Ulysses Democrats

Monday, August 24, 2009

Special Village Board Meeting - EMS Budget 8/24/09

The privatizers are back.

The Village Board met tonight to discuss the "crisis" with the EMS budget. Chris Thomas explained that because of decreasing volunteerism, the EMS budget would have to see an increase of 25% next year. The likely figure for next year will be $425,000. I'm guessing there are about 8000 people served by the ambulance. (Ulysses, Trumansburg, and parts of Hector and Covert) $425,000 / 8000 = $53/person/year. Please, let me pay it. Don't start billing. Don't get into bed with the damn private for profit insurance companies. I've been telling them for a year, and they still don't get it. If we cost shift part of our $53 tax burden, onto the insurance companies, they will shift it back onto us in the form of higher premiums. The cost to the average family of four for health insurance is currently $13000. It is estimated to double in the next 7 to 8 years. $26,000 is nearly half of the average income of a Ulysses worker. That's a real crisis. 18,ooo people a year die, in the US, because they didn't have health insurance. That's a real crisis. Some of those 18,000 died because they didn't call an ambulance because they couldn't afford it. That's a shame.

There is no crisis in paying for our wonderful single payer ambulance. It's the best value I get for my tax dollar. $53 and we get quick response from trained emt's and nobody gets a bill. My neighbor that doesn't have health insurance doesn't need to fear a big bill when her kid has an asthma attack. If we go to billing, the insurance companies will raise premiums to cover the cost - plus profit! Then not only will the uninsured not call when they need an ambulance, but those of us that do have insurance will become part of the system that allows the insurance industry to make obscene profits.

The Village held a public forum last year to get feedback from the community on wether or not to go to billing. The overwhelming majority said NO! What part of "no" don't they understand?

We have to tell them again and again.

here's a link to the audio

Ulysses Democratic Committee Meeting 8/20/09

The Ulysses Democratic Committee met on Thursday 8/20. As I have reported here before, the committee unanimously opposes my recording these events. I understand some of the reasons, such as it allows a more frank and open discussion, and if anything untoward is said about someone in the community, it need not become public. But, I can't think of anything that was said on Thursday, that would hurt anyone's feelings if it were made available. And I don't understand why we shouldn't take our cue from the Democratic National Committee, who's meetings are often covered on Cspan.

The committee heard from Kevin Romer and Roxanne Marino who are both interested in a spot on the Town Board. That makes three Democratic candidates (including incumbent Lucia Tyler) vying for 2 Town Board spots, at the Democratic Caucus, on August 31st at 7pm at the Fire Hall. (please come)

The presentations by the candidates at the last two UDC meetings, if they were made available to the public, would be the only time before the caucus, that the public would hear from the folks that might make important decisions for the town for the next 4 years. Since this is not allowed, the public won't know that real differences exist, and are therefore less likely to attend the caucus, and without them, democracy suffers.

Allen Carstensen (that's me) and Chris Thomas, will both ask for the Democratic nomination for Ulysses Town Supervisor, at the Caucus. Lucia Tyler and I had already addressed the committee and explained why we wanted to serve, so we didn't speak on Thursday. Roxanne Marino spoke for a few minutes and it's a shame I wasn't allowed to record it. Her knowledge of all the issues in front of the Town Board is voluminous, and she talks so fast, I'd have to listen to it 3 times for it to sink in. Her energy and knowledge would be a real asset on the Board.

Chris Thomas spoke, and took questions. He was asked if billing for ambulance services was still an issue. He said yes, that it was. He pointed out that the budget for the EMS for next year would have to be increased by 25% because of falling volunteerism, and the resultant increase in paid staff hours. I remain completely opposed to billing. There will be a meeting about the EMS budget at the Village Hall at 7pm tomorrow, Monday 8/24 (I think that's what he said - it's not on the online calendar, and I'm not allowed to record these meetings) I'll be there, and I'll be writing more about this soon.

Chris was asked if he was in favor of efforts to bring broadband internet service to more of rural Ulysses. He said that he didn't feel that highspeed internet was really necessary for most people. I disagree. I believe that access to information is critical if we are to have a well informed electorate. If everyone streamed Youtube clips of Jon Stewart every night.....

Chris was asked what he felt should be done regarding water infrastructure. He said that he favors laying pipe into the rural areas of Ulysses in a manner similar to WD5. He said that there was a palpable lack of cooperation during the WD5 years, and that, had there been better cooperation, that a project could have been completed. Some would call it palpable lack of cooperation. I would call it Don Ellis, Roxanne Marrino, and Lucia Tyler, standing on principle, and not allowing Doug Austic and Rod Ferintino to push through a project that was unfair to many, and would have enriched some while putting the Town at risk of unwanted development (possibly including concentrated animal feeding operations) A committee recently completed a survey of the water needs of the town. I look forward to working with members of that committee and the board, to determine the best way to improve access to clean safe water, to as many people as possible, with as few unwanted consequences as possible.

Chris was asked for his thoughts on gas drilling. He said "I'm not inherently opposed to energy exploration but what I am absolutely opposed to, is the use of undisclosed chemicals in the hydrofracturing solutions" Well, it seems that the exploration phase has been completed. The next step is to extract the gas, and I am inherently opposed to the hydrofracturing and horizontal drilling process if it involves large quantities of poisons and carcinogens wether they are disclosed or not. I have brought two resolutions to the Board, which, if passed into law, would deter these corporations from harming the health of our residents and decimating our environment. I believe we have to use every tool available to protect our Town, and if elected that is what I will urge the Board to do.

I have been nominated by the Tompkins County Green Party as their candidate for Ulysses Town Supervisor. I have collected signatures that the Board of Elections requires, so I will be on the ballot on the Green Party line, on Nov. 3rd. I registered as a Democrat in 1970 when I turned 18. I voted for George McGovern in 1972. What a different world it would be! I have always been a Democrat, because I believe that within our current electoral system, the Democratic Party is our best hope, for progressive reform. I have been a registered Democrat for 39 years. Chris Thomas has been a registered Democrat for 3 years ( He was a registered Libertarian prior to running on the Democratic Party line for Village Trustee) The Caucus on 8/31 will be important in determining the future of the Democratic Party in Ulysses. Please come.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Town Board Meeting 8/11/09

0 hrs - 0 minutes - 0 seconds - I arrived and started my recorder a few minutes late while they were going over the budget.

0-4-33 Planning Board Report - Ken Zeserson, and Dick Coogan talk about Grass Roots parking

0-14-00 Ken brings an Ithaca Journal article to our attention. Governor Patterson has apparently been bought by the oil and gas industry. He thinks that hydrofacking the Marcellus Shale is a great idea, and will solve all of our problems.

Here's a link to the pdf

Check out the comments by "thruthsquadtwo"

0-16-45 Leslie Spurgin reports on the results of an audit recently performed. She reports on some minor problems, but closes by complementing Doug and Dick and Marsha and Jim on a fairly good job of keeping the books.

0-52-20 Chris Thomas reports on Village goings on. They are considering several different options for a second source of water.

Also, there will be a meeting on 8/24 at 7pm to go over the Fire Dept./EMS budget. He said the budget is in two parts - Fire and EMS. Fire budget has remained flat for several years. EMS will go up 25% from 09 to 2010 due primarily to declining volunteerism and having to hire more paid staff. They will discuss how to pay for it at this meeting.

''The question is going to be how do we move forward in terms of paying for it"

This, of course, worries me. I know how Chris would like to pay for it and I remain opposed. See my blog at http://trumansburgambulance.blogspot.com/

We should continue paying for it with our taxes, as we always have. I have some ideas about increasing volunteerism, which I will be speaking about soon.

I think I'll go to that meeting.

0-56-00 I get a chance to talk about hydrofracking. I wrote a new short and sweet ordinance, hoping to entice the board into taking action. Here it is,

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Conservation recently published a "Summary of Hydraulic Fracture Solutions" used by vendors that provide the chemical solutions that are added to the water used in Hydraulic Fracturing.

http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/oilgas/FractListing.pdf

Some of these ingredients are very dangerous, and very likely to enter the ground water around drilling sites, and inevitably will be in the large quantities of waste water that is a byproduct of the drilling and fracking process.

Ethylene glycol, and Methanol are common ingredients in these solutions.

Ethylene glycol is toxic and due to its sweet taste, children and animals will sometimes consume large quantities of ethylene glycol if given access to it. It and its toxic byproducts first affect the central nervous system, then the heart, and finally the kidneys.

Methanol is toxic. If ingested, as little as 10ml can cause permanent blindness by destruction of the optic nerve.

Whereas, we the Ulysses Town Board, object to the use of large quantities of these poisons in our town, we do hereby prohibit their use within the Town of Ulysses, in quantities greater than one gallon per year per natural person, or per corporation doing business within Ulysses.

Enforcement: any natural person or corporation found to be in violation of this ordinance shall be fined $750 for the first offense, and $1500 for second offense, and the fine shall continue to double with every subsequent offense. The Ulysses code enforcement officer shall be responsible for enforcing this ordinance, and issuing these fines, which shall be payable to the Town of Ulysses.

If you listen to the audio, you'll here me say that Alex Rachun, our code enforcement officer, is supportive of this kind of ordinance. Then you'll hear Dave Kerness, (board member) say that he spoke with Alex, and I am wrong about Alex's support. So.......... I checked again with Alex the next morning, and indeed, he is in support.

Doug Austic pointed out that every big truck that goes through Ulysses would be in violation, because they would have more than one gallon of ethylene glycol in their radiators. Good point. I will be happy to increase the allowable limit. I have written to the Environmental Management Council, and I hope to get some expert help in setting the limit low enough to catch hydrofrackers and high enough to allow continued normal use.

Doug says that Chris Thomas might have had greater than my allowable limits in his drums full of materials for his insulation business. Chris agrees and says that he didn't have sheets describing the contents of those drums.

this is interesting - from wikipedia,

In the U.S., the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that MSDS be available to employees for potentially harmful substances handled in the workplace under the Hazard Communication regulation. The MSDS is also required to be made available to local fire departments and local and state emergency planning officials under Section 311 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The American Chemical Society defines Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Numbers (CAS numbers) which provide a unique number for each chemical and are also used internationally in MSDSs.

1-2-10 Dave Kerness says if my ordinance could actually be effective, someone would have already done it. hmm..... not the greatest philosophy for inovating solutions to our problems. I point out that perhaps the reason it isn't being done is because it would violate Article 23 of NYS Conservation Law. This section preempts municipalities from attempting to protect the health of their residents and their environments from giant, hugely profitable, oil and gas corporations. How could such a gross violation of our constitutional right to self government be passed into law? Simple. Corporations own our government in Albany and Washington, but they do not yet own Ulysses, so, we need to stand up on our hind legs and do something.

1-05-42 Karen Brower, from Jacksonville, talks about her difficulties caused by the burning of garbage by a neighbor. She has sought relief from the Sheriff, and the Troopers, and the Tompkins County Health Department, but the burning continues. The board offered no help. I think if I were the Ulysses Supervisor I would have asked for her address and phone number, and arranged a visit to see if I could negotiate a solution.

1-15-40 Jim Meeker- highway report

1-19-00 Marsha Georgia Clerk report

1-22-40 Liz reports from TCOG - Tompkins County Council of Governments

1-26-35 Dick Coogan and Town Attorney discuss the best ways to handle future Grassroots parking (zoning changes, permits, development zone, whatever)

Dick also says that Ulysses has been left holding the bag for a water improvement flyover. The town has paid and the state was supposed to reimburse us and hasn't

This flyover was supposed to identify faulty septic systems. The results were inconclusive. I think we should have a watershed inspector who's job it is to check the systems every two or three years. This is what they have on the southern end of Kueka Lake where I built a house on the lake.

1-44-00 Town Barn Project. Doug discusses the various bids from 3 contractors. Finger Lakes Construction won the bid and the Town resolved to accept their bid of 396,000

2-01-00 Some discussion of progress on the Comp Plan.

2-04-30 Lucia Tyler has written a letter for the Board to Michael Arcuri etc about our concerns re: hydrofracking urging them to support legislation which might disallow the exemptions from the Safe Drinking Water Act. All of the members sign.

2-15-00 Adjourn

I'll post more notes later.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Bernie Sanders lectures McCain on Health Care

After listening to Bernie here, I realized that our Ambulance Service is actually socialized medicine, not just single payer. It's like our socialized Fire Department, and Socialized Police Department. All good. All as they should be now and forever.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Sixth Annual Women Swimmin' for Hospicare

I don't know why I've never been to one of these before, but this morning I went to the sixth annual Women Swimmin' for Hospicare. Awesome. 300 women swam across Cayuga Lake and back from the Ithaca Yacht Club, to raise money for Hospicare. Beautiful morning, hundreds of people, great music, great food, and all for a good cause. http://www.hospicare.org/

The saxophone solo is by Ken Zeserson, Chair of the Ulysses Planning Board.

If you're reading this on Saturday morning, there is still time to go on down. http://www.womenswimmin.org/

If not, don't miss it next year.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Green Party Nomination

I received the Tompkins County Green Party nomination for Ulysses Town Supervisor on July 21st. My friend Jonathan Cook is the new chairman of TCGP Committee. That helped. Thank you Jon, and that you TCGP.

Frankly, the Green Party Platform is more inspiring than the Democratic Party platform. http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/2004platform.pdf but I remain a Democrat, as I have been since 1970, because within our current election system, the Democratic Party remains our best hope for progressive reform. I will seek the Democratic nomination on August 31st because I have to try to work from within the party to slow it's drift to the right.

The Board of Elections requires that I collect 117 signatures of registered voters of any stripe on a petition, in order to prove that I am a viable candidate worthy of appearing on the ballot on November 3rd. on the Green Party line. I started that process this weekend. It went well. I took my petition by Chris Thomas's house. (Chris is the Trumansburg Village Board member that is my only declared opposition for the Democratic nomination) I thought if he was extremely magnanimous, he might sign as an indication that he believes in basic democratic principles, and the rights of the voters to have a choice in November even if he wins the Democratic nomination at the caucus August 31st. He wasn't quite that magnanimous, but he was quite pleasant considering some of the rather harsh things I have written and said about him. He thinks I have said things about him that are untrue, and I disagree, and we are both entitled to our opinions. I have written that he is really still a Libertarian, despite having switched his registration at the BOE. He says he is a moderate Democrat. But regardless of labels, and official BOE registrations, we are both citizens, and we are both doing what we feel is right. That said, there is a big difference between what I feel is right and what Chris feels is right, and I hope that the average voter is more closely aligned with my beliefs, and acts upon that knowledge.

As I have written in previous posts, I am very concerned about the threat from the gas drilling corporations that want to use hydrofracking in our fair town. Since I was going door to door with my petition, I thought I would do a little poll to see what people thought about this issue. Here's my poll question,

Gas drilling corporations are leasing a large percentage of land within Tompkins County in hopes of profiting from the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus shale deposits below us. They intend to use a technology which threatens environmental damage. Would you say,

A.) The environmental risks are offset by our need for gas, and the rights of landowners to profit from gas leasing.

B.) The environmental risks are unacceptable, and your Town officials should try to stop these corporations from operating within Ulysses

C.) You have no opinion.

The results were overwhelmingly against the corporations, and in favor of our Town officials trying to stop them. I stopped polling to save time, and because the results were so clear.

A.) 1

B.) 15

C.) 2

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Ulysses Democratic Committee Meeting 7/23/09

The Ulysses Democratic Committee met Thursday evening at the Ulysses Town Hall. I am a member. I often record public events such as Town and Village Board meetings and post them here. I recorded the first half of this meeting, in this public building, and then was told that I must turn off my recorder, and delete the file. I did. When I got home, I looked on the web and found that the Democratic National Committee meetings are covered on CSPAN. It seems to me that we should take our cue from the DNC, and not the Chicago political machine that selected candidates in smoke filled rooms (at least they had the decency not to hold secret meetings in public buildings) I have been advocating for increased public access to our local government for several years. I do not consider the UDC meetings to be private. They are part of the political process and should be open.

It seems to me that there is a general feeling within the committee, that congeniality is more important than political idealogy. I disagree. Political differences are too important to be ignored, for fear of seeming intemperate. The future of our town is at stake. Where hydrofracking is concerned, the stakes are very high. Where our ambulance service is concerned, lives are at stake. This desire for congeniality is, I suppose, the reason that they asked me to delete the file. Some present, expressed the sentiment that our present Town Clerk has not always done the best possible job. (We have a terrific Democratic Candidate for Town Clerk this year - Erika Naylor.) I guess no one wanted to be on record speaking against Marsha Georgia, which is understandable, but politics is hardball, and elected positions periodically come up for reelection, at which time it is every citizens responsibility to consider the qualifications and past record of those seeking office. A hard nosed objective examination of candidates is necessary, even if it hurts someone's feelings. The UDC is not a social club.

We have some terrific progressive Democratic candidates. Lucia Tyler is an incumbent running for reelection. Roxanne Marino is hopefully going to run for an open seat on the Town Board. And Erika Naylor will most likely run to unseat Marsha Georgia for Town Clerk. Chris Thomas (currently on the Village Board, and seeking the Democratic nomination for Town Supervisor) is not a progressive Democrat. It is my contention that he is not a real Democrat at all. I felt it was my responsibility as a real Democrat to speak up. The party faithful at the last UDC meeting did not want to hear it. I have tried over the last month, to convince some real Democrats, to oppose Chris Thomas for the supervisor spot, but none of them have them have been willing to do so. So I have decided to do it myself. I am going to ask for the Democratic nomination at the caucus on August 31st. This is a long shot. Chris has the advantage of having been on the Village Board. So, I approached the Tompkins County Green Party and asked for their endorsement, so that I could be on the ballot in November, regardless of the result of the caucus. They have now endorsed me, and I will now begin collecting the signatures that the Board of Elections requires, in order to appear on the ballot.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Town Board Meeting 7/14/09

It's been awhile sense I've posted here. I became very preoccupied with the presidential campaign and the excitement and frequent disappointment with the new administration. I decided to go to a meeting of the Ulysses Democratic Committee, because it was that time of year when they were to begin considering candidates for spots on the Town Board this November. I wanted to urge them not to make the same mistake they made a couple of years ago when they nominated a Libertarian (Chris Thomas) to run as a Democrat for a spot on the Village Board. I was surprised to see Chris Thomas's truck in the parking lot before I went into the meeting. He doesn't usually bother coming to these meetings. It turned out he had an agenda. He wants the Democratic Party nomination for the Town of Ulysses Supervisor spot! I've tried to talk Roxanne Marino, Elizabeth Thomas, and Alan Vogel into seeking the nomination, but they don't want the job. I might just have to do it myself.

More on that later. The purpose of this post is to give you a link to the audio of the latest Town of Ulysses Board meeting.

Here's the link to the mp3 file

The threat to our health, our environment, and our community from corporations wanting to come to Ulysses and extract gas from the Marcellus shale by pumping millions of gallons of water and deadly chemicals into wells drilled sideways underneath us, has recently come on my radar. In the past few months I've read a lot, and been to several meetings, and worked with Attorney Charles Wolff on the Ulysses Sustainable Energy Ordinance, in an attempt to prevent these corporations from exploiting our town.

That's why I came to this meeting and the one last month. Last month I presented a simplified version of what we want this ordinance to accomplish.

Rough Draft

Town of Ulysses Sustainable Energy Ordinance -

AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF ULYSSES,TOMPKINS COUNTY, NEW YORK,

ESTABLISHING A LOCAL SUSTAINABLE ENERGY POLICY by MAKING LAW That:

1. Declares that the energy policies of New York and the United States, controlled by large corporations profiting from carbon-based and nuclear power generation, is destructive of human and natural communities;

2. Asserts that the People of the Town of Ulysses reject the unsustainable energy policies of the State and Federal governments and that they have adopted a locally-defined, sane and logical energy policy based on a process of transitioning from unsustainable to renewable energy sources;

3. Prohibits people and corporations from energy production for sale when that energy is produced from unsustainable fuels;

4. Prohibits people and corporations from extracting unsustainable energy fuels in the Town of Ulysses, since they are used in the production for sale of unsustainable energy;

5. Commits the Township to a goal of assisting in the reduction of community residents’ and local

business’s use of unsustainable energy by 20% in each three year period;

6. Requires the Township adopt and publish an annual Sustainable Energy Plan that identifies specific measures to which the Township is committed during each fiscal year to achieve the targeted reduction in unsustainable energy consumption;

7. Makes government agencies and individuals liable for assisting corporations to violate the Ulysses Sustainable Energy Policy by issuing corporate charters, licenses and permits;

8. Provides for enforcement, both by the Town Board and by individual residents, of the

prohibitions in this Ordinance and protection of the rights of residents and ecosystems

9. Removes claims to legal privileges and protections from corporations that might be used to nullify the provisions of this ordinance.

10. Recognizes and enforces the rights of residents to defend their rights and the right of natural communities and ecosystems to exist and flourish

11. Subordinates corporations to the people of Ulysses

Dave Kerness requested to see the actual ordinance, so Attorney Charles Wolff and I have adapted an ordinance written by The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. I emailed it to the board, and brought printed copies to the meeting Tuesday 7/14. I didn't get a chance to speak until the end of the meeting.

here's a link to the ordinance as a Word document

0hrs-0min-0sec starts off as usual with the Pledge of Allegiance, then discussion of the minutes of the last meeting.

I'm going to skip big chunks of this meeting and only comment on the portions that I found particularly interesting, but you, of course, should listen to every word.

0-6-22 Ken Zesserson gives the planning board report. This is interesting, listen to Ken explain how passing the Comprehensive Plan could help us limit the damage that exploitative gas drilling corporations could do.

Apparently, there will likely be a Comprehensive Plan meeting at the Fire Hall on August 25th. If there is anything that we can do to hurry this along we ought to do it.

0-10-55 Sue Ritter gives a report on the completed water survey. Dave Kerness gives the committee members a hard time for not including recommendations with their report. Odd. The committee apparently has done a very good job of accessing the current state of affairs, and they felt that it was the job of the town board members to interpret the results and discuss what if any action is required.

0-24-40 Chris Thomas gives us the Trumansburg Village Board report. He says that there will soon be a new tenant in the Movie Gallery building - a 24 hr gym. And possibly a new tenant in part of the Save A Lot building - bakery related. interesting.

Also, a grant application for some kind of structure at the Trumansburg Farmer Market has been approved.

0-26-35 Don Ellis uses the privilege of the floor to comment on what he thinks the board should do to address the threat from the gas drillers.

0-40-40 Liz Thomas reports on the possibility of federal money to extend broadband internet into rural areas. Clarity Connect is trying to put together a grant proposal. They want resolutions from the towns in the area. Deadline is 8/14.

1-17-20 Liz Thomas reads a resolution about asking the DEC to extend the comment period from 30 to 90 days in order to have enough time to read, comprehend and tear our hair out, about how little the Department of Environmental Conservation is likely to do to conserve the environment. The board passes it unanimously.

1-23-30 Liz asks who on the board has leased property to gas corps. Doug Austic admits that his land is leased.

1-28-00 Liz brings up the high levels of pollution of Trumansburg Creek according to the Community Science Institute. Steve Peningroth is asking for the board to release the already budgeted $5000 to support CSI's water testing in the creek, and establish a baseline prior to gas drilling, and CSI's continuing efforts to educate the public on these issues.

Dave Kerness objects on the grounds that the EPA is only interested in phosphorous and sediment and CSI tests for more than that, and there's more than one group testing the waters.

Rod Ferentino thinks that we ought to be going to the USDA about this and keep the 5G.

I think that CSI is much more independent than the USDA or the EPA or the DEC, and we ought to give them the money.

1-38-30 Doug finally gets to me. I pass out the printed resolution. I had emailed this to the entire board (I got the addresses from the website) yet some of them said they didn't get it. So I guess I'll have to check all of those addresses. Rod said that he had gotten it, and he complained that I my ordinance would prohibit windmills. I guess he didn't read it too carefully. That's right in the title. The Ulysses Sustainable Energy Ordinance. You see, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, bio mass energy etc, these are sustainable and are encouraged, by my ordinance.

The town's attorney Marriette Geldenhuys said she thought that it appeared to be rather broad and opinion based rather than specific. There certainly are some big picture explanations within the ordinance which are there to explain why the board (should they decide to pass it) is passing it. I would be glad to remove these parts if the board wishes. Perhaps when Ms. Geldenhuys and the board have time to read it they will see that the ordinance spells out very specific action.

Ms Geldenhuys is correct that NYS Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) has preempted Ulysses right to self government. Article 23 delegates all authority to regulate oil and gas activity to the DEC. Get the irony? Our Environmental Conservation Law is telling us we have no legal right to conserve our environment. This ought to anger every member of the board. This preemption is unconstitutional. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, declares in part, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States”

1-44-40 Rod says "I have a stupid question" I don't think this is a stupid question at all. Listen to Rod's approach here. I think he will run up against NY ECL Article 23, just as my ordinance would. But I think he is right, and that it is our right, it is our duty, to act on this.

Here you go Rod, I've written your resolution for you,

Town of Ulysses Toxic Substance Ordinance

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Conservation recently published a "Summary of Hydraulic Fracture Solutions" used by vendors that provide the chemical solutions that are added to the water used in Hydraulic Fracturing.

http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/oilgas/FractListing.pdf

Some of these ingredients are very dangerous, and very likely to enter the ground water around drilling sites, and inevitably will be in the large quantities of waste water that is a byproduct of the drilling and fracking process.

Ethylene glycol, and Methanol are common ingredients in these solutions.

Ethylene glycol is toxic and due to its sweet taste, children and animals will sometimes consume large quantities of ethylene glycol if given access to it. It and its toxic byproducts first affect the central nervous system, then the heart, and finally the kidneys.

Methanol is toxic. If ingested, as little as 10ml can cause permanent blindness by destruction of the optic nerve.

Whereas, we the Ulysses Town Board, object to the use of large quantities of these poisons in our town, we do hereby prohibit their use within the Town of Ulysses, in quantities greater than one gallon per year per natural person, or per corporation doing business within Ulysses.

Enforcement: any natural person or corporation found to be in violation of this ordinance shall be fined $750 for the first offense, and $1500 for second offense, and the fine shall continue to double with every subsequent offense. The Ulysses code enforcement officer shall be responsible for enforcing this ordinance, and issuing these fines, which shall be payable to the Town of Ulysses.

1-46-53 This part is funny, check it out. Rod says "what happens next, is it costs the taxpayers a lot of money to deal with" I say "so what we've come to is that we are so afraid of these corporations and their high powered lawyers, that we are afraid to stand up for our rights" Rod says "NO, NO,NO, NO....... I DID NOT SAY

THAT'' He picks up Liz's recorder and speaks directly into it so we don't miss it. But he is afraid, or perhaps "concerned" is a better word, that passing these ordinances might result in being sued by one of these corporations. This is a reasonable concern, but it must be weighed against the greater threat to our health, future, community, and environment. And it's just the right thing to do. If we do get sued, I'm not convinced it has to cost very much. We don't necessarily need William Kunstler. Perhaps our new town supervisor can represent us without counsel. Ha. Or perhaps we can find an attorney to take the case pro bono.

1-47-35 Jim Meeker (highway supervisor) takes a common approach, wait and see what the experts have to say about it. He is saying that the Tompkins County Counsel of Governments is working on this. I hope they do come up with miracles, but I don't think we should count on it. Let's be pro-active.

1-50-20 Rod objects to the whole approach of slowing down the damage via road regulations. He says that going after the trucks is like treating a symptom instead of treating the disease. He's right, but I think we have to use every tool we have.

1-53-09 Ken Zezerson says that there are 19 DEC field agents charged with inspecting 13,000 gas wells now, and there will soon be many, many more wells. The DEC is woefully underfunded. It's not clear to me wether the DEC is part of the problem or part of the solution, but they are incapable of adequately overseeing the existing gas wells let alone the hydrofracking boom.

1-55-54 Doug Austic says that we could require a bond on any road that we knew would be heavily used by the tanker trucks, and that any repairs could be funded by these bonds. Good idea.

1-56-40 Lucia Tyler suggests that we pass a resolution is support of the bill in Congress that would reverse the exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Good idea, as long as that's not all we do, because this bill is probably not going to pass. Pressure from lobbyists recently got the sponsors of the bill to back off of their attempt to get quick passage, and they have asked for "further study" in order to keep the bill alive.

1-58-35 Doug says that it's pointless to make laws because we can't enforce them anyways. What is this the wild wild west? What's the point in having laws if we can't enforce them? I disagree. I said you just send the police out and turn the truck around. Doug says "YOU CAN'T DO THAT ALLEN, THERE'S THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO" I disagree. It depends on how we word the ordinance. If violations required the arrest of the perps, then it would be a sticky situation for the police, and the sheriffs department is suffering from cutbacks. If the ordinance specified a fine, however, it might be better handled by a code enforcement officer.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Town Board Meeting 11/10/08

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Village Board Meeting 11/11/08

Friday, October 17, 2008

Back to Democracy Candidate Forum 10/16/08

Tom Schlee

Charles Wolff

Last night Back To Democracy held a Candidate Forum at the Trumansburg Fire Hall, in order to inform the public about an important race which will be decided on the November 4th ballot. The incumbent Ulysses Town Justice Tom Schlee, is being challenged by a local attorney, Charles Wolff.

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you.

Here's the link to the mp3 file

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Charles Wolff vs Tom Schlee for Ulysses Town Justice

I was initially disappointed to hear that Charles Wolff (a registered Democrat) was seeking the Republican Party's nomination, because it has always been my opinion that a relatively uninformed public will defer to party affiliation before taking the time to study a candidate's position on the issues. If the various political parties strictly enforced adherence to party platforms, and if these parties never allowed members of other parties to run on their ballot lines, then it would be nearly treason for candidates to cross party lines, but that is not our present situation. Since we have representatives locally and nationally whose values sometimes contradict the platforms of the parties that helped get them into office, we as voters are required to look a little closer at candidates, than simple party affiliation.

An odd conflict exists within NY State Law. Judicial candidates are not supposed to be partisan, yet they are essentially required to seek the support of political parties. Mr. Wolff has been criticized for lack of "loyalty to the Democratic Party". I believe Mr. Wolff is driven by principals which he considers more important than party loyalty. (I know I am)

I was at the Ulysses Democratic Party meetings when Charles Wolff and Tom Schlee explained their reasons for wanting the position, and described their experience and qualifications. I was impressed by Tom Schlee, and I think he would make a good Justice. But Charles Wolff is clearly the better qualified of the two, and would make a great Justice. Charles Wolff is a licensed attorney with thousands of hours of courtroom experience, he is a member of the NY Bar, and a graduate of law school. Tom Schlee is none of these things. I don't understand how voters can ignore this huge difference between the candidates. The New York State Unified Court System is trying to put more attorneys on local benches. (in fact new NYSUCS rules will soon give defendants the right to have their cases heard before a judge that is an attorney) This is why Charles Wolff is running. He explained this at the Democratic Caucus when he was seeking the Democratic Party nomination, but there were a lot of old friends of Tom Schlee in the room, and he got the nomination. Charles Wolff saw the likelihood of this outcome months ago, and asked for the nominations of other parties. Should we hold this against him? Is party loyalty the most important factor here?

Tom Schlee was a friend of our much loved, recently deceased, Justice Christine Springer, and he uses this to great effect in his campaigning. This is true, but he neglects to mention that Charles Wolff was also a friend of hers and it was at her suggestion that he joined the Tompkins County Assigned Counsel Program whereby he often provides services to clients who can't afford expensive services, for greatly reduced cost, or no cost.

I have always voted Democratic. This will be the first time that I have ever voted on the Republican line. I wish that our world were simpler, because I know that it's hard for voters to find the time to educate themselves fully before voting, but it is my hope that many voters will make the effort. Obviously, there are other extremely important races to be decided on the ballot in November, but most of us have already made up our minds how we will vote on the presidential race. Please take the time to go to Charles Wolff's website www.podunklaw.com where you will find more information on this important campaign.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Eric Massa talk in Ithaca September 19th

I just got home from the event described below. Eric Massa will be a fantastic Congressman for the 29th if we help him defeat Randy Kuhl (Rubber Stamp Randy) If you missed this event, don't despair, I recorded it for you.

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you.

Here's the link to the mp3 file

The race between Massa and Kuhl is being reported as one of the closest in the country. Please consider contributing.

0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds - begins with someone introducing Michael Thomas

0-0-56 - Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton introduces Eric Massa

0-5-14 - Eric Massa

0-12-40 - Michael Thomas - I was actually expecting to hear about how great the rebuilding of Afghanistan was going. This is not at all what I heard. Give a listen.

0-33-05 - Eric jumps in to begin the question and answer session

0-45-28 - My question for Eric - and his excellent answer

Here is the invitation, which describes the event,

Allen,

I write today to remind you about our event in Ithaca this Friday, September 19th (please see the invitation below). My longtime friend and colleague Lieutenant Commander Michael Thomas, who recently returned from a year long deployment in Afghanistan as an Executive Officer for a US Provincial Reconstruction Team, will be joining us for an evening to discuss his experiences and share his first hand insights into the reconstruction efforts in that troubled region. This promises to be a very interesting discussion, and I would be honored it you would consider joining us for this great event. In addition to Lt. Commander Thomas' presentation, I will be giving a brief update regarding the race, and would love to take any questions you might have.

Sincerely,

Eric Massa

CDR, US Navy (ret.)

Adelaide Park Gomer

Invites you to join her for an evening with

Recently Returned Afghanistan Veteran
Lt. Commander Michael Thomas, USNR
“The Ground Truth in Afghanistan”

For a presentation, discussion, & reception to benefit

Eric Massa’s
2008 Campaign for Congress in New York’s 29th District

Friday, September 19th, 2008
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

at the home of

Adelaide Park Gomer
513 Wyckoff Road
Ithaca, New York 14850

Co-Host $250-$500 Sponsor $100 Individual $50
Please use the enclosed envelop, contribute online at www.actblue.com/page/massa2008, or bring attached form to the event!

Lieutenant Commander Michael A. Thomas, USNR recently returned from a year long deployment to western Afghanistan, where he served as the Executive Officer of one of twelve US Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Born in Washington, DC, he grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government, History, Economics, and Philosophy. In 1995, Lieutenant Commander Thomas graduated from the Yale Law School and entered Naval Officer Candidate School in Pensacola Florida, where he received his Commission later that year. Lieutenant Commander Thomas’s operational experience includes combat tours in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. During his service in the military, Lt. Commander Thomas received the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal. Lt. Commander Michael Thomas is married to the former Karen L. Dickey of Millinocket, Maine. They currently reside in Milford, Connect

Eric Massa, a Naval Academy graduate (class of ’81), is a 24-year retired Naval Commander. While in the Navy, Eric was involved in several global conflicts including Beirut and Desert Storm. His capstone military assignment was serving as the Special Assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, General Wes Clark during the Bosnian conflict. In addition to his career as a military officer, Eric has worked for a high tech firm in the automotive environmental division, as a health care advocate while in the military, and as a professional staff member serving the House Armed Services Committee. With no primary and a seasoned staff, Massa’s campaign has the full support of the DCCC (Red to Blue), as well as the State and local Democratic Party. Thus far, Massa has out raised his opponent Republican Randy Kuhl, and the DCCC recently announced an early TV buy of $1.5 million in the Rochester media market, the largest TV buy in the country by the DCCC. In addition, the NY Times recently recognized NY-29 as one of the closest races in the nation (G.O.P in House at Risk in Northeast, 8-14-2008). The 2008 Massa for Campaign has tremendous momentum and is poised for victory in November. Eric Massa lives in Corning, New York with his wife of 20 years, Beverly, and their two teenage children, Justin and Alexandra.

Contributions or gifts to Eric Massa for Congress are not tax deductible. We may accept contributions from an individual totaling up to $2,300 per election; $4,600 per election cycle. Federal PAC’s may contribute up to $5,000 per election; $10,000 per cycle. Federal law prohibits contributions to the campaign from corporations, labor organizations and national banks; from any person contributing another person’s funds; from foreign nationals who lack permanent resident status; from federal government contractors. Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in an election cycle.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Town Board Meeting 9/9/08

Village Board Meeting 9/8/08

Fire/EMS Budget Meeting 9/4/08

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Town Board Meeting 8/12/08

Village Board Meeting 8/11/08

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you.

here's a link to the mp3 file

0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds - I arrived with the meeting in progress. First public comment period. Tom Prisloe and Tim Johnson spoke in favor of a 4 way stop sign at Congress St. and Seneca Rd. and possibly also at Washington St. and Seneca Rd. in order to promote safety and slow people down. Chris Thomas lives on that intersection, and he made a motion to install the signs. This passed unanimously.

0-12-25 - my public comment - Pulitzer prize winning author Ron Suskind's new book The Way of The World http://www.ronsuskind.com/thewayoftheworld/ came out last week, and reveals the existence of a forged letter that was written at the insistence of the White House, in the fall of 2003, after the invasion of Iraq, when they were embarrassed at their failure to find WMD. They had this forgery written in the hand of Sadam's former intelligence chief, and dated fall of 2001. This letter was supposed to be provide proof that Sadam was receiving shipments of yellow cake uranium from Niger, and that the mastermind of the 9/11 attack was trained in Iraq. This letter was reported on in the major papers, and provided cover for the administration's ongoing slaughter in Iraq. When over 4000 Americans and 1 million Iraqis die based on fabricated evidence to justify war, the fabricators are guilty of murder, and high crimes and misdemeanors. These crimes have implications all over the world, including our little village. It is irresponsible to continue to fail to pass the resolution to encourage investigation of these crimes.

0-13-25 Ron McLean wants to know what and when something will be done about the tractor trailers hauling garbage up to Seneca Meadows. Marty Petrovic says that progress is being made (at the DOT) towards regulations that might prohibit the use of 96 for this traffic.

0-17-57 reports from representatives.
Ed Hetherington first (hard to hear)
Bruce Vann DPW
Jason Fulton - Fire Department
Tammy Morse - Village Clerk
Tammy McMillen
(Tammy Morse said that the Village Office will be close the Friday before Labor Day

0-43-41 reports from commissioners,
Chris Thomas - Fire and EMS - Chris reports that lately we've been having trouble getting a full compliment of volunteers for the nigh time shift, so we are adding two paid (per Diem) shifts 6pm - midnight on Friday and Saturday nights, in hope that the volunteers will be better able to handle the remaining shifts.
Debbie Nottke - community liaison - farmer's market is growing.. It has grown from 24 to 36 vendors this year

1-9-34 correspondence
Sally Baines? re bricks Main St. Project
1-17-30 Tom Ferritti - police report

1-31-43 Chris Bond 5K run - street closures Sunday October 19th -

1-37-58 Fire and EMS budget 2008 - $319,000 2009 - there is a proposed $25,000 increase.

1-47-50 This exchange puzzles me,

John Hrubos - "So, after that public meeting where all the volunteers got up and said that they want to be volunteers, and it was revealed that we have something like 32 qualified human beings, the bottom line is we are exactly where we where before..."
Chris Thomas "No, it's actually gotten worse, in that we have two or three volunteers leaving....."
John Hrubos "So the whole notion of we shouldn't go with the paid for service because it would affect the volunteers is a mute point because we don't have any volunteers"
Chris Thomas " I've said that from the beginning"

I understand that we have a problem covering all of the overnight shifts with volunteers, but it seems to me that Chris and John should acknowledge the value of the coverage that we do have. Chris says that in the first 6 months of this year 42% of overnight calls went to Bangs. That means 58% of them were answered by the volunteers. We should work to increase that percentage, via recruitment and incentives, and thank the volunteers for their good work.

2-01-00 Chris says that we have had a verbal agreement with the Fire Company for 40 years, and that we should now go to a written contract. The Village pays for equipment and training, and the facility, and so, they would like a written contract with performance standards. Does this mean that if the volunteers don't answer a call, that the Village might sue the Fire Company? I don't know, maybe a contract is a good idea, to formalize what the Village expects in return for their investment, but it seems odd that a company that relies upon volunteers, might face retribution if they didn't live up to expectations.

2-02-20 Chris says that there have been times lately, when an EMT is there ready to go, and nobody shows up to drive the ambulance. He says that it's pretty clear where this is headed. It's not clear to me. Is he referring to going to 24/7 paid staff, or shutting down our ambulance service and letting Bangs answer all calls?

2-08-00 Jim Mason asks some good questions, and Jason answers them. Apparently there are several levels of training. EMT,ALS, etc. The state says that to answer a call you need and EMS, and a driver minimum? An EMT needs 200 hours of training?

2-12-00 Ron McLean says that this is too big a job for the Village Board and the Fire Chief, and that he and Jim Mason are willing to help. Chris says yeah but....... John says no, no, take the help. Good idea.

2-22-00 Jim Mason says that the Board is concentrating primarily on the financial aspects of the EMS service, and they probably should be, but we have to look at the bigger picture and ask what is happening that is making volunteers turn away. I hope that he and Ron and Chris and Jason etc, can form a committee and study this. I have my own theories. Chris has mentioned that it is largely the fact that many people are having to work longer and longer hours to make ends meet and are too tired to volunteer. This is certainly part of it. I think another aspect is the leadership of our country. After 9/11 Bush told us to go shopping, he didn't ask for any sacrifice. We are fighting the "global war on terror" by borrowing the money from future generations. Cheney tells us that Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. How long has it been since you heard a President say something like "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" Reagan said "the most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm hear to help". We are about to elect a new president who could be the kind of inspirational leader that can make a big difference in our attitude about civic responsibility and service. He will need to be pushed by the grassroots if this is to happen. This isn't going to be easy, but the kind of spirit that inspires people to serve the community as a volunteer is the kind of spirit that will turn this country around. Accepting that privatization is inevitable is the kind of spirit that will keep us on this course towards collapse of a social safety net.

2-22-30 Chris says that he wanted to use some of the funds from billing to offer retirement benefits, and tax credits and college tuition assistance to volunteers. Let's remember that if we had gone to billing we would have collected funds from cost shifting. This would have been funny money. I am willing to accept the concept that our ambulance service is going to cost us more in taxes largely as a result of increased training requirements. It would be wise to spend tax payer dollars on these incentives that Chris wanted to fund with funny money, because that would be cheaper than paying for 24/7 paid staff.

2-24-00 Rordan says that there are two separate issues here. The Board has fiduciary responsibility to manage budgets and departments efficiently, but deeper philosophical questions of why people do or don't volunteer is outside of their responsibilities. Is this true? Is it too much too ask of our trustees to look at the big picture and act as civic leaders?

2-25-00 Marty asks if we want the Task Force to reconvene to study all this. Jason says that he would like to be taken off of it. John says he wants a completely new task force with new eyes and ears. Rordan says that it should be citizens only (?)

2-30-00 Chris says that this is a problem all over, not just in Trumansburg and that State Senators and Congressman were looking at ways to address the problem, but that it wasn't working. These efforts have just begun, they take time. Let's not be so pessimistic.

2-41-00 Chris says that the board could have just gone ahead and gone to billing and to hell with all you naysayers. (basically) He says that he was trying (with billing) to find a way to maintain the service without losing it to a fully private company where the Village would lose control over quality of care. He said that he wished that the volunteers could see that, but, well , they didn't. I think he is unaware that the volunteers see things differently than he does, and that they think that there are other ways of maintaining the company in it's present form.

2-45-00 John says that the Village should start charging groups who use the Fire Hall, and that it's unfair to ask the volunteers to clean the floor after these events. Hold on there John. I have been to many Back to Democracy events in the Fire Hall, and I have cleaned the floor myself several times. I don't think we are leaving a mess, and most of us that come to these meetings, pay taxes in the Fire District. I consider the Fire Hall to be a part of the commons. I think would be a mistake to charge. If we use a small amount of extra electricity, or paper products or whatever, then raise my taxes 10 cents a year.

2-50-00 Chris says, again, that it is absolutely imperative to move to a written contract. It seems a little ironic, that we would look for ways to increase volunteerism and retention while at the same time say that we are going to crack down on them for not performing to our expectations.

2-51-40 Marty asks Jason if he is willing to take responsibility for this committee that may or may not involve Jim Mason and Ron McLean. Jason says "I don't want to have anything to do with it" Marty says will kind of put it back in your court. Sounds like a great team.

2-56-20 I (Allen) say to Marty - I don't know why you want to throw it into Jason's court, you should move to form the committee here and now, while you've got Ron and Jim who are willing to be a part of it. Jim says there's a problem with that because there has been a lot of information collected over many months and he doesn't want to have to start from scratch.... Jim said that he would like to start by meeting with Jason and discussing all this.

3-00-00 Bills to pay.......

3-11-00 John Hrubos said that he would like to pursue getting the health department to release the village from the moratorium on extending the water mains. Good idea.

3-12-50 public comment period #2 I ask John about the proposed 24 unit development that he mentioned earlier. He said it was possibly going to be between Pennsylvania Avenue and South Street. Steve Bauman (sp?) possible developer. He is a partner with John Rancich (sp?) who is looking into the Carrowmoor development on Rt. 79 near Ithaca. http://www.carrowmoor.com/

3-14-00 Jaime Saine (Free Press) asks if the Village is no longer going to pursue third party billing and Chris said that's right (basically)

3-16-50 John Hrubos makes a motion to adjourn into executive session to discuss a personnel issue. I asked Tammy Morse the next day what that was all about and she said she was not at liberty to discuss that at this time. That's a cliffhanger folks, stay tuned until next month.......

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Village Board Meeting 7/14/08

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you.

Here's a LINK TO THE AUDIO MP3 FILE

0 hours - 0 minutes - 0 seconds All board members present except John Hrubos. The meeting started with an executive session, which means they kick the audience out for, in this case, about 15 minutes. It was a very nice night though, and Chief Ferritti entertained Liz Thomas and I with the story of his having to shoot the rabid fox that would not let go of the 9 year old girl on Prospect Street! Yikes!

0-03-0 first public comment period. I, Allen Carstensen, attempt to get the board members to proclaim where they stand on the ambulance privatization issue.

This is from our Ulysses Democratic Party Platform,

Our local governments should be committed to taking all actions necessary to maintain and enhance the quality of life for residents of the town, while managing programs in an efficient and fiscally responsible manner.

I would argue that risking the lives of the residents for the questionable tax break of $25/resident is contrary to the intent of the platform.

then there's this

Transparency of our governmental process is essential to maintain a democratic society, as are informed voters. Elected officials must encourage open discussion and information sharing regarding all public matters, both among themselves and with the citizenry.

I would argue that keeping their positions on the ambulance issue secret until the 11th hour does not encourage open discussion, and is contrary to the intent of the platform. An advantage of politics at the level of a small village or town, is that citizens can participate directly by talking to their representatives. Unfortunately, after many months of considering this plan, very few have declared their intentions, and therefore, citizen participation is discouraged.

After my appeal, Mayor Petrovic said he's still analyzing. Debbie Nottke said that she continues to get lots of phone calls, and is also still weighing both sides. We all know where Chris Thomas stands. Rordan Hart remained mum. Hrubos wasn't there. Not much progress.

0-06-30 Ron McLean - Whig St. Asks where this privatization scheme stands, what the schedule for a decision is, and when will the community get a chance to participate in the form of a committee as suggested during the public hearing. Chris Thomas ignores the idea of a citizen panel, and says that there will be a "full board discussion" of the issue during the August meeting. I ask "You have mentioned in the past, the possibility of voting on it in August. Are you now thinking that this is too early?" Chris dodges the question.

0-08-30 Jim Mason Larchmont Drive - former member of the Fire Department and an EMT. ''I'm still concerned, why we are not making the best use of the volunteers that we have. We have more certified EMT's and Paramedics in the Fire Company today, than there has been in the history of the company. Why are they not willing to respond?" (he is referring to the high percentage of calls that are deferred to Bangs during the overnight shift.) "Why are we paying for training for people to get their paramedic certification, and then go to work for Bangs Ambulance Service, not the Village of Trumansburg? This is not fair, it's not fair to our taxpayers, and they should be bound by contract to work in Trumansburg, if we are going to pay for the training" "Your point #8 in FAQ - Village website- states there aren't enough trained volunteers, I don't think that's true, I think we are just not using them right. There's got to be a reason why people are not willing to respond. Is it burn out? Are we wearing them down with what we used to call nuisance calls? The kind of calls where if it were our kids we would have taken them in the car, but today we call the ambulance? So we don't stop to think, the public doesn't stop to think, that when we call the ambulance, we are disrupting a lot of people's lives, and maybe there's some public education that needs to be brought forth so people can stop and think, do I really need this, is it a true emergency, or can I deal with it and take responsibility for it myself? Those are things I think we need to discuss. I'd be willing to meet with the board and talk through these things if my background and my experience could be of any use to you. I spent 16 years as a county legislator, and I chaired it for 4 years, and I chaired the public safety commission for 11 years, and I worked with the fire, and ems personnel all over the county, very closely on a day to day basis"

Mayor Petrovic says "That's a very good offer to help" I agree, and if I were on the board I would propose a resolution to form a committee with Mr. Mason as it's chair that would be composed of several board members, and volunteers, and citizens, and the meetings would be open to the public. The structure of the public hearing, and these Village Board meetings, is not conducive to a back and forth discussion, that is needed to resolve our differences.

Mr. Mason's point about the nuisance calls, is a good point, but I get the impression, from talking to several of the volunteers, that there are a very small number of people, that are abusing the system. They may not be playing with a full deck. They may be hard to reach with a public information campaign. I don't think they are parents that are calling the ambulance when a kid falls off his bike. It's more like they are uneducated, uninformed medicaid patients with chronic medical problems such as diabetes. I think there are several ways of dealing with this problem, and I think Mr. Mason is correct that it needs to be dealt with for the moral of the volunteers. Who would want to be called out in the middle of the night for the same handful of people that are abusing the system? This is not what the volunteers signed up for.

0-12-00 Liz Thomas speaks in favor of forming a committee with representatives from the Town and Village Boards, and EMS people, and residents from both sides of the issue, to study the proposed billing plan further.

Liz mentioned that the August TB meeting will consider a contract with the SPCA. We currently are (I think) the only town in the county to refuse to contract with the SPCA for dog control, in spite of the fact that we benefit from their animal cruelty services and their adoption services etc.

For more information from Liz, here's a link to her latest "Informing Ulysses"
The Comprehensive Plan is nearing completion. Links to the draft can be found here. Now is the time for input. Soon it will be too late.

0-28-10 Ed Hetherington -building inspector - hard to hear

0-31-06 Tom Ferretti's Police report

0-36-16 Jason Fulton's Fire Dept report

0-43-0 Tammy Morse - clerk's report

0-47-28 Tammy McMillan - treasurer's report

0-50-30 Mayor Petrovic's report

0-56-30 Fire and EMS - Chris Thomas

1-10-43 Community liaison - Debbie Nottke

1-15-50 correspondence - Auble water and sewer bill / Save A Lot for rent or sale
Mayor Petrovic mentions the possibility of incentivizing business to use the Save A Lot building. I think we should incentivize Byrne Dairy to buy or rent it.

1-33-50 Discussion of purchase of the Telephone Company Building. I'm writing this a couple weeks after the meeting. The latest news in the Free Press is that the board has voted to go ahead with the purchase.

1-44-39 extending zoning moratorium on the Auble property

1-55-24 zoning revision committee - Sarah Adams is interested in serving - two residents are needed. Marty and Chris from the board will serve. Tim Hamiltion and Bob Brown from the ZBA will serve. They will interview for the two resident spots.

2-04-50 Paying bills

2-10-40 Second public comment period. From yours truly. I got out my calculator and figured out that it would take 333 years for the potential savings from going to ambulance billing, to equal what I personally am going to have to pay for the Iraq War. I find it ironic that we are trying so hard to save so little, when the elephant in the room is the criminality of the Bush administration.

2-16-40 Geoffrey Hart's comment. He objects to my continuing effort to get the Board to pass a resolution to encourage our representatives to investigate impeachment of Bush and Cheney. He claims that I have contradicted myself and therefore shouldn't be taken seriously. He quotes my blog (trumansburgimpeachment.blogspot.com) of July 07 "The impeachment of a president tends to be a partisan issue, but it shouldn't be"

then a month later "Pelosi said that the American people turned against Congressional Republicans in the 90's for impeaching Clinton, so she worries that they would judge her Democratic Party harshly if she were to allow impeachment to proceed now. She underestimates us. We realized that the impeachment of Clinton was purely political. The Republicans saw the opportunity to capitalize on a sex scandal to promote their political agenda. The impeachment of Bush and Cheney is necessary to protect against serious abuse of power and the subversion of constitutional government. "

then at a Village Board meeting in November - " One last item for Trustees Thomas and Hrubos. You are Democrats. Here's an important memo if you want your party to succeed. Nine attempts have been made to impeach a president in US history. None of these attempts actually resulted in removal of a president from office. They were very important none the less. In all nine instances the party that attempted to impeach, either held or increased it's majority in Congress, and every time that an opposition party attempted to impeach, they took the presidency at the next election. If you don't believe that impeachment can possibly succeed in the time we have left, that is not a reason to ignore your oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution. Stand up for justice. The rewards are great for you and your party and the country."

Mr. Hart says I'm clearly invoking party loyalty in the most recent of these three quotes and finds this a huge contradiction, and says that I have forfeited my right to be taken seriously.

I try to defend myself and Chris Thomas interrupts and suggests we take it outside. Which we do. I find no contradiction in the three quotes that Mr. Hart took the time to find. In the last one, I am appealing to Thomas and Hrubos to stand up for justice, and the Constitution, and the Democratic Party, all at the same time. In an ideal world, there is no conflict in doing all at the same time, because the goals of the Democratic Party align nicely with justice and the Constitution. The same can not be said of the Republican Party, whose goals align nicely with Corporate control, increasing the wealth of the rich, and expanding the American empire. The Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for partisan reasons. They felt that they could accomplish their goals faster with complete fascists like Bush and Cheney, and they were right. The Democrats should impeach Bush and Cheney on behalf of we the people. To be perfectly honest, the Democratic Party often disgusts me. I am not a partisan. I am a Democrat, because they are by far, the lesser of two evils, and the way the game is rigged, they are our only realistic hope until we can get campaign finance reform and fair elections.

2-20-50 Meeting is adjourned, and Mr. Hart and I continue our discussion, first inside, and then outside in the parking lot. I wrote to Mr. Hart, and he said that he does not object to my posting this.

At one point Mr. Hart says, in defense of Bush's warrantless surveillance program, that FDR did the same thing during WW2. I was skeptical. I wrote this later and sent it to him -

I've tried to find info on FDR infringing on our Fourth Amendment rights during WW2, and I've not found much. There may have been an increase in government surveillance of citizens, but it wasn't codified. Bush, with his "Fisa Amendments Act" and the "Patriot Act" and the "Military Commissions Act", has actually passed legislation which takes habeas corpus and posse comitatus away, and legalizes warrant-less surveillance.

FDR never suspended habeas corpus, even when under attack by very powerful armies, that would make our current adversaries look like amateurs. James Madison never suspended habeas corpus even when the British Navy (the most powerful military force in the world at the time) sailed across the Atlantic, came ashore, marched to Washington, and burned down the White House. Benjamin Franklin said "They who would give up essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."

If you could document illegal FDR spying, I'd like to see that, but even more interesting would be if you could show that it helped us win the war. I'll bet that what helped us win the war, much more than any domestic spying, would be the decency that was characteristic of FDR's administration, and completely lacking in the Bush Administration. Bush condones torture. Many German soldiers surrendered to US troops in WW2, because we had a reputation for good treatment of prisoners. America had a reputation as a beacon of liberty then, and now the world fears and distrusts and hates us for torturing prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and Bagram. (Not to mention incinerating thousands of their loved ones)

We know what happens when a population is manipulated by fear tactics to "give up essential liberty for temporary security". This is exactly what happened to the good Germans in the 30's.

At one point Mr. Hart says that the NY Times recently wrote that no amount of recounting would have changed the results in Florida in 2000. I said please send that to me, because I have heard just the opposite. http://www.bushwatch.com/gorebush.htm

Then Mr. Hart gets all religious on me. I'm out of my element here, but I think I'm seeing more fundamental contradictions than Mr. Hart was accusing me of during the meeting. He claims that the Muslims are trying to take over the world, I say chill out, he says the Koran is terribly violent, I say so is the Bible, he admits the Old Testament is a bit harsh, but when Jesus came along he said we (father, son, holy ghost) are introducing a new covenant, a covenant of love, a covenant which has no prescriptions for punishment, except excommunication. He says if you're a Christian you follow the laws of Christ. Love your neighbor, be good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you.... OK. This sounds good. But Mr. Hart is an advocate for continuing the horrific killing of Muslims in the Middle East. He excuses this contradiction by saying the Muslims are trying to kill us, and we are acting in self defense. This seems absurd if you look at the score card. Islam 3000 on 9/11, and 5000 US soldiers since then, VS America - 1 million dead Muslims and 4 million refugees! Our imperialistic wars are bankrupting us, while we increase the incidents of terrorism worldwide. Christ had a much better idea. He would advocate for more humanitarian aid, and development aid, and honoring our commitment to the United Nations Millennium Goals. This would be far more effective in reducing terrorism, and far less expensive at the same time. It's just common sense.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Town Board Meeting 7/8/08

I'll try to get the list of people present later.
There was a long discussion about parking and camping around the Grassroots Festival, an exciting statement by Sue Polvorde, and important discussion on the Ambulance/EMS privatization issue. Please go to my other blog trumansburgambulance.blogspot.com for more on this.

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you.

Here's the audio link

0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds (o-0-o) - discussion about fee increase for dog licenses

0-16-0 - local law #2 traffic law - long discussion of parking and camping on Rabbit Run Road.

0-43-12 - planning board report

0-44-15 - Sue Polvorde Comprehensive Plan Report, and she reads a statement about inappropriate behavior of Supervisor Austic at the last meeting

0-49-33 - Geoffrey Hart wonders why Doug Austic tolerates criticism! (reminds me of a famous quote from George Bush "this would be a lot easier if it was a dictatorship, just as long as I'm the dictator" and it makes me wonder why the Village Board rules for public comment periods say that people should not direct criticism toward particular board members. Isn't that a violation of our 1st amendment rights?) Fortunately, Austic says it doesn't bother him.

0-49-53 - Highway Superintendents report.

0-50-50 - Town Clerk report

0-51-57 - Operating statement, Dick Coogan's report

0-53-10 - Water Advisory Board appointments

1-05-02 - Back to local law 2 about Rabbit Run. Liz Thomas argues in favor of the Board having a say in what roads are marked in what way, in-order to avoid a scenario where our community will be perceived as unwelcoming to the Grassroots Festival.

1-18-40 - They pass a resolution to post Rabbit Run

1-20-08 - Ambulance issue. Liz Thomas introduces the resolution below for discussion (not for voting because it would need to be made available earlier)

Town of Ulysses Resolution Regarding Funding of the Village of Trumansburg Ambulance/EMS Service.

Whereas, the Town of Ulysses has been notified of the recommendation of the Village of Trumansburg's EMS Task Force, to begin a policy of billing all recipients of ambulatory care provided by the Village of Trumansburg's ambulance/EMS service in order to recover funds from insured residents and,

Whereas, the Town of Ulysses provides a large share of the funds for the operation of the Village of Trumansburg's ambulance/EMS service and,

Whereas, the Village of Trumansburg has requested a letter or resolution expressing support or opposition to this plan and,

Whereas, it is the opinion of this board that this plan could endanger the health and welfare of some of our constituents and,

Whereas, it is the opinion of this board that this plan would move us in a direction opposite to the wishes of many of our constituents and,

Whereas, it is unclear where the recovered insurance funds will be dedicated, whether to a retirement fund for Fire Department volunteers or to a tax break for residents, and if so, the amount.

Whereas, a switch to billing for ambulance/EMS services may cause health insurance companies to raise premiums paid by our constituents and,

Whereas, many volunteers on the EMS/ambulance service are not in support of billing for ambulance services and have stated this change would negatively impact their willingness to serve and,

Whereas, billing for ambulance services could negatively impact the level of donations to the ambulance service.

Therefore, be it hereby resolved that this board stands in opposition to the current plan to hire a third party billing company to bill all recipients of ambulatory care provided by the Trumansburg ambulance/EMS service unless those who have no insurance are guaranteed EMS/ambulance service at no charge and,

Further, be it resolved that this board feels that the funds that the Town of Ulysses provides to the Village of Trumansburg for the ambulance/EMS service are well spent, and we wish to continue to guarantee service to all residents in need of emergency free of charge other than the payments made through taxes.

Finally, be it resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Village of Trumansburg.

1-28-29 - Doug Austic " I think there are a couple of things in your resolution that probably are not true"
Rod Ferentino "Whereas, it is the opinion of this board that this plan could endanger the health and welfare of some of our constituents - That's not true - at all - ok - you can't say that - I don't agree with that at all. "

This is key. If Rod truly doesn't believe that this plan could endanger the health and welfare of his constituents, then he isn't listening to the nine volunteers that spoke up at the public hearing. He later admits that in his first hand experience (He is a volunteer himself) more than half of potential recipients of care, are leery of accepting care now, because of a fear of big bills. The average citizen is unaware of the billing policies for our ambulance. They don't realize that they pay for it with their taxes, and that there is no charge for the care. The volunteers that spoke at the hearing said that if we go to billing, they will no longer be able to say, as they do now, that there will be no charge. "please don't tie our hands like that" one of them said. If we tie their hands - a life could be lost. Further, if we go to billing, it will be reported in the papers, and someone will realize one day soon, that if they call 911 when they are having chest pains, that they will get a bill, and they won't make the call. If they then die, the Village will never even know, that they are responsible for the death. This is obvious, and obviously the most important issue here. I don't know why we bother arguing about all of the small stuff surrounding this issue. If we accept this reality, the argument should be over.

1-34-00 - Chris Thomas again states that when Bangs comes up here, that the recipient has to pay Bangs on top of having to pay their private insurance premiums. Uh, if they've got insurance then the insurance company should pay Bangs, right?

1-35-22 - Rod Ferrinto objects to "Whereas, a switch to billing for ambulance/EMS services may cause health insurance companies to raise premiums paid by our constituents" Rod says there is no evidence of this. Chris Thomas also likes to make this argument. At the public hearing Chris said,

"And the argument that the money collected from these insurance companies will immediately and entirely be billed back to our community in the form of premiums, is a red herring not backed up by the least bit of information or research, but instead by loosely connected circumstances."

Well, Chris, nobody said "immediately and entirely", but yes, they will largely, and eventually be billed back to us. Here's some research for you; William McGuire is the CEO of United Health, one of the largest HMO's in the country. He makes 8 million/year plus bonuses, and has amassed 1.6 billion in stock options, one of the largest stock option fortunes in history. Bill gets around in a private jet. Let's look at some business basics. Bill has to balance income, expenses, and profit. If expenses go up (more people billing him) he has a tough choice to make. He can either raise income (premiums), or cut profit. Based on a quick look at his net worth, I think I know which one he has been choosing. Chris can obfuscate with talk about this account and that account and actuarial tables, but I'm not buying it. If we start billing, premiums will go up. There is no free lunch.

1-36-30 - Rod objects to "Whereas, many volunteers on the EMS/ambulance service are not in support of billing for ambulance services and have stated this change would negatively impact their willingness to serve" Rod objects, in spite of the fact that many of the volunteers at the public hearing stated exactly that. Norm Hummel said, at the public hearing that he would quit. Rod said "Norm's not going to quit" I'm not sure Rod is the best listener. He thinks that volunteerism might actually go up under this plan. I've talked to many of the volunteers, and Rod is the only one to hold this opinion.

1-43-12 - Doug Austic "what I'm saying is, the insurance companies are not going to reduce their premiums to the people in the town of Ulysses because they don't have to pay for the ambulance." It would take a great deal of research to know exactly how much every insurance company is charging and exactly how they each arrive at how they charge for what they charge. I'm afraid I don't have the time for that research, but it seems obvious to me that the insurance companies have large quantities of data on all of the residents of our fire district, including frequency of payments to ambulance companies. This data is easily sorted by zip code, so it would seem obvious that our premiums should be based upon these payments plus the profit margins for the various companies. If my assumptions are correct, then how could increased ambulance payments by these companies not result in increased premiums? They sure as hell won't take it out of their profits.

1-43-50 - Rod Ferentino's paradigm shift theory. Maybe he's got a point here about a national trend of decreasing volunteerism. He says that it's largely to do with increased training time required of the volunteers. Perhaps we should consider paying the volunteers for their time and expenses to get this training. I think this trend away from volunteerism also has to do with a selfishness that has been growing in the national consciousness for many years. How long has it been since you've heard a president say "Ask not, what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" ? Instead we now have a president that, after 9/11, tells us to go shopping, and thinks we can fight oil wars and put the tab on future generations. This could be changing soon. There is hope. Rod says that volunteerism will continue to fall and that we will soon have to go to a paid staff 24/7 and that this will cost us a lot. Leadership like this is not helping.

1-47-25 - Rod says that the Town of Covert is supportive of billing and the Town of Hector is opposed.

1-48-00 - Chris Thomas says that he will not support billing if the Town of Ulysses doesn't support it. Then he says that this move to paid 24/7 and billing is inevitable and that as an owner of a business, he knows how important it is to foresee these crisis points, because if it happens in the middle of a budget year, it's going to hurt us severely in the pocket book. This sounds like scare tactics to me. I disagree that this is inevitable, and even if we did have a "crisis point" next week, and the cost of the ambulance service doubled overnight, we are talking about the average tax payer having to pay $60/year/person instead of the current $30/year/person. That's not a crisis. We should continue to pay for the service through our taxes, and we should provide incentives to volunteers through our taxes, and we should stop electing Libertarians that want to privatize our community services.

1-53-00 - Other old business? Code ethics, gifts, .....

2-00-38 - Public comments - I speak briefly here and I said that at the public meeting 18 people spoke against billing and 9 spoke in favor. I didn't have my notes. It was actually 18 to 7 not 18 to 9. Of those who spoke in favor, some of them seem to have fallen for Chris Thomas's trick of saying that people without insurance will not be harmed because the village will adopt a policy of "non aggressive billing"

In favor - 7
Chris Thomas - Trustee responsible for all this
Geri Stevenson - fell for the trick
Renee Carver - fell for the trick
Geoffrey Hart - neoconservative
Justine Kolb - wife of Chris Thomas, fell for the trick
Ben Curtis - Independence Party
Didn't catch the name - Searsburg Rd

Opposed 18
Norm Hummel - volunteer paramedic
Allen Carstensen - author of this blog
Bob Howarth - Cornell professor
Rany Haas - volunteer fire and ems
Ron McLean - former fire volunteer
Mary Anne Archangeli - significant other of a volunteer
Michelle Paollilo - EMS volunteer
Robert Lodder - Prospect Street
Peter Meskill - Sheriff
Patricia Bonzall - Pennsylvania Ave
Barry Bines - Cayuga St
Jim Mason - volunteer fire fighter
Jackie Wright - volunteer and president of the Fire Company
Didn't catch the name - Swamp College Road
Deloris Something - Ulysses
Tammy Ward - volunteer
Charle Heath - volunteer
Ruth Kahn Rt 227

Not really clear
Deloris Higareda?
Blair Obrien?

2-05-50 - Doug Austic, again claims my $30/person is wrong. He said that he got a call from a guy who claims that he is paying $700/year for the ambulances service. It's based on assessment. Fine, I get it. Let's look at it that way.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Ulysses-New-York.html
at this site you learn that the median value of a house in Ulysses is $130,000
The portion of the tax bill for residents of Ulysses for the ambulance is 57 cents/thousand of assessment.
130 x .57 = $74.10 per household. The average household has 2.6 people living there
$74.10 divided by 2.6 people = $28.50 / person
To base our policies on sympathy for the poor guy that's paying $700 while living in a mansion, would seem a little too Bush like. We're not like that here in Ulysses are we? It's called progressive taxation. The rich are supposed to pay more. That's a good thing. Some rich people realize this and don't mind paying more. Others don't. You can please some of the people all of the time, and you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. (Bush has a different version)

2-09-10 - Liz let's us know that the rest of the meeting is going to be boring, going over bills.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

PUBLIC HEARING -- SITE PLAN for PROPOSED BYRNE DAIRY PROJECT

Paula Hoorigan has written an important letter about this project. Get it HERE

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you.

Here's a LINK to the audio.

0 hours - 0 minutes - 0 seconds - start of meeting - Bill Connor speaks does the introduction and speaks about the purpose and format of the meeting

0-05-00 Bill turns it over to Christian Brunelle who manages the Byrne Dairy Stores

0-12-50 Sarah Adams speaks in favor of making changes to Bryne's plan, to bring it into line with the Comprehensive Plan,

As the plan currently is proposed the store would be open 24 hours a day. There would be 8 gas pumps, parking for 20 cars, extensive lighting, a double-sided backlit sign and approx. 25,000 sq. ft of asphalt.

The TC Planning Dept expressed concern that “the lighting proposed for this project is far greater than existing level of lighting emanated by the neighboring properties” and also recommends that the canopy design be revised to mimic the peaks of the building”. So far neither the Planning Board or Sonbyrne Sales has responded to these recommendations.

The “intent” of the Site Plan Review ordinance is :

“Preserving and enhancing neighborhood character”

“Achieving compatibility with adjacent development”

“Mitigating potentially negative impacts on traffic, parking, drainage, the landscape and similar environmental concerns”

“Improving the deign, function, aesthetics and safety of development projects and the overall visual and aesthetic quality of the village”

There are alternative ways to configure this project that would go a long way to mitigate its impacts. These include requiring hours of operation similar to those of all other businesses in the village; moving the building to the front of the site and placing the gas pumps behind the building; reducing the number of parking spaces and accompanying number of lights.

0-16-42 Geoffrey Hart speaks in favor of building it as currently drawn, and he calls it "modern architecture" "some people like Gothic, I happen to like Modern". I'm not sure that this is exactly what architects refer to as "modern architecture"

0-20-18 Don Scott, owner of Ron Don's, speaks in favor of the current design and says we have more important things to do than wasting our time on non issues like this. Okey Dokey, if he likes it, then considering other peoples opinions, is a waste of time.

0-21-40 Vicki Romanoff,

More later.........

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Village Board Meeting 6/16/08

All officials were present, and,
Me - Allen Carstensen, and Laura
John and Martha Ullberg
Alan Vogel
Robert Brown
Geoffrey Hart

Tom Ferritti - Police Cheif

Jason Fuller - Fire

Ed Hetherington - Building Inspector

Bruce Vann - DPW, Water, and Sewer
Jamie Saine - our new Trumansburg Free Press Reporter

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you. You can also put the file on an Ipod, and listen while taking a walk, or driving or doing the dishes! When you're done with the dishes, pull the plug and watch the dirty water going down the drain, as you listen to our democracy going down the drain. Great fun!

Here's the AUDIO LINK

Before the meeting started I passed out printed versions of a piece written by Norman Hummel who was on the Task Force that unanimously reccomended that the Village should decide by referendum whether or not to begin billing for ambulance services. You can read it at the Trumansburg Free Press Blog http://flakes1.wordpress.com/ Mr. Hummel is an active paramedic in the Trumansburg ambulance corps.

0 hrs. 0 min. 0 sec. - call to order, then the first public comment period were I inform the trustees of the latest news that logically would inspire them to pass the resolution to encourage Congress to look into impeachment of Bush and Cheney. You can get the text at trumansburgimpeachment.blogspot.com.

0-03-08 -- Jason Fulton (fire chief) claims that there are a couple of factual errors in my Free Press editorial published last Wednesday 6/13. I stated that “Chris Thomas’s Task Force Report claims that we could collect $252,000 per year with his privatization scheme. That works out to about $25 per year for each of us.” Jason claims that is my first error, because actually there are 3500 households (not 10,000) in the fire district. I didn’t say there were 10,000 households, however. I said “$25 per year for each of us” in other words I’m talking per capita, not per household. I don’t have an exact figure for the population of the fire district, but it is undeniably much closer to 10,000 than 3,500 and 10,000 makes the math easier. If my math was way off, (which it’s not) and it cost twice as much to continue to support our ambulance with my taxes, it would not change my arguments.

Next, Jason claims that I was incorrect when I wrote “Also, a significant portion of the ambulance budget is offset by donations and these would likely stop, when donors saw that bills were being sent.” Jason objects because I don’t understand how these donations are handled. I don’t really care how they are handled, they offset taxes. Perhaps he doesn’t understand which donations I was talking about. When someone, or a family member, is helped by the Ambulance/EMS Service, they often feel a sense of gratitude that compels them to make a donation, because they realize that the service exists thanks to the generosity of the volunteers and the taxpayers of the Fire District. This will change radically if we enter into a relationship with multibillion dollar private for profit health insurance companies. This will reduce donations to the department, thus increasing our taxes.

I greatly respect and appreciate Jason’s service to our community. He volunteers a great deal of his time on our behalf. I wish he understood where I was coming from.

0-05-00 - Department Heads
Ed Hetherington
Tom Ferritti
Bruce Vann
interesting discussion of how to find the lost water main crossing a property at the intersection of Waterburg and Curry Roads. There is an application for a new water service. A pipe runs through the property but they can't find it. (Water witch failed to find it - no really) Bruce found an outfit that offers to attempt to find these things with ground penetrating radar equipment but it costs $1200 a day - no guarantees. Any volunteer witches?

0-53-29 - Tammy Morse informs us,

6/18 - 7pm Elementary School auditorium Ambulance Billing Public Hearing
6/19 - 7pm Elementary School auditorium Byrne Dairy Site Plan Hearing
6/23 - 7pm Village Hall another Byrne Dairy Hearing (zoning interpretation)

0-59-05 Tammy McMillen financial stuff, including moving $2119 that was for street trees into the Main Street Project Fund. This sparked a conversation that included the fact that Bill Chaisson has written a grant proposal for some funds for street trees, that if we get it could do a lot more for us than the $2119. Thanks Bill!

1-19-10 Mayor's report - Marty talked about the progress toward DOT rules that should soon reduce large truck traffic on Rts 89 and 96.

1-23-04 Commissioners, first Chris Thomas on Fire/EMS, and MSP lights should be here within a month. He spoke about the format of Wednesdays EMS hearing. The format seems to be a bit up in the air still, but they agreed that residents of the district should get 3 minutes to make comments and/or ask questions. Marty mentioned that perhaps the volunteers should have more time. This gets shot down. Chris says they are just residents of a fire district in terms of a public hearing. What if we did a straw poll at the end. Ask for a show of hands for in favor of billing, opposed to billing, and then undecided. Tammy says we can't do this. Why not? We are still arguing over how many were in favor of impeachment last September 24th. Chris said he asked NYCOM six different ways to allow a referendum. I wish I could have been on that call. It doesn't make sense. I understand why they would want to discourage frequent referendums on day to day matters, but this is potentially a life and death issue. To add to the irony, they would require a referendum before instituting Thomas's Length of Service Award Program (retirement fund - LOSAP) which is decidedly not life and death. Weird.

2-03-24 - discussion of correspondence - I mentioned that I had sent an email to the board asking what happens to the solids, after they are separated out at our waste water treatment plant - and hadn't gotten an answer. John Hrubos told me that it is put in a dumpster and taken away by Yaws Environmental Lab. So I called them today and learned that it is spread on a farmer's field in Romulus. John said that it used to go up to Seneca Meadows but this is cheaper. Personally, I'd prefer to pay the extra to have it taken to Seneca Meadows. John said it's excellent fertilizer. Yes. It's high in nitrogen and other beneficial nutrients as long as you don't mind the heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals and other toxins. There's a group of concerned citizens near Mecklenburg that have organized to fight the dumping of this crap on fields around them. http://carrcny.org/ Sometimes it gets spread on the fields before a heavy rain and then it gets washed into Trumansburg Creek. Lovely.

2-07-00 John talks about water infrastructure work. Coating a tank on 89, replacing some pumps, and some water main on 96.

2-10-11 request for closing Cayuga St. on 6/28 from Prospect to King for a block party - approved

2-12-32 John talks about a drainage problem on Lake St. that is going to have to be repaired for big bucks eventually.

2-16-00 Farmers Market Agreement

2-23-14 Telephone Building Update. Sounds encouraging. We are moving closer to purchasing the old building for use as a Community Center - thanks to the work of John Vogel, John Ullberg, and Don Schlather.

2-54-12 Zoning Moratorium extension on Auble property which expires on 7/31 They are going to try to extend for another 6 months - to give time to complete zoning ordinance update

We got 2 $1900 celebration grants for the Winter Festival and the Main St Dance - 9/6

The County will be helping us soon with the zoning ordinance update. Mayor and a couple of trustees will be meeting with Ed Marks soon.

3-02-40 Paying Bills

3-08-06 Public Comment period 2. I ask Chris Thomas to clarify the numbers that Jason based his objections to my Free Press article on. He agreed that I wasn't far off when basing my math on 10,000 residents of the Fire District. Tammy Morse said there are about 3500 Tax Parcels in the District - not people.

adjourn

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Town Board Meeting 6/10/08

This was an important meeting. There was a lot of discussion about, and audience support for, the Black Diamond Trail. All of the Board members were present and here's a list of folks that signed the sign in sheet,

Jan Zeserson

Marvin Pritts - Jan and Marvin spoke on behalf of the Black Diamond Trail

Diane Hillman

Roxanne Marino

Paula McGuire

Jim Arey

Lee and Sherry Haifele

Allen, and Laura Carstensen

Dave Shurman

Paul Yonge

Warren Brown

Megan Carey

Tom Prisloe

Fred Bonn

Krys Cail

Tom Myers

Geoffrey Hart

Chris Thomas

Barbara Hotchkiss

Jason and Ethan Fulton

There wasn't quite enough room for everybody. A few people stood out in the hall. Many came to voice support for the Black Diamond Trail.

I spoke briefly on behalf of leaving our terrific Ambulance/ems service just as it is and should be - fully taxpayer funded. Please visit my blog about this - trumansburgambulance.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Town Board Meeting 5/13/08

Dave Kerness

Rod Ferrentino

Doug Austic

Liz Thomas

Marsha Georgia

Village Board Meeting 5/12/08

Friday, May 2, 2008

Trumansburg Village Board Members

Tammy McMillen Treasurer

Tammy Morse Village Clerk

Mayor Marty Petrovic

Trustee John Hrubos

Trustee Debbie Nottke

Trustee Chris Thomas

Trustee Rordan Hart

Village Board Meeting 4/29/08

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting on the morning of Tuesday April 29th below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you. You can also put the file on an Ipod, and listen while taking a walk, or driving or doing the dishes!

AUDIO

At this meeting,

Tom Ferritti - Police Cheif

Jason Fuller - Fire

Ed Hetherington - Building Inspector

Bruce Vann - DPW, Water, and Sewer

Sarah Adams

Don Schlather

John and Martha Ullberg

Alan Vogel

Geoffrey Hart

Amy Drake - Free Press

Allen Carstensen - author of this blog

All Trustees, Clerk, Treasurer and Mayor present.

beginning - chatter until,

0-hrs-3-min-15-sec- Marty calls the meeting to order and opens the first public comment period. This is when I lobby the Board for passage of the resolution which would state that the Board would like to encourage Congress to open an inquiry into the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. I pass out copies of the names of the 171 residents of the Village that have signed a petition asking that the Board to pass the resolution. Since the last meeting I met with Tammy Morse, the Village Clerk, and we found that some twenty names had been omitted. I’ve been going to these meetings since last September, and informing the Board of the most recent, and most egregious crimes, of the Bush administration. My little speeches are always followed by no response whatsoever. So, this time, I mentioned that I intend to e-mail the board on this issue, and that I will post this e-mail and the responses of the members of the board at my Trumansburg Impeachment Blog When I tell them this, Mayor Marty Petrovic says “You can send it to us, it is the Village’s prerogative not to respond, however.”

The Village government is the level of government closest to the people. These representatives are our neighbors. When they run for office, they invariably state that they are accessible, and want to hear from us. To think that they would refuse to respond to my e-mail, asking for an explanation of why they feel that it would be wrong to pass this resolution, after I collected the majority of the 171 signatures from their constituents, is shocking.

John Hrubos says “The thing that’s going to change this for me is 400 more signatures on the petition.” I think this is a cop out. They pass many resolutions without empirical evidence of majority support. This is the essence of representative democracy. We elected him to make these decisions. He is dodging his responsibility. None of the many villages, towns, cities, and counties that have passed similar resolutions have required the signatures of a majority of the municipality. When I went door to door collecting the signatures, most people were not home. It is simply very difficult to get to talk to every potential signatory. Some, that I did talk to, were understandably worried about putting their names on such a list. If there is a legitimate reason for them to worry, and perhaps there is, then this argues in favor of doing everything in our power to seek justice for the criminals in the Bush administration.

I suggested to John, that perhaps we should give those who oppose passage of the resolution, a period of time to collect signatures on a counter petition. He said “No, this is your argument to make” Perhaps he hasn’t read all that I have written at my Trumansburg Impeachment Blog. I have certainly made the argument.

More on this soon, over at trumansburgimpeachment.blogspot.com

0-11-07- Alan Vogel, John Ullberg, and Don Schlather (left to right below) make a proposal to convince the Board to purchase the old Trumansburg Telephone Company Building. Alan made a similar proposal at the last Town Board meeting. Overall, the idea was received much more favorably here.

1-00-24- reports from Department Heads. Ed Hetherington reported on building inspections.
Tom Ferriti reported on police business. He mentioned that he was out of town when the bomb threat was recieved in the middle school, so the State Police became the lead agency. He said that Trumansburg now has the dubious distinction of being one of only two schools in NY that have received a bomb threat, with an actual explosion following the threat. Read more about this over at Finding Ulysses

1-14-30- Clerk’s report, including discussion of the Youth Bureau. Durand Van Doren has asked for permission to use the Village Office parking lot to show movies outside this summer.

1-17-30- Treasurer’s report - there’s been a rash of bad checks lately. There’s a discussion here about the village taking credit cards.

1-27-10- Bruce Vann - DPW, Water, and Sewer. Again, they discuss how water is infiltrating the sewer system and overwhelming the plant. Bruce thinks it’s mainly down spouts improperly dumping into the sewer. He discusses smoke testing.

1-42-0- Chris Thomas says the EMS Task Force will present it’s report at the May 12th meeting. (more on this at the second public comment period) Main Street Project - they pass a resolution to purchase 16 street lights. Some of the blue stones will be engraved this month. There is also some discussion of the brick fields here.

1-58-30- John Hrubos DPW etc. Debbie Nottke - Commissioner of Agencies, Committees and Groups. She’s getting in touch.

2-0-30- Correspondence - The Planning Board request to be the lead agency for the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) . Board passes resolution to that effect.

2-04-28 More discussion about Village use of credit cards

2-07-45 Zoning revision discussion. The Tompkins County Planning Department will probably charge us 5-10 thousand, and work with who? This doesn’t seem to get resolved here.

2-14-10 More discussion of movie nights in the parking lot. The movies will have to have a “G” rating.

2-18-20 Searsburg, and Curry Rd. property sale. Resolved - to survey the properties

2-30-40 Agreement with TCSD for motor vehicle fuel facility sharing discussed

2-33-50 Water infrastructure projects bid opening May 22

2-35-20 Bills

2-41-35 public comment period #2. Martha Ullberg asks about the handling of the Byrne Dairy affair. John clarifies the role of the Zoning Board. Tammy points out that it is in the Planning Board's court until completion of the Site Plan Review. If the Planning Board finds an issue that they feel needs to be considered by the Zoning Board, that’s when they come in. If a special use permit is required, that would be up to the Zoning Board of Appeals. There will be two public hearings. One for the SEQR and one for the Site Plan Review. John says he thinks that petitions are premature because we haven’t given the planning board time to do it’s job. It seems to me that once the board makes a decision, it’s going to be rather late for petitions and citizen action. John says, “If there’s a problem when it’s done deal with it then.” Seems bas akwards to me.

2-53-50 I ask Chris Thomas about the Task Force Report that he mentioned earlier. This is a report that he and some people from the EMS service put together after visiting some neighboring communities that have experience with this privatization of the commons. Apparently these other communities are quite pleased with themselves, after engaging this third party private billing company to send recipients of ambulatory care, large bills which (if the recipients are lucky) will be paid by their private for profit health insurance companies. If the recipients are among the less lucky 47 million Americans, that don’t have health insurance, then the money can come out of their private accounts. Chris Thomas repeatedly denies that this can properly be called privatization. I asked him for a timeline - what will happen after this report? Might he make a resolution to go forward with the privatization? He said “ I’m going to make my report on May 12th, and things will grow organically from there.” He points out that the report will include recommendations. I say, “It’s disturbing to me to think that you might listen to this report, and then move forward without a referendum” Chris says, “I appreciate your concern, my response would be that the Village owns the Fire Department. While a referendum is certainly on the table, it is not required, it is not something that we have to do.” I think Chris is right about this and that is why I’m worried. The Board certainly could move forward with this plan, without undue concern for the will of the majority. I voted for Chris, thinking that he was a progressive Democrat. Perhaps we should have known that he was actually a Libertarian. I reiterate my opposition to this scheme, then Chris tells me “Right now you’re basically operating on no information. Truthfully, you’re operating on no information because you haven’t seen word one of the report.” Apparently, Chris thinks that all information about the privatization of EMS Services, is contained within his report, and that I am ignorant on this subject, because I haven’t seen it. hmm....

2-59-10 Debbie says she has a volunteer that’s willing to be our Village Historian. Karen Dickson, who is also the Town Historian.

3-00-33 motion to adjourn.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Town Board Meeting 4/24/08 8:30 am

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting on the morning of Thursday the 24th below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you. You can also put the file on an Ipod, and listen while taking a walk, or driving or doing the dishes!

AUDIO

Present at the meeting are,
Supervisor Doug Austic
Trustees Liz Thomas, Lucia Tyler, and Dave Kerness
Also, Alan Vogel, Geoffrey Hart, John and Martha Ullberg, and Sue Henninger

0 hrs 0 mins 0 sec --- The first half an hour is all about the budget. It sounds to me like the only person in the room that understands the budget is the book keeper - Doug Austic. Apparently the State requires him to follow certain procedures, and formats, and use specific software. There are A funds, and B funds, and carryovers, double entry and multiple accounts. I don’t envy them this work. It’s difficult for dummies like me to know what the hell he’s talking about. I was pleased that others, especially Liz Thomas, were keeping an eye on it, and asking tough questions. I went to the website then to “Town Offices” then to “document downloads” and the budget aint there. Am I just not able to find it? The village budget is available on their website.

0-31-30 This is interesting. Alan Vogel speaks to the Board and encourages the Town to buy the old Trumansburg Phone Company building which is adjacent to the Town Hall. Doug plays his usual conservative role, and objects because of the liability and cost issues. Alan insists that the costs would be low if he and other volunteers did a lot of the work, and fundraising paid for materials, and asbestos removal. Alan was an important part of building the kids play area in front of the laundromat, and I believe he was also involved in the volunteer effort at the Ulysses Philomathic Library.

I see this as a philosophical conflict. Alan believes in “The Commons” and wants to grow the commons for the benefit of the community. Doug is more the traditional conservative, that wants to maintain the status quo. The discussion goes on quite a while. They both have valid points, but in these liberal vs conservative arguments I always side with JFK -

"If by a "liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "liberal."

just substitute “in Ulysses” for “abroad”

Doug does his best to pull the rug out from under Alan, but Liz sticks up for him. Apparently Alan will pitch the idea to the Village Board next. The Village decided to have a second meeting this month Tuesday 4/29 at 7pm. I don’t know if Alan is on the agenda. This meeting is not on the village website calendar.

1-05-06 They discuss the hiring of a Dog Control Officer other than the SPCA. My regular readers will know, that I think this is a lousy idea - privatization strikes again. They unanimously pass Doug’s resolution to create a position. Among the whereases,

whereas under the agreement with the SPCA, we have the ability to provide the same or better dog control services to the residents by having a town dog control officer contracting with the SPCA, for kennel services ..........

I object to the “same or better” part. I doubt that this fellow from Covert, doing this part time, can offer the same or better service as the full time trained professionals from the SPCA.

Liz wrote "The SPCA offers other valuable services which they will still cover at no cost to the town such as animal cruelty investigations, adoptions, housing lost pets, etc."

When we withdraw our support from the SPCA we essentially ask them to continue this work for free.

I wrote about this issue before the election on March 18th. You can find it below if you are inclined.

1-14-12 Ag Land Protection Plan discussed

1-18-25 Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCOG) is investigating pooling insurance

1-27-10 Liz to be alternate rep to TCOG

1-27-40 Dick Coogan - please come to working sessions

1-29-0 job descriptions , and all town board appointments - please report to the board at least twice a year.

1-37-0 Kris Cail to be Water Resources Council liaison

1-40-0 Liz wants a donut

Tompkins County Area Development Council - should we have a rep? Maybe they could help find someone to use the empty Babcock facilities - thereby boosting our tax base. Doug says they send everybody to the Airport Industrial Park.

1-42-50 Water District Commission

1-46-0 Dave says Anita Fitzpatrick (Tompkins County HR) is willing to review the town’s personnel processes and procedures and policies

1-57-30 Liz asks the board if they would like her to investigate website improvements. Doug downplays the importance of websites, but he and the board basically say - yes.

1-59-10 Liz reports on the last Village meeting

2-01-03 Comp Plan and Rt 96 Corridor Plan

2-02-10 Dave says Tompkins County Planning, and our planning board will have a presentation on Unique Natural Areas (UNAs) June 6th (tuesday) evening at the Town Hall - double check this - I’m not sure I got that right.

Next TB meeting - Tuesday May 13th - next working session May 27th 7pm?

Move to adjourn.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Informing Ulysses, by Liz Thomas

On and off the record, personal notes from Liz Thomas, your Town of Ulysses Representative

Planning for the Future of Ulysses

Several simultaneous efforts are underway in Ulysses to set the stage for expected changes in the future. How does it all fit together?

Comprehensive Planning: Two well-attended workshops provided an opportunity for residents of Ulysses to give direction on how to channel development over the next 20 years. Teams of participants were provided with maps to indicate locations for the most appropriate types of development for the Town. The resulting ten maps were remarkably similar and will feed into an updated draft of the Comprehensive Plan which should be available by June. There are only a few more chances to give your input on this plan, so keep your ears perked for the next opportunity.

Water Needs Committee: For those of you who do not have municipal water, watch for a survey sometime this summer which will help determine the areas with the most pressing water concerns. Results of this survey will help decide where additional municipal water lines are needed.

Planning Board: Our energetic Planning Board will begin to research ways to protect the unique natural areas (UNA) in our town as designated by the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council. Potential benefits include promoting tourism based on UNA attractions, preserving scenic views, and maintaining adequate vegetation on steep slopes to minimize impacts of erosion to Cayuga Lake. The Planning Board also intends to review current Lakeshore development protections and recommend improvements if necessary.

Progress on Municipal Water: The Town Board voted 3 to 1 to withdraw support for the revised Water District 5 proposal and instead employ a cooperative process to design a water district with input from the Town of Ulysses Water Needs Committee, the Town of Ulysses Comprehensive Plan, the Town of Ulysses Planning Board, the Village of Trumansburg, Finger Lakes State Parks, and the Town of Ithaca. You can read the resolution below - posted April 12th.

Dog Control:

Due to insurance woes, the Town ran into a slight snag in plans to hire Chris Austen as the Dog Control Officer. Last year, the SPCA announced a near doubling of its fees for Dog Control amounting to approximately $15,000 for Ulysses. Mr. Austen's fee is $5,500 plus $100 each time a dog is picked up (~17 dogs annually in our town). To cover liability insurance Mr. Austen would need to charge an additional $1500 unless he becomes a Ulysses employee. The SPCA offers other valuable services which they will still cover at no cost to the Town such as animal cruelty investigations, adoptions, housing lost pets, etc. Other Towns in the County are still negotiating with the SPCA and regardless of what the Town of Ulysses does this year, our dog control situation will be reviewed at the end of 2008. To be continued...

Ag and Markets Farmland Protection Grant

New York State Department of Ag and Markets recently awarded a farmland protection grant of $25,000 to the Town. The goal is to prepare a document that states the importance of agriculture and lays out a set of action strategies to preserve and protect agriculture as an industry and way of life in the Town of Ulysses. Based on data collected by Cornell Cooperative Extension in 2001, farming is the most significant economic activity in the town. The planning firm, Bergman and Associates, will facilitate the work and incorporate the findings into the revised Comprehensive Plan.

Ulysses Town Justice:

Tom Schlee has completed training to become our next justice replacing Christine Springer. Thanks Tom, for taking three weekends in a row away from your family to fulfill the justice position requirements.

Route 96 Corridor Study

Plan to attend a public meeting on the Route 96 Corridor Study where preliminary findings, including resident responses from a recent survey will be presented. At this meeting, attendees will have an opportunity to learn more about the planning process, provide comments, and ask questions of the consultant team.

When: 6:30 Wednesday, April 23

Where: PRI (Paleontological Research Institution) 1259 Trumansburg Road

Takin' Care of T-burg

This group was started last year to provide an organized and fun way for community members to gather to do routine maintenance and cleaning in the Main Street area and to also work on some long-range enhancement projects. The first work session will be on Saturday, April 26 from 8-11 meeting at the Kid's Village. No need to commit to the full 3 hours. Next dates: May 10, May 31, June 14, and on into the summer. For more information, contact Karen Powers at 387-4058 kpp419@yahoo.com or Don Schlather 387-4135.

Are You Interested in Becoming a Representative?

The Town has a vacancy on the Water Resources Council, a Coordinating Committee for the Tompkins County Board of Representatives. The WRC addresses subjects such as drinking water supply, roadside ditching practices, and generally provides a countywide approach to water quality monitoring. Let me know if you are interested.

Next Meeting Times and Dates:

The time for the second meeting of April has been changed just for this month.

8:30am Thursday, April 24

7:30pm Tuesday, May 13

Spread the word

This letter goes out to about 180 residents of the Town of Ulysses and Village of Trumansburg. Please forward this to others who might have an interest in this information. I'm always glad to add to the list.

Here's to Ulysses!

Liz Thomas

Liz.graeper.thomas@gmail.com

387-8170

For more official and unofficial information:

Where opinions are expressed, they are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the understanding or attitude of the entire Board. Approved minutes of the Town can be found at: http://www.ulysses.ny.us/town-offices.html. You can hear recordings of meetings on the Ulysses Democrats website at http://ulyssesdemocrats.blogspot.com/ thanks to Allen Carstensen.

I encourage you to take a look at Finding Ulysses which provides all kinds of useful and interesting information about happenings in the Town. See it at http://www.findingulysses.com/ thanks to Jonathan Cook.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Village Board Meeting 4/14/08

Here's a link to the AUDIO

(see post below from 3/5/08 for technical info on how best to listen to the audio file)

Present at this meeting, in addition to the trustees, clerk, treasurer, and mayor who were all present were,
Robert Brown
David and Susan Means
Allen Carstensen
Liz Thomas
Geoffrey Hart
Vanessa Willard
Amy Drake
Jerry VanOrden

The first few minutes is just chatter.

6m40s call to order

7m15s first public comment period. This is where I, Allen Carstensen, read my monthly comment on the continuing insanity in Iraq, and the illegality of the Bush administration. I reassert that we want the Board to pass our resolution, and I ask for an update on the thinking of the Board members. I am ignored. They move on to more pressing issues, such as wether or not we should have a fire whistle. I will post the text of my comment over at trumansburgimpeachment.blogspot.com

10m31s Robert Brown's questions about fire whistles and blue-stones

17m20s organizational affairs - this is the first meeting after the election.
Hrubos - commissioner of water, sewer, dpw, and he is the deputy mayor
Hart - police commissioner
Thomas - fire, ambulance, ems commissioner
Nottke - this is her first meeting. She replaces Filiberto who was the youth commissioner. Mayor Petrovic has greatly expanded this commission, to include not only youth, but chamber of commerce, library, historical society, farmers market, winter festival, and senior organizations. She's going to have to go to a lot of meetings.

22m20s official designations, meeting dates and times, voting, minutes, etc.

36m5s slate of officers

41m51s general budgetary public comment period

49m30s water and sewer budget. there is some discussion here about the income from our water system. When the village annexed the Auble trailer park, we stopped charging 1.5x the normal rate. I asked what other 1.5x customers we have, and Hrubos answered - several residences, the gulf course, ShurSave, the fairgrounds, the American Legion etc. Amy Drake was at this meeting and wrote about it in the Free Press. She gives the impression that we lost all of our outside income. It's a little confusing - I don't know what percentage we lost when we annexed the Auble property.
The water rates will go up as of the August billing from 29.75/first 1000gals to 31.50/first 1000gals - for village residents (1.5x for outside customers)

56m20s sewer budget, stream watchers, discussion of sewer problems. Hrubos points out that our sewer system is dumping to much e coli into the river at times of heavy rainfall. This is likely because a lot of people plumb their sump pump discharge into the sewer instead of the storm sewer, or out onto the ground. This sends far too much water to the Lake Street Sewage Treatment Plant, and it is overwhelmed and can not properly treat the increased volume. If you, dear reader, know anyone that has a sump pump that is plumbed this way, and or has gutters plumbed this way - please alert them to the fact that they are responsible for polluting Cayuga Lake. (They are also in violation of the sanitary code) Jerry VanOrden, from Stream Watchers - affiliated with The Community Science Institute - was at this meeting and he reported that when they tested the discharge from the plant in January and February, the bacteria count was way too high.

1h5m20s water infrastructure improvements. Amy Drake did a good job on reporting this aspect of the meeting in the Free Press, but the editor titled her report "Village to Begin Water Infrastructure Work" . Odd. She reported on the whole meeting. I almost didn't bother to read it because the title is boring. Bill does this a lot. Maybe he ought to let his reporters write their own headlines. Anyhow, work will soon begin to replace some old water main on RT96, and Hunt Engineers is supposed to re-coat a tank on RT89, and replace some booster pumps.

1h11m0s passed the budget unanimously.

1h15m50s the village is probably going to soon sell 4 parcels of land that it owns. There will probably be somewhere around $50,000 income. There was some discussion here about what to do with this money. Chris Thomas mentioned Main St. Project completion. Hrubos mentioned buying a tiny little house on Salo Dr. adjacent to the DPW, for a youth facility. I would prefer that the village purchase the small lot next to the waterfall on the creek in back of the NAPA parking lot. This is on the market for $40,000. It would make a lovely little park. It is adjacent to the Carver's house on Congress. Frank Carver died early this year. He worked for peace his whole life. How about "The Frank Carver Memorial Peace Park" ? There is plenty of room for some picnic tables and benches here. The village owns the driveway down to the Carver's house, so a path could branch off of it down to the park. The creek is an underutilized asset to the village. If anyone agrees with me, I think now is a good time to make your opinion known.

1h23m47s much discussion about parking in front of the Town Hall.

1h30m50s pay some bills

1h37m30s Bill Chaisson has volunteered to write a grant application for street trees.

1h39m20s Gimme Coffee orange cone debacle

1h41m35s Safe Routes to School grant application. Chris Thomas says that chances don't look good. Maybe next year.

1h44m4s Public comment period 2. David Means on selling village property. Yours truly on the Frank Carver Memorial Peace Park.

1h50m50s Robert Brown asks what the new tax rate is - it's going from 5.28/1000 to 6.25/1000

1h52m40s Liz Thomas town update. Yours truly complains about the town's hiring a dog control officer other than the SPCA. Our SPCA does a lot of good work. More than just dog control (for which they are probably better trained and better insured and more likely available at any time) They also have an animal cruelty investigator for which they do not charge. I think it is a mistake to withdraw our support. This will come up again at the end of the year, and we could pressure the town to sign up with the SPCA again.

1h58m50s They decide to have a second meeting this month Tuesday 4/29 at 7pm.

2h1m30s Hrubos on the water main extension moratorium. He mentions that the City of Ithaca is also in violation, yet they are not under a moratorium. Odd.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Lucia Tyler's Water District Resolution

Here is the resolution that was passed at the Tuesday 4/8/08 Town Board meeting.

Voting,

Dave Kerness - aye
Liz Thomas ----aye
Lucia Tyler ---aye
Doug Austic ---nay

The democratic process is alive and well in Ulysses, if not in Washington.

I went to the Comprehensive Plan Workshop Saturday at the High School. Bergman Associates had four planners there. About 25 residents came. We broke into small groups around big maps of Ulysses spread out on tables, and everybody got a chance for input. I was impressed with their process, and I'm hopeful that if the Town Board places a high value on this work and if it informs the revision of the zoning ordinances, then we are headed in the right direction. Liz Thomas and Lucia Tyler attended the workshop. (no sign of the Supervisor)

Resolution Introducing Water District 6

Whereas the Town of Ulysses was notified on January 7, 2008 that the New York State Department of Health and the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) had reconsidered their position and allowed the Town of Ulysses additional time to submit a completed application and package for the Water District 5 project (WD-5) and would allow changes in the scope and service area of this project while retaining the current financing offer (DWSRF project #17468); and,

Whereas WD-5 alternative plans and cost estimates, as presented by Eric Pond of Barton and Loguidice on February 21, 2008 were produced on a short time table; and

Whereas there is insufficient time for adequate review of WD-5 Alternative C with revisions (revised WD-5 Alt. C) by elected officials and citizens nor enough time to meet the required legal application process, environmental review, and inter-municipal agreements needed by March 24, 2008; and

Whereas (revised WD-5 Alt. C) as presented on February 28, 2008 is significantly more costly than the original WD-5, since it is geographically more extensive, and the total estimated cost of $9.87 million is extremely close to the $10 million cap required to retain zero percent interest financing from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF); and

Whereas consideration of any alternate district is premature at this time due to the lack of a town wide water needs survey; and

Whereas the quantity of water that can be provided to the Town of Ulysses from Bolton Point through the Town of Ithaca infrastructure without improvements does not meet the total requirements of WD-3, revised WD-5 Alt. C, and the Village of Trumansburg second source; and

Whereas the revised WD-5 Alt. C is not in accord with growth patterns encouraged by our current zoning; and

Whereas revised WD-5 Alt. C impacts an identified Unique Natural Area and environmentally fragile lands west of New York State Route 89 not having proper conservation protections in place; and

Whereas revised WD-5 Alt. C cannot take into consideration the Comprehensive Plan initiative under progress, which is based on broad citizen input and scheduled for completion by October 2008.

Therefore be it hereby resolved that Water District 5 Alternative C with revisions be removed from consideration in favor of a cooperative effort using the inputs from the newly formed Town of Ulysses Water Needs Committee, the Town of Ulysses Comprehensive Planning Committee, the Town of Ulysses Planning Board, the Village of Trumansburg, Finger Lakes State Parks, and the Town of Ithaca to look at alternative water solutions and to design more mutually agreeable, fundable water project hereafter to be known as Water District 6.

Further be it resolved that EFC and DOH be sent a letter that we will not be following through with DWSRF project #17468 and that we will be targeting submitting a new IUP by 2009.

Finally be it resolved that the estimated timeline for completion of a project plan and submission to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and other applicable funding sources is no later than October 2010 (see attachment for detailed schedule).

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Town Board Meeting 4/8/08

You can listen to the meeting by going to (THIS LINK)

(see post below from 3/5/08 for technical info)

***** The recording starts before the meeting has officially started. Liz Thomas, Marcia Georgia, and Allen Carstensen, are chatting about the possibility of getting these mp3's up on the Village and Town websites.

9 minutes 15 seconds -- they're talking about various bills to pay

11 m 30 s -- pledge of allegiance, accept minutes of 3/11 meeting

17 m 40 s -- planning board representatives, Rebecca Schneider and Ken Zeserson talked about Unique Natural Areas (UNA's)

21 m 15 s -- Dave Kerness resolution asking planning board to focus on water districts, and UNA's, and conservation zoning, lake front zoning, alternative energy, residential and commercial zoning, in preparation for the adoption of a completed Comprehensive Plan, and subsequent zoning revisions

23 m 40 s -- Diane Hillman - Jacksonville Association

37m 10s - recreation partnership discussion with Roxanne Marino

41 m 0 s -- DPW - Jim Meeker talks about the possibility of the Town buying a parcel adjacent to the Town Barn.

48 m 30s -- Code enforcement - Dick Coogan - Grassroots camping on Agard Rd. is technically a zoning violation. No conclusion reached.

55 m 40 s -- Town Clerk financial

56 m 10 s -- Lucia Tyler reports that Tom Schlee and Michele have worked out a schedule for Night Court

57 m 20 s -- Dave Kerness on bulk mailing

1h 3m 40s -- budget problems - The supervisor's budget is off by $300,000! Hopefully this is just an easily corrected error.

lh 7m 30s -- Dick Coogan? UNA's, and Storm Water Annual Report

1h 12m 35s -- Dick on the web page - stay with John Levine or go to Road Runner - $130/month extra I think he said but that sounds wrong - probably 130 extra per year. town business should be done on servers paid for by the town and should be backed up.

1h 20m 40s -- Rt. 96 corridor? April 23rd at PRI 6:30 public meeting. Fly over - cost us $15,000 - attempt to locate failed septic systems. Apparently we got a lot of false positives.

1h 25m 50s -- Dog control officer - should he be an employee of the town, or a contractor? No conclusion

1h 42m 20s -- Lucia Tyler reads her resolution to nix WD5 alt C, and do it right, giving the Water Commission time to do it's work, and wait for the completion of the Comprehensive Plan, and zoning revisions. Vote,
Dave Kerness - aye
Liz Thomas ----aye
Lucia Tyler ---aye
Doug Austic ---nay
Heated discussion follows when Dave asks Doug to explain his vote.

1h 50m 56s -- Apparently the discussion here is wether or not to include a "Farm Protection Plan" as part of the Comprehensive Plan - Much confusion follows about how much this would cost.

2h 6m 10s -- schedule change - the next working Town Board meeting will be 4/24/08 at 8:30 am instead of 7 pm. Dave's bringing the donuts!

2h 8m 0s -- back to Dave's issue (resolution?) to ask for planning board work. Dave and Doug have very different concepts about how this should proceed.

at the very end of the recording - my battery dies - Doug asks for comments and Roxanne begins to say something about the WD resolution - perhaps she will send me her thoughts so I can post them here.

(4/19/08) Roxanne feels that May 2009 as a target date for submitting a new plan for a water district is too soon to let the processes of the water survey and water needs committee analyses, consideration of a new Comp Plan (presuming one is adopted in the late fall to early winter of 2008), etc. fully be incorporated into a new water district proposal.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Town Board Meeting 3/27/08

You can listen to or download an audio file of the meeting,

here

(see post below from 3/5/08 for technical info)

* it begins with a discussion of the new contract with Chris Austen (from Covert) to replace the SPCA as the town's dog control officer. I feel this is a mistake. I feel that the town should continue to use the SPCA for this.

6:30 - they revisit the illegal closure of the last meeting on 3/11/08 when the pro wd5 forces left in a huff after their resolution was tabled

8:15 - they discuss expanding high speed internet access. They are apparently unclear about the
differences between dsl and fiber optics and cable

15:30 Sue Poelvorde joins discussion about upcoming public Comp Plan meetings and how to best get the word out.

24:00 Tom Schlee - new Town Justice who is replacing the late Christine Springer discusses the need for a court clerk.

50:00 amusing discussion - who the hell works for this town? what the hell are they doing? why the hell don't we know?

1:00 Lucia Tyler discusses the new resolution for wd6
1:14 Lucia reads the resolution, then they discuss Unique Natural Areas, and can the planning board do some groundwork now, to prepare for new zoning laws, once the Comp Plan is finished?

1:31 Doug Austic quote about wd5 - "I'm not going to be in favor of moving ahead before the Comprehensive Plan" (You heard it hear first, folks) This is good news. Those of us who prefer not to be rushed into 10 - 15 million dollar infrastructure projects without proper study should participate in the upcoming Comp Plan public meetings Thursday, April 10th 6:30 p.m. - Franziska Racker Center cafeteria, 3226 Wilkins Rd
Saturday, April 12th 9:00 a.m. – Trumansburg High School cafeteria, Whig St

Thomas, Howarth, Carstensen, and Filiberto's writings on wd5 can be found on this blog below

they discuss the timing, and the process of drafting changes to the zoning laws

1:44 Village sidewalks grant application - the village requested a letter of support from the town. Rod Ferrintino blows hot and cold. Doesn't look good for getting the letter. Individuals who want to support this grant application can send letters to clerk@trumansburg-ny.gov Apparently, some on the Town Board feel that the Village was irresponsible for spending too much on the Main Street Project, and don't want to encourage further irresponsible behavior. (hmm...... brings to mind irresponsible water infra....... oh, never mind)

Liz Thomas recorded this meeting for me with my recorder, I was not there. Thank you Liz. I hope that someone on the Village Board will record their proceedings when I am not there, so that we maintain the accessibility and transparency provided here. This should be done by the Town and the Village, and posted on their websites, but for now, all are welcome to get it here.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Informing Ulysses, by Liz Thomas

Informing Ulysses
March 11, 2008

On and off the record, from Liz Thomas, your Town of Ulysses Representative

The root of this information: When elected, one of my goals was to make sure official Town Board activities are open and available to residents who may be impacted by Board decisions. In this spirit, I hope to provide periodic short synopses of main topics of interest. These are my own personal notes, derived from the official (although not yet approved) town minutes and my own scribbles and understandings of activities at the Ulysses Town Board. Where opinions are expressed, they are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the understanding or attitude of the entire Board. Approved minutes of the Town can be found at http://www.ulysses.ny.us/town-offices.html. There are also several blogs that provide useful and interesting information about happenings in the Town of Ulysses and Village of Trumansburg. I encourage you to take a look at Finding Ulysses http://www.findingulysses.com/, and the newly created Ulysses Democrats at http://ulyssesdemocrats.blogspot.com/.

Comprehensive Planning:
Do you want to help shape the future of the Town of Ulysses? The Comprehensive Planning Committee established two dates for the public to give input into this important plan. Mark your calendar to participate and have your voice heard:
Thursday, April 10th 6:30 p.m. - Franziska Racker Center cafeteria, 3226 Wilkins Rd
Saturday, April 12th 9:00 a.m. – Trumansburg High School cafeteria, Whig St

Dog Control:
The Town appointed Chris Austen from the Town of Covert as Dog Control Officer to pick up stray dogs and transport them to the SPCA. The SPCA, Mr. Austen, and the Town Board believe this will be a more cost effective means to provide dog control. The new plan will be in effect for the rest of this year and will be reviewed at the end of 2008.

Ulysses Town Justice:
Three well-qualified candidates stepped forward offering to fill the remainder of Christine Springer’s term. Tom Schlee was appointed to fill the position and plans to hold court in the evenings to complement the day court now held by Roger Rector. See page 15 of the Town minutes.

Miniature Golf:
Mike and Melinda Cirri will move ahead after being granted approval to create a family entertainment business on Route 96 between Halseyville and Cold Springs Roads. The first phase of development involves building a miniature golf course followed by a batting cage and electric go-cart track.

Official meeting times and dates:
The regular Town Board meeting is the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30. In response to requests to hold evening meetings, the second Town Board meeting of the month has been re-scheduled to the fourth Thursday of the month from 7:00 to 9:00pm.

Progress on Providing Municipal Water:
The “Town of Ulysses Water Needs Committee” has been formed, and is in the process of creating a town-wide survey to help determine which areas of the town have the most pressing water issues. At the March 11 regular Town Board meeting, Rod Ferrentino presented a resolution to proceed with a greatly modified version of the original Water District 5, which now, due to the loss of Auble’s Mobile Home Park, must run nearly 25 miles and is extended to include Route 89 from Taughannock Park to the Town of Ithaca. Mr. Ferrentino’s resolution was tabled (see page 15 of the official town notes). Lucia Tyler intended to introduce a resolution to provide municipal water to residents through a process that includes considering the results of the Water Needs Committee, the updated Comprehensive Plan, and agreement with the Town of Ithaca, Taughannock Park, and the Village of Trumansburg, but due to Supervisor Austic’s enforcement of the rule that resolutions must be presented to the entire board six days prior to the official meeting date, Lucia’s resolution was not allowed to be presented. The resolution to appoint the dog control officer was created at the meeting, not six days in advance.

Bizarre Adjournment:
It seems likely that the Town Board illegally adjourned the March 11 meeting, since the motion to adjourn made by Doug Austic, and seconded by Rod Ferrentino, was never voted on. After hearing the second to his motion to adjourn, Supervisor Austic, along with Trustee Ferrentino and clerk Marcia Georgia left the premises. While it is true that a motion to adjourn is not debatable, it does require a majority vote of the Town Board. To be continued!

Let’s hear your thoughts:
If you have questions or comments about Town business, please feel free to contact me at Liz.Graeper.Thomas@gmail.com or call me at 387-8170. And if you’d rather not hear the scintillating tales from the Town, just say the word and I’ll remove you from this list.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Back to Democracy Peace March in Trumansburg

We gathered in front of the schools and marched down to the peoples park across from the post office to commemorate the end of the fifth year of our illegal occupation of Iraq. We dedicated our march to the memory of Frank Carver, who passed March 4th after many years of working for peace and justice.

You can see all of the pictures here.

Ithaca Journal Saturday 3/15 - "T-burg, Ulysses continue water fight"

The Ithaca Journal printed a piece "T-burg, Ulysses continue water fight" Saturday morning. It's a disappointing piece of journalism. The headline makes it sound as if the village is fighting the town, which is not the case. The conflict is between those that want to rush ahead with ill conceived plans, and those who resist.

Then there is this,

"Carstensen said he's not in favor or strongly opposed to water district five, and said he thinks it's a decision to be made by the planing board and the zoning board."

They got this totally wrong. I am strongly opposed to water district five - as presently described (25 miles of pipe and 10 - 15 million dollars) I did not say that it is a decision for the planning and zoning boards. The author is confusing what I said about the Byrne Dairy project (where I can see both sides) with what I said about wd5.

The author also failed to mention a critical piece of information, which I feel voters need, in-order to make their decision. Back to Democracy, a local group of grassroots volunteers, held a candidate forum last Saturday. Debbie Nottke refused to attend, saying that BTD was a "political advocacy group". BTD advocates for participatory democracy, with the aims of peace, social justice, sustainability, and liberation from corporate control. They do not advocate for one political party over another. I asked for their endorsement, and they refused, in-order to maintain this neutral status. This is the third candidate forum that BTD has hosted between candidates for Trumansburg and Ulysses offices. This is a valuable service to the community, and I hope that all candidates will participate in the future.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Letter to the editor of the Trumansburg Free Press by Jules Burgevin

Below, is a letter submitted to the editor of the Trumansburg Free Press by Jules Burgevin, more than two weeks ago. The editor printed 3 letters in support of my opponent, Debbie Nottke, why did he not print this one?

Dear Friends:

We don't want to lose our sense of villageness. The sense of community. The sense of being able to bond in friendship with our neighbors. We really want to keep the integrity, the beauty, the uniqueness that exists in this lovely village of Trumansburg.

We want to be able to treasure and protect and keep in balanced harmony what was passed to us and what we will pass to the next generation coming into this village: the green spaces, the Smith woods, the creek, the pathways, the open Natural spaces that are inside and around where we live. Trying to preserve and enjoy what we have.

My sense is that Allen Carstensen has a keen political awareness of what is going on in this village, and has a profound interest and knowledge of how village government works. He is responsive and responsible and experienced. And he has a determination --- he displays a genuine zeal --- in his efforts to have us focus on the issues of the environment, and other matters of village concern for all of us.

The heart of this village now --- is the beautiful library. In a way, it is the center. And in the new village library is a reading room. Open, with a gas burning fire place. And all the intricate red oak trimmed woodwork was done by Allen Carstensen, as part of the volunteer building effort. Solid. Beautiful. Carefully made. Strong.

In these times we really need Democrats in offices where we know we can depend on them because of their experience in crafting a solid, dependable future for all of us.

Most Sincerely, Jules Burgevin 387-6253

This is my part of the volunteer building effort at the Ulysses Philomathic Library, that Jules refers to above.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Town Board 3/11/08 sound file

I wasn't at this meeting.
I'll post some comments later.
Again, the sound quality is better if you download it to your computer and listen with a program that will allow you to boost the treble and cut the bass.
Here's the link.

3:50 Sue - comprehensive plan update

6:40 Chris Austin - potential dog control officer

23:00 Jim Dennis - County Legislature update

28:00 question for Sue about Ag District Survey

highway dept. report

39:40 Marsha Georgia treasury

44:00 Rt.96 corridor update - fly over - planning -

46:00 Motion to hire Chris Austin - passed by all

47:40 Shall we get a second justice - Liz Thomas resolution

Austic "I really don't think we need a second justice now"

54:00 Passed a motion about second justice

I need clarification here

54:57 Share Municipal Services Grant to study sharing services between

Ulysses, Caroline, and Newfield (storm water runoff)

59:50 Motion to accept SEQR

1:09 motion for new time for town meetings

clarification please

1:10 discussion about handing over road maintenance of annexed property

on west seneca, the town wants clarification from the village.

Chris Thomas is on it.

1:20 ?????? papers are passed out - proposed changes to - ??????

1:25:30 Resolution - Michael and Melissa Series? is this the minigolf project

passed by all

1:33:30 I think what's happening here is Lucia, Dave, and Liz try to bring a resolution

forward and Doug and Rod, kill it on the basis of it not having been submitted

in writing 6 days prior to the meeting.

1:34:00 Rod Ferintino reads a resolution to go forward with Map, Plan, and Report.

Doug Austic seconds

Dave Kerness moves to table the resolution. He gets a second. It's tabled

Doug moves to adjourn, and it sounds like he then leaves

Liz, asks for a public comment period ?????

Roxanne objects to the way proceedures are followed.

1:39:50 Shall we read the resolution in spite of members walking out?

Lucia reads the resolution.

Can I post the text?

The jist of it, is to not consider wd5 or MPR in such a rush.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Village Board Meeting 3/10 Sound File

Sound from meeting here.
0-4:50 roll call, public comment period
4:50-10:00 Carstensen and Hrubos on wd5
10:00-15:00 Filiberto on carbon tax, reports from dept. heads
15:00-22:00 Police report
22:00 treasurer and clerk
24:00 Chris Thomas on sidewalks
29:45 Jim Dennis - County Legislature report
33:10 Chris Thomas on EMS
38:50 Marty Petrovic on old business
45:50 Carstensen and Hrubos on wd5
51:00 Jim Dennis on wd5
56:00 Bob Brown on wd5
The Town Board meets tomorrow night. There might be resolutions brought forth about wd5
(read the technical stuff in the previous post.)

Friday, March 7, 2008

3/5/08 Budget Meeting Sound File

As an experiment, I recorded most of the last budget meeting with an Ipod + microphone. I turned that into a compressed mp3 file and uploaded it to my website. You can listen to it here.
Depending on your browser, there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. In the future (if elected) I intend to post these files along with a few notes that refer you to points on the timeline where I will tell you who is speaking, and perhaps comment on what was being said. The sound quality isn't great, but I can actually make out some of the conversation better than I could during the live version (perhaps because my hearing isn't great, and perhaps because I can adjust the sound with the equalizer and volume controls) I would like to offer sound files that are crisp and clear. If anyone has expertise in this and can offer advice, please contact me.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Bio and Position Paper

I’m Allen Carstensen, the Democratic candidate for the trustee spot on the Village Board. I was born in Philadelphia in ‘52, moved to Maryland, then Rochester in 1960 where my father was a professor of biophysics at the University of Rochester. I graduated high school in 1970 and spent 2 years studying photography at Ohio University, but I was drawn to a career in building. I built my parents a vacation home on Kueka Lake, and have been in the building trades ever since. My wife and I bought an old church in Enfield, in 1984 which now serves as my cabinet shop. My wife, our 3 children and I moved here from Enfield, in 1996, and bought an old house on Strowbridge St. My wife, Christine, is an Architect at Cornell, and she designed, and I built a 2 story addition to the house, and I'm still trying to find the time and money to renovate the rest of it. Chris also designed, and I built, the fireplace at the Ulysses Philomathic Library as part of the volunteer building effort, a few years ago.

I managed a crew of carpenters building houses, additions and remodeling from 1985 - 1995. Since Chris began full time at Cornell I have been working alone, so that I have more flexibility to help with the kids and the house.

My family and I moved here from Enfield because we loved the feeling of villageness in Tremendousburg. I want to work with the board to maintain that feeling. We have excellent schools, a skilled volunteer Fire Department, a friendly police force, a dedicated ambulance/ems service, beautiful, historic architecture and a fabulous new library. We need progressive Democrats on the Village Board in-order to safeguard the aspects of Trumansburg that we cherish as we move forward and face the challenges ahead.

I was invited to join the steering committee of Back to Democracy, and I was instrumental in bringing Les Roberts, and Eric Massa, to Trumansburg to address gatherings of our group. Back to Democracy is a group of progressive grassroots volunteers who promote participatory democracy, with the aims of peace, social justice, sustainability, and liberation from corporate control. I have attended every village board meeting since last summer, because I have become concerned about some of the issues before the board.

I have also been a member of New Yorkers for Verified Voting (Bo Lipari executive director) We have had considerable success, in recent weeks, in our struggle for secure, reliable, and verifiable voting systems.

I was dismayed to hear that the Village Board was investigating the possibility of partially privatizing our ambulance and ems service. What we have now, is a fully taxpayer funded ambulance/ems which is as it should be. All health care and emergency services in our country should be taxpayer funded. We have taxpayer funded police and fire departments, and every industrialized country in the world except ours, has moved to some form of taxpayer funded health care while we in this village, are considering a move in the opposite direction. When your house is on fire, or you need the police, our fire department and police department are focused completely on helping you. They are not worrying about the bottom line, they are worrying about how best to put out the fire. Polls show that a strong majority of the country is in favor of universal single payer health care. We have a portion of that right here, and now, but the board is
considering hiring a private, for profit billing service to bill the recipients, and their private for profit health insurance companies. Movements in Washington are gaining strength that may result in major reforms to our crazy system of health care. Let's stand on principle and resist the temptation to collect money from corporations that care much more about their bottom line than the health of their customers. The board is looking at this, in an attempt to save taxpayer money, which should always be high on their priorities, but taxes are the the entrance fee to a civilized society. The tax dollars that we spend to support our excellent ambulance service, are well spent. I would prefer to save money by taking a hard look at, say for instance, overly expensive water infrastructure projects.

The Town Board is considering privatizing our dogcatcher. The Tompkins County SPCA was the first no-kill shelter in the country. They are a quasi governmental agency that bills most of the towns in our area for dog control. They had a manager that, while he did a great job in many ways, apparently didn't watch the books closely enough, and didn't bill enough to keep the operation afloat. They now have a new manager, and she has doubled their rates, which would bring them inline with national averages. Many of the towns have balked and are considering switching to private, for profit dogcatchers without the sterling credentials of the SPCA. There is a potential savings of less than $5/household here. I think that we as residents of the town and the members of the Village Board, should ask the Town Board to continue our relationship with the SPCA.

I've read everything I can find about Water District 5 . This is a complicated issue and it's difficult to find complete information on all the aspects of it, but it seems clear that the process could have been more open. One of the arguments made by proponents of WD5 is that it is necessary because the well water at Taughannock Park has been condemned by the DOH. It hasn't actually been condemned but the DOH did report that the well was "under the influence of ground water". Dr. Robert Howarth, a geobiochemist and an aquatic systems scientist at Cornell, has concluded that there is no imminent public health threat to any user of the Park's water system. I could be in favor of a inter-municipal water project, if it was developed openly with close cooperation between all parties involved, with everyone informed every step along the way. The Town Board has been called into special sessions twice in the last two weeks, because the Supervisor feels an urgent need to move forward with his plans. The majority of the current Village Board members have wisely taken a cautious and skeptical view of WD5, as it was last described. I would like to join them in searching for a better solution to the problem caused by the Department of Health putting a moratorium on extending our pipelines to new construction.

When I first became curious about our local government, I found it very difficult to find information about what was going on. The Clerk posts the minutes online, usually late, and they only consist of the agenda and the votes on various resolutions, none of the discussions. I've asked for audio CD's of meetings but they won't play. The Free Press usually has a reporter there, but they don't seem to write about the things that I have found interesting, since I've been attending. If elected I will try to have improvements made to the website, and I will begin a blog where I will report from a progressive perspective, what I consider important at the meetings, and I will invite all members of the Town and Village boards (past and present) to participate.

I have recently read the newest version of the Comprehensive Plan. We owe many thanks to the great work of David Filiberto, everyone on the committee and the Tompkins County Planning Department. The plan was adopted by the board at the February meeting. Now we are able to move forward with updating the Zoning Laws, which have not been updated since 1971. David has recommended several firms that could do this work quickly and efficiently. I look forward to seeing this done so that the village might have more to say the next time some one wants to build an ugly Movie Gallery next to an ugly Dollar Store on Main Street.

I was instrumental in getting the Village Board to hold a special meeting last September, to consider passage of a resolution to encourage our representatives in Washington and Albany to hold hearings into the impeachable offenses of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. We didn’t get the resolution passed, but I feel that it was successful in that we had the largest turnout for a Village meeting ever, and that these issues should be discussed more than they are. It cost the village virtually nothing. I realize that local issues must take priority over national issues and I want to alleviate any fears that if elected I would tie up the board with constant arguing for passage of the resolution.

You are invited to a Candidate Forum sponsored by Back To Democracy (backtodemocracy.org) at the Village Hall at 10 am Saturday March 8th. Marty Petrovic and I will speak and answer your questions. My opponent, Debbie Nottke has refused to participate.

My cell phone number is 273-2186
My e-mail address is whwoods@lightlink.com
Please feel free to contact me.

Thank You,
Allen Carstensen

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Thursday 2/28 Village Board Meeting - WD5

Last Thursday 2/28/08, the Village Board held a special meeting to discuss, inform, and vote, on WD5. I have been, until now, in agreement with the Board, in that they have resisted pressure from the Town Supervisor to cooperate and support his ill conceived plans. I am disappointed that they have now passed a resolution which states that the Village is willing to pay $500,000 for any connection to any pipe that can provide 250,000 gallons of water per day to the village. Lucia Tyler (Town Council person) was present and stated that she had a letter from the Town of Ithaca that essentially says that this amount of water from Bolton Point is impossible at this time. The vote on this resolution was unanimous, but David Filiberto was not present. The Village Board's position is now proactive. They have reservations about WD5, but they claim that their resolution is not tied to any infrastructure project in particular. This seems odd. We are not operating in a vacuum here. We know who's system we are discussing, and we know that there are many drawbacks.

David Filiberto (the Village Trustee for whose spot I am a candidate) wrote a letter prior to the meeting and sent it to the Board and Finding Ulysses. Someone should have read it at the meeting. Here it is,

After review of the newly proposed WD5 which plans to lay 25 miles of water infrastructure around the Village of Trumansburg and up Route 89, similar concerns exist as with the previous incarnation of the plan: there has been little regard to the impact such a project would have on the Village, Town and surrounding environs notably Cayuga Lake, Trumansburg Creek, agriculture districts, now and into the future.
In any large public development project all relevant costs and benefits should be ascertained in order to decide if a project is feasible and beneficial.
Points that have not been adequately considered now or previously include:
The estimated capital cost has risen from $4.9 million to $9.8 million according to the engineering firm Barton and Loguidice. The Ithaca Journal has quoted the Town of Ulysses Supervisor placing the cost at $14 million. The annual estimated cost borne by an EDU (a user in the district) has risen from $570 to $613. The estimated contribution from the Village for this plan has risen from $330,000 to $500,000. If these numbers are accurate, how can municipal officials expect residents in the proposed water district to afford such an increase and why would the Village which rejected the previous plan pay more for this plan?

As importantly the long term economic and environmental impacts from such a development project have yet to be ascertained. The newly proposed project runs through agricultural lands to the north and west, runs by a unique natural area (Taughannock Creek) and runs up Route 89 a potentially desirable place to develop housing because of the proximity to Cayuga Lake and its view shed. What impact will an increase in housing, commercial farming and other business lured by water infrastructure have on the area? If developed appropriately the impact would be positive, haphazardly potentially disastrous.
This new plan requires support from the Village of Trumansburg and from Taughannock State Park. The Village would only get an emergency source of water from this plan, not the desirable second source it seeks, and depending on who is the judge, is mandated to have. Furthermore, an independent study by Dr. Robert Howarth of the situation at Taughannock State Park finds that the influence of groundwater contamination is most likely due to a local source (proximity of park rest rooms to well) rather than from its shallow well near the lake.
The Village has just passed a Comprehensive Plan which advocates careful and thoughtful planning for the Village. The Town of Ulysses has a Comprehensive Plan Committee hard at work considering the best options for future growth in the Town. Recently the Town appointed a new Water Committee to take a closer look at future water needs and options. In spite of this the Village is asked to lend its support for this newly proposed project. Support from the Village for this project at this time would not only discredit and de-legitimize these efforts it would go against the will of previous decisions voted by each Board not to pursue a similar plan. Unfortunately, I cannot attend the February 28th meeting in person but I encourage the Village Board and residents of the Town and Village to reaffirm previous votes and reject support for this project or any incarnation of it until the necessary costs and benefits are ascertained correctly.
David Filiberto, Village of Trumansburg Trustee

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Liz Thomas Writes about WD5

(Liz Thomas is a Ulysses Town Council-person)

Pros and Cons of Public Water in Ulysses

Recently the New York State Department of Health notified the Town of Ulysses of the potential for the proposed Water District 5 to move ahead with 0% interest loan funding despite the removal of Auble’s Mobile Home Park from the plan. However, in order for this to happen, the town needs to find an equivalent number of new water users to meet the annual target cost per user of $613. Going above this number would disqualify the project for 0% interest funding. To meet this goal, Eric Pond from the engineering firm of Barton and Loguidice, proposed a reconfiguration of the system (see map below). The only alternative provided that fits the $613 target cost encompasses large areas of land zoned for the lowest residential density and also includes Route 89 from Taughannock Park to Glenwood Road resulting in a full 25 miles of pipelines and escalating the project cost to somewhere near $10 million, up from the original $4.6 million. These costs would be paid for by those within the water district whether they hook up to the water system or not.

The Village of Trumansburg is under a restriction from the Tompkins County Department of Health preventing extension of their water mains until they have a back-up source of water, in spite of the enormous water capacity of their well and their redundant pumping system. Due to this restriction, local residents and municipal officials are working to develop a back-up source to the Village.

Based on speaking with residents and municipal officials, there is also support for Taughannock Park’s desire to connect to the municipal water. Where controversy arises is in the placement of pipelines through areas of the town that are not zoned for high residential densities; in fact much of the northwestern area of the town where the pipes will be installed is zoned for the lowest possible densities. Zoning is intended to encourage growth in certain areas and discourage growth in others. While the newly proposed (on 2/21/08) Water District 5 design runs through land currently being used for agriculture, it skips land near Ithaca with the highest density zoning. Why? Based on Tompkins County Department of Health information, since 1985, seven wells have a documented problem within the area of proposed Water District 5. However, wells outside the proposed water district also have documented troubles. An accurate town-wide survey of well water quality and quantity has never been completed, but a water committee is now formed to do just that. Once completed, a water plan can be designed to meet the actual needs of the most residents.

On February 20, 2008, a report from Environmental Advocates of New York was released highlighting the negative impacts of sprawl on rural communities resulting from misuse of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF is the funding source for Water District 5) managed by the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) and the New York State Department of Health. The article is available on line at http://www.eany.org/reports/Wasted%20Green_02202008.pdf (beginning at the bottom of page 9) and states in part, “the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, created with the best of intentions, may be working at cross-purposes to efforts to fight sprawl.” The article goes on to say, “The Department of Health reviews proposals to ensure they are technically sound. However, there is no evidence of a mechanism in place to ensure that the project is the most appropriate remedy to a public health or environmental problem. And the EFC simply looks at the applicant’s finances to determine if the municipality has the fiscal capacity to repay the loan.”

The scoring used by EFC gives 40 “points” to projects that address well contamination, whether there is one contaminated well or 100. To date the Tompkins County Department of Health has provided data on well contamination in only 7 wells in the project area over 22 years to determine the severity of the need. While water contamination is a serious issue, many homeowners already manage many water problems through home treatment and filtering systems. These methods may be inconvenient for homeowners, but in most cases are less expensive in the long run than a municipal water system in an area of low residential density.

Finally, the Town of Ulysses is in the process of updating its Comprehensive Plan. Based on the recent Comprehensive Plan survey, over 90% of residents of Ulysses rate the following three qualities as important or extremely important: open space, rural character, and Taughannock Park. Historically, where water flows, so does development. Should we proceed with a water district that encourages growth in rural and open space? Should we rush to pass this project before the Comprehensive Plan is being updated? Do we want to encourage development along the highly erodable steep slopes along Route 89? Infrastructure, such as water lines, should be preceded by thoughful planning, and be built according to those plans. Working together, let’s identify the water needs more clearly, and build a system that addresses the real needs while preserving the rural character of Ulysses that we all hold so dear. The deadline for making a decision on this plan is NOW, so if you have an opinion, please let it be heard.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Water District 5

The Ulysses Town Supervisor and (long time proponent of WD5) has called a second meeting in two weeks (outside of regular town board meetings) in-order to discuss WD5. Apparently we are again coming up on a deadline within which to apply for a loan. I wish that he would go a little slower on this. I am not convinced that this plan is good for Trumansburg or Ulysses as a whole. These weekday, daytime meetings are nearly impossible for many of us to attend, including some of the town board members that have regular jobs.

The meeting is tomorrow (Thursday) at the town hall (I assume - it's not on their website) at 8:30 am

I am running for a trustee position on the village board. It is my understanding that a "Memorandum of Understanding" from the Trumansburg Village Board, would be required for the town of Ulysses to go forward with this WD5 plan. I would be in favor of a water infrastructure project, if everyone was informed every step along the way in a very open process, and we then voted upon the project, with all members present. Calling these weekday, daytime meetings is not conducive to the kind of process that I would like to see. (I'd like to go tomorrow, but I've got work to do and bills to pay) If the supervisor is in a rush because low interest money is available for a limited time only, I'd say no thanks. Let's be sure this is what we want before worrying about the loan.

I'm going to write to my representatives. If you care to join me, here is their contact information,

Rod Ferintino----------rodf@twcny.rr.com
Lucia Tyler------------Tyler.lucia@gmail.com
Doug Austic-----------tousuper@twcny.rr.com
Liz Thomas------------egt3@cornell.edu
Dave Kerness----------djkerness@gmail.com

Below is a very informative letter that Dr. Robert Howarth sent to the supervisor after the first of these special meetings. Dr. Howarth is a biogeochemist and aquatic ecosystem scientist with more than 30 years of experience in water quality issues. He is a resident of Ulysses.

Dear Mr. Austic:

I have learned that at yesterday's special meeting of the Ulysses Town Board, you criticized my statement that the proposed ethanol plant in Seneca County poses a significant threat to water quality in Cayuga Lake, calling it a scare tactic. I could not attend the meeting yesterday due to work commitments, and so I am hearing of your criticisms only second hand. However, I note that you have never communicated any such concerns directly to me, despite my repeated offers to meet with you and the Board and despite my openly providing written information to you.

I write now in response to the comments you made, which include some major errors and some highly questionable statements. I am copying members of the Town Board and the chairs of the Comprehensive Plan Committee, the Planning Board, and the new Water Committee for their information.

Error #1: You apparently stated that the proposed plant is "way more than 20 miles away" from any area in the Town of Ulysses. You are dead wrong, as anyone with a local map can verify. The proposed site is in the southern part of the old Seneca Army Depot in the Town of Romulus. All of the Village of Trumansburg and approximately half of the land area in the Town of Ulysses is within 20 miles. And of course 20 miles is not a physical barrier to moving dried brewer's grain or manure; rather, the economics become less favorable as the distance increases, and most economic models suggest the greatest risk is within 20 miles. All of the Town of Ulysses is close enough to be at some risk.

Error #2: You apparently stated that a large CAFO could not be built in the area because there is not enough land to spread the resulting manure. While it is true that there are constraints on how much manure can be spread, it is not true that this constraint would prevent the construction of one or more new CAFOs. CAFOs now require a SPDES permit, and as part of the application process, the owner needs to certify to the DEC that they have a "comprehensive nutrient management plan" (CNMP). In turn, the CNMP would include specifications on the spreading of manure. Interestingly, the CNMP is not filed with the DEC; rather, only the certification that there is a CNMP is filed. Spreading manure on land owned by the CAFO is one option for disposing of the waste. Another option is to sell the manure to another farmer; if that farmer does not also own a CAFO, they do not need to have a SPDES permit or CNMP. Other options are to landfill the manure, to digest it, or to compost it. Of these, the best environmentally would be to digest the manure to produce natural gas for energy, and then convert the waste from that in dried, pelletized fertilizer. But there is no guarantee that new CAFOs would follow that path. The most likely path is that the manure be spread to the maximum amount allowed by nutrient management plans, with the rest disposed of in some other fashion. This means there is significant risk of much greater spreading of manure in the Town of Ulysses than occurs at present, and this poses a potentially significant water quality risk to Cayuga Lake (not to mention odors, etc.), as well as local streams and groundwater supplies. I note that the business plant for the proposed ethanol plant calls for selling large amounts of distiller' grain, and this makes economic sense only if CAFOs are built relatively nearby (see below for more information).

Questionable statement #1: You apparently stated that no one knows if the ethanol plant will actually be built. The momentum behind building the plant is great, with support from the State, from Seneca County, and from the Town of Romulus. Tax breaks and government incentives are in place ( https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/news/press-releases/2006/2006 ). And according to the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce, $115 million in private funding has been identified; 100 investors have partnered with the owner, a California based company ( http://www.senecachamber.org/pages/advocacy/).

Questionable statement #2: You apparently stated that the population density is sufficiently high in Ulysses as to discourage CAFOs. There are no regulations in New York State against putting CAFOs into even heavily populated areas. As you are aware, local zoning cannot prevent CAFOs in agricultural areas in New York State; as you know, home rule applies to most Town actions, but not to any effort to exercise control over agricultural activities in State-designated agricultural areas (which encompasses much of the area of WD5 as currently proposed). Some CAFO owners undoubtedly favor locating in areas of low population, as this reduces complaints from the public. However, CAFOs frequently are built in relatively populated areas, including areas with greater population density than here. Drive down to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania for an example of this (I suggest doing so in the spring, when the pungent odor permeates the entire county).

I also am told that at yesterday's meeting, Rod Ferrentino pointed out that we already have at least one CAFO in the Town. I believe we have at least 3, perhaps more. According to the DEC, the only CAFOs in Ulysses are medium ones; for dairy farms, this means they have between 200 and 699 cows ( http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/36895.html). The farm that Roxanne and I own abuts one of these CAFOs, and for the past 22 years, I have considered them to be good neighbors. I also grew up next door to such a farm in New Hampshire. This scale of farming is a desirable aspect of rural life, in my opinion.

The concern I am raising regards a very different scale of operation -- with potential for much greater pollution -- when considering the waste from the ethanol plant proposed for Seneca County. After corn is digested to make ethanol, the waste material is called brewers grain or distillers grain. The business plan for the proposed plant calls for selling 175,000 tons (dry weight) of this material each year ( http://www.senecachamber.org/pages/advocacy/). That is enough to support 40,000 head of cattle in CAFOs, and these CAFOs are most likely to be within 20 miles of the plant because of the cost of transporting the distillers grain (Simpson, T. W., A. N. Sharpley, R. W. Howarth, H. W. Paerl, and K. R. Mankin. 2008. The new gold rush: Fueling ethanol production while protecting water quality. Journal of Environmental Quality, in press). This is a scale of operation that is 50- to 100-fold greater than our community has ever experienced, and I would think there might be a high probability that these facilities would be run by absentee owners (as no one is likely to want to live near them).

Putting municipal water into agricultural areas in Ulysses increases the risk that these CAFOs (and perhaps associated slaughter houses and meat processing plants) could be sited in our Town. I believe that this is an unnecessary and unacceptable risk, and one that should be given serious consideration as part of the Comprehensive Planning process for land use and development of municipal water in the Town.

I ask that you set the record straight at the next meeting of the Ulysses Town Board, with a retraction of your incorrect statements.

Thank you,

Bob Howarth

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Talked to Ambulance/EMS Volunteer Feb. 2

I just met with a neighbor of mine, who was an active member of the Trumansburg Volunteer Fire Department and part of the volunteer staff of the Ambulance/EMS for several years. I explained my concerns about the privatization of the Ambulance/EMS. He disagreed with my use of the word privatization because he doesn't believe that this is the first step on the road to a fully private for profit Ambulance service. He may be right, but until I find a better word, I will continue to use "privatization". I consider every step in that direction to be a step in the wrong direction wether it results in a fully private company or not.

I told my neighbor that if I were a volunteer with the Ambulance/EMS service in it's current form (fully taxpayer funded) I would feel proud to be a part of a group that devoted time to helping their neighbors in times of need, and I would feel good about being able to say "there's no charge for this". If my Ambulance company then entered a relationship with private for profit insurance companies and billing companies, and I was now required to get customer's social security numbers and insurance company information, this would change how I felt about the work.

My neighbor informed me that the number of volunteers in Trumansburg is relatively high presently. We are not having nearly as much trouble maintaining sufficient numbers of volunteers as neighboring communities are. Perhaps this is because a fully taxpayer funded service is good for morale. My neighbor felt that some people might be less apt to continue to serve if we took this step towards privatization.

My neighbor told me that he was at the meeting with the representative from Professional Ambulance Billing, and Chris Thomas, and was told that a bill would be sent to care recipients regardless of health insurance status. There are 47 million Americans currently without health insurance. Most of these people don't have a lot of spare cash. Most of these people are honest, hard working, tax paying folks who helped pay for the equipment and facility that houses our Ambulance/EMS. They don't have health insurance because our government doesn't have the foresight and concern for their citizenry that the governments in the rest of the industrialized world has. Yet these people would be hit with a big bill from our ambulance service on top of a big bill from the hospital if they had a serious medical emergency. Most bankruptcies are caused by medical emergencies, and the bankruptcy laws were recently changed in favor of big corporations.