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Steuben County Lawmakers Meet In Person

June 22, 2020

From Steuben County:

For the first time in months, Steuben County legislators met in-person as well as by
teleconference in regular session Monday to discuss the matters before them. Meeting in the county Annex second-floor conference room, county lawmakers sat at separate desks in line with the 6-foot distance required by NY on Pause guidelines.

Action by the Steuben board included accepting federal funding for public transportation, urging state
leaders to update the state’s Electronics Equipment and Reuse Act and authorizing mutual aid between
county public health departments in the Finger Lakes.

The federal grants totaled $813,000 for transportation needs in Steuben County. Funding from the
CARES Act, amounting to $247,000, will be directed to the Institute of Human Services for mobility
management while some $564,000 will be sent to First Transit and Steuben Area Rides for public busing
operations.

Both agencies have provided important and essential services to county residents in need of transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic, county officials said. Steuben lawmakers also supported a bill before the state Legislature expected to shift the cost of recycling electronic equipment back to the manufacturers as originally intended. The bill would save county residents the cost of the $15 recycling fee they are now charged to dispose of televisions and monitors at the county landfill and transfer stations.

The fees partially cover the $75,000 annually now paid by the county to recycle electronics. However, the act originally called for manufacturers to pay the full cost of recycling TVs and monitors, according to the county Public Works Department.

County legislators also agreed to a shared services agreement between the county Public Health
departments in Chemung, Monroe, Livingston, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne and Yates
counties in the event of a public health emergency requiring region-wide planning and response.
Faced with a nursing home crisis and monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across a 1,404
square mile area, Steuben’s Public Health staff, including its director, Darlene Smith, and public health education coordinator, Lorelei Wagner, have been widely recognized for their untiring efforts to contain the virus and inform the public.

The county Legislature also re-designated the Steuben County Conference and Visitors Bureau (SCCVB)
as its official tourism agency. The SCCVB recently launched its #TogetherAgain campaign to encourage
safe summer activities in Steuben.


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