The Town of Colonie Town Board has been working to draft a Second Hand Dealers Law, meeting with merchants and holding public hearings on the matter. Now, the ongoing public hearing has been adjourned until the July 28 Town Board meeting pending the outcome of a similar law being proposed by Albany County.
There is a local law being proposed in Albany County that is very similar to our local law except that it’s actually more restrictive, as we see it now, said Colonie Town Attorney Mike Magguilli. `In the event that the county law passes, it would supersede the local law that the town adopts, so what I recommended to the town board is that we adjourn any consideration on our local law for two months and keep track of what the county is doing in this regard.`
Supervisor Paula Mahan announced that the State Education Department’s investigation into whether or not Commissioner of Public Works Jack Cunningham is required to be a licensed engineer to hold his position was closed.
`[The State Education Department] concluded their investigation into the allegations and there’s no evidence to support taking any action, therefore the matter is closed,` said Mahan. `They closed their file on this and the final determination is that our commissioner of public works does not have to be an engineer.`
Mahan said some people, including the Society of Professional Engineers, had suggested that Cunningham had to be an engineer and when that type of complaint is made, the State Department of Education is mandated to look into it.
`One of the things that we tried to clearly explain so the matter could be put to rest was the fact that the town has several professional engineers on staff,` said Mahan.
The town has its own engineer for various departments as well as four companies that serve as town designated engineers collaboratively.
`Compared to most other municipalities, we have more engineers than most places,` said Mahan, who said the board found other area municipalities with DPW commissioners who were not engineers. `You are well served by engineers in this town, I guarantee it.`
The board also adopted a resolution authorizing Supervisor Paula Mahan to execute a proposed lease agreement with Cellco Partnership for Verizon Wireless to install transmitters on the Osborne Road water tank tower.
Check back to spotlightnews.com and in the Wednesday, June 1 print edition of the Colonie Spotlight for updates on this story.
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