Wheatfield Town Board appoints new recreation director

Board postpones vote on proposed drainage disclosure law

by Ralph Schwarz
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, December 1, 2003

The Wheatfield Town Board unanimously approved last Monday the appointment of Edward Sturgeon as the town's new recreation director.

Sturgeon, who has served as president of the Niagara Wheatfield Athletic Association for 13 years, will take over the position currently occupied by Interim Recreation Director Bill Ross. The board appointed Ross at its June 30 meeting after deciding not to confirm Dan Rey, who had served as provisional director since 2002.

The Town Board acted on a recommendation by members of the Recreation Committee who had been interviewing over 30 applicants for the position for the last three months.

Sturgeon will start as recreation director next Tuesday at an annual salary of $38.000, said Councilman Larry Helwig who served as the board's liaison to the committee.

The appointment of Sturgeon, who currently lives in the town of Lewiston section of the Niagara Wheatfield school district, did not come without opposition as some members of the audience called the board's decision to select a non-Wheatfield resident an insult.

Although Town Supervisor Timothy Demler agreed with the argument that Wheatfield residents should first be considered first for the job, he made it clear that he respects the committee's decision.

"They felt, probably for many good reasons, that [Sturgeon's] qualifications clearly outweighed the fact that he doesn't live in the town of Wheatfield," Demler said.

A former maintenance supervisor of at Occidental Petroleum in Niagara Falls, the 58-years-old Sturgeon brings plenty of experience in the area of athletics and youth activities. Throughout his 20 years with the NWAA, he was involved in the district's wrestling, football, cheerleading, and soccer programs. In addition to coordinating various youth programs for the school district, he maintained the district's athletic fields, primarily the baseball and softball diamonds.

"I hope you don't pre-judge me," Sturgeon said. "I hope you give me the chance to show that I can do the job and that I care about the job."

Sturgeon's appointment remains contingent on the results from the Civil Service exam he is expected to take early next year.

"I want with everybody in the community," Sturgeon said, adding that he plans to move into Wheatfield in the near future.

Vote On Drainage Disclosure Law Postponed

The Town Board decided to postpone its vote on a proposed local law requiring developers and real estate agents in the town of Wheatfield to disclose the drainage conditions of a property to any potential buyer.

As previously reported in the Tribune, the law would require developers and real estate agents to provide potential buyers with an up-front written disclosure on the existence of any swales, encroachments, drainage easements, ditches, wetlands, detention ponds, or any other kinds of standing water that have to be maintained on the property. Failure to disclose a property's drainage condition to a potential buyer would result in either fines or a prison term or both. The board presented a draft of the law to the Wheatfield residents in a public hearing on Nov. 10.

"We got input from the residents," Demler said. "The residents seem to like it. The developers seem to like it. Some of the real estate agents were not thrilled with it."
Although the wording of the law has been changed since the public hearing to accommodate and clarify some of the issues and concerns brought up at the public hearing, Demler said that he wanted to follow up on the board's promise to publish a copy of the law first before voting on it.

"Rather then act on this law tonight, we're going to publish a copy of the law as it was changed from the public hearing in the next two to three weeks and act on it probably in January," Demler said.

Agenda Items

In other business, the Town Board voted:

• To schedule a public hearing on the Town Comprehensive Plan for Monday, Jan. 5, 2004, at 7 p.m.
• To declare a Negative Declaration under SEQR for the Woodlands Corporate Center Expansion Subdivision after the town engineers found no apparent environmental impact as a result of the project. The subdivision is approximately 117 acres and is proposed as a multi-use subdivision including industrial and office sites, elderly care and housing, and single-family residential.
• To approve the preliminary plating map for the aforementioned Woodlands subdivision project. The approval is conditioned on the provisions included as a part of the SEQR Negative Declaration being incorporated into the final design for the project.
• To approve the PUD rezoning for the Woodlands Corporate Center Expansion Subdivision. The PUD portion of the project will include elderly care and housing and 34 patio homes. The approval is conditioned on the provisions included as a part of the SEQR Negative Declaration being incorporated into the final design for the project.
• To approve sanitary sewer and water service connections for the General Dynamic Veridian Flight Research Facility at 2041 Niagara Falls Blvd. The connections will be made to the Niagara County Sewer District #1 and Niagara County Water District lines under the condition of two contingencies. The Town Supervisor is authorized to request these connections from the Sewer and Water Districts.
• To amend the local law relating to cellular, telecommunications and other towers within the town of Wheatfield to read, after the amendment, as set forth in the attached schedule and to repeal all provisions of the prior law not contained in the revision.
• To approve three muzzleloader discharge permits to town of Wheatfield residents.
• To pay bills as audited.

Next Meeting

The Town Board will hold its next meeting on Monday, Jan. 5, 2004, at 7:30 p.m. An open work session starting at 6:30 p.m. and a public hearing on the Town Comprehensive Plan at 7 p.m. will precede the meeting.