TOWN MOTTO IDEAS WANTED:

The deadline is nearing in a contest for a new Penfield motto.

The Penfield Chamber of Commerce is seeking a new motto because officials consider the current motto — The Town of Planned Progress — outdated.

The deadline for entries is Feb. 28. The three best suggestions, judged by chamber officials, will be presented to the Town Board for final approval. The winner will get $100.

Penfield residents can submit a motto on a form at the Chamber’s Web site, www.PenfieldChamber.org, by sending an e-mail to newmotto@PenfieldChamber.orgCQ, or by sending a letter to the Penfield Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 545, Penfield, NY 14526.

I'd be curious to know whether many towns have mottoes. If your town has one please put it into the comments.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 09:28 PM | Permalink

Around Ithaca: RURAL INTERNET OPTIONS SLOWLY INCREASE:

Jim Nagel, a small business owner on Canaan Road in the Town of Caroline, believed he could only get slow, unreliable dial-up Internet when interviewed for a Jan. 14 Journal story on the lack of high speed services in rural pockets of Tompkins County.

But soon after, he learned his phone provider Frontier could help him. Now, the difference in negotiating the Internet is like “night and day.”

“I tried the same tool catalogue I tried to access before,” he said, and what once took 20 minutes — often with his computer crashing — took only two. Now he's interested in getting a Web site established for the Nagel and Wolff furniture business he runs with his wife, Elizabeth Nagel.

. . . and Auburn: WI-FI COULD OPEN NEW FRONTIERS:

Wi-Fi? Why not?

The group behind a seven-point plan for revitalizing the region would like to bring wireless Internet access to the city and beyond. It's a goal included in Call to Action: Blueprint for Our Region's Future that could be used to retain and recruit young people and business.

“You're dealing with a generation of folks that crave connectivity, that need this in their lives,” said Tim Fox, a member of the Blueprint panel and former chairman of the Ignite young professional group.

The applications are social and economic. It can be used to lure businesses or to close the so-called digital divide between rich and poor, urban and rural.

“The idea is everyone should have access,” Fox said.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 09:24 PM | Permalink

SPITZER BACKS STATE AID FOR DISSOLUTION:

State aid to pay for dissolution of local municipalities is proposed to stay at last year's amount in New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer's 2007-08 budget. That could bode well for Johnson City if a dissolution petition is accepted.

The proposed Executive Budget Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) program has earmarked $25 million to the Department of State Shared Municipal Services Incentive (SMSI) program to fund grants to local governments that consolidate or share services. The funding level would be the same as 2006.

A petition requesting officials to study the dissolution of Johnson City into the Town of Union is being reviewed by the village to verify its authenticity. If found valid, the petition would begin a process that would end with a village-wide vote on a plan draw up by officials to dissolve the village government.

Kyle Wilber, SMSI program manager, said Johnson City and Union last year could have each received a maximum of $400,000 to help study the potential economic impacts and the extent of efficiencies created by a possible dissolution, the legal paperwork leading to the referendum, and a dissolution plan. Under last year's program, state reimbursements covered 90 percent of the actual cost of the proposal, or a maximum of $400,000 each.
...
Charles Zettek, with the Rochester-based non-profit consulting group Center for Government Research, explained that if Johnson City's petition to study dissolution is accepted, he believes it will be the largest populated village to study dissolution.

He said the first step when he helped an appointed committee study dissolving the Village of Wellsville was to decide what services the village had and what it needed. In Johnson City, the study committee would include at least two representatives who live outside the village, but in the Town of Union.
...
The actual Wellsville dissolution study took six months to prepare, but last November's referendum vote, in which dissolution was rejected 1,000-94, didn't come until two years later.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 09:21 PM | Permalink

REPAIRS ARE IN THE PIPELINE:

In the old days a horse and buggy would deliver water house to house for 15 cents a barrel.

Today, the most up-to-date water delivery systems have miles of pipeline, computerized mapping systems to quickly locate valves and sophisticated acoustical equipment to pinpoint leaks.

But all the technology in the world can't stop a 120-year-old pipe from wearing out.

Forestville residents found that out. Breaks in their pipes - including some installed before Abraham Lincoln was president - drained their water tank, leaving the 800 customers in the Chautauqua County village without water for almost a week earlier this month.

And Buffalo, with hundreds of miles of lines 100-plus years old, loses nearly 12 billion gallons of water a year to leaks and breaks in pipes.

Some lines in Western New York are less than a year old and pose no problems. But the middle-aged pipes are starting to show their age.

"It's a challenge this country faces in its infrastructure," said Robert A. Mendez, executive director of the Erie County Water Authority. "A significant amount was done after World War II. Now that's 50 years old."
...
A respected trade association estimates it will cost a minimum of $250 billion nationwide to replace the aging underground infrastructure over the next 30 years. Finding that much money - and essentially burying it in the ground - is difficult.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 06:35 PM | Permalink

TOWN OF WAYAWANDA ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS BANS VIDEO CAMS:

Anna Miller stood in the back of the room, silent, her fingers wrapped around a small, hand-held video camera.

The 14-year-old Minisink Valley High School freshman believed it was her civic right to bring her camera. She wanted to record a public meeting of the town's Zoning Board of Appeals for herself and others. She learned in school that government meetings are open to the public.

That's true. Just not Thursday night's meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Chairman Richard Onorati demanded that Miller shut off the camera. "It's too much of a distraction," he told her.

Miller complied.

"I made no noise," she said. "I didn't draw attention to myself."

The state's Committee on Open Government was contacted months ago by Miller's mother, Deborah Glover, and another citizen, Connie Lichtenberger, seeking an opinion on whether the public has a right to videotape open meetings.

Glover wants to videotape all government meetings, Town and Planning boards included, for future use on a grassroots town news Web site. Such a tool is critical to keeping residents in this town informed — many of whom cannot find time to attend meetings between working and children's activities, she said.

Back in August, Lichtenberger tried to videotape a public hearing of the Zoning Board of Appeals that dealt with an issue relating to her New Hampton neighborhood. She placed a video camera in the corner, on a tripod. But she, too, was shot down.

Committee on Open Government Executive Director Robert Freeman wrote that case law suggests audiotaping and videotaping of town meetings is permissible as long as it is not "disruptive or obtrusive."

Freeman's opinions haven't swayed Onorati. He said that the camera, pointed directly at the board members, is intimidating and distracting. And the board unanimously agreed several months ago to not allow videotaping. The meetings are recorded on audiotape, and copies are available to the public upon request. He further contends that the board is a "quasi-judicial" agency and should be granted the "same consideration as the courts."

At one time, state law exempted quasi-judicial boards, including zoning boards of appeals, from holding open meetings. But more than 20 years ago, that law was amended and no longer allows for such an exemption, said Camille Jobin-Davis, Committee on Open Government assistant director.

"It's not a distraction. You have a hand-held video camera. You stand still," said Jobin-Davis. "I don't see what the problem is."

Glover and Miller said they will try again.

"Nothing is denied here," Onorati said of the meetings. "Except videotaping."

This girl's mother, her friend, and the reporter shouljd be ashamed of themselves for using this girl to draw attention in this manner. The choreography of the "confrontation", including making sure a sympathetic reporter and cameraman were there, couldn't be more obvious.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

CORNWALL ASKS TOWN ATTORNEY TO STUDY MERGER OF THE TOWN AND VILLAGE POLICE DEPARTMENTS:

It was studied in the mid-1980s.

It was discussed again in the mid-1990s. And six years ago, a team of international experts suggested that the Town of Cornwall and the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson merge their police departments.

No action was taken then or since, but the question of the dual departments persists.

Town Councilman Randy Clark was the latest to raise the issue.

"I have no idea why we have two police departments," Clark said recently.

Clark said he's not advocating a merger; he's just never been able to get a satisfactory answer as to why it should or shouldn't be done.

At Monday's Town Board meeting, Clark asked Town Attorney Stephen Gaba to look into the pros and cons of such a change and report back to the board. No specific deadline was given for Gaba's report.

The two departments already share dispatching services run out of the town department's headquarters.
...
Town Supervisor Richard Randazzo said there's no point in forcing the issue as long as village Mayor Edward Moulton is opposed to changing the status quo. Moulton said studies have shown that combining the departments will have "no real advantage to village taxpayers." He said village residents like having the immediate response that's assured by a village-based police department.
...
Six years ago, a panel of international experts brought in by the Glynwood Center — a Cold Spring-based think tank — suggested that the communities might be better served by one department. Nothing more was done at the time, but Bob DeWit, president of the Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, thinks it's still an idea worth looking into, since it came from people with "no preconceived notions" about the town and village.

Questions that seem to come up whenever a merger is discussed are: Who would be in charge of the department? Would both municipal boards have a say? Or would it have to be a town-run department, as Randazzo suggested the other night?

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 09:37 PM | Permalink

COUNTY WON'T SEEK CUT OF WIND FUNDS:

Madison County Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Rocky DiVeronica chose tow [sic] bow to the will of his fellow supervisors and vote against the county taking a share of the payment in lieu of taxes revenue expected from the latest wind farm endeavor.

"I went with the direction of the board; I usually do," he said.

He had previously been an advocate for the county getting involved because he wanted to put the revenue toward the upcoming communication tower project.

A company called Airtricity has been working on an agreement with the Towns of Stockbridge, Eaton and Madison. The company has agreed to pay $8,000 per megawatt of electrical power as a PILOT to the participating towns and schools.

The resolution put to the board of supervisors would have given the county $500 per megawatt and a percentage of the consumer price index, or inflation over the first 15 years of the project.

The participating schools and towns were to split the remaining $7,500 per megawatt.

State law exempts wind power companies from paying property taxes for the first 15 years of operation but also allows for taxing jurisdictions to request a PILOT during that time.

The county could have received $245,214 over the 15 year term of the PILOT.

An amendment presented by Eaton Supervisor David Puddington brought the amount the county would receive to zero.

And Nelson Supervisor Richard Williams added an amendment so that in signing the agreement with Airtricity the county would relinquish its share to the other Madison County jurisdictions on the agreement.

"The lion's share of the impact is to the immediate area, not only the participating landowners, but the neighboring landowners throughout the town," said Lincoln Supervisor Doug Holdridge. "And the town staff itself as they provided services to support the project during construction and long-term operation."
...
Proponents of the county receiving a share noted the "parochialism" on the part of those town supervisors who did not want the county involved.

"I think wind energy is the wave of the future-any revenue generated should go to everyone," said Oneida Supervisor Michel DeBottis. "To say we shouldn't get a piece of that to save parochial interests-this is really the crumbs at the table, we should take what we can get."

From the beginning those opposed to the county receiving a share of the PILOT have said that a policy needed to be enacted before the county tried to get involved in any wind farm projects.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 09:34 PM | Permalink

Things were pretty hairy for a time in the Town of Peru, but they appear to have settled down now judging by the lack of sensationalistic reporting. The Town Board appear to have learned a lesson about having a Deputy Supervisor after having been burned last year when they appointed a non-board member to that position: PERU CONSIDERS BUT REJECTS DEPUTY SUPERVISOR CONCEPT:

Town officials have considered their options for conducting business without a deputy supervisor for those times when Supervisor Donald Covel is out of town.

Covel brought up the issue during this week's council meeting, expressing concern about having to be away to search for equipment to replace items lost in a fire that destroyed Frosty Springs — his wife Linda's business — earlier this month.

He asked the Town Council to appoint Councilman Keith Matott to the position of deputy supervisor, a position town officials did away with several weeks ago. Robert Duquette held the job last year.

Councilman Cortland Forrence said he was opposed to the idea of creating the deputy-supervisor position when it had only recently been abandoned.

Town Attorney Donald Biggs said the council could consider giving a councilor added duties but suggested the town not move toward appointing anyone as deputy supervisor at this time.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Note there has been a change to the blogroll. The blog maintained by the Business Council of New York has changed its name from UpstateBlog to the Knickerbocker Blog, and will shift focus slightly to cover business issues affecting the entire state, not just upstate. Please check it out.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 01:11 PM | Permalink

TOWNS MAY DEFY STATE ON ASSESSMENTS:

Assessments in Essex County are going up — but only because the state is forcing them skyward.

When the State Office of Real Property Tax Services says assessments need to go up a certain percentage to put properties at full market value, refusal means a town doesn't receive any more assessing aid from the state.

But many town leaders say they're at the point where they don't care about the aid.
The state appears to be forcing higher assessments just for the sake of higher assessments, Supervisor Daniel Connell (D-Westport) said.

A town's assessments are supposed to be calculated using neighborhood property sales, but it doesn't end up that way, he said.

"They throw out all the lower sales, the family sales, so you just end up with your higher sales. The Town of Westport ended up with these million-dollar properties. The system needs to be changed."
Moriah would lose $16,000 in state assessment aid for being at 93 percent of full value this year, Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah) said.

"It's just a horrible situation the (town) assessors are placed under. Some of them are just adjusting the roll by that percent. We need to get out of this once-per-year (reassessment) time frame."

A bill introduced by Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) would stretch reassessment requirements to every three years instead of annually.
...
State Real Property Tax Law does not require assessments to be at 100 percent of market value. The law does require assessments to be at a uniform percentage of market value in a municipality.

According to the State Office of Real Property Tax Services, there is no statutory mechanism for enforcement of the requirement.

But Scozzafava said that if they don't do what the state wants, they're penalized in School Tax Relief (STAR), veterans exemptions and state aid.
...
The state puts towns under the gun to satisfy its requirements, Supervisor Anthony Glebus (R-Lewis) said.

"Maybe it's the time for all of us to band together. Something needs to be done to correct this unjust situation."

Supervisor Jeanne Ashworth (D-Wilmington) said Wilmington had to raise its assessments by 25 percent last year and wants 28 percent this year.

"The Town of Wilmington is looking at over a 50-percent (assessment) increase in two years. This is completely unrealistic."

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 01:05 PM | Permalink

INSURANCE COSTS MAY SPUR TOWNS TO COALESCE:

Health insurance premiums for employees in the town of Webster increased $120,000 last year. In Penfield, the increase was more than $96,000.

Town officials say such costs have been climbing 10 percent to 15 percent for the past several years, prompting officials to study whether buying health insurance as a group could get them a better price.

"My costs are absolutely skyrocketing," said Webster Supervisor Ronald Nesbitt.

Nesbitt said he is searching for "anything that can lower these 10 percent increases that we've been having every year."

School districts in Monroe County joined together in the 1990s to get better health insurance premiums, said Jody Siegle, executive director of the Monroe County School Boards Association.

"The process of joining together for health insurance has saved millions and millions of dollars," Siegle said.

Penfield Supervisor George Wiedemer is chairing a committee of the Monroe County Council of Governments looking into the idea. He's awaiting the results of a survey of municipal officials to gather information about differences among communities regarding health insurance.
...
Although Wiedemer hopes to have a plan outlined this year, he realizes that it is unrealistic to expect to have all municipal employees under one umbrella quickly.

Most municipalities have established health insurance coverage under multi-year contracts. Changing those arrangements would require renegotiating contracts or waiting for them to expire and including the proposal in future talks.

Wiedemer would like to hire a consultant, with the cost shared among municipalities, to thoroughly research the issue and present town and village officials with a list of options.

Bill Mulligan, deputy supervisor for Henrietta, said he is "very optimistic" about the idea of forming a coalition to buy health insurance.

"I think a concerted effort like that makes a lot of sense and hopefully there could be substantial savings to the different municipalities," Mulligan said.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 02:11 PM | Permalink

STRUGGLING TO SUPERVISE: Promising to fight the status quo, the newly elected heads of Orchard Park, Amherst, Hamburg and Sardinia storm town hall—and run into a wall.

As a local TV reporter, Mary Travers Murphy spent nearly two decades probing misdeeds on behalf of consumers, going after scofflaws, shysters and the otherwise ethically challenged.

But that was nothing compared with her new job as Orchard Park's town supervisor.

"I had no idea how hard this would be," Travers Murphy said, after a year of dealing with her four Republican rivals on the Town Board. "It's been a real eye-opener."

That would be an apt description for the three other political neophytes ushered into office in January 2006 as part of an anti-incumbent uprising in Erie County's suburbs.

All four are political outsiders who were sent into their town halls - Orchard Park, Amherst, Hamburg and Sardinia - to take on the status quo. And all four are finding out just how unwelcoming the status quo can be.

Rattled opponents call them inept and say their ideas, mostly about cutting taxes, are a danger to the community.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 02:06 PM | Permalink

VILLAGE COURTS FADING AWAY:

The writing in the paper is now the writing on the wall for village officials in Cato.

The village will dissolve its court and take care of justice through the towns in April. While the court has been cost effective up to this point, Mayor Carl Lincoln believes the move will save money in coming years.

A series of articles in the New York Times last September exposed inadequacies in many of the state's 1,300 town and village justice courts. It touched off an increase in scrutiny and movement toward reform Lincoln feels the village won't be able to afford.

“Right now we're just about breaking even,” he said.

The state Office of Court Administration is pushing for major upgrades to justice courts that would be difficult for the village to accommodate without funding. The court, held twice a month in the village's meeting room, doesn't even support a clerk.

Though no mandates exist, a recent state Unified Court System report includes strong recommendations for justice courts to provide uniformed security officers, adequate space to separate litigants and court personnel and magnetometers.

“It's an ideal time to opt out,” Lincoln said.

But not everywhere: VILLAGE OF MONROE PROCEEDS WITH PLAN TO SEPARATE COURTS:

Looks like the Village of Monroe is going to have its own justice court for the first time in 23 years. The village is moving forward with plans to yank its ticket-and-petty-crime business from the Town of Monroe and re-establish the court it abandoned in 1984, when it merged with the town’s. The split could come as early as June 1.

Mayor John Karl III started talking about a separation before taking office, then pushed ahead last year when he learned the town had shortchanged the village at least $200,000 in fine revenue over several years. The town claims it accidentally withheld the funds because of a computer error.

Karl met last week with District Attorney Frank Phillips and Monroe police Chief Dominic Giudice to discuss resurrecting the village court. He said Friday he’ll put roughly $75,000 in the next budget – which takes effect June 1 – for judges, clerks, computers and office supplies.

The state is supposed to reimburse the village for whatever funds the town improperly kept. Exactly how much that totals remains in dispute.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 01:58 PM | Permalink

OFFICIALS GEAR UP FOR FIRE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING:

Representatives from the village of Saranac Lake, several area towns and the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department met on Wednesday at the Harrietstown Town Hall in an effort to make sure that the newly created fire advisory board gets off to a smooth start when it meets for the first time next week. ... The fire advisory board was a condition of a memorandum of understanding that was included in the fire contract agreed upon between the village and the six towns in January. The MOU states that the board must be in place by March 1. ... The fire advisory board will consist of nine voting members, officials agreed Wednesday. That breaks down to one per municipality, plus two for the fire department. The fire department’s two voting members must include one member of the rescue squad and one from the fire department. Rescue Chief Vernon James and Second Assistant Fire Chief Dave Bickford have already been appointed to those positions.

James suggested the fire department have two members because the rescue and fire squads operate differently and one person wouldn’t be able to answer all the questions.
...
In recent years, the village has attempted to move to an assessment-based formula, while the towns have preferred a per-call formula, similar to the one that’s been used in recent years. Although, there have been suggestions made to alter it.

The representatives also agreed to continue to petition state representatives to pass legislation that would allow the fire department to bill for ambulance calls. Currently, municipal law doesn’t allow fire department-based ambulance service to bill for services.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 10:07 PM | Permalink

FROM $12,281 TO $0: WEBB FUNDING CUT:

Town of Webb officials will have to find places to save money this year to make up for $12,281 of state aid it will no longer receive.

The state restructured its Aid and Incentives for Municipalities program this year with an increased focus on fiscally distressed municipalities, said state budget division spokesman Jeffrey Gordon.

For Webb, that meant going from $12,281 in state funding to $0.

The state cut funding for municipalities such as Webb in which the losses would have minimum impacts on their overall budgets, and also looked at property wealth and property tax capacity in such communities, Gordon said.
...
Under the proposed Aid and Incentives for Municipalities funding for 2007-08, New York City would receive no money as well, down from the $328 million it got last year. Towns and villages such as Webb would receive about $200 million less overall, Gordon said.

There was a $50 million increase toward distressed municipalities. The criteria for selecting distressed municipalities were: population decline, property rate, property wealth and property tax capacity.

Money not given out in Aid and Incentives for Municipalities funding this year will be spread out to support various state operations, Gordon said.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 10:04 PM | Permalink

LAWMAKERS BOO FRESHMAN ASSEMBLYMAN:

The scene: the state Assembly chamber, packed with hundreds of legislators, media and political junkies. Freshman Assemblyman Greg Ball rose from his desk, raised his microphone and indicted his colleagues.

And before he could finish his two-minute scolding, legislators booed, hissed, whistled and tried to shout down the rookie with cries of “Sit Down!” and “Resign!”

If they didn’t know him yet, lawmakers know the brash Putnam County resident now.
Ball, 30, is in his first six weeks on the job after ousting a veteran fellow Republican in a primary last fall. Casting himself as an outsider, he said he tried to shake up the status quo at the Capitol.
...
“Today is a sad day for New York State,” the rookie began as heads turned his way. “The public trust has been violated. ... This is about a Legislature that is resisting a governor who has a mandate for reform.

“This is the most dysfunctional Legislature,” Ball continued as the hisses and catcalls started and he raised his volume, “in the United States of America.”

That triggered full-throated boos and repeated shouts of “Sit down” and “Resign,” momentarily silencing Ball.

“Mr. Speaker, will you please take control?” Ball said to the man with the gavel, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan. Silver offered no help.

Ball labored on: “It may not make any friends. But that’s how I feel and that’s how the public feels.”

I like your style, sir.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 09:58 PM | Permalink

FIREFIGHTERS CLAIM DISSOLUTION OF JC WOULD RISK LIVES:

A retired firefighter warned about the potential dire consequences of eliminating Johnson City's paid fire department Tuesday night as village trustees accepted a petition to dissolve the village into the Town of Union.

The village attorney will now review the petition and determine if it's valid, a process that could take a month. If the petition is deemed authentic, the trustees then will form a committee to create a dissolution plan that the public would vote on in an election.

The meeting, moved from the smaller municipal meeting room to the Village Justice Building, was heavily attended by Johnson City's paid firefighters, their relatives and retired firefighters who are concerned that dissolution would mean eliminating a paid fire department in the village, along with other services.

Bosh. The town can establish a fire district with paid firefighters and there would be little if any change in the delivery of services. It's understandable that these folks are concerned about their jobs, but that doesn't justify melodramatic scare tactics.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 05:50 PM | Permalink

COMMUNITY TO STUDY MERGING TOWN, VILLAGE:

Should the village of Allegany dissolve and merge with the town of Allegany?

That question, which has been asked and informally reviewed for a number of years, will now get a formal study by local officials, citizens and a consultant.

Village officials recently announced plans to formally review the matter after receiving a $52,200 state grant to conduct a study.

The total cost for the entire project is $58,000 and the village and town will provide the local share of the remaining costs. Once the study is completed, the issue would be voted on by village residents.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 10:50 PM | Permalink

AMHERST TO HELP COMBAT VACANT HOUSING:

Amherst will join other inner-ring suburbs, as well as Buffalo, in a regional effort to combat the growing problem of vacant properties, Town Board members decided Monday.

By unanimous consent, town lawmakers threw their support behind a proposal to create an Erie-Buffalo Vacant Properties Coordinating Council and to designate the Buffalo area as a Vacant Properties Living Laboratory.

Supervisor Satish B. Mohan, who proposed the measure, said a 2004 study found that every abandoned property represents "a substantial cost" for municipalities.

Census data indicates that 17 percent of Buffalo's housing units and 6 percent of the combined housing stock of Amherst and Cheektowaga are vacant. The trend is growing, especially in Buffalo's first-ring suburbs, where an estimated 5,558 housing units are now vacant in Amherst and Cheektowaga, The Buffalo News reported Jan. 22.

In November, representatives from the city, the Town of Tonawanda, Cheektowaga and Amherst joined the National Vacant Properties Campaign, which offers help to communities dealing with vacant and abandoned properties.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 10:46 PM | Permalink

HERKIMER CO. TOWNS TALK CONSOLIDATION:

Herkimer County and its municipalities are taking the first steps to what could become a 20- to 30-year process of consolidation.

Initial plans discussed this week involve looking into creating an economic development committee, purchasing supplies in bulk through the county and collectively buying chlorine for the multiple water-treatment plants in the county.

"We want it to start small then continue growing," Frankfort Mayor Frank Moracco said. "We don't want to overwhelm ourselves."

Consolidation would help officials deal with the difficulties of providing services to residents without increasing taxes, Moracco said.

"We're all in the same predicament," he said.

The economic development committee would be similar to the Herkimer County Chamber of Commerce and could include members from the chamber, county and municipalities. The committee would market the county as a unified entity because any business that moves into the county will help everyone, Moracco said.

"I think it's important that we're all on the same page," he said.

Cutting personnel and combining in areas such as highway departments, departments of public works, light and power, garbage services and fire and police departments could free up huge amounts of money for the municipalities, Herkimer County Legislator Vincent Bono said.

Another meeting might take place within a month, Bono said.

"The county's willing to help out anyway it can," he said.

During a meeting Tuesday at the Ilion Municipal Hall to discuss consolidation, Bono brought up the idea that maybe the villages should eventually merge into their towns. The villages could still unofficially go by their old names, Bono said.

"Everybody talks about it," he said, "but when it comes down to it, people are scared to lose their identities."

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 08:26 PM | Permalink

TOWN BOARD MEETING DISOVLES [sic] INTO SHOUTING MATCH:

The porno showdown with the Rochester Town Board tonight dissolved in shouting matches, the blaring horns of pickup trucks and a legal standoff.

The jam-packed meeting never got to the demands of the resignation of town Supervisor Pam Duke and Councilman Francis Gray. Members of the Rochester Republicans Club had mailed 2,000 multi-colored, slick paper fliers to town residents urging them to attend the tonight's meeting at Town Hall.

"WARNING: Sexually Explicit Material" the flier blared across the top. The flier said Duke and Gray, among other board members, charged a local woman with being associated with a pornographic web site. The charge came during an executive session to interview the woman, Manuela Mihailescu, for a position on the town's Historic Preservation Commission.

"Ridiculous," Mihailescu said last night. "Absurd." "Inconceivable." That's one side of the dispute, town attorney Rod Futerfas told the crowd of about 80 that jammed Town Hall. Another 50-80 people milled in the cold outside and pickup trucks circled in the parking lot, blaring their horns and flashing their headlights. State Police were on hand, but made no arrests during the session.

UPDATE: Commenter Jason Kovacs provides a link to this Daily Freeman article that clarifies the issue:

A capacity crowd in the Rochester Town Hall - and more people outside honking their horns - became too rowdy for the Town Board to handle Thursday night, and the board's monthly meeting was adjourned after only 20 minutes.

More than 100 people came to the meeting, many to protest what they believe was unfair treatment by the board of town resident Manuela Mihailescu, a candidate for the town's Historic Preservation Commission.

Mihailescu claims that, during an interview with the board last week, she was accused of being associated with a pornographic Web site. She says the allegation - which the board told her was based on an Internet search of her name - is false and that she was targeted by the mostly Democratic body because her husband, Jon Dogar-Marinesco, is active in town Republican politics.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Town of Fairfield: GROUP RAISING FUNDS TO FIGHT CONSTRUCTION OF WIND TURBINES

Town of Beekmantown: BEEKMANTOWN APPROVES WIND-TURBINE FACILITY

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 11:25 PM | Permalink

VERONA'S TOWN RECORDS FINALLY UP-TO-DATE:

Even though he faced criticism for hiring his son to help the Town of Verona catch up on filing financial information with the state comptroller, Supervisor Owen Waller said the job is complete and the town is ready to make positive changes in 2007.

And it took a year but the town is all caught up with its annual update documents, which hadn't been filed since 2002.

When Waller took office in January he said the previous supervisor left him in quite a predicament with erased hard drives and financial records haphazardly thrown in storage boxes.
...
He explained that part of the problem was an "archaic" program that was being used to do the books.
The Town of Verona looked to other comparable municipalities to find a program better suited to their needs.
Enhanced Business Systems was installed in March of 2006 and Waller said that now they know exactly where the money is every month.

"The new program provides supervisory reports, abstracts-all the forms necessary for this level of municipal government," he said.

Another new program that has been implemented is a new time clock with a hand scanner for the highway department. The system ties in to the computer in the office so it's easy to tell who is available.

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 11:23 PM | Permalink

BIG FLATS TAKES AIM AT VACANT BUILDINGS:

The town of Big Flats will try again in the coming months to revive a controversial local law regarding vacant buildings -- but this time other towns will be watching the outcome.

The Town Board in late August was set to vote on a package of zoning law changes designed to implement the town's comprehensive master plan. But the town withdrew the proposals following stiff opposition by residents, business interests and property owners.

One of the provisions that drew the most heat was a proposed law that would give the town the authority to demolish any property that stood vacant for two years.

In response to sharp criticism, the town formed a committee to re-examine the vacant structures law, and find ways to make it more palatable. That committee is expected to wrap up its work and return to the board with recommendations as early as next month.

Southern Tier Economic Growth President George Miner, one of the most outspoken critics of the vacant structures proposal, said the new version will offer more exact definitions.

"There are buildings that are vacant that aren't abandoned. Their taxes are paid, their upkeep is maintained, they are actively marketed. That was a primary concern," said Miner, a committee member.

"If a building is abandoned, not being kept up, lawns not mowed, broken windows, things associated with nuisance building, taxes delinquent, they are looking to have some legal steps they can take, but also steps to provide services to that property owner to try to get building more marketable."

The proposed changes would establish certain guidelines that assessors and code enforcement officers would monitor once a building becomes vacant, Miner said.

Article 19-A of the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law already allows a municipality to seize abandoned dwellings under certain conditions, in some cases even if the building is still occupied. A vacant dwelling is considered abandoned if it is not sealed or continuously guarded and either (a) the code enforcement officer has issued an order prohibiting occupancy of the dwelling, or (b) property taxes on the premises have gone unpaid for a period of at least one year. After some initial steps, the process requires the Town to obtain a court order to vest title in the municipality. The statute apparently is not often used, I suspect because it doesn't permit the municipality to levy and assess demolition costs against the property (i.e. its own property).

Posted by Joel Seachrist at 11:11 PM | Permalink