From left, Falconer Village Board members Timothy Dunn, Anthony (Skip) Cavallaro, Attorney Greg Peterson and Alan Gustafson Jr. conduct business at a Falconer Village Board meeting held Monday. P-J Photo by Chirstopher Blakeslee

FALCONER – Low- to moderate-income Falconer residents may be eligible for federal grant money.

Falconer officials held a public hearing during their meeting Monday after a presentation regarding the potential influx of federal grant money was presented by Hanna Crossley, Chautauqua Home Rehabilitation & Improvement Corporation grant writer and administrator.

“If approved, and nothing is guaranteed, the top end of the grant could award $750,000,” she said regarding the Community Development Block Grant application. “The grant is administered by the New York Office of Community Renewal. The funds are to be used for housing, economic development, public facilities, public infrastructure and planning activities.”

Crossley explained how the grant was designed with a very specific demographic categories in mind to be the beneficiaries.

“The grant’s principal purpose is to benefit low and moderate income persons and families,” she said.

Crossley said that her organization would begin the process of applying for the grant on behalf of the village.

Carl Caprino, village public works superintendent, told board members the DPW was billed $100 for weed spraying on the outside of Falconer village buildings that he did not approve of before the work was done.

“We’ve never sprayed outside of the buildings, and when I called Amherst Exterminators, I was told that we authorized it (spraying) … so they are billing for it,” Caprino said.

Several board members expressed their displeasure and questioned who would have given authorization for outside spraying or the application of bug spray. Caprino said he spoke with a receptionist who told him she didn’t know who she spoke to when the work was authorized.

Village Trustee Timothy Dunn was quite vocal about not paying the invoice.

“If we don’t have a contract or something in writing authorizing them to spray, we shouldn’t pay,” he said. “This is why I like paper. You can’t argue something in which there is a written record for. You don’t pay for something that you didn’t ask for. None of us would do it if it were at our homes, so we shouldn’t for the village.”

In other business:

Bryce Webster, Falconer Volunteer Fire Department chief, said the department’s ambulance would be out of service for one week to repair the vehicle’s damaged roof. And for the month of June, the department responded to a total of 69 incidents – 10 fires, and 59 rescue calls for service.

Caprino also reported that the DPW had a busy month patching roads, watering village flowers, removing trees from the Chadakoin River, conducting the Fire Department’s weekly-generator test, and testing the boiler in the community building, picking up the public parks and painting the tables in the park.