By LINDA KELLETT

C-S-E News Staff

ST. JOHNSVILLE — Village officials took appropriate steps when addressing the sale of the village industrial park.

That’s the opinion of Peter Baynes, executive director of the New York State Conference of Mayors, and village attorney Norman Mastromoro, each of whom was asked about procedures followed by village officials in carrying out the mid-August transaction involving the sale of the long vacant property.

Additionally, both were asked if the decision by village officials to sell the 23.1 acre site to Christopher M. and Shelly A. Arduini for $40,000 in cash was subject to permissive referendum.

Both said that it was not.

Baynes on Tuesday noted that village laws are set up differently than town laws. “Each set of laws [town, village and city] evolved separately”; and Mastromoro last week cited a 1965 opinion by the state Comptroller’s Office that a board of trustees may sell village property to a private individual without public notice. He said that are other such legal opinions.

Baynes said the general rule for the governing body of a village wishing to sell property is that they “deem it surplus” and sell it for the real market value following an appraisal. Both were done by St. Johnsville village officials.

“They don’t have to sell it at auction,” Baynes said.

There are some special circumstances, however. As noted in the April 2012 “Handbook for Elected Village Officials” published by the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials, “When real property is considered inalienable, a special act of the State Legislature is necessary before the property can be sold or leased. Inalienable property is municipal land that has been impressed with a public trust. This may include, but is not limited to, land used as a public park, intended for use as a park, or waterfront property.”

While the industrial park does touch the Mohawk River, it was never used nor intended for public access or marina or park space, so it doesn’t meet that requirement, Baynes said.

Additionally, if the resolution pertaining to the sale of the waterfront property “changed a provision of law,” it could have been subject to permissive referendum; but Mastromoro said, “There’s nothing that changed any provision of law.”

As far as the use of the property goes, Mastromoro said that the property is zoned manufacturing. “For purposes of St. Johnsville Zoning Law, any legal use can be put there, but what was presented [to village officials by the buyers] was recreational use.”

He also noted that village officials included several conditions in the deed that benefit the village: For instance, any future water or sewer lines or laterals installed by the Arduinis and their successors will be at their expense. “The village obligation ends where their line ends. The village in the future doesn’t have that obligation,” he said.

Additionally, the village has the right for the emergency dumping of snow there for 10 years after the sale. Mastromoro said, “That’s what the village was really using the [industrial] park for.”

In relation to rumors and misinformation on social networking sites or other online forums, Mayor Bernard “Bernie” Barnes on Friday said, “I want the public to know if there’s ever any doubt, come to the board meeting or contact one of us [village officials]... We meet individually and talk together, without a quorum, throughout the month. If the board has concerns, we try to solve the problems, then discuss it at the meeting.”

He continued, “We’re here to do something positive and to clean up the village. We have a chamber of commerce that’s doing positive things for the community. My door is open, and my phone number is available.”