MONTICELLO — In 2019, the Village of Monticello Building Department took in $2,500. By this month in 2020, the same department has taken in over $15,000 with an additional $50,000 in billings yet to be collected.

Those were the numbers from Al Fusco and BJ Gettel of Fusco Engineering as they gave an update concerning the Building Department to Village board members at their most recent meeting on February 5.

“We found that there was a lot of work that needed to be done to bring it [the department] into compliance,” Fusco said. “We've had six certified code enforcement officers working here over the last two months.”

Fusco said they've been increasing the number of fire and rental inspections being done, which not only help ensure proper code enforcement but also generates income for the Village.

Fusco said over the past few months, they've cleaned out the stacks of old papers from the Building Department office, hired interns, reorganized the filing system, upgraded their computer system and installed new carpet at no expense to the Village.

“The office needed a massive cleaning and needed to be rearranged to be more conducive to a working environment,” Gettel explained.

Gettel said they've reduced the number of open complaints from 430 to half that, with half of those stemming from unpaid fees. Among other things, Gettel said they've been updating or revising Building Department policies, reconfiguring fire inspection modules and have started updating outdated forms on the village website.

“These are not easy tasks. We'd like to think we're going to get them done in six months, but in reality it may take a little longer,” she said.

Gettel explained how for the first time “in many years” the Village filed a Part 1203 report along with the US Government Census Report with the New York State Division of Code Enforcement and Administration (DCEA). “This report leads to FEMA Funding in case of a natural disaster and gets new code books for building officials,” Gettel said.

“Everyone is committed to changing the perception of the Village of Monticello Building Department and hopefully this answers some of your questions,” she told the board.

Upgrades and appointments

The Village Hall in Monticello got a new look thanks to a fresh paint job by the Village DPW and new chairs courtesy of Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Mayor Gary Sommers announced new appointments to the Village of Monticello Planning Board including Kamal E. Elsayed, Smajlje Srdanovic and Manny Castillo as an alternate.

“We now have a full planning board with alternates,” Sommers said. “These are the people that help decide what's going in and out of the community properly. It's nice to know that people in our community are still interested and volunteering.”

The Village is still seeking candidates to fill vacancies on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Dr Waleed Ahmed was presented with a certificate of appreciation from the board for his six years on the Village Planning Board.