Unbelievable

That's how I describe the Legislature right now.

I will add my email to the Legislature regarding the generator rebid. I had offered to help on the rebid. I asked them to review the cost breakdown from Resolution 273-06, which was developed at the July 11, 2006 Buildings and Grounds Committee Meeting. Apparently they didn't.

This was in addition to the privilege of the floor speech I delivered to the County on June 28, 2007. I asked them the check the cost development and approval.

I am not surprised they didn't.

The Special Meeting for the General Services Committee was to be held at 4:45 pm in Room 304. I came directly from work, but was held up in traffic coming down Groton Avenue at 4:40. I got to the meeting at 4:49pm (by the room clock).

I heard a woman in the room say "there's Chad right there" - I believe it was Susan Morgan, Clerk. No one else acknowledged me. There were about 13 or so Legislators in attendance.

Marilyn Brown asked how much fuel would cost to fill the generator set, Scott Schrader replied "$2.18 per gallon". That will probably cost $2,500 to the project to fill it, as it was not specified with the generator purchase.

Mr. Willcox asked if the 750kW generator would still be able to serve the CCOB. Scott said "and then some". Mr. Willcox asked why the generator was specified so large to begin with (900kW). No answer was provided, but Mr. Schrader then said it will also be able to power some electric fired rooftop units the County is looking into having installed due to excessive heat problems on the upper floor.

Apparently, rather than adjusting controls in the building to reduce heat on the upper floors, the Legislature may consider offsetting the heat with some air conditioning in the winter? BRILLIANT!

Rather than cool the spaces, why not just relocate - or wait - REMOVE!!! - all of the HOT AIR from the third floor?

There was then a quick vote at 4:51pm, all in favor. Meeting adjourned immediately thereafter.

But it's not over...

I asked Brian Parker who the low bidder was - Diekow Electric at $258,000. No drawings for installation. No clarification to contractors from the issues I identified, nor any posed by contractors, from the Legislature.

I asked Brian if I could see the electric service. Brian said sure, and took me to the electric room. As I feared, based on the service configuration that the automatic transfer switch will need to be Service Entrance rated. Add a $20,000 change order to Diekow's price. Cha-ching, get out the checkbook.

I looked at the meter to try to get a demand reading. This is a good indication on the peak load the building has drawn. No luck. But the main building gear had an ammeter on the service.

I read the meter at 300 amperes per phase. At 480V, 3 phase the load is (300Ax480Vx1.73)/1000 = 249kVA. Assuming a 0.9 power factor, the kW load on the ENTIRE BUILDING is 225kW. Now, the time was after 5:00 pm, so much of the plug load in the building was off (computers, copiers, fax machine, etc.). But most of the lights were on, and the mechanical systems were still running.

What does it mean? Even if there was 75kW in additional load that was off, the load of the entire building is only 300kW.

Why spend taxpayer money for a generator that is nearly twice as large as it needs to be?

Why not spend $10,000 on a consultant to get an appropriately designed system and save $75,000 in construction costs?

Why not take advice from professionals (at no cost) and try to save future tax money from expensive change orders?

Why not question or look at the original budget and question where the money above the original $180,000 is going to come from? My guess is that at the end of the generator project, the Diekow cost will be nearer to $300,000. This does not include the probable $20,000 in County labor and material.

Bottom line - this is a good $140,000 ABOVE the County's planned cost. YOU ARE PICKING UP THE SLACK for the County's gross negligence of the budget.

I have no clue. Are the Legislators Lazy? Ignorant? Indifferent?
Your guess is as good as mine.

8/10/07 - Great Editorial Skip!

I agree completely.

You have one past study from a while back that states there needs to be an increase in the number of beds...

Then a second one recently completed by a Washington, D.C. firm at a cost of $30,000 that indicates increase from 69 to 140 beds.

Don't forget the State office link on this matter in another post in this blog.

Funny, County Legislature was willing to invest a millions of dollars into an undersized Health facility based on paying Cinquanti $30,000+ in realtor fees and
$10,000+ on a glossy rendering from Barton and Loguidice
.

Can they work through this $30,000,000 question without making a mess?

I hope I can help.

8/16/07 - Bar association explores suit against county

Lawyers are determining if there is legal basis for lawsuit over county’s recent creation of conflict attorney position.

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

The Cortland County Bar Association voted Tuesday to examine the possibility of suing Cortland County over the creation of a conflict attorney position to handle cases that pose a conflict for the Public Defenders’ Office.

The Bar Association has not authorized a lawsuit at this point, Vice President Mark Suben stressed, but certain members will work on a volunteer basis to determine if there are legal grounds to file suit against the county.

Suben, who was speaking for the Bar Association because association President Ron Walsh Jr. serves as an assistant county attorney, declined to elaborate on what sort of legal arguments against the position could potentially be made, other than to say that members of the bar would “see if it was done properly, and if there’s any basis to proceed to the next step of a lawsuit.”
Conflict Attorney Thomas Miller began work in the newly created office Aug. 6.

The position was created by the Legislature last year to help curb rising costs incurred by hiring assigned counsel to handle cases that the Public Defenders’ Office can’t handle.

County officials are hopeful that the new position will save a net amount of approximately $75,000 annually — the attorney and staff will cost $125,000 annually, but should save $200,000 in assigned counsel costs, County Administrator Scott Schrader has said — but members of the Bar Association have questioned those numbers.

Attorneys Frank Williams and Ed Goehler, both of whom have worked as assigned counsel for the county, told the Cortland Standard in July that they felt a single attorney would not be able to handle the caseload that had previously been handled by numerous assigned counsel.
Assigned counsel will still be utilized, whenever the conflict attorney has a conflict...

Well, I agree with the Bar Association - Scott Schrader's numbers should be questioned... His numbers weren't right on the combined Health facility, nor on the cost of the generator installation.

They weren't right on Commissioners' salaries either.

8/14/17 - CITY NEWS - $473,400 grant will fix up South End homes

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The city has been awarded a $473,400 grant to assist in the rehabilitation of 20 owner-occupied homes in the city’s 5th Ward to further the goals of the South End Strategic Plan.

The city applied for the state HOME grant in March through Cortland-based Thoma Development Consultants, program manager Rich Cunningham said Monday. He said potential recipients could begin to apply within the next couple of months.

Applicants must fall below 80 percent of the area median income, and live in substandard housing that they own, Cunningam said. For a family of four, the maximum income level is $40,800.

The grants cover the costs of the rehabilitation without any cost to the property owner, he said. The average amount disbursed would be about $20,000.

Cunningham said there are at least 29 eligible homeowners, and possibly more and that there will likely be marketing efforts to the survey respondents who qualify for the program.

The grant and the South End Strategic Plan as a whole, which outlines long-term ideas and hopes for the development of the South End, are targeted at the city’s 5th Ward.

The area is bounded by Tompkins Street at the north, extending down south Main Street until the city limits, encompassing Argyle Place, Frederick Avenue, Union Street, South Avenue, Crawford Street, Pine Street, Scammell Street and Denti Way.

The city is still waiting to hear back about a $650,000 state Community Development Block Grant application targeted at the south end; Cunningham said the awards should be announced within the next month.

Homeownership assistance is included in the CDBG grant, which would also be used to rehabilitate both owner-occupied and rental properties, fund more vigorous code enforcement, small business assistance and infrastructure improvements on Pierce and Winter streets and South Avenue.

Mayor Tom Gallagher said that the revitalization of the south end includes new businesses such as Cayuga Press and Cortland Plastics International, both off south Main St, as well as the $8 million rehabilitation of lower-income apartment units by Syracuse-based nonprofit developer Housing Visions.

“It adds to all the improvement that is going on in the south end. It can do nothing but enhance the living conditions and the improvement of the properties in that area,” Gallagher said this morning.

A $7 million reconstruction of south Main Street was completed in fall 2006, enhancing the area with new pavement, trees, more streetlights and decorative sidewalk borders.

That's great for the South End! Progress is happening as we speak to properties along South Main Street, and nearly $1 million is still on the tax rolls instead of being sucked up with more County facilities.

I only hope that Tom Gallagher sticks to a stance on issues rather than flop-flopping as has been done in the past on development in the City.

8/10/07 - Are you Kidding Me? C'MON!

Are you kidding me? Still talking about the combined Health Facility too? Not enough space for the Horizon House? Here's the article.



See my post from April 2007. The Mental Health Department can't fit in the 14,400 square foot Horizon House. They were going to be put in a 30,000 square foot building with the Health Department, which needs more than the 18,000 square feet it currently resides in?

They both need more than the combined 32-33,000 square feet they are housed in, yet the County wanted them to be shoehorned into a 30,000 square foot space with non-City Code compliant parking quantities? In the middle of the City that has a South End Strategic Master Plan, with no room for expansion (other than purchasing more residential properties for parking - kind of like what they are doing on Elm Street to add 20 parking spaces for the County Office Building - and by EMINENT DOMAIN???)

And the current Legislature is complaining that the 1990 jail was obsolete regarding space when IT was built?

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...

Get it together folks - MASTER PLAN??? What happened to the needs assessment committee?

8/8/07 - County resumes talks about options for adding jail space

Bob Ellis/staff photographer The Cortland County Public Safety Building, left, and the Cortland County Jail as seen Tuesday from the top of the county courthouse.


(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

The prospect of adding on to the county jail, as opposed to building a new facility, raised numerous questions and objections Tuesday at a joint meeting of the Legislature’s General Services and Judiciary/Public Safety committees.

Still, that the topic of space needs at the jail on Greenbush Street is back on the table, after months of minimal public discussion, was encouraging to the Sheriff’s Department and to legislators.

“It’s unfortunate, but it takes so long in government to get something like this started,” said JPS Chairman John Daniels (D-Cortlandville), who invited construction management firm Bovis Lend Lease to the meeting to discuss the prospect of an addition to the current jail. “I just wanted to at least get us talking again so hopefully we can make some progress.”

Adding on to the jail — either directly above the facility or expanded out over the parking lot — could save the county from the cost and difficulty of acquiring property, representatives of Bovis, which has an office in Freetown, told committee members. An addition also would allow for the continued use of the current space as a jail, Bovis Vice President Bill Connor said, saving the county from a costly renovation for some alternate use.

Members of both committees were quick to question the long-term feasibility of adding to the building, noting the construction of the current jail had proved to be shortsighted. “We have to do it different from the way it was done before,” said Legislator Ron Van Dee (D-5th Ward). “That jail was outdated the day they opened the doors.”

The facility, constructed in 1990, houses a maximum of 69 inmates, but in recent years has surpassed that capacity, requiring the county to board inmates in jails elsewhere at a cost of $85 per day.

A study commissioned by the county and made public in January estimated the county needed a jail with capacity for at least 140 inmates, to allow for current capacities and potential future growth. Very preliminary estimates have suggested the cost of a new jail could reach $30 million.

Jim Mulherin, a senior project manager for Bovis, said that, contrary to the apparently cramped space on the site, there is room to build on to the jail to suit the county’s needs. Additional jail space potentially could be constructed adjacent to the building where the parking lot currently sits, Mulherin said, or it could be built above the parking lot or atop the current facility.

Daniels suggested adding to the jail could save the county money and keep the jail in an ideal location, adjacent to the County Courthouse, which would save on transportation costs. “I was thinking of it as an independent structure right above the one we have now,” Daniels said, noting his primary reason for bringing an expansion plan to the table was the difficulty the county has had in finding sites for the jail. “That way we keep the 50 cells we have now, maybe share the laundry and the kitchen and things like that, and we save a little by constructing a smaller facility … and we don’t have to purchase any property.”

Meanwhile Legislator Danny Ross (R-Cortlandville) suggested the county look at building over the parking lot and creating a two-story parking garage beneath the new construction. “At this point, I think it’s worth it to look at all our options,” Ross said.

Daniels did acknowledge though that building above the jail could increase costs, and Mulherin agreed. “There’s going to be a give and take no matter what you decide to do,” Mulherin said, noting a new facility constructed outside the city could increase transportation costs, but also could be built to require less staff.

Capt. Budd Rigg, who is in charge of the jail for the Sheriff’s Department, said after the meeting a two-story layout would require significantly more staff, and would represent a much larger cost increase than transportation costs if the jail were located farther from the Courthouse. Rigg also noted that doing construction around or above the jail could be met with serious resistance from the state Corrections Department.

Sheriff Lee Price said he was glad the jail was being discussed, but he also said a new jail with a one-story layout would be preferred. “How we design it is going to be important,” Price said. “I think we need a new modern jail, definitely.”

County Administrator Scott Schrader agreed, saying he felt it was a waste of money to try to expand the jail. “It isn’t bricks and mortar we have to worry about, it’s the cost of staffing, and we need to maximize the number of prisoners a corrections officer can supervise,” Schrader said. The most modern jails allow a single corrections officer to oversee up to 40 prisoners, Schrader said, while the current county jail allows a roughly 1 to 10 prisoner-to-supervisor ratio.

“To try to make the facility we have now meet modern day designs of modern jails is just impractical,” Schrader said. Legislator Carol Tytler (D-3rd Ward) asked if Bovis could provide an analysis comparing the potential staffing, transportation and other future costs of building a new building at another site, building an addition adjacent to the jail or adding a second story to the jail. “The other thing we have to look at is if we need to expand in the future,” Tytler said.

Connor said such an analysis was possible, but Bovis or the county would need to contract with an architectural firm and that such a move would require more certainty from the county in terms of possible locations for the jail.

“We really just wanted to help them get started in thinking about it,” Connor said after the meeting. “There’s a lot of questions that they’re going to need to answer before it’s time to move forward with anything.” Daniels was hopeful that discussion of the jail would continue at next month’s JPS meeting.

I informed many of the Legislators during the failed South Main Street Health Center project that there was a past study done (not the January 2007 report) that indicated that the existing jail could be expanded vertically. I believe that the overall jail size was reduced due to cost concerns at the time (1990).

I cannot speak to the operation and staff costs, but the bottom line is that a professional should be engaged to look at the options. One needs to look at initial costs, recurring costs, and extend over a life cycle. The professional should be an independent third party with NO ties to the County individuals. One cannot believe that staffing alone would far outweigh construction costs - likewise, it is hard to believe that current Codes would allow a jail to be built over a parking structure as one individual mentioned above...

I appreciate the initiative of the Democrats to begin the process. I still adamantly believe in a County master plan, however and I will push to develop and implement one.

I do not take the word of a few County employees as gospel and as the sure direction to follow down the path of our future. We need to take a collective look at ALL of our facilities and address our present and future needs in an organized, methodical method. This is the only way to ensure that the taxpayers are not overburdened.


CHECK OUT THE LINK from the 4/17/07 Cortland Standard article...

AND THIS LINK from 1/16/07. How can there be a $10 million difference in the cost in 6 months? Poor communication, lack of accountability, and plain indifference to the taxpayers. If you don't have the figures, don't say anything. Ridiculous. Someone needs to be gagged to keep from spewing inaccuracies.

8/04/07 -Some question county election commissioners’ dual roles as party chairmen

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

Election Day this year will doubtless be a demanding one for Bill Wood and Bob Howe.
As chairmen of the county Democratic and Republican committees respectively, Wood and Howe will be closely monitoring the success of their candidates in dozens of town, city and county races, either toasting or bemoaning the results of a campaign in which the two chairmen will have poured a great deal of time and energy.

Meanwhile, as county election commissioners, Wood and Howe also will be charged with ensuring that the elections go off seamlessly, that all votes are counted and with mediating and delivering a united verdict on any and all political discrepancies that arise.

The issue of Howe and Wood’s dual roles, and the idea of the two major political parties overseeing elections, remains a divisive one, both locally and on state and national levels.
Those in favor of changing the current system say that the dual roles present an inevitable conflict of interest.

At the very least, they say, having partisan officials as election monitors creates a strong perception of impropriety.

Supporters, however, say having one official from each of the two parties provides a check-and-balance system that ensures propriety.

The debate ensnared Howe in June, when half of the Legislature’s eight-person Republican Caucus was joined by a number of Democrats in rejecting his reappointment as commissioner.
The Republican Caucus ultimately reappointed Howe independently of the Legislature. Merwin Armstrong (R-Cuyler, Solon and Truxton) changed his vote to favor Howe, saying he wanted to preserve party unity.

Conducting and participating in elections
New York state law requires that each county appoint one election commissioner from each of the two parties that received the most votes in the most recent gubernatorial election, according to Lee Daghlian, spokesman for the state Board of Elections.

There is no prohibition against party chairmen serving as election commissioners, Daghlian said; in fact more than 20 counties currently have at least one commissioner serving in both roles.
“The bottom line is, it’s politics, pure and simple, but if you’ve got one of them for each political party, and they’ve got to agree 100 percent on anything they do as commissioners, they’re both acting in the interest of their party and they balance each other out,” Daghlian said. “The system works politically, because both parties are a part of it, but it also ensures that business gets done.”

Still, having party chairmen as commissioners creates a “perception of impropriety,” a number of critics of Howe and Wood holding both positions said.
“Right now it’s election time, and if you have the two people who are the head of the political parties, who are very closely involved in the campaigns, but who also have influence over the whole election process, that’s going to cause people to question,” said Legislature Chairwoman Marilyn Brown (D-8th Ward), who voted against reappointing Howe in June.

Dr. Robert Pastor, director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University, said that America’s use of partisan officials to monitor elections runs the risk of weakening voter confidence.

“That’s a perfect example of the problem, that those who conduct elections are also participants in them,” Pastor said of Wood and Howe’s dual roles in Cortland County.

Nationally, Pastor pointed to the 2000 presidential election when the crucial state of Florida was swung by a secretary of state who also happened to be President Bush’s state campaign chairwoman. “That’s a big part of the reason for the decline nationally in voter confidence, because you just can’t be a referee and a player at the same time,” Pastor said.

Howe said he hasn’t seen any waning confidence from voters, and both he and Wood said they each take pains to ensure that they avoid doing party business while working in the elections office.

“I think years ago they used to get petitions ready in the elections office, but we’re very careful about keeping the two separate … I don’t do any party work in the election office,” said Wood, who noted that the Democrats have had at least three party chairmen — Bill Morgan and Victor and Peg Bahou — serve concurrently as commissioner in the past.

Both Wood and Howe also were anxious to dispel the belief that they’re responsible for counting votes, noting that the clerks in the elections office do the counting.

“We always stay at least one step removed from the process because if there’s a problem with the filing or the counting, it falls on us to decide,” Howe said.

Still, perception is an issue, according to Legislator Kay Breed (R-Cortlandville).

“I don’t think it’s proper to even expose the remote possibility that something could happen … the voters need to know that everything is being done on the level,” Breed said.

Where perception issues arise most often, according to Foster, is during extremely close elections. “If the election is close, the losing party is inevitably not going to have a high level of trust in the outcome,” Foster said. “If you have partisan people in there, even if they’re representing both parties, it becomes easier and easier to question the validity.”

That’s politics
When nominating petitions for the coming elections were finalized in mid-July, Breed said she was startled by the number of uncontested races, including 11 Legislature seats and all countywide races except county treasurer.

Breed stopped short of accusing Cortland County’s political parties of making deals to leave certain seats on both sides unchallenged, but said that having party chairmen in the elections’ office affords further opportunities for political maneuvering between the parties.
“I know most of the work over there is done by the clerks, but when it comes to those decisions that are going to affect the election, (the election commissioners) are making them,” Breed said. “Again, it’s the potential to make deals that’s the problem.”

Howe and Wood vehemently rejected the notion that deals are made between the parties, particularly in the election office. “That’s crazy,” Wood said. “We have a moral obligation as commissioners to do what’s right as far as election law goes.”

Daighlian said that he had never heard of any “collusion” between commissioners in New York state, however he acknowledged the potential exists that politics could infiltrate the election office under the current system.

For instance, he said, a challenger to an incumbent could potentially face an especial uphill climb with party leadership serving as commissioners. “Does it occasionally prevent some upstarts who want to challenge the party leadership? Yeah it probably could, but that’s more because of the two-party system than because (both commissioners are) party chairs,” Daighlian said.
“Basically, if you do have a challenger like that, they just have to be extra careful on their petition to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’ and they’ll be fine.”

Breed and Danny Ross (R-Cortlandville) also expressed concerns that appointing party chairmen as election commissioners created a conflict of interest for legislators who may feel beholden to their chairmen.

“I’m most worried that you have a conflict where your incumbents are having to vote them into the job, then go along with what the election commissioners say all year long because at the end of the year they’ve got to go to the party chair and the party to help fund their campaign,” Ross said.

Howe and Wood both said they don’t control the purse strings in their respective parties, that that responsibility falls on the parties’ executive committees.

“It’s ultimately the committee that decides where the money’s going to go,” Howe said. “I think of my main job as chairman as finding good people to run, representing the party to get Republicans elected to public office.”

Legislator Carol Tytler (D-3rd Ward), who also serves as Treasurer for the Democratic Committee, said she didn’t see the funding side of the chairman job as an issue.
“First of all, there’s usually so little of it, and ultimately it’s the executive committee as a whole that strategizes and figures out the best way to put the money to use for the entire party,” Tytler said. “I think Bob Howe has done a great job for years of keeping party business out of the election office, and I think Bill does too.”

Tytler said that in the past, the election commissioner appointment has been seen within the party as a reward for a chairman’s or another committee member’s dedication.
“The chairman doesn’t get paid, but puts in a lot of work, so this was a way to reward that work for the party,” Tytler said.

Wood said his long involvement with politics made him better equipped to be chairman.
“I’ve been involved in politics in this area since 1981 and honestly I think I’m the best person for the job, because I’ve seen the process in action from all angles,” Wood said.

Looking forward
After the Republican Caucus approved Howe’s reappointment, Breed, Ross and Newell Willcox (R-Homer) regretted that their effort to keep Howe from holding both positions — and ideally, send a message to Democrats — had fallen short.

“I’m disappointed for two reasons, one, because it was the right thing to do, and two, because hopefully it would have jarred the Democrats to look at doing the same thing with their man,” Willcox said. “I’ve known Bob Howe all my life, but there’s no way he can control the purse strings of the party I belong to and also be election commissioner without there being a conflict of interest.”

Tytler, noting that previous commissioners also have been party chairmen, said she believed the recent clamor about conflict of interest had more to do with the commissioners’ personally than with philosophy.

“My feeling is that, right now it’s something that is allowable and common in the state, so I’m comfortable sticking with that,” Tytler said. “When I voted in favor of Bob Howe, I felt that he was the choice of their party, and I don’t think the Legislature should turn that down.”

Brown, who is not seeking re-election this year, said she could not foresee at this point how legislators would react when Wood is up for reappointment next year.

“That’s going to be up to the caucuses in the future to decide for themselves,” Brown said.

Foster said he supports an effort to create an independent election monitoring system in states and nationally, but that America’s current political system is still firmly entrenched.
“The major trend all over the world has been to establish independent election commissions that are nonpartisan and professional,” Foster said, adding that, while it might be a little extreme, Canada does not allow its election commissioners to vote. “The bottom line is, whoever is running our elections needs to be above politics.”

On the other hand though, politics have kept the system fair for years, Wood said.
“We have one of the best systems in the country in New York because we have both parties involved,” Wood said. “That way, Bob checks me and I check him, and it’s going to take both of us together to make a decision.”

7/27/07 - Sale of Stewart Place house draws criticism

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

A resolution to essentially forgive a $70,000 lien on a now-vacant house on Stewart Place became political fodder at Thursday’s Legislature session before it was ultimately pulled to allow the county to deal with the lien through proper legal channels.

Kathy Wilcox, a Republican challenging incumbent Ron Van Dee (D-5th Ward), criticized Van Dee during the public comment portion of the meeting for pushing the dissolution of the lien, while Van Dee said he was only anxious to see the property at 17 Stewart Place, which owes $11,000 in back taxes, again paying taxes.

The property, vacant since 2001 and assessed at $48,300, has a $73,000 lien imposed on it by DSS due to Medicaid costs incurred by previous owners Clifford and Verna Lowell, who are now deceased, according to DSS Commissioner Kristen Monroe.

DSS has acquired the mortgage on the property because of the lien.

Van Dee had pushed for legislative intervention on behalf of Aloi, who has agreed to purchase the property from the daughter of the previous owners, Mary Helmer, but needs to have the lien satisfied in order to do so.

Aloi declined comment Thursday, but last week after a meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee she said she had purchased the house without knowledge of the lien, had already taken steps to renovate it and was now in limbo waiting for action from the county.

According to both Monroe and County Administrator Scott Schrader, when a buyer for a vacant property with a lien emerges, DSS is required to seek compensation in order to settle the lien, because 90 percent of the money owed for the lien is actually Medicaid owed to the state and federal governments.

The owed taxes take precedence, Monroe said, and Aloi and the daughter of the previous owners were prepared to pay the back taxes out of the sale price, but the issue became determining an acceptable amount to dissolve the lien.

“There’s a procedure that has to be followed, it can’t be ignored,” Schrader said. “If there’s any value to this property, it has to go towards the lien, that’s the requirement.”

Monroe said that typically in situations like these, DSS seeks an independent appraisal of the property and subtracts the taxes owed to the county to determine an amount that would satisfy the lien.

Monroe had been waiting for an appraisal of the property and said Thursday she had just received an appraisal based on the outside of the building of $50,000.

Based on that appraisal, $11,000 would be owed to the county for back taxes, and $39,000 would satisfy the lien, however Monroe noted the appraisal was likely flexible and would be subject to negotiation between DSS and Aloi’s attorneys.

7/27/07 - Lawyers consider challenge to conflict attorney

Some question whether new position actually will save the county money as intended.

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

A little more than a week before Cortland County’s newly hired conflict attorney is scheduled to begin work, opposition to the position, from local lawyers, is again being raised.

A resolution to pursue a civil action against the county will go before the Cortland County Bar Association at its Aug. 14 meeting, Bar Association Vice-President Mark Suben said Thursday.
“The bar association has no position at this point, but some members have brought it up, they want us to explore (a legal challenge) … so we’re going to discuss it at the meeting,” said Sueben, who was speaking for the bar because current President Ron Walsh Jr. is employed by the county as assistant county attorney.

Thomas Miller, who was hired as conflict attorney by the Legislature last month, is slated to begin work Aug. 6, and should be able to start accepting overflow cases from the Public Defenders’ Office immediately, County Administrator Scott Schrader said Thursday afternoon.
Miller’s position was created in response to the rising costs of hiring assigned counsel, private local lawyers who work at a rate of $75 per hour, to handle cases that cannot be handled by the Public Defenders’ Office, Schrader said.

Assigned counsel costs reached $332,500 in 2006, Schrader said, $175,000 more than budgeted, and legislators have already doubled the original $150,000 allocation for 2007.
The hope is that by dedicating a salaried position — the attorney and a paralegal position approved by the Legislature on Thursday will cost $125,000 annually — to handling a large portion of those cases, the county will save approximately $200,000 on assigned counsel costs, Schrader said.

“This position is designed to reduce our reliance on an assigned counsel program, it was never designed to completely replace it,” Schrader said.

Local lawyers opposed to the position are saying the new position will not accomplish the intended effect, and are suggesting the position was not created legally.

Sueben said it was premature to discuss the legal options the bar would have to challenge the position; however attorneys Frank Williams and Ed Goehler, both of whom work frequently on assigned counsel cases for the county, said the county did not run the position through proper channels before passing the local law creating it.

The county should have sought input or recommendations from the bar association regarding the new position, Williams said, and then should have brought the matter to Chief Administrative Judge Jonathon Lippman, who oversees the administration of assigned counsel.

Schrader said it is the county’s right to create the position through local law, and it did so legally and received approval of that law by the state Legislature.

7/26/07 - Hospital making room for expansion

Six homes will be torn down for a parking lot along Homer Avenue

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

Plans to build a parking lot along Homer Avenue should alleviate parking problems at Cortland Regional Medical Center in the short term, and play a role in larger plans to expand the hospital next fall, a spokesman said this morning.

CRMC wants to place a parking lot along Homer Avenue, spanning five properties between 114 and 126 Homer Ave., all properties owned by the hospital, according to Director of Marketing Tom Quinn.

“We purchased those properties with the intent of using them to alleviate some of our parking issues, both present and anticipated,” Quinn said.

Increased use of the hospital, particularly outpatient services, has created a demand for more parking, Quinn said, and the potential for expansion of surgical and obstetric services at CRMC would create a greater need for parking in the foreseeable future.

CRMC is considering building a new wing that would expand surgical and maternity care at the corner of Homer Avenue and West Main Street, an area now used for parking.

The project carries a roughly $25 million price tag, and the hospital has been in discussion with the Cortland County Industrial Development Agency regarding bond financing.

“We’ve made the decision that we want to go forward (with the expansion) … but we’re still solidifying plans for what we want to do specifically,” Quinn said.

The hospital is finalizing plans in order to apply, possibly by the end of this year, for a certificate of need from the state Department of Health, Quinn said.

If that certificate is granted and other needed approvals and bid processes go through without delay, the hospital is hoping to begin construction of the expansion by fall 2008, he said.

Work on the new parking lot should begin this fall, Quinn said, likely with the demolition of six unoccupied houses on the five hospital-owned properties.

Quinn was not sure at this point how large the lot would be or how many spaces it would contain, and he said a construction timeline had not yet been set.

Although hospital-owned property is tax exempt, city assessor David Briggs said the five properties have a total assessment of approximately $365,000.

WOW, this seems like kind of a double standard. Can the hospital buy up dozens of residential properties without being checked, yet the County gets whacked every time they make a move?