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Ogdensburg fails to pass beach lease, councilors want more details

Posted 5/11/21

BY JIMMY LAWTON North Country This Week OGDENSBURG – A resolution that would have allowed the city manager to execute a lease with the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority failed to pass Monday. …

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Ogdensburg fails to pass beach lease, councilors want more details

Posted

BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – A resolution that would have allowed the city manager to execute a lease with the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority failed to pass Monday.

Ogdensburg City Councilors Dan Skamperle, Michael Powers and Nichole Kennedy voted against the leasing the property citing a lack of information regarding the total cost and concerns over spending.

Deputy Mayor John Rishe urged his fellow councilors to support the measure as the city recently unanimously passed a resolution supporting opening the beach in July.

Last week officials met with the OBPA to make a proposal to lease the beach area for a total cost of $3,000. The lease deal would run from July to September.

Kennedy questioned if the beach would be handicap accessible. City Manager Stephen Jellie said he was unsure at this time.

Jellie said the next step in reopening the long defunct city beach would be to secure approval from the health department and too a much lesser degree the department of environmental conservation.

OBPA officials made good on their promise to return a proposal to the city in time for the Monday meeting. City Councilor Steve Fisher told his fellow councilors that the city should act on the measure as the OBPA stepped up and turned the agreement around quickly when asked.

Some members of the public raised concerns about the spending, something that was echoed by Skamperle. He said he’d like to see a public hearing held to garner interest from the public and offer a chance to hear some of the concerns.

Power’s said that while he and his fellow councilors all supported opening a beach in the city he wanted to make sure i’s were dotted and t’s were crossed before empowering the city manager to enter into an agreement.

The resolution failed 4-3 as a super majority was needed to pass.