Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Open house time

TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2013
When asked last week if his Lyme residence would be considered an illegal structure, James G. Millington Jr. said: “It is and it isn’t.”
He constructed his home on Point Peninsula in 2007 without a building permit. Lyme had no code enforcement officer at that time, so this function would have been the responsibility of Jefferson County.[WatertownTimes]

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, Oh

Somebody may have bitten off more than they can chew on this one.

Millington should be asked to resign. His resignation should be tendered in exchange for an agreement to probe the activities of the local contractors of all the municipalities he was working. Start in Cape Vincent and audit the practices of local contractors there to see if their work is on the up and up. Pictures on your blog and a trip to the contractor's property seems to indicate otherwise.

Thank you to the WDT for taking a strong position of stricter zoning and codes enforcement.

Anonymous said...

Lets here from the AG.
CV is small and an easy place to start.
Go back two Zo's and look over the windmill debacle and start there. Then the CV contractors and their relationships with the Zo's. Take a look at local contractor work for the last 7 years. Check for permitting
and inspections. The Times lead the way on this
and deserve County and State investigation and enforcement.

And that includes any action wind developers took to influence or manipulate Jefferson County zoning laws.

Anonymous said...

Fire the guy, stop beating around the bush.

Anonymous said...

Considering Pearson appears to be a spokesperson for the Bp, Marion Trieste, VFW, Democratic CFG long green line and considering that one or more of the County guys including Keif might be wind leaseholders from CV and CFG members, this whole situation which by now the WDT seems to have a handle on should be turned over to the AG for a total review.

Anonymous said...

If you or our wonderful town board can't figure it out your answer is to turn it over to the AG's office. Blame everyone else, but not the person who broke the law regardless if he knew about it or not. You are an ass 1:02 PM, a dumb ass. Just fire the jerk an d get it done.

Anonymous said...

It seems Jim Millington's credibility has been dealt a serious blow. The town should consider replacing him and moving on to insure the integrity of the zoning process.

Cape vincent does have an issue with proper building code enforcement. Whether Kieff,and Wiley are connected to the voters for wind seems irrelevant ,but then again this is Cape Vincent,where everything revolves around the wind controversy,and sound reasoning takes a back seat.

The town has never really completely committed itself to either the zoning or code enforcement concept , so it is no mystery that inadequate ,sloppy, enforcement would suddenly be an issue.

This guy Pearson should be run out of town meetings, he is an all to obvious advocate for the BP project and the CFG election agenda. Let him pay for campaign advertising through the media.

Anonymous said...

4:05 PM

Read the WDT Editorial again.

This situation has now blossomed into a far more serious situation that just the mistake made by one man. Millington is not the only one under scrutiny now. the county will be too. How many similiar problems with the county?
It now has become serious charges that may cost a man his only jobs and is likely to require further investigation by higher authority. The contractor who started it all might want to lawyer up because as with all matters like this, he most likely have to prove the source and his zoning, permitting and inspections past is clean. That is just the way it goes.
Before a dog chases a car he should think what might happen if he catches it.

Anonymous said...

"If you or our wonderful town board can't figure it out your answer is to turn it over to the AG's office."

It is the WDT that is saying the State might have to be involved.

Anonymous said...

Opinions are like pieholes, everybody has one. Facts, on the other hand, are not subject to viewer discretion. I hope anyone who fires anyone gathers and considers facts and not opinions.

Anonymous said...

Another big money pool for lawyers. Who will sue who first?

Anonymous said...

If this was a normal citizen concern, it would be easier. But this appears to be a situation that British Petroleum local groups took in an effort to embarrass the Town of Cape Vincent officials.

It appears that they may be hoping it helps them to take back the Cape and give it to British Petroleum.

Voters for Wind and the CFG got a local handyman to do their work for them. For political purposes, the CFG and the Democrats are taking the credit for the information that might get a man fired from jobs in three communities. But if there are investigations or legal actions as a result, who will actually take credit for the bust?

Anonymous said...

Fire Millington, and hire Dennis Pearson as zoning and code enforcer. Lets get back to the way things were "not done" in the old days.

Anonymous said...

It is possible that King's CFG and Wiley's Dems have already made that promise to Mr. Fixit.

Anonymous said...

Pearson vs Millington has now become a vey serious affair and we all have our theories.
Here is one about how it will possibly play out.
Fired or not Millington might get a lawyer who will review the charges brought out in public by Pearson. Some of them could possibly be slander with malicious intent. Others man be true but not crimes. Especially since the CFG Chair and the Democratic chair may have given Dennis public attaboys.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I don't get it! The CFG, voters for wind are opposed to zoning and code enforcement,right? If Jim Millington found a way to build his house skirting the code enforcement, one would think he would be a hero to the CFG.

He pulled off the ultimate zoning caper. They should be giving him a medal and asking him to be their role model, instead of cutting his legs out from under him.

Pearson acts like a well-behaved puppet for BP , fits right in with the rest of the CFG boneheads.

Anonymous said...

Dennis will do just fine in any legal wrangle ever comes of this. The CFG and the Dems will hold a pig roast and help him if he needs counsel.

Anonymous said...

The town is now being sued by a county rt. 7 landowner that built an illegal garage. Millington issued a stop work order midway through the construction. The garage was finished even though several calls were made to Millington during the process.

Who do we blame? Millington?
The unenforceable zoning laws?
The county?
Or the asshole that finished his garage with a stop work order in place?
The point is, BP is going to shit on us seven ways to sunday because we can't enforce the simple zoning laws we have.
How much in legal fees is a garage costing the town?
Think about how much it will cost to fight a huge corporation...

Anonymous said...

6:49"The point is, BP is going to shit on us seven ways to sunday because we can't enforce the simple zoning laws we have."

I don't know where you have been, but we no longer have the authority to enforce our zoning laws regarding wind development and BP. The State took away that right, and will only allow our law to be applied to BP's project if they consider it is not overlyburdensome. In other words it is not going to be applied, at least not as it stands.

It is the State who is going to shit on us seven ways to sunday.

Anonymous said...

8:32

We NEVER enforced the laws we had. That is why the big bad state stepped in.

Anonymous said...

5:39 Are you saying the State took over the siting of industrial turbines, because our former officials disregarded our Comp. Plan ?

If Cuomo had fulfilled his duties as AG, these officials would have been eliminated from the process. He failed to exercise his authority to protect the people of New York from unethical or corrupt government practices, which was perfectly within his job description. It was totally unneccesary for the state to assume control of energy siting by enacting ART.10. It was a simple power grab to facilitate development as Cuomo sees fit to implement his energy policy.

Can't buy the theory that it was enacted for the benefit of the citizens.