck at (315) 287-7656.

Sunday Morning Worship services at 10:30 a.m. have physically re-opened at Christian Life Fellowship Church. In accordance with the 25 percent capacity ruling from NYS Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last on Saturday, Pastor LaVeck said that up to 30 people could attend. He also told the Gouverneur Tribune Press that the church’s services on Facebook were receiving 40-60 views per week, and that he would continue posting them on a weekly basis. He added that the re-opening of the church was done in a careful manner, and that everyone in attendance will continue to wear face masks and will be seated six feet apart. Hand sanitizer in spray bottles will be made available to everyone in attendance.

For more information, call (315) 287-7656.

Gouverneur Neighborhood Center food pantry sees uptick in clients since COVID-19 outbreak

by Rachel Hunter

Giving residents in the Gouverneur area a hand-up in life, the Gouverneur Neighborhood Center, at 15 Rock Island St., Gouverneur, stands ready to serve all those in need, including those hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

The Gouverneur Neighborhood Center is one of six sites operated by St. Lawrence County Community Development Program. The centers are each staffed by a director and provide services to low-income families with the assistance of community volunteers; the services may be directly offered at the centers, or families may be referred to other agencies and resources as needed. Centers have food pantries and provide emergency aid if required with food, fuel, utilities or shelter. Thrift stores with donated clothing and household items are available at the Gouverneur Neighborhood Center and the Canton Neighborhood Center.

The mission of Neighborhood Centers is to help people in their communities move toward self-sufficiency. Obtaining available aid is often a difficult task for individuals and families, yet within the communities lie resources and assistance for those who need them. Centers operate with funds from the county, United Way, Northern New York Community Foundation, and generous contributions from individuals, businesses and faith-based groups. Donations of food, personal items and money are most welcome.

Gouverneur Neighborhood Director Angela Ferrick said the local food pantry has seen an increase in clients since the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Anyone that needs food can get food, right now,” she said. “We also have toilet paper and other hygiene options… Even if people just need some help during this time, we definitely encourage people to come if they need food.”

The St. Lawrence County Community Program shared this message on Facebook to try to share the message: “We understand that many members of our community are being hit hard with recent layoffs, hours cutting back, and difficulty reaching the unemployment office. We want those community members to know that they are eligible to utilize the Neighborhood Center Food Pantries. Yes, there are income guidelines-but current circumstances mean a lot more people are eligible. If you are having trouble feeding your family right now, we want to help you. That's what we're here for...”

According to The Emergency Food Assistance Program guidelines (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020), income eligibility is set at the following household size and annual income (1, $23,106; 2, $31,283; 3, $39,460; 4, $47,637; 5, $55,814; 6, $63,991; Each Additional Person Add $8,177).

Gouverneur Neighborhood Center Director Ferrick also said there is a third Emergency HEAP available to people who need it.

The Gouverneur Neighborhood Center is open on an appointment-only basis. If clients need the food pantry, Director Ferrick said they only need to call the Gouverneur Neighborhood Center at (315) 287-3370. Staff will put the package on the front porch to avoid person-to-person contact. Director Ferrick said this is the way the Gouverneur Neighborhood Center will most likely operate until June. The Gouverneur Neighborhood Center is open Mondays to Fridays, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. They are closed the first Friday of each month. For more information, call (315) 287-3370.

St. Lawrence Health System Implements temporary furlough of at least 400

Citing severe patient volume disruptions caused by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, St. Lawrence Health System plans to temporarily furlough at least 400 workers.

Chief Executive Officer of St. Lawrence Health System David Acker stated,“Our hospitals are facing an unprecedented pandemic; managing crushing costs in treating COVID-19 patients in circumstances that require extensive and expensive protocols and investing in the infrastructure preparedness for the COVID-19 surge, all while seeing the traditional sources of revenue from every day, medically necessary care bottom out.”

Health care facilities are under financial pressure after a steep drop-off in their normal monthly utilization and revenue, meant to free up hospital space and preserve protective equipment for the coronavirus outbreak.

St. Lawrence Health System said the cost-cutting measures are necessary given the revenue decrease from the cessation of elective procedures system-wide, and the temporary closure of Gouverneur Hospital’s operating rooms and many of the health system’s medical office sites. While at the same time, they are investing in efforts to fight the virus like buying personal protective equipment supplies, transforming units to COVID-19 wings for treatment, and setting up drive-thru testing sites.

Although St. Lawrence Health System said it remains fiscally solid, it also stated that the pandemic-related volume decline is too significant to ignore.

"While I am confident we will get through this challenging period together and emerge even stronger, we must take necessary steps to manage the short- and long-term financial impact on our health system," Mr. Acker said.

St. Lawrence Health System is projecting a cash flow drop of $10 million in the next 30 days.

The furloughs, which include position reductions at all levels, including senior leadership, department directors, clinical staff positions, and touch virtually all departments across each of the health system’s three hospitals, began April 17, and affect 20 percent of St. Lawrence Health System’s staff of just over 2,000. In addition to the temporary furloughs, St. Lawrence Health System is cutting pay for its senior executives.

Affected employees will continue to receive health and pharmacy benefits from St. Lawrence Health System. The health system anticipates that a majority of affected employees will also be able to sustain their pay through federal and state unemployment benefits. 

County Administrator Ruth Doyle Announces First Confirmed COVID-19 Case within St. Lawrence County

St. Lawrence County Administrator Ruth Doyle and St. Lawrence County Public Health Director Dana McGuire announced on March 24 that county officials have learned of a positive test result for Coronavirus (COVID-19) within St. Lawrence County. The test results were confirmed today (March 25, 2020). The confirmed case is a patient from St. Lawrence County. The local health department is getting in touch with anyone who may have been in contact with this individual.

No additional information is being released at this time due to patient privacy laws.

In response to this case and continuing recommendations from the state and federal governments, on March 16, 2020 the Chair of the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators, Joseph Lightfoot, has issued a State of Emergency to help prevent the spread of this disease.

The Public Health Department is strongly recommending residents stay home. The recommendation continues to be no unnecessary travel, avoid group gatherings, and avoid contact with other people. If essential travel is required (i.e. work, groceries, and/or medical needs), social distancing should be practiced, which means keeping a minimum of six feet apart from others.

Additionally, following Governor Cuomo’s directive, St. Lawrence County reduced county employees working in county facilities by 50% by implementing work from home protocols for many employees which began, Wednesday, March 18.

A number of County facilities are now closed to the public:  St. Lawrence County Court House  St. Lawrence County Public Safety Complex  St. Lawrence County Human Services Center  St. Lawrence County DMV Offices  St. Lawrence County Surrogate Building  All Nutrition Sites Additionally, St. Lawrence Health Systems and Claxton Hepburn Medical Center are working together to implement testing criteria and plan for increased hospital capacity.

Village of Gouverneur declares State of Emergency amid COVID-19 Pandemic

by Rachel Hunter

On Saturday, March 21, the Village of Gouverneur submitted the following public service announcement from Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ronald McDougall for inclusion in this week’s Gouverneur Tribune Press:

“The Village of Gouverneur Mayor and Board of Trustees have declared a State of Emergency that will continue until further notice because of the global COVID-19 Pandemic. All Village Offices and other buildings of the Village were closed to the Public at noon Monday, March 16th and various employees who were not already off were excused for the rest of the day until further notice.

“On Thursday, March 19th all other non-essential employees were excused until further notice. However, essential services such as the Gouverneur Police Department, Water Filtration Plant (ie. potable water) and Wastewater Treatment employees remain on the job. Our Highway and Electric DPW employees are currently on leave. However, two members of this department are on call 24 hours a day seven days a week. Additionally, certain clerical staff along with the Mayor are working in the offices on mandatory and regulatory essential items such as payroll and the 2020-2021 Village Budget. Department Heads are in daily contact with the Mayor. Governmental agencies are sharing information as part of our shared services agreements on a regular basis either in person, phones or electronically.

“The Village Police will remain on duty and taking calls at 315-287-2121 or 911. However, the Police will be prioritizing the importance of complaints as needed and face to face contact with the general public at the Police Station will be minimal. Additionally, the Administrative Staff and Mayor will be available by phone and/or electronically by calling 315-287-1720 and press 0 and to date have been at the Village complex daily and plan to continue this schedule.

“The Mayor and Board of Trustees are cautiously optimistic that these challenging times that we currently live in will be over in the next few weeks. However, we are keenly aware that it could be much longer and are making provisional plans in this regard. We will keep the community advised as much as possible in a timely fashion.

“In the meantime, please take President Trump’s and Governor Cuomo’s advice. Follow the executive orders and other recommendations that they have publicized such as hygiene, social distancing and various employee/employer work rules that they have ordered and/or recommended. It is for our general well-being of our community and humanity. Take Care, God Bless You and God Bless the United States of America.”

Village of Gouverneur talks COVID-19

by Rachel Hunter

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees held its monthly meeting on March 17 in the municipal courtroom. The meeting was an abbreviated format, with all those in attendance, observing the “social distancing” six feet separation rule. Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ronald McDougall set a limit at half the municipal courtroom’s capacity, at 41.5 persons.

“It’s no secret, of course, that in St. Lawrence County, we’re under a state of emergency per the St. Lawrence County Public Health Office and Public Health Officer Dana McQuire, who is also the Village of Gouverneur’s Public Health Officer,” Mayor McDougall said. “A lot of people don’t realize that we’re under the umbrella on that with that. Public meeting and open meetings law has been amended because of (COVID-19).”

Mayor McDougall then directed the Village Trustee’s attention to the following memo to all local government leaders from the secretary to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Melissa DeRosa, dated March 16: “The rapid increase in suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 is an unprecedented public health emergency facing all New Yorkers. As leaders in state and local government, our first and foremost responsibility is to ensure the health and safety of the public. This essential duty requires our decisive action now to slow the spread of this virus. On behalf of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and all New Yorkers, I call upon you – as executives, managers, administrators, mayors, supervisors, and leaders – to join the State of New York and limit your local government workforce to only its essential employees for the next two weeks. Specifically, all non-essential employees of local government agencies and authorities should not report to work, reducing your workforce by, at least, fifty percent (50%), until March 31, 2020. You and your local agency officials should consider essential employees as any person whose job function is essential to the effective operation of their agency or authority, or who must be physically present to perform their job, or who is involved in the emergency response to COVID-19. Non-essential employees should be considered any person who does not need to be physically present to perform their job functions, or they are not currently required to meet the core functions of their agency or authority during this emergency response. Throughout state government, non-essential employees will not be charged accruals during this time. Non-essential state employees are being directed to work from home, to the extent practicable. While they are home, these employees may be assigned work outside of their normal duties. State agencies may change an employee’s designation as either essential or nonessential at any time. Finally, state agencies will continue to recruit volunteers or mandate staff to support the critical COVID-19 response efforts across the state. The people we serve demand action. Let leadership be our legacy. Thank you.”

Mayor McDougall then made the following comments: “I did talk to Donald Dabiew, the Franklin County Legislative Chair, and he didn’t have any in his county as we don’t yet. We have some people waiting for some tests to come back, but that changed today unfortunately. There was one today in Saranac Lake, which is in Franklin County and also there is one in Plattsburgh, currently at the CVPH Hospital. I talked to the Jefferson County Chairman Scott Gray this afternoon and they didn’t have any in Jefferson County either. However, now, I guess one has been classified now in Albany but that person is a Fort Drum part-time employee and works in the Education Center. He was in Fort Drum from the 11th to the 13th, that’s Wednesday through Friday, and he’s got a positive test in Albany. Consequently the Education Center is currently shut down on Fort Drum.”

Mayor McDougall then gave the floor to St. Lawrence County Legislator District 5 Henry Leader (R-Gouverneur) who gave the following county update, detailing the special board meeting held March 16: “The declaration of emergency is, in part, to assist the school districts, to allow them to continue federal and state funding. Last night, the thing of significance was the legislature voted to empower the County Administrator Ruth Doyle with the advice and through the Office of Emergency Services and the St. Lawrence County Department of Health to take whatever measures were necessary to protect the county, and to help handle safety and health of the county… The county has also indicated a desire to go virtual, so we will probably be Skyping in electronically meeting three or four meetings. Other than that, if you walk through the county halls, there’s people with sanitizer, paper towels, and washing hands – as the board is doing here – as well as keeping distance. The recommendation is six feet, but at least three feet, and trying to avoid exposure for over 30 minutes. I will keep you apprised of anything that happens…”

Village Clerk/Treasurer Barbara Finnie then gave the following report: “We have closed off the (municipal) building to the public. I just heard today that the town court is also closed for good. They are not even opening up, until further notice. We are accepting phone calls. All three of us are here. Payments are still accepted. We are asking them to be put in the dropbox. We will make sure a receipt is mailed back to them. Births and deaths is all by phone. Put it in our box, and we’ll mail their birth and death certificates to them. So, we’re just trying to keep clean. But we’re here for all calls. Just press zero on the main line and one of us will answer it. A lot of people don’t know what extension they want to call, just press zero.”

Village of Gouverneur Recreation Department Director Casey Canell reported that the Gouverneur Recreation Center would remain closed until further notice. “We’re following Gouverneur Central School District,” Director Canell said, confirming that the closure would last until at least April 20. “Our cleaning and sanitizing plan of action is being investigated and researched, trying to figure out what options are available.” Director Canell confirmed with the village board that he was available by phone. Mayor McDougall then said, “As soon as the school closure was announced, Casey and I were on the phone with each other and Dave Spilman.”

Village of Gouverneur Chief of Police Laurina Greenhill then reported the following: “Our department probably, out everybody, has the biggest challenge to this Cornavirus for obvious reasons… It certainly poses some unique challenges. Of course, one of the first things to go was the closing of the courts by the order of the Office of Court Administration. In order to have any arraignment during business hours, we have to do an essential arraignment. We can’t arraign at our local court. I just got an email just before this meeting to clarify that we are to take them to the Ogdensburg City Court, and after hours we can call our local justice… With bail reform and everything, we’re kind of limited on what kind of arraignments we can do. I have instructed our guys to limit their exposure to the public. We don’t need to go out making random vehicle stops for no reason, unless it is necessary. We’re trying to do as much as we can over the phone… We put a sign on the door that, pretty much, if you are there only for a police matter… if you are making an inquiry, call us and we’ll try to answer your questions. Other than that, you’re going to use the intercom or we’re going to interview you through the intercom to try to limit people coming into the office. Obviously, there’s lots of times when we need to interview people, take depositions, but, if it is not a real emergency kind of case… we’re going to put that kind of stuff on the back burner for right now. We’ve encouraged them to wear disposable gloves at every interaction with the public. There’s only limited (supplies) we have on hand for this kind of stuff, but today through Public Health we got delivered some n95 masks. They kind of require some fit testing to work their best, so tomorrow we have an appointment at the fire station to do some fit testing. We also got a supply of some disposable coveralls and suits, and some more hand sanitizer. We put some disinfecting wipes in the cars. Well, the stores were all out, and we don’t have wipes, so we compromised right now and made some with paper towels, disinfectant and Ziploc bags and put them in the patrol cars. We’re going to respond in person, obviously, to personal injury accidents, certain kinds of emergencies… We’ve asked the dispatchers to the ask people when they call that if we absolutely have to respond to a residence, to ask if there is anyone in the residence with flu-like symptoms so we can assess accordingly. I know there is some communication with Public Health and the 911 Center, maybe helping us keep track of who is really under quarantine… We’ve got some teleconference meetings set up with Public Health. We put on our Facebook page too for the public to consider about not dragging themselves to the ER, communicating with the hospitals. If they have questions or anything related to Coronavirus or need assistance, they can call us and we’ll try to deal with each situation as they arise. This is a very fluid situation… it is changing all the time. I am get bombarded with emails, and I am trying to keep up with the information that is coming, and so I find myself in situations I have not had to deal with before as Chief of Police with these executive orders coming from the governor, especially the stuff with the establishments. I’ve had to weed my way through these orders and come to terms with them, but at the same time keep in the back of my mind try to balance people’s constitutional rights.”

Village of Gouverneur Department of Public Works Superintendent TJ Simmons reported the following: “The DPW is basically following protocol. We’ve got the building on lockdown. No entry to any personnel or civilians. As far as the guys out in the field, I tell them to keep their distance of at least six feet because we do have house calls and stuff like that for sewers and water lines… I want to make sure they are safe about it. I have contacted my salesman that comes once a month that lives in Albany. I’ve told him not to come. If I need anything, I’ll call him, and they can just ship what I need as far as water supplies and stuff like that. I do encourage the public not to flush paper towels, baby wipes, or napkins or rags down the toilet. Please dispose them in the garbage. That is some of the main things that we happen to pull out of people’s sewers that plugs them. So, we encourage, if it isn’t toilet paper… please do not flush it.”

When Mayor McDougall asked for Trustee comments, the sole response came from Village of Gouverneur Deputy Mayor Charles Newvine who urged to all present: “Wash your hands.”

In conclusion, Mayor McDougall said the following: “We’re in difficult times, changing times. Life is change. I’d just like to stress, like they did at the county legislature meeting last night, keep calm. I’ve heard various rumors. I don’t know what the toilet paper thing is, but… It was observed recently that an elderly couple was walking home with more toilet paper than they could use in a normal lifetime… and it is all over the country, a run on toilet paper! Another example, there was a rumor that the Price Chopper store was going to close… Ours is just going to close for five hours to restock and clean. That’s just some of the rumors going around in this difficult, challenging times. We will survive. Better days are coming. I just don’t think they are going to be this week, but long-term… have faith and God bless. We will survive this.”

The next meeting of the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees is scheduled to be held of Tuesday, April 21, 6 p.m., in the municipal courtroom.

Village board hears complaints on sidewalk snow removal local law

by Rachel Hunter

The Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees at its Feb. 18 monthly board meeting heard complaints from concerned property owners regarding the village’s local law regarding sidewalk snow removal.

Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ronald McDougall encouraged the public not to enter a debate, but the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees allowed over an hour during the public comment period for the local residents to air their long list of grievances against the Village of Gouverneur’s Local Law No. 1 of 1999, which rescinded Local Law No. 2 of 1980, and reads in short as follows: “Every owner or occupant of property containing and/or adjoining a sidewalk within the village of Gouverneur is responsible for the removal of snow from said sidewalk if same fronts and/or adjoins a street, highway or other public road in the Village of Gouverneur. If snow shall cease falling by 5:00 pm, it shall be the duty of the occupant or owner to clear the walk of snow the same night. In case snow falls after 5:00 pm, it shall be the duty of such occupant or owner to clear the walk of snow by 8:30 am the following day.”

The first resident to address the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees was Joseph Nardelli, owner of 82 Park Street in the Village of Gouverneur, who asked the following: “Why did it cost $25 to send a notice on a half a sheet of paper with one stamp and one envelope? It was a $25 (administrative) fee on top of the $232. I have no problem paying the fine for the snow removal. I admit my guilt, but I think $25 for that notification is totally outrageous.”

“You have a right to your opinion,” Mayor McDougall said. “I don’t mean to debate, but some people think the $25 fee should be a lot higher. The people here, this is the public sector… and it all costs money. It all starts with people calling in to complain, turning you in. In your case, it was the United States Post Office. They turned you in for not doing that. So anyways… we have a lady here who has other things to do. There’s the mailing and the documentation of the before and after picture of the violation, and then there is the matter of getting back to the person who complained. In this case, it was the Post Office. It was easy because, as I understand it, 14 of them or something like that… and some of them went as long as a week. And so the administration fee is a part of the law.”

Village of Gouverneur Deputy Mayor Charles Newvine then said the that local law said that the Village of Gouverneur “can pass a charge at a minimum of $25, but can charge up to $100 and can also tack on the cost of what it is to remove the snow.”

“So, if the Village wanted, it could send me a letter for $100 for the letter,” Nardelli asked.

“That is correct, plus the cost of snow removal,” Deputy Mayor Newvine said.

“That’ll be a subject of the budget if it is going to be raised,” Mayor McDougall said. “Some people want to raise it. Some of the rest of us think $25 is enough. But you have to remember the person that is doing that, just like any other full-time village employee, they are getting healthcare and they are getting a lot more than $25 an hour…”

“It’s totally absurd, and I am protesting,” Nardelli said. “It is ridiculous… $25 for a half-page letter and an envelope and a stamp, totally ridiculous. Even the cities – Schenectady, Albany, Syracuse – they just came out with a fine and there is no administrative fee. I mean, what gives?”

“I didn’t make the law,” Mayor McDougall said.

“Yes, but you can reverse it too,” Nardelli said.

Luke Perrigo of 517 Smith Road in Gouverneur later in the public comment period asked: “Back to the sidewalk issue with snow on the sidewalks, how do we determine, who we enforce that to and when we enforce that law? I have read the law, so I am curious as to when we enforce that law… there’s not an inches requirement in the law. There’s no requirement there, so I feel like the law is kind of vague as far as that goes. I did go down and I can show you a picture of the Village sidewalk by the hospital right now. Snow stopped before 5 o’clock, according to the law, that snow has to be removed tonight. Will the Village be calling someone on an overtime to remove that snow or can I file a complaint now and we hire the contractor to come and take care of that? I am just curious how do we enforce this to certain people and not other people.”

Mayor McDougall told Mr. Perrigo that the Village of Gouverneur had someone to take care of the sidewalk in question, and then gave the floor to Village of Gouverneur DPW Superintendent TJ Simmons who said the following: “What snow,” asked DPW Simmons. “The dusting we got today?”

“Well, there’s ice on it too, and according to the law it should have been salted to remove the ice,” Mr. Perrigo said. “Honest, I’m not picking on you, TJ. I’m more picking on why we are enforcing this law because of a complaint list filed on one person and not the other. If you drive down Main Street and you’re speeding, generally you don’t have to have a complaint to get a speeding ticket.”

“Unfortunately, like you said, the law is very vague,” Deputy Mayor Newvine said. “We discuss it every year. We have somebody come in, question us on how we enforce it, and how we choose on who we enforce it to, and there really isn’t a set parameter. When we receive a complaint, they call the person that we contract with. Now, the way that I see it, in the same local law that you read, if there is a snow and it stops before 5 o’clock you have to clean it up that night. If it stops after 5 o’clock you have until 8:30. Well, 8:30 is the wrong time for me because school starts at 7 a.m. Then it talks about salt or sand or ashes, which means it is outdated… nobody uses ashes anymore. It talks about a village administrator being the one to enforce the law. We don’t have a village administrator…

“And also for me, I know that we have talked about it, and I have talked about it with (Village of Gouverneur Clerk/Treasurer Barbara Finnie and Village of Gouverneur Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Kristina Ayen) the day that the complaint came in from whoever it might be –whether it is the Post Office or whoever – if there was no snow that day, it seems to me to be a mute complaint. If there was no snow on the day that it came in, how can you expect someone to remove it?”

Mr. Perrigo then asked, “If the Village isn’t following their own law, how can you enforce everyone else to? Tyranny isn’t always on the Second Amendment. It’s on laws in general and if you are forcing people to comply by law that your local government isn’t even complying with… it seems a little ridiculous to me.”

“I would politely disagree with you,” Deputy Mayor Newvine said. “It is still vague enough that there are no inches, like the lawn. If there is no set limit, then it could be any. The fact remains that there is a public law to remove snow at a certain time. A certain depth of snow is not there. Everyone gets a letter in November. It’s in the paper when we contract, all that stuff. It doesn’t mean that it is not enforced by the Village because when a complaint comes in, we call a contractor. So, it is not like we aren’t enforcing it.”

Mayor McDougall then asked for the next public comment. Up next was David and Hilliary Perrigo of 479 County Route 11 in Gouverneur.

“A bill was sent in the mail to myself and my wife on February 6, 2020 concerning our apartment house on the corner of 74 N. Gordon St. and 90 Barnes St. that we were charged $206 for a bunch of old sidewalks on January 31, 2020. I brought to you guys, the board members here and even the public, concerning this and asking you to please forgive this bill and to furthermore to personally to notify myself when you intend to charge a hardworking taxpayer this fee. This is not our primary residence. In fact, this is one of four. We pay someone already to shovel the sidewalk. He’s done a very good job for the last three years. It’s never been a problem. We’ve of course assumed that he was still doing the job that we paid him for. We ask you to review this policy that the Village of Gouverneur has. We do not drive by daily to see if this has been shoveled, as I said he has done a good job for three years. We understand that this policy needs to be in place.

“Again, I understand the law. I think it is vague and needs to be revisited and be revised but we ask that you would contact us personally, as I know for a fact that you do other taxpayers through nepotism and let them know before they actually get the bill. A phone call or maybe a warning letter personally addressing us to make sure we have adequate time to address the situation. As I say, if you don’t live there, it’s kind of hard to know what’s going on, especially if you have several properties.

“We try to keep our home and our apartment houses in excellent condition. We do not take this condition lightly. I take it as an insult to my integrity. That’s the kind of person that I am… I feel that a letter or a phone call making us aware of our property would be just standard procedure for everybody. I know it takes place with people. In a matter of fact, it happened in front of me last week I saw this take place.”

“It didn’t snow on January 31, 2020. It didn’t snow two days before that. It didn’t snow that day. It didn’t snow two days after that. Even as a property owner, no I didn’t drive by. When it snows, I know it snows. Snow removal is what I do, you know what I mean? The way this law states I’m not home in time to get this cleared. You could hit me with a $206 bill every single time because I am at work. I mean it just can’t happen. I guess yeah I could hire somebody, and I had somebody employed and yeah I took care of that and he’s no longer employed. My wife’s been doing it herself with the kids in the van after she drops the other two off at school…

“Now, I am going to reiterate how it was approached to me… In the notice that comes in your water/sewer bill, nothing in it says you are going to be charged $25 service fee. Nothing in it says you are going to be charged $1 foot. It does say you will be charged a minimum of $25. But there is nothing that says that you will get a $206 bill for a five-minute sidewalk… That’s absolutely ridiculous.

“You take someone like me who has a corner lot. There needs to be a cap… We’ve had a very light winter, so I don’t see how this could have been this big of an issue. I understand that probably no one here saw that sidewalk, and that it was just a complaint that was filed. I get that, but I had no idea that this was taking place. I need to be notified. I am the property owner. If you are going to bill somebody $206, the property owner needs to be notified and given the chance to remove that snow. That is my main argument here.”

David Perrigo then relayed to the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees his experience of coming into the Village Office to discuss the charges, and then went over to the sidewalk in question, did some measurements, and discovered he had been overcharged for sidewalk snow removal by 41 feet.

“Not only did it not snow, I was overcharged by 41 feet, which at $1 per foot is ridiculous,” he said also mentioning the administrative fee. “It’s happened to several people and they are hardworking people that own businesses in Gouverneur. I know for a fact that nepotism is taking place… “

Mr. Perrigo added that it took two weeks to get his hands on Local Law 1 of 1999, and it was suggested that the local laws be more readily available to local residents. Village of Gouverneur Trustee Shelly Simons-Washburn voiced her surprise that village’s local laws were not published on the website – villageofgouverneurny.org.

“If you don’t like me, you can blow my doors in,” David Perrigo said. “There’s got to be a rubric to follow. This is not going to do it. This is not going to cut it. And I don’t want this to be, “He spoke his piece, he’s done.” I will come the following board meeting and the following board meetings as a proud person that lives in Gouverneur. I am happy to be here. I want to make this Town, Village a better place. It’s what I go to work for every day. We’re good taxpaying people, and I’ll render to Caesar what is Caesars all day long – but it has to be in the legality of what makes sense.”

In response, Mayor McDougall said, “Generally speaking, we are, I must admit, pretty lax on enforcement, not only this but lawns in the summer.”

Continuing his addressing to the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustee, David Perrigo said the following: “The Village of Gouverneur closed my sidewalk in on my other apartment house (corner of Clinton St.). I even drove my tractor from house to move that snowbank… Generally, I wouldn’t say anything about it. I would just take care of it. But if we want to do things this way… It is a mountain of snow frozen in there. The only way to move it is with a piece of equipment…. So again, I charged you $115 and $25 service fee, total $140. Totally different property. Totally different situation. I don’t know if you are getting my point. Stupid law. Stupid reasoning… I don’t want this to be, “You know we will let you know in a month.” I’m here because there is a problem. It needs to be revised. It needs to be fixed, and I want an answer from you right now when it is going to be done and when it is going to take place so I can be part of this. It needs to happen for the public, for me, for all the people that it has happened to before. I know a couple people that has had it happen, and they are fired up about it. I am not the only person with this issue. I am the only person that just didn’t take it on the chin like everybody else does. I’ve said my piece. I would like a rebuttal.”

After some discussion, the village trustees made the following comments:

“It needs to be looked at it, and that may be something we do at a later date,” Trustee Troy Besaw said. “I see where you are coming from.”

“We talk about it every year,” Deputy Mayor Newvine said, referencing former visits from local business owners George Macaulay and Chalaine Archer. “We don’t do anything about it… It’s a local law that needs to be revisited. It’s 21 years old. But to alleviate this situation here, is it okay for us to alleviate that because the local law says on a snowstorm it has to be done on a certain time… when there was no snowstorm the day that complaint came in? It wasn’t snowing the day that complaint was made. The way the local law reads is if it is snowing that day at or before 5 o’clock, they have to clean up that night. If it is snowing after 5 o’clock, they have until 8:30. It wasn’t snowing that day… period, point blank, simple. It wasn’t snowing the day before. It wasn’t snowing the day before that. It wasn’t snowing the day before that. So, to have a complaint the day it came up to the Village... It wasn’t snowing on that day, so how can we ask him to clean a sidewalk if it wasn’t snowing?”

Luke Perrigo then asked: “I am concerned about what’s going to happen if we leave here tonight and tomorrow, I leave through town and complain 100 different times on 100 different situations… I am sure I can come up with 100 in a couple hours of driving around.”

David Perrigo asked: “You take care of me, I’ll take care of you. We won’t have an issue again… if you take care of this law. That’s my full expectations here… As a taxpayer, as a person who lives in Gouverneur, I am looking out for that guy, this guy. I am looking out for everybody in Gouverneur. I will not stop until we – the taxpayers, you guys -- find an answer. And I want an answer tonight. Not to fix this, but an answer for me.”

“This local law needs to be reviewed, and revised so it is a little bit more flexible,” Mr. Nardelli said.

Deputy Mayor Newvine then asked: “Can we take care of these complaints filed on a day that it didn’t snow?”

Attorney Henry Leader then said the following: “I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know what complaints there are other than Mr. and Mrs. Perrigo’s. I read the law, under Paragraph One, saying that every owner/occupant of the property is responsible for the removal of the snow from the sidewalk. The next paragraph talks about the snowstorm because if it snows people can’t get right out there. I think that is what is being advocated. If a sidewalk has snow cover for a week, how long did it have snow… I don’t know that. The only thing I do know is the amount of frontage should correspond to whatever a bill would be.

“I remember having an apartment myself on Clinton St. and the state plow plows Clinton St. and I was fined half the time and I got it out the other half and it was terrible. It was tough luck… I think every case has to be looked at individually, and I don’t know…

“You should endeavor to be fair across the board. The point about notice and giving the homeowner to hear it is a good one, and I would recommend the board look at this as well. Going backwards is more tricky. I don’t know if there’s other similar people. I don’t think the board could make that decision tonight. I think you need more information. I also think the board needs to consider the bill to the frontage.”

After some discussion with Mayor McDougall and village board, Attorney Leader said he would do some research before the next village board meeting. “I’ll investigate this between now and the next meeting and to see if there is a resolution, because if there are 14 similar complaints, it is worth more investigation,” he said.

Luke Perrigo then asked: “What about the contractor that is doing the sidewalks? Has he provided you guys with insurance? Can we have a copy of that, seeing how he serviced that property and then if something comes back in the next three years of a slip and fall we have insurance for that day?” Deputy Mayor Newvine promised to have a copy of that insurance included with the Village’s response back to the Perrigo’s next Friday.

Gratitude was extended to the village board for listening as they presented their case. The next meeting of the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees is to be held on Tuesday, March 17, 6 p.m., in the municipal courtroom.

Kiwanis Trivia Night is tonight at Elks Lodge to benefit Wildcat Backpack Program

by Rachel Hunter

Back by request and popular demand, the Kiwanis Club of Gouverneur is holding another trivia event. Tonight, Friday, January 31, 7:30 p.m., at the Gouverneur Elks Lodge No. 2035, 1419 U.S. Highway 11, Gouverneur. All proceeds will go toward the Gouverneur Kiwanis Wildcat Backpack Program. The cost is $10 per person, and teams can be up to six members. RSVP with your team to lashomb.stephanie@gcsk12.org.

Don't want to cook? Arrive early and enjoy Gouverneur Elk Richard Wainwright’s Famous Prime Rib Dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. Also serving chicken tenders, fish fry. All meals are served with choice of potato, soup and salad.

All donations of non-perishable food and hygiene items for Gouverneur Kiwanis Wildcat Backpack Program will be collected at this event.