The worst of winter waned with the recent thaw but as streets clear of built up ice and snow they reveal a pox of potholes plaguing the city: damage wrought by winter’s icy grip. “If you fill a hole, it’ll probably be good for a day if you’re lucky,” Mayor Ron Woodward said. “Then you’ve got to fill it again. New potholes keep surfacing and they’re going to keep showing up until the frost line goes away.”
As the region digs out of the relentless winter snow, federal, state and local jobs and unemployment data for January show a bright spot as the economy – even in Oswego County – continues its assiduous dig out of the 2008 recession.
According to New York State Department of Labor statistics released Tuesday, while Oswego County’s January numbers of 9.7 percent trailed the local region, the rate was 2.4 points lower than the county posted in January 2013.
The final decision whether the Fulton Wastewater 
Treatment Plant will become part of the city or continue to be in the town of Granby and taxed accordingly is expected to be handed down any day by the New York State Court of Appeals. “A three judge panel, the final step – they will decide if annexation is in the best interest of the general public,” Mayor Ron Woodward said during a phone interview last week.
The cases for the three teenaged boys who were arrested in connection with the murder of a town of Granby man were waived from town court to Oswego County Court where, if the case goes to trial, they would be treated as adults. According to New York State Criminal Procedure Law, a youth 16-18 years old charged with a Class A-I or A-II felony may not be treated as a youthful offender.
UPDATE: According to the state police accusatory instruments and sworn depositions filed this morning, the three young suspects went to Miller’s residence armed with a 10-inch kitchen knife, metal pipe, rusty hammer and a butter knife in order to rob “an ounce of weed.”
A reform measure to halt use of Social Services electronic benefit transfer cards in strip joints and casinos was passed by the state Senate last month but the bill remains stuck in the Assembly’s Social Services Committee costing $120 million in federal aid. Bill co-sponsor Senator Patty Ritchie said, “Welfare benefits are intended to help those who have fallen on hard times, to feed their families and make ends meet, and taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used to buy booze, cigarettes and lottery tickets.”
Girl Scout Troops from Daisys to Cadettes celebrated World Thinking Day on Sunday and local troops did their part at the Municipal Building with displays of food, clothes, geographic and cultural highlights from other nations.
“It’s about different Girl Scouts all over the world and what they’re learning,” said 9-year-old Trinity, a first year Brownie Girl Scout from Hannibal.
The state comptroller has accused a Fishkill town director of misuse of funds after an audit showed $50,000 missing from operations related to the community’s senior center. Fishkill and Fulton were both approved last November for assistance by the state’s financial restructuring board. Meanwhile the comptroller’s office has already been over the city of Fulton’s books in an audit spanning several weeks last summer. At the conclusion of Fulton’s audit the city was deemed to be fiscally stressed, but there were no accusations of wrongdoing.
A new garbage packer and increased rental fees for parks and facilities punctuated business during Tuesday’s Fulton City Common Council meeting.
Council President Dan Knopp advised the council the $120,000 equipment purchase would not affect the general budget.
Barry Ostrander, superintendent of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department explained that the new rates would not affect anyone who has already scheduled programs or facility rental with the city.
Repairs and upgrades to the city of Fulton’s waste water treatment plant, in compliance with a consent order issued by the Department of Environmental Conservation, are slated to begin as soon as the construction contracts are signed. “The contracts were issued last week,” project manager Jeremy Boyer said. “We’re executing them, getting our bonds and insurance together and we will return the contracts to city hall this week. As soon as they’re signed we’ll be ready to begin.”
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