Following a fatal boating accident on Skaneateles Lake early this month, the village of Skaneateles is asking the Skaneateles Area Chamber of Commerce to analyze the security measures taken at the chamber-owned dock.
“Recent events have caused us to reexamine the situation at the dock,” Village Attorney Michael Byrne said, making reference to the July 8 accident that killed Skaneateles native John E. Kelly, 32, and his girlfriend, Heather Wilkins, 26. “It's certainly the case that that tragedy has heightened our awareness of the liability and the implications associated with the dock.”
University of Arizona law student Craig Cordes, 32, faces charges of operating a vessel while intoxicated and second-degree vehicular manslaughter. According to authorities, he and his brother spent Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday morning drinking in Skaneateles bars and restaurants with friends and later headed out on an 18-foot Sea Ray, which struck the 20-foot Mastercraft in which Kelly and Wilkins were riding.
Byrne said that at the request of the village board, he wrote a letter to the chamber explaining the village's concerns with the dock, which is located off of Clift Park in downtown Skaneateles.
He said that the village wants to make sure that measures are in place for the protection of the village, chamber and general public. The letter to the chamber includes a request for the dock to close earlier.
“Is that an appropriate time to close it or not? I'm beginning to think not,” he said of the current 10 p.m. closing time.
The village has also asked the chamber to hire a private security patrol for its dock, Byrne said.
“As far as routine patrols on the docks, we're not going to do that,” said Lloyd Perkins, chief of the village of Skaneateles Police Department.
Perkins said that his department does not have the manpower to do so and that security on the dock - which is private property - is the chamber's responsibility.
Sue Dove, executive director of the chamber, confirmed that the chamber had received the letter and plans to discuss it at a meeting next week. Currently, there are dock staff members on duty from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, except when the weather is inclement, she said.
The police department, however, will go out to the dock if it receives a tip that someone is boating while intoxicated or engaging in other illegal activity, Perkins said. And the department plans to set up more checkpoints for boating while intoxicated, as it did shortly after the early July accident.
“We don't want another tragedy. That's the bottom line,” Perkins said, noting that it's difficult to gauge to what extent boating while intoxicating is a problem in Skaneateles.
The dock is owned and operated by the chamber. It was first put in the summer of 1995, when the Skaneateles chamber was recruiting the Antique and Classic Boat Show, Byrne said.
The chamber later approached the village about keeping the docks in all summer long, and it needed the village's approval because access to the dock is through Clift Park, which is village-owned property, Byrne said.
Though the village granted its approval at that time, there was never a formal, written agreement drawn up between the village and chamber, Byrne explained.
“One of the things we should have done and that we didn't do, we should have had a written agreement between the village and chamber to formalize that arrangement,” Byrne said. “There will be in the future.”
Byrne said that there is no deadline for the chamber to respond to the village and that he hopes to come up with a plan on which both parties can agree.
“We've had 13 years of very good experience with the dock, and we're hoping to continue that,” Dove said. “We're just encouraging everyone to boat responsibly.”
University of Arizona law student Craig Cordes, 32, faces charges of operating a vessel while intoxicated and second-degree vehicular manslaughter. According to authorities, he and his brother spent Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday morning drinking in Skaneateles bars and restaurants with friends and later headed out on an 18-foot Sea Ray, which struck the 20-foot Mastercraft in which Kelly and Wilkins were riding.
Byrne said that at the request of the village board, he wrote a letter to the chamber explaining the village's concerns with the dock, which is located off of Clift Park in downtown Skaneateles.
He said that the village wants to make sure that measures are in place for the protection of the village, chamber and general public. The letter to the chamber includes a request for the dock to close earlier.
“Is that an appropriate time to close it or not? I'm beginning to think not,” he said of the current 10 p.m. closing time.
The village has also asked the chamber to hire a private security patrol for its dock, Byrne said.
“As far as routine patrols on the docks, we're not going to do that,” said Lloyd Perkins, chief of the village of Skaneateles Police Department.
Perkins said that his department does not have the manpower to do so and that security on the dock - which is private property - is the chamber's responsibility.
Sue Dove, executive director of the chamber, confirmed that the chamber had received the letter and plans to discuss it at a meeting next week. Currently, there are dock staff members on duty from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, except when the weather is inclement, she said.
The police department, however, will go out to the dock if it receives a tip that someone is boating while intoxicated or engaging in other illegal activity, Perkins said. And the department plans to set up more checkpoints for boating while intoxicated, as it did shortly after the early July accident.
“We don't want another tragedy. That's the bottom line,” Perkins said, noting that it's difficult to gauge to what extent boating while intoxicating is a problem in Skaneateles.
The dock is owned and operated by the chamber. It was first put in the summer of 1995, when the Skaneateles chamber was recruiting the Antique and Classic Boat Show, Byrne said.
The chamber later approached the village about keeping the docks in all summer long, and it needed the village's approval because access to the dock is through Clift Park, which is village-owned property, Byrne said.
Though the village granted its approval at that time, there was never a formal, written agreement drawn up between the village and chamber, Byrne explained.
“One of the things we should have done and that we didn't do, we should have had a written agreement between the village and chamber to formalize that arrangement,” Byrne said. “There will be in the future.”
Byrne said that there is no deadline for the chamber to respond to the village and that he hopes to come up with a plan on which both parties can agree.
“We've had 13 years of very good experience with the dock, and we're hoping to continue that,” Dove said. “We're just encouraging everyone to boat responsibly.”
The Citizens' Say
There are No comments posted.