NORWICH – Engineers, firefighters, contractors and municipal codes enforcement officers from all over the state gathered at SUNY Morrisville’s Norwich campus on Wednesday for a series of free training seminars that addressed the challenging issues that many municipalities, including the City of Norwich, are facing.

For many officials, Wednesday’s training seminars were an opportunity to fulfill seven free hours of the state mandated 24-hours of training necessary to maintain a licence in code enforcement or other related field. Each session offered was the result of local municipalities – including the nearby cities of Binghamton, Utica, Oneida and Cortland, as well as Watertown, Albany and New York – working together to find what common concerns each faced; concerns such as vacant and abandoned structures, fire prevention and property maintenance, and public safety.

“Some of these courses can be very expensive, so this is something we try to do to help out one or two times every year,” said City of Norwich Codes Enforcement Officer Jason Lawrence. “For one, it helps (officials) meet state regulations; and two, it’s a way to gain knowledge of the presenters.”