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MAYVILLE -- Some residents and business owners in the Mayville-Chautauqua region are calling for the town to dismiss one of its building inspector/code enforcement officers.
During last week's Chautauqua Town Board meeting, audience members spent about 30 minutes registering complaints about Frank Watson. Watson was at the meeting but did not respond to criticisms made during the public comments portion of the meeting.
Watson was hired in 2023 after the retirement of Jeff Paddock. Both he and Ken Shearer work for the town of Chautauqua Code Enforcement office, which also oversees code enforcement for the village of Mayville.
Before Watson joined the town of Chautauqua, he was the code officer for the town of Dayton for many years.
During Wednesday's meeting, Toby Hammond with Hammond Construction spoke during the privilege of the floor.
Hammond noted that he was hired to help remodel the former Chautauqua Harbor House, which is now She Sings Cafe.
"We were harassed on that project. We were given letters that were totally irrelevant and written with absolutely no code section on anything on what we were in violation of," he said.
Hammond, who is also a code enforcement officer for two different towns, continued, saying that everything they did was a "level one alteration," including things like replacing the kitchen floor, replacing dropped ceiling tiles, kitchen countertops and installed trim work.
"The definition of a level one alteration is an existing building or portion thereof, shall not be altered in such that the building becomes less safe than the existing condition," he said.
Hammond said Watson charged $175 for a permit to replace the kitchen floor, another $175 permit for replacing windows and later requested they apply for a standard building permit.
"I don't know if any of you know what that (standing building permit) is, but I sure don't, and I do code enforcement," he said.
Hammond also said Watson sent a letter after the remodeling saying "the inspection determined that there are additional permits and safety conditions required. This determination is based on safety, health, local/state codes" but noted that there were no local or state code violations listed on the paperwork.
She Sings Cafe owner Rebecca Magnuson further alleged that Watson walked in unannounced during construction and threatened to shut her down, even though the business wasn't open.
"He harassed me and made me so scared. I was terrified of this man," she said.
Eventually, Shearer was assigned to oversee the remodeling of the restaurant. It opened in late September, about a month later than originally planned.
Between the building purchase and the remodeling, Magnuson said she has put about $700,000 into the business and has 16 employees.
"All I'm doing is trying to create jobs, trying to make a building habitable again, have a place for our community to be able to come together, and have wonderful meals together," she said.
After Hammond and Magnuson spoke, a letter was read on behalf of Keri Belovarac with Bemus Bay Architecture. In the letter, she wrote that over the years she has worked well with Chautauqua's code enforcement officers but not with Watson.
"During my interactions with Mr. Watson, I've realized that he believes himself to be the code creator as opposed to the code enforcer," she wrote. "I have never seen a code official in this entire county who makes up new codes and regulations."
She alleged that Watson treats her differently because she is a female.
"Mr. Watson, in my opinion, seems to have a problem dealing with women," she said. "This makes no difference to me, but it might be the next woman, so I felt that it was important to note this."
Another letter was read on behalf of Joe and Angie Dubois, who live on North Drive in Dewittville. In that letter, the homeowners said they applied for a permit to demolish their main house on their property to build a new one.
Once the building was down, they were told they needed to apply for zoning variances because of three other buildings on their property before they could get a permit for the new house to be built.
The other three structures have been on the property for decades, are only used by family and friends, and aren't available for rent.
Eventually they were able to get a permit for construction of their new home; however, it was delayed for several weeks, and the construction is now being affected by the weather.
They also want to make some repairs to the three buildings, however, they said Watson told them they must go before the zoning board before any repairs can be made. The Dubois' letter stated that the buildings should be "grandfathered in" and will hire a lawyer if they are required to obtain variances.
A third letter was read, this one by Empire Development of Mayville. They have been working with Joe and Angie Dubois and objected regarding the permits required for their project on North Drive.
"I have been doing work in this town of Chautauqua for 26 years and have never had any issues with any of the building inspectors, and that includes the city of Jamestown and the city of Dunkirk," the company wrote.
The three letters and the paperwork from She Sings Cafe was turned over to the town board for review. Supervisor Don Emhardt declined to comment on the matter.
After the meeting, Watson was asked by The Post-Journal/OBSERVER if he wanted to respond. He replied, "If they want to complain about being safer, they can go right ahead."