OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Justice Christopher Penfold, and his wife, Priscilla Penfold, each have served as Town Justices. Christopher Penfold urged local municipalities to voice their support for justice courts to New York State.

ARKWRIGHT — At its most recent Board meeting, the town took a clear stance when it comes to local justice courts.

Members issued a resolution in opposition of a bill at the State level pertaining to local justice courts. The current bill circulating the State government would require that the 100 largest courts in New York State be run by an attorney, rather than an elected Justice of the Peace.

“This is the beginning of New York State abolishing the 1,200 Justice Courts in New York State and implementing District Courts,” Justice Christopher Penfold said. Penfold is the Town Justice for both Dunkirk and Hanover. He also serves as Director of the New York State Magistrates Association.

After the Town of Dunkirk issued a resolution against the State legislation and in support of local courts, the Town of Arkwright did the same.

“If they move to a regional court system … I think peoples’ access to justice would be slower. I really do think that,” Arkwright Town Supervisor Brian McAvoy said.

The Town of Arkwright unanimously passed a resolution, which stated, “The bill negates the right of voters to elect those in their communities who they believe to be fair and impartial, and who would best serve that community, whether or not they are a licensed attorney.”

The resolution will be sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul, as well as various other statewide government leaders, including Assemblyman Andy Goodell and Sen. George Borrello.

The Town Board also re-submitted three local laws originally passed last year to the State after an error kept all three from being filed appropriately. The three laws, pertaining to illegal dumping, short-term rental properties, and solar projects, were open for public hearings before unanimously passing by the Board. No amendments were made to the laws and no public comments were made.

At its recent meeting, the Town Board reaffirmed its stance that the Town Assessor’s office should be focused on addressing agricultural exemptions, STAR exemptions and processes, along with filing correct addresses for all residences and identifying “hidden” properties in the Town that are not registered.

The Town also made a procedural move in reassigning Code Enforcement Officer Ed Pagano to Zoning Officer pending completion of training regarding building inspections. Pagano needs to complete additional training to conduct building inspections, and until that training has been completed, Pagano cannot operate as a building inspector. In the meantime, the Town will contract outside inspectors to handle the duties at a rate of compensation not to exceed $200 per inspection.

Pagano’s compensation has been reduced from $10,000 to $8,500, prorated, to account for the additional costs incurred by the Town. McAvoy defended the decision to keep Pagano on as a Town employee despite the lapse in training.

“I think it shows we stick with our people. … Ed is a good guy. He works hard for the Town.” McAvoy said. “… He didn’t get a chance to get the training. Life gets in the way sometimes, I’m not going to punish the guy for that. In my opinion, I don’t want to part ways with him for that. I want to work with him, get him where he’s got to be, and then he will be the Code Enforcement Officer for us for a good, long time.”

The next meeting of the Town Board has been moved to April 15 to accommodate for travel issues surrounding the April 8 eclipse.