Fulton Unveils a New Policy, Celebrates History, And Is Looking At A Three-Way Race For Mayor

by Contributor | May 9, 2019 8:50 am

by Randy Pellis

FULTON, May 7, 2019 — Highlighting Tuesday night’s meeting of Fulton’s Common Council: all city employees will be required to sign the city’s new sexual harassment policy; Ethan Parkhurst says he’s back in the race for mayor; and Fulton’s Friends of History were honored on their 40th anniversary with a mayoral proclamation declaring May “Historical Observation Month.”

The city’s new sexual harassment policy was mandated by the state Dept. of Labor. Fulton chose to use a model policy made available by the state. According to Fulton Mayor Ron Woodward, all department heads will meet with and provide all city employees with copies of the new policy. Fulton already had a sexual harassment policy in place. This new one will replace that. Employees will be required to sign off on the new policy.

Asked later whether the city has had any sexual harassment issues, Woodward said, “I’ve had people say off-color things, but we get them in and it only happens once.”

Prior to the business end of Tuesday’s meeting, the council and the mayor honored Fulton’s Friends of History on the 40th anniversary of their formation for having “endeavored to preserve and protect historical artifacts, publications, and other archival material of local interest to the city of Fulton and adjacent towns of Granby and Volney,” and for their dedication to “keeping the history of Fulton alive and fresh on our minds.”

Woodward proclaimed the month of May Historical Observation Month “in commemoration of the spirit of the community that has kept the history of Fulton and the adjacent towns of Granby and Volney alive for the past 40 years and will continue to do so for years to come.”

Following the meeting, mayoral hopeful Ethan Parkhurst, whose designating petitions to get him on the Republican and Conservative ballot lines were both successfully challenged by Republican candidate Deana Michaels and thereby invalidated by the county Board of Elections, said his last-ditch effort to secure an independent spot on the November ballot will succeed having obtained more than enough signatures on new, independent designating petitions.

“I made my mark and then some,” Parkhurst said. “I made a promise, and I will be there. I will be on that ballot.”

Parkhurst needs 161 signatures on designating petitions to enable him to run for mayor on the independent party he has formed, The People’s Voice party. Those petitions must be filed with the Board of Elections between May 21 and May 28.

Of note during the actual business of Tuesday’s meeting, the council reappointed Charles Avery to a two-year term as Commissioner of Deeds, appointed Susan Fiorini to fill the unexpired term of Matthew Geitner to the Board of Assessment and Review expiring on September 30, 2020, and named Kathy Yahner a part-time, eight-hour-per- week Code Enforcement Officer.

In other business, the council authorized $16,523 for the lease and installation of holiday decorations from Downtown Decorations, Inc. of East Syracuse for the season commencing on Nov. 20, 2019 and ending on Jan. 15, 2020.

And lastly, the council accepted Rodney and Alexander Kouthhoofd’s $5,000 offer to purchase a tax-foreclosed home at 60 West Third Street. The city rehabs some homes it obtains through back taxes owed, and it sells off others. According to Mayor Woodward, the annual budget to rehab homes is $50,000, and as much of that is presently tied up in the rehab of another home at 715 Erie Street, the home at 60 West Third Street had to be sold. The home’s relatively low purchase price reflects the home’s serious state of disrepair which, according to the mayor, will require replacement of the home’s roof, furnace, and plumbing.

At the end of each meeting, after business is concluded, the mayor asks each councilman for any comments he’d like to make.

Fifth Ward Councilor Dennis Merlino gave an optimistic assessment of the uptick Fulton has seen this year in new business formations.

“More and more,” he said, “the small businesses that built Fulton originally are coming back and rebuilding Fulton.”

Sixth Ward Councilman Lawrence Macner had praise for Van Buren Park.

“Walk the half-mile trail they’ve got down there,” he said. “It curves up and down a little bit. It’s nice. It’s a nice soft gravel type of pathway. They have three exercise stations donated by OCO (Oswego County Opportunities) on the northern end of the trail, and there are two donated benches if you get tired and want to take a break.”

Second Ward Councilman David Ritchie expressed regret that “the DRI (the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, a multi-million dollar grant to cities), unfortunately, it’s not meant to do with the west side. Not yet. Maybe in the future.”

And with that in mind, as the meeting adjourned, Dennis Merlino reminded those in attendance that a community meeting on the DRI will be held at 7 p.m., May 15 in the council chambers of the Fulton Municipal Building.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/fulton/fulton-unveils-a-new-policy-celebrates-history-and-is-looking-at-a-three-way-race-for-mayor/

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