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Attached to this page or included herein are the most recent news stories posted to this website.

For earlier-posted stories, view the Reporting Archives sub-heading under this tab. Stories are archived by the month of their posting.

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.

Highlights :

May 2024: Priority One: Our Boeing Problem; (Addressing poor academic performance in Enfield Elementary School and elsewhere in light of the district’s current budget controversy.)

November 2023: Flycars, Fund Balances, and “Flat-Broke” Towns; (Addressing a committee of the Tompkins County Legislature on the merits of cost-sharing for a Rapid Medical Response Service.)

September 2023: Think Before You Act (They Didn’t); (Addressing the Tompkins County Legislature to urge delay in proceeding with a Center of Government.)

August 2023: Democracy, Clinging by a Thread; (Addressing the Enfield Town Board on the controversy surrounding its appointment of Enfield’s initial Board of Fire Commissioners.)

July 2023: I am Impatient. They are Hungry. (Addressing the Tompkins County Council of Governments regarding the Tompkins County Food System Plan’s “Roadmap” and how it needs improvement.)

Prior postings and statements, (2019-2022) are now included in the Commentary Archives.

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

Recent Postings:

May 31: Newfield BOE cuts “shop” to spare budget

May 29: Recast ICSD budget to hover levy below Tax Cap

May 24: Newfield to revise, revote school budget

May 22: Board eyes cuts after big budget loss; No-increase “Contingency” among three options weighed

May 22: ICSD Budget loses 2.4 to 1

May 16: The Elephant in the Schoolhouse; Ithaca Board of Education Braces for Budget Defeat

May 13: ICSD’s Understated “Post-Porn” Debate

May 10: The Fields amidst the Fuss; Ulysses Planners’ pushback nearly derails Ag. District add-on

May 1: Budgeting with “Discipline;” Tompkins legislators target 2 per cent tax levy hike for ’25

Apr. 24: Dan, the Cable Guy; Enfield taps Pittsburgh hired gun to haggle with Haefele

Apr. 18: Finding a Fiscal Off-ramp; ICSD Board trims budget, levies, amid taxpayer backlash

Apr. 11: ICSD Board scratches its head to soothe the budget bite

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

Amanda Verba (with Garrick Blalock) at the Enfield Community Center, June 7th.

(July 24): More than one top administrative office will be vacant when Ithaca City School District students return this September.

Amanda Verba, Chief Operations Officer of the District and reportedly its second highest-paid employee, has resigned her position, The Ithaca Voice reported Wednesday. She becomes the second administrator just below School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown to resign this year. Deputy Superintendent Lily Talcott departed the District in June to head the local BOCES.

Amanda Verba did not announce her planned departure. Rather, the publication learned of it through sources. It was unable to contact Verba directly.

“A spokesperson for the district confirmed Verba had ‘notified the Board of Education of her intent to transition out of the Ithaca City School District,’” The Voice reported.

The go-to point-person for this year’s controversial and once-rejected District Budget—and thus a convenient recipient of undeserved blame—Amanda Verba has worked for the ICSD since 2013. She has been “shaping the district’s financial and operational strategies with exceptional skill and dedication,” a District spokesperson stated.

Not only does the freshly-restructured Ithaca Board of Education have Verba’s and Talcott’s positions to fill. It must address Superintendent Brown’s own decision to end his service to the District when his contract expires in 2028.

“Nervous.” Shawna Black

(July 24): You could be excused for thinking members were talking in code for more than a half-hour near the end of the Tompkins County Legislature’s July 16 meeting.

They were pondering the little-discussed potential sale of their Human Services Annex to an “LDC,” letters they never thought to define.

Moreover, they adopted two seemingly-conflicting resolutions, one of which was in their “red folders,” hidden that night from the public.

Indeed, you had to retrieve a long-forgotten April posting in The Ithaca Voice to gain context.

It seems a “Local Development Corporation”—there; that’s the “LDC”—with former Downtown Ithaca Alliance Executive Director Gary Ferguson its driving force, and developer Mack Travis by his side, has its eye on the Human Services Annex, its adjacent County employee parking lot, and other privately-owned parcels on so-called “Block 14. ” (Yes, more code.)

Whatever Ferguson, Travis, and whoever else want to do remains unclear: maybe some kind of “mixed use” including senior housing, possibly a bus station. Details aren’t known right now.

By one 8-5 vote, the Legislature resolved the block “is not for sale at this time.” But then, by an identical margin, it agreed to “cooperate with the LDC in its pre-development work.”

“Whenever I hear ‘Let developers be developers,’ those words make me nervous,” legislator Shawna Black remarked.

Yes, to some, this whole thing suddenly has a stench about it; the stench of big money, political manipulation, and sweetheart transactions followed only by dashed expectations. We’ve smelled that stench before. / RL

“Flaco,” R.I.P.

(July 24): Remember “Flaco,” the New York City owl released by a vandal from his enclosure last February at the Central Park Zoo , only to later fly into a building and die? It prompted a state effort—never adopted—to “bird-proof” window glass. Now that initiative is coming to Ithaca.

According to The Ithaca Voice, Alderperson Patrick Kuehl has sponsored a proposed Ithaca ordinance that would require all new buildings built in the City to comply with the U.S. Green Building Council’s “LEED” rating system to reduce bird collisions, predominantly through use of “bird-friendly materials.”

Kuehl’s “bird bill… would specifically require that all new buildings applying for a permit present documentation that the building meets the outlined bird-friendly design standards,” The Voice reports.

Ithaca’s proposal would not affect Enfield or other places in Tompkins County. But it would go farther than the state bill Assemblymember Anna Kelles had sponsored. Hers would have only impacted buildings built or leased by State Government.

Kelles’ measure cleared the State Senate, but died this term in an Assembly committee.

Predictably, experts at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology back Kuehl’s initiative. The Alderperson plans a June 27^th forum at Kendal at Ithaca before bringing his measure to a vote.

(July 24): If New York Republicans hold hopes of recapturing the State Senate—or at least trimming its Democratic supermajority—latest data confirms their path heads through Ithaca and Binghamton and the political success of Mike Sigler.

Money never flows by accident. And recently-released campaign finance data shows the GOP pumping Big Bucks into Sigler’s 52^nd District fight against first-term incumbent Democrat Lea Webb.

The Sigler campaign crowed last week when its latest report indicated a four-to-one fundraising advantage over Webb.

During the reporting period, Republican Sigler raised more than $166,000, while Webb raised just under $41,000.

And the Lansing Republican legislator has money in the bank still unspent. Sigler’s campaign reported an account balance of more than $165,000, compared to Webb’s less than $67,000.

“Sigler benefited significantly from the new NYS Public Financing Program, which provides candidates running for Senate and Assembly with the ability to qualify for public matching funds based on small donations from residents in their district,” the Sigler campaign stated.

The 52^nd District stands among the most competitive in New York. Two years ago, Webb beat Republican Rich David by just under 2,400 votes of more than 107,000 cast. Webb won only in Tompkins County; David in the other two.

(July 19): How often does this happen these days? A freebie.

Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins informed the Enfield Town Board Wednesday night that three roads resurfaced last year with tar and stone will be resurfaced again in the coming weeks… and at no expense to the Town.

They got “a bad batch of oil,” Rollins said the paving contractor had told him. The work was warranted, so the contractor will come back and do the job right.

The west end of Bostwick Road, as well as Rothermich and West Enfield Center Roads will each receive fresh oil and stone. Rollins said drivers may have noticed that since last year’s oil “didn’t stick,” a lot of the stone has drifted to Bostwick Road’s shoulders since then.

No doubt, somebody will pay for this mistake. Thank goodness, it won’t be Enfield.

Supervisor Redmond

(July 18): Nothing said or written at an adjourned Public Hearing Wednesday will likely dissuade a majority of the Enfield Town Board from resubmitting to voters this fall proposals to double the length of future terms for three Town offices.

Aside from comments from Town officials or their spouses, no one spoke publicly at the hearing that law required be held before the Town Board places on the ballot measures essentially identical to those voters rejected in 2021.

Only two comments came in from the general public. Both were in writing and read before the Board. One supported the change. One opposed it.

Former Town Supervisor Jean Owens wrote that she deserves “the right for my vote to be my voice and to have the opportunity to vote for this change.”

Julie Magura of Rockwell Road wrote that “Elected positions are not a right and should not be taken for granted.”

The changes would affect the Enfield offices of Town Supervisor, Town Clerk and Highway Superintendent. Both Highway chief Barry “Buddy” Rollins and Supervisor Stephanie Redmond spoke in favor of longer terms.

It’s likely the Board will vote July 31^st to schedule referendums for November.

“It sends a bad signal to small business…”

(July 17): Thinking politically, if for no other reason, the lawmaker whose committee backed study into a stand-alone Tompkins County Minimum Wage surprisingly yanked it from the County Legislature’s agenda Tuesday, thereby delaying its consideration for three weeks.

Dryden’s Greg Mezey requested postponement “so that we can have additional experts here to speak on the topic,” experts who, he said, had “scheduling conflicts” Tuesday.

Names weren’t mentioned, but they likely include leaders of the Tompkins County Workers’ Center and Cornell University’s principal labor union, the United Auto Workers. Workers’ Center and UAW activists had lobbied Mezey’s committee for a local Minimum Wage the week before.

But although there was no action, there was comment; namely from this Enfield Councilperson, Robert Lynch:

“It’s a bad thing to think about going it alone,” this Councilperson told legislators. “It’s probably not legal under state law to start with…. But you’re also sending a signal, a bad signal to the small businesses of this community that you really do not matter that much to us.”

“I want to see those businesses… survive,” I said. Former Ithaca mayoral candidate Zach Winn also voiced opposition to setting a higher local wage.

So far, only legislative Democrats have weighed in. Those on the committee each supported the study Resolution. But Republican Mike Sigler has yet to comment. Expect him to criticize it vigorously.

(July 16): Maybe half of them, but not everybody, will get relief by Midnight from the power outages caused by the destructive thunderstorms that swept through Enfield and the rest of Tompkins County Monday.

In a mid-afternoon conference call with local officials, T. F. Winderl, spokesman for NYSEG’s Ithaca division, said he expects “40 to 50 per cent” of those customers in Tompkins County affected by the Monday evening storm to have their service restored by Midnight Tuesday. Winderl cautioned that another round of storms passing through or later predicted for the area could hamper restoration efforts.

The spokesperson told conferees that as many as 100 “wire-down calls” had been received, as well as 18 reports of broken poles (including, by the way, behind this writer’s house.)

The Tuesday storm left as many as 5,992 customers in the Ithaca area without power, Winderl reported.

As for remedial efforts until full power is restored, the utility spokesperson said NYSEG is arranging for shipments of dry ice and bottled water, distribution details yet to be finalized. In Tompkins County, those supplies will likely be transported to the NYSEG operations center on Route 13 near Etna. As yet, no cooling stations had been established to Winderl’s knowledge.

Lt. Governor Delgado (Beteto Matthews/AP)

(July 14): A decision by New York Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado to urge President Biden to exit the Presidential race has caused a rift between him and Governor Kathy Hochul. How deep of a rift it is depends upon whom you ask.

Politico reports Governor Hochul was “displeased with Delgado’s surprise show of political independence,” yet she denied that she was “furious” about her second-in command’s urging that Biden withdraw his re-election candidacy.

“Every day we’re talking about people who have a difference of opinion is a day we’re not talking about the existential threat of Donald Trump becoming president,” Hochul said Thursday, two days before former President Trump was wounded at a campaign rally. Hochul firmly wants Biden to stay in the race.

While saying he holds “immense respect and admiration” for President Biden’s commitment to the American people and to democratic ideals, “He can add to his legacy, showing his strength and grace, by ending his campaign and making room for a new leader,” Delgado posted July 10^th on social media.

The news site “City and State” quoted an anonymous labor source as saying “Hochul is now ‘furious’ with Delgado,” whether for the urging itself, or that Delgado chose to upstage New York’s top elected leader.

“It’s undermining the governor and makes her look weak,” a different source told Politico.

(July 10): The initial reason was an ongoing Tornado Watch. But as the Enfield Town Board abbreviated its regular July 10^th meeting, shoving most of its reports and actions—including a trio of Public Hearings—to a hastily-scheduled July 17^thsession, it learned of a legal wrinkle that would likely have forced postponement anyway.

The evening’s principal business was the renewed initiative by some Board members to extend future terms-of-office for the Supervisor, Town Clerk, and Highway Superintendent to twice as long as they are now. But an arcane New York law, retrieved by Councilperson Jude Lemke (a lawyer), requires physical or snail-mail service of the proposed local laws to each Board member as long as eight calendar days before their vote. That hadn’t been done. (Email doesn’t count.)

By the time Lemke had discovered the glitch, the weather-conscious Board had already adjourned its hearings for one week—not quite enough time. So, members concluded they’d need to convene yet again, probably on July 31^st, if they wanted to vote.

Enfield’s electorate roundly rejected the terms-of-office extensions in 2021. This Councilperson, Robert Lynch, opposes their reconsideration. Yet other Board members stand more sympathetic. / RL

(July 10): A $9,999 Centers for Disease Control grant funded it. This week, we learned what Tompkins County got for its money.

Tuesday, the Department of Whole Health unveiled the mural it commissioned for the Albany Street side of the Human Services Annex, artistry “commemorating community public health efforts and honoring those who passed away from COVID-19.”

Sadly, the message could be lost on passers-by. While the graphics may be in-your-face, as is the tradition of Ithaca street art, the message is ever-so-subtle, showing a group of candles, a masked nurse in one corner, and most prominently, the portrait of Millicent Clarke-Maynard, a retired local educator.

You’d need to be told. Millicent was among the first older adults who received the COVID-19 vaccine locally.

“The mural captures different visual elements of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Tompkins County community,” Whole Health stated in a news release. “The mural shows people coming together in an uncertain and challenging time for our community.”

Despite the earlier hype, the mural is relatively modest, gracing just one section of the building’s expansive western wall. Mind you, in a few years the Annex may come down after the offices it houses consolidate in a new Center of Government.

Anna Kelles

(July 5): Ithaca-area Assemblymember Anna Kelles has commented on the recently-reported death threats and racist messages sent two African-American leaders of the Ithaca City School District.

As disclosed at a June 11^th Ithaca Board of Education meeting—and reported here first —Ithaca School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown and School Board President Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell were sent the vulgar messages after national conservative media picked up ICSD’s “Students of Color Summit,” an event viewed by some on the Right as racially-exclusive government advocacy.

“Whether the voice messages came from people within or outside our local community, they are indicative of a pervasive sickness in our culture, one that we need to face and heal,” Kelles said in a 550-word statement, released June 28^th. “This sickness stems from a myopic focus on the ‘me and mine,’ a tribalism that is fundamentally threatened by any kind of otherness,” the Assemblymember added.

Commentators can argue whether Kelles’ verbal intervention carries corrective benefit or fosters community healing when the spokesperson holds only a peripheral link to what occurred. But speak out, Anna Kelles did. And she also urged concerned residents to reach out to groups like “Village at Ithaca,” and “Showing Up for Racial Justice,” organizations seen by some as on the Far Left of the racial debate.

Police have yet to identify the source of the threats made against Doctors Brown and Eversley-Bradwell.

(July 2): Regulation of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS), especially from the New York State Health Department, has become increasing complex. Tuesday night, the Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners responded to that complexity.

At Chairman Greg Stevenson’s initiative, the Board July 2^nd established a District EMS Committee. It will draw half its membership from the Board of Commissioners and half from members of the Enfield Volunteer Fire Company (EVFC).

The committee will “help us with compliance and advise us on all matters relating to EMS,” Stevenson said. “The District and the Fire Company will benefit,” Stevenson assured the Board.

Fire Commissioners Robyn Wishna and Alan Teeter were named to the committee. Alexis Comparetta and Ellen Woods will be invited to represent the EVFC.

Survivor: Bd. President Eversley Bradwell

(July 1): The newly-reconstituted, more moderate-bending Ithaca Board of Education found it hard to get its house in order Monday. The absence of Todd Fox, likely its most conservative new member, didn’t help.

One person short, the Board agonized through a series of 4-4 tied votes as it tried to pick both a President and Vice-President. A 9 AM meeting that should have been open-and-shut, dragged on until almost Noon.

At the end of three ballots, incumbent Sean Eversley Bradwell emerged to secure another year as Board President. He won 6:2, with Jill Tripp and Adam Krantweiss dissenting.

Tripp, the newfound favorite of fiscal conservatives, was also nominated for Board President. But she failed to secure the needed fifth vote.

Krantweiss became Vice-President. Yet much like Eversley Bradwell, he had to outlast his own tied-vote challenger, Garrick Blalock.

Yes, it’s early. But what emerged Monday was an apparent philosophical and attitudinal divide on this new Ithaca Board of Education. It puts Tripp, Krantweiss, Katie Apker, and newly-elected Emily Workman nearer the center; with Eversley Bradwell, Blalock, Karen Yearwood and Erin Croyle to their left. At least on leadership, that’s how they’ve aligned.

Smooth shoulders = safe kids

(June 27): The Enfield Highway Department came to the rescue Thursday just days before the Enfield Community Council will open its recreational facilities for summer camp.

Last year, with help from a Tompkins County grant, the Town of Enfield paved the long-abandoned basketball court behind ECC’s Community Center. Then winter came, and the dirt surrounding the court settled making the pavement edge easy to stub one’s toe.

“The Health Department will not pass us for it,” member Vera Howe-Strait reported to the ECC Board Thursday. But with the next breath, she told of the solution.

Vera had met earlier that day with Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins, crew member Gabe Newhart, Supervisor Redmond and her deputy, Greg Hutnik. They moved fast. During the highway crew’s lunch break, they brought in topsoil and made a gradual slope to the grass. It’s acceptable now.

“Thank you, Enfield Highway Department,” ECC President Cortney Bailey shouted out at the Board meeting. Expect a poster board to go up showing appreciation. Too often they only hear the complaints, Bailey remarked.

And Bailey cheered about another achievement Thursday. As many as 50 children have signed up for ECC’s summer camp.

Rockwell’s canopy brush cut

(June 26): Prompted by what some see as overly-aggressive tree pruning by crews rebuilding Rockwell and Porter Hill roads, residents took most seats at a Special Enfield Town Board meeting Wednesday night and for more than two hours voiced their concerns to Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins’ over his tree cutting practices that remove the “canopy” that shelters those roads.

“I fell in love with the area because of the trees,” one woman told the Town Board. “This is one of the most beautiful and enchanting places,” Rockwell Road’s Charlie Elrod prided Enfield. Elrod called Rollins’ pruning practices “aggressive overreach.”

Dialogue mostly remained civil. Yet Rollins stood his ground, saying the law grants him the authority. One reason he gave for cutting back the canopy: it’ll allow snow to melt faster in winter. Some challenged the Superintendent’s rationale.

As time passed—and emotions calmed—Wednesday’s attendees and Rollins agreed to future cooperation. They’d discuss which limbs need be cut, and which may stay.

The Superintendent said he won’t return to tree cutting on Rockwell until the fall. That’s when its eastern end gets pruned.

Supervisor Stephanie Redmond cautiously welcomed one resident’s suggestion that Enfield budget for an arborist’s services next year. The person would guide Rollins’ decisions… and his chain saw.

“Thanks.” Dr. Eversley Bradwell (file photo.)

(June 26): Unless you were a deep-insider, you would have missed it. Except, perhaps, for Ithaca School Board President Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell’s passing recognition Tuesday of the talent the district is losing. And, oh yes, the long executive sessions the board took—one that lasted more than two hours—and stretched Tuesday’s Board meeting to three minutes short of Midnight.

Buried within the Board’s Consent Agenda—and ratified routinely—a Personnel Report confirmed the departure of the Principal of DeWitt Middle School, the promotion of an associate principal to replace her, and the “termination” of Associate DeWitt Principal Ramelle Liverpool.

Associate Boynton Middle School Principal Daniel McGrath will assume DeWitt Principal Carlan Gray’s leadership post July first.

The Ithaca Times quotes a letter Principal Gray sent to parents and teachers in mid-June. The principal said the decision was hers, yet left the backstory unstated.

“It is with a mixture of sadness and gratitude that I write to inform you of my decision to resign” Gray reportedly wrote. “I thank you for allowing me to serve your children for four years.”

Both DeWitt and Boynton middle schools have gotten bad grades lately, cited in a state report for poor academic performance, particularly among students of color.

Other administrative changes, contained in the Personnel Report, confirmed the retirement of Corey Mitchell as Associate Principal at Ithaca High School. Also, as previously announced, Deputy School Superintendent Lily Talcott will leave to become Superintendent of the local BOCES.

Among Latin’s advocates; Anna Tribble

(June 26): Budget cuts carry consequences. And a pair of foreign language programs at the Ithaca District’s high school and middle schools has emerged as a revised budget’s first and most prominent casualty.

A large and vocal turnout of parents, teachers, and some students packed the Ithaca Board of Education’s meeting room Tuesday night. More than a score of speakers occupied an hour’s time urging reversal of a newly-revealed plan to cut Latin and Chinese Mandarin instruction from the ICSD curriculum.

Melena, a DeWitt Middle School graduate, found her passion morphing into tears as she shared her disappointment in losing the opportunity to carry her Mandarin courses into High School. “Latin made me… a better student in all of my courses,” Anna Tribble, a former student, told the Board.

“Decisions made for short-term reasons have long-term negative effects,” parent Shawn Kennedy, a Latin course supporter, stated.

Following an initial budget defeat in May, the Ithaca Board of Education cut $5.9 Million in proposed spending to trim the total down to what residents approved in a re-vote referendum June 18^th. Specific program cuts have not surfaced until now.

“We have heard you and we will be talking more about language programs,” Board member Jill Tripp assured the evening’s critics.

“I want to avoid… pitting programs against each other,” Board President Sean Eversley Bradwell cautioned. “I don’t know where we’re going to be headed,” he added. “It’ll be a long summer. Give us some time”

Mezey: Beware of “Mushy Areas.”

(June 23): Following legislative action this past week, neither Cheech nor Chong could keep his County Government job very long. Then, again, he might.

Following a half-hour of agonizing debate, the Tompkins County Legislature June 18^th approved a “Cannabis-Free Work Environment” policy that got ever-more neutered as the minutes passed.

The easy part was banning consumption on the job. But what about working under pot’s influence? A committee had recommended an employee’s supervisor make the call and mete out discipline.

“It’s a determination not of whether someone is under the influence as… it’s based on their work performance,” a discomfited and tongue-tied County Administrator Lisa Holmes explained. “It is seemingly a mushy area here,” she admitted.

“I think mushy areas can create problems for an employer that allows for mushy areas,” legislator Greg Mezey remarked.

On Mezey’s initiative and by an 8:4 vote, the Legislature amended the policy to remove supervisory observational enforcement and to prohibit only job “impairment,” not one’s being merely “under the influence” of cannabis.

The amended policy passed 11-to-one, with only Shawna Black dissenting.

“I understand the intent of just to have a policy,” Black acknowledged. “But the reality is that this could be someone’s job that we’re talking about, and they could lose it if someone thinks they’re under the influence.”

“I don’t think this is ready for prime time,” Black said of the policy.

Case Lost; M. Byrnes

(June 22): An amendment to the New York State Constitution that would enshrine the right to an abortion in the Empire State is back on the November ballot after a lower-court judge had briefly blocked it.

In a unanimous ruling June 18^th, the five-judge Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled that conservative plaintiffs who’d sought to keep the so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” from voters based on a legal technicality had actually violated a technicality of their own.

The mid-level court did not reach the merits of the opponents’ arguments. Rather, it found the plaintiffs had employed an inappropriate procedure to bring the suit, and that the procedure they should have used was already time-barred by a statute of limitations.

The Equal Rights Amendment passed the Legislature twice. It was challenged last October by two private individuals and by Marjorie Byrnes, a Livingston County Assemblymember. Justice Daniel J. Doyle had sided with Byrnes and her supporters in a ruling that’s now effectively voided.

“We are gratified that the courts dismissed this frivolous case that was brought … to block equal rights right here in New York,” Mike Murphy, a spokesman for the state Senate Majority Office, informed the Albany Times-Union.

Democrats of late have lined up in favor of the amendment; Republicans against it. Some conservatives have warned that voter passage this fall could advance transgender access to school bathrooms and girls’ sports.

(June 21): Allegations of overly-aggressive planned tree-cutting along Rockwell Road will prompt a special meeting of the Enfield Town Board, most likely to be held on Wednesday evening, June 26^th.

The planned tree removals and pruning would be performed in conjunction with the planned repaving and related improvements to both Rockwell and Porter Hill Roads, work funded by Town Board action earlier this year and prioritized by Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins in his 2024 work plan.

State law grants Rollins operational authority in such matters. And the Superintendent insists his tree-cutting plans follow state guidance.

“We believe his interpretation of that guidance is overly broad,” one concerned Rockwell Road resident, Charles Elrod, wrote the Town Board in requesting the “emergency” session.

In response, Rollins allegedly informed Elrod that if the trees cannot be cut, the road project will not proceed.

Sen. John Mannion

(June 21): A last-minute allegation, lodged little more than a week before the Democratic Primary, has placed State Senator and U.S. Congressional candidate John Mannion on the defensive.

Mannion, who seeks his party’s Congressional nomination in the Syracuse-centered district adjacent to Tompkins County, has been accused anonymously by a group of former Senate office staffers of creating a “hostile work environment.”

Senator Mannion denies the allegations. A Syracuse newspaper has verified three of the accusers’ identities, yet withheld the names at their request.

“To start, we have been subjected to out of control yelling by Senator Mannion, often with cursing, and always with the intention of intimidating us,” the accusers stated in a more than 650-word statement shared June 17th on the online platform, “Medium.” The accusers also alleged “direct retaliation” by the Senator, and they alleged “transphobic” remarks by Mannion’s wife.

“This is clearly a coordinated effort to use smear tactics just a few days before the election to hurt me and my family,” Senator Mannion told a Utica television station (WKTV), defending himself against the charges.

John Mannion faces DeWitt Town Councilperson Sarah Klee Hood in the June 25^th Democratic Primary. Its winner will face incumbent Republican Brandon Williams this fall.

Eight hands up; budget vote certified.

(June 20): Had the budget failed, the session, no doubt, would have been much longer. But it took only about two minutes Thursday for the Ithaca Board of Education to certify the results of Tuesday’s re-vote election, one in which a pared-down, next year’s $163 Million Ithaca Schools’ budget sailed to approval.

A similar re-vote budget certification meeting was held a little later that evening in Newfield.

“Thank you for the re-vote,” was about the only comment Board President Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell made before he called for ratification. Nobody else spoke to the decision. And with Jill Tripp excused, all others on the Board approved the Tuesday results.

No surprise. Many Ithaca School Board members regretted voters’ rejection of a nearly $169 Million budget back in May. But with the budget’s tax levy increase cut substantially, Tuesday’s re-vote saw the revised budget pass, 4,979 votes to 1,736. A bus purchase proposition also passed.

Had voters not approved the revised budget, a state-mandated “Contingency Budget” would have fallen upon the Ithaca District, and with it $3 Million in additional spending cuts, reductions now avoided.

(June 18): With a larger voter turnout this time than last and with a smaller bite on the taxpayer’s wallet, voters in the Newfield School District Tuesday overwhelming ratified their revised $25.4 Million school budget.

District results, released about an hour after the polls closed, showed the budget passing 387 votes (59.7%) to 261 (40.3%), a margin of 126 votes.

The first time Newfield presented a proposed school budget, May 21^st, the spending plan lost by a mere 18 votes. 514 district residents participated that time; 648 persons did in the revote Tuesday.

Newfield’s Board of Education declined to submit for a revote a bus purchase option, one that had included the potential purchase of an electric school bus. The budget stood as the only item on the Re-vote ballot.

In the weeks since the initial budget’s defeat, Newfield’s educators trimmed a little more than $71,000 in spending, mainly by eliminating a currently vacant instructional position and proposing minor administrative economies. Those reductions cut the proposed tax levy increase from 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent.

Tuesday’s approval precludes the possibility of Newfield imposing a Contingency Budget next year, an austerity plan that would likely have required additional personnel reductions.

Pres. Eversley Bradwell

(June 13): Buried within a five-hour, budget-centered Ithaca City School District (ICSD) Board of Education meeting June 11th, Board President Sean Eversley Bradwell alleged that he and School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown had received “death threats” following the school district’s May 31^st “Students of Color Summit,” an event that gained national attention in conservative media after critics accused its organizers of racial exclusion.

“Some of those stories were picked up by various organizations, which resulted in significant amounts of threats to the Superintendent, as well as myself,” Eversley Bradwell disclosed. Both Eversley Bradwell and Dr. Brown are African-American.

The Board President described what was hurled at them: “Death threats, vulgar language, voicemails; things that would make one wonder why you would volunteer for a position if you were going to have your family or your lives threatened.”

Eversley Bradwell said little more about what he and Dr. Brown had sustained, yet implied the messages had contained “significant forms of racist vitriol and a promise to terminate folks.”

Tuesday’s was the first known revelation of the harassment following the “Students of Color Summit.” According to Ithaca.com, right-wing groups associated with Cornell Law School Professor William Jacobson had criticized the event for allegedly “segregating” students based on race.

Eversley Bradwell’s remark came during discussion of a revised District Safety Plan, one that the School Board subsequently adopted.

Dan, showing to the Town Board “dream” 3.0.

(June 13): Dan Woodring, the visionary behind Enfield’s “SkateGarden” project, made clear Wednesday night that his is a dream still under construction.

In a late-May email, Woodring had shared with Enfield Town Board members his retooled skateboard park design. It would recess a heart-shaped concrete bowl on Town-owned land next to the Park-and-Ride lot.

But in a Wednesday night presentation to the Town Board, a new design emerged, one with a curved contraption defying definition. (Imagine a half-opened toilet lid.)

And Woodring qualified that the design could change further still. ”If a heart-shaped bowl doesn’t fit everybody’s needs, then we’ll redesign it,” Woodring advised the Town Board. He indicated his is a collaborative process with other skateboarders.

Town officials must sign-off on a final design before concrete gets poured.

Meanwhile, Town Government will dance on the head of a pin to enable private donations for SkateGarden.

After first admonishing Town Board members to keep hands-off the process, Supervisor Stephanie Redmond Wednesday updated her legal guidance to state that Enfield can, indeed, accept cash donations toward the park’s construction. But Town employees, including elected officials, cannot solicit contributions, even on their personal social media.

(June 11): In sharp contrast to an earlier session last month involving a fatter budget, supporters of a leaner, tax cap-compliant, revised Ithaca City School District budget voiced the majority of comments at an hour-long Public Hearing Tuesday night.

Nine of the 15 persons who brought their comments to the Board of Education urged voters adopt the $163 Million retooled spending plan when it goes to the polls June 18^th. Only four speakers urged rejection.

The so-called “Re-vote Budget” replaces a more costly package soundly rejected in a late-May referendum. The revision would cut the proposed tax levy’s increase from 8.4 to 2.9 per cent.

“Voters have made a statement,” Heather Beasley said of the earlier budget. “And now it’s our turn to make a statement in favor of our programs, and our teachers, and our community.”

Speakers like Beasley warned of the more severe “Contingency Budget” that law would impose should this second budget also fail.

But opponents remain. “This is not just a community of children,” Leigh Rogers said, prompting muted heckling. “Others will suffer. Single parents will suffer; grandparents will suffer.”

Long after most commenters had filed out, Eldred Harris, voted off the school board after 15 years’ service, launched into a 10-minute monologue chiding those who would sell minority students short. “Equity costs money,” Harris, who’s African-American, said. “My voice is no longer needed,” he acknowledged, “but I will still be watching.”

(June 10): Newfield School District administrators fielded questions, but faced no sharp criticism during a Public Hearing Monday called to review a tax-trimmed $25.4 Million District Budget set for a re-vote June 18th.

About 20 residents, including Tompkins County legislator Randy Brown, seated themselves about the Newfield High School Library and for more than an hour accorded School Superintendent Eric Hartz and Business Manager Perry Gorgen polite deference as each explained how the School Board had cut expenses since an earlier budget defeat in late-May, and how the Board would need to cut even more if a second defeat forced a “Contingency Budget.”

“We’ve heard people say a contingency budget is meant to scare you into voting for the submitted budget,” Gorgen told attendees. He discounted the strategy. “This is just what we must do,” the manager said of a contingency alternative.

The Newfield Board of Education has already eliminated an unfilled “technology” instructor’s position at the high school to make the revised figures work. Attendees were told a contingency budget would force another $150,000 in instructional cuts. Most likely, additional teaching vacancies would go unfilled, Gorgen confirmed after the meeting.

“Our objective is to get as many people out as we can,” the manager proclaimed regarding the revote.

Newfield’s school budget lost May 21^st by only 18 votes. Most School Board members were absent from Monday’s hearing.

Garrick Blalock; admin’s Verba, Talcott, Brown

(June 8): Gathered in a circle at the Enfield Community Center Friday afternoon, about 20 residents joined leaders of the Ithaca City School District to talk school finances at a “Community Conversation” in preparation for a June 18^th re-vote on a trimmed-down $163 Million 2024-25 school district budget.

Tax burdens became the prime focus as Board of Education members Jill Tripp and Garrick Blalock, School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown, and fellow administrators Amanda Verba and Lily Talcott fielded questions.

What challenged district officials most was explaining how the tax levy imposed by any budget would impact individual homeowners’ bills amid skyrocketing residential assessments.

“Your tax burden is based on your assessment,” Blalock told attendees. “Homeowners are paying more and office building owners are paying less,” the school board member explained. Thus, the burdens shift, he said.

Administrators cautioned that should the revised budget fail at the polls and a more austere “Contingency Budget” then be imposed, household taxes could still rise because of this imbalance, even though the schools’ tax levy would remain the same next year as now.

The Ithaca District’s first budget proposal lost in May in a seven-to-three landslide defeat. Since then, the School Board has cut $5.9 Million in proposed spending.

Enfield’s ballot box

(June 7): In the flurry of action during the closing days of the New York Legislative session, the State Assembly gave final passage Wednesday to what we, locally, refer to as “Enfield’s Law,” an amendment of New York Town Law that would avoid the confusion that confronted voters in last December’s first-ever Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners’ election.

The State Senate provided the measure earlier passage May 30^th. The bill will next be sent to Governor Hochul for her signature.

Last December, when Enfield voters were asked to elect five new members to their first-ever Board of Fire Commissioners, an attorney’s (perhaps strained) interpretation of an ambiguous state law allowed each voter to choose only one candidate for office, not five. Since as many as ten people had run for the positions, many in Enfield believed they’d been denied their franchise.

Earlier this year, the Enfield Town Board urged state legislators to clarify the controlling law, even though Enfield, itself, might never again face its December dilemma. State Senator Lea Webb served as point-person to shepherd the legislation to passage.

(June 5): During a more than hour-long quick review of Enfield’s 73-page Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2020, the Town Planning Board touched briefly Wednesday on how far existing subdivision regulations could go in limiting property dimensions and lot sizes. It’s an issue that’s arisen recently before the Town Board as size affects water rights and density.

“You should not regulate lot size through subdivision regulations,” Board alternate and Deputy Town Supervisor Greg Hutnik, a planner familiar with state law, counseled.

“I think you can put frontage (requirements) into subdivision regulations,” Planning Board Chair Dan Walker replied.

“I don’t think so,” Hutnik countered.

But while a zoning law could provide the remedy, Enfield doesn’t have zoning. And no one’s seriously considering zoning the Town.

“But you could have a separate ‘Lot Size Limit Law’,” Hutnik suggested.

Though some on the Town Board may favor a major rewrite of the existing Comprehensive Plan, most on the Planning Board continue to prefer a lighter touch.

“There’s no need to fully rewrite it,” Walker said of the current Plan. “Just update it and take credit for what we have done.”

Walker will prepare what he called a “talking point memo” for the Town Board’s June 12^th meeting.

[Note: The Planning Board postponed its scheduled review of Enfield’s Site Plan Review Law until August. It canceled its July meeting.]

(June 7): Like his Democratic opponent, incumbent Lea Webb, Republican State Senate Candidate Mike Sigler will face voters on two ballot lines this fall.

Friday, Sigler and his campaign announced the formation of what they call the “Local 607”Party—named, no doubt, after the district’s area code—and that it’s filed sufficient petition signatures to qualify for a November ballot line.

The campaign says nearly 5,000 qualifying signatures were filed with the New York State Board of Elections last week, and that the time for filing objections has passed.

“The Local 607 Party isn’t about me or any other candidate,” Sigler said in his campaign’s announcement. “It’s about the people of our communities, who’ve been suffering from skyrocketing prices, job losses, population outflow, and dangerous laws like Bail Reform that make our streets less safe.”

The Tompkins County legislator from Lansing turned Senate candidate, wore off shoe leather securing the ballot line. He claims to have personally collected more than 1,300 of the names himself from people who had not previously signed for any other candidate.

Candidates often secure Independent lines to broaden their support, and in Sigler’s case, to encourage non-Republicans to vote for him.

Democrat Webb will appear on the Working Families line in addition to that of her own party.

(June 4): You could call it “The Crosswalk to Nowhere.” On one side there’s Enfield Elementary School. On the other, there’s… well, a hayfield.

Legend has it that the rarely-used crosswalk was painted so that the state would then lower the speed limit in front of the school. But last fall, our alert resident, Gretchen Kirchgessner, noticed that the Department of Transportation had retained a dashed-line passing zone south of the crosswalk. From a safety standpoint, she said, it made no sense. It didn’t.

Last October, honoring Kirchgessner’s appeal, the Enfield Town Board requested NYSDOT revisit the issue and make the entire stretch of NY 327 in front of the school a “No-Passing Zone.” By its letter of May 22, Scott Bates, the agency’s regional traffic engineer, agreed with us:

“NYSDOT safety staff determined that given the crosswalk and the school zone, the closing of the passing zone by the school zone is justified at this time,” Bates wrote the Town. “The centerline will be restriped as a double-yellow, no-passing zone by our regional pavement marking (contractor) this coming construction season.”

Thank you, DOT. Thank you, Gretchen. / RL

Sigler: It sends a “signal”

(June 4): In case anyone hasn’t noticed, in this year of skyrocketing home assessments, tax increases are not popular.

That fact was proven again Tuesday when a normally-routine action to override the state’s so-called “2% Tax Cap” failed to secure the supermajority support in the Tompkins County Legislature needed to pass.

“I vote against this every year, and I would like to note that the public is 100 per cent against this,” Republican legislator Mike Sigler, a candidate for State Senate, told colleagues. Chuckles of acknowledgement from within the room followed. The measure’s passage, Sigler maintained, “does send a signal that we are open to… raising taxes.”

Democrat Greg Mezey agreed. Mezey argued the treasury of County Government is strong enough to weather “whatever storm may come our way.” And he said good evidence supports the belief that Tompkins County sits on a fund balance “in excess of $30 Million.”

A family issue called Sigler away before the final vote. But with another member also excused, the tax override fell one short of the nine votes needed for adoption.

That second absent member, Deborah Dawson—a likely override supporter—could seek reconsideration later. But she’d have to do so at the next meeting.

Among those representing Enfield, Anne Koreman favored the override; Randy Brown opposed it.

HR Director Pulliam

(June 4): [Update: In its meeting that followed the committee session, the Tompkins County Legislature, by a vote of 12-0, approved the committee’s salary recommendation for the next County Administrator.]

Earlier: In a quickly-concluded decision and by a unanimous vote, a committee of the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday recommended that the next-hired County Administrator receive a starting salary of $180,000, a level that would climb to $189,000 after just nine months.

The recommended starting pay would be $20,000 a year higher than that of the current Administrator, Lisa Holmes, assigned when Holmes was elevated to her position two years ago.

The Budget, Capital and Personnel Committee’s recommendation is likely to be acted upon by the full Legislature tonight.

“It would give us a competitive edge, and it would also allow us to put our best foot forward,” Ruby Pulliam, the County’s Commissioner of Human Resources, advised the committee. With Holmes retiring at year’s end, Tompkins County plans a nationwide search for Holmes’ successor.

The $180,000 high-end starting pay recommended by Pulliam nudged the salary $5,000 above what the committee’s initial resolution had stated. The committee also doubled to $10,000 its earlier-proposed relocation package the new hire would be provided.

“I think this is a little too rich for our blood,” committee Chair Mike Lane remarked of the higher salary set. Nonetheless, Lane joined in the resolution’s support.

(June 3): By the unanimous vote of its then-attending members, the Ithaca Board of Education Monday evening endorsed and sent to the voters for a June 18^th referendum a $163 Million proposed 2024-25 school budget, one that would raise the Ithaca District’s tax levy no higher than the New York State tax cap.

The Board’s so-called “Re-vote Budget” was the option strongly favored at a marathon Board budget session the prior Tuesday. Its tax levy increase (2.92%) falls far below the 8.4 per cent increase earlier proposed, but rejected decisively by Ithaca voters in May; lower still than the 12.1 per cent tax increase first advanced by administrators.

“It’s not a perfect budget. It doesn’t have everything I want, but I will support this budget,” Jill Tripp, the School Board’s leading advocate of financial frugality,” said prior to her vote.

The only considered alternative—and the one the state will mandate should voters again reject the spending plan—namely a hold-the-line “Contingency Budget,” found no support among Board members.

“We need to make it very clear,” member Erin Croyle said, that under a Contingency Budget, “the school would be a shell of itself.”

The “Re-vote Budget,” now endorsed by the Board, would cut $5.9 Million in spending from the budget voters rejected last month at the polls. Yet a Contingency Budget, administrators warned, would force $9 Million in cuts from the May proposal.

Enfield’s Bd. of Fire Commissioners, May 21st

(May 30): A bill that would resolve the confusion, frustration—and downright anger—that confronted voters in last December’s first-ever Enfield Fire District election is a step closer to final enactment.

The New York State Senate Thursday passed clarifying legislation that would provide that when fire districts, like Enfield’s, hold their initial election to select five members to a Board of Fire Commissioners, voters would get to vote for as many as five candidates, not for just one.

An attorney’s interpretation of a clearly ambiguous New York statute had limited Enfield’s voters to just a single vote in the December election, and it precluded a voter from choosing all five persons to populate that newly-established Board. Although the statutory quirk may never again impact Enfield, it would affect other towns that choose to establish fire districts.

The Senate vote was 57-0, with several members absent or excused. A companion bill remains before the State Assembly’s Local Governments Committee.

The Enfield Town Board initiated the bill in March. The Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York assisted in its scripting. State Senator Lea Webb introduced it in the upper chamber.

(May 30): By eliminating just one position at the secondary level and making a few minor administrative economies, the Newfield Board of Education Thursday reduced by some 28 per cent the tax levy increase projected to face its District’s residents this fall. The newly-revised budget would replace the one Newfield’s voters rejected by a mere 18 votes last month.

Following nearly two hours of discussion, the Board unanimously adopted the revised $25,411,093 spending plan, one that would increase outlays by 3.7 per cent over the year, yet hike the projected property tax levy by only 2.5 per cent.

The rejected budget would have raised the levy by 3.5 per cent.

The new budget’s primary reduction came through elimination of a long-vacant position in technology instruction, commonly known as “shop.” Officials say proposed instructional work-arounds would satisfy state mandates, and a person providing some technology teaching at present could be transferred to Special Education.

Newfield voters will re-vote on their budget June 18^th. Should it fail, a more austere “Contingency Budget” would kick-in by state law.

“You need to look at what a contingency budget looks like,” Superintendent Eric Hartz cautioned the Board and public Thursday. “Dollar for dollar it doesn’t look like much. But we lose a lot (in program.)”

A more detailed story is now posted.

Champion: The white men question “the one little spot.”

(May 28): On its face, it was nothing more than a weedy rewrite of grant-writing policy, something intending routine passage. Instead, it plunged the Tompkins County Legislature into a 23-minute, PC-tinged debate May 21^st, one that pitted the Ithaca Town’s Amanda Champion against Lansing’s Mike Sigler in a snarky, gender-war skirmish.

It started when Groton’s Lee Shurtleff questioned language in the revised policy calling for eyeing grant awards “through an equity lens ensuring fair and inclusive practices.” What does that mean, Shurtleff asked. And might it tie Tompkins County’s hands?

After Sigler asked much the same question, Amanda Champion, whose committee handed up the draft, answered its critics.

“It’s fascinating to me that the white men are questioning the one little spot in there where it talks about working with minority- and women-owned businesses,” Champion said. “I don’t read anything in here that’s saying we’re not going to work with white men anymore, so I think you can let go of your fears a little bit.”

Sigler called her on it: “While I appreciate my colleague thinking that white men should just shut up, clearly from what you just said … I represent an awful lot of white men; I represent an awful lot of white women. And I think that, yes, if I have a question on a policy for something that we’re already doing, yea, I think I should be able to ask that question without you trying to read any kind of intent in there.”

Other legislators—all Democrats, most of them women— defended the language, yet steered clear of the personal slights. The policy passed with only Sigler and Shurtleff dissenting.

Klein: “Really exciting for me”

(May 28): With only days left before the New York State Legislature adjourns, the Tompkins County Legislature May 21^st endorsed seven pending bills, each intended to benefit volunteer firefighting and Emergency Medical Response (EMS) services and swell their ranks with recruits.

Called “The Package,” the seven measures would, among other things, allow creation of special taxing districts for EMS services and also recognize EMS as “an essential service,” thereby pressuring counties and towns to fund them.

Another bill would eliminate the “either/or” dilemma that faces Enfield’s volunteer firefighters; whether to take the income tax or property assessment benefit governments reward for their volunteer service. The bill would permit them to access both benefits. Another measure would raise the personal income tax credit from $200 to $800.

“Nobody knew what to do… everyone was just watching the whole system decline,” Legislature Chair Dan Klein said he’d observed as local rescue services struggled. “ And so it’s really exciting for me personally to see all this stuff on the docket”

Last-minute advocacy intensified after Governor Kathy Hochul failed to tuck any of the bills into the recently-passed state budget.

The State Legislature’s scheduled to adjourn June 6^th.

The SkateGarden’s revised design

(May 25): Excavation could begin as soon as this Memorial Day weekend on Enfield’s SkateGarden and Pollinator Garden project, approved by the Town Board May 8^th for land next to the Park-and-Ride lot and across from the Town Hall.

After the designer learned last-minute that the site was longer and narrower than first thought, project creator Dan Woodring revised his drawings, which a majority of the Town Board approved via email Friday, changes the Board will formalize in June.

Not all of the SkateGarden will be built at once. Funded by a $5,000 Tompkins County Parks Grant, work will involve construction of the recessed, heart-shaped skateboard “bowl” this year. Site excavation will also take place now, as will the Pollinator Garden plantings at the periphery. Town Clerk Mary Cornell will oversee the garden project.

A proposed amphitheater and other improvements would come only in later stages. / RL

Chief Jamie Stevens

From the Enfield Volunteer Fire Company; Friday, May 24:

Today, the EVFC had the honor of attending the Tompkins County EMS Awards. Our Fire Chief, Jamie Stevens, accepted an award for EMS Agency of the Year.

We are so proud of our EMS responders and lucky to say we have 18 highly-skilled medical responders ranging from CFRs, EMTs, AEMTs, to Paramedics! Enfield is also lucky enough to have one of the only Spanish-speaking EMS providers in Tompkins County.

Congratulations on a job well done to our dedicated volunteers!

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.