A Message from Mayor Curtin:
August 28, 2023
Dear Residents,
In June 1995, I was appointed as a Trustee on the Village Board, following the resignation of Dick Warrender, whose appointment by Governor Pataki to his staff in Albany necessitated that notice. I never realized that I would remain on the Board for the next 26 years - 13 as a Trustee and 13 as Mayor. I thoroughly enjoyed my trustee experience with former Mayor Fred Eisenberg and former Trustees Ed Grant and Bob Wilson as well as my involvement with Village Attorney Jim Dwyer. For those 13 years, the vision of Fred Eisenberg and the yeoman efforts of Bob Wilson helped to transform the Village I have lived in and loved for over 50 years - I treasure that experience.
That experience was such that it enabled me to expand my own vision of the Village and for the last 13 years, I have worked, with excellent Trustees and Village workers, including our Village Attorney, to realize many accomplishments for our Village. With this letter, I have included those accomplishments and I must attribute any success that I have had to our Village employees. Without them, the Village would not be the success I believe it to have been.
As I leave office, I am in the process of composing some notes for my successors, which might serve as guideposts for the future. I thought that you also might be interested in some final thoughts.
Thank you for your continued support during my 26 years in office.
John P. Curtin, Mayor
Dear Residents,
In June 1995, I was appointed as a Trustee on the Village Board, following the resignation of Dick Warrender, whose appointment by Governor Pataki to his staff in Albany necessitated that notice. I never realized that I would remain on the Board for the next 26 years - 13 as a Trustee and 13 as Mayor. I thoroughly enjoyed my trustee experience with former Mayor Fred Eisenberg and former Trustees Ed Grant and Bob Wilson as well as my involvement with Village Attorney Jim Dwyer. For those 13 years, the vision of Fred Eisenberg and the yeoman efforts of Bob Wilson helped to transform the Village I have lived in and loved for over 50 years - I treasure that experience.
That experience was such that it enabled me to expand my own vision of the Village and for the last 13 years, I have worked, with excellent Trustees and Village workers, including our Village Attorney, to realize many accomplishments for our Village. With this letter, I have included those accomplishments and I must attribute any success that I have had to our Village employees. Without them, the Village would not be the success I believe it to have been.
As I leave office, I am in the process of composing some notes for my successors, which might serve as guideposts for the future. I thought that you also might be interested in some final thoughts.
- Preserve the past- those historic places that provide us with memory and vision
- Maintain Village infrastructure - sewers, streets, curbing, sidewalks need continuous updating
- Enhance the attractiveness of the Village - with lighting, green space, trees, decorations, facades
- Beware of development - that leads to sprawl, both commercial and residential
- Promote cooperation with the Town and the School District - both can be exceptional partners
- Beware of consolidation - it does not save money and increased efficiency is a falsehood - villages are the government closest to the people, while the Town, County and the State are too far removed by both distance and concern to be involved.
Thank you for your continued support during my 26 years in office.
John P. Curtin, Mayor
A Summary of Projects in the Village of Marcellus – 2010 to 2023
By John P. Curtin
Upon entering office in 2010, we embarked on several projects – what we termed the three “Cs” – compost, code and creek-walk – they would occupy much of our time, effort and resources for a number of years.
The Village Creek Walk began with Mayor Fred Eisenberg, who was able to secure funding in 2002. By the time we entered office it had been standing still for a number of years. We were determined to finish at least part of the project, and after many delays, it was finished, partially, from the Marcellus Park to Marcellus Free Library, in 2017. Today, it is fittingly referred to as “Fred’s Trail.”
That first year also witnessed the start of several other projects, including the repair and sale of the old library, the Marcellus Murals Project, which enhanced the character of the Village Business District and provided an opportunity for MCS students to exercise their artistic talents at several locations in the Village Center, and some sanitary sewer relining on Chrisler and Old North Streets.
In 2011, the Reed Street-Reed Pkwy-Highland Drive Reconstruction Project, having begun earlier, was completed, while more sanitary sewer relining took place on Baker, Hillside and Wilson Drive as well as some micro fiber paving on Maple and North Streets. The Police Department was also able to secure grant funding for new entry doors and keyless locks to the Village Hall.
That same year, we were able to continue an ongoing Village Lighting Project, which began, again during the Eisenberg administration in 2005, and continues to the present. This project called for the installation of historical lights in the Village and eventually replacing all HPS lamps with LED fixtures. For the past dozen years, we have promoted this project and at present there are over 130 historical lights owned and maintained by the Village
After a feasibility study in the summer of 2011, work began on the Bio-Solids Compost Project initiated by our WWTP operators – the composting rather than the hauling and disposal of sludge produced at the Village Treatment Plant. Not only did this alleviate a serious concern – what to do with the sludge and the cost of its disposal – but it also provided an environmentally sound method of recycling bio-solids into compost and making it available to the public. Costing over $825,000, a 50-50 funding match with the NYSDEC enabled the project to be completed in 2012 and continues to be very effective and popular with local residents.
In 2012, after a two-year study, a new Village Code was updated and approved, a revision that not only facilitated its use but also made it easier to locate information and modify when necessary. In 2023, we are in the process of having General Code complete an E-codification of the Code and having it placed online, making it more available to the public and even easier to access and search.
In the summer of 2012, the Village initiated a Sump Pump Redirection Program, inspecting residences in the Village and the Town for illegal sump-pump connections and thereby addressing the matter of high flows at the WWTP. It was a most successful program and helped the Village to secure a $600,000 grant to initiate another project – a Sewer Consolidation Project – to combine all sanitary sewer services in the Village, the Town and the School District into one system, controlled by and maintained by the Village.
That summer also witnessed the Village having to address a flooding issue on Flower Lane, specifically a retention pond known as Coon’s Pond. This retention pond has been known for over 100 years as Coon's Pond and is fed constantly by a stream that comes down from the hills into the back yard at #9 Flower Lane. This is the source of almost all of the water that ends up in the pond. Back in the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, the Coon family used to cut ice from the pond, pack it in straw, and ship it to the southern states and to Latin America. There was also a greenhouse that the Coons had on the property, hence the name of the street, Flower Lane. In addition, the pond was often used as an ice-skating rink for the children of the 1920s and 1930s. The Village contributes some water to the pond by virtue of a drainage pipe from the street (Flower Lane), and the Village also has a drainage easement onto the property to take care of that pipe. The outfall from the pond is to South Street, through several properties, on its way, eventually, to Nine Mile Creek. Since the Village has an easement, the homeowner asked the Village to maintain the drainage pipe and to clean out the pond. In the summer of 2012, the Village spent over $30,000 (from the sale of the Village Reservoir), dug out the pond to a depth of two feet, created two check dams to catch the silt and opened the outfall pipe so that only water, not silt, flows into Nine Mile Creek. In the fall of 2013, the Village DPW installed a new outfall pipe, at significant cost, through three properties on South Street taking the water from Coon’s Pond to a drainage structure on South Street, leading eventually to Nine Mile Creek. Since that 2012 re-construction, silt has again filled in the pond, and this might require a Village response in the fall of 2023. The existing storm water control measures need to be re-constructed in accordance with approved project plans and thereafter be maintained, cleaned, repaired, replaced, and continued in order to ensure optimum performance. The cost of the project may require bonding by the Village.
Beginning in 2013, repairs, involving a micro-fiber treatment or a milling and paving operation, were made to several streets in the Village, including Chrisler, Kelly and Park Streets and in 2014 to Orchard Circle, Highland Circle and Old North Street, the latter street having been turned over to the Village by the State of New York the previous year. A similar remedy was applied to Baker and Hillside, and part of Beach and Austindale in 2015. There was also some sidewalk reconstruction on Bradley, Main and South Streets.
Begun in 2013 and completed in 2019, the WWTP Upgrade Project was an $8,000,000 project to upgrade the Village Wastewater Treatment Plant. This upgrade was necessitated by a DEC mandate to remove phosphorus from the treatment plant’s effluent and the improvements included the construction of new clarifiers, a new UV tank, a new head works building and modifications to the control building, among others. It has been the most costly Village project in its history, and today is the most valuable asset of the Village, second only to our employees of course. Throughout the upgrade, we were able to secure a number of grants, as well as a no-interest loan from the State to help fund the project. Final payments for this upgrade, however, will not be completed until 2051.
The Reconstruction of Scotch Hill Road having begun in 2011 would be completed in 2015. A $204,000 project, it was funded in part by a Community Development grant of $149,000 and included repaving of the road itself, sanitary and storm sewer replacement, the addition of granite curbing and new sidewalk on the south side of the road, from North Street to the Village line. An important gateway to the Village was much enhanced by this transformative project.
Having been designated a Clean Energy Community in 2017, a $100,000 grant was secured from NYSERDA to implement Clean Energy Projects in the Village, including a retrofitting of Village lights, including historic lights on Main, North and South Streets as well as coach lights on Orchard and Kinderwood Drive to direct wire LED type fixtures. Other indoor and outdoors lighting fixtures were replaced with LED lamps at all Village buildings - WWTP, Village Hall, Village Highway Barn. The $100,000 grant was obtained from NYSERDA to complete this project in 2019-2020.
That same year, the Village, as part of a ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) Project was reimbursed $16,000, an 80-20 match, by NYSDEC for installing an Electric Vehicle charging station in the Village parking lot, as well as for installing additional lighting, cameras and asphalt paving to the site
The process of demolition of the Lower Crown Mill at 71 North Street began in 2011 and was not completed until 2016, in two stages, at a cost of $110,000. Many lamented the loss of the mill, which was the last of many such mills that helped give birth to the Village and nurtured the community for over 200 years. However this not only eliminated a hazardous condition in the Village, it also led to the development of the Green Gateway Project in 2018. This Village project’s goal was to redevelop the abandoned and now demolished mill site along Nine Mile Creek into an environmental park in cooperation with environmental students and staff at Marcellus Central School. The project would include a number of creative designs such as outdoor classroom space (kiosks) for MCS environmental students, an ADA compliant fishing platform, public trails connecting to Village sidewalks and the Village creek walk as well as additional trees and an arboretum for residents as well as tourists alike to enjoy. Begun in 2018, the project continues to this day, with a new group of students each year taking the place and interest of those who graduate. While the coronavirus interrupted and delayed plans for several months, the Village, the Town, and the students at MCS continued working on the site. The project has begun anew, including the design and installation of a pedestrian bridge connecting the School and the Gateway Park. In the fall of 2023, MCS students will begin a project that calls for the design, fabrication, and strategic installation of about 15 historic markers (plaques) on the Gateway property - markers that would enable a visitor to understand the historical and ecological significance of the site. The signs will also serve to recognize the projects students have been doing in the park over the years.
Following a drainage study and design in 2018, the Village completed the Highland Drive Drainage Project. The plan alleviated the flooding that often occurred in the southern end of Highland Drive and involved the opening of ditches and replacing driveway culverts along the west side of the road, thus preventing storm water from jumping the ditches and flooding those properties below as well as allowing storm water to move quickly to the catch basins at Reed Parkway.
The West Main Street Stormwater Drainage Project was actually a public emergency repair in 2019 to this major highway in the Village costing approximately $150,000 and presenting the Village with a need to immediately retain a contractor to remove and replace 1,000’ of drainage pipes. We had expected that since this is a County Highway, that the County would be responsible for its repair, but were told that the County was only responsible for the road itself, nothing else - not the storm water pipes, not the catch basins, not the gutters. Because the County would do nothing, and because conditions on the shoulder of the road at this time presented a “clear and imminent danger to the life, safety or health of any person travelling by auto on this stretch of the road as well as hazardous conditions for those whose property abuts this road on the southern side, unless the storm water drainage pipes are removed and/or replaced as soon as possible,” a Resolution, authorizing the Village of Marcellus Department of Public Works to immediately cause the removal and/or replacement of the storm water drainage pipes on a portion of the southern side of this road (also known as County Rt. 41), from #15 West Main (the Grange) west to the Village line was approved. The Village was forced to bond for this project in order to pay the contractor. The situation remains a serious one since the County Highway Department will still not keep their storm drains outside the Village clear of debris, causing flooding on downstream properties in the Village.
The Reconstruction of Meadow Street began in 2020 and was completed in 2021. This was a $400,000 project that provided storm water drainage and road improvements to this area of the Village, one which has been long neglected and always seemed to be subjected to frequent flooding. Over the years, larger storm events have resulted in road and backyard flooding in the Meadow Street area. The Village has worked on incremental improvements to try to address these drainage concerns on the west side of the Village and the most recent drainage improvement project on Highland Drive included a new storm water collection system, improvements to roadside swales and road re-paving. These project improvements have resulted in a much lower frequency of storm water issues in this area.
The Baltimore Ridge Subdivision is a major development of about 20 acres of land in the Village to include 23 new residential lots, with the building of quality homes, as well as preserving the natural beauty of the land. Approved by the Village in 2021, the development of the site, by a most competent developer, it might be noted, began with the construction of an entrance road, the clearing of many trees, and the building of the required storm water detention pond. In addition, sight distance conditions on South Street Road, as required by Onondaga County DOT, were met and the installation of storm and sanitary sewer pipes were completed. Other utilities, water, cable, telephone, electric and gas, were also installed. Roads into the development have been paved, all of the lots have been sold and the construction of nine homes has begun. The utilities, roads, and sewer (storm and sanitary) infrastructure will probably be turned over to the Village in the summer or fall of 2023.
Beginning in 2019 and continuing into 2023, the Onondaga County Executive and Legislature have provided funding - usually a 75-25 match - for businesses to improve the main street areas of the Village. Called the Onondaga County Main Street Revitalization and Beautification Grant Program, it is a comprehensive grant program that provides funding for local revitalization efforts to grow the retail business district. Village officials work together with local businesses to develop a proposal that will positively impact a main street area. It has been a very successful program. In 2019, a $382,00.00 project that was mostly funded by the Onondaga County Legislature enabled 14 businesses to improve their facades on Main Street, was completed in 2021. In 2022, a nearly $500,000 project, again mostly funded by the Onondaga County Legislature will enable 18 businesses to improve their facades on Main Street. Many have been delayed until the spring and summer of 2023 because of supply and contractor issues. In 2023, Onondaga County again offered municipalities up to $500,000 in funding that will enable 11 businesses to begin to improve their facades in the Main Street areas of the Village. At this point, the 2023 program remains a work in progress.
The Village and its DPW became involved for several months with several Marcellus Central School District students and their teacher, Mr. Tyler Cooper, in the East Main Street Parking Improvements, a $150,000 project. The students, along with some invaluable advice, effort, and expertise from Joe Durand of TDK Engineering, researched and prepared an excellent CAD drawing that called for the reconstruction of parking in front of 2-6 East Main Street (Reagan Building and Village Tavern). As part of their Senior Project, Lee Piekiel and Liam Hawes, created a most appropriate design for this area on East Main, the final spot in the Village that had perpendicular parking, and was a dangerous traffic hazard, trying to park and then back out onto Main Street. There was a loss of 4 (four) parking spots as a result of this change, but the businesses that border this area came to realize the importance of eliminating this dangerous parking situation and agreed to the change. The project was welcomed by many residents and businesses, and following its completion in 2021, the area witnessed the start of some very successful outdoor Sidewalk Café dining.
The Tefft Meadows Senior Housing Project was the proposed development of a senior living apartment complex at #8 Paul Street, currently an old lumberyard. The approval called for the demolition of the existing buildings and the construction of a new 60-unit senior apartment building with all site amenities including a 90-space parking lot and stormwater facility. Begun in 2021, the project continued into 2023 but the Village was recently informed by Christopher Community, Inc. that the Tefft Meadows Project was not awarded funding of $19 million from the State of New York and, as a result, would not be moving forward with another resubmission of the project. In recent weeks, the Baltimore Ridge developer, Camex Realty, has updated the Planning Board Members on Tefft Meadows, so as to get a sense of their receptiveness to a change in the development of #8 Paul to a market rent project, with no significant changes to the existing plans. In other words, the developer would like to get some feedback from the Planning Board regarding the developer's plans for the site. After all of their hard work getting Tefft Meadows approved and then suddenly cancelled, this seems to be a very welcoming idea to the members of both the Planning Board and Village Board. A public information meeting may be held in the near future to inform local residents of this proposal and to gauge their receptiveness as well.
The Slocombe Ave and Kinderwood Drive Paving Project was a $120,000 project that the Village completed in the Summer of 2022 and called for repaving of these well-travelled and eroded highways as well as provide stormwater drainage and road improvements. Slocombe Ave is an area that has often been overlooked because, along with Village Offices and Police, few residents reside on this street.
The Village Hall Siding Project was a project that the Village completed in the summer/fall of 2022 . It involved the removal of existing siding from the building (built in 1889), wrapping the building with Tyvek weather seal, installing new vinyl siding on the entire building to include soffit and fascia. In addition, the installation of aluminum wrapping around the windows as needed completed the project and preserves an historic structure in the Village of Marcellus for future generations. The Village applied for and was granted approximately $60,000 by the Country to find this project, which cost totaled approximately $100,000.
The Marcellus Loan Closet - an organization whose origin dates back to World War II, and which group provides medical equipment on loan to residents in the Marcellus community, found it necessary to relocate its storage facility because of the closing of the Marcellus Pharmacy. In discussion with the Loan Closet, Marcellus Village and Town employees volunteered to construct a shed next to the Village DPW Barn to house the Loan Closet equipment. The Loan Closet agreed to provide all material cost. This project was completed in the fall of 2022 and the Loan Closet remains a viable community asset.
The Village Hall HVACHVAC Upgrades Project - a project that called for demo work, disconnecting, and removing 7 wall furnaces, and installing 2 high efficiency furnaces on the second floor of the building, new gas lines, ductwork and 2 AC units at cost of about $30,000, was completed in the spring, 2023.
Paul Street Reconstruction - with the possible construction of a new senior housing complex of 60 at Tefft Meadows by another developer at #8 Paul Street, together with the senior housing complex that already exists on Austindale Ave, there is a need for the reconstruction of Paul Street (along with appropriate granite curbing) and the installation of new concrete, 5-foot sidewalks where now there is none. It is anticipated that this project might be planned during the winter of 2023 and implemented in the summer of 2024 if a new developer for the #8 Paul Street property comes forward with a new proposal.
Old North and Bradley Streets Paving Project was a $32,000 project that the Village completed in the Summer of 2023 and called for repaving of these eroded and long neglected highways.
Flower Lane Reconstruction Project – a project that the Village may conduct in the spring of 2024 that calls for storm water drainage and road improvements to Flower Lane, and will involve completion of a survey phase to obtain all necessary information for the completion of mapping and design, including a topographical survey of the existing utilities, driveway and road surface within the survey corridor and the design and installation of a new storm water collection system while also reconstructing the road with new base material, asphalt and gutters, flattening the current high crown on this road to improve the overall drainage and future maintenance as well as new field inlet(s) and swale improvements where necessary, working closely with both NYSEG and OCWA in replacing their gas and water and to repairing the sanitary sewer line, with cured-in-place relining, which would take place before road reconstruction.
Finally, we should make note of our very professional Police Department, a twelve-person, part time agency, under direction of a Police Chief, which provides basic police protection and a full range of law enforcement services, managing over 125 calls per month, totaling about 1250 annually. The department has committed itself to the standards set forth by the New York State Division of Justice Services and maintains policies and procedures consistent with the standards of the New York State Accreditation Council. The agency also maintains an aggressive in-service training program for its officers. The absence of major crime in our village has given rise to some complacency as well as questioning the need for a police force. The absence of significant crime, major or minor, is not just a piece of good fortune. We don’t have major crime because the mere presence of a police force acts as a deterrent to crime and causes the criminal element to move on to other communities – ones that provide less scrutiny and not hinder illegal activity as much. Each year since 2010, a new agreement is negotiated and finalized between the Village of Marcellus and the Marcellus Central School District, whereby three (3) officers of the Marcellus Police Department are assigned to serve as School Resource Officers in the School District. The SRO assignment is a daytime assignment, Monday through Friday, eight (8) hours per day, per officer, one officer in each of the three buildings on the Marcellus Central School campus – KCH Elementary School, Driver Middle School, and Marcellus High School. This is a rather unique program, developed and initiated by former Police Chief Robert Wicks, and has continued and expanded by the current Police Chief Bernie Podsiedlik, to include SRO Officers in three (3) additional school districts, Tully CSD, Onondaga CSD, and Lyncourt Union Free SD. It is one that has proven to be most successful, a model that has been emulated by several other municipalities and school districts in Onondaga County.
The Village Creek Walk began with Mayor Fred Eisenberg, who was able to secure funding in 2002. By the time we entered office it had been standing still for a number of years. We were determined to finish at least part of the project, and after many delays, it was finished, partially, from the Marcellus Park to Marcellus Free Library, in 2017. Today, it is fittingly referred to as “Fred’s Trail.”
That first year also witnessed the start of several other projects, including the repair and sale of the old library, the Marcellus Murals Project, which enhanced the character of the Village Business District and provided an opportunity for MCS students to exercise their artistic talents at several locations in the Village Center, and some sanitary sewer relining on Chrisler and Old North Streets.
In 2011, the Reed Street-Reed Pkwy-Highland Drive Reconstruction Project, having begun earlier, was completed, while more sanitary sewer relining took place on Baker, Hillside and Wilson Drive as well as some micro fiber paving on Maple and North Streets. The Police Department was also able to secure grant funding for new entry doors and keyless locks to the Village Hall.
That same year, we were able to continue an ongoing Village Lighting Project, which began, again during the Eisenberg administration in 2005, and continues to the present. This project called for the installation of historical lights in the Village and eventually replacing all HPS lamps with LED fixtures. For the past dozen years, we have promoted this project and at present there are over 130 historical lights owned and maintained by the Village
After a feasibility study in the summer of 2011, work began on the Bio-Solids Compost Project initiated by our WWTP operators – the composting rather than the hauling and disposal of sludge produced at the Village Treatment Plant. Not only did this alleviate a serious concern – what to do with the sludge and the cost of its disposal – but it also provided an environmentally sound method of recycling bio-solids into compost and making it available to the public. Costing over $825,000, a 50-50 funding match with the NYSDEC enabled the project to be completed in 2012 and continues to be very effective and popular with local residents.
In 2012, after a two-year study, a new Village Code was updated and approved, a revision that not only facilitated its use but also made it easier to locate information and modify when necessary. In 2023, we are in the process of having General Code complete an E-codification of the Code and having it placed online, making it more available to the public and even easier to access and search.
In the summer of 2012, the Village initiated a Sump Pump Redirection Program, inspecting residences in the Village and the Town for illegal sump-pump connections and thereby addressing the matter of high flows at the WWTP. It was a most successful program and helped the Village to secure a $600,000 grant to initiate another project – a Sewer Consolidation Project – to combine all sanitary sewer services in the Village, the Town and the School District into one system, controlled by and maintained by the Village.
That summer also witnessed the Village having to address a flooding issue on Flower Lane, specifically a retention pond known as Coon’s Pond. This retention pond has been known for over 100 years as Coon's Pond and is fed constantly by a stream that comes down from the hills into the back yard at #9 Flower Lane. This is the source of almost all of the water that ends up in the pond. Back in the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, the Coon family used to cut ice from the pond, pack it in straw, and ship it to the southern states and to Latin America. There was also a greenhouse that the Coons had on the property, hence the name of the street, Flower Lane. In addition, the pond was often used as an ice-skating rink for the children of the 1920s and 1930s. The Village contributes some water to the pond by virtue of a drainage pipe from the street (Flower Lane), and the Village also has a drainage easement onto the property to take care of that pipe. The outfall from the pond is to South Street, through several properties, on its way, eventually, to Nine Mile Creek. Since the Village has an easement, the homeowner asked the Village to maintain the drainage pipe and to clean out the pond. In the summer of 2012, the Village spent over $30,000 (from the sale of the Village Reservoir), dug out the pond to a depth of two feet, created two check dams to catch the silt and opened the outfall pipe so that only water, not silt, flows into Nine Mile Creek. In the fall of 2013, the Village DPW installed a new outfall pipe, at significant cost, through three properties on South Street taking the water from Coon’s Pond to a drainage structure on South Street, leading eventually to Nine Mile Creek. Since that 2012 re-construction, silt has again filled in the pond, and this might require a Village response in the fall of 2023. The existing storm water control measures need to be re-constructed in accordance with approved project plans and thereafter be maintained, cleaned, repaired, replaced, and continued in order to ensure optimum performance. The cost of the project may require bonding by the Village.
Beginning in 2013, repairs, involving a micro-fiber treatment or a milling and paving operation, were made to several streets in the Village, including Chrisler, Kelly and Park Streets and in 2014 to Orchard Circle, Highland Circle and Old North Street, the latter street having been turned over to the Village by the State of New York the previous year. A similar remedy was applied to Baker and Hillside, and part of Beach and Austindale in 2015. There was also some sidewalk reconstruction on Bradley, Main and South Streets.
Begun in 2013 and completed in 2019, the WWTP Upgrade Project was an $8,000,000 project to upgrade the Village Wastewater Treatment Plant. This upgrade was necessitated by a DEC mandate to remove phosphorus from the treatment plant’s effluent and the improvements included the construction of new clarifiers, a new UV tank, a new head works building and modifications to the control building, among others. It has been the most costly Village project in its history, and today is the most valuable asset of the Village, second only to our employees of course. Throughout the upgrade, we were able to secure a number of grants, as well as a no-interest loan from the State to help fund the project. Final payments for this upgrade, however, will not be completed until 2051.
The Reconstruction of Scotch Hill Road having begun in 2011 would be completed in 2015. A $204,000 project, it was funded in part by a Community Development grant of $149,000 and included repaving of the road itself, sanitary and storm sewer replacement, the addition of granite curbing and new sidewalk on the south side of the road, from North Street to the Village line. An important gateway to the Village was much enhanced by this transformative project.
Having been designated a Clean Energy Community in 2017, a $100,000 grant was secured from NYSERDA to implement Clean Energy Projects in the Village, including a retrofitting of Village lights, including historic lights on Main, North and South Streets as well as coach lights on Orchard and Kinderwood Drive to direct wire LED type fixtures. Other indoor and outdoors lighting fixtures were replaced with LED lamps at all Village buildings - WWTP, Village Hall, Village Highway Barn. The $100,000 grant was obtained from NYSERDA to complete this project in 2019-2020.
That same year, the Village, as part of a ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) Project was reimbursed $16,000, an 80-20 match, by NYSDEC for installing an Electric Vehicle charging station in the Village parking lot, as well as for installing additional lighting, cameras and asphalt paving to the site
The process of demolition of the Lower Crown Mill at 71 North Street began in 2011 and was not completed until 2016, in two stages, at a cost of $110,000. Many lamented the loss of the mill, which was the last of many such mills that helped give birth to the Village and nurtured the community for over 200 years. However this not only eliminated a hazardous condition in the Village, it also led to the development of the Green Gateway Project in 2018. This Village project’s goal was to redevelop the abandoned and now demolished mill site along Nine Mile Creek into an environmental park in cooperation with environmental students and staff at Marcellus Central School. The project would include a number of creative designs such as outdoor classroom space (kiosks) for MCS environmental students, an ADA compliant fishing platform, public trails connecting to Village sidewalks and the Village creek walk as well as additional trees and an arboretum for residents as well as tourists alike to enjoy. Begun in 2018, the project continues to this day, with a new group of students each year taking the place and interest of those who graduate. While the coronavirus interrupted and delayed plans for several months, the Village, the Town, and the students at MCS continued working on the site. The project has begun anew, including the design and installation of a pedestrian bridge connecting the School and the Gateway Park. In the fall of 2023, MCS students will begin a project that calls for the design, fabrication, and strategic installation of about 15 historic markers (plaques) on the Gateway property - markers that would enable a visitor to understand the historical and ecological significance of the site. The signs will also serve to recognize the projects students have been doing in the park over the years.
Following a drainage study and design in 2018, the Village completed the Highland Drive Drainage Project. The plan alleviated the flooding that often occurred in the southern end of Highland Drive and involved the opening of ditches and replacing driveway culverts along the west side of the road, thus preventing storm water from jumping the ditches and flooding those properties below as well as allowing storm water to move quickly to the catch basins at Reed Parkway.
The West Main Street Stormwater Drainage Project was actually a public emergency repair in 2019 to this major highway in the Village costing approximately $150,000 and presenting the Village with a need to immediately retain a contractor to remove and replace 1,000’ of drainage pipes. We had expected that since this is a County Highway, that the County would be responsible for its repair, but were told that the County was only responsible for the road itself, nothing else - not the storm water pipes, not the catch basins, not the gutters. Because the County would do nothing, and because conditions on the shoulder of the road at this time presented a “clear and imminent danger to the life, safety or health of any person travelling by auto on this stretch of the road as well as hazardous conditions for those whose property abuts this road on the southern side, unless the storm water drainage pipes are removed and/or replaced as soon as possible,” a Resolution, authorizing the Village of Marcellus Department of Public Works to immediately cause the removal and/or replacement of the storm water drainage pipes on a portion of the southern side of this road (also known as County Rt. 41), from #15 West Main (the Grange) west to the Village line was approved. The Village was forced to bond for this project in order to pay the contractor. The situation remains a serious one since the County Highway Department will still not keep their storm drains outside the Village clear of debris, causing flooding on downstream properties in the Village.
The Reconstruction of Meadow Street began in 2020 and was completed in 2021. This was a $400,000 project that provided storm water drainage and road improvements to this area of the Village, one which has been long neglected and always seemed to be subjected to frequent flooding. Over the years, larger storm events have resulted in road and backyard flooding in the Meadow Street area. The Village has worked on incremental improvements to try to address these drainage concerns on the west side of the Village and the most recent drainage improvement project on Highland Drive included a new storm water collection system, improvements to roadside swales and road re-paving. These project improvements have resulted in a much lower frequency of storm water issues in this area.
The Baltimore Ridge Subdivision is a major development of about 20 acres of land in the Village to include 23 new residential lots, with the building of quality homes, as well as preserving the natural beauty of the land. Approved by the Village in 2021, the development of the site, by a most competent developer, it might be noted, began with the construction of an entrance road, the clearing of many trees, and the building of the required storm water detention pond. In addition, sight distance conditions on South Street Road, as required by Onondaga County DOT, were met and the installation of storm and sanitary sewer pipes were completed. Other utilities, water, cable, telephone, electric and gas, were also installed. Roads into the development have been paved, all of the lots have been sold and the construction of nine homes has begun. The utilities, roads, and sewer (storm and sanitary) infrastructure will probably be turned over to the Village in the summer or fall of 2023.
Beginning in 2019 and continuing into 2023, the Onondaga County Executive and Legislature have provided funding - usually a 75-25 match - for businesses to improve the main street areas of the Village. Called the Onondaga County Main Street Revitalization and Beautification Grant Program, it is a comprehensive grant program that provides funding for local revitalization efforts to grow the retail business district. Village officials work together with local businesses to develop a proposal that will positively impact a main street area. It has been a very successful program. In 2019, a $382,00.00 project that was mostly funded by the Onondaga County Legislature enabled 14 businesses to improve their facades on Main Street, was completed in 2021. In 2022, a nearly $500,000 project, again mostly funded by the Onondaga County Legislature will enable 18 businesses to improve their facades on Main Street. Many have been delayed until the spring and summer of 2023 because of supply and contractor issues. In 2023, Onondaga County again offered municipalities up to $500,000 in funding that will enable 11 businesses to begin to improve their facades in the Main Street areas of the Village. At this point, the 2023 program remains a work in progress.
The Village and its DPW became involved for several months with several Marcellus Central School District students and their teacher, Mr. Tyler Cooper, in the East Main Street Parking Improvements, a $150,000 project. The students, along with some invaluable advice, effort, and expertise from Joe Durand of TDK Engineering, researched and prepared an excellent CAD drawing that called for the reconstruction of parking in front of 2-6 East Main Street (Reagan Building and Village Tavern). As part of their Senior Project, Lee Piekiel and Liam Hawes, created a most appropriate design for this area on East Main, the final spot in the Village that had perpendicular parking, and was a dangerous traffic hazard, trying to park and then back out onto Main Street. There was a loss of 4 (four) parking spots as a result of this change, but the businesses that border this area came to realize the importance of eliminating this dangerous parking situation and agreed to the change. The project was welcomed by many residents and businesses, and following its completion in 2021, the area witnessed the start of some very successful outdoor Sidewalk Café dining.
The Tefft Meadows Senior Housing Project was the proposed development of a senior living apartment complex at #8 Paul Street, currently an old lumberyard. The approval called for the demolition of the existing buildings and the construction of a new 60-unit senior apartment building with all site amenities including a 90-space parking lot and stormwater facility. Begun in 2021, the project continued into 2023 but the Village was recently informed by Christopher Community, Inc. that the Tefft Meadows Project was not awarded funding of $19 million from the State of New York and, as a result, would not be moving forward with another resubmission of the project. In recent weeks, the Baltimore Ridge developer, Camex Realty, has updated the Planning Board Members on Tefft Meadows, so as to get a sense of their receptiveness to a change in the development of #8 Paul to a market rent project, with no significant changes to the existing plans. In other words, the developer would like to get some feedback from the Planning Board regarding the developer's plans for the site. After all of their hard work getting Tefft Meadows approved and then suddenly cancelled, this seems to be a very welcoming idea to the members of both the Planning Board and Village Board. A public information meeting may be held in the near future to inform local residents of this proposal and to gauge their receptiveness as well.
The Slocombe Ave and Kinderwood Drive Paving Project was a $120,000 project that the Village completed in the Summer of 2022 and called for repaving of these well-travelled and eroded highways as well as provide stormwater drainage and road improvements. Slocombe Ave is an area that has often been overlooked because, along with Village Offices and Police, few residents reside on this street.
The Village Hall Siding Project was a project that the Village completed in the summer/fall of 2022 . It involved the removal of existing siding from the building (built in 1889), wrapping the building with Tyvek weather seal, installing new vinyl siding on the entire building to include soffit and fascia. In addition, the installation of aluminum wrapping around the windows as needed completed the project and preserves an historic structure in the Village of Marcellus for future generations. The Village applied for and was granted approximately $60,000 by the Country to find this project, which cost totaled approximately $100,000.
The Marcellus Loan Closet - an organization whose origin dates back to World War II, and which group provides medical equipment on loan to residents in the Marcellus community, found it necessary to relocate its storage facility because of the closing of the Marcellus Pharmacy. In discussion with the Loan Closet, Marcellus Village and Town employees volunteered to construct a shed next to the Village DPW Barn to house the Loan Closet equipment. The Loan Closet agreed to provide all material cost. This project was completed in the fall of 2022 and the Loan Closet remains a viable community asset.
The Village Hall HVACHVAC Upgrades Project - a project that called for demo work, disconnecting, and removing 7 wall furnaces, and installing 2 high efficiency furnaces on the second floor of the building, new gas lines, ductwork and 2 AC units at cost of about $30,000, was completed in the spring, 2023.
Paul Street Reconstruction - with the possible construction of a new senior housing complex of 60 at Tefft Meadows by another developer at #8 Paul Street, together with the senior housing complex that already exists on Austindale Ave, there is a need for the reconstruction of Paul Street (along with appropriate granite curbing) and the installation of new concrete, 5-foot sidewalks where now there is none. It is anticipated that this project might be planned during the winter of 2023 and implemented in the summer of 2024 if a new developer for the #8 Paul Street property comes forward with a new proposal.
Old North and Bradley Streets Paving Project was a $32,000 project that the Village completed in the Summer of 2023 and called for repaving of these eroded and long neglected highways.
Flower Lane Reconstruction Project – a project that the Village may conduct in the spring of 2024 that calls for storm water drainage and road improvements to Flower Lane, and will involve completion of a survey phase to obtain all necessary information for the completion of mapping and design, including a topographical survey of the existing utilities, driveway and road surface within the survey corridor and the design and installation of a new storm water collection system while also reconstructing the road with new base material, asphalt and gutters, flattening the current high crown on this road to improve the overall drainage and future maintenance as well as new field inlet(s) and swale improvements where necessary, working closely with both NYSEG and OCWA in replacing their gas and water and to repairing the sanitary sewer line, with cured-in-place relining, which would take place before road reconstruction.
Finally, we should make note of our very professional Police Department, a twelve-person, part time agency, under direction of a Police Chief, which provides basic police protection and a full range of law enforcement services, managing over 125 calls per month, totaling about 1250 annually. The department has committed itself to the standards set forth by the New York State Division of Justice Services and maintains policies and procedures consistent with the standards of the New York State Accreditation Council. The agency also maintains an aggressive in-service training program for its officers. The absence of major crime in our village has given rise to some complacency as well as questioning the need for a police force. The absence of significant crime, major or minor, is not just a piece of good fortune. We don’t have major crime because the mere presence of a police force acts as a deterrent to crime and causes the criminal element to move on to other communities – ones that provide less scrutiny and not hinder illegal activity as much. Each year since 2010, a new agreement is negotiated and finalized between the Village of Marcellus and the Marcellus Central School District, whereby three (3) officers of the Marcellus Police Department are assigned to serve as School Resource Officers in the School District. The SRO assignment is a daytime assignment, Monday through Friday, eight (8) hours per day, per officer, one officer in each of the three buildings on the Marcellus Central School campus – KCH Elementary School, Driver Middle School, and Marcellus High School. This is a rather unique program, developed and initiated by former Police Chief Robert Wicks, and has continued and expanded by the current Police Chief Bernie Podsiedlik, to include SRO Officers in three (3) additional school districts, Tully CSD, Onondaga CSD, and Lyncourt Union Free SD. It is one that has proven to be most successful, a model that has been emulated by several other municipalities and school districts in Onondaga County.
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Green Gateway Pedestrian Bridge
One part of the Green Gateway project involves the construction of a pedestrians-only footbridge, crossing the creek from school property to the lower mill site, which is now owned by the Village. A pedestrian steel bridge, 85’ length x 6’ width, placed on concrete abutments, would create an easy and safe manner for students to cross directly from the campus to the outdoor classroom. The process, which started in 2021, to acquire and install the bridge began with a request for funding from our NYS Senator, John Mannion, who helped to secure a State and Municipal (SAM) capital project grant of $180,000. After soil testing, design and survey, excavation and foundation work followed, and installation took place in mid-July, utilizing a crane and the many efforts of Village DPW and Town Highway workers. The bridge is one more excellent example of intermunicipal cooperation between the Village, the Town, and the Marcellus School District. |
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HEALTH LOAN CLOSET
The Health Loan Closet has been relocated to Village Hall. Please bear with us while we get used to this transition!
Click here for more information
The Health Loan Closet has been relocated to Village Hall. Please bear with us while we get used to this transition!
Click here for more information
Marcellus, New York |
From the Mayor...Welcome to our great Village!
On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Marcellus, its employees as well as the residents of our community, I would like to extend a warm welcome. We are pleased that you chose to visit our web site and hope that you find it interesting, helpful and easy to use. We are a friendly community of quiet tradition and comfortable living and proud of our Village, as illustrated by the many welcome banners that grace our streets and the entrance signs that greet both visitors and residents. |