by Rachel Hunter

The Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees at its Aug. 20 meeting heard a report from the Village of Gouverneur’s Property Maintenance Officer Glen Besaw.

“I wrote six more tickets,” he said. “Four more properties were inspected, and this Thursday (Aug. 22) will be a very busy day in court. I think we have like six cases coming to court. Some of them have been dragging a long time. Hopefully, some of them will be taken care of this week… I have noticed that some people that I have contacted lately have been more than willing to comply without having to take any action on them. So maybe we are making some headway there. Hopefully that is a bright spot for us. I found that, by working in the evenings, it is easier to make contact with people. So I’ll be doing that. This evening, I’ll go and see six more people. Hopefully we will have some success in court. And hopefully word will get out, and people will become even more willing to comply.”

Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ron McDougall then opened the floor for questions.

Village Trustee Troy Besaw said: “So, you seem to be getting a good response then for some of these individuals that are getting in front of a judge?”

“It’s finally that some of them are coming around,” PMO Besaw said. “I think they realize that we are not going away.”

“That’s good,” Trustee Besaw. “It’s a slow process.”

PMO Besaw said, “It’s not our court’s fault or anything like that. It’s just the system we have through the state.”

“You have been in the court with some of these people four times, correct?” Trustee Besaw said.

“Oh yeah,” PMO Besaw said.

“Holy man,” Trustee Besaw said. “That’s not a cheap venture for the village in any stretch of the imagination.”

“Yeah,” PMO Besaw said. “I think they are getting the point that it’s not going to go away. They have to comply sometime.”

Trustee Besaw said: “I would hope so… thanks!”

There was no further discussion on PMO Besaw’s monthly report.

The next regular meeting of the Village of Gouverneur Board of Trustees will be held on Tuesday, September 17, 6 p.m., at the municipal courtroom. A public hearing on Local Law No. 2 of 2024 (Establishing Burning Regulations) will be held at 5:55 p.m. For more information, call 315-287-1720.