The light bulb knocks against its housing, and the sound reverberates in the desolate lot. There's an escalating, creaky yawn of something metal swinging languidly. Emboldened by neglect, weeds creep along the building's exterior while, above a window, a clock hangs frozen at 2:41 and 46 seconds.

"It's an eyesore," said Brockport Mayor Mort Wexler last week. "Kids are in there all the time. You board it up, they take it down."

A year or so ago, fire claimed about 25 percent of the old factory at 100 Fair Street in the village of Brockport. It took several hours, and more than 19 fire departments, to tame the blaze. Still, they're lucky, the mayor said - nearby houses were spared.

"If the wind was blowing the wrong way that night...," he said.

The building at 100 Fair Street is one of two abandoned industrial properties in Brockport with a long and troubled environmental history. The other is 200 State Street. The buildings were last occupied by Kleen-Brite Laboratories, and both closed abruptly in 2001.

Since then, the buildings have sat empty and decaying, drawing vandalism and community angst, but no buyers. The back taxes and the environmental scars have scared away anyone with even a remote interest, Wexler said.

But that could change. The village is getting a major assist from Monroe County, which has agreed to forgive the considerable back taxes on the properties when the county puts them to auction sometime this year. And that helping hand may finally get the industrial elephants off Brockport's back.

General Electric owned and operated 200 State Street from 1949 to 1984. The property was sold to Black & Decker, which manufactured small household electrical appliances there. COMIDA - the county's industrial development agency - bought the property in 1988, leasing it to Kleen-Brite Laboratories. JMT Properties bought it from COMIDA in 1993.

The 28-acre property is an inactive hazardous-waste site. Contaminants found in soils, storm sewers, and stream sediments include cyanide, heavy metals, and solvents. Much cleanup work has been done, but environmental questions still surround the property.

"We have asked GE to come in to do a study on it. They have not," Wexler said.

The other former owners have been approached as well, officials said, but they aren't participating.

The environmental issues at the 11-acre Fair Street site are less clear. Ken Pike, the village's former environmental consultant, says Fair and State streets were used in tandem. The chemicals were manufactured on Fair and packaged at State, he says.

"They made soaps, dryer sheets, things of that nature," he says. "They stored a lot of powder and some liquid chemicals - some fairly innocuous chemicals, but in large quantity they become a problem."

Contamination has not been proved at the Fair Street site, Pike says, but there is reasonable cause for concern.

"There's no evidence that the waste or anything was spilled, but I think it's impossible to run a manufacturing plant and not have any spillage or leakage," he says. "That's why there's a perceived environmental concern."

Brockport Trustee Hanny Heyen has been spearheading an effort to apply to the state's Brownfield Opportunity Areas Program, which helps municipalities redevelop sites like Fair Street.

"When I was elected, one of the things I wanted to do was really get Kleen-Brite revitalized, to get back on the tax rolls," Heyen says. That's especially important, she says, in a village with as many tax-exempt properties as Brockport.

Wexler said he could envision housing developments or condominiums on the Fair or State Street sites.

While the village board is pleased by the county's decision to waive the back taxes - more than $2 million for State Street and $688,850 for Fair Street -

not everyone is happy with how that decision came about.

Heyen and another trustee, Carrie Maziarz, made the Kleen-Brite sites their pet project and Heyen says she was surprised and disappointed when Trustee Connie Castañeda, without notice, publicly announced the county's decision at a village board meeting.

"On some big project like this, it's a courtesy to at least inform those who are working on an issue like this," Heyen says.

Castañeda could not be reached for comment. According to the minutes of the November 2007 Village Board meeting, however, Castañeda said it was "only common sense" that no one would buy the properties with the outstanding taxes. Castañeda said she asked County Executive Maggie Brooks to waive the taxes, and Brooks agreed.

Wexler said the perceived end-run has created "big-time" tension on the board.

"It created some hard feelings," he said. "It's a board that is divided. Extremely, on some issues."