By LINDA KELLETT

C-S-E News Staff

PALATINE BRIDGE — With the recent announcement that state court officials won’t allow the town of Palatine to relocate its town court to another jurisdiction, town officials must once again weigh their options in order to resolve longstanding courtroom- and records-storage dilemmas.

That’s according to Supervisor Brian Sweet last week, who reported during the council’s Jan. 23 meeting on recent correspondence between himself and ad hoc committee member John McGlone.

McGlone late last summer was tasked with the contacting of officials connected with the state’s Office of Court Admin-istration and the Department of State’s Local Government Efficiency program to see if it was possible for the town to share court facilities with another municipality and to apply for funding to address the records storage issue.

Sweet said, “We’ll still need to address that room or storage area space we have. If the state won’t help us out, we need to at least get record storage under control and then decide what to do with the court.

“Maybe something here,” he said, in reference to the use or expansion of the existing site.

Many residents last summer were strongly opposed to the proposed construction of a new town hall.

During debate over the proposition, it was noted the town clerk and court are required to store records. Some records must be stored permanently. Because the existing storage container was leaking, some records were damaged, and mold was present, which presents a potential health hazard. The records should be maintained in a climate-controlled environment, it was noted.

Town officials’ other concern was related to the safety of the town justice and court clerk as there’s only one door into or out of the current courtroom.

Additionally, the town hall currently has only one bathroom and no air conditioning. The bookkeeper shares the supervisor’s office. Other officials using building facilities include the town clerk; the assessor; and the justice and court clerk, who hold court in the justice’s chambers. The dog control officer does not have an office, and the code enforcement officer generally uses the meeting area.

Later in the Wednesday night’s meeting, there was some discussion about potential options, including building onto the existing facility as well as looking into the potential purchase of the old school in the village.  

Council member Michele Whiteman said that work needs to be done on the current facility.

Sweet said he is interested in hearing McGlone’s suggestions about potential records-storage options.

Also during the meeting, Sweet reported on what he learned about the recycling of electronic equipment like old TVs and computer monitors through E-waste. The service is free. Once devices have been deposited in the provided cardboard gaylord (that is, bulk bin), they are considered hazardous waste and must be covered, which is a problem for the town because they lack appropriate facilities.

Council members were in favor of an annual electronics collection but will have to come up with a way to “make it work,” said Sweet.

“Keep that in the back of your mind. I’ll talk to the mayors” of Nelliston and Palatine Bridge, he said, suggesting that a fall collection might be possible.

They also approved the signing of a fire contract with the village of Fort Plain.

The contract approval was delayed several months over concerns about the use of that money by village officials. While there’s a dedicated line in the village’s budget for the fire department and related expenditures, Sweet noted the “total of all revenues exceeds that line” in the village budget.

He said, “I totally support all the volunteer fire departments and hope in good faith that the village [of Fort Plain] applies the money to the fire department and doesn’t just put it into their general fund.”

Whiteman called for reports of fire calls.

Finally, Highway Superinten-dent Arthur Logan said over the next couple of years, the department will be covering some town-owned dirt roads with blacktop in order to help with paving and other maintenance. As proposed, parts of Dygert and Gerhardt roads will be surfaced.