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At a special meeting via Zoom Wednesday, the town board passed an ordinance that would clean up excessive trash and junk at 7373 Owasco Road and get the property up to the town's code. The ordinance authorized the town to send a certified letter to the home's occupants Thursday morning. They have 21 days to clean up the property themselves, after which the town would be able to bring in a crew to do the work.

Although some residents have expressed concern about the property over the past few years, town Supervisor Ed Wagner said, the town received a heavy volume of complaints this week after Ë®¹ûÅÉAV published an article about efforts the city of Auburn is taking to clean up nuisance properties.

Wagner said during Wednesday's meeting that he was planning on reaching out personally to one of the home's residents, Matthew Cornelius, to let him know about the ordinance and to tell him that any personal items should be put inside before a cleanup crew would arrive. Wagner said there wasn't any intention of going inside the house, and that he wanted to hire an outside entity to do the work, under the guidance of J. Patrick Doyle, Owasco's code enforcement officer.

Wagner noted the town had previously cited Cornelius for code violations and there was a court date on May 14 in Auburn City Court. The case was moved from the town's court because Matthew Cornelius is the son of town board member Fred Cornelius.

"With that court date he could be fined individually and he could be jailed, I guess, too, worst-case scenario," Wagner said. "But I would hope that with all these pressures, the writing is on the wall, that it's time to step up."

Town attorney Riccardo Galbato expressed similar sentiments.

"I just hope that if the occupant hears it from a judge, that it's going to be taken (care) of pretty soon pursuant to the judge's, maybe, representations from the bench, before we even get to the point of fulfilling this resolution," Galbato said. "That really is my hope."

Before the vote at Wednesday's meeting, Fred Cornelius said there has been concern that he has "some interest" in the outcome of the property issue, but he said he has no financial stake in the situation. He offered to recuse himself from the vote, but also said he supported the town's actions.

"The problem is a real problem that needs to be addressed. I don't at all dispute that," he said. "I feel bad for the neighbors and the people in the area that are dealing with this problem that's been going on for five years anyway, and I feel their frustrations in dealing with that."

Matthew Cornelius could not be reached for comment.

Wagner said he appreciated Fred Cornelius' comments, adding that he felt the board member had been "open and transparent" about the issue many times prior to Wednesday's meeting. Wagner also said Fred Cornelius had the right to either vote or abstain on the ordinance.

One of the neighbors frustrated by the situation at the property is Ed Helinski. After the meeting, he said he and his wife, Janet, had been concerned about the neighboring property for several years.

On Thursday, Helinski told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV that he saw Matthew Cornelius cleaning the outside of the 7373 Owasco Road house on Thursday.

"We are quite pleased that the town of Owasco is addressing our problem and our situation," he said. "It's long overdue."

Helinski also credited Fred Cornelius for "speaking up."

Wagner said Thursday that he was aware of Matthew Cornelius doing cleanup work on the property that day, but noted that there had been times in the past when the town would communicate its concerns to Matthew, and sometimes Matthew would bring the location up to code, but it would always go back to looking like "the same as it was before."

Wagner said the new certified letter was the first putting Matthew Cornelius "on notice that we can come in and clean up and he's personally responsible."