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Thread: What is the town up to now?

  1. #46
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    I'm gonna say it now. We need someone different for our town Supervisor.

  2. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by nogods View Post
    What did Diane say when you contacted her about the unfinished work?
    I called the number on the invoice 686-3450...She answered Highway department....I state my point to which she didn't care. She said they did the work and they will be back in the spring to finish it...I said....then bill me when you finish the job!!! We argued cause she thought they had the right to bill for the unfinished work that was well beyond the terms they originally promised in official letters mailed out and she blamed rainy weather, I told her I was calling my council member. She asked several times for my address that I gave her several times....finally she took my phone number and said she would get back to me.

    I then called and left a message on Jerry Kiminski voice mail (he is the only one I have a direct cell number for)

    I then went to the towns website and filled out the complaint form.

    Maybe I should call the rest of the board...but previous experience says it's a waste of time and they won't respond or return calls.

    As of this writing I have not heard back from any town official.

  3. #48
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    Going on 4 days with no returned calls or emails from ANYONE of the 3 that I contacted....It LOOKS like they really don't give a ****!.

    Just might have to ask my questions in person.

  4. #49
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Quote Originally Posted by Electric Eye View Post
    I called the number on the invoice 686-3450...She answered Highway department....I state my point to which she didn't care. She said they did the work and they will be back in the spring to finish it...I said....then bill me when you finish the job!!! We argued cause she thought they had the right to bill for the unfinished work that was well beyond the terms they originally promised in official letters mailed out and she blamed rainy weather, I told her I was calling my council member. .
    I wouldn't pay for unfinished work except if a deposit was required to start a project.

    It would not be in the best interest for us property/business owners if the Cheektowaga Democratic Party believes it is ok to pay for unfinished work in our behalf. Does anyone know if this is a common practice by the group who runs are town?

  5. #50
    Member nogods's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WNYresident View Post
    I wouldn't pay for unfinished work except if a deposit was required to start a project.

    It would not be in the best interest for us property/business owners if the Cheektowaga Democratic Party believes it is ok to pay for unfinished work in our behalf. Does anyone know if this is a common practice by the group who runs are town?
    The elected officials in the town are concerned with the best interest of the voters. Owning property or a business has no special significance. There may be times when facilitating a property or business owner is in the best interest of the voters, but at all other times the best interests of the voters is ahead of the best interest of property or business owners.

    I agree, however, that no one should ever pay ahead for work to be done in the future.

    The answer is twofold: 1. first try to solve it politically through the Town Board asking for someone to sponsor a resolution to suspend adding the items to tax accounts until the work is completed; and/or sue the bastards. I think a case could made against the town and the contractor (the property owner is an identifiable beneficiary of the contract with the town, which might be enough to prevent the contractor from getting the case dismissed against it.)

    I don't know if you can sue a town in small claims court, but that would be the way to go - make a public stink about if nothing else - get on the news, have some fun, throw a block party next spring to rally neighbors around the unfinished sidewalk project, if still unresolved, hold an occupy Cheektowaga at a nearby park, get thew Goo Goo dolls to play a free concert during the occupy event to attract hoards of people to the park.

    EDIT:

    Found this on lawyers.com - not sure of its validity, and the notice of claim rule might not apply to a contract type action:

    You can also sue a municipality (town, village or city) or county in small claims court. However, the law requires you first to notify the municipality of your intention to sue. That notice must be given to the municipality within 90 days after the occurrence of the incident that is the subject of your suit. You must wait 30 days for the municipality to make an offer of settlement or to deny your claim. If the municipality denies your claim you can then proceed to the small claims court office to begin your small claims case. You have one year and 90 days from the occurrence to commence your small claims action. If you don't notify the municipality within 90 days of the incident, your case may be dismissed.

  6. #51
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    he elected officials in the town are concerned with the best interest of the voters.
    I agree. The "group" (political party - social club) takes care of themselves while the property/business owners have to deal with the highest property taxes in the area.

  7. #52
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    Suing the contractor directly will depend on whether or not you are an intended beneficiary as opposed to an incidental beneficiary of the contract. Given that you are being charged at least in part for the cost of the sidewalk replacement, i think you could make a good case for being an intended beneficiary to that extent, allowing you to sue the contractor as well as the town in small claims court.

    New York's Court of Appeals has adopted the approach of the Restatement 2d, Contracts, requiring the party as-serting third-party beneficiary status to demonstrate that it was an intended beneficiary of the underlying con-tract. Fourth Ocean Putnam Corp. v Interstate Wrecking Co., 66 N.Y.2d 38, 485 N.E.2d 208, 495 N.Y.S.2d 1 (1985). It is the intention of the promisee which is said to control the determination of the third-party beneficiary status. Id. at 44. "The absence of any duty of the promisee to the beneficiary has been held to negate an inten-tion to benefit in both governmental and private cases". Id. (citations omitted).

    Fourth Ocean Putnam Corp. [supra], a case with analogous facts, dealt with a contract between a municipality and a demolition contractor to remove a structure that was a public nuisance. Plaintiff, the owner of the property, sued for breach of contract against the demolition contractor, alleging it breached the contract by failing to re-move the foundation, and against the municipality for failure to supervise and insure that the contract was com-plied with. The court found that plaintiff was only an incidental beneficiary, not an intended beneficiary, of the contract since the demolition work was performed not as a means of benefitting plaintiff but to protect the gen-eral public against a public nuisance.
    The same case from which that quotation was taken aslo said:

    New York Child's reliance upon Key International Manufacturing, Inc. v Morse/Diesel, Inc., 142 A.D.2d 448, 536 N.Y.S.2d 792 (2d Dept 1988) is misplaced. In that case, the plaintiff, the owner of the development, sued an architect and an engineer contracted by plaintiff's wholly owned subsidiary for economic loss suffered in con-nection with a construction project involving the development on the basis that it was the third-party beneficiary of the contract. The language in Key International [ supra, at 455], upon which New York Child relies, states:

    "where performance is to be made directly to a third party, that party is generally deemed an [*5] intended beneficiary of the contract and is entitled to enforce it . . ."

    However, the court distinguished its case from Fourth Ocean Putnam Corp., where the performance, the demoli-tion of the third-party's structure, was also made directly to the third-party, in that there was no indication in Fourth Ocean Putnam Corp., that either the promisor or the promisee intended to benefit the landowner, but ra-ther intended to confer a benefit on the public by removing a dangerous structure.

  8. #53
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    4:36pm and still no call.
    I'm not looking to sue anyone...I'm even willing to pay...BUT not until the job is complete.

    The fact there are 4 inch ruts on both sides of the new sidewalk makes it more of a hazard then before they tore it up....it is not my fault the contractor did not do the concrete work until mid November which gave them no time to finish before the snow fell a week or so later.

    But none of this seems to concern our elected officials and the cronies they hire to interact with the tax paying citizens that pay them.

  9. #54
    Member nogods's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Electric Eye View Post
    4:36pm and still no call.
    I'm not looking to sue anyone...I'm even willing to pay...BUT not until the job is complete.

    The fact there are 4 inch ruts on both sides of the new sidewalk makes it more of a hazard then before they tore it up....it is not my fault the contractor did not do the concrete work until mid November which gave them no time to finish before the snow fell a week or so later.

    But none of this seems to concern our elected officials and the cronies they hire to interact with the tax paying citizens that pay them.
    You are being unrealistic. If you can't get a political solution - which so far appears that you won't, then you will have to sue.

    Otherwise you'll end up just an insignificant whiner on the net who will have to pay before the job is completed.

    If it bothers you that much go over to town court and file a small claims case against the contractor and the town for the amount you have been charged on your tax bill. I think it will cost $15 to start the action.

  10. #55
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    I doubt that anyone is going to call you back. I'd be surprised if the Highway Department would even respond to an email. Send them one, wait a week, the start the action in Small claims court. Send a copy of the complaint to the cheektowga bee to get some press. highwaydeptweb@tocny.org

  11. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by Electric Eye View Post
    4:36pm and still no call.
    I'm not looking to sue anyone...I'm even willing to pay...BUT not until the job is complete.

    The fact there are 4 inch ruts on both sides of the new sidewalk makes it more of a hazard then before they tore it up....it is not my fault the contractor did not do the concrete work until mid November which gave them no time to finish before the snow fell a week or so later.

    But none of this seems to concern our elected officials and the cronies they hire to interact with the tax paying citizens that pay them.
    Why don't you email the Cheektowaga Bee editor with your story and also send pics? Maybe, the media can help you get it out there. Erika Carlson ErikaC@beenews.com

    Georgia L Schlager

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    I sent an email to the Bee..No response, no response from anyone I contacted...So this past Monday I went to the town board meeting and complained.

    They listened to all my complaints about this sidewalk saga.

    I gave them about a dozen large pictures of the work before and after, They agreed we should not be billed until the job is completed. I talked after the meeting with Diane and Mr.Rogowski.

    On 2/3/2015 Mark Wagner from the highway dept called me and we discussed it further and he also agreed the we should not be billed until the job is done and that the wording on the letters needs to be changed...he also stated that the person ( I don't recall the name) who sent those letters was at the town board meeting and he doesn't know why they decided to stay quite.

    So in short everyone agrees that giving JUST 2-3 weeks for a homeowner to fix the sidewalk themselves or hire a contractor is not long enough, the wording of the letters is to demanding, the time it has taken to do the project 9+ months and counting is way too long. Having only One contractor doing the concrete work for the entire town is causing the delays, and the contractors need to use 4 inch forms for ALL sidewalks instead of the 3.5inch 2x4's. Mark also said if you don't agree with the blocks that get marked to be replaced to call and dispute it....I mention this because if your blocks are cracked that doesn't mean they need to be replaced...they only need to be replaced if they are a trip hazard at the time they're marked....apparently they were doing a lot of speculation and they get me for 2 blocks that were cracked but NOT a trip hazard.

    Now let's see if we don't get a letter extending the due date until AFTER the work is finished.

  13. #58
    Member nogods's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Electric Eye View Post
    I sent an email to the Bee..No response, no response from anyone I contacted...So this past Monday I went to the town board meeting and complained.

    They listened to all my complaints about this sidewalk saga.

    I gave them about a dozen large pictures of the work before and after, They agreed we should not be billed until the job is completed. I talked after the meeting with Diane and Mr.Rogowski.

    On 2/3/2015 Mark Wagner from the highway dept called me and we discussed it further and he also agreed the we should not be billed until the job is done and that the wording on the letters needs to be changed...he also stated that the person ( I don't recall the name) who sent those letters was at the town board meeting and he doesn't know why they decided to stay quite.

    So in short everyone agrees that giving JUST 2-3 weeks for a homeowner to fix the sidewalk themselves or hire a contractor is not long enough, the wording of the letters is to demanding, the time it has taken to do the project 9+ months and counting is way too long. Having only One contractor doing the concrete work for the entire town is causing the delays, and the contractors need to use 4 inch forms for ALL sidewalks instead of the 3.5inch 2x4's. Mark also said if you don't agree with the blocks that get marked to be replaced to call and dispute it....I mention this because if your blocks are cracked that doesn't mean they need to be replaced...they only need to be replaced if they are a trip hazard at the time they're marked....apparently they were doing a lot of speculation and they get me for 2 blocks that were cracked but NOT a trip hazard.

    Now let's see if we don't get a letter extending the due date until AFTER the work is finished.
    Did the contractor remove the topsoil and replace it with a stone filled clay mixture? That is what one of the sidewalk contractors was doing in past years - then he would return the following spring to throw some grass seed on top and call the job finished.

  14. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by Electric Eye View Post
    I sent an email to the Bee..No response, no response from anyone I contacted...So this past Monday I went to the town board meeting and complained.

    They listened to all my complaints about this sidewalk saga.

    I gave them about a dozen large pictures of the work before and after, They agreed we should not be billed until the job is completed. I talked after the meeting with Diane and Mr.Rogowski.

    On 2/3/2015 Mark Wagner from the highway dept called me and we discussed it further and he also agreed the we should not be billed until the job is done and that the wording on the letters needs to be changed...he also stated that the person ( I don't recall the name) who sent those letters was at the town board meeting and he doesn't know why they decided to stay quite.

    So in short everyone agrees that giving JUST 2-3 weeks for a homeowner to fix the sidewalk themselves or hire a contractor is not long enough, the wording of the letters is to demanding, the time it has taken to do the project 9+ months and counting is way too long. Having only One contractor doing the concrete work for the entire town is causing the delays, and the contractors need to use 4 inch forms for ALL sidewalks instead of the 3.5inch 2x4's. Mark also said if you don't agree with the blocks that get marked to be replaced to call and dispute it....I mention this because if your blocks are cracked that doesn't mean they need to be replaced...they only need to be replaced if they are a trip hazard at the time they're marked....apparently they were doing a lot of speculation and they get me for 2 blocks that were cracked but NOT a trip hazard.

    Now let's see if we don't get a letter extending the due date until AFTER the work is finished.
    Good job

    Georgia L Schlager

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    Quote Originally Posted by nogods View Post
    Did the contractor remove the topsoil and replace it with a stone filled clay mixture? That is what one of the sidewalk contractors was doing in past years - then he would return the following spring to throw some grass seed on top and call the job finished.
    Neither the town or the contractor has done anything since they removed the forms and the cones...it is literally frozen in time!...the small mounds of dirt/stone and the ruts next to the new sidewalk blocks are all still there buried under the snow...waiting to be finished when the weather breaks and they can get around to it!

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