Archive: News

Grant Funds Accepted For New Alternatives-to-Incarceration Program
The Legislature, without dissent, authorized acceptance of a more than $100,000 grant from the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services—$35,000 each year over three years—to support a defender-based advocacy sentencing initiative for criminal defendants in Tompkins County, in partnership with the Center for Community Alternatives (CCA), of Syracuse.  CCA will work in partnership with the County Assigned Counsel Office and defense counsel to provide training, consultation, investigation, and report preparation services for identified cases, as well as referral information for relevant support services for defendants.

Public Safety Chair Brian Robison told legislators the grant award is very significant, and could almost be considered the first step in the county’s study of additional alternatives, to be examined in depth by the new Jail Alternatives Task Force being formed through the County’s Criminal Justice/Alternatives to Incarceration Board.

Legislature Approves Assessment Shared Services Agreement
The Legislature, by unanimous vote, authorized Tompkins County to enter into a joint services agreement, under the New York State Real Property Tax Law, to provide assessment services to the Town of Covert, located in Seneca County.  Through the agreement, the Tompkins County Department of Assessment will provide a full-time assessment office for the Town of Covert.  That office will be staff most of the time in the City of Ithaca, but there will be office hours of at least four hours per week at the Covert Town Hall.  The measure notes that the joint-services agreement is consistent with Governor Cuomo’s stated priority for shared services on the part of local governments.  The County will receive $15 per parcel for approximately 1,500 parcels in the Town of Covert—Assessor’s fees of $23,160 for the first full year, which amounts to $17,370 for the remaining ten months of 2014.

Contract Awarded for Courthouse Basement Renovations
The Legislature awarded Andrew R. Mancini Associates, of Endicott, the general contract to renovate the basement space of the County Courthouse for use by the New York State Unified Court System, for Mancini’s bid of $298,700 and a total contract expense of $330,000.  The project will renovate approximately 3,000 square feet of existing Courthouse basement space, most of it formerly occupied by the Office for the Aging, into new surrogate clerk offices, three holding cells, and meeting space for the court system.  The County will initially pay all design and construction costs and be reimbursed by the State court system.

Industrial Development Agency Members Appointed
The Legislature by unanimous vote approved Chair Mike Lane’s 2014 appointments to the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency.  Legislators Nathan Shinagawa, Will Burbank, Martha Robertson, and Jim Dennis will continue on the IDA for another year, with Mr. Dennis appointed as Chair, succeeding Martha Robertson.  City of Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick was appointed to continue as an At-Large member for the completion of his two-year term.

Among other actions, the Legislature

• Approved an $80,000 budget adjustment incorporating grant funds received from the Park Foundation into the Planning Department budget as a pass-through of grant funds to the Solar Tompkins project, for which Planning Department will act as fiscal agent.  The vote was 13-1, with Legislator Brian Robison dissenting.
• Accepted grant awards, including a four-year federal grant—more than $48,000 each year—to the Youth Services Department to reduce underage drinking through programming of the Community Coalition for Healthy Youth.  Funds come from the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking (STOP Act) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
• Also accepted, a more than $21,000 award from the State Department of Criminal Justice Services to help defray costs of implementing Leandra’s Law and the monitoring of ignition interlock devices.

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