HORNELL, NY – Michele Smith, City Chamberlain, was given the honor of being Employee of the Month for March awarded by Mayor John Buckley Wednesday morning.
Buckley said of Smith, “I have leaned on you a lot as far as the budget, going through it line after line. You have been a tremendous help to me since I took office and I really appreciate it!”
Smith has been in the elected position 6 years, and some of her many duties include recording for the city, taxes, water and garbage bills and payroll. The city is currently in the process of extending her term to four years instead of the current two.
Every month the Mayor “spotlights” an employee for hard work, dedication and commitment to their job and city.
HORNELL, NY – The Hornell Common Council held a Public Hearing on the city’s 2018-19 budget Monday night, and immediately after held a regular session to pass resolutions approving the General and Water Fund Budgets, apportion of taxes collected amounting to $3,275,405.41, and also a resolution giving the ability to override the 2% tax cap. Hornell’s appropriations are up $628,938 over last year for a total of $13,647,091 and revenues are up $437,669 for a total of $9,980,317. The budget is expected to pass in the next monthly Common Council meeting.
Hornell Mayor John Buckley announced that the tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year will be just shy of 2% coming in at 1.99%. Last year’s increase was 1.58%. “That was basically our goal from the start,” said the Mayor, “I wanted to stay under the 2% mark and we did it. Basically we went through every line item and cut where we could and increase numbers where necessary. We had to do some rebalancing, trimming and belt tightening. Last year’s tax rate was $11.75 per thousand dollars of assessed value and this year it’s $11.93.”
Buckley continued, “Breaking it down in real world numbers, if a person’s house or property is accessed at $50,000, they will pay an extra $11.85 in taxes, or the cost of a small pizza.”
On the passing of a resolution to override the 2% tax cap, Buckley stated that it’s usually just a precautionary measure in case something at the last minute arises such as a clerical error or inaccurate number recorded somewhere. You can obtain a copy of the entire 13 page itemized budget at City Hall during business hours.
HORNELL, NY – The Hornell Common Council approved two major resolutions Monday night affecting the city’s Chamberlain term and the residency requirement policy.
The Mayor’s and the Chamberlains election will now be staggered so that no matter how the vote goes, neither will be elected to a new position in the same year. Both will be serving 4 year terms. According to Buckley, this will make any new elected officials transition into city hall a lot smoother. The Chamberlains position was previously a two year term. This is still not set in stone as it will have to go on a ballot for voters’ approval in the next general election, it will be a referendum on the ballot.
Also a few amendments were made to the city’s residency requirement policy. Any new employee hired by the city will still have to be a city resident within 6 months of hiring with a few exceptions. Part time or seasonal employees will not have to meet this requirement, lack of applicants for a position also qualifies, and a required specific skill for a position would also get an exemption. If it is deemed that a new employee’s residency is not in the best interest of the city, a wavier will also be granted.
City employees that do not meet the requirements will now go in front of the Law & Ordinance Committee instead of the Public Safety Board, and an initial decision and possible wavier will be made by the full Common Council.
In other news there were some major budgets adjustments to reflect unforeseen expenditures and unexpected grants, and permission was given to the Mayor, City Chamberlain and City Clerk to draw checks to pay bills.
And finally Larry Fitts resignation as Assessor was accepted effective March 30th, 2018 with Cindy Burdell filling in the rest of that term and possibly another.
HORNELL, NY – Hornell had a special guest Saturday afternoon in professional wrestler Lanny Poffo . AKA “The Genius,” Poffo, 63, has been involved in wresting since 1973. His older brother was wrestling legend Randy “Macho Man” Savage. Poffo made two stops while in Hornell, Brandies Cup Of Joe, and the Classy Café on Main Street. Poffo has wrestled for the NWA, WWF, WCW, WWE and also independently during his illustrious 40 year career.
HORNELL, NY – The IDA is looking to purchase the debt and mortgage from Steuben Trust Company for the Trikeenan Tile plant near Shawmut Park for $400,000. That would give it complete control of the building and they can work out deals with the current or new tenants in the future. They would then have the power to lease or sell the building however they see fit. IDA Director Jim Griffin said he would be willing to set up a deal with the current tenants if they are willing to stay. Trikeenan Tileworks has already been through two bankruptcies. The plant currently employs about 20 people and it’s the IDA’s hope is to save those jobs.
The IDA is still looking to sell small parcels of land it owns that are scattered throughout the city. In particular, there ia a small parcels left over that the Riedman Corporation did not want when developing the Fairlawn Apartments. Neighbor Dave Justo has agreed to purchase the roughly 1/2 acre to use as a buffer for his apartments. The land is on a grade and wooded and is unfit for development and he assured the IDA he has no plans to develop it. Another parcel is at the end of Washington Street near the ball field and the Housing Authority is interested in that.
The IDA finally got everything signed between Alstom and Norfolk & Southern on a leased parcel of land in the South Yards near the old Sunset restaurant. Consent for a sub-lease was needed to transfer all the conditions on the current lease from the IDA to Alstom. This removes responsibility and obligations on the property from the IDA and transfers them to Alstom. The IDA initially had to get consent from Norfolk & Southern to lease the property.
And finally the apartments on Prindle Ave that went back on the tax rolls January 1st may be going back to the original owner. IDA Director Jim Griffin has met with the former owner and he has expressed he would like to pay up his back taxes and debt and retake possession. The former owner says he still has hopes to renovate the 2nd of the two adjacent buildings.
HARTSVILLE, NY – The Hartsville Town Board met Wednesday evening and a number of items were on the agenda.
The town decided it will stop selling prepaid landfill tickets as it had only sold 10 the past year. Any tickets that are left over the town has to eat the cost so the decision was made to let people just use their credit cards at the landfill station. The town only makes 75 cents per ticket when sold at the Town Hall.
A dog census survey will soon take place which will be coordinated by the Dog Control Officer and the Town Clerk. Letters will be mailed to each resident starting Thursday, March 15th to try to get a number on the dog population. The town currently has 125 dog licenses. Also Gary Hadsell announced there will be a Dog Rabies Clinic April 24th, 2018 from 6pm to 7:30pm in the town’s Highway Shop.
Cold War exemptions on property taxes are now available for veterans with the forms at the Town Hall. Any questions you can contact the Accessor Laura Snow on Wednesday’s between 1pm and 4pm or call her cell at 585-734-7129.
The town will soon be conducting a survey to see how many residents are interested in broadband services, and anyone that is should fill out the survey and return it. There seems to be an issue between Charter 1 (Spectrum) broadband and the town about the current franchise agreement and Charter not wanting to pay their taxes in full to the town. The Town would like to turn their broadband services over to a new company called Armstrong, but according to the franchise agreement Armstrong will not be able to run fiber lines anywhere Charter 1 lines currently sit.
The board tabled a motion to appoint Kevin McCaan, Matthew Lawrence and George Porter to the Board of Assessment Review (BAR). Before making this decision they would like to know if a previous member has officially resigned. The positions are appointed for 5 year terms and they deal with anyone who has questions or grievances on their property assessments.
The board also tabled adopting a Procurement Policy after hearing from Deputy Town Clerk Carole Bowles that some of the guidelines have changed and it would be best for the board to review them before adopting one. Board members all agreed that they want to make sure any policy meets state guidelines first.
The board was also scheduled to hear from Marguerite Wells from Invenergy about the Canisteo Wind Project but as of going into executive session she had not shown up.
HORNELL, NY – Hornell Mayor John Buckley has selected Bernie McAneny for the Grand Marshal in Saturday’s upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade. A long time city employee and Hibernian, McAneny and family were in city hall for the announcement from the Mayor, and thanked everyone for the honor. Buckley noted that McAneny has never done this in the past it was a no brainer to pick him.
HORNELL, NY – Hornell High School students emptied their classrooms at 10 a.m. today and either went outside the building or in the Auditorium to honor the lives of those killed at Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th, 2018.
The event last 17 minutes, one minute for every life lost during the shooting. Although Superintendent Jeremy Palotti did not want any media on school grounds for the event, WLEA was able to capture a photo from across the road.
The nationwide protest is both a memorial and protest action. Students and teachers across the United States walked out of their schools and universities to honor the lives of the 17 people killed at Stoneman Douglas High School and press lawmakers to pass stricter gun control laws, according to EMPOWER, the group organizing the action.
ARKPORT, NY – The Hornellsville Town Board took the first steps in applying for a $50,000 grant Tuesday night by passing 4 resolutions. There are 10 communities vying for 5 grants and in order to qualify 4 out of 10 criteria must be met for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). If the town meets all of its obligations and for some reason does not get the grant, it is still guaranteed $5,000.
The first is for the town to adopt a NYS solar energy permit process. This involves reducing the cost of solar projects by streamlining the process via installation of new procedures. This will allow the codes enforcement officer to issue building permits for small scale photovoltaic systems. The fees for such systems will be set by the Town Board.
A photovoltaic system is a power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels and a solar inverter that changes electric current from DC to AC, as well as mounting, cabling, and other electrical accessories.
The second criteria to be met will be benchmarking. This involves taking bills from any building over 1000 sq ft and submitting them to a NYSERDA panel and then they will decide where money can be saved.
The third involves sending the code enforcement officer to NYSERDA training and the fourth will involve installing an electric 2 port car charging bay. According to Town Supervisor Dan Broughton, the location of the bay has yet to be determined and grants and rebates will be available to help with the cost of the new bays.
In other news the board has increased the building permit fees to $10 per year with a penalty increase to $50 and the Town Hall is now issuing hunting, fishing and trapping licenses.
CANISTEO, NY – After many letters pro and con, and months of public debate, the Canisteo Town Board decided against adding additional police officers that would essentially make the Canisteo PD full time. Town Supervisor Steve Weed said that the proposal left many questions due to a lack of preparation and also what was presented was not as punctual as the board would have liked.
“The issue can be revisited in the future,” said Weed, “We can make a motion to revisit it at any point. There are a number of people that would like to have it and still there are some that think taxes are already too high, especially with our skyrocketing fire contract with the village.”
The plan called for an additional full time and part time officer. Police Chief Kyle Amidon was in attendance and accepted the board decision regretfully but was still determined to press on with the issue and come up with an acceptable presentation that would be win/win for both sides.
After talking with Amidon after the meeting, he said a lot of the confusion lies in who was supposed to contact who regarding the proposal. He was under the impression that the board would contact him about attending a future meeting and have some concrete numbers plus supporting letters from the community to present. The board just figured he would show up on his own, hence the 3 month lapse with no communication. Amidon did present a packet with financial numbers to Weed and other board members before the decision was made but according to the Supervisor they did not quite understand it.
In other new, the town passed a resolution to replace the lighting at the highway department building with LED lighting at a cost of $3,500. According to Highway Supervisor Carl Howland, the town should recoup that money within 7 years with the expected savings.
Tom Richardson was appointed to the Board of Assessment Review (BAR). The choice was between Richardson and Sandra Pierce.
There will be a drug and alcohol meeting on March 27th at the Civil Defense building in Bath. Those planning on attending should notify the Town Clerk so the $60 cost can be paid.
And finally a meeting will be held concerning the Canisteo Wind Project on March 13th at 4pm at the Troupsburg Fire Dept. Hall.
HORNELL, NY – Mayor John Buckley had much praise for Police Chief Ted Murray, the Hornell PD, and the many agencies involved in the March 1st drug sweep in the city of Hornell.
Buckley stated, “Out of the 15 targets, we were successful in capturing 14 and bringing them in. It was a great coordinated effort between the Hornell PD, Sheriffs Dept., State Police, District Attorney’s office, and other local police agencies. Even our Codes Dept. and Child Protective Services had a hand in it and deserve credit. When you go out after the suspects that early in the morning you really don’t know what to expect, and we are thankful all our men came back without any injuries. I think we sent a powerful message to any drug dealers that plan to come here and set up shop, that we are being very proactive and we will catch and prosecute you.”
Buckley also had high praise for the police, fire, NYSEG, and DPW workers for their response to the recent major snowstorm that hit the city. “At first we had rain that eventually turned to ice on the trees and power lines and then combined with the heavy snowfall we had quite a mess,” said Buckley, “All our crews performed admirably well considering the severity of the storm and such a short notice to respond.”
HORNELL, NY – Hornell Mayor John announced to the Law and Ordinance Committee Wednesday afternoon that he would like to see the City’s Chamberlain position go from the current two year term to a four year term.
According to Buckley, the only two full time elected positions in City Hall are the Mayor’s and Chamberlain’s positions, and having them both come in new to the job at the same time is not an ideal situation. Buckley explained, “Having the two positions staggered is more of an ideal situation, eliminating the possibility of having a new Mayor and Chamberlain in the same election. That way we can always retain the essential knowledge from at least one of us.”
According to City Attorney Joe Pelych, if it passes through the Common Council, it then must go in front of the Board of Elections and finally subject to a mandatory referendum and go on the next ballot for voters’ approval.
The Committee passed the resolution and it will now go in front of the full Common Council next month.
