Codes officer suspended over demolition controversy
By JEN CARPENTER THE EVENING TRIBUNE

HORNELL - The lead code enforcement officer for the City of Hornello was suspended last week for his role in an attempt to demolish the historic Martin Adsit house.

The reason, according to Mayor Shawn Hogan, was failure by Tim Aiken to heed the mayor's directive on the project.

Hogan was not present at a meeting of the city Planning Board when Aiken forwarded a demolition application for the Adsit house, located at 32- 34 Main St. The building was the center of a controversy eight years ago in which a development company sought to built a Rite Aid drugstore on the site.

Eric Shults, of Shults and Shults Law Offices, was present at the meeting, representing NYDH LLC, the company that now wishes to demolish the house. The board initially approved the permit, then rescinded its motion on the advice of Hogan, who was reached by phone through City Planner Heather Reynolds-Kaszynski.

Aiken believes he did nothing wrong.

"I can understand Shawn's feelings for the sensitivity of the project," he said Thursday, "but I don't know what laws there are to prevent a company from moving a structure."

According to Hogan, Aiken was ordered to hold off submitting the demolition proposal to the Planning Board.

"This is not to be presented to the board because it hasn't been done properly," Hogan said he told Aiken prior to leaving for Albany.

Hogan Friday said Aiken, who has been with the city 16 years, is still suspended, with pay, until formal charges are presented.

The Hornell mayor said he must follow state Civil Service guidelines on discipline, adding he will present charges to Aiken in person or through the mail. Aiken will then have an opportunity to respond.

Hogan said the situation will probably end in due process, in which case Aiken would go before an administrative law judge who will decide what happens.

Hogan said he did not want Aiken to bring the demolition plan before the board. "I'm happy I was uneasy about it before I left," Hogan said in describing why he told Aiken to not present the demolition permit to the board.

At least one member of the Common Council is against demolition of the building, which is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.

Alderman Bill Norton, R- 3rd, who represents the ward where the Adsit house is located, said he doesn't want to see the building demolished for anything like a Walgreens. He said he was against the proposal a few years ago to bring a Rite Aid to that corner.

"That is already a busy intersection, that corner can't afford any more mass confusion," said Norton, who also is a Steuben County Sheriff's corporal.

"My main concern is the children," he added, referring to the 50 to 60 children a day that cross the intersection on their way to the middle school. Traffic is busy enough now, he said, and adding a drug store will make the intersection more dangerous.

"I really don't want to see the house come down," he said.