State of  Emergency for road work? Yes, in Niagara Falls

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WBEN)......Inaction by the Niagara Falls City Council forced Mayor Robert Restaino's hand and politically painted him into a corner.

That's way, one month ago, Restaino had to declare a rare state of emergency just to give him the authority to hire contractors for routine road work and lawn care maintenance.

"Awarding contracts for road work is something mayors do all the time," Restaino said. "It's about as routine as you get."

Restaino submitted his requests to Niagara Falls City Council in early July - seeking slightly more than $4 million to repair potholes and other work on 15 city streets and address lawn care on various scattered parcels - most of whom were concerned zombie properties.

The road work, roughly $3.9 million, was 100% reimbursable from New York state.

Bids were going to Occhino Co. for the road work and KL Smith Co. for the lawn care work. Both responded to city-issued bids.

Still, the council balked.

"We wanted more information, like who bid and who were the other bidders," said Councilman Vincent Cauley. "That information was not forthcoming."

The stalemate serves as the latest example of the frosty relationship between the council and Restaino.

"This was a manufactured crisis by the mayor himself," Cauley said. "He threw a temper tantrum and decided to bypass the council."

Restaino said he will likely extend the state of emergency today (Aug. 21).

The decision to declare the state of emergency wasn't made by Restaino solely. It was done after consulting with his administrative staff.

Cauley said he and his fellow city lawmakers were surprised and shocked to learn of the state of emergency declaration.

To the council members, it was totally unnecessary and avoidable.

But, Restaino counters the council didn't act on his request in July and have no meetings in August because of its summer recess. That means the earliest they could vote on the packages was Sept. 9.

"And, we would have lost the entire season," Restaino said. "Residents expect back services like road repairs and that's all we were trying to do. I want to give residents what they expect."