rachelh@myweeklysentinel.com
CANTON — At Monday evening’s meeting, Canton Borough Council voted to work on an agreement with Solid Ground Services, Inc. for street work to be completed.
The vote came after a lengthy executive session with borough council members and Krystle Bristol, president of Solid Ground Services (a paving company) in Troy. Bristol said she has asked to be included in the executive session at the meeting.
Before executive session, Bristol spoke during public comment portion of the meeting concerning recent permit fees that the company received after working on a sidewalk project in front of the Chatterbox Restaurant in the spring. She noted that those fees were not the responsibility of the company, and rather, were for the business owners, who said they would take care of it.
Bristol noted that her company had reduced their prices for the work done because it was “admirable that after a year like 2020, a business wanted to make improvements.”
“It’s important to know that a sidewalk replacement permit was required and was completed and submitted by the owners of the Chatterbox prior to any work starting,” said Bristol.
She noted that according to street supervisor Dave Wilson, an additional road opening permit would be needed because the pre-existing asphalt went up over the curb line and he was concerned about it crumbling back into the road.
This permit would require a $50,000 bond according to Bristol, and an additional cost of up to $2,000 just for the bond.
She continued stating the owners asked them to continue the work and they would deal with the borough.
“My company received two letters from the borough stating that we are responsible for obtaining road opening permits for the Chatterbox project. And also, ironically, on another project that we had recently completed weeks prior to at the Warrior Wash,” said Bristol.
“I responded to these letters on May 10. My main point in these response letters was that responsibility to obtain permits falls on the project owner and not the contractor or sub-contractor. The ordinance for road opening permits does not state anywhere that the applicant must be the contractor,” said Bristol.
She noted that she sent the application to her attorney, who she says agrees that they are not called out as the one responsible party and that it has three separate portions for the contractor, owner and subcontractor.
“The Chatterbox applied for the first permit on this project. How did permits become our responsibility mid-project?” she asked. “The borough keeps referencing specifications that are no-where posted or available.”
Bristol gave two more examples of work that the company has done in the borough, notified the owners and offered them help with applying for the permitting. Concluding her speech, she noted that Solid Ground received a certified letter from the borough on those properties on Nov. 4.
“If the borough wants to continue to press this issue, they should contact the property owners and not us,” she concluded.
Local businessman Frank Watson also spoke on the matter, on behalf of concerned business owners in Canton.
“I’ll be here to plead with the council to think about the ramifications of pursuing this on-going situation with all of the burdens involved in this. Instead, I would plead with the council to maybe think about turning this into what we might call a ‘teachable moment’ for everybody,” said Watson.
“I don’t think that Bristols’, Pepper’s Excavating or the Chatterbox Restaurant entered into anything malicious with this road. This road is a borough road. I think that taking action against the owners or contractors might be sending the wrong message to many businesses or residents in out town going forward with our sidewalk program, which I have been a proponent of for years now, Watson then suggested that the borough council craft up an advisory committee on the matter, which would be comprised of local business owners in Canton.
“Maybe we can come up with a program to attract and retain businesses in town. We’re facing some real challenges in town. There are some businesses that are on the fence right now, or going to be leaving town. I think maybe our council would do well to focus on some of the real problems in town which in my opinion, this patch of pavement that was put in is not.”
“We need to think about what we can do as a town, and as businesses to help ‘arrest the descent’ rather than first try to move forward, and I think we are sending the wrong message (in this instance),” said Watson.