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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Fmr. Inspector Defends DPW Work
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| Bob Gilmore |
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| These plans for the DPW building are in the village's possession but they have not been stamped by a licensed engineer. |
March 11, 2010
Did an engineer sign off on the building plans for the DPW building that was evacuated last month under orders of the Cornwall-on-Hudson building inspector?
On Monday, former building inspector Robert Gilmore presented village officials with a signed affidavit in which he said that a licensed engineer in the office of engineer Paul Cuomo had reviewed the plans and stamped the specification sheets for the construction. Cuomo passed away in March of 2007 and, according to a former employee, David Dendy, most of his records are in the possession of his widow.
No One Has Found the Signed Plans
To date, no one has been able to locate a copy of signed building plans, one of the factors that led the building inspector to order the evacuation of the building. No certificate of occupancy has been found, either, and a state code compliance officer has said that a building cannot be occupied without one.
In his affidavit, Gilmore does not address the missing certificate of occupancy but he described how the notes about the building and photos of the footings were kept in a box at the DPW headquarters. The box, with photos, drawings, the soil test results, two unsigned copies of the building plans and other documents related to the construction, is currently being held in a safe at village hall. No one is allowed to review the box without a witness,
Former Inspector Defends Building's Code Compliance
Gilmore responded to many of the state code enforcer’s concerns about the building, stating that the elevator was built to code, the electrical work was inspected and the trusses in the roof may flex, causing sheetrock corners to separate
Meanwhile, in a phone interview, village trustee Mark Edsall, an engineer who served on the board when the DPW project was approved, said that he is concerned about the lack of a certificate of occupancy and signed plans, but he thinks that closing the building down suddenly was “irresponsible.” He said what the village did was wrong, making a sensational situation that inconvenienced the employees and incurred expenses unnecessarily.
While the DPW works out of temporary quarters at Village Hall, village officials have leased a trailer that will provide office space and records storage area. The rental cost of the trailer is $5,000 for six months, according to the village clerk, and may be occupied once electrical lines can bring it power.
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