Official: Town leader tried to bury his defunct auto garage

SHERIDAN, N.Y. — Authorities say a western New York town official has been cited for trying to bury his defunct auto repair garage in a hole.

WIVB-TV reports that Louis Delmonte’s business in the Chautauqua (shuh-TAW’-kwuh) County town of Sheridan had been in rundown condition for years. So he borrowed a friend’s excavator and dug a large hole next to the building.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation says Delmonte tore down half of the building and dumped debris in the hole before the agency received a complaint about the work.

Delmonte was told he was illegally disposing of the building because the asbestos abatement required for all commercial demolitions wasn’t completed.