News Briefs:
Governor Signs EMS Plan Bill
(Dec. 30): Admittedly, local leaders wanted more. But they see it as a start.
Six months after both houses of the New York Legislature granted overwhelming approval, Governor Hochul December 19 signed a bill directing each county in the state to “convene meetings and a planning process” with its included cities, towns and villages toward “developing and maintaining a comprehensive county Emergency Medical System Plan”
Tompkins County stands ahead of the curve, having authorized and funded a consultant’s study last June and having heard its findings in October.
The Enfield Town Board in August and the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG) in September each urged Hochul to sign the bill, though each group had wished the governor had taken further steps.
Enfield’s resolution had urged that both the state and its counties “ensure that any mandates resulting from this legislation are fully supported with county-level and/or state-level funding.” The measure Hochul signed failed to address costs.
At TCCOG, some leaders had urged New York go farther and declare EMS an “essential service,” a mandate that could force municipalities to subsidize ambulance operations.
“It’s another step, an incremental step,” Dryden Councilperson Dan Lamb described the now-signed legislation during the September TCCOG meeting, but “let’s go all the way and require this as an essential service, just like we do with fire.”
Less important locally, Hochul this month vetoed two other bills related to EMS. One would have exempted municipal ambulance spending from the property tax cap. The other would have granted limited Thruway toll waivers for fire trucks and ambulances.
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Raising a “Big Red” Flag
(Dec. 27): Appealing as it might otherwise be, the prospect of buying or leasing unused office space at the Cornell Business and Technology Park near the airport as an alternative to building a Downtown Center of Government was dealt a blow this month as Tompkins County encounters problems with property it already rents there.
To preserve a $300,000 federal tax credit, the County Legislature voted December 16 to commence “limited construction activities” on a planned solar array above the parking lot at 55 Brown Road, adjacent to the Whole Health Department. Cornell owns the land, and “has put a number of requirements onto the project,” according to the County Attorney, particularly as to insurance.
“I’m surprised here,” legislator Mike Lane said about the university’s pickiness. “We’re trying to do something to help the environment. I should think Cornell would be patting us on the back and saying what can we do to help with this?”
“This does seem like these requirements are pretty onerous,” legislator Rich John observed. “I just hope the Legislature going forward is really careful if there’s any consideration of renting any other property at the Cornell Tech Park, which is unfortunate.”
Last spring, Tompkins Bank approached Tompkins County, offering it properties the bank had repossessed at the park from a private developer. So far, County Administration has been cool to the idea.
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Bidding Bostwick’s Big “Box”
(Dec. 24): In a richer town, this would be considered a routine repair, not worth a mention. But in Enfield, the replacement of a culvert beneath Bostwick Road has become a big capital project.
Bypassing customary Town Board consent for sake of expediency, Enfield Supervisor Stephanie Redmond Christmas week authorized the advertising of bids to purchase the culvert to be laid where Bostwick Road passes over Enfield Creek.
The 48-foot long, 36-foot wide, nearly 13-foot high concrete box culvert requested would replace a pair of aging, metal pipes placed under the road decades ago. The current culvert can dam up debris and cause flooding.
A state Water Quality Improvement grant, awarded in 2024, will cover nearly $700,000 of the total project’s estimated $867,332 cost. Highway Department in-kind services would fund the balance.
Redmond urged fast-track bidding for the culvert upon advice that delay could prevent its installation this summer. A majority of Town Board members, relying upon a legal opinion, waved off a call for a special meeting to authorize the bidding.
“Why is everyone, except me, so reluctant to have a 10-minute public meeting, off cycle, to make a routine authorization?” Councilperson Robert Lynch wrote Board members December 22. “I just do not understand this. What, on Earth, do the taxpayers pay us for?”
Redmond’s documents require bid submission by January 12.
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Team Fire District Treasurers
(Dec. 22): Their appointments won’t become official until January. But the Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners Monday signaled it will name not one, but two people to assume Fire District Treasurer duties in the New Year.
Tompkins County Deputy Director of Finance Andrew Braman and Andrea Sutton, a local resident proficient in bookkeeping, will share responsibilities upon the departure of Jenna Oplinger, who’s served as the Fire District’s Treasurer only since May.
The Braman and Sutton appointments will mark the third change in Treasurer assignments during the past nine months.
The legality of naming two people as co-Treasurer remains murky. Commissioners’ Chair Greg Stevenson said he’d check with legal counsel, but admitted Monday he hadn’t done so yet.
Braman said he and Sutton haven’t yet decided how to divide financial duties. At the close of the December 22 meeting, both conferred with Oplinger about the transition, an odd moment since neither had yet been appointed.
During a 90-minute, multi-topic closed session, the Fire Board interviewed both candidates. Commissioners have reserved $7,500—a 50 percent increase from 2025—to divide between the two.
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Touchy Issue; Lawyer Found
(Dec. 22): The Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners December 22 revealed for the first time that an unnamed complainant has lodged a harassment complaint against the Enfield Volunteer Fire Company (EVFC), and Commissioners launched an investigation into the complaint’s validity.
In a four-paragraph Resolution, adopted after a lengthy executive session that addressed multiple topics, Commissioners engaged attorney Melissa Fingar to conduct the investigation and directed the Enfield Fire District’s own legal counsel to notify Fingar “regarding the details and process of the investigation….”
As would be expected, Commissioners declined Monday to reveal the complainant’s identity or the nature of the alleged harassment, including its time, place, or manner.
The complaint and its circumstances received no discussion in public session, aside from a reading of the resolution and the board’s subsequent vote.
All four board members attending the meeting supported the action. (Commissioner Robyn Wishna was excused.)
Commissioners offered no estimate meeting night of how much Fingar’s investigation may cost.
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Stefanik Exit Boosts Hochul’s Chances
(Dec. 20): North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s surprise withdrawal Friday from next year’s New York gubernatorial contest may only improve Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s reelection prospects.
In a late-afternoon tweet December 19, Stefanik announced not only is she exiting the Republican contest for Governor, but that she’ll also leave Congress at the end of next year.
The decision clears the field for another Republican, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, to secure the GOP gubernatorial nod.
“As we have seen in past elections, while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York,” Stefanik tweeted on X.
Republican leaders have rallied around Blakeman. But the Long Island leader is little known upstate. Stefanik, although a lightning rod because of her strong ties to President Trump, is well-known to the upstate GOP base, essential to any uphill overthrow of Hochul.
Recent polls have shown Democrat Hochul leading Stefanik and Blakeman, each by wide margins.
Stefanik’s planned retirement from Congress gives Hochul’s party another boost. It could make the Adirondack-anchored 21st District easier for Democrats to capture.
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Annie’s Goodbye
(Dec 16): Six people, a near majority, served their last meeting as Tompkins County legislators Tuesday night. Ulysses-Enfield’s Anne Koreman was one of them.
Taking turns, each member bid farewell to his or her now-ending term. Koreman’s served eight years, first elected in 2017. This year she chose to retire.
“This experience has been for me one of the hardest, one of the least paid… but one of the most rewarding things that I’ve ever done,” Koreman told colleagues when her turn to speak arrived.
Other December 16 departures included Dryden’s Mike Lane, the current Legislature’s longest-serving member. Assemblymember Anna Kelles, a former Tompkins legislator herself,” presented Lane an award for his 44 years of Tompkins County and municipal service. Legislature Chair Dan Klein is also leaving.
For the successes she’s seen, Anne Koreman credited department heads, clerks, and Tompkins County’s workforce. “We did this together,” she said.
“These are really hard jobs,” Koreman observed. “We feel a lot of the issues in the community, and we’re trying to do things that are trying to make things a little bit better for people and more fair and lift people up,” she said.
“So thank you for giving me this privilege,” Koreman closed her message. “It’s been an honor, and I’ll see ‘ya.”
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Hats Off to Larry:
(Dec. 15): Six decades and still answering the bell.
Longtime Enfield firefighter Larry Stilwell received special recognition for his 60 years of service to the Enfield Volunteer Fire Company (EVFC) at the company’s annual banquet and installation dinner Saturday.
Far from sitting back, Stilwell was also recognized December 13 for his donating to the EVFC the year’s third highest number of volunteer hours (367) and answering the fifth largest number of fire calls.
Larry’s wife, Linda Stilwell, donated the fourth largest number of hours.
Also recognized was EVFC President Dennis Hubbell for his 50 years of service to the company. Hubbell remarked of the fire company, “It’s almost my second home.”
“Keeping up morale is the most difficult thing to do,” Hubbell told the gathering. “When members walk away, we as an organization fail.”
The Enfield Fire Company installed its new line officers Saturday, subject to Board of Fire Commissioners’ approval. Jamie Stevens will continue as Fire Chief, Bailey Stevens as Deputy Chief.
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Newfield Engages on FLAIR
(Dec.11): For the second time in three weeks, concerned residents visited the Newfield Town Board Thursday night questioning the “FLAIR” project, the New York State Electric and Gas Corporation (NYSEG) plan to replace a 90-year old wooden-pole transmission line that crosses the town’s northern edge with much-taller metal monopoles.
This time, unlike when the Town Board last heard complaints November 20, NYSEG officials attended Thursday’s session and answered questions. Neighbor concerns ranged from visual impact and electromagnetic radiation to the greater risk that taller poles might fall and damage homes.
After hearing more than an hour of back-and forth, the Newfield Board followed an earlier action in Enfield and became a party of interest in FLAIR’s regulatory case before the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC).
Joining as a party works to “keep you in the loop,” Newfield leaders were told. The December 11 action does not entail legal pleadings or put the Town on record opposed to the project. Town Supervisor Michael Allinger said he found party engagement a good thing to do.
Newfield’s Town Board signaled at its late-November meeting that it would likely offer a comment to the PSC before the agency’s January 29 deadline.
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Enfield Waited… and Waited
(Dec. 10): A Town Board buying a dump truck would normally land in the “nobody cares” pile. But this is different.
Wednesday night, the Enfield Town Board executed final approvals that allow the Highway Department to buy a 10-wheel dump truck and plow. What makes this $270,000 purchase newsworthy is that the truck’s effectively been on order for four-and-a-half years, since July 2021.
Yes, supply chain shortages got that bad. Only now has Highway Superintendent Barry Rollins been able to secure an available machine and make good on the Town’s long-standing authorization. (Make no mistake, he wasn’t to blame; America was.)
The Board’s December 10 action merely finalized financing; a $135,000 down payment and a three-year Installment Purchase agreement to cover the remainder.
The 2025 Western Star Tandem Axle unit will replace a 2009 10-wheeler that’s simply wearing out. Coincidentally, the Board Wednesday paid a separate invoice to cover more than $6,000 the older truck had incurred in two recent trips to the repair shop.
Enfield winters are hard on equipment. Rollins said he reserves the right to keep the old vehicle as a standby, given all he’s invested in it while awaiting the Western Star’s delivery.
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EFD Election: Alan Tops Marcus 2:1
(Dec. 9): The Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners will look the same next year as it has for the year now ending.
In a two-way election for a new five-year Commissioner’s term, the results Tuesday weren’t even close.
By an almost exact two-to-one margin, two-year incumbent Alan Teeter beat former Board member Marcus Gingerich. The results: Teeter, 115 votes (66.9%); Gingerich, 57 votes (33.1%)
Neither winner nor loser had much to say as both waited out the counting of paper ballots for about a half-hour at the Enfield Fire Station.
The December 9 results assure that Enfield volunteer firefighters will hold a narrow one-person majority on the Fire District’s five-person board.
Alan Teeter came in fourth two years ago in a 10-way race in the newly-formed Fire District’s inaugural election. As such, he only secured a two-year term then. It’ll lengthen by a half-decade now.
Unlike Teeter, Marcus Gingerich is not a firefighter. But he has been active in fire district affairs, having been the only person to enter statements at the district’s last two budget hearings.
This year’s Enfield turnout, 172 voters, was just about the same as last year (170). But last year, non-firefighter Donald Gunning beat out fire volunteer Chris Willis in an election where a double-digit budget increase dominated. This year’s increase was much less, perhaps partly explaining the different results.
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Yes, It’ll Have Fake Lashes
(Dec. 8): Someone’s gotta’ ask: Could anyone have designed an uglier building?
Holt Architects’ design team unveiled to local legislators and the public Monday night its first sketches for the Tompkins County Center of Government. One wonders if any architect ever sat back and realized that the third floor window shades at the Buffalo and Tioga street corner weirdly resemble eye lashes.
Holt’s 90-minute presentation seldom drew criticism. And no one ever faulted the design team’s pitiful lack of creativity. We’re asked to accept another flat-roofed rectangular box with a little brick to one side, a touch of stone (or its synthetic stand-in) on the corner.
County Administration began the evening—clearly speaking only for itself— by summarily discarding alternative locations; places like Harold’s Square on the Commons, the Cornell Business Park, or the Shops at Ithaca Mall.
And in a most embarrassing moment revealing undone homework, a designer first conceded that the new building would reduce parking in the courthouse-adjacent employee lot, but then couldn’t say how many spaces would be lost.
For some, the $50 Million Downtown Center of Government project is a runaway train without brakes Maybe not quite.
Someone emailed in: “It’s obviously a done deal?”
Legislature Chair Dan Klein answered: “So we have authorized the project to continue,” Klein acknowledged. “But we have not put the money on the table, yet.”
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Homeless House for Grownups Only
(Dec. 7): It would be so comfortable that once a homeless person moved in, they might not want to move out. Just don’t plan on bringing the kids.
A design consultant shared sketch plans of Tompkins County’s proposed, heavily state-subsidized homeless shelter to a legislative committee December 3rd. Plans call for a three-story, all new building with a commercial kitchen on the ground floor, open-space sleeping quarters on the second level, and individual rooms with private baths on the top.
But it took Republican Mike Sigler to ask if there’d be places for families. There won’t.
“Families aren’t housed,” Housing Committee Chair Greg Mezey informed Sigler. “This is an adult facility,” Mezey made clear.
Despite Tompkins County’s major investment—likely $1 Million or more—those with children would still need to be quartered in hotels. Even childless couples might need to be there too. Shelter plans call for gender separation.
“You know, I appreciate what you’re trying to do here,” legislator Deborah Dawson told the shelter’s designers and prime cheerleaders, “but I hope that we’re not planning on meeting every person’s every need, because we don’t have the resources necessarily to do that.”
Consultants couldn’t be pinned down on cost-sharing between Tompkins County and the state. “There’s no fixed match,” advisor Monica McCullough cautioned legislators. Yet New York State caps its grants at $15 Million. McCullough would have the County file its funding application by May.
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A City in Turmoil; Deb Mohlenhoff Out
(Dec. 4): Running the City of Ithaca is no fun these days. Just ask Deb Mohlenhoff.
Mohlenhoff, employed as Ithaca’s first City Manager two years ago, quit December 3, effective at year’s end, the manager under intense pressure by Common Council to step aside. Deputy City Manager Dominick Recckio, formerly Tompkins County’s Communications Director, will manage city affairs until Council finds a replacement.
After a 36-minute executive session Wednesday, Council voted unanimously to accept Mohlenhoff’s resignation.
A reported press statement, issued after the vote, states, “The City is not claiming any wrongdoing; rather Common Council has opted to seek fresh leadership before the new year.”
But arguably Common Council needs to turn the mirror onto itself, not blame third-parties.
This is not Ithaca City Government of old. Many Ithaca Alderpersons are incredibly young, sometimes college students. Turnover is high. Kids earn their diplomas, find better jobs, or just get bored and leave.
And youthful ideological exuberance can overwhelm any attempt at sound judgment.
One incoming Council member, Hannah Shvets, is a card-carrying Communist. One of Common Council’s first acts in 2024 was to purge the Pledge of Allegiance from its meetings.
Ithaca is now steering its ship of state absent a rudder. Deb Mohlenhoff was the last powerful grownup in the room. Now she’s gone. / RL
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It’s Dan… by Default
(Dec. 4): Expect incumbent Enfield Planning Board Chair Dan Walker to win appointment to his fourth, five-year term beginning at the start of next year. Why? Because Walker’s the only one interested in serving.
Fellow Planning Board members Wednesday, December 3 unanimously recommended Walker’s continuation after the 15-year Planning Board veteran filed the only application of interest by the Town’s self-set December 2 deadline.
“They won’t let me quit,” Walker quipped as fellow planners attempted some semblance of a job interview.
“I have a knowledge base” and “I can serve the town adequately,” Walker granted, observing that given his engineering background he can “keep the cost down” by Enfield’s not having to employ someone else with his skill set.
The Enfield Town Board will consider Walker’s reappointment December 10. Planning Board members receive a small stipend, but no compensation.
The five-person Planning Board may begin next year with each of its two additional “alternate” member positions left vacant. Alternate Greg Hutnik is leaving Enfield and cannot continue. The second alternate slot’s been open for a year.
At Wednesday’s session, planners encouraged Rosie Carpenter, a close runner-up in this year’s Town Board elections and a frequent meeting attendee, to consider joining. Carpenter initially begged off, but left the option open.
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Tompkins’ “Paper” Tiger
(Dec. 2): Two weeks ago, Dryden’s Greg Mezey had promised he’d write a blistering letter within days. So far he hasn’t done so.
And with tail-between-legs cowardice firmly on display and pride swallowed, the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday knuckled under to Albany’s dictates and grudgingly designated The Ithaca Journal as County Government’s “Official Newspaper” for yet another year.
“Friends, we’ve had our opportunity to stand up to higher levels of government and protest,” Mezey, leader of the anti-Journal rebellion only a fortnight ago, said as he reintroduced the paper’s designation and switched his vote. “This has to pass,” Mezey lamented.
Last meeting, the Gannett daily’s designation lost 12-2. This time, December 2, it passed ten-to-four.
One of Tuesday’s brave holdouts, Lansing’s Deborah Dawson, provided the quote (and the prop) of the night, holding up a Journal edition that heralded her recent reelection. The story’s caption had misspelled “Tompkins,” misused “affect” for “effect,” and provided a polling station picture snapped not here, but in Broome County.
We need to tell Albany that ‘The Ithaca Journal sucks,” Dawson proclaimed, urging relaxed legal posting laws that never seem to come. “And we do not want to have to keep voting for putting our stuff and putting our money in such a sucky rag.”
Legislators would prefer placing legal ads in locally-based online news sites that actually report local news. State law says they can’t.
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