News Archives: 2019

On January 28, 2022, Robert A. Lynch, licensee of FM Translator W283BQ, 104.5 MHz. Ithaca, NY, filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for renewal of its license. Members of the public wishing to view this application or obtain information about how to file comments and petitions on the application can visit https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff37e74a267017e7debd5e0197f&id=25076ff37e74a267017e7debd5e0197f&goBack=N

Visit “What I’ve Said.” It’s found on the drop-down list of the Main Menu. You’ll find past essays, formerly posted on this website’s Home Page.

“What I’ve Said” captures the moment of the times; items of interest, Enfield legislative actions, and points of controversy during the 2019 Town Board election campaign and beyond, up through today.

Here’s a recent list:

An “Arranged Marriage” on the Rocks; the Reimagining Report’s Failures, Posted Mar. 30, 2021

Clerk Woods’ Departure, First posted Mar. 2, 2021

Whistling Past the… What? Posted Feb. 23, 2021

State Fairgrounds, Here I Come! (You think?),Posted Feb. 15, 2021

Vaccine for Seniors… Now! Posted Feb. 6, 2021

Hoarding… and Hurting.Posted Jan. 21, 2021

Our Night of Toxic Tantrums, Posted Jan. 15, 2021

“A Gun to my Head!” Enfield Board names Redmond Supervisor, Posted Jan. 12, 2021

(and more…)

Taking A Stand, a tab on the top menu, provides my take on various issues of community concern in Enfield; commentary on our Town’s Current Events. I hope my words will prompt robust debate.

Note: Former Home Page essays, earlier posted here, now may be found on the “What I’ve Said” tab on the top menu.

Current Postings:

March 2021: Policing Reform: My Take

July 2020: Local COVID-19 Surveillance Testing

2019: My Stand on Fracking

2019: What I Stand Against

Check out the latest local stories from Enfield and Tompkins County under the Latest News tab.

Here’s What’s News:

Jan. 5th: No Drama, just praise as County Legislators pick Shawna Black Chair

Jan. 3rd; Updated Jan. 4th: Competing Dem, GOP House maps each point Tompkins County north

Jan. 22nd: New Tompkins numbers show vaccinated majorities among recent deaths

Dec. 22nd: Jump-Started Sheriff’s raise prompts legislator pushback

Dec. 16th: County targets added spending to aid in COVID relief

Dec. 14th: Students propel COVID infections to new heights

Dec. 12th: Legislature raises solid waste fees; approves deputies’ contract

Dec. 11th: To sell “Oklahoma”… or maybe not. Little flag lot nearly derails Sears Street sale.

Dec. 9th: Newfield joins Enfield in opting-in to cannabis sales.

Dec. 8th; additional reporting Dec. 9th: Enfield Board splits, rejects marijuana opt-out law.

For previously-reported stories, visit the Reporting Archives sub-heading under this tab. Stories are archived by the month(s) of their posting.

What’s wrong with us? New York and the northeast a national COVID hot spot. (Cayuga & Cortland Counties are medium.)

(May 25): For reasons lacking an official explanation, local hospitalizations from COVID-19 are slowly rising again, up more than double from a week ago.

Wednesday (5/25) Tompkins County Health Department data showed 13 patients currently hospitalized, up from six of one week previous. The recent low point was four reported on May 15^th. The current hospitalization level matches a recent peak of 13, reported May 4^th.

New COVID-19 cases locally—the Department no longer reports total cases—have continued to register in the mid-double digits daily, with no significant fluctuation up or down. The last local COVID-19 death was May 6^th.

Nationally, the northeast finds itself one of the only regions with significantly elevated COVID “Community Level” numbers. Most other parts of the nation report low metrics.

(May 25): In a move that would assure a Democratic Primary contest in Tompkins County’s newly-redrawn congressional district, Hudson Valley farmer Jamie Cheney—who lives just outside the district—has launched a campaign to wrest her party’s nomination from Endicott’s Josh Riley, who in recent days had appeared to be the only Democrat still in the running.

Media reports from the 19^th district’s eastern side indicate Cheney, until this past weekend a candidate for New York State Senate, announced on Twitter Saturday (5/21) her intention to switch her campaign to that for Congress. Cheney’s nascent candidacy has only now reached the district’s western areas, including locally.

Read the full story, reported on this website.

(May 24): At a brief, 18-minute meeting Tuesday, without dissent or significant discussion, the Tompkins County Independent Redistricting Commission endorsed and sent on to county lawmakers its recommendation to enlarge the County Legislature from 14 to 16 members. It would do so to apportion legislative districts to reflect population shifts found in the 2020 U.S. Census.

For Enfield, the commission’s plan would continue the town’s split between two legislative districts, as has been the case for several decades. Mecklenburg Road would serve as an east-west dividing line for some of the distance; Bostwick Road for the rest. The Town of Newfield would stay within a single district, as would the Town of Ulysses; each of those towns’ districts sharing a part of Enfield as well.

Compared with the map presented for public comment May 10th, Tuesday’s approved draft saw one tiny change made in Lansing, but none made elsewhere.

With the Redistricting Commission’s job, for the moment, done, a county legislative committee will next review of proposed 16-member map June 2nd.

Riley; petitions valid and now reused.

(May 25): Most likely, petition carriers won’t darken your door these next weeks even though established local candidates for Congress and State Senate must now run in redrawn districts.

A local Board of Elections official reports that Josh Riley, a Democrat seeking to be Tompkins County’s next Congressman, has availed his campaign of a specially-drafted state policy allowing him to qualify for the August 23^rd Primary ballot with designating petitions he’d filed in April, petitions signed by voters in a largely-different district. That official expects State Senate candidates Leslie Danks Burke and Lea Webb to do likewise. If so, only those candidates who newly declare for the races would need to petition. (Newly-declared congressional candidate Jamie Cheney has not signaled any local petitioning plans.)

One may recall that a rival candidate’s volunteer, Diane Dwire, a supporter of Syracuse’s Francis Conole, filed suit April 19^th, seeking to invalidate Riley’s earlier petitions. She’d argued they were “permeated with fraud and irregularities” in how they were circulated. While never formally dismissed, Dwire’s suit may have dead-ended. Since Riley and Conole now run in separate districts, Dwire has no reason to complain. What’s more, she may have lost legal standing to proceed. Her attorney termed Dwire’s suit “moot.” A judge then adjourned a scheduled hearing.

Cong. Antonio Delgado

(May 24): As I wrote May 21^st, we who follow local politics are in for a wild ride.

First, Hudson Valley Congressman Antonio Delgado will, indeed, be sworn in as Lieutenant Governor. Earlier speculation had left open the possibility Delgado might decline the presumed promotion and stay put in Congress. But on Monday, May 23^rd, Governor Kathy Hochul confirmed Delgado’s oath-taking plans.

Delgado’s scheduled swearing-in Wednesday, May 25^th, requires his resignation from Congress. When he resigns (and Governor Hochul then has 10 days to accept that resignation), the Governor must schedule a Special Election in that “old” (pre-redistricted) 19^th District within 70-80 days to fill Delgado’s seat.

Counting the days would place that 80^th (really 90^th) day on August 23^rd, the date of the rescheduled Congressional primaries, including in the “new” 19^th District, the one that now includes Tompkins County. Hochul announced Monday she’ll, indeed, call the Special Election on that date.

Presumably, Endicott’s Josh Riley could run in both the “new” 19^th District’s Primary and the “old” 19th’s Special Election simultaneously. If Riley won, he’d go to Congress immediately, not in January. The same would hold true for Republican candidate Marc Molinaro.

(Update; May 25: Late word is that Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan will likely run for Democrats in the Special Election.)

We in Tompkins County would not get to vote in the 19^th’s Special Election, only the Primary. But we would get to vote in the Special Election to fill resigned Congressman Tom Reed’s seat. It will also likely occur August 23^rd, though news reports indicate Reed hasn’t yet officially filed his resignation papers.

Confused? Don’t be embarrassed. / RL

(May 23): The court-redrawn congressional redistricting maps have claimed their first local casualty.

Vanessa Fajans-Turner, once among as many as seven candidates who sought the Democratic nomination for what once was a Syracuse-Ithaca district drawn by state lawmakers, ended her candidacy Sunday, less than two days after a State Supreme Court judge signed off on newly-crafted maps that orient Tompkins County’s congressional district east, through Binghamton and on to the Massachusetts border.

“This new district is very different from the one in which I have been campaigning and building voter trust since launching in February,” Fajans-Turner said in a statement released to the media. “Over the next few months, Democrats have their work cut out for them. New York State’s new district maps intensify partisan competition while unforeseen resignations by sitting congress members Delgado and Reed trigger two special elections across the new 19th. Voter confusion is voter suppression, and we will need every resource we have to ensure Democrats win in November….” Fajans-Turner continued.

Barring future entries and assuming the new district’s incumbent Congressman, Antonio Delgado, follows through on earlier plans to run for Lieutenant Governor, Fajans-Turner’s withdrawal would leave a smooth glide path for Endicott’s Josh Riley to win the district’s Democratic nomination, maybe even without a primary.

Cong. Chris Jacobs

(May 22): Even though Claudia Tenney has exited the race and carried her campaign elsewhere, a cluttered Republican contest looms in Congressman Tom Reed’s old 23^rd District, the one that used to include Tompkins County, but no longer does.

One would think incumbent GOP Congressman Chris Jacobs, who indicated Saturday he’d switch districts to campaign in the 23^rd, would find smooth sailing to nomination. Nope. Erie News Now reports as many as seven candidates are now seeking the Republicans’ nod in NY-23. The source reports Fredonia native Mark Cenedella is the latest to enter. He joins a field that includes Lansing’s Hugh Bahar, who couldn’t even win his own Town Board’s race last fall.

Other competing Republicans include George Phillips, Raymond Juliano, George Burns, and Rich Moon. But Erie News didn’t even mention Steuben County’s Joe Sempolinski and Sunset Bay’s George Borello. who each may run to fill Reed’s resignation vacancy. That would make nine.

The Democratic side claims more sanity. Tioga County’s Max Della Pia remains Democrats’ only choice.

Steve Wells (courtesy, the Auburn Citizen)

(May 20): We probably will never get to vote for him, but Lansing’s Mike Sigler might have to run against him if Sigler chooses to run out-of-district in the likely-to-be-recast 22nd Congressional District. (But see below.)

Cazenovia businessman Steve Wells declared Wednesday (5/18) his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the Syracuse-based Congressional district that was originally drawn to include Tompkins County, but now probably won’t.

Wells, who ran in the old-22^nd back in 2016, but lost then to Claudia Tenney, is a founding partner of American Food and Vending Corp.

“I’ve been so blessed to grow my business and raise my family right here, Wells told the Auburn Citizen. “Now, it’s time to devote myself in Congress to make sure the community I love is safe and prosperous for future generations to live the American Dream right here in central New York.”

Update: On Monday (5/23), Lansing’s Mike Sigler withdrew from the 22nd District’s Republican race, leaving Wells the presumptive Republican nominee. Sigler endorsed Wells for the nomination.

(May 19): While Ithaca wrestles with a School District election focused on candidates, Newfield’s problem is the Budget. It got a majority of voter support, but not a big enough majority.

Newfield’s proposed $22.4 Million budget for 2022-23 failed in Tuesday’s election. While supporters outnumbered opponents, 151 to 134, making a 53 per cent margin of victory, state law required a 60 per cent margin because proposed spending would have topped the state tax cap. The proposed budget’s tax levy increase would have been 14 per cent. The tax cap was only 4.89%, far short of the current rate of inflation.

Newfield Superintendent Eric Hartz, quoted by Spectrum News, said “If the board so chooses, which I believe they will, we will get one more shot at the voters to see if we can come to, get a, budget that can pass for us. And if that doesn’t happen, then you’re tied into a contingency budget, which I’m hoping we don’t have to talk about.”

The Board’s first meeting to discuss the failed budget took place Thursday, May 19.

Nicole LaFave

(May 18): Despite apologies to taxpayers and admissions that mistakes were made, the Ithaca Board of Education Wednesday certified the results of Tuesday’s high-turnout, error-riddled election. That election saw the ouster of long-time School Board member and current Board President Robert Ainslie and the election of two newcomers as first and second place finishers.

With seven Board members present for the vote, six voted to certify—some reluctantly. Member Nicole LaFave abstained, and LaFave offered the harshest criticism, suggesting at one point that the vote was so flawed that the Board should reject the results and toss the issue to the Education Commissioner.

Discussion at Wednesday’s session revealed erroneous instructions had been given some voters as to how many candidates they could choose, ever-changing information about one candidate ruled ineligible for failing to meet residency requirements, and the poll workers running out of ballots at one or more locations.

Read the expanded version of this story, now posted on the Home Page and on Latest News.

Amanda Champion

(May 17): Governor Hochul’s signing in April of legislation that could liberalize post-pandemic virtual meeting requirements may turn the session’s parliamentarian into an excuse validator.

The Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday set a Public Hearing for June 7^th on a local law that would permit online legislator attendance, but only occasionally, and always with good cause.

“We’re kind of cutting and pasting,” Governmental Operations Chair Amanda Champion told members. She faulted Albany for its lack of direction.

“The way this is written,” Champion surmised of the authorizing statute, “it would not be exactly the way it’s happening now,” that is, under COVID-based exemptions. “Where somebody’s traveling, if somebody’s on vacation; they just don’t feel like coming in this time, that wouldn’t be a possibility,” Champion reasoned. “If you’re well and have the ability to get to a meeting, you would still be required to attend in-person,” she said.

Then what kind of reason would be valid? Champion suggested excuses such as sickness, “having caregiving responsibilities,” or “transportation issues.” The judgment calls, quite obviously, lack a bright line.

Virtual attendees could not be counted toward a quorum, Champion said. But what about counted for votes,” legislator Randy Brown asked. Champion’s indecisive response: “I believe they can.”

County Attorney Bill Troy offered his take on the statute. “I can tell you it is not a model of penmanship and authorship,” Troy said.

On May ninth, the Ithaca Town Board adopted its own variation of the remote attendance law. And brace yourself. This curious animal that roams without a fence may head Enfield’s way soon.

Legislator Mike Lane

(May 17): Rental car companies operating on-site at Tompkins County’s Airport pay for the privilege of being there. Current contracts impose a 10 per cent gross receipts fee on the firms, plus a rental counter fee and a charge to help defray airport maintenance and rehabilitation. But rental car companies based off-site pay nothing… until now.

With minimal discussion, the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday adopted an Off Airport Automobile Rental Company Permit policy that’ll impose charges and regulations on those rental companies who proclaim in their ads “We’ll pick you up.”

It’s to “try to make it a more even competition with the three car rental services that are located at the Airport,” said Legislature Facilities and Infrastructure Chair Mike Lane. No one objected when the policy came to a vote.

Under the Legislature’s long-winded, three-page resolution, off-site car rental companies would need first to seek a permit, then renew it annually, and pay the airport eight per cent of gross revenues derived from airport business each month. There’d also be a “consolidated facilities charge” of $3.00 per transaction day.

As an added benefit, the measure states, the policy will “provide needed regulation” to companies over which the Airport now lacks any control.

With perhaps a touch of exaggeration, the adopted measure warns that the current “disparity in the payment of fees… may threaten the efficiency of the ground transportation services available to the Airport’s passengers.” The permit policy begins July first.

Once again, Governor Hochul, in the eyes of her critics, has prolonged the pandemic.

With scant attention by most—but holding critical importance for us in Enfield who still hold Town Board meetings virtually—the Governor on Sunday, May 15 extended the “Disaster Emergency” begun way back in the spring of 2020 by former Governor Cuomo when COVID-19 first hit the state.

Hochul’s latest extension order employed the standard boilerplate language she’s used in past months. It gave no indication anything has changed or that anything might.

Given Sunday’s action, the “suspensions and modifications of law” contained in earlier executive orders continue through June 14^th, putting the new deadline beyond the Enfield Town Board’s next regular meeting, June 8th. Barring anyone else’s change of heart, we’ll convene from our living rooms yet again.

Those who attended summer Enfield Town Board meetings pre-pandemic remember how loud those two portable air conditioners could be. Should we meet in-person this summer, it may be the last time we’ll have to put up with them.

With a State agency’s grant money funding the cost, the Enfield Town Board May 11^th awarded contracts for replacement of the Town Courthouse’s upstairs forced-air heating system and those portable air conditioners with energy-saving heat pumps.

While the project drew concern at the Board’s April meeting—this Councilperson questioning the wisdom of putting more money into an old building with an uncertain future—the final votes in May proved unanimous.

An otherwise simple project proved complicated when the heat pumps’ installer recommended better ceiling insulation, and blowing in new insulation will require removal of the old with asbestos-remediation protocols. The re-insulation will actually cost more than the heat pumps. Total project cost: nearly $46,000. / Bob

New York’s Congressional and State Senate districts must be redrawn. But Anna Kelles’ and all other State Assembly districts appear safe.

State Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister, the same judge who invalidated the Democrat-engineered Congressional and Senate maps in late-March, has now dismissed Republican efforts to toss out the Assembly maps as well.

While McAllister concluded the Assembly maps were unconstitutional, enacted by the State Legislature’s similarly flawed procedure, he concluded May 11^th that opponents had waited too long to press their case.

The Court of Appeals, New York’s highest Court, has already affirmed McAllister’s holding on the Congressional and Senate maps, but did not touch those for the Assembly. Initially, Republicans had faulted only Congressional redistricting, but later enlarged their issues to cover the Assembly. Though McAllister initially invalidated the Assembly maps, no higher court ever affirmed him on that point. In his May 11^th holding, McAllister concluded touching the Assembly maps now would bring “total confusion.”

Congressional and State Senate primaries have been pushed back to August 23^rd. Assembly primaries, where needed—not here—remain in late-June.

Kate Shanks-Booth

The Newfield Town Board may team with an arm of County Government to bolster local youth services, including the hiring of a new, part-time employee.

In a discussion that consumed nearly half of the Board’s Thursday, May 12^th meeting, Kate Shanks-Booth of Tompkins County Youth Services, encouraged Newfield’s joining with her agency in expanded efforts to provide youth and teens recreational and leisure activities similar to what Enfield offers through its Community Council.

“I believe strongly the Town needs a community organizer,” County legislator Randy Brown, a meeting attendee, interjected. “Someone needs to lead the way,” Brown said. “You need a paid person.”

If the arrangement gels, the organizer might serve 20-25 hours per week. Shanks-Booth suggested the Town may need to spend $10-20,000 in Town funds to pay its share. American Rescue Plan funds could serve as seed money at least for the first year.

Rather than establish a new Municipal Youth Commission, Newfield may employ its Newfield Community Council—much less prominent than Enfield’s—as an oversight agency.

Shanks-Booth seeks a Town commitment no later than July first. The Newfield Board will study the proposal further May 26^th.

Dep. Administrator Amie Hendrix last July

(May 7): Congressional wrangling over COVID-19 funding will hit home—in the pocket of our county’s taxpayers.

Deputy County Administrator Amie Hendrix, in a conference call with municipal officials Thursday, May 5, confirmed that the federal agency FEMA will cut its reimbursement for COVID-19 testing and related services from full-funding to only 90 per cent beginning July 1^st. That could take a bite into the budget, since the County Legislature shows every intention of continuing support for the mall-based testing program, and the cost of it quickly adds up.

“We are reviewing this information and will consult with the Legislature on any ways this may impact our operations,” Hendrix said later in a statement, reiterating what she’d told the village and town officials Thursday morning.

Last July, when FEMA full reimbursement was just beginning, Hendrix presented the Legislature figures showing the testing site was costing about $60,000 per week and over $306,000 for its most recent month. Back then, testing had incurred more than $2.6 Million in expenses. It’s grown—perhaps to over $4 Million—in the months since then.

(May 6): Enfield Elementary School is ending its first full week some ten days after health authorities posted a “Do Not Drink” order following an apparently minor fuel oil spill water near the district’s underground fuel tank and somewhere close to the school’s well.

“There are water coolers everywhere,” remarked a central office staffer at Enfield Elementary on Friday. Students and staff remain under orders to drink only water from the drinking towers and to cleanse hands with hand sanitizer. All admit their directives have taken caution to the max, but it’s a move the Health Department recommends.

The spill’s investigation continues. State DEC and Health Dept. authorities are “out every day,” the staffer reported, performing soil studies; taking water samples; “a lot of work.” No indication yet as to when final reports will come in and the order potentially lifted. All because of a little brown grass.

New TC3 President, Dr. Amy Kremenek

(May 3): Tompkins Cortland Community College has chosen to stay close to home—within an easy hour’s driving distance—to recruit its new president.

Announced simultaneously by the college and the Tompkins County Legislature’s TC3 liaison, Mike Lane, Tuesday, Dr. Amy Kremenek, currently Vice President of Enrollment, Development, and Communications at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, will assume the TC3 presidency June 1^st. Announcement followed the required approval of her appointment by the State University of New York Board of Trustees.

“I am excited and honored to join the outstanding faculty and staff of Tompkins Cortland Community College and to serve as its next President,” said Kremenek in a statement released by TC3. “The College has a rich history of excellence and entrepreneurship and its mission is tremendously important to the region. I look forward to working with the campus and the community to build on this tradition and to advance the mission in support of student success.”

Kremenek has 20 years of experience in higher education, much of it at OCC. Before her current position, she served in a second vice-presidency at the college. She received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Syracuse University, and her Doctorate from the University of Maryland.

The Tompkins Cortland Community College Board of Trustees selected Kremenek following a nationwide search that brought four finalists to campus for visits in February. Kremenek replaces Orinthia Montague, who left TC3 in August of last year after serving just over four years as President.

“We look forward to having Dr. Kremenek come and visit with us,” Lane told the County Legislature.

Where brambles once stood. The mystery graves lie beyond the ones you see.

Good springtime task done: Last Friday afternoon (4/29), I picked and hauled away the sticks and debris from our neighborhood’s Budd Cemetery on Enfield’s Gray Road. I also tackled the job I’ve put off for two years; clipping the brambles away from the cemetery’s eastern side, at bank’s edge, where berry bushes had crowded over four graves, including two I’d never known existed.

Question: Who’s buried under these shallow, worn, poorly-marked stones? If you know, contact Sue Thompson, our Enfield Town Historian, or Cassandra Hinkle, Chair of our Town’s Cemetery Committee.

Newly-named Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado (Congressional photo)

(May 3rd): Following quick passage of legislation allowing indicted former Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin to remove himself from the June Primary ballot, Governor Kathy Hochul Tuesday morning appointed Hudson Valley Congressman Antonio Delgado as his replacement.

“I am proud to appoint Antonio Delgado, an outstanding leader and public servant, as Lieutenant Governor of New York,” said Hochul in her prepared statement, “and I look forward to working with him to usher in a new era of fairness, equity, and prosperity for communities across the State.”

Delgado, who like Benjamin is a racial minority—in Delgado’s case, Afro-Latino—represents New York’s 19^th District. His incumbency could have been endangered by the court-ordered redrawing of redistricting maps. But the appointment puts a second upstater on Hochul’s ticket, something Democrats usually don’t do. Hochul and Delgado each face two Primary rivals.

Legislative passage of the measure allowing Benjamin’s removal from the June ballot was itself controversial. Republicans and Hochul’s Democratic challengers alleged it unfairly advantaged Hochul as a political favor.

The troubled path that Reimagining Public Safety has walked has led to a potential ethics investigation implicating high-profile former Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick.

At a committee meeting April 27^th, First Ward Alderperson Cynthia Brock revealed she’s called for a County Ethics Board investigation of Myrick’s conduct in his allegedly promising two prominent leaders in the lengthy Reimagining process payment for services others thought they’d volunteered. There apparently was no initial contract and no prior authorization for payment by Common Council, an act some say City rules require.

Myrick denies impropriety, and believes it was appropriate to compensate Eric Rosario and Karen Yearwood for their work given the “big enough lift” each undertook.

But for Ithaca’s “rock star” mayor, now out of office, this was an exiting gift he didn’t need.

The Ithaca Voice has reported this story in depth:

https://ithacavoice.com/2022/04/calls-for-ethics-investigation-into-myrick-ripple-through-council-former-mayor-denies-wrong-doing/

Camp Director Vera Howe-Strait advised the Enfield Community Council (ECC) Board Thursday (Apr. 28^th) that 17 children have enrolled so far for this year’s ECC 6-week Summer Day Camp.

“Parents always wait until the last minute,” Howe-Strait told her Board, which last year, amidst COVID, enrolled 30 youth in the program, but this year has set an ambitious goal of twice that. The Director believes the goal still stands within reach, parents’ decisions, she said, likely resting on final Health Department post-COVID protocols.

Though inflation pushed rates up $50 this year, Howe-Strait insists the ECC camp remains a bargain. The program will run for 29 days, each day from 8 AM until 4:30 PM, Mon-Fri. The camp provides breakfast and lunch. Camp rates are $950 per child for Enfield residents (including non-residents who attend Enfield Elementary), and $1,250 for others.

The ECC camp will run from July 5 – August 12.

Look like a Fire House to you? What’s planned.

Perhaps no one cares anymore. But if they do, neighborhood resistance could plague the City of Ithaca’s suddenly-revealed, secretly-negotiated deal to relocate what will forever be known as Collegetown’s “Number Nine” Fire Station.

Revealed only days before a City Hall committee first discussed the plans April 20^th, the City would sell the existing half-century old (and since renumbered) College Avenue fire house to a housing developer. In exchange, the developer would gift the City a building site in a residential neighborhood blocks away. Houses would come down. And the otherwise placid corner of Dryden Road and Elmwood Avenue would find the air pierced by fire sirens at all hours.

The developer would pay the City some $5 Million, plus the land. But the new station would cost $9 Million (a fitting number).

Ignore for the moment that a rival developer may also fight the City, smelling an underhanded “sweetheart deal.” But if Ithaca residents still have spunk, their NIMBY objections could prove the loudest. Stay tuned.

As they voted to make Juneteenth a holiday

To make it clear, the Enfield Town Board did this first. Truth be told, just about everybody else did as well.

Tuesday, April 19^th, the Tompkins County Legislature finally declared “Juneteenth,” June 19^th, as a paid employee holiday.

“It’s about time,” said Legislature Chair Shawna Black, acknowledging that “other things came up” last year so that the holiday slipped by before lawmakers had time to act. (For the record, the Enfield Town Board declared Juneteenth a paid holiday on January 13^th of last year.)

African-Americans honor Juneteenth as commemorating the final liberation of slaves in the former Confederacy. The date marks the Union Army’s 1865 arrival at a remote Confederate outpost in Galveston, Texas.

President Biden signed legislation in June of last year making the date a Federal holiday. New York has taken similar action.

“We are likely one of the last employers to allow for the Juneteenth holiday,” acknowledged Black. “I’m glad to see us take this step forward.”

Legislator Randy Brown

His dissenting vote was the only one. But freshman Tompkins County legislator Randy Brown took a stand Tuesday night (Apr. 19) against the county’s long-standing and highly-complex apportionment scheme for sales tax distributions.

“It’s not fair,” Brown said privately after his end-of-meeting dissent on an otherwise-routine transfer of sales tax funds to adjust for the City of Ithaca’s better-than-expected collections during 2021. Last year, those City receipts increased by more than 22 per cent over the pandemic-plagued year before.

Brown’s vote made good on earlier objections he’d voiced at a mid-February meeting, one during which he faulted the multi-tiered 1998 sales tax distribution scheme as “shortchanging” his rural residents, those who must, by necessity, shop in Ithaca, yet see their sales tax dollars disproportionately syphoned into City coffers.

“The people in my district, they all come to Ithaca to do their shopping because there’s no place to spend their money in their town,” Brown said February 15^th, “so where they spent it doesn’t matter because they don’t have a choice.”

Tuesday’s vote put Brown’s defiance into the record. Yet one of the Newfield Republican’s colleagues had warned in February that reopening city-county sales tax talks could be like pulling on a sweater’s loose thread. “You could unravel the whole thing,” said Rich John.

See a longer version of this story posted here.

With the official choice Tuesday (Apr. 19^th) of a Rochester-based consultant to oversee the process, the Tompkins County Legislature has set into motion the procedure toward parceling out up to $6.5 Million this year to deserving community groups under its “Recovery Grant Program.”

The MRB Group, the winner among three consultants interviewed, will earn up to $125,000 for sorting through the forthcoming applications and perhaps prioritizing applicants for final review. County legislators have made clear they will make the final funding choices.

The consultant will make the process “equitable and expeditious,” County Administrator Lisa Holmes told the Legislature Tuesday.

Lawmakers predict the consultant will outline its procedures as soon as May. Grant awards, at least one legislator predicts, could be made by late-summer.

(April 15): Amidst some “Governing Pains”—yes, plenty of them—the Enfield Town Board Wednesday (4/13) created the American Rescue Plan Advisory Committee, its members a mix of community residents and elected officials, recruited to guide the Town in parceling out the $348,000 allotted to it under the much-touted federal program.

The Board’s aim, its Resolution stated, was to “increase engagement with residents” in the funding process. Already groups like the Fire Company, the Food Pantry, and the Community Council have expressed interest in tapping the funds.

Supervisor Stephanie Redmond and Councilperson Jude Lemke will sit on the committee. That did not rest well with some. Councilperson Robert Lynch (this writer) moved a substitute resolution that would have stripped elected leaders from the committee. But his amendment failed to be seconded. Similarly dismissed was Lynch’s follow-up amendment that would have assured that advisory committee meetings were noticed and open to the public.

Lynch’s substitute measure maintained that, “resident input can best be accomplished through a committee comprised of residents only, members who may draw their own collective conclusions without influence or bias from this Town’s political leadership.”

Lynch warned that if done the wrong way—made too political—ARPA funding could tear the community apart.

At an earlier meeting; Vanessa Greenlee

“We’re so happy to have a new member,” Newfield Planning Board Chair Leo Tidd said Thursday (Apr. 14^th). The member he welcomed was one who ran—but lost—last year to represent Newfield on the Tompkins County Legislature, Vanessa Greenlee.

With Supervisor Michael Allinger excused from Thursday’s monthly meeting, the four remaining Town Board members unanimously confirmed Greenlee’s appointment to the long-vacant Planning Board position. Nominated by Democrats for County Legislator in last June’s Primary, Greenlee subsequently lost to Republican Randy Brown in November’s General Election.

Ironically, Brown also served on the Planning Board prior to his elevation to Legislator.

Correction: And as it turns out (contrary to what was earlier reported here), Vanessa will assume the Planning Board seat that Randy recently vacated to take his seat as legislator. They will not serve together, but in effect, sequentially.

Newfield’s Town Board, Apr. 14th.

While the Enfield Town Board has already started the process toward determining how to parcel out funds under the American Rescue Plan (ARPA), its sister Board in Newfield has apparently not given it much thought. And progress report deadlines are approaching.

“They really want to see that even if you don’t have all your projects going, that you have a plan,” Blixy Taetzsch, who serves as bookkeeper for both towns, told Newfield Town Board members Thursday (Apr. 14). “You do need to demonstrate that the money is being used for the community.”

The Enfield Board, the night before, established an advisory committee to help its Town Board decide how to use ARPA funds. And several Enfield community agencies have already stepped forward with funding requests. Similar initiatives have apparently not happened in Newfield.

ARPA’s newly-expanded rules give municipalities wider latitude in how to spend the federal cash. Taetzsch told Newfield’s counselors ARPA can’t pay down deficits or lower taxes. But funds can be used for “government support.” One member suggested Newfield’s new park might benefit.

“I’m in for 20.” Acting Mayor Laura Lewis.

“Ithaca: 15—maybe 10—Square Miles Surrounded by Reality,” the bumper sticker says. Soon, you’ll read that sticker a whole lot easier, as you inch your way through downtown streets.

Ithaca Common Council consumed 4 hours, 40 minutes with its meeting Wednesday night (Apr. 6). But it took less than three of those minutes to adopt, without debate, what‘ll likely become its most long-lasting, albeit annoying, measure. Members endorsed pending state legislation that would enable it to cut city-wide speed limits, not just from 30 to 25 MPH, but all the way down to 20.

Those on Council raced to second Alderperson Rob Cantelmo’s motion. What sufficed for discussion was Cantelmo’s brief caution that his was only a “non-binding Resolution of support,” and that Ithaca is not trying to circumvent State law by cutting urban speeds on its own. Acting Mayor Laura Lewis called the vote. All hands went up.

New York law sets minimum upstate speeds at 30, apart from special places like school zones. Ignore, for the moment, that our city has so many speed humps that even driving 15 becomes a challenge. But if you doubt City Hall will cut the limit as soon as Albany’s ink is try, I have a Commons to sell you.

Think I’m wrong about a lower limit? Then just try driving Floral Avenue at 20. I did.

Happy Motoring. / Bob

Tompkins County Administrator Lisa Holmes, on what’s now become a monthly conference call with local municipal leaders, confirmed Thursday (Apr. 7^th) that while the County Health Department encourages those eligible to get a second COVID-19 booster shot, the Health Department, itself, will not be providing them.

“There’ll be no clinics at this time,” Holmes said.

On Tuesday (Apr. 5^th), the County Health Department issued an advisory stating that those eligible boosted once can now receive a second boost four months later. Eligible populations include those age 50 and older, those ages 18-49 who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine as their primary and booster doses, and those ages 12 and older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.

Without clinics, Holmes and the Health Department urge people access the vaccine through either a pharmacy or their primary care physician.

Also in the call, Public Health Director Frank Kruppa acknowledged that continuing difficulties keep the County’s COVID numbers and Cornell’s widely different. Some of the discrepancy results from campus self-testing and where the tests get analyzed. “There’s a lot of data problems that would require a lot of effort to sort out,” Kruppa said.

At our Enfield Town Board meeting March 9th, Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins announced his decision to no longer accept wood debris or brush at the Town Highway Facility. Rollins has since closed the entrance to what had been the wood drop-off.

“It’s getting a little out of hand,” Rollins explained to the Board. People were mixing in weeds and leaves with mulch-ready wood. But more seriously, they were dumping off lumber with nails that could damage the Town’s equipment.

With the Enfield drop-off closed, Tompkins County’s Solid Waste Facility on Elmira Road provides an alternate depository, though the facility charges a fee.

Please be advised that Rollins’ decision is legally his to make, not the Town Board’s. Yet you remain welcome to express your concerns to us at our next monthly meeting.

Members of the Tompkins County Legislature March 1st lent their strongest support to back the people of Ukraine in resisting the Russian invasion. Their efforts will include flying Ukraine’s flag beneath the stars and stripes on the County’s community flagpole.

“As a parent, I worry for my children,” said Legislature Chair Shawna Black, fearing that the invasion could spill to the rest of the world. “There’s a crazy person that is dictating what Russia’s doing. And I very much so worry that this person could make the wrong decision and really put us all at risk.”

Read a full report on this story posted on the Latest News tab.

For the second straight meeting, Danby’s Dan Klein has had to do what others in County Government have failed to do—namely to inform us of something important.

This time it’s a cell phone reception survey, launched with little publicity on the Tompkins County website.

Klein asserted at the County Legislature’s March 1^st meeting that federal government maps insist Tompkins County has cell service everywhere. “We know that’s not true,” he said. The survey, he explained, will ask each of us to identify weak points, posing three quick questions.

“It’s not an easy problem to solve,” said Klein, “but the first step in solving it is identifying the extent of the problem.”

Take the cell survey at:

https://www2.tompkinscountyny.gov/cellsurvey

On January 28, 2022, Robert A. Lynch, licensee of FM Translator W283BQ, 104.5 MHz. Ithaca, NY, filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for renewal of its license. Members of the public wishing to view this application or obtain information about how to file comments and petitions on the application can visit https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff37e74a267017e7debd5e0197f&id=25076ff37e74a267017e7debd5e0197f&goBack=N

From the Enfield Civility Resolution, adopted by the Town Board, Sept. 13, 2017:

RESOLVED to exhibit and encourage the kinds of personal qualities that are typical in a civil society—gratitude, humility, openness, passion for service to others, propriety, kindness, caring, sense of duty, and a commitment to doing what is right in the Enfield community. All Enfield board members, committee members and staff shall strive to:

Treat everyone courteously
Listen to others respectfully
Give open minded consideration to all viewpoints
Focus on the issues and avoid personalizing debate
Embrace respectful disagreement and dissent as democratic rights that are inherent components of an inclusive public process and tools for forging sound decisions and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Enfield board members, committees and staff shall strive to promote the use of and adherence to these guidelines in all Enfield community activities.

Since January 2020, I’m proud to have been the Enfield Town Board’s representative on the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG). At our regular Town Board meetings, I report on TCCOG discussions of intermunicipal interest that TCCOG has addressed in its meetings.

Now added to this website, filed under the the “TCCOG” tab, are the written versions of my monthly reports, presuming TCCOG has met since our Town Board’s last session. Please browse these reports and provide me whatever input you’d like.