July 14th, 2023
From the Desks at City Hall

City Manager Updates:   

Director of Planning and Economic Development joins our team on July 31,2023. David West will be joining us from Danby New York. 
2024 Budget has launched. Departments are looking at reductions of 12%. This reduction will attempt to not raise the current tax rate. Staff will be developing plans which reduce services to meet this change. 

Storm Update:

The City of Geneva has continued to be impacted by several extreme weather events. These events have caused at least one family to be displaced from their home and many others have lost personal belongings and/or experienced damages. As a city we continue to work through ways we can mitigate the impact of the storms and are reviewing our infrastructure, we encourage city residents to do the same on their properties.

The City teams are working diligently to define and eliminate any challenges occurring within the City infrastructure when and if they are found. The Department of Public Works is conducting sewer inspections and are continuing to clean mainline piping systems. As this work is ongoing, we continue to work closely with engineering consultants to prepare any proposed site remuneration and or capital improvements needed to our systems. Any remedial actions are determined after investigations are completed.

City staff have been speaking and meeting with property owners and we continue to investigate and learn about the intricate infrastructure systems throughout our city neighborhoods.

In preparation of future weather events the Public Safety teams within the city have continued to hone our coordinated response. The Fire Department, Police Department, and Department of Public Works work together to ensure health and safety is at the forefront of their work. This will include but not be limited to, assessing risks, re-routing roadways if flooded, cleaning storm drains, contacting NYSEG for shutting off utilities while assisting families in crisis.

We recommend to all residents that experience water intrusion into your property to please exercise safety procedures. Please do not connect any sump pump storm water system to sanitary sewer lines. Consider raising utilities off the lower-level floors. Once any flood waters recede, please consider removing any impacted drywall, carpeting, paper, or fabric textile products. This will possibly help eliminate any mold growth.

Geneva Police Chief Search 2023 Process & Timeline:

February 2023: Recruitment begins for the Chief of Police. Postings are sent locally and nationally.  Exam announcement-Open Competitive(external): Exam Candidates must have their domicile as New York State for at least one month immediately preceding the examination date.  
March 26, 2023: The Civil Service Police Chief exam is offered in Ontario County and across New York State. 
April 4, 2023: The City is notified by Ontario County that three internal (promotional) candidates and two external (open competitive) candidates appeared for the exam. The numbers shared were individuals at the Ontario County location. Others could appear on the list if they were cross filers (individuals that had taken the exam at a different location. The City awaits the results. 
June 13, 2023: Exam results are in and are provided to the City - three internal candidates and three external candidates participated and passed the exam. The internal list is certified  to the City on 6/16/2023 and the next phase of the hiring process can begin. As there are three internal candidates, candidates from the external list are not eligible for the position.  
June 23, 2023: The Community Survey for Policing is launched. This survey assists the City Manager in making a selection of Chief that meets the community priorities and in creating the interview questions. 
June 30, 2023: Candidates are publicly announced and the process for hiring is shared. 
July 13, 2023: Interviews are held in two phases: 
Phase 1: Panel Interviews - Candidates meet with a panel of community, departmental, and city representatives and participate in a traditional interview process. These interviews will be in a closed session. The panel will provide feedback to the City Manager. 
Phase 2: Community Interviews - Candidates met with the City Manager and are asked the questions gathered through the community survey. Interviews were live streamed and recorded for community members to review and provide feedback to the City Manager's office at 315-789-6104 or ecollins@geneva.ny.us by Tuesday, July 18th 
July 20, 2023: A decision is finalized by the City Manager and an offer will be made to the top candidate. 
No later than August 1, 2023: The appointment in announced and the next Chief of Police is welcomed into their new role in the City of Geneva.
For more information on our Police Department click here.

From the desk of Our Department of Public Works (DPW):

Please note we will not collect debris on private property, near parked cars, or in plastic bags.  No stumps, rocks, stone, construction debris, lumber, plastic, garbage, glass, furniture, rugs, bedding, tires, etc. will be picked up.  Please consider recycling and coordinate with your trash hauler for these items. 
Please be advised that property owners and residents are encouraged to please bring all yard debris to the City’s Resource Recovery Park at 41 Doran Avenue during the following hours:    
 Resource Recovery Park Hours
Monday          10 AM – 12 PM
Tuesday          10 AM – 12 PM
Wednesday     10 AM – 3 PM
Thursday        10 AM – 12 PM
Friday             10 AM – 2 PM
Saturday         10 AM – 3 PM
Please contact DPW at 315-789-3101 if you have any questions.

Recently, the Federal Government mandated that municipalities must inventory all water services to determine where if any lead service pipes are located throughout the community. This information will be utilized to develop plans and begin the process of eliminating them. Lead is usually not present in the drinking water source. It may result from the distribution system or the homes interior plumbing itself. Possible ways lead enters into drinking water could be where there is corrosion in the lead pipes, fixtures, and solder. An impactful way to reduce the risk of exposure to lead in drinking water is to remove the lead service line that brings water to your home from the water main in the street. To help address this issue of identifying the specific homes that have lead service lines, the City of Geneva staff will be conducting door-to-door assessments. These trained individuals will be able to quickly identify if your home has a lead service line. This round of door-to-door lead service line verifications begins this week and continues throughout the summer months. The Geneva DPW workers will identify themselves with an official City of Geneva ID. If you have any questions about this important and federally mandated initiative, please call Public Works and Engineering at 315-789-3101.

Department of Public Works

DPW would like to remind property owners that City Codes Chapter 100 Brush, Grass and Weeds, Section 100-1 references control of growth and harmful vegetation. Please be aware that property, lots or land, including the area between the property line and the curb or for 10 feet outside the property line if there is no curb shall be maintained to ensure that no growth of weeds or grass shall exceed six inches. Please do not allow hedges, shrubs or trees to encroach onto public sidewalks and lines of sight of public roadways.

Click here to read the full code

Ontario County Department of Public Works will close the County Road 4 at County Road 20 intersection beginning at 7:00 a.m. June 19, 2023 for approximately fourteen (14) weeks as work crews’ complete improvements at the intersection. Vehicles traveling on County Road 4 will be detoured using the following route: County Road 47, NY 5 & US 20, County Road 6. Vehicles traveling on County Road 20 will be detoured using the following route: NY 5 & US 20, County Road 47, NY 488.

Detour maps are above and below for your reference. Information on the project can be found on our website:

https://www.ontariocountyny.gov/1984/CR4-CR20-Intersection-Improvements

From the Desk of Our City Clerk

All dogs in the City of Geneva must be registered with the City Clerk’s Office after their first rabies vaccination. Clerk’s Office will need proof of rabies vaccination, spay/neuter certificate and appropriate fee ($20 for spay/neutered dogs and $30 for unspayed/unneutered). Call the Clerk’s Officer for more information at 315-789-2603. Note, there is a limit of three dogs per household and residents can refer to City Code Chapter 77, Article III for more information about dog ownership.