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Code enforcement may grow in Placid

Retired officer rehired temporarily; elected leaders agree more staff are needed

Retired North Elba-Lake Placid Code Enforcement Officer James Morganson, center right, laughs beside village trustees Peter Holderied, right, and Scott Monroe, center, at a joint village and town board meeting Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Antonio Olivero)

LAKE PLACID – The retirement and succession plan for longtime Code Enforcement Officer James Morganson was outlined and the future of the office was discussed at a special meeting of this village’s Board of Trustees and the North Elba Town Council on Tuesday.

Town Supervisor Roby Politi said Morganson formally retired on Nov. 25 and has since been rehired by the town on a temporary basis through the end of the year.

Members of each board then brainstormed how Morganson would be retained next year — a time period which could extend upward of 18 months — to transition the work of the office and train his successor. This discussion included how Morganson could be employed by both the village and town on a part time basis.

“Our thinking was that we’d bring Jim back as a part-time employee to train the new person so the new person knows what they are doing,” Politi said.

The boards mutually agreed to advertise the position by Dec. 19 and anticipated interviews with candidates could take place in February at the earliest.

The other main issue discussed was how the code enforcement office should be managed by the town and/or the village and whether a new position within the office is necessary.

For next year’s budget, which was approved last month, the town board set aside $40,000 for an auxiliary code enforcement position. Morganson said workload has increased enough that the position is necessary.

“Our feeling was, and I think Jim’s feeling is, no one person can no longer take on the responsibilities of everything,” Politi said.

“It’s not possible for one person to be at all those locations,” Morganson added after the meeting.

The town and village board members agreed another code enforcement position is necessary.

Politi then asked the board members whether the town should continue to operate a code enforcement office separate from the village, if the village should operate its own office, or whether the management, expenses and revenue of the office should be more evenly divided between the two entities.

Politi expressed concern that there wouldn’t be consistency in enforcement with two separate departments.

“I just don’t see how it works in the best interest of the entire community, having a left and right arm going in different directions, when we have worked together so well in the past,” Politi said. “Right now it’s just a matter of having more people.”

Lake Placid Mayor Craig Randall said it would “not be a very desirable” situation for the town and village to have two different code offices and, he said, interpretations of the code. The village and town share a joint planning and zoning code.

Morganson estimated that as high as 80 percent of the code enforcement work his office currently completes is within the village. He estimated the total work of the building department is split 60 percent to 40 percent between the village and town respectively.

The boards didn’t come to a final decision on how the code enforcement office would relate with both the village and town in the future, but discussion centered around each board having a liaison that would serve as a “sounding board” of communication between the code enforcement officer and respective board. The elected officials in attendance favored keeping the code enforcement office under the management of the town and not creating a joint office.

“It’s all about communication,” Morganson said after the meeting. “Whether we are talking about new buildings, we are talking about new codes or Main Street issues, it’s about total open communication.”

Morganson said his retirement announcement was a personal decision that he came to a final decision on over the Thanksgiving holiday.

“The time frame was critical to get it done before the end of this year, which went hand in hand with (the) discussion with bringing in new personnel in the building department,” Morganson said after the meeting.

Morganson’s career as a building official has spanned nearly three decades. He has also served as president of the New York State Building Officials Conference.

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