Sunday, April 29, 2018

Doing Business in the Public Eye

Being accountable to town residents requires openness and transparency. It is not merely a matter of meeting the letter of the law on open meetings. It is about conducting the business of the town in the public eye and in a way that provides residents meaningful opportunities to question and provide input on the Board's work.

I spent the first few months of my term learning the Board's rules of procedures and getting a feel for the meetings from my new vantage point at the front of the room. With that foundation under my feet, in April I began advocating for changes to make our meetings more accessible to residents. 

The first three changes I am advocating for are:

  1. The supporting documents that the Board members are viewing during the meeting should be projected during the meetings so members of the public can see them. This is a procedure that is used during Design Review & Historic Preservation Board meetings and Zoning Board of Appeals meetings. Although the documents are available on the town website prior to the Board meetings, having them projected will increase accessibility and transparency and can also facilitate clearer communication and discussion.
  2. Those supporting documents should be archived with the minutes. Currently, the documents are removed from the town website following the meeting. Some pieces, such as the text of resolutions, are included in the minutes. However, many documents are not and, consequently, disappear from the public view.
  3. Agendas and minutes for the Parks and Recreation Board and the Environmental Board should be archived on the town website along with the other voluntary boards. These are important boards that serve the public's interest. For residents (and Board members and staff) who want to keep up on the work of those boards, having them available online provides the greatest access. 
Pittsford is strongest when its residents provide input, ideas, and new perspectives. For that to happen, the Board must ensure our meetings facilitate community engagement. 

East Avenue Sidewalk Project

At the Town Board meeting on February 22, 2018, the Town Board was asked to award a contract for concrete sidewalk work. The $250,000 contract was to help the Town's Department of Public Works catch up on the East Avenue Sidewalk Project. I voted against this award. Because I believe government should be transparent, here is why I voted "no."

(1) The Board had previously been told the project would be completed by Town staff and would not require outside contractors. In fact, on April 19, 2017, the Board lauded the project for keeping costs low by using Department of Public Works staff to do the work and not contracting out the project. Yet, we were now being asked to award $250,000 to contract out the work.

(2) No clear explanation of why the project was behind schedule was provided. Phase 1 of the project was supposed to go from the village border to Kilbourn Road by the end of 2017. As of February, the project had only proceeded to the south edge of Nazareth College, a mere fraction of Phase 1. When I asked why the project was running so far behind schedule, reasons given were the grading needed in front of Nazareth College to meet ADA requirements for wheelchair accessibility, negotiations with Irondequoit Country Club, and the upcoming spring leaf pick-up making Town staff unavailable to work on the sidewalk. I was concerned these delays reflected a lack of appropriate project planning because all of the factors were either known ahead of time or could have reasonably been anticipated. 

(3) The contract was not for a set cost. The contract the Board was asked to award had two options: $250,000 for the contractor to provide survey, grading, stone preparation, forming and pouring of concrete, and topsoil restoration - OR - $195,000 for the same work but the Town staff would provide all the necessary grading leading up to the pouring of the concrete sidewalk. I was concerned this ambiguity reflected a further lack of planning. 

Pittsford needs a more comprehensive sidewalk system. Connecting the north part of town to the village will be a benefit to all residents on that side of town, including Nazareth College and St. John Fisher College. However, when a project is poorly planned or implemented, we cannot simply write a check to get it back on schedule. 

It is the Board's responsibility to use taxpayer money effectively and efficiently to promote the common good. Residents deserve better planning and so do the the Town crews who carry out the work. 

Community Choice Aggregation


Our country has come a long way since the first Earth Day in 1970. When I was a young child, my mother would save our newspapers all year round, in neatly stacked paper bags in the garage, to be picked up by the Boy Scouts for their annual recycling drive. Now we put our newspapers out at the curbside every week (or read them digitally, avoiding any use of paper). Curbside recycling represents a change in our waste management system and makes environmental responsibility easier for all residents, not only those who are willing to have their garage gradually taken over every year by stacks of newspapers.

Similarly, communities around our nation are looking for ways to make green energy easier to access for all residents. A new option here in New York is Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). To understand CCA, the first thing to know is that there are two parts to your energy bill. First, you pay for the energy to be purchased. Second, you pay for the energy to be delivered. The default in our region is that RG&E does both of those tasks, unless you as a resident or business owner decide to purchase your energy from another source such as a community solar project or an energy service company (ESCO).

Instead of using the default energy purchaser designated by the state, CCA lets a town designate its own default energy source. By doing this as a town, we can aggregate our buying power to obtain energy at a more affordable rate. One of the most important choices a community makes through CCA is what kind of energy they want to purchase. Although CCA does not have to be a green energy initiative, it can be used to set the default for 100% renewable energy.

The pilot program for CCA in New York was in Westchester County where 20 municipalities adopted CCA and 14 of those adopted a 100% renewable option. To date, those communities have seen a combined $6 million of savings. So far, more than 60 municipalities in New York have passed legislation authorizing a CCA.

If a town forms a CCA, homeowners and business owners can opt-out at any time and at no cost. If you want to stick with RG&E, community solar, or an ESCO, you can do so. Opting out allows for individual choice as well as community choice. Regardless of whether you participate in the CCA or not, the energy distribution will still be handled by RG&E. They own the lines, transformers, etc., and so will still be company that is responsible for maintenance and service.

The Town of Pittsford is considering forming a CCA. This requires two steps. First, the Town must enact a local law that enables us to form a CCA. That will necessitate a public hearing. The law does not commit or require the town to form a CCA, it merely allows us to do so if we wish. Second, after the law is passed the Town must choose how they are going to administer the program. At this time, the Town Board is exploring two companies who are both approved by New York State’s Public Services Commission.

CCA is intended to be for the good of the community and to reflect the values and desires of its residents. Therefore, we need to hear from you. Do you want a CCA in the Town of Pittsford? If so, what kind of energy do you want us to purchase? How important is it that the contract support the development of renewable infrastructure jobs and infrastructure in New York? Let us know what you think by emailing cca@townofpittsford.org or contacting your Town Board members directly through their emails available on the town’s website at http://www.townofpittsford.org/townboard.

Support for Cold War Veterans


February 2018
Ft. Hood, Texas; Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana; Yokota Air Base, Japan – These are a few of the places my family was stationed while I was growing up. My father enlisted in the US Army in 1966. Assigned to the Signal Corps, he was sent to Officer Candidate School and made a career of the Army until he retired in 1986. A tour in Viet Nam, a remote posting in South Korea, and responding to the USSR’s shooting down of KAL007 killing all 269 civilians aboard were all significant events that impacted his career and our family.

It was with these experiences in mind that I voted to support the extension of the local property tax exemption for Cold War Veterans. This legislation provides important relief to veterans who served between September 2, 1945 and December 26, 1991 and were honorably discharged. The extension lifted the prior 10-year limit, allowing Cold War veterans to continue benefitting from the exemption.

According to the American Community Survey, 1,141 veterans live in Pisttsford, including almost 700 who served in the Cold War. With the recently passed legislation, Cold War veterans can continue to receive an exemption of 10% of the assessed value of their property, for an exemption of up to $8,000 of their property tax. Disabled veterans’ exemption is higher, based on their disability rating from the US Veterans Administration, and may go up to $40,000.

Military veterans and their families incur direct and indirect financial costs from their service, including costs associated with frequent moves, impact of those moves on their ability to build home equity, and effects on spousal employment and earnings. Property tax relief is the least our community can do to support veterans and their families.

If you are a Cold War veteran and want more information about how to qualify for the property tax exemption, contact the Pittsford Assessor’s Office at 11 South Main Street, Pittsford; (585) 248-6230; office hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.