Stop-work order lifted on Greenlawn garage

The stop-work order issued to Huntington Town board member Gene Cook regarding a three-bay garage he is building on his Greenlawn property has been lifted.

Earlier this month, Cook was cited for failing to have an engineer sign off on some work to the building. Cook maintained he did nothing wrong and that his architect actually had signed off on the work.

Town code allows third-party inspections but they must be submitted in writing and approved by the town engineer, but town officials said Cook made no such request.

A letter dated April 13 from the town’s Department of Engineering Services said documents certifying that the work had been signed off by the architect had been accepted despite not having a town inspection.

The letter also said third-party certifications are reserved for hardship cases and projects that are extremely large, which did not apply to Cook’s project. The letter said further inspections must be done by town personnel.

In a statement released last week, Cook took the blame for the oversight in procedure and apologized.

“I was unaware that I had to file paperwork to the town before this to notify them that I would be using a third party for my inspections,” he said.