News Briefs:
Brown: One more run
(Jan. 29): Making good on informal word he’d given the Enfield Town Board earlier this month, Randy Brown, who represents Enfield’s southern half in the Tompkins County Legislature, made public Wednesday he’ll seek a second term.
“The silver lining I didn’t think of is communicating and meeting with people in Enfield,” Brown told Town Board members January 8th. Brown hails from Newfield. But his district crosses the town line.
“I find that people in Enfield are very welcoming,” the Republican lawmaker told Enfield’s Board. He’s confided that any new term would be his last.
First elected in 2021, Brown has delved into planning for a new downtown office building, addressing homeless issues and opioid addiction. He’s also sought to invest government surpluses wisely.
Enfield’s northern legislator, Anne Koreman, announced her planned retirement in December. And with party petitioning starting soon, incumbents are either stepping up for new terms or opting out.
Democrats Shawna Black, Greg Mezey, Travis Brooks, and Veronica Pillar, plus Republicans Mike Sigler, and now Brown, all plan reelection bids. Democrats Dan Klein— the Legislature’s Chair—plus fellow Democrats Amanda Champion, Deborah Dawson and Susan Currey have joined Koreman in declining reelection.
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Jill Tripp’s money hunt
(Jan. 28): Tasked months ago with finding new revenue sources, Ithaca School Board member Jill Tripp Tuesday presented Board colleagues a narrowed list of four funding options. She’d hoped for a straw poll of preferences, but never really got one.
Tripp’s Revenue Generation Advisory Council—established in the wake of last year’s ICSD budget woes—seeks to identify outside revenue sources so as to ease the burden on taxpayers while keeping programs strong.
Tripp’s four alternatives included the potential sale or lease of district property, imposing a “utility tax” on services like cell phones, requesting a larger annual contribution from Cornell, or the closing of school buildings while sharing program costs or administration with neighboring districts.
Of the four, the utility tax proved least popular. And little time was spent on consolidation.
What got greatest attention Tuesday was the Cornell option. But there, initial opinions proved mixed.
Raising the current $650,000 in annual University stipend to as much as $10 Million “would involve negotiations and perhaps a campaign to get Cornell to pay more,” Tripp acknowledged.
But would Big Red money come through a binding agreement or a “voluntary contribution,” some questioned.
“Not all money is good money,” School Superintendent Dr. Luvelle Brown reminded attendees. “What would you give up in return?” he asked. And Brown warned “voluntary” assistance given one year could be pulled away the next.
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Trump to tap Molinaro for transit task
(Jan. 28): It pays to have friends in high places. And former Congressman Marc Molinaro has Donald Trump.
Multiple news sources reported Tuesday that the Hudson Valley Republican Congressman, who represented Tompkins County from 2023 until last year, will soon be nominated by the new President to lead the Federal Transit Administration, a bureaucracy that provides financial and technical assistance to public transportation systems like our own TCAT.
In this instance, there may be more at work than just a new President rewarding a party loyalist who had the misfortune of losing his race for Congress.
Trump and Molinaro may share a mutual hatred for New York City’s “Congestion Pricing” scheme that charges drivers $9 a day to enter some parts of Manhattan. (I know, let’s hope they never think of it for Ithaca.)
A downstate news source, The Gothamist, reports Trump has called the tolls “a massive business killer and tax on New Yorkers.” And Molinaro on X has termed congestion pricing the “State’s cash grab.”
“It’s just this constant drug of new taxation, without any capacity or interest in actually getting the (downstate transit system) to function effectively,” our former House member reportedly said in November.
If Molinaro’s offered and accepts the Trump appointment, odds are he’d abandon hopes of succeeding the North Country’s Elise Stefanik in Congress. / RL
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BOFC: Priming the $$$ Pump
(Jan. 22): Eyeing the great success Dryden firefighters recently had in snaring a $395,710 federal grant, the Enfield Board of Fire Commissioners voted Tuesday to go after a—presumably, somewhat downsized—version through the same government program.
“We need some younger interior (structure firefighting) people,” Commissioners Chair Greg Stevenson told Tuesday’s meeting. “I think a ‘SAFER’ grant is the way to do it.”
The FEMA-administered “Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER)” program pays for recruitment advertising, PPE, physicals and new member training, Stevenson reported. The money received depends, in part, on the number of volunteers recruited.
Dryden’s SAFER-funded effort brought in 50 new members over a four-year period, the chairman informed the Board. Enfield’s annual goal, Commissioners concluded, stands more in the “four- five- or six-person range.”
With its unanimous vote, the Board of Fire Commissioners set aside up to $3,000 for grant-writing.
“I’m told SAFER grants are undersubscribed,” Stevenson said. That means less competition for available cash. And should SAFER pay the cost of a new member’s turnout gear, the Enfield taxpayer doesn’t have to.
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Randy retreats on redistricting re-do
(Jan. 22): Still confident he could make it work, but resolved to political reality, Newfield-Enfield County legislator Randy Brown Tuesday signaled he’ll drop his idea, first revealed at an Enfield Town Board meeting in December, to keep the Legislature’s size at its current 14 members, rather than expand it to 16 as is planned at the start of next year.
Brown told Tuesday’s Legislature meeting that County Attorney Maury Josephson talked him out of it.
“Maury convinced me that it was very difficult to do because I was the only one that voted no,” Brown said, referring to his dissent in a 2022 decision that accepted a redistricting commission’s call for the two-person expansion.
“It’s a complete waste of money,” Brown continued to insist Tuesday. He cited a clerk’s estimate that funding the two extra positions would cost about $75,000 annually.
Brown claimed Tompkins County population grew by only about 4,000 over the past decade, defeating the idea that the county needs more lawmakers to serve more people.
But his argument may miss the point. The Independent Redistricting Commission had found no way to keep 14 districts of equal population and still align them with established community boundaries.
“If I sat down with (the Commission) again for about four hours, I could draw some lines and make it work,” Brown said assuredly.
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County backs Cargill EIS… barely
(Jan. 21): Enfield’s Supervisor, Stephanie Redmond, spoke to its adoption, and lawmakers later agonized over the pros and cons for a half-hour.
Barely securing enough votes to pass, the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday adopted and sent to state regulators a call for a tougher study of Cargill Incorporated’s plans to flood an unused shaft at its Cayuga Salt Mine under Cayuga Lake.
“I’m not saying that it’s highly likely that the mine could collapse,” Lansing’s Deborah Dawson said before casting her affirmative vote. “The problem is that the low probability is more than offset by the catastrophic results that a collapse could have.”
With two legislators excused and with Ulysses’ Anne Koreman attending but unable to vote, the Resolution calling for either an Environmental Impact Statement or the state’s outright denial of Cargill’s permit application passed eight-votes-to-three. The measure mirrored one adopted earlier this month by the Enfield Town Board and by most other local towns.
Lansing’s Mike Sigler prevailed in striking from the resolution a stronger statement that would have held the company’s application in conflict with Tompkins County’s “commitment to sustainability” and its “environmental stewardship.”
Sigler still voted against the final text, suggesting supporters’ true motives were to close the mine and that any talk of retraining laid-off workers is “all B.S.”
[Expanded coverage of this story is now posted.]
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Anna’s Green New Setback
(Jan. 20): Ithaca’s Anna Kelles is viewed by many as a rising star on New York’s environmental Left. So it’s not good when the online publication City & State January 17 cited the third-term Democratic Assemblymember as among its three “Losers” for the week.
The demerit stemmed from Governor Hochul’s perceived backtracking on a Kelles-promoted effort to get polluters to pay for the pollution they cause. Albany calls it “Cap-and-Invest.”
“Hochul won’t move forward on implementing ‘cap and invest’ this year, despite promising draft regulations last year,” Politico reported after Hochul delivered her State of the State Address. Instead, Politico informs us, the governor, in an accompanying policy book, has merely “directed state agencies to develop requirements for companies and polluters to report on their emissions.”
Truth is, Kelles didn’t like the “cap and invest” plan a state agency had come up with anyway.
To Kelles, the agency proposal would only have pushed corporations to profit off their sale of pollution credits, rather than prompting them to convert to renewable energy and not need to buy credits in the first place.
Our Assemblymember introduced her own, tougher bill. But without Hochul’s backing the agency measure, her bill’s prospects look dim.
“She can still push to get (the bill) passed,” City & State acknowledges, “but who knows when it would actually go into effect?”
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NY “Cool Schools” Mandate Signed
(Jan. 16): Yes, it’s another unfunded state mandate, stumbled onto Thursday by this writer during an otherwise-uneventful Ithaca Board of Education committee meeting.
If your school building doesn’t have air conditioning already, it may need to install it soon, particularly if there’s summer school.
Little noted by most of us, the New York Legislature passed last June and Governor Hochul signed December 13 a bill that sets 88 degrees as the “maximum temperature in classrooms and support services spaces.”
In addition, the law would require school officials to “relieve heat related discomfort” as soon as the mercury reaches 82.
What must they do? Teachers could turn off lights, pull down shades, open doors and windows and turn off electronics. (No mention made of studying on the lawn.)
“Extreme heat can significantly impact a student’s concentration, focus and ability to learn,” Hochul proclaimed in a statement.
Local Democratic Senator Lea Webb and Assemblymember Anna Kelles each voted for the new law. Notably among just three dissenters in the Senate were neighboring Republicans Tom O’Mara and Peter Oberacker.
The law takes effect next September.
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DSS Chief to Depart
(Jan. 15): And now it’s Social Services.
Kit Kephart’s announcement Wednesday that she plans to retire in July after nearly eight years as Commissioner of Tompkins County’s Department of Social Services marks yet another top-level departure from the upper ranks of Tompkins County Administration.
First, County Administrator Lisa Holmes announced her own retirement last April. Holmes officially turned over the job to her successor this month. Last week, County Whole Health Commissioner Frank Kruppa announced his hiring away by the local hospital corporation, Cayuga Health. The Director of Human Rights left in December. And, by the way, the Communications Director’s position is open, too.
Each may have had his or her own reasons. But the speed to the exit is frightening… troubling too.
In Wednesday’s news release, Kephart described her management style as “using a strengths-based, person focused, and trauma informed care approach.” Most recently, Kephart was at the front lines of pulling together on short notice the temporary Code Blue Shelter and hardening security at the Human Services Building.
“Kephart served our community with strength and kindness, pragmatism and advocacy,” County legislature Vice-Chair Greg Mezey remarked.
Incoming County Administrator Korsah Akumfi has many jobs to fill.
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ICSD: How do we get there?
(Jan. 14): Without wading into specifics, one Ithaca Board of Education member suggested Tuesday that future budget economies could bring altered elementary school attendance lines. And one could thereby envision a school or two closing in the process.
“We can look for a budget that grows faster than the tax cap, or we can look for savings,” Garrick Blalock advised his fellow Board members.
“What savings,” Erin Croyle asked.
“The possibility of operational efficiencies,” Blalock responded. He referred to an earlier Finance Committee meeting, its summary not yet posted by meeting time.
An elementary school enrollment of 450 to 500 students is “optimal,” Blalock asserted. Enrollment at some buildings is below that number right now, he said. “Could enrollment be shifted around?” he asked.
The Board’s president said the ICSD hasn’t done a “demographic study” since 2012.
Again responding to Croyle, Blalock conceded the changes he’d contemplate remain a ways out. Maybe next fall the process could begin.
“The recognition is we have to assure ourselves and assure the public that we’re forward-thinking,” Blalock maintained.
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Not my Dad’s Library Place
(Jan 12): Hooray for Todd Bruer, organized labor’s representative on the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency.
Bruer proved the only member of the agency’s Board January 8th to stand up to Travis Hyde Developers and oppose the firm’s renewed request to lower to age limit threshold for renting an apartment at Library Place.
Travis Hyde, which finagled the Old Library building away from Tompkins County nearly a decade ago and secured a more than $5 Million tax abatement for its replacement apartment building on grounds it would provide senior living apartments, now has permission “to welcome younger tenants,” according to the Ithaca Times.
According to the report, the developer in November said the project faced “financial instability,” with fewer than one-third of its units occupied. In essence, skyrocketing rents became too high for many older adults to afford.
After rejecting Travis Hyde’s age limit reduction in December, the Board relented this time, reportedly on the firm’s promise it would temporarily lower Library Place rents by ten per cent.
But that did not placate Bruer. “When this was sold to the public, it was affordable housing for senior living,” the Times reports the labor rep as saying, “and so we’ve still got that void there for senior living because it is tough for people to get in there financially.” / RL
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Kruppa to exit hospital
(Jan 10): During the pandemic, he was Tompkins County’s answer to Dr. Fauci. And now Frank Kruppa is leaving County Government for a job at the hospital corporation with which he’s worked so closely.
Twin releases by County Government and Cayuga Health Systems Thursday confirmed the resignation of Kruppa as County Whole Health Director and his hiring by Cayuga Health as its Assistant Vice President for Community Program Development and Partner Integration.
The announcement confirms a broadcast report that aired briefly December 19 on WHCU. But it then vanished from the station’s air and website, and Health Department officials never responded when asked to confirm it.
Cayuga Health states that Kruppa will “play a key role” in developing its “Crisis Stabilization Center project,” that which gobbled up the largest grant from Tompkins County’s Community Recovery Fund.
“Frank has been a valued partner to Cayuga Health for many years and is a proven advocate for our community,” a hospital official said.
Kruppa’s departure marks another loss for County Government, which has been shedding leadership since County Administrator Lisa Holmes announced her retirement and Schoharie County’s Korsah Akumfi was named to replace her.
It’s a stretch to speculate. But Akumfi in early-2023, apparently on orders from Schoharie’s Board of Supervisors, fired that county’s health director and locked her out of her office over her implementation of COVID-19 restrictions.
“Anytime there’s transition in leadership, there’s always kind of interest and perhaps a health concern about where things are going to go,” Kruppa told The Ithaca Voice.
Read into that what you may.
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Reverential… and Politically Safe
(Jan. 9): On the eve of a National Day or Mourning, the Enfield Town Board Wednesday night followed President Biden’s lead and ordered the flags at all Town properties lowered to half-staff in memory of the late President Jimmy Carter, who died December 29. The Resolution described Carter as a leader “who served this nation with compassion, honor, and integrity.”
In accordance with Biden’s directive, the Town Board’s Resolution specified that flags remain lowered “continuously for no less than the full period of time directed by President Biden,” that is, until January 28, “notwithstanding any subsequent Presidential declarations that might otherwise shorten or terminate President Biden’s directive.”
President-Elect Donald Trump has made known his displeasure with flags remaining at half-staff during his January 20 Inauguration, and some have posited Trump may order the flags elevated as soon as he takes office.
But while a Trump command could impact flags at federal facilities, the Enfield Board’s action would retain the reverent gesture for its originally-announced 30 days at Town locations.
The Enfield Board briefly considered declaring the closure of Town Offices the following day, the date of Carter’s state funeral. But with snow to plow and tax payments to receive, members concluded too little time existed to order the closure.
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Journal Revolt in Enfield
(Jan. 9): Following the lead of the Tompkins County Legislature in mid-November, the Enfield Town Board balked Wednesday at its annual designation of The Ithaca Journal as the official newspaper for posting legal notices.
State law mandates Enfield use of the Gannett daily as the only paper that meets its requirements. But in line with County Government, Enfield will investigate posting ads in a second paper, likely a weekly, partly as a form of protest.
“The Ithaca Journal in recent years has continually declined to cover the news of Enfield, including that of this Town Board, a dereliction of journalistic duty for which this Board wishes to express its extreme displeasure,” the amended designation resolution, states.
Councilperson Robert Lynch (this writer) supplied the amended language, which the Town Board passed unanimously.
Town Clerk Mary Cornell was directed to determine the availability and the costs of a second paper, which could be designated as soon as February.
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Enfield Board Faults Cargill
(Jan. 8): With just the bare number of votes to pass, and with Supervisor Stephanie Redmond recusing herself, the Enfield Town Board adopted an earlier-tabled resolution Wednesday that asks state environmental officials to heighten scrutiny of Cargill’s plans to flood an abandoned shaft at Its Lansing salt mine under Cayuga Lake.
By the Board’s failing to offer a seconding vote, it rejected Councilperson Robert Lynch’s substitute motion that would have had Cargill prepare not only an Environmental Impact Statement of the mine flooding, but also one evaluating the “economic impact” that a tougher stance might have should Cargill respond by closing the mine.
“Notwithstanding these environmental concerns, Cargill’s Cayuga Salt Mine stands as a driving force in the local economy,” Lynch’s amended resolution stated. The mine’s employing more than 200 people and contributing millions to the local economy “demand regulators take a reasoned, balanced approach to any permitting decision,” the amendment stressed.
The adopted recommendation would have state regulators either deny the pending application or demand an Environmental Impact Statement and convene a hearing. It passed by the minimum three votes. Lynch opposed it, and Redmond abstained, as she works for a lobbying group that’s called for the Cayuga Mine’s closure.
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Mass Exodus for Legislative Dems
(Jan. 8): Call them the “sophomore class” on the Tompkins County Legislature. Ulysses’ Anne Koreman, the Ithaca Town’s Amanda Champion, and Lansing’s Deborah Dawson all were elected in 2017. They’ve admitted they’ve clung and caucused together, a squad of like-minded liberals.
Now, each is leaving.
Koreman had revealed her intention not to seek reelection before Christmas. But in a joint statement Wednesday, Dawson and Champion, along with Legislature Chair Dan Klein and Ithaca Democrat Susan Currey announced with Koreman their decision not to run in this year’s elections.
All County legislative terms come up this fall. A new state law will likely limit the new terms to three years, rather than four.
“We have served with pride, but we also recognize that all good things must come to an end,” the five stated in a letter to local media. Beyond that, little stands known about why the group chose to exit right now.
Of the five, Dawson’s departure may be most striking. A budget hawk and unabashedly outspoken, Dawson has notably fought against drawing down budget surpluses to fund tax relief.
The County Legislature is set to expand by two seats next year. Wednesday’s announcement means at least seven of next year’s 16 members will be newcomers.
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Klein re-upped for Legislature Chair
(Jan. 7): Little drama; no contest. In a brief, efficient affirmation, the Tompkins County Legislature Tuesday night re-elected Danby’s Dan Klein its Chair for this, a second year.
Dan’s a “clear communicator… and an excellent listener,” Ithaca’s Veronica Pillar said as she placed Klein’s name in nomination. Klein’s “done a very good job; a steady job,” she said.
The only surprise was in the election of Vice-Chair. Without any opposing candidate, Dryden’s Greg Mezey was tapped to succeed the Ithaca Town’s Shawna Black as Vice-Chair.
Black did not comment on the replacement. Yet she was one of two legislators (the other, Susan Currey) who opposed Mezey’s elevation, without nominating a candidate of their own.
“My goal is to live up to your expectations,” Klein said as he assumed the gavel he’s held for the past 12 months.
“I appreciate the confidence,” Mezey said following his own election.
The January 7th meeting also marked the first for Tompkins County’s new County Administrator, Korsah Akumfi.
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BOFC Tough on Tompkins
(Jan. 7): Enfield’s Board of Fire Commissioners reorganized for the New Year Tuesday night. Without controversy, Commissioners unanimously reelected Greg Stevenson as chair.
But when it came to designating a Fire District Bank, the Board chose three institutions, not just last year’s exclusive depository, Tompkins Community Bank. And the action builds on a festering grievance Stevenson has had with the Ithaca-based company.
“I was really disappointed that the Trust Company (Tompkins’ better-known name) didn’t step up and help us with our credit cards,” Stevenson told Commissioners.
After a meeting in early-December, the Chairman related that in order to issue credit cards to himself, the Fire Chief, and the Fire Company President, Tompkins had demanded the District post a $15,000 bond, arguing the Fire District, formed by Town Board action in 2023, had “not been in business for very long.”
Truth is, the underlying Enfield fire service began in 1948.
“It troubles me that they’re willing to keep up to a half-Million of our dollars, but say we don’t have credit,” Stevenson said of Tompkins Bank Tuesday.
Commissioners added Chemung Canal Trust Company and the Bank of Greene County (where their fire trucks are financed) as additional designees. Stevenson will try to get credit cards there.
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Applegate: A Little Bit Better
(Jan. 7): No, it’s not the flashing blinker some of us may have wanted. But word this week from the State Department of Transportation should make the accident-prone “Applegate Corners” in Enfield a bit safer.
“We’ve completed our work order for a new Stop ahead warning sign and new Stop sign with reflective posts on North Applegate Road and sent the request to our maintenance forces,” Scott Bates, Regional Traffic Engineer for our region of NYDOT, wrote Enfield Fire Commissioner Robyn Wishna on January 6. Wishna, who lives on North Applegate, has taken a lead in this safety upgrade.
“The sign work will be completed by our maintenance crews once the materials are procured and the work scheduled,” Bates told Wishna.
Many auto accidents have occurred over the decades at the corner of Route 79 and Applegate Road, at least one of them fatal. In response to both Wishna’s and the Enfield Town Board’s prodding, Bates’ department ordered improved signage at the crossroads last February. But the accidents kept coming, a couple more last October.
The Town Board’s request went so far as to seek a flashing blinker at the intersection. But DOT hasn’t agreed to that.
“It seems that increasing signage is a small price to pay to make the intersection less dangerous,” Wishna wrote NYDOT after the latest accidents. She’s pleased the State agreed.
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Never on Sunday… Still
(Jan. 7): Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) announced its winter-spring schedule this week. The revised schedules commence January 12.
The good news is that not much has changed for Route 20 trips to Enfield. But that’s also a disappointment. TCAT has declined to resume its Sunday service to Enfield Center, discontinued a few years ago in the face of declining post-pandemic ridership.
“Most service is unchanged from fall, but TCAT planners adjusted some routes to meet ridership demand, fulfill riders’ requests, and to improve on-time performance,” the intermunicipal transit service released in a statement.
For Route 20, alternating between Enfield and the Ithaca Commons, the second weekday trip leaves three minutes earlier. It will depart the Green Street stop at 10:07 AM and from the Enfield Highway Garage at 10:32 AM. To Enfield, the service makes three round-trips daily.
TCAT winter-spring service runs through May 24.
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Our Hometown Heroes
(Jan. 4): We should have invited them to our meeting. We didn’t. There should have been photos. There weren’t. In fact, some of those we lauded only learned of it when I informed them days later. Our Enfield Town Board should have done better. And each of us who represent you should demonstrate better courtesy the next time.
Wednesday, December 11, by a unanimous vote among those attending, our Town Board awarded Volunteers of the Year to three worthy couples or individuals for their selfless efforts in Enfield.
Ed and Helen Hetherington were lauded, in part, for their beautification efforts. “They created the beautiful barrels of flowers that the town has used for the past two years around our light poles and cared for our fall flower displays,” their award nomination states.
Maureen Bolton was recognized for her repair of the holiday wreaths that grace light poles in Enfield Center each winter. “The wreaths enrich our community by bringing a sense of joy to others,” Bolton’s nomination proclaims.
And we recognized former Town Supervisor Roy Barriere and his wife, Carol, for their involvement with the Community Council, the Food Pantry, and our Fire Company. “When they see a need, they step up to the plate,” their nomination states. “They are always willing to assist those in our community whenever needed.”
Congratulations, volunteers all. / RL
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Dr. Clarke’s Quiet Departure
(Jan. 4): It couldn’t have been more low-key. So no wonder most of us were blindsided when Tompkins County announced December 30th that the Office of Human Rights headquarters on West State Street would close temporarily and that the Office’s Director, Dr. Kenneth Clarke, had departed.
First word of Clarke’s leaving, we now learn, was shared at a Tompkins County Legislature meeting December 17, but buried within a routine report by County Administrator Lisa Holmes.
“He served the County for seven years and brought stability, stature, and scholarship to that Department,” Holmes said in praise of Clarke’s service. Her otherwise-routine disclosure took but 30 seconds.
Legislator Rich John followed with his own commendation.
“He really stepped in at a time when we needed help, and he stood up and did that, and it’s really appreciated,” John said of Clarke. “I wish him all good things.”
A reception, similarly low-key, occurred a couple days later. Unless you’d waded through the mid-December meeting, only a much-delayed summary of it, posted by County staff on New Year’s Eve, would have informed you of Clarke’s decision. The “why” of that resignation remains unstated.
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