Knox Street Property Lease Passes

The family living at 819 Knox Street now has a lease that legitimizes their presence on the property, but city residents will have to wait before a report into the handling of the property is released.

The Ogdensburg City Council passed a lease for the property at 819 Knox Street on Monday night after Mayor William D. Nelson successfully lobbied two councilors to change their votes.

"I think we can all agree that this has become a mess," said Mr. Nelson. "I don't agree with the process that went into this lease, but we did ask the attorney to do this for us."

Deputy Mayor Michael D. Morley came out strongly against the lease when the council began its discussion.

"We've already circumvented the council's policy by collecting rent on the property," said Mr. Morley. "It is not a legal lease."

The family at 819 Knox Street had lived for three years in the city-owned property without paying rent or taxes. After a request from the council, City Manager Arthur J. Sciorra signed a lease with the tenants and began to collect monthly rent.

Ogdensburg's charter, however, states that a lease cannot be executed until it is approved by the City Council. Councilor Michael B. Powers originally sided against approving the lease.

"We passed a resolution in June to support our Neighborhood Stabilization Program policies, and they have been circumvented," said Mr. Powers. "I can't support this. We wanted checks and balances, and we haven't had them."

Councilor R. Storm Cilley made a plea on behalf of the tenants.

"I believe the residents at 819 Knox Street have done what the city asked them to do," he said. "The moral thing to do is to approve this lease."

Mr. Powers changed his vote in light of Mr. Cilley's argument.

"I can't evict a family during the holiday season," Mr. Powers said. "I'll support the lease as long as, moving forward, we fall back on the policy we enacted."

Mr. Morley was reluctant to change his vote. The city charter states that the lease could only pass with 3/4 of a vote from the total council, without Mr. Morley's vote, the motion to approve the lease would fail.

"The city manager has to do this process in the right order," said Mr. Morley. "I would feel better if we had another public hearing."

The mayor explained to Mr. Morley that the lease would protect the city from liability should someone become injured on the property.

"We need to protect ourselves," said Mr. Nelson. "I think we need to get money into the public coffers."

When the matter came to a vote, Mr, Morley took considerable time to think before voting to approve the lease.

The council also considered a resolution drafted by Daniel E. Skamperle making a report on how the city handled the properties at 819 Knox and 2 Grove streets public.

"There's nothing in the report that should not be made public," said Mr. Skamperle.

Mr. Nelson disagreed.

"I think we all agree that we want to release the report to the public, but we need to take the appropriate steps," he said.

The mayor called City Attorney Andrew W. Silver to give an opinion on the release of the report. Mr. Silver compiled the report at the council's request after the matter at 819 Knox St. was made public.

"Until you've had somebody analyze the report, it is premature to make that decision," said Mr. Silver.

Members of the city council were eager to open the report up for public discussion.

"We haven't even discussed this report yet," said Councilor Nicholas J. Vaugh. "When are we going to do that?"

Mr. Skamperle expressed frustration at the delay.

"We have a report and we have not taken any action," he said.

Others on the council said the city should exercise caution before releasing potentially private information to the public.

"We have personnel matters tangled with this report," said Mr. Powers. "I want to make sure we dot our i's and cross our t's."

The council voted to table the resolution.