NORWICH – A contract from Chenango County outlining stipulations for proceeding with the downtown parks renovation project finally landed in the Norwich Business Improvement District’s office last week.
It had been sitting, unfinished, on the county’s attorney’s desk for more than a year.
The city’s attorney is currently reviewing the proposed agreement. Eric Larsen, president of Friends of the Parks, which is the all-volunteer organization working in conjunction with BID, said he hoped the county’s terms could be met. Some involved insurance and weren’t previously envisioned, he said.
“They want us to maintain coverage for three years after the project’s finished to see if there’s any defects in what we’ve donated,” he said. “We have to find out what that’s going to cost us.”
The sticking point has involved whether Friends of the Parks would have to pay prevailing wages to volunteers who were otherwise employed by contractors making the improvements. Whether the county’s attorney or the Friends’ organization initiated an investigation of state law on the matter in the first place depends on who you talk to. But speaking for the county’s Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds Committee, City of Norwich Supervisor Linda E. Natoli said Tuesday that the county received written confirmation from the New York State Labor Department confirming that the prevailing wage issue had been put to bed.
“We needed to have something in writing, but I guess we came to the conclusion that it was not an issue anyway,” said Natoli.
Friends has raised $425,000 from supporters to upgrade and enhance East and West Parks in Norwich. The estimated $1 million project has been ongoing since 2002, and received Chenango County’s official backing a year ago. It includes construction of a turn-of-the-century style performance stage in East Park, upgrading the electrical systems, providing water access, building new sidewalks, replacing overgrown shrubs, providing new benches and replacing two Civil War cannons.
Other than the wage issue, the parks project has come under scrutiny by individuals who object to a permanent stage. Natoli said she informs her constituents that the volunteers who have been erecting and taking down the stage for various parks events through the year “are simply tired out.”
“I ask them if they have ever volunteered to do the work,” she said, “and then they usually understand.”
Community volunteer Joseph Coe, who is a retired policeman and former ordinance inspector for the City of Norwich, said he looked forward to the day when the parks were free of electrical hazards. Water that collects around surface wiring and wires left in the mud make the parks dangerous to pedestrians.
“We’re all afraid that somebody’s going to get hurt,” he said.
Renovations were initially slated to begin in early May. The changes won’t be made before Colorscape takes place next month, but could possibly be finished in time for the Pumpkin Festival in late October.
Outdoor stage performers entertain audiences during Gus Macker and several other summertime events held in the parks.