Lease for park house is discussed

DUNKIRK — A temporary lease agreement for the city park caretaker’s house is being prepared for review by city officials and former caretaker Charles “Butch” Parfitt.
Parfitt and his four children have been living in the caretaker’s house since an early morning fire on Dec. 16 forced them to flee from the home that they had been renting at 1005 S. Main St., Dunkirk.
The Parfitt family escaped uninjured, but the house sustained substantial damage was was unlivable.
Dunkirk Mayor Ron Hunt subsequently offered to let the family move into the vacant park caretaker’s house as an emergency solution to their lack of housing problem, just before the Christmas holiday.
At a meeting of the Dunkirk City Council Thursday, council members unanimously approved a motion the will allow the family to stay in the house rent-free if Parfitt agreed to perform certain park caretaker duties.
The temporary agreement will run until April when it will be reviewed again by Parfitt, the city council and Dunkirk city park board.
Under this temporary agreement, Parfitt will be responsible for taking care of the park shelter building as well as the restroom facilities at the city park, located along Highland Avenue.
Parfitt formerly held this position which also includes mowing the park lawn in the spring, summer and fall.
The most recent caretaker left in late summer.
City water and sewage charges will be waived, and the city will pay $68 a month towards electricity and $150 a month towards natural gas service for the home.
In addition Parfitt will be responsible for keeping the inside of the home in good repair.
The city would be responsible for making any structural repairs and keeping the exterior of the building in good repair.
Parfitt was not in attendance at the council meeting, although Hunt said, “I was hoping he’d be here.”
Dunkirk Park Board president Oma Scruggs said she felt the park caretaker’s job should once again be offered to Parfitt with him receiving the house rent-free and paying a portion of the charges for utilities.
Scruggs added, that in her opinion it was good to have a caretaker, as it deters vandalism to park property.
Also several people at the council meeting complimented the mayor for allowing the Parfitt family to move into the caretaker’s house in response to the emergency situation. “It was a great gesture,” Dunkirk resident Pam Bunch said.
In other action at the special meeting Thursday, council members:
•Listened to a request from Scruggs that a vacancy on the park board be filled as soon as possible. She said the park board has only had four members instead of five for the past several months.
Hunt responded that he would get together with Tom Johnson, councilman in charge of the parks, to appoint a new member.
•Noted that at the end of the year, the city needed to pay $13,000 to cover unused vacation and personal days time for city employees. Council members voted to change this policy, so employees would be required to take all their vacation and personal leave time during the year or lose it without any compensation. Details of administering this policy will have to be worked out with city department heads.
Meanwhile council members also noted that wages in the salary ordinance would remain the same in 2011 as in 2010. This had been agreed upon earlier in the year.
•Approved a proposal from Culy Construction and Excavating Inc., Winchester, to make repairs at the wastewater treatment plant — including installation of a new large, more accessible valve. Cost of the work will be $16,480 with city workers also being responsible for helping to complete the project.
Councilman Chuck Rife and wastewater treatment department superintendent Tim Kesler recommended approving the Culy proposal with Rife saying, “We’re between a rock and a hard place on this.” Councilman Eric Bowler initially questioned why two quotes had not been sought for this work, but later agreed to go along with the unanimous vote to have the work done.
“This is pretty much an emergency,” Kesler said.
•Approved two fund transfers to balance accounts for 2010. One called for $133 from fire department office-records to the fire department general fund. The other called for a transfer of $2,475 from the street department bituminous fund to the street department’s sand, salt and gravel fund.[[In-content Ad]]