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New code enforcer for town of Canton, outside firm to handle town attorney work

Posted 3/26/18

By ADAM ATKINSON CANTON — Vacancies in two key personnel positions with the town of Canton will soon be filled. The town board has appointed new code enforcer Jeff Murray and authorized the town …

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New code enforcer for town of Canton, outside firm to handle town attorney work

Posted

By ADAM ATKINSON

CANTON — Vacancies in two key personnel positions with the town of Canton will soon be filled.

The town board has appointed new code enforcer Jeff Murray and authorized the town supervisor to negotiate professional legal services for the town with Pease and Gustafson LLP of Massena.

The town has been without a town attorney since the departure of long-time Canton town attorney Charles Nash who resigned last month.

The code enforcer position, a shared office between the town and the village, but appointed by the town, has been vacant since the resignation of former code enforcer Russell Lawrence last fall.

Code enforcement officer

The board held a public hearing Monday, March 26, on a proposed local law to expand the residency requirement of the code enforcer to allow applicants from anywhere in St. Lawrence County to apply. Civil Service law previously required the position to be filled by a Canton resident.

Only one resident attended the hearing, Carol Pynchon, also a village board trustee, who voiced support of the measure.

The town board subsequently passed the local law expanding the residency requirement. The law will now be sent to the Department of State for formal approval.

Following the approval, the board appointed Jeff Murray of Pierrepont to the position. His appointment is a 2- to 12-month trial appointment at a salary of $40,000 with benefits.

Town Supervisor Mary Ann Ashley said there were three applicants who passed the Civil Service test to draw from. A joint committee of village and town officials reviewed the candidates and agreed to hire Murray, pending the expansion of the residency requirement through passage of the new law.

“He will start April 2,” said Ashley.

Murray will take over from interim code enforcement officer Mike McQuade, who has served since the position became vacant last fall.

“Mike McQuade has done a really good job. . . We appreciate his service,” said Ashley. “It’s not an easy job.”

“We are really excited to welcome (Jeff Murray) on board,” she said.

Town attorney position

The town board also authorized Ashley to seek professional municipal legal services from attorney Eric Gustafson, and his firm Pease and Gustafson of Massena.

Ashley said she would start those conversations with Gustafson Tuesday and was confident the town board would be able to authorize a contract with the firm at the April board meeting.

Gustafson is a well known local municipal attorney, handling legal business for Massena and other St. Lawrence County towns since the late 1990s.

In addition to Pease and Gustafson, the town had two other applicants for the town attorney position.

Gustafson and company will provide counsel to Canton for the regular municipal legal issues traditionally handled by a town-employed lawyer, most recently Charles Nash. The arrangement with the Massena firm, however, will be a contractual one.

The town is also contracting for additional legal services regarding town labor issues with the firm Roemer Wallens Gold Legal Council. The town approved a three-year contract in February authorizing the firm review town policies, procedures and the highway contract, which is still under negotiation. The contract with Roemer Wallens is for $24,300, Ashley said.

The firm supplies similar services to the village of Canton.

“You have to have experts in the field that know the law about labor,” Ashley said. “I want the best for the town of Canton.