MONTICELLO  — Village Trustee John Barbarite believed the Village of Monticello has determined that they have excess parking lots available in the Village during their regular meeting Wednesday night.

Barbarite noted several factors pertaining to these lots, such maintenance and repair.

He believes that there are two areas which might be feasible to sell towards future development.

“If the Board agrees, I think we could do a study as to whether its feasible to sell the first part of the parking lot that’s opposite the Government Center for development,” explained Barabarite. “[The other part is] the first part of the parking lot that faces the Elk’s Club on North Street.”

He believes the Board should also consider whether or not they should offer the Peachtree Building an opportunity to purchase the parking lot behind their building.

He made a point in noting  that they’re “pretty much the exclusive users of it”.

This reasoning comes in the form of the Peachtree owners being able to own the lot, use it without concerns, and hold responsibility for it.

Trustee Theodore Hutchins assured the remaining ability for the public to park behind the T.D. Bank Building as well as behind the old Woolworth Building, which was confirmed by Barbarite.

Village Manager James Snowden points out that each property owned by the Village is an asset to the Village.

To clarify, he brought up the Bagel Festival and how people reportedly didn’t have places to park.

“When there’s an event here, where are people gonna park when we sell these parking lots?” inquired Snowden.

Barbarite responded that the Fest is a one-time-a-year event.

“If we sell the parking lots and put buildings on them, we will substantially increase our tax base,” stated Barbarite. “We will lessen the responsibility to pave it and maintain it which we can’t do now because we don’t have the money. For a one-day event, I don’t think it’s wise to reduce our tax base when we could increase our tax base if a commercial building goes there that could generate $10 or $15 thousand a year in taxes.”

Barbarite doesn’t forsee that they are going to to need the extent of parking that was needed back in the ‘60s.

Hutchins brought up that, at least for the property in front of the Government Center, all sides are in agreement that the study could be done and that property could be sold to a business.

Trustee Gordon Jenkins agreed with the sentiment.

“We could see what we get on it and then tackle the next one,” suggested Jenkins. “[We could] put it out [on the market]. Maybe someone says they want to buy it and then we go [from there].”

Massey celebrates 

Sussman

During the Mayor’s Comment session of the meeting, Massey recognized Village Attorney Michael Sussman.

She highlighted many of his accomplishments, such as his over-40-years- experience in the field of Civil Rights, Environmental Law, Special Education Law, sexual harassment laws, police brutality and public corruption.

“As I undertook the role of Mayor, the Board and I were blindsided by all the issues the Village faced,” stated Massey. “Mr. Sussman stepped up to the plate and undertook the role of Village Attorney.”

She stated that Monticello was fortunate to be the beneficiary of “his intellect, work ethic, and zeal for public service”.

Massey also highlighted his consistency, as well as creativity and helpfulness on the front lines of his work.

As a token of their esteem, Massey and the Board bestowed him a gift, which was dubbed an “artistic guitar”.

“I’m gonna take lessons from James [Snowden],” Sussman joked.

“This is a small Village, but I think the most important thing we can say is ... we’re going to need models of excellence, innovation, constructive engagement with the community,” Sussman stated. “[We’re also going to need] a spirit of reconciliation and hopefulness. We have to ... set a new direction instead of focusing on what anyone else has or hasn’t done.”

His words earned a round of applause from meeting attendees.