- By Allison Veaner
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| Hurf Sheldon (D) is running against Mike Sigler (R) for the County District 6 Board seat (view chart and interviews) in the November 8 election. Both candidates attended the Chamber of Commerce "Meet the Candidates" event and Mr. Sheldon shared this account with the Star. -- Editor |
It went well - the format was a table for each district (15) with Chamber Of Commerce (CoC) members from the respective districts at the tables as well - after brief introductions by JeanMcPheeters , CoC chair (and a pitch to pay attention to the CoC position on two referendums re: balanced budget [no] and another issue they didn't have a position on yet (don't quite remember it)) discussions at each table were led by a CoC member from from that district with a list of questions.
At our table (dist. 6) were Herb Beckwith - past (14 yrs) town board member, Gay Johnson who with her husband Larry Beck (live on Dug Rd. L'ville) own and manage a lot of rentals in Ithaca (her dad started buying property for rentals back in the 50's), John Gutenberger, former Ithaca Mayor, runs Cornell PR. Dept and lives in Whispering Pines, Bud Shattuck who was there in his capacity as a CoC member (he manages Tompkins County Workforce Development) and Linda Carlton who also lives in Whispering Pines and is a Vice President at Tompkins County Trust Company.
The questions had been decided before hand and Mike & I each got a fair shot at each question.
Funding of the IDA, TCAD and Workfoce Development. were issues. Mike & I were pretty much in agreement on keeping viable support for all three. Gay pointed out that with the reduction in foreign students because of visa problems there was already a situation where there was surplus supply in the rental market and wasn't too in favor of subsidizing competition, which I can agree with. I also made a case for going back to the old model of "moderate" income housing being part of any subsidized residential development.
I tried asking some questions instead of just making position statements. Bud was worried that funding for Workforce Development not be curtailed. I felt there was probably an economic downturn in the near future with the (hopefully) end of the war and we would need workforce development more than ever. if we did, which I believe. I don't recall Mike's position but he has a rental in Ithaca so was sympathetic to Gay's reasoning and agrees that there will be some economic slowdown. Mike was much better informed than I re: the Ithaca IDA and TCAD.
The Library came up - Both Mike & I were Library supporters with some caveats re: spending. I suggested (my own idea) that one thing we could do was get a $5 check box on the State income tax for libraries as they were at least as important as wild life. (Something I'd like to pursue with B. Lifton and Seward sometime.)
As I learn more I do see a disconnect between the County Board and the Library Board and I thought we needed to get back on the same page. I felt weekend hours were important for us rural folks as high school kids and adults from the far provinces couldn't get there during the week.
The Jail was the most contentious issue - we all had a chuckle over what an issue it has become. Mike is absolutely in favor of an expansion of the jail and facilities. I felt I didn't know enough to make a hard call on it but if we have to do it, the sooner we do it the cheaper it will be.
We discussed the Airport. The question was:" If the County had to put money into the Airport, should they?" I think Mike & I were on the same page there but I had looked into it in depth, spoken to Larry Baum, etc and knew that the reserves were being drawn down on a yearly basis and at the current rate we'd have a large bill in a couple of years - I suggested trying to supplement the reserves a small amount each year to spread out the pain and work hard to come up with a balanced budget for the Airport. I got to meet & speak briefly with Larry after the meeting and he was fairly wry about the Airport management's view of reserves. My summation was "Planning & Communication" - Find out the facts, communicate with the constituents, get their feedback & make a plan.
I had a nice talk afterwards with Sue Brock, who lives on Luce Rd. and is a private practice Attorney in Ithaca doing environmental & advocacy law.
The more time I spend around Mike Sigler, the more I like him. He seems a very decent fellow.
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