My View - County Master Plan

I would like to express my views on County topics in an effort to show my constituents where I stand. There is no better place to start then with the main reason I decided to run - a County Master plan. More will be posted, and I encourage you to email in questions that I will be glad to answer.

You can see that most of my comments revolve about press related to the South Main Street combined Health facility, which failed early this year. I hadn't heard about the facility until it was published in the Cortland Standard the last week in December. I wrote an email to my representatives asking some questions. You'll see I also asked about the generator planned for the CCOB- another blog will talk about that.

I attended the January 2007 Legislature meeting with about 60 other residents, and at that time, the Legislature voted to NOT acquire the properties.

Much debate occurred over the next several Legislature meetings, all well attended by the community; during that time, many questions were asked about the process in which the properties were discussed, considered and ultimately acquired.

Subsequently, several lawsuits were filed questioning the validity of that vote. Ultimately, the County decided to purchase the Moose property and Robbins vending properties due to court decision. More on that to come.

A group of citizens formed called the Concerned Citizens for Neighborhood Preservation (CCNP). I was part of the group. We shared notes and were unable to determine the methodology for the Health Department during the debate over property acquisition. We asked our Legislators and Administration to provide backup that would justify the size, cost, and priority for the facility. The building proposed took a big chunk out of South Main Street and encroached on the Church, Randall and William Streets properties. We asked other questions such as what the traffic impact was on those streets, snow removal, street parking, security and policing. Unfortunately we never received any answers.

An Ad Hoc Committee was formed to look at the County's needs. Since that time, the push for a combined Health facility has diminished slightly. The Ad Hoc focus appears to be primarily on the DMV. However, there has been talk about a larger jail from a study completed in January.

None of the talk about facilities, whether it is the DMV, Health or Mental Health, or the jail deal with a master plan. What a master plan will provide is a map for all moves, both for new construction and the renovations of those leftover spaces.

When looking at the needs of the County, you need to think several moves ahead to be efficient. You cannot just build a jail and not know what the old jail will become, or whether you should consider the needs of the City (which also has jail issues).

You need to be looking at what could backfill the DMV if/when it moves, then what will fill the vacated space that moves into the DMV, and so on.

You need to consider leasing versus owning, building new versus building out a vacant facility. You need to consider where you are building and its impact on the municipality tax base.

Bottom line is that the facilities we build now should last for generations, and if not properly planned, they could be mistakes that cost the taxpayers substantially.