Fredonia’s top official has pitched an idea to help curtail wild, booze-laden parties in the college community, but not everyone seems on board with it.

Mayor Athanasia Landis reported during a recent village board meeting that her non-Fred Fest committee proposed implementing a rental property registry. The registry would require contact information for both landlords and tenants so police could have it when a party gets out of hand, especially during the last weekend before finals at the State University of New York at Fredonia, Landis explained.

“The committee’s objective was never to put an end to a specific event, but rather to formulate a plan that throughout the year, we establish some parameters in which the students and their friends can have a good time, while the people of the village don’t feel like they are hostages to a specific situation,” she elaborated. “The village and the police should know if there is a problem, who can we call?”

Trustee Catherine Creeley noted her previous place of residence (a municipality outside St. Louis) requires rental properties apply for occupancy permits that list everyone living there. Trustee Kara Christina asked what would happen if the landlords do not comply with the registry, to which Landis replied potential enforcement efforts need to be fleshed out.

Trustee Marc Ruckman – a landlord himself – voiced his opposition to the registry in a concise statement.

“I think it’s too much Big Brother,” he said flatly, adding, “I don’t think it’s necessary; I don’t think it’s going to solve the problem of Fredonia Fest at all. There’s people that move into apartments all the time and the landlord has no idea they’re even there. It’s more government interfering in places where they shouldn’t.”

“I see it as trying to give it some kind of order and some kind of responsibility to people who rent,” Landis countered. “My daughter is renting. That was a requirement; (she) had to register and there was no questions asked.”

Ruckman asserted it would be difficult to police the registry, especially when it comes to a do-nothing landlord or local agent.

Christina – who also has rental property – said the village must do something to curb rowdy parties, so a registry would be a start. She added she personally would not have a problem complying with the registry.

“I don’t know if it will fix the problem because you’re always going to have certain people who just simply don’t care, but I think doing nothing is not an option,” she argued. “You have people come here who are very upset and very afraid for themselves and their families.”

Landis piggybacked off that comment.

“It’s the same thing as … if I put trash cans (somewhere), is everybody going to put trash inside? Probably not, but some of them will, so I’m going to alleviate a little bit of the problem,” she said. “I think we should try something … especially for the kids to be safe, without overdoing it. I think somebody should know where to find this person who has this house. The house is on fire; we should be notifying somebody.”

Code Enforcement Officer Charles LaBarbera interjected the purpose of the registry is to give police a resource – in the dead of night – to identify who lives in a residence having a party when the attendees are not cooperating.

“As long as the landlord (complies with the registry), we’re not going after the landlord; we just want the information from the landlord because we suspect they have it,” he remarked. “The bigger problem is the tenants, where now the police could actually do more good and help more to break up some of the problems we have.”

Landis concluded by saying she wanted to start a conversation and offer the registry as “food for thought.”

The non-Fred Fest committee was formed in May. Members include Trustee James Lynden, Fredonia Police Chief Bradley Meyers, Fire Chief Kurt Maytum, Ruckman, SUNY Fredonia President Virginia Horvath, SUNY Fredonia Judicial Affairs Director Lisa Newell, SUNY Fredonia Police Chief Ann Burns and Landis.

Also during the meeting, the board hired Justin Borrello of Summer Street and Jonpaul Long of Webster Road as seasonal laborers in the Department of Public Works at $9 per hour. Ruckman voted “nay.”

“… Until there’s a different direction in that department, I’m not going to put any more people in there,” he previously said.