Bob Lynch, Enfield Councilperson
The Official Website for Friends of Robert Lynch
Meet Bob
Eight Questions in October
Turning Back Home
Jump Ball
When I First Announced
My Governing Philosophy
My Four Pillars of Leadership
Pillar #1: Economy
Pillar #2: Transparency
Pillar #3: Safety
Pillar #4: Bold Ideas
Greg Stevenson’s Endorsement
The Ithaca Times Interview
Five Questions; Five Answers
Questions and Answers; The Ithaca Voice & Me
13 Rays of Sunlight; My Replies to Sunrise Ithaca
Pleading the Pantry’s Case
A “Republican Form of Government?”
Courage… As We Face the Risk
Justice Scalia’s Own Words
Rachel, Where Are You?
Expanding & Reshaping the TCIDA
Shaping the Next Tompkins County Legislature
Tompkins County’s 2022 Budget – My Take
The Cayuga Indian Nation Issue
My Vaccine Municipal Initiative
The Downtown Land Purchase
The American Rescue Plan Debate
Reapportionment 2021
Policing Reform: My Take
Local COVID-19 Surveillance Testing
My Stand on Fracking
What I Stand Against
December 2022 Reporting Archives
November 2022 Reporting Archives
October 2022 Reporting Archives
September 2022 Reporting Archives
August 2022 Reporting Archives
July 2022 Reporting Archives
June 2022 Reporting Archives
May 2022 Reporting Archives
April 2022 Reporting Archives
March 2022 Reporting Archives
February 2022 Reporting Archives
January 2022 Reporting Archives
News Archives, 2021
News Archives: 2020
May/June 2019 Reporting Archives
What I’ve Said
Confirm Judge LaSalle
Talking the (Downtown) Talk
Town Assessment Boards Axed
Maybe Death by Delay
Freshman Fervor; Newfield’s Maverick
Into the Weeds with Breezy Meadows’ Review
Solar Farms vs. “Farm-Farms”
2022 Commentaries
We Might Eat Leftovers
End of an Enfield Era… at a Crossroads
Brown: Second Wind, No; Enfield, Yes
Subdivision Scare rallies Enfield neighbors
Enfield’s Pre-Christmas Crawl
Four Votes… or You’re Overboard
Rocco Speaks; Shawna Bristles
Headline: Riley Beats Hochul
Flack or P.C. Policeman?
Remembering Gary Lee: 1933-2022
ReUse Rather than Rubble?
Assessment Changes: “Please Put it In Writing”
Deidra to TC: “See You in Court”
We Mix It Up At Times
Circling “Reimagining’s” Wagons
Strained Separation
A Tool for the Toolbox:
Tompkins Does It One Way; Enfield Another
A Working Group for Whom?
Petition with Respect
Gerry’s Lakeside Puzzle; New York Redistricting
Some Good Will Come of This
Meet in the Middle
Our “Poisonous Tree” Behind the Courthouse
Be Kind, Be Humble; Post-Election 2021
The November 9th Incident
The Cortney Bailey Candidacy
Before You Vote Commentary #1
The Enfield Vaccine Mandate Debate
Our Mendrick Report
Zoom Be-Gone (or maybe not)
An “Arranged Marriage” on the Rocks
Clerk Woods’ Departure
Whistling Past the… What?*
State Fairgrounds, Here I Come! (You think?)
Vaccine for Seniors… Now!
Hoarding… and Hurting
The Night of Toxic Tantrums
“A Gun to my Head!” Enfield Board names Redmond Supervisor
The Best… and the Brightest
Enfield in Transition… Still: The James Ricks Appointment
Enfield in Transition… Still: Redmond resigns as Councilperson
Decided: Our 2020 Elections
Enfield in Transition: Councilperson Michael Miles’ Appointment
Enfield in Transition: A Time to Step Up… Maybe, for You!
Enfield in Transition: The McGee & Mehaffey Resignations
Our Board Sadly (Still) is what it is
And Now, a Touch of Civility…
Our Board: Sadly, “It is what it is”
And They Did as They Pleased!
Enough! Dump King Cuomo in ’22
My “Elevator Ride” with You
COVID-19; Ch. 7: The Upstate Revolt that helped reopen your Barber Shop
COVID-19; Ch. 6: The Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Big Red Barber Shop
COVID-19; Ch. 5: The Scientist, the Politician, and the Judge
COVID-19; Ch. 4: Sharing with Friends
COVID-19; Ch. 3: Democracy and Us on the Other Side
COVID-19; Ch. 2: Cuomo, Oprah, and my friend “Jim”
COVID-19; Ch. 1: Bring Us Less Cuomo, More Oprah
Exceptionalism Abounds; The Downtown Ithaca Conference Center
A New Year Together: One Board; One Enfield
The Pledge of Allegiance: Our Enfield 2020 Conversation
… and the High Road is Where?
Our Wind Law: Board, Please Try Again…
Leadership, Passionate, and…
The Definition of Me
Reporting What’s Said: “Stop Doing It!”
TCCOG
December 2022 TCCOG Report
November 2022 TCCOG Report
September 2022 TCCOG Report
August 2022 TCCOG Report
July 2022 TCCOG Report
May 2022 TCCOG Report
March 2022 TCCOG Report
TCCOG Reports; 2020-21 Archives
October 2021 TCCOG Report
June 2021 TCCOG Report
April 2021 TCCOG Report
February 2021 TCCOG Report
January 2021 TCCOG Report
Enfield Councilperson Robert Lynch, Privilege of the Floor comment, near the start of our Town Board’s September 14th Regular Monthly Meeting, our first meeting held in-person since September 2021:
Good Evening, Board. Glad we’re back together again. I have a couple things to talk about tonight. Pardon my formality. But I want to make sure I get the words just right.
One is something good: about us. The other—if I’m given the time to talk about it—troubles me.
First, the positive: We’re a thinking Board. We’re a caring Board. And yes, we’re an opinionated Board. That’s good for us, and for our community. We’re not five people who just helicopter into this room or to our laptops once a month to cast votes autogenetically. We ponder. We mix it up at times. That’s us. Maybe, too, that’s also Enfield.
The two most frequent things Town residents tell me as a Board member is: #1) Don’t fight; and #2) Get back to meeting in the same room. We’ve met that second goal tonight. And as for Number One; while we’re not perfect, we are getting better.
Board collegiality has hoed a rough row these past three years the Supervisor and I have sat on this Board. Yes, we’re this young Board’s senior members. Nonetheless, as I look back, the tone and tenor of debate has improved over time.
We’ve had a topic to tackle this past summer that could have become toxic. It divides some of us. But wisely, we’ve handed it off to another set of leaders, those on our Enfield Planning Board. Last week, I watched them work, and I listened. And I’d say, based on their relaxed, inquisitive approach, our Planning Board will handle this assigned task quite well. They’ll do a heck of a good job. Let’s leave them alone for a while. And I look forward to seeing their work product once they’re done.
Now to what’s not so good. To the north of us, there’s a Nation, the Cayuga Nation. And since our last meeting, there’s been more trouble’s there. From the reports I’ve read, as many as 50 private police and security officers, mercenaries, descended on a farmhouse one weekend morning, all for an “asbestos inspection.” We’re told one man was placed in a chokehold. Later at the tribal courthouse, someone was tased, cuffed and dragged across a parking lot.
The Cayuga Nation’s Private Army of Sorts (courtesy Jimmy Jordan / The Ithaca Voice)
People tell me, Bob, that’s none of Enfield’s business. Stay out of it. Well, I’m not asking this Board to take any action tonight. But I always thought we all lived under democracy’s rules. One man does not get to rule as a king. If tribal lands remain off limits to New York State criminal law, then the tribes had better write their own rules that grant democracy proper respect, and then enforce those rules through due process.
If the Cayuga Nation cannot do that… and if the Bureau of Indian Affairs prefers to turn a blind eye, well, then maybe it’s time for Congress to step in and fix the problem.
That’s all. Thank you.
Note: During the September 14 meeting, Councilperson James Ricks also addressed the Cayuga Nation matter, voicing similar sentiments, as did a private citizen in floor comments at the meeting’s end.
Angel: 2009-2022
Whether in Town service or in life, may I never be so busy that I forget the companionship given me by my cherished cat, Angel, who left this world on June 19, 2022. May her spirit remain with me, and may her dedication serve as a fitting example of loyalty. / Bob
Yesterday’s Front Page: What I’ve Said
Visit “What I’ve Said.” It’s found on the drop-down list of the Main Menu. You’ll find past essays, formerly posted on this website’s Home Page.
“What I’ve Said” captures the moment of the times; items of interest, Enfield legislative actions, and points of controversy during the 2019 Town Board election campaign and beyond, up through today.
Here’s a recent list:
Strained Separation: County-City cut cord with police-critical Reimagining group; posted June 26, 2022
A Tool for the Toolbox: “Wracking our Brains” to Find a Firefighter; posted May 15, 2022
Tompkins Does It One Way; Enfield Another: Public Transparency and the ARPA Awards Process; posted May 13, 2022
A Working Group for Whom? Working with Whom? posted April 22, 2022
Petition with Respect: Comment on the 2022 Congressional Campaign; posted Mar. 21, 2022
Gerry’s Lakeside Puzzle; New York Redistricting; posted Feb. 14, 2022
Some Good Will Come of This: Transparency and the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency; posted Jan. 18, 2022
Meet in the Middle: On the Enfield Town Board’s first-of-the-year meeting; posted Jan. 12, 2022
“Our Poisonous Tree” Behind the Courthouse: the Center of Government project; posted Nov. 18, 2021
Be Kind, Be Humble: Post-Election 2021; posted Nov. 6, 2021
(and more posted in the archives…)
“Taking A Stand” on What I Believe
Taking A Stand, a tab on the top menu, provides my take on various issues of community concern in Enfield; commentary on our Town’s Current Events. I hope my words will prompt robust debate.
Note: Former Home Page essays, earlier posted here, now may be found on the “What I’ve Said” tab on the top menu.
Highlights (not a complete list):
January 2022: Expanding and Reshaping the TCIDA
January 2022: Shaping the Next Tompkins County Legislature
November 2021: My Take on the Tompkins County Budget
November 2021: The Cayuga Indian Nation Issue
September 2021: My Vaccine Municipal Initiative
September 2021: The Downtown Land Purchase
March 2021: Policing Reform: My Take
July 2020: Local COVID-19 Surveillance Testing
2019: My Stand on Fracking
2019: What I Stand Against
What’s Up with Enfield/Tompkins County?
Check out the latest local stories from Enfield and Tompkins County under the Latest News tab.
Here’s What’s News:
Jan. 7: Into the Weeds with “Breezy Meadow’s” Review
Jan. 4: Freshman Fervor: Randy Brown makes his mark defending hometown interests
Jan. 3: Enfield Board tightens Solar Law; more changes may lie ahead
Dec. 23: Second Wind’s Fate Could Impact Enfield’s Funding Future
Dec. 21: Recovery Fund Approved; Enfield Still Slighted
Dec. 16: Brown: Second Wind, No; Enfield, Yes
Dec. 14; Updated Dec. 15: Judge Poole Retires; Board ponders options
Dec. 8 : Subdivision Scare rallies Enfield neighbors
Dec. 6, updated Dec. 7: Committee zeroes-out Recovery Fund requests; Local legislator objects
Nov. 25: Consultant’s, Committee’s Bright-Lines could kill most Recovery Fund requests
Nov. 18: Rocco Speaks; Shawna Bristles; Deidra’s Firing Returns to the Legislature
Nov. 17: Enfield Apps. on the Edge; Pantry comes up short in county’s first-round review
For previously-reported stories, visit the Reporting Archives sub-heading under this tab. Stories are archived by the month(s) of their posting.
Back to Full Strength
Susan Currie (at a prior meeting)
(Jan 31): Sadly, few, if any, media bothered to report this, though they should have. In a Special Election whose outcome was largely pre-determined, former Tompkins County Public Library Director Susan Currie was elected January 24th to fill out the remainder of the late Tompkins County legislator Henry Granison’s uncompleted term. She’ll represent a district centered on the City of Ithaca’s East and South Hills.
With a small voter turnout, Currie, the Democratic nominee and the only person listed on the ballot, secured 99 of 101 votes cast, according to unofficial results. Republicans nominated no one for the nearly three-year position. The two remaining votes were cast for unspecified write-ins.
Expect Currie to be sworn in and to begin voting at the Legislature’s next meeting, February 7th. When she takes her seat, Currie will restore County Legislature membership to its full complement of 14.
Shedding jobs Big Time; our Lansing plant (photo courtesy Casey Martin, Ithaca Voice.)
(Jan. 27): If you can believe it, the City of Ithaca’s planner charged with economic development said this to The Ithaca Voice: “It is an exciting time for economic development in the City of Ithaca.”
Tom Knipe’s comment fell less than a week after BorgWarner announced the planned closing of one of its two side-by-side plants in Lansing, likely to idle up to 280 workers, about a quarter of its workforce. Most of the jobs will go to Mexico.
“Unfortunately, businesses have to make decisions that maintain their competitiveness nationally or globally,” Heather McDaniel, Executive Director of Ithaca Area Economic Development, lamented. You can read the full Ithaca Voice story here:
https://ithacavoice.com/2023/01/after-bout-of-bad-economic-news-local-leaders-press-forward/
So, McDaniel’s agency grants cushy tax breaks for apartment developers who create one or two permanent jobs at best, or to solar farms which create none at all. Meanwhile, leaders either paint happy faces on the local economy, or shake their heads in dismay. Neither provides comfort.
Yes, I suppose a skilled Morse machinist can go clerk at Wegmans, or maybe retrain to be a nurse at CMC. But more likely, he will—if he can—pack up and move to a state where industry still thrives. Politicians, are you listening? Do you really care? / RL
COVID: Back to “Low”
(Jan. 27): After a one-week stint in the “Medium” category of community infection, Tompkins County fell back into a “Low” level of COVID-19 transmission and hospitalization, according to the CDC’s three-part weekly status report, released Thursday.
One week ago, the County’s “Whole Health” Department warned of the elevated risk that it blamed upon the latest coronavirus variant. “Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.5 is highly contagious, resulting in an increased spread of disease,” the Department said. Of course that variant is still prevalent; caution is still advised; but CDC’s update suggests there’s nothing really new to worry about. The Department, both then and now, has not changed its guidance. It does not recommend the healthy again don masks.
Local leaders now update statistics only weekly. And death statistics now include those of local residents who succumbed to the disease elsewhere, making the absolute number less meaningful. But little changed this past week. Total deaths (as revised) remained at 100. As of Thursday, only three were hospitalized with the disease locally; only one of them admitted within the past week.
The CDC’s New York map shows slightly higher infection status (yellow) to our north and south. Downstate has the highest COVID numbers.
The Weight of One Word
(Jan. 26): Wordsmithing on the fly, without their attorney present, the Newfield Town Board Thursday tried to tighten-up language in the proposed one-year moratorium it will put to Public Hearing February 9th in effort to halt Second Wind Cottages’ plans to build 25 camp-style cabins to house the homeless.
For nearly an hour, the Board wrestled with possible revisions in the attorney’s draft document, and most notably agonized over whether to direct the moratorium against “campsites”—as the original draft had proposed—or “campgrounds,” as Board members would prefer. Precision would prove crucial both in keeping the moratorium generic and also in staving off a possible lawsuit.
“You should remove language specific to Second Wind,” Planning Board member Debra Eichten, who joined the meeting, counseled. Moreover, “we don’t want to close the door to opportunities we might want to pursue,” Eichten added, suggesting that other campgrounds might benefit the town.
“We’re not talking about kids in the backyard,” Councilperson Christine Laughlin remarked, assuring everyone her target is not the family outing. Yet drawing an exacting line proved difficult.
Settled on for now, a “Campground,” subject to the moratorium, would be “any parcel or tract of land including buildings or other structures under the control of any person where five or more campsites are available for temporary or seasonal overnight occupancy.”
The Town Board will run its changes by its attorney, Tom Smith; and also the Newfield Planning Board.
Enfield, Don’t Go It Alone
Director Jay Franklin
(Jan. 26): Tompkins County Director of Assessment Jay Franklin, questioned Thursday at a meeting of the Tompkins County Council of Governments, discouraged towns like Enfield from convening their own, home-grown Local Advisory Boards of Assessment Review even though the County Legislature, at Franklin’s urging, has suspended the long-standing practice of permitting town-based review.
“I don’t think it would be appropriate, because we wouldn’t be treating all of our residents the same,” Franklin responded to this writer’s suggestion of an Enfield-initiated Advisory Board to replace the County-sponsored panel assembled in past years.
As Franklin looks at it, “If one Town were to offer some sort of other pseudo-assessment review process… it really would give that property owner a false sense of something may happen if they went there and provided their information to them.”
The Assessment Director’s objection, coupled with his office’s streamlined procedures, may preclude a grieving property owner from meeting an assessor face-to-face until late-May, on Grievance Day. / R. Lynch
ECC Camp Fees to Rise
(Jan. 26): Citing New York’s Higher Minimum Wage, the Enfield Community Council (ECC) Board of Directors Thursday recommended higher admission fees for this year’s summer camp.
As recommended by the Board, fees for this summer’s six-week day camp would rise from $950 to $975 (2.6%) for Town residents and from $1,250 to $1,300 (4%) for non-resident enrollees.
Newly-established by the ECC Board is a weekly rate: $200 per resident child; $250 for non-residents.
“I don’t think it’s gouging anybody,” ECC President Cortney Bailey said of the increased fees. Bailey noted the State’s minimum wage just rose by $1.00 an hour. With three people working at camp, the salary increase alone, she claimed, hikes costs $120 per week.
The ECC summer camp had some 40 enrollees last year. Organizers hope for 50 this summer. And they assert the Enfield camp’s a bargain. Some well-known day camps near Ithaca, they asserted, charge enrollees as much as $600-$700 per week.
The new rates form part of the ECC’s 2023 budget, set for approval in February.
One… Just One… at a Time
(Jan. 24): At a special meeting Monday night, convened so as to meet a fast-approaching state deadline, the Enfield Town Board approved a second-round application under the Restore NY program to fund demolition of two abandoned properties in the town. Or so it thought.
The following morning, Tuesday, Town Supervisor Stephanie Redmond informed Board members that the owner of one of those properties, the one at 198 Black Oak Road, had backed out. Even though the state grant, if approved would pay 90 per cent of the demolition cost, Redmond said the owner declined to support the remaining ten percent, given the likely cost of asbestos removal.
The withdrawal adds credence to the argument, advanced by Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins at Monday’s Public Hearing, that the rewards in curing rural blight may not be worth the Town-paid $500 application fee.
“I have a little problem with the $500,” Rollins said. “The people who buy it (who purchase the vacant lot once the old house is gone) should pay the $500,” Rollins argued. Redmond responded State rules don’t allow that.
Rollins also worried that the building’s removal might actually decrease the parcel’s assessment, thereby reducing Enfield’s tax base.
Still covered by Monday’s Restore NY application is the removal of a vacant building at 329 Connecticut Hill Road.
Committee Rejects LaSalle; Denies floor vote
Judge LaSalle at his confirmation hearing
(Jan. 18): in what critics will charge unfairly applies a liberal litmus test, the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday rejected Judge Hector LaSalle, Governor Hochul’s nominee to become Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.
“The committee has spoken, the nomination was lost,” Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Senate Majority Leader, told reporters after the Judiciary Committee first rejected LaSalle, and then, by a one vote margin, refused to advance his name to the full Senate for a floor vote.
The rejection sets up a potential court fight should Hochul pursue the position that the New York Constitution demands the nomination go to the floor, despite the committee’s rejection.
Citing LaSalle’s nuanced positions on cherry-picked cases, Senate liberals, including Tompkins County’s Senator, Lea Webb, have argued the nominee is too conservative to be Chief Judge.
All six Republicans on the allegedly Democrat-stacked Judiciary Committee moved to advance LaSalle’s nomination Wednesday. But 10 Democrats, including the committee’s chair, voted against moving the nomination forward. The final committee vote was 10-9.
Senator Stuart-Cousins insists the committee’s decision is final, and LaSalle’s nomination is dead.
Here’s more reporting: https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2023/01/ny-democrats-reject-hector-lasalle/381919/
Mr. Brown Goes to Committee
“Enfield got nothing.” Randy Brown
(Jan. 18): Work by the Community Recovery Fund Advisory Committee is largely done. But watching what remains of that committee could, to say the least, prove “fun.”
“We wanted anyone who wanted to be a part of this committee to be on it,” Shawna Black, Chair of the Tompkins County Legislature, said Tuesday night as she announced her annual reassignment to legislative committees. And because he (most definitely) wants to offer input, Newfield-Enfield rep. Randy Brown became among the seven Black tapped to sit on what’s became this most controversial of legislative committees.
The Advisory Committee grew to an authoritarian gatekeeper last year as it recommended award of $6.5 Million in Community Recovery Fund cash. It’s the program to which Enfield applicants received not one penny. Brown rose as the committee’s most outspoken critic. And he was the only legislator who voted against the group’s final funding package December 20.
Now, the committee’s work stands mostly past-tense. But it must still, as Black said, “check in on the grants that we’ve provided,” and also reallocate any awards that are “not claimed” by their initially-designated recipients.
Brown won’t be the Advisory Committee’s only new member. Also appointed were legislators Mike Sigler and Travis Brooks. They, too, wanted in. They, too, could mix things up. / RL
“Another point of engagement.” Mike Sigler
(Jan. 18): Securing the bare minimum of eight votes, the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday suspended, indefinitely, the half-century old practice of convening Town-based Local Boards of Assessment Review that allowed town residents to complain to local officials at their local Town Hall prior to Grievance Day’s final review.
What’s more, at Tuesday’s meeting, Director of Assessment Jay Franklin revealed for the first time that the “Informal Review Meetings” he’s encouraged to replace the Local Boards will this year take place only by telephone, no longer in person; not even on zoom.
Lansing’s Mike Sigler was among four lawmakers who urged the Local Boards be retained.
“These are one of the few times that we give the public an opportunity outside of this actual building, outside of downtown, to come and talk with us,” Sigler said. “It’s another point of engagement.”
Read more about the Legislature’s decision, posted on this website.
Good Job, Your Honor
(Jan. 14): I’ve called it our Town Board’s most boring meeting of the year. Only this time, it really wasn’t.
By each January 20th, New York State requires every Town Board to hail into its meeting room anyone on its team who handles money. It’s called the Annual Audit. We in Enfield conducted ours Friday evening, the 13th. (We’re not superstitious.)
The Town Clerk, the tax collector, and our bookkeeper all presented their papers and answered questions. Everyone’s answers satisfied our checklist.
But what made this year special—albeit bittersweet—was Town Justice Betty Poole’s attendance. Judge Poole retired in December, yet she’s still responsible for last year’s judicial accounting. Dealing with some medical issues these days, Judge Poole appeared via zoom. Her accounts all stood in order. And it gave the Judge and us Board members an opportunity to say a proper goodbye. We did.
We thanked Judge Poole for her service. She thanked us for the opportunity to serve. Betty’s served more than 33 years in local courts. She’d been Enfield Justice since 1994. We will miss her smile, and her firm, yet fair administration of justice; her respect for the Rule of Law.
Audit Meeting adjourned. Enfield marches on. / RL
Moratorium May Snarl 2nd Wind
Dave Shapiro defending 2nd Wind in Newfield
(Jan. 12): The Newfield Town Board Thursday took a major step toward blocking Second Wind Cottages from building a 25-cabin encampment for the homeless north of the Newfield hamlet. It’s a project many in Newfield do not want, and a majority spoke out before the Board Thursday against it.
The Town Board set a February 9th Public Hearing on a proposed one-year moratorium on “campsites,” a heavily-lawyered delaying tactic that directly targets Second Wind. While a committee of the Tompkins County Legislature has recommended funding the campsite’s construction with Community Recovery Funds, legislator Randy Brown, a project opponent, suggested that the moratorium’s one-year delay could push approval so far back that county funding would expire.
Second Wind Executive Director Dave Shapiro defended the homelessness initiative, saying the unhoused “do better when they’re brought back to nature.” But opponents outnumbered supporters. “Nothing would (have me) leave my home faster,” one woman said, than to have the encampment arrive.
The Town Board also Thursday exercised its right to take final site plan approval for Second Wind away from the Town Planning Board and pass final review itself.
An extended story is now posted on Newfield’s decision.
Court Back in Session
(Jan. 12): After a prolonged delay, and following the retirement of long-time Town Justice Betty Poole in December, the Town of Enfield Justice Court is getting back to a regular schedule.
Town Supervisor Stephanie Redmond announced at the Town Board’s Wednesday night meeting that Judge Thomas Schlee, one of the Town of Ulysses’ two justices, will be assuming temporary duties in Enfield. Schlee will hold court until either the installation of a new Enfield Justice following this November’s elections, or the Town Board’s appointment of a local resident as interim justice before then.
Judge Poole had long held Town Court on Mondays, either in the mornings or evenings. Judge Schlee will move Court to Tuesday evenings, sessions commencing at 6 PM.
Though the position of Court Clerk remains at a judge’s discretion, Redmond also announced Wednesday that Judge Schlee will retain Enfield resident Heather Knutsen-King as his clerk, with Judge Schlee’s Ulysses Court Clerk assisting her, as needed. The Town Board appointed Knutsen-King only in late-December, as Judge Poole’s clerk, her daughter, had also resigned.
An End to the Wood Stove
Bye-Bye to Fossil Furnaces; Kathy Hochul
(Jan. 10): If you live in New York State, and you want to buy a wood stove, or an oil furnace, or even a propane heater, better plan on buying it within the next seven years. Because if you don’t, according to Kathy Hochul, Big Government will say you can’t.
Words mean things. And I take Governor Hochul at her every word. Buried in Hochul’s “State of the State” Address Tuesday, sandwiched among all the aspirational platitudes about mental health, child care, and inflation-ratcheted minimum wages, was this troubling tidbit, Hochul tipping her hat to the Green New Deal:
“To set us on that path, I’m proposing a plan to end the sale of any new fossil-fuel-powered heating equipment by 2030.”
I take Kathy Hochul literally. To me, that means anything that burns oil, or gas… or (even) wood would be banned from sale by the start of the next decade. But there was more:
“And I’m calling for all new construction to be zero-emission, starting in 2025 for small buildings and 2028 for large buildings. We are taking these actions because climate change remains the greatest threat to our planet, and to our children and grandchildren.”
All right. I presume this means the new home you build in two years can only heat with electricity. Again, to me, words mean things.
And to me, they mean something else. At least here in rural upstate, they mean that folks like Lee Zeldin have a good shot at the Governor’s Mansion in 2026. / RL
Brock, No; Cantelmo, Yes
Nor running for mayor; Cynthia Brock
(Jan 10): The best-known member of Ithaca Common Council to those of us living outside the city line has disappointed many of us by declining to reach for higher office.
First Ward Alderperson Cynthia Brock, best known for her lodging of an ethics complaint against former Mayor Svante Myrick and other City officials, has told The Ithaca Voice she will not run to succeed Laura Lewis as Mayor, after Lewis announced her plans last week not to seek a full, four-year term.
Instead, City leaders appear rallying around another Council member, Fifth Ward Alderperson Robert Cantelmo, who Sunday became the first to announce his intensions to run for mayor this fall.
The Voice reports Cantelmo pushed all the right liberal buttons during his campaign rollout, talking up the Green New Deal, affordable housing, and Reimagining Public Safety. Reportedly, many of Cantelmo’s Council colleagues attended his announcement, Brock included. Lewis was not there.
But the mayor elected this fall will be a weak mayor. Ithaca switches to a City Manager government in 2024 making its top political position more ceremonial than administrative.
Psst: Hochul Signed It!
Hochul’s Inaugural: No talk of raises.
(Jan. 8): You won’t find it in any Kathy Hochul press release. Nor did she mention it in her Inaugural Address. Assemblymember Anna Kelles didn’t touch on it in her weekly online update. (Kelles’ last posted news release was in March.) And Senator Lea Webb’s official site is still bear naked.
So much for news. But a scant few media outlets reported it New Year’s Day. Governor Hochul New Year’s Eve quietly signed the lame-duck-passed law granting State Senators and Assembly members a 29 per cent pay raise.
As far as one knows, Hochul has yet to comment on the action she took. Two days before Christmas, Hochul was abrupt. “I have many bills on my desk … so I will address that in proper time,” was about all she then said. I guess she did address that bill. Then she sealed her lips.
But Albany Republicans are talking. Not a single GOP legislator supported raising legislative pay from $110,000 to $142,000 annually. Here’s what Assemblyman Michael Lawler tweeted, according to the New York Post: “If Hochul had any political courage, she would not only veto the ridiculous $32,000 pay raise, she would have called us back for a special session to deal with the disastrous cashless bail.” Amen. / RL
Ithaca’s Musical Mayors
Never extemporize. Mayor Lewis (left) at Common Council Jan. 4.
(Jan. 6): She read from a script. She seldom looked up. She spoke in a monotone. And she buried the lead.
Newly-installed Ithaca Mayor Laura Lewis’ “State of the City” address Wednesday night was anything but inspiring. It was hardly a stem-winder. And eleven minutes into her 15-minute dry-as-a-desert recitation of supposed urban milestones and hard-fought accomplishments, Lewis dropped a political bombshell that landed with a thud. Though just elected to complete the final year of Mayor Svante Myrick’s unfinished term, the newly-installed Lewis announced she will not seek re-election this fall to remain mayor beyond December.
“For the past five years, it has been my privilege and continues to be my greatest honor to serve the city I love as Councilmember, and now as Mayor,” Lewis read, head down, at Common Council’s first-of-year session. “I look forward to the many challenges and opportunities we will face together throughout 2023. However, I’m announcing tonight that I will not be seeking reelection to the position of mayor in 2024.”
There. Thud. Lewis gave no reason for her taking the shortest of mayoral paths. But I bet Katie Sims and Zach Winn would love to have known her intentions when they campaigned against her last November.
Still, in 2024, the job of Ithaca Mayor will become a far cry from what it was back in Ed Conley’s glory days. Next year, a City Manager will take the helm, and the elected mayor becomes relegated to Chief Meeting Chair and Baby-Kisser. Maybe Laura Lewis knows that. Or maybe that in a city with rising crime, labor strife, ethics probes, and here-today, gone-tomorrow chiefs of police, it’s best to get out while the getting’s good.
Laura Lewis: City Hall’s latest, year-long Lame Duck, and in a place that starves for real leadership. In a way, it’s rather fitting. But in another, it’s kind of sad. Ithaca, Good Luck. / RL
Assessment Boards R.I.P?
Franklin: Effort outweighs effectiveness.
(Jan. 6): The Town of Enfield would have preferred otherwise. But Tompkins County appears headed toward an indefinite—perhaps permanent—suspension of Town-based Local Assessment Boards of Review, beginning this year.
By a 4-1 vote Thursday, the County Legislature’s Government Operations Committee recommended the full Legislature suspend the practice employed during much of the past half-century where local appointees review assessment grievances, if asked, and then pass on recommended revisions to the County Assessment Department. Dryden’s Mike Lane opposed the change.
County Director of Assessment Jay Franklin maintains the local hearings have outlived their usefulness and reports they’re poorly attended. When the County revived the local boards last year after a multi-year hiatus, the owners of only 47 parcels countywide sought local review. ‘The cost and effort of holding (the Boards) has outweighed their effectiveness,” Franklin wrote the committee.
In December, legislative committee members had talked of just a one-year suspension of the local boards, allowing time for a complete committee review of grievance procedures. But the Resolution approved Thursday would suspend the boards indefinitely until the Department of Assessment or the committee itself directs reinstatement.
The Enfield Town Board in October explicitly asked that the Boards continue. In response to this Enfield Councilperson’s question Thursday, Franklin said he’d check with the County Attorney as to whether Enfield could convene a Review Board of its own. / RL
Calculator Democracy?
“We are open to a lawsuit.” Mike Lane
(Jan. 6): “I hate it,” Dryden’s Mike Lane said of weighted voting Thursday. Yet Lane, a constitutional purest, wants to see it, at least temporarily, in the Tompkins County Legislature.
At a meeting of the Government Operations Committee January 5th, Lane pushed hard to impose a weighted voting scheme from now through the 2025 elections. It would only be then that redistricting from the 2020 Census will finally reshape district lines and balance representational populations.
Quest for power does not drive the Dryden Democrat’s calculator-intensive initiative. A spreadsheet Lane shared with the committee showed he would be one of two legislators to forfeit the most influence. Lane would only cast 85 per cent of a vote.
Enfield and Newfield’s influence would also fall. Anne Koreman would cast 99% of a vote; Randy Brown, 96%. Three Ithaca City districts would gain the most. Rich John’s vote would weigh-in at nearly 119%.
“The people in Tompkins County have not been equally represented,” Lane reflected. He faulted legislators for not shortening their current terms to allow constituent equity to take hold sooner. “And we are open to a lawsuit,” Lane warned.
Others, notably committee chair Amanda Champion—who would actually gain influence under the change—are more willing to kick the can down the road, gather information first, and not bring Lane’s resolution to the floor next month, as he’d like. “I would not entertain a resolution at that time,” Champion said.
What’s more, by February, committee assignments could change. Lane may be off the committee; or for that matter, maybe Champion as well.
Fire Exemption Means Test?
No “wiggle room.” Attorney Bill Troy.
(Jan. 6): As it moved toward implementing the new state law that would grant volunteer firefighters and EMS volunteers a 10 per cent assessment reduction for their service, Tompkins County lawmakers Thursday briefly questioned whether the exemption could be “capped” for those who own expensive homes.
The issue was fairness: “The volunteer in the Million Dollar house, should they be benefiting 20 times more than the volunteer who’s in the lesser-valued ($50,000) house, and should they be benefiting at all over the volunteers who are renters and wouldn’t receive any of this exemption?” Director of Assessment Jay Franklin asked the Legislature’s Government Operations Committee, somewhat rhetorically.
But County Attorney Bill Troy had advised Franklin—and warned the committee—against setting a cap. “Someone could come in and challenge it (the cap) and say it’s unlawful,” Troy told lawmakers. “How realistic is that? I don’t know. But the statute doesn’t seem to have any wiggle room.”
The committee recommended the firefighters’ exemption be applied on the County’s portion of taxes without any cap. Town Boards, like Enfield’s would need to adopt their own laws.
What about school districts, Franklin was asked. “I haven’t heard from any school districts,” the Director told the committee. But judging from past practice, Franklin surmised, “I would highly doubt the school districts would pass on this. They haven’t been too entertaining on exemptions.”
“I’m not giving up on the school districts,” Franklin said. “But that’s kind of the reality of it.”
County CEDO Search Resumes
Not coming: Anitra Rivera
(Jan. 5): Anitra Rivera, an academic officer at a Missouri university, was supposed to start work as Tompkins County’s new Chief Equity and Diversity Officer (CEDO) on December 12. She didn’t. And she won’t be coming here.
During a wide-ranging Thursday morning conference call with municipal leaders, and in response to this writer’s inquiry, County Administrator Lisa Holmes revealed that Rivera, after initially agreeing in October to join the County’s workforce, “withdrew her acceptance.”
“We will be going out for another search,” Holmes told the conference call of town and village officials. The search will begin sometime early this year. Holmes did not target a date for the CEDO’s appointment.
Anitra Rivera was to replace Deanna Carrithers, Tompkins County’s first CEDO, hired in 2020. Carrithers left the position last June, and has reportedly since joined a consulting group that worked with Tompkins County’s sometimes-controversial Reimagining Public Safety collaborative. / RL
More Talk; Less Surprise
Land & Lakes “Breezy Meadows” site sketch.
(Jan. 4): In what was termed a “sketch plan conference,” developers of “Breezy Meadows,” the proposed 33-lot subdivision that would straddle Tucker Road and encompass the long-abandoned Babcock Poultry barns, discussed their plans with the Enfield Planning Board Wednesday. Public turnout for the meeting dwarfed that of early-December when flyers in neighbors’ mailboxes alerted and alarmed many and packed the room for the developer’s initial presentation.
Wednesday’s meeting brought only talk; no action. Land & Lakes Development’s next presentation to the Planning Board, including a Preliminary Plat with set subdivision lines, will likely reach planners in early-March, pushing off a Public Hearing to April at the earliest.
“This is a big project, and it’s going to be important to the people of the Town for many, many years,” Planning Board member Mike Carpenter observed at one point in the more than hour-long back-and-forth with Land & Lakes’ Alan Lord. Much of that discussion focused on proposed covenants the developer would likely attach to land it sells, restrictions preventing further subdivision, banning single-wide mobile homes, and limiting dwelling density.
Black Back as Legislature Chair
“I’ve been humbled many times.” Shawna Black (c) returning as Legislative Chair.
(Jan. 3): On the same day that Congressional Republicans struggled through three ballots and still couldn’t choose a Speaker, Tompkins County legislators took little more than two minutes Tuesday to effectively do the same thing.
Without opposition, and by a unanimous roll call vote, the Legislature reelected Shawna Black to her second consecutive one-year term as the County Legislature’s Chair.
“I think Shawna’s done a great job. She’s been an incredible leader this year,” Dryden’s Greg Mezey said in placing Black’s name in nomination. The Town of Ithaca’s Amanda Champion seconded.
“This past year has been a huge learning experience, and I’ve been humbled many times,” Black said as she resumed her seat at the front podium. “I’ve seen this group of colleagues come together and discuss difficult issues and find solutions.”
The only surprise came in the election of Vice-Chair. Danby’s Dan Klein was the lone person nominated to succeed Lansing’s Deborah Dawson, who said she was “just tired.” Klein’s recent role in chairing the sometimes-controversial Community Recovery Fund Advisory Committee may have contributed to his selection. But it may also have been why Newfield’s Randy Brown, without explanation, raised his hand to oppose Klein’s elevation to leadership. Brown believes his Newfield and Enfield constituents were slighted in the award of Recovery funds.
Solar Law Revised; Moratorium Ending
(Dec. 28): A year-long moratorium on approval of new large solar farms in Enfield will end now that the Town Board Tuesday approved a series of revisions to the Town’s three-year old Solar law, its regulations tucked within Enfield’s larger requirements for site plan review.
The most important change the revised law makes is financial; it states clearly that the Town reserves the right to enter into Host Community Agreements with solar developers, agreements that would provide the Town direct compensation in addition to the Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) funding that might otherwise be negotiated, including by Tompkins County’s Industrial Development Agency.
In December 2021, the Enfield Board enacted the current moratorium after financial negotiations with developers of Norbut Solar’s Applegate Road solar farm proposal failed to provide compensation beyond the PILOT’s amount.
But the Solar Law may change further. Councilperson Robert Lynch Tuesday introduced—but then withdrew—an amendment that would have tightened controls on how solar farm operators maintain the legally-required “residual acreage,” that part of the property it must keep free from solar panels. Lynch wanted rules that prevent the operator from “wasting” the land; letting it grow to weeds, rather than keeping it farmed or mowed.
After lengthy debate, Board members promised to pursue Lynch’s concerns in future months and perhaps toughen the rules in time.
There’s expanded coverage of the story now posted on this website.
Deal, But (Sadly) No Deal
So near, but so far; our “almost” generator
(Dec. 28): It sounded too good to be true. And it was.
Meeting during the closing moments of a “live” online equipment auction December 14, our Enfield Town Board authorized up to $30,000 for purchase of a (very slightly) used standby generator for our Highway Department. As the meeting closed, we thought we’d bought it. Sadly, we did not.
During the closing minutes of our Town Board’s end-of-year meeting December 27, Highway Superintendent Buddy Rollins shared the bad news. Another party had bid higher before the closing gavel. And once a commission payment was added in, the total climbed slightly above what we’d authorized Rollins’ deputy to bid. Too bad. We need that generator. And the price was a bargain.
“Please look for another one,” I advised Rollins. I know he will. Better luck next time.
On the brighter side, the Superintendent reported he’d successfully bid—and our Board Tuesday promptly authorized—purchase of a 2015 dump truck and salt spreader formerly used by Tompkins County’s Highway Department. It replaces the truck in our fleet with a blown engine. No question; our bid’s good this time. / RL
New Court Clerk Named
(Dec. 28): The resignation of Enfield Town Justice Betty Poole and her court clerk, her daughter Tiffany Poole, would have left Town Court completely unstaffed at year’s end. Tuesday night, the Town Board filled at least 50% of the combined vacancy.
By unanimous vote, the Town Board tapped recently-arrived Enfield resident Heather Knutsen to be court clerk. Knutsen, who admits she holds a rather unconventional resume for the job, was for the past 31 years a veterinarian’s assistant in Oneonta. Marriage brought her to this community.
But Knutsen holds an important professional asset. She told the Board her father has been Town Justice for the Town of Schoharie. And the new appointee said she might choose to run for Enfield Town Justice in the coming year’s election cycle to permanently fill the judicial vacancy.
The State Court System will appoint Judge Poole’s immediate replacement, but reportedly has yet to do so. Knutsen said she recognizes her appointment is discretionary. A newly-appointed justice might want a different clerk.
Progressive & New to You
(Dec. 18): Admittedly, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea; eclectic, uninhibited, and decidedly left-of-center. But culminating a decade-long effort, Ithaca Community Radio, licensee of Radio Station WRFI, signed-on December 13th with a full-power station that expands its reach to cover most of Tompkins County, including Enfield.
Up until now, the volunteer-staffed, progressive licensee has broadcast locally with only a highly-directionalized, low-power signal at 88.1 MHz. one that covered Ithaca, but was barely audible west of Sheffield Road. Now, by rebuilding its tiny, co-owned Odessa affiliate (formerly WINO), WRFI, at 89.7-FM, blankets West Hill communities it could not before reach.
Yes, for some, this is all inside baseball by a diehard former broadcaster. But here’s something to remember: For all its sometimes strangeness and arguable political bias, WRFI does cover local news, performing a duty that many other stations have forgotten. Refreshing. / RL
Firefighter Tax Break Law Signed
When I spoke to the T.C. Legislature, April 5.
(Dec. 17): There was no Albany fanfare. Not even a press release on the gubernatorial website. But State Senate and Assembly records now confirm Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed a measure we in Enfield fought hard for. It’s the granting of up to a ten per cent reduction in residential property assessments for eligible volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel.
The Assembly website reports Hochul signed the bill into law December 9th. Our Town Board first learned of the signing December 14th, when I reported my just-found information to our monthly Board meeting. Board members expressed their delight.
Before the new legislation was enacted, individual counties had to seek State Home Rule legislation one-by-one to permit the reduction. But the new law now extends the opportunity statewide. Municipalities must still pass a local law to avail themselves of the exemption. The Enfield Board has already expressed interest in doing so.
Enfield’s efforts to obtain the firefighter tax break began last March when neighboring Seneca County initiated—and then quickly adopted—its own request for the exemption. I spoke before the Seneca County Board of Supervisors in April, and also to the Tompkins County Legislature. Our Enfield Board adopted several resolutions to encourage action. Now our efforts have borne fruit.
Special thanks to State Senators Tom O’Mara and Pam Helming, key supporters of the exemption law. It will help our volunteer fire company retain good people. / RL
Currie likely D-3 Shoo-in
“And I love the county.” lone D-3 candidate Currie.
(Dec. 17): There’ll likely be no drama in the Ithaca City race to choose a successor to the late Henry Granison on the Tompkins County Legislature.
With filing deadlines having passed, Democrat Susan Currie has become the only candidate put forth for the Special District 3 Legislative Election January 24th. Only her name is on the ballot, and anyone else would need to run as a write-in, unlikely.
If Currie’s name rings a bell, it’s because she served as the Director for the Tompkins County Public Library from 2009 to 2017. Introducing herself to the County Legislature December 6th, Currie said, “I’m ready to listen, ready to work hard, and I’m really learning a lot from all the discussion here.”
Currie told those attending that night that she’s lived in Tompkins County for more than four decades, and in the City-based district she’d represent for more than 30 years. “I love the county,” she exclaimed that night.
Granison resigned the District 3 seat in late October, citing an illness that claimed his life a few days after his departure.
DOT: Hayts Rd. Stays at 55
(Dec 12.): For the moment, the Town of Enfield and Hayts Road residents have lost their fight to cut a speed limit that they say once claimed a life.
The August 2018 death of 82-year old Carmen Jacks, who died when struck by a car while crossing Hayts Road east of Van Dorn, prompted the Town and neighbors to fight for safety improvements, including a lower speed limit.
But in a December 6th letter to the Town, with logic that may sound clueless, Scott Bates, Regional Traffic Engineer for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) rejected Enfield’s request for a lower limit on Hayts between Sheffield and Sage Roads.
“NYSDOT professionals determined that lowering the speed limit would not be appropriate at this time,” Bates wrote the Town. “Setting the speed limit at the prevailing free-flow speed (55 MPH) decreases conflicts, minimizes crashes, and makes it easier for vehicles and pedestrians to judge the speed of approaching vehicles.” Never mentioned, the limited sight distance that likely caused Carmen’s death.
“No, I am not happy with this finding,” Enfield Councilperson Robert Lynch (this writer) wrote the Town Board Monday after reading Bates’ letter. “A woman got killed on Hayts near Van Dorn, and NYSDOT doesn’t care.” Lynch encouraged the Board to consider other measures to calm Hayts Road traffic.
EVFC Recognizes Achievement
(Dec. 11): At its Annual Banquet and Recognition Dinner Saturday, the Enfield Volunteer Fire Company (EVFC) paid tribute to members, present and retired, who’ve contributed to the EVFC’s volunteer firefighting efforts.
Most notably, EVFC founding member Howard Stamp, 98 years old, was honored for his 75 years of Company membership. The room gave Mr. Stamp a standing ovation. The EVFC also gave Larry Saulsgiver an award for his 50 years of service. Corey and Rodney Ike ranked one and two for answering the largest number of calls this past year.
Jim Whittaker received the George A. Palmer Achievement Award, given only in years when a member’s service and dedication rises to a level deeming it worthy of nomination.
EVFC President Dennis Hubbell struck a forward-looking tone in his brief remarks to attendees.
“If you’re looking in the rear view mirror all the time you’re going to crash,” Hubbell said. “We need to start looking out the windshield.” Hubbell emphasized the need for cooperation at all levels to meet emergency needs and urged everyone to “work as a group to help each other.”
Cutting Speeds in a Flash
Quick, Vote! Mayor Lewis (l) and Alderpersons cutting speed limits.
(Dec. 11): Yes, Ithaca’s City speed limits will fall to 25. And no, from attending Common Council last Wednesday, you never would have known it.
Buried within a “Consent Agenda” whose items were never read openly and passed by only a quick show of hands, City Alderpersons voted 9-0 (Cynthia Brock was excused) to cut the city’s long-standing 30 MHP limit to little faster than a school zone. It was a long meeting, and Council treated the zone-thing as a throw away.
City officials estimate replacing some 135 old speed signs (and having a contractor do it) will cost Ithaca $30,000. By that same, quick vote, Council approved the money.
City traffic-calmers like the change. Probably rural commuters will hate it. And NYDOT gets caught in the middle. The City’s Director of Transportation and Parking says large portions of Routes 13, 79, 96 and 89 are State-owned and can’t have speeds lowered without State DOT consent.
And more under-the-radar news: With Council mired in matters like a botched Police Chief hiring and testy labor talks, this one got swept under Wednesday’s rug too. Council authorized the first step toward a new $20-$30 Million Public Safety Facility. It approved up to $4 Million in bonds for site purchase, location not stated.
City’s Probe Clears Myrick—Kinda’
(Dec. 9): A City-commissioned, taxpayer-funded investigation by a Syracuse law firm has cleared former Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick of any legal or ethical wrongdoing in the Reimagining Public Safety initiative. Yet the 57-page Investigation Report also faults the mayor and others for their lack of transparency.
Attorney Kristen Smith, of Bond, Schoeneck and King, focused much of her attention on the cozy, politically-aligned relationship Myrick had with the advocacy group People for the American Way (PFAW), for which he served part-time and then became its Executive Director last February.
Both parties supported Reimagining. But as attorney Smith wrote, “[T]he investigation concludes that since PFAW’s efforts were focused only on promoting Myrick’s vision of what was in the public interest, there was no actual conflict within the meaning of the Code of Ethics.”
Nonetheless, the investigation also found Myrick should have been more transparent. “One cannot deny that Myrick’s decision not to disclose PFAW’s involvement was in poor Judgment,” Smith wrote. “Myrick violated the spirit of the [City’s Code of Ethics] and the public trust by not openly sharing information related to PFAW’s campaign.”
Svante Myrick, meanwhile, is firing back. WHCU reported Friday that the former mayor is accusing Rich John, Chair of a separate, Tompkins County ethics probe into Myrick’s conduct, of his own conflicts of interest.
T.C. Promotes Enfield’s Braman
Interim Finance Director Drew Braman
(Dec. 8): Congratulations to Enfield’s Andrew (Drew) Braman, unanimously appointed Tompkins County’s Interim Finance Director by members of the County Legislature Tuesday.
Braman, of Bostwick Road, takes over as the county’s top financial person following the retirement of Rick Snyder in late-November. Braman will serve until Tompkins County completes its search for Snyder’s permanent successor.
Braman briefly thanked the Legislature for his interim promotion, though quickly credited the man whose shoes he fills. “We miss Rick already,” Braman said in its customarily deferential style. “I hope to do my best in the interim, and I appreciate your support in taking this role on.”
In a second appointment Tuesday, the Legislature promoted Chief Deputy Clerk Katrina McCloy to Clerk of the Legislature, effective in January. McCloy takes over from the retiring Clerk, Cathy Covert.
Let Us Never Forget
Their fight for freedom is not yet over.
Senior Break—Approved
(Nov. 19): The law required a Public Hearing. But no one spoke to object November 9th as the Enfield Town Board invited comment, and then approved raising the income eligibility limit for a Senior Citizens’ discount on Town property taxes.
For many years, Enfield had set the income ceiling at $24,000 for older homeowners and the disabled to receive a 50% reduction on the Town tax. Until this year, New York allowed senior incomes of no higher than $29,000 to qualify.
But in August, Governor Hochul signed legislation raising the allowable exemption significantly. Tompkins County hiked its own limit to $35,000 in response. After studying several options, the Enfield Board agreed to set the same level as a kind of Goldilocks compromise.
Under a stair step formula established by the State, Enfield seniors with incomes as high as $43,400 will also now be eligible for exemptions of something less than 50%
Sadly, the limit can’t be enjoyed before the January 2024 tax bills. Eligible seniors will need to apply before next March 1st and may receive a notice from the County Department of Assessment encouraging them to do so.
Putting a Budget to Bed
“Too many Ornaments.” Dawson
(Nov. 19): It’s “sort of a letdown,” Dryden’s Mike Lane told the Tompkins County Legislature this past Tuesday night as it voted final approval of the County’s 2023 Budget of over $200 Million. (See expanded story, posted here.) The spending plan keeps the tax levy stable, tapping bulging fund balances to compensate for a more than six per cent local spending increase. Taxes may go up only because of rising property values.
The “letdown,” Lane explained, is because legislators and staff work so hard each year writing the budget through multiple meetings.
Yet Budget Committee Chair Deborah Dawson could not bring herself Nov. 15 to vote for what all others did. “There were a lot of Christmas Tree ornaments,” financial add-ons, she said, and she faulted lawmakers for substituting their own judgment for that of professional staff. Because those ornaments were added, Dawson argued, the fund balance’s financial cushion was reduced too much.
Norbut PILOT Delayed; Project Faulted
When it still had trees; the Norbut site.
(Nov. 13): As expected, the Tompkins Country Industrial Development Agency (IDA) November 9 delayed by one year the beginning—and the end—of Norbut Solar Farms’ Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) abatement for its Enfield solar farm off Applegate Road. Norbut maintains supply chain delays have kept it from installing panels until next year. If the IDA had not acted, Norbut would have lost money on the project’s back end.
“But they have begun construction,” Enfield Councilperson Robert Lynch (this writer) told the IDA’s Wednesday meeting. “They subcontracted to a construction company, and they stripped the whole land of all the trees. It is a great concern to the people on the Enfield Town Board that they basically left the site all weedy and a moonscape. “
“This body provides financial assistance, and it does not provide site plan approval,” IDA Executive Director Heather McDaniel responded. “It does not have any control over construction, unfortunately.”
Later that day, the Town Board moved forward in rewriting Enfield’s Solar Law, in part, to correct problems the Norbut adventure has laid bare.
Enfield Board Backs Pantry Project
A bigger pantry, we need.
(Nov. 9): By unanimous vote, the Enfield Town Board Wednesday put its weight, if not its money, behind the Enfield Food Pantry’s push to tap more than $1 Million in Tompkins County post-pandemic money to build a new food distribution center somewhere in its town.
The Board endorsed the non-profit Enfield Food Distribution’s recently-submitted request for support under the Tompkins Community Recovery Fund (TCRF), County Government’s vehicle to parcel out its share of the federal American Rescue Plan.
“This Town Board believes that the facilities Enfield Food Distribution proposes would enhance the well-being of Enfield’s residents and reflect the proper use of TCRF moneys fully consistent with and in the spirit of the funding program’s purpose and guidelines,” the Town Board’s Resolution stated.
Enfield Food Distribution seeks $1.66 Million through the program. Its application puts $1.2 Million as the minimum it would need.
“What if less than the minimum is awarded?” Councilperson Jude Lemke asked. Town Clerk Mary Cornell, daughter of Food Pantry Director Jean Owens, said additional grant sources could be tapped.
Cornell brushed off a second question, namely where the new pantry would be sited. That’s “proprietary” at the moment, she said.
Town Councilperson Robert Lynch stressed that the support resolution he introduced seeks only County money, no Town funds.
Enfield: We have a Budget
(Oct. 28): It didn’t come without controversy. But the Enfield Town Board Wednesday night approved a nearly $2.5 Million 2023 Budget covering both Town expenses and those for its Fire Company. All five Board members ratified the spending plan. It calls for a nearly 8.5 per cent increase in the combined tax levy and would provide both the Highway Superintendent and his staff 12 per cent raises.
Wednesday’s Board action followed a nearly two-hour Public Hearing, attended by more than a dozen members of the Enfield Volunteer Fire Company. During that hearing, Fire Company officials and volunteers urged the Town to budget an additional $25,000 to cover so-called “turnout gear” for EVFC members. A budget amendment to provide that money lost four votes to one. But the Board subsequently agreed to allocate the $25,000 for the purchase from funds awarded it under the American Rescue Plan.
The Town Board also rejected, two votes to three, an amendment to trim the Highway Superintendent’s salary from its proposed 12 per cent increase to slightly over nine per cent.
Read more about the Enfield Budget, now posted on this website.
Enfield Run Still Not Affected
(Oct. 28): The Route 20 run to and from Enfield is still not affected as he TCAT transit service announced Friday its weekly service reductions due to shortages of bus mechanics and spare parts.
The October 28 announcement covering the week of Oct. 31 – Nov 4 lists scheduled service reductions on as many as nine routes, but not the Enfield to Ithaca leg.
“Planners each week are analyzing TCAT’s service capabilities in the hopes of being able to restore service or, in the worst case, cut more trips for following week,” a TCAT spokesperson said. “Despite best efforts at planning schedules for the week ahead, riders should be aware that TCAT may still need to make sporadic cuts during the week due to unforeseen circumstances.”
Most affected routes serve Ithaca or the Cornell campus. However, as in past weeks, the cuts affect Route 67 serving Newfield and Route 21 linking Trumansburg and Jacksonville to Ithaca.
Costly Conference Ctr. Grabs $$$
(Oct. 21): Call it a small footnote to this week’s County Legislature meeting. Yet view the principle behind it.
Ithaca’s Downtown Conference Center—which I believe Tompkins County foolishly bought into—is costing more to build than the $31.5 Million projected when community leaders committed to build it just before the pandemic broke.
“The construction cost on this project, as pretty much any construction project these days, has gone well above budget, and that’s the basis for this ask,” Ithaca’s Rich John told his Tompkins County Legislature in requesting it refund $18,551 in Mortgage Recording Tax the Center’s developers mistakenly paid, but now want back to help pay for cost overruns.
The County Legislature consented, but only on a 9-4 vote.
“The Conference Center would be a community-wide public benefit,” John insisted. Some might disagree. I did, and told it to the Legislature just as the pandemic hit.
“This grandiose Conference Center initiative was acknowledged to be a risky experiment (pre-COVID),” I said in March 2020. “Rational minds must now multiply that risk many times in light of today’s reality.” Amen / RL.
Newfield Adopts Budget; Eyes Building Plans
(Oct. 13): By a quick, unanimous vote, following a Public Hearing and with no discussion prior to the raise of hands, the Newfield Town Board Thursday night adopted a $3.7 Million 2023 Budget that carries less than a three per cent increase in the Town tax levy.
The Newfield Budget—which grew far less percentagewise than did the spending plan in neighboring Enfield—will see General Fund expenses rise by 10.5 per cent and Highway Fund expenses climb by just 1.4 per cent. A projected drop in Workers Compensation expenses helped tamp down the Highway ledger.
With the budget put to bed, the Town Board then turned its attention to a couple of construction projects members would like to see built, funded, in part, through the federal American Rescue Plan. Board members eyed architects’ drawings for a Town Hall addition and a park pavilion. The Town Hall add-on would cost $326,000; the pavilion $305,000. With contingencies, the total would fall just short of $700,000.
The Newfield Board asked Bookkeeper Blixy Taetzsch to prepare the application paperwork. “I’ll be creative,” Taetzsch promised.
New Enfield Streamside Rules Possible
(Oct. 5): It could be argued that boring meetings produce the best law. If so, the Enfield Planning Board could have spent nearly two hours wisely Wednesday crafting details of new water protection regulations that could limit some future commercial and residential development close to the town’s major streams.
Using a draft Town of Caroline protection law as its launching point—but Board members frequently faulting Caroline’s as too detailed and intrusive—Enfield planners drew themselves toward proposed regulations that would restrict development within a 100-foot buffer zone of so-called “perennial streams,” generally Enfield Creek and its principal tributaries. Unlike in Caroline, “intermittent streams,” those that don’t flow all the time, wouldn’t be regulated. Residents who want to build within the buffer could still seek a Planning Board waiver.
And unlike Caroline, the Enfield regulations would largely steer clear of farming. The Caroline draft, members claimed, would prohibit agricultural operations within 50 feet of any stream.
“Can you tell somebody you can’t plow over there?” Board member Mike Carpenter asked. Board Chair Dan Walker replied that’s a State decision. “We can’t supersede DEC,” Walker maintained.
Two months ago, the Enfield Town Board handed off to its Planning Board the task of drafting tighter land use regulations. Wednesday’s working session carried the mandate forward. The streamside rules would likely become part of a revised Site Plan Review Law planners have worked on for months.
Enfield’s Water Protection Committee has requested the tighter rules. “Floods are getting bigger,” Carpenter warned. Though he also stated, “I don’t like making laws we’re not going to enforce.”
Aren’t You Glad Cuomo’s Gone!
“The canopy?” Lane knew what happened.
(Sept. 27): County Legislator Mike Lane knew the answer. He’d heard it two months earlier in his own committee. But he couldn’t resist the set-up.
“There was point-four Million Dollars for some kind of additional work on the canopy?” Lane not-so-innocently asked Airport Director Roxan Noble at the Legislature’s Expanded Budget Committee meeting Monday. “What’s that about?”
Noble answered. “The canopy,” part of an Albany-micromanaged 2019 airport renovation, “doesn’t apparently work in northeast airports. We have issues with snow sliding off, which causes a safety concern.” So the canopy needs a fix.
Lane then launched: “The reason we have that canopy is because Governor Cuomo wanted it. It cost over a Million Dollars, Roxane?” Noble confirmed it cost more than a million.
“In my opinion,” Lane responded, “it’s ugly, it ruins the view of our beautiful airport terminal, and I just regret we have to spend more money on it.” Lane continued, “If it’s for safety, of course we should. But I’d like to—would Binghamton like to buy it?” (No offers yet.)
Actually with federal and state aid, the retrofit could cost local taxpayers much less, perhaps as little as $17,500. But with passenger numbers down and the local airport bleeding cash, administrators hedged their numbers.
“Whenever you have politicians that are handing out money, they want things their certain way,” Legislature Chair Shawna Black told Monday’s meeting. “But the canopy was something very specific that Governor Cuomo wanted a certain way. And we had to dish out that money in order for us to have that part of the airport. And it cost us money.”
And it’s costing us still more. / RL
Center of Govt? Not in ’23
The Building only a “placeholder” next year.
(Sept. 27): Tompkins County’s already bought the land. But expect little earth to turn next year toward constructing a more than $30 Million Center of Government on the Buffalo and Tioga Street corner.
Though she expected “design work to occur in the near future,” County Administrator Lisa Holmes told the County Legislature’s Expanded Budget Committee Monday that “construction would be slated potentially for 2024,” not before.
“We are going to need to look carefully at the cost of that facility and our capacity to support it,” Holmes cautioned about the mammoth construction project that’s already given some legislators the jitters. The Administrator said Tompkins County may need to draw down its massive fund balance to build it.
In presenting her proposed 2023 Capital Plan to lawmakers Monday, Holmes merely carried over last year’s project cost estimate, $30.6 Million, as a “placeholder.” The price, no doubt, has risen since then. “When we get into the design phase,” Holmes said, “we will know the costs.”
In addition to putting the Center of Government on an effective one-year hold, Holmes’ $7.38 Million proposed Capital Plan—up 16 per cent from 2022—also provides no money for either a new jail or an emergency rescue building at the airport.
Calling All Dogs
(Sept. 25): For the first time in a dozen years, the Town of Enfield will begin an enumeration of all dogs within its town October 1st. The enumerator will visit every residence to ascertain the number of resident canines, whether licensed or not.
Town Clerk Mary Cornell requested the enumeration on evidence that many in Enfield may not have licensed their dogs. Without a license, authorities have little way of knowing whether the animals have valid anti-rabies vaccinations. The Town Board authorized the enumeration and established the Enumerator’s compensation at its meeting September 14.
Clerk Cornell states that “In the event a dog is found to be unlicensed, the owner will be required to license that dog within 20 days of receipt of notice by the enumerator. Dogs found to be unlicensed during the enumeration period shall be subject to a $10.00 enumeration fee in addition to the regular license fees.”
You can avoid the penalty by bringing the dog’s rabies certificate and proof of spay/neuter to the Town Clerk’s office and purchase the license before the enumerator arrives.
Whoa! New Rt. 79 Speed Limit
(Sept. 19): NY Route 79, Mecklenburg Road, through Miller’s Corners just got safer.
In response to the Town of Enfield’s request, the New York State Department of Transportation has lowered the posted speed limit along a two-mile stretch of the highway from 50 to 45 Miles per Hour.
Town Board members welcomed the NYSDOT’s decision at their September 14th monthly meeting. And by the following weekend, the new lower speed limit signs between Applegate Road and Podunk Road had already been posted. Expect enforcement to follow.
In some instances, workers attach red flags to the signs to warn motorists of the change. Here they did not. So take care to notice… and to remember.
Unfortunately, the State DOT did not grant the Town Supervisor’s second request, namely to install a sidewalk between the Sandy Creek Mobile Home Park and Miller’s Corners businesses. So if the Town wants sidewalks, Enfield will have to build them itself. / RL
Fresh Ideas to Save an Airport
Nice Digs! Now we need planes, people, and ideas; Our Terminal.
(Sept. 19): First, American Airlines, short of pilots, pulled out. Then last week, New York State gave the Binghamton Airport $32 Million for its terminal, but gave Tompkins County nothing. Times are hard at the Ithaca Tompkins International Airport right now.
The Airport’s new Director, Roxan Noble, last week presented a legislative committee her eight-page guide toward the facility’s recovery. But she admitted she needs help. Noble requested the County retain an outside consultant to craft a “professional organized complete strategic plan” to guide the Airport over the next five years.
“I think maybe we need to be thinking about something different,” Noble told the Facilities and Infrastructure Committee. She suggested that fresh ideas from beyond her own runway might help “ITH” turn things around.
Committee members voiced support for the idea, and Noble with the County Administrator will write an “over-target” request for funding. “Not a million dollars,” committee Chair Mike Lane assured committee members as to the cost.
Legislator Amanda Champion raised the only warning words. “Sometimes strategic plans can be very touchy-feely,” Champion cautioned. “I hope what they (the consultants) come up with is very concrete.”
Newfield Seeks Tourism Grant
(Sept. 8): “When you talk about tourism, that’s what we have,” Councilperson Christine Laughlin said, more in truth than in jest.
With its crown jewel in mind, the Newfield Town Board voted unanimously Thursday night to apply for a tourism grant that would fund parking and various site improvements around the Newfield Covered Bridge. The application’s due within days, on September 12. Town officials could not predict how soon the grant might be awarded or how likely it is the Town will receive it.
What made some Board members swallow hard, though, is the application’s stipulation that a full two-thirds of the expenses must be paid by the Town. Bookkeeper Blixy Taetzsch’s estimated that, on the high-side, the project could cost $50,000. That would mean as much as a $33,000 local match. Board members suggested in-kind contributions might help defray the local share. Perhaps the Town Highway Department could perform site work. Members couldn’t be sure.
Meanwhile, though it’s not legally due until month’s end, Bookkeeper Taetzsch Thursday presented the Newfield Board the 2023 Tentative Budget she’d drafted. The Board will begin what Supervisor Michael Allinger termed a “deep dive” into that budget September 15. The Board set October 13 as the date for the budget’s Public Hearing; again, on a date well ahead of the mandated deadline.
A Few First, Cautious Steps
(Sept. 7): “We’re not creating a zoning ordinance. We’re just looking at land uses,” Enfield Planning Board Chair Dan Walker stated firmly Wednesday night as the Planning Board concluded the first of what’ll likely be numerous monthly discussions into potential tightened controls on certain specified land uses in the town.
Though the “Dreaded Z-Word” had been bandied about numerous times at Town Board and Planning Board sessions this summer, “zoning” was only mentioned casually in passing by planners Wednesday. Instead, the Board focused on Enfield’s existing Site Plan Review Law, and how its regulations might be updated to bring them more into line with Town Supervisor Stephanie Redmond’s stated concerns about potential new arrivals to the Town like noisy factories or even a smelly landfill.
A full story on this meeting is now posted. See the Latest News tab.
Zoning… or Maybe Not
(Sept. 7): It’s a debate that has no right or wrong answers; no heroes or villains; just invitations for input.
Our Town of Enfield—principally at Supervisor Stephanie Redmond’s initiative—has launched a multi-meeting discussion this summer and fall into potential new land use controls. Are we threatened by a large landfill? What about “noxious industries” or large, multi-family housing?
Our discussions will evolve. Please read my perspective and analysis of our recent examinations of this issue, “A Head Inside the Tent,” posted on the Home Page. / RL
“A Good News Story”
(Aug. 20): As I updated the Tompkins County Legislature August 16th on our Enfield Town Board’s latest actions, Lansing legislator Mike Sigler asked me about the status of our newly-build salt barn back of the Highway Garage.
I told legislators the building was about complete, that we’d approved two of the final bigger-ticket items (flooring and electrical work) August 10th, and that the project’s only slightly over budget, its total about $765,000.
The Salt Barn project, I said, “is a Good News Story; we are moving forward.” I also applauded our Town Board for its “total unanimous agreement” in proceeding with it and the Enfield community for not raising even one complaint. I’m glad WHCU reported this story / RL
https://whcuradio.com/news/025520-new-barn-to-store-salt-sand-in-enfield/
“Green” Upgrades for the “White Elephant”
Those who attended summer Enfield Town Board meetings pre-pandemic remember how loud those two portable air conditioners could be. Should we meet in-person this summer, it may be the last time we’ll have to put up with them.
With a State agency’s grant money funding the cost, the Enfield Town Board May 11th awarded contracts for replacement of the Town Courthouse’s upstairs forced-air heating system and those portable air conditioners with energy-saving heat pumps.
While the project drew concern at the Board’s April meeting—this Councilperson questioning the wisdom of putting more money into an old building with an uncertain future—the final votes in May proved unanimous.
An otherwise simple project proved complicated when the heat pumps’ installer recommended better ceiling insulation, and blowing in new insulation will require removal of the old with asbestos-remediation protocols. The re-insulation will actually cost more than the heat pumps. Total project cost: nearly $46,000. / Bob
No More Wood
At our Enfield Town Board meeting March 9th, Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins announced his decision to no longer accept wood debris or brush at the Town Highway Facility. Rollins has since closed the entrance to what had been the wood drop-off.
“It’s getting a little out of hand,” Rollins explained to the Board. People were mixing in weeds and leaves with mulch-ready wood. But more seriously, they were dumping off lumber with nails that could damage the Town’s equipment.
With the Enfield drop-off closed, Tompkins County’s Solid Waste Facility on Elmira Road provides an alternate depository, though the facility charges a fee.
Please be advised that Rollins’ decision is legally his to make, not the Town Board’s. Yet you remain welcome to express your concerns to us at our next monthly meeting.
Our Enfield Civility
From the Enfield Civility Resolution, adopted by the Town Board, Sept. 13, 2017:
RESOLVED to exhibit and encourage the kinds of personal qualities that are typical in a civil society—gratitude, humility, openness, passion for service to others, propriety, kindness, caring, sense of duty, and a commitment to doing what is right in the Enfield community. All Enfield board members, committee members and staff shall strive to:
Treat everyone courteously
Listen to others respectfully
Give open minded consideration to all viewpoints
Focus on the issues and avoid personalizing debate
Embrace respectful disagreement and dissent as democratic rights that are inherent components of an inclusive public process and tools for forging sound decisions and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Enfield board members, committees and staff shall strive to promote the use of and adherence to these guidelines in all Enfield community activities.
TCCOG Reports
Since January 2020, I’m proud to have been the Enfield Town Board’s representative on the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG). At our regular Town Board meetings, I report on TCCOG discussions of intermunicipal interest that TCCOG has addressed in its meetings.
Now added to this website, filed under the the “TCCOG” tab, are the written versions of my monthly reports, presuming TCCOG has met since our Town Board’s last session. Please browse these reports and provide me whatever input you’d like.
New Visitor to this Site?
If so, check out the news affecting Enfield, Newfield and all of Tompkins County, reporting posted on the Latest News tab. Go to the upper drop-down menu.
Get set. Coming back in ’23!
Bob Lynch, Enfield Councilperson Designed by Bob Lynch