Move gives Philipstown, two villages a single department
The concept of shared local government services advanced in Philipstown on July 6 when the Town Board voted unanimously to supply building inspections and zoning code enforcement to Nelsonville — for now, anyway.
The arrangement took effect July 1. Its adoption means all three municipal governments will share a crucial resource, indefinitely.
Cold Spring has been covered by the Philipstown department (with a temporary interruption) since 2017. That year, officials in Nelsonville, which relied on a part-time building inspector, informally discussed using the town as well, but chose not to.
Now Nelsonville has turned to its neighbor after the retirement of the village building inspector left it bereft, Mayor Chris Winward explained Thursday (July 13).
“We didn’t want to leave our residents without service, so we asked Philipstown if they would be willing to assist us while we continue to search,” she said. The Village Board approved the move in June and “we are very grateful that Philipstown is able to” step in, she added.
According to the agreement, the new arrangement originated “in the spirit of municipal cooperation and an effort to reduce expenses for both the village and the town.”
New York State has been promoting municipal shared services and consolidation since at least 2012, when the town and Cold Spring talked of creating a single court system as well as a common building department. (Towns and villages continue to operate separate justice courts.)
Philipstown expects to handle up to 10 Building Department calls per month from Nelsonville, which will pay the town $485 monthly, said Supervisor John Van Tassel, before the board voted, in a meeting at Town Hall. He said the charge is based on the number of homes in the village, as is the fee paid by Cold Spring.
The agreement says that the town department, led by Building Inspector-Code Enforcement Officer Greg Wunner, will enforce the village’s zoning and subdivision laws and the New York State code; review building plans and permit applications; conduct inspections; issue permits, certificates of occupancy, notices of violations, stop-work orders and related documents; interact with the mayor and Village Board; and report monthly.
It further states that the village government will continue to receive and record all incoming applications, plans and fees, ensure their completeness and forward them to the town government.
Van Tassel said July 6 that to help with the department’s overall workload, Philipstown hopes to hire a part-time building inspector-code enforcement officer.
