Old Town Hall For Sale

By Joshua Walther

MIDDLEBURGH - Last Thursday, member Wes Laraway told the Middleburgh Town Board that the old town hall has been prepped for sale.

He explained that he and several Town employees got together on a nice day and filled a dumpster in one afternoon in an effort to clean the place.

“It’s in good condition,” he said. “It looks really good.”

Mr. Laraway noted that the building will be in the hands of realtor Pearl Ruby Torres, a Middleburgh agent with deep ties to the county that has been selling property since 1993.

He and the rest of the Board remains hopeful that the building will sell, saying “Let’s hope that somebody falls in love with it and wants to buy it, and let’s hope we can put it back on the tax roll.”

In other news, Dog Control Officer Joe Durma asked the Town if he can trade in street addresses for the names of residents so he can begin mailing dog licensing applications.

“I’m wasting my time coming out here,” he said, explaining that for every call that’s made, there’s someone that doesn’t answer their door. “I know these dogs aren’t licensed.”

Town Clerk Renee Schmidt agreed to look through her records and aid Mr. Durma in rolling out his new strategy for registering dogs.

Finally, Fred Risse of the Planning Board voiced his concerns about the new car detailing shop being run out of the smoke shop across the street from Valley Market.

“We served him with the paperwork, but the guy never showed up,” he explained, and said that if the Planning Board doesn’t know, the owner is technically doing illegal work.

Town Supervisor John Youmans and the rest of the Board advised Mr. Risse to get into contact with Codes Officer Tom Loucks, though Mr. Laraway held his own reservations.

“I still think there’s a fine line there to tell a business owner what they can and can’t do with their business,” he noted, but still referred the Planning Board to Mr. Loucks.