JEFFERSONVILLE — The Town of Callicoon discussed a foreclosed property and addressed concerns of Shandelee residents over a raucous neighbor in their meeting on Monday, August 11. The meeting began solemnly with a moment of silence for recently-passed Attorney Marvin Newberg, who served the Town of Callicoon for the last 25 years as its Town Attorney.

Highway Superintendent Ryan Bose reported that the AAR (Absolute Auction and Realty) auction for their 2006 Caterpillar Front-End Loader ended last week with the top bidder offering $28,000. 

Town Supervisor Tom Bose agreed with Ryan Bose’s assessment that they should sell the machine; he added that there is no commission on the sale, so all proceeds will benefit the town. Councilman Scott Gaebel made a motion to pass the resolution authorizing the sale of the loader, it was seconded by Councilperson Annette Rasmussen, and the resolution passed unanimously.

Code Enforcement Officer Kristoffer Scullion reported that he posted notices of code violations on an apartment building and the house next door in North Branch. Scullion said the nine-unit apartment building will hopefully go to the county foreclosure this year. 

“I posted both of them, they’re both unsafe.” Scullion said the property owners have until August 29th to get bailed out, after which the buildings will be set for demolition. “In my opinion, they shouldn’t be fixed,” said Scullion, who suspects that the well pump quit because both buildings ran out of water. He said the property owner denied him access to conduct inspections for the last two years. 

“The place has just gotten worse, and it needs to go, it needs to go in the dumpster, which is a shame, because we need apartments, but the place is infested with roaches, it’s awful,”  he said.

Supervisor Bose introduced retired schoolteacher Ross Dimler, saying, “Ross and his wife Bonnie have been the caretakers for one small cemetery in North Branch for 11 years.” 

Bose said they are volunteers and that they are looking to find a replacement. 

“I would like to say from the board, how much we appreciate what you have done for the last 11 years,” said Bose. 

Dimler stood up and addressed the board, saying, “Back in 1970, the church my wife attended as a child in North Branch needed someone to take over as superintendent and to cut [the lawn at] the church and the cemetery; which we did for 45 years.” 

Dimler said in 2014, his wife noticed another cemetery overgrown with vegetation, and they decided to clean it up.

 “And we’ve been doing it ever since,” Dimler said. He said the cemetery has 30 grave stones, several of which mark the graves of veterans, and that he and his wife can cut the grass once a month with weedwackers in about 45 minutes. Bose said he reached out to a contact at the Boy Scouts to see if they might be interested in becoming caretakers of the cemetery.

Noise is Shandelee

Attendance at the meeting was higher than usual because a number of Shandelee residents came to voice their concern over a neighbor’s property that has been host to a number of large gatherings on the weekends. 

Shandelee resident Bruce Fulton said, “After numerous phone calls received this morning from concerned neighbors, with over 100 people in attendance there, with at least 35 vehicles, the main thing to understand is that it has not been used as a hotel for 20 years. So they have lost their grandfather status- period.” 

Fulton said that under current zoning, it’s a conservation district under permitted use as only a single family residence. He said the construction workers that worked on the property used the neighbor’s property as a toilet; “We went there in the Spring to do some surveying work, the place was literally littered with toilet paper.” 

Fulton said the owners of the property have been advertising as a catering house and a bed and breakfast. He added that two of the phone calls he received that day reported sewage leaking on the ground. 

“This has been an ongoing problem for well over a year…there’s no way that you can have 100-150 people there for three days and tell me that it’s all family.”

Shandelee resident Ellen Parkman added, “The condition with the water and the runoff is persistent all the time…. the issue with noise is actually a recurring one. It happens fairly regularly on weekends after hours: 11 o’clock, 12 o’clock, 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock in the morning; loud speakers, sounds like a giant party.”

Scullion said, “The understanding was that this gentleman has 12 kids, they have a huge family.” 

He said the building’s septic system was designed for a family retreat and that it could not handle constant usage. “If the system fails, we have to shut it down again.”

Bose said he would like to set up a meeting with the property owner and that, “When I see this many people that are here with a concern, we need to address it.” 

Scullion agreed, saying that, “once leach comes out of the ground, they are in violation.” Addressing the audience, Bose said, “I give everyone in this room our word, we will meet with them, we will get to the bottom of this and the issues will be corrected.

“We appreciate you taking the time to come in to do this… I hear all your concerns, I really do,” Bose said.

DSCN0807.JPG Kristofer Scullion reports building code violations in North Branch

DSCN0812.JPG Ross Dimler tells the board that he needs a replacement as cemetery caretaker

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