My Birthday Present to the Legislature - "Little Steps"

Addressed and emailed to All County Legislators on 7/21/09 ---

Good Day,

As Thursday's legislative session approaches there are two topics and three agenda items related to large projects in Cortland County. I wanted to provide comments for consideration by representatives on the Legislature.

First, let me share a common theme that I witnessed in my term on the Legislature - the "little step" approach. As you are all aware, large projects take years to develop, often covering several terms of the Legislature. With Legislator turnover inevitable at election time, many newer legislative members and those who are reassigned to different committees each re-elected term are not privy to the entire history of projects related to multi-million dollar projects including the airport, the River Trail, and the landfill to name a few. Information is not always at the ready and time is not an ally when Legislators research topics, so smaller resolutions with no perceived cost that are brought up for votes do not often appear to have a notable impact on a project. They get lip service by Department Heads and the Administration about their history and the process for accomplishing the task, and reolutions that are prepared for Committee and passed on to the floor have about two weeks for vetting and for follow up investigation. I feel that moving things along in this matter can have drastic long range implications, as decisions that are made at a monthly Legislature meeting can either lay groundwork for or keep momentum going on projects that otherwise would bear detailed scrutiny and often fail to get support and continue if they were presented as a single all encompassing project.

For example, Agenda Items 4 and 5 pertain to further expansion and development of the Cortland County Airport. As a participant on the Highway Committee for 18 months leading up to this vote, I often requested information on the history of the project to assist in the decision making process. This information included a decision making matrix and their associated costs for various options ranging from: continued ownership and development by the County; the sale of the airport to third party operators; and County abandonment and/or closure of the facility. Unfortunately I was never able to obtain those figures and backup. I was told what possible impact would be, but there was no written report or summary to review and discuss as a Committee or a Legislature. My understanding from various discussions at Highway meetings or forums is that sale or abandonment by the County could lead to cost repercussions in that the FAA funding for the last 20 years could or would require payback. This should be confirmed and provided in writing from the FAA by the Highway Department and filed. Unfortunately, it would seem that the current arrangement to operate the airport at a "profit" (using the term loosely as I do not believe the operating and maintenance costs are accurately portrayed) is the easiest one to choose by Legislators. However, one has to consider the long-range impact on the County: more and more County properties off the tax rolls, more indebtedness to the FAA to what appears to be $855,000 per the resolution, etc. Our continued rubber stamp of airport projects without examination of the County needs and costs in these economic conditions is poor governing. I do not think that the airport should be closed; I believe that a third party group (with no financial or political ties to the airport) should investigate options and provide recommendations to the County. There is no deadline for decision for this project that would incur cost or liability to the project at this time. I recommend to table the resolutions or vote them down and take a hard look before we take nearly a million more dollars of federal funds, obligating us to longer operation of the facility at taxpayer expense.

The next topic is in regards to agenda Item #16, which is a resolution authorizing an agreement between Cortland County and Air Energy TCI. This is a major decision that will impact our entire County, and another example of "little stepping". I do not believe that the Legislature as a whole has decided to pursue the project, however the process and resolutions that were passed were done so under the guise that the project can be stopped at any time... Previous resolutions were passed to allow this company to set up wind test towers at the landfill at no cost to the County; now we are using another "no cost" resolution to engage in professional services for the County to serve as SEQR Lead Agency for this project- paid for by the company who would like to locate 50+ windmills here? This certainly gives the impression that the majority of County Legislators are favor of windmills and the project. Is this the case? Would one assume that if the County were to stop the process later in the project that they would be liable for repayment of some of this money as the County might be perceived to be acting in bad faith? Get this in writing please.

I also do not recall receiving any (written) cost benefit summary to the County for PILOT or other reimbursement for this project. The wind power certainly is more expensive than purchasing National Grid utilities, and it simply feeds into the Northeast region electrical distribution system when the wind blows. I am aware that there are landowners who will be receiving monetary sums for the lease of their properties. Are you aware that large substations and transmission lines will need to be constructed to connect these windmills into the electric grid, impacting more than the several acres required per windmill? Access and maintenance roads will also need to be built, and our existing roads will be used to transport the large, heavy equipment to the site. All of these factors will have a signficant and adverse effect on our County. Who pays for all of this? And most importantly, who benefits? We cannot give away our land and spoil our resources for no cost.

In addition, there are publications on the noise, aesthetic and economic impacts (all negative) of windmills for review if you search for them. I have attached a few for your review, and a few links below.

http://windconcernsontario.wordpress.com/page/2/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26242604/
http://www.windaction.org/pictures/482

Please do not feel that these are light decisions to be made. They require proper planning and discussion. Without concerted effort and big picture discussion regarding the future of our County you are doing the taxpayers an injustice. Thank you for your service to Cortland County.

Chad Loomis