Third time could be the charm for the legislature, which is scheduled to vote tomorrow night on the budget necessary to create an office of Building and Codes to take over that function for the village of Spring Valley. The county is state-authorized to do that on February 14th, but needs the money to fund the office that was created in a second vote last week. Clarkstown legislator Minority Leader Lon Hofstein says he was surprised last week when a rules change issue prevented the legislature from authorizing the money…
While the law passed unanimously last week, three legislators left the meeting early so the vote on the budget stalled. In a statement late Wednesday afternoon, the Legislature said of the three legislators who left the meeting early, Ramapo’s Alden Wolfe had to attend to a personal matter, Clarkstown’s Aney Paul had technical glitches, and Ramapo’s Toney Earl had undergone a medical procedure earlier in the day, but was able to sign-in to vote to create the office, but not on the budget. WRCR reached out to them for further comment, but we did not hear back. Justin Schwartz heads up the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force, and on Friday’s “Who Wants to Be a Volunteer” program, said he’s done hearing excuses because lives are at stake…
The state-authorized move to take over the village building department comes in the wake of last year’s fatal fire at the Evergreen Adult Home in which a resident and Spring Valley firefighter Jared Lloyd were both killed. Two former Spring Valley building department employees and four others have been charged in connection with the blaze.